Prologue - A Hero and its Curse

[3rd person POV]

In a world with magic, fantastic creatures, gods, demons and simple people. A battle was taking place, a long and tiring one that was already close to its end, just needing to finish off the owner of a great castle, the owner was the great demon lord of corruption, Zalgnity. He was the only demon lord, who was missing, among the participants of a circle of lords who wanted to dominate everything.

And who would do this act, to go kill such a being? A group of heroes, which originally consisted of 30 members, all 30 were famous and the best in their roles, but at that decisive moment, there were only 4 left.

Among the 4, there was a healer, blessed by the goddess of love; an assassin, carrying with him a mixed blood between humans and elves; a mage, who could take monsters out of books and turn them into her strength; and their leader, what originally was a simple recruit, with his class being that of a magic soldier, but at the end of that war, he carried with him the blessing of two gods, that of justice and that of thunder.

They invaded the castle with mastery, taking the greatest care to attack any guards there without alarming their presence in the start, and after that they went up the floors.

"That was too easy, don't you think, Glaipper?" The healer spoke to the assassin, in whispers.

"Yeah, that was pretty easy, Thomp. Luz, what do you think about that?" The assassin was intrigued by the response he would receive from his actual leader.

"I think you guys need to shut up soon and activate our protection spell again. We don't know if the guards are spread out evenly or more focused in that madman's hall." The blonde mage whispered, with the leader shaking his head, agreeing with what she said.

"Okay, let's go then." Said the leader, cleaning his sword a little dirty with blood, blood of the soldiers they had just killed.

With that, the healer activated a spell, reciting it poetically, until all 4 heroes were surrounded by a purple and red aura. From that moment on, that's when the tension really started to build. They were going up the floors, and strangely they didn't find anyone, there were no guards and no sign of which floor Zalgnity was on, as his aura was all throughout the castle. It was impossible to locate him using those types of tricks.

But after going up a few floors, they found the demon, he was in a huge room, full of guards and he didn't seem to care about the existence of the heroes, he was just looking at the window of that room. The guards did the same, motionless in their places, just staring at the group.

[Luz Jaymonds POV]

Going up those floors, without anyone, was a small nightmare, compared to what we would face. I just saw that demon, that damned one, sitting and watching the window, like it was a relaxing day, and on top of that, all those guards, lined up so that we could see the lord, and at the same time they could see us, but, they didn't seem to move, just like statues. This made me feel chills, disgust and having the desire to kill that madman, it was as if he didn't see us as a threat, even though our group was smaller than before, we had still killed the other 5 lords.

I started to walk, taken by the hatred of the whole situation of this war, I just wanted to finish it already and have a normal life back, but as soon as I did, Maryliny, my great companion and our mage, ended up pulling me repeatedly by my armor. And that's when I saw.

Zalgnity had just unleashed an attack, a massive attack using a sword with a black blade, that made his own guards' heads drop, they were beheaded by an arcane move. It was lucky that our group was out of reach, and I thanked the gods in my mind, for giving us the mage who had just saved me before the real fight even began.

"Urgh. damn! Do you know how long it takes to activate this move!?! Anyway... Come on, inferiors, your attacks won't even bother me!" He said having his voice distorted, glaring at me and Mary, while striking a pose as he swung his sword, taking out the blood of his guards from the blade.

"Well, we've got something planned for you then, Bastard. Delta plane folks, NOW!!" I said this while striking a pose with my sword, with it being placed in front of me, with my other hand touching the blade, smearing it with my own blood.

With this order having been given, my companions were going to do things as we had previously planned, in fact, there were 10 possible attack strategies for us to do against this lunatic demon. But having him as the only enemy, and him being opposite side as me in this big place, there was only one perfect plan for it.

As rehearsed, Thompson went to the right, just behind Glaipper, and Maryliny was standing in front of me, summoning two ghost knights and a spirit archer using her book, so that one knight would go towards the demon from the front, the other go through the left, and the archer being on my left, shooting magic arrows at the enemy.

The lord seemed to use his sword to defend himself from the arrows that attacked him, making loud impact noises. Glaip quickly headed towards the enemy, being close enough, he jumped and enchant his daggers, with Thomp using an assist spell, making our assassin float. In this situation, he threw the daggers towards Zalgnity, who ended up being hit by only one, while the other returned to the assassin. The daggers were enchanted with a magic that slowed the opponent.

The two summoned knights managed to reach our opponent, attacking him, while, even though he was slower, he managed to decapitate one of them with his strength, making that ghost disappear and resulting in Mary coughing up some blood.

While this was happening, I started to recite a spell, as my blade was already completely smeared with my blood. Mary looked at me with a smile, just as if to relieve me that she was fine, even with a little more blood coming out of her mouth, for a clear reason, the second knight was being killed too.

"We have to hold on longer!!" She said, starting another spell. "Hail to the spirits, coming from the underworld to make up for their sins! Projectable hell!!"

The summoned spirit archer now shoot an arrow of pure fire in the direction of the lord, who tried to defend himself again with his sword, but ended up being taken back a little by the impact, with his back against the giant window.

"This is for my family, Corrupt Being!" I saw Glaipper screaming with all the fury he had, starting to attack with full power.

"I expected this anger from only Humans or Orcs! But even a Half-Elf!?! As far as I know, this part of your blood only knows how to cry in fear, ever since the burning of your precious tree!!" Zalgnity spoke, taunting the half-elf assassin, as they were both facing each other, the high sound of metal being made by the blades of the dagger and sword clashing with each other.

I faced that whole situation, while my concentration was more on reciting that important magic, so important, that took a long time to do and that was for a reason, its function was to invoke the fury of all the gods, and annihilate the enemy with that power. It was very Overpower for my first attack, I know, but I wanted to kill him so bad.

"... Then I invoke you, mothers, fathers, children of all the gods, your souls will be my key, key to open the door of our creators, to call them with all help, to tell them, about all the evil that has happened! OH!! OUR TRUE LORDS, SEE OUR PROBLEMS! I CALL YOU THROUGH THIT BLOODY BLADE, SMOOTHED BY THE BLOOD OF YOUR CASTER! I KNOW YOU DON'T DO THAT, FOR THE LOVE YOU HAVE FOR US, BUT GO DOWN WITH YOUR HATE TO THIS WORLD! HAIL ARCANUM! THE DEATH!" I finished, finally what I believed that was the best way to end this war and kill the Corruption Lord.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Mary shouted warning our other 2 companions. Glaipper managed to get out of the way, because of his speed buff, Thompson wasn't that lucky, with the corruption demon taking him by the right shoulder and sticking his sword in him, our beloved companion and healer was now being used as a shield by our final enemy.

"THOMP!!" The 3 of us say in unison.

With tears streaming down my face, I didn't stop that spell, pointing the blade towards one of my friends and the opponent, my body was surrounded by auras of different colors in addition to lightning and a layer of wind that circled my armor. I could see the soulless one smiling at me while my friend was there trying to stay alive and get out of him, even with the sword going through his chest.

I screamed in rage, my bloodied sword starting to glow, unleashing a powerful and completely unnatural lightning bolt that traveled towards the two in front of me, piercing them. I could see the bolt continuing through the window and going in towards the sky, making the clouds, that released their heavy snow around the castle, dissipate almost immediately.

Because he was only a human, Thompson was disintegrated right there, on the other hand, the lord of corruption, was halfway, with his limbs having been disintegrated and having a huge hole in his chest, where would normally be his heart, this if he even had one... He didn't seem to be alive, just lying there, not breathing, I didn't want to, for the loss of my friend, but unconsciously, I smiled.

"Thompy...." Mary said seeing that scene still in shock and with a crying voice, taking a few steps, but not getting close to where our friend was.

"Relax... Now he must be in a calm and peaceful place... The gods must be rewarding him for this sacrifice..." I said, walking towards her and hugging her from behind, trying to comfort her, my face also wet from my tears. She turned around, hugging me tight.

"So..it's finally over?.. Can we go home?" Glaipper said as he put his hands on our shoulders, also for comfort.

"Well...yes. This ancient magic.. It has immense potency, even shattering a demon's soul.." I said, taking a deep breath, thinking it was over..

"You're right, it shatters the soul of a demon... But thanks to your little friend, I didn't disappear..."

We heard that intense, frightening voice, and I could see over Mary's shoulder, that bastard, even in those conditions, could still talk and not only that, he somehow managed to pick up a momentum and head towards us. With Mary in front of me, I quickly pushed her away to avoid her for being attacked and at that same moment, I held my sword more firmly, positioning it so that he would be impaled.

I had closed my eyes at that moment, but when I opened them, I saw myself standing, in an empty place. I looked scared at all directions, I only saw that darkness and a black onyx floor, which reflected a purple light that came from nowhere.

"W-What is this place?... Mary!?... Glaip!?....." I spoke while I didn't see anyone and started to walk. I wasn't able to feel the air from there and I couldn't even feel the ground I was stepping on.

After walking for a long time, I saw something floating and shining in gold in the distance, I walked to it, it seemed to be a panel with a confused aura, on it I had written my name and a single question...

"Ready to continue?", with only two options to choose: "Yes" and "Learn more".

I clicked on the second option it gave me, and an angelic voice, very reminiscent of Maryliny's, began to speak.

"Congratulations, Luz Jaymonds! You were the only one, after centuries, to be compatible with our immense magic, we are incredibly grateful that you used it for something heroic, like killing the great evil of corruption. But we saw that before he was finally destroyed, he not only gave you one last attack, but infected your body with a piece of something we might call 'soul of corruption'." Said that voice, with the last sentence being spoken in a worried voice.

"What is this!?! Mary, where are you?! and... what is this soul of corruption?" I said quite surprised and confused by the situation.

"Sorry, hero. Your beloved mage is not here, we chose a familiar voice so we couldn't scare you..." Said that same voice, still worried and a little sad, but soon returning to my last question. "The soul of corruption is a curse and also part of the being that was the lord you killed, that same curse causes you to be forced to go to another world and be controlled by corruption, as if the high demon had chosen you as his successor from chaos."

"Are you telling me that I will be reborn and become him!?!"

"You would, but not anymore, our presence as deities managed to at least make you able to revive in another world, but still be yourself. With a single however, for not becoming the new lord of corruption, the curse will try to activate again , always and always, until you get it, but on the other hand, our magic will make sure that never happens." The voice seemed to say happily at the end.

"...wait...isn't that a loop?..." I said thoughtfully, watching the floating golden screen.

"Exactly, and that would be the only way for you not to be consumed by corruption. But there is an advantage, the more you are reborn, the more different worlds you can find, with so many possibilities, there is a chance that at some point they will find one where they can undo the curse! At least, amazing adventures are guaranteed!"

From that moment on, I realized, they wanted to help me out of gratitude, but at the same time they didn't know how to really help. I was going to ask one more thing, but the voice disappeared.

"They're pushing the dirt under the rug while creating this lie... Just so their pride of being impeccable gods won't be broken.." I thought, with an odd look at the void above me, heaving a sigh. I was really stuck in that situation.

Soon, I was looking at the golden screen again, with now only the option to accept it, or do nothing. I know myself well, I knew I could go crazy staying in that huge void, without a person to talk. So I clicked "Yes", and I was covered in a white and golden light, when it was gone, I saw myself somewhere else.

[3rd Person POV]

Luz ended up being summoned in another world, with clerics waiting for him, as if they had made a ritual for him to be there, unfortunately, this was not and will not be the only time. After this great adventure he had in this new world, the Hero died of old age, happy to have managed to create a family, but he ended up in the same void.

And so, it truly began, an infinite chaos, having always, many families, problems, struggles, searches for the cure of the curse, that was destroying his sanity in little pieces. There were so many lives, that he started to be a villain, an anti-hero, a farmer, a warrior, a scientist, so many life options, endlessly happening, while never finding a way to get that curse out of his main existence.

Now, he opened his eyes, seeing a clear and beautiful sky, he seemed to be lying on a slightly wet grass. Without moving a muscle yet or seeing his real situation there, he had a simple thought.

"World number 11037.Let's see if this time there's something... or if this time it's a magical world. The last 50 were all tech worlds, and I'm already bored of seeing laser weapons." He smirked.