For the Fall of Saint Lucretia 2
The video display had not stopped at this city.
Lucretia would never have guessed it, but the same images were already being broadcast from the skies across the entire Holy Kingdom. The view of Lampas City filled every horizon, complete with sound, turning the entire kingdom into one massive public broadcast.
"Ah..."
Lucretia now understood that she had been wrong. Without the Hero Kim Jae-hyun, she would have slaughtered every single person in this city to keep the secret. But his power was something that inspired fear even to consider opposing it.
At that moment, Kim Jae-hyun spoke to her through magic.
*I will remain silent from now on. Everyone inside the city already knows the truth. How you deal with them is your choice. I will not interfere. Show me once more how vile you truly are.*
His tone was ice-cold as he smiled, yet the words carried a demonic weight that made Lucretia feel irresistibly drawn in. She was just a Saint, but as the Demon King's words they possessed overwhelming persuasive power, and without realizing it, she began to surrender to the temptation.
*Yes... If I kill everyone in this city, the secret can be preserved!*
Originally, even with nearly three hundred thousand transients added to the population, it would have been difficult.
But the city was already in ruins, and countless people were dead.
The knights she had brought with her were the absolute elite, each one at least a Sword Master or higher, veterans who had survived countless battles against the dark army.
The priests, too, possessed strong holy power. They were not on Saint Lucretia's level, but they could definitely cast holy attacks powerful enough to kill ordinary people.
*How is this possible!*
*Those brazen bastards...*
*Calling themselves a Saint after this?*
The citizens of the city no longer respected Saint Lucretia. She had once commanded awe as their Saint, yet now countless people were condemning her and cursing her name.
In a peaceful era, this would not have happened.
They would have felt anger at the Hero's betrayal and hatred for Saint Lucretia and the rulers of every nation, but they would never have risked their lives to confront them.
Humans valued their own safety above all. Even though the Hero Kim Jae-hyun was revered across the continent as the greatest of heroes, only an absolute minority would have been willing to die for him.
Most people would have simply looked the other way, fearing the harm it would cause them.
Jae-hyun understood this perfectly.
He never believed humans were noble, and naturally, he did not believe in human conscience.
That was exactly why he had deliberately explained the birth of the new Demon King and the threat it posed. Just moments earlier, thousands of monsters had rampaged through the city, burning and destroying everything. At least eighty thousand had already died, and without Jae-hyun, the remaining more than one hundred thousand would have suffered even worse injuries and produced far more casualties.
The city's daily transient population reached three hundred thousand, but that figure included everyone who entered or left that day. At noon, when the city was most crowded, the actual population inside was closer to two hundred thousand.
And now, with more than one hundred thousand survivors, they knew the truth, they feared the monsters, and they had lost everything precious. That knowledge was the most important thing.
If these survivors spread the word, they would reignite the ten-year-old fear of the Demon King and broadcast the truth of that ancient betrayal.
The Hero's declaration that he would no longer aid the continent out of rage at the betrayal would spread as well.
Chaos would erupt across every nation, and especially within the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, fueled by distrust of those in power.
*Yes, this is to prevent the chaos.*
Saint Lucretia rationalized her actions as necessary to stop the continent from plunging into disorder. Around her, everyone was already condemning her. If this continued, her authority would collapse.
And if rumors spread through them, the entire continent would fall into chaos. This was the ultimate sacrifice to prevent continental collapse.
*Damn it! How can she still call herself a Saint!*
*Is the Hero really below the Saint? Yet he betrayed him!*
*Still calling herself a Saint after this?*
*Damn it, it's all that Saint's fault that the Hero is so angry!*
Lucretia's expression grew cold as the voices of condemnation surrounded her. She had always portrayed herself as kind yet majestic. Anyone who did not know her well would find her current face unfamiliar, but this was the exact face she had worn ten years ago when she betrayed the Hero.
"Prepare immediately."
Upon hearing the Saint's order, Captain Oliver of the Holy Knights instantly understood her meaning and nodded.
"Yes, Saint-nim."
Oliver had been present at that day's scene.
In fact, almost every capable knight had participated in the final battle at the Demon King's Castle. They were all co-conspirators in that secret.
To survive and maintain their current positions, they had no choice.
The knights moved quickly, and the priests prepared as well. They stood on the same footing as the knights and had also betrayed the Hero that day, so they had to hide the secret.
Five minutes later...
Although the Saint led the knights and priests, space-magic limitations forced her to bring along several archmages of the 8th Circle and several 7th Circle mages from the kingdom.
She began sealing all connections to the outside world—spatial displacement, crystal balls, anything that could alert the world. The knights coordinated with the forces already inside Lampas City, sealing the city gates and turning the entire metropolis into an unbreakable fortress.
The knights stationed inside were not ordinary soldiers. They were the capable ones who had once fought alongside the Hero in the final war, yet they had betrayed him then. Their current appearances of helplessness against the monsters had simply been because the monsters were too numerous and powerful.
They were more than capable of hiding the secret of that ancient betrayal.
One knight approached a group of citizens who were grumbling.
The citizens flinched at the sudden approach of a knight and fell silent, but their fear was not yet evident. They still had no idea what was coming.
Common sense told them that, aside from the Hero, no one could possibly be responsible for such an event.
The knight lifted his sword, infused it with holy power, and slaughtered the citizens in an instant.
Puff... puff... puff!
"Ahhhhh!"
Blood sprayed as the citizens fell. Others screamed at the sight, but they, too, would soon be cut down and bled out.
Even as they died, most citizens did not know why they were being killed.
Priests' attack spells struck, devouring countless lives. Holy power, meant to heal, became a weapon of slaughter. Inside Lampas City, a true massacre unfolded.
More than one hundred thousand souls—merchants, ordinary citizens, tourists, soldiers—none survived.
It was absolute extermination.
At the front stood Saint Lucretia herself.
Her cold expression as she unleashed massive waves of holy power, slaughtering every person in the city, was eerily reminiscent of the Demon King's army ten years earlier.
*Ku ku ku.*
Watching the scene, Jae-hyun laughed. The grudges born from thousands of slaughtered people turned into vengeful spirits, and their deaths were absorbed and converted into demonic energy, further strengthening him.
Jae-hyun had always considered the citizens of Lampas City foolish.
Why should he protect them? And even if he did, would Saint Lucretia have allowed the truth to spread?
Of course, with more than one hundred thousand people knowing, they had felt safe. In their minds, no one could possibly kill that many, no matter how hard they tried to silence them.
But they were the very people who had betrayed even the highest-ranking individual—the Hero—and tried to kill him.
The Hero who had saved the Intermediate World, yet they had betrayed him for nothing more than personal sentiment or a desire for power. Killing a mere hundred thousand ordinary citizens should have caused no hesitation.
Those people were capable of cruelty to protect their power, and in some ways they were more wicked than the dark army itself.
*How foolish, Lucretia. You are no different.*
Lucretia, who knew her own power better than anyone, tasted despair. Her rational mind failed her, and she made an emotional decision instead.
It was not as though she had suddenly become emotional. Ten years ago, that very trait had already proven itself when she betrayed the Hero.
*To think I only broadcasted the video here...*
Jae-hyun's magic had already long surpassed the level of dragons.
It was not difficult to spread such information across the continent, let alone just the Holy Kingdom of Astraea.
Especially since he remembered every city location inside the Holy Kingdom from ten years ago, even if he did not know about the newly built Lampas City.
No cities had moved in ten years. He simply had to broadcast the videos from the skies.
Even if the Saint had blocked information from escaping Lampas City with her own mages, those mages had unknowingly passed the truth to the outside world.
All reports trying to reach the Saint had been blocked by his magic and never arrived.
*Go mad. Blame each other. Hate each other. Curse each other. Prioritize your own interests above all!*
Jae-hyun smiled coldly and muttered as the Demon King. The power hidden in his words spread through the city, gently but steadily provoking the people.
It was only a faint spark, yet in this situation it was more than enough.
Even Saint Lucretia, without realizing it, was slowly succumbing to madness.
What Jae-hyun had thrown was nothing more than a small spark, and the humans foolish enough to fan it into flames were the ones responsible.
*Ku ku ku, krrk... krr ha ha ha!*
In the end, Jae-hyun burst into loud laughter. Lucretia had no idea that the massacre scene she was committing was being broadcast live to the entire Holy Kingdom.
She had become the Saint who, to hide her own hideous secrets, was now slaughtering more than one hundred thousand innocent citizens—and the entire kingdom was watching.