The Monarch of Wrath

Wrath?

Raon swallowed, his throat dry, and swept his gaze around the room.

Someone's here...

He could neither see nor hear a thing, yet a presence had settled over the chamber that had been his alone. It felt like the thing called Wrath that had appeared in the message.

He wound his nerves tight and scanned every direction — and a blue flame bloomed before his eyes.

From a flame no larger than a fist, a terrifying aura surged upward. It was like watching a volcano erupt at arm's length.

"At last."

A voice emerged from the blue flame, so cold it sent a shiver down his spine. Madness clung to every syllable, as if it might explode at any moment.

"What is this..."

He knew countless things from his previous life, but he had never heard of — never even seen — a talking flame.

The blue flame that had named itself Wrath, monarch of the Demon Realm, looked him up and down — and its mouth fell open.

"A child? Why is it a child..."

"What are you?"

"Who are you, rather. The wrath that reached This King was not an emotion a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you could produce."

Wrath's voice dropped low, but emotions so intense they were suffocating swirled within it.

"Wrath?"

Raon frowned. In this life, he had never been truly angry even once. His previous life was another matter.

Wait. Previous life?

Come to think of it, he had reincarnated with his memories intact and gained a strange ability called a status window. All of it had happened after he died.

The thought occurred to him that this Wrath might be the one who had given him those special abilities.

"Then were you the one who gave me the status window?"

"Status window? You can use that?"

"Yes."

"That's impossible! Hm?"

The blue flame wrapping around Wrath surged and bucked.

"Th-the connection's been cut! Why..."

"What are you, and why did you appear here?"

"You are the one who called This King."

"I called you?"

"Did you not raise a wrath so fierce you would give everything to kill someone? This King descended here to grant that wish."

"Ah..."

He remembered swearing, before he died, that he would kill Derus Robert no matter what it took. Listening to this, it seemed the flame had appeared before him by following that wrath.

But you're way too late.

The gap between his previous life and this one had been two years, and twelve years had passed since he was born. Appearing after fourteen years — what was he even supposed to do with that?

"You'll grant me my revenge?"

"That is so."

"And the price?"

A deep heat flared in Raon's eyes.

"Nothing in this world is free. Judging by what you said earlier, you're going to take my soul and body?"

"If This King grants you a revenge so desperate, offering up your paltry soul and flesh is only right."

"......"

He stared down at Wrath. Something was visible, trapped inside the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blue flames. A being that was not human wore a strange, unsettling smile.

Did this happen because I died and reincarnated?

If he had to guess, Wrath had tried to take his body in his previous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠life, but he had died before that could happen — and that was how they had ended up here.

"Revenge only has meaning if you carry it out with your own hands."

He had been toyed with by Derus his entire life and died, and now a new chance had come. To take revenge through someone else's hands? He would never accept that.

I have to take revenge with my own hands.

Raon had no intention of leaving his revenge to anyone else. No matter how many hardships awaited, he would take Derus's head himself.

"No. You are the one."

Wrath glared at him through the two eyes hidden in the blue flame.

"You hide a deep, dense wrath at the bottom of your heart."

He grinned, baring his teeth.

"What happened does not matter. This King has already made his choice, so all you need do is offer up your body."

As rage ignited in Wrath's voice, the blue flame crashed over Raon.

"Guh!"

Raon bent at the waist, clutching his chest.

Cold.

It wasn't only his body — even his mind felt as if it were freezing solid. Wrath's attribute wasn't fire. It was ice.

"Think of him and raise your wrath. Even if he is a god, This King shall kill him for you."

His chest heaved at Wrath's bone-chilling voice. It felt as if a frozen icicle had pierced his heart.

Water Attribute Resistance!

The Water Attribute Resistance he had gained from absorbing cold energy was reducing the pain of the frost Wrath was pouring out.

But Wrath's attack wasn't only cold.

"Khrrr..."

Raon let out a thick groan. Derus's face rose in his mind. The sneer of the man who had looked down on him like an insect made it hard to breathe.

"Entrust your body to This King. I shall smash his skull and chew his flesh."

"Huff..."

Wrath's voice, raking at his emotions, made him want to explode with rage at Derus.

Absolutely not...

Raon ground his teeth. If he handed his body over to Wrath, there was no telling what the creature would do to Sylvia and the maids in the other rooms.

Even if he died here, he could not surrender his body.

Endure.

He clenched his fists until they bled. He had been an assassin. The finest assassin.

Patience and the suppression of emotion — the virtues an assassin must possess — were things he was more confident in than anyone.

"You endure better than expected, but how long can you last? No one can withstand This King's frost."

Wrath spread a frost that froze body and mind alike, as if mocking him.

"Huff..."

It was fortunate. If Wrath had stimulated his emotions further, it would have been hard to hold on — but the creature had chosen to intensify the cold instead. He steadied his breathing and endured the frost seeping into his very bones.

"A paltry human, to the very end!"

Irritation and rage colored Wrath's blazing voice.

"This King wished to reduce the damage, as this is the body I shall use, but it cannot be helped. I shall devour you as you are."

It wasn't a bluff. As the creature's flame swelled, the intensity of the frost raking his body and mind rose beyond all comparison.

"Guhhh!"

Raon couldn't hold back a groan. Pain as if his skin were being torn away and his organs split apart forced his mouth open.

"Raise your wrath and accept This King. Do you intend to die as you are?"

"I'd rather die than hand my body over to the likes of you."

He bit his tongue to snap himself back to consciousness. As he resolved that he would rather die than surrender his body, a thought occurred to him.

Wait. If Water Attribute Resistance can block this creature's frost...

The Ring of Fire might be able to reduce all the pain in his body and mind.

Even if it couldn't, he had no choice but to try.

Raon forcibly calmed his mind and spun the Ring of Fire. The three rings spanning his heart began to rotate with fierce, gathering speed.

His prediction was correct.

The Ring of Fire was a cultivation art that grew and protected both body and mind. It was also effective when enduring stimuli that invaded from outside.

The rings whirled rapidly, infusing vitality into his mind and body. The spark of emotion that had been about to explode began to settle.

When the mental fortitude he had cultivated in his previous life, the Ring of Fire, and Water Attribute Resistance all fell into harmony, the pain and stimulation Wrath inflicted became far lighter.

"Y-you — what in the world are you..."

Astonishment filled Wrath's voice.

The frost-flame the creature was producing grew weaker and weaker. It seemed it couldn't cling to him unless he raised his wrath.

"A mere young human — how!"

"I am human, but I'm not young."

Raon answered calmly, pushing back the receding frost.

"Th-this makes no sense. It can't be!"

Wrath let out a violent scream and tore away from his body. The creature's pupils trembled like those of a frightened foal.

"Even if This King has only just awakened, to be pushed back by a mere human!"

"Hah..."

Raon exhaled lightly and glared at Wrath. The creature's flame wavered like a candle in the wind.

"I'll take my own revenge. I won't hand my body over to some stray spirit."

"Stray spirit? You dare call a monarch of the Demon Realm a stray spirit!"

"A monarch of the Demon Realm who can't even handle one person? Are all the monarchs dead?"

"You truly..."

Wrath expanded his flame again, but it was only larger in size. The firepower of the frost had dropped significantly compared to before.

He said he just woke up.

Whether he had woken from sleep or his seal had only recently been broken, it seemed he couldn't exert his full power.

When Raon roughly shook his hand, Wrath's flame fluttered away like paper.

A sound like grinding teeth came from within the blue flame.

"Th-this cannot be. How are you controlling your emotions!"

"I don't need to tell you that. Disappear already."

"You took This King's authority and now you tell me to leave!"

Wrath glared at him with a gaze full of rage.

"Moreover, This King has already made his choice. Until you die, I cannot leave even if I wished to! Hrk!"

Raon threw a punch at the rambling Wrath. The flame scattered, but there was no impact. It felt like striking empty air.

"Then..."

He drew mana and gathered it at his fingertips. The quality was far inferior to refined aura, but it was better than nothing.

He slashed at Wrath with a mana-laden hand-blade, but the creature revived like a candle that had weathered the wind.

"W-what are you doing!"

"Tsk. This doesn't work either."

Wrath had no material component, like a soul. In that state, even using aura probably wouldn't make him disappear.

Come to think of it...

Even though Wrath had emitted a powerful presence, the swordsmen guarding the Annex hadn't appeared.

Apparently the creature was only visible and perceptible to him.

"How do I make you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠disappear?"

"Hand your body over to This King. Then..."

"That's insane."

As Raon snorted, a message appeared.

"Additional ability?"

Raon immediately summoned the status window.

The question mark that had occupied the first slot among his traits had changed to Wrath.

But that wasn't what mattered. New information had appeared beneath the status window — Strength, Agility, and the rest of his abilities, all rendered as numbers.

"H-he really took the status window!"

Cold frost spread from Wrath's mouth. He muttered that he couldn't see the contents of the status window, only a silhouette-like form.

"What is this status window and these messages?"

"...It is a system This King created."

"A system? For what?"

"There is no reason to tell you."

"To accelerate growth?"

"H-how did you..."

"I thought so."

It wasn't even a reflex — he had just floated the idea and gotten an immediate reaction. True to the name Wrath, the creature couldn't hide his emotions.

As expected.

Raon nodded. He had thought it strange that the Ring of Fire was more effective than in his previous life. It was thanks to this system after all.

"Give it back. Your body or This King's authority — give one of them back!"

Wrath had started throwing a tantrum. It felt like looking at a child sitting upon a massive throne.

"I don't even know how to give it back, and I have no intention of doing so."

He had obtained an ability that would let him grow faster and climb higher. There was no need to return it to a madman who had tried to steal his body.

"It's not even yours!"

"Weren't you trying to take my body, which isn't yours either?"

"Th-This King heard your wish and..."

"I did want revenge, but that's something I have to do with my own hands. There's no meaning in achieving it by handing my body over to something I don't even understand."

"Khrrr..."

Having nothing to say, Wrath could only grind his teeth and fell silent.

"Leave already."

Raon ended the conversation and turned away.

"I cannot leave. I will not leave until you return This King's authority!"

Wrath shrieked and lunged at him. Just as Raon clenched his fist, thinking he would endure whatever came, the creature's body glowed blue.

The blue flame flowed like water and coiled around his wrist. He had braced for pain, but there was none.

The flame wrapping his wrist faded, and a bracelet appeared. It was a flower bracelet, as if carved from ice.

"I shall cling to you until the day your breath is snuffed out!"

Wrath sneered, shaking the flower dangling from the bracelet.

"This King's seal has only recently been broken, but soon my power will return. When that time comes, nothing you do will be able to stop me."

"Sure it will."

Raon tried to remove the bracelet, but just like when he had touched the flame, it wouldn't catch in his hand and scattered.

"Hm..."

It wasn't as if there was no impact at all — every time he touched it, the bracelet trembled, and Wrath's words cut off.

"Khup — it's useless. This King will never leave!"

"Let's see about that."

He scratched at the bracelet, tried to yank it off, rubbed it against the wall, and stomped on it, but Wrath didn't disappear. This creature was a stubborn bastard too.

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue. Just as the creature had said, the flower bracelet wouldn't vanish no matter what he did.

I want to get it off, but...

Leaving it might be better.

If he forced it off, the system might disappear, and there was a chance this demon Wrath ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠might attach himself to Sylvia or Helen.

As the saying went, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Better to keep him at his side than let him scheme from somewhere unseen.

Trusting in the endlessly growing Ring of Fire and Water Attribute Resistance, he decided to control Wrath himself.

"If you won't leave, at least change into something else. A bracelet with a flower on it doesn't suit me."

Raon frowned. A skull he could at least understand, but he didn't want to walk around wearing this flower bracelet.

"It is a matter of taste. Respect it."

"Hah..."

The taste of a creature as violent as a wild boar turning out to be a flower bracelet was so absurd he didn't know what to say.

"This King has never once let prey he has set his sights on escape. Your soul and flesh will ultimately belong to This King."

"You'd do well to give up on that."

"Kh! You brat!"

Raon shut out his hearing and lay down on the bed. Wrath whined, but he ignored him.

But if even Wrath, the system's master, doesn't know I reincarnated — then who reincarnated me?

Raon muttered the newly arisen question and closed his eyes.

Wrath ground his teeth, glaring at the Raon who had closed his eyes.

How can a human like this exist?

Even if he couldn't use his original power, he had never imagined a human could block his possession. And a child who looked barely ten years old, at that.

This makes no sense...

It had been a different era, but he had seen countless humans. Heroes who founded nations with the sword. Villains who plunged the continent into terror.

But a human like this was a first. An irritation welled up in him, as if he were looking at that one.

Unable to contain the fury boiling up, Wrath spat the words in a rough voice.

"That's not happening, so wake up from that dream."

The young human waved his hand as if shooing a fly.

"This King never gives up..."

"I said no."