A Failed Hero's Voyage Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Doomed By Design

Read chapter 23 of A Failed Hero's Voyage by churro on NovelPedia.

Atherius advanced toward the devil in slow, unsteady steps, his body threatening to give out beneath him with each movement. At one point, his legs faltered entirely, forcing him to drive his blade into the fractured ground just to remain upright. The impact barely held him as he caught himself, only to double over moments later, coughing violently as blood spilled from his lips and stained the already ruined surface below. Whatever power he had drawn upon moments earlier had not strengthened him, it had hollowed him out. Even his divinity, once absolute and untouchable, now struggled to keep his body intact. It no longer flowed in harmony with him, but resisted, as though forced into coexistence with something fundamentally incompatible. That power had not reinforced his existence, it had opposed it, something alien to his nature, something that sought not to preserve, but to unravel him from within. And still, he lifted his head. His gaze was dimmed by exhaustion, his breathing uneven, his body on the verge of collapse, yet there was no hesitation in his eyes. Only resolve. The devil watched him approach in silence for a moment before speaking, her voice calm, measured, almost curious. “Do you truly believe you can still kill me, Atherius?” He took another step, slower this time, his vision blurring at the edges as he forced himself forward. “If I don’t… who will?” he managed, each word strained, dragged out through failing breath. “There is no one else. I’m the only one strong enough to end you… the only one who can stop this.” A quiet chuckle escaped her as she stepped forward to meet him, her composure untouched by his condition. “That,” she said softly, “is exactly what makes you perfect.” Then she reached up and removed her hood. Darkness slipped away from her form, revealing her true appearance, an elven woman with grey skin and impossibly refined features, her onyx hair falling freely around her shoulders, her black eyes deep and unreadable. There was no malice in her expression, no visible hostility, only a quiet, unsettling calm that carried far more weight than open aggression ever could. For the briefest moment, Atherius faltered. Not physically, but mentally, something in him hesitated, his focus slipping under the weight of what he saw. The reaction was immediate, instinctive, and dangerous. He forced it down at once, tightening his grip on his blade as he pushed forward again, refusing to let that moment take hold. “That is why my brother chose you,” she continued, her voice even, almost conversational. “Tell me… do you truly believe an ordinary human could survive what was done to you? Could endure every divine affinity, every resistance forced into their body without breaking?” “SHUT UP!” The shout tore from him, raw and uncontrolled, as he staggered closer, the blade in his hand trembling not from weakness alone, but from the strain of holding himself together. “The answer is no,” she said, undisturbed by the outburst. “You are not ordinary. You never were.” Each word landed with quiet precision, cutting deeper than any physical blow. “You were not born to be human, Atherius. Your body was never theirs to begin with.” He kept moving regardless, his teeth clenched, forcing his body forward through sheer will alone. He refused to accept it, refused to let the words settle, yet they lingered, impossible to fully ignore. “That is why he sent you,” she went on, her tone softening, almost gentle in its delivery. “My brother cannot come here himself. This place rejects him. To face me directly would drain him beyond recovery… so instead, he sends others. He shapes them. Breaks them. Uses them. Throws them into endless war, one after another, until nothing remains.” “Then why?!” The question erupted from Atherius before he could stop it, louder than before, his voice shaking with something deeper than anger, something raw, unresolved. “Why did you destroy my village?!” His breath hitched, his composure cracking as t