The king in a seemingly half fearful, half bewildered manner cried out

“W-why?”

“Why? … Why you ask? What has the demon king, or for a matter of fact any of the demon kind ever done to deserve of the labels of: ‘vile’; ’malefic ’;’tyrannical’?” I retort in a cold manner. Each word laced with increasingly stronger killing intent.

The king became fearful. However, he managed to retain the persona of a monarch.

“They are heinous vile entities. Our existences are mutually exclusive. As a human and moreover as the hero you have the duty to kill the demon king!”

He rebutted in an almost condescending manner. As if he were scolding a child, albeit one that could decide the fate of his entire race. He still looked to be fearful but to a lesser degree than before because he had a level of absolute certainty about what he said.

Well I had no care for what he had to say as I had finally finished casting an experimental magic from my final days as a demon king aptly named [Absolut Apprehension]. It was never actually optimized nor was it ever intended to actually be used; at this stage as it was still greatly inefficient. This was because it required a huge amount of mana and could only target one person at a time. It also had a long cast time; however upon being cast it could read the memories of the target. However this process would happen slowly and the caster needed colossal mental fortitude to not go mad from viewing someone’s life memories in the period of around 30 seconds. It was deemed that only a [Demon Lord] class existence or higher could handle the strain of casting such a spell.

The common knowledge the target had acted as a meta-data to put the other memories into context while reading it. The first thing that surprised me was primarily how backwater this civilisation was in ideology and technology. The technology of this world was outdated by around 500-600 years from what I could see from his common knowledge. Secondly the king has political power?

The title of [Demon King] was only given to the strongest amongst the demon kind to act as a rallying point for demons in the event a catastrophe occurred. The equivalent of the humans’ apostle of the end or hero if you’re that way inclined. I held no real political power until near the end of the war where most of the government had collapsed or been killed at the hands of the humans. I effectively was a short time ruler of the provincial government set up out of the remaining [Demon Lords];[Demon Barons] and various elected representatives of the populous. The titles of lord and baron were only given to demons of notable strength however if someone tried, or were found, to abuse their title in any way; they would be stripped of their rank and thrown in prison. The [Demon King] /[Demon queen] was allowed to stay in [The Demon Kings Castle] with his/her family; that was once used by the now defunct demon royal family. However this nation seems to be founded on a truly feudal system; where the aristocracy are the only ruling power and govern everything.

Looking further and further into his memories; atrocities to a higher extent then I could fathom were presented before me. I had seen the aftermath of an entire race being tortured to death and he surprised me with the levels of depravity a human could slip into against one’s own kind and the demons. Life can be considered so little by some people? CHILDREN AT THE AGE OF 5… no…no…no … I felt… sadness; an emotion I thought I had long forgot. I was nauseated by how terrible of an existence stood before me. A single tear ran down my cheek as I became hysterical with an unfathomably potent rage.

The king became scared.

“Umm… H-he no THEY INVADED US AND KILLED INDESCRIMINATLY, MASSICERD THOUTHANDS N- NO TENS OF THOUTHANDS, YOU HAVE TO SAVE US!!! T-the demons t-took my sons life Y-you have to understand.” The king blurted out in a fearful manner. His charismatic aura was nowhere to be seen.

The soldiers in the room tensed as the atmosphere became incredibly volatile; any spark capable of bringing about a full scale conflict.

The beauty looked worried; her eyes alternated between the two of us.

She whispered in a small, almost inaudible, voice “P-please d-don’t fight”

I released a killing intent so strong it would be more proper to call it “certainty of death”. The atmosphere in the room seemed to fall below absolute zero. I looked into his fearful eyes with a piercing glare so strong it would make a well trained army run in fear. In a deep voice, devoid of any emotion, I stated one word

“Die.”

I activated the strongest single person attack magic I knew; [Existence expunger]. Reality itself seemed to bend as a fissure in space and time pulled the king into a seemingly bottomless abyss. The rift closed and it was all over as soon as it began.

Everyone in the room was awestruck; time itself seemed to be in confusion over what had just transpired. At that point

something strange occurred.

After a certain stage, the king’s memories had become corrupt or were heavily modified by an external force. But what would have the power to modify memories in such a manner. And wait, where is the girl in all of this? She is not related to him, nor does she appear in any of his memories before the memories become corrupt.

I felt a nostalgic sensation.

Where have I felt like this before?

My final moments?

I feel a dull pain. I look down to see that accursed sword piercing me, once more.

I feel cold.

I am unable to feel anything.

A sweet voice reverberated throughout my head and echoed throughout my being. Each word laced with heavy contempt and scorn.

“Sweet dreams ... Oh Great Hero.”

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Into .. the ... void ... once ... more. NOOOOoooooooooooooooooo.......

Leave you thoughts if you like :)

(There may be plot holes or gramatical errors post below if you find any :D)

Thanks for reading ! :P