Quit The Hero Party

EP.520 Disaster, Yormun (1)

From the beginning, the world didn’t matter as much to him.

A boy abandoned by his parents, forsaken by his kin, and ultimately cast away by the world itself, truly thought this way. His childhood was utterly wretched. The marks of divine punishment carved into his body brought him nothing but misery.

···Divine punishment.

It was a curse spread across the land by the gods above, targeting the only beings they perceived as threats, the Guides.

Those with the potential to be a Guide, or something akin to it, were cursed at birth. The brand etched onto their bodies could never be erased unless the god perished, and the places where those marked had lingered were ruthlessly ravaged by the gods. Not a trace of ashes left behind.

And thus, the boy was abandoned. It must have been his parents’ final mercy not to kill him with their own hands, but the boy had no way of knowing that.

He was forsaken. By his parents.

He was forsaken. By his kin.

Though abandoned by all, the boy clung to life with tenacity. Wherever he went, he was pointed at, dodging the blades of his kin aimed at him. There were no allies to be found anywhere.

To survive, he needed to become venomous, and the boy willingly embraced that poison. He survived and persisted, all the while harboring that poison.

The boy became a young man, and at the moment he reached adulthood, the traits of a Guide began to awaken within him. Gifted, experienced, and qualified, he grew rapidly. No longer did he fear the night, nor did he dread the blades of his kin aimed at him.

Then came a certain day.

“You are a hero.”

Was it the day he killed a god’s relentless general? The village elder, once preyed upon by that general, approached him and bowed deeply.

“Having met his end in our village, surely the general’s elite forces will come here. Please, protect our village…”

He begged the young man.

To protect the village. The young man could only chuckle at that plea. The elder seemed to have forgotten the child he had expelled from this very village on a winter’s night. But the boy had never forgotten.

Now a young man, he bent down to show the elder his neck.

“That…”

The elder’s pupils trembled.

The moment he saw the brand of divine punishment etched onto the young man’s neck, it seemed memories flooded back, and the young man rose from his bow to provide a response. Without a word, he left the village.

Similar incidents occurred several times after that.

The young man continued to grow, slaughtering countless generals who had pursued him. Among those he killed, there were even a few grand generals representing his kind. Many humans had been saved due to the death of a grand general, indeed.

At some point, humanity began to call him a hero.

The rebel forces of humanity had come to make contact, extending a hand to the young man, proclaiming themselves heroes as well. He rejected them all. He didn’t understand why he should.

“As kin…”

“Restoring the broken world, for the sake of humanity…”

“Are we not the same? As humans…”

He simply couldn’t empathize with their appeals to kinship. He had no memory of ever receiving anything from his kind. If anything, he had only been kicked away, never offered help.

Thus, to him, everything was an enemy.

The young man walked alone. He sought perfection in solitude. Day by day, he grew stronger, and he was convinced he could do it. If he achieved perfection, if he stood at a position akin to that of the gods in the sky… then he would fear nothing.

However, he was under one misapprehension.

As he grew, as he shone brighter, the gods would begin to watch him as well.

【I’ve found you.】

One day, a god descended before the young man.

The god merely existing in that place set everything ablaze. The lush forest turned to ashes in an instant, and amidst the ashes, the god beckoned to the young man. With every gesture, flames surged.

What the young man had spent a lifetime building was rendered utterly worthless before the god’s flames. He couldn’t win. He couldn’t escape. In the face of brutal helplessness, the young man clenched his teeth.

Just as he was about to perish in those flames, he heard it. A voice echoing from somewhere. It was the voice of his kin, one that had always turned a blind eye to him, one he himself had also ignored.

“Arman. This way.”

“Yes, leader.”

With the voice, someone jumped into the flames.

It was a white-haired woman. Even as her body was burned, she started running with the young man on her back. The ones around her opened a path. They pushed back the encroaching flames of the god.

How she managed it was unclear, but with their help, the young man was able to escape the god’s flames.

“Honestly, our leader’s recklessness needs acknowledgment.”

“Wasn’t it possible? I didn’t think the god was that high-ranking, and it was worth a try.”

“Who charges at a god, claiming they’re not high-ranking? Even so, they’re still a transcendent being. Surviving with just one arm burnt is a miracle.”

At the riverbank, far from the flames.

The young man squinted at the ones cooling themselves down. He didn’t understand their intentions. Why had they saved him? His gaze landed on the woman who had carried him.

The leader, Gletus of Regulation.

Her arm was scorched from the god’s flames. The result of carrying him through those flames had caused her skin to melt away, leaving horrific scars. Yet, she had not uttered a single scream.

“Are you feeling better?”

The woman approached the young man.

He looked straight at her.

“Seeing as your constitution is unique, it seems you can withstand the flames, but if left untreated, it might become a serious wound. Please extend your arm. I’ll help treat it.”

“···Why?”

Gazing at the woman treating his wounds, the young man spoke. Lacking the skills to read and write, his speech consisted of fragmented words strung together. He gathered the words he knew to question her.

Why did she save him?

In response to that query, she simply tilted her head gently. Her white hair flowed with her movements. Gletus calmly replied to the young man’s question.

“Is there a need for a reason to save someone?”

It wasn’t pretense.

She genuinely sought nothing in return. After completing the first aid, she silently left.

It was the first time.

First time receiving help from someone, from kin or anyone. Therefore, the young man remembered the name Gletus. Not meandering aimlessly, but chasing after Gletus, he took steps forward.

“That person back then, wasn’t it? Look, Arman. Didn’t I bet you that they’d definitely come after us?”

“Wow, you guessed it right.”

Time flowed, and when he reunited with her.

The young man was able to see something different from before. By following her to this point, he had heard rumors about her.

The one who ended the Nightfire War.

The one loved by spirits.

The protector of seven cities…

So many titles adorned her. She had saved countless beings regardless of their kin, extending a hand of aid without seeking anything in return. A good person, a beautiful human who lived gracefully.

However, what the young man focused on was different.

At the moment he reunited with Gletus, he loosened the cloth around his neck. He showed her the mark of divine punishment branded upon the Guide. With wide eyes, Gletus smiled and tilted her head slightly.

A similar mark of divine punishment was etched on her neck.

What the young man had noticed was that she, too, was a Guide. Someone born with the same mark of divine punishment, a true kin standing right there.

Guide, Gletus.

A woman who had been abandoned by her parents, by her kin, and by the world, just like him. Yet, she had lived an entirely different life. So different that he had no idea how such a life was possible.

Thus, he asked.

How could she live that way?

In response, the woman replied with a question.

“The first is coincidence, the second is fate. What’s your name? I’ve heard tales about you, but no one seems to know your name.”

Gletus smiled.

“I am Gletus, Gletus of Regulation.”

What is your name?

In response to that thrown question, the young man pronounced the first and last word he had heard from his parents.

“Yormun.”

“Very well, Yormun. Were you curious how I lived?”

“Indeed.”

“Then follow me.”

Gletus extended her hand to Yormun.

The hand that had been scorched saving Yormun from the flames. With the scarred hand extended, Gletus smiled.

“No one teaches you how to live. You see with your own eyes and decide for yourself. I’m merely a Guide who helps someone’s decisions.”

If you wish, I will guide you.

To where, Yormun asked.

“To a place at least better than now.”

To a slightly more beautiful world.

That was Gletus’s answer.

Thud.

After a moment’s contemplation, Yormun grasped someone’s hand for the first time. The hand he grasped was warm.

As he reflected on the past, Yormun looked at the present.

Did that damn junior say something? You’re just stagnating in that moment from that day, festering away. Yeah, that’s an undeniable fact.

He knew.

That the star was broken.

He knew that he was breaking too; how could he not? Still, he couldn’t let go of the star. It was all that he had left.

「Yormun.」

「Can I ask a request?」

If he closed his eyes and listened closely.

「I will become part of the regulations above. Please, do not mourn when I depart from your side. I will become part of the star and watch over you.」

「So, please protect the star.」

「So that our lives may not be in vain.」

Her dying words lingered. The temperature of her body, growing cold and injured, was something Yormun could never forget. The first warm hand that had reached out to him, the moment it turned as cold as ice.

For Yormun, Gletus was everything.

Just everything.

Gletus taught Yormun how to read.

He learned how to speak, learned history, and learned why the world had become so broken. What noneothers had taught him, she imparted onto him.

What neither his parents, nor his kin, nor anyone else had provided.

She had given that to Yormun.

Therefore, Gletus was a teacher to Yormun, a friend, a parent, and also a lover. She had warmly embraced him, who had known nothing of human warmth. She had guided him, who had lived an unworthy life, toward the righteous path.

“···Everything.”

If she could smile, if she could rejoice, if she would say he was right, he could do anything. Yet ultimately, she had left his side. All that was left for him was her remnants.

Yormun looked up at the sky with a distorted expression.

In that place, the constellations gazed down at him. That day, from this very spot, he had etched the constellations into the sky with her. Gazing at the star, Yormun mulled over Gletus’s end. He chewed over her last request time and again.

The world that had lost her.

From the very beginning.

It had always been fine.

Yormun raised his arm. With the overflowing stream, the platinum temple slowly began to rise. As the temple emerged, fingers pointed, the sky was crack, and began to split open. Beyond the splitting sky lay the pitch-black night sky.

Beyond the torn sky, the night sky.

There, a colossal constellation shone brightly.

Underneath the grandest of regulations, Yormun ripped apart every constraint he had set for himself. The moment the invaders aiming to take the star reached this city, the providence no longer restrained Yormun.

Drip, drop.

The constraints fell away, and Yormun gazed at them with empty eyes. Perhaps, if he hadn’t looked toward that future, he might have kept restrained until the end.

‘This too would be a taboo.’

But Yormun knew.

The fact that he had not released his constraints until the end while opposing the Goddess of Ashes meant he had lost everything. Thus, Yormun no longer hesitated.

The constraints fell away.

Space twisted around Yormun.

The one defeated by the Goddess of Ashes that day was the Mage of Ancient Dragons, Yormun van Dragonik. But now, the one standing here was the first sinner known as the Disaster. Having shed his constraints, Yormun swung his hand.

Whooooosh.

Platinum rain began to fall.

The overwhelming flood surged even stronger. The instant the raindrops touched the city, the city, which had glimmered with a faint light, began to shine brilliantly. Plop, the moment a raindrop touched the scales of the Old Dragon, its body trembled greatly.

The scales of the Old Dragon turned platinum.

Life sparkled in its eyes, and its torn skin began to heal.

Flap, the Old Dragon spread its torn wings.

After countless millennia, the Ancient Dragon rose, beating its wings to soar into the sky. In response to the wind of its dear friend. To shatter the invaders that had intruded upon this city.

Crack.

Yormun grasped his staff tightly.

With a snap, something crumbled between the staff, revealing a white constellation. On the day the myriad gods were cast down, Yormun seized their powers and crafted them into a single constellation.

The constellation bearing the powers of the deities slithered up Yormun’s arm like a snake. The star etched onto his arm blazed fiercely.

“That is the end of your path.”

To protect what is precious, humans will fall endlessly. It was no different, even for humans who had ascended to the position of gods. Their essence was still that of flawed and weak humans.

“Therefore, stop.”

The human who had become a god gestured.

Following the point of his finger, divine punishment fell. The sky, the earth, and everything turned pure white. The light reached first, and the sound belatedly followed in its wake.

————————.

The sound of the world tearing apart, or the distant thunder echoed.

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