The Traitor’s End (1)

“…Why should I accept that proposal?”

Quite a long time ago. Specifically, right before the war ended.

“You introduced yourself as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Army. Even that the title ‘Four Heavenly Kings’… is given to the four corps commanders with the most powerful strength among the Demon King’s Army commanders.”

“That’s correct.”

“But why should I, join hands with… form an alliance with you, an enemy of humanity?”

Prince Cardinando asked, not even trying to hide his overt wariness.

“What should I trust about you? Is there any guarantee that after you’ve achieved all your goals, you won’t dispose of me… bluntly put, stab me in the back?”

“So you are considering joining hands, I see.”

However, at Aslaksha’s subsequent remark, Cardinando silently bit his gums.

“Well, alright. It’s natural to be wary. I expected as much, so let me give you a reason that might catch your interest.”

Aslaksha leaned her upper body forward toward the table. The distance between her and Cardinando had only decreased slightly, but she lowered her voice and whispered with feigned familiarity, as if they were already quite intimate.

“We are not enemies of humanity.”

“…What nonsense is this?”

Cardinando let out a derisive laugh. But Aslaksha shook her head with a serious expression.

“The Demon King’s Army’s goal is not the extermination of humanity. It’s to find the ‘World Tree sapling’ somewhere on this continent.”

“World Tree sapling?”

“And it’s… in the Holy Nation.”

Aslaksha said with a smile.

“Haven’t you ever thought it strange? Why saints, chosen by God, only come from the Holy Nation. Even though there are many clergy who believe in God in the other three countries as well?”

“Only God would know.”

“No, the answer is the World Tree.”

Aslaksha shook her head.

“The World Tree is like a spire that absorbs God’s grace. The reason saints only emerge from the Holy Nation is because the Holy Nation monopolizes the grace of the World Tree.”

“…Talk without basis or credibility.”

Cardinando retorted, crossing his arms.

“Fine, for argument’s sake, let’s say that’s true. Then why did you invade the Kingdom simultaneously instead of just targeting the Holy Nation?”

“Because it would be troublesome if the Kingdom joined forces with the Holy Nation if we only attacked the latter?”

Aslaksha made up an excuse casually. It was a shamelessness that didn’t even warrant a derisive laugh.

“Well, it’s the Demon King’s decision. I don’t really…”

“…Is that all the nonsense you have to spout?”

Having heard Aslaksha’s answer, Cardinando didn’t even smile.

“There’s a limit to treating someone like an idiot.”

Despite Cardinando’s criticism, Aslaksha remained silent. Instead, she merely pulled her upper body back and subtly moved her hands, which had been placed on the table, underneath it.

Cardinando, who had abruptly stood up, opened his mouth to shout and call someone.

-Ddak.

At that moment, the sound of someone snapping their fingers echoed from somewhere.

“…What did you do?”

Cardinando lowered his voice instead of shouting. It was because he felt the flow of magical power spreading in all directions.

“There’s no need to be wary. It’s just a simple eavesdropping prevention spell.”

Aslaksha said, waving her hand with faint magical power still remaining.

“I made it a bit thicker just in case.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. Do I look so stupid that I can’t even recognize an eavesdropping prevention spell?”

Cardinando asked sharply.

“What I’m asking is, why now…”

“Because now comes the main point.”

Aslaksha said.

“I, no. Not just me. Except for just one, most of the executives, including the corps commanders of the Demon King’s Army, harbor no small amount of resentment toward the Demon King.”

“…What?”

Even taking into account the possibility of lies, this was not something to be dismissed. Especially considering it was the main point revealed by someone holding a high position like the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Army, who even took into account the use of an eavesdropping prevention spell. Cardinando frowned, forgetting even to manage his expression.

“Let me introduce myself again. My name is Aslaksha. I was once known as the ‘Demon King of the Distant Sky’.”

Cardinando reflexively asked, his mind blank.

“What are you saying? The Demon King is…”

“The leader who commands the current Demon King’s Army, and the ruler who unified the entire West Continent.”

Aslaksha cut off Cardinando’s question.

“Before that Demon King, numerous Demon Kings existed in the West Continent. Each with their own country, territory, and army, opposing each other.”

Aslaksha murmured distantly, her gaze slightly lifted as if reminiscing about the past.

“Although I say ‘opposing,’ in reality, we had no reason to fight each other. We merely continued to act out the pretense of opposition to maintain our respective powers. It was peaceful, everything was.”

“…”

“Until she appeared in the West Continent.”

Aslaksha deeply bowed her head toward the table and said.

“About that Demon King, how much do the humans of the East Continent know?”

“…How could we know anything properly?”

Cardinando responded with a voice mixed with a derisive laugh.

“Well, fine. Did you say you harbor resentment toward the Demon King? Then are you thinking of revealing the Demon King’s fatal weakness or identity to us…”

“The Demon King is human.”

At Aslaksha’s subsequent words, Cardinando lost even his laugh.

“More precisely, specifically, certainly, let me tell you. The Demon King is a human from the East Continent, from the Holy Nation. For us natives of the West Continent, the Demon King is a foreigner.”

“…”

“I was defeated by the current Demon King in the West Continent unification war she initiated, and was forced to submit and serve under her.”

“…If that unbelievable nonsense is true.”

Cardinando murmured.

“The entire East Continent will be turned upside down. The whole continent, again in the flames of war…”

“Isn’t that better for you?”

Aslaksha retorted.

“As things stand now, you’ll never wear a crown, not even something similar to a hat, before you die.”

“…”

“As you said yourself. Unless the continent is completely turned upside down, there’s no chance for you to ascend to the Emperor’s position, right?”

“…What do you want?”

Cardinando sat back at the table.

“We both know, don’t we? That we’re in similar situations.”

Only then did Cardinando smile awkwardly.

But his eyes were genuine. Seeing this, Aslaksha smiled so broadly it seemed her face might tear, with sincerity.

“Let’s help each other. So that both of us can become kings.”

“Damn it.”

Sitting completely on top of Aslaksha amidst the rising dust, Evangeline opened her mouth.

“A combat prosthetic, she says. Do you have any idea how much time and money it costs to repair just once?”

Clenching and unclenching her creaking left hand, Evangeline muttered grumpily.

“Kahak.”

Instead of answering, Aslaksha coughed up blood foam. The blood droplets that spattered with a “tuduk” sound touched the back of Evangeline’s hand.

Evangeline frowned at once and wiped her hand on Aslaksha’s hair.

-Kwaaaang!!!

At that moment, dust rose with a thunderous sound beyond Evangeline’s field of vision.

“…Huh.”

Evangeline let out an admiring sigh.

The transformed soldiers who had been charging with the momentum to sweep away everything in their path were now flying through the air like crumpled paper dolls.

I expected it, but not to this extent, Evangeline murmured inwardly.

Turning her gaze to the source of the rising dust, she saw white flashes of magic power at its center.

Looking further inside to the very center, there stood Scabbard.

When he swung his sword once, a storm arose at its tip.

It wasn’t even a direct clash of swords. Merely with the wind pressure imbued with sword energy, the firmly packed earth was deeply gouged, and the limbs of the magical beasts were torn off and flew away miserably, as if cut by a saw.

The cut surfaces were so messy that even Sacred Law couldn’t reattach them.

But that wasn’t all. The sword energy, compressed to the point of melting and fusing into one, had a snow-white light instead of the usual blue color.

It was a color close to pure white, enough to be mistaken for a Holy Knight’s Sacred Law.

“So that’s the world’s strongest knight…”

Delphina murmured, half in a daze.

The fact that he could display such skill against transformed soldiers, each with at least knight-level strength, proved the gap between him and countless other knights.

Even though barely a few minutes had passed, the number of transformed soldiers had already dropped to less than half.

Despite having lost their rationality due to excessive transformation, Cardinando’s beast soldiers stood hesitantly in place.

Their animal instincts, enhanced to the extreme by the transformation, were warning them.

That advancing forward meant death.

Blindly charging forward after seeing their previously fine comrades crushed like vegetables pickled in salt was contrary to the instinct that prioritizes the survival of the individual.

“…Was this Your Highness’s last resort?”

Delphina murmured.

“Now it’s really time for you to spill everything you know. Whether the method used to transform humans into magical beasts is the same as the one used on Cornelio. How you obtained that technology. How you contacted the Demon King’s Army… Aslaksha.”

“…”

Held by the collar, Cardinando silently bit his lip.

Taking his response as positive, Delphina smiled and nodded.

“You have a lot to tell us. Probably for days, you won’t even get proper sleep…”

“Awoooooo…!!”

At that moment, an anomaly occurred.

The individual who appeared to be the leader among the hesitating transformed soldiers stretched its neck and howled like a wolf.

As if that were a signal, the transformed soldiers scattered without looking back, as if fleeing.

While they had been facing off against Scabbard just moments before, albeit hesitantly and filled with fear, now they had completely fled without even looking back.

“…What’s going on?”

Oscar murmured strangely.

“Why are they suddenly running away?”

“…”

Evangeline silently clicked her tongue with an ominous premonition.

“…Hehe. Uhehe.”

At that moment, Aslaksha, pinned beneath Evangeline, let out a low laugh.

“So, he came here after all. I expected he would have noticed already…”

To Aslaksha, who was murmuring incomprehensible words and laughing nervously, Evangeline put her face close and asked.

“Have you lost your mind? Why suddenly…”

Evangeline, who had been questioning her with a frown, suddenly stopped speaking.

From her expression, a different emotion that had never been seen before was visible.

Aslaksha was afraid.

She, who had not feared even Scabbard, let alone Evangeline.

“…What is it?”

“Pardon?”

Evangeline asked quietly. At the seemingly out-of-nowhere question, Oscar turned his head toward her.

“What the hell is it that makes you, of all people, so scared?”

Toward Aslaksha, who was giggling half-insanely, Evangeline unconsciously asked with cold sweat, as if urging her.

“I’m asking what the hell it is that makes you act like that…!”

“Death.”

Aslaksha answered quietly.

-Kwaaaaaaang!!!!!

Simultaneously, with a thunderous sound, one side of the fortress wall collapsed.

The fortress instantly turned into ruins. Seeing that sight, Evangeline’s expression hardened.

The dimensional magic that Aslaksha used on the battlefield in her prime was roughly of this scale.

Through the magnificently rising dust, someone flew in.

It was a person. But the way they flew was light, not as if a person was flying, but as if some stone was being thrown.

Evangeline suddenly felt an anxious illusion that human life had become as light as a pebble.

Red hair entered Evangeline’s field of vision. Evangeline turned her head as if entranced. Her eyes met with the person who was flying.

“…Rubila?”

Evangeline murmured, almost to herself.

-Kudangtang…!!

Rubila, in tatters, rolled on the ground, having already lost consciousness with her eyes rolled back.

However, no one present had the luxury to spare any attention for her.

-Jeobeok.

Through the dust that was beginning to settle, a pitch-black silhouette revealed itself.

In one hand, dragging a knight who was limp with unconsciousness by the collar.

“…Lord Saturnus?”

Delphina, recognizing his white armor, murmured.

In contrast, the knight who had appeared dragging him was covered entirely in black.

The helmet covering his face, the cape over his shoulders, the armor protecting his entire body, even the sword in his hand. All of it was pitch-black.

And only after seeing him directly did Evangeline understand.

The reason why the transformed soldiers fled without looking back.

Evangeline suddenly recalled a rumor she had heard once. That the roars of predators like tigers contain infrasound, causing prey who hear it to freeze stiff with extreme fear, unable to move.

Since she had become stronger than a tiger within half a year of beginning her training under Scabbard, she had not understood the meaning of those words.

But now, Evangeline felt as if she finally understood what that feeling was like.

An indescribable kind of pressure was emanating from the black knight before her.

It felt like drowning in a wave of pressure. Before she knew it, Evangeline found herself conscious of her own breathing.

The walking black knight stopped. Without saying a word, he dropped the hand that had been gripping Saturnus’s collar with a thud.

Jean Saturnus fell face-first with a flop, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

It seemed quite some time had passed since he lost consciousness.

“…Aubil.”

Breaking the suffocating silence, Aslaksha said quietly.

“What?”

“That is his name.”

With a voice foaming with blood, Aslaksha rattled.

“The leader of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the first undead created by the Demon King.”

“…Created by the Demon King, you say?”

“Yes.”

Aslaksha nodded.

“The world’s strongest being, created by the world’s last necromancer.”