"Am I going to die this time ?"
I muttered to myself as I lay on the ground inside the Demon King's chamber. Blood poured out of me like water from a broken jar, forming a dark, warm pool beneath my body. It flowed freely from my stomach, where a holy sword had been stabbed cleanly through.
I couldn't feel my legs, both of them had been crushed. My right hand was missing, lost somewhere I couldn't even begin to guess.
The pain had dulled into numbness, and my mind was starting to shut down from the blood loss.
As I struggled to keep my eyes open, a familiar figure came into view.
The one who stabbed me—Issac Fulco.
He was a hero—and a noble.
Charming, with a handsome face.
Loved by his party members, praised by the goddess, and admired by the entire kingdom.
I couldn't even speak—my voice was gone.
All I could do was lie there, broken and silent.
Then I heard a voice—one I hadn't heard in two years—shouting at me in anger.
"Alex! Why would you betray us?! Betray me?!"
That voice… it was Alice.
My childhood friend.
The only friend I ever had.
"Thanks to Isaac," she continued, her voice trembling with rage, "I finally learned the truth about you!"
My eyes were heavy. I could barely keep them open. But in that moment, I saw Isaac step forward.
He gripped the hilt of his holy sword, and with a slow, deliberate pull, he tore it out from my stomach—only to drive it back in again.
This time, straight into my chest.
The blade pushed deeper, inch by inch, piercing toward my heart.
And just before everything went black, I saw Isaac's face one last time.
He was smiling.
The same smile he wore two years ago, when he and the other left me behind to face the demon king by myself.
*****
I wasn't the hero.
I wasn't chosen by the goddess.
I was just a normal warrior.
But I trained hard—hard enough to stand and fight beside Isaac, the chosen hero.
Still, because of my black hair and unnatural strength of the inhuman body I inherited from a long-forgotten race, they never truly accepted me. People had called me a monster ever since I was a child. And when I began traveling with the hero, the whispers only grew louder. Some said I had made a pact with demons to gain my strength.
That my power wasn't a gift—it was a curse.
Until our battle with the Demon King, I was the one who managed to wound him.
I damaged him more than any of them could—even Isaac, the so-called chosen hero.
But just before I could finish him off, Isaac and the girls turned on me.
They fired a powerful magic spell at my back while I was mid-leap toward the Demon King.
I managed to block most of it, but it still pierced through my barrier and burned my back badly.
Then they left me there to die, thinking the Demon King was already dead.
When I regained my consciousness, the Demon King was already healed, and his subordinates had arrived and captured me. I couldn't move or fight back.
They took me as their prisoner.
For half a year, I was tortured day after day. Treated like nothing more than a toy for their amusement.
They tried to shatter my spirit and break my will…
Until I became one of them.
Eventually, I pretended to serve them.
I managed to climb the ranks—slowly, carefully—until I became one of the top commanders in the demon realm.
But no matter how far I rose, I was never accepted.
Because I was human.
They despised me—hated me—for the long war between our races.
They started setting traps, spreading lies, accusing me of being a traitor.
And eventually, those rumors reached the Demon King.
He summoned me, full of rage.
I tried to explain—but he wouldn't listen.
So we fought.
It was a brutal, bloody battle.
In the end, I defeated him… but it cost me everything.
Both of my legs were crushed.
My right arm was gone.
I couldn't move. I couldn't heal.
And then… Isaac and his party arrived at the Demon King's chamber.
They found me lying there on the ground.
Before I could react, Issac drove his holy sword into my stomach.
*****
After Isaac stabbed me through the heart, I thought that was the end.
But then I heard a voice—cold, echoing, crawling through my mind.
"Revenge."
"Revenge."
"Revenge."
"Revenge."
It wouldn't stop.
The word kept ringing in my head, again and again.
I was already dead. And yet, I could still hear it.
Then… I opened my eyes.
Somehow, I was lying in a wide farm field, the golden wheat swaying gently in the wind.
It looked familiar.
Slowly, I raised my hand and touched my face.
It was warm.
My chest rose and fell—I could feel my heartbeat.
I looked around in disbelief. The view… the wheat fields… the buildings in the distance.
This was my hometown.
Endora—the village where I was raised.
"What... is going on?"
I muttered softly. My voice sounded clear and calm—not like someone who had just died.
I pushed myself to my feet, still shaken, and looked down at my body.
I was leaner. Healthier than I remembered.
And younger.
Judging by how I looked—and how I felt—I had gone back in time.
Ten years before I died.
I was fifteen again.
"Did I really... go back in time?"
I asked myself as I made my way back home, toward the church where I grew up.
As I neared the familiar path, I saw a figure in the distance.
Someone I knew all too well.
She had long brown hair and a cute, innocent face.
Her body was still slender, not yet developed into the curves she'd have a few years later.
But even now, there was a soft charm in the way she moved captivating in its quiet way.
That girl was the one I grew up with.
The one who used me. Manipulated me.
And in the end, betrayed me.
None other than Alice—my childhood friend.
I couldn't help but grin.
I remembered everything she had done to me.
"Ah! Alex, there you are! I've been looking for you!"
She waved at me with that same cheerful smile.
But this time…
I wasn't the same Alex she once knew.