Is this me?

The sun that couldn't be seen behind the muddy sky was already beginning to take its leave when we arrived in front of the village made out of stones, with an elderly orc standing outside of the gates with his troops behind him.

Despite the orcs not numbering even half of my army, it was impossible to miss the difference in quality between the well-coordinated orcs equipped not only with leather armor but also equipped with large steel axes and my band of green misfits, overgrown chickens, and whimsical fairies.

Yet, I couldn't see a world where we would ever face defeat.

Soaring above the ground, I approached Dregu, who was now also equipped with clumsily made armor, wearing a helmet in the form of the face of a wolf on his head.

As the demon king, I wasn't allowed to face defeat unless it was against the champions of Terros who would arrive in the future. Thus, I had already convinced myself that I wouldn't. Right now, in this very moment, I was nothing else but the demon king.

"I have returned, orc, chieftain of the village of stone."

"I can see that, demon king Aldric. But I'm afraid that we are not willing to stand under your banner. That would dishonor the memory of Yargol."

Judging by the fact that they were now fully armed and had prepared themselves for war, I wasn't surprised by his answer. An answer that did nothing but put a huge smile on my face, filling my body with an unstoppable sense of ecstasy.

"Then, I will grant you the mercy that you chose to be given."

Flaring my wings in the air, I didn't hesitate to activate the new ability that I had created, a spell that I felt made a lot of sense given my new form.

From my black and white wings, small orbs of dark magic started to emerge, slowly taking the shape that my mind imagined, turning into black, misty feathers, seething with nothingness.

"[Feather's of the Underworld]"

Unable to respond due to surprise at what I was doing, the orcs simply looked up at me, their brown skin paling, with Dregu being the only one to realize what was happening.

"Take cover!"

Yet, despite his shouting orders to the troops behind him, they didn't have time to move as I unleashed a flurry of dark feathers upon them, shredding their muscly flesh as they cared for nothing but to move forward.

Panicked screams were let out all around their troops, and although few of the orcs actually died to my attack, it was more than enough for me to find the opening that I wanted. But even before I managed to open my mouth, there was someone else behind me that also saw the opportunity before him.

"Gob!"

Raising his steel sword, Gob shouted with vigor, showing a part of him that I hadn't gotten to see in a long time. The passionate young goblin whose eyes shone with burning resolve, now given the order for his troops to attack.

And that, they did.

Taking advantage of the turmoil in the enemy lines, the orcs were once again taken by surprise as a third of the goblins drew their bows, this time even using arrows, and although they were just made of wood, the rain of sharp projectiles still served its purpose of making even more orcs fall to the ground.

Yet, when the rest of the goblins ran forward, raising their weapons high, eager to engage with our enemy, Dregu's voice reached another level of volume.

"Do not falter! There is no tomorrow unless we are victorious today! Warriors, ready your weapons!"

Responding to his voice, the panicking orcs whose flesh was already bleeding got pulled back into reality, realizing just how true his words were. There would, indeed, not be a future for them to face if they fell here.

Therefore, they steadied themselves, regaining their postures, while disregarding the injuries on their bodies. And at this point, I could only hope that my opening act, complemented by the rain of arrows, was enough.

Having already begun to retreat, as the spell that I had used consumed a lot of demonic energy, creating a need for me to make sure I didn't overexert myself, I had no choice but to act as a spectator to the battle that had begun.

However, when I got to see the goblins engaging in battle with the much, much larger orcs, it was clear that even with the injuries they had sustained, their proficiency in battle was enough to make up for that and more.

"Gob?!"

Purple blood started soaking the ground when the green creatures got cleaved by the large axes, their bodies getting pushed into the air by the sheer difference in physique.

On top of that, Dregu raised his staff, having also taken a few steps back to make sure he could act as support without getting caught up with the vanguards.

"[Seismic Pillar]!"

Shouting loudly, which was a way for someone to focus more magic into their spells, he thrust his staff into the ground. A second later, a large, sharp, rocky pillar emerged in the middle of my goblin troops, creating an explosion of green flesh and purple blood.

'But they are not the only ones who have casters...'

"Pi!"

Floating a bit higher into the sky, my fairy unit started to channel their mana through their small bodies, creating a shimmer of rainbow-colored sparkles around them before launching arcs of compressed winds at the orcs.

In sync with this, my large birds that were hovering in the sky flew forward, spreading their talons as they began to rip and tear the flesh from their enemies.

'...what am I doing here?'

Suddenly, time seemed to stop, as I realized just what I was witnessing.

Chaos, pure and utter chaos, a battlefield filled with tortured screams of anguish, symbolic of the massive loss of lives that were taken right in front of my eyes.

No one was spared from the blood-filled violence, as even the fairies who were standing back were occasionally hit and killed by a sudden fireball or stone shard sent out by the orcs, and the birds diving in from the sky got cleaved by the large axes.

Yet, as the rivers of purple blood started to flow, I was still smiling. Rejoicing as my very soul seemed to absorb the vapor of blood and misery in the air, savoring it, taking pleasure in the death that was now synonymous with this battle.

'Is this... me?'

Staring down at my now trembling hands, a trembling that wasn't created in response to fear or disgust, but a tremble solely due to the sheer joy that I felt when witnessing what could only be called a massacre.

Even when tears started streaming down my face, I could do nothing but crave more, more bloodshed, more pain. Something that created an interesting thesis in my head.

Could I even lose myself if I had never truly existed before? Who was to say that I was changing, losing my humanity, when no one, not even I myself, knew who I was?

"Ha...hahaha...hahahaha!"

For some reason, as I was unable to hold myself back from laughing manically, everything stopped, with everyone on the battlefield now looking up at the man in the sky, gazing upon the entity with the white and black wings.

Finally, I understood it. The reason why I had been chosen to become the demon king, why I was the most suitable for the role.

It was because I was nothing.

Just like darkness, my existence was nothing more than a simple response to my surroundings. The sole point behind my entire existence, even on Earth, had always been to act as a reaction to the contexts surrounding me.

I had no values or opinions of my own, nor did I carry any personality traits that defined me. I just simply existed, just like darkness simply existed for no other reason than for the sake of it. Just like a shadow couldn't take any other form than what the light shone upon.

But in this world, things were different. Because here, in this world, I had the power to create my own light, a light that would in turn make the darkness even more defined, a light that would finally give me purpose.

Just like darkness cannot exist without light, light cannot illuminate anything if darkness wasn't present. A perfect balance of nonexistence, a balance in which the purpose was to not carry a purpose other than demanding the world to acknowledge its existence.

With that, I spread my wings wide, looking down at all the pitiful beings on the ground who would never be able to understand what I was, or the impetus behind my actions.

"Gob!"

With Gob seemingly understanding what I was about to do, he yelled out an order to his brethren, who quickly started to retreat, making space for the finale of this war, a finale that had already been paved by my soldiers, preparing the sheep for the slaughter.

This time, I didn't spare a single fraction of my demonic energy, as my wings lit up, glowing with a heavenly light, making the pitch-black sources of death that emerged from them even darker.

"[Feather's of the Underworld]"