-Eath, October 1, 2025-
This is the story of my past.
The autumn wind blew and knocked off the dry leaves on the trees. When the leaves reached the ground, that's when my duty began.
I was just an ordinary gardener. My job was to sweep up all the leaves scattered on the floor.
Was I ashamed of my job? No, I wasn't.
A bright smile still found its way to my lips.
I was happy to be able to earn a living for my parents. They were two wonderful old people who had picked me up when I was a child.
Unfortunately, that happiness didn't last long.
I remember going home with my legs prancing because I had just received my monthly salary.
When I returned home, I found something very horrible. I found my parents lying lifeless on the floor.
My father was burnt to a very black color. His clothes, skin, and even blood and flesh were burnt. There was only the smell of burning that I breathed from my father...
As for my mother, her body was full of ice pellets. Freezing occurred all over her body until her skin color turned bluish.
I came closer to examine their bodies, hoping that it was all an illusion.
I embraced, hit, and tried all sorts of methods, hoping that they would wake up.
Unfortunately, the reality was that they were already completely dead.
Even though I knew that their breath had stopped, their eyes couldn't open, and their bodies had become cold and stiff- unable to move at all... However, as if I didn't want to accept the reality, I screamed like crazy.
Tears of blood dripped profusely from both my eyeballs. My body was shaking violently, and my heartbeat was racing so fast that my breathing became extremely heavy.
[Awakening process started.]
[Congratulations! You have successfully awakened.]
[You gain Black Magic Authority.]
While the pain of losing my parents was still running through my body, I successfully awakened and gained an extraordinary ability.
From then on, I stopped being an ordinary gardener. I traveled to various countries—to various places around the world to look for clues as to who had killed my parents.
If you ask me, why didn't I leave the matter of my parents' death to the police? The answer was that they couldn't do anything.
This world was no longer a peaceful earth. Monsters and various magical phenomena have become normal.
Even so, my naive mind at that time still thought that the police or related parties would still provide justice.
In the end, they didn't do anything.
It turned out I was wrong. This world has imposed the law of the jungle as the supreme law. Those who are strong will prey on those who are weak.
***
As the days, months, and years passed, I finally managed to avenge the grudge that had been deeply rooted in my soul.
In the pouring light of the full moon, in front of me now was the final target of my revenge.
"P-Please forgive me! Why did you do all this to me?"
The person who was the target of my revenge was kneeling before me. Looking at the disgusting creature acting disgustingly, I felt like vomiting.
It actually didn't matter if I vomited here, because this place was an abandoned building full of rubble. Even the roof of this building alone already had a large hole.
"Was your life enjoyable after killing both my parents?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about! Please forgive me!"
"How could you forget your sin?!"
Resentment, disappointment, and anger permeated my mind.
[You successfully materialized the Black Spear.]
A pitch-black spear appeared in the palm of my hand.
When I swung once, the hand of the person in front of me was cut off, and fell to the floor.
When I swung a second time, the legs of the person in front of me disappeared.
Scream after scream echoed incessantly from his mouth.
I didn't stop and continued to torment him.
I wanted to get rid of the resentment, disappointment, and anger that had accumulated in my soul, until finally, the person was no longer screaming. He was no longer breathing. The thrashing movements he had made throughout the torture were no longer there.
[Black Spear - Release.]
I removed the Black Spear that I was holding.
Struck!
The cigarette I took from my pocket I lit and inhaled vigorously.
"Huuft~"
I then exhaled the smoke very strongly into the air.
"What date is it?"
I looked at my watch so as not to forget the time. Sometimes I like to forget the date, year, and month due to being too focused on getting revenge.
- December 25, 2060 -
It's been 35 years since then.
The image of my face reflected on the surface of the watch showed that I was no longer young. My facial skin was no longer tight and was even full of wrinkles. My once jet-black hair was now full of white-gray hair.
I smiled while looking at the bright moon above the clouds. Although a smile appeared on my lips, my eyes still shed tears.
Had I unknowingly regretted being immersed in a mission of revenge?
In this life, I had never experienced love, youth, or any other pleasures.
The only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity was a book that I now took out of my pocket.
This novel was called Hero's Destiny.
Only by reading this novel could I keep my sanity.
Even though I've read this novel many times, I still never get bored.
This novel tells the story of an ordinary teenager who climbs the ladder to become a hero. Saving a noble girl, a village, a city, and finally a kingdom. Pretty simple, but interesting because I couldn't climb the hero's path like the main character in the novel.
One thing that made me most envious was that he managed to become a hero and build his own family, living happily until the end of his life.
Maybe it was because I couldn't make it happen in the real world, so I liked to imagine myself as the main character in the novel.
"Kuheok!"
Suddenly, I coughed up a mouthful of blood. The blood-soaked the novel I was reading.
"Looks like I can't realize my dreams in this life."
[Your body was consumed by the Black Magic Authority.]
[Progress: 99%.]
Although I gained a great deal of power, I also had to pay a high price for it.
Seeing that my body had already been consumed by the Black Magic Authority by 99%, it looked like I was going to die.
My legs began to lose strength and my body slowly fell down on the cold floor.
'At least I've managed to avenge my parents.'
Just as I was thinking it was okay to die after successfully completing the revenge mission that had already taken up half of my life, something unexpected appeared.
"Did he finally die?"
"It seems so."
I heard the sound of two people talking to each other.
Although my eyes were already hard enough to open, I still tried to see who they were.
"Y-You guys!"
There was no mistaking it, from their faces, they were my parents.
Surprisingly, their faces were still the same as when they died 35 years ago.
"W-Weren't you guys already dead?"
Is all of this just an illusion? Since I was about to die, did my brain subconsciously bring out the images of my parents in front of my eyes?
I found it hard to believe what I was seeing.
Until, finally, they both laughed like crazy and started cursing at me.
"Ahahaha, how stupid you are."
The one who had a face like my father was the first to curse at me. This was followed by a person who looked like my mother.
"Don't be like that, Enki. Thanks to him, this world was successfully destroyed. We don't need to intervene thanks to him too."
"Oops, you're right, Damkia. But, isn't it funny, just because we fostered him for fun, he's willing to destroy his fellow humans."
After they exchanged a few words, both of their appearances suddenly changed.
The old faces they had previously worn had disappeared, replaced with a young human form.
My mother, who was called Damkia, took on a very beautiful form. The white light emanating from the Halo on top of her head gave her the appearance of a god.
My father, who was called Enki, also turned into a very handsome man. If Damkia emitted white light, Enki emitted dark light.
"So, you've been toying with me all this time?"
"That's right."
They then explained how they manipulated me.
The two of them had been pretending to be dead all this time.
During my journey of revenge, they would occasionally give clues that would lead me to the people they wanted to kill.
For example, the person I killed earlier. That person was a fire element magic user. So I thought that he was one of the masterminds of my parents' murder. Moreover, there was a hair of that person at the scene of my parents' death. So I believed and hunted him until I managed to kill him.
Actually, it wasn't just that person—the people I killed during my revenge journey were numerous. I can't even count them anymore. Various criminal organizations ranging from small to large have been destroyed.
I would have seemed like a hero if I had only taken out sinners, but in reality, I had killed even innocents.
'If there is a next life, I want to be a good person, find my own family, and live happily.'
[Progress: 100%.]
[Your body is unable to withstand the Black Magic Authority.]
[Death - Confirmed.]
[Detected the completion of a hidden mission...]
[You successfully replaced the useless deity's task.]
[Detected your last wish...]
[Reward confirmed.]
[Started the creation of Hero's System.]
[....]