The Returner

Kaaaaaaaaaaahaaaa!!!

A ma.s.sive spear of flames pierced the sky. Rays of brilliant light shone like countless stars in the sky, while white winds of storm froze and shattered just as many demonic monsters.

When thousands upon thousands of arrows pierced the sky like the ascending Imoogi, many lifeless corpses of flying demonic creatures rained down and crashed heavily into the earth below.

"The Uruks!!"

"Run, you short-legged ones!!"

The corners of Dioreh the First's eyes became moist with tears.

Elves decorated the skies with a beautiful parade of magic and arrows.

Dwarves and Orcs flanked the hordes of evil monsters from their side.

And the mighty Dragons smacked away the flying monsters and spat out their unstoppable Breaths.

It wasn't just humanity only.

No, it wasn't just humanity that was fighting in this war!

Kwaahhaaa!!!

A Breath of purest flames bore a hole through the jet-black clouds in the sky, and the blessed light of the sun pierced through this gap.

Dioreh the First couldn't help but think of that light as Latrel's ray of hope.

The Breath from the Dragon destroyed one of the summoning gates floating in the air.

The will of the huge, golden Dragon resounded out towards the Bringer of Apocalypse and then spread out even further.

Dioreh the First bit down on his lips to rein in the emotions of appreciation trembling within his heart. His eyes were already wet with falling tears.

'It's not just mankind only.'

To stop the advent of the end of the world, every species living on the continent of Berafe had gathered here.

The Bringer of Apocalypse deeply frowned as he looked at the skies full of Dragons and armies of Elves and others seemingly covering the entirety of the land as far as eyes could see.

"Does this mean you'll stand against me until the very end, Lord Affeldrich?"

"Right, right. I heard you enough times already. Just how many times have you told me that sh*t already? Just how many times you stood before me with that nonsensical excuse? Eh?"

"Nope. You got that a bit wrong, see."

The face of the Bringer distorted.

And his outstretched hand was pointing at the ma.s.sive golden Dragon, Affeldrich.

"Everything will end here, today."

Right away, a ma.s.sive black smoke exploded out from the outstretched hand of the Bringer, encircling the golden Dragon like a coiling snake.

*SFX for a loud cry*

The roaring scream of the golden Dragon reverberated the heavens.

"You should have realised this by now. The reason why someone like me, someone with infinite time on his hands and an unshakeable mind, have come here - the meaning behind my arrival at this place. Already, everything has…"

Before the sentence even finished, countless Dragons flying in the air all released their mighty Breath attack towards the Bringer of Apocalypse.

It was truly an eye-searing spectacle to see the rainbow colours of Breaths focusing only on one specific spot.

And then, there was an incredible explosion.

No one could hear anything in the aftermath.

The ginormous shock wave of the unimaginable magic attacks shook the whole continent of Berafe.

Nothing could be seen, nor be heard anymore.

By the time the awesome power of the attack began subsiding…

Everyone and everything were rooted to their spots.

Demons and devils were holding their collective breaths, while the warriors of humanity were writhing around on the ground with blood seeping out from their eyes and ears.

And the land where the Bringer of Apocalypse was standing had transformed completely.

Now, there was an inconceivably deep, ma.s.sive crater instead, as if a world-ending meteor had fallen; and surrounding its rim, stones and rocks with mirror-like smooth surfaces could be found, tempered repeatedly by the high heat, intense pressure and then by the ultrlow temperature.

But, what about the Bringer of Apocalypse?

A pile of meat that was once him could be seen at the bottom of this crater, burnt black and squashed flat.

All those demonic gates he had summoned were shattered into pieces by the impact and were cancelled, while his remains scattered into the air like ash and dust.

Seeing this scene, Dioreh the First clenched his fist tightly.

No matter how incredible an existence that man was, surely now, he couldn't have…

'…Survived that?'

It was then. Dioreh the First felt his back skin crawl.

A strange thing started happening on the spot where only the traces of the Bringer should have been found. From that remains which resembled nothing more than ash, white bones slowly revealed themselves one by one, which was then swiftly followed by reconstruction of blood vessels and muscle tissue. The blood began circulating again, then the outer skin formed.

Soon afterwards, a pale and seemingly dead naked body was fully revealed to the world.

And so, this was it.

The man who had transcended death.

The man who couldn't die, even if he wanted to.

The man destined to forever wallow in the agony of undying life.

Before anyone could come to their senses, the Bringer of Apocalypse had extracted another robe out from the subs.p.a.ce

The Bringer slowly surveyed his surroundings.

The warriors of humanity, numbering in the several millions.

The rulers of the sky, Dragons.

Elves and Dwarves, reputedly been in the constant state of war against humans for millennia.

Even the Orcs, seen as monsters by everyone else, were glaring at him and throwing endless stream of curses.

Plus, spotting a rising cloud of dust from the far end of the distant horizon, it seemed that this gathered force wasn't the end.

Without a doubt, it seemed that Berafe itself was trying to stop him.

"Right. I knew it."

The Bringer of Apocalypse chuckled hoa.r.s.ely.

This was such an interesting place.

So, so interesting, indeed.

Forcibly dragging someone over here against his will, but trying to stop him with just about everything when he wished to return? With an absurd reasoning, to boot?

If he could forget, then he might have given up.

If he could die, then he might have chosen death.

Unfortunately, he was a man isolated in this world.

He was not allowed to die, and he was not allowed to forget.

The memories he had before he fell into this world, all those countless years and decades and centuries ago, he hadn't forgotten single one of them. The memories he created in this new world were lost like grains of sand, but the things he knew and experienced in the previous world became a fossil deeply lodged in his head the moment he came here.

So, he had to return.

If he couldn't forget, if he couldn't die… then he must return.

"I'll tell you this for the last time, Lord Affeldrich."

He only needed one thing.

He only wanted one single thing.

"Hand over the Eye of Latrel. Then, I will quietly walk away."

Even suffering under the powerful black magic, the golden Dragon Affeldrich did not submit.

"I thought as much - you people just don't want to listen."

"You telling me to let it go?"

Affeldrich could easily decipher the many hidden meanings contained within his reply. She quietly looked at the Bringer of Apocalypse.

I wanna go back.

A boy, swept up by the unfair tides of fate and lost within its maze of pain and suffering, transformed into the Bringer of Apocalypse at the end of a long, long journey.

This new world was incredibly cruel to this boy and eventually, his bizarre, inexplicable fate had caused him to stand against this world.

Even if this was the case, she could not forsake the entire world just to appease one person's sorrow. If a sacrifice had to be made, then there was only one right choice, the life of one individual.

"Well, I'm done with warning you, people of Berafe."

He addressed not just Affeldrich, but the rest of Berafe as well. He declared to all those beings standing in his way.

"This… is the result you have brought upon yourselves."

Both of his hands became shrouded in darkness. At the same time, the evil creatures that were keeping quiet up until now, sprang into frenzied activity.

GOHOOOOOO—!!

Sensing the fluctuation of incredible magic power from the Bringer once more, Dragons spat out another round of Breaths all at the same time.

But it was only that.

All those Breaths were extinguished before they could reach the Bringer. No, rather than extinguished, they simply vanished.

Affeldrich had to swallow her words.

The Bringer of Apocalypse definitely did not block the Breaths coming his way. He simply summoned a warp gate in front of every incoming Breath attack and guided them all away to another area in the continent.

Although it was a b.a.l.l.sy but smart move, one could even argue it was a foolhardy endeavor as well. If he was off by millimetres with the locations of warp gates summoning, the Breath would collide with the gate instead and cause an almighty chain of explosion.

Wait, that didn't matter. He wouldn't have died anyway.

Easily taking care of the Breath attacks, he then gathered both of his hands to his chest. A sinister black light shone out from his palms. At the same time, the necklace hanging on his neck as well as jewels embedded in his bracelets began to resonate.

A colourful arrangement of several jewels - known as the hearts of Dragons, they began to resonate with the dark Mana oozing out from the Bringer and became dyed in darkness as well. Meanwhile, beneath the feet of the Bringer, a gaping black hole suddenly opened up, spewing out lots of black smoke that enshrouded the man.

Finally realising what the Bringer was about to do, Affeldrich cried out in haste.

Dragons responded to her cry and rushed towards the Bringer, but then - they stopped in mid-air, before slowly turning into stone statues. The Mana from the otherworldly dimensions coming out of the Bringer was preventing them from getting close to him.

Although it looked like a swirling black smoke to the rest, as Dragons were beings of Mana, they knew exactly what that thing was. They knew very well just how terrifying the storm of power acc.u.mulating inside was.

And it weren't just the Dragons who were panicking at the emergence of that evil energy.

Even the demons and devils, beings of evil themselves, ran away screaming as well.

When the black smoke touched a monster that couldn't run away in time, the creature withered rapidly and dried up into a mummified corpse. A single strand of energy formed, which was then absorbed by the Bringer of Apocalypse.

His surroundings became the land of death in a heartbeat. Gra.s.ses dried up, trees withered and fell.

The Bringer of Apocalypse opened his tightly-closed eyes amidst all these deaths and destruction.

He lifted both of his hands into the blue sky which was now clear of flying monsters. Then, in the middle of this clear sky, a black cloud formed.

Dioreh the First stared at this cloud with dazed eyes.

That 'cloud'.

Could anyone call that… a cloud?

Fluffy black smokes coagulated and expanded; black lightning struck ceaselessly. Black flames burned within, and black hailstones began falling down.

It was the perfect darkness, where not one ray of light could escape from it.

And that darkness quickly spread out until it completely blotted out the entire sky.

Even the humans,

Even the demi-humans…

Even the monsters…

Even the Dragons…

They all witnessed this unfolding event with dazed eyes.

Dragons, referred to as the originators of magic, couldn't even begin to comprehend how this event could have been performed in the first place. Only Affeldrich could vaguely suspect that the black hole below the Bringer's feet was connected to some unknown place, perhaps to the origin of all evil magic.

"Oh, benevolent G.o.d, Latrel!!"

Dioreh the First drew the holy sign in the air.

He could feel it instinctively.

That thing was death.

An avoidable death sentence surpa.s.sing all limits of logic.

All of them were seeing death itself materialise.

"I! Just!"

A cry loud enough to tear his throat.

All those rage and suffering built up over the countless years finally exploded out in this very moment.

"…Want to go home!!!!"

The Bringer of Apocalypse lowered his hands angrily. At the same time, the black clouds blanketing the sky descended down to the ground.

"You sons of bi*ches!!!"

That day, the Apocalypse descended from the skies of Berafe.

Fin.

(TL: Well, this is the end of the prologue chapters. Onwards, to the actual thing! Wait, actual "thing" has already started, hasn't it? Uh… Anyways, to the next chapter!)