Chapter 266 – End, And (1)

How much time had passed?

After the explosion, the ground was scorching hot. Like a griddle.

I felt like my body would cook if I just lay there, so I tried to get up, but my entire body protested.

It was the kind of pain you feel only after pushing your muscles beyond their limits.

I had survived. Though I didn’t know how.

Just then, I saw the Holy Sword, faintly scattering light.

As if to say it was all thanks to its presence.

I tried to smile, but instead, I coughed up blood.

I was severely injured.

The eye I’d lost was restored thanks to that Karin girl, but my vision was blurry and I couldn’t see my surroundings clearly.

It wasn’t just my sight that was failing. My hearing was muffled, and I couldn’t hear well.

After barely pulling myself together, I looked around.

Agares’s self-destruct attack had turned the Demon Realm, already a place with a dreadful view, into a literal hellscape.

Not a single blade of grass could be seen, not a single insect moved.

The dimension itself was dead.

Seeing this reminded me of the past. No, of my previous life.

The land after the Great Cataclysm had become just like this place.

A stretch of earth completely devoid of life.

Those who weren’t worthy of boarding the Ark had to survive in a land like this.

In the end, the humans who couldn’t board the Ark became demonic beings.

They resorted to cannibalism to survive, and the resulting abnormalities became hereditary.

Their skin, their very appearance, began to mutate genetically.

To think the horns on a Demon King’s head had such a sad story behind them.

I felt petty for teasing Im Jae-joon about his horns smelling bad.

The Order System.

What the hell does this damned system want from people?

In most other worlds, even absolute gods have no more knowledge about the Order System than a game master.

But I have a guess.

The Order System has no will of its own.

It just diligently collects the data it accumulates and repeats, over and over, according to a set algorithm.

*Crunch, crunch.*

*Thud, thud.*

While I was lost in thought, I sensed a presence.

I was sure there was nothing left in this dimension.

I greatly expanded the range of my barrier.

The moment I confirmed the residual thoughts within the area, I frowned unconsciously.

A hulking monster with a mouth on its stomach. A monster with abnormally long arms and large hands.

One with a head bigger than its body.

These creatures, boasting all sorts of peculiar tastes, seemed overjoyed to see me, the only living being around.

I wondered if that bastard Agares’s immortality was the kind that meant obsession.

I thought his soul-gathering explosion would have annihilated everything, but that wasn’t the case.

The dimensional beasts he had been raising.

Creatures like Quasars appeared one after another.

I opened the shop, bought a few health potions, and drank them.

They were nothing compared to Karin’s healing magic, but I could feel some of my strength returning.

I raised the Holy Sword.

As if reflecting my will, the Holy Sword burned my mana and its blade flashed with light.

In this space shrouded by blood-red darkness, a time for only me and the beasts had begun.

If I left them be, another chaos would ensue.

They would run rampant, hunting for prey.

I kicked off the ground.

A beast extended its giant hand, trying to snatch me.

I ducked to dodge and swung the Holy Sword at the same time.

*Fzzt!*

The blade of light cleanly sliced the beast in two.

The one with the freakishly long arms reached for me.

I lopped off its hand.

I tried to press in and cut its body in half, but my legs buckled.

*Swoosh!*

A black orb flew toward me.

I blocked it with my body.

A throbbing pain came through my HP shield.

My body was in bad shape from being caught in the explosion.

*Screee!*

Several other beasts charged at me with physical attacks.

I swung the Holy Sword.

Everything in the path of the Holy Sword was carved away.

*Sizzle, sizzle.*

Dark blood poured from the bodies of the beasts as they burned in the light.

I cut, and cut again.

*Splash.*

With every step, the monster’s fluids I trod upon ate away at my body.

I cut again, and again.

The number of beasts kept increasing.

Like moths to a flame, they kept swarming toward me.

*Huu.*

My breathing gradually grew ragged.

I had already cut down dozens of beasts. But there were still over a hundred of them.

I was only killing them like this because I was strong; each one was a monster capable of throwing a city into a state of disaster.

Moreover, every single beast possessed the ability to cross dimensions.

“Gotta clean up properly.”

This was their last struggle.

-Destruction 99 / 100%

A colossal beast appeared.

The one with a head reminiscent of a deer’s antlers charged at me.

I poured a massive amount of mana into the Holy Sword, expanding its aura, and swung it at the beast.

*Kzzzzzt-!*

There were no beasts left in the area the flash of light had swept through.

However, even as its torso was severed, the horned beast continued its charge, ramming me with its body.

I’ll cut it again.

The moment I steadied my breath and ran forward to swing the Holy Sword, my foot slipped on the monster’s entrails.

In my usual condition, I wouldn’t have made a mistake like slipping.

My body was more exhausted than I thought.

I planned to block with my remaining HP shield and strike again.

But suddenly, five red blades flew in and pierced the beast’s body.

Suddenly immobilized, the beast struggled. Soon, the red swords exploded, and the beast vanished into pieces.

“What’s this? The guy I shipped off is back.”

I spoke, looking toward where the swords had come from.

“Returned to sender.”

The one who helped me was Im Jae-joon.

He opened his eyes, filled with red demonic energy, and looked at me.

I raised the Holy Sword. And swung it right at Im Jae-joon.

*Pshk!*

A monster that had been about to ambush Im Jae-joon from behind was impaled by the Holy Sword and turned to ash.

“Well, that’s a shame.”

“Isn’t it.”

Im Jae-joon threw a magic sword at the head of a beast charging at my side.

*Kwaaa!*

*Pshk!*

Im Jae-joon and I started hunting the beasts back-to-back.

Five-star or higher beasts were all in one place, being completely slaughtered by two people.

It was actually more convenient, having them all in one spot.

If these things had appeared in a city and run amok, countless people would have died.

“Things turned out just as you wanted.”

“I wonder.”

The beasts didn’t give up.

They could see the prey before them growing tired.

“You’re reckless.”

“Maybe.”

“To raise your sword even when you know you could die.”

“But I didn’t die.”

I acted according to my beliefs.

I used my power where I wanted to. I don’t regret my choice.

My invasion of the Demon King’s army wasn’t just to rescue people.

I aimed for the moment the Demon King’s army was most off-guard.

In fact, I had considered just hitting the East moderately and pulling back. The West, their rival, might have taken that opportunity to launch a subjugation campaign.

But no matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t right.

The East and West were divided because they were vying for supremacy.

But with my existence, with a variable like me, the two powers might even join hands.

In my foresight, the two powers had joined forces.

“He who stands above others must also bear the weight of the crown.”

Suddenly he’s trying to teach me about kingship.

“One person doesn’t have to do everything.”

I don’t need to do it all.

It’s just that we’re in a state of war, and what I do best is fight, so I played a major role.

“Nor does one person need to bear all the sacrifices.”

Im Jae-joon retorted without missing a beat.

His magic sword exploded again, burning the flesh of a beast.

My Holy Sword, not to be outdone, emitted a vast light and incinerated another beast.

For a moment, we dealt with the beasts without talking. And now, only one enemy remained.

Seeing its comrades horribly torn to pieces, the beast charged without fleeing.

“How are you going to live from now on?”

In response to Im Jae-joon’s question, I raised the Holy Sword and cut off the last beast’s head.

*Splurt!*

Its massive head fell onto the ground, slick with bodily fluids.

“Are you going to attack the West?”

The Eastern forces were annihilated.

Now, the only Demon King faction left is the West.

“I doubt it. The Western Front couldn’t go to war with the East, and it wasn’t because of Agares.”

The Demon Kings of the West are preparing for war with a coalition of several dimensions that oppose them.

They say an outstanding individual produced by the survival game has united those dimensions and crowned himself emperor.

I don’t know when their fight will begin or when it will end.

*Swoosh!*

A red magic sword flew toward me.

I parried it with the Holy Sword.

Shards of red mana exploded in the air like fireworks.

Like a signal flare announcing the beginning.

“For now, I should take care of the most important thing.”

-Destruction 99 / 100%

I readjusted my grip on the Holy Sword.

“Yes, I agree.”

Im Jae-joon drew a dozen magic swords at once.

“So you’re the only Demon King left in the East now, Baal?”

“It would be troublesome to think of me as the Dantalian of old.”

Baal, a position even Agares couldn’t reach.

Dantalian had once again been chosen by the system.

*Swoosh, shhh!*

Im Jae-joon’s magic swords flew toward me.

Extraordinary explosions erupted wherever the magic swords struck.

Dodging them all, I swung the Holy Sword wide at Im Jae-joon.

*Swish.*

The tip of the Holy Sword grazed Im Jae-joon’s cheek.

If it had gone just a little deeper, Im Jae-joon’s head would have been gone.

We had joined hands. That’s why we fought the beasts together, and why we were now fighting our final battle.

“The Order System isn’t some omnipotent god.”

Im Jae-joon muttered.

“It always forces a choice, and wants you to take full responsibility for it.”

The speed of Im Jae-joon’s magic swords began to increase.

Meanwhile, my stamina was steadily draining.

“If you regret it so much, you shouldn’t have become Baal.”

At my words, a smile curved Im Jae-joon’s lips.

“Don’t tell me you chose to become Baal for my sake, you bastard.”

The countdown to destruction hadn’t ended.

And here stood the strongest Demon King.

“I thought about it.”

Im Jae-joon said, forming a hand sign.

The Hero who had become a demigod and the king of Demon Kings were here together.

Again, the Order System is no benevolent god.

It’s merely an existence meant to maintain balance.

“I am a Demon King, but I am human.”

Im Jae-joon was a reincarnated Demon King. Under the protection of the Order System.

“Countless demonic beings in the East have died. I can hear their voices as they perish. Even now, at this very moment. They’re asking me to save them.”

Baal is the savior of all demonic beings. But he chose humanity.

“For now, I’m enduring my fate as Baal with the patience of Dantalian. But I don’t know when I’ll be swallowed whole.”

“So, why did you make a choice like that?”

There was no telling when Dantalian would completely transform into Baal.

But the fate decreed by the Order System would one day change him.

“I told you.”

A smooth smile graced Im Jae-joon’s handsome face.

“I am human.”

If he chooses the demonic beings as a Demon King, humanity will be destroyed. If he chooses humanity, he will be trapped in the shackles of the Order System and gradually consumed.

He will burn without stopping until humanity is destroyed, until the resentment of the demonic beings disappears.

I poured a massive amount of mana into the Holy Sword.

The Order System was endlessly infusing me with power.

Telling me to kill the Demon King who would destroy humanity, right here, right now.

Likewise, endless power was being infused into Im Jae-joon.

Telling him to execute the Hero who was becoming a god, who would destroy the demonic beings.

“Don’t think of it as a sacrifice. This is my choice, and my consequence.”

Perhaps I had pushed him into a corner because of my own greed.

But I have no regrets.

Im Jae-joon—no, Baal—endlessly drew dozens of magic swords.

I unleashed a crossfire, scattering the sword energy condensed in my Holy Sword.

Two men, enemies yet not, fought their final battle.

And only one of them would return to the modern world.