Gozine

Chwaaat!

The sword lightly slices vertically through both our allies and the demon camp.
Casualties are at least in the hundreds. Not bad.
It’s clear that I’ve indeed grown stronger.

“Why……”

In an instant, the despair-filled faces of my companions come into view.
Somehow, it evokes a strange emotion in me, not the affection I’ve felt from them until now.

‘They must have all known, right?’

Those who stood by and watched as my father Theo died.
They were there when the actual decision was made, and they heard everything until the very end. But they didn’t stop it.

I wonder how funny I must have looked when I threw a fit, saying I would die.

Was I pathetic?

Since Theo was going to die anyway, maybe they found it amusing to see me carrying on as if I were some kind of hero.
A twisted emotion wells up, and hatred for others begins to sprout.
If only they had suggested we fight, even if it meant all dying together, then this wouldn’t have happened.
They solely pursued their own interests and became bystanders who said nothing. They’re just waiting for an opportunity to fill their own pockets. They were all the same by my standards.

These memories torment me all over again.
What is left within my circle now?

Perhaps everyone is an enemy?
I don’t know anymore.

I can’t even tell whether I’m sane or not.

Chwat!

I swing the sword.

With one strike, numerous demons are swept away again.

War?

I don’t know.

All I feel now is the pleasure derived from slaughter.
Additionally, hatred and a sense of betrayal toward these people.
Just the fact that humans ultimately seem no different from demons.

“Nox, why are you doing this!”

“Stop, Thalia! Something feels off. Maybe while defeating Baal, his ego was consumed!”

Thalia shouts.
Robert tries to intervene, but I give no response.

I can’t hear her voice.
To be precise, I suppose I no longer hear these words as they are intended.

“Damn it, if this continues……”

“It seems we have no choice but to kill him as he said.”

As I thought.
Using me was your plan, right?

Now that I’m no longer needed, you’re trying to get rid of me?

Then,
I have no reason to hesitate either.

“Right?”

At the murmurs of the imperial family members, I grip my sword tightly again.

Chwaaat!

I continue to swing the sword, and swing it again.

It’s a demon.

When I first risked my life and even used devilization to fight Amdusias.
The other soldiers probably screamed when they saw me.

Demon.
I fought in that form to do my best.
They too must have come out to fight to protect something in their own way, but my appearance must have made them distrust me.
Suddenly, I wonder.
Do I really deserve such treatment?

No, was it right for Father to die receiving such treatment in the first place?

The family head of dirty dark family.
Does such treatment befit us, who sacrifice for the continent?

The process of cutting down enemies continues repetitively.
It’s indiscriminate slaughter that no one can stop.

It’s a beautiful night.
But it wasn’t a white night.

It’s a night dyed crimson, a deep red like blood.
I soon left the place.

There was no place for me, be it the human camp or the demon camp.
From now on, I will create a new place for myself. Also, I will destroy this continent and Altende. I will kill even the goddess Arden, leaving nothing behind.
If possible, I want to destroy everything.

This is the new, powerful impulse driving me.
And so, that was when I escaped the imperial palace.

At the edge of the desolate continent’s fields.
A figure, no, a demon, traversing the cracked land came into view.
His face was familiar.

[This can’t be… So the future I saw was correct after all. Just how far does this book’s foresight go?!]

“It seems you’ve been revived as well.”

The one blocking my way was none other than the Demon of Wisdom.

Dantalion.
He bowed his head respectfully upon seeing me. Now that I think about it, I recalled the first time I had a conversation with him. Right before he died, I remembered what he had told me.

“You. You made a prophecy once.”

[Yes. That’s correct.]

He spoke using a polite tone that didn’t suit him.
But I didn’t care about that. Resolving my curiosity was the priority. At least for me, it had to be.
To do that, I needed to hear his prophecy from that time again, exactly as it was.

“The prophecy you made then. Say it again.”

[……As the Demon King manifests on the continent, a knight with white hair will clash with him and achieve victory as if by a miracle, and this shall mark the beginning of a new start for the continent.]

The following phrase.
It was the one that had constantly made me uneasy, the one I now consider nothing.

[A white demon will be born.]

[A Demon King with true meaning will be born, and all will worship him.]

“Interesting story.”

I half-listened to his words and continued swinging my sword.

Cutting, and cutting again.

For days and nights,
I spent time disposing of the trash……
Starting with the demons first.

Even Grand duke-level demons are no match for me now. Their usefulness is gone anyway.
Unless they pledge loyalty to me. If they are not tools to reach my aspiration, I discard them.

It’s only natural.

After all, don’t people act according to their needs?

And so, I repeated the process of increasing the demons loyal to me and cutting down all those who weren’t.
Some begged for their lives while still trying to kill me from behind. By then, I was almost certain that there’s no difference between the mortal realm and the demon realm. They also have factions and each act for their own benefit.

The more I experienced this situation, the more questions arose, and it became unbearable.

Are humans truly human?
Are demons truly demons?

From what point, and how, should this be redefined anew?
It was hard to understand, but I needed subordinates first.
I wanted them, to whom I owed no heart or reason, to obey my commands.

Thus, after busily subjugating demons……,
Except for a few beings, I succeeded in eliminating all those who opposed me.
And took the rest as subordinates. I now have over ten thousand troops under my command. If I continue like this, it won’t take long to destroy the establishing imperial family.

And so, about a few years passed.

Now it was time to deal with the bugs in the imperial palace.
The demons were crushed long ago.
It’s the turn of the dogs of the holy families, including Kiril von Zenos.
I intend to kill every single one who agreed with the opinion to kill Theo von Reinhaver without exception.

Some say.

Nothing remains at the end of revenge.

How funny.

Nothing remains?

At least relief will remain.
The feel of cutting down enemies and the bloody scent will remain.

Furthermore, isn’t it time to end this puppet show?

— Charge!
— Kill the demon!
— Focus! Everyone, the opponent is none other than the ‘White Demon’!

South Gate.
I pass the place Leon once guarded and head toward the imperial capital.
As I entered the imperial palace, those who were once my soldiers greeted me.
They no longer call me by titles like the Emperor’s Knight.
My view of them is also different from before.

The moment our opinions, thoughts, and desires don’t align.
Humans can turn their backs at any time.

Like now.

Chwaaat!

A rough sword mark cutting vertically across the palace.
Startled soldiers rush to stop me, but it’s naturally useless.
I reveal four pupils.

Horizontal, goat pupils. Baal’s symbol.

But now they are mine.

The strong have the right to take from the weak.

Just as Theo was sacrificed because he wasn’t from a holy family, and wasn’t an Emperor.
Or, just as Luna was abandoned, not becoming Empress, and grew up in an alley.

The world will continually push us into endless irrationality.
Absolute power.
In a world where that alone has become justice, I dare say I am no different from a king.

Especially since I’ve obtained the Demon King’s power.

There are hardly any beings left here who can stop me.

— St, stop him!
— Protect Her Majesty the Emperor!

No.
At this rate, this won’t do.

Black Blade Flash, Black Blade Chain of Flashes……,
Many become near-corpse states from the ensuing feast of black blades.
They might be barely alive, but it’s meaningless.

“Stop right there!”

It was when I was digging into the heart of the imperial palace.
I heard someone’s voice calling out, and it belonged to someone familiar to me.
Red hair, red eyes.
The White Flame Knight, Thalia von Stiliner.
They say she has now surpassed even Robert and Cell to become the strongest White Flame Knight. But that doesn’t mean she can stop me.
The reason she can be so brave is because of the White Flame.
Perhaps it’s due to the expectations associated with it.

“Thalia.”

I look at Thalia, who has now become an enemy.
She also looks at me. I begin to read the deep emotions welling up in her unique red eyes.
Strange.
A slightly nauseating sensation spreads. My head rings a little.

Meanwhile, Thalia looks at the dead soldiers and opens her mouth, filled with hatred.
She’s trembling, her fists clenched tightly.

“Just why……”
“Why did you make this choice? Why did you make a deal with demons? Why did you betray us!”

Everyone seems to think I made a deal with demons.

But that’s wrong.
I act solely of my own free will.
It’s just that you didn’t know because I endured and bore alone what I couldn’t stand until now.
I’ve been like this from the start.

Extremely selfish, hurting someone, hating, easily holding grudges.
Perhaps humans are made that way from the beginning.

Of course, such things are utterly unimportant now.

Thalia roughly points her sword and calls my name.

“Nox von Reinhaver!”

It’s been a long time since I heard that name, not White Demon or Demon King.
For some reason, I felt like I might get sentimental, but I was thinking of answering what she had spat out earlier.

“Betrayal, huh.”

I continued with a sneer.

“Yeah. To you, it would be betrayal. But.”

It might have been for you, but not for me.
You took away the only thing I had left.

It might be plenty for others, but for me, it was truly the only one.
If you take it, use it, and shatter it miserably, then I have no choice, right?

“What…!”

“I didn’t betray you. On the contrary…… it was you who betrayed me.”

“Enough of your sophistry! Just tell me…! Since when did you become so broken…!”

Her large eyes well up with moisture.
Is that truth, or lie?
What emotion is it? I don’t know.
I don’t want to understand either.

Haa.

I quietly look up at the sky. The full moon fills my eyes.
It’s exactly the same scenery as the day I killed Baal and learned the truth.
Beautiful scenery, the whispering sound of leaves.

I already know the answer that suits this moment.

“The beginning… was a crash landing.”

However, that’s how I answered.

“That’s sophistry.”

Outside the castle walls.
It was at that moment that a boy’s voice was heard.

“…Leon.”

“Nox”

Leon looked at me straight on with his unique eyes and asked.

“Why have you changed so much? Is this also because of demons?”

“Maybe. But I’m moving according to my will now. At least in the process of killing demons and those who betrayed me, even more so.”

Leon pondered for a moment, then looked at me with a thoughtful expression.

We drew our sword, undead soldiers, and faced each other in battle. It was a fight that laid bare the story of our wretched lives, our ways etching themselves vividly into our minds.

**********

‘The beginning was a crash landing:’

Leon thought.
His friend had once said that after first falling into this world.
A story he recalled.

Leon still didn’t fully understand the deeper meaning within it, but one thing was certain.

Long-haired Nox.
His tangled white hair and lavender eyes flashing, his noticeably taller height and shoulders. The moment their eyes met, Leon intuitively knew.

‘He’s crying.’

Nox was crying.

Probably not only Leon but all his companions here knew. Even though he had obtained immense strength, he was alone and lonely.
He probably wanted to return here more than anyone else. To his companions’ side.

But it seems there’s something he must do.
Leon thought.

That the aspiration given to Nox is preventing him from returning to where he should be.

‘Why was that?’

Leon summons undead. One woman in saint’s attire and an undead knight. One knight holding a uniquely thin-bladed sword, etc. Various undead surround Nox. Nox without panic quickly swings his sword, cutting down the enemies.

His purple pupils flash, and before one knows it, they reverse into inverse pupils.
Then, wings spread from his back along with red goat-like pupils.
Demon’s symbol
Leon thinks.

Is that really what binds Nox?

He doesn’t know well.

But what is certain is the clear fact that Nox must be stopped now, and that is the way to save him.

Leon asks.

“Why did you betray us? Nox von Reinhaver.”

“You’re saying the same thing as her.”

Nox sneers.

“Does that even matter now?”

“Even if it has no meaning to you… It does to me.”

‘Why did you leave us?’

Leon blurted out simultaneously as he was thinking, and Nox calmly replied.

“If you want an answer from me. Also, if you want to stop everything now.”

He raises his sword.
It was also an act representing Nox’s resolute will.

“Kill me. The only choice given to you is just that one.”

“……If that is truly what you wish.”

Leon accepted.

To kill Nox?

No.

He must return.

He doesn’t know why he feels this way, even though he doesn’t feel emotions well, but anyway, he must return. Only then will his own mood, stuck in this mud, return to normal.

Leon wanted to know.

Why he wanted him to return, and why he left his companions.

Flap-flap-flap

He opens a book.
Necronomicon. Leon unfolds the Necromancer’s book and deploys his mana.

Nox leaps up to attack Leon, cutting down undead, but his determined strike is easily blocked by Leon’s undead. Nox laughs as if amused.

“You’ve gotten stronger.”

“Yes.”

Leon and Nox exchange a few more rounds like that.

But no answer comes.

No one knows how this fight will conclude.

No one can even intervene. Leon had become a mage with overwhelming power, enough to overwhelm Penelope’s strength in the time without Nox, and Nox was also demonstrating power worthy of his nickname, the White Demon.

Facing Nox, Leon says.

“Even if I have to kill you. Even if I have to make you undead to hear it. Why Nox von Reinhaver had to hurt everyone. Why the Nox I knew isolated himself.”

At the same time, he thinks.

The clear and cruel fact that this battle, as Nox said, will not end until one of them dies.

——————————

Note

So, this wraps up part 1. I was thinking about jumping into part 2, but the chapters are still pretty short. Plus, it’s going to be from Leon’s POV, so I figured I’d wait until we have more content before moving on to part 2.

In the meantime, I’m thinking about working on another series. Either Japanese or Korean novels. If we go with Korean, it should be something available on Naver since I don’t have accounts for Kakao or Novelpia. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

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Thank you!