The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary

ZWar…war never changes.

For so long in my life, when I see an army put before me…for some reason, a weird taste suddenly fills my tongue. I can’t really describe it, but I know that if that kind of taste ever fills my tongue, I knew that in that moment…blood will be shed, lives will be loss…screams will be heard.

And for so long, I grew accustomed to the taste of it…to the taste of what I knew to be war.

Even right now…with what seems like thousands of demons covering the sky like locust, this is no different from a tragic war about to take place.

And for some reason, I just can’t help but smile at the very idea of it.

“…” one can’t help but grin at the sight of something they are familiar with.

“Thill! We have to leave now!” shouted a familiar voice.

“!?” and all of a sudden, I was reminded that I wasn’t by my own in this battlefield.

“Thill!?” when I turned to look beside me, I saw Amelia who was suddenly manifesting a shield made of light.

Before I knew what happened, I saw thousands of arrows fall from the sky.

“…” they seem to instantly darken the sky the moment those demons fired them.

But those arrows were useless.

Before they could even reach us, a large magic circle appeared before our very eyes and from it, black fire spewed like a dragon’s breathe.

It burned every falling arrow…but its reach wasn’t enough to burn the Demons flying above the sky.

“Leader! We have to leave this place now!” shouted Jenny as she looked extremely nervous.

The sight of the overwhelming numbers of Demons above the clouds would make anyone feel intense fear…so Jenny was completely and incredibly in a state of fear. It wasn’t wrong for her to act the way she did…in fact, she seemed the most natural out of all of us.

“No, I don’t think its possible to begin with.” said Velorria as she stepped with a rather shy grin on her face. She didn’t seem nervous at all despite all of us being surrounded by Demons.

“What? What do you mean by that?!” asked Jenny as she looked as cowardly as I knew her to be.

“It seems that the magic circle above the clouds is blocking our escape. For some reason, I can’t seem to access the other side as well.” said Elgor as he confirmed Velorria’s words.

”R-really?” asked Jenny as a hint of despair was found in her voice.

“Calm down Jenny. For now, cooperate with one another and eliminate as many demons as possible. It doesn’t look like their here to talk.” said the vice leader as she manifested what seems like a rare sword out of thin air. It invoked magic that seemed oddly familiar.

As for me, seeing as how a fight was certainly going to take place, I put on my helmet and unsheathed my sword from its health. With an army this size, I can’t but feel excited.

“Everyone…I’m sorry in advance that an enemy was able to slip pass our defenses, but since it has come to this, we must fight to survive!” said their Leader as he then manifested another magic circle from his staff. This invoked a spell that for some reason enhanced all of our strength and speed.

“Don’t apologize…” I said as I walked passed him up front, “I’ve been feeling a little irritated lately. So seeing a fresh batch of fuckers lining up to get killed…I think I can finally let loose a little.” I said with a grin.

“Hmph, same here.” said Elgor as he stood beside me with a rather sharp gaze.

With his spear pointed outward, I could feel his power surging on…just as he did when I first met him.

“You know, seeing as how you were supposed to test me before, how about I use this chance to settle your doubts about me.” I said to the Leader.

“…If you can help us get out of this alive, then we’ll be indebted to you surely. In exchange, I’ll give you the name of the mage who attacked the Ambers.”

“Hahaha…Fine, I’ll settle for something as small as that.”

***

*Velorria’s POV*

I’ve known Thill for so long…

Even after we’ve seperated back in our first lives, I’ve always watched over him…seeing his accomplishments from afar. Looking over him despite my powerlessness back then.

And as I followed him, I grew to understand him…his action, his motivation…his trigger for moving forward and taking on enemies that no man could ever think to consider.

And now, standing here in a place where it seemed as though we were cornered, just looking at Thill’s grin, I can tell almost immediately that I have nothing to fear.

A thousand demons…even to Thill’s current strength, it will mean nothing.

“Thill, I know its pointless for me to say this to you but..”

“Hmm?” he turned around to see me eye to eye.

“I wish you good luck.”

And as I blessed him with my words, he turned back to face the enemy.

“I don’t need it….but thanks.”

“…” he…he thanked me.

That alone was enough to fill my heart.

I couldn’t hide it…my smile, my giddy smile…I just couldn’t hide it.

Before long, as I turned back to look at his glorious figure, I saw the majesty of his form.

My brothers…my father…and anyone else who doesn’t know history…his history…

There’s a reason why he was called the Mercenary King.

To be a king…to be a warrior that holds the title of king…it simply means that he was the strongest.

And it wasn’t just known in our country…but the entire world knew of his name.

Thill Cicial…the Mercenary King.

Oh glory to that name…glory to the king of fighting.

***

As he stood with his large sword on hand, his thick large armor put on his body…and his helmet placed in decoration…

Thill Cicial stood before the Demons…and he smiled.

To him…this wasn’t a tragedy…nor a devestating situation…no, to him, it was a feast to be devoured upon by the King of Fighting.

“Thanks for the meal!” he said as inside that helmet of his, a smile was formed from ear to ear.

And to it, behind his back, he manifested his wings that were made of wind.

Large magneficent wings spread to his back…and to this, the people who saw them couldn’t help but gaze in wonder.

“T-those are wings?” asked Amelia as she spoke out of surprise.

“So you can fly?” asked the leader in question to his cold gaze over my back.

“So you’re an angel then?” asked Elgor.

But to their comments, Thill leaped off the cliff and fell straight down.

“Ah!” Amelia, in her unconscious action, tried reacching out…

But the next second, he flew at the speed of sound that overwhelmed those who could not expect.

And with the sword on his hand…he smiled at the enemies that was above him.

***

Do you know why demons are feared?

Because they eat human flesh…

To them, humans are nothing but livestock…like cows and pigs.

But because of a human’s intelligence to understand fear, they fear for their lives.

So when going to a war against demons…its like going to war with hungry monsters who once your caught, you have no chance of ever living to see the day.

Demons are scary…that is a fact.

But when faced with a warrior that breaks their confidence in half…for some reason, there’s hope in fighting them.

That’s why…I hate demons.

I hate fighting…

I love bloodshed…the shedding blood of demons who cower at the sight of someone grander than they are.

I love war…

I love…war.

I….

I hate war.

Hidden in my crooked smile…the taste of war that fills my tongue, it overwhelms me to a point where I feel numb to my bones.

I hate war…

I simply despise the idea of it…

I hate it.

I just want to go home…but there was no place I could go back to that mattered. All of my family were dead back then…

So there was no point in wanting to go home…

So I just moved forward…forward to the battlefield…to the sight of blood raining from the sky…

Again…I have to remind myself…

I hate war.

***

It was a horrific sight.

The moment this warrior with wings flew into the clouds to face the demons, one would expect for him to have a hard time. After all, he was just a young boy barely reaching adulthood.

But the moment he clashed with the demons, all of a sudden, those who watched him from below started to see the heads of those demons fall.

One by one…

Tens by tens…

Outside of where the red was painted by the color of the demons skin, it also grew redder because of their exposed blood.

It was a massacre.

And the sight of the warrior who caused that massacre was seen with a smile.

But from one look…it didn’t seem like he was enjoying himself…it seemed like he was desperate…

Desperate to end the trouble that lie before them.

Elgor knew that feeling all to well…

The feeling of wanting to fight…and wanting to find peace…and wanting to be fulfilled…wanting to feel something…

Elgor knew and what it meant…and he knew that boy was doing the same thing.

Despite his grandness…those who knew war could easily tell that behind that smile on the boy’s face was a smile torn and buried with despair.

“He’s amazing.” said Amelia as she looked with admiration towards the scene of the massacre.

But she was clueless…she had yet to understand.

“H-he’s so strong!” said Jenny as she watched with a spark in her eye. To see someone face off against danger of that calibre, she couldn’t help but feel envy towards that person.

But hidden in that face meant to seem like courage was a soul screaming for it to end fast.

Let it end…

Don’t let anymore bad things happen…

Just let it…end.

***

*Velorria’s POV*

Those who knew of Thill Cicial…knew him to be strong.

But those who understand Thill Cicial…knew him to be weak.

For so long, I have watched him fight in wars simply because.

In every war that starts in every country…the kings who started the war always hoped to never see Thill Cicial walk in that battlefield, or to hope that he stands with them.

Because for every war he walk towards, victory is assured.

His very presence when hired overwhelms the battlefield.

Many titles were given to him in his days.

The Wind-crazed Orc Slayer.

The Mercenary King.

But what is more thrilling than those titles was…

The Unchosen Hero.

Back then, when war was at a rampant rise, Kings from all over the world decided to affiliate with the prospects of performing a forbidden ritual.

To summon a worthy hero.

Using this forbidden ritual, it is said that in its success, a hero is picked from a different world and is summoned to that ritual.

and to every successful ritual, the hero chosen is said to bring success to war.

They come with gifts from the Gods…they come with talents that could overwhelm the enemy…

But for some reason, despite the guarantee of their success by the gods who chose the heroes…when encountering Thill Cicial in the battlefield, those heroes die at his hand.

Every single hero that comes across his way is said to have been killed.

And the guarantee for his success was said to even overwhelm the Gods who stand above humanity.

That is why he was granted the title.

The Unchosen Hero.

Someone capable of even overwhelming the Gods…the heroes…the world even.

His history for being involved in such a life…it started to grew hate from anyone…no, more eactly, it started to sprout fear.

In my eyes…Thill Cicial was worth the world because of his strength.

And in due time…his value was something that could not be bought.

He simply moved to where it grabbed his interest.

That was why when he was asked by the North king to slay the Glacial Dragon, it peeked into his interest.

I don’t know why he took such an interest in the first place…

He could have done more with his life than just fighting the Glacial Dragon.

If he wanted to, he could have become a king of his own.

I could have handed him the Goldensun Empire if he had asked…

But I knew his interest didn’t lay in such a pointless ruling.

Thill Cicial…was just too strong.

Too strong to even care…to strong to let go of his guilt…to let go of the past.

I can still see it in his eyes now.

No matter what the case may be, even if he was able to return back to the past…the fact of the matter stays the same.

Thill Cicial failed to protect his family.

After he and his siblings as well as the rest of the villagers were driven away by the bandits, and they were left with nothing, they came to Samsel city to survive. But what came of their lives after that tragedy was more tragedy.

The first to die was their youngest, Tinisha (Tilly). She died hungry in the alleyway. She died hungry while everyone in her family went out to look for food in the streets. When they came back, she wasn’t breathing anymore.

The second to die was Theodore. He was found dead in an alleyway, with nothing but a piece of paper on his hand with a drawing of his whole family. No one knew how he died…but simply put, it was easy to assume that he died of a disease that was slowly spreading on the slums way back then.

Thalia was the third to die. It was said on the reports that she simply disappeared one day…and they couldn’t find her until two weeks later in a far off village. she was found deep inside a well, naked, wet…bruised…and showed signs of abuse. the one who found her was Thill who left to seek her out. reason for her death was that she was used by the villagers as a sacrifice to the demon in the well. but the sacrifice failed…and all that was left of the village was corpses.

Thomas died next, and it was said that he was kidnapped by bandits. Later on…he was found dead at a pile of garbage.

The last one to day was his sister Theresa. Her body was defiled by the street and her left eye was gouged by a knife…

All of these deaths seemed unavoidable for a family that was surviving in the slums.

But for Thill…he didn’t see it that way.

When all of these tragedies happened to him one after the other…he couldn’t do anything because he was both a coward and a weakling.

Only when he had loss them did he understand that he had nothing left. So he fought to survive…he became a mercenary simply to live. And his motivation…whatever it was, it was enough to grant him many achievements in life.

But despite it all…he still couldn’t let go.

Even to this second chance at life…I can still see it in his eyes.

It was the need to save them…the guilt that was hanging on his wavering soul.

For someone so great…someone so strong…

He was just a kid who learned to adapt to the world…to understand that he had to live…despite it all.

Despite it all…

Thill Cicial…I don’t envy you.