“I will save you!”

For a weak boy who was disdained for never being stronger, who was never seen for being better from the power hungry and someone who people never expected he needed salvation thanks to his status and always overlooking his individuality, those words woke up the boy from a bleakness that settled his days and colored up the world where he started seeing.

The person who proclaimed to save him was a young boy his age, strong where he was weak, never seen for being worse where he was never seen for being better, who people never expected salvation thanks to individuality and overlooking status. In other words, the person was the boy’s exact opposite. Maybe that was why he felt drawn to the person.

That day, he just wanted to be saved…

“I will kill you!”

Now years later, the boy who grew into a young man was in a position opposite of being saved. The young man had gotten off his daydream, wondering about his savior who had always been there even in his darkest moments as they grew up before…

It was such a riot, of screaming curses, waving weapons and such dark hatred. It was such powerlessness left deep in hearts, to victims that will never be acknowledged, that would feel deserving of such hatred for what was represented instead of the individual the victims were. And when the weapons hit a mark…

So much. The last thing he remembered was it being so much. He could only remembered that he was saved, and now it was his turn to save. Yet he didn’t know how, but he knew he would succeed or die trying.

So he was actually grateful when his thoughts were broken by a very different proclamation, nowhere pleasant but not as unused from it than before. Death threats like this had sadly happened to him multiple times throughout his life, even more so during the past year. Unfortunately, he had no savior to rebuke those words. He was alone, when he now stared down at the premediated killer.

“For the crimes you have committed and for failing your people of our Holy Kingdom, I will take your head, Heretical King!”

The Heretical King, a reputation that foisted on him in his current yet short reign. He was infamously known for his experiments that were performed without rhyme and reason, so eccentric that he holed himself in his castle and forgotten the people.

He was aware of that and just did not care. Even at the face of his biggest death threat yet. It was not vitriolic letters or even an assassination. He faced an army, led by a knight of long raven hair with a black suit of armor contrasting with the white armory gracing his support. An odd one out, or emphasizing the leader. His green eyes were naturally drawn to the knight’s blood red ones who had made such a declaration, beginning with something inelegant and brash of a knight’s status. Maybe one could say he was no ordinary knight. One could also say that the Heretical King was no ordinary king.

Still, he could not dwell in thought when the knight suddenly charged, at a lightning speed not meant for the ordinary and brought down his sword, black and pulsating in red. Cursed? But the king paid no mind, unsheathing his own sword to meet the other’s lunge with such force that his blonde hair and would-be killer’s hair had fluttered out and sealed how dangerous this was going to get.

The king gritted his teeth, still the weak boy back then that he was very close from buckling under the swing but not showing it in front of the enemy as he quickly parried it away and matched the knight’s speed to deal a blow of his own. However, the knight was not fighting alone as the king had temporarily forgotten about the army facing him in the adrenaline of fighting the knight.

Spells were cast against him, burning him as the knight did not stop to take advantage and lunged once again. This time, he dodged from the sword and the incoming spells. He needed to give himself time, as hard as it would be with an army gaining traction against the lone king. They wasted no time nor words closing in on him after that outburst of a declaration, taking no prisoner.

And yet, the king was still in this position, still alive despite no savior because the army, this resistance, knew that they needed this many to take down the king’s own army.

With a snap of his fingers as he had gotten his bearings, magic circles appeared on the ground summoning beings that took the hits for him. It gave him enough time for his body to heal the burn wounds inflicted on him almost effortlessly that made a few gasped. In the chaos of battle, knight and king stare down each other with armies of equal numbers on both sides and swords ready. They lunged at each other, paying no attention to any other uttered words in battle but the king still heard and was unsurprised by the statements he already knew.

“This army… the power of that Heretic.”

“His experiments know no humanity.”

“That healing body. The rumors were true…”

It was how he got his title as a Heretic King. It was why he was unsurprised about this rebellion. It was why he was confident he could overcome it, even if he did not underestimate his foe.

Despite the ongoing noise of war in the throne room, there was only silence in this sword battle uninterrupted by anyone when both armies were equal in measure as they tried to take down one another. Both sides tried to deliver a blow to the other but Heretic’s self-healing body was explanatory that save for beheading and a stab straight to the beating heart, he will not die.

It seemed his opponent did not have the same advantage, but in fact the opposite. It was expected like anyone else that any time Heretic managed to land a blow against the knight, those wounds would not heal. What was unexpected was that the knight paid no mind to those bleeding wounds, even worsening them between blows with his own sword by cutting them further as the sword actually absorbed the blood and in its pulsating redness, would deal stronger blows against Heretic in exchange.

‘A curse,’ Heretic thought amused, as he witnessed strength at the cost of vitality, ‘Is it really worth possibly killing yourself to kill me?’

Heretic’s own advantage and the knight’s own disadvantage made the former cocky, as he could only see how things would skew his way even if he now questions why someone cursed like that would actually lead the forefront of the rebellion. For his sacrificial strength? How does that matter when it somehow makes the person easier to kill? Or was it really, when the knight showed no hint of slowing down, no hint of his damaging vitality?

The duo continued to dance through their clashing blades and the king took note of both armies fighting, where the rebellion’s side had shouted commands and strategies against his own army with neither gaining an inch against each other. While Heretic could admire the rebellion for lasting this long against his own army, creatures made invincible during those experiment days when he was trying to create something, to know whether he can do the same to save his savior, and leaving him with a loyal army for situations like this, he had also noticed of people taking charge of this war, more suited as commander than the supposed leader now battling him.

Maybe he had misread the rebellion’s leadership, when assuming the knight was the forefront of this operation with such a declaration. Maybe the knight was just a knight, serving someone with a mission of taking down Heretic. He had looked around now, plan forming in his mind despite the need to give all his focus on the engaging battle. If he could take down the commanders, the ones issuing orders instead of the knight in front of him, the rebellion would topple down like dominoes leaving him back to relative peace as he can continue his reign.

Unfortunately, the knight was more observant than Heretic gave credit for, noticing his looks towards what the king thought as commanders and almost sliced the Heretic’s head with the blade as he growled:

“Your fight is with me.”

Heretic smiled, feeling it futile to talk his way out with this determined knight but also not eager to resume this prolonged fight when neither were giving an inch and he had bigger fish to fry.

“Oh? Do you think you have any say in the matter?” Heretic asked, snapping his fingers once again to summon the creatures that shielded him against that slashing blade and continue the fight for him. Heretic focused on the people issuing orders, planning to deliver the final blow as leader to leader. It was what he planned for the knight when he assumed his leadership, knowing how demoralizing it is for the enemy leader to take the head of the army’s own leader. He stuck to that philosophy when he switched targets, now deeming the knight a waste of his time when he wanted to cut off the head and not hack away the body.

Unexpectedly, the knight would not take that down, slashing away the creatures even as they would not budge. As Heretic made his way to one of the commanders, who were being surrounded by fellow soldiers fending off his army, he could see the sheer difference of prowess between them and the knight, proving this would be much easier than the ‘unstoppable force meets immovable object’ dilemma he faced with the knight.

Heretic smiled as he approached the lone commander, paying the soldiers no mind as they busied themselves with his army. When it was just him and that commander, he wanted to make a show of power and superiority when he defeated those mouthpieces, so that the soldiers become directionless and easily overpowered until it dwindled down to the knight and overwhelming him. A perfect defeat and an end to the threat.

Then he could continue his reign, maybe with less fuss after a blowing defeat to such a large rebellion. However, he was equally aware of people’s tenacity, that even at such a blow, they would rise back up to right a wrong. Hopefully, that would be a long while yet, until he accomplished his own goals. Now, it was time to remove the obstacles in his way.

The commander was laughably easier than the knight, even for someone as weak as Heretic who made up his lack of strength with skills and high vitality. When the commander was backed to a corner, Heretic was ready to slice the first important head of many, imagining himself raising it to the army and even if they do not show it, start panicking in fear, being undone by it.

‘As simple as that,’ Heretic thought, sure of that assumption because this was not his first experience in battle as he remembered a similar battle in this same throne room where he was on the opposing side to take the throne, and won it to people’s cheers just that year ago starting in his reign.

When people begged to be saved, and that he was the only one despite how he had been treated in the past, as if they expected him to save everyone when he was unfit for it compared to that certain someone. It was surprising that they wanted him king after everything that happened, that was done to him but he still led, fought and won for them, only because it proved no downsides. Only because it gave him more freedom and resource, to continue saving. Somehow that thought alone made many regret putting him on the throne when the true definition of what the king ‘saved’ was brought to light.

All of that was conjured up in his head as the blade swished, expecting to meet skin and flesh and getting steel in return. Heretic’s eyes widened, as he met face to face with the knight who was right beside the commander and parried his slash away. Readjusting themselves, Heretic took note of his own soldiers that he sent to deal with the knight and was surprised to see that ash was all that was left of them.

He eyed the pulsating blade, which glowed even redder than before, fascinated thanks to his curious mindset but it was nonetheless worrying when the commander noticed the same and started backing away from both Heretic and the knight.

‘How strange,’ Heretic thought to himself, summoning more soldiers to his side to help him deal with the knight. Bringing down the knight became a main priority to get rid of the nuisance. If he continued ignoring him, any other attempts against anyone else would be blocked.

This time, he was not going to play fair, prioritizing on overwhelming the knight as quickly as possible which proved effective with such numbers until he managed to stab the man straight to the heart. The knight gasped as the black armor, already stained with the bright red from the deep wounds of his own making, bloomed completely red with the addition flowing all around his chest. The light left his eyes, leaving him limp as Heretic took a quick look at his surroundings, more surprised that the everyone in the rebellion army started backing away from the duo even more.

Frowning, Heretic took note of the dead knight, before his eyes settled towards the sword that pulsated the deepest red as the body grew paler like the sword was absorbing the dead’s blood and his hands startled when he felt his sword give by someone’s hand, specifically the knight’s who started gripping on the sword. The knight’s eyes opened as if resurrected, staring at Heretic’s own with an equally grim and determined smile and tugged the sword deeper which tripped Heretic forward, near to that cursed sword pulsating at a rapid pace that could only spell disaster.

Heretic tried to budge as he noticed the rebellion’s army quickening retreat away from them but the knight’s hand was firmly on his waist the moment he pulled Heretic close with the tug of that sword. So close that the knight’s mouth was near to his ear, he heard the knight softly whisper:

“So even you can’t kill me.”

‘Why,’ Heretic wondered, ‘did that sound so disappointed underneath the triumph?’

That was his last thought before he felt immense heat coming from the knight, or actually, the sword which seemed to unleashed all that pulsating red around them. The soldiers near him, who didn’t retreat and wanted to help their king get out of this situation, immediately turned to ash, and Heretic’s skin felt like it was going to dissolve under such heat. If he had what people would consider normal skin in the first place.

The knight’s eyes widened in surprise when Heretic did not burn like those soldiers but the skin weaved around his spreading burns, as if they were not even skin itself but a certain type of liquid keeping the Heretic’s body intact. The shock was enough for the knight to slack his grip momentarily and gave enough time to push the knight away, redefining ‘unstoppable force meets immovable objects’ dilemma he had with this knight. He heard newfound surprise and reactions within the rebellion army after such a situation.

“Not even the Calamity Saviour’s ultimate trump card could defeat the Heretical King.”

“Even after that killer move which had felled so many enemies, he still remains intact.”

“How are we supposed to kill something like that?”

‘And how am I supposed to kill something like that?’ Heretic thought, staring down at the knight who had now removed the sword from his chest, surprisingly knitting itself back as well as the other wounds like somehow resurrecting cures all wounds. It was unlike any healing Heretic had ever seen.

A curse that heals, the darkness enveloping the knight. He felt like he had at least heard cases like that, and an idea formed in his head. Something more preferable and profitable than what he had been doing prior. Before he could delve into the idea, he continued focusing on the battle lest he wanted to lose his head.

The knight, Calamity which was shortened from the disturbing title of ‘Calamity Saviour’, just could not die. With Heretic’s own display, people might think it impossible for him to die too but that was unfortunately not the case. He had his own weak spots and he hoped that Calamity did too but he could not find out now for the life of him. Until then, with neither able to kill the other, it was a stalemate.

Quickly, Heretic took note of the damage, that where he had once been standing had cracked deeply over the floor with the ashes of his soldiers. Calamity had once again raised his sword, eyes determined, at Heretic when he lost his own to that fight. In a disadvantageous position, there was only one thing he can do.

Smoke suddenly billowed around Heretic, obscuring everyone’s visions as Calamity realized what Heretic was up to.

“You won’t be getting away!” Calamity screamed.

“I already did,” Heretic said calmly, voice fading to the wind. He was not saddened by this retreat, nor the fact that it meant he was running away and giving the throne up to grabs. Being a king had always been a means to an end after all.

Everything can be a means to an end when it came to his saviour. Even the highest fame, fortune and power. When things no longer serve his purpose or are unworthy of risk, it was easy to give up and chase after the next pursuit for his mission to save. It will always be like that, he determined even when and not if the noose was closing in on his reign as a king with all the assassinations he had endured in such a short time, but it will never matter. As long as he got the result.

Now, discarding something risky and off to his next pursuit, with Calamity showing frightful prowess of his own skill, he had a grand idea but not here and not now.

Once the smoke dispersed, the Heretical King was nowhere to be seen.

Writer’s Notes

This is one of my fave WIPs, but mostly because as a starter, this was most in-line to fun things I definitely want to write. Not much to the fantasy, but two men basically swordfighting each other to the death for extremely great motives~ I can taste their dynamic. I also brought to you even more amateur book covers but at least we know what I don’t necessarily have a future for. Because do you know how hard it was to make that while making sure the assets I had wasn’t AI generated? Nearly impossible, but I tried cover wise. And as for the writing itself, you know the drill. An idea conceived from the alphabetical series centering the capital letter with ‘ ‘, and revolving the story around the letter. Holy, Heretical, Hero etc. So that’s why the fantasy setting befitting of the hero quest came to mind immediately. How those two characters were conceived… well long-standing inspiration from a place I have yet to tire from. Hope you enjoy.