The Demon King's First General
Chapter 158: Bitter

Chapter 158: Bitter

A long time ago, the whole world was turned upside down when an unknown sword fell from the sky. At first, it was treated as nothing, discarded as useless; it had no notable features to begin with, and its appearance was plain and ordinary. Even its blade was so dull to cut and stab things.

However, everything changed when someone accidentally discovered its tremendous abilities. Its blade could only pierce something alive. Living beings came into contact with its blade; even just a scratch vanished without a single trace. Their whole existence was erased from the depths of history.

Demons coveted this unknown power and wanted to use it for their own greed. Countless wars erupted to determine the owner of the sword. This caused the land to turn into a sea of blood. The killings continued for several years, and even the deities were forced to join the act.

"Retrieve the sword from the hands of demons," uttered an angel.

It was the start of the first grand war that pushed the world to the brink of extinction. The world came to a reset, but the sword disappeared from the surface of Exgreia. No one could tell where it really was; some said that the deities destroyed it, while others believed that one of the demons still had possession of it, up to this very day.

. . . . .

"A sword? So that was the first weapon from the Sixfold Arsenal," Strannard stated as he looked at the jet black chains wrapped around Zeno’s arms.

"Though it’s a little bit unusual, is it sealed?" He added.

Curiosity was painted on his face.

"Sealed? No, it’s not. Though, it’s forbidden to unleash its blade," Zeno replied as he entered into a stance. The chains curled around his arms loosened and fell with one of its edges, with a pointed dart struck on the ground.

Upon hearing his answer, Strannard burst into laughter.

"What’s the point of bringing it out if you can’t use the damn thing?" He asked before swinging his sword, sending a black wave of energy towards the black-haired demon.

But Zeno didn’t reply to his provocation; instead, he parried the attack with the sword, causing its trajectory to shift sideways. Afterward, he grabbed the chain with his free hand and let it spin around his arm. Then he launched a counterattack by flicking its dart towards Strannard.

"Fool! You’re holding a sword, yet you attack with this! A mere weapon like this is not enough to kill me!" Strannard exclaimed in annoyance.

He flapped his wings and moved downward. Seconds before the chain dart hit him, he grabbed its chain and threw it back to the soul devourer.

However, Zeno pulled it back and spun around before sending it once more to where his opponent was.

"Unsheath that sword and give me a proper fight!" Strannard yelled as he deflected the attack with the tip of his blade, making it continue to move upward. Then he was ready to strike his weapon above Zeno’s head, but the moment the demon general slightly pulled back the chains, the dart came back, piercing the man from behind his wings.

"It tickles," Strannard grinned.

Though the soul devourer’s attack connected, it was not enough to stop him. With all his might, Strannard swung his sword in a downward motion.

He expected two possible outcomes from this scene: one was Zeno evading while the other was blocking his attack, and it was the latter; Zeno raised the sword and blocked the attack with its scabbard. However, what the demon did next was truly beyond Strannard’s comprehension; the corner of his lips curled upward, and he began to open his mouth afterwards.

"Its purpose is not to kill you though. I don’t care how strong your body is; all I need is a little stab," Zeno said, then he pulled the chains backward and spoke once again.

"On that day, I spared your life... for her, but this time, thank you for the meal," he stated.

Then he bent his right leg backward before tumbling up. Afterward, he gave Strannard’s face a swift kick, sending him flying several meters away.

The next second, Strannard’s body fell to the ground, unmoving. Both of his eyes were still open, and he received no scratch from Zeno’s last attack, but the horrifying presence around him was slowly dissipating. Meanwhile, the soul devourer stood still. On his hand was the dart with a small blue orb attached to it. The next second, he plucked it out and looked above before putting it in his mouth.

"Bitter," he uttered as he directed his gaze towards the ball of light hanging in the night sky.

. . . . .

"Uoiea! I knew it; you’re here!" Yelled a man upon spotting a fine beauty from a distance.

He walked towards her; in his every step, people turned around to catch a glance of him. His tall stature and turquoise-colored eyes were enough to capture every woman’s heart, and it was even enhanced by his elegant suit that distinguished him from the crowd.

"Strannard? What are you doing here? Your father might be looking for you right now," the woman whom the man called responded with a smile on her face.

It was just a simple expression, but the man’s heart throbbed as if it would pop out from his ribcage.

’Ahhh, that smile, my day is complete,’ the man thought, stunned in a daze while staring at the woman.

"Strannard, are you alright? You’re quite red today," Uoiea asked with a worried expression as she extended her hand and touched the man’s face.

"Y-Yes! D-Don’t worry about me. I-I’m totally fine," the man replied, stuttering.

He felt an electric shock, enough for his body to shiver for a moment. The sudden touch of the woman made him lose his composure.

’I can’t stand it. I want to hug her right now,’ Strannard tried to hide his thoughts, but the redness on his face couldn’t do so.

The next second, he gulped and raised his hand to pull the woman closer to him, but a man with his head covered in hood appeared right beside her and slid his hand on her waist. Upon seeing this, Strannard’s eyes became bloodshot, as if a crack appeared in his world.

"W-Who a-are you? Why are you touching her?" He summoned all of his courage to ask, but the man kept his silence. It was Uoiea who introduced him.

"No, Strannard, you got it all wrong." Uoiea paused for a second and took the man’s hand from her waist and held it tight before interlocking their fingers.

"He’s my man," she continued with a blush on her face.

Upon hearing this, the crack in Strannard’s world grew bigger and soon crumbled into pieces.

He was so stupefied that he lost his ability to reply. There was no wound, but there was some sort of pain in his chest that he couldn’t explain.

"Strannard, are you alright?" Uoiea asked once again, but all that he could do was nod.

Then he diverted his eyes to the man next to her; their eyes met for a second, and upon seeing those lifeless expressions, he felt shivers all over his body. Uoiea noticed the tension building up between the two men, so she bid her farewell and dragged the hooded man away.

This left Strannard staring at their silhouttes as they disappeared from the crowd. A question popped up inside his mind.

’What did I do wrong to experience this?’ He thought.

Despite being born into the royalty of a known kingdom, Strannard was known for being a failure, a prince with a useless Legacy.

This made the young Strannard give up on his life; he succumbed to what the people told about him. Until he met the empire’s princess, he saw light so captivating that her cheerful attitude influenced him. He began to look at the world from the bright side, and everything about him started to change for the better.

At first, he thought that it was just a simple admiration for the princess, but as he grew older, the obscure feelings bloomed and prospered until it turned into a desire.

He sought different ways to make her notice his presence even more, but the treatment he got was always similar to how she approached the others. He couldn’t get what he wanted, as if there was an invisible wall separating the two of them apart, and now an unknown person appeared out of nowhere, and she even acknowledged him as her beloved.

’No! No! It’s not! She’s mine, only mine. I want her to smile only at me; there’s no need for the others; I, alone, am enough to give everything that she needs,’ Strannard thought, denying the fact that her feelings wouldn’t be reciprocated.

With a glimpse of hatred in his eyes, he looked at them for one last time before turning around and marching back to his kingdom.

’I’ll make you regret getting close to my woman,’ he declared inside his thoughts.

. . . . .

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