Desolation reigned supreme in the ancient metropolis. It was a vast royal capital, completely reduced to rubble. The city walls had been shattered in two, as if struck by a powerful earthquake. The citizens were all dead, crushed by their own collapsed homes, or by the hand of the person responsible. Although the outcome was the same, it was left to the human deity to decide which of the two fates was worse.

  The imposing castle that stood to the north of the town was nothing but a shadow of its former self. Now it was a miserable pile of rubble, a ruined manor reduced to tatters, like a deer mauled by a wolf.

  What unspeakable cataclysm could have reduced the capital of a flourishing kingdom to that state?

  It was unthinkable that it had been a natural phenomenon; not even Mother Nature was as cruel as the one who had thrown destruction upon the town.

  Could it have been an enemy army? No. The trail of death and terror stalking the streets had something inhuman—a cruelty that could only be called mercy.

  If it was not nature or man that destroyed the royal capital, who did it?

  A concept, an entity…A demon.

  How could this have happened? It was such a glorious country…

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Rudelius Rainheart. This was the name of the hero of the Kingdom of Lugunia, a thriving human nation. It was said that he was born blessed by God; he possessed every kind of Divine Protection, from those that granted him immortality to those that allowed him to eliminate entire armies with a single swing of his sacred sword.

  It was thanks to him alone that the Kingdom of Lugunia had not yet fallen into disgrace. The love the people had for him was the only thing that kept him going, despite the centuries he had spent defending such a corrupt place.

  Lugunia was not a happy place. The government was corrupt, the rich dominated the poor, and the weak were oppressed by the strong.

  Why didn't Rudelius do anything? Wasn't he the hero of the Kingdom? The answer was simple: he couldn't. If he had started a revolution, more people would have died than the corrupt law could have reaped. It was a brutal dilemma—no matter what he did, someone would have died.

  His hands were tied. Despite being the strongest of all, he was powerless against the evil of the world.

  The King should understand that raising taxes is not the solution to the Kingdom's financial problems.

  “He will never understand…”

  Rudelius Rainheart snorted.

  “If only there was a way…”

  He continued walking through the corridors of the royal palace. They were extremely sumptuous, too much so compared to the poverty rampant in the city streets.

  I wish I could do something about it…

  He raised his right hand to the hilt of his sword. It was a mighty sacred blade, passed down through generations, from hero to hero—so ancient that even its name had been lost.

  Sometimes I don't feel worthy of wielding it.

  He'd tried many times to find a solution to the problem, but never succeeded. He could defeat demons and dragons as if they were nothing, but if it involved anything other than fighting, there was nothing he could do. One wrong move, and too many people would have died.

  Not to mention the problem with the Dark Garden.

  He clicked his tongue and stepped out onto an outside balcony. He was thinking about the problem of the cult called Dark Garden, which aimed to expose the falsity of the kingdom's sacred doctrine. The church was ruled by the King, and therefore was as corrupt as his greedy heart.

  Insecurity in the sacred doctrine led to the birth of Dark Garden, a terrorist cult that claimed many victims among believers. Unfortunately, this added to the long list of problems facing the Kingdom of Lugunia.

  Religion is just another way to extort money from the people, but that does not justify terrorist attacks.

  He sighed and looked toward the church, not far from the center of the imposing city. It was then that his heart skipped a beat.

  “The…Holy Church is on fire?!”

  His eyes widened, discovering that it wasn't just the church that was on fire, but the rest of the capital as well.

  “How could this happen? I didn't even notice!”

  One of his Divine Protections was called Instinct of Grace, and it activated when someone near him was in danger. However, this time it hadn't activated for some reason.

  What could have happened?

  He looked out and observed the carnage unfolding before him. Earthquakes had begun to strike the capital, shattering the walls in two. Those mighty walls that had defended the city for millennia had been destroyed in a matter of seconds.

  “Great Rudelius! Great Rudelius! I have finally found you!”

  A soldier approached him, out of breath.

  “Can I ask what the hell is going on?”

  “The city is under attack!”

  “I understand that! How did it happen, though?”

  The soldier answered him belatedly, still trying to catch his breath.

  “The Dark Garden cult has summoned something!”

  Rudelius's face twisted into a furious grimace.

  “The church's sacred guard had discovered the cult's base in the capital and sent crusaders to eliminate them! Unfortunately, they encountered a powerful demon!”

  “A demon?”

  He clicked his tongue in disgust. He'd fought dozens of demons before. Along with the undead, they were humanity's worst enemy. They were monsters with speech, capable only of screaming for help to attract prey.

  "I'll take care of it, then! Advance your troops into the city to support the citizens! Send the royal guard to keep the demon at bay!“

  “Yes, Supreme Rudelius!”

  As he watched the soldier run away, Rudelius drew his sword and raised it towards the sky.

  “A single demon did all this? He must be strong, but it doesn't matter! I'll kill him!”

  I will save this kingdom, again…

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Rudelius Rainheart advanced through the streets of the capital. The bodies of the royal army's soldiers adorned the streets. They had been killed in a single blow.

  Is all this the fault of a single demon? Is it an Archdevil? No… He seems even superior.

  His eyes widened at the sight. With all the devastation, it no longer seemed like the great capital of the Kingdom of Lugunia. It was more like an ancient ruin stripped of its beauty. The sky itself had been completely devoured by darkness, houses had collapsed, and the corpses of people, whether soldiers or commoners, were strewn across the streets.

  I sent the vanguard against that demon. I did wrong; I didn't think it was a demon of that caliber.

  It was then that he reached the central square. The statue of their God, placed above the fountain in the center of the square, had been reduced to pieces.

  Demons…The enemies of God.

  “Huh?”

  In the center of the square stood him—the demon summoned from Dark Garden. He was the tallest he had ever seen, and his elegant black robe was utterly immaculate, despite the hundreds of soldiers and paladins he had faced.

  All this carnage, and he didn't even get a bit dirty? It was a one-sided fight.

  He drew his sacred sword and approached the demon. It was then that he noticed something glowing on his robe. A huge red "A" was pulsating in the center of his chest. What was it? A magical symbol?

  “Who are you?!”

  He roared, taking another step towards the demon.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Mh?”

  The other shifted his gaze towards him, observing him with the eyes of someone looking at a stray dog on the street.

  “I asked you a question! Answer me, you devil!”

  Rudelius barked, furious at the disinterest. He was the strongest man in the kingdom, yet he was being treated like an insect. By whom, then? By a demon, an enemy of God.

  “I am Almodeus Fearterror, but I suppose your history books only list my name.”

  “A-Almodeus?”

  At the mere hearing of that name, an inhuman terror filled him. He had heard of a demon who called himself that. What he had heard was terrifying. Almodeus was said to be the most powerful demon of all.

  No! It can't really be him!

  That demon was a legend. It was more likely that the one before him was a lesser demon posing as Almodeus. It couldn't be the real one.

  “You must be the hero they talked about so much. Even in hell they hear about you."

  The demon who proclaimed himself as Almodeus answered him.

  “To hell? Of course…Where scum like you come from.”

  “Insults already? You humans have such colorful language.”

  “What do you want from us? Why do you want to destroy this kingdom?”

  “Why not do it?”

  The demon's response was devoid of any emotion. He wasn't enjoying the killing, but he didn't mind it either. Rudelius didn't understand this logic.

  “Why? Why?! Because life must be preserved!”

  "I'm not opposed to this ideology. However, I am a demon. You must understand that, for me, human morality is not the only one. I can choose which one to adopt at will, depending on the situation."

  “You're just a monster looking for a justification for the murders you committed!”

  "No, I don't. Otherwise I would have sought some abstruse logic. I have no purpose in life, so I do what I want, following my will."

  “It's all over now! You will die for what you've done! I will defend the castle with my life!”

  He gripped the hilt of the sacred sword even harder. He swung the sword.

  “Divine Punishment!”

  The battle was over. This was Rudelius's most powerful blow, capable of killing entire armies with a single swing. Almodeus would be eliminated instantly, or sent straight back to hell. At least, that's what was supposed to happen.

  “I-Impossible…”

  Rudelius's eyes widened so much that they seemed about to pop out of their sockets.

  After that powerful attack, Almodeus was pristine, as if he hadn't even been attacked in the first place.

  “I don’t understand your surprise...”

  “How are you still alive?! That attack was the manifestation of a divine blow! It was a gift from God!”

  “Ah, now it's clearer to me what that shot was!”

  Almodeus rubbed his chin, interested.

  “However, I still don't understand why you're surprised…”

  “H-How?”

  Rudelius couldn't believe it. That demon had just suffered an attack fueled by the power of his God, and he hadn't even realized it was coming from the will of a deity.

  “I possess an ability called Absolute Authority. ”

  Almodeus explained, gesturing with his right arm.

  "This means I always have authority above everything else. Forgive me if I don't understand your surprise, but you must know that nothing can harm me without my consent."

  “It's impossible! No one can be that powerful!”

  “And yet I am existing in this very moment.”

  Rudelius took a couple of steps back. It was the first time he'd failed to eliminate something, or had failed in general.

  His power…Surpasses that of God?!

  He gripped the sacred sword in his hands. It couldn't be true, someone so powerful couldn't exist.

  “No! It’s impossible! I’ll kill you! Now!”

  He made to charge another attack and…The sword fell from his hands.

  “…”

  Both his hands had been severed and fell to the ground along with the sacred sword. His feet dangled, unable to touch the ground. His neck was locked in a strong grip; he could breathe freely, but Almodeus's large red hand seemed unwilling to let go.

  “L-Let go! Let go of me!”

  “Why? Aren't you a great hero? Where has your courage gone?”

  Almodeus didn't wait for an answer and eyed the sword on the ground. It seemed to intrigue him, somehow.

  “Let go of me…Please!”

  Rudelius pleaded. He realized there was nothing he could do. Ever since Almodeus had appeared, it seemed his divine power had completely evaporated, as if God himself had fled.

  “Don't worry. You gave me a great deal and you entertained me. I'll give you the gift of a painless death…”

  Rudelius felt Almodeus's grip tighten around his neck. Breathing became impossible.

  “N-No…Wait!”

  Will I die? Am I really dying? No…it's impossible! I am the disciple of God! I am—

  The sound of a balloon popping was heard…And Rudelius's lifeless body fell to the ground. He never moved again.

  “The garbage is cleared away…”

  Almodeus grabbed the sacred sword on the ground and raised it, bringing it before his face.

  Normally he wouldn't have been able to touch a sacred weapon, but the hilt of that sword was made of common gold, so he had no problem.

  "…Now, for the interesting stuff. This journey wasn't entirely in vain. This sword will be a great piece in my collection!"

  “Stop, demon!”

  Armed soldiers arrived on the scene, but as soon as they recognized Rudelius's corpse among those present, they lost all will to fight.

  “More hassles? Absolute Cruelty.”

  Almodeus waved his hand, as if throwing sand into the air…And the bodies of the soldiers fell to the ground, like puppets with their threads cut off. They were no more.

  “Mh…”

  Almodeus gazed at the royal palace in the distance, then moved his right eye to the weapon he held tightly in his fist.

  “Maybe there are other collectibles like this sword.”

  With that, he began moving towards the imposing manor.

  “Stop, demon! In the name of His Majesty!”

  “More hassles…Again? Absolute Death.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Almodeus walked through the devastated streets of the royal capital. In his right hand, he clutched the sacred sword he had obtained by slaying the hero whose name he vaguely remembered.

  “Unfortunately there were no other interesting things in that manor…”

  He looked back at the castle, which was now a pile of rubble. He'd torn it apart, searching for other collectibles, but found nothing.

  “Another kingdom fallen through its own fault...”

  He snorted. Almodeus just wanted to enjoy a normal day, but someone had called him in the human world. Normally, he would have ignored the call, but today, he'd decided to show up out of pure boredom.

  A cult called the Dark Garden had requested his help. The sect's leader had promised his soul in exchange for the destruction of the sacred church. No one can give orders to Almodeus, so he eliminated them all, but that was when the royal guard intervened, arriving to invade the cult's base. Unfortunately, they encountered a demon instead.

  And so the massacre began.

  He had to admit he'd overdone it a bit, considering the state the capital was in. They were probably all dead.

  Maybe I exaggerated, but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters now.

  He finally reached the central square. It was there that he had killed the hero; his headless, handsless corpse still lay there on the ground. He gave it a quick glance, then advanced towards the working-class district.

  He hadn't been there yet, having been summoned in the warehouses. Even so, everything had already been reduced to a pile of destroyed stones due to the earthquake that had struck the entire capital.

  “Huh?”

  A noise tickled his ears. It sounded like a newborn baby's wailing.

  Did a child survive? Fate is cruel...

  Almodeus could have left, but he decided to head towards the small house where the crying was coming from.

  “Please…Help…”

  A black-haired woman prayed as she saw him approaching. She was clutching a swaddled baby, crying as if there were no tomorrow.

  “Are you asking me for help? This is the first time this has happened to me, you know? I usually kill people, but I don't do it for pleasure, at least not always.”

  “A child doesn't decide where and when to be born! Even a being like you can see how unfair it is to leave an innocent child to die... Right?”

  The woman tried to get up, but failed. Her injuries, caused by the earthquake that had struck the city, were too severe. She would have died soon.

  “I am Almodeus. I assume you know me from your history books—”

  “-It doesn't matter who you are!”

  The woman interrupted him, spitting blood.

  “You too can't think it's right for him to die here!”

  “Justice…What a beautiful word.”

  Almodeus did not believe in the concepts of right and wrong. For him, those weren't objective concepts that existed at the foundation of the world. According to Almodeus, they were simply something designed to prevent various populations from killing each other, something the human race seemed to do often.

  “Let’s do this: I will give you the chance to prove to me that it makes sense for this child’s life to be saved.”

  He bent over the dying woman and the dirty, crying child.

  “I won't live long enough to prove it to you!”

  The woman spat blood again, staining Almodeus's right sleeve. It was the first time anyone had stained him since he'd arrived in that city. The divine attack had had no effect, but that woman's moan had caused him to lower his defenses. She wasn't a threat, after all.

  “You're right about that…”

  The dying woman smiled, handing the newborn to the demon.

  “His worth will be shown as he grows.”

  “Huh?”

  “I promise you…It will be worth it…”

  With that, the woman stopped moving forever, smiling in the face of fear itself.

  So, there are humans that are…Interesting.

  A few seconds before the woman's soul vanished, Almodeus placed his hand on her face. He closed her eyes and wiped away both the dust and the blood.

  “You didn't deserve to die, at least in my opinion.”

  It was a selfish speech. He had just exterminated the capital of a kingdom for no apparent reason, yet he didn't consider that woman's death something necessary.

  But now he had another problem: what to do with the child?

  He took him in his arms and watched him cry. Almodeus sighed. He had always been alone, no lovers or children- how could he care for a child now? It was a stupid concept.

  “His worth will be shown as he grows…”

  Almodeus muttered, looking at the little boy in his arms. He looked around, but there was no one left to leave him with.

  "I don't really believe it…"

  He had no certainty that the child would become someone important, or that his life would not be cut short by something as simple as an illness.

  “Kill him or not? What a doubt…”

  For him, killing a child wasn't a big deal. He'd done it before, either directly or indirectly, but... This case was different. He'd received a plea and hadn't had time to refuse it, so now he found himself with that little one in his arms.

  “I’m sorry, little one. I can’t take you with me, you’ll never have a happy life in hell.”

  Leaving him to others was out of the question, it would have been like denying responsibility for his actions.

  As if a being like me could care about responsibilities.

  Almodeus was so powerful that he could do whatever he wanted without regard for consequences, morality, or ethics. He was free in the truest sense of the word, yet his mind didn't like to apply that concept.

  I limit myself too much…What is wrong with me?

  He looked over at the child who was still crying.

  “I know what to do now… Forgive me, little one, but this is the choice I think is right. It’s selfish of me, but it doesn’t matter—I’m the only one here who has the power to decide.”

  Almodeus moved his right hand over the little boy's face, without touching him.

  “Don't worry, it will be painless… Absolute De- “

  He stopped himself.

  “No, that's excessive. I think it would be better this way: Death. ”

  The weakened spell activated.

  “Goodbye, little one…Your soul will be spared from eternal torment.”

  After that, the baby's crying stopped forever.

  "What a dark arrogance of mine."

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Dad! Here you are!”

  Almodeus was brought back to reality by his daughter. He was in the relics room, where he kept his private collection of magical objects.

  “Uh? Little spot! Need something?”

  “You disappeared without a trace! Everyone is in the throne room for the meeting! Only you're missing! We have to hurry! We're supposed to meet in town this evening with Fiora and their group.”

  “Yes, sorry. I was just here for a moment.”

  "Everything is fine, Dad?"

  “Yes. I was just looking at some memorabilia. Talking to Annie reminded me of some stories from the past. Stories from before you were even born or when I still had not met your mother.”

  Talking to that little girl, he recalled one of his many past adventures. Before him lay one of the many sacred swords he possessed.

  “So…Are you coming?”

  “Yes. I'll be right there.”

  Almodeus moved towards his daughter and placed a hand on her head, caressing her.

  “Can you tell me the story of that white sword you were seeing...after the meeting?”

  “Sure. Whatever you want, little spot!”

  With that, Almodeus left the memorabilia room with his daughter. He held her close as he had held that child centuries before. His little spot was the thing he cared most about in the world.

  Now, Almodeus could say he understood what that woman from the past meant with her last words.