Chapter 49: Necessary Villain

Zayn stood.

He was right next to the injured Axel, a little behind him, actually.

Axel wasn’t even looking at him.

All he had to do was move his hands a little, and this innocent man’s life would be his to claim.

Before he could overthink, Zayn raised his sword and started slamming it down in a high arc while looking away...

"I... I can’t do this!"

Zayn screamed as he pulled his strike.

’This is all bullshit! Bullshit!’

Zayn looked over at the beaten but still alive Goblin King and begged it.

’Do it, please! Do it for me! I can’t kill a person with my own hands!’

Zayn lowered his sword and ran out of the room through its single entrance, knowing that even if the Goblin King was almost dead, Axel stood no chance of winning one-on-one with how battered he was. All Zayn had to do now was wait for the sounds of fighting to subside, then he’d go in and kill the Goblin King as if nothing had happened.

Zayn heard Axel scream as he closed the ornate door behind him.

"Where the hell do you think you’re going?!"

Zayn began to laugh without reason, a weird habit he’d picked up when he was under immense stress.

"Ha... hahahahhahaha."

’I-I just got three people killed.’

Zayn blamed himself for what had happened to Maks because he had held back in the beginning. He’d thrown the pebble that indirectly killed Connor. And he’d made a man so overcome with grief that he gave up on living...

’I needed to do it, right? This is what I needed to do...’

’I-it had to be done!’

Tears began to stream down Zayn’s face.

’No...’

’No!’

’That’s a lie! A damned, detestable lie!’

’I didn’t need to do it! Nothing forced me! I’m a damned monster, no different than that beast in there!’

How... how was he going to face his sister and parents in the afterlife after what he’d done?

Zayn listened to the faint screams of Axel and the Goblin King through the door.

He sat still, alone with his thoughts in the hallway while Axel fought for his life. All his confusion and mixed emotions turned into rage — rage against this unfair world and himself.

’First, it takes my family. And now this horseshit?’

’Seriously?’

Zayn looked up at the ceiling and began to curse with no clear train of thought as tears continued to stream down his face.

"What the hell is a disaster?! At least tell me! Why do I need to kill him?! What threat could he pose to the world? Even if I have to kill him, the others don’t need to die! SO WHY! Why are they dead?! Maybe I couldn’t save Maks, but I didn’t have to get Connor and Ryon killed! Why couldn’t I just kill Axel alone and become a criminal?! I know why! I’m a coward! A goddamn coward!"

Zayn cried and began swinging his sword as if he could cleave through the neck of the bastard who gave him this awful task. The bastard who played with his emotions and forced him into action.

The bastard who made Zayn privy to the knowledge that inaction would doom the world his sister once loved.

"I just murdered innocent people, so why do I get to live shamelessly?! Why..."

Zayn clenched his fist.

"Why am I such a fool? Must I truly become a monster for the sake of the world? Please, whoever gave me this insane task... please absolve me from having to kill anyone anymore... I’m the wrong guy... I can’t do this..."

"I don’t want to do this fifteen more times! I won’t be able to! I will have gotten four people killed this time! Who’s to say I won’t get eight killed next, all for the sake of this shitty task?!"

Zayn dropped his sword and began punching the door until his knuckles bled.

"You could have chosen anyone to take on this burden, so why me?! What grave sin have I committed to be forced into this position?! If killing innocents is the only way to save humanity, then maybe humanity deserves to perish!"

Zayn reached up to the sky blocked from view and gave it the middle finger.

"What forsaken entity gave me this impossible task?! It knows, doesn’t it! It knows I won’t kill myself due to the vow I made to my sister! Is that why it chose me, huh?! It chose someone who can’t run! I swear, I’ll find it and tear its throat out if it’s the last thing I do!"

[Slay the Goblin King in the Castle] - (Completed)

(Will be summoned to the next area in: 10:00 minutes)

’Oh...’

’It gets better... it just keeps getting better!’

"Ha... ahhahahahahahahahahha. First, you take my parents, then my sister, dad, and now this... Just fuck off already."

What a funny joke.

Zayn wiped his tears away and braced himself.

Then, he opened the door to see Axel standing over the Goblin King with his sword slathered in fresh goblin blood. Axel’s body was in tatters, and he could barely move, but he still did it...

Axel had killed the Goblin King.

’Bravo... bravo fate, you dirty bastard.’

Zayn tucked his sword in his belt and began to clap, applauding the play the cursed entity above had put him in.

It seemed he was being forced to take Axel’s life — there was no roundabout way of having the Goblin King do it for him. Zayn still wanted to say screw it all and run away and hide from this task, but three innocent people had already died due to his machinations. It would have been a dishonor to them to back out now.

Zayn gripped his sword as he walked toward Axel.

"I didn’t expect you to win. It just shows that my judgment of you is correct. Letting you live any longer would lead to complications in the future."

It was the truth. It was the whole reason Zayn stood before Axel now as a traitor. If he kept him alive, Axel would grow stronger and stronger. The gap between them would widen, making it impossible for Zayn to kill him later.

Zayn had regressed and carried instincts from his past life, yet someone else could keep up with him?

It showed just how much talent Axel had. He, the one with that talent, had to die now for humanity before it could blossom.

Cruel. Unfair. Humanity.

Axel screamed at him:

"Traitorous bastard!"

’Yes! That’s what I am!’

Zayn forced an awful smile and said:

"We don’t have much time, so answer my questions truthfully and with haste."

"Shut up, bastard!"

Zayn approached Axel with his sword and held it to his throat. Axel tried to tilt his sword toward Zayn, but Zayn effortlessly disarmed him and kicked the weapon away. Without the sword as leverage, Axel helplessly fell to his knees.

Zayn wanted to cry as he asked:

"What is a disaster?"

’Please, tell me. Don’t say you don’t know... You must know why I’m killing you, right? You have to know!’

Axel spat in Zayn’s face, then yelled:

"You are!"

Zayn wiped away the bloody spit and then slapped Axel and screamed:

"What is a disaster?!"

Axel continued to scream in Zayn’s face:

"What are you talking about, bastard?! Why are you asking something so childish?! Is knowing the definition of a simple word beyond your pathetic capabilities?! Please make some sense! Please, explain what you are doing!"

’No... no! You have to know! You have to know! You just have to!’

Zayn desperately screamed:

"I’m not asking for the dictionary definition, dumbass! You must know since you are one! What is a DISASTER?!"

’Tell me! Just tell me... give me a reason for my actions. There must be a reason for what I’ve done!’

’Please...’

’Please, there simply must be a reason.’

Axel mumbled:

"I have no idea what you mean, dirty traitor! No... dirty human being."

’Stop... don’t look at me like that. Don’t look at me like I’m a monster.’

Zayn knew he wasn’t a monster.

He didn’t want to do this, but he had to.

Tears streamed down his face, spurred by the unfairness of this situation.

Throughout the month, Zayn had been trying to paint himself as a monster in his own mind, hoping he could make himself want to do it — he had tried turning himself into the beast this task wished him to be so badly.

But... it seemed he had failed to convince himself.

So, Zayn now stood as a human holding a sword against another human.

A sword of regret that represented all the horrendous actions he’d taken and would have to take. The actions Zayn, a normal human, would inflict upon other normal humans.

Everything would have been so much easier if he hadn’t had emotions.

’Ha... never thought I’d envy psychopaths and sociopaths, but here I am.’

Zayn gritted his teeth so hard he feared they might break and screamed:

"Ha... Hahahahahaha! Then why!? Why do I have to kill you!? Why? Why? Why?! Tell me!"

Zayn grabbed onto Axel and tried to shake the answer out of him.

Zayn needed to know what... what... What?!

"What about you could possibly threaten the world?!"

Zayn aimed his sword at Axel again as he rambled.

"Why the hell did I return to the past?! Gods or whatever you are, if you were going to send me back, why didn’t you let me keep my memories?! Why do I have to do this?! He’s innocent! For what reason will his existence endanger the world?!"

Zayn screamed with no direction, with Axel being the only one to hear his cries.

Zayn took his sword and plunged it into Axel’s body.

"Why, gods, goddesses, or whatever’s above... Why must I commit this great sin?"

Tears streamed down Zayn’s face as he removed the sword from Axel’s body, splashing blood on his chest.

’Axel would’ve become the hero of this world if he hadn’t met me. That makes me a villain, doesn’t it? A heinous villain that would kill the hero, robbing the world of hope.’

Zayn looked down at the falling hero and said:

"But you see, Axel, this is all necessary. For the fate of humanity, you, the hero, must die here, and I, the villain, must live. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!"

Zayn pleaded with the world:

"Forgive me..."

Axel’s lifeless eyes stared at Zayn, full of disgust. Zayn dropped his sword and fell to his knees. He stared at Axel’s body, then he heard words dressed upon a haggard breath.

"See you... in hell..."

Zayn looked at the dying man.

’Yeah... I don’t know if you’re going to hell... but I damn well am.’

Zayn stared at his hands stained with blood.

"If I’ve become a villain, I’m at least going to do it right."

He had already killed four. Zayn was too far in to turn back. If he gave up, then their deaths would hold no meaning.

Zayn had to push further, even though it meant he had to kill again.

He’d finally resolved to do whatever was necessary to kill the remaining disasters, even if that meant killing those unrelated. He would become a necessary evil that would kill even innocents for the sake of completing his goal... for the sake of saving the world.

’Necessary... yeah. I like that word. Everything I am doing is necessary...’

’Yes, I am a necessary villain.’

[You have slain a Spawn, Axel Hart]

[Disaster: Axel Hart - Dead]

(Memory fragment recovered: 1/12)