Chapter 24: That Time I Accidentally Became A Demon (Chapter 24) (On Power and Heroes)

I took a shaky breath, walking towards the village. It was an outskirts village like the one I had originally arrived near but never actually had the chance to enter. Seeing this from one from afar… it was really small huh. I get it, village, outskirts, but it was extremely tiny. Maybe thirty houses, if that, with farmers already able to see us. 

 

The houses themselves weren’t terrible, wooden buildings, basic. But I had never seen any community so small before. I had been to cities, towns, etc back on earth, but it occurred to me only now that I had truly not been to a village. I was thinking more about it, as the villagers began to stir, when Konahora spoke up next to me. 

 

“How strong was the power you felt?” 

 

I frowned. How was I suppose to answer that more than I already had? 

 

“Well, it felt strong enough to kill us all. I don’t know how easily, but if it could take on an army of me, it could take on a dozen of you.” 

 

“Each?” 

 

I frowned even harder. “This ability isn’t really an exact science you know, but no. Not each. Maybe… four teams of you? Maybe four and a half?” 

 

She hummed for a moment. “It sounds like it could be a B-ranked monster.” 

 

I froze. What. 

 

“Excuse me?” 

 

She looked at me, realizing something was off. 

 

“Hmm?” 

 

“B-rank. B, rank. As in, there’s A rank.” 

 

She seemed to realize the crux of my issue and nodded slowly. 

 

“Yes. There are A rank and S rank levels of power out there.” 

 

My heart shuddered and I truly felt like the floor was falling out from under me. That, that miniature sun was a fucking B-Rank level of power?! So, so there’s stuff out there even stronger?! And then there’s fucking S Rank?! What?! I tried to briefly imagine that kind of power and came up short. 

 

“Please, please tell me that kind of power is rare…” 

 

Her bitter smile was the most terrifying thing I think I had ever seen. 

 

“We are A C-Rank team. The minimum requirement to be respected among Hero Team’s.” She saw my confusion and explained patiently. “Every Kingdom has its own Hero groups. It’s a long standing tradition and a way to show off either your Kingdom’s power, or your up and coming power. Those from smaller kingdoms, like ours, are C-rank. Large Kingdoms typically have B-rank Hero teams, usually multiple, and possibly A-rank even. The Gaud Empire has the only S-Rank Team in existence and over a dozen S-Rank individuals in their borders.” 

 

I was getting so, so tired of the ground feeling like it was falling out from underneath me. 

 

“How- How strong is an S-Rank?” 

 

She smiled at me sadly. 

 

“It depends on the S-Rank of course. But…” She looked down at the ground. “There is a famous S-Rank that everyone knows. During the Age of Calamity-” she saw my confused look and adjusted slightly, “Where the Original, True Heroes from other worlds began to try and integrate into society, causing mass chaos, the entirety of the human territories were nearly destroyed. Much has been lost by now, but we know as a provable fact, backed up by numerous other races, that one man shielded the entirety of Human, Elven, Dwarf, Fairy, and many more race’s territories, as well as a wide swath of land outside of even that.” 

 

That was crazy actually. Able to protect from all outside forces- 

 

“I should clarify. When I meant shield, I mean that literally. A powerful antagonistic Hero had grown to nearly the same heights as what had caused the Heroes to be summoned in the first place and decided to try and destroy as much as he could. The Hero who opposed him, Paladin Gracious, was unable to defeat or stop him, so instead he raised his shield and blocked out the territory, saving it. For over a thousand years, above all of the territory that we now know as ‘The Heart of The World’ or simply ‘The Heart’, there was a dome. Sunlight somehow came through, but we could no longer see the sky or the stars. Merely a black metal everywhere above us and on the horizon. This was known as the Age of Darkness.” 

 

She nodded as I was left dumbfounded by the weight of history, stupidly looking up at the sky as if I’d see the dome. She chuckled at that. 

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“That was over two thousand years ago. The dome shattered one day, and everything outside The Heart is simply known as The Wilds. To answer your question, Paladin Gracious is wildly considered to be the sixth most powerful S-Rank to have ever lived.” 

 

I tried to imagine it, to be stuck in the dome for your entire life, from the start to the end. For over a thousand years of that… And then my brain caught up to everything else. 

 

“Sixth strongest?” 

 

“Most powerful. He excelled at defense more than offense.” 

 

That was…. utter insanity. Age of Calamity, Age of Darkness, and what, the ‘Hero’ trying to destroy all of that territory wasn’t as strong as the original reason the heroes were summoned? This…. That level of power…. 

 

“I want to go home…” 

 

“Stop giving the stupid thing history lessons and hurry up already.” Riary spat out venomously. 

 

I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth as we increased our speed to catch up. My mind twirled as we entered the village proper, focused only inward. 

 

I had felt an amazing power, truly absolutely strong. 

 

And it wasn’t the strongest. It wasn’t even close. It was nowhere near the peak apparently. No, apparently that was closer to the… what? Continent destroying level? Wait, no, apparently there had been a massive amount of Heroes summoned. Was it possible there was actually world destroying level of powers on this planet? And what did that even say about the Gods? 

 

For the first time, a very simple fact became clear. I was weak. As I looked at the villagers around us, with my hood pulled down, I realized that it wasn’t that simple. I could slaughter everyone here, minus The Heroes, which now seemed like a ridiculous name. But anyway, I could go on a killing spree and who could stop me? No one. I was weak… but so was everyone else. It was all a comparison. That great, amazing, terrifying power I had felt? Could probably be snuffed out by something out there with ease. 

 

Perspective, perspective was a bitch. I don’t want to live in a world of demi-gods or hell, one with actual Gods if they can do anything even close to that. I had considered trying to find a way to leave but now I was strongly considering it, if only so I could survive. It was like there were tactical fucking nukes that could just appear and destroy everything, at any point in time. 

 

Awesome. And it surprised me, greatly, that that was only half-sarcasm. 

 

It was awesome, in the original meaning of the word. The thought of people or beings with that amount of power filled me with awe, horrifying, terrifying, awe. 

 

I looked up at the sky and wondered. This was a single planet or plane or whatever. This was one area of a multiverse. How much strength…. Was even possible? There were limits before. Even if a civilization one day reached the ability to blow up a galaxy or something equally crazy, that much advancement was never in the hands of an individual. Oh, one person could certainly hold the keys to that power, but they couldn’t, ever, just punch a galaxy into pieces by doing enough pushups and situps.

 

I looked down at my hands. I was already super human but it was… earthly. At least I felt and thought it was earthly. But I had punched in steel with a fist…. I had survived a massive inferno… I had fought and won against over a dozen armed men at once… 

 

I looked up. And this group, this team, was even stronger than that. I had focused on their abilities before, fire, defense, healing. But, how fast and hard could Tyler punch? Just how much could Riary burn? And Konahora… I felt like she could beat me. What did that even mean? 

 

It occurred to me, that not only did I not know my own power, I didn’t know theirs either. Not, truly. My power gauge certainly made me experience the depth of it, but the specifics… 

 

I sighed. 

 

Well, people had survived this far right? Those kingdoms are still around, there’s even an empire. Hell, demons were apparently able to invade and take their own slice. And from what I’d heard, the demons were welcomed everywhere except human territory, because they had never attacked anywhere else. That meant peace was possible. You didn’t have to be the strongest god damn thing alive, just had to be smart enough to not go sticking your head in a lion's mouth. 

 

I breathed deeply, nodding to myself. The power scale had well and truly scared me, especially after what I had felt beforehand and my sudden increase in my already somewhat strong desire to live. 

 

After all, it’s not like every damn place around was experiencing some sort of calamity. 

 

“Heroes?! Please, help our village!” 

 

I’m so sorry you poor people. I’ve cursed you somehow with my thoughts. That can be the only explanation. 

 

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