"I will smile. No matter how many times I'm ridiculed and become a laughingstock. No matter how despairing reality is, I need to keep smiling. If I don't, how will I make the spirits or the goddess of fate smile?"

- Argonaut, The Hero of the Dawn.

–––

~8 years ago.

It was, all things considered, a relatively normal day.

In a village some distance away from Orario, there lived a boy named Bell Cranell.

To him, it was his birthday.

To the rest of Orario, it was the day that Zeus Familia would kill the Behemoth.

But things are rarely not connected, and these two were much closer than a person could have imagined.

–––

It was burning.

Flames flickered across the straw houses, setting the entire village on fire.

Through the panicked screams of villagers as they tried to rescue their loved ones from the fire, the growls of monsters could be heard.

This was not a singular sound, the type that they would hear occasionally when a stray goblin would find itself near the surface.

No, it was the cry of tens upon hundreds of monsters storming into the village, there were too many to count. Goblins, Kobolds and even orcs.

Bell was the type of child who had never seen blood before. Every annual pig slaughter, his mother would cover his eyes with her hands, and his ears with her arms.

But that would not happen now.

Because his mother was lying on the floor beside him in a pool of blood, both her arms removed in a gruesome manner.

"Bell..." His mother started, "Your smile is beautiful… don't let it get tainted on my account. If anything… keep smiling for your sister..."

Bell bit his lip before nodding once. It was a silent nod, and an acknowledgment of his parent's final wishes.

"I will..." He said, rubbing his eyes with his arm, "I will smile."

At that, a small hint of a smile forced his way onto his face.

–––

The next person fell. This time, it was one of his friends. He had always been kind to Bell, and had once even taken care of him when his parents were going to the city. He died with a landform weapon stuck inside his chest.

"Smile."

Another did. This time, it was his childhood caretaker.

"Smile."

More fell. Both of his friends died.

"Smile."

Bell was currently under a pile of corpses. The scent of blood masked his own, and the bodies themselves covered his body.

"Smile."

More people fell . One by one, they all were killed by the monsters.

Some were eaten, others were left to bleed out on the ground.

"Smile."

He saw his little sister huddled up underneath a bench.

It was an ordinary wooden bench.

And one that had several holes in it, attesting to its age.

It was no way near large enough, or for that matter, had a scent strong enough, to mask a child.

An orc sniffed the air, instantly catching onto the scent of live human flesh, and slowly moved it's head to face the bench.

His sister, Iris, had ghostly white hair that was often admired by others for it's elegance and spiritual quality.

But this hair would not help her here, instead serving as a beacon to draw the monsters near.

They were incensed by the smell of blood, and their carnivorous instincts were on an all time high.

An orc swung it's club down on the chair, instead destroying it and crushing her spine.

She let out a shrill scream as she felt the pain register, but instantly fell unconscious.

Bell silently put his hand to this face, covering his mouth.

A goblin and a kobold moved their way closer before bending down and opening their jaws.

"...s...mile..." Bell said, his hands still covering his mouth as he tried to force himself to smile.

He could hear the distinct sound of flesh tearing.

The sound of blood sloshing on the floor.

The cries of monsters.

And, once she regained consciousness, the screams of his sister as she felt the monsters feast on her flesh.

Moving his hands away from his mouth, he moved them to his ears, blocking them.

"Smile...you have to smile...smi–" His silent muttering was cut off by another scream, before it went quiet.

The monsters moved away, giving him a full view of his sister's prone body.

Just looking at her, Bell could tell that she was dead.

"Smile for your sister."

But she's dead.

"Smile for everyone else."

But they're also dead.

"Smile for yourself."

I'm also dead.

"What's the point in smiling..." Bell started as he gripped his chest with his hands, "IF THERE'S NO ONE FOR ME TO SMILE FOR?!"

A burst of light shot out of his body, flying into the sky.

It reached high in the sky before flowing a glowing rune.

Destroy.

–––

Spears of yellow light rained down.

It pierced the monsters, the houses, even the corpses of the villagers.

The monsters screamed in pain as they vanished into dust, leaving behind several magic stones.

The stones themselves were also destroyed by the light.

It was a purge.

The harsh light continued falling and falling.

Soon, no monsters remained.

But even so, there was a greater monster.

One in the form of a human that had just been born.

And he continued standing there as everything around him died, with a blank look on his face, tears streaming down his face, but at the same time, a wide grin covered his face.

AN: See why this is rated M? I warned you. Anyway. I'm warning you, this is different from the previous version. Very different. It's going to be darker, more gruesome, more death, and just more... M-rated... in general.

But some themes are still going to be the same.

A big thanks to everyone on my discord server (Code is: czFejhn) for helping me out, and motivating me.

Cya next time!