Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 655

Riana’s meeting with Cliffman had, in truth, been unnecessary. Whether or not Cliffman joined our side didn’t really matter. Still, Riana had chosen to meet with him.

Watching her, I found myself considering something similar. Perhaps I was allowed to do it, just once. After all, I had always only approached tasks with a clear purpose. Perhaps I could meet someone simply because I wanted to see them.

Like Riana, I had been afraid. I feared Adriana might be angry with me.

But just as Cliffman hadn’t blamed me, neither did Adriana.

I had the audacity to voice my desire that Adriana leave the battlefield, but she had refused, just as I’d known she would. If the argument were that no one should have to fight, then there wouldn’t be a single soldier in the Allied Forces. No one would feel compelled to fight out of necessity. It was only natural for Adriana to reject my selfish plea.

I hoped she would make it through. I hoped we all would—Adriana, myself, and everyone else. But a promise to survive did not ensure survival. Despite such vows, someone would inevitably fall. That was the harsh reality of war and battle.

“Are you okay?” Harriet asked, after we returned to Rajak.

“Yeah, well... I’m fine,” I replied, trying to sound convincing.

Harriet studied me closely. “You look worse,” she said, concern etched on her face.

Did I really? Her worried eyes searched mine as she gently placed a hand on my cheek.

Riana had seemed somewhat relieved after her meeting with Cliffman, but my heart felt heavier after meeting with Adriana. We had not engaged in any argument; instead, she showed genuine worry for me.

I should have felt better, but instead, I felt even more down. Still, I didn’t regret meeting Adriana.

“I just want to do better,” I said.

“Hmm...?”

“That’s why.”

After a moment of reflection, my determination to improve only grew stronger.

I knew I couldn’t protect everyone. But wasn’t it okay to want to try?

***

“Cristina, what’s going on with you?” Louis Ankton asked.

Cristina sat at her desk silently, wearing a tense expression and not uttering a single word.

Attempting to take Ellen hostage had been Cristina’s decision alone. Neither Louis Ankton, Anna, nor Ludwig had any idea what she had done.

To everyone else, Cristina had suddenly become pale and withdrawn. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about her plan.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” Cristina replied.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing. Why have you been like this for days? Eat something.”

‘Ellen Artorius...’

The plan to defeat the Demon King hinged on using Ellen. Cristina was certain of this. She believed it was simply a matter of executing it properly, but she also knew subduing Ellen wouldn’t be easy.

Therefore, she had only taken the elite among the Immortals with her to the periphery of the battlefield after the battle, away from prying eyes. However, instead of succeeding in capturing Ellen unnoticed, the Immortals had been ruthlessly cut down.

After subduing Cristina, Ellen had paused for a moment, then released her and walked away.

Cristina had not even been able to muster a hint of resistance. Ellen’s strength was undeniable, the reason for the Immortals’ defeat. Yet Ellen’s strength alone was not the only reason behind Cristina’s inability to resist.

Cristina realized she had underestimated the true nature of a fight.

She did not need to face a battlemage to see this vulnerability. She did not even need to face someone who could use Mana Reinforcement. She knew that she was weak enough that even a single sturdy soldier could kill her without giving her a chance to defend herself.

Just because she had created the Immortals did not make Cristina herself strong. She had fooled herself into believing she was powerful simply because she wielded great power.

However, there was something more important than the misery and regret she felt over her arrogance.

For days afterward, the moment Ellen had choked her haunted her dreams, but even that wasn’t the main issue.

‘She’s not human... surely not. Whatever she is, it’s definitely not human,’ she thought.

During Cristina’s botched attempt to take Ellen hostage, she’d stumbled upon something truly unsettling.

Ellen’s voice... It had been eerie, a sound that no human could possibly produce.

It sounded as if thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of voices were speaking in unison, a cacophony so intense it seemed to tear at the soul just to hear it.

Ellen wasn’t merely out of her mind. Things had progressed beyond that.

Ellen had transformed into something other than human.

She was extremely dangerous, terrifying, and horrifying, yet she somehow still possessed her own will.

‘This... This is dangerous.’

Cristina’s original plan to defeat the Demon King involved capturing Ellen. But in her arrogance, she’d made the mistake of confronting Ellen directly.

In hindsight, that mistake was a blessing. It helped her to realize that the greatest threat wasn’t the Demon King, the Empire, or even the Immortals. Not even the Gate Incident could compare to it.

A sword that could cut through anything.

A cloak that could block any attack.

Ellen Artorius, who wielded those two sacred relics, had been overtaken by something unsettling.

Cristina had paid dearly for her arrogance and misjudgment. But because of that, she’d learned what she needed to know.

The most dangerous person in the world was none other than Ellen Artorius.

Having suffered once, Cristina was determined not to put herself in harm’s way again. She was unfamiliar with combat, and had no desire to become a battlemage. She would continue as she always had, leading the Immortals from behind the scenes, giving orders and fulfilling her role.

Cristina believed she had already neutralized the threat from Scarlett’s side. But what about the other threat? How could they deal with Ellen, who cut through the Immortals like they were nothing?

Was there anyone in the world who could stand against Ellen?

What had Ellen Artorius become, and what did she want?

One thing was certain. Ellen, who had transformed into something unrecognizable, had made it clear: she was not going to kill them because they still served a purpose.

Even if the Immortals were ready for her, Ellen could break through their defenses. Ellen was the only one capable of such a feat.

This meant that once everything was over, Ellen would kill Cristina, regardless of what happened to the Immortals.

Ellen did not represent the Empire or the Demon King. This meant she could pursue the destruction of the Immortals and eliminate Cristina without hesitation, independent of the world’s interests.

Only after witnessing Ellen Artorius’s strength firsthand did Cristina truly understand something.

Everyone assumed the Hero was always on their side. They only praised the Hero’s strength, without stopping to consider the consequences if Ellen Artorius turned against them.

Cristina, however, had witnessed it firsthand.

If the Hero became an enemy, no one could stop her. No army, no sword, no magic could touch her.

It would be preferable if Ellen still managed to cling to some shred of humanity. If she remained human, burdened by guilt, it might still be possible to communicate with her. They could appeal to that guilt and persuade her to back down.

But if communication failed... For instance... What if the Hero turned into a monster?

To bring an end to the Gate Incident, humanity had developed a powerful weapon. But that wasn’t the Titan nor the Immortals.

The most formidable weapon was a human being, and that weapon had been wielded since the beginning of the crisis.

Ellen Artorius was that weapon, the strongest humanity had to offer. However, at this point, she had been stripped of everything but her role as a weapon. The Hero who had lost her humanity might still fight for humanity, but she was no longer on Cristina’s side.

Ellen was not someone to be used as bait. Whether or not she would become a threat to humanity was uncertain, but to Cristina, Ellen was undeniably dangerous.

‘I have to kill Ellen,’ Cristina thought.

The unknown threat was the greatest one.

If Ellen wasn’t eliminated, everything might unravel.

This was the thought that consumed Cristina.

“Cristina, what’s wrong? Something’s bothering you, isn’t it? Don’t keep it to yourself, talk to us.”

But Cristina knew that no one would agree with the idea of killing Ellen, so she kept it to herself.

***

The Allied Forces began their advance toward their final target, Diane.

Would the Gate Incident come to an end, or would this final battle spell the end for humanity?

In a typical scenario, an army’s strength would dwindle as it pushed forward. Strangely, though, the combat power of the Allied Forces increased exponentially with each battle.

Initially, this had been due to the deployment of Titan, and later, the arrival of the Immortals. As the threat that the Gate Incident posed grew, the strength of the Allied Forces seemed to grow even more.

Everyone knew what Titan was: a massive golem crafted by Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and a magical genius from the Temple. However, most soldiers and commanders were in the dark about the second force despite having witnessed its might. It was reassuring to have such a formidable army on their side, yet the mystery surrounding it instilled a subtle fear in everyone.

Eventually, the truth began to leak out. After all, secrets rarely stay hidden forever. Rumors spread throughout the ranks, originating from who knew where.

The powerful, enigmatic army was said to be an undead legion, created by the Empire from the corpses of fallen soldiers. That was why all the troops wore helmets with full-face visors or robes that concealed their identities. They needed to ensure no one could recognize the faces underneath.

Rumors circulated that the Emperor had turned to forbidden powers to bring an end to the war. This truth, though hard to believe, spread like wildfire.

But the rumors didn’t stop there. Whispers of traitors within the Allied Forces, of those who had sworn allegiance to the Demon King, also began to surface.

As the Allied Forces marched toward the final battle, they were haunted by these two unsettling rumors that threatened to shake their resolve.

Finally, those who journeyed back and forth between the capital and the army, bringing supplies or for other reasons, brought some news of their own.

In the capital, a peculiar rumor was making the rounds: the Gate Incident had supposedly been orchestrated by the Emperor, not the Demon King.

“That’s nonsense,” people would say. “Why would His Majesty do such a thing?”

Understandably, only a few took the rumor seriously.

“There are many starving people in the capital,” someone pointed out. “They have no one to blame but His Majesty.”

“That’s true,” another agreed.

“I had heard about a recent uprising that resulted in many deaths. This must be related to that.”

“When things go wrong, people tend to blame the authorities,” someone else remarked.

Most people dismissed the rumor as mere gossip. But rumors have a way of spreading and intertwining.

The first rumor spoke of an army risen from the dead.

The second whispered of those who had sworn loyalty to the Demon King.

The third suggested that the Emperor himself had orchestrated the Gate Incident.

Though many brushed these off as mere fabrications, there were always those who were more easily swayed. And it was these individuals who began to weave the rumors together.

“But... If it’s true that His Majesty was behind the Gate Incident... then what does that make the Demon King?”

“Don’t say such a thing so recklessly.”

“No, but... isn’t it strange? Doesn’t it seem odd that the Demon King has left us alone all this time?”

The fact that the Demon King hadn’t attacked humanity yet was also fueling speculation. A hypothesis that had never been considered before was starting to take shape in the miasma created by these strange and unbelievable rumors.

“Think about it. If the Demon King truly wanted to wipe out humanity, he could have done it long ago. So why didn’t he?”

It did not make logical sense that humanity was somehow still standing. Yet no one had questioned it thus far, or if they had, they’d kept it to themselves.

Once the Demon King’s name was mentioned, speculation spiraled out of control. Conversations about the Demon King buzzed through the Allied Forces.

“Maybe the Demon King isn’t truly interested in wiping out humanity?”

“That’s ridiculous! Didn’t he attack the capital during the princess’s execution? I heard he left it in ruins.”

“No, I heard he just took the princess and vanished. Apparently, not many lives were lost.”

“I heard thousands were burned alive.”

“Is there anyone here who was in the capital at that time?”

Rumors soon spiraled into wild speculation, and those speculations, masquerading as facts, became the latest gossip among the Allied Forces.

In the end, everyone was left grappling with the most pressing question: why had the Demon King left humanity alone?

Most accepted the truth that the Demon King had orchestrated the Gate Incident to annihilate humanity. If so, then why hadn’t he followed through?

It couldn’t be that the Demon King had vanished; he had appeared not long ago, during the princess’s execution, and some had witnessed that battle firsthand. Imperial soldiers or otherwise, they had still seen the Demon King appear, cutting down Swordmasters and Archmages, only to vanish after the Hero pierced his heart with her sword.

“Could the Demon King have died from that?” some wondered.

“No way. He couldn’t have died from just that,” others argued.

The idea that the Demon King might have perished in that moment began to spread. Had he been dead all this time?

“But if the Demon King is dead, what about those who have supposedly sided with him?” people questioned.

“Exactly,” came the uncertain replies.

The troops, unable to discern where truth ended and lies began, were awash in confusion. And so, those who thrived on rumors emerged, weaving tales from the chaos.

People often weave together scattered stories to form their own versions of the truth. And the story that emerged this time was this:

The Demon King never intended to destroy humanity. The fact that he hadn’t attacked humanity thus far was proof of that.

The Gate Incident was either an accident or a conspiracy orchestrated by the Emperor, who then shifted the blame onto the Demon King.

Some leaders of the Allied Forces, upon discovering the Emperor’s true role in the incident, began to side with the Demon King.

Feeling threatened, the Emperor raised an undead army from the fallen to protect both the Empire and himself.

This tale, however, was completely unrelated to reality, with the events being presented in a jumbled sequence.

There was no explanation for what the Emperor would gain from causing the Gate Incident, nor did it make sense for him to organize the Allied Forces to end it if he had been responsible. Even the origins of the Immortals and the rise of the Demon King’s supporters were misrepresented.

As things go, though, a story that is crafted to seem believable often gains more credibility.

The tale that began with the Demon King’s wickedness had once captured the people’s trust, and this time, stories that painted the Emperor as the villain were starting to do the same.

It’s often easier to believe a story when there’s a clear antagonist to blame.

Of course, many dismissed this tale as mere nonsense. But the important thing was that a seed of doubt had been planted.

When rumors contain wild exaggerations, only a handful might truly believe them. But fragments of those rumors might start to be accepted as truth. Though few truly believed in these fabricated truths, they were convinced about the source of the rumors.

Four truths became deeply embedded in people’s minds: The Emperor had raised an army from the dead. The Demon King was in league with the Allied Forces. Some of the leaders within the Allied Forces had chosen to side with the Demon King. And, since the beginning of the Gate Incident, the Demon King hadn’t launched a single attack on humanity.

Exaggerated and absurd rumors, whether believed or not, inevitably led people to accept the underlying basis of those rumors as fact.

Had the Demon King truly caused the Gate Incident? If he hadn’t, it would explain why he hadn’t acted against humanity since then. However, if he was indeed behind the Gate Incident, then humanity’s continued existence was puzzling.

In reality, aside from the event when the Gate Incident was first triggered, there were no tales of the Demon King directly massacring people or destroying human cities.

Wrapped up in this confusion, the Allied Forces advanced toward Diane, unsure of who they were supposed to hate.

This was the path to the final battlefield.

“It’s already at maximum charge. There’s no need to do more,” Rudina said, noticing Kaier Vioden seated in the Arc Crystal chamber.

“I know,” Kaier replied.

Rudina extracted mana from the Arc Crystal, which was charged using Kaier’s mana. However, after realizing how weak Kaier had become after the relentless battles, she had decided not to push him about the Arc Crystal anymore.

She had often berated him for not doing his job, but that realization helped Rudina truly understand that Kaier had been doing what was necessary all along. And despite Rudina not pushing or urging him to continue, Kaier still continued with his work, now deaf to any calls to stop.

“Sitting in there will only drain your mana,” she warned. “I told you not to enter unless you need to recharge it.”

When mana depletion reaches a critical juncture, it could be fatal. Any further depletion was the equivalent of one’s life itself being drained away.

Rudina understood better than Kaier just how frail his body had become. But as the battles raged on, their already fragile relationship had completely unraveled.

This was the only thing Kaier felt he could do. If he didn’t do it, then what else was there for him?

In the face of Rudina’s harsh words, Kaier, grappling with his self-esteem, clung desperately to the one thing he could still manage. Despite Rudina’s regret over her words, her apologies and her begging him to stop, Kaier wouldn’t listen.

“I’m not trying to do that.”

“Then what are you doing?”

Kaier stood in front of the fully charged Arc Crystal.

What was he trying to do?

Rudina had once insisted he stay locked in there, warning him never to leave it. But she was now more anxious than ever, aware of the toll his actions could take on his body.

“I have a Mana Manipulation deficiency,” he admitted, “but I can still infuse mana into the Arc Crystal. I wanted to see if I could control the speed of the infusion.”

Silence hung between them.

Kaier seemed desperate to discover if there was anything else he was capable of. It was the only thing he felt he could do.

Rudina could only watch Kaier, wide-eyed. ‘I’ve broken him.’

“But it doesn’t seem to work,” he said. “The Arc Crystal isn’t receiving mana from me; it’s taking it.”

He wasn’t willingly giving away his mana; the Arc Crystal simply drew it out of him.

Eventually, Kaier stood up and exited the chamber, a bitter smile on his face. “I don’t really understand it,” he admitted. “Adelia, the one who created this, must be incredible.”

He had been born with immense mana, a remarkable talent, but lacked skill in Mana Manipulation.

“I’m nothing on my own,” Kaier continued, his voice tinged with self-deprecation. “But thanks to a brilliant classmate of mine, I can be of some use.”

Rudina bit her lip, recognizing Kaier’s words as echoes of her own past doubts.

In the past, she called him a foolish kid with nothing but an abundance of mana. Every time their eyes met, she yelled at him to charge the Arc Crystal.

On his part, Kaier couldn’t forget the faces of those he couldn’t save during battles because of mana shortages. Not just one or two, but hundreds.

It was hard for him not to think that such losses were the result of a single person’s lack of diligence.

Rudina had been the one to hurt Kaier, but Kaier did not deny the words that hurt him. Instead, he echoed them.

‘I’m useless. This is all I can do.’

These were the things he found himself saying.

Rudina glanced at Kaier and then lowered her eyes.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

The days of yelling and using a commanding tone were behind her. Rudina now made an effort to speak to Kaier as politely as she could.

But it seemed Kaier himself didn’t mind the tone at all.