Chapter 23: The Side Story
“Revenge for my mother.”
The demon wearing Mikhail’s face spoke, and Dale responded with a wry smile.
“You certainly have the right.”
Just as Dale had once faced his own reckoning, it was only natural for the cycle of vengeance to continue unbroken, like a chain that never ends. The world remains unchanged, and so does the relentless pursuit of revenge.
Mikhail Lancaster, clad in armor of red and white, rose from the throne. Watching him, Dale asked again.
“Why are you wearing Mikhail Lancaster’s skin?”
“I have witnessed countless histories, from before you brought down the Third Empire to this very moment.”
”…”
“Just as my brother remembers history through the ‘Book of Blood,’ I record my own history based on the genetic information etched into living beings.”
Mikhail Lancaster spoke.
Even though the Fourth Empire and Dale had vanished, not everyone from that era disappeared. And now, after countless years, the specters of the past reappeared before Dale.
“Humans are creatures who learn nothing from history.”
“Ah, but unfortunately, I am not human.”
Mikhail Lancaster, or rather, the demon of evolution, laughed.
“Human history is a history of possibilities. The possibility of blooming their seeds on barren land, the possibility of fighting against impending doom without giving up—this struggle for life is the beauty of life and humanity. Just as you, the king of humans and monsters, did on this land.”
”…”
“And I have recorded the history of life up to the Ninth Empire, waiting for the day of revenge to come. Silently, patiently, striving desperately to become the ‘ultimate being’ that could reach you.”
Mikhail Lancaster continued.
“You asked why I wear Mikhail’s appearance.”
“I did.”
“The hero from another world was strong. Yet, he could not surpass the original you.”
”…”
“That’s why I turned to human history. A history of possibilities, and Mikhail Lancaster is the answer.”
Dale remembered the power Mikhail had once shown as the ‘Apostle of Fire and Light.’ As Mikhail had said, he was a formidable adversary who could have grown to be a significant threat to Dale at that time.
“Mikhail Lancaster held potential. Across the history of life, he was the only one who could challenge you, the Lord of Shadows turned Lord of Black Gold.”
Thus, Dale had uprooted him early on. Yet, the root that should have been eradicated had revived here once more.
“Fortunately, my brother recorded his existence in the history of blood. That’s why I could remember and reconstruct Mikhail’s life information, allowing me to mimic him.”
“You’re talking about Ray Uris’s ‘Book of Blood.’”
“Ray Uris and Mikhail Lancaster. Even you feared they would grow into the greatest threats, and they indeed had potential. That’s why you didn’t hesitate to bring them down.”
“That was when I was inexperienced.”
The history of blood and life.
“We were all inexperienced. And unfortunately, my name is no longer Mikhail Lancaster.”
The demon wrapped in red and white armor spoke.
“Then what is it?”
“Mikhail Uris, that is my name.”
“Have you become a close brother to Ray Uris?”
“With Mikhail’s name, I have honed this sword since the day your existence vanished from history. Pursuing the ultimate potential within this body, I have trained relentlessly over countless ages, while you and your empire were frozen in the ice of absolute zero, isolated from the world.”
‘Mikhail Uris’ spoke. Dale coldly questioned in response.
“From the start, was the Ninth Empire or the revolutionaries just a facade for your schemes?”
“My brother and I have been waiting for you to awaken from the beginning. We waited for you to realize yourself as the Lord of Black Gold, not as someone who fled from the world.”
“So you helped me face Lize and revive the old empire?”
“From the start, what I needed to defeat was the ‘Black Prince,’ the Lord of Shadows, and ultimately, the Lord of Black Gold. Not a coward who ran from the world.”
”…”
“And standing before me now is the undeniable ‘Black Prince,’ Dale of Saxon. I have awaited this moment.”
“Quite the long-winded speech.”
Hearing this, Dale waved his hand dismissively, as if losing interest.
“Nothing will change. Do you think the ghosts of the past can do anything to me now?”
The god of meaninglessness spoke, as if returning all the world’s significance to nothingness.
“As I said, humans are creatures of possibility.”
At that moment, red and white aura began to swirl around Mikhail Uris’s feet.
“Even in an age where magic is dying, you can still use an aura avatar.”
“Did you say magic is dying?”
Mikhail Uris sneered coldly at those words.
“Unfortunately, the magic of this world is not dying.”
Mana in the air had thinned, the magic towers had lost their color, and the knights’ auras no longer shone as brilliantly as before. This was the era where magic was thought to be dying.
”…!”
As the Apostle of Fire and Light, an unimaginable light exploded, akin to facing the sun’s corona.
“Could it be…?”
A light as bright as the sun illuminated the world, and flames of destruction as intense as the sun’s heat began to envelop Mikhail Uris’s body.
An aura so absurdly powerful that it was hard to imagine, even in Dale’s world.
“Day after day, I have voraciously consumed the mana of this world, accumulating it as aura within my body. Just as my brother did. Throughout countless ages, as countless empires rose and fell.”
”…”
“While my brother, Ray Uris, devoured the colors and magic of every magic tower left in this world, I consumed the swords and auras of every knight.”
The endless hunger and desire of the vampire clan, the Uris family, manifested in the form of a ‘sword.’
And Ray Uris likely satisfied that hunger and desire in the form of ‘magic.’
The ominous premonition Dale had felt was confirmed.
“In the meantime, the people of the world began to mistakenly believe that magic was dying.”
The one who claimed to be of the vampire clan was ironically clad in the armor of dawn, illuminating the dark pre-dawn hours.
The demon of evolution.
He had longed for the ultimate being that could defeat the Lord of Black Gold throughout the history of life, and finally, that form had emerged.
The one who held the potential to defeat the ‘Black Prince,’ seeking the ultimate potential within Mikhail’s body.
Just as Dale was no longer the inexperienced ‘Black Prince’ of the past, Mikhail was no longer the same either.
The Lord of Fire and Light, Mikhail Uris.
In response, the Lord of Black Gold, the Lord of Gold and Shadows, Dale, extended his arm.
Nothing would change.
Tendrils of darkness writhed at his feet, and a lake of shadows spread out. Darkness descended upon the world.
Amidst that darkness, a knight of dawn shone brilliantly. The light of dawn, burning like blood and occasionally flaring pure white, scattered.
The tendrils of darkness surged, and the aura of dawn surrounding Mikhail Uris devoured the darkness.
“Ho.”
For the first time, Dale smiled with genuine interest.
In this world, there was finally a worthy opponent who could match him. This realization ignited an unknown flame within Dale’s heart.
“I have awaited this day, to finally face you.”
“Then I suppose I should indulge in this entertainment.”
With those words, Dale replied coldly.
Simultaneously, skeletal knights formed from the darkness of the shadow lake rose.
Abyss Knights.
Knights formed from the abyssal darkness charged forward, and Dale extended his arm. A chilling frost swirled from his fingertips, scattering bullets of ice.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he had cast a spell with such embellishment. Yet, before Mikhail Uris, Dale willingly adhered to his old fighting style.
Was it the proper etiquette before an old rival, or merely a fleeting moment of entertainment? Even Dale didn’t know.
Ice bolts imbued with the chill of the apocalypse were fired, and the sword of dawn in Mikhail’s hand intercepted them.
It was not the old hero’s beloved sword, Peacemaker.
“Have you acquired a new sword?”
“Many things happened to forge this blade.”
Mikhail adjusted his grip on the sword’s hilt, showcasing the gleam along its blade. It was clear that the magic within the sword was far from ordinary.
“What is the name of the sword?”
“Lucifer.”
A specter from the past, a formidable figure from the era when Dale faced countless powerful foes, had reappeared before him.
At that moment, Mikhail Yuris stomped the ground. In his hand, the Dawn Blade, “Morning Star,” swung with a fierce arc. Opposing him, Dale conjured the “Blade of Midnight,” scattering ancient darkness around him.
“Does your sword have a name?” Mikhail asked.
“Despair,” Dale replied, his voice steady, as if denying the light of the Morning Star before him.
“I, too, know much about possibilities. The darkness given to me by the Mother of Ancient Shadows is proof of that.”
In the beginning, there was darkness, not light. A darkness that could become anything, and from that darkness, the world was born.
Thus, darkness is the original possibility.
To say humans are creatures of possibility is, in essence, to say they are creatures of darkness.
Gripping the Morning Star, there stood a demon of hope, seeking the sole possibility against an unbeatable foe.
And against that demon, the king of humans tightened his hold on the Blade of Midnight. Enveloped in the primordial darkness that could become anything, he was the apostle of despair, denying all forms of meaning and possibility.
The Morning Star of hope clashed with the Blade of Despair.