Previously...
The God of Death looked at Deon walking back to the Demon King's barracks, wiping off the blood running down his nose through the screen. Something always was happening to Deon, it was amusing but he felt bad for the poor white-head who just wanted a slacker life and to retire from both the Demon King and Emperor.
"Good luck my child, I sincerely hope you get to be happy with your brother this time, Raven."
***
'Someone's talking shit about me again...'
Deon felt his ear twitch as he grabbed the communication crystal from his pocket and waited for an answer from the Demon King. After a few minutes he could hear a voice coming from the other end.
"Arut, I heard something happened. Can you explain in full detail?"
"Something did happen, I ended up teaming up with the hero in the end though."
He began to explain Choi Han attacking and how he was one of the people that was proclaimed a disaster in the oracle. Deon could hear the Demon King sigh as he explained Choi Han's and the others abilities, he must have realized how grave the situation has gone.
It went from just a war between demons and humans which had a huge chance of occurring once again to a war against otherworldly people who were a threat the the world as a whole, even demons. It was like the world was playing a prank on the Demon King, forcing him to be on the losing side constantly.
"Thank you Arut. I'll think about what to do, you can go now."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Deon hung up the call with Caver and went back to his tent in the Demon King's barracks. He could see many demons looking at him in awe and expectant gazes as he walked by them. He ignored them all as he made his way to an empty tent with the other Zeroth Corps members huddling around it.
"Sir Arut!"
"It's great to see you again commander-nim!"
The demon corps surrounded Deon excitedly, bombarding the whitehead with questions and praises. Deon sweatdropped at the amount of questions directed at him, he almost felt like fainting right on the spot. When the conversation ended, Deon tried to walk into his tent but was stopped by a gentle tug.
It was one of his corps members, they were scared to ask him whether or not he could go out and hang out with the other corps members, along with the corps commanders who were attending the war as well.
'Do I even have a choice...?'
Deon looked at the his demon corps pleading expressions that were begging him to go along with them. Usually his corps members would avoid him, but this was one of the first times they'd ever tried to initiate a conversation with him first.
He felt inclined to go with them, to be fair he never talked to them ever nor did he do much of his job as a corps commander working for the Demon King. All Deon could do was sigh and nod his head at the corps members reluctant question to which they immediately brought him over to where Jaykar was located at.
That day went by with Deon socializing (for once) with his demon corps members. The following days passed by in an instant as Deon continued to fight for both sides of the war endlessly, though because he hadn't shown the Empire his use of ancient power yet a rumor of whether or not the Zeroth Corps Commander and the Third Hero of the Empire were the same people.
This was because while fighting on the Demon King's side, Deon would use his ancient powers to knock out enemies. On the Empire's side, he tended to use the dagger made by the power of death to escape suspicion of using the same dagger that he used on the day he rushed over towards the battlefield, he also used his gun in some fights.
Since the ancient powers were going through a median, it was harder to tell whether or not if the bullets he shot out were the same as the ancient powers he used on the Demon King's side.
The result? A tired out Deon who was both hungry from the drawbacks of using his ancient powers and sore from the sleeping he did while on both sides while not stretching. He was told many times to start stretching after he woke up but he was just too lazy to do that and never did so.
***
'Today finally marks the day that the assassin's will be dispatched..'
Deon looked out of his tent, he could see soldiers rushing by and many still training while some sat down side by side and ate food together. No one was focused on him, which was a good thing. It meant that he could sneak out, his number goal today was to take out the assassins after him and quietly head back.
No Cruel? Check! No one tailing him? Check! No Lofty Knights watching him from the bushes? Check! Deon confirmed his surroundings and took his belongings before walking out of the camp. Since he was one of the four heroes, he didn't need any verification for any sort of thing. Maybe people just felt like putting all of their trust into the heroes.
'The thing is, I don't where it is.'
Well, he walked around in the cold snow for a while. He could find the location soon, well if he was ambushed by assassins yet then he could. Deon walked around the barren mountains for what seemed like a few minutes before catching an arrow that was aimed at him.
"...You're finally here."
"Hmph, since you were expecting us.. be prepared to die alone here, Deon Hardt!"
The assassins all attacked Deon at once. Luckily for them, Deon have a surprise gift for them all. It was a stone spear pierced right through their heart, a nice and quick death for the assassins that went after him. He summoned five more butterflies and aimed them at the horde of assassins.
If this this was him in the past, he might've been scared but he fought things much worse than this, like the bears and lions that surrounded him while in the final battle against the White Star. He was 'cornered' by Sayeru and the entirety of the bear tribe who were set on killing him, or maybe even the unranked eel monster that he face alone before backup eventually came for him.
"You probably haven't ever heard of this, but they don't call me the one man army for no reason." That title is so cringey, who even came up with that title for me?!
Contrary to Deon's thoughts about the title, he gave a arrogant look as he stabbed down the assassins with a water spear. Just as an assassin was about to lay another attack on him, Deon crushed the assassin with his shield. He didn't even know that was possible, but more new ways to take down enemies...
Deon continued fighting the assassins that kept coming for him for what felt like ages. After a few minutes, he could see the large amount of assassins disappearing by his hands. Now only a few were left on the battlefield, just as he raised his dagger once more, Deon could feel his whole body burning up not just burning up. It felt like he was being boiled alive with each of his body parts being disfigured and torn apart.
'Damn it! Just now of all times?!'
He crouched down as he held onto his dagger, he could hear the enemies come closer as he continued to lay in the snow. Well he tried to play a hero unlike his other lives and failed, was he really cut out to be a main character if he couldn't even protect himself? He sometimes wondered what went through the God's heads while reincarnating him, seriously a main character?
"Argh!"
"Cruel Hardt, you traitor-"
One by one the assassins fell as Cruel made his way to Deon in a hurry. There were two red butterflies sitting on top of his shoulders as he looked at Deon with a concerned gaze. But now wasn't the time to be concerned, Cruel had to get out of here. He could see even more assassins heading towards the location they were at.
He lifted Deon up and ran deeper into the mountains, if he was right then the Demonic Realm should be near here. The assassins still followed him as he ran around the mountain to stall time, clearly that wasn't a good choice since the assassins fired their bows at Cruel.
Clang!
A black shield appeared around Cruel the moment the arrow was aimed at him. It looked like there was no choice but to fight them, at least until their numbers were significantly lowered. He still had to rake Deon to a safer place, if he died here than that'd mean that Deon would die too, he couldn't ever let that happen.
Cruel held up his sword and quickly took down the nearby assassins before heading towards the archers, they were indeed at an advantage but if he engaged in a battle with them close ranged then they'd be at a disadvantage.
Clang!
That was strike number two, it meant that the necklace could withstand one more attack before becoming unusable. But Cruel wasn't aware of that as he continued to eliminate the assassins while also preventing other assassins from getting near his baby brother. There was no way he'd let them pass through him while he was busy with the other assassins, he'll take them all down if it was necessary.
"In the end he chose to protect his brother, what a shame. We'll start to attack Cruel Hardt first and then go after Deon Hardt."
"As if I'd let you do that!"
"Urgh... what.. is this?!"
Plop!
The assassin immediately fell down onto the ground while a red butterfly flew back to Cruel. It was the Death Butterflies that Deon would tend to use in his battle, they were now obeying Cruel's command. The Death Butterflies only had one rule, be a saint of the God of Death.
Even if you were a devoted priest with divine power near to a saint, they wouldn't obey you. The Death Butterflies strictly followed the God of Death's words and his saints who were the closet to Death itself after the God of Death who was a personification of it.
"T-these are Poison Butterflies!"
"Continue attacking Cruel Hardt! He is the median to which why the butterflies are attacking us."
The assassins began launching even heavier attacks on Cruel who barely dodged them all, he took his sword and began to swing it again against the assassins. He sliced their bodies apart with ease due to the aura of death that was imbued onto his sword.
Cruel relied on the butterflies to take out the assassins that got past him as he focused solely on the archers who could aim above him. He was starting to realize that the overwhelming amount of assassins was way more than what he expected, did the duke find out about his plan? Those thoughts circulated through Cruel's head as he continued to take down the assassins.
Clang!
The necklace finally broke along with the sword Cruel held in his hands as he took one final swing. Of course, the assassins took the time and attacked Cruel shortly after. An arrow pierced his left leg while another pierced his arm, luckily they weren't vital spots so he could still fight.
"Go now Cruel, we will take of this."
Cruel could feel a light force pushing him towards Deon as tons of more shields enveloped around the both of them, preventing the assassins from getting near them. Without hesitation, he took Deon and continued to run to the Demonic Realm.
As he continued to run, he could feel his steps get heavier with each step he took. The attacks from earlier were finally getting to him as he finally made it to the Demonic Realm.
Cruel ran and hid behind a tree before wrapping Deon up in his cloak. He could see the tears from the pain were now dried and Deon shivering from the cold, he felt useless as he watched his younger brother suffer even when passed out. He ignored the wounds he had himself and focused on Deon's health, for now they could hide here for a bit and eventually return.
***
Guys if we just had Deon passed out then Cruel can't die... Because he has to protect Deon, if he dies then Deon isn't safe so he HAS to stay alive no matter what.. And there you have it, a guide to keep Cruel alive
And here is what I promised, an alive Cruel where his body parts aren't scattered around!
I wrote this at 1 am I'm not sure what to think