Episode 223
Just as Dale was about to plunge the Peacemaker into Ray’s body, a swarm of blue butterflies took flight.
They enveloped Ray, blocking Dale’s descending sword.
Thud!
Dale’s sword struck, but Ray’s body dissolved into hundreds of blue butterflies, scattering like an ephemeral illusion.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The warrior from another world, gripping the Peacemaker in reverse, asked coldly.
“Please forgive our impertinence, my lord.”
A voice echoed. Dale looked up to see a silhouette draped in a blue robe.
“Could you postpone taking this child’s life to a later date?”
The Blue Tower Master stood there, the continent’s foremost blue magician, capable of weaving webs across the land and binding the consciousness of others.
The Blue Tower of Deception and Intrigue.
“That child could never be a match for you. The truth is, he will never even reach the shadow of the Shadow Lord.”
“Then why do you stand in my way?”
“Because the repercussions of killing him now are not something the current Shadow Lord can handle.”
“Are you referring to the Crimson Duke?”
“Indeed.”
At that moment, a man in a crimson robe appeared.
”…!”
He, too, was not truly present. It was merely a consciousness bound by the Blue Tower Master’s power.
“Please, spare my son.”
“Why is the Crimson Duke here?”
“Apologies, but he sought me out directly.”
“Not Lancaster, but the Blue Tower?”
“It seemed quicker to discuss things here.”
The Crimson Duke replied. Ray’s fallen body appeared beside him.
“Father…!”
“Do not worry, Ray.”
The Crimson Duke spoke, his voice unmistakably that of a father.
“Please, step back, Shadow Lord.”
The Crimson Duke’s tone was no longer exaggerated.
“You know you are not yet prepared to wage ‘war’ against the Empire. But if my son dies here…”
The Crimson Duke continued with utmost politeness.
“I swear to use all my resources solely for the destruction of Saxon, regardless of the conflict between gold and shadow.”
“Why should I not kill the Crimson Duke in your tower, Blue Tower Master?”
Dale asked icily. The fact that the Crimson Duke was looking at the Blue Tower Master meant he had walked into a trap.
“Ah, I have a small debt to the Blue Tower Master from the past.”
“Is that debt worth obstructing your lord’s path?”
Dale asked incredulously. The Blue Tower Master bowed silently.
“I have fulfilled many of the Blue Tower’s desires. And each time, I was suspicious of the blue webs binding me.”
“Our Blue Tower has always been loyal to our lord.”
The Blue Tower Master bowed, and Dale released the aura of the Avatar of the Shadow Lord.
Simultaneously, the Avatar of the Shadow Lord enveloped his body, and the Eyes of Truth scrutinized the Blue Tower Master.
To uncover the secrets hidden behind the veil of deception and intrigue, and to understand the true nature of the webs.
As the Lord of Truth, the Shadow Lord’s ability to perceive the truth of the universe.
“I understand.”
Dale nodded.
“According to your wishes, I will sheathe my sword and spare Ray Ulysses.”
“Thank you for your kindness.”
The Crimson Duke smiled quietly and bowed.
Srrng.
Dale sheathed his sword and turned away.
“I’m sorry, Father…”
Ray struggled to his feet, bowing his head. The Crimson Duke shook his head gently.
“It is not yet time.”
“Not yet.”
At that moment, Dale, who had turned his back, spoke. His voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.
“Why should I retreat like a third-rate villain and wait for the right time?”
”…!”
The Blue Tower Master reached out belatedly. The magic of deception and intrigue unfolded to protect Ray, while the Shadow Lord’s ‘shadow’ surged toward the falsehood.
The blade within the shadow, Lady Shadow’s crimson sword.
Clang!
The sword swung, leaving a crimson trail. The sound of shattering glass echoed.
“I understand why the masters of deception and intrigue do not serve the Lord of Lies but claim to be the standard-bearers of shadow and truth.”
Dale replied coldly.
“Blue Tower Master, your abilities can never deceive my eyes.”
”….”
“You want me to strive desperately to gain the Blue Tower’s loyalty. But now I know. The Blue Tower is nothing but a puppet that cannot defy me.”
It was true. It finally made sense.
The Blue Tower Master was not an enemy of the Shadow Lord. Yet, they did not want to reveal their weakness, their inability to defy the Shadow Lord.
Thus, they desperately hid their existence behind a veil, trying to maintain an advantage as the puppet masters.
The veil was lifted.
What the Shadow Lord saw with the Eyes of Truth was not a trivial past.
It was the blue webs spread across the area, threads of magic to dismantle the Blue Tower Master’s spells.
The false weavings she used to bind and control consciousness, like a barrier.
Seeing the threads, it was Lady Shadow, Aurelia, who severed them.
The shocked expressions of the Crimson Duke and the Blue Tower Master flashed by and then vanished.
With the barrier of falsehood shattered, Dale drew his sword. Once again, the aura exploded, and the Avatar of the Night Raven Knight enveloped him.
The pinnacle of swordsmanship for battle and slaughter.
The warrior from another world charged with the Peacemaker, and Ray raised his head before him.
“Not yet…!”
Facing the approaching warrior’s sword, Ray reached out.
Once more, the world of ashes engulfed the area, overlaid by the white and dark winter night.
The ashes of annihilation scattered. Yet, they never touched the warrior from another world.
Swish!
The sword swung. Blood splattered.
Simultaneously, Ray Ulysses’s body turned to ash and scattered. It was not to evade or escape. The 『Book of Cold Ashes』 had gone berserk, unable to handle the overload, consuming the user’s body.
“Shall I tell you the real truth?”
Dale spoke. Ray Ulysses remained silent.
“You were told you could never reach the Shadow Lord’s feet.”
”….”
“That was a lie.”
Ray, crumbling into ash, turned his head weakly.
“You are the most dangerous and threatening enemy to me. That’s why I thought I could never let you live here. That’s why you must die.”
“Is that so….”
Hearing those words, Ray smiled bitterly.
“At least my efforts to reach you were not entirely in vain.”
Dale nodded silently.
“There are still so many things I have yet to achieve.”
Ray Ulysses said. Yet his voice was strangely peaceful.
“But since that day, all I wished for was to reach your feet.”
”….”
“I wanted to overcome the truth that I could never reach you.”
A falsehood truer than truth. Ray Ulysses turned his falsehood into truth with his own hands.
“And I have finally become a threat to the Shadow Lord.”
Even if it meant becoming irreversibly hostile to the Crimson Duke and ignoring the Blue Tower’s plea. That was the falsehood truer than truth Ray Ulysses had grasped.
Thus, he was killed.
Thus, the rogue Philip was never killed, no matter how many times. Even after losing his father and becoming a count, he was no threat to Dale.
”…That’s enough.”
“Yes.”
Ray Ulysses said. Ashes began to climb his neck, consuming his face.
No voice escaped, and that was the end.
The ashes scattered, and the cold of the white and dark winter night wrapped around Dale’s heart.
Shub’s laughter echoed madly.
As if it was too funny to bear.
Ray Ulysses vanished into ash, leaving Dale behind.
Simultaneously, another tendril began to coil around Dale’s heart.
Ephemerality and realization.
Leaving behind five circles, the idle magic lost its way and began to reverse around Dale’s heart. An absurd amount of magic was pouring out.
The sixth circle Dale realized was an ephemeral realization.
So easy and anticlimactic that it didn’t even warrant a chuckle. Yet the weight of that ephemerality was anything but light.
A falsehood closer to truth. A truth closer to falsehood. Ephemerality heavier than gold.
This world was truly a place filled with irony and contradiction.
And with that paradoxical realization, Dale ascended to the next level.
The Sixth Circle.
For Dale, the significance of reaching the Sixth Circle was beyond words. It was a realm that even the tendrils of Shub couldn’t touch.
It was the purest form of magical transcendence.
And then it happened.
The world of ashes, reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic landscape, began to tremble.
Ray Eurys was dead. But it was only Ray Eurys who had turned to ash. The “Tome of Cold Ash” nestled within his heart remained untouched.
The world of ash did not vanish. Instead, it surged with a wild, frenzied energy, expanding its domain more than ever before.
”…”
The tome, now without its owner, was awakening to its own will, brimming with immense, unrestrained magical power. This could only mean one thing.
The world of ashes was welcoming back its ancient ruler with fervor.
The embodiment of the tome’s philosophy emerged.
“The Demon King…”
Dale murmured softly.
──The return of the Demon King.
The Lord of Cold Ash, the King of the Ashes, stood there.