Oliver gazed in melancholy at the row of granite headstones. The few friends he had were buried here. His heart felt a pinching pain until he read what was written on the headstones.
"DON'T BE SAD, YOU ARE NEXT" – ROOT
"FINALLY, SOME PEACE AND QUIET" – DHARMA
"GOING TO HELL, TO CONTINUE KILLING DEMONS" – KAI
"I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THAT INSURANCE" – TOX
Oliver read them in sequence as his lips curled into a smile. The sadness he was feeling slowly went away.
They had decided what to write on their headstone on a random day during a drinking party. And it seems like the one who was alive was able to fulfill their wish.
Oliver slowly turned to focus on the grave of Root.
Root was the last one to die. He wasn't captured along with the rest of them. So, he would be the one who took care of the graves.
"So, why did you tell me about your son?" Oliver muttered absentmindedly.
Although Root was dead, he still expected an answer.
Oliver went closer and crouched down near the stone.
The words 'YOU ARE NEXT' written in bold letters didn't scare him. In fact, it comforted him.
Oliver was practically immortal as long as he had enough blood stored inside him through his ability. It was difficult for him to die.
So, once his revenge is over. After killing Indra, he was expecting to die.
Maybe death will bring peace to him.
It was indeed comforting.
"Speak, you as*****. I know everyone here was cremated. What did you do this time?" Oliver continued to ask.
"As expected of our leader." Before Oliver could curse again, a soft voice echoed in his ears.
The voice was clearly audible, and it was not Oliver's imagination. It certainly was Root's voice. Still, he couldn't pinpoint the source.
Oliver looked around.
"Don't look around. You, hearing this, means that I am dead. And don't try to speak. I can't hear you. I couldn't implement an AI with the power budget I had. So, wait patiently and hear what I have to say."
The voice continued to speak without stopping.
It quickly explained the purpose of its existence and relayed the information Root had stored in it.
It took a while for Oliver to fully grasp the current situation.
"So, simply put. Indra merged with a demon and became a demon general. Currently, the demon army is assimilating the genetic information from all the creatures on Earth to birth a demon king. The moment the demon king is born. The world would end."
"Your goal is to kill the demon general, Indra. But that won't be easy. So, I have prepared something for you. Break the headstone in front of you. Inside, you will see a metallic coin."
"It was a simple artefact used by a random villain which allowed the user to convert all the blood they have in their body to mana. For most people, doing it would be a certain death. No wonder it was unheard of."
"By the way, you know where I'm getting at, right?"
"The only flaw you have is your inability to use mana. But with the artefact, you can. Secondly, I did some tests and estimated the upper limit of the artefact. It's a hundred thousand litres. Much less than the total amount of blood you could store inside you."
"But, there is an option for overload. It's a one-time use and can take as much blood as you can throw at it. But I don't know what the end result would be. Probably a big explosion. Do use it at your own risk."
"Finally, the thing about the son is real."
Suddenly, the voice stopped speaking.
"D*mn that s*n of …" Oliver almost cursed out aloud. He still didn't explain anything about his son.
Anyway, Oliver knew what he had to do.
From the information he received, he realised that humanity was on the brink of destruction. The otherworldly demons had taken control over the west and were slowly expanding. Soon, all countries and cities would fall.
It was inevitable looking at the data.
The betrayal of the S-rank heroes was a big blow to the power structure of humans. Even when the countries worked together, they were failing to push back the demons.
"And now, I have to go into the centre of the demon army to kill Indra," Oliver muttered, and he smashed his fist on the headstone.
The stone shattered into many bits, and a shiny coin embedded inside it fell out.
Oliver casually picked it up.
"Probably a big explosion, right?" He smiled.
If it was the old Oliver, he would have precisely calculated his attack and taken down the Indra. But a variable appeared. The demons were about to birth a demon king. Earth was about to end, and he was on a tight deadline.
"Your son is living on this earth. So, I can't let it be destroyed, right?" Oliver said as he grew blood wings before flying away.
He looked more like a demon than an actual demon as he flew through the air to the west, where the core of the demon army was.
The rest was history.
—
On the western side of the continent, two armies were clashing.
The humans' side was driving mechs, jets, and combat suits to battle. Superhumans rained down attacks on the demon army using their special abilities.
The demons, on the other hand, were using colossal infected monsters and mana beasts for war.
Both sides clashed in a death match to find the final victor.
Within minutes, the bodies of the dead began to pile up on the battlefield. Soon, the ground was dyed red as the blood river flowed through it.
However, no one on the battlefield was shocked by the scene. This was a daily occurrence for them. Blood, death, and destruction. They had been acclimated to seeing this every day.
Finally, the demon army pushed back the humans and made them retreat.
Slowly but surely, the demons were gaining the advantage as the battle continued. For the past year, the entire west has fallen to the demons.
It was at that time a winged being descended into the battlefield. The few people with sharp eyes immediately noticed his presence.
The moment the winged man touched the ground, the blood and gore on the ground shook. As if it had gained a mind of its own, the blood swirled and moved towards him.
The human army, which was retreating, paused to look at the scene in awe.
This was not the first time they had seen something similar. Their memory jogged as they remembered a certain villain subjugation mission broadcasted throughout the world almost a decade ago. Once they recovered from the initial shock, fear spread throughout the army.
Was he not in prison?
Did he come here to kill us?
Can we even survive against him?
Everyone thought the same. Even the S-rankers did so.
However, before they could worry too much, the blood that was sucked into the being spread out like a fog covering everything around. The demon arm which was chasing the humans paused. The blood-red fog blocked everyone's vision.
"THUMP!"
"ROAR!"
"BOOM!"
Soon, bloodcurdling screams and horrifying sounds of explosions resounded throughout the area.
With each passing second, the human army found that the screams and noises were getting further and further away. About thirty minutes later, the blood fog and the sound reached the centre of the demon camp a couple of kilometres away.
And the next second, as if someone had inhaled, all the red fog and blood flowed to the centre of the demon army. Everything cleared up and the towering tsunami of blood was sucked into a single point.
Moments later, a turbulent mana wave spread from the centre. Following it was a flash of light and a shockwave greater than a nuclear explosion. The space where the demon king was being birthed was torn apart and disintegrated.
After a couple of minutes, when the air cleared up, the human army witnessed a shocking scene.
A clear hemispherical crater a kilometre in radius was drilled onto the surface of the earth. Everything inside it was reduced to nothing. The once-strong demon army and demon generals were no more. Only a few stragglers and clusters of the demon army remain in the peripheral area.
A single person came and wiped out the entire army they had been battling for over a decade.
Some rejoiced, but many were unsure what to do or feel. The irony of heroes joining the demons and the villains coming to save them was a hard pill to swallow.
—
Meanwhile, Oliver, who said 'bang' and shut his eyes while standing on top of the demon king's head, looked at his surroundings in confusion.
'What the hell happened?'
'Didn't I die?'
His eyes focused on the teenager who was holding him by the throat. The pain he was feeling was real, and it was uncomfortable. It annoyed him greatly.
With a flick of his leg, he kicked the family jewels of the bastard who was holding him. Then, in a swift motion, he shook off the hand and slammed him onto the floor.
Normally, a person would have stopped there.
But Oliver, who was in his enraged state, didn't think too deeply and did everything by instinct.
Stomping down on the back of the teenager, he grabbed his nape with both hands and pulled up with all the strength he could muster.
In one clean motion, he ripped out the cervical spine and the brain stem.
*Gasp*
*Aaa*
Suddenly, he noticed the crowd around him. The audible gasps and screams quickly brought him back to reality.
'Is this the military school?' Oliver tilted his head and observed the uniforms everyone was wearing. Then he noticed he was wearing something similar.
'Am I in school?'