"To think there was a demon lying within our midst." A bishop said, his tone laced with vitriol.
'Where am I?' A young man thought to himself.
He was currently being dragged across the ground via wagon. His captors were a bishop, a squire, and several angry villagers following behind holding torches, wood, ropes, and stones.
'Who are these people? Who am I?' The young man asked himself as he stared at the angry crowd.
"BURN THAT DEMON!"
"MONSTERS LIKE HIM DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!"
"I'LL SLAUGHTER 'EM MYSELF!"
'The amount of hatred these people seem to harbor towards me is…almost frightening.' He thought as the wagon finally came to a stop.
"Round him up." The bishop ordered and the squire untied the young man's feet from the wagon and lifted him up.
"Move." He commanded as he pushed the young man towards the tree line.
The young man walked and his vicious entourage followed until they arrived at a desolate church.
The villagers quickly set up a stake and the young man was tied to it soon after. They placed flammable material under his feet and the bishop began to speak.
"Tonight, we send another demon back to the gates of Hell. It is our duty not only as devout worshippers of Solenia, but as human beings. These creatures have caused wanton destruction across the entire world for CENTURIES! And although we cannot bring back the dead, we can avenge their death by purging these scum off the face of the planet." The bishop said with passion hot enough to melt steel. The squire and the villagers were only encouraged by this speech and the young man could feel the jaws of death getting ever so closer.
"Just a moment!" The young man yelled briefly gaining the attention of his executioners.
"It seems the demon has something to say. Go ahead, utter your final words." The bishop said, slightly amused.
However, just as the young man was about to speak, a skull-exploding headache plagued him.
'What is this?!' He asked himself as bits and pieces of he was formerly began flooding his mind.
"AAAHHHHHH!!!" He yelled in agony. He felt as if his brain was being rolled across a blanket of broken glass.
"Tch, trying to possess us? Burn him." The bishop said and the villagers threw their torches under the young man's stake.
The flames quickly engulfed the young man and his vicious entourage watched as he burned to death… or so they thought.
The young man exited the flames unharmed. His body was shrouded in an ominous black energy and in his right hand, he wielded a crystalline sword much bigger than himself.
The clouds above parted, allowing the full moon to rain its light upon the young man. His eyes no longer had a single pupil, now each eye had three.
"What in the world…" The bishop muttered to himself in shock.
"Quickly, arm yourself." He said to the squire as he pulled out his grimoire. It was golden with silver pages and a crescent sun on the cover.
The squire drew his blade, an ornate sword made of mithril and steel. He focused his mana into his blade making it glow.
"HAAAHHH!" The squire roared as he charged the young man with his sword raised above his head.
The young man effortlessly dodged the squire and bisected him with his sword.
His blood and entrails stained the mossy cobblestone bricks.
"RUN AWAY!"
"THAT DEMON IS GOING TO KILL US!"
The villagers fled in fear, leaving only the bishop, who was quaking in fear himself.
"How cowardly. The very scum you curse now holds his life in your hands and instead of fighting with honor, you shake in fear?" The young man said to the bishop. His voice sounded as if an older version of himself was layered on top of his real voice.
"P-PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME-AGHK!" The bishop's cries for mercy were silenced by the young man's blade slicing through his neck.
The young man looked up at the moon and began speaking to himself, "It seems my time has run out. I leave the rest to you for now... Zangetsu."
The young man's eyes returned to normal and the shroud of black energy along with his sword vanished. He held his head as he looked at the corpses on the ground.
"Your deaths were inevitable. The hatred that dwelled within your hearts clouded your mind and your judgement. I bid you well on your journeys to Hell." Zangetsu monologued while looting their corpses.
He took the squire's blade along with the tunic, pants, and boots he was wearing. He didn't take much from the bishop, only the coins he had in his pouch and the silver crescent sun necklace hanging from his neck.
"This may come in handy in the near future." Zangetsu said to himself as he stuffed the necklace into his pocket.
"If I remember correctly, we came from this direction." Zangetsu said as he walked out of the woods and onto the poorly paved road that they dragged him along.
The wagon was gone but Zangetsu remembered where the village was. The Zangetsu of this world was a half-human, half-demon, orphan who survived on the streets for most of his childhood. When he got a bit older, he began working in the coal mines of Eustass, the village he was headed to.
After 30 minutes of walking, Zangetsu arrived at the village and it seems they were waiting for him. Various veterans amongst the villagers wielded swords and numerous other weapons.
"You die tonight, demon!" A bald and scarred veteran yelled.
Zangetsu calmly drew his stolen sword and got ready for combat.
'Although my connection to my reiatsu is dim, I can handle myself with sheer physical prowess alone.' Zangetsu thought as his first of many challengers appeared with his sword raised high.
Zangetsu sidestepped his attack and stabbed the man through his skull. He then cut down every single person wielding a weapon.
The entrance of the village was dyed red with blood. Zangetsu walked into the village and made his way to the Mayor's manor.
Anyone who crossed his path with ill intent was cut down. He killed the men guarding the manor and walked in. The servants cowered in fear at the sight of Zangetsu.
"Excuse me. Where does the Mayor rest his head?" Zangetsu asked a young maid who was too busy staring at his bloody sword in fear.
"If you do not wish to harm me, I do not wish to harm you. Now please, answer my question." He said to her softly and she slowly began to speak.
"U-Upstairs, the room all the way down the east wing." She said and Zangetsu nodded.
"Thank you." He soon made his way to the Mayor's room and kicked open the door.
"Who dares?!" Mayor Belmont yelled before laying eyes on Zangetsu and his bloody appearance.
"D-Demon!" Mayor Belmont exclaimed as he fell back in his chair. Zangetsu walked towards his desk calmly before slicing it in half.
"Where do you keep your money?" Zangetsu asked while holding his sword against Mayor Belmont's throat.
"I-I-In the vault beneath the manor! I-I can bring you there!" Mayor Belmont exclaimed.
"Quickly." Zangetsu ordered and Mayor Belmont shot to his feet faster than ever. He guided Zangetsu to a metal door that led to a set of spiraling stairs. They walked down the stairs and stood in front of a massive orichalcum vault.
The smell of rotting flesh was present throughout the room, something Zangetsu noted.
'What goes on down here? Something tells me this vault isn't only used for money.' Zangetsu thought to himself as he stared at the mayor, who was standing in front of the vault.
"Why are you hesitating, open it." Zangetsu ordered and the implications of not following that order was inches away from the mayor's throat.
The mayor gulped and put in the code to open the vault. It was an advanced locksmithing magic that requires an Adept mage or above to cast. The vault hissed open and the smell of rotting flesh grew 10x as strong.
Without hesitation, Zangetsu decapitated the mayor. What he saw inside of the vault was the rotting corpses of demons, elves, and beastmen, all of them female, all of them children. He saw a few large bags of what he presumed to be coins as well but that wasn't on the forefront of his mind.
The little girl crouched on top of the corpses of her peers was. Zangetsu sheathed his blade and approached her.
"Hello, can you speak my language?" Zangetsu asked the girl softly but her eyes remained in place, staring at the walls of the vault.
"How long have you been in here?" He asked but she didn't answer. Zangetsu sighed, "It would be immoral of me to leave you in this situation. Especially given the fact that you're a demon."
Zangetsu walked deeper into the vault where the bags of coins were and picked one up. He also found a pair of black glasses, something to hide his crimson colored eyes.
He then scooped up the girl and left the mayor's manor and Eustass.