Chapter 266: A New Beginning

Now that the cleanup was finished, Luca calmly walked over to where Julius knelt on the scorched earth, his gaze hollow, his body limp.

He looked like a man who had already died inside—his spirit crushed, his ambitions reduced to ash.

Luca stood over him for a moment, watching. Then he sighed.

“It’s time, Julius…It’s time for you to go.”

He opened a portal, pulled out a pistol, and aimed it directly at Julius’s head.

But Julius didn’t react. He didn’t flinch, didn’t blink, didn’t even seem to register the weapon inches from his face.

His eyes were fixed on something far away—something only he could see.

Luca studied him for a moment, then spoke, his voice almost thoughtful.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while. But now that it’s finally happening…” He paused, tilting his head. “I almost feel disappointed. After all, you were a decent adversary. It was fun playing with you.”

“Part of me almost doesn’t want to let you go.”

He shook his head slowly.

“But unfortunately, your sins are too great. This is the end of the line.”

He met Julius’s empty gaze and finally said,

“Do you have any final words?”

The question seemed to penetrate the fog that had consumed Julius’s mind.

His eyes suddenly focused, and he looked up at Luca with a gaze that slowly transitioned from emptiness to something resembling awareness.

Recognition bloomed across his features—the understanding that this truly was the end. That death was no longer theoretical but imminent.

He closed his eyes, and in that darkness, he allowed himself to truly assess his own existence.

Did he regret his actions?

Did he regret opposing the Hero?

The answer came with crushing clarity—yes!

Absolutely yes!

He regretted it with every fiber of his being!

After all, none of this would have happened if he’d simply ignored Luca, if he’d recognized the threat for what it was and retreated rather than advanced.

He could have found his own place in some other village, could have built a position of power among people who didn’t know his true nature.

He could have risen to leadership in a hundred different ways, could have accomplished great things, could have become something more than what he’d achieved here.

But because he’d made an enemy of Luca. Because he’d allowed arrogance to override common sense—

—everything had crumbled into dust.

His followers, his companions, his carefully cultivated position of power—all of it destroyed. Utterly and completely destroyed.

If he were given a second chance, if he could somehow reverse time and make different choices—he would run.

He would flee the moment he saw Luca arrive. He would avoid this Hero at all costs, and if somehow he couldn’t avoid him, he would make himself useful.

He would become Luca’s ally, his supporter, even his slave. Because Julius understood, with terrible clarity, that anyone standing beside the hero would benefit immeasurably from that association.

His regret was absolute.

But as he sat with that regret, another emotion began to bloom alongside it—something unexpected.

A sense of pride.

Despite everything, despite the complete and utter failure of his grand scheme, Julius felt a strange satisfaction settling over him.

He was not like the other elves, not like the weak and ambitionless creatures content to simply exist within their predetermined roles.

He was not like Leona, passively accepting her position without striving for something more.

He had wanted more. He had felt that he deserved more.

And he had worked to achieve it. He had climbed from nothing to become the shadow ruler of an entire village.

He had maintained control for decades, manipulating hundreds of people through a scheme so clever that even now, its full extent was only being revealed.

He had been ambitious. He had been ruthless. He had been brilliant.

And yes, he had fallen.

But he’d fallen to someone who was by his own assessment something more than human.

He’d lost to a being of tremendous power, not to some mediocre nobody. He had engaged in his final stand with a truly worthy opponent.

So even as regret consumed him, pride also swelled in his chest.

His life had not been insignificant. His life had not been mediocre.

From beginning to end, he had strived to reach the pinnacle of power, and he had reached it—if only briefly, if only illusory, if only until a demon arrived to tear it all down.

Because of that overwhelming pride, he wanted his final words to be worthy of that struggle.

He wanted to go out not begging, not pleading, but as a warrior.

He wanted to maintain his dignity in death, to say something epic and meaningful that would capture the essence of his life’s ambition.

With that intention in mind, he opened his eyes, ready to deliver a speech that would be remembered.

But the moment he saw the sight before him—

—he let out a scream of pure terror.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH—!”

The pistol was gone. Vanished. And in its place, Luca had crouched down to his exact level, his face now mere inches from Julius’s own.

His expression had transformed into something that transcended human features—something demonic, something that belonged to nightmares.

His eyes were bottomless pits. Dark voids that swallowed light and hope and sanity.

They were not human eyes. They were the eyes of something ancient, something hungry, something that had seen horrors beyond comprehension and enjoyed them.

And his smile—it stretched from ear to ear, too wide, too sharp, too full of teeth.

He didn’t look like a Hero anymore. He looked like a ghoul. A demon. A nightmare given flesh.

The elves watching from a distance shivered. Some turned away, unable to bear the sight.

Julius’s heroic speech died in his throat. His bladder let go.

The warm, wet stain spread down his legs, and he didn’t care. He couldn’t care. All he could do was stare into those eyes and feel his soul shrivel.

Unable to bear his gaze anymore, he tried to scramble backward.

“Nooo—!”

But Luca’s hand shot out and grabbed his hair, yanking him close.

Their faces were almost touching. Julius could see his own terrified reflection in those abyssal eyes—a tiny, insignificant speck about to be extinguished.

“My dear Julius.” Luca whispered, his voice dripping with a terrible, twisted tenderness.

One hand remained tangled in his hair, keeping him locked in place, while the other reached up to stroke his cheek in a gesture that would have been gentle if not for the context—if not for the demonic visage delivering it.

“…Did you really believe that I would simply end your life?”

“…Did you truly think that I would put a bullet through your head and grant you such a merciful, easy death?”

Julius tried to shake his head, but Luca’s grip was absolute.

“No.” Luca continued, and his smile somehow widened even further. “Not at all. Not even remotely.”

He leaned back slightly, his eyes boring into Julius with terrifying intensity.

“After all the suffering you’ve caused. After the decades you stole from Leona. After all the manipulation, the schemes, the pain you inflicted for your own selfish ambition…”

Luca’s smile widened. ”

I’m going to give you a horrific death.”

Julius’s lips trembled uncontrollably. He was crying now—not tears of sorrow, but of pure, primal terror.

“The way you die is going to be so bad that you’ll wish you had died like them.”

Luca gestured at the burnt corpses. “You’ll wish that worm had been inside your body. You’ll wish you could die so easily.”

He picked up the worm from his shoulder—the one he had been carrying all along and held it in front of Julius’s face.

“But instead…” He crushed it.

Black blood burst from the creature’s body, splattering across Julius’s face. Luca rubbed it into his skin like lotion.

“You’re going to die much, much worse. I’m going to make you scream. I’m going to make you regret every choice you ever made. I’m going to make you wish…” His voice dropped to a whisper. “…that your father had never nutted in your mother.”

He then laughed. It was not a human laugh. It was the sound of madness, of cruelty, of absolute power.

Julius pissed himself even more. He even shat himself with white pants becoming brown in colour.

But he didn’t care.

Instead, he tried to crawl away, his nails scrabbling at the dirt, his voice cracking with terror.

“Please! No! Don’t—don’t do it! Please, let me go! I’ll do anything—ANYTHING!”

But Luca just stood up, grabbing his hair again, and started dragging him toward the forest.

“Come along, Julius.” His voice was friendly, almost cheerful. “We’re going to have so much fun together. I’m going to enjoy dismantling you.”

Julius thrashed, screamed, begged.

“PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!”

He looked at the elves, his eyes wild with desperation.

“DON’T LET THIS DEMON TAKE ME! I BEG YOU!”

“JUST KILL ME—SHOOT AN ARROW THROUGH MY HEART, SMASH MY HEAD IN!”

“DO SOMETHING! PLEASE!”

No one moved. No one spoke. They just stared at him with cold, empty eyes. There was no pity in their gazes. No mercy. No desire to intervene.

Julius felt his last shred of hope crumble.

They were going to let him die. They were going to let Luca take him, and they were going to watch.

Then he saw movement.

Nyx—running toward him. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright, her body moving with purpose.

Julius’s heart soared. An angel. She was an angel, coming to save him.

“Nyx! I knew it—I knew you loved your brother-in-law! You couldn’t possibly let me suffer like this!”

He reached out to her, tears streaming down his face.

“Save me, Nyx! Save me, and I’ll be yours forever! I’ll be your slave, your servant—I’ll do whatever you want! Just please, don’t let him take me!”

But…Nyx ran past him.

She went straight to Luca, grabbing his arm and pressing herself against him, her body molding to his side like she belonged there.

“Hero, Hero!” Her voice was breathless, adoring. “Can I come along? Can I watch while you torture Julius?”

Julius felt despair, while Luca smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

“Of course, Nyx! How could I possibly leave you out? It would be like celebrating a birthday without the birthday girl.”

Nyx giggled—a sound of pure, delighted joy.

She glanced at Julius, who was staring at her with an expression of utter betrayal. Then she turned back to Luca, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“Can we also make love on his corpse?”

Her eyes were gleaming with something dark and hungry.

“Please, Hero—can we have hot, passionate sex right on top of his dead body? I’m really desperate for that.”

Luca’s expression flickered—something between amusement and awkwardness.

“I don’t think that’s going to be possible, Nyx.” He glanced back at Julius. “Not that I wouldn’t want to. It’s just…the way I’m going to end his life is a bit unconventional for that.”

“Honestly, even you would probably be disgusted by it.”

Nyx looked offended. “Hero, I can handle anything. No matter how gruesome or brutal—I can watch it all.”

Luca shook his head. “It’s not about gruesome it’s going to be. It’s about…”

He paused, searching for the right word. “Trauma. It’s going to be traumatizing, even for you.”

Nyx opened her mouth to argue, but Luca just smiled, a mysterious, chilling smile that made her shiver.

“…You’ll see soon enough.”

He didn’t explain further. He just wrapped his arm around Nyx’s waist, grabbed Julius’s hair with his other hand, and started dragging him toward the forest.

“Come along, Julius. We have so much to do.”

“No! NO! PLEASE!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!”

Julius screamed as he was pulled away, his cries echoing through the forest, growing fainter and fainter until finally, they faded entirely into silence.

—

The remaining elves stood in awkward silence, staring at each other.

The adrenaline that had carried them through the past hour was gone.

The fear, the anger, the desperate hope—all of it had drained away, leaving behind a strange, hollow calm.

No one knew what to say. No one knew what to do.

Finally, Luna spoke.

“So…” She scratched her head, looking around at the others. “What should we do now?”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“I mean.” She continued, gesturing vaguely. “The curse is gone. My father can be considered to be dead. The male elves are also dead.”

“Basically everything that’s been haunting our village for so many years is just…gone. We’ve finally gained the freedom we deserved.”

She looked at them with a thoughtful expression.

“So…what exactly are we supposed to do now?”

The question hung in the air.

For so long, this had been their dream. Their goal. The light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel.

But now that they had reached it, they realized they hadn’t thought beyond it. They had never dared to imagine a future where they were free.

What did they do now?

But just as everyone was left wondering—Leona smiled.

It was a small smile at first, but it grew, spreading across her face like the sun breaking through clouds.

“I think…” She said. “…we should do everything we couldn’t do before.”

Everyone turned to her.

“All the things we had to suppress—our love, our laughter, our freedom. We should do it all. Right now.” She spread her arms. “No more hiding. No more fear. Just…us. Being ourselves.”

The villagers smiled. They understood exactly what she meant.

One of the female elders stepped forward.

“So…where should we begin?”

Lulu’s stomach answered for her.

Grrrrrr!

The loud growl echoed through the clearing, and everyone burst into laughter.

Lulu’s face turned red, but she cleared her throat and stepped forward with dignity.

“I Lulu, Queen of Chickens propose lunch!”

She announced majestically before enthusiastically going on to say,

“I’m really hungry and iIt’s already past lunchtime, and we need food. So let’s make a delicious meal to celebrate the new era of our village!”

Luna nodded. “I agree. I’m also starving.”

“Me too!”

“I need something in my stomach right now!”

“I vomited earlier—I have to fill my belly back up.”

The mood shifted. The darkness lifted. People started sharing ideas.

“I have a fresh harvest of cranberry velvet fruits. I’ll bring them!”

“I can make fresh bread!”

“I’ll make my famous stew. We can combine everything!”

Lulu clenched her fists. “I’m so happy right now that I’m even willing to sacrifice a few of my chickens. We can make fried chicken—together!”

Everyone cheered. They wanted fried chicken.

Leona raised her nervous voice over the excitement.

“Umm…Luca gave me some additional recipes for chicken dishes. So, if you want I can cook those as well.”

Gasps of excitement. “Leona’s cooking? It’s been so long!”

“I remember her food from when we were young. It was amazing!”

“I can’t wait to taste it again!”

People were bouncing now, children laughing, adults planning.

Someone suggested, “Let’s have lunch under the former Patriarch’s tree. We can eat our meal as we cut it down and watch it fall.”

“That would be a beautiful moment!”

Everyone agreed.

Plans were made, roles assigned, ingredients promised.

The gloom and bloodshed of the past hour faded into the background, replaced by something new.

Hope.

The villagers began making their way back to the village, the chains that had bound them for forty years finally broken.

Mothers lifted their children onto their shoulders.

Elders walked with straight backs, their eyes clear and bright.

Friends laughed and joked and planned.

Luna and Lulu grabbed their mother’s arms, pulling her along.

Leona let herself be pulled, her heart full to bursting.

She watched her people—her family, her friends, her community and smiled.

This was a new beginning. All the pain, the loneliness, the despair—it had been worth it.

Not for revenge. Not for justice. For this.

For the chance to start again.

Together.

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