"WHY! Why did you kill them all?!" Kazimierz shouted at the top of his lungs amid tears.

His bloody hands holding the still but shallow breathing head of the enemy he has been seeking for the past decades. At this moment he neither felt content nor accomplished, just empty and lost. He won but nothing could bring back what he once had.

Just then he heard the faint voice of the fiend before him.

"Ha..Ha..Ha... Who said I... killed them? Are you sure... you didn't come to the wrong... conclusion?" said the half-dead man prior to coughing up some more blood.

Bam!

Absolutely livid Kazimierz gave him a right hook and screamed,"Stop your fucking bullshit! I spent decades searching for you and you want to tell me it was all for nothing?! As if I would believe you, you motherfucking weasel!"

Even though he said so, somewhere within him he had the suspicion that this dying scumbag was right. Too many things just didn't add up but because of his rage he just wanted to torture and kill the fucker who took everything from him. But if Kazimierz really made a mistake during those years hunting for the killer, it would mean that he had to start anew.

"Whether you... trust me or not... doesn't matter. You wasted your chance... and I bet the real perpetrator... is laughing his ass off... You lost, old man!" the dying man spoke while giggling like a lunatic.

Barley containing his anger Kazimierz stopped himself from squashing the asshole's head and with a defeated sigh he popped a regeneration potion to not let the only new lead die. But before any rebellious thought could spark in the mind of the now visibly healing man, both of his legs and arms were fractured multiple times.

"Don't even think I will overlook all the other times you screwed with me. I'll let you live as long as you are useful but after that you are dead meat. Got that Ivan, you piece of shit?"

Ivan screamed but endured, what he has been through in the last hours has propelled his pain resistance to a whole new level, so even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to faint anymore just because of some broken bones.

Panting Ivan laughed,"You will regret letting me live, Kazimierz, I swear that on my soul." He had to catch his breath for a bit and then continued," What makes you even think I will tell you the truth and not send you to your doom? Your naivete is hilarious, how did you even survive till now, dimwit?"

Bam! Slap!

Kazimierz pulled out some shock handcuffs and slapped them onto Ivan's wrists. The miserable guy finally fainted after getting his head pummelled. Blood-soaked and dejected Kazimierz put Ivan on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and left the ship, where he had killed over one hundred elite mercenary troops and tortured the now unconscious dirt bag.

Back on his own star-cruiser he was greeted by his loyal crew but as soon as they saw Kazimierz with a look that could kill a weak-minded individual, they held back their celebration and inquired what exactly happened.

"Just give me a few hours, I'm exhausted and want to take a long shower, then I can tell you what you want to know. Just lock this scumbag up and make sure he can't kill himself, I still need him."

That was the only explanation they got before their captain locked himself in his room. Inside, while showering, Kazimierz began going through all the events that happened in the past 90 years. But as soon as he started to relax the ship's alarms went off. He ran to the bridge, completely soaked, just at the right moment to witness multiple colossal space vessels exiting the subspace.

"Everyone on attention and get ready for evasive maneuvers and fire up the proton engine! Let's see whether they are friendly or wanna fight. Be ready to enter subspace any second!" Kazimierz commanded sternly as a service bot handed him a new set of clothes and dried his hair.

While the five massive spaceships approached, the small crew of the star-cruiser worked, albeit tensely, like clockwork and made sure they could escape whenever they wanted. Meanwhile the captain of the little ship was done tidying up and sent a communication request to the unknown fleet. Without much delay they picked up and an alien, who looked like a purple, swollen octopus, was displayed on the holographic screen.

"Oh what a pleasant surprise!" said Kazimierz sarcastically,"What does the intergalactic dipshit of a commander want from someone noble like me?"

After hearing such a provocation right of the bat the purple octopus turned a few shades darker and wheezed,"Kazimierz Strono, you're a criminal who is wanted by the whole universe, in what reality are you noble, you obnoxious cunt! I'm going to catch you and take you to the federations high court."

The alien started fuming and ranting while Kazimierz secretly gestured to his pilot to get them out of here. He connected the photon drive to the main engine and started the subspace dive sequence, without a second to lose.

But as soon as the protocol started an attendee of the alien airhead shouted,"They are trying to escape, shoot the tractor beam and disable their engines!"

The purple commander turned even darker and was staring daggers through the screen. Kazimierz didn't seem to notice though and laughed,"Well it was fun seeing you again. Next time maybe set up a real encirclement, if you are serious to catch us at least. Bye bye!"

And just like that they were gone.

"FUUUUUCKKKK YOU KAZIMIERZ!" the now black octopus was furious and was thrashing the bridge of the main ship. All of the staff were keeping their distance to not get hit by their out of control commander.

The vice-commander tried to reason with his partner and calm him down,"Levi'khan control yourself you are in no position to embarrass yourself any further! Especially if our mission wasn't a failure just yet. We came here to pick up that weasel Ivan Stock not a notorious pirate like Strono, so let's search that wreck of a spaceship they left and hopefully find his corpse at least."

Hearing his old friend mentioning his position, he punched through his seat with one of his tentacles and slowly collected himself. "You're right, that asshole always gets under my skin and I can't take it anymore. Thanks for talking some sense into me." he gave his companion an appreciative look and turned on the main com for the fleet. "As you all saw the pirates got away but let us continue our mission and salvage whatever we can."

After a few minutes the crew members responsible for salvaging got on small ships, that looked like oversized trash trucks, and flew to the drifting space wreck. Equipped with the latest, high end gear they boarded the leftover airlock and started searching through the wreckage. But just when they came to the room where Ivan was being tortured a white light expanded from a small cylinder in front of them. From the fleet's main ship both commanders had the best view of the massive explosion that completely obliterated their men.

Now even the calmer of the two was enraged and wanted nothing more than to kill Kazimierz himself. Alas it was already too late and they had not only failed their mission but also lost a team of elites. When the time came their superiors would definitely get their heads. So they were in dire need of some useful information about that elusive pirate captain.

"I want everything we have on Kazimierz Strono. Go dig deep and find anything useful that could help us locate him! And that now so move your asses and get going!" screamed the vice-commander, while saliva drops were flying through the air. The crew didn't dillydally because nothing was scarier for them than when their normally calm and well mannered superior lost his cool. Not to mention that nobody wanted to end up like the chair of their commander that now had multiple holes in it.

-Somewhere in space-

Kazimierz and his crew came out of the subspace and after a thorough scan of their surroundings they finally relaxed. Without further ado Kazimierz went to take a nap to refresh his mind and begin his search for any missed piece of the puzzle that was his life.

Five hours later he could be seen siting at his desk and looking through photos and documents of his past.

'What did I miss? When did I make a mistake? I guess I will have to start at the beginning and work my way through every instance of my journey.'

Thus let me tell you the story of how Kazimierz Strono became the man the whole universe knows as the Demon of Nihility.