108. Return of the Demon King
108. Return of the Demon King
=====<Liam Walker Chapter 4>======
The Liam Walker series had now reached its fourth installment.
While no one had ever treated Liam Walker as a student-level work to begin with, now that it had reached a fourth film, they might as well be considered veterans of the film industry.
People now went to the theater with the feeling of eating a familiar home-cooked meal, yet also with anticipation of what kind of dopamine would be waiting for them today.
Liam Walker Chapter 4 began, like the openings before it, with a grim and shocking scene.
Morse, who had been reduced to ashes by Liam’s finishing move in Chapter 2.
The pile of ash left abandoned in the underground where he had fought Liam filled the screen.
And as the camera drew closer to the ash, it quivered.
The ash, its movements gradually intensifying like a beating heart, gathered into a sphere and floated up into the air.
The sphere quivered once more and transformed into the shape of Morse’s face.
After letting out his signature scream of pure resentment, the head-only Morse flew into the night sky like a faceless egg ghost.
Morse’s head flew across the night sky toward the academy’s underground waterway.
When he arrived at the waterway, a group draped in robes was holding some kind of gathering.
When Morse’s head arrived, the group prostrated themselves before him and spoke.
"You have come, Master."
Their faces were hidden by their robes, but the lower halves visible beneath the hoods were melting or rotting, just like Morse.
They showed neither surprise nor anger at seeing Morse reduced to a floating head.
They merely asked calmly, 'Shall we prepare a new shell?'
Morse looked over his followers and commanded them in a voice composed of countless mingled souls.
"The time has come. The child of prophecy has appeared. Bring it to me."
The group, which had remained calm even at Morse’s death, was shocked that the child of prophecy had appeared, but faithfully obeyed his order.
They descended deeper underground and reached a vast cavern.
At the center of that spacious cavity rested a single coffin.
The followers opened the coffin lid themselves so that Morse could possess its contents.
Dust swept off the lid, which had been propped at an angle against the floor, revealing the name embedded in its very center.
- Agion Karambelt
And as a human hand stretched upward from inside the coffin, the title appeared.
<Liam Walker : Return of the Demon King>
*
Chapter 4 centered on Morse, who had resurrected by borrowing Agion’s body.
Ras, Morse’s pursuer, sensed his resurrection with uncanny accuracy and introduced Liam and his friends to the Hero Clan.
"Allow me to introduce them. The Vandel Knight Order."
At Ras's introduction, Hannah—the sole female of the trio—shouted in excitement.
"Oh my god! The real Vandel Knight Order?!"
She was the one who had sporadically displayed Hero geek tendencies up through Chapter 3.
When the active Hero Clan appeared before her like that, she grew excited and continued her explanation.
According to her, the Vandel Knight Order was a knightly order founded by the family of Vandel, who had defeated the most vicious demon king in the distant past.
She listed off the First Vandel through the 11th Vandel, telling them that this knight order originated from the original Vandel Series.
With a thousand years having passed, the Knight Commander was now the 36th generation, but they still carried on Vandel's will.
Their distinctive feature, if one were to speak of it, was that—unfitting for the name of a knight order—the Knight Commander and each unit commander were not knights but Heroes.
When Hannah finished her explanation of this Hero Clan, Sean responded with a lukewarm expression, going yeah-yeah dismissively.
After that, the plot followed the three protagonists and the Vandel Knight Order as they worked together to stop Morse’s scheme.
Contrary to expectations, the resurrected Morse looked exactly as he had in Part 2.
His body was in somewhat better shape, but in the end, his face was the same, so it looked like a head placed on top of a sturdy body.
The resurrected Morse freely displayed the strength of his new body.
Leading a ghoul legion and his followers, he used them to pin down the knight order and went to face Liam.
The old Morse had been physically weaker than Liam.
But after gaining a new body, Morse overcame even that weakness and displayed overwhelming power.
The Vandel Knight Order struggled against Morse and his minions, but Liam and Ras once again displayed exhilarating Dihex action and ultimately severed Morse’s head.
The decapitated Morse vowed that this was not over, then flew away, leaving the headless body behind.
The story concluded with the Vandel Knight Order, looking upon the abandoned body of Agion, declaring that they would seal this body and departing from the academy.
*
When the film ended and the credits began to roll, people were disappointed.
When they had first heard the news that Bon Voyage Studio had taken over the Vandel Series, they had been brimming with anticipation.
But all the film offered was fan service through brief references; not a single original cast member appeared.
Of course, this was only to be expected in reality.
Agion had already retired in disgrace and gone missing, and the protagonists of this film were students, after all.
It was not only Agion. The Vandel Knight Order mentioned the original members by name, but none of their actual actors appeared.
The fans of the Vandel Series who had come to see the film upon hearing the rumors could rationally accept it, but emotionally, they couldn't help but be disappointed.
Still, they tried to leave the theater, telling themselves that just having a long-dead series be acknowledged by a rising series was consolation enough.
Until the credits “shattered” only five seconds after they began.
"What?"
When the ending credits crumbled apart with the glass-shattering effect, people immediately returned to their seats.
The screen transitioned to the Vandel Knight Order sealing the headless body of Agion in some facility.
That place was the Tower of Sealing, owned by the Vandel Knight Order.
Within this tower, not only Agion's body but everything of his was sealed away.
The Demon Sword Agion, the Armor of the Destroyer, the Gauntlet of Oppression, and so on—
The vicious magical artifacts he had used in life were sealed in various places throughout.
Destruction was impossible.
Even after Agion's death, the weapons imbued with his magic could not be destroyed with existing technology.
That was why the knight order had decided to seal them away.
Just as they were about to additionally seal his headless body in the Tower of Sealing, the barrier specialist wizard spoke in horror.
"This corpse... it's not Agion's!"
"What!"
At that moment, the headless corpse exploded.
There was no physical impact, but all the barriers inside the tower that were exposed to the shockwave were neutralized.
"Damn. An AMP—an Anti-Magical Pulse. They caught us off guard."
When they had heard Agion's coffin was empty, they had only thought that Morse was borrowing Agion's body.
But the body Morse had been using was merely that of a man of similar stature to Agion.
The group had been thoroughly deceived by Morse, but there would be time for reflection later.
What was urgent now were Agion's armaments.
"Enemy attack!"
The knight order, being seasoned knights, immediately entered a battle-ready posture.
The being who had detonated a corpse inside their base could not possibly be friendly to them.
The Knight Commander issued a stern warning to the members.
"Those armaments must not fall into Morse's hands."
"Understood."
The armaments Agion had used in life were the ultimate equipment coveted by all dark wizards.
Now that every sealing barrier had been disabled, Morse was obviously after Agion’s equipment.
The knight order activated the intrusion alarm, declared the highest danger level, and held their positions.
A bead of sweat ran down the knights’ brows as they prepared for Morse’s army to attack at any moment.
Waiting at the tower’s sole entrance to meet Morse first, the Knight Commander suddenly realized something.
The corpse had been an AMP.
But Agion's coffin had been empty.
Then... what had become of Agion's body?
The moment his thoughts reached that far, the entire building suddenly lost power.
More precisely, every lighting fixture was destroyed simultaneously.
As the knights were panicking in the darkness where nothing could be seen,
from behind them—more precisely, from the direction of the armaments they had been guarding—came the distinctive sound of space warping that was unique to teleportation.
And right after that, the sound of breathing was heard.
Huuuh— huuuuuh—
The harsh sound of breathing from the breathing apparatus dominated the space.
Before the knights could even react, from the direction of the breathing came a sound like metallic objects slicing through the air and assembling in one place.
Just as the alarm blaring through the base, the unidentified intruder's breathing, and the clanking of metal locking together were creating an inexplicable sense of dread, a crimson sword rose up in the darkness.
The demon sword wreathed in hellfire became the sole light source in the dark, revealing the intruder who held it.
The one who wore the Gauntlet of Oppression, donned the Armor of the Destroyer, and gripped the Demon Sword Agion.
The being, with the Monarch's Cloak billowing, wore a breathing apparatus over its face.
His lower face was obscured by the apparatus, making him hard to recognize at a glance, but the moment the knights saw what was visible of the rest of his face, they were horrified.
The most vicious Demon King.
Instead of murmuring his name, they attacked immediately.
"Attack!"
The knight order's Dihexes spat fire.
Countless magic bullets stormed toward the Demon King.
But the Demon King's reaction was indifferent.
Merely by swinging the demon sword at a visibly slow speed, every bullet was blocked by the blade.
It wasn't that the knight order's marksmanship was poor.
It was as if the space around the sword had warped, and the bullets were sucked into it.
Without a hint of urgency, the Demon King leisurely swung his sword as he walked slowly toward the knights.
The knights who had fought Morse with boundless valor were nowhere to be seen; some among them, overcome by fear, began to break away.
As deserters appeared, holes opened in the dense net of fire.
After merely blocking the bullets, the Demon King now had enough room to deflect them back at the knights.
As the number of people dwindled, the holes in the fire net grew larger, and the proportion of bullets being returned increased.
One of the knights, unable to stand it any longer, fired a cannon shot.
But with a flick of the Demon King's hand, the one not holding the sword, the cannonball stopped in midair.
As he clenched his fist, the cannonball crumpled and rolled across the floor.
When he reached out again, every Dihex jammed at once.
The knights switched their Dihexes from shooting mode to melee mode and entered close combat.
But every time the Demon King swung his sword or flicked his hand, two knights died.
Kwoooh— Kwooooh—
With the same steady breathing he'd had when he first appeared, the Demon King dispatched the knights with ease.
Some knights had their vitals slashed in a single exchange,
some were strangled by thin air,
some were crushed armor and all—all dying helpless before the Demon King.
After annihilating everyone in the chamber in two minutes, the Demon King left the sealing room and headed for the exit.
There, knights were boarding escape wagons to report what had happened, while the current Vandel—the Knight Commander—waited for Agion.
"Go! You must inform the Imperial Palace of this!"
He intended to buy time for his subordinates to escape by blocking Agion.
But the dozens of wagons, strangely, would not start.
Agion stood before the Knight Commander.
He glanced at the decoration on the Knight Commander's chest, then let his voice be heard for the first time.
"Greetings, Vandel of this era. Is an introduction necessary?"
A voice that seemed to echo from beyond the respirator rang out.
The Knight Commander drew his sword instead of answering.
Soon, their blades clashed.
As befitted a Hero, the Knight Commander could at least exchange blows with Agion.
But he was no match for him.
With just a few measured swings of Agion's sword, the Knight Commander lost his grip on his blade.
"The will of Vandel is with you, young Hero. But it will not make you a savior."
The blazing sword of flame pierced the Knight Commander's stomach.
The Knight Commander groaned in pain as his flesh sizzled.
Yet even in his pain, the Knight Commander, in a final desperate act, punched Agion's breathing apparatus with his fist.
"!!!"
As the breathing apparatus was knocked away, Agion, flustered for the first time, telekinetically refitted it.
In that fleeting instant, every single wagon that had refused to start ignited at once.
Agion did not let them go.
He slashed vertically, bisecting the Knight Commander, then reached out his hand.
At his gesture, the rear wheels of hundreds of wagons lifted into the air.
But a single wagon had already escaped the tower and was racing far into the distance.
Around the time that wagon had drawn sufficiently far from the tower, the frame transitioned back to the tower.
During that brief span, Agion had destroyed all the remaining wagons and slaughtered the knights inside. He gazed at the departing wagon with emotionless eyes.
The majestic sight of Agion was captured from an increasingly distant angle as a grand march resounded.
The frame, which had simply shown Agion standing imposingly along with orchestral music for about ten seconds, gradually darkened.
Even as the darkening ending credits rolled, the march centered on the magnificent trumpet fanfare continued to play.
While people still couldn't bring themselves to rise, a post-credits scene came up once more.
The post-credits scene was barely ten seconds long.
But those ten seconds were intense.
The interior of a hut.
Showing the hand of an old man picking up Vandel's Emblem from atop a table, the post-credits scene ended.
And for just a very brief moment, the highlight of the First Vandel's theme song played, and the film ended.
====<Liam Walker: Return of the Demon King - End>====
The moment <Liam Walker: Return of the Demon King> was released, the Empire was turned upside down.
Without exaggeration, it was turned upside down.
People often call the enthusiasts who love old films grandpas, and these grandpas were the driving force.
- M-my... spine... stood up...!!
To sum up the current situation, it was exactly that.
The popularity of the Vandel series, which had been hugely famous long before I was born, held a status comparable to the Space War series in my previous life.
And that very series had been remade and released?
By the hands of a blockbuster studio you could trust to get the job done, no less?
Those who knew the series flocked to theaters for the nostalgia, while those who had never known Agion began seeking out the Vandel series.
Amid this sudden retro boom, the Vandel fandom, long thought dead, abruptly revived.
They grabbed Liam fans who were about to watch the Vandel series and warned them repeatedly.
- Only watch up to the 11th installment of the original series. Whatever you do, don't watch anything after that.
- They say it's a multiverse, so why shouldn't I watch it?
- I said don't watch it, so don't!!
With bloodshot eyes, as if engaged in a book-burning and scholar-burying persecution, the Vandel fandom used every means at their disposal to block the Liam fandom from approaching those forbidden texts.
Into that crucible of frenzy, our studio poured oil.
<Breaking News! Bon Voyage Studio has already finished filming Chapter 5 of Liam Walker. Only the release date remains to be decided.>
In fact, Chapters 4 and 5 had been filmed together.
Why?
To maximize Agion’s impact, we had needed to keep the gap between Chapters 4 and 5 as short as possible.
That way, people could fully enjoy Chapter 4 and see Chapter 5 before the excitement faded.
Naturally, the moment this was made public, people's eyes began to roll.
- Hang him! Hang him!
- Studio, release the next chapter at once!
It was the first magnificent pole-hanging we'd seen in a long time, since the Magical Girl days.
Except this time, the one hanging from the pole wasn't Ailey.
The one who took her place was... none other than Carlos.
"Haha! I've already seen Chapter 5, nyah-nyah!!"
Even while hanging from the pole, he was provoking the protesters.
The Carlos I knew was ordinarily such a calm and courteous person, but that man was gone, and in his place was a toxic fan.
"You don't have an advance screening copy of Chapter 5 at your house, do yooou~?"
- Burn him!!!!
For the first time in a while, the scene of someone being hung and having firewood piled around them unfolded outside the window.
True to his status as a graduate of the Guardian Wizard Tower, Carlos maintained a protective barrier even while being burned at the stake and never stopped running his mouth.
I understood that having a long-held grievance resolved and getting to see an advance copy sooner than any other fan had lifted his spirits, but it also made me wonder if showing off could really be that enjoyable.
The protest, growing increasingly violent, was approaching the form of a full-on execution, with Carlos bound up in the square.
The representative of the protesters asked Carlos.
"Any last words?"
"The director's cut exists, and I'm the only one who's seen iiiit!!!"
With those final words, the protesters began to roll Carlos up in a straw mat.
Watching that scene reminded me of what one critic had said.
- The Vandel series is a disease.
... Maybe they were right.