Chapter 376: The Demon King of Fury (10)

The Demon King tried to escape the range, but failed. She then channeled all her remaining dark power to activate her Demoneye’s ability. Finally, she tried to block the blow by bracing both hands.

But it was impossible. The moment the blood-red slash touched her, the Demon King had no choice but to acknowledge the truth. Just as in the distant past, that ‘sword’ made the Demon King understand the meaning of defeat.

Her father, the previous Demon King of Fury, had managed to escape his defeat, but… Iris, the current Demon King of Fury, wasn’t even able to escape.

Red light scattered everywhere.

“Haha…”, the Demon King laughed as she slowly backed away.

She didn’t want to lower her head. She had no desire to see the state of her body. However, her intuition revealed many things. She had already been defeated, and death was imminent.

A death she couldn’t avoid.

“Haha, hahaha… ha…”, the Demon King couldn’t help but laugh in frustration.

A final struggle? But she couldn’t even manage that. When she had extended her hands towards the approaching slash, that was the last futile effort the Demon King could muster.

“Have you…,” the Demon King spoke after a moment of silence. “…also seen it? Or perhaps, could you have remembered it?”

Was there even a need to reply to such a question? Eugene stared at the Demon King with cold eyes.

No visible wounds marred Iris’ body. However, the Holy Sword had sliced deep into the Demon King. The current Demon King couldn’t resurrect from such wounds.

In other words, the words the Demon King was uttering now were her final words in this world.

“Get lost,” Eugene scoffed.

Just because they were her last words didn’t mean Eugene had to respect them. For Eugene, a Demon King was an existence deserving neither respect nor accommodation. No, even setting aside her status as a Demon King, Iris herself was not someone he could respect.

In Eugene’s view, Iris was a fucking bitch.

As the first dark elf, she had corrupted many of the elven rangers who had once followed her, brutally killing those who resisted. Even after that, while leading the Armies of Fury, she had committed countless acts an elf should never do against another elf, slaughtering and trampling those who had once been her comrades. She had continued to act as a scout for the Armies of Fury, taking countless lives.

He didn’t know what Iris had done after the war ended. He didn’t know what kind of trouble she had gotten into in Helmuth. But that honestly didn’t matter to Eugene.

However, he did know the things she had done in this sea. Eugene had formed a specific opinion of her based on her actions after reaching this sea.

Many had died because of her. This battlefield was just one of many Eugene had chosen to participate in. However, Eugene had experienced far worse battlefields than this one.

If he felt responsible for every death on the battlefield and burdened by guilt, Eugene would never maintain his sanity. Even if he hadn’t chosen to be here, more people would have died than those who perished today.

Rather than guilt, rage was acceptable. It was healthy to hate one’s opponents. Eugene was that kind of person, and even now, he adhered to that nature.

Eugene had no intention of listening to the Demon King’s last words. He had no intention of speaking to her either. At first, he had some doubts about the situation. However, he saw no need to question the Demon King about those doubts.

Eugene had noticed something in the Demon King’s questions. She had asked if he remembered it. But that memory originated within Eugene himself.

Furthermore, there wasn’t enough time for such a conversation.

As Eugene stood there in silence, someone approached him.

It was Sienna Merdein. Her lips were stained red with coughed-up blood. Sienna glared at the Demon King, and the Demon King met her gaze, her face stoic and empty.

“Ha!” The Demon King’s lips twitched as she laughed.

The Demon King also didn’t want to leave behind any last words of regret, deeming such an act dirty and shameful. From her perspective, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Her regrets, her fears, she absolutely refused to reveal to these hateful enemies.

Instead, Iris pronounced a curse, “You will fail.”

She poured all her remaining regrets, rage, hatred, murderous intent, fury, and the other emotions surrounding her impending death into the curse she spat out.

“You, all of you humans, will definitely fail. You will never achieve anything.” With each word, Iris’ body disintegrated. As her red eyes burned with anger, she continued, “You will never, ever comprehend how much of a monster the Demon King of Incarceration truly is. Even if you sacrifice everything, you will still be unable to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration.”

Her death curse flew towards them like an ominous ghost. The curse from Iris’ lips made the space tremble, shadowing Eugene’s mind. He smelled blood and heard screams, laughter, and the rattling of chains.

“Your future will be filled with inevitable and irresistible despair. Your fate…”, Iris paused, bursting into frenzied laughter, “…ha… hahaha! That’s right. It seems fate truly repeats itself. Just as three hundred years ago, Vermouth overcame Fury only to kneel before Incarceration, it will be the same this time. Because it has always… always been that way.”

Iris’ shoulders shook with laughter. As the curse continued, her disintegration accelerated. Iris raised a disintegrating finger to point at Eugene and Sienna.

“You… will definitely… die,” Iris vowed. “You will never, ever, be allowed to surv—”

“You crazy bitch,” Sienna, who had been listening silently, suddenly exclaimed.

Narrowing her cold, merciless eyes, she flew towards Iris.

“I don’t know anything about your failure or whatever else you said, but first of all, you’re definitely dying before us, right?” Sienna taunted.

Bam!

Her open palm slammed into Iris’ cheek.

Sienna continued, “Ultimately, your curse is just the sour parting words of a loser, Iris. In the end, what exactly have you left behind as a legacy? You even killed all the dark elves who followed you here. Even after going so far, you still weren’t able to achieve anything, absolutely nothing.”

Bam!

Sienna’s hand slapped Iris again.

“Even after becoming a Demon King, what did you do?” Sienna mocked. “Iris, even though you became a Demon King, you couldn’t even leave this sea. The world will never know your name or the name of the new Demon King of Fury. Ah, it seems I made a mistake. By tomorrow, the whole world will know of the Demon King of Fury, though they’ll know it as the name of an idiot who died three hundred years ago and perished in this era as well.”

Sienna stopped slapping Iris.

Shaking her wrist, she ridiculed Iris, “Do you see what you’ve done, Iris? Even after abandoning your family, you still failed. And you’ve even smeared mud on the name of the one you so loved and cherished, the one you so mourned, ‘the Demon King of Fury.’ You’ve failed in everything, but you… do you still think you have the right to tell us that we will fail?”

Iris’ eyes trembled. She opened her mouth to say something, but Sienna’s hand wrapped around her throat.

“Your life, your very existence, holds no meaning or value,” Sienna stated coldly. “However, to us… for me, there is something. Because at least I will enjoy watching you die. I am overjoyed to see you, the person I so wanted to kill, die without accomplishing anything.”

She still clearly remembered the corpses of the elves burned alive. Still glaring into Iris’ eyes, Sienna released her throat.

“Three hundred years ago, when we defeated the Demon King of Fury, there were still people left to mourn Fury’s death. You, Oberon, and your subordinates,” Eugene finally addressed Iris. “But now, there is no one who will mourn your loss. Instead, they will only ridicule you.”

Iris’ body had almost completely vanished. Barely anything remained—no hair, nose, or lips. However, Iris’ emotions could still be discerned in the trembling of her wide-open eyes.

“So you, who are dying here and now, how would you know whether or not we will fail?” Eugene demanded.

Even if she still had lips, Iris lacked the will to curse them further. The reality she had refused to accept until the very end shattered her remaining emotions. She had cursed them with despair, but it was now Iris who felt utter despair.

‘Aah, aaaaah.’

Though her voice was unheard, Iris was sobbing. Her eyes, the last to disappear, trembled with unshed tears.

Finally, Iris, the Demon King of Fury, completely vanished. She dissipated into black ash, floating for a moment before disappearing. The dark skies instantly brightened, and the dark red sea returned to its original blue.

Eugene looked at the Divine Sword he held in his left hand.

His ring had completely shattered. The Divine Sword was also gradually breaking into pieces and disappearing. Eugene stared at the Divine Sword, filled with bitter and complex feelings.

“Why are you crying?” Eugene raised his head and asked.

He saw Sienna, standing beside him, silently shedding tears.

Wiping away her tears, Sienna explained, “Because I’m happy.”

She had no sympathy for Iris. The tears were satisfaction at seeing the death of her hated enemy of the past three hundred years.

Would Sienna become depressed over losing her goal? No way. Her revenge had meaning only because it was achieved.

“What exactly is that sword?” Sienna turned and asked, wiping away a few tears.

The sword in Eugene’s left hand… had no substance. It wasn’t made of mana, either. It couldn’t be a spell.

The sword seemed to be made of… red light. Although now faint and fading, when Eugene had first drawn it from his chest, it had emitted such intense red light that it had erased the darkness of the Devildom and the Light of the Holy Sword.

“It’s a secret,” Eugene grunted.

Sienna’s eyes sharpened at this reply.

Leaning towards Eugene, she pressed, “A secret? At this point, what secrets could there be between us?”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Eugene evaded.

The Divine Sword had now completely disappeared. Sienna stubbornly remained by his side, but Eugene ignored her. Sienna didn’t mind.

She knew exactly where Eugene was looking.

* * *

When the sea split, Scalia—secretly Noir Giabella—wasn’t surprised.

The sea split? So what?

A strange phenomenon that parted the sea to the seabed, leaving the walls standing apart without flowing back, might impress humans, but it wasn’t remarkable to Noir. If she had to, she could split the sea dozens of times over.

As for slaying the Demon King?

That wasn’t a big surprise either. She trusted Hamel could do it. After all, he couldn’t move on without killing the Demon King of Fury.

More surprising than the sea splitting or slaying the Demon King was the sword and strength Hamel had shown at the end.

Another surprising thing was what had just happened with Ciel.

‘How absurd,’ Noir shook her head.

As the possessor of the Demoneye of Fantasy, almost nothing was truly absurd. The only things Noir considered absurd were things like her own death.

But what she was seeing now was truly ‘absurd.’ In all her years, Noir had never seen anything like it, nor heard a rumor. And despite everything else she’d done, she hadn’t caused this.

All she had done was feel sympathy for a young, beautiful girl who had lost an eye. She’d wanted a grudging thanks from Hamel, so she’d helped with Ciel’s first aid.

She hadn’t added anything suspicious to the first aid. She’d simply poured the Shimuin Royal Family’s Panacea into Ciel’s empty eye socket.

‘Could a medicine made from a blue dragon’s horn really have this effect?’ Noir wondered.

But that was ridiculous. Even if the royal family’s Panacea could regenerate a destroyed eye, and even if there was something special about the regenerated eye…

It was impossible for the result to be a Demoneye. Yet Noir clearly recalled what she had seen. The moment the Panacea touched Ciel, her missing eye had regenerated.

But was it regeneration? Or rebirth? In Noir’s opinion, what had happened was the Demoneye somehow choosing to be reborn there. Demoneyes were only for demonfolk. Humans couldn’t possess them.

Those blood-red air currents, rising from the treated eye socket, had absorbed all the Shimuin Panacea without spilling a particle. Both Ciel’s eyes reopened as if they had always been there.

Her eyes still held the golden hue of the Lionheart clan. However, the newly born left eye had a slightly different shade from the original right eye…

Ciel was stunned upon awakening.

Like Noir, she was surprised. With a trembling hand, she touched her face.

She remembered her left eye disappearing with a pop. Her vision turned red, then dark. That was where her memories ended.

But what she remembered was enough to know what had happened. Her eye had been completely destroyed. Or at least, that’s how it should have been.

‘So what happened?’ Ciel wondered.

The moment she regained consciousness, light flooded the eye that shouldn’t have seen. The first thing Ciel saw was Scalia’s flustered expression.

But her thoughts were on Eugene.

She’d pushed him away, fallen forward to take his place… but couldn’t remember anything after that. Had she saved Eugene? What about the battle against the Demon King?

Past Scalia, Ciel saw Eugene high in the darkened sky. He stood as the Demon King approached. The moment she thought she couldn’t let Iris get closer, her left eye heated and throbbed as if pricked by a soldering iron.

“It really is a Demoneye,” Noir whispered, examining Ciel’s left eye.

Ciel’s eye didn’t shine brightly. It was cloudy. The iris around the black pupil was a dark, murky yellow instead of gold.

“What you used just now was your Demoneye. But it seems you used it without realizing it,” Noir questioned.

Ciel stammered, “A Demon… Demoneye…?”

Noir smiled, “This… this is truly fascinating. The darkness that stopped Iris. That was the power of the Demoneye of Darkness.”

Noir’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. Holding Ciel’s cheeks, she pressed her face close.

Noir asked, “Why, a descendant of Vermouth, bearing the blood of the Lionheart clan, have you been granted a Demoneye? And not just any, but Iris’ Demoneye of Darkness?”

Had Iris given her this Demoneye? But that was absurd. What reason would Iris have? Or perhaps… was it the Demoneye of Darkness? The lingering power from Ciel losing her eye?

‘That doesn’t make sense either,’ Noir decided. ‘No way a Demoneye would appear because of that.’

If losing an eye triggered a new Demoneye, Noir would have implanted countless humans and demons with them.

Noir paused, “Wait… what stopped Iris? The Demoneye of Darkness shouldn’t have that ability?”

Noir’s face drew closer.

Iris’ actions were halted by an outside force. Not Sienna’s magic, not the Saint’s miracles. It was a power defying reason: a Demoneye’s power.

“There’s no way… could it be that your eyes possess two abilities?” Noir marveled.

She was curious.

Noir wanted to pluck Ciel’s eyes out, but that was too much. At least she wanted the whole person.

But she couldn’t. A murderous intent sent shivers down her spine. Noir stood.

“How wonderful!” Noir exclaimed, spreading her arms.

She saw Eugene and Sienna descending. The Saint, Carmen, and others were flying from the vessels.

“The Hero, gallant Eugene Lionheart! You have truly subjugated the Demon King of Fury! On behalf of the Shimuin Royal Family, I, Princess Scalia Animus, commend your efforts!” Noir declared.

A performance. To Noir, it was a casual joke.

But Eugene knew Noir’s true identity, saw Ciel at her feet. As Ciel tried to rise, Eugene noticed something different about her left eye.

‘Oh my,’ Noir realized.

This might cause a misunderstanding. Noir quickly moved from Ciel.

“Dear Eugene,” Noir began, no longer playing the part of Princess Scalia.

She wanted to call him ‘Dear Hamel,’ but didn’t want to share their secret with the others.

Noir smiled charmingly, “It seems you’ve misunderstood—”

Eugene didn’t respond. His body might scream in agony, but Eugene ignored it, accelerating.

Stab!

A dagger from his cloak pierced Scalia’s chest.