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Alan leaned back the two men now sitting back to back, before his voice started again. "At first, we didn\'t believe our father and thought someone was poisoning him."

"I am ashamed to say that I used my power as a hero to \'punish\' those we assumed to be traitors. However, we were wrong and almost caused the kingdom to break into a civil war."

\'I would have thought the same, though.\'

Ryuji kicked his legs while listening to the distant lightning, followed by a sudden pitter-patter of rain that came from above, adding a bit of gloomy atmosphere to Alan\'s story.

"What happened, after I mean?"

"Well, my brother turned twenty-five, and that\'s when it started. The curse seized our father\'s life. He seemed fine but suddenly passed away—the moment my brother turned twenty-five, he just collapsed on the throne... When we found him cold and alone... I..."

Alan\'s words became shaken, Ryuji couldn\'t understand his emotions well, but when he remembered the hazy image that he kept locked away in his chest.

The image of his mother lying on the dojo floor... Rain tapped on the glass as he tried to sleep, only feeling an intense burning pain that spread from his chest.

No, he couldn\'t handle this image even now.

He shook his head, wiping his eyes and covering them. He was forced to listen to the raindrops, just like that day, until the throbbing pain in his chest and mind subsided.

"I fled, unable to bear it. My brother was always stronger than me. Avandar stayed with my father for hours... I don\'t know what happened in that room, but he came to me later that day after Father was placed in a beautiful glass casket and handed me his final will."

Alan took a deep breath before taking some goblets from his item storage and a brown cask, which made a loud squeak when he popped the cork open. A deep scent of honey, apples and beer flowed through the room as he began to pour two goblets, handing one to Ryuji.

"Cheers, brother."

"Cheers to the memory of the lost."

*Clang*

"Well, you might find it quite sarcastic, but this time, when it was written in his will, how the curse would target anyone closely involved with the Grigor bloodline. We actually listened this time, but it was too late. After losing my father, I became reckless, like you..."

He spoke about having a party to solve the curse, as his father knew about it first-hand. Because their father was with them the moment their entire bloodline received this curse.

A curse that made them swear allegiance to the goddess Lumina and slay ALL demons and their current ruler.

However, he added they realised the only actual target was the ruler.

***

A short time passed, and Ryuji saw the picture coming together, a curse that affected the royal family, their spouses and children.

It wasn\'t something they could ignore because even Liana and Anne were showing signs of the curse.

Those with talents for magic would become weaker physically and lose the ability to manage daily life until a moment would come. They didn\'t know how or why, but all of them would find themselves involved in a battle against the \'monster\' who ruled the demons.

Never to be seen again.

"Have you not wondered why we have so few royal family members? There are literally less than twenty of us in total. No, now it\'s probably less because Aunt Velvet seems to be the one trying to save the ones that end up fighting that thing... But when she comes back, it\'s never a happy answer."

"I see... What exactly is this monster? Why do you speak about it with such hatred and disgust? Isn\'t she the same kind of existence as me?"

"No! You are different... Let\'s move along—sorry, I felt a little too sentimental."

Alan gave a wry smile, sipping the last of his goblet with a slight splash of sticky mead staining his cheek.

"The four of us decided to attack the enemy, and Father seemed to think because I was the hero of Grigor and immune to the curse according to the documents he created... We were the chosen ones, and with the help of Aunt Velvet, we took five thousand knights and headed north... to face that monster."

"Hahaha, we were so foolish. We spoke of how we would be true heroes when we returned..."

"But we lost... we lost everything."

***

The dirty, mud-laden territory to the north of Grigor was covered with deep craters, the fallen bodies of the human armies who guarded the border for decades.

"Your majesty?! Why are you here, at the border? The enemy is coming!" A knight covered in blood, with their armour damaged, shouted while Alan and his brother climbed out of their temporary tent and stood beside Linda, his eldest sister and Lydia Avandar\'s wife.

"You have fought well, knight captain, Baldric. I am here to fight alongside my knights. What else?" Avandar\'s aura enveloped the entire area. Unlike Alan, his brothers came from hard work and natural charm, not his special blessing. "Today, we have brought thousands of troops to support you. Now gather the men, for we shall fight together!"

"Your Majesty... you don\'t understand... There..."

An explosion sounded, and flames and screams sounded. The shrill screams a human who is crippled by complete terror or despair makes.

"They\'re here!"

"They\'re here..."

"THEY\'RE HERE!"

"AAAAAARGHHHHH!"

"MERCY, MERCY!!!"

The earth shook, and flames rose. They turned to face the flames, their bodies shaking as the earth trembled with each step of the enemy. However, there was no army...

Only a single force, and her body nothing overly large or menacing... with each step, bloody corpses exploded, knights\' limbs exploded... and the entire battlefield became silent with the crunching of bones and ripping of flesh, and the clanging of armour and weapons that fell into the deep muddy trenches.

"It\'s a single person... a single person is doing this..."

Avandar\'s eyes widened, his muscles tightened, and he stepped forward, but the hand of a woman reached out and stopped him.

"My love... what is that..." Her terrified eyes darted from left to right, her legs trembling as she began to grip her beloved\'s arm, the rattling of her teeth unstoppable even when she tried.

"Lydia... it\'s just one person... Just one... I am the king, and Alan is our hero... I will protect you."

"What are you talking about?! It\'s just one person, yes... but she is destroying a hundred men a second... look at her eyes... she is not even looking at us... or this world!"

The three stood side by side, with Lydia gripping his arm. They watched the horrifying image of the hooded woman... an eerie voice sounded, the tone familiar to Linda, Alan and Avandar...

"H...hungry... I am so hungry... Where.... where did you go.... my lovely Alan....."

"T-That voice... no, it can\'t be..."

"Alan..." Avandar stared at his younger brother, seeing his shaking figure.

"Haha...hahahaha, it\'s my fault... I did this to her..."

The enemy came closer, and a few seconds later, a single person stood before them... the raging winds as if resembling the turmoil in their hearts... the monster... a familiar image, a beloved image...

It was their mother.

Twisted with an evil shape, her teeth full of sharp fangs... sewn limbs tied together, some blue, others rotting, but the face still pristine was her... those dark black gemstone eyes... Alan, Linda and Avandar couldn\'t mistake her!

"Mother...Avan... it\'s mother, Mother is that you... I..."

Alan tried to take a step, but the tight grip of his brother stopped him.

"No... don\'t do it... she\'s not..."

"Let me go! LET ME GO!! Mother!!!"

The screams and shouts of Alan echoed as a sudden gust of wind and fire erupted, the heat searing their bodies, the pain as he felt something pushing him away... the figure that seemed so dainty and small appeared at his chest before he could react...

Alan\'s head turned, the world turning in slow motion... as the woman\'s mouth opened, and the top half of Linda\'s body vanished.

"Alan..."

The lifeless eyes of his sister stared at him, his mouth agape. The screams and sounds of the battle seemed so far away.

"Linda... Linda!! NO! Linda!!!"

His cries went unanswered as the creature\'s deformed arm wrapped around her lower body and tore it apart.

"ALAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ACTIVATE YOUR SWORD!" Avandar shouted, his arm holding a silver blade while he held his hand for Lydia.

"Delicious... Still hungry... a little more.... then I sleep... She said to sleep after eating... wait for him..."

"No, no, no, no, no, no... I was wrong. You are not Mother, and you\'re not the woman who raised me."

"I will have to sleep after this..."

"Sleep after killing her, after eating my sister?"

"Alan, what the hell are you doing? Why are you standing there frozen!?"

The sudden shout caused Alan\'s eyes to widen... He never moved, from the moment the monster appeared his mind broke upon seeing her face... Lost in his illusion... he looked around to find Linda gone... half the knights they brought with them... dead...

and Lydia... Lydia\'s upper body was hanging from the monster\'s grotesque right arm, blood oozing from her lips and mouth... with Avandar holding onto her hand for dear life.

***

"That moment... was my first defeat. I don\'t even remember how I survived, no... I do." Alan\'s face was dark; his hair hid him, and his shoulders shuddered. "The monster.... after eating Lydia, my first love and my brother\'s wife...

she became \'Full\' but that wasn\'t the end of our nightmare..."

"..." Ryuji didn\'t speak; he could feel the scene, and when he heard about the illusion Alan saw, even as a hero to take that kind of mental impact, he couldn\'t blame him...

"That monster, you know... It can take the face, the voice... even the memories of anything it devours."

"So, what happened? Where did the monster go after that?"

The rain became louder, the tap on the windows, like the ticking of a clock, seemed to echo, and when Ryuji looked out the window, he saw that the rain was now heavy and seemed to match Alan\'s aura.

"We buried her... with the help of the surviving troops and Velvet... we marched into the demon lands... slaughtering their young, old and weak... The monster didn\'t move, breathe or speak after she fell into a strange sleep, so we dug... deep into the ground inside the demon territory...

and buried her."

Alan opened his cork again, drinking from the cask, and gave a bitter laugh. "When we returned, the people thought we won... treated Lydia and Linda as heroes... Haha... so, that is when we began to hide the truth and sought to summon help to die for us. Velvet discovered the monster wanted unique magic; rather than quantity, it was quality.

Thus, we made a deal with the goddess... Our second sin... to sacrifice people like you, to feed that monster and make her sleep."

"..."

"Ryuji... do you know how many people from your world we have killed?"

"I don\'t know... It depends--"

"Twenty-seven thousand, six hundred and fifty-nine. Sometimes they are the same as your classmates, other times they seem closer to you or wear strange clothes and believe in many different gods, speak different words... Yet we lied, as directed by Lumina and sent them to die."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"To know the truth, and so that you can make the choice. The deal with the goddess ended the moment we summoned your group. We don\'t know why, but she began to break the boons and the lock on the demon\'s bindings that we increased each time she slept just before you arrived. So she we will soon march again."

"What?!"

"And it is not only Lumina, but other beings are fighting against us, the \'Heroes\' and the \'Gods\' as they want the monster gone. They are aiming to destroy our bloodline, from my brother to Liana and Velvet. That is their promise with the goddess, the reason we are at war with them all, and now, the key to the solution is you."

"Why me?"

"You are a demon, born from a human and the last demon queen, and the child that my grandfather and mother saved... the reason she became that monster and because I want you to protect Liana... to become my family for real in the future."

"... You seem to be in a rush."

Alan and Ryuji looked at each other, the rain starting to fade while their bitter faces might start rumours if seen by someone outside.

"Why do you bring up Liana but not Anne?" Ryuji asked. He felt that was important.

"You are sometimes dense, then sharp at annoying times, Ryuji... The church seeks to force us to accept a marriage between Liana and--"

"No, sorry. I won\'t allow it."

"Ryuji?"

"Alan, forgive me if this makes things difficult for you and Grigor, but I\'m taking Liana with me after the tournament. Should anyone approach her, I will kill them—people hate me as it is anyway, so call me a demon and reveal my true nature when we leave. It should help you avoid punishment, right?"

"Are you sure..."

"I am happy to become the world enemy for that girl."

"You... I can\'t even get mad when you say such corny lines. Save them for Liana. She would love that kind of thing..."

"Alan, I still have stuff to tell you... But let\'s head back and speak in your office in a bright place, where we can see the picture of your mother and sister."

It was a small, simple gesture, but Alan\'s shoulders couldn\'t help but tremble as he turned away. A slight quiver of his lips as he wiped his face. "You idiot... Why does it feel you can always see into my mind!"

Ryuji jumped down and placed both hands on his hips. "Because I loved my mother more than anything, too."

Then he turned around with the biggest grin as if a flash of sunlight filled the room. He offered a hand to Alan who hesitated to take it at first.

"You damn mother-loving, psycho... Let\'s go, stop being a fool."