Vengeance Against the Fourth Traitor - Part 2
William saw Irene standing beside Jae-hyun with a faint smile and felt the cold threat of death wash over him.
He still lacked the strength to defeat Laylana, the Demon King. Yet Jae-hyun had slain her a decade ago, and Irene had long since surpassed that same realm.
With his current power, he could not harm either of them, and even wounding them seemed doubtful.
“Long time no see, William. You drove a blade into Jae-hyun’s belly and looked positively thrilled.”
Irene spoke with a smile, but her eyes remained cold and unyielding. She had not forgotten.
The sword that had pierced Jae-hyun’s abdomen. The despair and screams she had felt in that moment.
Watching the man she loved take a blade to the stomach was agony she could not bear. She would have gladly taken the wound herself. Seeing Jae-hyun suffer and die then had made her wish she could suffer and die in his place.
She had barely managed to block William from severing Jae-hyun’s windpipe, shoved him through the opening, but the sword she carried clattered to the floor. She was overpowered and dragged away by force, enduring the humiliation she never wanted to relive.
“You bastard! So it really was true—you became the Demon King!”
William forced a calm expression and drew his sword.
William, longsword drawn and aimed at Jae-hyun, felt one second stretch into an eternity for the first time. Jae-hyun’s once-black eyes had turned red, and his face was ice-cold as he stared back. William felt his heart seize in terror.
His senses sharpened to the extreme, time itself slowed around him. William seriously considered his chances.
Can I survive this?
He had already abandoned any hope of victory. Survival probability weighed heavily on his mind. His instincts and reason both warned him there was no chance.
A barrier had been set up here, sealing off any escape.
Even if he somehow broke free, what then? The entire Gallia Kingdom combined could not defeat a Demon King.
“No need to worry. I’ll handle you right here with just one hand.”
Jae-hyun spoke coldly, mocking the tense William. William felt a deep humiliation at being told he would be dealt with from his position with nothing but one hand.
“How far are you going to ignore me!”
William’s fury surged. Though weaker than Jae-hyun or Irene, he had walked the path of the sword and earned the title of Gale Sword Emperor. Excluding Jae-hyun and Irene, he was still one of the strongest swordsmen in existence. They were, after all, geniuses who had never truly belonged to the human realm.
Now both were no longer human, but William did not know Irene had crossed that line as well. Jae-hyun’s eyes had turned red, yet Irene’s remained clear and blue.
“Do you truly believe you are great enough to matter? Don’t expect me to uphold the code of a martial artist for a coward who isn’t even one.”
Of course, Jae-hyun viewed the example of a martial artist as nonsense. Victory belonged to the one who won through combat. Cowardly betrayal was trash even before the fight began.
He had been dragged into this world, forced onto a battlefield, and forced to fight. He had given his all for them. The repayment for the grace he had shown while saving the world was the betrayal waiting for him here—excluding Irene.
Jae-hyun no longer considered William a martial artist at all.
William’s face flushed crimson from the blatant humiliation, but he could not refute the words. Every one was true.
“Irene, step aside.”
“Yes, I’ll watch closely.”
Irene stepped back with a bright, carefree smile, utterly unconcerned about Jae-hyun being injured. She was certain nothing would happen to him against “someone like William.”
He thinks I’m not even worth opposing!
William’s rage boiled over. He had grown stronger over the past decade. Of course Jae-hyun was stronger still, but the casual dismissal of dealing with him from his spot with just one hand ignited fury.
And Jae-hyun hadn’t even drawn his sword—only raised his right hand.
“What are you doing? Charging in without hesitation, just trembling in fear? You look so terrified you won’t even draw your sword and want to face me with one hand. If that’s too much, I suppose I should deal with you using nothing but a whistle.”
William’s gray eyes, matching the color of his hair, burned with even greater fury.
He had resolved to die without dying in such a humiliating manner. He roared and unleashed his battle cry.
“Huaaaap!”
Before the sound had even faded, he rushed forward and thrust his sword with all his strength toward Jae-hyun. Aura Blade, Aura Circle, and faint traces of will mixed together, pushing his power beyond the level of a Grand Sword Master.
The sheer wind pressure tearing through the room was immense, and at the sword’s center, overwhelming force converged. It was a full-power strike from the Gale Sword Emperor William, aimed to pierce Jae-hyun.
Ting—
But the blade was blocked. Not merely stopped—Jae-hyun’s index finger rested precisely at the sword’s center.
His sword could not even pierce that single finger. William’s gray eyes were inches from Jae-hyun’s red ones, and he was stunned speechless.
Standing still, Jae-hyun seemed enormously vast. Terrifying. Unfathomable.
No, this world itself was beyond his reach.
D-Demon King!
William finally understood that the boy before him was no longer human but a higher existence far beyond them—a Demon King.
It was ironic. In his hero days, he had been a savior yet never felt like a target worthy of awe. Now, as a Demon King, he felt awe at the higher being before him.
Jae-hyun’s cold red eyes remained fixed without a flicker, and his index finger slowly shifted to the right.
Even as Aura Blade remained active, William’s sword was halted by that single finger, unable to wound it. As Jae-hyun’s finger moved, the sword followed, guided helplessly.
No wound was inflicted, the blade did not even sink in, yet William could not pull his sword free or release his grip. It was as if his hand had fused to the weapon.
The wind pressure still emanated from the blade, but it caused no harm to Jae-hyun—only slightly ruffling his hair like a gentle breeze.
“You were mistaken. There is no value in facing you with one hand. This single index finger is more than enough.”
At Jae-hyun’s words, William felt no anger. No, he could not even protest.
M-Monster!
William could not accept that the being before him was no longer human. How could such a terrifying presence be human?
Demon King.
The previous Demon King Laylana might have seemed like an angel beside this existence. This man was a demon. The demon before him, smiling coldly while burning with revenge, would bring about the destruction of the world.
William prayed that Ferdinand and Griffith’s plan would succeed. Though the odds were not one hundred percent, it had to succeed.
That was the only way to defeat the demon before him.
“You seem to believe you are making a noble sacrifice for the continent.”
Jae-hyun sneered at William. William realized he had lost all will to live. He probably thought his sacrifice was the heroic final stand of a hero fighting bravely against an evil Demon King.
“I am indeed an evil Demon King, but do not misunderstand, trash. William Rodriguez. You are nothing but a simple betrayer and filth. You opened the door of destruction that will end the world, and you personally pulled that door. From now on, I will punish you. Hahaha.”
“W-What are you planning, Demon King!”
William feared what Jae-hyun would do next. He would not simply kill him.
Jae-hyun stood over 180 cm tall, but compared to William’s 191 cm, he was smaller. Yet the boy who had not aged beyond twenty preserved his youthful appearance exactly as it had been a decade ago. His smile, though not threatening in appearance, sent a chill of horror through William.
“Heh, what do you think? Hehehe… Revenge is only natural, right? Idiot.”
With that, Jae-hyun’s finger rose and came down swiftly. William, still gripping his sword, was pulled along and slammed to the floor without ever releasing it.
Kwoong!
“Kyuuk!”
William was not injured by the impact. He was a swordsman who transcended the Grand Sword Master; he would not be hurt by being slammed into the ground.
However, what followed was an exception.
Bang!
“Kyeok!”
William cried out in pain from the intense shock radiating from his head. Jae-hyun’s foot had stomped down on it.
“You will not die. You wanted to kill me, but even killing someone like you would not satisfy my hatred and anger.”
Jae-hyun spoke calmly, yet his hatred and rage would never be quenched. Revenge and hatred were the reason for his existence. No matter how powerful he became, he could not escape them.
Born as the Demon King for revenge rather than a human Jae-hyun, it was his inescapable fate. At least Irene’s presence gave him another meaning and peace.
But that was not all.
The pain of the traitors beneath his foot—including the past ugly betrayer called the Gale Sword Emperor who had stabbed a sword into his stomach—was his joy.
“You liked to eat, didn’t you? So I prepared some very fitting revenge for you. Expect it. I spent ten years in the Demon World thinking hard about how to kill you traitors, how to make you suffer, how to make you suffer until my stomach felt refreshed. Hahaha…”
Watching Jae-hyun burst into insane laughter, William was certain of one truth.
H-He’s crazy! He’s insane! He’s completely insane!
The one who returned as the Demon King was a madman obsessed with revenge.
“Wow~ I’m really looking forward to it, Jae-hyun oppa. What are you going to do here right now?”
Irene’s sparkling eyes as she stared at Jae-hyun made her look like the most beautiful golden-haired girl in the world—radiant and dazzling. Yet William simultaneously realized another truth.
She… she’s crazy too!
The beautiful smile on Irene’s face meant she was also a madman consumed by revenge.