Chapter 364

Chapter 364

The very name that Roan and Delion called simultaneously.

Literally, the King of Demons.

The pinnacle of demons and the rulers of the demon realm.

Those who had stubbornly endured incalculable time in the demon realm where horror was daily life and devastation was their companion.

A Demon King was indeed an existence perfectly described by the phrase ‘strong because they survived.’

Demons whose names were known even to humans, such as Diprotan and Eterog whom Roan used for great magic, were examples of Demon Kings.

Of course, there were also many whose names were not even properly known.

It was said that even the Demon Kings fought among themselves for survival without any coherent purpose, but what was more important was,

right now, as many as four such Demon Kings had manifested in all directions around the Darc Lord’s Castle.

Delion’s expression contorted fiercely.

“They really made up their minds…”

Tap, tap—

His footsteps quickened slightly.

But he had not lost his composure.

— Your Grace, a Demon King, it’s a Demon King! And what’s more…!

“I know.”

The pale, terrified face of the vassal he encountered on his way.

Even for someone prepared to die, the name of a Demon King was enough to instill terror.

As the vassal hesitated, Delion said calmly.

“No matter who the opponent is, we must fight. Return to your post.”

— Yes, yes… I understand, Your Grace.

The vassal, gaining a bit of courage after confirming Delion’s firm resolve, hurried off somewhere.

From that alone, it was clear how great Delion’s influence over the family was.

Finally, Delion stood in front of another room deep inside the castle.

Knock, knock—

A careful knock, unsuited to such a situation.

— Yes.

When permission came from inside, Delion opened the door and walked in.

Roan did the same.

Inside was a woman, and a young child was held in her arms.

A newborn baby who looked barely a month old.

Roan knew the woman’s face.

‘Charlotte…’

It was Charlotte, Roan Darc’s mother.

Unlike what he saw in his dreams, Charlotte had a pale face, looking highly tense.

Charlotte spoke to Delion.

“We should have… requested support after all.”

Although she was speaking to Delion, her gaze did not drift from the baby in her arms.

Delion shook his head.

“It couldn’t be helped. It would have only resulted in greater sacrifices.”

Only then did Charlotte stare at Delion with wide eyes.

It was a complex gaze that held resentment and resignation, understanding and anger, all at once.

“Are you afraid of dying?”

The tone was ambiguous, somewhere between a question and a confession.

Charlotte shook her head.

“It’s not that… I just feel so sorry for Roan, who will grow up without us…”

Tears streamed down Charlotte’s eyes.

The young Roan was fast asleep, unaware of the tears falling on his cheek.

Roan examined that face closely.

‘I looked decent when I was young… I must have really suffered quite a bit at the Holy Emperor’s Palace.’

As expected, one’s impression was influenced more importantly by the course of their life rather than what they were born with!

…Although he wouldn’t be able to say such a thing looking at Delion’s face which looked exactly like his, Roan decided to think so for now.

Meanwhile, Delion grabbed her shoulders.

“This is… the way to save Roan. To squeeze out the accumulated pus that has gathered until now, and to entrust Roan with the perfect balance.”

Hearing the conversation between the two, Roan’s eyes deepened further.

‘Pus, balance…’

The dialogue in “God & Devil” never came out in vain, not a single one.

Especially if it was spoken from the mouth of someone like Delion, right before the destruction of the Darc family.

Roan decided to engrave those two words deeply.

Charlotte also nodded.

“I know that too. Even so, I just don’t know why we—no, Roan—have to go through such things.”

“Death is not the end. We will keep watching over him. Don’t tell me you lack confidence?”

At Delion’s words, Charlotte snapped her head up.

Her expression was as if asking how he could say such harsh words.

But soon, she found a trace of playfulness in Delion’s cold face, in that complexion that seemed to hold nothing but gloominess.

Charlotte laughed through her tears.

“Of course I have confidence.”

Delion smiled faintly, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and leading her.

“Then let us go. We must hurry.”

The two, or rather, three including the young Roan, walked along the dark corridor again.

However, this time, the path led down the stairs, down and down, eventually leading to the front of the deep basement where Roan had first opened his eyes in this world.

Hesitating for a moment in front of the basement door, Delion asked.

“What about that child?”

“That child left with the people. Since they are a smart child, they will do well.”

Delion nodded at Charlotte’s answer.

Creak—

And finally, he opened the basement door.

Although it was within a dream, Roan had returned to the place where he had first started.

However, the scenery inside was quite different from what he had seen.

‘It was decorated quite well…’

Roan examined the interior, recalling the image of the empty basement.

Unlike that time, there were experimental tables, bookshelves filled with books, and boxes storing various materials.

One thing that became certain here.

Roan watched Delion, who moved as if he was extremely familiar with this basement.

‘It was strange from the beginning.’

Why did Roan Darc’s play start in this place?

Why was a black magic circle drawn in the basement of the Darc Lord’s Castle?

And why was a special authority called False Divinity hidden in another secret location beyond that?

Was it really a coincidence that Delion’s Mark of Light and his own Black Trace were similar?

What was that sense of incompatibility when he first saw Delion?

Lastly, why did the Darc family… have to disappear from history?

Although he hadn’t seen everything yet, the scenario began to piece together one by one in Roan’s mind.

Hands of a rotten volcanic monkey.

Contaminated swamp moss.

Horns of a corrupted spiritual beast.

Each and every one of them was a precious material hard to obtain outside, and in other words,

they were things used in at least intermediate-level black magic or higher, rather than holy magic.

All these circumstances pointed to only one thing.

The former Darc, Delion Bisted Lu Darc, was also

‘someone who possessed the False Divinity.’

a black mage.

Just how many people knew this fact?

The fact that the family head of Darc, who was a proud pillar of the four great families of the Empire, was actually a black mage powerful enough to shake the Empire.

Unable to say any words or make any movements, Roan simply stood blankly in a corner of the basement,

watching Delion and Charlotte who were moving busily.

Pulling out ‘volcanic ash of the Evil Mountain, Luquelion,’ Delion began to draw a black magic circle in the center of the basement.

Charlotte was also fully occupied assisting diligently as Delion directed.

Rustle—

Ash dust escaping from Delion’s grip was sprinkled on the stone floor, soon hardening firmly to form a pitch-black magic circle.

Roan had seen that magic circle before.

‘It is the magic circle from when I first came here.’

At first, he simply thought it was a black magic circle he didn’t know.

He had been too flustered to examine it properly, and honestly, how could he know the identity of a magic circle he had only seen in games?

However, by now, his eyes had opened to black magic circles to some extent, and he had grown accustomed to utilizing his transcendent talent.

Nevertheless, he had little clue as to what kind of magic the circle Delion was drawing currently was, or even what its purpose was or what role each part played.

At least he knew the advanced attribute that used the volcanic ash of Luquelion, located in the far western region of the continent.

‘Twilight…’

Twilight, the advanced attribute of high-level black magic.

If the basic Abyss led to the intermediate Void, that Void led once again to the high-level Twilight.

A nearly legendary attribute that was said to have been learned by very few in history due to the Abyss and Void being the requirements.

Delion seemed to manipulate even that Twilight at will.

After finishing drawing the magic circle, Delion walked back to the bookshelf.

From there, he pulled out a very old book, from which a great holy power could be felt.

Rustle—

The book was opened, but the contents inside were blank pages with nothing recorded.

It was only natural.

Because that book was originally like that.

‘Book of Blank. That had to appear.’

Roan felt his puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly.

Although the Book of Blank was a great item, it was not used much compared to its rarity.

Flash—

“……. ……. …….”

Delion muttered something, and soon, a brilliant golden light erupted from his body as if pouring out.

Within the light so bright that it made it impossible to open one’s eyes properly,

the essence of round light, which could be called a ‘core,’ revealed itself and soon permeated into the Book of Blank.

The reason the Book of Blank was not used much was simple.

It was because its purpose was to extract and store the authority one possessed.

Delion’s face showed considerably more fatigue than just before.

“Place this inside there.”

“…Yes.”

Charlotte placed the book in the secret space.

From Delion, who no longer received the help of False Divinity, only intense black mana could be felt now.

With this, all preparations were complete.

“What happens now?”

Charlotte asked with a stiff expression.

“Perhaps the authority will wander around. Until a proper owner returns.”

Delion looked at the book placed in the secret space with a strange look in his eyes.

However, once extracted, an authority could not be possessed by the same person again.

It meant that even if Delion survived, it was already over.

Delion shifted his gaze to look at Charlotte.

No, to be precise, he looked at Roan in her arms.

“Now… let us send him off.”

It was a sequence of events everyone had anticipated.

Yet it was something that could not be accepted by the heart.

Charlotte wept sorrowfully.

That was the only way Roan could express it.

Trickle—

‘Tears…’

For some reason, since when he knew not, tears were flowing from Roan’s eyes as well.

Even though he was certainly not the real Roan.

Did the body remember the emotions toward them?

Charlotte placed the young Roan on top of the black magic circle with utmost care.

This was because the energy outside was becoming increasingly eerie and dangerous, even to her senses.

Delion nodded firmly and drew up his black mana.

A terrifying level of black mana enveloped the basement in an instant.

From the pitch-black mana of the Abyss to the lightly scattered mana of the Void.

In the end, it seemed to gather again, turning into a beautiful black with a faint orange glow.

It was the black mana of Twilight.

Twilight, which heralded the end of day and the beginning of night.

Roan felt both the heart of a son seeing his father for the first time and the heart of another black mage looking at a black mage of an unimaginably high realm.

It was an overwhelming feeling.

But at that moment.

Kaboom—!

A massive shock swept through the basement.

Although it was clearly a sealed room, the airflow rushing in from all directions was destructive enough to disrupt even the black mana.

‘The summoning is complete.’

The four Demon Kings who sought to attack the Darc family.

Had finally begun to manifest their presence completely on the ground.

Though he didn’t know what kind of magic it was, prior to using the magic in earnest, Delion looked toward the north where the strongest energy was felt.

And he said in a firm voice.

“It’s Demona.”

‘…?’

Roan thought.

Was there a fellow named Demona among the Demon Kings?

Come to think of it, the name was a bit suspicious?