Death's Door 98 Volume 5: Chapter 1: Heart of Despair

Ten summoned warriors, each created with element of wind, were on a killing spree within this village.

They were summons of a certain Hero called the Knight of Wind, Yusa Nirai.

The reason her wind summons were causing such bloody slaughter was obvious- this was a village full of demons.

While the barrier prevented demons from entering the Holy City, same could not be said about the territories outside the Holy City, where many demons hid themselves within villages.

What she was doing was a cleansing, of sorts.

'All demons must be killed, so do the humans who aided them…' There shall be no mercy to traitors who sympathize with demons.

It seems that within this village, humans aided demons and allowed them to live alongside them.

That was unacceptable.

'Fools'

Not daring to approach within a hundred feet of them, Knight of Wind unleashed a mighty slash of wind imbued with her mana.

The slash ended up decapitating the weaker demons who were attempting to flee.

Her wind was perfect for usage for long distance attacks, which she used in order in order to not come close to demons.

"I wonder what the expression on their faces is like, is it of fear, dread, or maybe anguish?"

Of course, other than the sound of their corpses falling on the ground, she could perceive nothing else.

A single woman stood there, wearing very light armor, with a single sword by her side.

Her long white hair was neatly combed and covered with a veil.

But the most noticeable thing about her was the visor she wore on her face, it concealed her eyes entirely, but unlike a normal visor, it was obvious they were not made of see-through material.

That was the truth, for her eyes were long gone.

The only reason she could even perceive what was happening around her was due to the wind.

Winds were her eyes and ears, and through them, she could sense her enemies.

Thanks to the blessing given to her by Lord Ventus, the Primary god of Wind, she could use winds to compensate for what she has lost.

But the winds could only do so much.

Seeing, truly seeing something was a hope long lost.

Yet, for her goal, it was more than enough.

Her summoned warriors shared their vision with her, allowing her to remotely control them from afar.

From the eyes of her summon, she could see that this was a horned woman trying to desperately save her son by shielding him with her own body.

'Even if they are women or children, Demons must die.'

Her summon proceeded to skewer both the mother and child with its lance.

More carnage followed afterwards as her summon kept slashing their corpses until they no longer even resembled a living being, they were reduced to a bloody mush splattered everywhere.

It did not matter if this was a cold hearted murder.

Once the child grows up, he would become just like the others of his kind, with no exceptions.

Demons were vile creatures that needed to be exterminated, but much to Knight of Wind's chagrin, many opted to enslave demons rather than kill them outright.

Thousands of captured demons were used as slave labor to build structures within the Holy City, and even more were gathered by force to be sacrificed at the upcoming Festival of the Sun.

"This is ludicrous! Why wouldn't they just kill them?" Knight of Wind stomped on the ground hard enough to leave a deep foot print.

Demons are scum of the earth; they are ungodly abominations that can only destroy anything they touch.

'Nothing good ever came from demons, they are responsible for all calamity in this world.'

'They must be killed, this world must be cleansed of demons; otherwise none is safe'

"How can they not understand, they are demons for goodness sake! But instead of heading out to fight them, as soon as he came back…Knight of Light, why did you choose to take on the job of exterminating the undead instead?!"

For many, Knight of Light was a beacon of hope, and Knight of Wind was no exception.

He did what many others failed to do before him; none else could take on Demon Lords and triumph so gallantly.

Before he stepped in, Demons were acting at large and the kingdom was in mortal peril, but with his coming, the balance shifted towards the human side.

Ever since then, many heroes became overconfident as demons grew weaker, with each battle, many powerful demons fell while the number of those who reached the level of hero kept steadily increasing.

Humanity now was at its golden age; that was for sure.

Those who reached the level of hero were celebrated as saviors, and many even saw themselves as chosen ones, boosting their overconfidence to overwhelming proportions.

But unlike the others Heroes, Knight of Wind could not rest at peace until every demon that walks the earth has perished.

Her Wind Summons were merciless, each one could not be harmed by low level attacks and their offense was extremely deadly.

But against a stronger demon, say, of a Demon Lord caliber, they were practically useless.

If one were to ambush her right now, she would have no choice but to flee.

Even if it wasn't a Demon Lord level, but a low level demon, she wouldn't dare face it.

The reason for that was not because she was weak; she was one of the few who reached the level of a hero, after all.

No, the true reason was because she was afraid.

Afraid of what they could do to her.

Once she was an ordinary knight, but then her troop was ambushed by demons, and those that survived were dragged into the caves.

The despicable things those demons did to them…

Each one was worse than the previous.

She wished she could die, but her arms and legs were tied to stakes as the demons had their way with her.

Worst of all, she was forced to watch as these depraved monsters did whatever they wanted with her comrades.

One was cooked alive, another one skinned, many were tortured for the demons amusement, and the others were used by demons to relieve their lust…

In the end, only she survived.

Sometimes she wondered why she was left alive, her body mangled beyond repair, her eyes clawed out of her skull, her womb barren, never able to give life due to what demons did to her.

She could still remember the voice of that demon, laughing to his heart's content as he toyed with her while torturing her comrades.

He clawed out her right eye, and made her watch what he and his followers did to her friends, and when her last ally had met his end, demon took her other eye 'Savor this sight, for it is the last one you shall see'

The last thing she saw was that Demon's face, everything afterwards was swallowed by darkness.

Just thinking about it made Knight of Wind shudder in fear without an end.

'It was so long ago and yet…' she clutched her sword closer to her chest.

She coughed blood, ever since then, her body was never the same; it was severely damaged, and over usage of mana did not help matters.

'But it must be done.'

She muttered, clutching her abdomen along which ran long jagged scars left by the demon's razor sharp claws piercing mercilessly into her flesh.

Her entire body was covered in fading scars, but the marks were still visible.

Not even the best of healer could completely heal her.

But her physical injuries were nothing compared to what she suffered within her mind.

Every night she tried to fall asleep, she would be back within that dungeon of a cave, and that demon who took away everything from her was always waiting.

That thought alone made her unable to truly rest, but none seemed to even care.

While they hated demons, most people do so due to the teachings of gods, they did not know of the true horrors they represented.

And with the advent of strong heroes, many now think of demons as weak creatures, surely someone like her, a hero, would be able to easily smite them?

But reality is never that simple.

Even if she did reach the level of a hero, she could never face a single demon, she was afraid of them, so much that just imagining them near her was enough to almost break her.

Of all the heroes, the only one that seemed to take his job seriously was Knight of Night, Larat Lemuri, but he was sent on an entirely different mission.

There was none she could rely on, none she could confide in.

Other heroes and knights were overconfident in their abilities without even comprehending the dangers demons posed.

But she knew well enough.

Demons were monsters, no; calling them monsters is a huge understatement.

But someone has to do this.

Even if she is afraid, even if it makes her want to vomit, this must be done.

By the morning, not a single demon was left alive within the village.

While she generally avoided killing humans, if they aided demons, to her, they were no different from demons.

Knight of Wind chose to return to the Holy City, thinking of it as a safe haven, unaware that the barrier that had been protecting it had been completely destroyed.

She was in for an unpleasant surprise.

Chapter end