Chapter 18: The Interlude
“What… what is that…?!”
The king of false humans and the king of monsters stood there.
“A monster! It’s a monster!”
“A monster, you say?”
Dale sneered coldly at the sight. His body was wrapped in jet-black tendrils, hundreds of eyes writhing beneath the shadows—a grotesque creature that could no longer be called human.
“Does this form disgust you so much?”
Ignoring the tendrils coiling around him, a human shape emerged and took a step forward.
It was Dale as a child.
The king of false humans and the true king of monsters, scattering countless tendrils and madness.
“My brethren, look at yourselves.”
Beneath his feet, hundreds, thousands of eyes blinked, peering into their shadows. Every one of their sins, atrocities, and unforgivable acts was laid bare.
“We are all monsters. There’s no difference among us.”
Dale’s words were incomprehensible to them.
There was only the most terrifying tendrils in the world, and a boy ensnared by them.
“Could it be… the stories were true?!”
“The Mage Emperor of the Fourth Empire!”
“Is that really the Lord of Black Gold…?”
“No, it can’t be!”
The knights were in turmoil. It didn’t matter.
Like a malevolent god toying with humans, a despair-filled devastation began.
From beneath Dale’s feet and the torn night sky, tendrils slithered out.
Madness spread like a plague, and a few cavalrymen charged forward on their warhorses.
Swoosh!
The tendrils scattered, snatching horses and knights alike. They crushed their armor, and even death, with bones and entrails spilling from the twisted metal, seemed preferable.
From the rift in the sky, beings with blinking eyes looked down upon the earth.
Retinas flickered, and tendrils slithered down, striking the cavalry.
Crack!
Helmets were torn, skulls split, and tendrils pierced into brains. The tendrils, thin and bundled, churned through their minds, and black blood, as dark and viscous as tar, poured from their noses and mouths.
Laughter echoed amidst the madness. Unable to bear the overwhelming despair, consciousness crumbled, leaving only laughter. Laughter, and more laughter.
Some wept like children.
In the overwhelming despair that made it impossible to maintain sanity, Dale walked on, unfazed.
There were knights who clung to consciousness until the very end, desperately swinging their swords. Facing the heavenly tendrils descending from all sides, and the jet-black tendrils rising from the shadows beneath their feet, they fought without surrendering.
“Protect Marquis Maximil! Never give up until the end!”
“No matter how powerful he is, he can’t maintain this magic forever! Hold on until his power runs out!”
They clung desperately to any shred of hope.
It was laughable, and so he did not crush them.
The number of tendrils rushing toward the knights, who had dismounted and formed a defensive stance, decreased.
“Look! His magic is waning!”
“Fight! Never let go of your swords!”
Hope was a mysterious thing, an incomprehensible creature.
The humans before him were beyond his understanding.
He recalled the promise he made with Shub to remain human until the end. His resolve hadn’t changed. Even now, Dale believed in the form of humanity he held dear.
But he couldn’t find any common ground with those humans before him.
Like a malevolent god looking down on humans, like a person looking down on insects, they felt so distant and ephemeral.
So Dale asked.
“Are you afraid of death?”
“You… you…!”
Dale approached the knights, who were making their last desperate stand, without hesitation, and one knight charged forward.
“Don’t break formation!”
A knight shouted from behind, but it didn’t reach his ears. Crack! The tendrils grabbed his limbs and tore them apart, armor and all.
Blood splattered.
“Do you think if my magic runs out and my power is exhausted, you’ll have a chance to survive?”
Dale sneered coldly before them. Like a malevolent god who doesn’t love humans, finding joy in tormenting them.
Swoosh!
The night sky tore open, and one by one, the malevolent gods of another world appeared.
They weren’t even tendrils. The rift in the night sky tore open, and beings with arms and legs began to crawl toward the earth.
“Aah…!”
“Why do you hurt and torment others?”
Dale asked, unable to understand. It was an ironic question in this situation.
“Why do you kill those who beg for their lives? Do you enjoy this pain? Of course not. Yet why did you bring suffering to the people of this land?”
“P-please forgive us! We pledge allegiance to Your Majesty, the Emperor!”
One knight, having given up, began to plead.
“We swear loyalty to the Fourth Empire, the Great Mage Empire and the Mage Emperor! Please spare us!”
“Your Majesty!”
One by one, they began to realize. There was no chance of a miracle, no hope of victory if this man’s magic ran out and the situation reversed. It was a dream, a delusion.
The rift in the night sky tore open, and grotesque creatures from another world crawled down, slaughtering their comrades. Before them, the knights’ swords and the world’s logic held no sway.
The Ineffable.
Before them, everyone knelt and begged.
Dale extended his hand, and the grotesque creatures halted. The eyes of the gods watching from the sky closed.
The tendrils, too, stopped moving.
Subduing the ineffable gods of another world, the Lord of Black Gold raised his head.
“I once ruled this world with power and fear. Back then, too, people like you knelt before me and swore loyalty.”
“We pledge our loyalty, Your Majesty! We will serve the Great Mage Empire with our lives!”
“I received the loyalty and oaths of submission from people like you. Yet even after my empire vanished, and nine more empires rose and fell, nothing changed in your actions.”
Dale spoke.
“And I realized. Just as I made you bow with power, you, too, sought to make others bow with power. My actions now are no different from yours.”
Reflecting on his own folly, and the folly of those before him.
“So I will no longer blame humanity’s foolishness. I will not be deluded into thinking I can change anything by ruling the world with power and fear.”
“Then… what do you mean…?”
“I will forgive your evil. I will not try to change humanity’s ugliness with my power.”
Dale said.
As if a being capable of deciding the fate of the world was forgiving the sins of humanity.
At those words, the knights began to kneel and bow. Grateful for Dale’s mercy, they pledged their loyalty. Watching them, Dale calmly extended his hand.
The world, which had been frozen, began to move again. The invaders from another world resumed their actions, moving to finish their feast on the kneeling knights.
“Why… why…!”
“You said you would forgive us! This isn’t what you said!”
“You trespassed on my land.”
Dale said.
“Do you think you can invade someone’s home and leave unscathed?”
Despite the lengthy discourse, Dale had only one reason for not forgiving them.
Despair settled at the end of hope, and screams echoed at the end of despair.
“You want to annex the northern part of the empire as our territory?”
That night, Charlotte asked Dale, stroking her belly where their child was growing.
“Are you planning to restore your empire here?”
Charlotte asked, feigning fear, but Dale shook his head.
“Not for the humans, not for the world.”
“Then?”
“For you, me, and our baby, I’ll build a nation.”
Dale said, as if reaffirming to himself.
“For no one else, just for us.”
”…”
“Like before, I won’t let my appearance become something monstrous and frightening to those I love. I promise.”
Charlotte didn’t answer immediately, maintaining her silence. Dale took her hand in his.
“I promise, until the end, I’ll remain the person you think I am.”
”…Okay.”
Charlotte smiled at his words.
“I’m sad I can’t wield a sword and stand on the battlefield with you.”
“I’m sad I can’t provide a home for our child.”
Dale’s words made Charlotte burst into laughter.
“After the baby is born, I’ll take up the sword again.”
She said, smiling.
“When I head to the battlefield, you’ll have to stay home and take care of our child.”
“Yes, I suppose I will.”
Dale smiled at those words, a gentle and loving smile. No longer burdened by the weight of the world, no longer sacrificing himself, but simply reaching for what he truly desired.
With his mind made up, Dale summoned his vassals to the Saxon stronghold.
Seated upon the throne of the Great Magic Empire, the Black and Gold, Dale spoke with calm resolve.
“Before I say anything further, I ask you all to make a vow.”
Before him knelt the formidable warriors of the Fourth Empire, a force capable of conquering the world at his command.
“Never sacrifice yourselves for me.”
His unexpected words made the knights catch their breath.
“Do not offer yourselves up for any cause in this world. As I once did, do not repeat my foolishness.”
With those words, the ruler of the Black and Gold rose. The knights, in unison, knelt and drove their swords into the ground.
“Remember this vow, and take up your swords.”
In the Saxon stronghold, the gathered knights and dark sorcerers numbered only a few hundred.
“Now, let us put an end to this tiresome war raging across the continent.”
Despite their small numbers, Dale understood the weight each one carried, and nothing would change that.
No matter how far he ran, he could not escape the world. Only now did he truly understand.
No matter how much he sacrificed or struggled, he could not reshape the world into an ideal form.
Thus, in Dale’s new empire, there was nothing grand or ostentatious.
Thus, for himself and for his people, for the most human of reasons, the history of the Tenth Empire began.