Ch.139Chapter 139 – Master (3)

“It’s been a long time, Prime Minister.”

“Emperor…!”

In the center of the bedroom, a naked man sat atop a shattered stone coffin. His body was withered like a mummy, muscles shrunken from disuse, presenting an unsightly appearance. However, with each beat of the distinct black heart below his chest, magical energy flowed through his body, visibly regenerating his muscles.

“I don’t know how many years it’s been… but the fact that I have awakened means it’s finally time to conclude the contract with hell.”

The Emperor stretched his hand toward the corpses of holy knights scattered across the room, and blood flowed from the bodies, floating and flying toward him. The blood coalesced into a single mass, wrapping around the Emperor’s body to form a cloak of blood.

“Hmm… my power has indeed weakened.”

“Impossible… breaking through the layers of seals should have taken at least three days!”

“It means my loyal subordinate has excellently completed his mission. So, did you enjoy ruling the empire in my place? Was the dream of being above all others sweet?”

The Emperor asked casually, as if being trapped in a seal and being released from it had no emotional impact on him whatsoever. His question was straightforward, without a trace of anger or resentment toward Behemdorf.

‘Can a person be so emotionless when facing the enemy who imprisoned him for years?’

Kwak Tae-woo felt uneasy about the Emperor. The Emperor’s emaciated appearance and clouded eyes, fresh from being released from the seal, exuded a dangerous, nihilistic atmosphere.

“That position was not granted to you, you evil Mein!”

“Why not? I am Shabah Leonhardt, the legitimate successor of Kyle Leonhardt and descendant of George Leonhardt.”

“Don’t lie, vampire! I know full well that you’ve been forging your identity and face periodically to monopolize the throne! I don’t know where you came from, but you assassinated the original Emperor and—”

“Ho. That’s an interesting hypothesis.”

The Emperor, who had seemed utterly emotionless, showed a hint of amusement in his voice for the first time.

“But what if I truly am a member of the imperial family, and becoming a vampire was the will of the previous Emperor? What if coexistence with hell was the imperial family’s intention?”

Behemdorf hesitated at the Emperor’s words. The Emperor was suggesting that humanity’s last royal family had chosen to abandon their people. That the empire—humanity—had already surrendered to the Demon King.

“Your loyal colleagues chose to follow my decision decades, or even centuries ago.”

“The four ducal houses… they’ve been betraying us for that long…”

“You should also fulfill your duty as a subject. Drink this blood and accept hell within you.”

The Emperor cut his fingertip and extended it toward Behemdorf. Drops of blood fell from his fingertip—the demonic fluid that could transform one into a vampire if consumed.

“Become… a vampire?”

A mere opportunist seeking power would not hesitate to lick the Emperor’s finger at this moment. But Behemdorf’s gaze was fixed not on the Emperor’s finger, but on the horrific corpses of holy knights scattered around the Emperor.

Behemdorf looked directly into the Emperor’s expectant eyes and declared:

“I pledge my loyalty not to the Emperor, but to the people of the empire.”

“Hmm, as expected.”

Despite Behemdorf’s firm refusal, the Emperor spoke calmly, without a hint of disappointment, as if he had anticipated this response.

“Actually, what I just said was a lie. As you suspected, I killed George Leonhardt’s son and took his place.”

“What?”

“My original name is Sabah. Three hundred years ago, I was known as one of the 12 Heroes.”

“Sabah? The Assassination King!”

Sabah. Kwak Tae-woo knew that name. He had heard about it from Shin Jae-hyuk. The greatest assassin of his time who betrayed the 12 Heroes along with the black mage Iscariot and the mystic scholar Gode.

“Oh? Stranger from another world. Has my reputation spread even to your world? Interesting.”

“…No. I know it only for personal reasons.”

“Hmm, I see.”

After a brief moment of interest, life returned to the Emperor’s eyes before fading back to their clouded state. Having lost his short-lived interest in Kwak Tae-woo, the Emperor returned to his characteristic decadent composure, but there was someone else who couldn’t maintain their calm.

“You… killed the Emperor and have been impersonating him? You’re saying humans have been under Mein rule for three hundred years…!”

“That would be correct. However, my rule was sincerely for the sake of this country and its people. That too was part of the contract.”

‘Contract? What does that mean? That there was a demon who didn’t want the empire to fall? Then what was that massive invasion before?’

Kwak Tae-woo inwardly expressed his doubts. Did it mean there were differences of opinion among the Four Heavenly Kings? Or was it the will of the newly ascended Demon King? Many questions arose, but before they could be answered, the Emperor continued.

“Three hundred years ago, I, a mere commoner, wished to enjoy all the pleasures this world had to offer. A demon recognized that desire and offered me a contract, and I gained power in exchange for my soul, eventually earning the reputation of the Assassination King.”

When the vampiric powers received from the demon combined with Sabah’s innate talent for assassination, a ruler of the night was born—the Assassination King who could claim any life before dawn.

“Shortly after the disbandment of the 12 Heroes, when Iscariot used Kyle Leonhardt to destroy the empire, I took advantage of the chaos to infiltrate the imperial family. And as I desired, I used the position of Emperor to enjoy every pleasure this world had to offer.”

“George Leonhardt II… history books describe him as a tyrant who lived a luxurious and dissolute life amid the empire’s decline. His children and grandchildren also lived extravagantly until their deaths. So all of that was you…”

“It was a time when I was mentally immature. But even luxury and pleasure become tiresome after hundreds of years.”

As he grew accustomed to stimulation and sought ever greater thrills, repeatedly seeking more intense experiences to erase the emptiness that followed, Sabah’s mind had become utterly broken.

“Three hundred years is too long for an ordinary human mind to endure. Beyond maturity, to the point where the mind rots.”

After a hundred years, Sabah became unable to feel pleasure. Sweet delicacies no longer excited his tongue, and embracing beautiful women no longer brought him ecstasy. After another fifty years, when all human emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—had disappeared from him, Sabah’s condition was like that of a doll stripped of desire.

“After two hundred years, I wished to end my life. To take eternal rest. But I couldn’t. My soul had been bound to the demon two hundred years ago, and the rulers of hell would not permit my death.”

It took him too long to realize that what he had thought was a blessing—the ability to live forever—was actually a curse. He realized too late that the eternal life the demon had gifted him was not a gift but a shackle.

‘Now I understand. Who the Emperor resembles.’

Kwak Tae-woo inwardly swallowed hard. Belphegor of the Four Heavenly Kings. A being driven mad by the weight of too much time. The man before him exuded an aura strikingly similar to that Heavenly King.

“For a hundred years, I ruled the empire to fulfill that cursed contract. Desperately maintaining a tiny population, protecting territories already lost from hell’s invasions. The people praised me as a virtuous ruler during that time, but for me, every moment of acting out of obligation was nothing but torment.”

“…”

“Let me tell you something else. Have you never found it strange? How you, a mere battle mage, rose to the position of Prime Minister? Because you were a talented archmage? There were many talented archmages besides you. Because of your political acumen? When you entered politics, the four ducal houses were already my subordinates. Have you never questioned all the favorable circumstances that came your way?”

“That’s…”

Behemdorf hesitated, caught off guard. It was indeed strange. If the Emperor’s subordinates were deeply involved in imperial politics, why had there been no resistance to Behemdorf reaching the core of power?

“Isn’t the answer obvious? With your superior intellect, you should have figured it out by now.”

“It was… your directive.”

“Yes! Even when you struggled to revive the weakened Order of Light over hundreds of years, when you secretly investigated the ducal houses to find unknown traitors—I was behind it all. Your rise to Prime Minister, your gathering of holy knights to seal me—all of it was according to my intention!”

“Why… would you do such a thing…”

Prime Minister Behemdorf, faced with the shocking truth, widened his eyes in disbelief. He could not comprehend the Emperor’s intentions. Incomprehension breeds fear. Behemdorf feared the words about to come from the Emperor’s mouth, yet following the human instinct to seek forbidden knowledge, he listened intently.

The Emperor laughed.

“It was entertainment.”

“Enter…tainment?”

“I needed something to distract me from the pain, even momentarily, as I endured the long years. Watching the Hero was amusing too. When the divine oracle instructed the Order of Light to prepare a summoning ritual, what appeared amid everyone’s attention was just a ten-year-old brat. When I slightly damaged the magic circle for amusement, he seemed to develop hearing problems, screaming in front of all the ministers. It was quite a sight. Heh.”

The Emperor laughed with genuine pleasure as he recalled the amusing memory.

“Originally, I planned to keep the Hero to fulfill my duty of protecting the empire… but the rapidly growing Hero seemed to see through my concealed demonic energy. Judging by how he escaped the palace unnoticed and crossed the gates of hell after turning thirty.”

The major incident of the Hero suddenly leaving the palace and infiltrating hell. Many historians speculated reasons like ‘disgust with the nobles who only cared about recovering and protecting territories’ or ‘wanting to face the Demon King at the peak of his power,’ but no one knew the truth behind this unsolved mystery.

“When my plan to pass my duty to the Hero failed, I had to find a replacement. That’s when you caught my eye, Behemdorf.”

“…”

“Righteous enough, responsible enough, and capable enough to rule the empire in my place. As a bonus, watching your struggles was also interesting.”

The Emperor wanted rest, release from his duties. He wanted to fulfill the contract and thereby finally find peace for his soul.

But in the desperate situation where it might take hundreds or thousands of years until the contract could be fulfilled, Sabah’s mind was deteriorating with each passing moment. So he devised a plan to appoint a proxy in a way that wouldn’t violate the contract or alert his followers.

Although his first attempt to use the Hero failed, Behemdorf, whom he had been observing, successfully sealed him and brought him temporary peace.

“And finally, the day of contract completion approached. My subordinate excellently awakened me from my deep sleep. Of course, I cannot undervalue your contribution in leading the empire admirably during my absence, Behemdorf.”

“…So my struggles over the past hundred years, my entire life… was all just dancing in the palm of your hand.”

Behemdorf’s aged body trembled with rage as he lowered his head. Satisfied with this reaction, the Emperor smiled gently.

“Of course. Even this brief conversation between us. It’s all just entertainment. It seems I’ve talked a bit too much for our first conversation in a while. …So, have you bought enough time to cast your spell secretly?”

“Plenty. Now die, false Emperor.”

Behemdorf raised his head. Condensed hatred flowed from his eyes in the form of a red liquid. Shedding tears of blood, Behemdorf uttered the activation word for his spell.

“Hellflame.”