Black String of Fate

"Joseph, we're staying here until this guardian arrives here."

"Excuse me? Your Highness, it is extremely dangerous to lurk around here knowing very well that a mysterious expert will come here out for blood. What if he suddenly attacks us? Please reconsider!"

Joseph begged the princess not to do anything reckless, but he knew just by looking at her eyes that his concerns had fallen on deaf ears.

"Joseph, you are an Advanced Expert, right? If any danger befalls me, I will be counting on you to protect me."

'Besides, I have initiated once more, so I don't think anyone around is capable of killing me.'

Seraphina found a nearby bench in the plaza and sat down while taking out a book from her storage bracelet. These were times when such items were available only to royalty and high nobles. Joseph sighed and stood guard near the princess. He had a hunch that he would be involved in some kind of conflict today.

Time passed as nothing significant happened. The townspeople went back to their business with occasional chattering about the guardian who would be arriving today. By overhearing some details, the princess finds out that the guardian arrives at this town exactly at midnight, as this is usually his last stop after the other towns.

Noting that in her mind, she prepared to stay bored till midnight, but something interesting happened before that.

"Princess, those guys look a bit suspicious..."

Joseph took the princess out of the romance novel she was reading and alerted her of her surroundings. The princess, meanwhile, had already noticed.

"They're armed and hiding in anticipation for the guardian most likely. Looks like their plan is to take care of the guardian before he hounds them one by one. Fufu, it looks like we can witness his capabilities firsthand."

Joseph helplessly smiled hearing the princess' reply. He somewhat expected such a reply. Still, it was fine, since the thugs weren't of the level that could threaten someone of Joseph's caliber.

As the sun came down, the streets slowly emptied. The children went back to their homes, and the housewives finished their grocery shopping. The men were returning from their day's hard work, expecting a scrumptious meal made by their beloved.

But a certain suspicious group did not return. Rather, they increased in number and surrounded the plaza. Their blades were now somewhat visible through their cloaks, and they looked ever-ready as if going to face their hardest battle yet.

The full moon shone high and bright, decorating the skies with the ethereal scene of a starry night. Seraphina admired the natural beauty before once again shifting her attention to the current scenario.

'He should be arriving any moment now...'

She couldn't wait to meet this mysterious challenger who had conquered a whole prefecture in such a short time. Who was he? What were his capabilities? Will he be useful to her? Such questions were running in her mind.

Finally, in the pin-drop silence, a set of footsteps were heard. In an atmosphere with a tension so dense it could be cut with a knife, the footsteps resounded throughout the plaza. The enemies drew out their blades, ready to jump whoever was approaching.

"Oh, looks like you guys made my job easier."

A heavy voice resounded from one direction, and Seraphina turned her head to look at the mysterious guardian for the first time. As soon as she saw him, her breath was caught in her throat.

It was a young man dressed like a rogue. There wasn't anything exceptional about his outfit, except that he wore a demonic mask and his clothes were stained with blood. He had his sword drawn already as he slowly approached his enemies with measured steps.

'He doesn't look anything exceptional, but his presence and that mask... Why do I feel fear?'

Seraphina hadn't realized, but seeing him once more was triggering her PTSD. With the same confident approach, the same dangerous vibe, and the similar-looking style of a rogue with a demon mask, her mind was overlapping this person with the one she had done her best to suppress the memories of.

The demon-masked rogue stopped and called out to all his ambushers.

"Come one, come all. You shall forfeit your life to the wrath of my blade."

It was this sentence that brought back everything to Seraphina at once. These were the same lines spoken to them when they, the hero's party, confronted their greatest enemy.

'I-It's... the Demon King. It is really the Demon King...'

Seraphina was speechless, her hands trembling and the color draining from her face. She started having difficulty breathing, her vision narrowing and blurring as she was overwhelmed by the traumatic memories. The flashbacks hit her hard, plunging her into the depths of her PTSD, making it impossible to distinguish past horrors from her present reality.

'H-He's... back... that undying calamity, he's really back...'

"Princess! Are you alright?!" Joseph took hold of the princess as he saw her having panic attacks. He spoke in hushed but strong tones as he shook the princess out of her reverie.

Seraphina caught a hold of herself once again as she took deep breaths. She shook off the hand which held her shoulders as she sternly commanded her escort.

"Stay on absolute alert. He is an opponent we cannot take lightly. We may even lose our lives from any reckless moves."

She fixated her eyes on the Demon King and prepared her mana in case anything went wrong. She was facing the Demon King, even the utmost amount of preparations could be overturned with the sheer power of that monster.

The Demon King, on the other hand, just glanced at her before turning his attention away. He focused on those who were running at him with their swords out and qi circulating.

"How pathetically weak, vermins."

He said as he slashed around with his bloody sword, easily defeating the enemies one by one. Seraphina could not turn her eyes away as she saw that bloody dance that overlapped with the Demon King in her memories. It was this terrifying swordsmanship that single handedly defeated the hero's party, comprised of the strongest in the world.

It was the hero, Kaldian Zener, who pulled through to defeat this Demon King after coincidences upon coincidences aligned in their favor.

She, the magician of the hero's party, was once again facing the Demon King, alone this time.