Gozine

Thick darkness.
Finally, night began to descend.

The time when Theo who had surrendered his body to Baal decided to begin his move.
Nox also realized that the moment to use the Moonlight Sword to kill Baal was approaching.
He had anticipated.
That if he could just resolve this situation, everything would be over.

But things didn’t flow so easily.

For example, when he saw the grotesquely transformed face of his own father.
Nox’s emotions about having to cut it down were terribly chaotic.

After all, it’s killing an ally.

No, even before that, it’s killing his own father.
No matter how little interaction they had, recently he had been acknowledging him as his father.
Hadn’t he decided to acknowledge him now? To honestly accept himself.
Even if just to avoid being completely consumed by this darkness brought by devilization, this was necessary.

‘That’s not Theo, he’s Baal. He’s merely wearing the shell of the family head. I only have one chance. My body is at its limit now. I must finish this perfectly.’

He emphasizes several times that that is a demon.
He struggles to hammer it into his mind.

But who doesn’t know this isn’t easy?
This, this fight will ultimately be decided entirely by whether Nox can kill his father Theo or not. So hesitating here is absolutely unforgivable.

He knows.

It’s something he knows better than anyone.

Therefore, Nox readjusted his grip on the sword. The sword slowly begins to imbue moonlight.
Baal still showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever. Although his claim of doing his best wasn’t a lie, it was thanks to avoiding all fatal wounds. He purely acknowledged Nox, but Baal still believed that time had caught up with him.

‘If he had three years… no, even just one year, the result might have been different.’

Baal was certain that the boy before him would grow faster than he himself could grow.
Demons live eternally and continue to grow stronger, but because of this, their growth rate is slow. Humans are trapped within the confines of a limited lifespan but can rapidly elevate their realm.

This was the law of the continent.

‘He’s an interesting fellow, but it’s right to eliminate him here.’

Baal had sometimes spared a few of those so-called Sword Emperors or Sages in the past.
He was confident that no matter how many years they trained, they could not surpass him, and fighting humans who grew stronger by the day was quite entertaining.

But this was a different story.
Nox had grown rapidly and had a clear driving force.
His bloodline was also a problem.

‘Of all things, to be Jin… that bastard’s bloodline.’

The first family head of the Reinhaver family was someone with skills comparable to his own.
If it weren’t for the constraints, he might have been able to kill Baal, and although he isn’t showing himself now, Baal thought he was hiding somewhere.
Anyway, he is also a demon. Ultimately, he failed at the resurrection magic he desired, but he did not die. Wouldn’t he be living eternally, watching his descendants die out from somewhere?

[Now, let’s end this. Last sword of Reinhaver.]

“……”

Nox didn’t answer at that moment.
Baal thought nothing of it. It’s common for knights to concentrate for a final strike. He’s probably preparing to receive his attack, gathering all his nerves in one place.

Excellent judgment.

It frankly wasn’t a title he dared to bestow upon humans who still couldn’t acknowledge their desires, restrained themselves, and considered themselves great, but this boy was different.

A truly marvelous concentration.

Thinking this, Baal pours out his attack to mark the end.

Rumble…!

Dozens of magic circles rise into the void and begin to fall.
But, that moment. The moment of despair. Why is it?
A glimpse of vitality, a flash of color, rose to Nox’s face.

‘Why? Now, at this moment, why is he making that expression?’

The countless expressions he’d seen before killing humans. There was no pattern like this among them.
In the end, they either beg for their lives, become detached, or succumb before the power. That’s the language of weak humans, their limit.

But Nox was not.

As if a remaining possibility and hope existed, he was charging in.
Burrowing through the countless pouring fireballs, he also releases his mana.

Then, using a sword he had never used before, he deflects the attacks and begins charging towards him. Seeing this, Baal convinced he hadn’t given up yet, decided to do his best to mark the end of this attack.

Nox von Reinhaver.

[Your defeat shall be remembered as humanity’s final defeat!]

If it’s a final attack, Nox will surely crumble, and humanity will never oppose demons again upon seeing that even a Nox this strong was defeated.

Furthermore, Baal will become a mythical existence on par with the creator like Arden who reigns over the continent.

Without a doubt, Baal raised his spear for the attack.

Thump.

Feeling his strength drain away in the next moment, he unknowingly fell to one knee.

Why?

Before he thought that it was strange, what reached him was the original owner of this body.

— Did you think I would hand over my body to you so obediently?

[This damn…!]

Black chains rising from the ground.

Clatter!

The chains began to wrap around Baal.
They gradually constricted him tightly and squeezed Baal strongly, more precisely, the body of Theo he was possessing. To break free, he would need at least a minute of anti-casting.

[Now die. Baal.]

With Theo’s voice, Nox’s sword flies towards Baal’s neck.
A light shines.

Not a dark light, but one closer to white.
No, that was what Nox always considered a light he himself could not emit. Moonlight.

It shimmers.
Held within both pupils, it dances beautifully as if shattering.
Instantly, Baal’s head was jerked back, and looking up at the moonlight pouring down on him, he could only think.

‘A full moon.’

Also, to explain this battle, we need to go back to the final conversation of Nox and Theo.

**********

A few minutes before the final strike.
After preparing to summon his condensed power one last time, Theo awakened his ego. Pulling this out from within Baal’s body was more difficult than any fight he had ever fought before.

Theo asked bluntly.

{Is everything ready?}

{It seems you have regained control of your body.}

A curt conversation between father and son.
Emotions like possibly never seeing each other again didn’t interfere here.
Only a slight tremor as if both were suppressing their emotions. This told the story of how this situation was proceeding.

{I hated you.}

{I know.}

{But… now I’m not sure. Theo von Reinhaver. Can I hate the Reinhaver family head? My father? Do I have the right?}

{You do. I guarantee it.}

Their conversation seemed to run on parallel lines, but somehow it connected.

{We won’t see each other again, will we.}

{Right. But you have the right to look forward. I heard you’ve been trying hard, repeating time multiple times. …I’m sorry. Nox.}

From this point on, even Nox could barely hold back his tears.
Why is it always at the very end that we find the twisted of our emotions and can understand each other?
The answer cannot be easily given.

Theo continued.

{I was not a good father. It’s shameful. Asking you to kill me like this at the end, and not being able to tell you beforehand at the moment of decision.}

{Stop… please.}

{If by cutting me down you can erase all sadness, if that can happen, I could die smiling, nothing more to be desired.}

{Such a thing won’t happen. Although I hated you, and spent too long a time because of it, at least……}

Nox spat out as if letting go.

{Right now, in this moment, I don’t hate you, Father.}

{……Is that so.}

The words calling him father.
Upon hearing those words, Theo could not muster any reaction.
After losing his wife, it was what he wanted to hear from his son more than anything.

But after the incident, his son was already broken and avoided him.
He knew that his son’s good nature wasn’t broken just because he acted like a ruffian, and he knew that if it weren’t for him, someone could guide him to a better path……
But he couldn’t.
His son was born with excellent talent, but he couldn’t help it bloom.
He always proved his own worth.

He was glad.

He wanted to watch this sight longer.

He didn’t know how much time he had left in his life, but if he were given just one more chance, the thought that this time he could treat Nox better constantly crossed his mind.
But, the time that had already passed didn’t return.
In the end, it seems we father and son will end without reaching each other.
That was Theo’s conclusion.

‘Perhaps it’s for the best.’

Theo kept thinking that on his way here.
It’s self-comfort.
Thoughts he had because otherwise, he might have truly broken down.

Also, if Nox held affection for him, wouldn’t he hesitate to kill even a worthless father? If he remained a bad father to the end, then wouldn’t his son be able to live, even if they never connected?

But.
All these assumptions ultimately weren’t statistics of human complex emotions.
His son already considered him his father.

Therefore, the moment Theo heard those words, barely gathering his crumbling heart, he made it so Baal could not move his body.
Soon, he shouts through telepathy.

{Do it!}

His son charges towards him at full speed.
A beautiful sword imbued with moonlight unfolds.
He feels joy at the fact that he can finally see his son’s growth with his own eyes. Even if it was a twisted love, in the end, their intentions reached each other at the last moment.

Isn’t this enough?

If he could smile, if he could show his expression now, he wanted to smile.
He wanted to show his son his inside, not his outside, for the last time.

Dash!

Nox had charged and focused all his power into his sword at the final moment, deflected all the pouring flame attacks, and finally stood before his eyes, possessed by Baal.

Then, he thrusts the dazzling sword fraught with a brilliant light before his father.

It’s beautiful.

More beautiful than ever, Nox’s sword pours horizontally towards him who is on one knee.
A thin line is drawn on his neck, and then blood gushes up.
His vision spins round and round, and soon he begins rolling on the ground several times.

Finally, Theo realizes.

That his head had fallen, and finally Baal was dead.
That his son’s long-cherished desire was now all over.

Now it seems he can close his eyes in peace.

Theo thought so.

“Please rest comfortably there.”

“I love you.” (Theo)

Saying that, Theo raised the corners of his mouth slightly with all his remaining strength.
It rained.
Heavy rain.
I wonder when it will finally stop.

Is it really true that this story has ended?

Nox stands alone, planting his sword on the ground.
Covered in his father’s blood, even after slaying the worst demon in history, he just stands there quietly, leaning on his sword, on one knee, praying.

Whether it was to honor the soul, because he was tired, or for some other reason, there was probably no one who could know.

What is certain is,
that a heavy rain fell.

And also, that perhaps rain fell on the faces of the two who had been confronting each other.
That’s all