It was the end of the world...

"That's it, keep fighting! Give them the ol' Dick twist!"

It was the end of the world, and Damon applauded it. 

At that moment, his soul was stuck in the Dark Abyss, observing and cheering as humanity faced extinction. He, who should have been worried for his species' future, enjoyed the show like a sports fanatic. The important point was that they FOUGHT!

With every clash, his prison weakened and ruptured, revealing new dimensional fissures. Right now, they were infinitesimally small, but soon, they'd be big enough for him to escape!

"C'mon, humans, you got this! You're the home team right now. Make me proud!" he kept encouraging. His mood couldn't have been higher, and everything seemed nicer...

The screams of agony of the fallen? They added ambiance.

The Demons actively devouring his body even as he watched? Mere ticks.

The comatose soul of his (unofficial) girlfriend vanishing? He'd soon get her out.

"That's it. You guys got this. Slaughter them, slaughter them all... and summon me!"

He kept watching, all the while craving popcorn. With nothing else better to do, he actually started munching on demons.

~ NOM NOM NOM!
~ Screach?! The Nightmarish Demons ran away...

By the time they'd returned to put him in his place, they'd both be gone...

.
.
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Humanity's Last Stand...

Despair filled the battlefield, humans dying by thousands every second, their corpses instantly swallowed by the dark sea of demons. Even now, the creatures came endlessly, wave after wave.

The abominations were everywhere, eager to devour all life and drown the world with their corruption! They kept crashing against the meager human defenses, crushing magical barrier after barrier.

The scene was HORRIFYING! Even the worst nightmare would have seemed like a pink-colored fairy tale compared to this: countless sharp teeth, tentacles everywhere, demonic energy corrupting the air, and endless malice!

Yet there were still some standing…

"HOLD! Hold the fucking line, or we're all dying here!"

Humanity still had people defending. They were the most valiant and powerful Awakened that had ever lived! They were the ones who had survived the Nightmare and its many zones, transcending Humanity and becoming demigods in the process.

They had brought everything they had for this fight, their entire bodies resplendent with magical gear shinier than LEDs! But that wasn't all. Their trusty Soul Beasts were at their side, many of them behemoths larger than castles.

The list was enormous: Dragons, Trolls, Iceborn Giants, Queen Dryads, Basilisks, Acid Oozes, Lightning Apparitions, and many more. They, too, were struggling for their lives! As far as they were concerned, the entire multiverse was on the line....

"FIGHT! Fight for Humanity! Fight for the future! Fight for your favorite whore for all I bloody care, but FIGHT! Keep going until your flesh is torn apart and your bones are ground to dust!" The army commander kept screaming.

— Crazed Demonic Screeches! —

Every wave of the demonic sea felt like it’d be the last.

Hearing the creatures’ screeches made the defenders bleed from all orifices, yet they kept hacking at their enemies. They knew that there would be no retreat. This was the LAST STAND!

The more it went, the more despair humanity felt. They were utterly doomed! Confronted with such horrors, many began praying for a miracle… even if the Gods had clearly abandoned them eons ago.

But just as they thought they’d be overwhelmed… the sea of demons stopped rocking. The creatures lost interest in their human meals, gazing at the sky instead. Was that… a miracle?! Yes, yes, it was.

The Heavens ruptured, and a pitch-black dimensional fissure appeared. It gave a glimpse of the Abyss, the realm the Demons heralded from. It was filled with so much Demonic Energy that just seeing it was enough to make them sick!

It really was a miracle… but not for Humanity!

A tentacle came out, so long that it would have made a Dimensional Kraken look like a midget. Then there was another, and another, and another... until humanity finally lost all hope.

[The Precursor of All Demons Has Spawned!]

[Mh'aabh'ithoh Ivh'ioz'vhoxr Amhaothloxr!]

[The Demons Are Now 1000X Buffed!]

Faced with this, Humanity fell to its knees. The strongest Awakened? They were frozen in fear. As for their colossal Soul Beasts? They had long shat themselves... and their masters!

So this was how it all ended? Talk about a shitty ending! What had been the point of all that struggle? Why had they even bothered surviving until now? They had been so foolish.

They had been so…

"What the fuck are you all doing?!"

A scream echoed across the battlefield... a shout that didn't contain a hint of despair or fear?! But as they located the source, their eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

Amidst the demonic sea stood... a naked man?

Even the nearby demons couldn't help but rub their thousands of eyes with their claws, baffled. This... was a human, right? How had he reached that deep into their backline?!

For the second time in this war, the world seemingly came to a halt, all eyes on that mysterious and fearless pervert who dared to streak amidst a demon army! But he was far from done:

"Hey, Damon to Earth, a little help over here? This is a bloody battlefield, you blind bastards? What are you all on your knees for? Are you trying to suck some Demon D—"

— CHOMP! CHOMP! —

He was devoured instantly. T-That was it? What kind of anticlimactic ending was this?! Many wondered if they had hallucinated, yet it was enough to shake them awake. As if a mantra, another human even repeated Damon's last words­!

“He’s right! I ain’t sucking no C-”

— CHOMP! CHOMP! —

“Damn demons, you killed him?! I, too, ain’t sucking no P-”

— CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! —

“Another one down! So what?! Humanity is still standing!… And we definitely won’t suck any Demon S—”

— CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! —

For better or worse, many foul-mouthed bastards had survived to this point. By now, the Awakened were so busy swearing that they had forgotten all fear of death. It seemed like the unknown man had started a revolution!

His sacrifice had re-energized Humanity!… Except he wasn’t actually dead. Without anyone noticing, he had just reappeared in the sea of demons! A kick here, an explosion there, a couple of well-placed taunts... little by little, the demon army lost all momentum.

Happy with his progress, Damon gazed at the horizon...

He locked his eyes on the BIG BOSS, or rather the Dimensional Fissure leading to the Abyss behind it. This was what he had been waiting for. Only such a large fissure was stable enough for her weakened soul!

"Wait for me; I'll get you out. I'll be right there!"

Then he began… swimming amidst the sea of demons?! Demonic heads would turn on his passage, but the sight was shocking enough to buy him the needed time.

He kept relentlessly swimming! Breaststrokes, backstrokes, butterfly, and even doggy style, he did it all! His only thought was HER!

“C’mon, Damon. Just a few more kilometers. You’re almost there!”

Fueled by sheer will, he eventually reached the Prime Evil and even began to scale its tentacles. The Horror’s body was akin to a Nightmarish Living Yggdrasil; luckily, the thing didn’t even register his presence.

Its surface was populated with ticks the size of lions…

[Gold Rank Demonic Cleaners!]
[Encounter Level Bloodbath!]

He was but a Silver Rank, but he passed through them all easily, and just as he was reaching the top...

A golden ray of light came from the Heavens, illuminating the battlefield. This was the advent of the HERO! Wasn’t he rumored to be dead?! Apparently not! His arrival instantly changed everything!

His twelve-winged Seraph by his side, he confronted the Prime Evil. A demon that brought despair to the world was nothing more than a target in his eyes. “Vile creature, it’s time for you to disappear!”

He began gathering Mana, so much of it that the entire sky turned golden, and even the land trembled a few kilometers underneath! Then, with one mighty slash—

— CUT! WHOOSH! —

The entire world was cut!

The Prime Evil, its demon army… and even the Abyss from which it came from! Everything was over in one move! Just like that, Humanity had won! All rejoiced except for one man, staring in horror at the VOID now falling into pieces…

But she was long gone; her soul evaporated along with the demonic threat.

Thus, peace returned to Humanity, to all but one man…

.

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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

On an ocean of bodies stood one man…

The bloody mush under his Adamantium boots had long turned into a purple-blackish river of death. What had once been a lush valley would forever remain a scene of Hellish corruption.

Under that sea lay countless bodies, millions of them! All had been sacrificed in this last fight against the Prime Evil: Humans, demons, and Soul Beasts alike! They had been mere pawns in this Multiverse Conquest Game…

Yet, he remained unsullied, even now.

Right above the sea of blood… he floated?! He was even surrounded by a golden halo, angel wings growing out of his back, clad in an armor of light, and wielding a holy sword! It was painfully obvious that he was the Main Character of this world, its Hero!

That Hero approached my broken body…

His golden hair and eyes felt like Hope itself. One could even forever lose himself in his deep gaze: as long as he lived, humanity would prevail and prosper!

“Don’t worry. You’re safe now. The anguish is over; humanity has won.” He gently healed me, the warmth of his holy magic seemingly cleansing my soul and pain.

[Greater Holy Magic Detected!]

[Ding! Body Reconstruction: 1%, 34%, 69%, 100%!]

There was only one possible reaction to such benevolence…

“T-thank you, thank you so much!” I didn’t just bow. I groveled, even reaching to hug his legs, tears of “gratitude” flowing down my cheeks. But inwardly…

‘I’m so close.’

‘Grasp his heart, crush it.’

‘Throw his remains in the Acidic Sea of Blood!’

‘Explode my Inner Soul to eradicate any would-be helpers!’

Dark thoughts invaded my mind, ones so tempting, but I ignored them. I knew better. This “Hero” was way out of my league: he’d recover just as easily as he had done all those previous times.

Just thinking of his title made me wretch. Hero? What a fucking joke! To everyone, he was Salvation itself, but all I saw was a murderer. He had just blown out the only light in my world.

He had killed HER!

His last attack had split half the realm open…and doomed HER. Collateral damage? It couldn’t be helped? As if I gave a flying fuck at that moment!

Humanity could go to Hell, the demons could go to Hell, the entire fucking Earth could go to Hell for all I bloody fucking cared! That was my mood, and yet I smiled… so brightly!

That smile was the most painful 2 seconds of my life. It was worse than a life of poverty, betrayal, loneliness, weakness, and slavery.

It was worse than an unlife in the Abyss and a thousand years of Demonic Torture. At least when I was having my flesh and soul gnawed out, SHE was there, suffering at my side and supporting me!

It took all my energy not to break down during those two seconds. Luckily, two seconds was all a weakling like me was worth. What is a Silver Rank to a Legend Rank? Nothing!

The Hero made the most glorious speech ever. Humanity celebrated, and everyone rejoiced. It was party after party; finally, people had hope for the future. There was even a system announcement, making it more than official.

[Congratulations! Humanity Has Won!]

[The Demons Have Been Vanquished!]

[Ding! Gained Survivor Title!]

But the more I saw people rejoice, the more empty I felt. We were supposed to get out of the Abyss together, to have all life ahead of us. Our dream… utterly crushed.

She was gone. She was gone, and I felt so empty.

The emptiness felt indescribably painful, worse than getting all your intestines pulled out and fed to you, worse than eternal suffering. I could handle pain, but not this.

I found myself losing track of time, often on nocturnal walks as I avoided people, the glow of the stars illuminating my despair. Yet, everything reminded me of her, of promises we’d made.

“This would have been so romantic,” I grumbled atop Sunfire City’s tallest skyscraper, taking in the nightly view. It seems I wasn’t the only one with this thought either.

At the very bottom, I could see a young couple. A Hunter like me can see how lovey-dovey they act even a hundred meters high.

“Someone’s getting lucky tonight, I guess.” Yet even that thought irks me. Seeing them happy reminds me again of what I lost.

That’s when I jump.

I calmly close my eyes, the cold wind caressing my face as I fall.

For half an instant, I almost feel free, smiling. She would have loved this; she was always a thrill seeker. It seems the youngsters have finally noticed me, too.

Their panic-stricken faces are hilarious. They kinda look like goldfishes, shellshocked beyond belief. A chuckle escapes me: “Hello, and fuck your happiness!”

— Splatter! —

Blood splashes everywhere.

On the asphalt pavement, on their clothes, on the walls, on their faces…even in their mouths! Screams echo, and legs rush away from the “crime scene”.

Damon Malum… DEAD!

Thus, another stain was added to the city, just like many others. After all, he wasn’t the only one who lost it all in the Demonic War! Tragedy really was commonplace. Yet, he was different from all the others….

[Curse of Damnation Activating!]

[You Cannot Die! You Cannot Forget!]

He alone was responsible for 357 438 of those bloodstains! A curse dating from his time in the VOID and designed to prolong his suffering…. was doing just that by keeping him alive!

The blood stain suddenly started bubbling as if coming back alive! Then demonic tendrils spread out of thin air, drawing the blood in like a dark hole, forming a human silhouette! Bones, muscles, flesh, and skin assembled themselves as if CGI!

Damon reappeared, butt-naked but otherwise unharmed!

How many times had he tried to end it all? Too many to count, but this time would be his last. After years of effort, he had finally found the puzzle's final piece. He reached his hand toward the sky as if trying to grasp the stars.

“If I can’t join you in death… I’ll just have to bring you back!” He gave a soft chuckle, even softly whistling, as he left the bloodied street in a good mood for once.

He’d soon meet the only man who could make his dream come true, Azir Zaldor the Mad, the strongest Fallen Archmage in human history. That man was the key to all of Damon’s wishes and dreams.

“Azir, oh Azir, how will I convince you to Summon an Evil God for me?”

For her to be alive, the fight against the Prime Evil (And Humanity’s bitter Victory) had to somehow disappear from reality. He had to go back in time!

His Goal: GOOD END —> Unknown Future Instead!

He didn’t care what happened to the world as long as SHE was by his side...

"No, that won't do. Just saving her won't be enough. We'll have to survive what will come next..." Damon murmured as he glanced at the Curse that would have disappeared had the demons truly been vanquished. 

[Curse of Damnation]

They'd be back.... even stronger. 

Under the moonlight, Damon walked as he schemed, counting the required steps for his plan on his fingers! But he soon realized that he’d need WAY more fingers! After all, he really couldn't afford to screw this up...

Ten days and an Evil God Later, the world ended...
But Damon got a neat little portal in exchange...
One that would allow him to restart it all...

"Wait for me, Mia, I'm coming!" 

— Sidestory: The Resolve of a Nobody! — END