Episode 222
The grimoire of the Demon King Balor, The Book of Cold Ashes, finally revealed its true power, and an even stronger magic swirled around the ashes scattered across the battlefield.
”…You’ve grown quite a bit.”
The Shadow Lord watched with a cold sneer. Compared to the first time Ray Eurys had shown his abilities at the fight club, his growth was astonishing.
But Ray Eurys’s development was far from over.
Amidst the swirling ashes of annihilation, a chilling cold began to seep in.
”…!”
Dale understood the significance immediately.
“I, too, have witnessed the ‘Winter of the Universe’ there.”
The end’s chill, the undeniable proof that the world would end in ice.
Ray Eurys wrapped himself in that very cold as he lifted his head.
“So, you’ve decided to accept the truth of the end?”
“The truth, you say.”
Dale asked mockingly, and Ray Eurys laughed as if amused.
Whoosh!
“The empire’s greatest genius, the empire’s greatest talent… It’s a convenient excuse to deceive people.”
Ray Eurys spoke, the raging cold behind him. The Shadow Lord momentarily held his breath.
“You don’t need to explain anything. Those who lack will despair before you, blaming their own inadequacies and despairing over their lack of talent.”
“What are you trying to say, Ray Eurys?”
“Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m saying. I’m just another one of those countless losers who despair before the ‘talent of the Black Prince.’”
”…”
“But to say it’s merely a difference in pure talent, your existence is too perfect. That’s what makes it suspicious.”
The Shadow Lord remained silent. He didn’t know Dale’s truth, but Ray Eurys’s intuition was inching closer to it.
“What do you think I am?”
“A fraud.”
The answer came without hesitation, and Dale burst into laughter.
“The real ‘Lord of Lies’ is you, Dale of Saxon.”
But Ray Eurys did not laugh.
“I have no idea where your abilities come from or how you became such a flawless being. But one thing is certain: the existence of the Black Prince cannot be explained by mere talent.”
At those words, Dale’s smile faded.
“I will uncover your lies.”
“Gold and shadow, lies and truth, the end of the world—you’re obsessed with such trivial things.”
Dale sneered coldly.
“As I said, none of it interests me.”
“Then what does interest you?”
”…”
Bringing down the empire. But saying that here would be dangerous, so Dale kept silent.
“Ah, once again, you wrap yourself in the silence of lies.”
“Enough of this pointless talk.”
Ray Eurys laughed. Hearing that, Dale didn’t hesitate.
He donned the armor of the Abyss, deploying the Shadow Lord’s avatar as ‘Dale’s World’ finally surged toward Ray.
A weapon form to eliminate the enemy with full force.
Swoosh!
The tendrils of Shub, forming the obsidian fortress, lashed out, and before them, the ‘Cold Ashes’ began to scatter. The grimoire of destruction that returns everything it touches to nothingness.
The Book of Cold Ashes was raging, imbued with the chill of the end.
It devoured and froze the endless tendrils of Shub, invading Dale’s world.
In that world of white and dark winter nights, where ancient darkness and the chill of the end raged, the obsidian fortress stood tall.
“Our worlds are remarkably similar.”
Ray Eurys laughed. The Shadow Lord remained seated on his black-gold throne, unmoving.
Ray scattered the cold ashes as he walked, and the death knights guarding the Shadow Lord rose to meet him.
The death knights, made of cold and darkness, charged, and Ray scattered the cold ashes once more.
With a single gesture, everything was returned to nothingness.
Just as Demon King Balor had done long ago.
”…”
The Shadow Lord glanced at the sword hanging at his waist. The cherished sword of the ancient hero who defeated the Demon King. As an Aura Master, Dale possessed the hero’s avatar. And that avatar was hidden by the armor of the Night Raven Knight.
‘But if I use the hero’s avatar here, I can’t let Ray Eurys leave alive.’
Thus, he considered the risks of ending Ray’s life with his own hands. The hesitation was brief.
The Shadow Lord finally rose from his throne. The onslaught of tendrils ceased, and so did the death knights.
Screech.
At last, the hero’s cherished sword, Peacemaker, was revealed.
Simultaneously, within Dale’s body, the tri-colored aura in his Aura Heart began to swirl and explode. Not the armor of the Abyss that symbolized the Shadow Lord, but the avatar built as a knight pursuing the path of the sword appeared.
The breastplate bore the mark of the death-symbolizing bird, the Night Raven.
A knight clad in the black armor of the Night Raven Knight.
And Ray Eurys had no way of knowing the existence hidden within that armor.
‘This must end here.’
With that thought, Dale launched himself forward.
Thud!
The distance closed. At the same time, the cold ashes commanded by Ray Eurys began to swirl.
The wind of ashes. No matter how skilled a knight, it was impossible to block every single speck of ash.
But to the ‘Hero from Another World,’ it didn’t matter much.
Tick.
The ultimate peace pursued by the Peacemaker unfolded there.
Eternal stillness.
The world stopped. The swirling wind of ashes, each particle, froze in place. In that stillness, only the hero could move freely.
Thwack!
Dale’s sword swung toward Ray Eurys. It pierced his heart and sliced through. Next, his neck was severed cleanly.
Splat!
Blood splattered. And the frozen world began to move again.
It was a literal instant kill.
But it was far from over.
Ray’s shattered body began to dissolve into ash. Simultaneously, the swirling mass of ash condensed toward a single point.
He couldn’t let him escape. Thus, the hero from another world, now as the Shadow Lord, reached out.
One arm, clad in the armor of the Night Raven Knight, was enveloped in magic and transformed back into the ‘Armor of the Abyss.’ The black biological armor, with magma swirling within.
The two avatars coexisted, and the Shadow Lord’s avatar began to scatter the chill of the end.
But the raging cold of Dale was met by another ‘cold’ possessed by Ray Eurys.
The two chills, symbolizing the Winter of the Universe, clashed. Yet neither could fully unleash their power.
Only Dale’s side was closer to completion.
Cold devoured cold, winter consumed winter.
Dale’s white and dark world began to engulf Ray’s world of pale ash and flickering embers.
It was an overwhelming force.
Ray’s shattered body sublimated into ash and reformed, desperately leaping away.
“How is this possible…!”
He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. In the blink of an eye, his body had been torn apart. Without the grimoire’s power, it would have been instant death.
But at least, as long as he possessed the Demon King’s grimoire, Ray’s body wouldn’t die easily. Knowing this, Dale had no hesitation.
Tick.
The world froze again. He launched himself forward, and the arm made of the Armor of the Abyss grabbed Ray Eurys by the neck.
Crack, snap!
The cold swirling from his fingertips engulfed Ray’s body.
The frozen second hand began to move again.
As the world resumed, Ray Eurys saw the Shadow Lord, who had already closed in and was freezing him.
It was fast. Fast? No, it wasn’t even a matter of speed.
As a young vampire of noble blood, his body couldn’t even perceive the absurd swiftness.
He tried to turn his body back into ash, but Ray’s body, already freezing, couldn’t move.
It was then.
Fwoosh!
Flames erupted. Flames burning within Ray Eurys’s body.
The flames began to melt the parts of Ray Eurys’s body that hadn’t yet frozen. He burned himself, melting the remaining parts.
As soon as they melted, the remaining parts sublimated into ash, creating distance.
But when Ray Eurys’s body reformed, it was nothing more than a pitiful imitation of a human form.
His skin was torn, one arm was missing, his scalp was entirely peeled off, and his facial features melted away, leaving only part of his skull. His exposed eyes stared at Dale.
The mechanism itself was akin to cutting away a decaying part of the flesh. It was a desperate act of survival, severing one’s own body before the chill of the end could consume it entirely.
“This is where it ends.”
The warrior from another realm, the Shadow Lord, declared.
“You cannot defeat me.”
“Not yet… not yet…!”
Barely able to maintain a human form, Rey gritted his teeth and lifted his head defiantly.
“Is that so? Then you must die.”
The Shadow Lord did not hesitate. There was no room for mercy or idle chatter in the face of an enemy.
In this absurd world, the “Black Prince” was always the victor. Nothing was going to change that.
Dale lunged forward, and Rey Yuris resisted.
It was a struggle so desperate it bordered on despair.
‘There’s no need to overuse the power to stop time any further.’
The Peacemaker’s ultimate peace was a power that brought immense overload to both the sword and the mind. Using it any more would jeopardize both the sword and the warrior from another realm. Yet, the scales of battle had already tipped decisively.
The sword, imbued with aura, surged forward, and Dale’s arm, clad in the armor of the abyss, unleashed a tri-colored magic.
In front of this, Rey Yuris fought back, sacrificing his own body in a futile struggle.
Finally, as his legs were severed and he was on the brink of turning to ash, he was engulfed by the icy end that Dale unleashed.
Thud!
Now unable to stand, with only his upper body remaining, Rey crawled on the ground. Dale looked down at him silently, adjusting his grip on the warrior’s beloved sword in reverse.
The blade was imbued with the pale, chilling end.
Clang!
The sword struck down.
At that moment, a blue butterfly took flight.