Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Chapter 22: Into the Demonic Realm (2)
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“I only hoped their bodies would serve as materials to form the vessel for the king.”
“…What do you mean?”
“The king’s body is slowly being reconstructed in the Abyss. According to Lady Ainsera, that body will perfectly restore the one he had while alive.”
“Restoring a body that’s already gone?”
“Exactly as it was in life. And on the day that reconstruction is complete, the king’s soul—preserved by some method beyond our understanding—will descend into it, achieving perfect resurrection.”
Laura had seen Atein’s body, already partially reconstructed. It floated in the darkness, a grotesque form marred by gaps here and there, but those voids were gradually filling over time.
“For ages, everyone has analyzed and studied that magic. Yet no one has grasped its true nature. All sorts of hypotheses emerged, and one was that using the body of someone who inherited his blood—especially one with sufficiently strong traits—as a sacrifice could accelerate the restoration.”
In other words, they planned to magically dismantle the bodies of Dragon Demon Princesses or Dragon Demon Princes and use only the parts suitable for Atein’s reconstruction… a truly grotesque scheme. Azel and Kairen looked dumbfounded.
“They’re out of their minds.”
“They were never sane to begin with, but this… I don’t even know what to call it. Grinding up Arieta and Seiga to use as nutrients for rebuilding the Dragon Demon King’s body… those bastards deserve to die.”
Kairen ground his teeth. The thought that they had targeted his prized disciples with such intentions made fresh anger surge within him.
Azel asked,
“Let me ask again. Now that that trash plan has failed…”
“It didn’t fail. Not in the end result, anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Word games?”
“We failed to kidnap the Dragon Demon Princess and Dragon Demon Prince of the Lurein Kingdom, but those two weren’t the only candidates selected as sacrifices for this plan.”
“…”
In short, in the Dark Frozen Wastes, they had kidnapped candidates meeting the same criteria from elsewhere and sacrificed them to hasten Atein’s resurrection. To the furious group, Laura said flatly,
“But it was still a failure. It simply proved that we can neither understand nor interfere with the king’s magic.”
“…Small mercies, then. How much longer until Atein resurrects?”
“No idea.”
“…”
“It’s what everyone who serves the king wants to know. All we know for sure is that the reconstruction has advanced to the point where we’re convinced that day is near.”
“I see. Guess we’ll have to figure something out before then.”
Shadows crossed Azel’s face. Various countermeasures flashed through his mind and vanished.
‘If he truly resurrects exactly as he was back then… there’s no way I could stop him now.’
At the end of the Dragon Emperor War, Azel had exceeded everyone’s expectations—who only hoped he hold out until victory was decided—and defeated Atein. But if he fought Atein again now, he couldn’t win.
It wasn’t just that his forces were weaker than before. Given time and effort, he was confident he could surpass his peak strength.
The problem was the Dragon Demon Armaments. He could reclaim his own, the ‘Sword that Cleaves the Heavens,’ but the twelve Dragon Demon Armaments inherited from his fallen comrades were lost forever. Those feats had been possible only because of the era of the Dragon Emperor War, amid the countless rivers of blood and tears it spawned.
After much deliberation, Azel shook his head and asked Laura,
“Maybe I should’ve led with this… Why did you surrender to me?”
“I had no choice if I wanted to live, and I wanted to watch over you.”
“You’re treated like royalty even in the Dark Frozen Wastes. That’s recklessly incomprehensible.”
“Such status means nothing. I’m just a tool for their ambitions.”
Her voice as she said this was markedly colder than before, distinctly so.
“Now that the king’s resurrection draws near, those who were once his close aides grow anxious.”
That was why the Aunsor clan had unleashed their madness in pursuit of an ideal successor. The goal of basking in glory at his side upon revival had driven them insane.
“I wasn’t born into the world through natural means. I’m a doll crafted by magic to become the ideal successor they desired. My siblings—countless dolls—were made for the same reason, and all vanished in their experiments.”
“…”
Everyone was at a loss for words. The Dragon Demon Worshippers, who placed as much weight on bloodlines and racial status as human nobles, had gone that far?
To the speechless group, Laura calmly began recounting her past—how she was born, raised, and became Aunsor’s successor.
Her life story so far was long. It held not even a speck of what could be called a human existence, but her confession—calmly unfolding in stark contrast to the despair it contained—captivated her listeners.
“…I became Aunsor’s successor only because I was the last one left. I was born for that purpose, but I never wanted it.”
This was a truth she had never shared with anyone. Not family, not kin, but to strangers she barely knew… even enemies. She had never imagined such a day would come. Yet it felt strangely relieving.
Laura looked straight at Azel.
“I was born to become Aunsor’s successor, and I lived that way. I never thought about what else I could do or wanted to do anything different.”
Having lost all her siblings and become Aunsor’s successor, Laura harbored no ambitions. She had been a mere doll, acting on orders to fulfill her creators’ wishes.
Azel was the first to awaken desire in her.
She wanted to protect him. To know him.
That sentiment had made her cast aside everything that bound her. She, who had lived solely to realize others’ wishes, now risked death for her own for the first time.
With resolute eyes, Laura said to Azel,
“I want to stay by your side and see what kind of being you are, what you’ll accomplish. For that, I’d gladly give up Aunsor’s Dragon Demon Armament.”
3
Inheriting a Dragon Demon Armament required no grand ritual. Just as Riglen had passed one of his twin swords to Azel, the giver simply had to bear the eternal sense of loss from parting with a piece of themselves.
The process of Laura handing the Cup of Lament to Azel was over almost anticlimactically. Azel asked,
“Are you alright?”
“…Dizzy.”
Laura frowned. Her chest felt hollow, like a hole had been punched through it. The sense of loss from something that had always existed within her was greater than expected.
Azel said,
“Probably a mana void where the Dragon Demon Armament occupied space. It’ll pass with time.”
Without surprise, he accepted the Cup of Lament. Laura asked,
“Have you inherited a Dragon Demon Armament before?”
“That’s a secret. But I know how it feels.”
“You never give straight answers.”
“You only ask questions I can’t answer straight.”
At that, Laura’s expression shifted slightly. The change was subtle, hard to notice, but it seemed almost pouty up close.
Laura said,
“Then let me ask something else. Is your Dragon Demon Armament the ‘Sword that Cleaves the Heavens’ that Azel Karzark wielded?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Dragon Demon Armaments are born with unique names. You can’t artificially change them to hide their identity.”
“I knew it…”
She got her answer, but far from resolving her confusion, it deepened. Just who was this man?
‘Can a human live that long?’
The issue was that Azel was human. No human could live so long in the flesh, no matter the means.
‘They said they thoroughly eradicated Karzark’s descendants…’
Realistically, Azel Karzark must have vanished to prepare for remnant Dragon Demon King forces, secretly passing his Dragon Demon Armament to descendants. But Laura couldn’t bring herself to believe that.
‘Maybe even that plan succeeded, but they never told us.’
Azel’s words sowed doubt in her. The upper echelons of the Dark Frozen Wastes indeed withheld much from the younger generation. She began questioning if what she knew was all true.
To her, Azel asked,
“How did the Cup of Lament get passed down to you?”
“Huh?”
“Aunsor died at Kallos’s hands. He didn’t die instantly on the battlefield; they confirmed his death after retreat, so he probably passed it to a successor then. But… Baltazak died without even a corpse left. How was his Dragon Demon Armament inherited?”
Azel himself had delivered the killing blow to Baltazak. Even in that battle, Baltazak used his Dragon Demon Armament ‘Bleeding Star,’ with no chance to pass it on.
‘Yet that descendant clearly used Bleeding Star.’
Laura’s case was odd too. Even if Aunsor passed his before death, hadn’t the Guardian Shadow killed her predecessor? How did it reach her?
Laura said,
“The Four Great Dragon Demon Generals’ Dragon Demon Armaments are preserved by the king’s magic. As long as the magic sealed in the Dragon Demon Palace functions, they aren’t lost even if the user dies.”
“Hmm…”
Azel wasn’t surprised. It was the answer he expected.
‘Kallos preserved my Dragon Sword, so of course Atein could.’
Kallos was worthy of the title Grand Sorcerer, but Atein was a transcendent being one hesitated even to compare. It’d be stranger if Atein couldn’t do what Kallos could.
“Only for the Four Great Dragon Demon Generals’ Dragon Demon Armaments?”
“Yes. No one’s replicated that magic yet.”
“If I die, does the Cup of Lament return to the Dark Frozen Wastes?”
“It would.”
“If I pass it to someone else?”
“It stays with them until they die.”
“So it only returns to a specific place for preservation when left masterless.”
Azel frowned, approaching the presence of the Cup of Lament now within him.
During the Dragon Emperor War, the Cup of Lament had left nightmarish memories. Aunsor was a walking catastrophe with his innate magic alone, but with his Dragon Demon Armament, he surpassed even Atein in certain scenarios.
He never imagined he’d wield it one day. Life was full of long shots. The unpredictable future was wondrous.
‘Seems fine for now…’