Chapter 118
In the Demon King's Abyss, no one cared about the changes in the eerie, dark red sky. The Demon King's Palace collapsed, the earth cracked into a deep abyss, and the stench of blood permeated the air. Only the two stone tablets, nestled in the gaps between the shattered ground, reflected the cold sunlight.
The battle, which lasted for nearly three days, wiped out the already small number of pure-blooded demons.
Amidst the filthy dust, Vesper raised his hand, bracing himself against the still-strong stone monument, and pulled himself out of the cracks in the earth.
He felt the sunlight from many years ago falling on him, on his hair, which was congealed with blood and smelled foul.
A pair of boots came into view. Vesper struggled to look up and met the gaze of Veris, who was looking down at him.
His body was already mangled beyond recognition, yet he still had the mind to laugh: "You didn't expect this, did you? The hero you placed your hopes on died at my hands."
Veris looked at him, and the mutated demonic energy dissipated. Even though the entire Demon King Abyss was full of devastation, it looked less ferocious because of the blue sky and white clouds.
The white-haired youth hung the flute back on his waist, sighed softly, and said with a complicated look in his eyes, "You actually... risked your life to this extent."
Vesper snorted coldly and slumped his broken body to the ground. Although the stones beneath him were painful to the wounds, he didn't care. He stared blankly at the blue sky that he had almost never dreamed of.
"I know you must have a backup plan." His voice was low, probably because he really didn't have much strength left.
Arnold and his companions were indeed the strongest team in history, and their teamwork was excellent.
But... Vesper closed his eyes slightly. He was the Demon King, he was royalty. He dared to lead the demons to rampage back then, of course there was his arrogance involved. He wasn't without worry that he might overdo it and die in battle before the day Veris promised.
"This is the last battle for the royal family."
Vesper smiled.
Veris glanced at him, then turned and surveyed the ruins. He raised his hand, and a point of light appeared, which quickly spread into a staff.
The demon king, lying on the ground, stared intently at the figure.
With a flick of the staff toward the sky, a familiar golden bow and arrow totem appeared. Around this totem, several symbols flew out, forming the first ring. Then, magnificent patterns wrapped in incantations formed the second, third, and fourth rings... until this enormous magic circle covered the entire Demon King's Abyss.
Hours earlier, Count Reed, whose troops were stationed outside the Demon King's Forest, stared in disbelief as the dark clouds in the north suddenly dispersed. He understood why His Majesty the King had impatiently said before their departure, "You'll know when to send out the troops later."
He was called out to by his attendants several times before he came to his senses. Without further hesitation, a sharp voice rang out, and the entire army marched north.
Meanwhile, Vesper, lying dead in the Demon King's Abyss, pursed his lips as he looked at the magic circle that enveloped the entire abyss, and at those he had killed one by one—even those he hadn't killed, the curses he left behind were enough to take the lives of humans or other races within a day, being dug out of the ruins by an invisible force.
Veris clicked his tongue in amazement: "I really underestimated you."
Vesper scoffed, "You're not underestimating me, you're just too strong. You can't even detect the slightest imbalance of power, and you can dominate the entire battle."
“That’s true.” Veris shrugged, cast another spell to heal the people’s internal and external injuries, and said, “I guess I’ve only ever made a few mistakes in my life.”
He became an orphan in his youth, failed to realize his own feelings in his young adulthood, and watched helplessly as Sylvain went to his death like a moth to a flame. Later, he followed Lor'theran and witnessed the devastation, moral chaos, and apathy of humanity in Icarus.
"It's really enviable," Vesper muttered.
Veris ignored his words and instead brought up another matter: "The mutated demonic energy has been eliminated, and the Lortheran army will soon occupy the Demon King's Forest. As for where you are being held and the location of the stone tablet, I will seal this place off as a forbidden area and wait for ten years for the remaining demonic energy to dissipate."
He turned his head, looked at Arnold lying beside him, walked a few steps over, squatted down, examined him carefully for a while, then clicked his tongue and turned to Vesper: "You have a grudge against him? You're practically ready to drag him into a self-destruction, aren't you?"
A hint of disgust flashed across Vesper's face: "He looks a bit like Lortheran."
Even after all these years, he still remembered the humiliation Lortheran had inflicted on him. That young man had really slapped him hard several times and then had people come to slap him repeatedly for hundreds of years.
No wonder he finds it disgusting.
However, after pondering for a long time, Veris said quietly, "He is indeed now the biological father and son of Lortheran."
Vesper's eyes widened, and he felt his wounds, which had just begun to heal, burst open. Then he heard Veris say in a subtle tone, "What did you say before, atavism? Atavism is in the royal family... then wouldn't that mean your brother, oh, Lortheran is your younger brother now, and this is your nephew?"
The old demon king didn't even get to the last sentence; he fainted from anger upon hearing that Lortheran was his brother.
Veris, with his hands tucked in his pockets, looked at the unconscious old demon king and hissed.
The old man was indeed stubborn.
He shook his head, and before he could finish his lament, the old demon king on the ground opened his eyes again.
Veris paused in his sigh, looking down at the last member of the royal family, meeting a pair of calm eyes.
The surroundings immediately fell silent. The eyes darted around and took in the surroundings. Of course, the first thing they saw was the blue sky and white clouds, a sky completely different from that of the old Icarus.
He opened his chapped lips, his voice still weak, but unable to hide his laughter: "You...did it."
Veris pursed his lips and said after a long while, "Now that you're awake, I can't find anything to contain your soul."
The elf Hill, who had briefly taken over the Demon King's body, said nonchalantly, "Having witnessed this scene today, I have no regrets even if I die."
Veris's expression changed instantly.
But the most urgent task was to take a deep breath, raise his hand again, and a deep red light entered the Demon King's body, temporarily giving the body the power to move.
Hill also felt the wounds in his body begin to stop worsening, and a powerful force. He got up, but didn't stand up. He just sat on the ground, looking up at the sky, gazing at the dreamlike colors with almost greedy eyes.
Veris stood beside him, glancing at the heroes who were already showing signs of waking up.
This does not include Arnold himself, of course.
"How are Lortheran, the dragon, and Sylvain?" The elf Hill's voice was as steady and calm as he remembered.
Veris: "Everything is fine, the dragon should be arriving soon."
The dragon, for some unknown reason, abandoned him in the Demon King's Abyss and hurriedly flew south, saying he wanted to bring Lortheran over as well, so that Lortheran could see that the Demon King's Forest, which had troubled them for so many years, had changed drastically.
The elf Hill finally looked away from the sky and carefully examined his companion whom he hadn't seen for who knows how long. He smiled, and even though it was Vesper's face, his smile was completely different from Vesper's.
He concealed the rules, the world's consciousness, time and fate, and all the gods, and accomplished such a momentous feat.
It's possible that each time his consciousness fades, he will never wake up again, or it's possible that when he does wake up again, Veris will have already reached the end.
Veris couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.
Like a taut bow with its string on the verge of snapping, even if his scheme fails, he will not have any fear of death. He will still be the supreme Pope, ruling over the faith of the entire continent. Humanity almost wants to elevate him to godhood, and he will be remembered for eternity in history.
But his companions, his lovers, will never return. They will even pay a terrible price in the eyes of humans, disappearing silently into the river of time. Throughout the nearly three hundred years of Orlando's history, Veris cannot find where his companions are hiding.
This taut bow, with its string poised to snap at any moment, is Veris's heart.
Especially when he realized a sliver of the truth, Veris's mind was on edge. Every move he made could have catastrophic consequences.
He appears relaxed and easygoing, capable of creating mountains and filling seas with a wave of his hand, and decrees the fate of believers with a stroke of his pen. Every moment he handles official business at the Papacy, he bears immense pressure.
Fortunately, he delivered a fairly satisfactory result.
At least, the people he wanted were alive and well, and his unbearable past had been rewritten.
He took a deep breath. Perhaps for a moment, he felt envious, and for a moment, he felt ashamed when facing the young King Rinister.
But he will never turn back.
The elf Hill glanced at the group of young people not far away and raised an eyebrow: "So it's them."
"It is thanks to the luck of the Hero Star that things have gone so smoothly." Veris's voice softened considerably. "So I will bring them back to life, and this year's Demon King and Hero War should be a resounding victory."
"Even though the injuries are severe, many demons have died and some have surrendered. We can't just wipe them all out. We still need their strength to deal with the situation in Demon King's Forest. The hero Arnold went through great hardships to seal the Demon King in Demon King's Abyss. After Demon King's Forest was breached, Demon King's Abyss was designated a forbidden area. I will write to the king and send people to guard it... Sigh, forget about the living people. You'd better make a few puppets."
The elf Hill had been listening attentively, but when he heard the last sentence, his lips twitched. He seemed to remember something, and although that matter wasn't important in the current situation, he still said with a strange expression, "I don't know why, but during my slumber, I always heard many voices talking about 'the Alchemy God'..."
Veris turned to look at him, his expression even stranger than Veris's: "You... can hear me?"
The elf Hill looked bewildered: "There are indeed many sounds, and the content is quite strange. Is there a problem?"
Veris thought of the alchemists' worrying mental state and didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only suppress the corners of his lips and say, "Ahem, you'll know when you recover."
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt the dragon's aura approaching, so he turned his head and saw the dragon's shadow in the sky growing larger and larger.
The dragon not only kidnapped Lor'theran, but also forcibly dragged Sylvain onto its pirate ship.
Although the dragon's back was broad, it was only a small area. Lortheran clung to the dragon's neck, trembling with fear. Behind him stood Sylvain, his face expressionless, his dark green eyes deep and unfathomable.
"Help me up." After sitting for a while, Hill had regained her strength, but she still had some difficulty controlling her body. She reached out to Veris and said.
Veris reached out and pulled him up, just as the dragon landed. His excited voice rang out, "Hill! How did you manage to possess the Demon King's body?!"
His Majesty the King, who had fallen off the dragon's back, nearly landed face-first in the dirt, but when he got up, he saw Veris helping up a familiar, sworn enemy of the Demon King—even if that body contained Hill.
He still shuddered and turned to glance at Sylvain, whose demeanor was completely different from his.
Great, Sylvain is about to explode.
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Author's Note: Lortheran: (whistling)
A list of Arnold's team's opponents: the gods of heaven and earth, the god of time, the god of fate, Veris (the young king) who reversed timelines, and the demon king who could stand up to the gods in the era of the seven gods (the skin version of Rebuilding Royal Glory).
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