Disposal

"You are a threat to the kingdom."

In the middle of a luxurious room decorated with numerous extravagant ornamentals stood a tall and lanky middle-aged man. He had neatly groomed dark-brown hair and a pair of ocean-blue eyes, perfectly complementing his bushy beard as well as royal demeanor. His eyes were currently focused on a similarly aged man that was kneeling in front of him.

"Your majesty…?"

The kneeling figure immediately responded with confusion. His eyebrows started to furrow upon hearing the other figure's statement. His crow-black hair was presented in a messy style and dark circles were visible under his violet eyes. The figure that was kneeling had a more muscular stature and was clearly not as tall.

"What I'm saying is, you are too strong for your own good, so die for me."

A tiny smirk suddenly appeared on the face of the man who was standing. Although small, the smirk was still unable to escape from the other man's eyes.

Without having enough time to wrap his head around the situation, the kneeling figure immediately started to feel an immense pain surge throughout his body.

He immediately realized that the tea he was offered beforehand had poison in it. However, he couldn't do anything about it.

At first, there was only pain, but a few moments later, a sense of dizziness started to overwhelm the man.

A cold expression appeared on his face while the other figure just stood there and laughed. The man that was kneeling suddenly collapsed onto the cold, hard floor, just barely hanging onto his consciousness.

"Damn you." Muttering in an almost silent voice, the man on the floor, although wreathing in pain, showed no emotion whatsoever.

Taken aback by the stubbornness and lack of expression of the other man, the man who was standing felt provoked and immediately used his cane to hit the man lying on the floor. After striking the man with his cane, he grew even more frustrated. He continued to jab the unconscious man on the floor until he was no longer able to. Falling onto the floor and gasping for air, he looked at the lifeless body in front of him.

"Haaa…Haaa…Serves you right!" With his chest still heaving up and down, he proceeded to call the guards to take the unconscious man away.

A few moments later, two guards wearing brilliant and shiny armor saluted the exhausted man and carried the unconscious man away with them.

"Nobody can threaten my authority. Hahahaha!!" The booming laughter echoed inside the room for many minutes until silence prevailed.

…

All I could hear was the sound of water droplets splashing onto my forehead. Surprisingly, after countless hours of continuous torture, I was still able to keep my composure.

'How long has it been since that bastard poisoned me?' I thought to myself.

Yes, I was poisoned because I was too strong. With the war between the other countries coming to an end, the king no longer needed me. I, who was deemed as the ultimate soldier, needed to be disposed of because I was a "threat" to the kingdom. I knew that it was utter nonsense and that the king was afraid of me. He wanted to rid all possibilities of his authority being taken away; I always knew that he was a petty and weak bastard.

Staring at the dull, gray ceiling, I started to wonder why I even wanted to become strong in the first place.

Deep down I knew, though, the reason behind my desire for strength. Ever since my youth, that was when my thirst for power began to sprout.

I spent most of my youth in an enemy concentration camp. During those days, I would mindlessly work from day to night with little to no food in my system. For 5 years, I would repeat the same process every single day. At some point during that time, I had lost all hope and emotion. I was once a very prideful and arrogant prince who had wild ambitions, but at the age of 7, I was kidnapped by an enemy as a hostage. The enemy attempted to use me in order to force my father, the king, to withdraw his troops from the frontline. My father, however, didn't even bother to negotiate with the enemy and left me alone to rot in the enemy's concentration camp.

The only thing that kept me pushing through was the drive for revenge; I wanted revenge on my father. I thought I had found my goal in life, and that was to kill my father.

On the exact day that I turned 12, though, the concentration camp that I was in had been destroyed. Many people that I was closely acquainted with died on that day. After spending countless years with these people, I naturally grew close to them, and I even considered some as family. With their death, this event left another gaping hole in my heart.

I had escaped the camp, but I had nowhere to go, and I aimlessly wandered the world.

'Why is the world like this?'

'What is the purpose of life?'

'Is there a reason for me to live on?'

For the rest of that year, these types of thoughts often appeared in my head. I traveled across the continents looking for the purpose of life, but it was to no avail. I figured that if I had become stronger, everything would fix itself and be put back into place. So, during my journey, I started to train in order to become stronger. I came up with methods to train that people never even considered doing at the time, such as implementing weight training. Elated by my unnatural rate of growth, my lust for power became more evident each time I became stronger.

I spent countless hours pouring my soul into training and eventually, I mastered every single weapon I could think of. From short ranged to long ranged, blunt to projectile, every single weapon I touched was like a fish meeting the water.

I also found myself excelling at all kinds of hand-to-hand combat techniques and martial arts.

For another 10 years, I continued to train myself, becoming completely immersed into drilling myself in the process. At some point during this time, I had become an existence in which many feared. I had become an existence able to win any battle. I had become an existence deemed worthy of becoming a god.

It wasn't until the month after I became 22 that I found my chance at revenge. My father was currently at war with a country with the name of Reia and they were in need of soldiers. I applied for a position within the ranks and immediately got in. Within months of joining, I had become a commander who had power just second to the king himself.

Just 2 years later, I found myself face to face with my father. After killing him, I thought I had fulfilled my goal and I could finally be at peace, but that wasn't the case. There was still an emptiness in my heart that couldn't be filled.

I was at a loss. I couldn't find a purpose, nor could I find a goal. I was completely hollow and purposeless. Oftentimes, I wanted to end everything by taking my own life, but I still felt that there was something missing.

Yes, that's it, I wanted to experience life like a normal person would. I figured that if I changed my mind set and became your average, run-of-the-mill guy, the holes in my heart would be automatically fixed. And so, I did what any ordinary person would, I started a family. I found someone that I thought I loved, and we bore a child together. But eventually, my wife took my child and left me because of some bad excuse of not being able to provide for them. I later found out that my wife had found another husband.

There were now three unrepairable holes in my heart.

I didn't know if I was devastated or not, but it was then that I had decided to end my life.

But before I could, the king betrayed me. However, I didn't feel anything this time, I just felt… disappointed?

Snapping me out of my daze was another droplet of water splashing against my forehead.

Suddenly, I heard a loud creaking noise signaling that my jail cell was opened. A couple of loud footsteps approached me, and a foul odor suddenly invaded my nostrils.

"Hehe, what's the ultimate soldier doing here, eh?" Another wave of bad breath brushed across my face. I would have turned my head away if not for the torture mechanism restricting my movement.

"None of your business." I said as I spat a mouthful of spit up his face.

"You bastard!" The figure looming over me yelled as he grabbed out a small knife.

"Now, now, let's have some fun, shall we?" The figure calmed down as he licked the blade of the knife.