Stab
„What? My vision is fading. What is happening?"
He was slowly losing his consciousness. "This can't be?", he tried to think. He was just taking a break in this low-level dungeon.
Kuro has never done anything to anger anyone. In the 25 years that he had been alive, he always made sure to act like a decent human being.
Partly due to the early loss of his parents, who raised him to be an upstanding member of society who does not look away in the face of injustice.
Shocked by what happened, he fell down from his excuse of a chair, that used to be the stump of a tree. His legs completely refused to support his decently athletic body any longer.
He used to work out every day in order to get stronger, as him being a D-Rank Diver was almost as good as having no rank. The dungeons were harsh to weak people.
Panic overcame his face, he started to look around like a maniac. But there was nothing to be seen.
Except for the smiling members of his party. He let out an excruciating scream, as he started to bleed out. A mass of happy memories rushed into his mind, thinking about how much fun they had together.
Laughter, banter, late-night drinking or emotional talks. All of this was a lie.
They even went fishing from time to time, competing on who caught the biggest fish. Regular night outs have been done every two days, to further deepen their bond.
"YOU TRAITORS!" came out from the top of his lungs, until he noticed that he was unable to move his tongue. In reality, he was unable to shape any words at all. It was a mere imagination.
From the perspective of an outsider, there was nothing to be seen or to be heard from Kuro. He was solely laying on the ground, slowly meeting his end.
His party was looking at him with a cold smile. One of them, Hito, who was the rogue of the party, used to carry poisoned daggers around. It had to be him, a small glimpse of a thought tried to reason.
It was the poisoned knife that took both his voice and his vision. The people who he had been diving into dungeons with had backstabbed him.
"And for what?", Kuro asked himself. It was probably because Kuro was able to accumulate a good chunk of money from his inheritance. Ever since his parents died, he had enough money to potentially buy one or two houses in a nice suburban area.
He had saved it for a future that would never occur, thanks to the betrayal. But his friends knew about it. His mistake was that he trusted them.
Teary eyed he thought, that they could not be that shallow. It was not like he was the richest man on earth and he even covered their bills from time to time.
Something else had to be the reason, but he was unable to guess what it was. It is not like it would have changed anything, considering he was losing blood at an alarming rate.
Regret came into his mind as well. "I regret being weak...", he made himself believe. But it was not his fault, it was the fault of being a mere D-Rank.
Laying on the cold ground amidst the dungeon, he did not have a lot of time to look at his surroundings as he was close to encounter his inevitable fate. But he noticed a blue shimmer that took over his vision.
At some point he went completely mad, being unable to see anything. "Curse you all.." his mind hinted to think of. But thoughts have gotten more difficult as he continued to bleed out.
As he was slowly dying, he swore to himself "I hereby vow you will... rue this day".
[You Have Been Betrayed By The People You Trusted. You Will Die In 5 seconds.]
[Do You Want To Be Reborn As A Demon?]
[Yes] / [No]
With Kuros last breath he glanced at the mysterious blue screen that took over his eyesight. It was obvious what he wanted. He was not going to die today.
[Yes]
[You chose wisely. Commencing Rebirth As A Demon]