Prologue

With a loud boom I pushed past the last dark barrier that the Darkness and Hellfire God, Salrak, had put up to stop me. It crumbled like broken glass, dispersing in the air as the golden light of my holy power pushed into his body, burning and forcing him to fall down to the flaming lands below us.

There was another explosion when he hit the ground, lifting the earth and spreading a combination of both my holy power and his darkness covered blood-red fire all around the battlefield, which was now full of nothing more than the corpses of the Empire's armies and Salrak's allied forces.

I felt nothing from seeing their bodies disappear into nothingness. The good people of the Empire had long been defeated, and the Dark God's armies were composed of nothing but demons and traitors. All of them were evil beings that gave me misery and pain through the years that I spent fighting to save the world from this God's influence.

I looked at the glowing golden Greatsword in my hand. It was still holding, despite the many clashes I've had with this Dark God over the last days of constant battle. However, I couldn't say the same about the golden armor. It had been starting to crumble and it couldn't save one of my arms and legs, but it had served its purpose beyond its limits, saving me from many fatal blows from Salrak.

Getting this far was only thanks to the power of the Holy Gods, who chose me as their Hero to cleanse the world of evil and bring everlasting peace to the people. As I looked down at the burning mix of blood-red fire and darkness below me, I knew that my goal was close at hand, since there was little that Salrak could do now to stop his demise.

There was an explosion of the God's fire and Salrak quickly rose up from the burning lands, flying straight to me. I could see his body battered, his black armor turned to nothing, and his chest nothing more than exposed black bleeding flesh and bones that somehow didn't stop him from attacking. I could also see his demonic face, the glowing red eyes which fiercely stared back at me and the jagged broken fangs on his mouth—that matched his broken horns—furiously cursing me.

I cared not for his curses, for the holy power within me would turn them into nothing more than tantrums of a defeated God. I readied myself for the incoming clash—hopefully the last one. His flying speed was slowing down, it was the perfect opportunity to finish him off once and for all, so I focused as much holy power as I could into my blade, and propelled myself with as much speed as I could right to him.

The air around me boomed as I approached the broken God, and I glared, fully ready for anything that he could prepare. But right as I was about to make contact, Salrak spread his arms open, taking me by surprise as my blade pierced him without any resistance.

He exclaimed in a painful moan. I was left stunned by the apparent surrender of the God at the last moment but assured that I had succeeded. However, in the moment of hesitation, the God managed to bring an arm up to softly touch my head. He chuckled as he did, but he didn't do anything, so I just looked up to him wide eyed.

"W-what?!" I questioned, my voice cracking in confusion.

"Oh… Althea…" he whispered my name, his hand softly touching my hair.

I snapped out of it and ground my teeth at the fact that this God was still toying with me, even at the moment of his death. I pushed every last drop of remaining holy power into the blade, causing it to burst with golden lights.

Salrak grunted painfully, his hand falling from my head, and his body burning from the place where my blade was stuck. This was it, there would be no more Darkness and Hellfire God. The world shall be at peace now, and my goals as the Hero of the Holy Gods were complete.

His body fell from the blade, softly dropping to the lands below. I released a sigh, both from exhaustion and from knowing that it was over. However, the moment was short lived, as from the skies above me, a bright golden light spread, illuminating everything around me, down to Salrak and even the burning battlefields.

I turned to look up, and noticed that the Holy Gods had descended into the world. My body stiffened and my soul stirred when I gazed upon them, on their seven holy figures which slowly made their way to me.

"You have done well, child," the leading one said, his voice booming and spreading all over the land.

I lowered my head in reverence, since I shouldn't be directly looking at their holy shapes. "T-thank you! I couldn't have done it without—"

Suddenly, without me realizing it, another holy blade—not unlike the one I fought with—impaled me right through the chest as I was trying to give my thanks to the Holy Gods. I turned to look up to them, stunned, and my body hurting all over from both the strike and injuries I had suffered while fighting Salrak. Blood started pouring out of my mouth.

"But you must be disposed of now," another one said, her voice just as booming as the other one.

I wanted to scream, to ask why they did this, but my body wouldn't react. I started falling from the sky, just as Salrak had done before, and I could feel the holy power in my body quickly being drained by the blade stuck in my chest. I saw the Holy Power flowing from it through the air and back up to the Goddess that struck me. It burned like nothing I had felt before in all of my years of combat, trials, and pains.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally crashed with something—the ground I hoped. But I realized it wasn't when an abyss-dark arm with clawed hands wrapped around me, holding me softly in an embrace that I couldn't feel as my body started to burn and disintegrate into the air.

My vision faded, leaving me in pure darkness; and in that darkness, I could only hear the deep gravelly voice of the being embracing me, who softly whispered, "Althea… you foolish girl."