Chapter 283: Interlude – The Demon God
At the deepest part of the Abyss, across a land of flames where ferocious fire blazed as though it could swallow the entire world, an eerie silence had descended. It was so silent it felt utterly out of place.
“What is this...?” Amon muttered, trailing off in confusion.
The flames of the Abyss that were supposed to flow into his body were instead gathering somewhere completely unexpected. He was baffled. The Archbishop had long known that Dale carried within him an Ember of Ruin, similar to his own. But Amon believed it was nothing more than a tiny fragment of the countless embers scattered across the continent. Over the past five hundred years, there had been several cases where an Ember of Ruin had taken root within a human body. Amon himself was one such example.
No, I’m different, he thought.
There was one crucial difference. He possessed the power to draw other Embers toward himself. In other words, he wasn’t merely a vessel for the Embers of Ruin; he had the authority to absorb the remnants of power scattered across the continent when the Demon God perished five hundred years ago.
That was why he called himself the Master of Ruin. He had never doubted that he was the rightful successor to the Demon God. There was no reason to. After all, aside from him, no one else had ever been able to absorb the Embers left behind by the Demon God. But if that were true, why were the flames burning at the deepest part of the Abyss gathering toward that gray-haired cadet instead of him?
“You? What the hell are you?” he asked.
* * *
Amon’s voice rose into something close to a scream. “How? How can the Embers turn toward you instead of me, the Master of Ruin?”
Under normal circumstances, I would have thrown back a mocking remark to provoke him, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of paying attention to Amon’s rant right now. “Ah, ugh.”
What the hell is this?
Flames poured into my body like a raging flood. The overwhelming torrent of power surging through every part of me shook my mind to its limits. It was hot, as if my body were burning, as if my mind were boiling, and as if my soul itself were melting away.
I had thought that enduring pain had become as natural to me as breathing. But this pain went far beyond anything that could simply be endured. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. So fucking hot. S-stop!
I tried to block the flames flooding into my body somehow. However, the flames of the Abyss surged relentlessly toward the soul stigmata carved into my chest, as if they had finally returned home after wandering for countless years. I shook violently under the power boiling within me.
Amon glared at me with savage eyes. “Yes. If you’re gone... If you’re gone, everything will return to normal!”
This was bad. A terrible premonition crept down my spine. And as always, bad premonitions had a way of coming true.
“DIE!” With a furious roar, Amon lunged toward me.
Damn it. I’m fucked.
Even at this moment, the flames continued pouring into me without end. I couldn’t even resist, let alone run away. As I watched Amon rapidly closing the distance between us, a grim future began to unfold in my mind. Then, something inside my coat began to glow. It was the Seven-Colored Stone, the item Camellia had given me as a reward after I resolved the assassination attempt on her at the Imperial Palace. I had tucked it into the inner pocket of my cadet uniform and forgotten about it.
If it’s glowing now, then that means...
The ability of the Seven-Colored Stone was simple. Anytime and anywhere, it could summon the Empress once. And as if on cue, amid a brilliant burst of radiant light, a platinum-haired woman appeared in the air. Camellia stretched out her hand toward the charging Amon. Seven streams of light, overflowing with terrifying magical power, erupted brilliantly. Struck by Camellia’s attack, Amon groaned and was forced backward.
She then turned to me. “Are you alright?”
I couldn’t form any words. “Ah! Ngh.”
“Judging by how you look, I suppose you’re not.” Camellia bit down on her lip as she watched me crouch over, struggling to endure the flames flooding into my body.
Stepping in front of me, she wore a faint smile. “Do not worry. This time, I shall protect you.”
I muttered, “Dan... ger...”
Camellia nodded softly. “Hehe. I know it’s dangerous. But didn’t you say it yourself?”
Recalling a conversation we had once shared, she stepped forward toward Amon without the slightest hesitation. “That if one is a hero, one must act accordingly.”
Her soul stigmata shone brilliantly, and a seven-colored aura erupted from her body as though it were exploding.
* * *
Amon’s face twisted like a demon’s, and black flames erupted around him. “Step aside, Empress!”
Camellia shouted, “How dare you presume to command me? No one in this world can order me. Hmm, actually, now that I think about it, perhaps there is one person.”
“Damn it!” Amon cursed.
As if losing the flames of the Abyss wasn’t bad enough, now even the Empress had interfered. Swallowing the curses rising in his throat, the Archbishop kicked off the ground. Violent black flames surged forward and crashed toward the Empress. The seven-colored aura and the black flames collided. The ground shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck it, and a deafening roar echoed across the Abyss.
The clash between the two powers, locked in a tense stalemate, soon began to shift. The black flames slowly gained the upper hand. Like a starving predator devouring its prey, the flames of ruin began gnawing away at the seven-colored aura.
Beads of sweat formed across Camellia’s forehead. As the black flames devoured the power of her Blessing, a dizzying pain spread through Camellia’s body.
“Have people been praising you as a demigod chosen by the Seven Gods for so long that you started believing you were truly a god?” Amon twisted his lips into a sneer as he unleashed an even fiercer torrent of flames. “Do not forget, Empress.”
The raging fire wrapped itself around Camellia.
He continued, “That even those Seven Gods are nothing more than kindling before the flames of ruin!”
Engulfed in the fire, Camellia bit down on her lip. “Ah, gurgh!”
Her skin, once smooth and pale like white jade, began melting away, grotesquely blistering and breaking apart. Since the day she had taken the title of Empress, she had never suffered a wound this severe. The agonizing pain of her body burning alive twisted her expression violently.
If she could have simply retreated to avoid the flames, the situation would have been far better. But that wasn’t something she could afford to do. Glancing back at Dale behind her, Camellia instead stepped forward, toward the black flames. Her entire life had been crushed beneath the weight of the title Empress. Even though she possessed everything, her life had been unbearably lonely. Then she met him: the only man who looked at her not as the Empress, but as Camellia.
“When someone precious dies, anyone would be sad. And from my experience, it’s better to have someone next to you when you’re grieving.”
Camellia found it ridiculous. She, who had been called the Iron Maiden and had always kept men at a distance, was now willing to risk her life for a mere cadet who hadn’t even graduated from the Hero Academy.
A faint smile appeared on her lips as she stepped once more toward the black flames. Even if her body burned away and even if her soul turned to ashes and vanished, she would stand her ground.
Within the raging inferno, the seven-colored aura shone brilliantly. “I shall not retreat.”
“You damned woman!” Amon cursed. He hurled his flame-wrapped fist toward Camellia, but a hand blocked his punch. “Huh?”
Before Amon could even see who the hand belonged to, a counterattack ensued. A fist wrapped in Ashen Flames smashed violently into Amon’s face.
“Berald Combat Style: Mountain Breaker,” said a voice.
Amon was sent flying like a ragdoll. He tumbled across the ground for quite some distance before finally looking up at the attacker with trembling eyes. “Y-you’re... already... able to move?”
The Embers slumbering at the deepest point of the Abyss contained the most powerful remnant of the Demon God’s lingering power. And not even ten minutes had passed since they gathered near Dale. Yet, not only had Dale absorbed it all, but he was already moving.
Amon was stunned. “You! What in the world are you?”
Dale stood there, wrapped in smoldering ash. The moment their eyes met, Amon felt his heart pound as if it would burst. It felt like his instincts were screaming. He couldn’t even face Dale properly and lowered his gaze. With a face pale with fear, he crawled backward along the ground.
The black flames that had been wrapped around him slowly began to leave him, flowing toward Dale. He stared blankly at the flames. “This...”
Now he could no longer deny it. With hollow eyes, as if his soul had already left him, Amon looked up at Dale. “I see. It wasn’t me after all.”
The Master of Ruin was not him. It was the gray-haired cadet standing before him.
***
“You. You were the true Master of Ruin,” Amon said.
“Oh really? Earlier, you said I was just an Heir.” Clicking my tongue, I stepped toward him, but nearly lost my balance.
Outwardly, I tried to look calm, but in truth, I was far from fine. Damn it.
The flames that had not yet fully settled into my soul stigmata were rampaging wildly inside me. And the flames flowing out of Amon were being added on top of that. My mind was beginning to blur again.
I had absolutely no idea what was happening. Why the hell are the flames in this guy’s body flowing into me too?
“You’ve been going on and on about Ruin this whole time. What the hell is it that makes such a big deal out of it anyway?” I asked Amon.
“You don’t even know what Ruin is?” Amon replied.
“Isn’t it just one of the Demon God’s powers?”
Amon let out a hollow laugh. “Ruin isn’t merely one of the Demon God’s powers. It is something closer to the very essence of the Demon God.”
“Essence?”
“Just as the essence of the Tree of Creation is Eternity, Ruin is the Demon God’s true essence.”
“Wait.”
Ruin? The essence of the Demon God?
“Then where is the Demon God right now?” I asked.
“The Demon God already perished five hundred years ago. All that remains are fragments of his scattered Embers,” Amon replied.
“What are you talking about?”
The Demon God had died five hundred years ago? That was impossible. In my previous life, I clearly saw the Demon God break free of the seal and appear. No. Wait! It can’t be...
I thought about it carefully. The last thing I remembered about the war from my previous life was Amon reaching the deepest point of the Abyss. Then a massive pillar of flame had erupted, and the Demon God appeared. After that, Amon was nowhere to be seen. Naturally, I had assumed that the awakened Demon God had killed Amon.
But what if Amon hadn’t died at the Demon God’s hands? What if Amon himself became the Demon God? If that was the case, then right now, something that strayed from the future had happened.
I looked at him. “Wait! The true Master of Ruin you mentioned earlier...”
“Yes.” Amon slowly raised his hand and pointed at me. “From now on, you are the Demon God.”
Excuse me? I’m what now?