Requiem Of A Failed Hero

“Human.” Its voice was like the sound of rushing waves and quaked Raith’s heart.

‘What the hell? It can talk?’ Raith’s fears were immediately confirmed from that point.

The only otherworldly being that he had met that was able to talk. Yes, Thard-Harl. This spelled bad news in block letters.

The knight picked up its long sword and stood up, it already was high enough while sitting but upon standing, Raith’s height only reached its waist.

The knight’s blue cape fluttered noisily as it dragged its sword toward Raith and finally stopped in front of him.

“How did thou enter this place? It is impossible to enter the sanctuary of a guardinal.”

“What are you saying? What is a guardinal and how is this a sanctuary when you are in here hiding.”

Raith noticed a flinch the moment he mentioned the fact that the knight was hiding.

“Human, walk away from this and I shall spare thy life.”

swoosh

Raith equipped the black sword and spun it.

[You have activated ‘Way Of The Sword’]

[Skill Proficiency has increased]

This fight was so going to be interesting.

“How foolish,” The knight stated and…

Whish

It disappeared– the next time it appeared, was its sword crashing down on that of Raith.

CLANG!!

Raith successfully blocked the sword but was buried in the ground, the force of the knight’s swing down, razed the ground surrounded Raith, and buried his legs deep into it. He could feel all his body vibrating from one single block. His hands were immediately numb and he couldn’t feel his grip on his sword even though he tried to still hold onto it.

By the time Raith looked up, the greatsword was already in the air again and coming downwards.

“Oh… shit…”

Slash!

The sword slashed down from his shoulder diagonally through his torso, splitting his body into two.

[You have died]

[Level Up!]

[You have gained 4 stat points]

[Level Up!]

[You have gained 4 stat points]

[Level Up!]

[You have gained 4 stat points]

[Due to title ‘One Who Devours Death’]

[You will be revived]

Before Raith’s split body could fall too far from each other, his blood solidified and stretched from each part and joined together. He stops there lifeless for a few minutes as the wound slowly healed and brought him back to life.

His eyes opened, “Wow… this is refreshing…” Raith mumbled as he cracked his neck and faced the knight before him.

The knight had no facial expression, “This is going to be a hassle.” It said and swung its sword towards the back, shifting one leg forward and lowering it‐ he was getting ready for a very detrimental horizontal strike.

“Bring it on…” Raith said as he positioned his sword vertically before him.

Slaaaasshh!!

He didn’t even see the sword move. His upper body flew upwards while his lower body sank to its knee. The knight stabbed the long sword into his upper body and threw it to the wall, pinning it to the wall with his sword before it could join back together.

[You have died]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Dust/Attribute: Darker Than Black has been activated] .

[All Passive skills are explosively in use]

[Due to attribute ‘Darker Than Black’ your body will dematerialize into darkness upon in-death and materialize after resurrection is assured]

Raith’s body began to blacken and melt off. Soon his entire day had melted off to black liquid and sunk into the ground.

“Worthless.” The knight said and walked back to his seat. Just as it climbed the steps, it paused.

Dark smoke disturbingly flowed around and formed a humanoid, and as the knight turned back to see what was going on. Raith came out of the darkness, naked.

“Ah, thou art no human. How could I miss that.”

“He he he… I keep knowing more and more about myself thanks to you.”

“An entity that can resurrect after death, like the prophecies.” The knight spoke but before Raith got a moment to process what it said. He dashed forward, every step tremendously razing the ground.

Raith backstepped but before he could complete that already-taken step, the knight’s fist connected with his abdomen.

From Raith’s senses was a perception of serenity. Everything seemed to be so peaceful for a moment as if the world had gone on a long pause. The next thing he felt was a crushing pain through his whole stomach and his back as he was smashed into the metallic wall by the impact of the knight’s blow.

He dropped to the ground and kept vomiting blood, even afterward he was already bleeding through his nose and found it very hard to stand with balance because his head was spinning and his gaze was not balanced.

‘Ah, shit… I’m so dead.’

He leaned on his knee for a few more minutes.

“What art thou? For an abomination, thou art weak.”

“The fuck? Who the fuck are you calling an abomination?”

“Thou, art an abomination. A human that can resurrect. How did thou manage to defy the laws of death?” The knight asked, walking closer to Raith.

“That is because I am the fucking death,”

cough cough

Raith coughed and vomited more blood as he tried to force the harsh tone.

“I have heard of human exploits to overcome death. But I don’t remember one being successful. Perhaps with you, I can regain my rightful place in Elysium.”

‘Elysium… hiding…’ Raith squinted his eyes. “Oh oh oh, I see now. I see it very well now. You are a celestial that is hiding?”

The knight paused, “Yes I am. Took thou so long to realize, as expected… foolish.”

“Fuck you, calling me foolish. You are the foolish one!!”

cough!

Raith coughed up blood as he shouted again.

“Weak abomination. But I must say, I am quite impressed, for a weak human like you to not be affected by the celestial code upon processing that information.” The knight stated, with its hand beneath its chin, as if it was observing all of Raith’s entirety.

“I will beat the shit out of thou and bring thou with me. Thou will be my reason for restoration.”