The Hero Never Wavers

After a bloody, difficult struggle, pushing through countless soldiers' corpses, they

finally reclaimed a country from the demon lord's army. Only to have it all stolen back

in a single night by Desmond of the Earth.

While others fell into despair, Ruti the Hero continued walking forward without delay.

"Brother, how do we take it back again?" the Hero said to the knight beside her. She

neither commiserated with the soldiers who hung their heads nor attempted to

encourage them.

The Hero simply acted to save.

She was indomitable. Dauntless. The Hero always pushed ahead.

That was why people sought the Hero.

Even in the grip of pain and suffering, when their minds were fractured and their

hearts broken, they believed that so long as they marched behind that girl, she would

lead them to salvation.

The Hero never feels doubt.

The Hero must never waver.

All living creatures received Divine Blessings. Thus, no matter how terrible the betrayal,

how terrible the beating, or how many lives lost, the Hero was never permitted to

waver. Not to their final breath.

"Yes, that is the role expected of me."

When the new Hero, Van, heard the story of Ruti, his heart danced.

"Lord Demis, I am grateful for the trial you have set before me. May you continue to

grant me greater challenges until my body, my essence, the comrades who walk

alongside me, until all of it crumbles away."

He prayed from the depths of his heart, kneeling in the captain's room of the Vendidad,

the demon lord's ship.

This chamber had once been the private quarters of a previous demon lord. Now it

housed an altar Van the Hero had brought so he could offer his pious words to Demis.

Crew members outside the room sang a requiem for their comrade who'd perished to

a monster.

Their voices were hoarse and tearful. Had Ruti been there, she would have been sad,

but Van felt nothing. He didn't even remember the dead person's name.

Because the Hero never faltered