-----
Lucas was always a timid man.
Since his first life on Earth that he was always rather shy, lacked a proper spine, and often seemed to hide how he felt every so often.
However, he was sharp, intelligent, and very diligent.
Alongside this, he was also handsome and considered cute by his female coworkers, and his personality, although timid, was still rather good, so even the males liked to hang out with him… although it was mostly because he was popular with the girls, so anytime they went somewhere with Lucas some of the female coworkers would try to join them, although he was rather unaware of his appearance and looks being charming for the women. Mostly because he looked very young.
He was always seen as a good person, even considered an angel by most of his female coworkers, as he always served coffee to everyone each day, which always came accompanied by small treats such as donuts and or biscuits, and even worked extra hours for everyone else.
What he believed were bad traits were in fact what made him very popular, and such things carried to his second life as well.
He never did any of the things he did to actually be liked, they simply were born from his heart, a compassionate heart that his single mother taught him to have. She always told him to put himself in the shoes of other people, to understand their pains, and to try to be as considerate as he would like other people to be with him.
When he died, things didn't change much for him, his personality remained even when he was reborn as the rich heir of an aristocratic family within the Empire of Bestellen, and he quickly met with the rest of his former coworkers, who were all reincarnated in the same Empire.
After discovering his powers, he polished them every day, using his summoned artificial spirits for a variety of tasks, he discovered that he could be a good all-rounder, bringing healing, offense, and defense to his allies.
However, due to focusing too much on his Cheat Ability, he didn't do so as much with his other Skills, so he was rather weak physically, but it was nothing that the others could not cover.
Much like the other coworkers, he was brainwashed by Bestellen since being very young, and due to his compassionate and often na?ve personality, he pitied the god and humanity and decided to fight for him with the powers he was gifted when he reincarnated alongside the rest.
After that, the brainwashing continued and intensified when Eustace awakened his Guider Job, and he continued to fight the evil demons and beastmen for the greater good… However, as more time went by and as his hands were stained with more and more bloodshed, he quickly began to realize that there was something wrong with all of this.
Although they had indeed fought and defeated demons and beastmen that were malicious and that desired to kill them… many never fought back, younglings that trembled in fear as they were burned alive, sliced into pieces, or frozen into statues of ice.
Mothers that were only asking for forgiveness that was only given the most agonizing of deaths…
There was… something wrong with all of this.
These people were not evil, nor they even had malicious intentions. Much like the humans, elves, and dwarves, these people were trying to survive and get by through their lives.
He began to recall what his mother in his previous life had told him and began to put himself in the shoes of all those he had slaughtered.
Lucas was perhaps the first Hero to realize the atrocities they were committing and had tried to stop everyone else from killing the Demon Queen and her aides.
However, he was brainwashed once more by Bestellen and forced to fight, at the end, Anastacia died horribly, and he couldn't help but scream in pain and regret.
The Apocalypse quickly came after, the world was submerged by chaos and Bestellen became a mad god, devouring many divinities until he became completely insane out of the sheer amount of power he amassed.
Lucas, who still loved his friends even after all they did, decided to stick with them until the end of their second life… seeking to once more meet with Bestellen and ask him to stop this chaos.
However, by several turns of events, he died bitterly, betrayed by the same friends he once protected and cared for… the same coworkers he remembered warmly within his heart.
After dying, he was introduced to Veronica's new third life, the monster she had become, and more, but he couldn't help but see Veronica as a victim of all of this. Why was she being blamed for everything?
He managed to convince Mason and Natalia to speak with them… but in the end, his friends betrayed what they promised him, and ended attacking them, deeming the biggest victim on all of this scheme as the culprit of everything, the one to blamed for everything.
No, this was… completely wrong.
He couldn't understand from where this hate was coming from… he only felt guilt, horrible guilt.
Lucas just wanted people to stop fighting, to talk with each other like they used to do on Earth. But with power came madness, people decided to simply resolve their differences by trying to slaughter each other by using their fantastical powers.
There was no room for conversations, only for bloodshed…
Lucas saw as Natalia fought against Veronica until he completely lost sight of her, and saw how Mason fought angrily and bravely against Ervas, and how he was almost killed two times already…
He only desired for things to go back to normal… all of this was his fault.
He was now about to be killed… he couldn't do anything… he was not able to stop the conflict… and Ervas and Veronica didn't seem to want to talk anymore.
Everything was crumbling inside of his mind, and his spirit was breaking apart.
Until… he reached his limit.
His mind suddenly went through a complete shift and the only thing that appeared within his mind was… "Survive".
He saw as Ervas and his allies approached, as he glanced at them with a tired expression.
"I am going to live…" he said, as several lights of many colors descended from the heavens, his Spirits.
-----
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l