Chapter 145
[Interesting… I look forward to seeing whether your fate will truly defy the heavens.]

With those final words, the light flickered once more—far more intensely than before.

From Andril, a sphere of darkness extended outward, enveloping Chris protectively as his consciousness began to fade.

---

The events of that day shook not only Gold Cross but the entire continent.

It was an unprecedented incident.

“Did a celestial being almost descend?”

“Yeah. The Law King was receiving revelations from the constellations to solve the plague, but something went wrong, and a celestial being nearly descended. Prince Christian of the Magic Empire and Saint Olivia intervened swiftly to resolve the crisis.”

Olivia had spun the truth just as she and Chris had agreed beforehand.

In reality, Olivia had wanted to confess everything honestly as a form of atonement, but Chris had opposed it.

If the Law King’s horrific deeds were fully exposed, the reputation of the Law Kingdom would be utterly ruined.

Since Olivia was to become the next Law King and correct the kingdom’s wrongs, such a scandal would be unwise.

‘The Law Kingdom has to be my stronghold going forward. This can’t happen.’

So they released a carefully mixed version of truth and lies.

The plague was caused by Duke Vintz colluding with cursed mages.

The near descent of the celestial being was the Law King’s mistake.

‘Honestly, it would be satisfying to reveal all the Law King’s crimes, but he’ll pay the price soon enough anyway.’

Thanks to the power of the Emerald Tablet, the Law King miraculously survived the aftermath.

Well, “survived” might be too generous a word.

He was brain dead.

His body was alive, but his soul had been dragged to Gehenna when the celestial being vanished.

Now, the Law King would writhe in eternal torment, paying for his sins.

‘Man, I feel stiff. How long do I have to lie here like this?’

Despite all the twists and turns, things had been resolved.

However, Chris couldn’t leave the Magic Empire just yet.

His body was battered from enduring the aftershocks of the celestial being’s disappearance.

He’d been bedridden for a week.

‘If it weren’t for Olivia’s blessing, I might never have regained consciousness.’

Chris sighed and stood up.

After lying down for a week, his body had recovered enough to walk around a bit.

‘Better to move around little by little to heal faster.’

As he wandered outside, he noticed people’s reactions were strange.

Servants, knights, commoners—all flinched and then bowed deeply to Christian.

‘What’s going on? Why are they acting like this?’

Before he could wonder further, Viscount Roy appeared and explained.

“Ahem. That’s because of what the prince accomplished recently.”

“I accomplished something?”

“Yes. Your deeds have become widely known. You’re now a hero of Gold Cross.”

Chris was taken aback.

“…Me, a demon, a hero of Gold Cross? That can’t be right.”

“Does it matter that you’re a demon? Without you, Gold Cross would have been reduced to ashes.”

Without Chris, neither the plague nor the celestial being’s descent could have been stopped.

“Besides, Princess Olivia has been actively spreading word of your achievements. She says she did nothing and that all credit belongs to you.”

“……”

“Also, it was revealed that the miracle doctor who saved all the patients in Duke Vintz’s domain was you.”

“…How did that rumor get out?”

“Apparently, one of the patients recognized you.”

At the time, Chris had worn a crow mask to conceal his face, so he hadn’t worried about being recognized. He hadn’t met anyone besides the patients.

That’s how someone had identified him.

“Saving all those patients! If you weren’t a demon, you’d be revered as a saint. In fact, the people of Duke Vintz’s domain call you the ‘Saint of Darkness.’”

“……”

‘Saint of Darkness.’

It sounded like a cheesy nickname.

Like someone who might be harboring a black flame dragon on the back of their hand.

“I don’t like that nickname.”

“Haha. Actually, many call you by another name.”

“What’s that?”

“Mahwi (魔輝).”

Chris’s expression shifted subtly.

It meant “Demonic Radiance.”

Since he was a demon, they couldn’t openly praise him as a hero, so they gave him that nickname instead.

“Anyway, prince, you saved Gold Cross. On behalf of the Duchy of Bursen and Gold Cross, I offer you our deepest thanks.”

Viscount Roy bowed deeply, and Chris blankly replied,

“No matter how much you flatter me, I’m not letting you go. You’re my slave forever.”

Roy scowled while still bowing.

‘Damn it! I bent over backward for you! You gave me so much trouble! I thought I was going to die at the end!’

At the final moment, when the White Lion Knights of the Luxen Kingdom stormed in, Roy and Alos had held them off… Chris had truly thought he was done for.

‘Ugh, you bastard! Demon! How could anyone call you Saint of Darkness or Mahwi!’

No use cursing.

Then, from afar, a familiar face appeared.

Someone who looked a bit like Christian but a hundred times more timid.

It was Alos.

Roy waved happily, and Alos was about to greet him warmly but froze when he saw Chris beside him.

Perhaps because they shared the same demonic fate, they had forged a genuine friendship that transcended borders and ideologies.

“I—I should be going now. I have urgent matters to discuss with Sir Alos.”

Chris sent Viscount Roy on his way and lingered a bit longer under the Law Kingdom’s royal pavilion.

‘Where’s Evan hiding? Well, I guess it’s not the time to show himself.’

After walking a while, he came upon a familiar sight.

The tower where he had been imprisoned as a child.

“……”

Chris stared silently at the tower.

He felt nothing.

‘I’ve finally shaken it off.’

Of course, he had never been emotionally shaken by his past before.

But where before it had felt like burying wounds deep beneath scars, now it was truly clean and indifferent.

Thanks to settling things with the Law King in some way, he felt relieved.

‘Time to focus on something else.’

Chris moved on and pulled Andril out of his pocket dimension.

He had something to check.

‘Has anything changed?’

Since he had sacrificed a constellation, he had fulfilled one condition to unseal Andril.

Visually, nothing seemed different.

It still looked like a rusty old sword, but Chris’s keen eyes detected a subtle difference.

‘The seal has weakened slightly. Maybe I can start tapping into its power bit by bit.’

Of course, it was still too soon.

Andril’s power demanded a massive expenditure of the wielder’s strength.

With Chris’s current condition, even using a fraction of its power would knock him out immediately.

‘Still, in a desperate moment, it might be a trump card.’

After checking Andril’s status, another question came to mind.

‘What was that last thing? I feel like Andril said something to me.’

He couldn’t quite remember.

It was strange.

Chris had an almost perfect memory and never forgot anything he heard.

Something felt off.

He had a gut feeling he needed to find out.

“Hey. Are you there, ego? What did you say to me back then?”

Of course, no answer came.

‘Is it asleep? Or just pretending? Maybe if I threw it into a furnace or a volcano for torture, it’d wake up. Where’s the hottest place near the dark mages’ territory?’

While pondering this, he unexpectedly ran into Jupien.

She was jogging, probably training.

Wiping sweat from her brow, she asked with a crooked smile,

“What are you up to?”

“Ah, nothing much.”

“You feeling okay?”

“Still so-so.”

“Then how about a sparring match?”

“…Didn’t you hear me say I’m just so-so?”

“If you’re a demon, you should be able to fight no matter how you feel. I’m still hurting too.”

Jupien rolled up her sleeves and showed her arms and legs, all covered in wounds.

She’d gotten those injuries fighting alone against 200 enhanced soldiers.

In some ways, her wounds were worse than Chris’s, but she’d gotten up after just a few days and was training despite not being fully healed.

‘Not exactly the hot-blooded demon type.’

Chris shook his head, but Jupien kept pestering him.

“Come on, one match. Getting beaten up a bit will help you recover.”

Chris had no intention of fighting.

As he was about to refuse, a sharp voice cut through the air.

“What are you two doing right now?”

It was Olivia.

She looked at them with angry eyes, unlike her usual self.

Confused, Chris watched as Olivia strode over.

“Lady Jupien? Wielding a sword against a patient? What do you think you’re doing?”

“…Sparring is good for recovery.”

“Don’t say such foolish things.”

“……”

“Prince Christian’s condition is very bad. How can you ask for a sparring match? He has severe internal injuries, and I’ve already told you he must have complete rest…”

Jupien slowly backed away.

The hot-blooded demon Jupien was surprisingly vulnerable to this kind of nagging.

This time, Olivia looked at Chris.

Her pretty forehead was furrowed.

“You’re no different. Why didn’t you refuse the duel?”

“…It’s not like that.”

He had meant to refuse, but Olivia had just shown up.

Still, her nagging didn’t stop.

“And didn’t I clearly tell you to stay lying down?”

“…I’m feeling much better.”

“Better? You still have serious internal injuries. What are you going to do if they get worse and cause real problems? Go back immediately and lie down again.”

Chris looked bewildered.

Since the duel, Olivia had been acting strangely.

‘He’s not as despondent as I feared.’

But her attitude toward Christian had changed.

More precisely, after Christian collapsed and was bedridden… her nagging increased.

‘This is just like the way she used to nag me.’

In their previous life, when Olivia and he were siblings, she had been quietly nagging a lot. Especially when he was sick, she reacted very sensitively.

Her attitude back then and now were remarkably similar.

“Well, whatever happens to me, it’s none of your concern.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”