Darkness raged all around.
Kaen swung the Holy Sword, pushing back the ceaseless surge of darkness.
She slashed and slashed and slashed.
The scattered darkness repeatedly converged without dissipating.
It was as if cutting through water.
Kaen abandoned responding with sword strikes, releasing a burst of divine energy in all directions to repel the darkness.
Then she leapt towards the Demon King.
The tip of the Holy Sword aimed precisely at the Demon King’s heart, but it didn’t make contact.
The demon’s outstretched hand blocked it when it was just a fraction of an inch away from the other.
As the Demon King clenched and then opened his hand, space distorted, and a massive shockwave erupted.
Pushed back slightly, Kaen stabilized herself in the air, deploying a protective barrier.
The shield blocked the shockwave and dissipated before it could spread further.
Kaen retracted the barrier and gazed at the Demon King.
Even before the battle began, she sensed it vaguely.
The Demon King’s power had a foreign aspect compared to other demons.
It wasn’t simply just stronger than others.
It was different in some way.
That difference was why Kaen couldn’t quite figure out how to break through.
Attacks, like just now, were only noisy assaults.
What truly vexed her was the darkness surrounding the Demon King’s entire body.
Even the divine power of the Holy Sword, capable of easily breaking the abilities of any demon, struggled to penetrate that darkness.
Kaen realized by intuition that one must never directly touch that darkness.
At that moment, the Demon King opened his mouth.
“If you avoid it, you’ll only end up blocking my attacks.”
The Demon King’s gaze shifted behind Kaen.
It was the direction where the soldiers of Santea were gathered.
If Kaen hadn’t blocked the shockwave, they would have all been swept away without even realizing their own deaths.
Kaen narrowed her eyes at the Demon King’s strange tone.
Whoooosh!
Suddenly, the Demon King soared into the sky.
The place where the Demon King landed was right in the middle of Santea’s camp.
Descending amidst countless human soldiers, he began to slaughter indiscriminately, unleashing darkness around him and killing anyone who approached.
Startled, Kaen hurriedly followed the Demon King.
However, the Demon King kept his distance and continued to kill humans.
In that brief moment, tens of thousands had already perished.
“You damn bastard...!”
The Demon King, once again soaring into the sky, dropped massive darkness like meteors onto the ground.
Kaen, who was trying to leap and catch up, had no choice but to once again unfold her protective barrier.
Crunch, rumble, rumble.
Although she managed to prevent a massacre, the aftermath of the shock still killed thousands of humans.
Kaen glared at the Demon King floating in the sky, with eyes brimming with determination.
The Demon King slowly descended to the ground and stopped his attacks.
“Do you know how the hero sealed me away in the past?”
“......”
“She discarded her dying comrades while wielding the Holy Sword, determined to kill me. And using their countless bodies as stepping stones, she was able to pierce through my heart in the end.”
The Demon King reached out his hand.
“Do you understand? New hero. Isn’t this war? To pay attention even to such trivial things, to not even discard such mediocre compassion. How dare you come out and face me like this?”
Swoosh!
Once again, darkness swept through the soldiers.
“Until every human except you dies, you must play this game with me.”
Kaen gritted her teeth and charged at the Demon King.
The Demon King spread his distance once again and unleashed indiscriminate attacks all around.
Kaen didn’t care anymore.
Without looking back at the dying people, she stuck close to the Demon King and unleashed fierce sword strikes.
A faint smile crept onto the Demon King’s lips.
Clang!
The Demon King grasped the sword that condensed darkness in his hand.
The two swords clashed.
The Demon King’s fighting style, which had so far blocked Kaen’s approach and controlled only darkness, had changed.
The Demon King’s swordsmanship had no particular form or framework.
It was like the formless, transcendent entity beyond the limits, like Aindel and Kaen.
Countless afterimages appeared in the air, and thousands of attacks were exchanged.
With bloodshot eyes completely immersed in battle, Kaen swung her sword.
At one moment, the Holy Sword shattered the Demon King’s sword and grazed his shoulder.
The Demon King immediately retreated, shrouding his entire body in darkness.
Kaen followed suit, pouring out her divine power.
The golden and pitch-black colors mixed and tainted each other, devouring one another.
It was when Kaen was sure as she watched the darkness recede slowly and took hold of victory.
The Demon King whispered, buried in the darkness.
“If this is your full strength, you cannot defeat me.”
At that moment, the darkness exploded, consuming the divine power of the Holy Sword.
Kaen barely shielded herself from the unstoppable force as she was pushed back.
“Now that I’ve been resurrected, I’ve become a more complete being. Did you think you could create two miracles with the same power as Aindel’s?”
Once again, the darkness covered Kaen.
Kaen, without even a moment to catch her breath, plunged the Holy Sword into the ground and unfurled a protective barrier toward the encroaching darkness, much like a dam against the tide.
Kuoooooo!
Kaen realized. This was the true power of the Demon King.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
She strained to draw out the power of the Holy Sword, but she couldn’t completely block the advancing darkness.
It was the moment when the darkness, gradually infused with divine power, attempted to breach and pierce through the protective barrier...
“...Kaen!”
At the voice calling her name, Kaen raised her head.
Someone was falling from above.
Kaen’s heart thumped.
For a moment, she thought it was Ran.
But upon closer look, it wasn’t Ran; it was the Seventh Lord.
Yet, why could that be?
The urgent tone of the Seventh Lord who called out to her seemed to resemble someone else for a moment.
The Seventh Lord, who descended without being seen, unfolded a secondary barrier against the darkness that had pierced her divine power.
The Seventh Lord had the pallid complexion of a dying man.
Serious wounds were visible on his chest.
In that state, he was somehow managing to defend against the attack of the Demon King.
Kaen looked at him dazedly.
The contents of the letter Aindel had left flickered in her mind.
The truth that the other couldn’t speak until the end.
The words about how it wasn’t that person’s fault.
“...Were you Ran?”
At those words, the gaze of the Seventh Lord trembled faintly.
Kaen was certain. Anger momentarily whitened her mind.
Quaaaang!
A massive divine power exploded, expelling the aura of the Demon King in an instant.
As Kaen exhaled, she glared at the staggering Seventh Lord.
“Yes, you...! You!”
And at that moment, a light flashed from the Holy Sword.
Memories flowed into Kaen’s mind. They were Aindel’s memories.
Starting from the moment she first met the Seventh Lord, to her final moments.
-Did you really do these things for the sake of succession?
-Trying to take over Kaen’s body, how could it be...?
-I’m sorry, Seventh Lord. My indecisiveness pushed you to this point.
The conversation between Aindel and the Seventh Lord on the day her father died.
Kaen clutched her head and let out a moan.
The Seventh Lord stared blankly at her.
“Kaen...”
Immediately, Kaen lifted her head and glared at him.
With eyes that shed tears drop by drop.
“Explain it with your own words... After you survive here!”
With the Holy Sword in hand, Kaen leaped toward the Demon King.
***
Kaen rushed toward the Demon King.
I stared blankly at that sight.
The divine power of the Holy Sword, erupting like a volcano, intertwined and swirled with the darkness of the Demon King.
What happened to Kaen just now?
Everything was chaotic, but I too pushed away the distractions.
As she had said, survival comes first.
I must defeat the Demon King in front of me.
If I could get us both out of here alive, then I could explain and ask for forgiveness.
I stood up from where I fell.
The appearance of the Demon King, seen for the first time, was remarkably ordinary.
He wasn’t much different from an average human male.
However, his presence was truly astonishing.
Devoid of vitality, hollow, and so dark that its depth couldn’t be fathomed.
He seemed like the very embodiment of the word “death” manifested in the world.
And a sense of otherness that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Whatever it was, my task was clear.
The Demon King was focused on clashing with Kaen.
Without any defense.
Once there’s a gap, I would approach him and kill him.
I was not in the best shape, and the enormous pressure was crushing the surrounding space, but I had to endure and get closer.
Let’s go.
I took a deep breath and exhaled.
With my mind focused, I unleashed spatial leaps, along with [Blood Art].
The Demon King allowed the approach very easily.
'Let’s end this.'
Upon contacting the Demon King with my blood, I immediately activated Instant Kill.
However, the Demon King didn’t die.
He just slowly turned his head, looking at me with eyes shedding tears of blood.
I met his gaze in astonishment.
His mouth opened.
“Why do you possess that power?”
At the same time, darkness enveloped me.
Feeling the Demon King’s power permeating my entire body, I realized.
What the unfamiliar sensation I felt was.
'This is...'
The power of [Instant Kill], just like what I had.
It was the power of the Demon King.
[The end has come.]
Finally, a voice I had heard somewhere resonated in my mind, and my consciousness was cut off.
[Rise. Put an end to all of this with this.]
***
Standing in confrontation with the Demon King, Kaen looked back at the fallen figure of the Seventh Lord, who had been pushed far away and had collapsed on the ground.
Struck directly by the power of the Demon King, she could no longer sense even a trace of vitality within the other.
The Seventh Lord was dead. No, Ran was dead.
Kaen felt an indescribable emotion.
Her chest felt like it was about to burst, and her insides felt like they were turning inside out.
“Ughhhh!”
Kill the Demon King.
In the end, that was all that was left.
Tears of blood streamed from the Demon King’s eyes.
For some reason, the Demon King’s aura seemed noticeably weaker.
Whatever it was, Kaen realized it was the last thing the Seventh Lord had done.
Kaen, too, had pushed her strength to the limit and reached a state of exhaustion. This balanced the situation.
Let’s die together.
Kaen mustered up the last of her strength.
The Demon King, bound by the power of the Holy Sword, was fully exposed to the divine energy.
And Kaen, who had given up on defense and focused all her strength on the attack, was also completely exposed to the Demon King’s power.
It was that moment.
“...”
The gazes of Kaen and the Demon King turned to one side simultaneously.
The Seventh Lord, who should have undoubtedly been dead, was standing upright.
***
I had a dream that I have often had since I fell into this world.
In fact, it’s probably all just a dream, and I woke up dozing in front of my computer.
It couldn’t be real, could it? Possessing a character in a game world.
“...?”
As I regained my senses, I blinked my eyes blankly.
What’s in front of me was RaSa’s game screen.
What was that? Did I blink and fall asleep?
I felt like I had a very long dream, but I couldn’t remember any of the contents.
I scratched my head and got up from the chair.
Wasn’t it just a moment ago that I was throwing items and skills into the Box of Chaos to commemorate the end of the service, and now it turned out it wasn’t true?
A notification window was popping up beyond the screen.
Ehh, what could have come out?
“Hey, seriously.”
As soon as I checked the synthesis results, I buried my back in the chair.
What came out was just a mediocre skill.
After raising the character for a lifetime, at least it should have been a first-rate 10-star skill.
I guess I had unnecessary expectations for this crappy game as well.
Ugh.
The phone placed on the desk vibrated.
When I checked, it was a text from my younger sibling.
-Have you left?
-Make sure to come by 6 o’clock without being late.
“Ah, right.”
We haven’t gone out together as a family for a long time, so I should start getting ready and head out.
I couldn’t believe I fell asleep while playing the game. I didn’t understand why I was feeling so out of it.
It’s nice to eat something expensive for a change, but I hate the nagging.
They would ask how my job preparation was going. It was obvious that I would be tormented throughout the meal, being told to get my act together and live properly.
I yawned and wiped my face.
“Yeah, let’s try living more diligently from now on...”
RaSa’s service had ended, and now, I need to quit the game altogether and live diligently. For real.
I moved the mouse to turn off the game.
But suddenly, the cursor became unresponsive and didn’t move.
What was this lag again?
I nervously clicked repeatedly, but the game screen itself froze.
I was about to sigh and just turn off the computer.
“...?”
My character on the screen suddenly changed into a different appearance.
A male of the human race with black hair and a pair of golden eyes.
“What kind of bug is this?”
For a moment, I felt puzzled, but soon, I couldn’t help but feel strange.
It was because the character was staring directly at me.
As if trying to see me, who was in reality, beyond the screen.
I looked at the name above the character’s head.
[The Seventh Lord of Calderic - Ron]
The moment I saw that, I was frozen for a while and then let out a sigh.
“...Ah, right.”
The scenery in the room began to split like pieces of a puzzle.
As the pieces crumbled, darkness engulfed the surroundings.
I let out a bitter laugh and muttered to myself.
“It’s not over yet.”
***
As consciousness returned, what I saw in my field of vision was still the figures of two transcendent beings pushing each other’s energy away.
“How...?”
I felt a sense of surprise in the Demon King’s voice, which had been as lifeless as an inanimate object before.
Kaen also looked at me with eyes that couldn’t believe what was happening.
I was in the same boat. I couldn’t understand my current state either.
I felt it instinctively. I definitely felt that I had died.
But then, how was I still alive?
Well, whatever. I took a step forward.
My mind was hazy, as if drunk, and my body was heavy like a thousand tons.
I felt like I could collapse any moment, but I didn’t stop and continued forward.
The immense power of the Demon King was noticeably weakening.
I didn’t know how he and I had the same power, but his condition couldn’t be normal either.
“Ran...!”
I didn’t have any grandiose beliefs about saving the world.
Standing against the Demon King was always for my sake.
Because that’s the only way to survive. And maybe, when I reached the end of the main story, I might learn the truth of this world.
However, let’s end it here.
There’s no need for Kaen to sacrifice.
Only one person could die with the Demon King.
Grrrrr.
The Demon King, bound by the power of the Holy Sword, raised his arm with a creaking sound.
I, who had reached in front of that bastard, also reached out my hand to meet his.
Our palms touched, and our voices overlapped.
“Die.”
“Die.”
Once again, a severe death spread throughout my body, and my consciousness flew away.
Feeling the sensation of sinking beneath deep darkness...
