I shalt make the cover soon.

Warning: Explicit Content.

Killer

A killer.

A being, someone, a subject, that has experienced a moment of taking a life. Ending someone's right to live.

Many despise such a being. But it is funny. That these people were the ones who give their all to defend the ones who despise them? Who gives their all, their everything, even their most precious aspect, humanity, to protect the place that these people lived in? These people, who despise them, yet these-so called killers, still protect them from the outward threats.

The injustice. Indeed, many called untainted people innocent, but for these-so called "killers"? Who protects their home from anything and everything at the cost of their sanity?

They are morons. Ignorants. Despicable human beings who are so ungrateful.

Of course, with these revelations, it is unavoidable that one of these-so called killers would be affected by it, getting their beliefs shaken by these misconceptions and prejudice created by those "innocent" citizens. Many crumbled, becoming nothing more than a shell of their former selves. Many retaliated, refusing to go home any further and living on the battlefield where they felt accepted. Many too, cannot care about such nonsense spouted by ignorants and live the way they wanted.

These are fine. They still abide by the rules.

And then there are these people.

Who refused to bow to the people who smeared their honour as the protectors and guardians. To protect them any longer. They, who gave their sweat, blood and tears. Sanity, common sense, conscience, to kill their enemies. And this is the treatment they got?

They refused.

They reject.

They retaliated.

Of course, they clearly understood that the term "Killer" doesn't only cover their carrier. The killer is a definition of someone who has taken the life of another. Soldiers aside, criminals too, are killers. But really, are these citizens who have been educated for years truly cannot distinguish such a simple concept from one to another?

Villagers, they understand. Their job is to nurture crops and sow them. Farming. Fishing. Trading. For the sake of living for their family. They have no time nor the capability to think in a throughout manner and could only follow the rumours and propaganda around them. While still sounds like an excuse, they could at least understand them a bit. They have no power over them anyway, so they still can let them off the hook.

How about Nobles? Who, since they were children, already got the education villagers have no right to get?

Do they really, cannot distinguish between a killer who defends and kill bravely for the safety of their home and a killer who did so for their selfish intents?

Do they really cannot?

"W-Wait! I-I can give you a-anything-"

A quick slit, and a handsome, blonde nobleman with formal attire has his throat cut open. It is a small slit, not capable of killing the writhing noble. Still, for such a wound to be inflicted upon a sensitive part of a human body surely generated an unimaginable amount of pain.

"Gurghlgihhru...!!"

The nobleman tried to say something, but his gurgling, bloodied mouth of his prevent him from doing so. His eyes turned upwards, showing endless red veins on his sclera. A form, a representative of the show of his insurmountable pain.

The moonlight went through the transparent window, showing the writhing form of the blonde nobleman and a silhouette before him.

"Viscount Virgoun Meinsterdam. Proven to be the person in charge of a protocol of kidnapping female children in the range of age of eight to thirteen that swept across the Belverg Kingdom by the witness whom the Marquesses hide for the sole purpose of the profit you could generate for them by selling innocent children for our lovely neighbour, the Brydle Kingdom. I even saw a couple of Heirs and hell, even a Crimson Demon, a member of Crimson Magic Clan, a respected clan for their merits done for the Belverg Kingdom. Indeed, what a disgusting paedophile thou are, huh, Meinsterdam? And yet thou dare to spread propaganda about the "Wickedness of the Ones Who Have Taken Lives"? Hilarious. Hilarious, certainly."

The silhouette moves forward, letting more moonlight reflect his figure, revealing his true form.

A mask with a pair of eyes forming crescent moons greeted the Nobleman. It makes his killer looks cheerful, despite the current circumstance does not represent the word "cheerful" at all. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Ah, why am I wasting time stating my opinions to you? How foolish I am. Still, I cannot believe a man with a child's intelligence could get this far."

But the silhouette's tone clearly sounds cheerful.

It brought a shiver through the Nobleman's very core. Cold enough to numb the pain.

The silly-looking mask has two regions. The right represents white and the left represents black. The crescent on the white showed black and vice versa. They are two stars below the crescent moons. Their colour mimic the crescent moon above them. White and black.

The silhouette moves further as the nobleman desperately moves farther.

"Before the imminent death arrives, I kinda want to do something different for such a wicked thing like you. I usually don't talk much, but congratulation to you, you managed to hit my bottom line. As expected of a paedophile."

A grey scarf, its two tails elegantly follow the trajectory of the wind. The figure, who surprisingly looked no older than 14 based on his height, wore a blue navy jumpsuit. A belt securely locked above his naval, to hang a small bag and a sheath of a bloodied knife the figure holds.

The nobleman's back hit the wall, forcing him to stop on his track. The figure just smiled, and combined with the bloodied knife in his hand and the crescent moon-shaped eyes on his silly-looking mask...

Countless nobles trembled and had their blood run cold by such scenery before their well-deserved demise.

And the blonde nobleman is not an exception. By any means, in the long run. Short run, precisely. A very short one.

"Say to the Hell Taker, that you were sent by the Graceful Bandit. Cheers!"

A gloved palm slowly went straight to the nobleman's face. And a red, hellish vortex appeared on its surface.

"Rahfhakghw-!!!"

The nobleman could only choke on his own blood before the vortex penetrated his head ethereally. Inside his head, it latched itself onto his brain and the vortex started to revolve faster. Faster and faster, until the desired effect commenced.

"AHHHHHH!"

"There goes the mission."

A whisper from the killer, and the nobleman dropped dead. His former body was a scene to behold. A very definition of a fucked up corpse. Not a single cell of his skin wasn't covered in liquid.

A well-deserved demise, indeed.

After the vortex went inside the nobleman's head, the figure, with grace and haste, opened the window and jumped out of it. A backflip and he perfectly landed on his toes on the rooftop. Fully revealing his impeccable auburn hair, slowly moved by the night air. Combined with the moonlight softly illuminated a fraction of his figure...

A very embodiment of elegance.

"Goddess, the captives are in the basement at the south of the mansion."

"Roger that, Devil."

After informing his trusted, beloved partner in crime, the figure ran to the mentioned place. Jumping and hopping from one rooftop to another, with his silver-haired, black-masked, blue-eyed partner in tow. She looks no older than 13, according to her size. Wearing a simple teal scarf that flow according to the trajectory of the chilling wind. A simple green mantle over a black, thick fabric wrapped around her chest.

She wore mid-thigh length jeans with a belt for a bag to hang onto it, and with black stockings covering her entire legs, her attire looks quite provocative, with nothing to cover her bare midsection.

After a bit of running, they arrived before a well-covered trapdoor. But it stood no chance with its camouflaging state to hide when its seekers were the Goddess and the Devil.

"Devil."

"Affirmative."

With a strange motion, the male one stretched out his hand and a glow materialize itself. The previously tightly locked trapdoor suddenly lets out a satisfactory "click" and it was opened, revealing a repulsive sight.

A sight that shouldn't have exist.

"...Goddess, I'll handle it-"

"N-No, Devil. I can handle it."

The male, despite his mask, managed to convey his worries towards his partner, whose form is shaking. In disgust, sadness, grief, nausea... the male has no idea which feeling she epitomizes through her shaking form.

"You sure?"

"Yes!"

Letting out a sigh, the male one merely squeeze her shaking hand and smiled before jumping down through the trapdoors. His partner stared down at the scenery revealed behind the trapdoor and placed her hands on her chest, sadness peered through her jewel-like blue eyes.

"I... just wanted to bear your burden too, Kazuma."

A whisper the male, confirmed as Kazuma, did not manage to catch.

The male, Kazuma, landed on the soil of the hidden space and immediately let out a shaky breath. His hands trembled as his eyes unwillingly scan his surroundings. For the first time, he slowly removed his mask, showing a refined, handsome face with a pair of widened, saddened green eyes. They are shining, like embers of hope.

At least, that's what they used to look like.

An utterly sickening situation is what greeted him.

The white, gooey, slimy liquid he knew well, considering his experiences, scattered across the damned place, covering several bumps on the floor. Kazuma, with his human instinct, knew what these bumps were.

Rather, he knew who these bumps were.

"...Ah."

They are the captives.

Children.

His knees buckled.

For the first time since he was considered a seasonal assassin, a single tear managed to escape his hardened, scarred green eyes. Disregarding the repulsive white gooey liquid, he slowly picked up a bump, revealing an unspeakable condition of a female child. No older than 9, yet death by such a fate.

Kazuma always wondered, is what he always did truly for the good? He is a killer, killing people he thought were bad left and right, for the things he thought is right. Yet, seeing this scene...

His green eyes dimmed down and a flash flickers through his irises.

They hardened. Tempered even further.

He promises himself.

That 'till death do his part, he wouldn't stop doing this.

"'Till death do my part, indeed..."

He looked back, and from afar, a single trail of green glowed and swayed from his single eye. With the room dominated by darkness, it became more apparent.

"Congratulation, the ones I despised. You managed to create a demon."

Who's the demon?

Of course, it's him.

He'll be a demon. The devil. The killer.

Adaptation is one of the human's strongest traits. With this, they could impersonate anything. A turtle, who has immense patience. A cheetah, who runs faster than anything. A lion, who considers a forest as his home. A predator, who could kill for their own interest. According to where they live, what they experience and how they were taught since being infants, humans could impersonate anything. Although not perfect, they could do it. To adapt and mimic an advantageous trait of a being.

A demon is a being many feared. Some maniacs even revered it.

That's why he will become a demon. A being that many feared.

They shalt be live with fear.

For the longest time, his faith, his belief in what he did always feels incomplete. But now, it shalt be no longer preliminary.

Now, he fully believed. His now-impeccable faith towards his job.

Now, he embraced it. Consider it as one of his own.

"From a killer, to a demon. Quiet an evolution, huh?"

A demon. A being who disregards anything for the sake for its self-righteous intents.

He humorlessly chuckled, slowly and softly brought the female child down to a cleaner region of the damned room and slowly brush the child's bangs aside, showing a horrified, heartbreaking pair of dimmed violet eyes. Kazuma slowly brought them closed, casting a water spell to softly clean the corpses.

He once heard that a corpse's soul would feel thousands and thousands of sword stabs if the corpse was treated roughly. This child deserves a well-rested end.

After doing the same thing to all of the bumps, Kazuma's heart clenched. They are dozens upon dozens of these children, scattering across the room.

"Bleerggh!"

His partner puked. She, who finally decided to come down surely witnessed the surreal scenery and cannot stomach it. Of course, after all, she was merely his junior. He glanced at the corpses he cleaned off with a water spell before rushing off to his partner, who kneeled down and puked. Amid the disgusting, gooey white liquid.

He embraced her from behind and jumped away, landing in the cleaner region of the room. When she stopped, he slowly brought her close to his chest, embracing his junior who sobs incomprehensibly. Brushing her beautiful silver hair with his hand while doing his best to soothe her.

There, he just sat in the corner of the room, leaning on the hard, cold stone wall while letting his kouhai sit on his lap, letting her lean on his chest. It's always depressing to see a new recruit break down several times. But it's not like his kouhai is a new recruit. Still, even a seasonal recruit would possibly break down if they witnessed such scenery for the first time.

Now that he thinks about it. It was him, who was unusual. He merely buckled his knees.

"T-T-They-"

"Shush, I know. I understand."

The best way to calm down a breaking person is to assure them. Well, that's what he thought, at least.

He looked down, and saw a pair of teary, widened blue eyes staring back at him. Already unequipping his mask a while ago, what his kouhai see is a pair of flashing green eyes, comfortingly looking back at her. A delightful feeling spiked out in her stomach, managing to bring her back to sanity.

"You're fine now, Goddess?"

"I-I am, Devil."

"Alright, let's not occupy this place any longer. We will send a report to the authorities and let them know this."

"Which one?"

"The one managed by the King himself."

"Ah. How about the corpses?"

"As much as I want to bury them, it takes too much time to do so. They are dozens upon dozens of them. Let the authorities do the rest."

She nodded at him and instinctively hugged him close, nuzzling her head to his chest. He showed a perplexed look, but at last, he merely shrugged before responding by patting her head.

"Devil, you said that there were a couple of Heirs and a Crimson Demon here, right?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately for the Heirs, they were included in that group of corpses. As for the Crimson Demon..."

He trailed off, paused and blinked.

"Chris, you can go ahead. I need to check this place."

"Why?"

"You can't stomach this terrible place-"

"I can handle it-"

"-Besides, I don't want my kind, cute kouhai to witness such a disgusting place any longer."

He smiled when she hastily stood up and stiffly faced her back to him, trying to hide her apparent blush, though, by any means it's useless. Her reddened ears sold her out. Her shyly posture isn't really helping too. No, it was as if she intentionally showed him that she was indeed affected by it.

Unironically, it is one of the occurrences that actually managed to keep his sanity intact.

"I-If you put it that way then, f-fine!"

He just shook his head as his partner, now Chris hopped off certain edges of the room and jumped out of the trapdoor. She escapes from this hellhole.

'You're too easy Chris.'

He stood up.

'Now, for that Crimson Demon...'

A certain spell is quite useful to search for secret passages.

'Trap Detection.'

Immediately, an instinctual intuition told him to go to another corner of the room. There, it told him there was a button inside a camouflaged trapdoor. He rushed through the edge of this filthy place and push a hand through a certain section of the wall. It went through and he felt like pushing something similar to a piston.

With an audible click, a rectangle-shaped wall reverted, it moves to the right through a vacant space behind the walls and revealed a dark passage. He flick his fingers and a small tinder appeared, slightly lightening up the room. Just what he needs.

"Eek?"

A clearly terrified squeak. He slowly moves forward to not scare the individual and what's disclosed to him makes him let out a relieved breath.

A young girl, possibly 11 years old, curled up at the corner of this passage. She covered half of her face with a funky-looking hat and what peered from the rest is a single crimson eye, looking up to him with a scared look. Her skin is fair and with her distinctly raven hair, it is undeniably a beautiful combination. Merely wearing a red dress that doesn't cover much, it's no wonder she was shivering from the cold.

They had done nothing to her yet. At least, he could save a soul from this mission.

He arrived before her, and the girl changes her façade as soon as she saw him. Kazuma nodded, as expected of a Crimson Demon, she's smart enough to distinguish between her captor and her saviour. It seems like she knew the people who captured her.

He kneeled down and showed her a warm smile, his green eyes glistened with kindness. The girl blushed slightly, hugging her hat closer. Despite knowing that this person before her is different, it doesn't change the fact that he was merely a stranger.

"What's your name?"

"...Megumin."

He offered her a hand, to which she merely stared.

"Do you want to escape from here?"

"A-Are you gonna do the same to me as them?"

She was shivering. Kazuma paused, then he removes his scarf from his neck and wrapped it around her shoulders. Realizing a sudden warmth from the scarf, the girl snuggled into it. He just stared at her. With the oversized scarf covering her small form, he admits, she looks quite adorable.

"Will I?"

The Crimson Demon slowly removes her hat and fully showed him her face. A pair of glowing crimson eyes, and a facial structure impeccable for a female child. She looked up at him and slowly shook her head.

"I don't think so."

He offered his hand once again.

"So, wanna go out?"

This kid reminds him of Chris when they first met. It was two years ago, when he was merely 12 years old. Doing his job for merely a year, he could be called an experienced assassin. There, 11 years old Chris was searching for a person her age and she found him. She keeps pestering him from there, and finally, he relented.

He chuckled, perhaps this is an occasion related to what many likes to call, fate.

"Yes!"

Finally, since the first time they met, the girl, Megumin, showed a look of excitement. She nods at him vigorously, moving her hat back and forth, obtaining a snicker from him. Then, she took his hand and a sudden surge of warmth coming from it relaxed her nerves that have been tensed for weeks.

He then showed her his back and crouched, earning him a confused look from her. He just looked back and smiled.

"Piggyback."

"Oh! Oh! Piggyback!"

The girl understood his means and with a smile, she jumped onto his back, hugging his neck with her little arms. Kazuma securely grip her ankles and reminded her.

"Hold on tight."

"Yes!"

And then, he shoots out. Not letting the girl witness the terrible, filthy scenery of the room. Megumin has suffered enough. Though it did bring the girl into a fit of giggles, so he guessed it was a bonus.

"Waaaah!"

And with a final leap, he was out of the hellhole.

Megumin, who was locked up in inhumane confinement for weeks, let out a squeal. She could feel the fresh air running through her face and the beautiful scenery of nature and the sky. She brings her arms up, as if trying to grasp the air.

"Kazuma?!"

When he landed on the ground, his kouhai greeted him. She perplexedly looked at the squealing bundle on his back before widening her eyes in realization.

"Is she...?"

"Yes, she is the Crimson Demon. Thankfully, they had done nothing to her."

"Thank God..."

Chris stared at the grey bundle on Kazuma's back, who excitedly looked around. She grimaced, she couldn't imagine such an innocent soul having to go through such a fate. Thinking about it brought her immense hatred for those people who abuse their authority.

"Let's go Chris."

"Yes."

They ran once again, escaping from the scene, with a squealing Crimson Demon child with a funky hat to accompany them throughout the journey.


"No! I don't wanna go!"

Kazuma wryly smiled, looking at a pair of big teary, glistening crimson eyes who looked up to him in despair. The owner's hands clutched onto the hem of his grey shirt, refusing to let go.

"Kazuma-san, what are we supposed to do?"

A young officer asked in concern, trying to calm down the girl who looks like someone was about to steal her favourite toys. Chris, who now wears a simple white sundress kneeled before her and tried to calm her down. Her blue eyes filled with immense kindness and compassion.

"Megu-chan, you have to go back to your village so your parents won't be worried anymore."

Megumin glanced at her with her snotty face, with a slight hue painting her chubby face.

"B-But I fear someone would confine me on the way..."

"Don't worry, the one responsible for your safety is a personal bodyguard of the King himself, no bad guys wouldn't be capable of hurting you."

"C-Can Kazuma-san do it instead?"

Chris inwardly sighed. Why is her senpai attract girls so damn easily? First, it was her. Then, the princess, who now looked up to him as an older brother. Now, this Crimson Demon?

She knew that he meant no harm, with merely good intentions behind his actions. But still, this is a little bit too much.

'It's not like I'm jealous or anything...'

"Might I ask you why, Megu-chan?"

"Well! He saved me from that scary place and bring me warmth! Like a Hero Okaa-sama always told me about."

In the background, Kazuma choked on his own spit, making the young officer beside him chuckle.

"A Hero, huh?"

Chris slowly said.

Now that she thought about it...

A titled assassin as a 13-year-old boy. Has a killing record of over 43 wicked, shameless, inhumane Noblemen and Noblewomen and that's not even counting their relations and guards that he managed to track down and kill. She has seen it all, witnessing the cost he had to pay for what he had achieved.

She met him when she was a mere 11 years old, and he was 12 years old when his name spread across the kingdom. She had heard that he started assassinating 2 years before their meeting. A very early time to start a brutal carrier.

Even earlier than her.

It was quite hard to meet him, but when she did, she was struck.

Behind the merciless façade is a 12-year-old boy who just wanted peace. Silent, so he could rest and sleep with ease. To not be disturbed and annoyed. An easy-going, relaxed person who just wanted to be lazy. Unfortunately, the world always finds a way to disturb it. He said.

And she is one of them, he said. Though it was meant to be a joke, she was still cranky about it.

She blushed, well, she was an 11-year-old kid back then. Receiving insults is not something she could take well at that age.

And spending her time as his partner for over 2 years, his ideal starts to change bit by bit. Once, she asked him about it and he only had one answer.

"To clean off this Kingdom from the real killers by being a killer myself."

He was a 13 year old boy back then. And honestly, she was terrified by the answer. Of course, she hides it well and he didn't realize it. Though the fear gradually disappeared, and bit by bit, it was replaced by hatred. For what those filthy beings have done.

Soldiers kill enemies. And those filthy beings? They kill innocents. The ones who were truly innocents, are what she meant.

Like this sweet, loving child.

"Noo! Nope! Nope! I don't wanna part with Kazuma-san!"

The young officer chased the Crimson Demon around, to no avail. Finally, Kazuma caught Megumin and brought her up, and instead of receiving a rejection, she hugged him back, nuzzling his neck with her head. She happily giggled and her saviour merely grinned.

"I got affected, Chris. I got affected by the rumours about us and hatred start to materialise. Yet, Iris-sama... with her constant affection, makes me realize how precious innocence truly is. And thanks to you, I have enough time for this enlightenment by my sanity that's still intact because of you, who is so stubborn to be by my side."

"...Now, I wanted to do it. To protect. Funnily enough, it eclipsed this unpleasant feeling we called hatred."

Looking at the affectionate act Megumin exhibited for Kazuma, Chris sighed and smiled brightly, with a bit tad of sadness.

'She's not wrong, you are a Hero, you know?'

Even if she said that, he would never admit it.

In the end, she just walked over and puts a hand on his shoulder, earning her a questioning look.

"Well, why don't we just fulfil her wish? We never had a chance to visit the Crimson Village of Crimson Magic Clan. It would be one hell of a trip, wouldn't it? We don't have any mission to take for the next week anyway."

"I... guess you're right."

He smiled at her. And with a bare blush on her face, she replied with her own.

He was always there. When she puked after her first kill. When she cried after her first traumatizing experience. When she wanted to give up by the haunting images that flashed through her mind.

No matter what it is. She came out. And he's always there. By her side.

Even if everyone would try to deny it, she wouldn't change her mind.

Kazuma is a hero.

Her Hero.


An: sanity traded for a handsome face. Whaddya say?