The Birth of the Dark Empire
The words left Jae-hyun’s lips with absolute finality.
“You are not my enemy. I will kill you cleanly.”
If Pope Benet had allied with them for any reason, Jae-hyun would never have let him die so easily.
But Benet had instead stood firmly on the opposite side of Saintess Lucretia. Pure-hearted, he had always despised the power-hungry paladins and priests who schemed for influence.
Revenge demanded pain, not mercy. Anyone who did not deserve to be an experiment would be killed without suffering. Pain inflicted on those who bore no grudge would rob the punishment of its meaning.
Equal torment for both betrayers and the innocent would erase the distinction. If that happened, there would be no true revenge left to enact.
Therefore, except for experiments, he would kill cleanly or, at the very least, deliver no more pain than what the betrayers themselves had endured.
Of course, the six leaders among the betrayers would never die. That vow remained ironclad. Yet as Jae-hyun raised his hand to end Benet’s life, something stopped him.
“Ah… speaking of which, I should give you one last farewell.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a cross shot through the air toward Benet’s back. The cross was the very one onto which the Saintess Lucretia had already been nailed.
Benet’s eyes widened as he saw the beautiful silver-haired Saintess hanging naked on the cross, writhing in agony. He clicked his tongue, unable to hide his sorrow.
“How did it come to this? You were a kind child who begged me to marry Jae-hyun because you loved him so much…”
Though Lucretia had grown into the Saintess and become Benet’s rival, in her youth she had possessed no political position. She had only gained her title and divine power later, so no one had feared or obeyed her back then.
She had also been an orphan. Her parents had been priests, but when she was only three, black mages had killed them.
From childhood, Lucretia had been an energetic girl with mysterious silver hair and striking blue eyes. She possessed exceptional talent for holy power even among her peers, yet she was also famed for her beauty.
That beauty had always kept her popularity at its peak. Countless young men had pursued her, only to be rejected again and again.
Perhaps that was why pride had taken root in her heart.
Thirteen years ago, when the Demon King Laylana had first descended upon the Intermediate World, the Saintess Lucretia had been only seventeen. She had become the Saintess, received the adoration of all, and led the charge into battle. Her beauty had begun to twist her, awakening the arrogance hidden deep within her soul.
Yet the Pope, Benet, had remained blind to it all. He had quietly watched over her since her childhood and had become something like a patron. Naturally, it had felt right to him.
Eleven years ago, when Jae-hyun had begun to gather the strength to be called a hero, Lucretia had met him on the battlefield. She had faced the invading Forces of Darkness alongside him and fallen in love. But by then Jae-hyun had already chosen Irene.
One year before Lucretia’s first rejection, the moment she had been summoned to this world, Irene had begun training her. Irene had always smiled brightly and called her “oppa~,” caring for her through every grueling lesson. Of course, her heart had begun to waver.
When Lucretia suffered her first rejection, Benet had felt pity. But he had still believed things could be settled easily.
After all, the hero Jae-hyun could easily take two wives.
He had never imagined she would reach the conclusion that she must break everything if she could not have him.
After that, the one thousand paladins, five hundred priests, eight-circle archmages, seven-circle senior mages, and countless other mages who had once served the Saintess became her loyal followers. They shared the crime of betraying the hero. They had banded together tighter than anyone else, drawing strength from the Saintess’s overwhelming holy power, the title of the Continent’s savior, and the secret pain of having their first love forgotten.
That pain had earned them sympathy from the people and transformed their support into unwavering loyalty.
Until Jae-hyun returned alive, the Saintess’s authority had been truly unbreakable. But the Pope had been nothing more than a devout follower who knew almost nothing of politics.
He had possessed no strong power base of his own. The lords who supported him followed merely out of gratitude for the favors he had shown them. They were not bound by unbreakable loyalty.
Even as the paladins and priests grew corrupt, Benet had feared a great internal schism. He had never dared oppose the Saintess. All he had done was beg her to “protect the kingdom’s order.”
I was weak and cowardly…
Benet criticized himself silently. His eyes held only pity as he stared at the Saintess. Lucretia’s blue eyes trembled weakly as she looked back at him.
Hero, Saintess, and Pope.
For ten years they had stood together in one place. Yet never had their gathering been more tragic.
The hero had been betrayed by humanity and become a demon king, driven only by vengeance.
The Saintess had endured endless horrific tortures meant to break her, then been nailed naked to the cross to hang there forever.
The Pope would now meet his death at the hands of the Demon King he himself had helped create.
Yet the Saintess, about to die, looked at her with eyes of envy.
A living man was beginning to envy the dead.
The Pope would die comfortably here. But the Saintess would live forever, suffering every day without end.
Benet’s gaze then drifted to the man behind him—Lin.
Dressed in a simple black one-piece rather than the usual black robe of a black mage, Lin’s appearance fit her perfectly with her golden hair and green eyes. She looked like a delicate young beauty. No one could have guessed she was a black mage.
Yet Benet sensed something familiar about her. Though her beauty was not quite Irene’s, her age and atmosphere reminded him vaguely of her.
He could say nothing more.
Fwoosh—
Jae-hyun’s holy sword and demonic sword cleaved through Benet’s body in an X.
Benet’s corpse fell backward, blood gushing from the twin wounds. He died instantly.
Jae-hyun gazed coldly at the body of the last Pope in human history, then turned and walked away.
Selina, Lucien, Ron, and Lin followed. Lucretia, still nailed to the cross, floated behind him as the cross moved on its own.
Thud… thud…
His destination was the Pope’s throne. Normally, the Pope sat here to receive envoys from other nations as head of state.
Therefore a high dais had been erected, the throne crafted exactly like one used by an emperor to receive foreign dignitaries.
Now the throne belonged not to the Astraea Church but to the Demon King Jae-hyun.
From this day forward, this place would no longer be the Church of Astraea nor the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Astraea.
It would become the new Demon King’s Castle.
“Lin, come here.”
“Yes.”
When Jae-hyun beckoned, Lin walked straight to him and sat on his lap.
As her sweet scent filled his nostrils, Jae-hyun’s left hand slid under her one-piece skirt and stroked the pale skin of her thigh.
His right hand, meanwhile, gently stroked her hair, making her blush even more.
Selina, Lucien, and Ron watched in silence, confused by the gesture. But Lucretia understood instantly.
Iren—!
Those hands were exactly the same ones Jae-hyun had once used to caress Irene after he had defeated Laylana and married her in secret.
They had often sat in a quiet place and planned to return to Earth one day. He had loved placing Irene on his lap and stroking her hair. Occasionally he would slip his hand under her skirt, but since they had already promised marriage, such affection had been nothing special.
Lucretia had always gritted her teeth and swallowed her rage whenever she witnessed the scene. She remembered it more vividly than anyone.
She had once believed the ruthless, dangerous Demon King could never be the boy she had once known. Yet here, chained and naked on the cross, she felt an inexplicable ache seeing the old Jae-hyun’s face.
“At present, the number of Forces of Darkness under my command stands at forty-one million.”
Still stroking Lin’s head and thigh, Jae-hyun continued speaking. His left hand slid entirely beneath her skirt. Lin parted her lips and let out a soft moan.
Yet his expression remained ice-cold and unchanged.
“More than ninety percent of the population of the Holy Kingdom of Astraea already falls under my control. That includes the army and every civilian. Even the officials who manage the nation are under my rule. There is no longer any obstacle to governing the country.”
It was actually easier to govern than before. From commoners to officials, everyone now swore absolute loyalty to him alone. If he were to order mass suicide, forty-one million people would carry it out without hesitation. If he commanded them to stop corruption and focus on building the nation, they would gladly abandon their own desires and serve him with everything they had.
The Holy Kingdom of Astraea had also been the second-strongest power in the world after the Habsburg Empire. Although more than a thousand paladins and priests had defected to the betrayers, and countless other paladin and priest betrayers plus soldiers had been gathered to face certain gruesome deaths, the loss was regrettable but not fatal.
Before I go looking for Irene, I must eliminate every betrayer within the kingdom.
After all, Irene would eventually return to his hands. Revenge came first.
The deaths they had prepared for the betrayers were already decided.
This place—the throne of the Demon King—was now the new Demon King’s Castle. The Holy Kingdom of Astraea had become the Dark Empire ruled by the Demon King.
As Emperor of the Dark Empire, Jae-hyun issued his first command.
“Selina, Lucien. Take everyone who betrayed me to the Colosseum at once.”
Absolute Domination
The air thickened with oppressive dark energy. The throne room, once sacred, now reeked of blood and impending tyranny.
Jae-hyun’s cold gaze swept across his new subjects—Selina, Lucien, Ron, Lin, and the chained Saintess herself.
Forty-one million souls now knelt beneath his command. Corruption would cease. The nation would serve only him.
And the betrayers who had dared stand against him would soon learn what “clean death” truly meant.
Yet even as he issued the order, his mind already turned toward Irene.
He would find her.
He would reclaim her.
And then he would burn the world that had once betrayed him to ash.