Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 648

The battle had ended.

As with any major city siege, the aftermath of the battle included a thorough cleanup to clear away the monster corpses and eliminate any that still lingered.

This time, the Immortals took on that task. They were an army that neither tired nor truly died.

Immortal Knights and mages patrolled the outskirts of the encampment, ensuring that any surviving monsters were swiftly dealt with.

The Allied Forces quickly settled into Luvoten, a peaceful realm protected by the Immortals.

It was a place beyond the watchful eyes of the living.

Yet, even on the outskirts, where no other living soul ventured, there was someone else besides the Immortals hunting the monsters. A figure whose state of being—alive or dead—remained a mystery.

Thud! Screech... Splat!

Ellen, who had been hiding underground, swiftly decapitated a mole-like monster that lunged at her.

The creature’s black blood gushed out, threatening to engulf her. The monsters’ claws and teeth weren’t their only threats. The blood, a dark crimson hue, was a clear warning of its deadly nature—something to avoid at all costs.

Yet the blood from the mole monster’s severed neck never reached Ellen.

Sizzle!

Before the blood could touch her or her Aura Armor, the cloak of the sun emitted a fiery barrier, evaporating the blood mid-air.

“...”

Even without the two holy relics, Ellen was formidable. But the Void Sword, Lament, and the hellfire of Lapelt completed her.

The Void Sword Lament, resembling a slice of the night sky, sliced through everything it encountered, while the cloak of the sun, though capable of unleashing hellfire, was primarily designed to protect its wearer.

Lapelt itself was able to sense threats to its wearer.

Even those who had reached the pinnacle of humanity, Master-class combatants, often fell victim to the unpredictable threats that the monsters posed. But Lapelt, having awakened its true power, shielded Ellen from all attacks, whether she was aware of them or not.

It was as if the will of an all-knowing god protected her, the wearer of his relic. If a monster’s breath posed a danger, Lapelt would block it; if their blood was perilous, it stopped it from reaching her; and if an unforeseen attack came from an unseen place, it thwarted it.

Anything deemed a threat was blocked.

A sword that cut through anything, and a shield that blocked everything.

The perfect harmony of offense and defense defined Ellen Artorius as a hero of humanity.

Lapelt protected Ellen even in the most treacherous parts of the battlefield, against monsters that defied logic. And because she could cut through anything and withstand any attack, Ellen ventured into the most dangerous places.

But she didn’t just slay giant monsters. Even the smallest of them posed a threat to someone. Therefore, even after a battle ended, Ellen would wander the outskirts of the battlefield, as if in a trance, seeking out monsters without any orders.

She was always the first to enter the battlefield and the last to leave.

Even now, as a puppet of some unknown force, Ellen continued to do what she had always done.

Everyone knew Ellen was acting strangely, but they couldn’t grasp just how strange she had become.

Ellen had always been a quiet person, and her demeanor remained unchanged.

Just as she was about to resume her task, surrounded by Immortals who were also busy dealing with the remaining monsters, a voice interrupted her from behind.

“The Immortals can handle this. Why do you feel the need to get involved?”

Ellen turned slowly to face the speaker.

“Why don’t you take a break?” Cristina suggested, standing there with two armored soldiers on her right and two robed mages on her left.

Ellen met Cristina’s gaze in silence.

Cristina tilted her head, curious.

“You seem really out of it. You’re acting quite peculiar.”

Ellen offered no response.

“What happened to you?” Cristina asked.

Ellen still did not respond.

“Have you gone mute or something?”

Despite Cristina’s attempts to provoke a reaction, Ellen remained silent.

Cristina narrowed her eyes, studying Ellen, who stood there like an unresponsive doll.

“You’ve lost it in a different way than I have, haven’t you?”

“...”

It wasn’t unusual for people to break after witnessing horrific events. Only those who possessed exceptional strength remained unbroken. It was entirely understandable that Ellen, having endured the most dreadful and dangerous places, would also break. Cristina assumed that Ellen must have cracked somehow, to end up in her current state.

Despite Cristina’s relentless taunts, Ellen remained unresponsive. She neither argued, nor showed any sign of displeasure. It wasn’t even as if she was ignoring Cristina. It felt like talking to a stone.

Cristina frowned at Ellen’s lack of reaction, yet Ellen stayed put. She simply stood there, silently observing Cristina.

“You’ve become annoying in a new way,” Cristina remarked.

Ellen stayed silent.

“Anyway,” Cristina continued, “I came to make you an offer.”

Ellen didn’t respond.

“You’ve heard of the Immortals, haven’t you?”

At last, Ellen reacted with a nod.

“So you are listening,” Cristina noted, relieved to see that Ellen was paying attention, even if it was just a small gesture.

“I won’t go into detail since you’re busy,” Cristina said with a smile, “but I need you to become my hostage.”

Ellen observed Cristina’s malicious grin in silence.

“If I have you, they’ll definitely come for you.”

If Ellen were captured, someone would surely try to rescue her. Someone would inevitably appear. Someone who kept themselves hidden, operating in the shadows, their whereabouts a mystery.

Searching the entire world for them was impossible. If they chose to stay hidden, they would never be found. Therefore, they needed a sacrifice in order to summon the Demon King.

“Ellen, you have to be the bait to lure the Demon King out.”

Ellen remained silent.

Cristina smiled, her intentions far darker than merely taking Ellen hostage.

“Of course, by the time the Demon King comes for you...” Cristina chuckled, clearly relishing the thought, “you’ll be nothing more than a living corpse.”

When the Demon King arrived to rescue the hostage, whether during the final battle or elsewhere, he wouldn’t find the living Ellen Artorius. Instead, he would see Ellen transformed into an Immortal.

What would the Demon King say upon seeing Ellen turned into an irretrievable shell of her former self? The sensation of being robbed? The despair of confronting something irreversible? That was exactly what Cristina wanted the Demon King to feel.

“Capture her,” she ordered, not realizing she was trying to make an empty shell even emptier.

***

It didn’t take long. Only about thirty seconds.

In that brief time, the four Immortals—two armed with swords and two wielding magic—were swiftly neutralized. One lost their head, others were sliced in half, and the last was cut in half at the waist.

It wasn’t a flashy or overwhelming battle.

The Void Sword sliced effortlessly through everything in its path, while every offensive strike was deftly countered by Lapelt.

Even the Aura Armor of a Master-class warrior was as fragile as cloth against the Void Sword’s blade. Only a holy relic could withstand its devastating power.

Ellen cut through her opponents with ease.

Cristina watched in disbelief, her eyes wide as the bodies of the fallen Immortals vanished in flashes of light as they were recalled.

Was this still not enough?

The Immortals Cristina had summoned were among the elite, the best of the best.

Even ancient heroes who had reached Grandmaster-class could not last more than thirty seconds against Ellen. If these four were so easily defeated, bringing more Immortals would make no difference.

“What...?”

Cristina had never expected subduing Ellen to be a simple task, but she hadn’t anticipated such a spectacular failure. The ease with which it all fell apart was almost laughable.

Ellen, her face a mask of calm, had effortlessly cut down two Grandmasters and two Archmages. She stood there silently, her gaze fixed on Cristina.

In that moment, Cristina grasped the overwhelming power of the holy relics.

Ellen was formidable on her own, but with the relics... The sheer power of the Void Sword Lament was staggering, and Ellen had also deftly countered every attack aimed at her.

With the Immortals neutralized, Ellen began to slowly advance toward Cristina.

As Ellen advanced, Cristina retreated, casting a spell.

She summoned more Immortals.

Flash!

At Cristina’s command, dozens of Immortals materialized around Ellen, teleporting in to block her path.

But it was futile.

Slash!

With several quick swings of the Void Sword, Ellen cut through the Immortals and their Aura Armor.

Boom!

The lightning and electric shocks that flew at Ellen were halted by a barrier of flames.

The sight of fire deflecting electricity was a surreal spectacle.

“Is this... is this even possible?”

Crash!

Neither sword nor magic could pierce the barrier of flames surrounding Ellen, let alone her Aura Armor, but the Void Sword sliced through everything in its path.

She had made a grave mistake. The Demon King wasn’t the real threat. Ellen was.

Before Ellen Artorius, who wielded the Void Sword while shrouded in hellfire, no power or magic would stand a chance. The only reason anyone dared to underestimate her was because she still held onto her humanity.

Ellen Artorius was unstoppable, a force that couldn’t be subdued.

Cristina finally understood this truth.

Cristina was just an alchemist, after all. Her world was limited to her laboratory and her desk. She had never engaged in direct combat, nor had she witnessed battles firsthand. Yet, she believed that the power to command over a thousand Archmages and Master-class combatants meant nothing could stand in her way.

At that moment, though, she realized why a hero was truly a hero, and what a holy relic really meant. She had only understood these concepts intellectually, but had never seen them in action.

The twenty Immortals Cristina summoned were neutralized as effortlessly as the first four.

Cristina watched as Ellen continued to approach, feeling dazed and trapped. There was no urgency in Ellen’s steps, as if she were silently daring Cristina to run. Ellen closed the distance slowly, but deliberately.

Just as Cristina was about to escape with a short-range teleportation spell instead of summoning more Immortals, Ellen struck.

Swish!

In an instant, Ellen was upon her, her hand clamping around Cristina’s neck with a speed that defied comprehension. For someone unaccustomed to direct combat, Ellen’s movements were impossible to follow.

“Ugh!” Cristina gasped.

A seasoned battlemage might have been able to cast a teleportation spell even while in pain, but Cristina wasn’t that skilled. Battlemages chose their path because they lacked the talent and aptitude of their peers. Elite mages saw no need for practical combat experience.

Given all this, it was no surprise that Cristina couldn’t perceive or react to Ellen’s swift movements, nor could she cast any spells while in agony.

The magical formulas she had been concentrating on were now scrambled and useless as she struggled to breathe.

Every breath was painful. She felt like she was on the brink of death. With such thoughts consuming her mind, how could she possibly focus enough to use magic?

‘How do battlemages manage to do such things?’

In that moment, Cristina realized just how challenging the tasks she had once dismissed truly were.

Cristina felt utterly powerless.

She realized too late just how arrogant she had been to stand before Ellen.

She was a mere alchemist, not even a battlemage, and she had foolishly stepped forward, relying on the power of the Immortals.

Ellen did not need words to show her the reality of things. There was no need for a dispel field, a teleportation barrier, or anything to neutralize magic. Simply seizing her neck was enough to seal all magic and prevent her from summoning more Immortals.

After all, summoning Immortals was a form of magic too.

“Ugh... ugh... ugh...”

Cristina struggled in that suffocating grip, desperately clutching at Ellen’s fingers as they tightened around her throat.

Despite all her strength, Cristina couldn’t budge even a single finger of Ellen’s. In the face of such an overwhelming difference in power, everything seemed futile.

Even the summoned Immortals had fallen to the Void Sword. So Cristina had no hope of moving Ellen’s finger by sheer will.

“I-if you k-kill me... y-you’ll regret it...”

In the end, she resorted to a feeble threat, while Ellen simply watched her in silence.

Just as Cristina was on the brink of losing consciousness, Ellen suddenly let go.

Thud.

“Ugh! Hah... Hah... Hah...!”

Cristina lay on the blood-soaked ground, surrounded by the lifeless bodies of monsters. She gasped for air, her chest heaving with each breath.

Ellen stood over her, watching her in silence. Her expression was completely blank, devoid of any emotion. There wasn’t even a hint of disdain, as if she were looking down on something worthless.

Despite her desperate attempts to calm herself, Cristina couldn’t find a way to escape the overwhelming panic, and she began to sob uncontrollably.

‘I need to run. I have to escape.’

Her mind was consumed by those thoughts, yet the magic she relied on kept slipping away. She wasn’t being choked anymore, but the sheer weight of her fear held her back, preventing her from casting any spells.

‘How could anyone wield magic in battle like this? How could anyone be that powerful?’

Cristina, now facing the reality of what she had only imagined before, trembled with fear.

No matter how justified the anger, no matter how rightful the hatred, the weak remained weak, and the strong remained strong. Those who had never known battle could never truly understand that. They might plot and scheme, but they needed to know their place. If they stepped beyond their boundaries without understanding their limits, they would face dire consequences.

Ellen silently watched Cristina, crumpled on the ground like discarded trash, gasping for air, completely incapacitated just by being momentarily choked.

Finally, Ellen broke her silence.

“Since you’re still useful...”

Cristina could only respond with a pained gasp.

Screech!

Cristina couldn’t make out the words spilling from Ellen’s lips.

The voice was soft, yet it carried an eerie resonance, as if it were a chorus of thousands.

The sound tore at Cristina’s mind, making her writhe in agony. It was just a fraction of what Ellen had endured, but even that small sliver of the vengeful spirits was too much for Cristina to bear. She could only curl up, trembling.

“I’ll let you live,” Ellen said.

“Ughhh!” Cristina groaned, overwhelmed.

Ellen had transformed into something beyond Cristina’s wildest imagination.

It wasn’t just the violence that was overwhelming; even the sound of her voice was too much for Cristina to bear.

Thankfully, her arrogance hadn’t cost her life.

Ellen left Cristina unconscious on the blood-soaked ground, surrounded by the bodies of fallen monsters, and quietly made her way back to the Allied encampment.