Extermination

As Takamasa stood behind the podium, his hands became clammy. The blank look on his face showing the fear of what he was about to do shifted to one of conviction. The others sat attentive in hopes of belaying any fears Takamasa had.

"The world I was brought to, my powers, everything I had to do." Takamasa started. "I'm not sure where to begin. There's so much to it." He stumbled over his words. "I awoke in a world as an elven sorcerer. By their standards, and ours, I was already an adult when I came to. Shortly after finding myself in the elven capital city, one of the gods of that world came and found me."

"What?" Ichiro muttered. "There were gods?"

Ichiro, Asuka, Inori, and Konomi all seemed surprised to hear news of actual gods while the others seemed like it was completely normal to have a conversation with a god.

"Yes" Takamasa answered Ichiro. "The god of my world wasn't so much a person." He paused. "Or even person shaped. It was more like a blue blob that floated around. It told me that it summoned me there and that my mission was to destroy a demon lord that was about to be born into the world."

"A god summoned you?" Konomi asked insistantly.

"Yes, of course." Takamasa replied. "Was it not the same for all of you?"

Yuki and Shingo both nodded their heads in agreement but were interrupted when Inori said, "I was summoned by a group of powerful wizards."

"A ritual brought me to my world." Konomi added. "It wasn't sorcerers or wizards but more like an ancient altar and a sacrifice of gold."

"There were no gods or demons or magic of any sort that pulled me." Ichiro said stunned slightly.

When Asuka heard what Ichiro had said, she confirmed, "Not for me either."

"How do you know there was no god or magic or anything involved?" Yuki asked to Ichiro.

"Because, having been in my world for three thousand years, there was never any god or magic to speak of and there was no demon for me to defeat." Ichiro answered.

The room went silent at the prospect of being thrown into an unknown world with no guidance or known reason.

"You said you were a sorcerer?" Ichiro asked Takamasa, breaking the silence.

"Uh, yea." Takamasa muttered slightly. "I was given the title of Chaos Mage. In my world there were different levels of magic. Imagine school. Some spells you learn when you're 6 years old wouldn't be as strong as the ones you learn in university right?"

The room nodded to show some form of understanding.

"Well, every spell I cast was on the level of what you'd learn in university or above." Takamasa continued to explain. "The chaos part came from me not knowing what spell I would be casting. It all came out random. One spell would be lightning while the next would be meteors falling from the sky. I had no control over what came out or how big it was. I could really only point the destruction in a direction and hope for the best."

"So what about your world and mission and everything?" Yuki chimed in and asked.

"Well, as I said, the god told me that I was to defeat a demon lord that was about to be born into the world." Takamasa restated. "But, the god didn't tell me some pretty crucial parts of it. For instance, the world was completely at peace. There was only one massive super continent that everyone lived on, but it was separated into the sections almost. The far west is where the humans lived. It was rolling plains and fertile farmlands. In the center of the continent was a massive forest where the elves lived. Finally, in the east was a mountainous region and that's where the demons lived."

"Wait," Shingo spoke up. "The demons had their own area?"

"Like I said, the world was at peace." Takamasa stated in a bland tone. "The demons were just another race. Normal people who sought to have normal lives. Farm, open businesses, get married, have children, etc. Just like any of the other races."

"They weren't evil? They weren't set on killing off all of the other races?" Shingo persisted.

"Only one of them." Takamasa said somberly. "As I said, a demon lord was coming and I had to prepare. What I didn't know at the time was that every demon that was alive had a connection to the demon lord. It was like part of their soul or spirit or something. After a few months there, the demon lord did indeed spawn."

"And you fought him?" Shingo, having dealt with demons in his world, asked with great interest. "So soon after you got there?"

"I did." Takamasa answered with distress in his voice. "It took me the length and breadth of a single spell to destroy it."

"A single spell?" Shingo half mumbled. "Sorry to ask so much, but why didn't you come back right then?"

"Well" Takamasa said before taking a deep breath and continuing. "As I said, all the demons were connected somehow. When I killed the demon lord, it's power, will to destroy, and abilities all transferred to another demon in the world. I must have killed twenty or thirty before I fully understood what needed to be done"

"Oh no." Konomi uttered.

"You said they were normal people." Yuki said slightly covering her mouth.

"So..." Inori said not understanding why the others were feeling so much gravity in the situation.

"So every one of the demons would eventually become the demon lord." Ichiro said.

Having heard Ichiro's quick explanation snapped the reckoning into Inori's mind and she realized just how awful of a prospect that was. The room we heavy. The mood shifted from interest to sadness. Looking around the room, Konomi began to tear up slightly.

"Not just demons." Takamasa said gripping the podium slightly tighter.

Between breaths, Yuki almost whimpered "What do you mean not just demons?"

It was hard for Takamasa to continue, but he did. "The world was at peace hundreds of years. They had learned to live together."

"What does that mean Taka?" Konomi pleaded with her makeup beginning to run down her cheeks.

"Just because the continent was mostly divided doesn't mean the races didn't live together to some degree." Takamasa choked out. "Half demons were also commonplace in the world and, as such, were also a possible vessel for the demon lord. It seemed to thin out enough at the grandchild generation, but anything more than twenty five percent demon heritage posed a threat to the other races."

"How many Taka?" Asuka asked very calmly, showing almost no emotion.

"I had to convince the other races that extermination" Takamasa continued almost ignoring Asuka's question. "that mass genocide was the best and only viable option."

"Taka." Asuka started again. "How many?"

"Too many." Takamasa said, humiliated by his failure at being a decent human being. "At the end of it, almost half the population and I had fought hundreds upon hundreds of demon lords. The ones that hadn't changed yet, the ones that were still just people, didn't even fight back at the beginning. They just pleaded for us to find another way and to spare them. Eventually, there was war, but it took a long time to get to that point. I was in my world for six years. I taught the humans and elves how to be...efficient."

Ichiro rose from his chair and, having understood what Takamasa had gone though, walked up and hugged him just as Takamasa began to break down and cry. Yuki soon followed suit, as did Inori, Asuka, and Shingo. Konomi struggled with the heavy burden that had been thrust upon her and the group and continued to sit in her chair, crying. Before hearing Takamasa's unfiltered account, they had all assumed he had one of the easier worlds and, while it may not have been as physically taxing as the others, they came to realize that the psychological torture and emotional damage Takamasa endured was just as bad as anyone else.

"Thank you for trusting us." Ichiro started, pause, and restated. "Thank you for trusting me with the story of your world."

Takamasa let out a slight chuckle through the sadness he was feeling.

"I feel like I've been," Ichiro searched for a word ,"reserved" he said as if enlightened having found the word he was looking for. "Reserved for far too long. Up until now I wasn't sure about this group, but I feel like we're an actual adventuring party now. At least, you all are. You all know very little about me but have been endlessly helpful and friendly and kind. I'll try to be more open with all of you."

Takamasa let out a pained laugh that was interrupted by a cough before saying, "Then it was all for something. At least it was useful."

When Konomi heard Ichiro and Takamasa's conversation, she choked down her tears and stood suddenly before saying "Of course we're an adventuring party. We're the strongest party there is because we've all suffered through our worlds and come back to this one. Now we support each other, no matter what. We're the support group."

With that, Takamasa broke away from the group, walked to Konomi, and hugged her as the others looked on.

"I think, next meeting, I'll try to tell you about my story." Ichiro said as most of the members looked to him, stunned at what they'd heard.