episode_0072

Antikrea trembled violently in the body-melting heat, painstakingly opening her mouth.

Turning her head to look, the pale, dark green forest was nowhere to be seen.

No, the very space known as ‘Delphi City,’ centered around Ras, had vanished as if it had never existed.

The vanished space was filled with fiercely burning copper mountains and rivers of lava.

Piercing through the wasteland, growing like coarse weeds, were thickets of glowing red spears and swords.

The forest Antikrea had summoned, which was clearly only about two or three hundred meters in physical extent, had now transformed into a vast, endless expanse of land and sky.

“The one who will burn you to death.”

In Ras’s simple voice, an irresistibly immense will could be felt.

Even from a distance, the space itself belonged to Ras, and every word he uttered flew in like a stinging dagger, as if physical laws flowed according to his will.

“Ugh… Skeletons…! And Bergen Torix, Swanwhite, Rogdai…! Ignore him and attack. Don’t be scared, it’s just a bluff. It’s an illusion…!! Advance. Use your swords or magic, whatever you’re good at…!”

To call it an illusion was a difficult situation; even breathing was agonizing, but Antikrea concluded that this was an illusion that also affected the senses.

That’s why, even as her heart felt like it was burning to death, she shouted even louder for no reason.

As if a dog that lost a fight barked even more furiously.

However, the reactions of his powerful Heroic Warrior subordinates, with whom he could communicate, were far from satisfactory.

[…Does Master… perceive this as an illusion? Indeed, Master has not yet ascended to a higher realm, so it’s not strange for her to react that way.]

Bergen Torix muttered calmly, with a bitter yet somehow relieved tone.

[…She will die. She will be annihilated without even a soul remaining…! That is a demon. No, that is a grim reaper. Master does not know its power…!]

Rogdai howled, having lost even his characteristic ferocity due to his instinctive fear of death.

[…It’s an unpleasant heat. This intense and cruel surging sensation. Yes… it’s a power that reminds me of the Lionheart King. That man whom I hated enough to want to kill, but at the same time, was maddeningly attractive…]

Lastly, even Swanwhite, who quietly recalled Emperor Richard the Great, the object of her greatest love-hate relationship in life, while observing the mental landscape Ras was using…

Not a shred of active will to fight or spirit could be felt from any of them.

“You, you’re going to lose your will to fight and act so pathetic…? Snap out of it, you! I am your Master. Are you refusing to obey your Master’s command as spirits?!”

Bergen Torix and Swanwhite looked at the shrilly crying Antikrea with eyes that seemed to pity her slightly.

It was as if they were watching a naive granddaughter boast about going to catch a tiger living in the mountain behind the house.

[Obedience, spirit… Yes. Master is an excellent Spiritmancer. But, having come this far, our master-servant relationship has largely lost its meaning. Oh… Is our soul bond breaking already?]

Bergen Torix, who had been calmly consoling Antikrea, soon let out a voice full of sorrow.

Rogdai, having completely lost his composure, was panting and scrambling on all fours towards Ras.

[I don’t want to die a second time. Please spare me… I was wrong. I promise I’ll never appear before your eyes again… No, I promise to obey you…]

Antikrea yelled loudly, ordering Rogdai to return at once, but her control over the spirits did not properly manifest in this space.

Not only Rogdai, but also the skull-headed skeletons she had commanded to advance were standing foolishly upright, as if they had lost their will.

“Ugh…! Ugh…! Move…! Why won’t you move?!”

Antikrea tried to move the spirits, which she normally controlled effortlessly without needing to put any particular will into it, by pecking at them as if to kill them, but cruelly, her commands didn’t work.

Meanwhile, Ras was gently admonishing Rogdai, who was trembling violently in a posture of complete submission, with a voice full of sympathy.

Where had Rogdai, the fierce and brutal great warrior of the werewolves, gone? In his place was merely a pitiful wolf pup.

“You must have died a long time ago. From my perspective, you’re just a pitiful wolf pup. The dead need peace…”

[Peace…? Are you going to spare me…?]

Rogdai’s face brightened slightly at Ras’s sympathetic voice, but…

“Unfortunately… pitiful wolf pup, burn at the stake.”

The flames of a noose immediately enveloped Rogdai, incinerating him in the blink of an eye.

The pitiful wolf pup vanished from the world futilely, without even being able to properly howl.

“What… what was that…? He just vanished like that…?”

And there was Antikrea, gazing with empty eyes at the cruel yet beautiful execution scene.

[Have you still not felt it? After this place where we stand turned into the hell dominated by that man, our Master’s restraints, which bound our souls, burned away with it. However, I do not wish to meet such an ugly death as that wolf. I shall go first, Swanwhite.]

[……Do as you please.]

Headless but not having lost his spirit, one of the formidable rivals of Emperor Sephiroth the Great from a thousand years ago, bravely took steps towards death.

[Since it’s the end, I hope you’ll treat me with a little seriousness, without mockery. I am neither a properly resurrected dead man nor am I alive. I am a ghost, a shadow, a past wraith brought back by trickery. But even I retain a little of a warrior’s mindset and honor.]

“Well… I won’t mock you now that it’s come to this. I am Ras Etgard. What was your name when you were alive?”

This time, Ras put away his casual, yet strategically delivered mockery and greeted his opponent with serious courtesy.

The headless knight seemed pleased by Ras’s seriousness, and readily answered the last question of his second life, which was as brief as a candlelight.

[When I was alive, I was called Bergen Torix. Ras Etgard, huh… A name perfectly suitable to take with me when I die.]

Perhaps, with a voice that would have suited a gentle smile, Bergen Torix drew his sword and charged at Ras.

Precise and swift footwork, combined with flawless, sharp stabs and slashes, without any unnecessary movements.

However, Ras dodged those fast and precise stabs and slashes like a dance, closing the distance far too easily.

The process of the sword strikes extending and retracting was too swift for the eyes to follow, but at the same time, Laurava, created by Ras, was itself draining Bergen Torix’s energy from the space.

As he began to exert power within the mental landscape Ras had unfolded, Bergen Torix visibly weakened and slowed down.

Ras instantly leapt beyond the slowed swordsman’s range, having already taken the range of a martial artist.

Immediately, a flaming fist shot out briefly and succinctly, piercing Bergen Torix’s armor and then melting it entirely.

“Rest in peace. I sent you off cleanly, so don’t come out into the world again.”

Ras composed himself mentally and physically, taking a deep breath as he was extremely fatigued from maintaining Laurava.

‘Only about 3 minutes left… I can’t maintain it any longer than that. Even now, I’m forcibly holding it together for reinforcement.’

The Nine Heavens Annihilation Flame Art was a flame that burned and gnawed at the user’s mind, body, and soul.

The mental landscape manifested through it entailed immense pain and damage to both mind and body just to maintain it.

However, gradually exceeding the permissible limit and getting used to it was the one and only way to grow this cursed demonic art.

[I’m… the only one left, aren’t I? Good… You’re using something similar to Richard.]

Swanwhite, who had maintained an atmosphere as noble and pure white as snow even within the hellfire, seemed ready as the next opponent.

She strongly sensed the man from her past, whom she had loved and hated endlessly, within this transcendent space, so she expressed her feelings to Ras without reservation.

“Richard? Lionheart King? Hmm… that man isn’t my ancestor. I’m a commoner with no lineage. I roughly understand what you’re talking about, but…”

Like Emperor Richard the Great, Ras could now, for a brief period, manifest a truly perfected mental landscape into reality.

Since the two were unlikely to be connected by blood, Ras concluded that familiarity was simply that.

[Yes… he was not the master of such a harsh hell. He was the master of gold and sun, of brilliant marbles. Aside from the similar type of power, there are no resemblances.]

Swanwhite’s voice softly sank, then froze coldly again.

[I hated that brilliance. My world was always harsh, an unending winter. That’s why I only wished for the entire world to be dyed in a pure white night, devoid of any darkness. I loved that radiant man, but even more, I envied and hated him.]

Sudden flashbacks to the past were always boring, and rambling on about stories known only to oneself was a shortcut to losing favor.

Ras had shown respect to Bergen Torix, who had met a rather valiant end, but he didn’t feel like empathizing with Swanwhite for no reason.

After all, before his regression, Ras was the worst traitor in the history of the Sephiroth Empire.

Neither the founding emperor nor his descendants had any reason to leave a good impression on Ras.

So, the emotional outpouring of this pure white snow witch, who had felt such intense love-hate for the founding emperor, was none of Ras’s business.

However, Swanwhite herself was a coveted entity to Ras.

Because she was beautiful?

No.

Because Ras actually liked slender, elf beauties?

That wasn’t it either.

At any rate, Ras abruptly brought Swanwhite’s melancholic aura under control.

“I’ll dismiss your personal romantic history as I’m not curious about it. But… you seem quite useful, don’t you?”

[Useful…?]

An old-fashioned person, and someone who had never worked under another, Swanwhite couldn’t understand… Ras rubbed his hands together and smacked his lips, like a nefarious employer.

“I’m raising a girl, and she’s still growing, you see? But she’s picky and has a habit of only eating cold things.”

Feeling a chill, Swanwhite tried to step back, but it was too late.

The ground split open with a *crack*, and a giant hand made of lava shot out, seizing Swanwhite.

She desperately tried to resist by conjuring cold and ice magic, but soon realized it was futile before the hellfire and cleanly resigned herself.

[……]

“I’ll let you find peace, but in exchange for that peace, I’ll take your heart.”

Instead of a dying shriek, Swanwhite too passed on and vanished, leaving only her heart, a condensed core of frozen mana.

Ras carefully gripped the heart, ground it into powder, absorbed it, and sent it to the ice house where Seolhwa was sleeping.

‘You’re doing excellent work after a long time. It’s a bit disgusting, but… I’ll process it well on my end.’

Seolhwa, with a calm but rather satisfied voice, was delighted like a child receiving new clothes.

“Well, all the subordinates are dead… All that’s left are those foolish-looking skull-heads, huh?”

“Unbelievable… No. If I just start over, still…! *Gasp*!”

*Thrust! Thrust!*

Before Antikrea could even move to try anything, screaming, the empty skeleton legions hacked her to pieces with the bone swords and spears they each held.

“Why… why… by my own spirits…”

“Everyone in hell is a ghost or a spirit. Those mere skeletons, nothing but bones? In hell, they’re guys who just labor with pickaxes and then bow their heads and do whatever the king tells them. Didn’t I tell you? In my space, I am the judge and the king. When I successfully unfolded Laurava, you, as a Spiritmancer, were already finished.”

The seemingly foolish skull-heads had now become Ras’s loyal servants and soldiers, exuding a silent, terrifying, and grotesque aura.

Fighting someone in a perfected mental landscape thus gives rise to absurdity and irrationality.

Within the domain dominated by the master of the mental landscape, the resistance of those who do not possess that power is futile and meager.

*Shatter!*

As Antikrea was finished off, Ras’s Mental Landscape, which had been precariously maintained, scattered like a heat haze and vanished.

Back in the forest, or rather, the central plaza of Delphi City, now remained only as ruined debris.

‘A dream…? Yes… This must be a nightmare… a nightmare…’

Antikrea looked at the swords and spears of her own summoned beasts piercing her entire body, and denied the reality she had returned to for the last time.

Her entire body was brutally and thoroughly butchered, beyond recovery even by a high demon’s powerful regeneration.

“Any last words? The time of Heroic Warriors is over, little one.”

“…Save…me…”

“Nothing worth hearing, then. Skeletons, kill her thoroughly. Slaves must stab their cruel masters to gain freedom.”

And just as the skeletons were loyally about to finish off their former master, the small demon—

*Bang!*

With a tremendous explosion, the skeletons that had been gleefully butchering Antikrea vanished into dust, leaving not a single bone fragment.

Behind a thick cloud of dust, the figure that appeared was… the new Heroic Warrior, Haimon.

As if he had heard Ras’s words, he offered a counter-argument in a jovial tone.

“That won’t do. If you abruptly end the time of Heroic Warriors, the children will be sad. Anyway, it’s truly surprising that Your Majesty even considered a situation like this, isn’t it?”

“Haimon… You… you came to save me… Hurry, the magic…”

Antikrea, gasping for breath, squeezed out the very last vestiges of her demon race’s unique vitality to ask for help.

“No, I came to devour you. Don’t resent me. This was also one of His Majesty’s instructions.”

“What…?”

Haimon took off his gloves, then gripped and lifted Antikrea’s neck, now a tattered mess.

On the back of his hand, complex magic circles were engraved like tattoos.

“Mana Extraction Art, Mana Crafting Art, Mana Absorption Art. These are the engravings His Majesty carved into me. He said that if you were to be incapacitated during a mission, I should ‘use’ you.”

“….!!!!”

Antikrea had no idea, nor could she have predicted Kardmos’s cold command given beforehand.

‘Antikrea is still immature and clumsy. Even if she gains great power, she won’t be able to wield it properly. So, if things go awry, you are to use her power. I will personally engrave the seals to ensure you can use it properly.’

As the three engravings Kardmos had embedded did their work, Antikrea, the small demon with a mischievous smile, was absorbed by Haimon.

“Certainly… the feeling is good. No… it’s beyond good. I’ve never felt this overflowing with power before.”

Haimon muttered, satisfied. His power, even without fully making it his own, was already about 1.5 times his usual.

A high demon’s power increasing exponentially was, in the current situation, nothing short of a disaster.

“Ah. I didn’t expect you to rush here like this. No choice, I suppose? Ugh… this damn fire-headed idiot. Should I have thought about the consequences a bit more?”

Having recklessly used the Nine Heavens Annihilation Flame Art, Ras’s combat strength had plummeted due to the backlash.

In fact, for at least 10 minutes, he would suffer from such severe backlash that he wouldn’t be able to lift a finger.

“Ras. I’ll fight now, so you step back.”

Rosalie, biting her lips and adopting a battle stance, stood in front of Ras. However, her power hadn’t yet blossomed to a degree comparable to when she was called ‘Saintess.’

“…….”

And the remaining eight burdens were sprawled out listlessly.

Haimon looked at the pathetic sight and spoke with a regretful voice.

“It would be good if we could really fight, but it’s a shame. However, I’m not so narcissistic as to leave a genuine seed of danger for my own amusement. In my opinion, you’re a guy who could sink his teeth into His Majesty’s neck when he grows up.”

Haimon had classified Ras as a real threat to his king and had decided to eliminate him.

Overbearing demonic energy, several times stronger than when he fought Tiria, condensed into a sphere and flew towards Ras.

“Die, strong boy whose name I don’t know.”

“Who says?! You can’t even touch a hair on Ras’s head!”

Rosalie squeezed out holy power and adopted a defensive stance, but Haimon, who had thrown the sphere, rushed in and engaged in close combat with her in the blink of an eye, causing her to miss Haimon’s sphere.

“No…!”

*Bang!!!!!*

There was no trace left where the heavy sphere of demonic energy had fallen.

“Ra… Ras…? It’s a lie, right?”

Rosalie, her mind shattered by the cleanly empty ground, muttered with unfocused pupils.

“Well… I’ve taken care of the annoying one, so now all I need to do is take you… Wait, what’s that?”

Haimon was smiling in satisfaction, about to seriously deal with the distraught Rosalie, but then he tilted his head.

Because something utterly black fluttered down from the air and landed on the ground with a *thump*!

It resembled a crow and clutched a man to its chest like a precious treasure.

“Unnie…! Master-nim is Pisces’s now. The top henchman appeared at the eleventh hour and saved him…!! Anyway…! Don’t get angry at me for taking Master-nim, be very calm… clear-headed… and confident…! If Unnie gets agitated and gets hurt, the whole Sephiroth will turn into a sea of fire…”

The one who spoke these undecipherable words, whether teasing or cheering Rosalie, was none other than the adorable Pisces.

She, who had been trembling nervously at home, admirably joined the battlefield in secret, wanting to be of even a small help to her Master, and at a critical moment, sacrificed her insignificant body to save him.

It was a very commendable and admirable act, but… it put Pisces in direct danger.

Unfortunately for Pisces, Haimon was a notoriously radical half-demon racist among demons.

Haimon, who had maintained a genial smile until now, became truly enraged by Pisces’s intrusion.

“To think even a lowly half-demon bitch has come out to interfere. There’s a lot that’s irritating me.”

“Gasp…! Sorry…. Sorry for being so forward….”

Under Haimon’s powerfully snarling pressure, the pitiful Pisces merely hastily bowed her head.

However, in that heartbreaking scene, Ras regained his composure and comforted Pisces, feeling proud of her.

“I really raised a good henchman. Thank you. Phew… It’s okay. Anyway, don’t be scared, Pisces. We won.”

“Ugh… Master-nim, can you really fight right away? You look completely exhausted… And how can Unnie fight against such a ruthless demon like that?!”

He coughed up blood, yet managed a weary smile.

“No. It’s not our turn to fight. My goodness… just how much have things changed from before…”

“Changed???? What changed….?? But Master-nim, isn’t Pisces’s embrace quite soft and comfortable? Honestly, it’s better than Rosalie Unnie’s embrace…”

“Yeah. Well, not exactly, but your embrace is nice too.”

“Hmph!”

Rosalie stood in front of the two, who were whispering amicably, glaring at Haimon with an extremely serious expression and intensity.

With the resolve to buy Ras and Pisces time to escape, even if it meant dying or becoming crippled.

However, making her resolve meaningless, someone walked out of the darkness with steady steps.

“Ah… Why does such a tragedy occur in the Empire…? To have such an incident happen at the end of an era of peace, it brings only futility and self-reproach.”

“So that’s what that old man looks like. Don’t play coy, just finish him off quickly! Your children are sprawled out like sacks of flour over there, after all…”

Rosalie’s eyes widened and she gasped in surprise, looking at the man with sad eyes full of complex emotions who was staring silently at the rude Ras.

“Emperor…. Your Majesty?”

Orlando Ermanius da Sephiroth, Emperor of the Sephiroth Empire, had appeared on this battlefield.

From Monday, it was a bumper crop of heroic warriors.