Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Erste has been smiling that vicious smile of his ever since he learned of the world that had Gods hunting them. Each time he had faced insurmountable odds he would smile that vicious smile of his and like magic all of his fears at the moment would disappear. 

Erste had overwritten his fear with excitement and the thrill of battle filled him with courage. Yet now despite still smiling that vicious-looking smile of his, it did not make all the fear go away.

Even those weaker incarnations of him simply watching it as a video were affected by the aura of the Old God and were also in a state of minor fear. 

It was a good thing that the Old God in front of him was not moving only observing him. It took Erste a great deal of resolve simply to lift his sword and point it at the Old God. 

"How curious, not only do you not show signs of drowning in fear or being consumed by madness, but I also can't seem to read your mind."

The voice that came out of the Old God's multiple mouths made Erste feel a myriad of negative emotions. The sound of the voice was a mixture of different things that made Erste's head hurt as if it was about to burst open just by listening to it, but he continued to smile as he looked at the Old God. 

"Can you truly not feel it, the fear crushing upon you, the madness trying to engulf you?... Hmm, I wonder how much fear and madness you can withstand before breaking down? Since I can't read your thoughts how about I take them out."

Some sort of gas was starting to come out of the many mouths of the Old God. Erste who was in an abnormal state could not avoid the gas, not that it mattered since even if he could move his body he would still be unable to avoid it. 

The gas entered Erste's system and at first, he could not sense anything different but then within the darkness, he saw something appear. The thing that appeared before him was a person and not just any person but the one Erste had been looking for. 

The familiar cute face, that familiar black hair tied into a twintail, small in stature with knee-high socks, this could not be anyone else but his childhood friend Elena. Seeing her for the first time in a long time Erste was both afraid and excited. As he was about to approach Erste suddenly noticed something was wrong. 

Elena's body which used to be clean and beautiful was full of wounds, not only that there seemed to be some sort of infection spreading throughout her body. She was stretching out her hand towards Erste who was running towards her at full speed but no matter how fast he was running no matter how long he could not reach her. 

Elena did not say anything nor did she scream in pain the only thing she did was hold out her hand while giving Erste a look as if telling him it was all right. Seeing this scene Erste gritted his teeth and used all the power he could muster to run faster than he had ever run before. Erste was using all the authority he had stolen that could help him move faster, yet he still could not get close to her. 

It would have been better if he saw Elena screaming or crying, begging him to help her so that he would feel that what was in front of him wasn't real but the way she was acting made it so real. Erste then saw that Elena was being dragged into the darkness, as she looked at him sighing. 

[Thanks Erste, you fool, better live your life to the fullest.] 

Erste could not hear her voice he could read her lips, and what she said was exactly something she would say to him in this situation. Erste even forgot that he was standing before an Old God as all of his focus was on rescuing Elena. 

Erste continued to run but this time even though it was nonsensical he also started attacking the darkness that seemed to be trying to devour Elena. Erste used various long-range attacks that he could use at the moment but no matter what he threw at the darkness it just kept devouring it. 

Still, Erste kept on doing whatever he could to reach Elena, he did not know how long it took but Erste's hand was about to reach her, it was just a little bit just a tiny bit more, but his hands could not reach as the darkness fully devoured her. 

Seeing Elena being devoured by the darkness Erste was about to fall into anger and madness but nothing but his willpower kept his sanity. Erste then saw the scenery change he was now in a familiar street right in front of a familiar house, he could hear the voices of two very familiar people talking inside. 

"What are you doing just standing there like an idiot?" The one who speaking was Erste's father.

"Don't call him an idiot you idiot!" Erste's mother smacked his father's head. The scene before him was something he had seen numerous times, but instead of feeling happy and nostalgic, all Erste at the moment was fear and dread. 

"What is that?"

Erste's father and mother who bickered before suddenly pointed at the sky. Erste looked up and saw a crack opening and what came down were numerous Gods. Those Gods did not even say a word as they started massacring everyone in sight. The humans had no way of fighting back as they ran and screamed. 

"Mom, Dad get behind me!"

Erste stood in front of his parents and blocked an incoming beam of light. Erste easily blocked the attack but as he turned around he saw that despite blocking the beam of light his parents were on the ground their bodies were in flames, they were still alive but they were screaming in pain.

Erste tried everything to make the flames go away, but even his authority to control fire did not work to stop the flames. 

"I'm sorry son, but please make the pain stop!"

Despite the one's being in so much pain, the first thing that his parents told him was sorry. Erste who could not extinguish the flames only knew one other way to make the pain stop for his parents. Erste shook his head as tears rolled down his eyes. 

"No no no no, please I don't want to do this. There must be another way, there has to be." 

...

The incarnations watching within the soul realm were once again surprised to see the original incarnation act in such a way. Some of them have known the original incarnation for eons now but that was the first time they have ever seen him cry.

They then looked at the original incarnation who was watching but saw that there was no fluctuation in his current mood as he simply continued to watch. 

...

Erste continued to block attack after attack coming his way as his parents were screaming in agony but they no longer begged him to make the pain stop. Erste, on the other hand, captured a few Gods and demanded they save his parents, but none of them could. In the end, Erste gnashed his teeth as he looked at his parents crying and screaming. Seeing the look on Erste's face his parents knew what he was going to do next. 

"I'm so sorry son." Those were the last words of his parents as he killed them both.