His name was Gail, and he was the strongest warrior in all of humanity.
Before marching out to battle the SS tier demon king Vorath, he made a promise to his childhood sweetheart, Hana. The day he returned victorious would be the day they wed.
Under his command, humanity's most elite legion clashed with Vorath in a battle that would decide everything. For the first time in a thousand years, humankind had a real chance to reclaim their lost lands.
But they were utterly defeated.
And with only two minutes left in his life, the System, acknowledging his great contributions to humanity, decided to grant him one chance at rebirth. He chose it without a second thought.
The next second, a voice rang in his ear.
"Wake up. Stop sleeping. Their army is almost here."
Gail shot to his feet, laughing out loud. "That damn demon king thought he could take me out. Hate to break it to him."
Then he noticed something was wrong. He was standing in a crowd of demons, and every single one of them was staring at him.
"The Blue Guild is closing in. If we don't run now, it'll be too late."
Gail was completely lost. Was this old man actually talking to him? Then he caught his reflection in a mirror. Two small horns were growing from his head, and his face twisted in shock.
"What the hell? Why am I a demon? System. Get out here right now. Wasn't I supposed to be reborn as humanity's champion? My girl Hana is waiting for me back home. What is this?"
His companions thought he had completely lost his mind.
The System scratched its head awkwardly. "So sorry about this. There was a bug during your rebirth."
"I don't want an apology. I want it fixed."
"Well. Sorry. That's not something we can fix."
Gail looked ready to crush it on the spot, threatening to file a complaint. The customer service was absolutely terrible.
To calm Gail down, the System offered him another chance at rebirth. All he had to do was get killed again, and he would be reborn as a human — as long as it wasn't suicide. With that, the System vanished.
Just then, a D tier mage reported sensing twelve members of the Blue Guild approaching. Among their group, only her highness at B+ could hold her own. Everyone else was no match. They had to flee through the escape tunnel immediately. Getting caught meant being flayed alive.
Gail's eyes lit up the moment he heard this. He was a demon now. If the humans killed him, he could be reborn.
He immediately started walking toward the humans' passage. Everyone thought he had gone completely off the deep end. To make sure his plan worked perfectly, he put on an act right away.
"Ha! Running away never solves anything. I'll hold the humans off alone. That gives all of you a chance to escape."
Just as he thought everything was going according to plan, a magic array appeared above the tunnel entrance, dropping a massive pile of rocks. The entrance was sealed in an instant. Gail was completely dumbfounded.
It was Silvara, daughter of the demon sovereign herself. She said not a single one of them would be left behind. After all, she and Gail had grown up together.
Gail was furious, veins bulging. This woman was standing in the way of his rebirth, and nobody got to do that. He swung his fist straight at the rocks, but reality slapped him hard. The rocks didn't budge an inch.
"What a nosy idiot," he muttered, his fist throbbing in agony.
Silvara couldn't believe what she had just heard. He had the nerve to call her an idiot.
"How dare you disrespect your highness?"
"Hey, don't underestimate a man's resolve to sacrifice himself."
Silvara thought she must have been blind all along. How had she never noticed how much of a man he truly was?
"What's so scary about humans? We're demons, and here we are hiding like cowards. Let me at least die with some dignity."
His words struck everyone like thunder. Silvara was moved to tears. Even as she turned to leave, she couldn't quite bring herself to go.
Now free to do as he pleased, Gail quickly made his way to the human settlement.
"Come on then, boys. If you're man enough, give me nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine cuts."
The humans couldn't believe their luck. They all charged at him at once. Gail stood completely unfazed, a look of eager anticipation on his face.
Come on, rebirth. I'm coming back, humanity.
But the next second, a volley of arrows rained down on the charging humans. Gail froze. It was his fellow demons.
His little stunt had triggered the demons' high spirit, boosting their combat power and even permanently raising their level. Gail nearly passed out.
"After the demon sovereign fell, the humans never stopped taking our land. Because we didn't fight back, we slowly lost our fire. Started believing we were weak."
Gail was still in a daze when the old man clapped him on the shoulder.
"You actually said something right today. And today is the day the demons fight back."
The humans watched in stunned silence. Did we just wake them up?
Silvara had advanced to A tier as well. The humans completely fell apart.
"Who the hell said their max was B tier? This is a completely different league."
The next second, Silvara gathered a massive orb of energy in the sky, a deep rumbling shaking the air. It was her ultimate, the Star of the Yard. When the dust settled, nothing remained but a massive crater. The once-feared Blue Guild was wiped off the face of the earth.
Gail's face completely fell. Not only had he failed to die, he had leveled up.
His mindset at that moment was exactly what it looked like. On his very first day as a low-ranking demon, he wanted to die.