Episode 248
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The land beyond the Demon King’s territory, the labyrinthine city of Labyrinth. It is where the Saxon Viscount’s castle is located, and where Elena and Lise are taking refuge to escape the great war.
As the earth shook, the two rich men of Saxony did not hesitate.
The black ball stretched out its arms, and the ground beneath it split apart. The world tore apart, and a dragon made of bones emerged from its depths.
“Get on, Dale.”
“All right.”
Following his father, Dale climbed onto the dragon’s back, and the dragon began to fly, spreading its wings made of nothing but bone.
A dragon flew across the dark, white night sky, and the mountain range and the scenery of the Demon King’s Ridge spread out beneath it came into view.
“Could it be the Demon King’s Great Labyrinth… …!”
“Don’t be agitated, Dale.”
Nevertheless, my father’s voice was very calm. It was calmness befitting the name of the Viscount of Saxony.
“Didn’t you bring your mother and sister Lize to the Saxon Viscounty without any protection?”
“… … I guess so.”
That’s right. Sepia, the elf wizard who is currently protecting the two people, is no exception.
“The Golden Monarch has been defeated, and the war is over.”
Dale opened his mouth blandly.
“But strangely enough, nothing feels finished.”
“Do you think that the disappearance of the Golden Lord will cause mortals’ greed and obsession with gold to disappear?”
“… … .”
“You just won the war and became the new loser of this continent. Nothing will change.”
The Duke of Saxony, the father, spoke calmly. Without being swayed by blind faith in gold and shadows, he simply guided Dale with his father’s wisdom as usual.
“People will no longer fear and revere you as the Lord of Shadows, but as the Lord of Gold, just as countless others in the empire once bowed in awe before the Lord of Gold.”
“… … What I wanted was not an empire or a throne.”
“So what do you hope to achieve through victory in this war?”
The empire had collapsed. On the ruins of the collapsed empire, all Dale could hope for was the ruins themselves.
“As the head of the Saxon family, you have willingly defeated the Golden Emperor and proven yourself. And that proof, whether you wish it or not, will be a tag that ties around your existence.”
“What should I do?”
Dale asked, and Alan answered.
“Take what you deserve as a winner.”
“… … .”
Dale remained silent at Alan’s words. The silence did not last long.
The flying dragon in the sky began to quickly descend towards the labyrinthine city of Labyrinth.
Apart from the movement of the city, the cityscape itself seen from afar has not changed at all.
Dale jumped down from the dragon and turned into a shadowy phantom and ran away.
──And the man was there.
In the great hall of the Saxon Viscounty, it was as if Dale had been waiting for him from the beginning.
“I was waiting.”
He sat on the throne that was meant for the lord, looking down at Dale serenely.
And as soon as he saw the man, Dale just held his breath.
“how…….”
“Do you know my face? I never thought the Shadow Lord of the World would remember the face of a hunting dog.”
And how could one forget the person who protects a man?
The King of Loyalty and Faith, the most noble knight in the world who once bore the name of the Divine Sword, was there.
The otherworldly warrior and the divine sword Lord Badel.
“Who are you?”
Dale asked back.
“He had many names. The Warrior of the Otherworld, the Imperial Hound, the Heartless Butcher… … .”
The warrior from the other world continued speaking with a smile.
“Of all of them, the one I liked the most was the name ‘The Strongest Monster Hunter.’”
“Father, please take Mother and Lize and leave this Demon King’s territory.”
Dale said as he looked at the warrior. At those words, the black ball nodded without hesitation. As if this was not the stage for him to interfere.
Dale asked, leaving the receding black ball behind.
“Why are you here?”
“I heard a voice calling me from the Great Labyrinth of the Demon King’s Territory.”
“What did you see there?”
“The truth of this world.”
“I also know the truth.”
Dale answered, and the warrior laughed.
“No, you don’t know anything.”
“No way.”
Dale answered coldly, exploding the auror heart within his body. The avatar of the warrior wearing the armor of the Night Raven Knight appeared there.
At the same time, he took off his black helmet, revealing the face behind it.
“That day, before death, the ‘Stone of Past Life’ safely performed its function. The warrior’s consciousness was transplanted into the eldest son of the Saxon family. In this body, Dale of Saxony.”
“So you’re real and I’m fake?
“You, who say such things, have any reason to claim that you are real?”
“What do you think can prove and conceal the truth and falsity of existence?”
Dale didn’t answer.
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“It’s an action.”
The warrior spoke without a moment’s hesitation.
“Truth can only be proven by action.”
At the same time, a blue hologram appeared next to him. Dale could not have been unaware of her appearance.
“Noah… …?”
Dale spoke, and the blue hologram answered coldly.
─ The commander is not registered in the database.
Likewise, even though he has the avatar of a warrior, he looks at others coldly.
─ And I threw that name away. My name is… …
Just as Noah was about to continue speaking.
The tentacle that was clutching Dale’s heart finally began to shake.
─ Sistine… … !
The old dark mother muttered in a hateful voice. Dale swallowed his breath at those words.
The goddess of sisterhood and charity was there.
“The only thing that proves our existence is action. And what did your action prove?”
“We have proven our mission to bring down the empire.”
“Did you say we? Yeah, maybe so.”
At those words, the warrior burst into laughter.
“But on those ruins, you, as the Shadow Lord, affirmed the coming end of this world. You gave up fighting against the end until the very end and accepted the end. That is your action and your truth.”
“I was dragged into a world I didn’t even know about and was treated like a dog my entire life. Do you really care about the end of the world that they claim will come after an eon in the future?”
“A world we don’t even know, a future that is eons away and has no promise?”
The warrior bursts into laughter.
“Sistine, play the video.”
─ I will play the log log.
At the same time, the scenery of the area began to be superimposed. It wasn’t magic. It was a very familiar technology from my previous life, a hologram.
And then the real truth began to unfold.
What happened on Earth after he disappeared, and what happened in ‘this world’ after eons of time passed.
A world devoured by a great flood, an ark, and self-replicating nanomachines.
And further on, to Arthur the Great, the golden lord who commands the group of survivors of the ark.
“This is not an unknown world, and the end you speak of is not an eons-long future that can no longer be predicted.”
The warrior said.
“Because so many eons of time have already passed that it is impossible to even predict.”
“… … .”
“And you, as the Shadow Lord, are still affirming the coming doom of this planet. The Shadow Empire you bring is proof of that.”
“Darkness and shadows are never the end. You speak as if I am going to bring about the end of the world.”
“Maybe so. But there’s something missing.”
So said the warrior.
“Winter is coming, where have I heard that before?”
The primordial darkness and the coldness of the apocalypse that dwelled in Dale’s body. That day, in the winter of the universe, the Shadow Lord willingly accepted the coldness of the apocalypse for power.
“Your very existence is already dangerous. You affirm the end of the world, and at the same time, you wield the power to bring about that end.”
Because even now, what was dwelling within Dale’s body was the cold air of the apocalypse that would bring about the end of the world.
“As the Shadow Lord, you have affirmed the coming doom of this world. That is your action. Therefore, I must act as well.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Finishing the mission we couldn’t finish. Saving the world we couldn’t save.”
The warrior from the other world spoke.
“Do you think anything will change if you knock me down?”
“It would be better to resist the truth until the end than to give up resistance and become an unavoidable accomplice of the truth.”
The warrior said. Dale bit his lip indifferently at those words.
A hopeless fight, a will to die to resist to the end against the invaders of another world.
That was me in my previous life.
And now, the Shadow Lord no longer denied the end of the world and its conclusion. There is an end to everything that exists. He accepted that fact and did not hesitate to become the Lord of the Cruel Truth.
Like those in the previous world who gave up resistance in despair at the hopeless fight.
“… … .”
And the being in front of Dale was determined to fight until the end.
There was another ‘Golden Monarch’ there.
Not out of greed and obsession, but simply willing to fight for a lie that is more beautiful than the truth.
What would be right? No, now it was okay.
Dale took out the warrior’s beloved sword without saying a word.
And it was when I was trying to accelerate the circle to refine the magical power swirling around the area.
“Sistine.”
The warrior opened his mouth, and the holographic AI nodded.
─ Re-encrypts nanomachine sensing protocols within the area.
And then the artificial goddess who loved humans finally began to perform her miracles.
“… … !”
The aura, the magical power, the mana of the entire area swirling around in the aura heart, all disappeared.
The power of the portrait that had been embedded in the body had disappeared, and there was an ordinary body there that could not feel anything.
“You really don’t know anything.”
The warrior drew his sword, muttering coldly. Aura and magic still swirled around him.
The mysterious energy overflowing in the air. Dale gasped in shock only after understanding its true nature.
The swirling circle stopped moving. The mana in the air was no longer felt through breathing.
nevertheless.
The 『Book of the Black Goat』 that wrapped around Dale’s body still radiated primordial darkness. The circle wrapped around Shub’s tentacles began to move, and the shadow heart and the biological circle wrapped around it were no exception.
Despite being unable to use mana, the Shadow Lord still retained his power.
It was a power made up of the darkness of the beginning and the cold of the end.
“That is who you really are.”
You can’t overlay the avatar of a warrior without using the aura. Right now, Dale is just Dale.
The Dark Blood’s armor wrapped around the tentacles of the Shub, and the Shadow Lord’s avatar appeared.
