Chapter One - Failed Quest

「Last Chapter」

(The Dark Hero's Throne Room)

The hero with the platinum armor opens the huge wooden double door. Before he enters, he observes the surroundings inside of the room.

He is now standing at the entrance and the first thing that catches his attention is a throne made out of an enormous piece of black and red jade together with the skeletons of those Dark Hero killed. On top of the throne sits his friend who is now with long silver hair. In contrast to the other hero who has golden-like eyes, this one has dark dead eyes. The hero secretly gulps, they know each other and they let the world keep it as a secret.

"The traitor Imperial General of the Asterin Kingdom, General Aurelius, I am here to punish you for your wrong doings!" The hero said after he drew his sword and pointed it to Aurelolius.

"And you shall die for being so evil and having such thoughts about the people of this realm." He says in a cold tone as he continues walking towards Aurelius while carrying his sword.

The hero can't stand the fact that he is the one who has to give him his justice from his wrongdoings. Even if Aurelius did it for a good reason, he still violates the rule of heaven and Earth. "Today I am going to take your head as your punishment!" He shouts at him.

The Hero raises his sword high above his head. He makes his way to take Aurelius's head on the clear hall. He wanted to punish him properly because he knew what a terrible crime he committed that day but he can't refuse the order. "I hope you rot in hell..."

Maintaining his arrogant expression, Aurelius looks at the hero and stands from his throne. He summons his weapon by drawing it from his heart core. The dark aura spills as he pulls out his sword. Then he walked towards the hero, his black boots hitting the ground harshly that can be heard at the throne room.

"You dare to insult me?! You insolent fool!" Aurelius shouts at the hero with his sharp tone. He starts slashing away at the hero using all the skills he learnt when he was alive.

The sword swings like a whip around him, cutting down anything in its path. His blade glows with a dark black light, and his speed increases exponentially. Soon enough, he already has the hero trapped on the edge of his throne with no way to escape anymore.

"I must admit that all my doings might be wrong to you but it is right for me. They are bound to die anyway because they are weak beings." Aurelius said without a glint of guilt towards his wrong-doings and pointed the tip of his sword to the hero's chin.

"I have never felt ashamed that I had to kill those despicable humans who killed the woman that I love the most! And you should feel the same too!" Aurelius's eyes go wide with his anger as he emphasizes his reason for the things that he did.

"If you are not afraid of death, then get ready for your own." Aurelius said as if he was giving his farewell to his friend.

"No. It is impossible..." The hero said, pertaining to Aurelius's reason. "She died a long time ago! You are not a God who can take or give life to everyone as you wish!"

He can't understand what his friend is doing and the only thing clear to him is that Aurelius is out of his mind for doing that such thing and it is his fault too. No matter how much he tried to prevent it, it's too late.

Aurelius stared at him with hostility for disagreeing with his words.

The hero suddenly smiled with his lips turning into a grin because of his reaction and also to cover his real feeling. The hero slowly raises his hand to the sky, pointing it to the sun. He starts to speak a strange language, in a language that no human ever heard before and from the open space above a ball of fire appears.

The flames rise up and become bigger than before. The flames start melting the entire throne room. "Let this serve as my final warning to any of those who disrespect the rules of heaven and earth." The hero whispers.

"I don't fear death anymore! My only wish is to die. If you want to kill me, I will gladly accept it but I will not let you get it easily." Aurelius exclaimed with determination and a smile of confidence on his face.

He raised his sword higher and started fighting against the flames.

"Do you think I don't hesitate to do that? My hands are aching for it." Aurelius didn't listen to him and sneakily attacked instead.

"Do you really believe you can defeat me that easily? Don't make me laugh, you coward!" The hero shouted. He then summoned another ball of flame and attacked Aurelius with it.

When the fire touched Aurelius's sword, he quickly withdrew it out of instinct and slash the flame away with ease.

When both sides of the throne room are filled with thick white smoke, the hero can still breathe freely.

"Divine Glave!" The hero swings his sword to make a light wave towards Aurelius.

The skill is fast and it makes Aurelius unable to dodge it, all he can do is shield it with his arm. The Divine Glave passed through to Aurelius and hitted the wall at his back and it made a dusty smoke from the impact.

Aurelius's armlet fell in the ground as it got broken from shielding himself with it and he also got a burning cut from the skill that he recieve. From the inside of the huge smoke, he takes a look at the hero. His eyes glint to confirm his target and in a flash, he throws his attacks by kicking and swaying his sword towards the hero.

The hero flies everywhere but before he almost lands on the ground, Aurelius catches him by attacking.

The hero could not avoid it and he got sliced several times on the back and arms and even his knee. Fortunately, his regeneration ability allows him to regain back some of his strength.

The fight continues until both sides have more or less depleted their energy from their fights.

After the hero took two seconds to recover and heal from his wounds, he jumped to the upper floor to prepare for the next move. Aurelius follows him by doing the same. Once they stand up straight on each ground, the dark hero looks up to the hero who is above the broken stairway. He can see the wounds on the hero's body and how exhausted and tired he is. "So we will end here..." He thought to himself.

Just when the dark hero's body is ready to attack, the hero casts another skill.

"Sword of Light!" The hero raises his hand as the light creates five swords above.

The sword splits into two every second. It fell down quickly, trying to pin Aurelius between the swords. Aurelius tries to deflect and dodge the falling swords towards him but he sees the hero smile at him sadly and that makes him get distracted. This one moment of distraction is enough time for his enemy to get rid of him. Aurelius can only helplessly watch as the swords impale and tear him apart from inside the chest.

His body is covered with red blood and he starts to cough a lot. From afar, you could see how bad Aurelius looked right now. He looked like a vampire trying to consume a human. But his face still has that proud and arrogant look, even though he is getting weaker by the moment.

As his life is going on the verge of ending, Aurelius speaks again. His voice sounded low and hoarse. "How dare you!? Your life will end today!" He said as he tried to break the sword away from his back but he failed because of the deepness of the swords.

"No, your life will end today. Even your death will not restore anything but it will bring peace. This is why we must end this!" As soon as the hero said, the ground started to grumble a little.

Suddenly the ground rumbles again, causing the whole palace to shake violently.

"What?" Hero's face became shocked for a second.

Suddenly, a massive black creature appears behind Aurelius.

The hero faced the new enemy in front of him. A long necked beast with wings growling and baring its sharp teeth. It looks like a dragon ready to destroy everything but it isn't a living one, instead, its corpse is covered in a white glow. It is like a ghost.

The hero already saw the same creature that appeared beside Aurelius. It is a dragon that they killed before.

A huge skeleton with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Its eyes were filled with anger, the pupil is so big that it is looking down and judging his weakness. It was ready to tear him apart.

He was so surprised that he didn't even react when the giant skeleton attacked him. He just stands there, watching as his sword falls from his hands. The hero was completely dumbfounded about his situation.

[GAME OVER]

"How can I defeat something like that!?" A player asked himself while facing the monitor where the huge word of GAME OVER flashes on the screen.

He tried to analyze the game but he couldn't think of how to defeat the final boss. "The power of darkness... is strong. There's no way I can win..." He muttered to himself.

His character died on stage with defeat and he disappeared together with the other characters on the game from the screen.

"The game is over. I lost." The player said in exhaustion and rested his body on his small swivel chair.

He grinded for almost half a year to achieve the last boss of the game and watched some videos from the internet last month on how to clear each stage but all of his efforts ended up in vain.

While grieving from his loss because he needs to start all over again to face the last boss, there was a loud crash coming from inside of the screen. The player immediately jumped out from his seat when he realized that he was in danger.

His head turns to the source of the sound, and he sees a figure walking inside in his monitor.

That figure is wearing an old cape that looks ancient. It also looked ragged as if he was using the coat for too long.

"Found you!" He said in a hush voice and an arm passed through the monitor and dragged the player inside of the monitor.

Before the player lets out his scream, he completely gets inside and the monitor shuts automatically leaving the room in silence.