Chapter 235
Somewhere in a dark, underground cavern, two men clad in grimy robes sat at a round table.
Tap.
One of the men, whose fingers were so pale and slender they hardly seemed to belong to a man, raised his hand and began to rhythmically tap on the table.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
His tapping was filled with irritation, and though it went on for a considerable time, the man sitting opposite said nothing.
It was the finger-tapper who finally broke the silence in frustration.
"Why the hell aren't they here yet?"
He clenched his fist and slammed it down on the table.
Bang!
The impact caused his robe to flutter dramatically before settling back into place, revealing that his left sleeve hung empty; his arm was missing.
Indeed, the man was Volkan, the 'Maestro of the Battlefield,' who had been struggling with his emotions lately, exacerbated by the loss of his arm and the daily inconveniences that came with it.
"Hahaha!"
Suddenly, the man across from him burst into laughter. His eyes gleamed mysteriously from beneath his robe, hinting at some unsettling presence.
"Hahaha! What’s that? Trying to subdue a Legion Commander on your own and losing an arm in the process doesn’t give you much room to talk, does it?"
"Lucius Black! What did you just say!"
Volkan stood up abruptly and shouted.
That’s right. The man opposite him was Lucius Black, the 'Creator of Madness,' a mad black mage known for grafting demons onto his own body.
"Hahaha! Calm down. I'm merely passing along what the demons said."
"Damn those arrogant demons. Watch your mouth, or I'll tear them out of you!"
"What? Because we didn’t lose any body parts and still managed to give Caron a good hit? We’re stronger, aren’t we? Well, that’s one way to look at it."
"Lucius Black!"
Volkan's fury seemed to amuse Lucius even more.
"It seems hopeless. I’ll just detach those demons from you right now. Make them more obedient."
"Hahaha! Calm down, what? ‘You’re not strong enough to do that’? No, what? You want to attach Volkan’s right arm instead? Oh, that’s a brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of that before!"
"Son of a—!"
Volkan was about to unleash an undead when someone emerged from the thick darkness.
"Both of you, calm down."
"...Broken, you’re late."
"Late! Hahaha! That’s so unlike you!"
The newly arrived man removed his hood.
He had ash-gray hair and dull gray eyes—the mysterious 'Red King' Broken, whose existence was yet unknown to the world.
"We weren’t given this power to fight amongst ourselves, were we?"
"Tch! I know that. Why are you so late? What about Lizbeth?"
Volkan craned his neck, searching behind Broken for Lizbeth.
Yes, today was the day the Four Heavenly Kings, all granted powers directly from a Legion Commander, planned their next moves.
"I received word that she couldn’t attend this time. Bineus’s death hit her harder than expected."
"Tch! That guy's been dead for ages! And to skip because of one damned demon’s death! She should never have been welcomed in the first place!"
"Hahaha! Perhaps it’s your side that shouldn’t have been welcomed, given your lack of empathy."
"You worry about her! And you treat me like a dog just because my arm was cut off!"
"Well, you’re not pretty, and Lizbeth is."
Volkan scowled.
The normally insane man only seemed to regain his senses when talking about Lizbeth, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
"If Lizbeth were here, she’d even love this demon-filled body of mine. I'm searching for demons to please her... surely a greater demon would be best, right?"
"Son of a bitch."
Volkan shivered involuntarily, realizing the implied meaning in Lucius Black's words.
To think this man was his ally was horrifying.
"Volkan, calm down. I know the pain of losing an arm is great, but losing your composure, which is your strength, would be problematic."
"Broken..."
"Our primary goal is to fulfill our cause. You haven’t forgotten, have you?"
The cause. Of course, he hadn't forgotten. Not once since that day.
"And you know well the power that Lizbeth has been granted. She raised a demon from the ninth to the fourth grade; it’s only natural she’d be attached to it."
Lizbeth's power, ‘Servitude,’ was a formidable ability to accelerate a demon’s growth.
A power strong enough to evolve a ninth grade demon to the first grade in a rapid pace.
Sometimes, it was awe-inspiring to see her command higher demons as if they were mere limbs.
‘Well, there are restrictions, of course.’
From the ninth grade to the first, she could only have one demon serve per grade—meaning she could control only nine demons in total.
Of course, each of these demons was several times stronger than others of the same grade.
Moreover,
"All the demons Lizbeth raises can wield the power of ‘Erosion.’ Losing Bineus was a big hit."
"Right. She plays a crucial role in our plans. Shouldn’t we be a bit more forgiving?"
"Hmm... Fine. But my complaints aren’t without reason. The ‘Carpathian Invasion’ is right before us. And she’s not attending the meeting. Is that really okay?"
"I’ve received assurances it will be handled. There’s no need to worry. After losing Bineus, Lizbeth’s fury has only grown."
"If that's the case..."
Volkan nodded in agreement.
Broken's rationale was sound, but a large part of his acceptance was due to not having his own faults mentioned.
‘I had warned the Empire’s punitive force to retreat, but I did not listen myself.’
He had trusted too much in the power of his mighty ability, but the allure of Commander Crowley’s bones was too tempting.
It was fortunate if it worked out, but revealing the existence of the Four Heavenly Kings due to a failure was justifiable grounds for Broken’s anger.
Yet, rather than being angry, Broken had not even mentioned his mistakes.
‘This is what it means to have comrades.’
Volkan clenched his remaining hand, resolved to bring divine retribution to this continent with Broken.
"Hahaha! Volkan is weak! Weak against Broken!"
"Shut up! The only rational ones in our meeting are Broken and me! That’s why we have to rely on each other!"
"...Both of you, sit down."
The meeting commenced. There were two main agendas.
Since the existence of the Four Heavenly Kings had come to light, they must be cautious in their actions.
Before Lizbeth’s invasion of Carpathia, they planned to divert the Empire’s attention and forces elsewhere.
"If we cause minor incidents in three places, the Empire will have no choice but to disperse its troops."
"Carpathia is at the heart of the Empire but has fewer troops. Lizbeth alone should suffice. Creating a land of Erosion near the heart of the Empire... We can deliver a solid blow."
"Hahaha! It's a fun plan to look at again and again!"
Their task was to distract and stall troop movements around Carpathia until Lizbeth completed the ‘Erosion.’
That was their role.
As they finalized who would take which area, another moment came.
"Oh, and... I've dealt with Aslan."
Broken pulled a sword from within his robe.
Just looking at it, one could feel its nobility—an advanced blade that only a skilled warrior could wield.
Aslan was one of the Ten Swords of the Selvis Kingdom.
Though generally considered weaker than the Empire’s Ten Swords, Aslan was among those who could match them in skill.
His removal was a feat achieved, yet neither Volkan nor Lucius Black were surprised.
It was expected, after all.
"Well done."
"I’ve only done what needed to be done."
"The bones?"
"...He was a formidable opponent. I had to dissolve him, so no bones could be recovered."
In the Selvis Kingdom, Aslan would be declared missing.
No one would suspect that such a powerful figure had been assassinated.
They would assume he had gone on a journey or departed for training.
"Tch, that’s unfortunate."
"I'll try to do better next time. If there’s nothing else to report, let’s conclude here."
As the meeting was about to end, Volkan spoke up.
"Is there any information on a youngster named Adonis?"
"Adonis?"
"He had the strength of at least an eight-star knight. Perhaps even close to nine-star, but I’m not certain."
"I'll look into it."
"Can't we just kill him?"
"There's a sequence to these things. More importantly, killing someone whose identity we don’t fully know could expose me even faster."
"Hmm... Fair enough."
Everyone was confident he could kill Adonis, even Volkan, who had personally faced him.
Such was the absolute nature of Broken’s power.
'In a one-on-one, there is no one who can win. No, there’s definitely none. I’m certain of it.'
The power of curses and plagues.
Having briefly sensed Crowley’s power, Volkan understood.
Broken’s power was even beyond that.
Although it was limited to duel combat situations, the fact that a person could wield a power stronger than a Legion Commander's was extraordinary.
"Well then, let’s meet again next time. Everyone, be careful."
Until the invasion of Carpathia.
D-15.
*
"Ah~ I'm stuffed."
"Hehe, oh, it’s been 43 days since I started eating with a friend... Oh, and today was also accident-free!"
Luna patted her belly while Rezé, spinning gleefully, soon slumped her 'idiot hair' and added a strange record to the corner of a box: 'Accident-free for 43 days! A new record!'
"Ah, but it’s also been 43 days since I was captured by a demon..."
Hmm, a demon. Surely she’s not talking about me?
No, that can’t be right. Unless Luna is the demon, but I don’t know about that.
I wanted to grab Rezé by her bangs and ask her right away, but I suppressed that urge.
Now was not the time for such thoughts, as dealing with a mountain of concerns was more pressing.
'The story has changed.'
We were supposed to lose at the exchange meeting, but we won.
Instead of Victoria’s faction, Teron's and Yuridia’s factions now held the real power in the advanced class.
‘It was a crucial episode for Teron’s descent into darkness...’
Determined to become stronger at any cost.
It was the episode where the seed of ‘evil’ was supposed to sprout in Teron’s heart, but now it was gone.
This was a bigger problem than anticipated.
‘Knowing future events is the biggest advantage of a reincarnator.’
Which meant I could lose my greatest weapon.
No wonder my worries were mountainous.
"Sigh..."
"What’s with the sigh? Is something wrong?"
"Keke, it's nothing."
"It's definitely something. Your face is practically screaming ‘I have a concern’."
If the clueless Luna could notice, my concerns must really be deep.
"I don’t know what it is, but don’t worry too much. Unnecessary worry will only harm your body. And often, things turn out to be less significant than you think. So, lighten up."
Luna was right.
No matter how much I worried, when the moment came, it often turned out to be nothing significant.
‘Maybe it’s the same now?’
Yes, it would be alright. There couldn’t be such a significant change in the episode.
Teron turning to darkness was the natural course, the logic of the world.
Winning a mere exchange meeting wouldn’t change Teron’s future.
Realizing this through Luna was enlightening.
"Kekeke, Miss Luna, you’ve grown."
"I was always tall."
"For someone tall, you’re quite short..."
Thwack!
My head snapped to the left.
Hmm, looks like I’ll be sitting sideways in class today.
And that’s when we entered the classroom.
"Hahahahaha!!"
Teron was laughing uproariously.
A vulgar display unbefitting of his noble stature.
Hmm, Luna. It seems we have a big problem.
A problem that might just end the world.
--TL Notes--
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