Black String of Fate

In a desolate stretch of land devoid of any life, a man holding a radiant, ethereal sword was barely standing with an exhausted look on his face. He looked like he could collapse over and faint anytime soon, but he was holding on with sheer will. The rest of his comrades were already on their last legs, so he absolutely could not break form while standing before the man he considered his archenemy.

His archenemy, however, was already kneeling, punctured with weapons all over his body like a pin cushion. His sleek black cloak had turned brown with all the dried blood, and his eyes were devoid of any life or feelings, though, that was not visible due to the demon mask he wore. He knew that although he said those spiteful words, he was going to die any second now.

Despite his cold and harsh attitude towards his killers, he did not hold any ill feelings for them. In fact, he even respected one of them, which was the man still standing.

'Kaldian Zener. The son of a duke who is the complete opposite of what I expected of a high noble. He was born with a talent peerless, but his true strength lies in his heart. He is the one who did not look away from the darkness of reality, and with all his strength, did his best to bring it to light.

He strived to improve the lives of the unfortunate together as one, instead of someone like me who tried to do it all alone, never really believing that anyone was really worthy enough to stand alongside me...

How foolish... He may be the great hero and I, the worst villain to ever exist, but all I see is a person who made different choices than me for the sake of the same goal.'

The world had started to go blurry in the Demon King's vision, and he recalled his life as it flashed past his eyes.

'I was a wretched born to parents who left me by the garbage disposal. I survived due to an orphanage taking care of me, but I had to run at the age of 10 when I found out their 'adoption' meant selling the children as slaves or harvesting their organs. I had to steal food from the shops to survive, and later on, I stole money from the civilians to have a semblance of a humane life.

By complete luck, I stumbled upon a miraculous guide to swordsmanship at age 10, and my overwhelming talent blossomed. From petty crimes to gang wars, my infamy rose. It was exhilarating when the people who extorted 'protection fees' from me begged me for mercy. The poison in my heart, which had brewed inside me ever since I was born, never allowed me such novel things like mercy.

Drunk in my power and treating the lives of others like bugs, I killed anyone who slighted me. It wasn't until I became an adult and my powers had grown beyond the scale of these petty things, that I realized what kind of terrible life I was living. I thought about why I had to live like a venomous rat when I had these talents.

That was when I looked for and found the root cause of all my suffering. The society. The society that was created by the nobles and kings since time immemorial. Those higher in the social hierarchy ruled over those with lower standings. They played around like gods and treated others like their entertainment. The orphanage I ran away from?

It was run by the local lord. These gang wars I participated in? They were instigated by the territory rulers to "quell rats". Millions every year died of starvation, all because these nobles hogged all the resources for themselves in an effort to show off to the other nobles their wealth and opulent lifestyle.

They treated other people as lower-lever creatures than themselves, and any disagreement from us "commoners" was met by punishments worse than death.

That's why I decided to end this vicious cycle. I had unquestionable strength, and after using that strength to break out of the cycle myself, I wanted to free others too. It started off as a little rebellion and the people who felt similar injustice united under my name. We killed the corrupt nobles and "freed" the population of their tyranny.

I killed, and killed, and killed until my already grey morals started to get blurry, and my hit list somehow never got shorter. I lost myself in wrath and bloodthirst as I killed all those whom I determined as 'cancer' to the world, all the while deluding myself that means justify the end.

I never noticed that those who followed me seemed to be reducing in numbers. As time went on, the voices cheering my name got quieter and quieter. I never looked back, never noticing that I was walking my bloody path alone. Sometimes I wondered, whether the me who started this journey would even recognize the 'me' now.

By the time I realized that those whom I saved were wishing death upon me, it was too late to turn back. I was determined to reform the world, whether I went down in history as a revolutionary or a terrorist. Looking back, I still don't care. I have walked my path, the least amount of respect I can give to my lifelong journey is to see this through to the end.

It's not like I completely failed, at least, the world will still become a better place if that hero, the one who interfered in every plan I had, does his job properly...'

Now, the demon king, Xavier, had lost all his sight. The world was dark, and he knew he would be dead in a few moments. In his final moments, he decided to at least be remembered as an example no one should follow.

"...listen, hero. I'll die in a few moments, so hear my final words." A calm voice sounded out of the demon king, who, till now, just said spiteful words.

The hero was a bit taken aback by the complete 180 of the attitude, but he still decided to listen to the final words of his nemesis.

"Speak, Demon King."

The Demon king responded with a slight smile as he took off his mask, which surprised not only Kaldian but the whole entourage. Contrary to their beliefs, the Demon King was not a demon, but a human, and a good-looking one at that.

"First, my name is Xavier, not Demon King. Remember that. If you want to know more about me, check the records of the 'Masked Revolutionary' stored in the forbidden section of the imperial library. I'm sure it'll intrigue someone like you, who knows about the darkness of high society."

The hero nodded, and even though Xavier could not see the nod, he continued,

"Keep doing what you've been doing. Save the unfortunate, help the poor, and most importantly, root out the corruption in the nobles and royalty. Unlike me, you have the ability to do that properly, so if you neglect those duties, I'm sure another foolish Demon King will be on his way..."

And with that, without hearing the hero's reply, he finally succumbed to his fate.

*******

...Somewhere in an unknown realm,

"Wow, that's it? It was way too plain and traditional. This story went exactly the way I expected without any major plot twists. On top of that, my favorite character fucking died pathetically at the end. He had such great potential, but he was downgraded to be a plot device for the story of the hero. What was up with that cliche redemption at the end of his life?

I thought he was the main villain, but did he just die for the growth of the hero? Fuck this..."

A being, who looked like just an ordinary, innocent child, spoke with his eyes spaced out, as he was not really looking toward what he was looking at. Looks can be deceptive, as even though he looked just like a child, he was something greater.

Much, much greater.

"You know what, I think I can afford a bit of causality. It's a shame that such a shallow fate was weaved for this soul. What if I change things up a bit? A new timeline with regression should be enough, with nothing more than his memories. From what I've seen so far, he can do something maybe entertaining with it..."

The child took a deep breath and snapped his fingers with serious focus, and somewhere in another ethereal dimension, a string turned black.

"This shall be my move. Your turn, &£+#(@&"