Demon King Kim Jae-hyun Awakening
Creuuuu...
Kim Jae-hyun lay sprawled on the ground, his entire body a battered wreck, utterly drained and broken.
The sight was far too pitiful to be that of the hero who had saved the world.
Yet he had been betrayed. The final person who had shielded him until the end, Irene, had been unable to withstand the combined might of the four betrayer assassins, the mages, the fifth betrayer, and Saint Lucretia. In that desperate state, he had chosen his last resort.
To open the portal with the Holy Sword's power.
But the portal opened by the Holy Sword was flawed.
He might fall into the Heavenly Realm, home of the angels, or into the Demon World, realm of the demons... or perhaps into some unknown dimension he could never have foreseen.
But with death threatening him at any moment, Jae-hyun had no choice.
So he had prepared to leap through the portal with Irene. Yet in the end, Irene, suppressed by the five betrayers' combined power, had failed to escape. Still, as she was captured, she had shoved him through the gap of the portal, allowing him to flee.
'Ah... Ire...ne...!'
Remembering Irene, who had fought desperately to protect him until the very end, Jae-hyun clenched his teeth. He could never die here.
If he thought of her sorrowful smile as she urged him to survive, he could never permit himself to die. Her sacrifice could not be in vain.
Among the betrayers, the Gale Sword Emperor William had, ironically, pierced through Jae-hyun's abdomen just as he had once pierced the Demon King's. The fatal wound had been inflicted, and if time continued to pass, he would die for certain.
After expending all the mana and power he had gathered during the battles with the betrayers, Jae-hyun had no strength left to heal his body. In fact, he could barely move a single finger.
'I... can't... die like this...!'
Desperate resolve surged in Jae-hyun's eyes.
He could not die.
Under any circumstances, he could never perish.
Even without Irene's words, he could not die until he had exacted revenge on the world that had betrayed him.
He would make the betrayers suffer as they deserved.
I curse you. I curse you. I curse you. I curse you. I curse you!!!
Revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge... REVENGE!!!
Jae-hyun bit his lips hard, exerting every ounce of strength he possessed. Yet no matter how much of a hero he had once been, he had no way to act in this situation.
- Would you like to live?
At that moment, a voice spoke to Jae-hyun.
He immediately understood who the owner of that voice was. There was no mistaking it.
He had desperately struggled to grow stronger precisely to defeat the owner of that voice.
'The Demon King!'
It was the Demon King.
Before him stood Leyrana Francis Sil Erna Ariadne, the most beautiful woman imaginable, with waist-length red hair and red eyes. Her form appeared translucent, as if she were a three-dimensional image, yet her features were unmistakably hers.
'Damn eyes...'
Feeling his strength gradually draining from his body, Jae-hyun forced his eyes open, refusing to close them. If he did, he would never wake again.
- It is amusing that the hero who killed me ended up in such a state from betrayal.
The Demon King mocked the hero. Yet Jae-hyun could not utter a single word in response.
After all, the situation was truly ridiculous even in his own estimation.
He had been too complacent, too relaxed, believing he had bought enough time with the safeguards he had prepared against betrayal.
It was such a naive, even foolish thought.
- If there is a way to survive, what would you do?
Unable to answer with his mouth, Jae-hyun's lips refused to move. His eyes were barely open; speaking was impossible.
- It seems you cannot even answer.
The Demon King, assessing the critical condition of the nearly dead Jae-hyun, restored a small portion of his body.
She did not heal his flesh to the point of preventing death, nor did she bring him back to full strength. She merely allowed him to converse for a short while.
"Hoo! Haa... haa... krrrk! krrrk!"
Jae-hyun, who had finally opened his mouth, gasped roughly before coughing up blood. His condition was now sufficient for conversation, yet he remained on the brink of death.
- Now, can you answer?
Despite her translucent form, the Demon King revealed that she had died from the mortal wound inflicted by the Hero's Holy Sword. Yet here she stood, seemingly as radiant and unharmed as before a duel, and Jae-hyun could not help but ask in astonishment.
"Demon King, haa... weren't you dead?"
- No, I died. I was killed by him.
The Demon King answered that she had died. Yet Jae-hyun tried to ask another question, only for the Demon King to raise her hand to silence him.
- There is much you wish to know, but for now, I cannot exist for more than ten minutes. Moreover, I used my remaining power to restore you slightly, so I will vanish in about six minutes. Of course, you will die before then, but...
Learning that his remaining lifespan was less than six minutes, Jae-hyun thought of the betrayers, felt fury and hatred, and once again called forth the vengeful spirit born from that emotion.
"If there is a way to survive, what would you do? Demon King, any path you suggest, I will gladly accept. And if I survive, I will kill the betrayers and wipe this world clean of those who betrayed me."
Jae-hyun's desire for revenge was not limited to the five betrayers.
When the five had attacked, countless human armies had poured in from within.
And when the monarchs of the various kingdoms had declared to their soldiers that killing Jae-hyun would grant 1,000 gold coins and the title of baron, the soldiers had lusted after those rewards and sought to kill him.
Among them were soldiers he had protected, yet they too had betrayed him for the gold and title.
Such filth had no need to exist in this world. Even if there were a few exceptions, he had no interest in saving them at the cost of the world.
When he had needed help, only Irene had stood by him.
And she, too, would by now have been dragged away and trampled mercilessly.
Recalling her pure and loving nature, Jae-hyun's fury burned even hotter.
- How can a hero who claims to have wanted to protect the world utter such words? Is his desire for revenge sincere, or is it merely a fleeting rage?
The Demon King posed another question. Jae-hyun stared at her with eyes brimming with killing intent and answered.
"My answer will not change, Demon King. Since this world denied, betrayed, and sought to erase me, now I will deny it and shatter it in return."
A smile spread across the Demon King's previously expressionless face.
- Splendid. Then do you intend to become the new Demon King, succeeding me?
Proposing that the hero become the new Demon King, the Demon King left Jae-hyun stunned.
"The Demon King? Me, the Demon King?"
At Jae-hyun's bewildered response, the Demon King raised her head proudly and asked.
- Do you find it distasteful? Surely not even death could prevent you from becoming the Demon King?
Jae-hyun laughed at the question. He began laughing madly.
"Kkuk... hahahaha! How could I dislike it? I love it. I will become the Demon King and whatever else it takes. I cannot die like this! Even as Demon King, I will survive, seek revenge, and I swear it!"
At Jae-hyun's words, the Demon King nodded.
- Then I entrust you with my successor. New Demon King.
The translucent form of the Demon King gradually dissolved into red mist and vanished. At the same time,
"Uwaaaahhhhh!!!"
Jae-hyun let out a wretched, agonized scream. His eyes flashed blood-red, and from his blood-soaked body, new flesh began to sprout. The hole in his abdomen healed over.
Moreover, his mana and magic cores, which had been shattered, began to fill once more.
With mana and demonic power, energies completely different from before.
"Krrrk!"
Once the mana and demonic power had filled the cores, Jae-hyun immediately vomited blood. From that moment, blood began gushing from every pore across his body.
- Now, all of your human blood has been purged, and demonic blood has taken its place. Congratulations, new Demon King.
The voice of the previous Demon King echoed from within Jae-hyun's mind, and just as her words faded, Jae-hyun raised his head.
His pupils were now entirely crimson. Smiling with a killing light in his eyes,
"Kkuk, khehehe... demonic blood... yes, I am no longer human. But what of it? I am still alive."
Accepting positively that he was no longer human, Jae-hyun recalled the scene of his return to the original world fifty years from now. If no regrets remained, that would not be a lie.
But in this state, he would have died without achieving revenge. It was better to die in vain than to pass into oblivion without fulfilling his revenge.
Yet he soon realized he needed no such thing.
He need not wait fifty years.
The previous Demon King's soul had transferred the Demon King's position to him, turning him from human into demon. At the same time, it had bestowed upon him all the knowledge required to rule as Demon King.
"You may open the portal with the souls of a million sentient beings."
A million souls.
It was not a small number. But if he collected a million souls, the Demon King would have countless choices available.
Yet if opening the portal required consuming a million souls, Jae-hyun considered it sufficient.
After all, the world he had forcibly summoned was his enemy. The only being he had formed attachment to in this world was Irene.
Everything else was worthless except for her, who had never betrayed him and had shielded him until the end.
Consuming a million souls meant their annihilation. The souls of strong assassins and mages, however, would normally yield several times to tens of times their value. The souls of saintesses and the remaining four betrayers would be worth tens of thousands of times more.
There was no need to consume exactly a million souls; he could reduce the number to be annihilated. Consuming a million souls was no longer unthinkable to Jae-hyun.
'Once I finish my revenge, I can return whenever I wish.'
When he completed his revenge, he would have a million souls in hand, allowing him to return home.
And when he finished his life in the original world, he would return to the Demon World forever, ruling it as its eternal Demon King.
"Kukuk... kukukuk..."
The former hero, now Demon King, laughed. Revenge was finally within reach.
Yet he did not act rashly. The time was not yet right for revenge.
Moreover, the coincidence that the portal opened by the Holy Sword happened to lead to the Demon World was already too ironic. But when he considered that the remaining soul of the Demon King, using its final power, had chosen him as the next Demon King and granted him the Demon King's power, he began to wonder whether this was destiny rather than mere coincidence.
And Jae-hyun looked down at the Holy Sword.
The Holy Sword, lying on the ground and still radiating sacred light.
Smiling fiercely at the Holy Sword, Jae-hyun asked.
"Then, Holy Sword. Will you continue to pledge loyalty to me, the Demon King you once served? Or will you betray me as well?"