Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 636

Each warp gate had evolved far beyond what anyone could have imagined during the early days of the Gate Incident or even the initial push by the Allied Forces.

These gates, once mere portals, had become endless sources of monsters, unleashing creatures into the world on a scale that dwarfed anything from the past.

Yet, the world had veered off its original course.

In the original story, the Gate Incident was eventually dealt with. However, humanity was exponentially stronger compared to that timeline.

For instance, there was the massive weapon, Titan, which hadn’t existed in the original narrative. Even without Titan, there were the Immortals, an army of the undead, standing ready.

The Gate Incident itself remained unchanged.

Technically, the Gate Incident was fated to end even without Titan and the Immortals.

It would probably have taken a bit longer, but humanity, in a weaker state than it currently was, had overcome this disaster in a different timeline. There was no reason they couldn’t do it again.

It was June. The Allied Forces were advancing toward the capital of Raziern, Diane, and had launched an assault on the major city of Wallon, which stood in their path.

This marked the first large-scale battle for the Allied Forces since the last confrontation at Serandia the previous winter.

A much stronger Titan loomed over the battlefield. And the Immortals, absent during the battle of Serandia, had joined the fray.

Their presence bolstered the already formidable strength of the Allied Forces.

—Ahhhhh!

From a distance, I watched in awe as hellfire rained down from the sky, and an army of over a thousand Master-class warriors tore through the ranks of monsters.

“This... doesn’t make sense...”

The sheer might of Titan and the Immortals rendered Shanapell and the Imperial Mage Corps almost insignificant by comparison.

The Allied Forces couldn’t comprehend the identity of this mysterious army. The warriors, clad in armor that covered them from head to toe and wielding aura blades, relentlessly cut down the monsters.

At the forefront, a gigantic Titan, larger than a mountain, teleported across the battlefield, tearing through, crushing, and trampling the colossal beasts.

Rumble...

The sheer weight of its massive body crushed the monsters beneath it, and each time the artillery weapons attached to the Titan’s body fired, a section of the battlefield was devastated, as if a cosmic giant had punched a hole through it.

In war, a powerful mage was often more valuable than a strong swordsman. Yet, even the most powerful mages couldn’t compare to those who created war machines.

Adelia, Cristina, Louis Ankton, and Anna de Gerna, mages who did not engage directly in battle, were effectively dominating the battlefield with their creations.

Humanity had grown stronger than in the original timeline. The Gate Incident was no longer a threat.

The instant I saw the Allied Forces in action, I knew. There was no need to watch the battle until the end.

Wallon would fall.

Only two cities remained.

Time was running out for everyone, including me.

***

Rumble...

By the time Titan was engulfed in light and recalled from the front lines, the battle was already decided.

The storm of fire and ice that had painted the sky crimson came to a halt, and the thunderous clamor of war machines and magical bombardments, which seemed to tear the world apart, finally ceased.

Though the battle had ended swiftly with the aid of the mysterious army, it did not diminish the efforts of those who had fought bravely up to this point.

Amidst the corpses of gigantic monsters that were piled up like mountains, Ellen, who had destroyed the colossal warp gate with a single strike, slowly rose from the heap of fallen beasts.

—Hero...

Those who had managed to follow Ellen to this deepest part of the battlefield were far from ordinary themselves, yet even they couldn’t help but gaze up at Ellen as if she were a deity.

This was Ellen’s first mission since Serandia. However, those who had always fought by her side couldn’t shake the feeling that the hero had changed somehow.

Whether preparing for battle, during the battle, or even after it, there was something hollow in her eyes and her expression.

“Hero... are you alright?” a knight who had accompanied Ellen asked cautiously as she leaped down the mountain of corpses in a few swift bounds.

Ellen nodded slowly, her expression unreadable.

Her combat style had evolved into something cold and precise, stripped of all emotion. It seemed as though she had given up everything that wasn’t essential to battle.

Since Serandia, Ellen had grown stronger. Yet, all those who saw her couldn’t shake a profound sense of unease.

It was as if her every move lacked a soul.

***

Even though the dangers increased with each city they conquered, the Allied Forces experienced fewer casualties when capturing Wallon than they had at Serandia.

Everyone understood that the power of the enhanced Titan had been crucial.

And then there was something else, something far too powerful to overlook. One unit stood out above the rest. The vanguard, their faces concealed behind iron helmets with heavy visors and the vast host of archmages that marched behind them, cloaked in black, each wielding power that surpassed even the strongest of their kind.

Everyone knew the impact they had. Because of them, Wallon had fallen more quickly and more easily than Serandia.

Who were these mysterious figures?

They appeared suddenly to aid in the battle and vanished just as quickly, evaporating into thin air through mass teleportation.

After Wallon’s capture, the Allied Forces were forced to make camp, setting up a temporary base on the outskirts of the city to take stock.

Inside the Supreme Command Tent, the atmosphere was tense.

“The final casualty report is complete,” someone announced.

The commanders had gathered to discuss the combined casualty reports from each army and to plan their next steps.

“Once the wounded are treated, we’ll advance to the next objective right away. Since casualties are lighter than expected, we should be able to prepare for deployment quickly,” the Emperor declared.

Despite the lower-than-expected casualties, he seemed focused on the task ahead, and was avoiding the topic everyone knew was on his mind.

The Empire had finally revealed its secret weapon: an army of over a thousand Master-class warriors and archmages.

No nation in history had ever wielded such power.

Archmages and Master-class warriors were considered the pinnacle of human strength, and in any given era, there were only about a hundred to two hundred of them combined. Their numbers were few, even accounting for those who preferred to remain hidden.

The Empire’s secret force surpassed the standards of the era tenfold, a testament to the Empire’s unprecedented might.

The Emperor remained tight-lipped, offering no explanations, and naturally, those gathered in the command tent felt uneasy in the face of his silence.

The commander of the Order of the Holy Knights had suggested that the Emperor intended to shoulder all the responsibility for this army’s creation himself, and had urged everyone to go along quietly without demanding answers.

The Emperor would bear all the responsibility. Yet, after witnessing the sheer power of that army, they were all gripped by fear.

Could anyone truly take responsibility for something like this? Could such a formidable army truly operate without any hidden dangers?

What if the Empire had indeed allied with the Demon King? If what they had just encountered was the Demon King’s army, how could the Emperor possibly take responsibility for that?

In the end, someone, unable to contain their anxiety, found the courage to speak up.

“Your Majesty... Did you truly... ally with the Demon King?”

As soon as those forbidden words were spoken, all eyes instinctively turned to the speaker, but these were not looks of reproach; everyone had been silently hoping someone would address the thorny issue.

The Emperor quietly regarded the one who had spoken.

“Not a chance,” he said, calmly denying the speculation.

“It seems I can no longer keep it hidden,” Emperor Vertus admitted, nodding slowly before offering a faint smile.

“I have mastered dark magic that resurrects the dead, making them stronger than they were in life.”

At this startling revelation, most eyes in the command tent widened in shock.

Yet, two individuals wore different expressions.

Rowen, the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, allowed a faint smile to play across her lips, while Louise von Schwartz was biting her lip, as if she had anticipated this moment.

“Stronger than in life, these resurrected warriors, having died once, can be sent back to the battlefield after a brief regeneration process. They are an army of the undead.

“Many resources were required for this project, and naturally, we needed corpses. The remains of once-great heroes, warriors, knights, and mages of humanity, who had been laid to rest with our praise and adoration, have now been resurrected to fight for humanity once more. The corpses of the countless victims who perished on the battlefields since the start of the Gate Incident have also been resurrected to continue their fight.”

The Emperor looked around the room. “You must have thought those who died as heroes were given the proper funeral rites and laid to rest in eternal peace. But no, not at all. I have been secretly reviving their bodies as undead and redeploying them in this war. I call this army the Immortals.

“This is the truth you were curious about,” he declared, his voice steady.

A stunned silence filled the room.

“Allying with the Demon King,” the Emperor mused. “How could I ally with the Demon King, the enemy of humanity? How could such a shameless act possibly happen?”

He laughed a bitter laugh.

“Don’t throw your life away carelessly,” the Emperor warned the others, his voice cold and unsettling. “Unless, of course, you wish to become an Immortal yourself.”

His smile sent a shiver through the room, leaving everyone frozen in place.

“And...” he continued, his smile deepening and with a knowing glint in his eye, “isn’t it one of you, not me, who has allied with the Demon King?”

With those words, the Emperor dropped not just one, but two bombshells.

***

Which was worse: forming an alliance with the Demon King, or resurrecting the corpses of fallen comrades to send them back into battle?

Both were undeniably bad. No one could deny it.

The Emperor had abruptly confessed his secrets, throwing the commanders of the various armies into a state of panic.

Yet the Emperor hadn’t revealed only one secret. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Among the Allied Forces, there were those in league with the Demon King.

The Emperor, who had kept so many hidden secrets, suddenly unveiled two shocking truths with the flip of a switch.

The undead army known as the Immortals, and the existence of those who had betrayed humanity...

Now, everyone had something to ponder.

Who had betrayed humanity? Who had sided with the Demon King?

Had the truth been unveiled piece by piece, an event that should never have happened might have been avoided.

The Empire and its emperor had turned to dark magic to bring the war to an end.

While some forms of dark magic were still considered acceptable, anything involving the undead was strictly forbidden. And this went far beyond merely controlling the undead. It was an affront to the bodies and souls of those who had died with honor.

For the moment, the justification that the Gate Incident had to be brought to an end shielded the Emperor from retribution.

But what was deemed justifiable for the moment might not be deemed justifiable in the future.

The Empire had meddled with forbidden powers.

It had dishonored those who had lived and died as the greatest heroes in human history, and resurrected and turned into undead those who had once been cherished comrades and family.

Even if the Empire couldn’t be held accountable for the moment, it would eventually have to pay the price for meddling with forbidden power, assuming the rest of humanity had enough strength left to make them pay.

With this revelation, the influential figures of humanity had a reason to overthrow the Empire once humanity was rebuilt. When things improved and humanity was restored, there would surely be those eager to seize the opportunity to topple the continent’s dominant power.

From the moment the Empire tampered with that forbidden power, it had secured its own demise.

In normal times, anyone who betrayed humanity to side with the Demon King would have been hunted down by righteous zealots with eyes ablaze. But this situation was different. The Emperor had gone mad.

The Empire might have been able to maintain its existence through sheer force for the time being, but it would soon be shunned by all.

Rumors had already spread within the Allied Forces that many had turned their backs on the Empire because of the massacre of civilians orchestrated by the Imperial family in the capital.

The fact that some had already sided with the Demon King hinted that an alliance between humanity and demonkind might run deeper. This collusion between humans and the Demon King suggested that he might be willing to use them, and perhaps even spare them.

The Empire’s fall seemed inevitable, and the Demon King could rise up to be an alternative ruler.

Someone had placed their bets on the Demon King’s victory, and he intended to use them to his advantage.

Joining up with the Demon King might be a way to survive.

The identity of the Immortals and the revelation of traitors to humanity... By revealing these two truths, Vertus sowed confusion in his commanders’ minds.

Just how far had the Demon King’s influence spread?

The Empire, wielding its power to commit unforgivable acts, and the Demon King, the root of all this chaos, threatening to consume humanity... Both were despicable.

Yet, if one failed to choose a side, one might barely survive one catastrophe only to face another.

The time to decide was drawing near.

And then...

“Oh my...”

Commander Rowen of the Order of the Holy Knights received an internal report on the current situation in the capital, Gradium, and allowed a faint smile to cross her lips.

“It seems something quite interesting is unfolding...”

In front of Rowen lay a half-torn piece of paper.

It was a hastily-scribbled poster.

“Is this what’s being posted around the capital?”

“Yes, Commander.”

A peculiar rumor was making its way through the city.

[The Emperor caused the Gate Incident.]

It was an absurd claim, yet the notion that the Emperor was behind the Gate Incident was gradually gaining traction.