Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 672

Only a select few could truly understand the chaos unfolding in the heart of the battlefield.

Among those at its heart was Ludwig.

In the pouring rain, he relentlessly cut down all the monsters before him, leaving a trail of their bodies behind him as he moved through the fray.

Within that turmoil, Ludwig witnessed something extraordinary. A dragon, looking like the embodiment of the universe itself, suddenly appeared. When he saw the dragon obliterate Titan up close, despair had washed over him, just as it had everyone else.

Yet, before the creature could annihilate the Allied Forces with its devastating power, he witnessed Ellen bring it down in an instant. Shortly after that, the battle between the Demon King and the Hero erupted.

It was a series of events beyond comprehension.

To the common person, a clash between the Demon King and the Hero was expected, even anticipated, but from Ludwig’s perspective, it was something that should never have come to pass. And yet they fought.

Ludwig watched from a distance as the rest of the Allied Forces were continually besieged by the monsters attacking from every direction.

This was the battle between the Demon King and the Hero.

But what happened next was even more horrifying.

The Immortals suddenly began slaughtering not just the monsters, but also the soldiers of the Allied Forces. The battlefield echoed with screams and cries of betrayal.

Ludwig understood what this meant. Cristina, who was supposed to control the Immortals, had either lost her mind or was dead.

He didn’t know how things had spiraled out of control. What mattered was that, although a terrifying monster had appeared and subsequently vanished, all the warp gates had been successfully destroyed, leaving only the remaining monsters to deal with. Humanity’s final enemy had become the Immortals.

The Immortals had retreated from the battlefield once earlier, but then they returned, and everyone had witnessed them attempting to kill the Demon King, who was fighting on behalf of humanity.

Ludwig had seen it too.

The Demon King had drawn the Immortals away, further into the city, turning Diane into a wasteland. He had fought fiercely for the sake of humanity in the most perilous of places. Even as humanity’s own weapon sought to destroy him, he charged through the chaos for their sake.

Could the Demon King ever be forgiven? Should he not face the consequences? Such questions seemed unthinkable.

The moment the Immortals began their massacre of the Allied Forces, everyone assumed it was under the Emperor’s orders. The true catalyst for this betrayal was Cristina, but no one was aware of her existence. As a result, all blame and guilt fell squarely on the Emperor’s shoulders.

The Empire wasn’t merely in peril; it had already collapsed. It wasn’t a matter of the Empire disappearing after the war—it had ceased to exist the moment the Immortals first irresponsibly vanished, and then turned their blades against the Allied Forces.

Even if the rest of the world remained oblivious, everyone with the Allied Forces had witnessed the Demon King fighting for humanity. They had seen him braving the threat of being hunted by the Immortals to slay the monsters in Diane.

As Ludwig watched Scarlett flitting across the battlefield to neutralize the Immortals, he couldn’t find it in himself to feel betrayed. Without that betrayal, who knew what horrors might have unfolded?

To Ludwig, Scarlett’s betrayal turned out to be a stroke of good fortune.

The Empire had fallen. The war had ended. The world needed someone to take the lead, and that someone was the Demon King. But if the Demon King were to perish, if the Demon King, who had transformed into humanity’s savior overnight, were to die here...

Chaos would once again engulf humanity.

It didn’t matter whether he was good or evil. Without a leader to guide them, humanity would unravel. The Demon King could not die on this battlefield, even if it meant humanity would have to live united under the banner of oppression.

If he died, then to whom would the Allied Forces pledge their allegiance, and how would they proceed?

It wasn’t about whether the Empire was right or the Demon King was justified. The real issue was the divisions within humanity itself—those who still believed in the Empire, and those who sided with the Demon King.

If the Demon King were to fall, that division would only deepen. Someone had to be around to ensure everyone’s safety, even if it meant imposing order through force.

That burden should not rest solely on the Demon King. There was a shared responsibility for failing to stop Cristina. A shared responsibility for failing to persuade her to abandon her dark path. At that moment, Ludwig felt he had to bear the responsibility for the Immortals slaughtering the Allied Forces.

No—in truth, none of it mattered.

Ludwig continued to watch the battle between the Demon King and the Hero as he sliced through the monsters in front of him and clambered over their corpses.

He saw the Demon King fighting with all his might. And he witnessed the moment when the Demon King somehow saved Ellen, who had been wielding some mysterious power as if possessed.

The things the Demon King fought to protect, the things he strove to reclaim—Ludwig saw him finally succeed in getting them back.

Ludwig couldn’t protect. He had been powerless to persuade. Yet even from a distance, he had seen the Demon King, after a fierce battle, manage to reclaim Ellen from an unknown force.

That was his victory. The Demon King had triumphed in safeguarding something precious after a desperate battle. Reinhart’s victory...

The Demon King had achieved what Ludwig could not. He could not allow it to end in a meaningless death.

He had already witnessed so much. He had spoken of the need for sacrifice and about responsibility, yet he realized he didn’t truly know Reinhart.

From a distance, he had watched Reinhart being pursued by the Immortals, unable to grasp the burden Reinhart carried. He still couldn’t understand it all. What had transpired, what the future held—these remained mysteries to him. But this victory... Reinhart’s victory couldn’t be allowed to dissolve into meaningless futility.

Finding the right way forward seemed impossible, and that belief of his hadn’t wavered. He couldn’t accept that the arrival of the Demon King’s world was the correct path for the world to take.

But the Demon King dying on this battlefield... And Ellen, whom the Demon King had somehow rescued, dying along with him... That was clearly the wrong answer. It was something that could not be allowed to happen.

Since the path Ludwig had intended to take had been shown to him to be one of the worst possible answers, he no longer felt he had the right to demand others pay the price for their mistakes.

If that was the case, then at least he could strive for the smallest bit of good. He had to reclaim his original mindset—to fight for someone’s life, not for the sake of death or to exact the cost of sin.

In the end, he would fight for life itself.

Boom!

And so, Ludwig fought on.

He understood that no one would remember his struggle, not even those whose lives he saved. This was the final battle.

“What a bizarre power,” the old mage mused, his eyes flickering with an eerie gray light.

Ludwig could only discern that this mysterious mage had absorbed everything that had emerged from Ellen’s body. He had initially assumed the mage was one of Reinhart’s subordinates, but it quickly became clear that he was actually trying to kill Reinhart.

Ludwig swung the dark greatsword, but the old mage effortlessly blocked his blow with a single forcefield conjured by his outstretched hand. The sword, which had sliced through the tough hides of otherworldly monsters with ease, was stopped cold.

“That right arm of yours—it doesn’t seem like it belongs to you,” the mage remarked, pointing at Ludwig’s arm, which was engulfed in darkness. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“I feel like I’ve heard about you somewhere...” the mage continued, tilting his head as if trying to recall a distant memory.

“I can’t quite remember...” he continued, his voice trailing off. “Well, it’s not unusual for an old man like me.”

Even without a clear explanation, the old monster’s presence was unsettling, a discomfort that lingered just by being near him.

“But it’s fortunate,” he mused, “that there’s someone who stands in the way at the end. Maybe that’s a good thing.”

The old monster had a fondness for futility, and he found a strange satisfaction in knowing that someone was blocking the path ahead. Because of this, he had no intention of confronting the Demon King before dealing with Ludwig.

That was the essence of the tale.

He still disliked spoiling the story with trivial tricks. This time, he still had a final enemy to face.

It was a beautiful struggle, one that he had to overcome first.

“Huff... Huff...”

Though Ludwig stood guard, blocking the way to prevent his adversary from approaching its prey, he had already danced with death multiple times. Just as Reinhart had collapsed from sheer exhaustion, Ludwig, too, was at his breaking point.

After all, his strength did not come from ordinary means.

Rumble!

“Ugh...!”

A torrent of dark magic surged uncontrollably down his right arm, and the searing pain threatened to overwhelm his consciousness.

He had fought fiercely to reach this point, and his stamina was nearly exhausted. Unlike the Demon King, who had a way to restore himself using Tiamata, Ludwig had no such luxury. His condition couldn’t be healed with Divine Power, and the magic surging through his right arm was beyond his control. He was confronting an enemy whose identity remained a mystery, yet he sensed this foe was likely the strongest he had ever faced. The situation was dire.

The old mage, observing Ludwig’s struggle, calmly extended his right hand.

“Young man,” he began, his voice crackling like distant thunder. “Great power obtained easily always comes with a great price.”

With a gentle motion, he lowered his hand toward the rain-soaked ground and flicked it lightly in Ludwig’s direction.

Even from over twenty meters away, Ludwig could see the rift as it traveled through space.

A blade of wind, formed by the compressed atmosphere, sliced its way toward him.

“Huh...!”

Boom!

“Ugh!”

With a mere flick of his wrist, the mage sent Ludwig hurtling through the air. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared right in front of Ludwig, having used a short-range spatial leap.

Rooooar!

A peculiar gray storm, unlike any form of mana, swirled within the mage’s right hand, and was released with violent force.

Boom!

The torrent of vengeful spirits swallowed Ludwig whole.

“Ugh... Ah... Ugh...!” he panted.

It wasn’t physical pain that overwhelmed him; it was something far deeper, a spiritual agony. Even Ludwig, who had grown used to pain through countless chimera surgeries, couldn’t help but cry out at this unfamiliar torment.

Tossed about by the torrent and sent rolling along the ground, Ludwig trembled, unable to stand. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he was certain the Demon King had faced something like this before. He had no choice but to accept that he was experiencing the same pain the Demon King had previously endured.

Beyond the pain, a primal fear surged within him. It wasn’t just about the intensity of the suffering; it felt as if his very soul was becoming sick. Despair consumed him.

‘I can’t do it. How could someone like me do anything? This isn’t where I belong.’

He was overwhelmed with hopeless thoughts.

The Demon King lay on the ground before him. Had Reinhart faced something like this?

In the grip of fear that surpassed pain, Ludwig barely managed to stand, his entire body trembling. How had the Demon King fought against something like that?

The strangest thing was the monster standing before him. Why did it seem so joyful while harboring such darkness within?

This pain was something Ludwig had never experienced before. It was not just pain, but washed over him like a wave of fear and despair.

The monster approached Ludwig, who was trembling from head to toe, with a sinister smile.

“Isn’t this power all the more beautiful because it can’t actually kill anyone?”

Ludwig continued to tremble as he sucked in ragged breaths.

“This old man enjoys the expression of a broken-hearted human.”

Despite gritting his teeth and trying to stand his ground, Ludwig found himself involuntarily stepping back, terrified of the pain he had just felt.

Splash... Splash...!

Trembling with fear, Ludwig stumbled backward, landing in a puddle. He let out an anguished moan.

“Since I couldn’t witness the despair of the one I truly longed to see, perhaps you could show me that expression instead?”

An unconscious person could not express anything. How much despair? How much suffering? He would never know.

Antirianus wanted to see that face—the expression of one who had lost everything after being given the chance to reclaim it all. But since he could not get that satisfaction from the Demon King, the monster would have to settle for seeing that expression on the nameless one who had appeared before him instead.

Fear coursed through Ludwig’s veins, a fear unlike anything he had ever known. The creature he faced was unlike any he had encountered before—a true monster, not there to bring death, but to inflict pain and terror.

Despite the overwhelming dread, Ludwig knew he couldn’t retreat. He summoned every ounce of strength he could muster, forcing his trembling legs to support him. He stood up, groaning in frustration.

“Ugh...!”

He bit his lip until it bled, trying to distract his mind from the pain in his soul by focusing on the physical pain. Stepping forward with determination, Ludwig swung his dark greatsword with all his might.

Bang!

His sword clashed against the forcefield the monster deployed, and his attack was stopped cold.

Once wasn’t enough, so he tried again.

Bang! Bang!

And when that still wasn’t enough, he swung a third time.

Clang!

The force field shattered, but the monster had already conjured another one.

What exactly stood before him? Why did it wield such power? Or had he simply grown too weak?

The old mage waved his hand.

“How about this?”

Rumble!

“What...!”

The ground trembled, and chunks of rock flew up and clung to Ludwig’s body.

“This... This is...!”

The fragments of earth started to constrict around Ludwig, threatening to crush him in an instant.

Rumble!

The rock fragments encased Ludwig, compressing him relentlessly. Before long, the rocks turned transparent, morphing into a crystalline prison.

Ludwig stood frozen in his crystalline cage, his eyes wide with shock. Any ordinary person would have been crushed to death by the immense pressure.

But Ludwig was far from ordinary. He might not have had a name or reputation to boast about, but that didn’t matter. Ludwig was not meant for the ordinary world.

Crack... Crack!

Fissures spread across the crystal prison that held him captive, culminating in a powerful explosion.

Boom!

The crystal shards flew in all directions, and Ludwig, finally free, collapsed to the ground, struggling for air.

Swoosh...

Under the pouring rain, he looked like a defeated man, limp and exhausted.

“Oh...”

The monster seemed intrigued by his escape, observing Ludwig as he gasped for breath and attempted to rise.

Once again, the dark greatsword was in Ludwig’s hand.

The battle raged on. Ludwig was undeniably strong. The dark greatsword, a formidable magical weapon, posed a significant threat to the old mage, and was capable of shattering his defensive force fields. Its power was akin to that of a beast.

Yet, the opponent Ludwig faced was all too unfamiliar. The ancient creature, having absorbed strange and bizarre powers, was too alien an adversary for Ludwig to manage. Magic that bent space... And the torrent of vengeful spirits—Ludwig had no way to block or evade them.

The monster did not even need to face him properly. It was merely toying with him, and Ludwig knew it. He could dodge and shatter the spears of earth, the explosions, and the lightning blasts aimed at him, but he couldn’t fend off the torrent of vengeful spirits unleashed by the old mage.

Just a touch from them filled his mind with fear and pain, threatening to shatter his sanity.

“Ugh! Ugh...!”

Antirianus watched Ludwig as he writhed in agony, his eyes alight with delight.

This was the power the old monster had longed for. A power that didn’t kill, but could break a person. A power that could cause anyone’s face to twist in despair, fear, and pain.

He had never desired it until the Demon King had suggested it, but once he possessed it, it became the very power he had craved. Only Antirianus could wield this power with such joy.

The opponent in front of him was already of no concern. His opponent’s eyes, quivering with pain, were consumed by fear.

Antirianus had no idea who stood before him, but just by virtue of being in this place meant the person was no ordinary human, nor did they possess an ordinary will. This intrigued the monster. How much could this power shatter a human?

“Show me, young man.”

Rumble!

A torrent of vengeful spirits surged from Antirianus’s grasp, enveloping Ludwig.

“Ugh... Ugh...!”

Ludwig, who had collapsed to the ground, began to scream, his entire body trembling.

“I’m curious to see the expression of someone who’s been broken and bent to the point where they have no will to rise again...”

His power could not kill humans, but it could push them to their breaking point.

Antirianus intended to test the limits of this power. Was there a perfect subject to test his abilities on? Well, until the real challenge presented itself, this would serve as good entertainment.

Rumble!

“Ugh... Aaaah!”

Antirianus looked down at Ludwig, who was convulsing on the ground, like a child tearing the legs off an ant before crushing it

He continued to watch.

To see if Ludwig would rise.

To see if he had the strength, the mental fortitude to stand.

After the storm of spirits passed, Antirianus observed Ludwig, kneeling on the ground, trembling as he struggled to his feet. He still clutched the dark greatsword in his right hand.

“You are able to rise,” Antirianus mused.

“Ugh... Ugh...”

Ludwig was painfully aware that his opponent was toying with him.

He knew he couldn’t win. But he could at least buy some time. If the unconscious Demon King awoke, everything could change.

But he couldn’t let that happen.

Reinhart might be able to stop it. Even though Ludwig had failed, Reinhart always found a way to succeed. He would persevere until Reinhart awoke.

He refused to accept the Demon King’s return.

There had to be someone who could discover a new way forward. But that someone wasn’t him. It was the Demon King.

He knew that destroying and killing out of sheer malice, like what Cristina had fallen into, was wrong. In the end, people would die. Despite all intentions on the contrary, someone would inevitably be sacrificed. If such things would happen no matter who was leading, and if no one had the right answer, then at the very least, the person at the top should be someone without malice.

He had seen with his own eyes that Reinhart bore no malice.

He had to protect Reinhart.

Running away, fighting, always on the move. Even when faced with all the malice that the world aimed at him, he had fought fiercely to protect those who bore that malice. He had seen it with his own eyes.

He had to endure until Reinhart awoke.

He sensed that the monster before him was at least intrigued by him. He didn’t know what kind of creature it was or the pain it inflicted.

But as long as he didn’t fall, as long as he could stand.

If standing up could alter the situation even slightly, he had to do it.

Antirianus smiled, noticing the light still flickering in Ludwig’s eyes. It was perhaps the thing the monster cherished most in the world. Whether that light would eventually be snuffed out or not, it didn’t matter to Antirianus.

He relished the process.

Rumble!

In the monster’s right hand, the torrent of vengeful spirits gathered once more.