The Human Ego.

"The Hero." Or so he called it. Let's go back 450 or so years.

Terrans have started calling themselves 'Humans.' as they are the only left, all hints of past existing 'Humans.' have been erased. Zoomorns and Demons were no more to Humans as they only live in fear of The Demon Lord.

Human civilization has started developing towards overcoming the monsters as they grow stronger either by body or by magic, and live with the goal of taking out The Demon Lord.

During this period The empire ruled all Terrans, as I had told you before, Terrans had killed off each other with only one tongue, one race, and one belief being left, and the one that survived the onslaught was The Empire. Stripping power from all it's common folk they ruled over them.

One day, The 15th child of the emperor was born. He was born with a frail body, and was expected to only grow weaker. With that information the emperor ignored his presence and his mother, the emperor's concubine, blamed him for her lifestyle saying that she would have had it better if he wasn't so weak. Even though he was ignored by the emperor he had still lived an extravagant child as the only rulers blood kin.

He was given access to the best only the best, but even then he did nothing but cower in the corners of the emperor's castle. He was scared of his other 14 siblings all of whom had bright futures ahead of them, except for one, the emperors 6th child. Despite being of a much higher status he would still regularly hang around with the 15th child, he was the only one of all the siblings to truly care about their sibling bond. After all, his mother, The Empress, had nothing to worry about, so she had raised him with plenty of love and care, unlike all of his other siblings whom had seen it as a competition.

The 15th would always look forward to hang around with the 6th as he was the only one whom he had felt close to in the empty castle. Their time together would mostly be spent with the 15th watching the 6th train, and then playing some childhood games like tag or hide-and-seek in the massive castle.

One day the 15th had opened up to the 6th about how he had been extremely worried about his future and what will happen to him going forward. He was weaker than all of his siblings and had nothing else going for him... All he would all day was sulk, and for the first time the 6th had made fun of him. He told him that as long as he stays like it's natural that he won't grow, so he gave the 4 year old kid an ultimatum: Live on pitying himself or dedicate his life to education.

He promised him that he would use his connections to get him reading, writing, and mana lessons, from no one, but the best of the empire. The 4 year old, overwhelmed by such an opportunity, couldn't but accept, and the 6th child delivered as he had promised. He would immediately begin his studies with the best there was, and even though he was giving it his all, he could tell they weren't. Despite being a child of the emperor the 15th was looked down upon even among the servants of the castle. But, with the chance given to him by his sibling he had made sure that wouldn't bring him down.

Time passed as the 15th did nothing but study, using the connections of the 6th, he was given the best tuition humanity could provide, and he himself didn't take it for granted as the 6th had warned him of consequences if he was to waste this chance after accepting it. Eventually he had earned back the respect that should've have been his from the start, He had gained the respect of an emperor's child. To his surprise the 6th was right on mark with his advice as the 15th had found himself excel in intellectual studies.

By the age of 26 his growth had been severely slowed down. He had read almost every book in the castle's library, and had learned everything he could from the people he was sent. The only field left for him was tactician, but with how only monsters had threatened the empire he didn't find any importance in it.

But, He had a goal in mind.

He had heard of a secret library hidden somewhere within the castle, The Emperor's Library. A Library that held archives dated back to thousands of years ago. He had wanted it. He asked the 6th child, who had now become the heir to the throne, about it. The 6th had given up on his other siblings as they had only hated him for his status, so now he had only the 15th left as his 'True sibling'. With that he confirmed it's existence. The 15th knew of his importance to the 6th and told him about how he had wanted to enter it, but the 6th immediately refused saying that that was the only thing he would never be able to do. His father, The Emperor, wouldn't allow a single soul in other than himself, that even if you would step close to it your head would be on his display. Hearing that the 15th gave up.

That night he couldn't sleep, as The Emperor's Library kept crossing his mind, he just couldn't get himself to calm down. He had read every book provided to him about human history, but something had always felt off... An entity that lived off in The Middle Lands and ruled the monsters, suddenly as humans make contact with it decides to release the monsters and take away the seasons of the world? Just why? And why under such a convenient time...? ...And why "The Demon Lord." the origin of it's name is never explained, and is always called nothing but a mere title... but, that's definitely not it. Somewhere in The Emperor's Library the truth was hidden.

Staying up all night with such thoughts he confronted the heir of the throne once more, saying if anyone was able to do this it would be him. Seeing how desperate his precious little brother was, the 6th gives in. He tells him where to meet up and when. Arriving to said Location an hour before midnight he finds the 6th waiting with a basket and a small candle in hand. They reach the throne room's door where surprisingly no one stands watch, the 15th asks about it whom to which the 6th replies saying he gave the supposed guards the night off that night.

Following the 6th, they enter the throne room. Inside they are greeted with an over-the-top red carpet leading towards The Emperor's throne that's decorated with a comical amount of 24 karat pure gold even in the darkness of the night you could still see a glint. The 6th immediately steps forward hurrying the 15th while shushing him, so to be as quite as possible. They creeped towards The Emperor's throne that shone in the darkness of the night.

When they had reached it, the 6th circled around it and turned to it's back, the 15th followed his example. The 6th then explained to the 15th his plan: he would let the 15th into the library where he would stay there for a week, he would give him the basket he has been carrying so that he would be able to eat something for the coming week, that he should never, under no circumstances, ever step out of the library, and that exactly a week from now at that exact time the 6th would come for him once again.

The 15th silently nodded and then the 6th had pushed a part of the thrones back inside, as if it was a button, and then a part of the throne's back had started sliding down, disappearing into the ground, revealing a long staircase. The 6th told the 15th to hurry inside as he fears anyone seeing them, and as such the 15th did. He slowly stepped down the spiral of steps with his heart only beating faster and faster.

'Soon, Soon I will know the secrets of the world. The truth of our history, and the truth of our empire. All of it.' With such thoughts on his mind a jaw breaking grin formed on his face. At the bottom of the stairs he had seen it, it was a small library if anything it was more of a large bookshelf, but nonetheless the books were there. The books that held all the erased history. Immediately he got to it, picking one book to the other he read it. He loved it, every bit of it. From start to finish, from demons to terrans. From the selfless side to the selfish side, from The Superior to The Demon Lord, and from the terrans to the humans. He would even forget to eat at times, only to collapse and wake up the next hour, with how infatuated he was with the books.

But, among it all, one thing stood out to him. The Human Ego, The indomitable human spirit, The feeling to stand at the top. The feeling to look down on those beneath you, to look down on those who once looked down on you, He knew it very well. After all, he had proved himself worthy, even if it's not by strength, once he had become of age, making multiple discoveries of his own, and heavily contributing to the empire's mana research department, even his mother who had died a couple of years ago after getting sick had tried to make up with him.

The Human Ego, had completely taken over his mind, even as he read of all the genocides it had caused, He loved it. He understood that it was nothing but human nature at work, and he wanted to read more and more about it. The promised day had a come a week after he had started, he could hear the entrance slide down from afar... He ignored it, He didn't care if it meant his death in this library, he wanted to know more about it, as much as he possibly could, and there is nowhere else but here to do so. Eventually he could hear the entrance slide once again closing itself.

He sat down and continued to read, he had memorized all of it. From the history, to the ancient mana scriptures. But, his dopamine rush had come to an end as he remembered an entity, The Demon Lord, The very thing that stopped The Human Ego. He despised it. Appearing out of nowhere, and standing like a castle made of pure gold, halting the humans' growth. Even now it sits at the center of the world looking down on all of them.

He hated it, the thought that a being that was given power and control everything sat at the top of the world, it didn't have to go through anything nor did it have to go through the suffering the humans did, so why does it have the right to do so? Who chose for it to stand above all? Fate? The World? Mana? Then fuck it all, He would rip it all apart and top it in it's own field. He would rewrite the world itself if that is what it took to top it, simply... He would stand at nothing to make humanity sit at the top once again.

He went back to the ancient mana scriptures and heavily studied them, eventually making a plan. With his weak and frail body carrying one of the books with him he climbed the stair steps. Reaching the top just as he had expected an obvious button was there, The Emperor didn't want anyone near here, so if he were to ever enter it himself he would have to leave himself. He didn't know what time it was, but he had hoped it was day, and that once he steps outside he would find his father sitting on the throne.

He knew of what his ancestors had done, the deals they had made with The Demon Lord, it was all to grow humanity stronger. By making The Demon Lord strip away a right of the world he was labelled a greater evil, and with the monsters roaming the world we are forced to grow stronger. But, They were naïve, if it is as the Zoomorns had explained long ago, That he is naturally at the top, then if we take the normal means to grow he himself will also get stronger, so that the world stays corrected. After all, He was a concept in this world if anything.

But according to what his ancestors had done, it gave him hope, it had proved that they hadn't given up on the top. They too wanted to take him down, and his father, The current Emperor, should be a carrying on that will.

He pressed the obvious switch and the door started sliding down, with his weak frail body he was exposed to the sun once more. He had felt as if he was going to melt any second, but still circled around the throne, on whom his father was on, and then kneeled in front of it. The guards immediately rushed at him only to be stopped with a hand raise from The Emperor. As he kneeled down to the emperor he grinned from ear to ear as he could feel the pressure of the man who stood at the top of humanity, so he wondered, how would it feel if he stood at the top of the world?

With the amount of pressure suddenly thrown at him He didn't know how to start off his proposal, but to his surprise The Emperor was the first to talk.

"What is your opinion of it, child genius?" The emperor said while scorning at him.

Taken by surprise he replied truthfully.

"It was beautiful, and I wish to continue it." He spoke.

The old man ordered for everyone to leave them alone in the throne, even the 6th who was present.

Looking slightly up to his father he saw him.

The old man's white beard spread as a sinister grin formed on his face.

"Speak your mind." The sinister looking old man spoke with excitement in his voice.

The 15th then explained his plan, during his mana studies he was able to discover a way to force his way into the book that makes up everyone's life, Fate. Using that he would make up an immortal human, but it wouldn't give them strength, so then he had came up with another thing, A core that carries All knowledge, memories, strength, and mana it's previous owner held. Combining them both into a Terran, under the right circumstances, The Demon Lord was only a stepping stone.

The old emperor stood up proud, and walked down the stairs separating him from his child whom is kneeling down. As he stood next to him, he patted him on his shoulder so that he would stand, and then proudly looked at him.

"You've proved me wrong." The father said to his son.

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The 15th child was given an empty village far away from the capital, where he was given free reign to experiment as much as he could. There he had homeless people from all over the empire delivered to him on a weekly basis from men to woman they wouldn't hold back on anyone. Only few knew of the 15th child's project, which of whom not even the 6th was among. They placed a new rule of taking away homeless people to justify their disappearances, but instead sending them to the 15th's village. There he would commit an experiment after another on both the core's production and rewriting fate.

With the core he was working on a smaller scale version in which it would only take everything within a 4meter radius. He would fit a bunch of people into a room and try planting the core into someone, it would always turn into a failure, they would either all end up exploding, getting sucked into nowhere, or just outright disappearing. Fail after fail he was slowly making progress.

But, the real problem was the opening of the book of fate, What it took was putting a person into a state of sleep and then forcing himself into their self by completely mimicking their mana flow, something only a lunatic such as himself could do, and then from the inside completely destroying their mind to the point where they would beg for death and only then will a hint of the book of fate will show. Deep within everyone's mana flow if you have them crave something hard enough a hint of it being written into their life will show, and making someone wish for death was the easiest way to reach such a point in successive repetition.

3 months into his experiments, A new patch was delivered, this time around there was a kid among them, when the 15th had asked why it was among the homeless: the carrier said he was causing trouble to the folks while living in the streets, so he was taken among the guinea pigs.

The 15th couldn't careless for a child so he had done the book of fate experiment on him. Mimicking the kid's mana flow, he did as he did to all the other subjects, He made him wish for death. For the first time since the start of the experiments, the book of fate was as clear as day. He could actually perceive the kids life as it was being written, when he had tried to rewrite it he failed. The kid died, but he didn't care, for another discovery was made. It was such an obvious fact, but it hadn't crossed his mind. A child who is yet to experience as much of life as adult would have a much clearer and observable life.

And as such his main subjects of tests became Children, He tried using them for the core experiment which was also surprisingly effective. Since a child's mana flow is still growing it's a lot more accepting than that of a fully matured adult. Leaving the adults alone now, he would get a new patch of orphans or lost children every week. His experiments were a lot more fruitful this time around, with him reaching a success on the core only 2 weeks later. But, that was only an imitation of the real thing, which is a 5km radius. But, with the first's success he can theorize a perfect process for the perfected version.

The real problem was The Book of Fate. After 5 more months was he finally able edit it, but even then he was only given a small amount of 3 secs. He had tried all types of ways, but all of them either failed or ended up with the kid disappearing from existence as if he was never there. So, instead of studying ways to write immortality into it, he studied the book and how it works.

With 3 secs each time he slowly understood it over time.

4 months later.

The emperor, his father, had passed away giving the throne to his heir, the 6th child. While in the background the 15th continued his experiments with the people given to him by his father.

Giving himself a free day, the 15th child visited his fathers grave a day after the burial when it was empty. He arrived with booze and drank as he sat cross seated in front of the grave. He didn't know how he had felt towards his father, but during the last couple of months, he didn't hate him. If anything he had respected him. After drinking himself asleep, he then leaves while the 6th gave him concerned looks from the side.

3 months after the 6th taking over, Finally the concept of the book was understood. While it was called the book of fate, it had nothing to do with such a thing. Every creature was born with a blank book, the book would write itself as the creature lived, For example, if you were to jump right now, such would be written on the book. But, for greater events in your life, such as giving birth, or buying a house, they are written with a lot more pressure behind them, that is what caused The Book of Fate to appear whenever someone had craved death hard enough.

The 6th whom was very suspicious on the raising amount of disappearing citizens even before becoming emperor, was slowly closing down on them. The Emperor had made sure that no such thing would happen while he was in control, but with a new Emperor all they could do was rush as much as possible.

To their luck, an end was seen. The 15th had figured a way to write immortality into a human with his new understanding. It was simple. With the final patch arriving he had the perfect core placed within himself, which was made a while ago in an extremely far away place as to not get the other subjects sucked in, as the final child was used. This time around he had made sure to not hold back, they had no time to hold back their experiments with the 6th closing in extremely fast. Mimicking the child's mana flow, Extremely overwhelming pain followed, but this time he made sure that the kid wouldn't just wish death on himself, but wish he had never existed in the first place.

And there it was, The Book Of Fate. This time much clearer than ever before. Clutching the kid's fate he flipped it to it's very end, and placed a single dot. A dot, which signifies the end of a creature's end on the book. So, instead of making a human that will never die, he created an entity that will continue to move no matter what until it meets it's end. Then he did his final touches to the core, he had made it so that it would lock away all memories pertaining to how the core was made, and that it would halt the holder's aging at it's peak until the age of 80, so that the holder could stay at his peak performance.

And then he had given his 2 assistants who were helping him the go ahead to leave immediately towards the capital, where people who had supported him waited for his order. You see, his goal wasn't only to create a being that surpassed the demon lord to put humanity on top, but to free it as well. while working on his 2 projects, he had turned most of his siblings to his side, with 9 of the 15 other than himself joining the movement. He had used their hate for the 6th sibling to motivate them into joining him on overthrowing the empire from the inside. He had felt guilty for turning on the very person who got him here, but if it meant that humanity will get what is rightfully theirs then he didn't care.

After waiting a couple of hours in a room with a small window slipping light in, with a kid who is continuously banging his head into a wall only for it to regenerate moments later. He stood up and started the final act. He places his hand on the mentally unstable immortal kid and transfers the core.

"Grow strong, Learn, and pass it to the next. Eventually a singularity will be reached where you all will create a single entity powerful enough to carry my will." Those were the 15th's final words.

And that, Lena, Is how the first "Hero" Was born. With a core that was hungry for power, and an immortal body, "The Perfect Human" was born. Using the Zoomonrn's ancient mana scriptures, and the Demon's aged way of fighting. The first "Hero" Stepped foot onto the world. The kid who was banging his head into the wall was suddenly sane once again, he had forgotten everything up to that moment and wandered through the empty village confused. He spent the next couple of days following the path he had seen in front of him.

Eventually he had reached what was once The Empire, but the kid hadn't known that. He walked through the collapsed buildings and the bloody streets. Corpses could be seen from time to time, and the burns of fires were all over the place, and at the center of it all, The Emperor's Castle, Was no longer there, but only the remains of it's structure.

There were still people from here and there looking extremely weak, and begging the healthy looking kid for help, not knowing how to answer he simply runs away. The Empire that ruled all of humanity was simply no more.

With people now spread around the world they had each started their own villages, towns, and capitals. Picking one of the brothers as their new ruler. Exactly as the 15th had planned, he had put all the blame of the disappearing people onto the emperor using evidence left by the past emperor, and then turned his siblings into heroes who put a stop to The Empire's tyranny over all of humanity. The plan was underwork for a long time as they were slowly building fear towards the emperor in the dark even during his father's reign.

The kid didn't know any of that, after all memories of the 15th were locked away to never be passed on. Time passed for the kid and as he grew older he realized the state of his body, despite it's state of immortality, it was still weak, so he learned to fight. Aging the kid had reached the promised age of 80 where his body had finally started aging in an extremely fast pace. Then the words of the 15th had reached him "Grow strong, Learn, and pass it to the next. Eventually a singularity will be reached where you all will create a single entity powerful enough to carry my will." Unknown knowledge of how the core worked flowed into his brain and he suddenly had known that he should transfer the core.

Searching for a good opportunity to transfer without taking unneeded causalities he stumbles upon a dying village with few tens left behind, It was too convenient. Thanking the world, he chose a successor and passed the core onto him taking the life of the miserable villagers, the 2nd was told of the core and how it worked before being given it so he wasn't in as much of confusion as the first, so then he once again moved. This time he had been stronger than the first with more to be sucked in, with the fighting knowledge the first had learned the second focused on adventuring and exploring the world and it's secrets.

Then when he had become 90 he once again passed the core in an even more convenient situation with a more populated village having a deadly-virus outbreak. Following the first's steps the 3rd was born, He was indeed stronger with the added strength of the 2nd, but still he understood it wasn't enough. With 80 years of fighting, and 90 of exploring, this one had focused on studying medicine and healing magic. Going around the world learning the best healing magic possible he still had a couple of years left when he had focused on growing stronger. Then at the age of 86 he had found his opportunity to pass it on.

Again a convenient situation was given him with a larger amount of people where he passed it believing it was the for the greater good. The 4th was then born, this time stronger than ever he had tried attacking the demon lord, to say he had failed miserably would be an understatement. He was greeted as "The Hero of Humanity" By the demon lord and then absolutely obliterated barely escaping thanks to his immortality, he focused on magic this time around. once again the time had arrived, at the age of 84, and the 5th successor had been chosen.

This time they were confident, with the passing on of the 4th's strength and the sacrifice of 5,754 people, they were confident that he would be able to take on the demon lord... But, he failed once again, he was indeed able to put up more of a fight than the 4th, but he was nowhere close. Pitying himself the 4th roamed the world searching for something else to give the next successor, The only thing he was able to discover was The Zoomorn village underground, after accidentally falling down that hole while exploring the dungeon. A regular human would've been squashed to bits, but thanks to his indestructibility his body had made it, there he was surprisingly welcomed.

They had told him about how The Demon Lord was talking well of "The Heroes" such as himself, and how he was completely different from the Terrans who had abandoned them in their time of need. As the 15th child's memories were passed on the 4th successor didn't know of the history of the world, so seeing Zoomorns he felt that he had went insane.

Eventually, accepting the Zoomorns existence, he had learned further magic from the Zoomorns, who taught him how to make absolute use of his perfect mana flow. That is when the condensed magic was first used by a human. Zoomorns had very good understanding of mana, but none was lucky enough to be born with a perfect mana flow, so many of their theories were never put into practice, but thanks to the 4th they were finally able to put them to use.

After learning how to make use his perfect flow, the 5th leaves and starts wandering the world for more hidden knowledge, he finds nothing of use. Finally reaching the age of 80, the 5th had found the perfect opportunity, The Kingdom of evulsa.

I don't have to continue, right? you can put two and two together.

And now 450 years later, here we are.

The final holder.