Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 625

On a street of a city now lying in ruins...

“It’s surprising they didn’t even try to escape,” Cristina murmured, her eyes fixed on the brutally murdered mages of the Black Order, their bodies lying in a gruesome state.

Ludwig’s right arm, still wrapped in bandages, looked untouched, as if he had never wielded that chilling and ominous dark aura blade.

The mages of the Black Order had all been slaughtered by Ludwig. None had even attempted to flee.

“Did they know that trying to escape was pointless?” Cristina wondered aloud.

“Who knows,” Anna de Gerna replied, approaching from a distance, carefully navigating the rubble-strewn terrain. “There are no life forms detected nearby. This is... all of them.”

Anna turned her gaze away from the corpses, her expression steely and resolute. Even if they had tried to flee, Anna’s magic would have ensnared them, and the Immortal archmages had already set up a spatial barrier further out.

“There might be a few scattered stragglers, but it doesn’t matter. They can’t take the Immortals from us anyway.”

The Black Order had been wiped from existence. A few individuals might have slipped through or survived, but that was inconsequential.

“It’s a bit frightening to think that without Louis, we might have lost the entire army of Immortals,” Cristina said, a bitter smile playing across her lips.

The Black Order’s intentions had been clear from the beginning, which was why Louis had dedicated himself to unraveling the hidden secrets they had placed within the countless alchemical recipes. Without Louis, the Black Order would have harnessed the power of the Immortals and tried to control the world by force.

It wasn’t a contest of cleverness. It was simply genius triumphing over deceit.

The Immortals, which the Black Order had planned to turn into their army, was now under Cristina’s command.

“Ludwig, what do you think?” she asked.

“About what?” he replied.

“Either Ellen becoming the empress, the Demon King taking the throne, or things remaining as they are. Which do you think would be better?”

Ludwig responded without a moment’s pause. His answer was simple and direct.

“I don’t know. Things will work out somehow.”

It was okay not to have all the answers. If something had to be done, then he would do it. The world would handle its own affairs.

Ludwig glanced down at his right hand. The arm, rebuilt with dark magic—the Grandmaster’s arm—had given him incredible strength.

It felt as if the memories of the body had seeped into him, granting Ludwig a power that allowed him to bypass several stages of mastery. Yet he couldn’t seem to quite adjust to the alien sensation within him.

The process was one that ordinary people could not withstand.

‘A few years at most...’

Dettomorian’s words, the ones foretelling his death, echoed in Ludwig’s mind. Ludwig had finally grasped their true meaning.

He had endured something worse than death, and only in the past couple of days had he been able to stand and move about properly.

The limits of his body would eventually catch up with him. He was paying the price for forcing things that should not have been forced.

“Are you okay, Ludwig?” Anna asked, her eyes filled with concern.

Ludwig nodded resolutely, his expression unwavering.

His body was still strong enough. He could fight once more.

Until his body gave out. Until he completed his mission.

He just needed to hold on until then.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

‘For now...’

***

“Give me a report on the army’s readiness.”

Emperor Vertus sat calmly in the main command tent, with the telepath, Evia, standing before him.

Evia reached out telepathically to all the commanders, gathering the latest updates.

“The entire army is ready, Your Majesty,” she reported.

Her telepathic abilities made communication seamless, allowing her to serve as a messenger without leaving her spot.

“We will begin our advance toward the Gersonosia front tomorrow. It should take us about ten days to get there. The advance troops, who have already set out, will have destroyed the warp gates in the smaller towns, so expect a battle as soon as we reach Gersonosia. Make sure all unit commanders are fully aware of this,” Vertus said.

Now that the Immortals were in action, they would be able to handle the small to medium-sized warp gates on their own, and the army would only have to engage in full-scale battles when dealing with the mega gates in large cities.

Conquering large cities was becoming increasingly difficult. If the previous campaign had been tough, the battles ahead promised to be even more challenging.

The army had enjoyed a long winter’s rest, and the warm weather was returning.

“From tomorrow, the army will not halt until the Gate Incident is fully resolved,” the emperor declared with calm authority.

Evia quietly relayed his orders to all the military commanders.

***

The garrison had an oddly serene air as those within prepared for deployment.

Only the essentials, such as tents and supplies, were packed away. The long march was about to begin.

Like a beast awakening from a long winter slumber, the army was gearing up for action. There would be no more extended rests. They would press on until either the war ended, or humanity was no more. Until one of those outcomes was reached, the army would continue its relentless march.

In the stillness of the garrison, those who had come back from the Temple were ready for deployment.

Cristina.

Anna.

Louis Ankton.

Even Ludwig was there.

Everyone was understandably taken aback.

Ludwig, who everyone expected to be still missing his arm, stood there with a new right arm, though it was swathed in bandages.

“Ludwig...? How did you... Where did you get that arm of yours...?” Lanian Sesor asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

Ludwig responded with a sheepish smile.

“There was an experimental procedure,” Ludwig explained, his voice steady. “A test, you could say. And I was the first subject.”

“A test...?”

“Yeah,” Ludwig replied, flexing his fingers and moving his arm up and down to demonstrate its functionality. “It works pretty well.”

The procedure had given him back his lost arm, a marvel that left everyone speechless.

But they also noted Ludwig’s calm demeanor. While regaining his arm was undeniably a miracle, they couldn’t help but wonder if he was truly ready for combat. After all, with his arm still bandaged, Ludwig didn’t look quite battle-ready.

Sensing their worry, Ludwig shook his head gently.

“I won’t be on the front lines,” he reassured them. “I’ll be with the rear support unit. So, there’s no need to worry.”

“Oh, I see. Alright,” his classmates replied, visibly relieved.

But it was a lie. Ludwig had actually been assigned to go on missions with the Immortals, which would place him in the most perilous situations once the march resumed. Still, he saw no reason to burden his friends with the truth.

Rumors of Ludwig’s sudden return and his restored right arm quickly swept through the Royal Class garrison.

Scarlett, upon hearing the news, felt compelled to find him.

“Ludwig...?”

“Scarlett, it’s been a while.”

She stood there, mouth agape, staring at his new right arm.

Ludwig reassured her, as he had others, explaining how his arm had been restored and that he wouldn’t be directly involved in combat, so she needn’t worry.

“Well... that’s a relief, but...”

Despite his apparent miraculous recovery, everyone who saw Ludwig sensed something was off. It wasn’t just his arm; there was something peculiar about his demeanor that they couldn’t quite place.

There was a dark, unsettling quality in Ludwig’s eyes, hinting at something more sinister. Anyone paying close attention could see it.

Ludwig’s arms were also mismatched in length—his right arm was noticeably longer, almost unnaturally so. Though no one knew the specifics of the experimental procedure he had undergone, it was clear it was far from ordinary.

The ominous aura surrounding Ludwig’s return left everyone feeling uneasy.

“Cliffman, it’s been a while.”

Cliffman, who had once urged Ludwig to leave the battlefield, now stood across from him again. Ludwig had taken Cliffman’s advice to avoid being a burden to others and left, only to return with his right arm somehow restored.

Ludwig greeted him with the same stubborn attitude as always, and Cliffman met his gaze with a stern look of his own.

“You’re a stubborn one...” Cliffman muttered as he shook his head, as if sensing something inevitable. He regarded Ludwig with a weary expression.

After reuniting with familiar faces upon his long-awaited return, Ludwig went about his preparations for the march, making his way through the garrison beneath the night sky.

Ludwig wouldn’t be fighting alongside the Royal Class or the main force of the Allied Forces.

In truth, he would spend more time fighting with the Immortals than staying in the garrison.

He was merely exchanging pleasantries to make his presence there seem less out of place.

However, not everyone was fooled by Ludwig’s facade.

“Hey...”

It was Heinrich von Schwartz. He had heard the news from the capital. His expression turned grim as he examined Ludwig, who now had his arm back.

“That arm... It’s what I think it is, isn’t it?”

Heinrich understood exactly how Ludwig had regained his limb. It was obvious that dark magic had been used to reconstruct the arm, which was then transplanted onto Ludwig.

Though the bandages concealed the details, Heinrich knew it was far from a standard procedure, which left him feeling uneasy.

Ludwig had risked his life to regain his arm, and Heinrich couldn’t fathom how he was managing to hold off any possible rejection or any other possible complications.

Whatever the case, one thing was clear: Ludwig was in a precarious situation.

Heinrich also realized that Ludwig’s insistence that he would not be fighting was nothing more than a lie.

“Did you... really have to go that far?”

“I wonder,” Ludwig replied after a short pause, flashing a wry smile. “Can someone who’s considered nothing actually make a difference?”

“...”

“That’s what I wanted to know.”

The deed was done. It was irreversible.

Heinrich found himself at a loss for words. Ludwig had crossed a line, and he did not know what he could say to him.

Grinding his teeth, Heinrich finally spoke, his tone sharp and bitter.

“So, you’re planning to fight until the end, huh?”

Heinrich seemed to finally grasp the meaning behind Dettomorian’s prophecy.

Meanwhile, Ludwig noticed someone standing quietly on a low hill overlooking the Royal Class garrison.

It was Ellen Artorius.

She stood there silently, bathed in moonlight, her eyes fixed on the garrison below as if she were studying it.

Ludwig watched her from a distance.

Ellen had helped Ludwig investigate the incident in the capital without asking any questions, only to swiftly return to the garrison as if she were running away.

This was their first encounter since that day.

Ellen slowly shifted her gaze to meet Ludwig’s. There was no emotion in her eyes. She remained silent. She did not question why he had come back, or what had happened to his arm.

There was no surprise or fear in her eyes. She simply recognized that someone was there, while keeping her thoughts and feelings hidden.

“You’ve changed,” Ludwig observed, gazing at Ellen, who seemed like a completely different person.

While he had undergone his own transformations, the changes in Ellen were far more striking.

Something within her had shifted.

But then again, everyone changed. It was inevitable.

Ellen stood silently in the moonlight, her eyes devoid of life, offering no response.

He, in turn, refrained from asking anything more of her.

***

The Allied Forces were advancing.

Keeping an army on the march for too long was a gamble in itself.

Speed was the only virtue in war, and a swift conclusion was always the best outcome. In the Allied Forces, the Empire possessed considerable strength, and had planned a rapid onslaught to swiftly dismantle the warp gates across the Raziern region.

To reach their next target, they needed to pass through several small to medium-sized cities.

If things had been as they once were, the march would have taken ages. However...

“They just swept through it...”

I stood before a city in ruins, engulfed in smoke and flames.

“I knew the Immortals had immense power, but I didn’t know it was this great...”

‘What was the name of this city again?’

I couldn’t recall it, but it had one medium-sized warp gate and two smaller ones.

The Immortals had carved a path of destruction, leaving behind scattered corpses, heaps of monster flesh, and shattered warp gates. The only thing Eleris and I could see were the traces of massive devastation and slaughter.

The army of Immortals could obliterate small towns and medium-sized cities in a day, sometimes even half a day.

While I was curious to see them in action, arriving after the chaos was safer; being noticed by them could spell trouble.

Eleris, who was usually already pale, looked almost blue with shock. She couldn’t shake the fear she felt at the sheer, desperate power that humanity had awakened.

Perhaps resolving the Gate Incident had lost some of its urgency.

“Depending on how the Gersonosia campaign goes, the Allied Forces might even be able to disband entirely,” she mused.

“That could happen,” I agreed.

If it appeared that the Immortals could handle the Gate Incident alone, the Allied Forces might disband.

“But with the gates growing more dangerous, disbanding them now would be reckless. Whether they like it or not, the Allied Forces can’t leave until every warp gate in Raziern is destroyed,” I said.

The Gate Incident wouldn’t truly end until the last warp gate was gone.

If they dispersed too soon and the Immortals were not able to resolve the crisis, the Empire would then have to reassemble the Allied Forces, which would be a ridiculous undertaking.

The Allied Forces had to stay together until the Gate Incident was fully resolved.

The Immortals were a large and formidable unit, and possessed the incredible ability to transport itself anywhere through mass teleportation.

This allowed the Immortals to swiftly move across the Raziern region, sweeping through the small and medium-sized cities and breaking through enemy strongholds with ease.

“For now, we need to watch how the battle at Gersonosia unfolds.”

The war was growing more intense, and it was also slowly drawing to a close.