Chapter 279: The Truth of Kronos (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 279: The Truth of Kronos (3)
A sudden summons to the imperial court.
Marquis Memphis and the other high-ranking nobles braced themselves for the Kronos Emperor's thunderous wrath.
'According to the latest reports, Duke Bamford's army of 300,000 suffered a crushing defeat against Dmitry. With Kronos's knights—including Hannibal—slaughtered to a man, His Majesty's fury will be absolute.'
'Damn Duke Bamford. He was so confident of victory, yet what on earth is this absurd outcome?!'
They did not yet know the truth.
They had no real grasp of the situation on the battlefield. Had they heard that Roman Dmitry slaughtered countless troops single-handedly, or that Isabelle, the Queen of the Luna Kingdom, had intervened, they would not have blamed Bamford’s leadership. But one thing was certain: Kronos had tasted the bitter humiliation of a disastrous defeat. The Kronos Emperor never tolerated anything that threatened the empire's absolute authority. It was a given that he would unleash an apocalyptic fury over this outcome.
"His Majesty the Emperor enters!"
At the servant's announcement, the atmosphere in the meeting room froze solid.
However, the Kronos Emperor who walked in under armed escort carried a subtly different aura than usual.
An indifferent expression and cruel words—that was his typical demeanor. But the man before them now was strangely full of life. Gone was the apathetic gaze that made one question his humanity. Instead, as he stepped up to the throne, he locked eyes with the high-ranking nobles, exuding a vibrant, overwhelming presence.
An uncanny sense of dissonance washed over the room. His appearance was identical to before, yet they couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had shifted.
The Kronos Emperor sat at the head of the table. After receiving the formal greetings of the nobility, he didn't utter a single reprimand regarding the defeat. Instead, he declared something completely unexpected.
"This war was started for unjust reasons. I feel a deep sense of responsibility for this, and as such, I am declaring a ceasefire."
"...W-What do you mean by that?"
"Your Majesty, the war has already begun. Although we suffered a setback against Dmitry, our forces have already commenced operations against the kingdoms of Umberto and Odelia. A sudden ceasefire makes no sense. We cannot back down like this, if only to punish the arrogant Dmitry."
The nobles were thrown into chaos. Normally, they wouldn't dare question him, but this incomprehensible decision sparked immediate resistance.
It was only natural. The Kronos Empire dreamed of continental conquest, and this war was the grand starting point. The defeat on the Western Front was merely a single lost battle. While the world's attention was focused on Dmitry, their other operations were proceeding smoothly. If they pressed the attack, the tide would easily turn in their favor.
A ceasefire was completely out of the question.
Faced with their staunch resistance, the Kronos Emperor stared coldly down at them.
"So, you wish to defy my command."
With those quiet words, all complaints were instantly snuffed out. Even Marquis Memphis, the most powerful noble in the room, bowed his head, his face entirely drained of color at the word 'defy.'
"...Absolutely not, Your Majesty. We shall obey your command and proceed with the ceasefire."
A ceasefire.
Thus, a monumental shift that the rest of the world was not yet aware of was finalized within the Kronos Imperial Court.
* * *
Kairos.
With news of victory flying in from the Western Front, the capital of Cairo was swept up in a festive mood. Having traveled through the Warp Gate, Roman Dmitry headed to the meeting place amidst the roaring cheers of the people.
"I am Roman Dmitry of the Dmitry Duchy."
"I am Isabelle, the Queen of the Luna Kingdom."
Isabelle. She was a truly unique existence. Sensing the strange aura emanating from her, Roman Dmitry cut straight to the chase.
"I have been briefed on the situation thus far. Let me ask you directly: what is the truth that Kronos is hiding? During my war against them, I encountered beings called 'Shadows.' Today, I learned that they are historical figures recorded in ancient texts. Sven, Mystic, Shepir, and even Alexander. Does the fact that people who shouldn't exist in this era are alive and well have something to do with the Kronos Empire practicing Black Magic?"
There was so much more to ask. The relationship between Kronos and Luna. The very existence of Isabelle herself, who had stood by as a bystander despite knowing the truth.
Faced with a question loaded with so many implications, Isabelle met Roman Dmitry's gaze and paused for a long moment. Finally, she spoke.
"To fully understand what has transpired, you must first know of an oracle passed down through generations. The oracle states: 'A very long time ago, the gate of the world opened. The cold energy originating from it froze the world, and the disaster left behind would last forever.' Indeed, not long after that oracle was delivered, the World Tree beyond the Endless Mountains froze."
It was the exact same story the dwarf had told him. The dwarf had spoken in a similar vein, claiming that the World Tree was freezing and Arcadia was dying. However, unlike the dwarf, Isabelle was much closer to the 'truth.'
"What do you think the disaster mentioned in the oracle is? Cold? Disease? Death? It is none of those. The disaster refers to a single human who fell onto the Salamander Continent through the gate of the world. That was the beginning. A human with bottomless, greedy ambition devoured the Kronos Empire, absorbed the power of darkness, and rapidly expanded his influence. By the time we noticed his movements, he had already reached a point where he could not be physically stopped. That is why our ancestors took on the role of guardians to keep him from running rampant. But now, he has grown too strong to be contained."
It was a story ordinary people would find impossible to comprehend. A human who crossed dimensions.
But Roman Dmitry was different. Because he had lived as the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk, before living the life of Roman Dmitry, he accepted Isabelle's explanation without a shred of doubt.
It was a question he had pondered for a long time. Was he truly the first being to cross dimensions? If there had been others like him before, what kind of lives had they led? He had never found an answer. Just like his own existence as Roman Dmitry, unless a transmigrator revealed it directly, the secrets of dimensional travel remained impossible to uncover.
Roman Dmitry asked, "Who is this being?"
"He is Alexander. The founder of Aura and the Emperor of the Kronos Empire."
It was a shocking truth. Alexander. To think the legendary Emperor was a dimensional traveler. With this information, Roman Dmitry could form a solid hypothesis.
'Until Emperor Alexander appeared, the people of the Salamander Continent considered mana to be the exclusive domain of mages. But he changed the entire system. Because of him, Aura Knights were born, and knights gained immense power.'
Therefore, there was a high probability that this dimensional traveler knew how to manipulate mana from the very beginning. Which meant...
'He might be from the Central Plains Murim, just like me.'
It was just a hypothesis, but Isabelle's next words provided absolute confirmation to his speculation.
"Emperor Alexander's body is possessed by a soul from another dimension. According to the lore passed down through our generations, when he first appeared in this world, Emperor Alexander claimed that he was not of the Kronos imperial bloodline. He claimed to be a man named 'Kim Pan-seok'—a foreign name that is difficult to even pronounce. That is the truth I know."
Kim Pan-seok.
It was now certain. He was a being who had drifted over from the exact same world—the Central Plains Murim—as Roman Dmitry. No, as the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk.
* * *
A gloomy, oppressive space.
This was where the mysterious being had ordered the attack on Dmitry. Unlike before, the entity was now unleashing his fury upon the kneeling Mystic.
"So, you are telling me the Kronos Emperor declared a ceasefire?"
"Yes. It seems that because the Link was severed, you temporarily lost control of his body."
"Persistent bastard. Generation after generation, the emperors of the Kronos Empire have submitted to my control. But because this current emperor awakened a 5-Star Aura, his consciousness does not easily fade. No matter. The Link was only severed due to the shock of Shepir's death. He will only be able to hold out for a day or two at most."
"Lord Alexander. How shall we deal with Roman Dmitry?"
Alexander. The moment Mystic spoke his name, Alexander's expression twisted in fierce rage.
Roman Dmitry. The man was too great of a variable.
When he first appeared, Alexander had dismissed him as merely an annoying obstacle. But after seeing Roman Dmitry through Shepir's 'eyes,' his thoughts had completely changed. The faint suspicion he harbored had solidified into absolute certainty. The power Roman Dmitry wielded was definitely from the Central Plains Murim, just like his own.
However, he didn't know exactly what kind of power it was.
Alexander. Or more accurately, Kim Pan-seok. During his time living in the Central Plains Murim, he had been nothing more than an ignorant peasant who knew absolutely nothing about martial arts.
* * *
It had been an accident.
Kim Pan-seok. A mere commoner living at the foot of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. He had climbed the mountain to gather wild greens, just like any other day. But on that fateful day, dark clouds violently gathered overhead. As if a god were enraged, the sky began to suck everything upward. Kim Pan-seok had stared blankly at the terrifying phenomenon, only to be accidentally swept up and sucked into the rift.
When he woke up, people called him 'Alexander.'
At first, he was terrified and confused. He was being called by a foreign name, trapped in a new world completely disconnected from the Central Plains Murim. But soon, he realized it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
When he lived as Kim Pan-seok, he was a starving pauper who had to scrape by just to survive another day. But the life of Alexander was unimaginably luxurious. He possessed the status of an emperor's son. Every waking moment was pure bliss. People bowed their heads wherever he walked, and everyone scrambled to flatter him.
Naturally, greed took root in his heart. As a member of the imperial bloodline, he wanted to gorge himself on the wealth and honor granted to him.
However, as time went on, he hit a massive wall. Alexander was an illegitimate son. There was no way for an ignorant fool like him to break through the limitations of his birth and seize the throne. He couldn't express how bitterly he regretted his past life. The people of the Salamander Continent knew absolutely nothing about 'martial arts.' If he had known even a third-rate martial art, he could have achieved tremendous things. Physically manifesting mana would be seen as a divine revolution in the eyes of this world's people.
The problem was that he didn't have a single shred of martial knowledge in his head.
And so, Kim Pan-seok locked himself in his room every day, desperately trying to squeeze any useful memory from his past life. Martial artists. They were not beings that ordinary peasants could easily encounter back in Murim.
Then, one day, Kim Pan-seok recalled a memory of bowing his head to the dirt, chanting praises to a supreme existence.
"Advent of the Heavenly Demon! Submission of Ten Thousand Demons!"
"Advent of the Heavenly Demon! Submission of Ten Thousand Demons!"
What if... What if he had been that godlike being whom everyone looked up to? Would his life as Alexander be different now?
He felt a burning anger. Kim Pan-seok had lived a trivial, miserable life wandering the slums, but now that he had been reborn as Alexander, he wanted absolute wealth and power in the palm of his hand. Life in the imperial court triggered a deep, insatiable craving. That craving festered into dark greed. Even though he enjoyed luxuries incomparable to his past life, he always wanted more.
He obsessively retraced his memories. Then, suddenly, he remembered the drunken ramblings of a passing third-rate martial artist.
"Martial arts are simple. You take the energy inside your body and..."
Those words. He hadn't even understood them properly back then. He didn't know if the method was right or wrong. Kim Pan-seok did not know the truth of martial arts, but to turn his life as Alexander around, he clung to that single memory like a lifeline.
At first, it was a brutal series of failures. He brought in slaves to conduct human experiments. Only when the corpses of the slaves who died in the process piled up into a mountain did Kim Pan-seok finally witness the energy of mana forming an aura.
"...This is it!"
On that day, the legend of Alexander, the founder of Aura, began.
That was the bloody truth behind 'Aura,' a power that everyone in this world now accepted as absolute.