Chapter 88: The Golden Weapon

A silent battle field.

Anise stood at the very edge of the reclaimed western borders.

A single ray of pure sunlight pierced the blood-soaked earth at her feet.

’Ten years.’

’It had been ten years since I started killing these demons. Defending the Humans against the Demons. Now the time has finally come. The time to end this damn war.’

She was Level 100.

At Level 50, a Hero learned to wield the laws of the world.

At Level 100, they became the physical manifestation of them.

Anise had become the Absolute Law of Retribution.

Her pristine white and gold armor was chipped and stained with the blood of a thousand battles, but the aura radiating from her body was terrifyingly divine.

The very air around her warped and hummed with a crushing, suffocating holy pressure.

"The Human Continent is whole once more."

She looked out over the valley. The last stronghold of the demonic vanguard had been reduced to ash.

Suddenly, the ambient noise of the battlefield faded into absolute nothingness.

’The scales are balanced, Child of Earth.’

The Voice came back. She knew this voice. It was the same voice that had put her in debt a decade ago.

’You have struck down the encroaching dark. You have reclaimed the stolen lands of humanity. The equivalent exchange is fulfilled. Your debt is paid in full.’

Anise closed her eyes. Her grip on her heavy golden staff loosened, the weapon slipping from her exhausted fingers to clatter against the charred earth.

A profound, soul-shattering relief washed over her. The crushing weight that had sat on her chest for a decade finally dissolved. The Voice faded into the ether, leaving her mind completely quiet for the first time in ten years.

It was over. She had survived.

Robert was safe, living his life on Earth, completely unaware of the hell she had waded through to buy his breath.

’I wonder what Rob is doing. He must be having a good life with a wife and a few little children calling him dad.’ she thought.

"I am done," Anise whispered to the clearing sky.

A single tear tracked through the soot on her cheek.

"I just want to rest."

She turned her back on the ashes of the Monster Continent’s vanguard and began the long walk back to the Holy Capital.

She dreamed of a quiet cottage in Oakhaven, the border village she had personally rebuilt.

She dreamed of teaching the war orphans how to read, of planting a garden, of simply being Anise again.

But the world she had saved was not the world she remembered.

---

Two weeks later, Anise walked the grand, vaulted corridors of the Citadel of the Holy Temple.

When she had first arrived here a decade ago, the marble halls had echoed with weeping gratitude. The priests had fallen to their knees, and the nobles had looked at her with religious awe.

’What is this saddening atmosphere?’

Today, the silence in the Citadel was chilling.

As Anise walked past the towering stained-glass windows, the heavily armored paladins did not kneel.

They gripped their silver halberds tighter, their knuckles turning white, their eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

The nobles lounging in the alcoves stopped their murmuring, hiding their faces behind gilded fans and pulling their silk cloaks tighter as she passed.

They were not looking at a savior. They were looking at a living, breathing weapon of mass destruction.

She was a Level 100 anomaly.

In a time of desperate war, she was their greatest asset.

But in times of peace, she was an uncontrollable and terrifying liability.

Anise pushed open the heavy oak doors to the central throne room.

King Valerius the Pious sat upon his golden throne, flanked by High Priestess Isolde and the Supreme Pope of the Holy Alliance.

The opulence of the room made Anise sick to her stomach. She had spent ten years sleeping in mud and blood so these men could wear rubies.

"Champion Anise!" King Valerius boomed, spreading his arms in a theatrical display of welcome.

"The Hero of the Dawn! The bells of the capital have rung for three days in your honor. The borders are completely secure."

"The war is over, Your Majesty," Anise said. Her voice was calm, but it carried the heavy, undeniable resonance. The crystal chandeliers above them trembled slightly at her words.

"Yes, a monumental victory," the Supreme Pope interjected, stepping forward.

His smile did not reach his cold eyes.

"However, the root of the sickness remains. The demons have been pushed back to the Monster Continent, but they will simply rebuild their armies. They will breed more monstrosities in the dark."

Anise frowned, a knot of unease forming in her stomach.

"The treaty lines have been drawn. Their vanguard is entirely broken. They do not have the resources to cross the ocean for another century."

"We cannot wait a century, Champion," King Valerius stated smoothly. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his jeweled fingers.

"The Holy Alliance has decreed a Grand Crusade. We are not just going to defend our borders anymore. We are going to cross the sea. We are going to march into the Monster Continent and eradicate the demon threat at its very source. We will cleanse their lands with holy fire."

Anise stared at the King, her hazel eyes widening in absolute disbelief.

"An invasion?" she asked, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

"You want to launch a war of extermination?"

"It is a holy purification," Isolde corrected softly.

The High Priestess refused to meet Anise’s gaze, staring intently at the marble floor.

"No," Anise said flatly.

The single word echoed through the throne room like a thunderclap. The King’s theatrical smile vanished instantly. The Pope stiffened.

"No?" the King repeated, his voice turning dangerously cold.

"You are the Hero of the Holy Alliance. You serve the Crown and the Light."

"I served my debt," Anise corrected, stepping forward.

The golden aura beneath her skin flared aggressively, forcing the Royal Guards to take a terrified step backward.

"I was summoned to reclaim the stolen lands of humanity. I gave you ten years of my life. I spilled an ocean of blood to protect your people. But I will not be your executioner. I will not cross that sea to slaughter species in their own homes."

King Valerius settled back into his throne. He did not look angry. He looked entirely prepared.

"That is a very disappointing stance, Anise," the King sighed, waving a dismissive hand.

"Especially considering the fragile state of our newly reclaimed territories. Take Oakhaven, for instance."

Anise froze. The golden aura around her flickered.

Oakhaven was a small, beautiful village on the western border. When the Demon Army had razed it, Anise had spent months personally rebuilding the homes.

She had gathered the orphaned children, fed them, and protected them. It was the only place in this blood-soaked world that felt like a home to her.

"What about Oakhaven?" Anise demanded, her voice tight.

"It is so isolated," the Pope murmured, tracing the golden cross on his robes.

"So vulnerable. Without the main army to protect it, it would be a terrible tragedy if a remnant faction of rogue demons were to slip past the border. Or perhaps a band of ruthless human mercenaries disguised as monsters. Villages burn so easily in the night. The orphans you cherish... it would be a massacre."

The threat was not veiled. It was a blatant, ruthless hostage situation masked as political concern.

Anise looked from the Pope to the King, and finally to High Priestess Isolde. Isolde, the woman who had wept and begged for her help ten years ago, simply closed her eyes and turned her head away. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

They were holding the lives of innocent children over her head. They knew her greatest weakness was her empathy.

She had sacrificed everything on Earth to save one man. They knew she would sacrifice her own soul to save a village of orphans.

"You are monsters," Anise whispered, staring at the men dripping in gold and holy vestments.

"We are pragmatists," King Valerius corrected coldly.

"You are a weapon, Anise. And a weapon does not get to choose when the war is over. You will board the flagship tomorrow at dawn. You will lead the Vanguard into the Monster Continent, and you will burn their settlements to the ground."

The King leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with malicious authority.

"Or you can lay down your staff, walk away, and I will personally ensure that Oakhaven is reduced to ashes before sunset. The choice is entirely yours, Hero."

Anise stood in the center of the grand throne room, completely surrounded by the people she had spent a decade bleeding to protect.

The crushing realization settled over her like a suffocating shroud.

Her debt to the Voice was paid. But her servitude to humanity had only just begun.

’What use is this power when I can’t even protect what I cherish? I cannot kill the King nor can I raise a hands against them. They had enough power to defend these Lands without the help of a Hero, but the ones true rulers controlling the strings from the shadows, cannot be defeated with my power. I need to reach Level 200 to even have a chance to face them.’

With her heart breaking and her spirit violently twisting under the weight of their betrayal, Anise slowly bowed her head.

"I will board the ship," she whispered, her voice devoid of all life.

King Valerius smiled triumphantly.

"Praise the Light. Dismissed, Champion."