The Laughing Swordsman

Serosh looked straight into Lucifer's eyes.

"Why do you even want me to come with you? The only thing I've proven I could do is to fail."

Lucifer let out a soft sigh.

"Because I know that you are not only a capable person, but one that wishes to protect the people of this world."

Serosh blinked a few times before smiling bitterly.

"And how exactly do you know that?"

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's call it intuition."

Serosh raised an eyebrow.

"Regardless of what you believe, the end result is that I've killed the very city I was supposed to protect."

He shut his eyes and put a hand over his heart.

"I am not worthy of another attempt."

Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Listen."

He took a deep breath.

"You fucked up. You did not fulfill your responsibilities. You weren't even noble enough to sacrifice yourself so that your city could continue. I'm not disputing that."

Lucifer looked straight into Serosh's eyes, as though he wanted to pierce into his soul.

"But why does that matter? People make mistakes. They always do. There was never a handbook that would tell us what would happen as a result of our actions. The only thing we can do is guess."

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.

"The important thing is what you learn from a mistake. At the very minimum, you learned that it wasn't correct. In other words, you have become smarter."

He smirked.

"I would much rather prefer someone that has failed in everything they did over someone that succeeded. The one that succeeds surely has natural capability, but they do not understand failure."

Lucifer raised a finger and put it in front of his face.

"They do not understand what it means to suffer. They do not understand what it means to bear the consequences. And most importantly, they have never learned how to stand back up."

He sighed.

"If they have only risen their entire life, the moment they fall, they lose everything. In the end, I cannot trust that they will rise once more. A pillar shoots up to the sky, but the moment it falls, it falls hard."

Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

"A person that has only failed has never felt what it meant to go higher, but as long as they are willing to try, it means they have stood up. Perhaps the only thing they have is a base, but that base is strong. The hardest thing was never to succeed, but try when you've failed."

Serosh pressed his lips together.

"Perhaps. But in the end, the one that succeeds is more capable. Perhaps they will find it difficult to tolerate failure, but if they have learned to take that hit, they will be far more valuable than the one that has shown no capability."

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess you could look at it that way. But my goal is to protect this world. And frankly, the task is essentially impossible."

He laughed.

"I don't need someone with a little bit more skill or talent. What I need is a person that will try no matter what, even when it doesn't make sense."

Lucifer smiled.

"Someone that will fight even when it's too late."

Serosh did not respond for a moment, but eventually opened his mouth to say the words.

"I admire your mentality and your lofty ambition to protect the world."

His expression hardened.

"However. I am no longer a good person. The blood on my hands will never go away."

A bitter smile formed on Serosh's face.

"These hands are not fit to save the world."

The corner of Lucifer's lip twitched.

"What kind of thinking is that?"

He took a deep breath.

"I've killed far more people than you. Far more people than you possibly could in your lifetime. Some of them were evil, some of them were innocent, some of them were people I trusted."

A strange flicker passed by Lucifer's eyes.

"And some of them were people that trusted me."

He began lifting his hand up, almost like he was getting ready to attack.

Suddenly, Lucifer moved.

The sounds of bones cracking apart filled the air.

Serosh flinched before widening his eyes in shock. Not because he was hit.

But because Lucifer dug into his own chest, pulling out his heart.

Blood immediately spilled out of the wound and even began overflowing from the corners of his lip. Yet, Lucifer's expression didn't even twitch.

"You can take a look at my heart for yourself. It is bright red, yet I myself am black-hearted. The burden of my sins have long outweighed my right to live."

The wound in Lucifer's body immediately began to heal up.

Lucifer motioned with his chin to Serosh.

"You yourself already have a black heart. Committing a few evil things here and there is only natural."

He smirked.

"But I don't care."

The blood seeping out from his wound and mouth slowed to a stop.

"Only someone that truly understands the evil of this world will know how to fight against it."

Lucifer tossed his still beating heart.

"Now I'll ask again. Will you come with?"

Serosh caught the heart.

He watched as it slowly stopped beating. Then, he slowly looked up to Lucifer.

"If you say that much..."

Serosh sighed.

"I'll try."

The corner of Lucifer's lip turned up.

"I like that response."

Suddenly, the ground underneath them shot upwards with a bang, before flying off into the distance.

Maya blinked a few times. She didn't understand the conversation they had, but still remembered what mattered to her.

"Are we going to Apollo?"

Lucifer chuckled.

"That's the goal, but we have no way to track him."

Out of nowhere, Serosh gasped.

"Wait."

Lucifer turned to him.

"Hm?"

Serosh slowly closed his eyes, like he was falling asleep.

"I didn't notice this before... but that child, Apollo, created a statue of me."

Maya's eyes widened as she grabbed onto him.

"So you know where he is?"

Serosh furrowed his brows.

"I can sort of tell where the statue is. Apollo has already given it to someone else, but he should still be nearby."

Lucifer laughed.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Serosh pointed in a direction.

"Go that way.. In the meantime, I will have a chat with someone."