Episode 307: The Power of the Past (3)
“Aaaaargh!”
Dolgo screamed in agony. Damian, watching him with cold detachment, spoke icily.
“Does it hurt? We’re just getting started.”
Through Erebus, Damian channeled dark magic into Dolgo’s body. The dark energy ignited, setting Dolgo ablaze.
“Aaah! Aaaaargh!”
Dolgo tried desperately to pull Erebus out, but his strength was no match for it.
“Damian! No, Lord Damian…!”
Epsilon cried out urgently, his expression one of desperation, as if he wanted to kneel but was too weak to move.
“Please, save my mother! I’m begging you!”
Damian frowned at Epsilon’s plea.
“Why are you addressing me so formally?”
“I remember everything! I know who you were in your past life!”
For a moment, surprise flickered across Damian’s face, but it quickly vanished.
“You’ve regained your memories, and yet you dare to ask me to stop?”
Damian’s voice trembled with anger.
“I know what my mother did to you! But… but…”
“Shut up.”
Damian’s piercing gaze silenced Epsilon. The chilling look left him no choice but to comply.
“Stop spouting nonsense and watch from there. Once I’m done with this one, you’re next!”
Damian had no intention of leaving anything touched by Dolgo behind. Whether it was undead, human, or knowledge, it didn’t matter.
“Anything connected to Dolgo will be erased from this world! Not a single trace will remain!”
Damian, seething with rage, drove Erebus deeper.
“Aaaaargh!”
Dolgo’s head and back arched in excruciating pain.
A lich is a dark sorcerer who has transformed their body into an undead form. This undead body is nearly immortal, impervious to death despite severe injuries.
But that wasn’t all.
A lich hides their soul in a magical vessel called a phylactery. As long as this phylactery exists, even if their body is destroyed, the lich cannot die.
Thus, Dolgo had lived for ages, untouched by death or fear. The concept of pain was a distant memory, almost forgotten.
“Aaaaargh!”
Yet now, Dolgo was vividly reminded of the pain he thought he’d forgotten.
The real issue wasn’t the pain itself. The problem was that his soul, stored in the phylactery, was being destroyed.
This was dangerous. If his soul was completely destroyed, Dolgo would face death.
Perhaps because death loomed so close, memories of the past flashed before his eyes.
“Dolgo, thank you for choosing me.”
In a sunlit forest, by a gently flowing waterfall, a man with blue eyes spoke to Dolgo.
“And I’m sorry. Because of me, you’ve become a traitor to your kind.”
“So I swear here and now. I will make sure you are happy.”
The man knelt before Dolgo, taking his hand.
Back then, Dolgo wasn’t a skeleton. He was a living human.
“This is a token of my promise.”
A wooden ring, carved from a tree, was placed on Dolgo’s finger.
In that moment, Dolgo snapped back to reality. The searing pain returned to torment him.
“Ruin…!”
Dolgo cried out amidst the agony, determination returning to his eyes.
“I can’t… die like this…!”
Gritting his teeth, Dolgo grasped Erebus, struggling to pull it out.
“I haven’t avenged Ruin yet… I haven’t seen him again…!”
“Feeling wronged, are you? Good. I’m glad I can return a fraction of the pain I felt.”
Damian twisted Erebus, intensifying the agony as bones shattered.
“Aaaaargh!”
Dolgo’s body trembled violently, his eyes once again filled with resignation.
Then, a voice, unwelcome and familiar, whispered in his ear.
“Looks like you’re in a tight spot.”
Dolgo’s eyes snapped open.
“Bahal, how…!”
“Don’t be so surprised. It’s nothing. I’m just speaking to your soul.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! You’re trapped in hell! How can you…!”
“Sending a voice isn’t that hard. How else do you think we gather followers?”
Bahal spoke nonchalantly.
“But now’s not the time for chit-chat. You might really die at this rate.”
Bahal’s voice was laced with a mocking smile.
“Dolgo, use the key. Break the pact that binds us. Then we’ll help you and your children.”
“Don’t try to trick me! We sacrificed so much to banish you! And now you want me to free you?”
“Haha, did you say ‘we’?”
Bahal chuckled.
“Even after being betrayed by the Salvation Order, you still talk like that?”
“That’s…!”
“Because of that, you lost your lover. And you were gravely wounded.”
“Shut up…!”
“So you abandoned your body and became a lich. Why? To take revenge on the Salvation Order.”
Bahal’s words stirred forgotten emotions within Dolgo.
The day he was betrayed by his comrades, the day he lost his lover.
The despair and rage he felt were as vivid as ever.
“Dolgo, if you die now, who will avenge Ruin? No one will remember you or your cause.”
The demon’s whispers were insidious, seeping into the cracks of his heart.
“Then humans will forever praise the Salvation Order, forgetting the true hero who died in vain!”
Dolgo, forgetting even the pain, focused on Bahal’s words.
“So break the pact. Free us. You know how.”
Yet Dolgo hesitated, unable to decide easily.
As Bahal said, breaking the pact was simple. But doing so would turn the continent into a land of monsters once more.
As Dolgo wavered, Bahal drove the point home.
“Ruin, I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t Bahal’s usual tone. He was acting.
“We don’t want to be overshadowed by your legacy. We want to be remembered as heroes, as the origin.”
That moment.
The betrayal by his comrades.
The moment Ruin lost his life.
“So disappear.”
Dolgo’s eyes burned with fury.
Unconsciously, he opened a pocket dimension, grasping the key within.
Click.
The key turned in an invisible lock. Everything changed in that instant.
Damian instinctively looked up at the sky.
”…What?”
Something had happened. The veil that covered the world had vanished.
“Hahaha!”
Suddenly, Dolgo burst into laughter. Damian frowned, looking down at her.
“Now… it’s all over! You, me, and all of humanity are finished!”
Instinct screamed danger. Damian moved to destroy Dolgo’s soul completely with Erebus.
At that moment, something shot up from beneath Dolgo. Damian gathered his energy to block the attack.
The unexpected force pushed him back, dislodging Erebus from Dolgo’s body.
Damian stared at Dolgo in shock, or rather, at the object that had attacked him.
An opaque, rectangular pillar.
If Damian’s eyes weren’t deceiving him, that was…
Then, a dimensional gate opened right next to Dolgo. A man emerged from it.
He looked human, except for the horn protruding from his forehead.
The moment Damian saw the man’s face, he shouted in disbelief.
“Bahal…!”
Bahal, having emerged, first looked down at Dolgo. She lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
“Dolgo, you’ve been through a lot. You can rest easy now. I’m here.”
Bahal smiled warmly at Dolgo, who glared back and asked,
“You’ll keep your promise, right?”
“Promise? Oh, I’ll keep it. But it’s a bit annoying.”
Thud.
Suddenly, Bahal stomped on Dolgo’s head, pressing it into the mud.
“Know your place, will you? Now that the pact is broken, you’re no longer needed.”
The smile vanished from Bahal’s face, revealing the cold demon beneath.
“Because of you, we were trapped in hell. Consider it a mercy that I don’t kill a traitor like you on the spot.”
Dolgo’s expression twisted with humiliation. Only then did Bahal lift his foot from her head.
“Damian, it’s been a while.”
Bahal turned to Damian, speaking as if reuniting with an old friend.
“I’ve missed you. You were the most entertaining one I’ve ever met.”
While Bahal seemed delighted, Damian was in turmoil.
Summoning a duke-level demon required an enormous sacrifice.
Yet Bahal had appeared on the surface as if on a casual outing.
And this wasn’t a mere avatar; it was his true form.
The overwhelming aura he exuded was proof enough to make even Damian wary.
But the real shock was yet to come.
“Ah, I almost forgot—I should introduce you to my subordinates.”
With a clap of his hands, Vahel opened a massive portal.
From within, a horde of demons surged forth, each exuding an overwhelming aura.
“Your Excellency, as you commanded, I’ve gathered demons ranging from earls to marquises.”
A demon with the head of a bull knelt before Vahel, who looked pleased.
“Well done, Asta.”
“I’m glad to be of service, Your Excellency.”
Asta rose to his feet, and it was then that he noticed Demian.
“How dare a mere human show such insolence to His Excellency.”
“Asta, it’s best not to mess with him.”
“No, Your Excellency. I’ll drag that arrogant human before you right now.”
Asta strode toward Demian. The size difference was so stark, it was like an adult confronting a child.
Asta opened his palm, and a long-handled mace materialized.
“Demian, that one’s a marquis-level demon. Don’t underestimate him.”
Asta raised the mace high, exhaling forcefully as he swung it down with great force.
The mace hurtled toward Demian’s head, accompanied by a thunderous crash.
“Wow.”
Vahel couldn’t help but express his admiration at the sight.
“Asta, I told you not to let your guard down.”
The figure embedded in the ground wasn’t Demian.
Instead, it was Asta who lay sprawled in the dirt.
Just moments before, Demian had not only deflected the mace but had also leaped over Asta’s head to strike him with Erebus.
“I can’t understand why so many try to get in my way.”
Demian stepped past Asta and faced Vahel.
“I have no business with you. Get lost.”
“Trying to kill Dorogo? That’s a problem.”
“Then I’ll just have to deal with you first.”
Demian activated his nameless technique.
The darkness that had settled on the ground began to blaze anew.