The Futility of Revenge is the Utterest Nonsense Under Heaven
The people of the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, who had feared that a new Demon King would be born and once again set the entire continent ablaze, were now offering their loyalty to the returning Hero-turned-Demon King, Kim Jae-hyun, after learning the truth of the events ten years ago.
They swore allegiance to him, pledging that if they remained loyal, they would be protected from the Dark Legion and not slain.
And in truth, for those who had already become Demon Kings, their oaths of allegiance and the price they sought—protection from the Dark Legion—had turned those oaths into binding contracts with the Demon King himself.
Now their lives were no longer threatened by the Dark Legion, for they had become its very members.
Forty million citizens of the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, without regard for rank or status, had sworn allegiance to Kim Jae-hyun and thus all became part of the Dark Legion.
Those who had become the Dark Legion did one thing first: they removed from the world those who had not sworn loyalty to Kim Jae-hyun.
Those who had been soldiers, paladins, or priests who had once betrayed him years earlier now feared revenge and had therefore never sworn allegiance, preparing to flee abroad if necessary.
Yet even in that fear, they had kept the truth of their betrayal hidden from their families, for the betrayal had been so monstrous that they could not bear to speak it aloud.
As a result, families of traitors—wives, younger brothers, elder brothers, fathers, husbands, and their own wives, younger sisters, elder sisters, and mothers—had not known the traitors were betrayers.
Most had not even sworn loyalty to the Hero at all. Some among the families knew their loved ones had taken part in that day’s battle, but it was only a vague suspicion, never a certainty.
Among the many citizens of the kingdom, a traitor’s family was considered worthy of protection only because they had abandoned the Saintess to follow the Hero; therefore, a mere suspicion was not enough to forfeit protection.
And so they swore loyalty, unaware that their families had become enemies.
“Aaaaaah! Suffer for the Demon King, you traitor!”
The wife, brandishing a kitchen knife with eyes blazing with murderous frenzy, lunged at him, the scent of demonic energy rising from her entire body. The paladin stared in utter horror at the sight.
“C-c-cough… Hero… no, Demon King…!”
He ground his teeth, remembering the Demon King reborn as Kim Jae-hyun. The man had been one of the traitors who had seized his fortune ten years earlier.
Before the final battle ten years ago, that very soldier had been saved by the Hero Kim Jae-hyun on multiple occasions.
Once when the Hero had intercepted a demonic assault and cut down the monster himself.
Another time when a colossal area-of-effect spell hurled toward him had been blocked by the Hero’s Holy Sword, shielding him from certain death.
Yet the soldier had repaid that grace not with gratitude, but with betrayal.
The price of that betrayal had been ten years of satisfaction and never once regretting the choice to betray on that day.
He and the other traitors had even convinced themselves that no human of this continent mattered, that they were merely outsiders to be discarded once used.
They had viewed the Hero simply as a convenient tool to be used and discarded.
And even now they showed no remorse for their actions.
“Why! If you’ve used me up, just disappear already!”
“Damnable Demon King! What the hell do you think you’re doing abandoning the Hero’s duty? You cursed bastard! If you were truly a Hero, you should have just died quietly!”
Originally the Hero had simply waited in silence, intending to leave once time passed. But these traitors had betrayed him and then cursed him for refusing to die.
At that exact moment, the floating screens high in the sky changed.
* * *
“Aaaaah…”
The Saintess Lucretia hung naked and crucified on a cross, her palms, fingers, thighs, and every inch of her body pierced with enormous nails.
Kim Jae-hyun watched the beautiful silver-haired Saintess, still so exquisitely beautiful, nailed to the cross and smiled coldly.
“The Saintess is most delicious when nailed to the cross, is she not, Lucretia?”
“Hic… uwah…”
Lucretia trembled with fear at the Demon King’s words and wept. She had already endured countless hells; resisting him now was unthinkable. If he ordered it, she would obey even the most humiliating command to escape the pain.
But Kim Jae-hyun had no intention of turning her into a sex slave. He had once considered the idea of making the Saintess a sex slave, yet the mere thought had sent such boiling rage through him that he could not bear it.
And now, seeing her suffer, a deep, satisfying pleasure rose from the core of his chest—the kind he had never felt in ten years.
“The feeling of revenge is so refreshing. Hahaha. The notion that revenge is meaningless is absurd. Revenge is truly satisfying. Once the target dies, you can’t continue the revenge, so the only remaining feeling is emptiness.”
Kim Jae-hyun spoke and thrust a finger into the dimple of Lucretia’s navel. The Demon King’s cruel laugh echoed as he poked the Saintess’s cute belly button.
“Now you must soon receive the demonic seed and give birth to our demonic child. Ah, you’ve already borne seven, haven’t you? Kukuku.”
“Hic… uwah… no… no…”
Lucretia shook her head violently, sobbing, as the sight of the seven Briders hatching from her womb and bursting forth outside her body flashed through her mind.
“Aaaaaah!”
The memory alone drove her into a despairing scream. But the Demon King’s power prevented her from going mad. Her body could not die even if her neck were severed, and her mind could not break even if it wished to. Worst of all, every memory remained perfectly clear.
The pain that would have driven anyone insane continued without end, yet it could never break her—only prolong the suffering.
And Kim Jae-hyun felt it was time to show these traitors within the kingdom the true, wretched past he had endured.
Revenge had already begun, yet he still wished to speak it aloud.
To make them understand just how desperate and hateful his revenge was, and to show them that this hatred was aimed straight at them.
“Lucretia, I have images prepared to show the entire kingdom—and you will watch every second with open eyes. Fail to do so, and I will make you give birth to our demonic children, forcing you to suffer the same through your front and back.”
At the Demon King’s threat, Lucretia nodded frantically, fear making her voice tremble.
“Y-yes! Yes!”
Her beautiful face, now contorted in terror, was met by the Demon King’s joyful smile—only for the expression to vanish in an instant, replaced by cold indifference as the screens above changed to a new scene.
This was the sequel to the images shown moments earlier.
A tear-streaked Irene had desperately shielded him through the gap in the enemy’s formation, but Kim Jae-hyun was already beyond saving, bleeding out on the ground.
His body, soaked in blood and riddled with fatal wounds, lay collapsed. Yet even in that wretched state, he had clung to life with desperate will and burning hatred for the traitors.
Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!
Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!
Because it was his own memory, every word of that curse had been heard only by him at the time. Now the entire kingdom could hear the voices as well.
“Do you want to live?”
Along with the words, the translucent figure of the former Demon King Leyrana Francis Sil Erna Ariadne appeared, mocking him while slightly healing his body and offering him a choice.
“Kuk… hahaha! I have no choice! I like it! I accept, Demon King or whatever— I will survive and take revenge, no matter what!”
The Demon King who accepted the proposal was shown reborn in agony, newly born as the Demon King, his entire body changing as human blood was purged and demonic blood took its place, swearing revenge. The paladins who had once sworn loyalty to him were also shown.
“What in the world…!”
“We created the Demon King!”
The traitors scattered across the kingdom finally understood why the Hero had become the Demon King and how the new Demon King had been born.
“A Hero and yet a Demon King!”
“Filthy, shameless traitors!”
Yet the traitors in every corner of the kingdom continued to blame Kim Jae-hyun. No doubt similar resentments existed among countless other traitors across the continent.
“…”
Among the six leaders of the betrayal, the Saintess Lucretia bowed her head in silence, regret long since dead. She had never regretted betraying him on that day. But now she did. The fact that she had failed to kill him then and was suffering this horror was unbearable.
And through the images, she finally understood that the Demon King before her had been reborn solely for revenge.
Then the report arrived.
“Hm?”
Kim Jae-hyun received a report from one of his subordinates, a black mage who had once served the Holy Kingdom but had sworn allegiance and become a black mage after switching sides.
The message was delivered to Selina in Lampas City and forwarded to him via Message Magic.
It reported that Charles Bentham, president of the National Academy in the capital Pantheon, wished to speak with him directly.
“Whatever. Bring him here.”
The Demon King’s command passed directly into Selina’s will through the transmission itself. She vanished in a teleport and soon reappeared, bringing an old man before Kim Jae-hyun.
Charles Bentham, the old man, possessed the appearance of a wise scholar with a long white beard. In reality, his gentle nature and profound knowledge had earned him the title of Sage.
“Well, why did you summon me?”
Kim Jae-hyun, eyes arrogant as the Demon King, glared at the old man.
Charles replied bluntly.
“I will speak plainly. Former Hero and current Demon King, please cease your revenge and show mercy. Revenge only leaves emptiness in the end. The true revenge, they say, is to forgive them. Please forgive them, abandon this pointless vengeance that only leads to your own destruction, and save yourself.”