Episode 253
* * *
There is a beginning and an end.
After winter was defeated, the white and dark world of winter night finally collapsed.
Literally, for Dale now, it was just a ‘scenery from the past.’
How did the otherworldly warrior who claimed to be real appear before him? What was his true identity? Which of them, himself or the other, was closer to the real one? What did the goddess Sistina wish for, and what happened to her after she was frozen?
Now, it seemed like it was a good thing.
The ghost of winter night is gone. And winter itself is gone.
The great hall of the Saxon Viscounty in the land of the Demon King’s Territory. There, those who were left behind after the clash between the worlds ended.
“Dale.”
Charlotte was there. She had defeated her father, the Sword of the Dead, and achieved victory.
“Father, you fought with the divine sword, Lord Badel.”
Dale opened his mouth softly, and Charlotte didn’t answer. Dale, understanding the meaning, also remained silent.
“The warrior from another world has also appeared here.”
“The warrior… … .”
Charlotte’s expression froze, and Dale nodded.
“So you fought the warrior?”
The ghosts of two winter nights. And those who fought and triumphed over those ghosts were there.
“okay.”
“Did you kill him?”
Charlotte asked. Dale did not miss the hatred in her eyes. Charlotte’s shadow was reflected on Dale, who had eyes of truth. The cold hatred directed at the warrior who had defeated his father with his own hands and resurrected him as a ghost of the winter night.
So after a moment of silence, Dale nodded.
“… … The warrior is dead.”
“I see.”
After hearing Dale’s answer, Charlotte nodded quietly. She smiled faintly, as if she finally felt relieved.
“Thanks, Dale.”
“what?”
“For avenging my father.”
“… … .”
Charlotte thanked him, but Dale didn’t respond.
The warrior was dead. That was true, not a lie.
Still, to Dale, those words felt strangely false.
‘Only actions can prove our truth.’
The warrior’s words came to mind without me realizing it. It was just as he said.
Choosing to remain silent about truths that can be told.
That was Dale’s behavior, and that behavior was what proved Dale’s truth.
So, at the very end, the Lord of Truth spoke lies.
It was the ugliest lie in the world.
* * *
“This is it.”
The Bloody Prince, Marquis Yuris, was there.
Surrounded by the two rich men of the House of Saxony, Charlotte, and Sepia, as well as countless riders of shadow.
“I never expected that the card of conversion would be defeated like this.”
Marquis Yuris muttered bitterly as if it were someone else’s business.
He smiled in resignation, leaving behind the history of blood that was endlessly engraved on his body.
“Ray and Scarlett, my loved ones are dead and I am left alone once again.”
Those left behind.
The head of the Saxon family, the Black Duke, opened his mouth as he watched him mutter bitterly.
“The war is over. And the fear of the apocalypse you fear is over too.”
“… …Is that so?”
“Even if the end of the universe is fixed, this earth will not freeze over tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
The bloody ball smiled blandly.
“It looks like struggling any longer will be of no use.”
“Is there anything you would like to say?”
“well.”
The bloody ball shrugged. At the same time, his circle accelerated and flames swirled around.
“… … !”
Some panicked and tried to swing their swords in a panic, but Alan of Saxony stretched out his arm to stop them.
The one engulfed in the swirling flames was no one else. It was the Bloody Ball himself.
“After witnessing the cosmic winter, I shivered in the cold for the rest of my life.”
In the midst of the blazing fire, the bloody ball muttered calmly.
“But what was truly cold was the loneliness of losing loved ones and being left alone.”
“… … .”
“Why did I have to fear an eternity of unpredictable future and shiver in the cold?”
The bloody ball muttered as if asking itself.
“Now I can’t understand anything.”
Hurrruk!
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“I’ve been craving warmth all my life. I only realized too late that it was there for me from the beginning.”
The bloody ball burst into laughter, mockingly.
The swirling flames were consuming his flesh, melting his skin and burning his bones.
The end of the man who struggled in fear of a world that would end in ice was, ironically, a blazing flame.
The flames were engulfing the man.
The bloody history engraved on his body was melting away. But even amidst the blazing flames, the man’s expression was extremely peaceful.
As if savoring the warmth of the spring sun.
Only at the very end did the world of men come to an end.
It was a world that ended in fire.
* * *
As the war ended, an endless cry echoed throughout the North.
And there was the Black Duke, the head of the House of Saxony, to whom they were loyal and whose voices they were raising.
The Shadow Lord has proven his unstoppable power by overthrowing the Emperor of the Empire and subduing the Golden Riders.
Even the old capital, known as the Golden Heart, was no exception, including the island of Britannia, which spanned the northern, central, and beyond continents.
The Great Hall of the Imperial Palace, once known as the heart of the Golden Empire.
Within the golden citadel that filled the area, the victor of the great war and the most powerful being in the empire was taking his steps.
“I have been waiting for you, Your Excellency the Duke of Saxony.”
And in that empty place, where the monarch who should have been there was lost, the one who greeted Dale was Kiara, the fifth princess of the empire.
“Princess Kiara.”
“I can no longer even call you Princess. Just as the Shadow Lord can no longer call you Duke of Saxony.”
Dale didn’t answer, but it was as he said.
The golden empire had collapsed, and where he now stood was on the ruins of the fallen empire.
“O King, who will bring about a new order, the Empire of Shadows.”
Kiara smiled quietly and knelt down. As a member of the royal family and a sorceress of the Blue Tower who also called herself a rider of shadows.
“Please sit on the throne of this imperial palace.”
“… … .”
Dale didn’t answer right away.
“That can’t be.”
After a silence, Dale answered.
“What I hope is that the Golden Empire will not repeat the same mistakes.”
“Do you think that the disappearance of the empire will bring peace to this land?”
“At least I won’t repeat the same madness as the Black and Red Prisoners, trembling in baseless fear.”
“You trust humans too much.”
“Even if the Golden Empire disappears, won’t those who still rule this continent be those who cannot be called human?”
Dale asked coldly.
“You, who call yourself the Riders of Shadow, will also build your kingdom on the ruins of the empire.”
“Do you mean to say that you will refuse to bring about the Empire of Shadows?”
Kiara asked coldly, and Dale shook his head.
“I have already brought the Empire of Shadows.”
Dale answered.
“What will be created in this darkness will depend solely on the capabilities of those who will establish that kingdom.”
“… … .”
“However, as Princess Kiara said, I do not wish for an era of war to begin among countless nations.”
Dale said.
“Therefore, I would like to convene the Imperial Council once again.”
The Imperial Council convened in the name of the Shadow Lord, the Dark Lord.
“What do you want to decide there?”
“We must test the qualifications of monarchs.”
Dale said.
“As kings who will lead the new era, how truthful they will be.”
* * *
As the empire collapsed, nobles, each claiming to be the monarch of an independent country, began to compete to proclaim themselves king.
And in the midst of this chaos, the Duke of Saxony, the Shadow Lord, who had triumphed over the Golden Lord, summoned the Imperial Diet.
The one who overthrew the Golden Monarch and the Empire, and brought the Empire to ruin.
That is why no one could resist his call, and at the same time, no one could understand the meaning of the council he convened.
The Shadow Lords, upon the ruins of the Empire, had never before wished for a single nation like the Empire.
But I do not wish for the era of war to continue as kingdoms spring up like mushrooms on the ruins.
In other words, the Imperial Diet he convenes will be a place to test the qualifications of the monarchs who will rise from the ruins of the Empire.
One order was crumbling, and in its place was a new order that no one could oppose.
As was once the case with the Golden Empire, it was an order of power that no one could dare to oppose.
* * *
Shortly thereafter, the last Imperial Diet was convened.
It was a kingdom in name only, no longer an empire, but those who wished to convene a council were by no means beings in name only.
After the end of the Great War, there was finally a being in this empire with a power that no one could oppose.
Pitch black ball.
He was no longer even the Duke of Saxony.
Head of the Northern Saxon Dukes and monarch of the Duchy of Saxony.
One who bears the name of Grand Duchess of Saxony, like Charlotte Lancaster.
The countless lords gathered in the Imperial Council Hall were bowing to that very being.
In that place, where each person is assigned strictly according to their status, the highest position is vacant.
And below them were the surviving members of the royal family, including Princess Kiara and Modred, and just below them was the Black Duke.
But now that the throne was empty, the high and low of one’s seat had no meaning.
Furthermore, this place was not even a place to decide the general will of the empire.
“I am in this place… … ”
In the solemn silence that had descended, Dale, assuming the role of chairman, opened his mouth.
“Against the Golden Empire and Arthur the Great, we have achieved an unquestionable victory in this war.”
There was a murmur of voices everywhere. Even though it was something everyone knew, when the words came out of Dale’s mouth, they had no weight.
“And there are many here who have the ambition to establish a new nation on the ruins of the empire.”
Dale said. There were gasps everywhere.
“As I said, I have no intention of insisting on a sole nation and monarch on this earth like the empires of the past.”
“… … .”
The lords waited in silence for Dale’s next words, each calculating in his head.
“Therefore, standing on the ruins of the fallen empire, I would like to officially declare its dissolution.”
It was a word that announced the end of one era and the beginning of a new era.
