Episode 351: Death Knight (3)
“Ugh!”
Dorgo coughed up blood, staring down at his chest. A familiar blade jutted out, revealing its presence. Grinding his teeth, he turned to see the face of that cursed man, Damian Haxen.
“Damian Haxen…!”
Dorgo shouted with hatred, but Damian’s eyes weren’t on him.
“Ruin, as you requested, I’ve arranged a meeting with Dorgo. But this is as far as it goes,” Damian said coldly. “I can’t allow you to get any closer or make further contact.”
Despair washed over Dorgo’s face. Desperately, he clutched the blade, trying to pull it out. Blood dripped from his fingers, but he didn’t care.
“Ruin…! I’m here! Ruin!”
The blade began to slide out of his body. But then, Damian twisted it, and blood gushed from Dorgo’s mouth.
“Don’t bother,” Damian growled, grabbing Dorgo’s head. “I’ll erase you completely. No reunion with Ruin, no return to the cycle of reincarnation.”
Crimson flames began to consume Dorgo’s body. He felt his existence fading.
“No, no!”
But that didn’t matter to Dorgo. All that mattered was that the one he longed for was right in front of him.
“Just a little more time…! Please, let me talk to Ruin, even for a minute…”
“No.”
Damian cut off Dorgo’s plea without hesitation. “Pay for your sins quietly.”
The flames engulfed Dorgo entirely, leaving no trace of him behind.
Once Dorgo was completely gone, Damian drove his sword into the ground and turned to Ruin.
“Was it really you, not just a fragment?”
If it had been just a fragment, Dorgo wouldn’t have recognized him. As a dark sorcerer, Dorgo’s skills far surpassed Damian’s.
“Why did you hide that from me?”
“It didn’t really matter,” Ruin replied with a sheepish smile. “When my comrades killed me, I shattered. The piece that held my essence seeped into Erebus, but most of me scattered.”
Ruin continued calmly, “Some of those pieces became known as divine power and merged with humans. The rest slowly came together over time and were reborn as a human.”
There was no need to ask who that reborn human was. He stood right in front of Ruin.
“What exactly are you?”
“Who knows? I’ve never really thought about it,” Ruin said, his gaze lingering on the spot where Dorgo had vanished, looking as if he might cry at any moment.
“Do you resent me?”
“It would be a lie to say I don’t,” Ruin admitted, though his eyes betrayed no emotion. “But thank you for remembering my request.”
Ruin had asked Damian for one last conversation with Dorgo. To grant that wish, Damian had embedded Erebus into Dorgo’s body, allowing them to connect.
“Why did you side with me instead of Dorgo?”
Ruin had been Dorgo’s lover, yet never once took his side.
“Because I understood why you were angry,” Ruin sighed. “Lily created dark magic and killed many humans. She wasn’t satisfied and tried to wipe out humanity. How could I side with her?”
Ruin paused before continuing, “Even if she did it to see me again.”
Damian had no words. Silence stretched between them.
“Now that Lily’s gone, I should go too,” Ruin said, and his body burst into flames. His presence began to fade, erasing Ruin from existence.
“Aren’t you afraid? If you disappear like this, you won’t reincarnate.”
The dead eventually return, though no one knows as what. But if a soul is destroyed, it can’t come back. That’s why dark sorcerers were feared.
“Not at all. My only regret just vanished,” Ruin said, spreading his arms as flames engulfed him. “Damian, congratulations on ending your long journey.”
With those words, Ruin vanished completely, just like his beloved Dorgo.
After parting with Ruin, Damian awoke to reality. At his feet lay Dorgo’s body, reduced to ashes. The soul left no trace, but the body remained.
-Compared to your crimes, this is a merciful end.
Damian looked at Dorgo’s remains with disgust, crushing the fragile body underfoot. Though Dorgo was dead, there were still matters to settle. Damian moved on, heading to where Sita and Iota were.
Both were severely damaged. Thanks to the demons’ resilience, they were alive, but recovery seemed impossible on their own. The question was why they were in such a state. The forces Damian had stationed at Spring Castle shouldn’t have been able to handle even one of them.
“Damian Haxen… you bastard…” Iota shouted, ready to lunge at Damian. “How dare you kill Mother… I’ll make sure you—”
Without hesitation, Damian drove Erebus into Iota’s body, incinerating him with crimson flames. The Four Demon Lords had absorbed the power of mighty demons. Leaving them alive would only lead to future trouble. They had to be destroyed completely, body and soul, to prevent their remains from becoming a dark sorcerer’s tool for disaster.
Next, Damian approached Sita, who looked at him with lifeless eyes.
“Damian… you succeeded…” Sita said with a faint smile.
But Damian had no intention of listening. He raised Erebus to strike her down when Sita spoke again.
“I’m glad… I could help…”
Damian hesitated, lowering his sword. “Did you fight against Dorgo?”
Sita nodded slowly, surprising even Damian.
“Why would you do that?”
“I wanted… to be of help…”
Damian looked at her, baffled. Why would one of the Four Demon Lords help him?
“Did I… help?” Sita asked cautiously, her eyes filled with uncertainty.
Damian hesitated, then finally spoke. “Yes, thank you.”
Sita smiled brightly at his words. “Now… it’s okay… end it…”
Damian swung Erebus, severing Sita’s head. Her body slumped, and crimson flames consumed her remains.
Damian exhaled slowly, feeling a wave of exhaustion. But his work wasn’t done yet. He turned to see his family standing at a distance.
”…”
His father, mother, sister, and brother—all stared at him with rigid expressions. During his time as a Death Knight, humans had always looked at him like that. With unfamiliarity, fear, and terror. It was a gaze Damian knew well, yet now he wanted to hide, even behind his thick armor.
Then his father approached, followed by the rest of the family. Damian froze, unable to breathe as his father drew near. His father reached out, removing Damian’s helmet, revealing his gray skin and eyes replaced by magical devices.
”…”
Gently, his father touched Damian’s cheek, his hands trembling. They stopped at Damian’s neck, where scars from countless injections marred his skin—remnants of Dorgo’s experiments to accelerate his growth.
“How much… how much suffering have you endured?” his father choked out, swallowing a sob.
Damian felt something swell within him. During his time as a Death Knight, no one had comforted him. No one had understood his pain.
In truth, this was the first time. The first time someone had truly acknowledged his wounds.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. His body, transformed into that of a Death Knight, had long since lost most of its human functions.
“I’m fine,” he said.
At those words, his father finally broke down in tears. The rest of the family followed suit.
“Really, I’m fine.”
He wasn’t just saying it to comfort them; he genuinely meant it.
Right now, Damian was more than just okay—he was happy. Overjoyed, even.
Unlike in his past life, he had managed to protect his family.
That alone made all his past struggles feel worthwhile.
“Damian!”
“Brother!”
His family rushed to him, clinging to him tightly.
Damian, momentarily bewildered, opened his arms wide and embraced them all.
He was so large that he could envelop them all in his embrace.