Betrayal

There were many things in this regression that Neo didn't know about. Any information about important events from his previous lives were pretty much useless to him now when everything in this regression progressed on an extremely different path.

At the very least, he still had knowledge of special areas, items, people, skills and techniques that were useful to him.

Neo sighed after he dealt with another demonic beast. Even though things were looking pretty good in this life, the future was completely unknown to him and it made Neo a little uneasy.

"Neo, is there something wrong?" Cecilia asked after she noticed that he was spacing out.

"Hm?"

"You were spacing out with a worried look on your face."

"Ah, that…it's nothing, Cecilia," Neo replied before turning away and looking for his next target.

Paul, who was looking pretty exhausted, walked over to the two and reported, "Sir Neo, Lady Cecilia, I think that's all of the demonic beasts in the area."

"Is it?"

Neo quickly scanned the surroundings and found that Paul was right. He spread his senses out as far as he could, but couldn't feel the presence of any demonic beasts in the area around him.

"...What should we do now?" Neo turned to Paul and asked.

"We should regroup with the others from the 3rd Royal Guard Squadron. I noticed that there were a few smoke signals fired into the air earlier. It seems some of the teams have finished hunting as well," Paul answered as he pointed up to the sky.

"Let's head back then–"

Just as Neo said this, he felt a powerful surge of energy come from the direction of the crypt where Merlina and Sigurd were at.

"!"

Cecilia felt it too so she turned her head and looked in the direction of the crypt. Neo felt that something was wrong because the surge of energy was strange. It wasn't normal. He felt this way because he's been on the battlefield for so long and that kind of energy surge would only happen when someone was in a fight or was about to fight.

"Something's wrong, we should go see what's happened!" Neo said before he began rushing towards the direction where he felt the energy surge come from. "Paul, go report this to the knights! Merlina and Sigurd may need some help!"

"E-Eh? Okay!"

Paul was a little flustered by the sudden development. He didn't know what Neo was talking about as he wasn't energy sensitive so he couldn't feel the energy surge. Cecilia, however, was able to so she quickly chased after Neo when she saw him leave.

"Ahh, crap! A-Anyway, I should go report this to the captain!"

Just before Neo and Cecilia arrived at the crypt, a powerful surge of energy erupted all of a sudden before a huge explosion occurred right in front of the crypt's entrance. The explosion caught the attention of the knights who were regrouping in the forest and those that were still back at the camp.

"Captain, what's happened?"

"Stop asking questions and round up everybody! Give the signal that we're going to move, immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

The captain of the 2nd Royal Guard Squadron took out a flare and fired it into the air, signaling to the other knights in the forest to quickly head to the location of the explosion.

Neo and Cecilia upped their speed when the explosion happened. They didn't know what was happening over on Merlina and Sigurd's end, but it couldn't be anything good. When the two arrived at the entrance of the Demon King's crypt, they saw the First Royal Guard Squadron's members all strewn around on the crypt's entrance floor.

Cecilia saw the Royal Guard Commander on the floor with one of his arms severed and quickly rushed towards him.

"Commander!"

"Urk…C-Cecilia? Is that… you?" The Commander struggled to ask.

His arm was severed, but that wasn't the only injury he had sustained. There was a big hole in his chest and so much blood was pouring out, forming a pool and staining the ground red.

"Yes, Commander!" Cecilia replied. There was blood everywhere and Cecilia couldn't help but grow frightened. The large amount of blood was triggering something traumatizing from her memory, but she gritted her teeth and asked, "W-What happened? Where's the Queen?"

The Commander pointed with his remaining arm towards the crypt and said, "The Queen…is inside…Sigurd…betray…"

Before the Commander could finish his words, the light in his eyes faded. Cecilia closed his eyes, feeling a bit saddened, but Neo, who was standing right behind Cecilia, was bewildered by the Commander's words.

'Betray? Sigurd? Just what is happening?' Neo questioned in his mind.

He impatiently entered the crypt and rushed down the steps without waiting for Cecilia. Traces of an intense battle decorated the corridor leading to where the Demon King was sealed and from the looks of things, it seemed as if Merlina and Sigurd were fighting each other.

'Please…no…'

The familiar demonic energy of the Demon King pervaded the air as he continued downwards and when he arrived at the crypt's main chamber, he saw an appalling scene.

In the middle of the room, just before the platform where the Demon King's Fragment was sealed, Neo saw his best friend from his previous lives, Sigurd, with his sword impaled in the chest of his other good friend, Merlina.

"Sigurd!!!" Neo yelled, sounding really angry.

"Oh? You're here?" Sigurd turned his head and replied without much emotion.

He emotionlessly pulled his sword out of Merlina's chest and the Hero Queen tumbled down the platform stairs lifelessly like a doll.

"Merlina!" Neo called out but received no response. He quickly pulled out his sword and yelled at his friend, "Sigurd, what did you do?!"

Without any hesitation, Sigurd coldly replied, "Can't you see? I killed her."

"You…killed her…"

"She was my friend… but in this life, she's just one of the Goddess's puppets…like you and everyone else…"

When Neo heard Sigurd's words, his eyes widened in shock.

"!"

"Surprised?"

"Y-You remember?" Neo asked.

Sigurd nodded with a cold look in his eyes, "I remember all of it. All of the times you've failed, Neo, and all of the times where we–your friends–died in vain…"

"I–"

Sigurd quickly interrupted Neo as he didn't need an explanation and said, "I asked you last time, 'Will the world truly be at peace once you've vanquished the Demon King' and you answered, 'yes, it will'...why?"

"..."

"Why?"

"...What do you mean?" Neo asked, not understanding the question.

"In your previous lives, you've always failed to kill the Demon King and every single time, Uria would always turn back time for you, but no matter how many times you've tried, you've always failed…why do you keep going down the same path?!" Sigurd angrily asked.

"Because it was the only way!"

Hearing his answer, Sigurd was enraged and he spat out in anger, "The only way?! Do you mean that failure is the only way?!"

"This time's different! We've already defeated the Demon King so–"

"We? We didn't defeat anything!" Sigurd interrupted. "We only lost comrades and loved ones because of your foolishness and Uria's selfishness!"

"I..."

"You won't be able to defeat the Demon King, Neo. You won't be able to break this cycle…" Sigurd said while suppressing his anger, his rage. "This world can only truly end once the damned Goddess and her brother leave the planet…or else this cycle of life and death will continue until the world's lifeforce is exhausted…"

"W-What?"

"You didn't even know about this, Neo?" Sigurd gave Neo a pitiful smile before saying, "Haha! The Goddess deceived even her own Champion!"

"..."

"You seem confused, but find out the answer yourself, Neo."

Sigurd turned around and began walking up the steps to the Demon King's Fragment. Neo didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew he had to stop him. Neo quickly dashed up the stairs and swung his sword at his former friend.

The sounds of two swords clashing resonated throughout the chamber and after a brief exchange, Neo was thrown back down the platform from the sword storm that Sigurd created from just a sweep of his blade.

"Ugh!"

'H-How is he so much stronger in this life?'

Sigurd looked back at his friend who was on the ground with a sad look and said, "...I was hoping in this life, Neo, that you would at least try to end the conflict between Uria and Nyxlvain with a different approach, but I see that you haven't changed at all despite your failures… I just wanted to confirm this first..."

Neo tried to get up but he noticed that shackles of demonic energy had bound him to the floor. His eyes widened in horror when he saw that it was his friend who used demonic energy to bind him.

"D-Demonic energy! Sigurd, you–"

"Despite how things have turned out, remember that I was once your friend, Neo."

"Please, stop! Before it's too late!"

"I've already crossed that line a long time ago, Neo. The good memories we've shared, I'll treasure them, but for now, I'll do what I have to do… and this time, without any hesitation!"

Sigurd continued walking up the platform until he arrived right underneath the Demon King's Fragment that was floating a few meters above a pedestal–the mechanism that was sealing it.

He destroyed the pedestal with a single slash of his sword and released the seal before raising his hand and began absorbing the demonic energy of the Demon King's Fragment.

As the demonic energy flowed into his body, Sigurd's appearance began to change. The hand that was absorbing the Demon King's energy changed to resemble a demonic beast's scaled claw while his blonde hair was tainted entirely pitch black.

After absorbing the Demon King's Fragment, Sigurd's entire presence changed and he turned towards Neo who was helplessly bound to the floor.

"I'll be the one to break this cycle, Neo…"