Chapter 218 – Chapter 45: Demon King #5

The Death Knight took a step forward. He stood alone among the flames and screams coming from every direction.

The Death Knight and War Knight weren’t the only ones attacking the Demon King’s Palace. Many troops had been prepared for today. The apostles of War were raging everywhere. They were those who lived for war, so the battlefield was the only place where they could feel this pleasure.

There were also the apostles of Death. Every one of them was old, and some of them had lived even longer than Arch Lich Shutenberg.

The Death Knight raised his sword, which was already covered with blood. The Death Knight’s sword was enveloped in the power of Death, so all the dead were reborn as undead which hated the living. It was thanks to the power of Death that the Demon King’s Palace became so chaotic in such a short period of time.

It was a horrible chain where the mother bit the child and then the child bit the father. The Death Knight recalled the past. Even though a long time had passed, the memories still remained clear in his head. He remained silent as he gazed at the scene he had created with his own hands.

There wasn’t much left. He had exhausted everything in today’s fight.

The Famine Knight had disappeared before even joining them. Then Arch Lich Shutenberg and the winter king had disappeared beyond the limit line along with the Conquest Knight, the warrior, and the other children of the demon king.

The attack on the Demon King’s Palace was using the last of the Death Knight’s forces. He had no more troops. It would be foolish to take a step back.

The Four Knights of the Apocalypse desired the destruction of the world, not the collapse of the Demon King’s Palace. The Demon King’s Palace was just a single city. Its disappearance wouldn’t cause the whole of the Demon World to collapse.

It would just cause confusion. Since the focal point of the demon world was gone, there would clearly be an uproar. The Death Knight hoped the war between species would happen again.

However, that was still far from destruction.

Even if Arch Lich Shutenberg disappeared with the other children of the demon, 3rd Prince Victor still remained in the west. There were also children of the concubines who were performing missions outside the Demon King’s Palace.

Additionally, the queens were outside the palace. 1st Queen Aishar Ragnaros remained at the Demon King’s Palace, but there was a big difference between her and the other queens. The 1st Queen was the daughter of King Zanskal of the draconians, while the other queens were the leaders of their species. Harming the 1st Queen was different from harming the others.

It would be inefficient and stupid to waste his remaining forces on attacking the Demon King’s Palace just for a slight chance of restarting the Era of Struggle. Rather, it would be more effective to raise the northern barbarians along with the winter king and Shutenberg.

Nevertheless, the Death Knight attacked the Demon King’s Palace. Despite everything else, he tried to erase the Demon King’s Palace from the world. However, it wasn’t due to a personal grudge, and it was far from clinging to an obsession.

This was necessary. Everything he had done so far would end with the destruction of the Demon King’s Palace.

Feeling what the War Knight felt, the Death Knight paused for a second and took a deep breath. A certain person was approaching. Instead of fleeing the Demon King’s Palace, he had chosen to fight.

He was the king—the Demon World’s protector.

It was something the Death Knight had hoped for, but he couldn’t help feeling a little bit of bitterness. He both admired and despised the demon king for his devotion.

Then the Death Knight stepped forward again. It was time to settle this.

&

Four of the five captains of the Demon King’s Palace were in the north.

Reinhardt, a yaksha and the only remaining captain, was furious at the sight of the scene at the Demon King’s Palace. As befitting of his nickname ‘the Silent Knight’, he didn’t speak. He simply rushed toward the War Knight as flames covered the red armour on the War Knight’s body.

It was at that moment that Reinhardt discovered that the opponent was a woman. However, he didn’t have any problems with that.

With every stroke, Reinhardt tried to smash her. He was a yaksha and several times bigger than the red woman in front of him. Rather than a sword, he wielded a greatsword which contained a huge blunt force.

The War Knight received Reinhardt’s sword. As soon as it was blocked, her sword moved to the side of Reinhardt’s sword, seeming to slip down along its side smoothly.

Reinhardt’s sword soon landed on the ground. The War Knight was silent, but War laughed. Then she sped up.

The movements of the War Knight became faster and faster, and the crescent sword curved toward Reinhardt’s throat.

Simultaneously, flames burst out everywhere. The apostles of War, riding on fire, rushed towards the guards.

&

It had started with the removal of the guardians around the Demon World. Numerous guardians had been killed, and by the time the Demon King’s Palace had noticed the guardians were being hunted, half of the target number had already been achieved.

The transformation of lands into deserts or wilderness was merely an additional effect as the goal wasn’t the devastation of the Demon World.

What were the guardians in the first place? Why had the lands been devastated after the disappearance of the guardians?

The reason for the latter was simple.

The Demon World was originally a land where people couldn’t live, and it had become like this due to the red dragon. This wasn’t devastation. It was just giving a glimpse of the Demon World’s original appearance.

If so, who had created the present Demon World? Who had put a shell over the ravaged world? Moreover, if it wasn’t for the sake of destruction, why had the Death Knight peeled off the shell?

There was one more meaning to the shell…

&

The fact that the Demon King’s Palace was being attacked spread quickly. In addition to the three queens outside the castle, the four captains in the north also heard about the urgent situation.

However, the transportation formations didn’t activate. They had been destroyed before they could even be used. The first job of the Death Knight’s underlings was to destroy the transportation formations.

The three queens showed different actions. 3rd Queen Sylvia hurried to the Demon King’s Palace. Since the transportation formation of the palace wasn’t in action, she wanted to use the one nearest to the Demon King’s Palace.

4th Queen Elaine wasn’t in a better situation. She also wanted to head to the palace in a hurry, but she was outdoors, not at the palace of the lycanthropes. Elaine didn’t love the demon king, but she didn’t hate him; she simply thought it was for the best that he rule over the entire Demon World.

Elaine sped up along with her Blood Companions. Their goal was a transportation formation close to the Demon King’s Palace.

2nd Queen Titania Nekrion didn’t rush. She remained calm despite hearing that she couldn’t move directly to the Demon King’s Palace through the transportation formation. It wasn’t because she was cold-blooded or not worried about the demon king.

Among the queens, she was the one who believed in the demon king’s strength the most. Thus, she was able to keep a calm state despite the Demon King’s Palace being attacked.

The three queens were leading their armies towards the palace in their own way. The problem was whether they would make it in time.

&

The red dragon and elder dragons had been annihilated in the fight more than 10,000 years ago. After that, the Four Riders of the Apocalypse had suffered such big damage that they slept for thousands of years.

Then in the battle 1,000 years ago, the Four Riders of the Apocalypse and the new elder dragons had met. It had been unfair.

Recorder Torres had used some wickedness to deceive Conquest. Additionally, there had been a crucial difference between the two fights.

The red dragon… It was the dragon of extinction which had led the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. The elder dragons had been replaced by new ones, and the numbers filled up again. The riders had returned as well.

However, the red dragon hadn’t returned. The red dragon alone had been completely freed from this world.

Why? What was the reason?

The difference between the two fights wasn’t just the red dragon. One more difference existed…

And the Death Knight knew what it was.

&

10,000 years ago, the Death Knight had been the king of the indigenous species.

He had been the ruler of the Demon World and the father of the people. The king had done his best to fight against the red dragon and the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. No one could deny his struggle.

However, eventually, he had been defeated. The king had been caught by the Four Riders of the Apocalypse and had to watch his people die.

Although defeated, he had still been the most powerful warrior and magician of the indigenous species. Death had then turned the king into his knight, and the king of the indigenous species became the Death Knight and slaughtered his own people.

All of that had worn his spirit down. In the end, the only thing left had been a shell of the former king.

The indigenous species hadn’t despaired over losing their king and continued the desperate resistance. The six elder dragons with the powers of the gods had fought with the indigenous species.

A long battle had ensued which then devastated the entire Demon World. At the end of the fight, the indigenous species had been completely destroyed. They hadn’t been wiped out because they had been embroiled in the fight. There was no way that one species could be destroyed so completely.

The indigenous species of the Demon World had cast the ultimate magic to defend the Demon World, so all of the indigenous species died at the same time on the same day. Their souls had united together into a mighty power.

This power had decided the last fight. It had prevented the red dragon, whose soul had been destroyed by the Drakon Kechatulla, from resurrecting in this world.

The entire Demon World was covered with the magic of abundance. One of the new elder dragons born after the great war, Watcher Ainkel, imitated the magic of the indigenous species and enriched Enger Plains.

Simultaneously, the magic of abundance was also a seal. Every spell of abundance in an area was one seal.

There were hundreds of barriers between the Demon World and the place where the red dragon’s soul was expelled to.

Over time, the significance of the abundance became larger than the seal. In the first place, the indigenous species had placed more weight on that side. The abundance had been a solution to the problems which they had been facing right then, rather than worrying about the red dragon.

As years passed by, the people slowly forgot about the seals. Even the abundance had been incomplete when it was handed down through guardians.

The Death Knight had destroyed the seals slowly over a long period of time. It wasn’t necessary to destroy all of the seals. He just needed to weaken the seals so that the red dragon could use its own power to break the barrier.

The War Knight had started her activities in earnest and helped the Death Knight. After making trouble in various places and driving away the attention of the gazes of those in the Demon King’s Palace, the Death Knight destroyed the seals on the far side and prepared to call the red dragon.

There were strong and weak seals. Sometimes the seals were in the form of things other than abundance magic.

The Death Knight had caused the ghost of the fairy king to run wild. As as result, the seal that the fairy king held had been destroyed by the children of the demon king. One powerful seal had disappeared along with the magic fog that covered Sky Forest.

The goal had been achieved. Thanks to that, the Death Knight started moving. He exposed the home of Arch Lich Shutenberg to bring all the powerful variables there.

The sword duke, whom the Death Knight and War Knight didn’t know when and where he could appear, turned towards the limit line. The Conquest Knight and Drakon Kechatulla of the Human World were also with him. Additionally, there was 2nd Prince Zephyr Ragnaros.

The captains were gathered at the Aegis Gate. Predicting their movements was as easy as staring into the palm of his hand.

The last thing was the Demon King’s Palace. Thus, the Death Knight had risen from his throne and headed there. However, the goal wasn’t the Demon King’s Palace. The Demon King’s Palace was just a place. There was something else which should be deleted from the world.

“Protector of the Demon World.”

It was the demon king. The demon king wasn’t the ruler of the Demon World; he was the one who protected it. The first demon king had ended the Era of Struggle. He had been the guardian of the Sanctuary. Although he had traveled outside the Sanctuary to wage war during the Era of Struggle, his true role hadn’t changed.

The demon king himself was the most powerful seal. He wasn’t simply a guardian but the source of the Sanctuary’s strength.

This was why the strongest person had to be the demon king. Therefore, the demon king was the guardian of the Demon World.

The Demon King’s Palace was burning. Flames rose into the night sky, and the screams of those dwelling in the palace could be heard as the sounds of fighting rang out.

The Death Knight gave strength to the hand holding his sword, and the power of Death exploded out! The colour of death was blue, and that dark blue energy swallowed up the surrounding area. Simultaneously, the apostles of Death appeared. Their goal was the same.

The current demon king… the sura king, Mitra…

He had made his way straight to this place like he knew who was responsible for everything. The sword in his hand cried out wildly.

The aura of Death was like a great snake as it tried to swallow the demon king. The various aura, magics, and psychic powers of the apostles of Death headed toward the demon king simultaneously.

The guards behind the demon king couldn’t respond properly. They were overwhelmed by the power of Death and could only watch.

The Death Knight stared at what was before him, while the demon king faced the Death Knight from a distance away. Then he wielded his sword towards all the malice in front of him.

It was just one swing, but it wasn’t an ordinary swing. The sword cut through the air and crushed the power of Death. All the auras, magics, and psychic powers heading toward the demon king disappeared. It was like the world itself had been cut apart.

The apostles of Death gulped. The guards were also overwhelmed by the absolute power of the demon king.

After watching this scene, the Death Knight understood and was convinced of something. He could only acknowledge it after watching this scene. It was the reason why he had to remove all the external variables, including the sword duke.

It was because of the strongest person in the Demon World…

And what that meant.

The demon king swung his sword one more time.