Hero of Darkness

Azerog Musgarf was a 4th stage saint and also an heir of the Musgarf Clan, one of the six main Fireborne clans of the Vulcan empire. In terms of manpower, standing and authority, they were only below the Imperial Clan and served the latter loyally since the very beginning when this empire was founded.

As the unparalleled genius of his generation, Azerog was famed to be the biggest rising star 10 years ago among all the prodigies of the empire just at the age of 25.

During those times, he rightfully won the title of clan heir and would inherit the position after his grandfather and father were done with their term.

Yet, a once-in-a-century genius like him was now forced to do the dirty job for a monster like the Hero of Fire, Axel Lobethrox.

And the main reason was… it was a task he was assigned to do by two grand figures of the empire. One being his grandfather, who was the current clan leader and the second being Demiurge Val Arhlem, the Pope himself.

Because 5 years ago, when he was chosen to be a member of the Hero's Party… he came to learn a particular truth about the new generation of summoned Heroes and what they signified for each empire.

As for Axel himself… this man had a very dark past even before he was chosen by their god Hetrax and then summoned into their world.

Once an individual of honor and dignity like Azerog was now reduced to a handyman who had been tasked with controlling people and having them kidnap such defenseless and weak women from the past 5 years because of his loyalty to his clan and the empire demanded him to.

Even though he never thought highly of the human race like most of his kinsmen and the nobles of this empire… the acts Axel committed every month in the past 5 years were testing him to his core.

This was the real face of Axel, the chosen Hero whose acts of bravery and morality were spread across the empire and the normal population worshipped him as the embodiment of their god's will.

Even the other members of the Hero's Party were unaware of the hideous truth about Axel in any way.

On the surface, he looked like an admirable human with integrity and ethical values, a facade he was an expert at portraying in front of others. But his true nature… only the Pope and he knew about it.

And on top of it… he was a cannibal. Precisely, he only liked to eat the flesh of women after he was done fulfilling his psychotic acts with them.

Before the Imperial Decree, nobody cared about human lives and authorities didn't even register missing humans because of the prejudice their social structure had against the race…

But after the Emperor's announcement because of the acts of Rogis Hos Sigfreed, the second prince became public… now people started paying attention to humans.

Thus, it came extremely hard to randomly kidnap women from the capital Arkensan like before.

Hence, just like the two victims, they started to hunt in small towns and places where no one had the means to do thorough investigation in case they kidnapped such women demanded by Axel.

Azerog on the other end… was forced to follow the orders even if his very being opposed him to do so. And the only reason he could use to justify his crimes and deceive himself…

Was that he did it for the greater good of their empire.

In the main headquarters of the church of Hetrax, Axel and Azerog kneeled in front of the Pope.

Looking at Axel… Demiurge tried to hide his disgust towards the Hero of Fire and spoke in a kind tone.

"Things are about to get in motion. I need to know if you have the resolve." he said.

Regardless of his position, Demiurge had his own set of beliefs.

He didn't care about human lives or how many people he had to kill to keep his authority and the strength of the church intact.

He was someone born among and raised by the church. To him, it was the only thing that mattered even before he became the Pope over a century ago.

But after the summoning of the new Hero… even he abhorred Axel's acts.

Because not every killer was a rapist or liked to torture people. Some killed for necessity and to meet their end goals… in their eyes, it was done for the greater purpose. Demiurge belonged to that category himself.

But some killed just for fun. That sense of power and control over someone's life… gave them the highest form of ecstasy. And Axel Lobethrox belonged to that kind of psychopath while he hid his face behind the mask.

Axel was the kind who first ruined the world of these women. Then toyed around with their lives and finally when they had completely broken down… he killed when they lost all hope to live.

There was a time when even Demiurge wondered why their God chose such a man in the beginning.

But after finding out a certain truth about Axel's origin and his Divine Abilities… he had no choice but to make do with their situation.

In reality, the Musgarf clan leader, Azerog's grandfather was actually an old friend of Demiurge who had secret ties with the church while on the surface, they still served the imperial clan.

Thus he ordered Azerog, whom they had planted when the Hero's Party was formed, to work as his aide since they couldn't risk his monstrous side getting exposed to the empire.

And now, only the two of them knew this horrifying truth about the Hero of Fire.

Soon, the pope told Axel about their plan that would happen after the Blacksmithing Duel between Kahn and Helsi.

"So tell me… are you in or not? This is something that would help you greatly as well." spoke the pope with somber eyes.

And in response, Axel gave a devilish smirk as he licked his lips and spoke in an ominous tone.

"Finally… I will be able to get my hands on her."