“Nee... mom, what happened to the Hero and his friends at the end of the story, after they beat the Demon King?” asked a 5 year-old boy to a woman, supposedly his mother, who was sitting beside him.

Hearing the question, the mother smiled at her son and said, “I am sure they would live happily ever after.”

“Really!?” said the boy, there's a hint of excitement in his eyes.

“Of course dear.” said the mother while patting her son.

The boy pondered for a while, and with furrowed brows, he asked again, “But mom, when will the Hero came for us...? You said the Hero will help any person in trouble, and I think we are already troubled enough.”

His mother seemed surprised when she heard him saying that, Her beautiful smile immediately vanished, but then instantly get replaced by another smile, only this one seemed so sad. The boy, however, didn't understand about the meaning of her smile. He only tilted his head and patiently waiting for the answer of his question.

“They... they will come for us. Mommy doesn't know when, but I am sure that they will come for us.” she paused for awhile, then continued. “Then again, mommy thinks that no matter what happened, we will still be alright.”

“We will be alright? How so?” asked the boy, confused.

“It's because there is already a little hero protecting the both of us.” said the mother with a gentle smile.

The boy, upon hearing that, immediately surprised and asked his mother with doubtful eyes. “Really? There is a hero protecting the both of us? Where is it?”

“Unn... it's you, silly boy, you're mommy's little hero.” the mother chortled at her son. Then the boy laughed as well.

“Okay mom, I will get strong enough to protect not only us, but also everyone else in the world! I will beat the Demon King, and everyone will be happy!” exclaimed the boy while pumping his little fist.

“Hehe, I am sure you could do that. After all, you are mommy's son.” said the mother, and then she moved to hug her son.

“Un, I swear to you mom, I will——

——become a hero that will save the world...” muttered a man while looking at the sky.

It has been a few years since the boy promised to his mother, and now that young boy had already became a fine adult. He has a rough face, pitch black hair, well toned body, and a sharp gaze. There are 2 black colored identical swords in both of his hand, which emitting a strange aura. At this moment, he couldn't help but be remembered about his now deceased mother.

Right now, in front of him, hundreds of thousand ferocious demons with various size clustered around. In the back of the demon army, standing in mid air while continously emitting murderous killing intent, is the Demon King – Zol.

After conquering almost half of the world, The Demon King Zol has decided to move and claimed the remaining territory. And this was humanity's last chance to stop it from happening.

Men and women, young and old, anyone that can still fight has gathered from all over the world to stop the advance of the demon army. After all, if the demons had succeeded in conquering the world, each and every single human would undoubtedly be killed by them.

“Lord Raven.” said a feminine voice to the man.

The man, Raven, turned around and faced the caller. She is a woman, seemingly in her thirties, wearing a wizard-like robe and held a long staff in her hand, “Yes, Shana?”

“Reporting, sir. The preparation has been completed, all of the troops has been blessed and buffed by our Bishops and Cardinals. Paladins has been placed on the front line, supported by Berserkers and Crusaders. All traps has been laid by the scouts, and Assassins has hidden themselves to prepare for an ambush. The Wizards and Mages has also finished their casting.” said Shana solemnly.

“Good, then let us begin the operation.” after he said that to Shana, Raven walked forward and faced the army. As the commander in chief, he has to give some speech to raise the army's morale.

Everyone, after seeing that Raven moved to face the army, immediately ceased all activities and focused their attention to him. After ensuring that everyone had focused their attention to himself, Raven then began his speech in a loud and beaming voice:

“To each and everyone of you, whether you're a man or a woman, young or old, that has been gathered here. We are all know that today, Demon King Zol and his demon army has decided to start their world conquering operation. They want us to throw our hand and surrender. They want to rob us of our home. They want to hurt our loved ones. They want us to die!

“In all of our previous wars with them, though with difficulty, but we have shown them our strength! For countless years, they are unable to advance through our unbreachable defense. We have fought them back, from a desperate situation into a stalemate.

“And now, look at them. Just because their own king has come personally to the battlefield, they want us to surrender!? I say, bullshit! Us humanity will accept their challenge, and if their shitty king wanted to hear our answer. Then let them hear it. This—” Raven raised one of his sword and pointed it to the Demon King Zol, then continued, “—is our answer.”

“Uoooooooooooooooohhhhhhh!!” countless battle cry could be heard from all over the place.

Immediately, all of the Wizards and Mages in the back of the humanity's army, hurled their spell to the demon army. Countless giant boulders started to fall from the sky, crushing any demon beneath it. Monstrous thunder hurled from the stormy clouds and roasted everything in its wake. Inferno flame, wind blades, ice bolts, all kind of attacking spells known by humanity, casted on the battlefield with only one goal: Purge the demons!

Demon King Zol immediately made his move. Dark miasma spreaded out of his body and covered his soldiers. That miasma had the power to increase the demons strength and defense, and also reduced the capability of any non-demonic creature inside it. The moment all of the demon army got covered by the dark miasma, the Paladin squad immediately moved out and used their holy magic to repel it. Supported by other melee fighters behind them, they pushed forward and started to bash the demons with their shield and weapon.

Occasionally, some explosion sound could be heard from the traps that had been laid out by the Scouts. Some unfortunate demon that had unknowingly walked to the traps, had their body blown up to pieces. Archers shoot out their arrows from the distance, Assassins infiltrated and crushed the enemy's defence from the inside, and Wizards and Mages keeps shooting their barrage of spells.

Those who get injured would fall back and get healed by the Bishops and Cardinals, then they would fight once again.

Meanwhile, some changes had occurred in Raven's body. His originally light brown skin turned black, his nails got sharper and longer, his eye color became inverted, two horns appeared in his forehead, and a pair of black feathered wings sprouted out from his back. His appearance right now is like that of a fearsome demon. Not long after he finished his transformation, he immediately used his wings to fly and approached the Demon King Zol with terrifying speed.

As if he already expected that Raven would fly and attacked him directly in the sky, Demon King Zol readied his weapon, a black long sword covered in some mysterious runes, and slashed it towards Raven. A huge wave of energy blast appeared and hurtled towards Raven. Seeing that huge energy blast, Raven also slashed his pair of black swords to create his own wave of energy blast. The two blast clashed with each other and exploded in the air.

Now, both of them faced each other in mid air, with a distance of roughly 10 meters between the two of them.

“I see, you had finally come to confront me.” said Zol to Raven indifferently. He pauses for a while, then continues, “How long has it been since we last met each other?”

Raven raised his two swords and glared at the Demon King.

A crooked smile appeared in Zol's face, “Ah, yes, I remember, last time we met was when your mother died by her own husband's hand, isn't it?”

Two energy blast suddenly appeared and attacked Zol, but he parried it with his sword. His smile then vanished, and he said solemnly, “Know your place, kid, even if you are my own son, I will not hesitate to kill you if you dare to oppose me.” He raised his sword and pointed it at Raven, then coldly said, “Pathetic, the son of Demon King, playing hero with those puny humans.”

Likewise, Raven also pointed his two swords at the Demon King and said, “While it's true that your demon blood is flowing through my vein, but I also inherited my human mother's blood. And her's is far better than yours.” A smile appeared in Raven's face, and he said to Zol, “Anyway, I already promised her that I would get strong enough and beat the Demon King. And now is the time to fulfill it.”

Right after he said that, Raven closed in to Zol with his godly speed and started to exchange blows with the Demon King. Each blows caused the world around them to vibrate. The humans and demons below the two of them that had been fighting each other before, stopped to watch the battle in the sky. They are all knew that whoever wins the battle, would win the entire war. Demon King Zol's victory would ended up with the destruction of humanity, and Hero Raven's victory would ended up with the long-awaited peace for humanity.

Fights between ultimate expert usually did not last long. And that fact also applied in this fight.

The two starts to fly higher and higher, until nobody could see them anymore. They could only hear explosion sound and see their energy blast that caused utter destruction to the world below them. The Bishops and Cardinals had to continuously casts Holy Barrier to protect their kin. The demons, unfortunately for them, or fortunately for the humans, had no means of protecting themselves and got killed or hurt badly from the shockwaves.

“Hahaha, I see you haven't been neglecting your training, brat!” Zol started to gather all of his internal energy to his sword and prepared to end this battle. Similarly, Raven also did the same.

“Hmph.” Raven snorted coldly and released his ultimate technique, “[Blade Fury]!” Instantly, thousands of shadow swords with demonic energy appeared and attacked Zol at the same time.

Upon seeing that, Zol couldn't help but shudder inwardly, 'This kid, to actually had an attack of this caliber!' He then also released his strongest technique to repel all of those shadow swords, and hopefully, killing Raven in the process.

“[Genocide]!” He leaped backwards and shoots 2 gigantic shockwaves from his slashes at the same time. Those 2 shockwaves actually succeeded in slashing aparts any shadow swords in its path, eventually reached Raven and slashed off his left arm!

But Zol didn't get away unharmed either, the other shadow swords that hasn't been destroyed by his strongest technique eventually also reached and stabbed him from all direction. As his last ditch effort, he used another one of his main technique and aimed it at Raven. If the [Genocide] from before was a material attack, then the target of this attack were to directly affecting the soul of the opponent!

“[Cuuuuuuuurrrrrssseeeeeeee—]!” he succeeded in sending his attack towards Raven before one of the shadow swords pierced and destroyed his head, eventually ending his life. His eyes filled with disbelief.

“Dear father, would you please just die-eeeeaAARRGGHHHH!!!” Without any obstruction, Zol's attack impacted Raven's soul, and eventually destroying it. Unable to withstand the pain, he fell from the sky at a terrifying speed.

With his fading consciousness, Raven once again remembered about his mother——

“Okay mom, I will get strong enough to protect not only us, but also everyone else in the world! I will beat the Demon King, and everyone will be happy!” I said that while pumping my little fist.

“Hehe, I am sure you could do that. After all, you are mommy's son.” said my mom, and then she moved to hug me tightly——

'I did it, mother. I had become the hero. I beat the evil Demon King. I had fulfilled my promise to you. With this, I——'

His consciousness, vanished.

***

372 year after Demon King Zol descended to this world.

Hero Raven and his companions fought the last battle against the Demon King Zol in the Vanadium Plain, ultimately defeating him and his demon army.

Unfortunately, Hero Raven also lost his life in one on one battle against the Demon King.

The long awaited peace eventually came. But not one without great prices. Many has lost their life to achieve this victory.

But then again, is it really over?

Nay. Nobody knows the answer of that question.

Maybe, just maybe.

What if.... their true adventure had just begun?

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A/N: thanks Xagnam.