I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

"This would just hurt like a scratch... that comes from hell," I said, while injecting my hand inside the barrier.

Clipped in my hand was my Clarent blade, which had the same calibration as the Excalibur. People cannot wield this sword if they are not worthy of its power. If I had to recall the conditions of my sword, it only needed one thing.

"Heroicness….."

When my fingers came into contact with the barrier, a warm sensation heated my skin. It almost burned my hair follicles if it were not for my passive abilities, helping me overcome its trauma.

As I gingerly pressed my hand against the darkened protection, the obsidian element latched onto me. Since my hand became free with the darkened ability, those energies tried to kill me. But thanks to the little energy I stored within me, my hand went past the barrier as I quickly tossed the weapon on the other side.

"USE IT!" I shouted.

I never thought of someone wielding my favourite weapon and taking my spotlight on the stage. I always wanted to become the hero that saved the day when the people needed me the most. However, I could not do that part this time, considering our circumstances.

But despite my jealousy, I still played a vital role and lent my weapon to Green. As soon as that knight wanted to protect the people, he had earned the right to wield my sword.

"CATCH!"

Upon hearing my voice, Green caught the sword and wielded it with his dominant hand. He grabbed his original bastard sword in his non-dominant hand, making him use two swords at once for this battle, both equipped with the dark enhancement.

"With this, I could finally break through your dark shield!" Green announced, and wasted no time.

He went for the direct attack and slammed Clarent sword in front, while sliding the bastard sword as a flank attack. The king could only defend one position, which became an opening for Green. As soon as Green seized his opportunity, the king tumbled backwards from the damage.

A cloud of smoke emerged as soon as the king crashed against the wall. It covered the site for a moment before revealing the crowned man still standing on his ground, with his shield intact. But after taking a hit from two weapons, a crack formed at the centre of his shield, showing us that Green breached his defences.

"Give it up, king! You cannot rule this kingdom with your twisted ideals!" Green shouted, while pointing Clarent, the sword of peace, at the ruler. "My team supported your cause! Everyone believed in you! You even created the agricultural land that all the kingdoms copied! That plot saved and fed thousands of families starving from this famine. I….. I treated you as my hero. You're the one who told me that the king must protect your people! The villagers are our king, not the rulers, right? That's why you hated the king of Camelot, since he claimed himself as a king!…. And yet, you threw it all away."

"You can't save all of them, Green. You need to be efficient! All of you must know the consequences of saving everyone!" insisted the king. "Only a primitive mind would think like that! If your friends had not meddled with my plan, they would have been alive right now!"

"No…. You're wrong….. Once you killed those people, you became the famine of this kingdom."

After the two exchanged lines, Green finally went towards the king to slice his head. However, that line of thought came back biting against him.

Green wanted revenge against his comrades, not to help those people who needed him. He wanted to avenge his dead teammates with the price of the crowned man. But upon flooding his thoughts with this personal stain, Clarent lost its power and electrocuted him, temporarily damaging his arm.

That soldier did not make it through near the king and fell to the ground. We all stared in disbelief when Green failed to stop our common enemy.

When the king finally realised his circumstances, the guy kicked Green in the abdomen and rolled him to the side. Green became the king's punching bag as he received dozens of blows all over his body. And as soon as the king had enough, he spitted at Green and took the last laugh.

"I never treated you as someone special…. You were son to me...you're a disgrace to this kingdom. This town doesn't deserve someone like you. Think about the people who wanted to live for once? Those who pay for their taxes are the ones needed to be saved, not these... barely alive people," the king growled at Green before turning his back.

As soon as he grabbed the momentum, the king conjured dozens of magic circles in the shelter's room. He planned to kill everyone in sight, including the injured people beside me. The only thing we had to do was to stop his attacks... But we did not know how.

Galehaut also walked at the gate's front and prepared some protective measures that he knew. However, those spells were nothing but plastic bags covering the room behind him. It would barely even block those darkened abilities, despite using all of his mana.

But beggars did not have the luxury to choose within these circumstances. Even the injured villagers rose from their deathbeds and summoned any magical barrier that they could to protect themselves from the blast.

Fenrir stood in front of the entrance and stretched her arms. She kept mumbling to herself about transforming into her second form. But alas, Fenrir couldn't achieve what she wanted, which troubled her mind.

All the mercenaries who could still fight stood with us, despite Fenrir being around. They placed their emotions aside to protect the people behind this door, giving everything they had!

With the last ounce of my strength, I crawled my way in front of the door and raised my hand, compiling all the dark energy surrounding us. However, my spell's cooldown hindered me from using my ability, making me useless in this fight. I also did not have the Clarent's abilities, which would pull us back, eventually.

Within a few seconds, the king fired those dark spheres in our direction, while adding everything he had. He already computed the damage that those spells would give. And those magic abilities would specifically destroy the outer side of this village.

But before the dark energy crashed against us, a shield made of light emerged in front of us. As I followed the origin of this magic, a figure of a girl kissing the ground welcomed my eyes.

It was the injured Merleen, desperately protecting everyone from the darkened energy. Despite her sluggish body, Merleen kept shielding me when I needed her help. If I had to say it, she was also my hero in this world.

"You came…." I whispered, while smiling in her direction.

Regardless of the distance, Merleen looked at me and smiled back. She could not speak for the time being, since she preoccupied herself with the magic circles surrounding her hands. But with that one glance, I knew she heard my voice.

Fortunately, we obstructed the dozen dark spheres aimed at us. With the help of everyone present in this fight, we survived the initial attack of the king.

However, that ruler had more mana to spare. After defending our ground, the king discharged again an entire fleet of shadow particles cruising in the air. These dark shells had denser arcane compared to the ones we destroyed earlier.

"H-How do we stop this, Arthur?" Fenrir asked, as she slowly lowered her hand, accepting our defeat.

Galehaut and the rest of the people had lost all hope against these dark matters. I was the only one raising my hand, hoping to block everything in our way.

There was no chance for us to survive this blast…. But if there was... a glimmer of hope, I would like to have it right now.

I was a man without powers. I could even admit that I was the weakest man present inside this room. Even the injured people had more mana and experience than me, who played this game every time I had free breaks.

But despite these limitations, I wanted to be a hero…. I did not care if I had overpowered abilities or not... The only thing important right now was the people placing their bets on me... on us.

"I…. failed….." Within a few seconds, I closed my eyes and accepted defeat.

Everyone expected to disappear and meet with their loved ones on the other side of this world. An abrupt death was the only thing that could save us from this unbearable pain from the dark spheres.

However, the world answered my prayers when these dark bubbles vanished from sight. As I opened my eyes, Green stood tall in front of me, staring into my eyes.

"We won…."