I have become Legion - 9 - Collaborator

I could not even let out a sound.

A truly horrifying sight. I had tracked down the demon killing young boy. His name was Antir Bright. There were many intriguing things about him. Of course, there was what I had learnt before. Unbreakable willpower, secret knowledge, and brave hardiness. But now I had learnt more. He had trolls blood, and was a necromancer of the reapers’ domain. With the rare trait of a Life Vessel. And now the corpse of the boy dropped next to me.

When I saw smoke in the distance, I knew Antir’s words were correct. There was an illegal witch burning being done in this village. And we were too late. But there was no defeat in his eyes. He had not given up. From his body, I felt a massive amount of magic power push out. I saw no spell, instead it took on the form of a field. Thin yet long. Long to the point that it might’ve reached the village. When it had reached its maximum length, it was as if space distorted. His head was ripped from his body.

It flew into the distance. And like a stringless puppet, his corpse fell to the ground, a pool of blood flowing out from his broken neck. I didn’t understand what he had done. But I knew that he had done it with meaning.

“Immortal.”

I had joked that he was almost immortal. But could it really be? That his body would be able to be restored from just his head. A creeping horror carried up my spine. It was like a freezing wind, as I thought of the idea. An immortal who treated his own death as but a tool. A being so outside the natural order that it could do such a thing.

But I couldn’t be sure. Nor could I remain in my emotions. A person was being burnt alive in the distance. Still, even if he had truly died, I couldn’t just leave his body here. So I lifted it up on top of my horse.

Then I continued on my way towards the village. Channeling my divine power to my steed, we flashed across the road and quickly reached the witch burning.

“The witch’s servant!”

The irrational peasantry was pointing pitchforks at him. His body was set aflame. But he was still standing. Next to him I could see the so called ‘witch’. She was around the same age as the boy. Just about to become adults. She had black hair and a thin body. She was unconscious.

“I am Paladin Aaron de Teir! Cease this foolishness!”

I shouted out.

===

My body was falling apart.

I was burning faster than I was regenerating. But I didn’t fucking care. I would save her, no matter what. So what if I had gone way beyond my limit? To achieve the impossible, I would need to be something beyond. To do more than I can.

My arms and legs were falling apart, but I could not die. I was not allowed death.

[Your health has reached 0]

[You have di…]

[Legion activates – You cannot die]

So even as I had no muscles to move, I forced them to. It was irrational. But I did it. My trait Limit Break was active, each additional pain caused my mind to transcend. To feel a new kind of pain, beyond my comprehension. Each step towards Harul increased the pain. It was never ending.

There was no limit for it.

Since I was going to be beyond, then my pain receptors would not be a limiting factor for my suffering.

But physical pain is something I can deal with. I could not let another person die in front of my eyes. Not while I cower in fear of something as minor as death or pain.

I had no heartbeat. My vision was gone, my retinas were burnt away after all. Thinking shouldn’t be possible, since my brain was falling out of my skull. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs were gone. And I couldn’t even scream out in pain, since my vocal cords had been destroyed. But I didn’t need any of that.

Breathing in the fumes of a flame wasn’t good for a human. Couldn’t you die from it?

There was a possibility.

So until I had made sure she was safe, I couldn’t relent.

“He’s here.”

I had lost the ability to hear, but thankfully there was a guy in my mind. The Shadow Demon told me that the Holy Knight Aaron de Teir, had arrived. He could heal her.

But I’d need to tell him to do that.

And again.

I don’t have a mouth or vocal cords to speak.

So, I’d need to regenerate them.

But how could I do that while my body was burning faster than it was healing?

Simple.

Sacrifice everything else.

All the energy of Legion focused on my lungs, throat, and mouth. My legs quickly buckled to the ground, and I collapsed to the ground. They couldn’t hold my weight anymore, they were barely sustaining it due to the constant regeneration. But that was gone now.

“Heal her.”

It worked.

I spoke out those words.

“I’ll never lose.”

And so I spoke those words as the world became dark.

I wasn’t sure what it was.

Had I depleted all my humanity? The Legion of One could be taking over my mind.

Or I could have just collapsed because of mental exhaustion.

But it didn’t really matter.

Aaron would deal with the rest.

I trusted him.

Because I’ve killed a demon.

===

I guess it was sleep.

Well, I hadn’t slept since I arrived in this world. So I guess it makes sense that I needed to sleep. Even with an immortal body, the human mind wasn’t made for that. So yeah. Anyway, I’m in a proper bed. Guess Aaron took one of the villagers’ houses. Well, they were the ones who did the crime first.

“Are you crying?”

Huh? What are you talking about? There’s no way I’d be crying. Why would I even be crying? I’ll choose to ignore how my eyes are a little wet right now. Because there’s no reason for that. It’s gotta just be since I just woke up. No way that I had a nightmare because somebody I cared about almost died.

Wait, now that I think about it, I don’t know if she’s alive.

*Knock*

*Knock*

Just in time, I can hear a knocking on the door.

“Come in.”

As I thought, it was Aaron.

“How are you faring?”

“Good. Is she fine?”

Well yeah, obviously I’m fine. But what about Harul? I couldn’t check up on her when I was being burnt alive. Like humans are super fragile. So maybe something went wrong. She might’ve broken some bones when I threw her out of the fire. What if she had internal bleeding? Or she could’ve died due to inhaling too much smoke. Did I fail?

“She’s fine.”

Thank god.

“Hahahahahaha.”

I did good.

Why should I thank god? I’m the one who did the work, after all.

“That’s great.”

Yeah, fuck yeah, that was great. There’s an exhilarating feeling flowing through my veins. That feeling when you accomplish something you didn’t think was possible. I’ve been running nonstop for so long to achieve this. And I fucking did it. YEAH I CHANGED SOMETHING! I saved a person. And now I can find out more about that person. Instead of just reading the journal of a corpse, I can talk to her, I can show her things. Like she’s never even seen the sea.

“I don’t think it’s true.”

Huh?

“What?”

What the fuck are you talking about, Aaron? I saved her, didn’t I?

“Even with Troll’s blood, and a Life Vessel.”

“Oh that. I don’t have those.”

Yeah, well. Honestly, I think it’s a bad idea to hide things. Holy Knight Aaron de Teir is a good guy. He’d also not wanna see the world burn. So I don’t think it’s a bad idea to tell him some things. As long as the information doesn’t go too far. I don’t want the calamities or demons to know about my victory condition, after all. And also there’s those snake thingies called politicians who are afraid of anybody trying to do good.

“Then how?”

“Hey.”

Yeah, fuck it. I’ll just tell him. I’ll carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, but I’m gonna make everyone know it. Save the world and be celebrated as a hero. Rather than do it in secret like a loser.

“I’m gonna save the world.”

“What?”

Confused much? Yeah, I’d also be.

“In 2 years the Calamitous Powers will create a lich at the great academy and kill thousands of students.“

Shocking, isn’t it? That’s where the saintess is going.

“In 4 years, an elder evil will be summoned beneath the Holy Kingdom. It’s going to kill millions.”

Scary, isn’t it? That’s where you live.

“In 5 years, the seal on Legion will break. All life on its path will be snuffed out.”

It’s all fucked. You can’t fight that.

“In 7 years, an archdragon will destroy the kingdom of Asiel. Again, millions will die.”

You know dragons, you’ve fought one after all.

“In 9 Years, a dude called the architect is going to conquer the world with his army of superhumans.”

This world is doomed. Everyone will die.

“Then finally. In 10 years, it’s the end of the world. The demon king is returned, and the hero is long gone.”

But I don’t care.

“I’ll save the world.”

Since I’ll break through all that. And be the greatest hero that can exist.

“I’ll let no one die to the Calamities.”

And I’ll achieve my 100% saved rate.

“Because.”

Yeah, there’s a reason why I can do all this.

“I am the second Legion.”

I’ll never lose.

Well, that felt great. Really cool.

Just…

Now what do I do?

He’s got a sword to my neck.

“You are a calamity. Serving the Calamitous Powers.”

He was looking really angry. Like what the hell. I already said that I’m tricking the Calamitous Powers. And me a Calamity? Actually maybe, but still not really. I want to save the world.

“Tell me, why should I not kill you here and now?”

The fuck are you talking about? You don’t have the power to kill me. Nobody does.

“I killed a demon?”

Like yeah, what the fuck, dude? Shouldn’t our affinity be through the roof since I did that? At least in-game, that’s how it works. Or could it be that this is a weird interaction with having a Calamity trait?

“That was the entire reason I ran away last time.”

Since you hate demons. You should trust me as long as I killed a demon. And I killed two of them. We should be best buddies now.

“Since you’d trust a person who opposes demons.”

That makes sense for me at least. But did I make a mistake somewhere? I’m pretty sure his affinity stat should be high enough. What do I do now? If he’s really gonna fight against me… Then I’d need to wait till he tires himself out. Do I even have enough time for that? Probably not. So maybe I push myself beyond the limit to get to the Rotark Tribe.

Nevermind, I should first try to solve it with conversation.

“Ok. Let’s say you don’t trust me. How about I help you kill some demons, and then you trust me?”

Isn’t that how quests work? When you complete quests with or for an npc, you gain affinity with them. And that’s basically how much they like you.

“As I said, you’re insane.”

Buddy shut up for a second. I need to figure out how to deal with this situation.

Well, I think I did good. The sword was pulled back, at least.

“Naïveté.”

What?

“You are naïve.”

Uhh…

“But I guess there is some trustworthiness in that.”

Thanks, I guess?

“Still…”

Can’t we be done with that?

“Legion as a Calamity is ultimate destruction. Immortal and Unkillable.”

Yeah? It’s a big army of undead that just go around killing, because they’ve got nothing else to do.

“Some philosophers say that Legion was originally an army of soldiers created to fight against the demonic invasion a millennium ago. Losing their goal after the Demon King was pushed back, they fell to mindlessness.”

Yeah, that tracks. It did appear roughly that long ago.

“So what is to say you won’t fall into such a thing?”

Doesn’t Legion already do that? I can’t even get this wish out of my head. It’s kind of like ringing constantly. ‘Save the World’ blah blah blah. Again and again. Of course, that’s what I want, but still.

“I won’t.”

But there’s a simple answer to that.

“How do you know that?”

Yeah, I’ve said it a lot already.

“I’ll never lose.”

It’s starting to become a catchphrase at this point. But well, it works nicely. I’ll never give in as long as I believe in it. So yeah.

“So, I’ll save the world.”

Because why the hell not? Overcoming challenges always comes with a great payoff. Both within your own mind and the quest rewards.

I’m feeling a little uncomfortable, though. Not because of the implications of me losing my way. That’s impossible, after all. The reason I’m feeling uncomfortable is because Aaron is staring at me. It feels like he’s trying to drill a hole through my head. Like I already had one there before. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation. Could we not?

“You can’t stay serious for a second, can you?”

Pretty sure I spoke longer than a second.

“Whatever.”

Exactly buddy. No need to sweat the small stuff.

“So you’re saying that the world is headed to doom.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

What’s that expression? I should’ve studied human expressions more. They weren’t necessary in Quest, so I didn’t see a reason to. Could it be worry? That’s one that might make sense for the situation.

“Don’t worry.”

“What?”

Because.

“I’ll save the world.”

I really keep repeating that line a lot. My readers must be plenty annoyed of it at this point. Like why do I keep saying the same thing again and again.

“So you just need to survive.”

“How can I stay idle when I know that the world is in peril?”

Eh. Quite simple, just go to a resort. In my old world, a lot of people were relaxing even though we were speed running world destruction. 21st Century humanity should be an example for world destruction 101.

“You could kill demons, I guess. That makes my job easier.”

Yeah, each demon you kill, the less demons I have to. And honestly, as a Holy Knight, you have the ability to at least kill their physical bodies if you could find them. Then I could easily deal with the souls during the Wild Hunt. Since I know where they’ll respawn.

“Right. How do you even kill demons? If your power is immortality, then that could explain killing their physical bodies. But my god has confirmed that their souls are also destroyed.”

Nice question.

“True names. When spoken to their corpse, you can absorb their power and soul.”

That’s what I did to Valac and Camio.

“But how do you know their true names?”

Just do their associated quests? But well, that’s kinda long. So I just memorized all their true names. I’m basically all knowing when it comes to this world. With slight exceptions.

“I even know the future. What’s a couple true names?”

Think. It’s obvious that I know tons.

“I see.”

Unfortunately, there’s a slight problem with that.

“Though I can’t tell you their true names.”

Since when a demon’s true name is written, spoken, or in any way shared that demon finds out about the person who told about it, and also who got told about it. And that’d be annoying for me. Also gives the demon more time to prepare.

“Why?”

“Because they’d know I did that.”

So let’s do it like this.

“Instead, just give them a false death. I know where they’ll be reborn during the Wild Hunt.”

“What?”

And even more.

“You can even bring Inquisitors with you.”

It’s gonna be fun. To beat all those guys up a second time. And I’ll be then taking their abilities.

“I see. But how do we find out where the demons are hiding?”

Huh?

“Why do we need to find out?”

“What?”

Like, why’s that a question?

“I know that too.”

“What do you not know?”

It seems like he’s exasperated. But again, I say that as someone who is really bad at judging facial expressions.

“Anyway, I think I should go see Harul Winter.”

Since we solved our problems with conversation, it’s my time to get my reward. Time to go see my favorite. Let’s hear how her voice sounds. Also check whether she’s as pretty as in the game files.

“Is that her name?”

“Yeah.”

===

From as long as I can remember. I have been despised. Walking from one place to another. Hoping for warmth from even a single person. But it was never given. No, maybe it was. But it was not the warmth I had wanted. In my latest travels, I had made it to a small village with very superstitious people. They declared me a witch, and placed me on a pyre. The smoke entered my lungs and made my mind go into a daze. The warmth of the flames slowly approached me. I would die from their prejudice and fear.

But then a saviour came for me.

He was the sun before an empty white void.

Golden, almost glowing eyes made him seem like an angel sent down from the heavens. His silvery hair adorned his head like a wild halo, screaming out to be let loose. Yet his face was worn, rugged, and manly. And he had the warmest smile that I had ever seen. It burned brighter than the sun.

Running through the fire. He saved me from the flame. And he brought me the warmth I had sought my entire life. But I had inhaled the fumes for too long. So my mind fell to sleep.

When I awoke from unconsciousness.

He was there again.

His heart was a star. Burning golden with kindness. I could see it through his eyes. He was more heroic than any hero in a storybook. More divine than the gods who priests proselytize about. And warmer than the heart of the desert.