Ch.243Chapter 243. The End of the Journey

Parents.

For demons, there could be no more meaningless relationship.

Demons are beings who can abandon their children without hesitation if they have no use for them, and their offspring likewise never miss an opportunity to plant a knife in their parents’ backs.

Yet despite being born with such a nature, one demon regarded the Demon Lord as a parental figure.

Because she was taken in by him, she achieved things impossible for the weakest, and was able to share moments of glory by his side.

And if she continued to follow him, she could continue to enjoy such experiences.

Her loyalty, born from such belief, was genuine enough that he alone felt different to her.

‘Mephisto, are you ready for our journey?’

She felt his trust in that call directed at her, and because she enjoyed the time spent with him, all the more…

The memories of being at the center of festivities that revolved around him had become nostalgia, stirring lingering attachments even now.

A painful attachment that she would eventually have to abandon because it would never return.

“…Mephi, sto.”

Did he feel the same way?

Now in a state where recovery was impossible, he began calling her name in the brief time granted to him at the end.

“Are you… ready… for the journey?”

It wasn’t a direct address to her.

Nothing would reflect in those clouded eyes anymore, and his hand stretched helplessly toward the sky grasped nothing.

If he saw anything, it was merely the manifestation of the greatest attachment remaining in his heart.

“…Demon Lord.”

“Beyond there, a world we don’t know awaits us.”

The Demon Lord, intoxicated by nostalgia, ignored her call and sank into the past.

Despite his desperate struggle, now that he had shed everything, a glimpse of happiness showed on his face.

“Those who are there… will surely be wary of us. But it will be fine. If I teach them that I can embrace even them… surely we can laugh, talk, and enjoy together with them too.”

At the beginning, he was simply a hero who rejoiced in increasing his subordinates.

One who sought to embrace even different beings, sometimes fought for them, and ultimately proved his strength to place everyone under him…

“So, as always… at the banquet hall, sing as you always do… sharing that joy, all together…”

Yes, he was not just any demon. Beyond being a leader of a group, he was the world itself, no exaggeration.

Although he began by measuring his strength by the number of followers, because he sought to embrace everyone within his reach…

She, reminiscing about her time with him, had maintained her loyalty out of attachment while traveling through countless worlds.

“And so, continue… the journey…”

She liked him.

She had hoped that the journey with him would continue.

“…Demon Lord.”

But his current ramblings revealed it all.

The reason why even he, whom even gods could not carelessly oppose, had to fall from the sky in such a miserable state.

“The journey is over.”

It was too late to return to those days, and she had already turned her back on him.

Yet if she wanted to stand here, what she needed to do was not to accompany him but to honor his end.

“…The journey is over, Demon Lord.”

Because that’s what humans would do.

Because the humans she wanted to live with from now on would embrace the final moments, even if they had fallen out with their parents.

“…Over?”

Did his voice reach that empty chest?

The former loyal servant, approaching the Demon Lord who responded to her words, took his limp hand and said:

“Yes, we’ve been busy traveling for so long… Now, shouldn’t you rest a little?”

Crushed by the sense of mission that he alone had to take responsibility for everyone…

Hoping that he would find peace even now, after crossing a river of no return.

“I… see…”

As if her earnest feelings had reached him, the Demon Lord broke off his reminiscence and laughed weakly as he closed his eyes.

“Yes, everything… has an end… after all.”

Demon Lord Solomon, putting aside memories he perhaps didn’t want to acknowledge, prepared for his rest despite his inglorious end that belied his grand beginning.

“…Mephisto.”

And he asked his former loyal servant who watched over his final moments.

About her who would remain after he was gone.

“Do you know… what begins… when a journey ends?”

A question to help her let go of the attachment she felt, even if her heart could no longer be called loyal, now that she recognized the parent-child bond directed at him.

“…A new journey, I suppose.”

“Yes, when a journey ends, you rest… and then, you search for a new journey.”

How could he struggle to rise from this place when he no longer felt even expectation for that journey?

With that realization, the Demon Lord closed his eyes completely and loosened his hand from hers, preparing to sleep.

“So, I will rest here… and you… find your new story… and depart.”

Unable to move toward a new beginning again, he sent off the one who remembered him until the end.

Wishing to continue the extension of all the stories he had been through.

“You’ve worked hard all this time. Mephi…”

Finally, his breath ceased.

In the silence that followed, the demon who had bid farewell to her former lord placed her hand over his eyes and composed herself.

Suppressing the tightness in her throat and the moisture gathering in her eyes…

After giving him such a modest funeral, she quietly turned away to leave.

Avoiding the storm still raging around and the debris settling down, unable to defy gravity.

-CRASH!!

The pile of debris formed at the end would serve as a fitting grave for him.

Thinking this as she was about to leave, Merilyn suddenly broke into a smile and began to loosen her stiffened shoulders.

“Ah~ This is something. Going to another man when the battle is over. As a lover, I’ve made the worst choice~”

In the face of her lover’s death, she first went to her lord whom she couldn’t forget, the one she had tried to kill out of old affection.

Though she thought this might be a foolish choice for a human, Merilyn tried to brush it off lightly.

Because to a demon who prioritizes desire, humans are infinitely foolish beings, and she was one who admired such foolish beings.

“…I guess that’s why I couldn’t be his first.”

Regret gradually crept in.

Nevertheless, the demon brushed it off lightly and moved her feet toward where her heart led her.

Even if she couldn’t be the first, at least the last…

With the hope that when the final moment eventually came, she could claim it, as she moved toward him.

“Hyoseong, Hyoseong…!”

The first thing she encountered at his side was her rival in love, embracing his body and wailing.

The sight of clerics desperately trying to heal him on the ark’s deck showed just how critical his condition was.

“Is Hyoseong still not awake?”

“His injuries are so severe that he’s completely lost consciousness. If he doesn’t wake up like this…!”

“Don’t worry, he’s just sleeping.”

But surely he would rise again.

With that belief, Merilyn approached his side and gently stroked his head.

“Hyoseong fought trusting us, so we should trust and wait for him too.”

When a journey ends, rest is needed.

And after that rest, surely a new journey will begin.

****

-Whoosh.

The gentle sound of wind. With it, consciousness surfaced above the water.

As the sensation gradually returned to my body, my blurry vision came into focus, and my gaze slowly began to turn to my surroundings.

“…Where is this?”

I found myself in the middle of a forest.

In stark contrast to the collapsing world I had been in before, the place where I now stood was filled with tranquility.

What’s going on? Could I have been blown to the opposite side of the continent by the storm?

“I’m back.”

A voice reached me just as such alarmed thoughts crossed my mind.

Immediately dismissing my thoughts to assess the situation, I turned toward the sound and saw someone walking toward a cabin on the opposite side.

With an axe and wood strapped to his back, he had the typical appearance of a woodcutter.

The person who opened the door and welcomed this man at the cabin was a mature-looking woman with long red hair.

“…Welcome back, my companion.”

And what came from her lips was a quiet voice filled with dignity.

Even hearing it from a distance made me feel my breath catch, and the woodcutter also adopted a tense attitude as he struggled to ask her a question.

“How… how is the child doing?”

“Well, the child just fell asleep. Would you like to see?”

“Haha, ‘see’… That’s not the right expression for our child.”

The woodcutter followed her inside with a cautious demeanor.

Still not fully understanding the situation, I moved toward where they were.

Perhaps they could help me figure out what was happening to me.

-Woong!

But at that moment, a violent tremor shook the space.

As I instinctively shrank back, I realized that the scene before my eyes had drastically changed.

This phenomenon… yes, the afterlife.

It was the same sensation I felt when I entered the afterlife to save Garam, when the environment changed as intense memories ended.

So what’s unfolding before me now is a story from the past?

“My companion, how does this child appear to you?”

As I pondered this question, the red-haired woman reappeared before me.

Standing by a cradle containing a baby, she asked the woodcutter who was looking down at the baby beside her.

“What do you mean, how does the child appear?”

“I want you to be honest. How does this child, born between you and me, appear to you?”

The woodcutter’s face reddened at the question.

Then, scratching his cheek, he carefully answered while avoiding her gaze.

“I think the child is very cute.”

“…Cute, you say?”

“Yes, I think the child is very cute and lovable.”

A natural thought when speaking of one’s own child.

But despite this naturalness, a question bloomed on the woman’s face.

“Why do you think of this child that way?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked why you feel love for this child.”

His body trembled slightly.

His face was flushed with embarrassment, but the woman just stared at him with an expressionless face.

As if she simply wanted to satisfy her curiosity, regardless of what emotions he felt.

“Well… because the child was born from my union with the person I love.”

Love.

The most intense emotion humans feel.

An emotion that can extend beyond oneself to the fruit of that union.

“…Is what you feel for me an emotion called love?”

Despite seeming to feel the same, what came from her lips was an answer that felt distant.

A voice that was expressionless but somehow tinged with bitterness.

“Do you truly feel something called love for me, who is not a human like yourself?”

The man stared at her blankly after her follow-up question.

After thinking in silence, he reached out and grasped both her hands as he gave his answer.

“Yes. I truly adore you. From the moment we first met…”

A voice filled with sincerity that even I could feel just listening from afar.

To her, who wore a faint, bitter smile.

-Crackle!

Once again, the space began to distort.

After that momentary instant passed, what appeared was the woodcutter leaving the front of the cabin and the woman seeing him off.

“Then I’ll go to work, please take care of the child.”

“Yes, I will be waiting, my companion.”

She bid him farewell affectionately.

Realizing that he was heading in my direction, I prepared to greet him.

I had experienced before that I could converse with residents in the afterlife.

“Excuse me, just a moment…”

But with a whoosh, the man passed right through my body.

Aware of this strange phenomenon, I looked back, but he continued on his way as if he hadn’t noticed me at all.

What’s going on? If this is the afterlife, he should be able to perceive me… Could this be a different place from what I know?

“Is someone there perhaps?”

At that moment, a voice came from behind me.

Reacting to it, I turned around to see a woman approaching with a baby in her arms.

A woman with long red hair and facial features and body type that all seemed familiar to me.

“Irie…?”

No, she’s not Irie.

She just resembles her.

“Let me say in advance that I cannot see you. I merely considered one possibility.”

But with that realization, what she was trying to convey now made me guess her identity.

“If, due to variables I did not anticipate, I fail to fulfill my mission… someone who responded to the avatar I sent to this world might be watching the time I spent in this world.”

Yes, I could immediately identify who she was.

In a world that was merely a remnant of the past, someone who could speak to a possible observer…

For that to be truly possible, she would need the ability to analyze all movements in the universe and even predict the future.

“I do not know specifically who you are, but if you can hear my voice, I would like you to stay here for a moment before you leave…”

“…Would you please listen to this insignificant mother’s ramblings?”

Destruction God Angolmoa.

Irie’s distant ancestor and the avatar destined to bring destruction to this world.