25-285

EP.285. [The One Chosen as Demon King.] 

“You’ve come, Antoine.” 

Antoine, grasping his blood-red sword, entered the inner chamber of the imperial palace. Just twenty minutes earlier, Louis XV had been crumbling with anxiety, but now he faced Antoine from the throne with a composed expression. 

“Surprising, Your Majesty. I thought you would have already fled by now.” 

Step, step, step, step  

Antoine, feigning surprise, walked toward Louis XV, who sat on the throne. With every step, the crimson blood staining his legendary sword, Ea, dripped onto the marble floor. 

“Now I see it clearly. That look in your eyes always gazing down on me.” 

Antoine’s expression was the pinnacle of cold indifference, devoid even of killing intent. Louis XV remarked on the look in Antoine’s eyes as he stared directly at the emperor. 

“No, Your Majesty. You’ve seen it for a long time. You just chose to ignore it, blinded by your inferiority complex toward Duke Alexis.” 

Smirk... 

Antoine curled his lips into a sly smile. He knew well that Louis XV had delegated absolute power to him not just out of fear, but to preserve his own pride and self-righteousness. That’s why the coup was so easy no matter how he tried to hide it, that weak heart always showed in his eyes. 

“But I am surprised. Did you investigate me? I hear you sent a secret plea for help to Vivian.” 

Clack! 

Antoine stopped about ten meters from the throne. 

Before executing his plan, Antoine had learned that Louis XV had secretly asked Vivian for help. This meant the emperor not only sensed the threat but also understood why it was coming. 

“By chance, I was warned by a benefactor. I regret not heeding it sooner.” 

Louis XV closed his eyes with a sigh. He had been warned of Antoine’s suspicious actions, but found it too unbelievable at the time. Only after famine, plague, and a surge of monsters did he investigate Antoine’s past and present through Count Van Basten. When the truth became undeniable, he desperately reached out to Vivian for help. 

“Oh... was it Samantha you’re speaking of?” 

Antoine’s intuition pointed to Samantha, the former head of the academy tower, who had once helped resolve a crisis during the birth of Louis XV’s first princess. 

“......” 

Louis XV fell silent at the mention of Samantha. 

“Yes, that woman would do such a thing. That’s why I removed her and appointed a new tower master.” 

Antoine didn’t need a verbal confirmation. After Ulysses Schneider, Antoine had entered the Demon Eclipse and opened the Demon God’s Eye. As ancient demon priestess Anastasia had said, Samantha, a half-demon mage, had sensed something suspicious about Antoine. Antoine, realizing her heritage too late, ousted her before his regime fully stabilized. 

“Are you insane, Antoine? Attempting to summon the demon king blessed by the Demon God, and turning the empire into a wasteland? Don’t you know what the demon tribe will do if the demon king descends?” 

Bang! 

Louis XV slammed the throne’s arm in fury. Unlike Raonjena, he didn’t know about the Adrienne affair, so he couldn’t fathom Antoine’s true motive. The chaos of dimensional rifts and monsters was already tearing the empire apart, and if the demon king descended, the northern demon tribes would invade. 

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. Both the demon king and the demon tribe will be dealt with by me, Kaiser Antoine de Sel Oblaing of the Imperial Knights.” 

Swoosh...! 

But Antoine had never acted for the empire or its people. Unmoved by the emperor’s outrage, he calmly wiped the blood from Ea with his cloak. 

“And you, Your Majesty, will provide the foundation for that. You wanted to be a great emperor, surpassing Alexis? I’ll grant that wish. Your death will make me the one who can oppose the demon king blessed by the Demon God.” 

Clack! 

Antoine extended the gleaming blade of Ea under the chamber’s lights. 

 Shuaaaaaaaa! 

In an instant, Antoine crossed the ten-meter gap as if erasing space itself. 

 Thud!!! 

Antoine’s sword pierced the heart of Louis XV, who sat on the throne he himself had helped him attain. 

“ Kuhuhhh!!!” 

The emperor screamed in agony, his face twisted in pain. 

“Oh! As expected...!” 

Antoine, looking at the impaled emperor, exclaimed in awe. 

Swoosh...! Ssssss...! 

From the wound in Louis’s chest, golden energy began to rise, enveloping Antoine’s sword and hand. 

 Flaaaaash!!! 

The goddess’s crest, which had manifested and resided within Louis XV, the eldest of Elysium’s royal family, shattered. This was only the beginning. The divine golden light of the goddess’s crest exploded, filling the chamber with blinding brilliance. 

“Sis! Sis!” 

A child’s lively voice rang out. 

“Sis Mina, do you have any rope left?” 

It was Margaret, the adorable mascot of the Red Fox Mercenary Village. She ran breathlessly to blacksmith Mina, looking for rope. 

“I have some rope, but which kind? Is this length okay, Margaret?” 

Mina, sweating as she worked in the warehouse, handed Margaret some rope. 

“Umm... That’s enough for me, but the mercenary uncles need some too, so could I have those as well, sis?” 

Margaret scratched her head, answering her beloved Mina. After the monster outbreak, the mercenary village had gone into lockdown, but now they were preparing for a new chapter. Eugene Schneider had sent word for everyone to pack up and head to Bahad, so the entire village was busy moving. 

“Don’t pack too many clothes, Margaret. I know you’re attached to things, but it’s important to keep the load light. See? I’m leaving some of my tools behind, too.” 

“Uuuh... There’s so much I want to take...” 

For the slum-born children, this was their first big move. They’d arrived in the slums so young they barely remembered it. Mina, who’d wandered before coming to Pangaea, patted Margaret’s head to comfort her. 

“Heehee! Okay, sis! As long as I have you, that’s enough! Right! I just need you!” 

Margaret, innocent yet deep, quickly realized Mina’s sincerity and declared her as her greatest treasure. 

“That’s right, Margaret! I’ll always be with you!” 

Hug! 

“Heehee! I love you, sis Mina!” 

Nuzzle, nuzzle! 

Mina found Margaret’s antics adorable and hugged her tightly. Margaret, overwhelmed with happiness, rubbed her face into Mina’s chest. 

“Then I’ll go help the others, sis~ See you at dinner!” 

Dash dash dash! 

“Be careful, Margaret~” 

Margaret, full of love, ran off to help with the move, while Mina watched her fondly. 

‘I’m glad. I was worried about Eugene, but it seems he’s okay.’ 

Mina resumed packing, thinking of Eugene. She’d heard from him via letters a couple of times. 

Pause. 

Suddenly  

‘Huh…?’ 

As she tied up her bundle, Mina’s large eyes widened in a sense of déjà vu. 

‘I hear something… It’s like a voice whispering to me.’ 

She felt it a strange, alien whisper. 

And that whisper  

[So here you are, vessel of the demon king…] 

 wrapped around Mina with chilling clarity. 

“Leaving at night with kids isn’t practical. We should head to the rendezvous point tomorrow morning,” Jeanne said, discussing plans with Ivan, the mercenary company’s advisor. They agreed to send scouts ahead and move based on their reports, as monster outbreaks from dimensional rifts were unpredictable. 

‘But why are we all being called to Bahad…?’ Jeanne wondered, troubled. Eugene’s letter hadn’t mentioned Antoine’s suspicious activities, so she couldn’t understand why they were heading to Bahad instead of where Antoine was. 

As Jeanne pondered  

 Shuaaaaaaaa!!! 

A massive beam of dark purple light shot down from the sky like a laser. 

 Flaaaaaaaaash!!! 

It struck somewhere in the village, unleashing a tremendous holy radiance. 

And that place was  

“Sis!!!!” 

 the warehouse where the barbarian woman Mina was.