The morning sun rose over the Wellko Kingdom, but its light was a lie. It brought no warmth to the frozen earth, only a cold, mocking clarity to the carnage left behind.
Fude was running, but his movements were no longer those of the proud king who had entered the city days before. He moved with a labored, rhythmic staggering, his boots dragging through the dirt and crimson-
stained snow. Every breath was a jagged blade in his lungs. His injuries were critical, deep, and unforgiving. A jagged puncture in his stomach bled profusely, the thick, metallic scent of iron following him like a physical ghost.
Blood soaked through his tunic, seeping between his fingers as he tried to hold his intestines inside his body. But he did not wait. He did not stop to rest. He moved at a slow, agonizing, and determined speed, focused only on the dense, shadowed borders of the ancient forest where the Guild's eyes could not follow.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of torture, Fude successfully breached the deep forest. The canopy was so thick that the sunlight was strangled into thin, grey ribbons.
With a final, violent surge of strength that nearly snapped his remaining resolve, he threw King Felko onto the mossy ground. Felko landed with a dull thud, looking up with eyes filled with a terror that surpassed the fear of death. Fude collapsed against a gnarled oak, his chest heaving with a sound like tearing parchment.
"Ah... ahh... ahhhh... ahhh..." The sound of his heavy, wet breathing was the only thing that broke the terrifying silence of the woods. He looked at his hands—they were stained with the blood of his enemies and the life-fluid of his own body.
Fude forced his trembling legs to lock, pushing himself upright with the help of his Grey Katana. The blade was dull, its mana exhausted, but it was the only thing he had left. He looked at the sky through the leaves and roared.
"Orkurus Dragon!" His voice was a gutteral rasp. "I want to deal with you! Come before me right now!"
He closed his eyes, plunging his consciousness into the dark, cold ocean of his inner mind. He waited in the void, the silence of his soul being louder than the forest outside.
After several minutes of absolute stillness, the color of the katana began to bleed away, turning a ghostly ash-grey as the power was drained from the metal. Deep inside Fude's mind, the titanic Orkurus Dragon
manifested. It was a mountain of scales and malice, its eyes glowing like dying suns.
"Oh... so you are Fude," the dragon hissed, its voice vibrating in Fude's very marrow. "I have watched you bleed. Tell me what you want, and I will fulfill it. But remember my warning: when I merge my powers with your soul, you will become a calamity. None shall be able to come near you, and no power in this world will be able to deter the darkness you will become."
Fude's spirit did not flinch. He stood before the beast with a heart that had already turned to stone. "I am ready for this," he said, his voice as cold as a tombstone. "Today onwards, you are my spirit katana, and I am your owner. Remember this: if you do not follow my orders on the battlefield, you know what I can do to you."
The Dragon laughed, a sound like grinding tectonic plates. "Yes... I know. You are the only mortal capable of erasing my spirit soul from this katana where I have lived for a thousand years. To disappear forever into the void... I know your power, Master. I choose to serve the man who would threaten a god while his own guts are spilling out."
The Dragon began the ritual. "Oh, the Devil Queen Vega, I offer you a new victim for this merging. My master, Fude!"
The pain was beyond any mortal description. Fude clutched his head, his fingers digging into his scalp as the dragon's dark mana flooded his veins. It smelled of ancient blood and burnt stars.
In his agony, he saw visions of Welfcone, Oberko, and Ongo dying over and over again. Every time the Guild's magic struck them in his mind, his heart grew harder, colder, and more hollow. What felt like months of agonizing torture was only minutes of reality. When the merging was finally complete, Fude stood up. His mana was so dense it felt like a heavy, suffocating fog. His eyes, once black, had turned a piercing, dark purple.
"Heal," Fude commanded.
The dark mana responded instantly. It surged to his stomach, the flesh knitting together with a sickening sound of stretching skin and snapping bone. In seconds, the critical injury was gone. He was whole again, but the man inside was gone.
Felko watched this from the dirt, paralyzed by a fear he had never known. He looked at Fude and saw a stranger—a demon wearing the skin of his friend. "What will he do to me?" Felko thought, his mind racing through every mistake he had made. "Will he forgive me, or will he kill me here? I deserve to die. If only I had informed him... if I hadn't stayed silent, Welfcone would still be here. My cowardice killed them all."
Felko took a breath of courage and spoke, his voice cracking. "Fude... I know I did a foolish thing. It cannot be tolerated. Please... forgive me. I am truly ashamed of myself."
Fude turned back slowly. The purple in his eyes glowed with a predatory, heartless light. "Who are you talking to? I don't know which Fude you are referring to. That Fude died on the wooden block in Wellko while you watched in silence. I am only the Demon King Fude."
Fude stepped toward him, his shadow swallowing the broken king. "You didn't make a 'small mistake,' Felko. You chose a side. You chose your throne over the lives of my brothers. If you had informed me about the Guild before they attacked, I would have finished them in a second. Because of your foolishness, my commanders are dead. I thought you were an intelligent King, but I was wrong. You were the first and last lesson of my life. Now, they deserve no mercy. They will face the Demon Fude. I will make them beg for a death I will never grant."
Fude's voice became a death sentence. "You are not my friend. You are only my weapon. From today onwards, your name is erased. You are the Jald of King Fude. Never think of the 'Kind Fude' again. He is gone. He died once, and he will never come back."
Felko slumped into the mud, his spirit broken beyond repair. "Our kind Fude is gone," he thought. "I am no longer a man. I am a tool for a monster I helped create."
"In the future," Fude added, his back to him, "when I order you to speak, you will say 'Yes, Jald.' Otherwise, I do not want to hear your voice. Remember it well."
Back in the Wellko Kingdom, the execution square was a landscape of horror. Kaza's right eye was trapped in a cage of Black Flames. He screamed in agony, the fire of Fude's katana refusing to go out. "Fude! You can go where you want, but you cannot hide! I will finish you with my own hands!"
Kaza stood up and staggered toward Umi. "Give me a cloth!" he barked. He washed the gore from his face with freezing water and tied a cloth tightly over the right side of his head, hiding the eye that Fude had claimed as a trophy. His young daughter, Aki, was standing nearby, her small body shaking with a terror she couldn't understand.
Kaza knelt before her, trying to hide his rage. "Don't be scared, my little girl. Your Papa is powerful. I promise you, Fude will die by my hands very soon."
Aki's voice was a tiny whisper. "Papa... why can't we have peace? Aren't they also created by our God, Rin? Why are we fighting against them?"
Kaza's heart, once noble, turned to stone. "No, Aki. They were created by the Evil Queen Vega, not by our God Queen Rin. They are our enemies. Now, stop crying. Smile for me." Aki forced a small, broken smile, and Kaza lifted her toward the ash-filled sky, his mind already calculating the next slaughter.
Umi watched them with eyes full of sorrow and disgust. "See, Kaza? See what you have started? Was it really necessary to kill Fude's commanders? Today you have openly announced a war that will consume us all. If you hadn't killed them—if you had only captured them—this wouldn't be happening. But look what you've done. You have turned a man into a god of vengeance."
"Don't worry, Umi," Kaza snapped. "I know you think I'm creating trouble, but I will fulfill my mission. I will finish Fude with my own hands."
"You are mad," Umi replied. "Fude left here as an injured lion. Do you have any idea how dangerous a wounded beast is?"
"I don't care," Kaza said. "I will find out who helped his commanders reach the kingdom. I will find the truth, even if I have to burn this city to do it."
A Guild soldier arrived, breathless. "Leader Kaza, our leader Volpors has called for you in the cabinet for the next mission."
"Go and tell him I will come after I have prayed for my friends and burned their souls," Kaza said. "Leave me now."
Kaza picked up the severed heads of Zen and Tora with hands that did not shake. "You fought bravely," he whispered to the dead. "I am proud of you. If I cannot kill Fude, it will be a shame on my life. Your deaths will not be in vain." He gathered their bodies on his shoulders and began the long, heavy walk to the graveyard.
Xen was there, watching the funeral pyres. He fell to his knees, beating the ground until his knuckles bled. "Why, Kaza? Why did they have to lose their lives? What was the point?"
"We must stay strong, Xen," Kaza said, his voice hollow. "Zen loved food and Tora wanted power, but they died as Guild Knights. You forgot our slogan: Our lives have no worth; our task is to protect our people."
"So we aren't human?" Xen screamed, the sound echoing off the graveyard walls. "What do we get for this? One day they call us heroes, and a year later they forget our names! Our lives have no meaning! I am leaving the Knights. Today, I am no longer a soldier. Keep my sword. Go and die for people who don't even know your name!" Xen threw his weapon into the dirt and walked away, disappearing into the dust of the afternoon.
Kaza looked at the sky and whispered, "Oh God, why are you testing us so much?"
By the afternoon, Fude and his Jald were moving toward the Elko Tribe. The air around Fude had changed. Everywhere he passed, the very grass withered and the trees turned grey. Nature itself was dying in his presence. Felko watched from behind, thinking, "It is all my fault. He has become a heartless king. His soul vanished when he saw his best friend die and he couldn't do anything to stop it."
Inside, Fude was a storm of silent screams. He wanted to howl at the sky, but he refused to show a single emotion. "Kaza... the Guild will pay for this in blood. You didn't just kill them; you killed my soul. Do you think I will show mercy? Never. I will kill your child before your eyes on the battlefield, Kaza. Then you will know the weight of the silence I feel now."
The Spy Boy in Wellko heard the news and his blood ran cold. "Where is Keo Duro? Why didn't he save Fude? This is out of control." He mounted his horse and rode toward the West, the hooves beating a rhythm of impending war.
In his own chambers, Seriko learned the news. He threw his wine glass against the wall, the red liquid looking like blood on the stone. "Fude! Why are you becoming such a headache? If you had died there, it would have been easy! Advisor! Prepare the army! We cannot take him lightly now. He is more powerful than King Leobarko."
"Should I send the humans to the Elko tribe to finish them?" the Advisor asked.
"No," Seriko said, his eyes narrowing. "We watch and wait to see what the Demon does next."
The spy added, "Fude killed Zen and Tora in a single second, King Seriko. He broke the anti-mana chains with his bare hands."
Seriko smiled darkly. "Interesting. A single lie has destroyed thousands of lives. My plan is working perfectly."
The West-bound spy finally reached King Leobarko's base. He ran inside, gasping for breath. "King Leobarko! Bad news! King Felko stayed silent and let the Guild attack Fude! A massive war has started!"
Leobarko stood up, his face pale with fury. "And where was Keo Duro? I gave him the mission to protect Fude!"
"I don't know, my King. But Welfcone, Oberko, and Ongo are dead. Fude has become a monster. He destroyed the chains and escaped to the Elko Tribe."
Leobarko growled in fury. "Keo Duro... shame on me for choosing you. You couldn't save Fude." He summoned his upper commander, Karuka. "Karuka! Find Keo Duro. Bring him to me, dead or alive. Go now!"
Fude and the Jald reached the mountains of the Elko Tribe as the sun was sinking into the horizon. "Walk fast, Jald," Fude commanded without looking back. "If the sun goes down and you are left behind, the monsters of this mountain will take you, and I will not come back to see your face."
They reached the gates. The Elven soldiers felt a pressure so heavy it felt like lead in their lungs. "Open the barrier," Fude said. "I have returned."
Zelkaro and Dazzley ran toward the gate. Dazzley's face was full of joy that instantly turned to horror when she saw Fude's dark purple eyes. "My King! You're safe! But... where are Oberko, Ongo, and Welfcone?"
"They are no more, Dazzley," Fude said, his voice like a winter wind. "They sacrificed their lives for a King who didn't deserve it. They attacked my soul, so I will vanish them from this world."
As Fude went to sit, his senses caught a movement. A spy—one of Fude's own men—was attempting to flee with stolen gold. Fude moved like a blur, dragging the man out. He began beating him with a merciless, robotic fury.
"Stealing from me while my commanders die?" Fude hissed.
"Please! Forgive me! I was distracted—" the boy begged.
"No mercy." Fude's grey katana flashed, and the spy's head rolled. Fude turned to Zelkaro. "Prepare your army. In two days, I attack the Guild. Remember it. Now, I am going to sleep."
Dazzley was frozen. "What happened to him?" she asked Felko.
"I am the Jald," Felko replied. "I fulfill his orders. Nothing else."
"He made his best friend a Jald," Zelkaro whispered. "He lost his soul today."
That night, Fude's screams echoed through the camp. He dreamt of his dead friends. "You are responsible, Fude!"
"NO! DON'T KILL THEM!" Fude shrieked, shattering the bed with a burst of mana.
Dazzley ran inside and saw the Demon King crying. When he saw her, he stopped. "A bad dream. Go to sleep."
He looked at her. "After this battle... you will lead my subjects as Queen. If I stay alive alone, the guilt will kill me. Better to die on the battlefield. Keep this between us."
Dazzley didn't speak. She walked to him and kissed Fude. She pulled away, sobbing. "I love you too much, King Fude. If you leave your subjects now, it would be a shame. Our commanders' souls would regret dying if they knew you gave up."
She ran out. Fude sat in the dark. "What happened just now... I can't understand it." He lay back down, the darkness of the Orkurus Dragon and the memory of the kiss fighting for space in his cold heart.