The earth was ravaged with death and decay, with the rustic smell of blood everywhere. The birds were dead, the insects lifeless. Human bodies lay piled up in makeshift mountains that towered over the treetops. Yet, among all of this desolation and despair, a single light shone.
"God dammit! We didn't get here fast enough!"
The voice originated from a white haired priestess stationed in the middle of the group of travelers.
"Gloria, are you sure you should be denouncing your god's name like that?"
A red haired girl swung around to ask Gloria with a somewhat mischievous smirk. A soft clang was made when her twin swords touched each other. When she had first seen the genocides she had reacted with the same enthusiasm, but now the scene had grown far to common.
"Pshha, Lady Astraea is a benevolent, and open minded goddess. The complete and utter opposite of you, Brianna."
"Why you little!"
Suddenly a mountain, no a human three meters tall picked up the two of them up by the collars of their clothing akin to a mother cat picking up her kittens.
"Adrian's saying to knock it off, you two."
A human wielding a staff much taller than he was, stepped out of Adrian's shadow.
"Buttt, Noah-"
"What's going on here?"
A sudden imposing presence made itself known, but under it's hard exterior was the everlasting presence of hope. It was the leader of the chosen ones, the hero.
"Oh Alan, these two were fighting again."
"Again?"
The two girls had the decency to blush a little out of shame. Alan suddenly looked toward his right, and let out a small smile.
"Reina, did you find anything?"
A woman suddenly appeared in front of the chosen ones. Her short hair was cut at neck length, with a flower ornament adorning her black locks. Her eyes were severe and told a story of hardship as well as misery. A bright red veil covered her face stowing away the majority of her facial features. She was also the assassin of the group.
"No problems. The only demons left are gathering at the Demonic Sovereign's castle as a final stand against us."
Alan let his mouth slowly curve into a smile. The war had been hard with blood and death everywhere, almost staining the land in a permanent red. It had nearly robbed him of his ability to smile as well when his parents died. His companions, no his friends were the only thing left in this world that wasn't filled with despair. Soon the world would be freed of despair as well, when they finally defeated the Sovereign. it was far overdue.
"Let's go. This will be the final battle everyone!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a castle with steep walls, glaring trenches, and an evil dark paint job, the chosen ones were battling the Demonic Sovereign. Sounds of metal, and the whispers of arcane had been the only sounds in the grand throne room for the last half hour. Gradually, the chosen ones were starting to have an advantage over the arrogant demon sovereign. In the millisecond that the demon let his guard down, Reina managed a deep cut on his torso. After that, the demon that had never known pain started to accumulate more cuts and burns.
At last, the turning point arrived.
"Prepare to die!"
Alan let out a cry of rage, with the power of hope taking a solid form upon his trusty sword. The sword slid straight and true right into the opponents heart. Purple blood started to gush out of the wound, and the light in his eyes were diminishing significantly. But before he bid farewell to the world forever, his screechy voice rang out in an ominous warning.
"Do you think that killing me is the end of all of this?"
"W-What are you saying?" Gloria let out with a slight waver in her tone.
"Ha hahahaha! Ah, that was a good laugh. Why, little one, you all are the chosen ones! The chosen sacrifices!!! Hahahah.. haha..ha."
The Demonic Sovereign died laughing. The party was all slightly perturbed by his actions, but simply took it as the raving of a madman that was dying. Those thoughts would soon disappear, however. The beacon of victory lit up across the world and cheers rang. All members of the party found themselves strangely growing stronger. A gentle warmth spread throughout their body interweaving itself with their very DNA. A smirk grew on the figures hidden in the darkness. Now was the time.
"Activate, Divine Strength Transferal!"
With a heavy thud, the chosen ones found themselves falling onto the floor helplessly. They all looked up in shock upon the figure. For it was a god.
"What have.. you done.. to us..!" Alan's voice was filled with exhaustion. A bad feeling began to sprout within his heart.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
A figure phased into existence next to the god.
"Helios, wouldn't it be fun to watch them writle in despair? You know want to see it."
"Mania, you do know that's against the rules in this little operation, correct?"
"Buttt, hardly any of my playthings have any emotions anymore... It's reeaaalllyyyy boring to torture them, ya know?"
The figure paused a moment in contemplation.
"Fine, but please stay away from me in the near future."
"Gottcha~!"
The heroes watched in growing horror at the god's verbal exchange. They were feeling more exhausted then they ever had in their life. Their rage was also rising exponentially from being treated like... ants.
"Listen here, little choosen sacrifices~! This absolutely wonderful pastim- project is one where we squeeze out every little drop of divine power in your system and make it ours!"
"Div...ine Pow...er?"
"Oh right you mortals don't know how to become gods do you? Hehe, you see the more people believe in you and see you as their hero the more belief you acquire. After getting enough belief, you become a god or goddess! Of course, we take your divine power before it fully transforms into godhood. Needless to say, that's why we always make a demonic sovereign every couple hundred years. Aiyah, your getting angry!"
She was right, they were absolutely furious. Their fellow humans had been killed to simply increase their divine power! It was a rage that penetrated their exhaustion right into the deeps of their souls.
Noah, the closest one to her tried to hit her with lighting, but it only flew out a couple of feet before fizzling out.
"Oh you naughtly little thing~!"
She went forward to break his arm with her heel, but-
"Mania. Do not damage the divine power, I only permit psychological torture."
"You're no fun. Humph."
Like a look one would look at ants with, Mania turned towards the sacrifices.
"My mood is ruined. Goodbye, Helios, Ant friends."
No, she truly saw all mortals as ants to step on. They didn't know what was worse, the goddess's view on mortals or that Helios only saw them as divine power to be harvested.
"Y..ou..... b-ba...st..ard..s"
"There is no use feeling resentment, mortal. This was your fate the moment you accepted our blessings. You can not fight against fate."
No one could utter a word right now. It was taking all they could to simply stay conscious. And just like that, the heroes of the generation slowly died one by one. Reina could only think one last sentence.
'I will kill all of you bastards!'
Helios turned away, and disappeared in a beam of light.
The land returned to silence once more as it had for many many years.