Morning crawled into the world far slower than it should have.
The sun crept over the horizon, weak and uncertain, its light struggling against the heavy clouds that still drowned the sky in darkness, as if the world itself feared what was about to happen.
In the village below, Freya clutched her newborn tightly to her chest. The child's cries cut through the ruins as the last echoes of the demon horde finally faded.
The demons… were gone.
Ethan stood before Herod one on one.
Both wrapped in devastating dark auras that warped the air around them.
The binding relic embedded in the battlefield let out a sharp crack.
Ethan moved quickly. He vanished in a burst of black light, reappearing in front of Herod with his blade already mid-thrust, aimed straight for the demon's heart.
Too fast.
Herod slipped aside effortlessly, as if Ethan's attack had been nothing more than a gust of wind.
"Tsk," Herod muttered.
Ethan didn't stop, he twisted his wrist...
SHOOM!
Fangpiecer tore through the air like a black comet.
Herod reacted instantly, striking it aside with the flat of his blade and sending it spinning into the ground.
CLANG!
Before the sound even finished echoing, Ethan was already there.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Blade met blade in a savage exchange. Sparks burst like dying stars with every collision. Each strike carried enough force to shatter stone; each parry cracked the earth beneath their feet.
Herod swung low, Ethan leapt over it.
Ethan countered midair, Herod blocked, sliding backward, carving trenches into the ground.
Ethan summoned another Fangpiecer mid-motion and dragged it across Herod's face....
SCREEECH!
Metal screeched violently as the dagger scraped across Herod's head armor, sparks exploding inches from his eyes.
Herod snarled.
Using the brief closeness, he lunged forward, grabbing Ethan's wrist with crushing force.
"Got you."
Herod raised his sword, mana flooding the blade as he brought it down with the intent to cleave Ethan in half.
GWAH!
The strike landed and stopped. The blade ground against Ethan's armor, sparks bursting wildly, but it didn't cut through.
Herod's eyes widened.
"What—?"
Ethan's new armor absorbed the blow, dark chains tightening around his body like a living shield.
Ethan looked up slowly and smiled.
He slammed his forehead into Herod's face.
CRACK!
Herod staggered back, blood spraying from beneath his helm.
Ethan didn't let him breathe.
He ripped his arm free and drove Fangpiecer straight into Herod's side...but Herod twisted at the last second, the blade tearing through armor instead of flesh.
They separated, both skidding across the shattered battlefield. Herod wiped blood from his mouth, laughing low and feral.
"So this is what you've become," he said. "A human wrapped in demon skin."
Ethan raised his blade, black aura surging violently around him.
"Then stop talking," Ethan replied coldly.
"And prove you're still superior."
Ethan staggered back, lungs burning as he sucked in air like a dying beast. Each breath scraped his chest raw. Sweat streamed down his face, mixing with blood until it dripped from his chin and splashed against the shattered ground.
The bloodlust surged, too fast and too deep.
It wrapped around his thoughts like chains, dragging him toward the edge of a void that whispered promises of endless slaughter. His vision pulsed, dark at the edges, his heartbeat no longer his own.
DING!
[Power Up!]
[Power Up!]
[Power Up!]
Ethan laughed, quietly.
Finally, he thought, teeth stained red. This is what I've been waiting for.
No more restraint. No more hesitation.
If this world demanded violence… then he would answer in kind.
Everything was already planned.
He knew Herod's strength now. Knew the weight behind every swing, the timing between breaths. His plan wasn't perfect, only a fifty percent chance of survival, but that was enough.
He advanced, with a slow, measured and deadly precision.
Steel screamed as their blades clashed again and again, sparks tearing through the air like lightning. Yet even then, Herod was overwhelming.
The demon commander twisted his grip and slammed the flat of his blade into Ethan's leg.
Crack.
Ethan's knee buckled violently, pain detonating through his nerves. Before he could recover, Herod seized him by the leg and hurled him like discarded flesh.
Ethan crashed into a nearby building.
The structure collapsed in an instant, stone, dust, and debris swallowing him whole.
His head slammed into a wall.
Blood burst from his mouth.
Before his vision could steady, Herod was already there.
A devastating slash tore through Ethan's armor, metal screeching as it split. Another followed. And another. And another.
Herod showed no mercy. He carved into Ethan's chest relentlessly, each strike driving closer, deeper, aimed with terrifying precision toward the heart itself.
The battlefield went silent.
Soldiers trembled, frozen in horror.
Even now…
Even with the Black Blade…
Ethan was being overpowered.
And in that moment, watching him drown beneath Herod's relentless assault, everyone understood a single, terrifying truth, Herod invincible.
******
Noise tore through the battlefield, screams layered over screams, grief colliding with terror. Ethan's vision swam as though he had been dragged back from a long, suffocating sleep.
The world came to him in fragments, blurred shapes, shaking shadows, blood-soaked ground.
Then he heard familiar voices... Bolivia... Ane And.. his heart lurched... his mother.
Ethan's eyes snapped open. Before him, the remnants of Almsworth were forced to their knees.
Villagers and soldiers alike, old men, women, children, bound together with thick demon rope, heads lowered in despair.
The people he had fought so desperately to protect… reduced to prisoners waiting for death.
Zane and Freya were there. Tied and broken.
Freya clutched her newborn tightly to her chest, the child screaming in panic, its cries slicing straight through Ethan's soul.
Herod's boot slammed into Ethan's side, sending his battered body rolling across the ground like discarded meat. Pain flared, but it barely registered anymore.
"At a good look, Black Blade," Herod said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "This… is all that remains of Almsworth."
Men, women and children. None spared.
Freya's trembling gaze lifted, and locked onto Ethan.
Her breath caught in an instant.
Despite the crimson glow in his eyes… despite the blood, the broken armor, the inhuman aura she knew.
Her hands flew to her mouth as tears spilled freely.
"E… Ethan?" her voice broke. "Is that… you?"
Her knees shook as she stared at him, heart shattering at the sight of her son reduced to this, beaten, bloodied, barely alive.
"How… how did you end up like this…?"
Zane turned sharply, disbelief twisting his face.
"No," he whispered. "That can't be Ethan… it can't—"
But the truth struck him all at once.
Every remaining villager was here. Everyone… except Ethan.
His chest tightened as realization crushed him.
His son...
The child he tried to protect... Was the one who had been standing against demonic mana this entire time.
Tears slid down Ethan's cheeks, silent and unstoppable. He had failed. Failed to protect them. Failed to save anyone.
He tried, desperately to summon the Lifestone Elixir.
DING!
— SYSTEM WARNING —
[Lifestone Elixir: Disapproved]
[Time Remaining Before Use: 10 Minutes]
Ten minutes!
It may as well have been eternity.
His body refused to respond. His fingers wouldn't move. His legs were dead weight.
Too late… Panic crushed his chest.
If I can't move… they'll all die.
"Please…" Ethan whispered, voice trembling. "Someone… anyone… please save them…"
But the heavens were silent.
The system did not respond.
Even fate had turned its back on him.
Wills, Bolivia, and Ane stared in horror, their faces pale as death. None of them could accept what they were seeing.
Herod's grin widened. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his sword.
Then.. he swung.
A villager fell. Then another.
Screams exploded through the air, raw, agonizing, unbearable. Blood sprayed across the ground as Herod moved down the line, slaughtering them one by one.
"STOP!" Ethan screamed, his throat tearing apart. "Please.... stop! I beg you!"
Herod did not even look at him.
The cries grew louder.
A head spun through the air.
It landed with a dull, wet sound, rolling across the blood-soaked ground as the body collapsed moments later. Blood sprayed outward, splashing onto trembling villagers, onto armor, onto the ruined stones of Almsworth.
Ane screamed. Her legs gave out as she stared at Ethan, eyes wide with terror and hope clashing painfully within them.
"Ethan… please…" her voice broke. "Save me…"
Ethan's heart shattered. Before he could even draw breath...
Slash.
Herod's blade flashed once. Ane's head fell cleanly from her shoulders.
Time stopped.
"A—ANE!!" Ethan screamed, the sound tearing out of him like his soul had been ripped apart.
His cry echoed across the ruins, raw and animalistic. Tears streamed down his face, hot and uncontrollable, splashing onto the dirt beneath him.
Bolivia was next. She didn't even scream. Her trembling told everything, her eyes fixed on the ground.
Herod stepped forward and cut her clean in half at the waist. Her upper body hit the ground first, hands twitching weakly before going still. Blood flooded the stones like a crimson tide.
Wills let out a broken, strangled sound.
His knees slammed into the ground.
"My… my daughters…" he whispered, eyes empty, voice hollow. "My girls…"
He reached out, but there was nothing left to reach for.
"No! STOP!" Ethan roared, his voice cracking apart. "Leave them! Fight me instead! I'm right here... KILL ME!"
Herod laughed. A low, pleased chuckle like a predator savoring a slow kill.
"Look at you," Herod said calmly. "Begging."
He turned, and without hesitation... Wills fell.
Then Yami, Freya's father, collapsed beside him, cut down before a single word of farewell could leave his lips.
Freya screamed.Her voice was torn raw as she clutched her newborn tighter, her body shaking violently.
The slaughter continued...
Mr. Han. The remaining soldiers. The wounded. The helpless.
One by one.
Each death carved itself into Ethan's chest like a burning brand.
Herod finally stopped.
Only two figures remained kneeling in the blood-soaked square.
Zane and Freya, holding her child.
Herod turned slowly toward them, resting his blade against the air before their throats.
"Feel it, Black Blade," Herod said softly, almost lovingly. "This pain."
Dark excitement surged around him, his aura twisting violently. "This is what you did to my comrades. This is your payment."
Ethan's mind broke, everything he had done.... The power, the slaughter, the pride of being an Executioner... It meant nothing.
Nothing.
He hadn't saved them; not his friends, not his village, not even his parents.
Herod glanced back at him.
"Any last words?" he asked casually, sword hovering inches from Zane and Freya.
Ethan sobbed. He had broken completely.
"You can't…" he begged, voice shattered beyond repair. "You can't do this… please… please... NO—"
Black tears streamed down his face, dripping onto the ground as his cries dissolved into raw agony.
For the first time...
The Executioner was powerless.
And the world was ending right in front of his eyes.