Ch.25Chapter 25 – The Four Heavenly Kings

*Splash- Splash-*

Jae-hyuk Shin’s eyes were fixed on the frozen sea. It was a strange sea, frozen solid all the way to the endless horizon. The entire distant ocean was frozen, yet around the beach where Jae-hyuk stood, unfrozen water rippled as waves crashed against the shore.

*Splash- Splaaash-*

‘It’s already fully recovered.’

Jae-hyuk was currently in his mental space. He had induced a self-hypnotic state to visualize the condition of the divine power within his soul. The vast ice field frozen to the depths represented the sealed divine power he couldn’t use, while the unfrozen coastal waters symbolized the divine power currently at his disposal.

‘Why is my divine power recovering so quickly? Unlike my past life, this body shouldn’t have “divine blood”… Right, he definitely said something like that.’

A fragment of memory curled up in a corner of his soul began to replay. A voice both familiar and dear, yet simultaneously hateful.

“‘Divine blood’ isn’t received by the body, but by the soul…”

‘Iscariot… why did you—’

Eyes filled with complex emotions gazed at the splashing waves. Watching the breaking spray, he felt his troubled mind growing calmer.

Shaking off his contemplation, Jae-hyuk raised his palm to roughly estimate the unfrozen area of the sea.

‘It’s increased since last time.’

The ice had melted more since he defeated the demon Li-tem inside the gate. The amount of divine power available to him had increased. This achievement would allow him to use yet another divine spell.

‘This is much more than what I recovered through training…’

For some reason, the amount of divine power regained from defeating Li-tem was several times greater than what he had recovered through training. Was it because he had overcome a life-threatening crisis? Or due to the abundant use of divine power? Or perhaps because he had defeated a powerful evil? Jae-hyuk didn’t know the answer.

There was still much he didn’t understand. Why had his divine power been sealed? Why had he reincarnated on Earth with his memories intact? But it didn’t matter. It was clear that through training, or by slaying demons, he could reclaim the power that had originally been his. Eventually, he would find answers to all his questions.

Yes. That was enough.

Jae-hyuk’s eyes gazed distantly beyond the vast ice field, toward the horizon where the cloudless blue sky met the sea. Beyond what the eye could see.

At the far end of that extended divine power, surely Eloah would—

Jae-hyuk’s eyelids closed, and his consciousness slowly sank…

***

Seeing the beautiful world created by Eloah, the evil god Rohim was consumed by rage, jealousy, and hatred

And commanded his servants to destroy the material world

Rohim selected one with exceptionally powerful strength among the demons to be their leader

His name is Satan/Shaitan/Saturn/Saturnus/Baphomet, the symbol of wrath.

All demons of hell prostrated before the Great Wrath, addressing him with reverence as the “Demon King.”

The Demon King selected four outstanding demons among his subordinates to be the Four Heavenly Kings of Hell:

The first is Beelzebub/Beelzebul/Beelzebuth/Baalzebul/Baalzebub/Belzebub/Belzebuth, the symbol of jealousy.

The second is Lucifer/Luciper/Lucifero/Eosphoros, the symbol of pride.

The third is Belphegor/Peor, the symbol of sloth.

The fourth is Mammon/Amaimon, the symbol of greed.

All demons of hell entered under the command of the Four Kings and willingly followed them,

And they called the four absolute beings who assisted the Demon King the Four Heavenly Kings.

Thus the Demon King, the Four Heavenly Kings beneath him, and all demons beneath them gathered,

Forming an army that densely covered the entire plain from the upstream to the downstream of the lava river crossing hell

And the sight was pleasing in the eyes of Rohim.

***

“Phew…”

Jae-hyuk rose from the bench press machine, sweating. After wiping away the sweat trickling down his neck and into his clothes with a towel, he gulped down water. The refreshing coolness flowed down his esophagus, cooling his body.

Three months had passed since the Gate incident. Despite the horrific accident, the media remained quiet. There must have been media control. Jae-hyuk himself had received a threatening recommendation from the military along with his Gate clearing reward. It instructed him to keep quiet about what had happened that day.

The incident had also placed restrictions on Jae-hyuk’s actions. His hunter license was already forged, limiting his ability to take noticeable actions, and now this incident meant he might have caught the eye of someone in the government or military.

That was why Jae-hyuk had secluded himself at home for three months, quietly training. Still, after three months, the incident should have faded from the memory of those in power.

‘I only entered a gate once, so should I consider it bad luck that I couldn’t be active for three months, or should I be happy that I gained so much information in just one attempt…?’

During his period of self-restraint, Jae-hyuk organized the information he had discovered from his first Gate exploration.

First, as Jae-hyuk had hypothesized, beyond the Gate was not hell but Eden. It seemed that a portion of the Eden continent’s space was connected to Earth while being isolated from the outside by gray fog. The first Gate he entered was estimated to connect to the southern jungle region of Eden.

Also, considering the content of the monument, at least 200 years must have passed on the Eden continent since his death. The inscription on the monument contained words like “seed,” “sage,” and “soul,” but Jae-hyuk couldn’t find any connection to their meaning. He could only guess that the sage had created that relic.

‘The only sage I know is Hermes Leonhardt, who was hailed as the Sage King of the Empire hundreds of years before I was born… Perhaps a new sage emerged after my death. No, since Hermes was the first to conceive the mana focusing array, it’s not strange that the word “sage” was engraved on the monument.’

Jae-hyuk then recalled Li-tem’s words. Li-tem had clearly muttered about a conversation after decades, the power of deception received from Satan, a fake Demon King who sealed him, and Satan’s death. The information that could be pieced together from this pointed to a shocking secret.

“Is Satan dead? But if the Demon King died, why did hell’s invasion continue?”

Jae-hyuk nodded as he recalled Li-tem’s loyalty to Satan.

“I see. A fake Demon King… After Satan died for some reason, a second Demon King ascended. And that Demon King expelled Li-tem, who was the former Demon King’s closest aide. So the current invasion of Earth is under the orders of the second Demon King…”

Then who could have ascended to the Demon King’s throne? He recalled the knowledge from his past life learned at the Papal Office.

Hell’s ecosystem consisted of the Demon King ruling hell, the Four Heavenly Kings occupying hell’s four territories under him, the nobles under the Four Kings, and the common demons. The Demon King was equivalent to an emperor, and the Four Heavenly Kings to princes—a kind of feudal system.

“Yes… Iscariot, you used to tell me such stories.”

Jae-hyuk’s eyes recalled a distant childhood memory. It was from when he was the apprentice holy knight Longinus. In that memory was an old wizard who had been Longinus’s father, teacher, and friend. The memory of the old man ruffling the short Longinus’s hair and reading the scriptures to him in an entertaining way. The old man would vividly introduce the appearances and anecdotes of demons in his characteristic languid voice.

‘No… There’s no point in recalling him now. In the end, he—’

Jae-hyuk shook his head to chase away the distracting thoughts and returned to the main subject. Which of the Four Heavenly Kings would have become the second Demon King?

The Four Heavenly Kings were known by various pronunciations, but were commonly called Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belphegor, and Mammon. Jae-hyuk deduced which of these four powers might have taken hell’s crown.

Mammon is the demon of greed who governs wealth and gold. He is said to possess the most treasures in hell, even more gold than the Demon King. He was a demon with such a petty nature that he always looked at the ground, hoping to find and claim good land, and it is said that he built the Demon King’s castle, Pandemonium. Those who contracted with him gained the power to find gold veins or hidden treasures, causing many adventurers to fall into the temptation of gold and contract with Mammon, becoming corrupted.

“But Mammon’s military power is weaker compared to the other Four Heavenly Kings. Demons wouldn’t serve a weak king.”

Belphegor, the demon of sloth, rarely showed himself, befitting the sin he governed. However, he was a powerful necromancer who had reached the pinnacle of black magic, so he had many contractors. Though it was a story from before Longinus was born, there was one anecdote that clearly demonstrated his strength—the tale of his one appearance in Eden.

When one of hell’s Four Heavenly Kings descended to the middle realm, the dragons, who claimed to be the mediators maintaining the order and peace of the middle realm, tried to repel him. The Dragon Lord who led the dragons against Belphegor was Kalsten, the Dragon King of Explosion, who was called the strongest Dragon Lord in history.

The battle continued day and night for over a week. The result was devastating—total annihilation of the dragons. Immediately after the battle, Belphegor returned to hell. His reason was reportedly that it was “bothersome.” After that day, the dragon race disappeared from the middle realm. Those who witnessed the catastrophe feared Belphegor’s power and called him the Dragon Slaughterer.

Belphegor was undoubtedly a formidable Heavenly King, but it seemed unlikely that someone who found everything bothersome would ascend to the position of Demon King. Moreover, considering that the Earth invasion was the work of the second Demon King, it seemed even less likely that Belphegor was the second Demon King. Jae-hyuk’s deduction moved without hesitation to the next Heavenly King.

Lucifer was the demon of arrogance and pride. Once an archangel serving Eloah, the God of Light, he was a fallen angel who was banished from heaven for rebelling against the Lord, intoxicated by his own power. The Papal Office had almost no remaining information about Lucifer, perhaps because they were ashamed of the fact that even angels could fall and tried to hide related information. Could the proud Lucifer have taken the throne? But Jae-hyuk wondered if demons would recognize Lucifer, who had once been an angel, as a legitimate successor to the Demon King.

The last and most powerful of the Four Heavenly Kings, Beelzebub, was the demon of jealousy. The enormous demon in the form of a giant fly appears in various eras and places in Eden’s history books. There are records that he once ruled a certain tribe, claiming to be a god. He was known by as many names as there were sightings of him, but was generally called Baal, Beelzebub, or Belzebub. The demon, who brought plagues and swarms of insects, was also another name for famine and bad harvests.

It is said that Beelzebub was so jealous that he called himself a god and envied Satan, who was stronger than him. Numerous anecdotes proving this fact were all recorded in the Papal Office’s records. Considering his jealousy, it seemed certain that Beelzebub would covet the position of Demon King.

“Baal… Of all demons, it had to be Baal again.”

That demon was Jae-hyuk’s enemy. He had two bitter connections with him in his past life. Both were Jae-hyuk’s most painful, worst experiences. One was when those who were like family to him were massacred by Baal’s minions, and the other was Jae-hyuk’s own death. Longinus, who had invaded hell with his comrades known as the 12 Heroes, was defeated by Baal in the final moment and lost his life.

And now that same Beelzebub was trying to leave a third wound on his soul. Becoming the Demon King and invading Earth… Recalling those hateful compound eyes deeply etched in his mind, Jae-hyuk muttered to himself:

“This time, this time I will absolutely not let you have your way..!”

Just as Jae-hyuk, with firm resolve etched in his heart, was about to return to the exercise equipment to train his physical strength—

♬~ ♬~

His smartphone rang.

“Who could it be? I shouldn’t have any calls coming in…”

Jae-hyuk checked the screen. It was Seong-ha Yu. His face brightened as he quickly answered the phone. He didn’t know why she was calling, but the fact that he could talk to her made him feel good.

“Jae-hyuk…”

Seong-ha’s voice came from the other end. But it wasn’t the voice Jae-hyuk had expected. Jae-hyuk’s face hardened. The voice was very urgent and precarious.

“Jae-hyuk, h-help me…”