9 episodes
It was an unreal space.
So Ethan, who was startled at first, soon calmed down.
‘Nope. This must be a fantasy.’
It was his guess.
Ethan was in the immediate vicinity of the Demon King, but the Demon King did not seem to even know that he was there.
Ethan fumbled his left eye.
‘Are the jet-black eyes showing you?’
It was a vision that appeared after making contact with the sword that had cut the demon king.
Ethan frowned.
Even if it was a fantasy, it was unpleasant to see the demon king he had killed vividly again.
‘Why are you showing me this fantasy?’
Ethan looked around.
The place was familiar.
It was the capital of the empire, the splendid audience hall where the emperor called the Demon King stayed.
‘Is it a memory of the past?’
Now I had to think about it that way.
Ethan, freed from thoughts, focused on the scene in front of him.
There were two people in the colorful audience room.
One is the Demon King.
And the other… … .
‘Who is that guy?’
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
The person who prostrated before the Demon King was wearing a deep hood, so his face could not be seen clearly.
The Demon King opened his mouth.
“My death has already been prepared.”
It was an extremely rude word.
At the same time, the Demon King rose from his seat.
And approached the unknown person.
Whoops!
Flames erupted from the demon king’s hand in an instant.
It was a strange flame of pure white light and black light intertwined.
“Look at this flame. This is the proof that I promise to return to this world again. You must quickly leave this place and carry out your plan.”
Even Edan, who was the servant of the Demon King, could not understand the words.
“I am honored.”
However, the unidentified person lowered his head to the floor as if he understood.
And he left quickly.
Ethan tried to find out who he was.
But the face hidden in the shadow of the robe was barely visible except the chin.
‘Are you a human I’ve never seen? No, now more than that… … .’
Ethan turned his gaze and stared at the flame on the demon king’s hand.
‘Is that even possible?!’
pure white light and black light.
Its true nature was divine power and magical power.
Surprisingly, the flame was a mixture of divine power and magical power.
‘Is the force that repels each other maintaining the shape of the flame in a stable state?’
It was absurd.
However, the Demon King was using that power without difficulty.
The demon king’s black eyes glistened with greed.
And finally he mumbled:
“New magic, if I only have this, I… … !”
At the same time, my eyes darkened.
* * *
“… are you?”
Someone’s voice rang out.
Ethan shook his head and came to his senses.
Nyx’s face appeared in a blurry vision.
“What?”
“Your complexion is pale. Are you okay?”
Ethan gently pressed his left eye, where his jet-black eyes were about to appear.
Fortunately, the jet-black eyes did not manifest.
“Did I say anything strange?”
Nick answered with a puzzled yet sincere answer.
“no. Rather, it’s strange that you just stay still.”
Fortunately, it seems that the glimpse of the Demon King’s past was only for a moment.
Ethan looked around.
“I don’t think my addiction is resolved yet. Guidance is enough I will let you rest.”
After experiencing the phenomenon just before, Ethan made an assumption.
‘Will this happen if I come into contact with something related to magic?’
There was a place I had to go to solve that question.
Before that, I had to take the Knicks apart.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on leaking anywhere else.”
Ethan waved his hand and turned back.
Is the afterlife already prepared?
new magic?
Neither of them knew about it, even Ethan, who was his henchman.
I couldn’t even guess what it meant.
‘I have an ominous feeling… … .’
Ethan remembered his previous life.
Originally, it would have been dismissed as absurd.
The Demon King’s Resurrection?
No such thing was possible.
No magic can bring the dead back to life.
But Ethan couldn’t call that absurd now.
It was because he himself had experienced reincarnation.
‘It’s an afterthought… … . Maybe it has something to do with that obsession.’
At that moment, the words of the dark wizard he saw yesterday flashed through Ethan’s mind.
-Comrade, join me in the resurrection of the Demon King… … !
There were rumors that the Dark Followers were plotting the resurrection of the Demon King.
But it was impossible for the dead to come back to life.
That’s why people dismissed it as crazy people’s nonsense.
‘You mean it wasn’t just bullshit?’
The Demon King did not reveal his inner self to Ethan, his henchman.
So it was only natural that there was something Ethan didn’t know.
‘I’ll have to check whether it’s just a fantasy or not.’
The power of the flame, the fusion of two opposing powers, was too strong.
It was impossible to dismiss it as a dream or a fantasy.
But he needed certainty.
Ethan swallowed dry saliva.
I saw a huge tree in the distance.
It was a sacred tree that existed before the founding of the State of Nouvelle.
‘Seongbaeksu.’
If you go there, you will find the answer.
And if the speculation Ethan feared turns out to be true… … .
“Then I can’t stand still.”
* * *
“You mean the addiction hasn’t gone away? You haven’t expressed that kind of expression before, so why all of a sudden?”
Meanwhile, the Knicks were puzzled by Ethan’s sudden departure.
He looked at the sword that Lucas Crawford used to slash the Demon King.
‘As soon as I saw this sword, my face suddenly turned pale.’
For a moment, Nick’s face hardened.
“no way?”
Devotees who are faithful in their faith may find it disgusting to think of the demon king itself.
That’s because the things the Demon King did were cruel.
It is said that the corpses of the people killed by the Demon King formed a mountain, and the blood that flowed from the corpses was enough to turn the river red.
‘Maybe they are descendants of those who were victimized at that time.’
Knicks had an embarrassed face.
‘I wasn’t very caring. This is true, every time we meet, there is only one thing to apologize for.’
Nick nodded to himself and decided.
‘He’s rough in his speech and actions, but he’s a person with a lot of wounds on the inside. I’ll have to be more careful next time.’
As a saint candidate, it was natural to have that kind of tolerance.
Still, Nyx’s face grew serious.
As the church’s fortress grew with the death of the demon king, there were many relics related to the demon king here.
They were meant to commemorate the last battle with the holy heroes.
‘Maybe the new state itself might be a torment for him.’
Nix was clearly misunderstanding something.
However, without someone to correct the misunderstanding, the misunderstanding only deepened.
* * *
a few days after that.
Ethan was out of the introspection on the long-awaited holiday.
It was to kill time until dark.
‘The boundaries are stricter than I thought.’
Ethan’s opportunity to approach Seongbaeksu seldom came.
This is because the paladins were always waiting near Seongbaeksu.
During the day, they couldn’t even get close.
‘If you’re looking for a chance, it’s night.’
Ethan sat down at the village fountain, contemplating.
He felt someone following him.
But during the day, I didn’t have to worry too much.
At that moment, people in shabby clothes caught my eye.
“Are you really in such a hurry?”
“There is always a crowd at the ordination ceremonies. If you don’t reserve your seat now, you’ll lose it later.”
“People are all looking at us. I’m embarrassed.”
“What are you selling? We are learning.”
“What kind of actor are you learning? It’s like a puppet show.”
“If you’re going to keep talking like that, go back to your dorm!”
It seemed that the puppet theater troupe had come from afar, aiming to play a part.
It’s also good to kill time, so Ethan watched them.
The members set up a simple stage near the fountain and immediately started rehearsing.
The content of the puppet show was ‘The final battle between the seven heroes and the demon king’.
‘Sissi.’
Ethan was steamed.
As the party present at the scene, there was no expectation.
There were times when I was taken by the children of the monastery and watched a play a few times.
But I’ve never seen it through to the end.
‘I have nothing to do anyway, so let’s see.’
People passing by stopped and watched the rehearsal.
“Wow, it’s a puppet show!”
“Would you like to see this?”
Until the middle of the day, it was the same as Ethan knew.
But the second half was completely different.
The fact that he betrayed the Demon King was not mentioned at all.
It was just about all the heroes working together to get rid of the demon king.
‘Well, you can’t say that you won because the Demon King was hit in the back of the head.’
Because of this, even in the history books, it was fabricated with the content that the demon king’s henchman fled.
Ethan watched the rehearsal with pitiful eyes.
When the demon king doll’s neck fell off, the hero doll followed the demon king’s henchman doll.
“This evil demon lord’s henchman! I will judge you!”
“Gosh! Step, save me!”
However, the demon king’s henchman doll fled behind the scenes of Burinake.
“With this, the Demon King is dead, and the era of evil has come to an end.”
At the end of the puppet theater, people cheered and applauded.
Meanwhile, the sun was setting slowly.
‘It’s cheesy, too.’
Ethan rose from his seat.
The puppet show was portrayed as if the kings of the United Kingdom were purely against evil.
However, when Ethan read the history book, the reality was different.
Torn to pieces by the United Kingdom, the Niilum Empire was left with only wasteland and unexplored land.
The new name of this country, where only the shell remained, was the ‘New Nillum Empire’.
Also, the United Kingdom made the firstborn of the Demon King the emperor.
At first glance, it might seem strange.
But the reason was simple.
This is because the demon king has dried up the royal family’s seeds and no one wants to become a mere emperor.
In fact, the first emperor of the new Niilum Empire died at an early age after living like a scarecrow by the United Kingdom.
The kings of the United Kingdom were just a herd of wolves who were fascinated by the struggle for sovereignty.
Thinking about this and that, Ethan headed to the place where Seongbaeksu was.
And when the night fell and the paladins retreated, he cautiously approached the holy beast.
* * *
Ethan looked up at the huge tree in front of him.
Unlike a hundred years ago, the pure white tree had lost its light and withered.
Baek Soo Sung.
‘Is it a tree planted by the goddess Pars himself?’
To say such a thing, this tree had enormous divine power.
The anecdote of Saint Eileen was intertwined with Seongbaeksu.
Saint Eileen, who was about to face the final battle with the demon king, received a revelation from the goddess Pars and came to the holy beast.
Then the tree gave up its branch, and the saint made a staff out of it.
The saint used that staff and succeeded in killing the Demon King in the final battle.
Ethan had also seen the wand himself.
It was white in color just like Seongbaeksu.
‘Then this tree must also be related to the Demon King or Magic.’
That was the reason Ethan came to be the holy beast.
The staff that the saint used was probably in the care of the denomination.
So, he came to the tree, the raw material of the staff.
– New magic, if I only have this, I… … !
Ethan remembered the last words of the Demon King.
divine magic.
It might be a solution that would get rid of the pain you feel whenever you use your divine power.
‘At the same time, divine power and magical power coexist in my body.’
It was truly an opportunity from heaven.
“Haha, it’s divine magic… … . It’s an amazing idea.”
There is nothing one can’t do to survive, but it was ironic that the enemy had to use the method he came up with.
But for now, it was the only hope that could save Ethan’s life.
Ethan swallowed dry saliva and approached Seongbaeksu.
And put his hand on the tree.
Paah!
Seongbaeksu shone brightly once.
“Wow!”
Ethan swallowed a moan.
‘Damn it. I was expecting it!’
The identity of the jet-black eyes was still in the dark.
But Ethan realized something important.
It was said that when you approach something with magical powers, its jet-black eyes will show you the past.
‘This one is stronger than it was back then!’
Along with the pain came dizziness.
Ethan put his hand on the tree and barely stood there.
And he plunged into the past.
The time when the Demon King came into contact with Seongbaeksu.