(Attendance… plz…)
….
Silence descended upon the battlefield.
Was this all? Was this the end?
Reinhard, along with the ogres who had stood behind the Orc Lord, stared at the massive, headless corpse.
The regeneration, which had been so terrifyingly fast moments before, had stopped. The body lay still, a gruesome monument to a failed ambition.
The orc army, once numbering one hundred and ninety thousand, was now reduced to one hundred and fifty thousand.
Some had fallen to the blades of the ogres, but the vast majority had been erased by Reinhard's previous strike, a strike he had held back on, again and again, yet still it had claimed tens of thousands.
But then, the flesh of the Orc Lord began to twitch. Slowly, agonizingly, the regeneration started again, knitting flesh and bone from nothing. It was slower this time, weaker, but it was there.
"You have come very far with this charade of yours," Reinhard said, his voice carrying a note of weary sadness. "But you have to understand, you can't go anywhere after this. I know you can listen to me. Surrender… now… please. It is enough."
From behind the regenerating Orc Lord, ghostly, aura-like creatures rose from the ground. Their mouths were gaping maws of hunger, seeking anything to consume. They shrieked and lunged straight for Reinhard.
Reinhard moved faster than thought. The borrowed sword was still in his hand, its purpose not yet fulfilled. He slashed, and the blade moved like fire through dry grass, slicing the spectral creatures away as if they were nothing more than cobwebs.
"It seems you have chosen," Reinhard said softly. "My bad. You chose this… the moment you started."
It would be the last attack.
The Orc Lord was fully regenerated. He looked at Reinhard, roaring a challenge, threatening to consume him. He laughed, a sound devoid of joy, filled only with hunger.
"Will… eat… you… get… strength," the monster rasped. "I… can't… die. Haaaaaah… haaaah."
"My lord," an orc general whispered from beside him, his voice trembling.
The Orc Lord didn't listen. He didn't know if he was hungry anymore, or if he just wanted to eat to gain power.
But the hunger took over, driving him forward. He looked at Reinhard not with clear eyes, but with the eyes of a predator looking at prey.
He saw a future where he was devouring this human, absorbing his strength. But even his own vision betrayed him; he couldn't imagine it clearly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" the Orc Lord roared.
He stomped on the ground, shattering the earth, and then sprinted toward Reinhard with a speed that defied his massive bulk.
The ground trembled with each thundering step. No one would believe something so large could move so fast.
"I hope you find peace in the afterlife," Reinhard whispered.
He was ready. When the Orc Lord reached him, a blinding white light erupted, brighter than the sun. It lasted for not even a tenth of a second before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
When vision returned, the only thing that had changed was that Reinhard was the only one standing.
The Orc Lord was gone. Not dead, not fallen. Gone. His body, his armor, everything, had vanished into nothingness.
And then, Reinhard made his second declaration. With the Orc Lord gone, the starvation skill that had driven the orcs into a frenzy began to fade. The hunger in their eyes slowly started to recede.
Reinhard stood before the army, still an unbelievable mass of bodies stretching to the horizon.
He dug his sword into the ground and stood there, his red hair ruffling in a wind that wasn't there, his white coat billowing behind him.
"Your… lord is gone," he announced. "With that, this war of yours is over."
His voice resonated clearly in the mind of every orc on the battlefield.
"This total annihilation must stop now. There will be no revenge. Surrender yourselves. Think of tomorrow… think of the future. And if you cannot… I will stop you here and now."
Orcs, ogres, everyone stopped. They heard him.
Revenge is a powerful motivator. When you lose someone, you want to blame someone. And the orcs were no exception.
Revenge is often the aftermath of something dreadful, something that pushes a soul to the extreme.
Sometimes, revenge is the only reason someone has left to live at all.
Many of the orcs were now hopeless, their driving force gone. Reinhard knew that. Without a purpose, without a target for their pain, they would be lost.
They would blame someone, the forest, the ogres, themselves, just to have a reason to keep going.
"Do not resent anyone," Reinhard continued, his voice firm but compassionate. "And if you do need someone to resent… LET IT BE ME. I killed your lord. If you need someone to hate, I say this again… let it be just me."
….
…
..
.
The hunger in every orc's eyes was gone now, replaced by clarity.
The Starved skill that had clouded their minds vanished. They looked around at their comrades.
At themselves. Memories resurfaced, memories of their hunger, of eating the very friends they had fought alongside.
They had eaten the weak. They had eaten the helpless. They had eaten until there was nothing left.
And now, faced with reality, the orcs trembled at their own merciless behavior.
Some cried. Some fell to their knees, shaking uncontrollably as tears streamed down their faces. The look of hopelessness spread through the ranks like a wave.
Weapons loosened in their grips and fell to the ground with dull thuds. Their unstoppable march had finally come to an end.
The two orc generals who had been at the front with the Orc Lord looked at Reinhard, and then at the empty space where their master had fallen.
Their eyes conveyed a complex mix of emotions, grief for their loss, but also relief. Their lord's suffering, his terrible burden of hunger, was finally over.
They both bent the knee, bowing their heads in the direction where their lord had perished. Tears dropped into the dirt, but a faint, sad smile touched their lips. Their lord was finally at peace.
"We dare not," one of the orc generals said, his voice choked. "You freed our lord from his burdens… from his suffering. We dare not resent the one who gave our lord peace…"
Before he could continue, a peal of laughter rang out from the side. Three beings materialized out of nowhere, standing at a distance but close enough to be seen clearly.
The orcs present felt their stomachs contract in primal fear just by looking at them. Their aura was suffocating, terrifying.
"Hahahaha!" one of them laughed, a chilling, delighted sound. "Impressive… marvelous… simply marvelous! You didn't disappoint me. The one who defeated me… even if I was at my weakest… but a defeat is a defeat nonetheless. Simply marvelous."
Reinhard remembered her clearly. White hair, a white dress, those crimson eyes.
The demon. The master of the one he had killed. She was smiling, making no effort to hide her overwhelming aura, causing the orcs to tremble in terror.
She was accompanied by two new individuals. One looked like a young kid, the other a grown man, but both wore butler-like outfits. Everyone knew better than to judge a demon by its appearance and size.
"My lady," the larger one asked, his voice deep and rumbling. "Is that the one you were talking about?"
….
A/N: Kufukufukufukufu….
Other like solo leveling and overlord x reinhard fic are on my discord if anyone wanna read it.
Melatonin, spawn and many more on my discord … thanks for beta reading this fic and not to mention suggestions too.
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