Episode 348: The Haxen Family (4)
Dorgo’s voice was filled with menace, but Sita stood her ground, unmoved.
“Do you really think I’ll come to my senses only if you beat me?”
“If that’s what you intend, Mother, then I suppose there’s no choice.”
Dorgo’s face twisted with anger at Sita’s response. A powerful aura erupted from her, creating a tempest around them.
Sita revealed her true form as well, growing larger, her body covered in shimmering blue scales, her ears transforming into fin-like appendages.
Their energies clashed, sending a chilling sound reverberating through the air.
“Wait!”
It was then that Iota intervened, stepping between them.
“Sita! What are you doing to Mother? Withdraw your power immediately! Mother, please calm down. You know Sita has a peculiar way of thinking. She just had a momentary lapse.”
Despite Iota’s plea, neither Dorgo nor Sita withdrew their powers.
“Step aside, Iota,” Dorgo commanded coldly.
“It seems I’ve failed in my adjustments. I can’t leave something like that unchecked. I’ll have to recalibrate.”
“But Mother… if you recalibrate… Sita will disappear…”
“And what of it?” Dorgo’s voice was icy.
“A creation must obey its creator. Any creation that doesn’t is a failure.”
Iota was taken aback by Dorgo’s words, which treated them like mere objects.
“Mother… still… recalibration is…”
“Are you planning to defy me too?” Dorgo asked, her eyes piercing into Iota, who instinctively lowered his head.
“No, that’s not it…”
“Then stop talking and move aside.”
Dorgo attempted to push Iota away, but he stood firm, refusing to budge.
“What is this?” Dorgo questioned, and Iota revealed his true form as well.
His muscular body was now covered in dragon scales.
Iota swung a fist at Dorgo, a blow powerful enough to topple mountains, aimed at her face.
“Iota!”
“What are you doing?” Epsilon and Lambda, who had been watching, shouted in shock.
But Iota’s punch didn’t harm Dorgo in the slightest.
“What is this?” Dorgo asked, unfazed, as Iota stepped back.
“I’m defying you, Mother!” Iota declared.
“Have you gone mad like Sita?”
“Sita might be, but I’m perfectly sane!” Iota retorted, ready to strike again.
“If you recalibrate… I’ll never see Sita again! We’ve just started to get along!”
Iota glanced at Sita, who was looking at him with an expression of surprise.
“Ha! So you can make that face too!” Iota laughed, having never noticed Sita’s cold demeanor before.
“Iota, you fool. What are you doing?”
“Is this really the time to argue? We need to figure out how to survive Mother!”
Iota stood beside Sita, knowing they stood a better chance together against Dorgo.
“If that’s your decision, then so be it,” Dorgo said calmly, as if her earlier anger had been a lie.
“Mother, let us try to persuade you.”
“We’ll handle it. Please calm down, Mother,” Epsilon and Lambda pleaded, more terrified than before.
“Stay out of this unless you want to end up like them,” Dorgo warned sharply, silencing them immediately.
“If you insist on defying me… I’ll have no choice but to dismantle and reassemble you both.”
Sita and Iota swallowed hard.
At that moment, Dorgo vanished. Sita quickly shouted, “Mother’s coming! From the left!”
Thanks to her power of insight, Sita could predict Dorgo’s movements.
But predicting and reacting were two different things.
Dorgo appeared on the left, driving her fist into Iota’s abdomen.
Iota’s stomach burst, his spine shattered as Dorgo’s fist emerged from his back.
“Ugh!” Iota cried out, trying to grab Dorgo.
But Dorgo had already moved on, closing in on Sita.
Sita swung her sword at Dorgo, who caught it effortlessly between two fingers.
“Still using this? I told you to discard it,” Dorgo said, snapping the sword with a flick of her fingers. She then slashed at Sita’s waist with her hand.
Sita’s body was severed, falling to the ground in two pieces.
“Epsilon, Lambda. Hold these two. I’ll dismantle them later,” Dorgo ordered, turning away.
Just then, something caught her ankle. Looking down, she saw Sita clutching her leg.
“Please… let them go… my family…”
Dorgo looked down at Sita, bewildered.
“Why go to such lengths?”
Sita couldn’t answer clearly.
Her mother was an absolute presence in her life. Even if she admired Demian Haxen, defying her mother’s orders was unthinkable.
Yet here she was, resisting Dorgo, even at the cost of her life.
Memories of being held captive by the Empire surfaced.
Sita’s words had been sincere. She admired Demian Haxen.
She had been captivated by his prowess in battle, picking up a sword to emulate him.
But she could never get close to Demian Haxen. He was a Death Knight, long devoid of self.
So when she regained her memories in this life, she rejoiced. She could finally converse with the Demian Haxen she had longed for.
But Demian Haxen was different from Sita.
Despite her genuine admiration, he did not accept it. He showed only endless rage, trying to kill her.
Sita couldn’t understand it. Perhaps it had wounded her, as the memory lingered.
”…I don’t know.”
She didn’t know.
Why had Demian Haxen been angry with her?
“But this… I do know.”
If her family died, Demian Haxen would hate her even more.
“I don’t want that…”
Sita tightened her grip on Dorgo’s ankle, trying to hold on for as long as possible.
“Your nonsense proves you need recalibration,” Dorgo said, coldly shaking off Sita’s hand. She turned back to Louise.
“Why are there so many obstacles in my way? It’s getting irritating.”
The veins in Dorgo’s neck bulged, her suppressed anger surfacing.
“This is bad for you. When I’m angry, I don’t know when to stop.”
Dorgo looked down at Louise, who gazed up at her with tear-filled eyes.
“Let’s see that face of yours,” Dorgo said, reaching for Louise. But then, she sensed something.
It was something only Dorgo, with her power of arrogance, could detect.
“What is this…?”
Something was approaching.
It was tearing through the space surrounding them, forcing its way in.
“This shouldn’t be possible…”
It was absurd. The space around them had been completely twisted by Dorgo, making it impossible for anyone to open a dimensional gate.
But Dorgo knew of one person who had defied the impossible time and again.
“Could it be…?”
As Dorgo thought of a certain man, a line appeared in the sky.
The space shattered like glass along the line, and someone emerged from the rift.
Simultaneously, a sword swung at Dorgo, forcing her to retreat from the menacing aura it carried.
“Dorgo!”
The man who had broken through the space.
Demian Haxen pointed his sword at Dorgo and shouted.
“I told you not to touch my family!”
”…I can’t believe it.”
Dorgo looked at Demian, a disbelieving laugh escaping her lips.
“I twisted the space so thoroughly that no one could escape… and yet you appear before me?”
Dorgo spoke as if exhausted. She wondered how many times this man would thwart her plans before he was satisfied.
“But Demian Haxen… it seems you’ve overexerted yourself in your haste.”
Demian’s body was in a dire state.
His entire form was torn and shredded, blood staining him from head to toe. He looked barely able to stand, let alone fight.
It was no wonder.
Demian lacked the ability to open a dimensional gate on his own.
Moreover, the space around Karon Mountain had been twisted by Dorgo, making it impossible to open a gate.
Thus, Demian had poured all his skills into breaking through.
When he fought the Four Demon Lords, he had mimicked the way Dorgo wielded his powers.
But that alone wasn’t enough to fully open the dimensional gate.
So he poured everything he had into it.
With the mastery of a Sword Saint, he sliced through dimensions. Using Erebus’s power, he shattered the twisted coordinates and pushed forward.
It was far from easy, despite how it sounded. Forcing his way through the warped dimensions was like trying to carve a path through a mountain of blades.
As a result, Damian’s body was cut, torn, and scraped.
It wasn’t just his exterior that was damaged. The intense use of his inner energy left him with severe internal injuries.
“Cough.”
Damian staggered, spitting blood. Louise, who was beside him, rushed to support him, panic etched on her face.
“Damian!”
She wrapped her arms around him, her clothes quickly soaking with his blood.
Seeing this, Louise’s face turned pale.
“Why… why are you so hurt?”
Damian forced a smile and gently pulled away from her. In the distance, he saw his family running towards him.
“Damian!”
His father was the first to reach him, pulling him into a tight embrace, tears streaming down his face as he took in Damian’s injuries.
“You… you reckless fool… I told you time and again not to get hurt…!”
“Damian! What are these wounds? Please, come to your senses!”
“Brother! What happened to you?”
Damian looked at his family with a bittersweet gaze. They all seemed on the verge of tears.
On the day he returned to the past, Damian had made a vow. He would make his family happy, no matter what.
But in the end, he had failed. He had brought them nothing but pain.
“This wasn’t part of the plan… but it’s not all bad.”
Just then, Dorgo’s voice cut through the air. Turning his head, Damian saw Dorgo watching him with a mocking smile.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll show you firsthand. What kind of hell your beloved family will endure.”
He couldn’t let that happen. Even if it cost him his life, he had to stop Dorgo.
Damian staggered forward, but his father grabbed him.
“Damian! What are you thinking? You can’t possibly fight in your condition! It’s madness!”
His father shouted firmly.
“Run… run away! Leave us and save yourself!”
“I can’t do that.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Damian shook his head.
His father’s face flushed with frustration.
“For once, just listen to me!”
His father yelled, his voice breaking. Damian was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Please… you have to survive, even if it’s just you!”
Damian chuckled softly.
“Father, don’t be ridiculous.”
“What, what?”
“Do you really think he’ll let me go? He won’t.”
Damian lifted his gaze to the sky. The day he was cast out from his family had been just as bright.
“Father, did you know? I’m a terrible person.”
Count Haxen’s face went blank, as if asking what he meant.
“Because of me, so many people died. More than I can count… so many.”
In his past life, Damian had single-handedly toppled kingdoms and crushed empires.
In the process, he had personally killed hundreds of thousands.
And the number of people who died at the hands of the dark sorcerers who took over the fallen kingdoms was even greater.
“Those were truly horrific days.”
Every sensation his body felt was transmitted to Damian.
How easily human skin could be sliced. How loudly bones could shatter. How effortlessly heads could burst.
It was enough to drive him mad. He wanted to die, but he couldn’t. He wanted to resist, but it was impossible.
Damian’s mind was trapped within his body.
“Maybe that’s why I hesitated.”
Damian desperately needed a body strong enough to withstand his talents.
But even though he knew how to obtain such a body, he kept hesitating.
The thought of returning to those days was terrifying and nauseating.
“I’m sorry. My hesitation brought us to this point.”
Damian rolled up his sleeve. Seven symbols etched on the back of his hand began to glow.
The moment Dorgo saw them, his eyes widened.
“No way…”
A crack appeared in Dorgo’s composure.
“That can’t happen!”
Dorgo launched himself forward, reaching out to stop Damian.
Just before he could, the scenery before Damian changed.
A dark space.
In front of him, something resembling tree roots stretched out.
What looked like tree roots was actually the course of Damian’s life.
From infancy, through boyhood and youth, it split into two paths.
One was the present.
The moment where Dorgo, returned as a great demon, threatened his life.
And the other…
The path of the Death Knight.
The fate of being Dorgo’s slave, committing sins.
“So this moment has finally come.”
With a brief sigh, Damian chose the path of the Death Knight.