Chapter 6: Painful Regression

Chapter 6: Painful Regression

Lenier tilted his head in confusion.

The last thing he had remembered was experiencing some amazingly scrumptious pain, before he died fighting the heroes.

He should be dead… right?

So why was he still standing here, alive?

Not only that, but he's a kid again.

Hm.

There were a lot of theories of what could've happened.

Time could've been reversed.

Everything could've been a dream.

This could be a spell that the heroes put him.

He could've regressed back in time.

He could have reincarnated.

This could be the afterlife.

There were countless possibilities.

But Lenier really didn't care all that much.

He just wanted to feel some pain.

Lenier looked around for a bit before finding a perfectly sized rock that he picked up.

He held it up high, and then started repeatedly smashing it into his balls.

An intense shock of pain immediately spread throughout his entire body.

His stomach felt like it was twisting up inside of him as the air was knocked out of his body.

Lenier slightly blushed as he giggled.

He continued doing this for a few more seconds before Lenier realized something was… very wrong.

The pain… it… it… didn't feel good anymore.

It still hurt of course, and he still found it to be pleasurable, but for some reason, it didn't feel as good as he remembered.

No matter how much pain he inflicted on himself, it didn't feel right.

Immediately before Lenier died, he had ejaculated for the first time in his entire life.

As such, this was also the first time Lenier ever experienced post nut clarity.

The pleasure of pain no longer appealed to him anymore.

Lenier stopped and just looked at himself.

This was the first time in years since he had last felt so… calm.

Most of his life was a wild hunt for a bigger and higher pleasure, unable to stay still for even a moment, but now, he felt none of that.

He was just simply… calm.

He ascended to a temporary state of nirvana, devoid of all earthly desires and yearnings for pleasure.

His entire life was spent pursuing his goal of achieving peak pain, so now that his goal had been reached, Lenier no longer knew what to do with his life.

His life should've just ended there. He had achieved what he had worked so hard for, so why was he still alive.

Lenier just aimlessly wandered through the forest, not knowing what to do or where to go.

Then he suddenly noticed something.

The forest around him, it looked… familiar.

This forest… it was the same forest that Lenier had once lived in oh so long ago.

When Lenier was still young.

When Lenier was still living with the old man.

This was the forest they were living in.

Lenier looked around, trying to spot any landmarks.

He dashed through the forest, energy filling his body as he made his way to his destination.

Since he was a child again, his legs quickly grew sore, but as usual, this didn't bother Lenier as he continued running to his destination.

And finally, he made it.

He was home again.

But his home, which he had once lived in, was nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Even so, this put a smile on Lenier's face, to see something so nostalgic. It brought back so many memories, and he even slightly teared up from the happy memories.

Lenier slowly walked up to the piles of ashes and started digging and pushing apart all the rubble, searching for something.

And there it was, the thing he had been looking for.

The body of the old man.

Most of the corpse had been burned and destroyed, but a part of it was still recognizable.

Lenier laid the old man's body onto his laps as he stroked the corpse's head, recalling all the fun times they had together.

Now that Lenier no longer craved pain, it would've been great if they could have been able to spend time together again… like the old days…

If only he had regressed back to before the old man died.

But Lenier was not one for regrets.

He decided to move on.

The old man had wanted Lenier to live a good and happy life, and now, he had a chance to live a proper life like the old man wanted.

The old man had always told Lenier to not inflict pain on himself, but after the old man's death, Lenier forgot all about that.

Now that he was back, he wanted to honor the old man's words.

"Given this second chance old man, I'll listen to you. I'll live a life free of pain. It might be difficult, I might get tempted… but I promise you, I won't inflict pain on myself anymore."

This was Lenier's promise; To live a painless life.

It was the exact opposite of his previous life, but he was willing to follow through with his words.

Lenier was about to start eating the old man's body since it was a habit Lenier developed over the years of eating his "close friends", but he realized that would be a dishonor to the old man.

Instead, he buried the corpse and held a small funeral.

Lenier turned around… and left, leaving behind the old man's grave to follow his new life with his new promise.

He didn't look back.

He never does.

Thus began Lenier's second chance at life.

But Lenier wasn't the only one given a second chance at life.

There were other individuals who had regressed alongside him.

Steve's eyes suddenly popped open, as he bolted upwards.

'What the fuck just happened??? I remember this flash of light… and then…'

Steve tried to remember what happen, but his memories were foggy.

"Sir Hero Xavier! Please, doth not be afraid. We, the humble kingdom of Asgard, have summoned thee from thy dimension unto our humble domain."

A man in butler suit appeared besides Steve and spoke in a weird accent.

Steve slowly looked over and stared at him.

'Why does this… feel… so familiar… like déjà vu? Hasn't this happened before?'

Steve turned his head, carefully analysing his surroundings to figure out the situation.

His eyes widened.

'Wait… isn't this… the royal castle where I was summoned? Wasn't this castle destroyed by Lenier?'

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the butler.

"Thou must be bewildered, but we beseech thee, thy gracious hero of another realm, grant us thy glory and aid us in defeating the vilest of villains, the demon lord who goes by the name of Pethnor!"

"Please stop talking like that. Speak normally, will you?"

"Oh. Sorry. From the books we've read, we assumed that was how otherworldly heroes speak… I guess our information was wrong…" The butler backed away in embarrassment.

Steve stood up, thoughts rushing through his head as he tried to make sense of what's going on.

He had clearly experienced this before.

Did he time travel back to the past?

Considering the fact Steve had been transported to another world, time travel isn't that weird in comparison.

Why though? And how?

Unlike Lenier who accepted reality immediately, Steve spent much more time and effort trying to comprehend everything.

But no matter how much he pondered, they were all guesses in the end.

"I am sure you are quite confused sir hero, but we shall explain the situation to you. For now, our king wishes to meet you. Please follow me." The butler instructed as he waved for Steve to follow.

But Steve just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He had a very bad impression of the entirety of the Asgard kingdom which summoned him.

In his previous life, when he had been first summoned, the king and the kingdom treated him like a political tool and acted like they owned him.

Steve was weak, and alone, so he had no choice but to rely on them in this foreign world, but when he grew strong enough, he left and killed anyone who tried to stop him.

Just because he's a hero, doesn't mean he's a good person, nor is he required to listen to some bumbling buffoon of a king that summoned him.

"Step aside. I'm going straight for the demon lord's castle."

Steve pushed aside the butler and walked straight for the exit.

He needed to find out if anyone else had regressed with him, or if he was the only one. Pethnor was Steve's closest friend and one of the heroes, so if anyone did regress as well, it would've been him.

Although now, Pethnor was still considered the demon lord by the world and would probably be in his demon lord castle.

"S-sir hero! I'm sorry, but you can't! Our king wishes to meet you! Not only that but… well, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but as you are now, you wouldn't stand a chance against the demon lord!"

The butler jumped in front of Steve's way and blocked him from proceeding further.

Steve's patience was slowly running out.

"I said, step aside."

This time though, Steve infused magic into his voice and release a burst of energy spreading through the entire room.

All the soldiers and guards present all immediately raised their shields and surrounded Steve.

Steve scoffed.

He stepped up to one of the soldiers, grabbed the shield, and folded it several times like a piece of paper before tossing onto the ground with a CLANG!

Even though Steve had regressed, he wasn't weaker than before.

As a hero, he immediately gained dormant heroic powers from the moment he was summoned. It took him a long time to grow strong in his previous life since he had to learn to awaken his heroic powers and wield it properly.

But even after regressing, he still knew how to use it thus he did not lose any of his strength.

In fact, he's even stronger than he was before since his left body which had been completely destroyed by Lenier, was now reverted to its original undamaged state.

"This is the final time I'll say it; Step aside."

None of the soldiers moved, but they didn't stop him either when he walked past them all and straight out the door.

Steve was a little surprised by how aggressive he was, but he didn't care since so much was going on.

He wrapped his entire body with heroic energy and blasted off into the sky.

After confirming his location, he bolted off into a straight line towards Pethnor's demon castle.

Steve's plan was to meet up with Pethnor and figure out if he had been regressed as well or not.

If he had been, then great, they can try to figure out the situation together.

But if not, then they'd likely have to fight.

Either way, meeting Pethnor is important. He was the only one of the 17 heroes that Steve knew the location of at this time.

Steve knew the exact location of the demon castle, but it was a far travel. Even at his current pace, it'd take him several days.

'Hopefully nothing major happens in the meantime…' Steve thought to himself as he continued running as fast as he could.

And at this time, the person in question whom Steve was running to meet, was starting to open his eyes from his late-night slumber.

"Ugh… geez. My head fucking hurts. What the hell happened last night…?"

Pethnor pushed aside his blanket and got up from his royal double king-sized bed and headed to the bathroom to wash his face.

His vision was blurry, and his thoughts were jumbled all over.

'Where am I? I could've sworn I was doing some paperwork yesterday and then… oh man, it's been a while since my head hurt so much. What's going on? I don't remember going out to drink with Steve… did I?'

Pethnor groggily thought to himself, still half asleep, as he splashed water onto himself to force him awake.

It seemed to be effective as Pethnor's eyes immediately shot wide open and he jumped backwards in shock.

'Uhhhh… what the fuck is going…'

He realized something was very wrong here.

The room he was in… it wasn't his usual office bedroom.

Is this a hotel room perhaps?

For some reason, Pethnor's memories were all jumbled up.

He remembered fighting someone, and then something happened, and then… and then… huh? And then what? He must've won, considering he's alive, but he doesn't remember winning.

Pethnor scratched his head and felt something hard brush against his fingers.

"Eh."

It was a horn.

As a demon, having horns wasn't unusual, but Pethnor's horns were gone after fighting Lenier.

Pethnor rushed back to mirror, confirming that there were indeed horns on his head.

"Oh, my sweet little babies…"

Pethnor smiled as he rubbed his horns passionately, feeling it's smoothness on his fingers.

Then Pethnor realized another thing!

He immediately tore off his shirt, and turn around, revealing his back to the mirror.

In the reflection, he saw two black wings that gently pressed against his back.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

In sheer excitement, his wings unfolded, and a burst of demonic energy exploded from his body destroying the entire bathroom.

"LESSSSGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Pethnor dropped to his knees and cheered out with enough volume to shatter glass.

That was when the door opened, and someone rushed in.

"Oi bro! Something wrong?!?!"

A demon suddenly rushed into his room.

Pethnor was about to dismiss them when he suddenly realized that the person who entered wasn't his secretary.

'Who the fuck is this person? Usually only my secretary, and maybe Stevey boi, would have the audacity to barge into my office.'

But even so… this person was oddly familiar.

Big boobs…

Cute little pink horns…

Tomboyish and muscular…

A familiar crimson hair color…

Hm.

'She reminds me of my late sister,' Pethnor thought to himself.

"Pethnor! What the fuck are you doing? Have you gone insane? Did the poison scramble your 3 remaining brain cells or something?"

She even speaks like her too…

And sounds like her…

And acts like her…

'Wait, she's identical to my sister!'

"Melisa?"

"What? Did the fucking poison also make you forgot who I am?"

A woman who looked identical to Melisa, Pethnor's deceased sister, was now standing in front of him.

She glared at Pethnor suspiciously.

"Hey… are you really Pethnor? The demon lord I know doesn't act like this. Even after being betrayed by his comrades, severely wounded and in great pain, would not even utter a single groan of pain. Who the hell are you?"

Melisa's magic surged around her as she formed a chaos spear pointed at Pethnor.

"The fuck you talking about bitch? Of course I'm Pethnor. Who the fuck are you?"

Pethnor glared back as he too formed his own chaos orbs ready to strike as well.

The two siblings just stared each other down.

"There are tons of spells and abilities that allow one to take over another person's body. Of course, I wouldn't expect the demon lord's body to be so easily taken over, but you're acting mad sus."

"…"

"…"

"You're really Melisa?"

"No shit sherlock. If you were actually Pethnor, you'd know that."

Pethnor left out a sigh, and then dispersed all his chaos orbs.

"Yep. That's the Melisa I know all right. No one's as much of a sassy bitch as you are."

"Oi. What'd you just say? Want your face beaten in?!"

Melisa growled, but Pethnor just smiled.

He stood up and then simply walked past her, completely ignoring her.

"Hey! You think you can just wal-"

Before Melisa could even finish her sentence, Pethnor planted his fist deep into her face and slammed her into the bathroom wall.

Several of her teeth flew out as blood dripped down her face.

Although this may have seemed violent from an outsider's perspective, this was considered casual banter to the demon lord siblings.

Pethnor was now wide awake, his mind thinking clearly again, as he observed his surroundings.

'Yep. This is definitely my old bedroom,' he thought as he walked around his room.

"Hm… you act just like Pethnor, but even so… there's something off about you today… did yesterday's fight fuck you up that badly?" Melisa grumbled as she followed Pethnor from behind, still healing from her wounds.

"What would you think if I told you that I came from the future?" Pethnor bluntly asked.

Melisa paused.

"I'd think you're insane. Of course, I already think you are, but you'd be even more insane than I thought."

"Well, I think I regressed from the future."

"You're… serious?"

"Yeah."

The two stayed silent for a moment.

"What's the future like?"

"You died."

"Well, fuck…"

Pethnor shrugged.

"So how'd you regress?"

"No clue. I'd assume some sort of time spell, but that'd require an absurd amount of magic to cast, much less cast a spell that could send me back by several years. The only people I know with that much magic is the hero with his limitless magic and the demon lord Len-"

Pethnor eyes suddenly widened as he thought of Lenier.

If Pethnor had regressed, that means that it's now the distant past… and that also means, at this time, Lenier should still be alive.

"Melisa. Go find someone named Lenier."

"What?"

"A person by the name of Lenier. I don't know who he is, or what he does, but find him. You must find him at any cost. LENIER. Find him."

Melisa took a step back in surprise.

She had seen Pethnor in many different life-threatening situations, and not once had he ever been so serious before.

His voice was cold, with a tone that demanded absolute obedience.

What in the world happened in the future?

She was confused but nodded and quickly rushed out of the room, leaving Pethnor behind to contemplate the worst-case scenarios.

Everything that had happened in previously… all the losses.

His entire demon army, his pride, his strength, his demon generals, his comrades of which he trusted, everything he cared for, stripped away in an instant because of a single insane man.

Pethnor was aware of the fact he was no saint either.

Pethnor was also a demon lord who killed many, but even he had things he cared for and goals he needed to achieve.

He wasn't sure why, but he's been given a second chance.

He isn't going to waste this precious chance.

Filled with determination, Pethnor stepped out of his room and began his preparations to face the biggest threat known to mankind, in an ironic situation where the demon lord is now fighting to save the world.

And unbeknownst to him, the person in question, Lenier, was just currently strolling through a forest while eating some berries.

"Hm. I said I'd live a pain free life, but what should I actually do?"

Lenier was snacking on some sweet berries as he walked aimlessly.

It took a few hours before he reached the end of the forest and entered into a grassy plain.

He climbed a tree and at the very top, he squinted his eyes to scan his surroundings.

In the far distance, he spotted a small human settlement, perhaps a town or some sort.

Lenier found a destination he wanted to go, and then jumped straight off the tree landing on a pile of rocks.

His legs crumpled under him as sharp pieces of stone pierced into his feet.

Lenier had been so used to living his life disregarding all sense of safety, he just casually did things that most people would deem extremely dangerous.

He frowned.

'This won't do. If I keep getting hurt, then I won't be able to keep my promise of living a pain free life. What should I do…'

He pondered to himself.

He needed to break out of his old habits.

But how?

Then he got an idea.

Lenier sat at the base of a tree, crisscrossing his legs and then closed his eyes in a meditation position.

He then visualized himself as an ordinary child, a child who hated pain and grew up avoiding it.

In his mind, he lived normal life, a life without any pain, a life where he grew up normally, married a woman, had children, grew old, and eventually died.

Within the span of an hour, he lived a full life.

By the time he opened his eyes again, he was a new person.

He was enlightened.

Mediation is a common form of practise to train and control your mind and inner energy.

It is used by various different types of people to grow their magical and spiritual strength as well strengthen their minds.

In this brief time that Lenier had meditated, he had achieved results surpassing that of monks who've spent their entire lives secluded trying to achieve enlightenment.

Unbeknownst to him, his entire body was now overflowing with energy as his spirit now resonated with his surroundings.

During his meditation, various different animals visited and prayed to him.

Wolves, deer, birds, bugs, and such wildlife all collectively gathered around him to bask in Lenier's presence.

But power and strength were something that Lenier was unconcerned with as he had unlimited amounts of it in his prior life, thus he didn't even notice this trivial power up.

The purpose of this meditation was not to grow stronger, but instead for him to try to understand how to live life like a normal person. To learn common sense.

During the meditation, he relived a completely different but normal life, as such, he could now detect anything in his entire surroundings that could lead to potential pain and could accurately analysis and calculate ways to avoid it.

Of course, Lenier didn't know that 'normal people' didn't analyse everything around them to avoid pain, but if it works, it works.

Leaving behind the forest, he headed straight for the human settlement, ready to start his new life, free of pain.