Episode 341: Mount Charon (4)
Just before the beam was unleashed, Valhard invoked a dragon’s incantation.
The words he uttered were three syllables long, each signifying straight, accelerate, and explode.
With a burst of air, Valhard’s body shot forward, narrowly escaping the beam’s range as he sped through the air.
Moments later, the crimson beam struck the earth.
The ground vanished, leaving a massive crater in its wake. Valhard peered into the abyss below, seeing nothing but darkness.
“My God…”
The sheer destructive power made Valhard break into a cold sweat.
Even his father, once known as the Dragon of Destruction, couldn’t wield such force.
“It’s coming again. Move!”
Damian, perched above Valhard, warned him. A magic circle had appeared around them.
From the circle, a torrent of dark magic erupted. Valhard deftly maneuvered to dodge the onslaught.
“How can anyone wield so much dark magic so effortlessly? This is insane!”
Valhard shouted in disbelief.
Even dragons, the originators of magic, couldn’t cast so many dark spells at such speed.
“It’s not just dark magic.”
“What?”
“There’s magic and miracles mixed in too.”
Damian observed the spells flying from all directions. Valhard couldn’t help but question him.
“That’s impossible! Magic, dark magic, and divine power clash with each other! How can one person handle all that?”
“That one can. They have the same power as I do.”
Damian glanced at Lambda.
The power of envy allowed one to alter the nature of certain energies.
Lambda was using this power in real-time to wield magic, dark magic, and miracles simultaneously.
But that wasn’t all.
Lambda had even created a clone using the power of envy.
By crafting an energy perfectly suited to them and imbuing it with a soul.
“To think they’d use the power of envy like that… It’s impressive.”
Even Damian was impressed by the ingenuity. Yet, something felt off.
“Going to such lengths to stop me from coming? They must need to buy time.”
Damian’s lip curled in irritation.
Playing into Dorgo’s plans was infuriating.
“Damian! I can’t dodge anymore!”
Valhard shouted urgently. Magic circles had surrounded them.
The circles glowed in unison. Just before the magic activated, Damian extended a hand.
A mark on his wrist vanished, and a sword appeared. It wasn’t Erebus.
It was the Divine Sword.
A blade crafted by Ruin for the first emperor.
This was Damian’s first time drawing the Divine Sword in battle. But it posed no problem.
He had seen the Empire’s greatest swordsman wield it countless times in his past life.
Damian raised the Divine Sword high, its brilliance piercing the sky.
In that instant, all the surrounding magic circles vanished.
They weren’t destroyed. Nor did they disappear. They reverted to demonic energy.
“Damian Haxen. What is this? I don’t understand.”
Lambda’s voice was filled with confusion. But Damian had no intention of explaining.
“Is this defiance? Then I’ll use my full power.”
A magic circle appeared before Lambda. More circles layered upon it.
They started small but grew larger with each layer.
“Pierce. Amplify. Increase destructive power.”
A crimson beam gathered at the first circle.
“Fire.”
The beam shot forth, amplifying as it passed through each circle.
“Damian! It’s coming! It’s coming!”
Valhard exclaimed in a panic. Damian smacked him on the head.
“Quiet. You’re breaking my concentration.”
Damian fixed Lambda with a cold stare.
The reason he was flying with Valhard was that he couldn’t open a dimensional gate.
The Lambda before him was merely a clone. The real body was at Mount Charon.
The clone was connected to the real body at Mount Charon.
“Found you.”
At that moment, the crimson beam passed through the final circle. The entire view turned red.
In response, Damian swung the Divine Sword. Its blade shone with blinding light.
The light clashed with the crimson beam. The beam instantly dispersed into demonic energy.
”…!”
Lambda’s eyes widened in shock. But the real surprise was yet to come.
The light’s slash reached Lambda, slicing through the dark clouds that formed the clone.
“Aaah… Aaaah!”
With a scream, Lambda’s clone vanished, leaving only a rift in the dimension. Damian had forcibly severed the connection between the real body and the clone.
The rift was small and closing fast. Damian immediately commanded Valhard.
“Let’s go!”
Valhard flew swiftly toward the rift. Just before entering, Damian spoke to him.
“From now on, return to the Empire. Tell the Empire’s greatest swordsman to look after your family.”
“You’re going alone, Damian?”
Damian nodded.
Ahead lay Dorgo and the four great demon lords. He couldn’t guarantee Valhard’s safety…
“That’s a relief!”
Valhard exclaimed with a grin. Damian looked at him incredulously.
“You little… We’ll talk when I get back.”
“What? No, I misspoke…”
Ignoring Valhard’s protests, Damian leaped into the rift.
As soon as Damian passed through, the rift closed completely.
On the other side, Damian looked around.
“Did I make it?”
He had expected to arrive at Mount Charon.
Instead, he found himself on a battlefield.
Soldiers in imperial armor lay dead, their blood soaking the field.
Damian walked among the fallen soldiers, then stopped.
He saw something standing atop a pile of corpses.
The knight was impossibly large, clad in thick armor that made him look like a giant.
Damian stared at the knight, his eyes trembling.
It was himself.
”…I remember now.”
This was the battlefield of his first war. The place where he first followed Dorgo’s orders as a death knight. The site of his first massacre.
His stomach churned. Nausea welled up.
Suddenly, the scene changed.
Another battlefield. More soldiers lay dead.
But these soldiers wore different armor.
Not the Empire’s, but the Kingdom of Apple.
His homeland’s soldiers.
“Damian!”
A familiar voice called from behind.
Turning, he saw his father. Older and frailer than he remembered.
“Why are you with the Archlich?”
His father cried out in despair.
“What happened to you? What is that form?”
His father shouted at the black knight. But his cries didn’t reach the knight.
“Damian… Ugh!”
A greatsword pierced his father’s chest, shattering ribs and protruding from his back.
Bloodshot eyes filled with pain, his father coughed up blood and spoke.
“I’m… sorry…”
The black knight swung the greatsword sideways, as if discarding trash.
His father’s body was flung aside, rolling across the ground.
”…”
Damian’s fingers twitched. Veins bulged on his neck and forehead.
Silently, he gripped the Divine Sword in reverse. He drove its blade into the ground.
The scene shattered like glass. His father, the black knight, the battlefield—all vanished.
In their place, the landscape of Mount Charon appeared. Damian spoke, suppressing his rage.
“You’ve always been vile, then and now.”
A short distance away stood Dorgo. He smiled faintly.
“I rushed to prepare this for your arrival. Didn’t like it?”
“Spare me your nonsense.”
“Considering what you did to me, isn’t this a fair bit of payback?”
Damian’s eyebrow twitched.
“Fair? Have you finally lost your mind?”
“My mind is perfectly intact. I can’t afford to lose it until I’ve had my revenge.”
Damian was incredulous. Dorgo was saying what he should have been saying.
“Do you know what my goal was?”
Dorgo suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
“To turn back time and reunite with Ruin, I suppose.”
“So you knew. Did Milene tell you? That damned traitor must remember everything. I should never have let an elf into the Order.”
Dorgo’s voice turned harsh, but he quickly regained his composure.
“Yes, my goal was to meet Ruin again. That’s why I studied the powers of the Demon Kings. Their powers can turn back time.”
Dorgo spoke with a bitter tone.
“It wasn’t easy research. I failed countless times. There was so much to study, but a human lifespan is too short. In the end, I had no choice but to abandon my body.”
Dorgo had shed his demon form to become human, and then abandoned his human form to become a lich.
“As a lich, I threw myself back into the research. Over a hundred years passed, but I made no real progress. All I learned was the harsh truth that reversing time was impossible.”
There was a deep weariness in Dorgo’s voice.
Even for a great demon, dedicating over a century to fruitless research was exhausting.
“Do you know why? There wasn’t a soul strong enough to wield the powers of the Demon Kings simultaneously. I managed to acquire the souls of a dragon and a duke-level demon, but they all failed. None could withstand the power of the Demon Kings and were destroyed.”
The light in Dorgo’s eyes dimmed.
“In the end, I had to give up. I didn’t want to, but I had no choice. So, I changed my goal—to destroy the empire that killed him.”
Dorgo’s voice regained its strength, thick with hatred for the empire.
“That wasn’t an easy path either. The empire was too powerful, and I had no strength. There was a Demon King’s body in Mount Karon, but I had no way to access it. The key was destroyed when Ruin was attacked.”
Damian recalled the key that Vahel had possessed.
When Ruin’s body was torn apart, the key must have been destroyed too.
“To take revenge on the empire, I spread dark magic, trained dark mages, and created Pandemonium. But it was still far from enough. I thought I’d never be able to bring down the empire. Then one day… you appeared.”
In his past life, after being cast out by his family, Damian joined a mercenary group.
And during a mission with the mercenaries, he encountered Dorgo.
“When I first saw you, I saw hope for destroying the empire. Your talent was extraordinary. I was sure that if I turned you into a Death Knight and trained you, you’d become the dagger to bring down the empire.”
After that, Damian was transformed into a Death Knight by Dorgo.
During that time, Dorgo came to a realization.
“While modifying you, I discovered it. You had inherited Ruin’s talent. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know Ruin’s talent could be passed down.”
Dorgo’s voice grew brighter, almost feverish.
“You can’t imagine how happy I was when I realized that. The final piece needed to reverse time was in my hands! I could truly meet Ruin again!”
Dorgo looked down at Damian, his eyes swirling with madness.
“I stored all the dark power I had gathered over the years in your body! On the day we destroy the empire and complete my revenge, I planned to use all that power to turn back time!”
Dorgo’s voice rose, a broad smile spreading across his face.
“My plan was perfect! I killed the empire’s greatest swordmaster, brought down the empire, and made the humans of this era pay for forgetting Ruin! All that was left was to go back in time! To meet Ruin again!”
Dorgo’s voice gradually filled with anger.
“But who ruined that plan? Who destroyed my waiting? Who denied my vengeance?”
“So you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“Of course!”
Dorgo shouted furiously.
“You used the immense power I gathered over centuries just to turn back a few decades! Because of you, all my plans were ruined! How can you say it’s not your fault?”
Dorgo screamed in frustration. Damian let out a cold chuckle.
“You pathetic fool. I can’t listen to this any longer.”
Damian raised his divine sword. Dorgo’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, I’ve talked too much. I need to subdue you quickly and go meet Ruin.”
Suddenly, Dorgo seemed to recede into the distance.
It wasn’t that Dorgo had moved. The space between them had expanded.
Damian tried to pursue Dorgo, but then powerful energies erupted.
“Lord Damian, you can go no further.”
“You cannot pass. Face us first.”
“Kahaha! Finally, I get to take my revenge on you.”
”…”
The Four Demon Lords.
Dorgo’s children blocked Damian’s path.
“Ah, I had forgotten about you.”
Damian drew Hemeira.
A black armor materialized from thin air, enveloping his body.
Then he drew Erebus. Holding the divine sword and Erebus in each hand, he spoke.
“No matter how urgent, I can’t ignore filth like you.”