The Plan

"For the revolution?"

The whole division was in shock at what they had just heard, however, Jack continued to stay nonchalant at the situation, which only made Zain angrier.

"For how long?"

"...Around eight years, I guess"

Eyes widened, and feelings scattered, Zain couldn't help but be hurt at the words he had just heard.

"And you weren't going to tell me? Aren't we trusted partners? I have been together with you for five years...five f*cking years."

Putting down his utensils, Jack started to look up into the wooden ceiling of the house, and he began telling a tale of the past.

***

9 years ago during the first year of Jack's military career, he had accomplished something no one could ever do, killing a damn demon.

Being known by many as the hero of the land, this image was used by the government of the sacred land to push the honor and necessity of the demon force. Claiming that even a newbie could become a great contribution to the protection of this land.

Jack couldn't help but be elated at this new image he had obtained.

Returning home every day after training, Jack found himself welcomed by his father, mother, and sister with a bright smile.

Jack had a perfect life.

Due to this new title of a hero, Jack had been promoted to a unit leader by the higher-ups of the demon force, and with that came the many younglings that joined to have a piece of glory.

They all looked up to him, many new soldiers joined to see a grasp of the great hero.

It wasn't long until a new demon entered the land, and many died, and so it was the case with the unit that Jack led. They all died, and all Jack could do was run. He remembered the words uttered by his men, young men with bright futures that trusted the hero of the sacred land only to perish as they were torn apart.

After this incident, Jack visited the houses of the many fallen comrades that he fought with. Meeting the dark side of the sacred land.

Hunger, poverty, and more, he saw all of it with his own eyes. Parents too weak to work, with their only hope having died for no reason. Some had siblings but no fathers, they were taken by the demon force in the guise of help.

The city was nothing more than a farm for the demon force, forcing them to fight to the death and using their children as nothing more than experimental pets.

And the cycle continued, Jack would receive a new group, with no experience or training...He would train them to the best he could but normally he was given nothing but a month until finally being sent off to patrol. They died, he would run or come back on top.

If he killed the demon, his name would rise. If he didn't fight his family would die due to treason. If he didn't run he would die and his comrades would be forgotten.

So, Jack decided to seek change, trying to rally the public secretly for the betterment of the land. Only for the secret police to hear of their actions, and have both his father and mother executed due to perfidy.

Mia his sister was spared and soon started to work for the secret police, as her anger towards her brother only grew or that was exactly what the demon force thought.

Jack on the other hand, still had his uses. If the news got out that the hero of the land was a madman that attempted treason then rumors about the demon force would begin, so the best of it was for him to die by a demon.

However, Jack survived every fight, running away for the most part. He didn't care what others thought, he just had to survive.

Not long after, a new recruit arrived at his unit, Joshua.

At that time, Jack didn't find anything special about that man, however, Joshua became a key figure after the fight against the grass demon, a demon with the ability to camouflage.

Nothing special happened during the fight, it was only after, that things started to change for the men.

Due to the fight against the demon, the unit was forced to enter the tunnel to pursue it due to his attempts at escaping the demon force.

It wasn't long until they had finally killed the disturbing being but it was after that, that Jack's path had reopened itself.

Sitting down on the tunnel, the remaining unit, consisting of only 7 men at this point, rested their backs against the wall.

But one by one, they started to disappear, noticing the weird phenomenon, Jack activated his ability, only to find a large caterpillar capable of using strings to catch its prey, putting them inside some large cacoons.

The only two remaining men, Jack and Joshua started to run away, and with its final attempt to kill his escaping prey, the caterpillar sent a spear made out of string flying against Jack. Only for Joshua to push him aside, losing his left arm.

After that, both of them were able to escape. Jack wondered why Joshua had done such a thing, and the man answered with a grand smile, "Because you are my hero".

And it was only at this moment that Jack discovered that he was finally losing it, as at the moment he heard those words, he didn't feel honored, he didn't feel happy, the only thought in his mind was about using the man.

The rest of the story is easy to follow.

Joshua left the unit after telling the commander he hated Jack, the commander an advocate of the anti-Jack community saw this as a great thing, and Joshua sucked up to the commander to increase his position in the unit.

Mia, on the other hand, had already earned the nickname of a ruthless killer after murdering many supposed anti-government groups. In reality, she was only killing r*pists and murders she found.

Most rebel groups were still at large, many being protected by the same person supposedly hunting them down.

After that, Zain joined Jack's unit as the kid who got the blind demon's ability without being part of the legion.

All pieces were already in place, Jack had no reason to put his fellow men in danger. All Jack needed to do was survived.

it was only 3 years after Zain joined the third unit, that the commander of the fourth division died of "Unknown" causes. Due to this, Mia was then able to earn the position as the commander, Jack questioned how? But Mia didn't answer, and there was nothing Jack could do.

With Joshua as the first unit leader of the second division, and fourth division commander, Mia, proposing the plan for Jack to be sent on an expedition, it was just a matter of time before such a thing happened.

***

"Now it was the waiti-"

"So this was all because of you?"

Interrupting Jack's story was Zain angrily looking at him, reminding him of his current situation.

"Zain..."

"...Answer the question old man, is this all because of you?"

"The king and nobles all have their own respective personal guards, the only reason you and I weren't part of such guards was that I was a rebel and you were a brat. All division commanders also have their own armies at hand."

"So?"

"The only time and position for them to be isolated are by calling an end of the world alarm."

"End of the world alarm?"

"During Mia's and Joshua's advocation for me to be exiled in a sense, they gave me a single tool, I could use...The fear of the outside world. The end of the world alarm is an alarm set in place for the immediate response to a world-ending threat. It's only during this time, that the major forces of the sacred land would gather in a single room."

"And so what? Are you going to shoot them down? Did you forget about the checkpo-"

Jack's crazy hollowed eyes, met Zain's, sending shivers down his spine.

"Zain, why is the color of my hair white?"

"..."

"..."

"I don't know"

"Have you heard of the fear of short hair demon?"

"What?"

Confused, Zain tried to recall of the demons that the demon force had eliminated but even then, nothing of that name came to mind.

"You probably haven't as it wasn't reported to the headquarters, in reality, the demon wasn't strong, it was just a humanoid demon with short hair, I killed it alone in the past. It was during the time in which I doubted if I should report my achievements as it would lead to more deaths."

"It sounds pathetic"

Stopping and letting out a slight chuckle, Jack smiled even at the serious conversation.

"The ability it gave me was essentially allowing me to grow hair and sending it flying like an arrow."

Demonstrating his ability, Jack made a finger gun and blew a hole in Zain's water bottle, together with enough force to send it backward by 5 meters.

"And with that out of the way, we will now be returning to the sacred land."

Caught off guard by the sudden news, all members were taken aback, however, it would be a lie to say that they didn't know why.