IT was too hard to live constantly battling with himself, feeling as if two different people existed within him. It felt as if he were slowly killing off a part of himself every day. His daughter was always by his side, but against this, he stood alone. No one could understand what he was going through. The only person who could comprehend his ordeal was his best friend. However, that best friend was now his enemy.
The man decided to relinquish his life. He would usually retreat when he felt himself run out of magic, but that day, he didn’t run. He fought with all he had in him. If his best friend and his comrades-in-arms lost, he had every intention of using the spell that would complete world domination.
However, the outcome of the battle wasn’t in the Supreme Ruler of Evil’s favor. He tried to sling more spells at his adversaries, but ended up going over his limits. The amount of magic that a sorcerer can use in one day was limited, and once that amount was exceeded, the sorcerer’s soul would disintegrate, resulting in his death. The man proved to be no exception to this law of nature.
✦ ✦ ✦
HIS end came all too soon. The man collapsed to the ground in a heap, his limbs refusing to move. He couldn’t discern the sensation of his soul wearing away, but he could tell that the candle of his life was about to flicker out. There was no pain, no suffering. Only the sound of his ragged breathing felt oddly loud in his ears, maybe due to the strain casting too many spells put on his body.
When he died, his daughter would become the next Supreme Ruler of Evil. His best friend and his fellow Champions of Justice were getting too old to put themselves out on the frontline, so they would probably retire too, making way for the next generation.
Mia, his darling, sweet little girl. She was still young and ignorant of so many things. Mia, who knew only the world her father had shown her and nothing beyond it. He had given her everything he had. Why was it then that he felt as if the things he couldn’t provide her outweighed what he could?
I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I forced the binding spell I myself struggled to overcome so much upon you. Just like he could never escape this curse, his daughter, too, would end up getting tangled in those ties binding her down into the identity he fostered in her. …He felt a dark sense of joy and a terrible sadness thinking about how he had sought to weaken his daughter.
How sick and twisted I am, the man let out a small, bitter chuckle.
Would his little girl be able to find a different path and escape this fate? Could she overcome what he couldn’t and surpass all her ancestors in the process? Or would she end up going down the same road he did? The only thing he felt was a blessing, a tiny one as it might be, was that his daughter was still young, and had no children of her own to pass this curse down to. That was the man’s last thought before he quietly passed away in a broken field under the gaze of the victorious Champions of Justice.