215
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 215
When Caesar opened his eyes, Tatiana asked urgently.
"How did it go? My sister."
"It's okay. She just fell asleep because she's exhausted now."
"You're saying she needs more sleep when she's been sleeping all this time...?"
"Her body might be fine, but her mind is exhausted. I think we need to let her rest for a while."
Gloria was sleeping peacefully while preciously holding Flawless.
Unlike before, she wasn't anxiously sweating or showing distorted expressions.
Tatiana felt relieved seeing Gloria's peaceful expression.
"But I think I'll need to borrow Flawless for a while. Would that be okay?"
"I'm fine with that. If it's for my little sister..."
"Good. Then please rest for now."
Caesar gave Raven a look and said.
"Should we go outside and talk for a bit?"
Raven and Caesar went outside the cave.
***
Raven cast a sound block spell at the cave entrance.
"Tell me. How is Gloria's condition really?"
"First, the good news is that Flawless completely drove away Raum's nightmare."
Caesar confirmed through psychometry how Flawless drove away Gloria's nightmare.
Flawless mercilessly cut down Raum, who was the source of the nightmare, completely destroyed the nightmare, and put Gloria to sleep.
"However..."
Caesar opened his mouth after suppressing his anger with a dry face wash.
"If Gloria wakes up now, she might not be able to distinguish reality from nightmares."
"What exactly does that mean? Explain properly."
"The nightmare Raum showed Gloria was a dream where I died trying to save her. And he made her repeat it not once but dozens of times..."
"So you're saying that when Gloria wakes up and sees you, she might think it's a continuation of the nightmare?"
"Exactly."
Raven's expression hardened as she seemed to realize the seriousness of the problem.
"Then what if you kill Raum in front of Gloria? We can make her feel that the story flow is different from the original nightmare."
"You're right. She'll realize it's reality if she feels that reality flows completely differently from the nightmares she had. But I don't know if Raum's death alone will be enough."
"Then what should we do?"
"I don't know. But I know someone who can solve this problem."
"Who is... Wait, don't tell me..."
Caesar looked at the red moon and said.
"Yes. I need to meet Agatha. No one knows about nightmares better than a succubus. If we do well, we might be able to solve not just Gloria's problem but Tatiana's problem too."
Bang! Bang!
Caesar saw streams of flames bursting from various places.
The flame streams were getting closer.
As the flame streams got closer, the sound of insects crawling grew louder.
It was all the sound of puppets running through and brushing against leaves.
"But let's think about that after dealing with Raum first."
As soon as he finished speaking, Raum appeared through the forest shadows.
"So this is where you were hiding."
Following him, puppets appeared from various places.
Judging by their numbers, it seemed he had brought all his reserve puppets as well.
Raum wore a crown made of blood vessels handed to him by a puppet.
"I'll be honest, Caesar. I was careless."
Caesar sensitively caught the movements of the puppets closing in from all directions while holding axes in both hands.
Raven also started casting spells in her mind to be ready to use magic immediately.
"Although I openly lured you, I didn't think you'd actually come to save Gloria, and I didn't think you could break through the nightmare fog I had spread throughout the valley. I had never lost on a battlefield of my choosing before."
"Didn't you lose to Tatiana?"
"Yes, that's right. That's why I was even more careless. Tatiana was able to resist my nightmare fog because she had Flawless. No other knights could resist my nightmare fog. Even the baptized ones couldn't."
Raum waved his hand.
White nightmare fog began to flow from the mouths of the puppets filling the surroundings and spread across the ground.
"How did you do it?"
Raven stopped the spell she was casting and started casting a new spell.
It was an air purification spell.
She immediately cast the air purification spell on Caesar and her own mouth and nose, as well as the cave entrance where Tatiana and Gloria were.
A strange light appeared in Raum's eyes.
"Oh, Air purification magic. So that was the secret. That's how you were able to confidently enter my territory."
Caesar threw Thunder.
Thunder flew like a living mountain bird, destroying the hearts of the puppets spewing mist, and settled back in Caesar's hand.
"You didn't come here just to talk about such trivial matters, did you? Raum?"
"Right. That's true. But I'm curious about many things. Especially why you care so much about Gloria."
Caesar didn't clearly understand Raum's intention behind such questions.
From his perspective, giving Raven more time was very disadvantageous.
The more casting time given to Raven, the more powerful magic would befall that guy.
Despite knowing Raven was continuously casting magic, Raum was acting very leisurely with confidence.
"Aren't you fundamentally different from Gloria and Raven?"
"...What?"
"You're a doppelganger, aren't you? Caesar?"
At the mention of doppelganger, Caesar and Raven's shoulders flinched.
"...What did you say?"
"I said doppelganger, Caesar."
Raum looked at Raven with a sneer.
"Yes. This must be shocking, Green-eyed wizard. But this is the truth. Caesar is a doppelganger."
It was obvious what Raum was aiming for.
Though uncertain how Raum discovered Caesar's secret, he was clearly trying to drive a wedge between Caesar and Raven.
Caesar suppressed the sneer that was about to escape.
From Raum's perspective, he seemed to think Raven knew nothing about Caesar's secret.
Well, who would have thought?
That Caesar told Raven he was both a doppelganger and Barre, and despite that, Raven chose to stay with Caesar.
The question is how this guy discovered that Caesar was a doppelganger.
Caesar decided to deny it first.
"You're talking nonsense."
"I know. Only demon tribes can distinguish doppelgangers. That's why I can't clearly determine whether you're a doppelganger or not."
"Then why are you saying I'm a doppelganger?"
"Recently, a doppelganger came to us. And revealed the truth about you, Caesar."
So that's how it was.
Of course, that Elijah wouldn't have kept Caesar's secret from the devils.
Isn't there a saying that the enemy of my enemy is a friend?
Even if Caesar were Elijah, he would have revealed Caesar's secret to the devils.
Raum spoke in a snake-like, affected voice.
"That you're actually Barre."
This provided quite useful information.
The devils of Niflheim knew Caesar's identity.
"Really? Did that doppelganger explain who they were?"
"You're acting quite composed."
"I'm not acting composed, I am composed, Raum."
Raven waved her wand.
A giant green magic circle appeared in the clean night sky.
Raum was shocked.
"Raven! Don't you understand now? Caesar has been deceiving you!"
"I know."
"...What?"
"That's why I kicked this bad guy's shin hard."
Ice spears rained down from the green magic circle.
The ice spears fell fiercely, piercing through all the surrounding puppets.
As soon as the ice spears pierced through, they exploded, scattering sharp ice fragments in all directions.
"This damned...!"
Upon seeing the ice spears raining down on him, Raum used shield magic.
And the puppets covered the shield, blocking the ice spears with their bodies.
The sharp ice spear fragments completely tore apart the puppets while simultaneously freezing them.
Due to the high humidity of the rainy season, the vapor in the air froze and transformed into frost mist.
Caesar swung Thunder to clear away the thick frost mist nearby.
"This... impossible!"
Raum was in terrible condition.
Ice fragments were embedded in his right arm and leg, and these ice fragments were continuously burrowing into Raum's body in real-time.
"You knew Caesar was a doppelganger? Then why on earth are you helping Caesar? Did Caesar brainwash you? Or were you enchanted by succubi? He's a demon race agent! He's been a spy deceiving you throughout the demon realm war!"
"I know. That's why he apologized to me."
"...What? Apologized?"
"Yes. And I forgave him."
Humans are particularly vulnerable to feelings of betrayal.
Even between friends close enough to give their lives for each other, when consumed by betrayal, they become mortal enemies who shouldn't exist in this world.
Like Tatiana, they might even abandon and betray the god they believed in and followed.
Given such human nature, how could Raven forgive Caesar?
Caesar approached slowly.
He could walk leisurely since Raum's arms and legs were frostbitten and couldn't move properly, and he had lost all his puppets.
"Right! You must have brainwashed Raven! It doesn't make sense otherwise, right? How did it feel to toy with Raven? You must understand my feelings...!"
Thwack!
Caesar kicked the guy's chin, unable to hold back.
"Urghhhh!"
"Cut the crap. I don't do such lowly things like you."
Caesar looked at the puppet corpses scattered around.
"Don't even think about talking nonsense thinking I'm on the same level as you."
"Of course! I am superior to you all! I am the new human chosen by magic! You are nothing but obsolete vermin in this world!"
It doesn't feel like proper dialogue is possible with this guy.
Seems like he can't believe that he lost.
"Right, I was wrong to look for conscience in you."
Caesar kicked his chest hard.
"Kugh!"
Then he stepped firmly on Rahm's chest and used psychometry.
"Where will you revive next?"
"...What?"
"I'm asking where your heart fragment is hidden."
"Y-you think I'd tell you something like that?"
The locations of heart fragments where he would revive entered Caesar's mind.
Since Rahm revives at the heart fragment closest to where he died, they should head to the riverside about 1km north of here right after killing him.
"Really? Then die now."
Caesar brought down Thunder toward his head.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Rahm screamed with his eyes closed.
"...?"
No matter how long Rahm waited, Thunder didn't strike his head.
Wondering what was happening, he slowly opened his eyes to check the situation.
Someone was holding Caesar's axe handle and having a power struggle with him.
The identity was so unexpected that Caesar, Raven, and even Rahm were all surprised.
"Rahm is our comrade, Caesar. We shouldn't fight."
It was Tatiana.
"...Tatiana, let go of this."
"No. Rahm is our comrade too."
From Tatiana's perspective, Caesar, Rahm, and Raven are all enemies yet comrades of the Royder Order.
So she wouldn't want team members fighting and dividing amongst themselves.
Caesar let out an undisguisable sigh.
"...This is driving me crazy."
Even though Caesar was using all his strength, Tatiana didn't budge at all.
Rahm tried to hold back his laughter but eventually burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha!"
Rahm's maniacal laughter crossed through the forest.
"Tatiana, you really are my greatest masterpiece! You haven't switched over to Caesar's side yet!"
Rahm's right hand, blackened from frostbite, moved.
And purple magic gathered at the tip of that right hand.
"Then I'll make you mine forever."
Raven swung her wand in horror.
A sharp piece of ice lying nearby flew and cut off Rahm's right arm by Raven's telekinetic magic.
But Raven's magic was just a tiny bit slower than Rahm's magic.
Just before Rahm's right arm was cut off, his purple magic penetrated Tatiana's heart.
"Ah..."
Tatiana's wall eyes turned purple.
The killing intent contained in those purple eyes was sharply honed and directed at Caesar.
"...Damn it."
Tatiana kicked Caesar's forehead.
A heavy pain stabbed and shook his internal organs.
Caesar lost his grip on Thunder and was thrown to the ground several times before barely managing to get up.
"Kugh!"
From the unexpected attack, Caesar flew backward after losing Thunder from his hands.
Caesar rolled on the ground several times before barely managing to stand up.
"No, this isn't right..."
Tatiana trembled as if trying to resist Rahm's orders somehow.
"Caesar is... Not supposed to..."
Rahm laughed while spitting blood.
"I don't know if I should thank you, Caesar. Thanks to you, I was able to make Tatiana completely mine."
Tatiana gripped Thunder with both hands.
Then Tatiana's pure and clean blue aura flowed through Thunder.
Crackle!
Thunder, which only released electricity when receiving wind, spewed out powerful current upon meeting Tatiana's aura.
It was a clean and powerful current that was incomparable to any lightning Caesar had created so far.
Rahm spoke in an affected voice.
"Tatiana, Caesar is not your comrade at all."
"Aah..."
Tatiana shed tears.
"He is an enemy that must be killed."
Clean killing intent filled her tear-filled eyes.
"Tatiana, kill them all."
Tatiana nodded slightly before opening her mouth.
"Yes."
At the same time, Tatiana disappeared.
Instead, the blue electricity spewed by Thunder drew a long arc where Tatiana had passed, allowing her position to be estimated.
Tatiana was behind Caesar, drawing Thunder horizontally toward his neck.