Previously...
Cruel ran and hid behind a tree before wrapping Deon up in his cloak. He could see the tears from the pain were now dried and Deon shivering from the cold, he felt useless as he watched his younger brother suffer even when passed out. He ignored the wounds he had himself and focused on Deon's health, for now they could hide here for a bit and eventually return.
***
By now the duke should have found out that he had betrayed him and protected Deon instead of killing him like the duke wanted. Cruel sighed, why was the duke so hellbent on killing Deon, it was something he still couldn't investigate no matter how much he investigated the duke.
He checked the entire estate, including the basement for any clues as to why Stave Illuster wanted to kill Deon. But no matter what he did to investigate, it was like he never did anything suspicious. Cruel then remembered Senzer who was with him before he abruptly ran out, he also has probably reported everything to the duke already.
(A/N): I changed Starbe to Stave because it's easier to remember, but they're the same person.
"Where have they gone?!"
"Be careful- this is the Demonic Realm, if we get caught here we'll die in an instant."
Cruel could the two assassins searching around the vicinity. They were probably the only two who were determined to find him, most likely because they needed to kill either him or Deon at least and bring a body part to the duke.
"Stay put! I'll deal with it, you're still injured, remember?"
'Are Gods able to intervene with the Human Realm?'
"Let's say, I got a little bit of help."
The God of Death gave a playful giggle. A second later, Cruel could see an abundant amount of black arrows aimed towards the two assassins that successfully wiped them out. With a few screams as a reward.
Not much longer, a pair of footsteps were heard from afar. They seemed not be expecting Cruel since they began to talk about plans, he could tell these people were demons just by the fact that they kept talking about the Empire in a bad light. He felt like he shouldn't be hearing any of this, but here he was unintentionally eavesdropping on them.
That was when he heard it, one of the demon's addressed the other in a respectful tone. More specifically, they called him 'your majesty' which meant that this was the Demon King and his corps commanders.
"We might have to change targets."
"Your majesty, our target has always been humanity!"
"Aslid, Lord Demon King has a point. Have you seen Sir Arut's report? That man is a threat to us, they aren't even on the Empire's side either."
Aslid stayed silent after Edellia's rebuttal, she was right. The report Deon had gave about the man's abilities already said a lot about the possible strengths of the other group members. Even if they destroyed the Empire, the Demonic Realm would be the next target of destruction which would ultimately end with the termination of a world.
Just like how the oracle predicted, the world would be doomed if these entities stayed for any longer on this world.
Rustle!
"Who's there?!"
Fuck, he accidentally moved from his place and alerted them. Cruel could only stay in place as the Demon King and corps commanders immediately ran to the source of noise.
"Oh? you must be the new hero."
Caver turned around and blew the tree over just enough so it wouldn't harm the person on the other side, it immediately revealing an injured Cruel who was covering something with his cloak. Though they hadn't realized, Cruel was covering Deon with his cloak while he was running away from the assassins
"Your Majesty, we must kill him and get rid of whatever is in that cloak!"
"I usually never agree with Aslid but this time I do. He could be a dangerous individual against you, your majesty."
Both Edellia and Aslid tensed up when they saw Cruel. They believed he was a dangerous individual for the Demon King, they knew his majesty was strong but they were concerned about the fact that the man before them was a hero who grew stronger when facing the Demon King.
Cruel said nothing as he hugged the covered Deon closer to him. This could be his only chance to get Deon to safety, if he delays any longer... who knows what would happen to his younger brother. The otherworldly people could kidnap him and put him through pain once again, the second Ileon prince could also harm him, and lastly the assassins were still roaming around the mountain even if they haven't went into the Demonic Realm yet.
He remembered what the God of Death had told him about Deon's broken soul, his soul would go through three phases. As each phase passed by so too would the pain, right now Deon was on the last phase and would most likely not wake up for some time. Until the problem is solved, he will do anything it takes to get Deon away from the duke.
As of right now, Deon was in a temporary comatosed state and had a high fever with cracks appearing all over his body. Cruel couldn't imagine the pain that Deon had to go through while he was awake, he was glad that the whitehead was now asleep rather than awake.
But resuming back to the problem he was currently facing, the corps commanders stared at him with a gaze of animosity. He could tell that the corps commander duo obviously felt distrustful towards them.
"...You can't.." Not until you bring Deon back with you at least.
"Aren't you being too arrogant for a hero candidate? I could kill you right now if I wanted to."
Aslid jumped in, he was getting angrier and angrier by the second for not being able to kill Cruel. He wanted to eradicate all threats to the Demonic Realm and Demon King himself, when he saw Cruel sitting there defenseless he knew he had to take him down in order for the Demonic Realm to be safe.
"Let's hear what he has to say and why he trespassed to the Demonic Realm first."
Edellia pulled back the Aslid who was about to tackle Cruel. She was tired of his all brute and brawn yet no brain just as what Sir Arut had said. She had no idea why a hero of the Empire would come all the way over here but he must've been in a grave situation which left him with no choice to rely on the Demonic Realm.
"...Protect..."
"There's no way we'll protect you-"
"Aslid calm down."
Caver pulled Asild back from attacking Cruel once again. He did find it strange but interesting that a hero was asking him to protect something, the Demon King out of everyone.
"Protect Deon for me."
Cruel revealed Deon who was unconscious, he looked peaceful while asleep. Too peaceful in fact that it made Cruel worry for his younger brother, he was scared that Deon might not open his eyes forever.
Both Edellia and Asild jolted back in surprise. They were expecting anything or everyone in this case but the Zeroth Corps Commander to be in the hero's arms.
"We definitely will now. But what is your relationship with Sir Arut?"
"..Brother .. he's my brother... We're on the run from assassins, he's currently in a comatose state because of something."
Cruel explained his explanation while stopping mid sentence at times to catch his breath and ease the pain on his body. It was an injury he had gotten when an arrow pierced his left foot and arm while fleeing from the assassins.
Both Edellia and Aslid didn't know what to say and looked at the Demon King who seemed to be pondering about the situation as well. It could have been a farce in order to attack the Demon King but the wounds and the comatosed Deon said otherwise.
"Alright, I'll let you stay. After you heal up I'll decide what your payment will be."
"Thank you."
Cruel's face brightened at the answer from the Demon King. He knew he was weak, weaker than most of the groups chasing after him and Deon.
That was why his only choice was to go to the Demon King. Last time he followed Deon he noticed the path led to the Demonic Realm, he noticed how Deon walked in there so confidently and realized that his younger brother was the Zeroth Corps Commander.
But that raised another question. Why did Deon tell him not to save him? Was he aware of the variables chasing him and thought it was too late? Or was it something else? Even if it was either of those he refused to give up on Deon even if it meant going against his younger brother's wishes on abandoning him.
How could he abandon Deon, his baby brother whose life was even more important than his.
He thought about the moment Deon had murdered their parents then about Duke Illustre who was so hellbent on killing his brother.
'If it weren't for him, Deon would have never done that.'
That's right, if it weren't for the duke could they have lived a happier life rather than fighting for survival? If only that was true, that would mean his kind and friendly younger brother would have never had to get his hands dirty with the blood of their parents.
Just why, why was it his precious brother that had to go through such things? If only he could turn back time and find some way to prevent it. But it was useless to think about what ifs, Deon is still alive and that is what matters.
He thought of a possible outcome for their family without the duke intervening as his consciousness slowly slipped away.
***
Cruel woke up in a white room rather than a black room. There were multiple bubbles with scenes playing in them, one of which was him and his parents. Only except they were older, it seemed that Deon didn't end up killing them in this universe.
He continued walking through the hall and was suddenly stopped by an unknown force.
"How do you like these sweet dreams?"
"Who... are you if I may ask?"
"Me? Well, you can just call me Temptation."
The Goddess of Temptation crossed her legs as she sat on a floating staff midair. This would be Cruel's third time meeting a new god that wasn't the God of Death and the God of War. He wondered what business she had to do with him since she summoned him instead of what would usually he the God of Death.
She jumped down and walked over to Cruel before whispering something in his ear.
"These are all universes with your darling parents alive, I'll give you the honors to choose one to transmigrate in. How does that sound? Oh, no need to pay anything."
It was a tempting offer indeed, but one thing he noticed was that Deon wasn't in any of them. He couldn't live a life without Deon, he was everything to him after they both had lost their parents.
Cruel stood there stationary while the Goddess continued to whisper tempting offers in his ear. But he won't choose any good ending if Deon wasn't in it, he had swore to always protect Deon and to make sure he would be able to live a happy life. That was his life goal that he always stuck to, what was the point of a happy ending if his younger brother wasn't there?
"Where's Deon? I noticed in all of these that there was no Deon in it."
"Because he doesn't exist in these, the only way you can be happy is if Deon Hardt doesn't exist or is dead. It's still a tempting-"
"No, I don't want any of them."
One by one the dream fragments were cracking and the room began to shake, Cruel took that chance to run as his gut told him to do so. He didn't bother looking back, what was there to look back on? His life revolved around Deon, his younger brother was the most important person in his life. How could he go into a world without him?
"W-wait! Get back here you-"
He ran past a fragment with a child version of himself with his and Deon's parents. They were embracing him in a hug, without Deon in sight.
The longer Cruel ran, the more possibilities without Deon began to surround him. He rejected them all as he continued to run down the hall, a world without his baby brother wasn't a world worth living, that would be considered torture for him.
Crack!
The room began to crack and Cruel could feel himself falling through another abyss. He didn't know where he would end up again but it was better than remaining in that room that suffocated him with alternative worlds.
***
'Where am I...'
Deon looked around the white room. Unlike Cruel's, this room had no world's displayed of himself and his older brother. This definitely wasn't the work of the God of Death since his rooms were usually all black or it would end up being his office.
That was when he saw two silhouettes, he got closer and could see the God of Death and another person that felt familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. The person had black hair like Cruel's but had grey eyes instead of green.
"...Deal..."
"...Y... ...Deal..."
The words blurred out due to the distance between him and the God of Death(?) and raven head, Deon couldn't hear what the two were talking about and got closer to them. The scene replayed for him once he gotten closer and was now able to hear the two voices.
"I want to make a deal with you."
"A deal?"
"Yes... I want to change Cruel's fate, is there any way I could that?"
"There is, but the price would be for you to reincarnate without your memories once again. Are you sure you want this Raven?"
There it was, that strange name ringed in Deon's head once more as he listened to the conversation between the God of Death and Raven. He seemed to know who Cruel was based on the tone of his voice, very close too. Was he a relative of theirs?
Suddenly, the room changed to his room at the Demon King's castle. He could see a mirror that was out of place, he never carried a mirror in his room so why was there one here? Deon decided to check it out and got closer to the mirror lying on his desk.
Deon picked up the mirror before dropped the mirror with shaking hands. His reflection was that of Raven who the God of Death was talking to a while ago. He turned around and the scenery changed to what seemed like to be his room in the Roan Kingdom.
'What is that irregular sized box? I never had one in my room...'
He made his way to the box that was lying on his bed. Deon felt like if he opened it he would be met by something he could never imagine of, but if it was the only way to get out of this dreamlike world then so be it.
And he was right, it was something he would never imagine seeing. What was Cruel's head doing in there? Did that mean that he would die later on? Deon had no idea as he felt tears coming out from his eyes, he wiped them as he sat down on the ground.
His brother dead? No, that would never happen.. right? Would Cruel die no matter what he did even going as far as to asking the Gods for a necklace tailored to protect him? That couldn't be true.
Suddenly, Deon felt someone walking past him as he held onto the box with Cruel's head in it. He turned around to see Raven and... Cale Henituse, his past self.
"You should leave, Deon."
"That's right, this isn't your future. Don't let those shitty Gods tell you what your future is, remember mother and father said?"
"...To always keep going despite the harsh times, like our name suggested."
"That's right so go."
Deon stood up, that's right. What his past selves were telling him were correct, this was his life and some illusion played by the Gods wouldn't stop him from doing whatever he wanted. He watched as Cale Henituse disappeared, leaving only Raven and him left in the room.
His appearance went back to his current self as he looked at Raven.
"I guess my wish came true then, let's continue to keep our hyung safe."
"I will."
Deon walked out of the door as Raven slowly disappeared while staying in the room with the box of Cruel right beside him. These people weren't his future, they were his past and he would make sure that he will never end up like that.
After all Deon, no Kim Rok Soo always liked happier endings rather than sad ones. If he was doomed by the world for a miserable ending then he'll do everything in his power to make sure that outcome will never happen.
He could feel himself slowly regaining consciousness as he walked down the hallways filled with what seemed like to be memories of his past.
***
So... this chapter is what made me get on my friends hit list.. I hope you enjoyed it :33
If you're wondering, yes I was prepared to write this all out actually. I've been waiting for this moment