Chapter 401: Alexander (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 401: Alexander (6)
The word "subjects" echoed through his mind.
Even though he knew he shouldn't, Alexander asked, his voice involuntarily cautious.
"…Are you truly the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk?"
"Yes."
"Ha."
The strength drained from his body.
The war was not yet over. This was no time to blindly accept reality; he needed to gather whatever strength he had left and launch a counterattack. Yet, Alexander could not move. The Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk. Realizing he had dared to oppose a godlike being, Alexander buried his face in his hands, overwhelmed by despair.
I truly am a pathetic existence.
All this time, there had been so many opportunities to discover the truth. Even after witnessing Roman Dmitry fight, Alexander had failed to recognize the true nature of his martial arts.
How pathetic.
He had listened to storytellers spin tales of the Heavenly Demon with eyes shining like a child's. Yet, when he finally faced the Heavenly Demon himself, he had acted like a blind man, drawing conclusions completely detached from the truth. The leader of the Murim Alliance? A high-ranking official of the Heavenly Demon Cult? By treating such absurd speculations as plausible, he had only proven his own utter insignificance.
He knew it, too.
This was his limit.
Had he not been reborn into this new world as Alexander, his past self would have lived and died in obscurity. There was an old saying: an awl in a pocket will always pierce through. While Baek Joong-hyuk's overwhelming presence pierced through the pocket to rule the world, there was a reason Kim Pan-seok had lived and died as a mere ordinary man.
Because he knew that, he had been greedy.
Driven by the constant anxiety that the wealth and power in his hands might slip through his fingers like sand, he had been endlessly covetous, plagued by a burning thirst. His inability to find satisfaction in this life stemmed from his past one. If he had only been content with his position as Emperor and his reputation as the creator of Aura, the whispers of the Demon King would never have broken him.
He raised his head.
Beneath the blue sky, Roman Dmitry's overwhelming presence loomed over him.
Perhaps I just wanted to become like the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk.
In this life, he had wanted to be different from his past self. Just as Baek Joong-hyuk took the reverence of the masses for granted, Alexander had wished to become a being just like him. He believed that in this new world, he might actually realize the fantasies he had only ever imagined. At the very least, back when he was first hailed as the creator of Aura, Alexander had clung tightly to that illusion, swinging his sword until his hands were stained with blood.
To Alexander, the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk, was exactly that.
He was a dream, an absolute object of admiration. What Alexander truly desired was not the simple conquest of a continent, but to rule the world with a single sword, just like Baek Joong-hyuk. His mind was in such a chaotic tangle that he did not know what to do. Utterly lost, Alexander could not utter a single word. He merely stared up at Roman Dmitry in silence.
…Even now, is it impossible for me to live for the person I admired?
It was already too late.
His soul belonged to the Demon King, and he had committed far too many irreversible acts to ever mend his relationship with Roman Dmitry. It would have been easier if he had never known the truth. If Roman had just been some martial arts master whose name he only vaguely knew, Alexander would not have cut such a pathetic figure, swept away by this tempest of emotion.
His lips trembled.
With great effort, Alexander opened his mouth.
"It is already too late for us, isn't it?"
In that instant, a flash of light erupted. Roman Dmitry severed Alexander's head.
* * *
Alexander's physical body died.
But his mind remained alive. Because a portion of his soul was bound to the Demon King, Alexander sought him out as a spirit.
"My Lord Demon King. Please, save me. There is a reason for my defeat this time. If you grant me one last chance, I will fully explain the cause of my failure and devise a new strategy."
At the moment of his death, he had accepted reality.
The Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk, had become Roman Dmitry, and their tangled relationship was not something that could be resolved just because he reached out now. That was why Roman Dmitry had decapitated him without hesitation. It was a clear sign that Roman would never accept Alexander's existence, forcing the fallen Emperor to snap out of his daze and focus on reality.
He still lacked the confidence to face the Heavenly Demon. However, he had to survive, no matter what. Driven by a desperate desire for life, Alexander pleaded in an earnest voice.
Yet, the Demon King's response was cold.
"Alexander. Do you know why I took you, a mere human, as my servant?"
"…I do not know."
Alexander raised his spectral head. The Demon King's appearance was like that of a human. Though his true form was undoubtedly different, his hollow eyes and long, disheveled black hair possessed a dark, captivating quality.
"The primary reason is that your very existence causes dimensional rifts. As long as you remained alive, the dimensional rifts would worsen, and that alone made you useful enough. However, that was no reason to make you my servant. The true reason I accepted you was because of your inferiority complex—your pathetic inability to accept yourself."
Alexander. He was an amusing creature.
To ordinary people, he had already risen to a position worthy of absolute reverence, yet he could not reconcile with his own humble origins and suffered from an inferiority complex every single day. That was what had piqued the Demon King's interest. When the Demon King extended his devilish hand, Alexander had looked at him with desperate eyes, hoping his problems would be magically solved.
"It was somewhat amusing. Watching you grow even more anxious when given exactly what you desired was quite a spectacle. However…"
He laughed coldly.
As the Demon King stood up, his body began to transform into a monstrous shape, starting from his toes and unleashing a colossal, terrifying presence. He was dyed in pure darkness. A massive body with wicked horns sprouting from his head. With black hair growing wild like a mane and blood-red eyes, the Demon King exerted a suffocating pressure that constricted Alexander's spectral form.
"Your role ends here. There is no more amusement to be gained from you. Through your life as Alexander, the boundary between the Demon Realm and the earthly world has already been largely broken down. Even without your existence, the assimilation of the two dimensions will occur. In the near future, the passage to the Demon Realm will be completely opened."
It would be soon.
The people of the Salamander Continent would witness their world being dyed in darkness.
And…
"When that time comes, there will be no place for you in the new world."
* * *
With those final words, Alexander's soul plummeted to the bottom of the Abyss.
It was a place where souls were annihilated. As the soul-devouring demons slithered toward him, Alexander curled up and chuckled.
"You miserable bastard. In the end, you discard me."
He had expected it.
Living for the Demon King, he had always known his existence wasn't all that important to him. He was merely a tool to induce dimensional rifts. Once the goal was achieved, there was no reason to keep him alive.
That was why he had clung on so desperately. He had wanted his value to be recognized.
But this was reality. Looking down at Alexander, who had sought him out one last time, the Demon King had laid bare the truth: he had only been playing with him like a toy.
Grrr…
Grrr…
The demons swarmed. Beyond the darkness, red lights flickered hungrily. Alexander curled up even tighter, unable to suppress the laughter leaking from his lips.
"Demon King… You should not have discarded me like this. I placed a mental magic spell on my own mind so that you could not read my memories—so that the moment I was abandoned and died, all my memories would be destroyed. This means that no one but me will ever recognize Roman Dmitry's true identity."
There was no one to hear him.
Alone, he continued to mutter. With a face twisted in madness, he stared into the approaching red lights.
"Roman Dmitry is an existence against whom even you, the King of the Demon Realm, cannot guarantee victory. He is a godlike being who has transcended the limits of humanity. Do you understand now? Do you see what a mistake you have made? Though I may vanish from this world, you will regret abandoning me for the rest of your days, no matter what you try to do."
It was then.
Screeech!
Kyahaha!
The demons lunged. Like shadows seeping in, the pitch-black, flickering monsters tore into Alexander's body. To be precise, it was his soul in the shape of a body. Despite the agonizing pain of being ripped to shreds, Alexander laughed like a madman.
He lost himself in his imagination.
Just like when he used to dream of ruling the Murim. Unlike the reality where his soul was being torn apart, in his imagination, Alexander existed as the Heavenly Demon, Baek Joong-hyuk.
It was fantastic.
Having seen the real thing, his imagination was even more vivid. In this life, he had suffered from an inferiority complex at every turn. And now, having finally met an opponent he had no choice but to acknowledge, he ironically felt a sense of complete liberation.
Crunch. Tear.
The demons ripped into him without hesitation.
And so, Alexander slowly, very slowly, sank into the abyss.
* * *
At that same time, Cairo was in a festive mood.
It was a perfect victory. Having defeated the Kronos Empire, the people praised Roman Dmitry and let out roaring cheers of victory.
Emperor Alexander. He was dead.
Roman Dmitry had triumphed, and the people felt that the war, which had pushed them to the absolute brink, had completely turned in their favor.
That afternoon, a meeting was convened. The leaders gathered in the conference room all wore highly flushed, excited expressions.
"Thanks to Lord Roman Dmitry taking care of Alexander, we were able to easily clean up the enemies who had lost their will to fight. It is truly a grand victory. While our forces suffered minimal casualties in this battle, the enemy was completely annihilated."
"We must not let this opportunity go to waste. This is Emperor Alexander we are talking about. The fact that a ghost of the past, who should have died long ago, was still alive is clear proof that the Kronos Empire dabbled in black magic. We must pressure the Kronos Empire using this fact from now on. If we expose their wrongdoing to the world, even the Valhalla Empire will lose any justification to aid them."
Alexander had used black magic.
The people had clearly witnessed him raising the dead, and that was a grave issue that could not be overlooked. According to continental law, those who encroached upon forbidden domains were to be punished by the collective effort of the entire continent. For the Valhalla Empire, just as the leader explained, any justification to participate in this war would vanish.
A high-ranking official of Cairo spoke up.
"Indeed. If we enter ceasefire negotiations, we can secure the upper hand using Alexander's existence and their use of black magic. Just give the word. We will dispatch messengers immediately to convey the will of the Kingdom Alliance."
All the leaders looked at Roman Dmitry.
The decision lay with him. If he agreed, this war would come to an end right here.
However…
"No, we will continue the war."
"…Are you saying you intend to see this through to the end?"
Everyone reacted with bewilderment.
The war was not yet over. To face the remaining forces of Kronos and Valhalla, they would have to brace themselves for immense casualties. The decision to go all the way was not easily accepted. Had they not already secured the upper hand? If they negotiated a favorable ceasefire, they could shackle the Kronos Empire and secure a safe future.
It was an easy path. There was no need to take the difficult road.
Roman Dmitry spoke.
"Whether Kronos used the power of darkness or not is irrelevant. We have vaguely suspected the truth about Kronos for a long time. Even looking at the example of the Hector Kingdom, there was more than enough evidence to condemn them. But because we lacked the power to touch them, we did not dare to bring the truth to light, no matter what atrocities they committed."
"The situation is different now," one leader argued. "If we apply pressure, Kronos will have no choice but to raise the white flag."
"Perhaps," Roman replied. "But that alone cannot compensate for the damage caused by the war. Countless people have already died. To ensure that something like this never happens again, a more definitive response is required."
In that instant, the expressions of those present shifted. The more Roman Dmitry spoke, the more they felt a strange, suffocating tension.
It was then.
"Therefore, I intend to seize this opportunity to crush Kronos and Valhalla, and conquer the Salamander Continent."
Continental conquest.
Goosebumps broke out all over their skin. It was a realm that ordinary men would never dare to even imagine.
Every single leader in the conference room was plunged into profound shock.