Ch.165The Primordial Demon (3)

The stillness that had descended upon the red world shattered. Blood flowing across the ground added a sticky texture to the world.

“Cough!”

Lucretia spat out a red breath. The greatsword that had pierced her body had severed her lifeline, making it impossible to breathe. The healing power of the Great Demon still remained, keeping her thread of life intact, but it was as precarious as a flickering candle.

“Kugh!”

Durin carefully took in the sight of her suffering. Her half-broken arm hung limply, unable to even consider resistance. With her remaining arm, she continued her final struggle, wielding her sword.

Tick!

Even that was blocked by Durin’s helmet. Despite being half-destroyed from the fierce duel, she could do nothing. Lucretia finally let her hand drop.

Clang!

The sword fell. It was the moment to declare the end of the duel.

“Accept your defeat, Lucretia.”

Durin gripped the sword handle firmly. A terrible sound emerged. The sword that had pierced her heart was drawn downward at an angle. The power that had greedily targeted her enemy could not protect her body as it was being cut apart.

Thud!

The severed lower half of her body collapsed to the ground. The upper half fell directly in front of Durin. With a hideous hole in her chest, it was not a sight worth beholding.

Durin swung his sword to shake off the blood.

“This is the end for one who fled.”

His red eyes were emotionless, devoid of feelings like anger.

“Reflect on your sins in the embrace of Mother.”

“Sins?”

Lucretia trembled and raised her head. Supporting herself with one arm, she displayed her tenacious life.

“Sins to… reflect on? No. This is… happiness.”

The traitor was still smiling. At death’s threshold, she was instead feeling ecstasy.

“Death at the end… of a fierce battle. What greater happiness is there?”

Lucretia dragged her body with her arm. A red line extended from her severed torso. Her dead arm had already served its purpose, but with one still remaining, she crawled to the very end.

“I only regret… not being able to fight more.”

She placed her hand on the rough military boot. Red blood was imprinted.

“You are the victor, Durin.”

-So kill me.

Finally accepting the end of the duel, Lucretia closed her eyes. The reason she had clung to life until the end was to meet her final moment by Durin’s sword. It had been a battle worthy of myth, and she seemed to want to feel satisfaction and decorate its conclusion.

“Lucretia.”

It was indeed a great battle.

“Do you remember those words?”

And so the victor had the right to determine the end.

“That there is no peace for you here.”

Lucretia opened her closed eyes. She felt unease. A chill permeated her dying body.

“Death? Your life is not yet over.”

A red energy flowed from Durin’s hand. Lucretia instinctively understood. It was Mother’s power. The divine authority that had created this twilight dueling ground.

The power possessed by the goddess’s wrist was to control death.

She felt her life, which had been flowing away with her blood, come to a halt. Lucretia was overcome with confusion.

“W-what are you doing?”

Her urgent hand tapped the military boot.

“Kill me quickly. Kill me, I say! I’m the loser. The loser!!”

Her voice rose as she sensed things were going wrong. Durin, paying no heed, exercised the victor’s right.

“Mother no longer wishes to see the death of her children. So I will preserve your soul.”

“What are you saying?! Kill me! Kill me!!”

Not life, but soul. Lucretia, who had been a Demon Lord, could not fail to understand.

“To those with strong fighting spirit, Mother bestows her blessing. Be born again and fulfill your duty to the castle.”

“Durin!! Durin!!”

“As a Durahani, you shall enjoy eternal glory. Successor of the Red Horn, Lucretia.”

“No!!!”

As the declaration ended, the world responded. Twilight faded and night fell.

When the full moon poured out its soft light, warmth draped like a curtain over the hill filled with corpses.

Another descendant of the Red Horn paid homage to Mother.

“Mother, receive this lamb that moves toward you. Please show mercy.”

Aaaaargh!

The scream celebrated death. When the light touched Lucretia, black energy escaped from her severed body. The goddess’s head gave rest to her suffering child. She no longer had to live with a painful body. The divine power that had forced her to survive was absorbed into the world, so peace would soon come.

Aaaah….

Her voice grew faint. Lucretia’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed. She had breathed her last.

Shhhhh.

A gust of wind blew. The body, now just an empty shell, turned to dust and disappeared.

Only the soul, which retained Lucretia’s self, floated up from that spot. A pure red color, freed from black death. A color that only demons could possess.

-……!

Within it, Lucretia could be seen screaming. She would spend eternity trapped in a narrow afterlife, never again feeling the pleasure of battle.

“Watch yourself engage in battle from within the darkness, Lucretia.”

It was a cruel punishment for a demon who satisfied her thirst for battle with pleasure. She would forever only be able to watch. Until someone with the power of the goddess released her.

If someone were to obtain the goddess’s sacred artifact someday, it might not be an impossible story.

“Mother will remember your noble sacrifice for the demon realm, and there will be no greater joy than that.”

The goddess had chosen Durin. And the moment he took the last piece of flesh from Lucretia, all preparations could be completed.

“……”

In the place where Lucretia’s soul had disappeared. It was time to claim the victor’s right.

“Mother.”

Durin quietly sought the goddess. His red eyes looked up at the night sky.

“At last I meet you.”

The moonlight turned toward him. It contained a warmth that could not be described as death. Durin unconsciously closed his eyes. It was the first time the warrior, who had always fought steadfastly on the battlefield, had felt such affection.

Something difficult to expect in a land where one had to kill others to survive.

It was love. Not simply feelings toward the opposite sex, but warmth that could embrace family, and beyond that, one’s own kind.

-My son.

The voice he had been searching for so desperately was heard.

“Mother.”

-Durin of the Red Horn. My son.

Durin knelt. He offered all the worship he could to her.

-You have suffered much for a long time.

The moonlight caressed his wounds. Scars etched all over. They were both honors and pains acquired by a warrior who had thrown his whole body into protecting the demon realm.

In the end, the Goddess of Night could not overcome her sadness and wept.

-Forgive your unworthy mother. You had to endure a thousand years of suffering.

“Demons have learned patience.”

Durin did not crumble. He did not shed tears in his mother’s embrace.

He remained strong even here. A descendant of the Red Horn bearing duty stood before the deity.

“In crisis, we have become stronger and able to look toward the future. All are united in the hope of advancing to the celestial realm, so please grieve no more. Your children have grown strong.”

No longer yielding to angels. Their fighting spirit had extended beyond that era when they only hoped for survival, reaching toward the future.

“So return and be with us.”

Durin rose from his place. His red eyes emitted a strong will.

“I will reclaim our lost rights and homeland.”

The mother’s form inscribed in the night sky became clearer. His voice had reached her. After hesitating for a long time, she revealed herself. A head grotesquely severed. A woman shedding tears of blood instead of pain appeared before Durin.

-Can you truly do it?

“I have lived for that day.”

-The celestial realm is not an easy opponent. They are those who willingly waited a thousand years to become creator gods.

“Mother’s descendants have also endured a thousand years.”

The past millennium was one of endurance. The desperate struggle of those who endured sorrow to pass on their duty to the next generation.

“And now, we will advance into the next millennium.”

Durin approaches the head. He did not retreat from the grotesque appearance.

“Watch that journey in peace.”

He embraces the goddess with his rough arms. The head enters his embrace. Under the moonlight, fate bound them together.

-My son….

Once again, tears mix with her voice. Not of sorrow. Pure joy.

-My child.

The world collapses. There was no reason to maintain it any longer.

Another world had embraced her, so she dissolved her form.

-A last will I couldn’t convey is coming to you.

The goddess’s head seeped into the demon.

-I will bear the pain this time too, so my child, lead the others who remain.

Duty. The destiny of one who must protect the demon realm.

But Durin did not accept it.

“Mother. I am one who has sworn to confront the celestial realm.”

Scars are etched into his body. All the pain she had felt rushed in at once as he inherited the goddess’s power.

“I will bear all trials imposed by fate.”

His red eyes burned more strongly than ever before.

“Including your share, Mother.”

It was the will of one who had inscribed the oath of protection on his soul.