7 Chapter 7 - Where Hope Fades

As the sun started to rise I began to wake up, excited to continue my journey. I got up from my bed and started to get my bearings, with the alcohol from last night and the fatigue not helping with that. As I was walking to the door, ready to gather the others, I noticed my iron sword was gone, and so was my gold.

"The sword is gone? And the gold too? Damn thieves. The sword wasn't going to do much anyway but the gold...I better ask the rest of the group if they know anything about what happened." I muttered to myself, with my worry starting to intensify.

The loss of the near useless sword wasn't going to affect me too much, but the loss of all my money would be a fatal blow. However, as I headed downstairs to check if the others had woken up, I spotted the royal guard. What was the royal guard doing here, in an inn of all places? As soon as they spotted me they immediately confronted me.

"The Master of Defence, correct?" One of the guards spoke with an aggressive tone.

"That's me, what do you-" Midway through speaking a sharp pain disrupted me.

As soon as I confirmed my identity I was immediately grabbed on to, with any sort of resistance proving to be futile against this well armed and trained group of men. Just what was going on? Where were they taking me and why?

After a few minutes, we made it to the throne room. The guards forcefully pulled me up. The King and Queen looked at me with pure disgust and in front of them were the other masters. This was some good luck. Maybe they could explain to me what was going on?

"Guys, what the hell is happening?" I spoke with a fearful and confused voice. I had a bad feeling about all of this.

"You know full well what's happening...monster." Motada responded with a voice full of venom.

What? Me...a monster? What did I do? Why did Motada respond like that? Why wasn't anyone else speaking?

"Bring out the victim." The King shouted.

As soon as the King issued the command the royal guard proceeded to unwrap a corpse located at the back of the room and put it on display for all in the throne room to see. It was a horrific sight.

In front of me was a naked corpse that vaguely resembled a young woman. One of her eyes were brutally gouged out and her lower stomach was cut wide open, with her organs practically hanging out. There were signs of physical force being used on her, which was made evident by the bruising on her arms, upper chest and face, or what remained of her face. The only conclusion anyone could come to was that the woman was brutally beaten, raped and then killed.

But even with the corpse being this badly mutilated and damaged, I could still see a similarity to someone I'd seen before. The black hair...the young figure...this is the woman Motada was with last night!

"Gaze upon this disgusting sight, my people! This is the action of a demon, a man with a thirst for violence. This is the action of the Master of Defence. He is charged with the beating, rape and murder of this fine young woman. He is guilty on all of these charges!" The Queen shouted out with pure rage.

"No, this isn't right! Motada was with her last night! I was still fast asleep, there's no way I could have done this!" I pleaded to the Queen, hoping that this could be resolved.

"Blaming it on Motada now... you really are a bastard Nayasuki, you know that? I thought you were a decent man with a good heart. Clearly, I was mistaken." Otto spoke with pure hatred before spitting at me.

Even Otto? Even he believed I did this? This isn't right...this isn't justice. I never did any of this... I was a Hero for god's sake, a Master!

"Where's the evidence? I never did any of this and there's no proof either!" I shouted with pure desperation.

"Evidence? Alright then. I'll show you and this whole room the evidence. Guards!" The King summoned his guards.

The guards then entered the room holding a...bloody iron sword.

"This is the weapon this demon used to kill this woman after having his way with her. Luckily Motada managed to find this young woman's corpse and alert us before this bastard, in his drunken state, managed to come back to her and remove it." The King pointed at me and everyone in the room proceeded to hurl abuse at me, calling for my head.

This was the woman Motada was with...so they all set me up, huh? They killed this woman just to prove me guilty, to take everything away from me. Motada stole the sword to frame me for the murder, and stole my gold for his own benefit. This must have been what his talk with the Queen was about!

Those bastards, who I thought were my comrades, who I thought would struggle with me, fight with me and support me, betrayed me! The morally bankrupt royal family betrayed me! They would dare abuse their power like this, for the evilest intent...no wonder they held such hate towards me so early on. Those greedy rodents, the Masters and the royal family, wanted to take it all away from me. My money, my opportunity, my hope and the future I wanted to build, the future I was so excited for.

So this is the kingdom's true form? A bunch of spineless parasites, leeching off the weak to feed themselves. This rotten carcass of a kingdom... it can burn in hell for all I care. It didn't matter to me anymore.

"Fine. Let me go back home. Kill me. Deliver me your 'justice', you bastard of a King and wretch of a Queen!" I spoke with pure hatred, as my eyes burned with rage.

"As much as I would like to hang you in the city centre for all to see, I sadly cannot do that to a criminal such as yourself. You still have a role to play...'Hero'. But don't worry. You'll be entering the gates of hell very soon. Of course, as a punishment, the whole kingdom and all of our allies have been notified of your crimes. The whole world will treat you like scum. A fate arguably worse than death. Pure dishonour, something that only someone as villainous as yourself deserves." The King spoke with pure arrogance.

I stared at him and then burst out laughing. The sound that escaped my mouth was a harrowing one, making everyone in the room, even the Masters, look at me with fear.

"So you need me, huh? Don't worry...I'll play my role. But I'll be sure to slaughter every last one of you like dogs. And don't worry, my King and Queen. As befitting of you I'll be sure to save special treatment for such a lovely couple. And Motada...Shirou...Otto. I'll kill you all. Every last one of you 'Heroes'. Even if I am weak, I will destroy this kingdom and bring you all pure suffering. I'll be the one to defend the good and the weak from bastards like yourselves. You can all to go to hell...and I'll make myself stronger to send you all there!" I shouted out, fuming with anger and hatred.

All I could feel was my lust for revenge. It overpowered everything else. I'll send them all to hell, and I'd slaughter anyone who got in my way. I am justice, and I will fight this sickening evil. I will become the defender of the good common folk. That's what I am. The wall in which evil would shatter.

I broke away from the guards and started walking away from the bastards around the throne, but right before my exit I turned and faced the bastards in front of me. I wanted to burn their faces into my mind, to remind myself what I was truly fighting against.

"This kingdom will fall. It will be torn asunder, and then the world shall be set free from this disgusting evil. I'll take everything you've stolen from me and I will make things right. I'll bring you all to justice, true justice. For now, I'll play along. But soon enough, the summoning of the Masters will become your greatest regret. The Dark Crusades cannot even compare to what I have planned for all of you." I stared the Queen straight in the eye.

With only hatred and pain left inside of me, I exited the throne room. I'd make things right. I'd bring justice to this kingdom, this kingdom that is absolutely rotten to the core. I am a Hero, after all. I serve no other purpose. My revenge will be the world's justice. In that throne room I'd just lost everything. The only thing I was left with was my ability to protect, so that is what I will do. This isn't about survival, or glory, or adventure anymore. This is only about justice.

Damn this all...damn this all to hell. I will defend the good and slaughter the evil, no matter what it takes, no matter how far I need to go. I will become a demon if that is the kind of Hero this disgusting world needs. Heaven never appealed to me much anyway.

I would make things right. I won't accept this fate. Even if it takes the lives of millions, I would deliver justice. I'm the only one that can.