Chapter 0: This Is The End, Huh...

This situation is bad.

Very bad.

"Confirmed enemy numbers are 500 000!"

The moment I hear those words, a sense of dread fills me up. While looking down, trying to calm down, I remember what events have led to this catastrophe.

Yes, I remember it all now.

This all happened 4 months ago.

The Hero and his 24 generals had amassed enough forces to storm the Demon territory. They were able to successfully lay siege to the Demon's capital, Deroz, in a matter of weeks. After they had captured the city and made the Demon army surrender, they immediately ran towards the location of the Demon King and engaged him in battle.

By the way, I only know these details because my sister, who was monitoring the entire operation, told me about it. At the time of the siege, the Hero and his generals, including me, never thought that something so unexpected and dangerous would happen.

Anyway, the Hero and his advance team invaded the castle grounds and proceeded into the castle so that they can defeat the Demon King and stop him from destroying the world.

You might be asking, why do they want to kill the Demon King?

Well, they have lots of legitimate reasons to do so. He was the one who caused the First Great Races War and also suddenly caused another war 3 years ago, without any identifiable reason to do so.

So ends my rant on why they want to defeat the Demon King.

Returning to the topic at hand, the Hero's team was eventually able to defeat the Demon King, although not before sustaining heavy losses on their part.

And, thats when all hell broke loose.

The Demon King's body, after falling down to the ground, immediately split open and hundreds of black creatures started pouring out of the opening.

After that, Xi was dispatched to the castle to retrieve the survivors but 14 of them had already died. The only one left was the Hero who was desperately trying to fend off the creatures. Xi picked him up and one of the bodies, so that they could analyze how he died and prepare countermeasures, and ran out of there.

Ever since that incident, thanks to me and Sigma, we were able to find out how the victims had died. It was a particularly bad way to die because their soul was directly sucked out of them and turned into energy. It's bad because now, their soul wouldn't be able to go to the Cycle of Life and be reborn.

So, we tried finding ways on how to counteract this new enemy. After meticulous research, we found some good news and some bad news. The good news was that, luckily, there was an artifact that had the ability to restore an object to its previous state. The bad news was that the temple where it was located was literally on the other side of the world.

To pile on the problems, it was underground and was being guarded by those creatures, that we have dubbed 'Soul Eaters'.

And with that, we return to the present. We were preparing the team that was supposed to go to the temple and activate the artifact before everything alive had its soul sucked out when we heard a report from Xi.

"Confirmed enemy numbers are 500 000!"

Those words meant that there was 500 000 of those Soul Eaters, who could kill you in the truest sense just by sucking on you or something.

That also means that we had to stretch our already tiny amount of forces even further. So, I have realized that this might be my turn to actually do something that could be called as significant.

"Beta, Delta, come here!"

""Ok!""

"Get ready for the invasion! Zeta, get out of here with Beta and Delta!"

"Yes, Sir."

I have always been useless in a direct fight because of my ability. It was Shadow Shift. It was only used for transportation and even then, the range of my ability was only up to 10 meters away. Another downside was that after a couple shifts, I start feeling a bit nauseous.

But in this situation where direct confrontation is fatal, my ability will be able to work amazingly.

I grab Beta and Delta and activate Shadow Shift to get out of our bunker. Hopefully, we will be able to get back soon. I continuously shift from shadow to shadow with that hope in my heart.

********************

How many days has it been already? I'm lucky that the ones who are with me are Beta and Delta because they are able to use magic. We travel by my Shadow Shift until I reach my limits, which is usually after 2 hours. When I can't go on, Delta applies Recovery Magic on me while Beta uses a mixture of Earth and Wind magic to propel the three of us forward.

When I recover, I repeat the shifts. Food, water, sleep? We don't need those kinds of luxuries when the whole world is in danger.

********************

It looks like we will be reaching the temple in just a few hours, according to the map we have. I'll tell them that they should save up their magic because they will need as much of it as they can.

"Hey, you guys, I think you should stop using your magic because you'll need it soon enough."

"There is no need, we can persevere if it is only this much, right Delta?"

"Yeah, you can relax Zeta, we'll be fine."

"No, I'm serious, you should really rest. If you don't everything we have accomplished, all the hope everyone back at the bunker had, would be crushed."

"Fine, we leave it to you."

Looks like I was able to convince the both of them easily. I can't tell them though that I partly did this so that I can be useful. I mean, growing up with geniuses makes you want to prove you are also good enough, right? Even I have pride as a general.

Wait, these are useless thoughts. I'm supposed to focus right now.

********************

Welcome to your destination, the Ancient Temple!

Yeah, no. I need to be quiet now, stealth mode~.

"Ok, you two, cast Wind magic on all three of us so that sound can't escape."

"Yeah, we know what to do, Zeta."

After, Delta cast Wind magic on us, we silently navigated our way to the pedestal where the artifact is.

A few hours later.

Ggggrrrraaahhhh!!!!

Frick! The monsters set a trip line around the artifact! Or, maybe it was already a part of the Temple's security.

Wait, focus up! The Soul Eaters are surrounding us and blocking our way to the artifact.

"Zeta, shift the artifact into my hands on the count of three."

I nod to Beta's instructions and wait for the signal. I'm glad that these two are highly competent fighters because I was never in a real fight in my entire life.

"One...Two...Three!"

"Bring forth a void, Darkness World!"

On the signal, Delta uses a high-ranking shadow magic, Darkness World. It turns everything around the user into impenetrable darkness. Not wasting my chance, I shift the artifact into Beta's hands.

While the effect of Darkness World is still there, Beta and Delta start pouring every bit of their magic into it. The artifact returns an object into its previous state. The amount of magic you pour in is relative to the size of the object. What we are doing here is trying to reverse all of the Soul Eaters into not existing.

The area around us starts to get lighter. The Soul Eaters are attacking. I hold them off with my sword. I look one last time at my comrades. Looks like the effect is happening. I smile. Mission Complete. Right when I thought that we can start celebrating, a giant Soul Eater punched Beta right in the stomach.

"Beta!!!"

Frick! Bad! Without Beta's magic, some of them will still survive. I parried the slash from the monster I was fighting and ran towards Beta.

Ppprrrrriiipp!!!

What.

Oh. Looks like one of them pierced my back with its hands.

Is this what I get for letting my guard down for just a moment. Thinking about it is meaningless though. I won't be able to see everyone's faces anymore. Hey, wait. Maybe everyone had already died fighting.

Luke the Hero; Epsilon, my favorite brother; Psi, my favorite sister. I'll never see them again. Never. I was so hung up on proving myself and this happened. It's all my fault.

Tears spilled while the pool of blood spread on the ground. We weren't even able to get rid of all of them. Delta is already being overrun now.

In that case, all was for nought.

In my next life, I should be more focused on the task at hand and not with what I am feeling.

Maybe a Soul Eater might eat my soul before I even get the chance to reincarnate.

This is the end for me, Zeta, the useless general, huh...