[Corruption, Fusion, Purification]

Legend tells of the eternal fight between Good and Evil. Between Humans and Demons. It's a tale as old as time immemorial. And yet despite it, both sides still wanted to wage war with one another. Despite knowing that the cycle has gone on for so long that there's no way that their fight won't just result in it continuing.

Standing at the center of these eternal wars were two chosen individuals. The Hero, and the Demon King. Both serve as the natural leader of their respective sides, even if it may just be an informal title to some. And as long as they clash, the war will continue. No matter who wins, the other side will quickly find a way to turn back the tide and keep them in a stalemate.

That was how it had gone for millenia. And even now, on this very day as the newest hero woke up with his mind made up, that would continue...

---

"You mustn't go, young one."

This again. The young Hero had heard this at least a hundred times at this point. And he had finally decided that enough was enough, to the point where he glared at the aged man who had called out to him.

"Uncle." The Hero said, glaring at the scarred man. "You can't stop me. I know you mean well, but I need to defeat the Demon King. If I don't, our village... Everyone, they'll end up murdered by their forces. Do you want to see everyone suffer, just because of some dumb history?"

The older man narrowed his eyes and looked at his body. It had been several decades since he joined one of the heroes on his journey to strike down the Demon King. And here he was. In a backwater village. With nobody but children listening to his warnings... And even they ignored him. Because they knew that what he said wasn't worth its salt.

"Still. You mustn't." He said, clenching his fist. As long as he drew breath, he would not be responsible for the death of another young life. Not after what had happened to his Hero. Not after what had happened to everyone that stood beside him on that fateful journey...

The Hero sighed, before he approached the elderly man that had taught him a lot of skills over the last few years. And he pulled forth his sword, reaching out with the handle turned towards the man. "If you really don't want me to go. Then stop me yourself. Otherwise, I'm going to go." He said, determination flaring in his eyes.

Silence filled the air between the two, the Hero's expression refusing to change despite knowing what dangers lay ahead. And the older man had to relent, closing his eyes and pushing the blade back towards the boy. "Very well. Go if you must. But remember that I warned you. The Demon King has done much to earn their reputation."

"I will. I won't forget your techniques, Uncle. Nor will I forget your wisdom." The Hero said, nodding and smiling a little. "Tell my little sister that I'll be back before she knows it. And... If I end up falling, make sure to protect her."

The older man nodded, affirming this simple promise between the teacher and the student, before watching the Hero take off. Just like he had watched his companion so long ago do the same. Only back then, he truly believed that the cycle could change.

Now? He knew better. He knew that he had to prepare, for the eventual result of their clash...

---

"Demon King! I've come to slay you!"

The Hero's journey... It was a simple one. He was not one for allies, not one for distractions. He very simply slayed the demons in his way, and if it just happened to help somebody, then that was a wonderful side effect. Not something he explicitly aimed for. This mindset was to allow him to reach his destination quicker, since the distractions would just result in the Demon King's forces trying to encroach upon areas that he didn't defend. If he went straight for the Demon King like this, then he wouldn't end up endangering anybody but himself.

Of course, it meant that he ended up fighting a lot of demons. Not just a small horde or three. No, he managed to slay a good army. And then a dozen more or so, resulting in his outfit being both in tattered and truly bloodied, due to the amount of bodies he had to carve through. But it was all for the sake of the greater good. All for the sake of saving his kind from the Demons.

And here he was. Finally, in the Demon King's castle. And what was the first thing he saw? What was enough to bring a mild sense of terror to his eyes? What was enough to make his heart skip a beat, bordering on stopping entirely for a moment?

"Mom! Mom! The Hero's arrived!"

It was children. There were no soldiers stationed in this castle. There were no enemies. There were only children. Ashen children, whose horns had not yet pierced through their skulls and grown to the same fantastical length that the adult Demons had. No, these were innocent. They were not unlike the Hero's own sister back home. And here he was, acting just like an invader...

And yet, they weren't afraid? If anything, they seemed mature for their age. They just stared, a few of them in awe, a few of them even trying to reach for the boy's sword out of sheer curiosity. That was enough to make him back away, panting and gasping...

"G-Get away from me... D-Don't you feel anything from seeing this?!" The Hero's confidence was all but shattered by their reactions. He had fought so many Demons that wanted nothing but to try and slaughter him. So many of them had been felled on his blade. Why were these ones different? Why were they... Why weren't they trying to kill him?!

The Demon children just shook their heads, not entirely in unison. "Mom's told us about Heroes. Heroes keep fighting. They're kinda sad." The oldest Demon among the bunch said. "But Mom's going to handle you. That's what she's always said." The Demonic boy said, smiling a bit. He had total and complete confidence in his parent.

"...Where is she?" The Hero said. Granted, this encounter was also the first time that he heard the Demon King was a woman. But that wouldn't stop him. If she commanded all those Demons, and these innocent children were to grow up to become Demons that would threaten Humanity... Then so be it. He would have to strike her down. Even if it would make him a pariah in the eyes of these children.

The oldest pointed towards a big set of double doors. "She might be sleeping. Otherwise, she would've heard us earlier." He said, before looking back at the Hero. "How long have you fought, Mister Hero?" He asked, with the most innocent look a Demon could give a Human...

"Too long. I wish your Mother would've stopped her assault. But I have to stop her. It'll be my last fight." He said, walking past the boy, shivering a bit as all the children kept looking at him. "...And what of you all, what if I slay your Mother?" The young Hero asked, not seeing the point in being subtle about a foregone conclusion.

The children started to chat between themselves, before the oldest clapped his hands and made them all go quiet. "If you beat Mom, then that's it. I'll protect my siblings, especially if you point that sword toward us." As the eldest, and the most matured of these strangely gentle children, the hatred that sat at the core of his being was strong. But not strong enough to stop the Hero right this moment. He knew better. He knew that he had to trust his Mother.

"We'll see. Maybe, just maybe... We can talk things out." The Hero said. He knew it was an impossibility. In fact, just mentioning this was enough to make him seem like a hypocrite. But he needed something to lean on. And this was the only thing he could think of.

The eldest son smiled a bit himself, before shaking his head and walking away. He had his siblings to tend to. And he wouldn't get in the way of his Mother's battle. Only after it finished, would he step in.

The Hero took a deep breath as he opened the double doors... A teeny, tiny bit, and then squeezed his way inside and shut the doors behind him so he didn't have to deal with the judgmental looks of several Demon children pouring onto his back and giving him more than a few knots in his stomach.

"A visitor, at this hour..? Strange, I don't recall making any arrangements..."

A sultry voice echoed from the other end of the chamber he just entered, and at that moment... He laid his eyes on the woman that had caused him and the other Humans so much grief. The woman that had done so much to trouble him and his loved ones. Even if only indrectly, thanks to the way she had commanded her armies.

The Demon King. A long black-haired woman clad in... Basically just a set of black gloves and boots and a set of spiked shoulderpads, while her torso was mostly uncovered aside from a few pieces of cloth wrapped around the important parts. Then again, considering she had a six pack, muscle carefully toned across the rest of her body, and a set of knockers that would make any human streetwalker jealous if they knew what she was packing? She damn well deserved to show off. Especially to somebody that served as her natural enemy.

By comparison, the short blonde boy who called himself a Hero wore the traditional garb of one. A simple circlet with the Hero's Soul, a holy gem, embedded in the front. A tunic that had at this point been slathered in blood and otherwise cut up to the point where it only just covered the top part of his body while leaving his stomach and the rest uncovered. A set of incredibly tiny shorts that had gotten wedged in between his cheeks more than once, and then the archetypical boots and gloves that were enchanted to handle any weapon. Especially the demon slaying blade in his hands, which had been custom-forged for the Hero to wield...

"Demon King! I've come to stop you!" The Hero shouted, taking the moment to swing his blade to splash the fresh blood off it. Prior to entering this castle, prior to getting shocked by the Demon King's children, he had managed to fight through her elite guard. And then the elite's elite after that. Really, he could've turned around earlier and just accepted that her forces had been depleted. But he had to make sure that he had finished the job. Otherwise, they would just regroup. And then he'd be back to square one.

The Demon King yawned a bit as she stretched, her ashen breasts bouncing as she climbed out of her incredibly comfy throne. "And here I thought I wouldn't see another Hero for a few hundred years. Really, and here I took my time when it was my turn. But you just went ahead and blitzed through everything, huh?" She said, cracking her knuckles a bit as she stepped closer. "Then again, you had to get it from somebody, don't blame you for getting impatient."

What she said certainly made sense. Prior to her rise to power, the last Hero had managed to rule peacefully as a King for several centuries. But that was all a sham. Just as the Hero crowned her daughter as the next in line... The Demons struck, and the war returned in full force. At least, that's how the stories went. That the peaceful Hero King was felled by the violent Demon King...

So why did this not feel right? Why did she give off such a warm, familiar aura? It couldn't be right. She was the one that caused all of this. She was the one to cause all these issues. She had to be struck down!

"You're the one who's been invading our lands, of course I had to get ready to slay you. Otherwise, you would've slayed all that I care about!" The Hero shouted, pointing his demon slaying blade directly at the Demon King. "For the sake of their lives, for the sake of those that you have mercilessly wrung the life from, I will make you pay!"

The Demon King laughed at the boy's spiel, before quietly sighing and brushing a hand through her hair. "Then let's dance, boy. Let's see if you're as strong as I was back then!" She shouted, only to reach into her hair and draw a blade of her own. A thick black blade, thicker than her thigh, which seemed to absorb the light around her as it poured into it.

Before the Hero had a chance to react to what she was doing, the Demon King had dashed forward and slammed her blade into the side of his own. Propelling him backward as he tried to keep his footing, gritting his teeth as he glared at her. She was strong. Way stronger than he could've expected. Then again, she had felled the previous Hero when she had ruled the land for what felt like eons. It only made sense that she'd be this strong.

"They don't make Heroes like they used to!" The Demon King laughed as she wound up another swing, slamming the extremely sharp edge into the side of the boy's blade. "But I commend you for trying! Most would've ran away after a single swing. Hell, that's why I stopped trying to invade your damn land! You never gave me a challenge. All that I got out of fighting you Humans was sheer boredom! And that's why I've been hounding you with my armies instead. To see when one of you would actually stand up. Unfortunately, it just had to be you, the Hero, instead of a normal chump." Her voice grew a little distant as she prattled on and on about her plan, before laughing from the heart. "I'll savour this last dance, even if I wanted a fight with a stronger nobody!"

None of it made sense to the Hero. What was all of this about? What was she talking about? It frustrated him! It frustrated him to no end! First his teacher spoke about how dangerous she was. And while yes, she was definitely dangerous with how freakishly strong she was, to the point where his blade was starting to crack in response to her continued blows, but she was also cryptic.

"Just... JUST SHUT UP!" The Hero shouted, standing his ground as he swung back at the Demon King. Meeting her swings with his own, as he trudged onward and grit his teeth. He wasn't going to fall to her. Not with everything on the line. "Talk sense, or stop talking!" He shouted, his blade starting to glow as his determination flared up.

The Demon King laughed, even as her blade took the same sort of punishment that she delivered to the Hero's. "I'm talking perfect sense, Hero! You just don't know what you've been born into! This endless cycle that we've been apart of, since the very beginning of this world!" She shouted back, just as they started to clash again.

"I realized that this cycle would consume me! That's why I made my time. That's why my children are right outside this door! Because I want them to keep a piece of me with them, even if I should fall prey to it! But should I strike you down, they'll make sure to avenge my spirit, once the cycle claims me as well!" She shouted, all while a bit of sweat started to pour down her face. Putting this much power into her swings was tiring her out. Really, this was her own fault. But it was how she fought. She couldn't just change that without changing herself.

The Hero pushed back against her strength. He pulled his body back and slammed his blade against the weakspots in the Demon King's own. "JUST SHUT UP!" He had heard enough of her prattling. Cycle this, cycle that. What he wanted now was nothing more than an end to it all. And he could see it. All he needed to do was shatter her blade!

The Demon King's eyes widened as the Hero's willpower allowed him to hasten his movements. In the matter of a few seconds, the crack in her blade spread further and further as the young bloodied boy delivered strike after strike after strike. And not a moment after he managed to make the blade snap off the main section...

He took the chance to drive his demon slaying weapon straight into her gut. Shouting from the depths of his heart as he ran with her across the throne room. Leaving a trail of blood behind as he slammed her against the throne, blade pinning her to the back. She had suffered her first and her final defeat. At the one boy she really wished that she hadn't met yet.

"Been a while since I've fought somebody as strong as you..." The Demon King muttered, as she looked into the furious boy's eyes. "Yeah. I remember those eyes. I remember what it was like being on the other end. I did this to the old King too, you know?" She coughed, a bit of blood spilling out of her mouth. "Wonder what happened to my old pal. Last I remember, he managed to run away when it was my turn... Then again, everything's been foggy since that day..."

"Shut up."

He didn't want to hear it. He just let go of his blade and let her hang there on the throne she had sat on for so long. It was all over. Now that he had felled her, he could return home with his head held high... And he could see his sister smile, knowing that she would never be hurt again.

At least. That's what he thought. What he didn't expect was for the blood pouring out of the Demon King, indeed even the blood that had been trailing as he pushed her all the way to the throne, to start swirling around him. And it wasn't trying to constrict him or anything. It was trying to do something to him, something vile. Something foul...

"Heh. You know... I always did wonder what it would be like to be on the other end of things." The Demon King muttered, coughing a bit. All while her body started to vanish. Flickering into bloody sparks that started to swirl alongside the rest of the blood pouring around the Hero. "I wonder if I was that confused when I fell to the cycle's influence..."

"SHUT! UP!" Even now, the Demon King was being vague and cryptic. But the Hero didn't want it. He wanted her to shut up. Permanently. To that end, he grabbed the blade from her stomach, and slashed to try and silence her for good...

Only to slash through nothing. Because there was nothing left of her as he slashed. Only the sparks that represented her soul remained, and those he could not slash. Because they had already sank into him.

His heart started to pound against his chest. He could feel a vile fire growing within him. And he fell onto his knees, panting, gasping, groaning. It hurt. It hurt so much. And yet he couldn't understand why. Why was this happening to him? What exactly was the source of this horrendous experience, and what had he done to earn it? He thought that by defeating and killing the Demon King, then... then..!

In that very moment, when his desperation and his lack of knowledge intertwined, the blood sinking into him blessed him with a vision. A vision of what had happened so many times before. A vision of what was happening to him.

Every time that the Hero had struck down the Demon King, the Demon King was forced into the Hero's body. Thus, a new Demon King was born. That was the cause of his current pain. He was becoming the Demon King. But that wasn't all that had happened in the past.

Every time the Demon King managed to strike down the Hero... The Hero was forced into the Demon King's body. Becoming a new Hero in the process. And the memories flashing through his mind confirmed one part of the puzzle, one part that had confused him.

The Hero that had served as their King for what felt like eons... It wasn't the same King. Time and time again, the Demons had tried to assassinate the Hero. But because the Hero was aware of the cycle, she left herself open to these deaths. And she would continue ruling, after being forced into the body of the Demon King that slayed her. This was how she was able to live for centuries. Replenishing herself with the hatred of her enemies.

The only thing that broke the cycle of 'peace'... Was the Demon King that he just slayed. This Demon King had been that very same Hero. This time, she had been the one outsmarted. The Demon King that tried to assassinate her had learned about the cycle... And essentially forced her to kill her. As a result, they fused together. And the Demon King stood tall once more. But she felt empty. Not just because there wasn't a Hero to fight against, due to the circumstances that led to her birth... But because the Hero had managed to live a long life in peace. A life where she was cherished. And even after being transformed into a Demon King, she craved that life once more.

...The children outside the chamber were her solution to this issue. That was why there were such innocent children... Such innocent souls, amongst the Demons... She wanted nothing more than peace. At least a little peaceful slice. She still wanted to fight. It was in her soul as a Demon King to fight. That was why she still made her armies raze the Humans to try and force one to stand up against her. She was just unlucky that the first one to challenge her happened to be the one that would succeed her.

The Hero trembled as all of that information, that entire revelation, sank into his mind. And his heart just kept on pounding. He hated it all. He hated it. But he couldn't... He couldn't do anything to stop it. Even trying to strike himself down would probably ust postpone the inevitable.

His consciousness was fading. All that he could do now was curse the cycle for what he had been entangled in. And then just hope... Just hope that things would turn out alright for his future Demon King self. That was all that he could hope for...

Thus, the Hero collapsed. And the blood of his former enemy baptized him, bringing forth the new Demon King...

---

Her head hurt.

That was the first thought that filled the Demon King's mind as she slowly but surely got up from the floor. It wasn't just her head either. Everything was aching. Like she had just been running for miles upon miles, and the exercise caused backlash on her body to try and tell her that this had been a completely terrible idea. Well, tough shit, she wanted to do that. If her body had a complaint, it could take it up with her will to push herself to her limits. And then she'd cram that complaint right where the sun didn't shine because her body didn't need to be sassing her for what she wanted to do!

...Why was she arguing with herself anyway? Was she just working off steam? Whatever's the case, she quickly lost interest with her own frustration as she stood up straight, aching be damned. Now she just needed a mirror. She needed to look at herself. Just so she was really sure she was... Well, herself. For some reason, her heart was telling her that there was something wrong with her. Should she beat up her heart too for trying to question what she wanted to do? Nah. That'd probably just knock her lights out.

The Demon King looked around for a mirror... And just sighed and shook her head. There weren't any around. So she had to find another way to look at herself... But what could she use?

Before she figured out a solution to her relatively simple problem, the doors leading into the room she was stuck in opened up, and an ashen-skinned boy with teeny tiny horns poked his head in. And though he recognized her, he smiled and came closer.

Who was he? Why did she feel her heart heating up as she looked at him? ...No, that couldn't be right. She didn't know who she was. And she wasn't about to act on feelings she was unsure of.

Before the Demon boy had a chance to show that he was pleased with his Mother surviving, the muscled Demon King ran straight past him. Not just past him either. Past all the children that he had been caring for. Leaving them all behind, as she tried to get her emotions in order. Tried to make sense of everything that ran through her head and her heart...

The boy watched, and softly smiled. "So that's what you talked about, Mom?" He mused. His Mom had told him all that she knew about the role of the Demon King and the Hero. And if Mom acted this way, then... Well, it wasn't Mom anymore. So it was up to him to take care of his siblings from that day onward...

He just sighed. And hoped that the new version of Mom would be alright. That's all that he could do...

---

"Not again..."

The elderly man who had taught the Hero everything he knew, the man who had encouraged him to stay safe and stay in the village where he had grown up... He felt something vibrating through him. He had felt this presence countless times before. Because it was his curse. The curse that he got from being close when everything came crashing down.

And sure enough, almost as quickly as he felt the curse piercing through him, he could hear somebody approaching. Those heavy stomps being more than enough for him to tell who had come his way. The very same boy that he had told to stay safe... Now come back as a threat to those around him...

Or at least, that's what he had thought. But one look at the Demon King who had rather brazenly made her entrance made it clear that things were ever so slightly different this time around. How could he tell? Well, it was rather simple.

"D-Damnit... Shouldn'tve... Run that far..."

The Demon King was laying on the ground. Sweating like she had just run a marathon. Which, given the way she spoke, she probably had. It seemed that this time around, the cycle had managed to make the victor rather... Stupid? No, that wasn't the word. Stubborn was probably the correct term.

Compared to the last time he had seen her, she was a lot more animalistic too. A bit of fur covering her limbs, and more muscle on the torso. Combine that with a thick set of ox-like horns poking out of the side of her head, and she seemed less like a demon and more like a big minotaur. Then again, there had been at least a couple of Heroes that had been born as beastkin before, so it didn't surprise him that some of those elements popped back up for this cycle.

And admittedly, her arrival didn't surprise him either. Mainly because this had happened so many times before. All thanks to his curse. One way or another, the winner of the bout would find their way back to him. Because he had a very important role to play in the cycle, due to his attempts to break it by nearly striking down the Demon King instead of the Hero doing it during his time...

"You need anything, stranger?" The older man asked as he approached the ox-like Demon King, kneeling down a bit to look her deeper in the eye. "Or would you rather have me kick you out for being a Demon?" He said, grinning a bit and teasing her in the process. Because he knew that getting too worked up about all of this was pointless. He had tried to break the cycle. He had failed. And this was his penance. Caring for the new Hero or Demon King... And then a bit more beyond that.

The Demon King looked up at the rugged older man, and a blush started to cover her cheeks. What was this feeling? Damnit, she just ran off to try and deal with the feelings in her heart, she wasn't about to give into them! "I'll beat you up, that's what I'll do!" She shouted, getting back on her feet despite everything aching and despite the fact she was sweating so badly...

He smiled. He'd beat some sense into her, and then he'd give her some space. She needed to work out her true self before anything else. And once she had done that, she'd probably grow attached enough to go down on him. Just like many other versions of her had done in the past.

The child born from this cursed union would serve as the new Hero. And hopefully, this time... He would be able to stop the cycle. He just hoped his future child would listen to him. But considering the beastly King in front of him, he sure had his work cut out for him.

For now, the cycle would continue. At least this next part was one that he actually enjoyed...