Demon Lord's Reincarnation

"Phew, even though you try to deny it deep in your heart you already know the truth and no matter what you do it cannot change what has already come to pass."

Erste still did not respond and kept quiet as he had his back turned and his eyes were closed shut.

"I guess you are no longer the Erste I knew since the Erste I knew wasn\'t such a coward like this. Are you going to keep on acting like this or are you going to be the Erste I know, you f*cking d*ckhead!"

"Hehhehahahaha! Yeah, that\'s how you would talk right, so this is not one of those nightmares."

Erste sighed as he turned around and looked at Elena, even though it had been a long time the Elena in his memories was the same as the person in front of him, which made Erste once again doubt his sight for a second.

"So you\'re finally admitting my existence is it."

"I almost forgot about that sassy mouth of yours, in my nightmares you were more of a noble figure."

"Are you saying that I\'m normally not a noble figure?"

The two looked at each other for several seconds without saying a word then they suddenly started laughing. While the two were laughing Erste stopped as he stared at Elena.

"... It\'s nice to see you again."

"You too, it\'s been quite some time Erste."

"I already know the answer but I\'ll ask anyway. Elena, are you dead?"

"Yeah, I died long ago."

"... Who killed you?"

Erste\'s demeanor had another change, his body was shaking slightly, it seemed that he was trying his hardest to hold back but one could feel the intense anger oozing out of him. The current Erste was so powerful that even a slight change in his mood was affecting the world around him.

"Well, the truth is my death was kind of embarrassing. I had escaped from the hunting game of the Gods, and while I was escaping I fell into a different dimension. The dimension I entered had nothing in it, I tried my hardest to survive for as long as I could but I failed to leave that dimension and ended up dying."

When Erste heard those words he found it amazing at the same time laughable. He had always assumed that Elena was fighting the hardest, and was giving the Gods a headache, which was why he thought Elena was the leader of the rebellion but it turns out all of that was nothing more than his imagination.

"I can already guess what you were thinking after seeing that look. Yeah, I didn\'t die in a battle against a God, I did not fall while facing an unknown evil, I did not lose trying to trick some ancient being, it was just an unfortunate death, nothing more nothing less."

"So then, what\'s the point of this little meet-up?"

"Hmph, I know that if you don\'t see the proof of me being dead you would never give up on finding me. Which is why you coming here to the kingdom of Death was fortunate for me."

"... I see... You really know me so well."

"So now that you know that I\'m dead and all that, let\'s talk about you fighting Death. Right now, this conversation of ours is happening in your mind which is like a dream and your physical body is asleep while your companions are battling Death himself."

"I already knew this was happening in a dream-like state which is why I thought it was a nightmare at first, so is that all you wanted to say?"

"It\'s always amazing to see how fast you adapt to a situation. I almost thought you would cry when you saw me."

"Crying never solved anything, isn\'t that right crybaby Elena."

"Heh, it\'s been so long since I heard that nickname... I did say that once a long time ago." Elena looked off in the distance as she spoke. "Before I tell you about how to beat Death can-"

"Wait! You know how to defeat the Ancient One?!"

"Yes, I\'ve been here for years trying to figure out a way to revive myself, unfortunately, it was to no avail, there was no way to revive my body, but instead I found a way to kill the king of this kingdom."

"If you could have killed him why didn\'t you try to do it? I know you of all people should be able to see that it is possible that killing Death might help you resurrect."

"...Yeah... I, of course, saw that as well, but..." Elena pursed her lips as she hesitated for a little while before sighing. "This is wanted to tell you since a while ago, Erste right now I\'m scared, I\'m f*cking scared! I know that I said that crying doesn\'t help but I can\'t stop it from flowing!"

Elena suddenly shouted as tears flowed down her face. The last time Erste had seen Elena show such an expression was when they were seven years old and had been in an accident. That was the time Elena spoke the words saying that crying doesn\'t do anything. From that day onward Elena became a different person and grew so strong.

This day had brought Erste endless surprises but seeing Elena cry like that was the most surprising of all.

"Elena if you want to say something, even if my body outside is torn asunder I will listen to you as much as you want," Erste spoke so resolutely that it made Elena look at him dumbfounded as a smile appeared on her face while tears continue to flow.

"Erste I\'m afraid, I\'m f*cking frightened. What if Death disappears will all our souls also disappear? Or even if we defeat Death my state won\'t change in fact, it could get worse. I heard from the older souls that we will eventually be reset and will remember nothing, and we might even change depending on the whims of the Gods.

I don\'t want any of that, no matter what it seems like each option is getting worse and worse."

Erste grabbed hold of Elena\'s hands, it was no longer warm, even though she looked alive it was clear that she wasn\'t.

"Elena, I promise you that none of those things will ever happen to you. I promise that a bright future will await you once we defeat Death."

"How can you be sure?"

"I can\'t explain to you clearly, but I need you to trust me, I will make it so that you\'re future is bright. So do you trust me?"

"Of course! I trust no one more than you."

"Then Elena, will you tell me how to defeat Death."

"Yeah, I will," Elena told Erste the secret of defeating Death, all he needed to do was find Death\'s core and destroy it. Elena told the location of the core which was hidden in this kingdom. Once she was done as Erste was going to wake up she asked her last question.

"Erste in the future you\'ll make for me, will we see each other again?"

"Definitely," Erste nodded his head.