Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

[Translator - Kie]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]

Chapter 341: Mount Carion (4)

Just before the beam fired, Balhard activated his Dragon Tongue.

The three syllables he uttered meant "straight line" "acceleration" and "explosion."

The air exploded, propelling Balhard forward. He swiftly crossed the sky, barely escaping the beam's range.

Immediately after, the red beam struck the earth.

The ground disintegrated, leaving a massive and deep crater. Balhard looked down into it, seeing only an abyss where the bottom should have been.

"G-good heavens..."

Balhard felt cold sweat forming at the sight of such terrifying destructive power.

Even his father couldn't have unleashed such devastation.

"Another one's coming. Dodge it.”

Damien perched atop Balhard's head. Suddenly, magic circles appeared around Balhard.

Countless dark spells poured out from the circles. Balhard quickly maneuvered to avoid them.

"How is it possible to use so much dark magic so casually? This defies logic!"

Balhard shouted incredulously.

Even dragons considered the origin of magic, couldn't cast this many spells at such speed.

"It's not just dark magic."

Damien replied.

"What?"

"Regular magic and miracles are mixed in too."

Damien observed the incoming spells from all directions. Balhard couldn't help but object.

"That's impossible! Mana, dark mana, and divine power conflict with each other! How can one person wield all of that?"

"That one can do it. He has the same authority as me."

Damien said, looking at Lambda.

The Authority of Envy had the ability to change the nature of specific energies.

Lambda was currently using the Authority of Envy in real-time to simultaneously wield magic, dark magic, and miracles.

But that wasn't all.

Lambda had even created doppelgangers using the Authority of Envy.

He created energies optimized for himself and then imbued them with souls.

"To think he could utilize the Authority of Envy like that... This is quite impressive."

Even Damien was amazed by such an ingenious application. However, he also found it strange.

"Going to such lengths to prevent my arrival? It seems Dorugo needs to buy time."

The corner of Damien's mouth twisted.

He couldn't bear to play along with Dorugo's intentions any longer.

"Lord Damien! I can't dodge anymore!"

Balhard cried out urgently. Magic circles had suddenly surrounded them on all sides.

The circles began to glow simultaneously. Just before the magic activated, Damien extended his hand.

The mark on his wrist disappeared, and a sword materialized. It wasn't Erebos.

It was the divine sword.

The sword that Ruin had created for the first emperor.

This was the first time Damien had drawn the divine sword in actual combat. But it posed no problem.

After all, he had seen the Imperial Supreme Sword use it countless times in his previous life.

Damien raised the divine sword high as if to pierce the sky. The sword emitted a dazzling light.

In that instant, all the surrounding magic circles were erased.

They weren't destroyed or annihilated. They all reverted to demonic energy.

"Damien Haksen. What is this? I don't understand."

Lambda said in a bewildered voice. But Damien had no intention of explaining anything to Lambda right now.

"Is this your way of rebelling? Then I'll have to use my full power."

Magic circles appeared before Lambda. Circular magic formations stacked upon each other.

The circles started small but grew larger towards the back.

"Penetration. Amplification. Increased destructive power."

Red beams gathered in the first magic circle.

"Fire."

The red beam was launched. It amplified as it passed through each circle.

"Lord Damien! It's coming! Watch out!"

Balhard shouted dramatically. Damien punched Balhard on the head.

"Be quiet. I can't concentrate."

Damien glared at Lambda with cold eyes.

The reason Damien was flying through the sky with Balhard was because he couldn't open a dimensional gate.

The Lambda before them was just a doppelganger. The real body was on Mount Carion.

In other words, this doppelganger was connected to the main body on Mount Carion.

"Found it."

At that moment, the red beam passed through the last magic circle. The entire view turned red.

In response, Damien swung the divine sword. The blade emitted a dazzling light.

The light collided with the red beam. Instantly, the red beam dispersed into energy.

Lambda's eyes filled with dismay. But the real surprise was yet to come.

The slash of light cut through Lambda as well. The black cloud composing Lambda's doppelganger, along with its eyes, was cleaved in half.

"Ah, aaaaah... Argh!"

With a scream, Lambda's doppelganger vanished.

Only a dimensional rift remained where it had been. Damien had forcibly cut through the connection between the main body and the doppelganger.

The rift was very small and closing rapidly. Damien immediately ordered Balhard:

"Let's go quickly!"

Balhard swiftly flew towards the rift. Just before entering, Damien said to Balhard.

"From here, return to the Empire. Go tell the Imperial Supreme Sword that I'm entrusting my family to him."

"Surely you're not planning to go alone, Lord Damien?"

Damien nodded.

Ahead lay Dorugo and the Four Great Demon Kings. He couldn't guarantee Balhard's survival...

"That's a relief!"

Balhard exclaimed with a bright expression. Damien looked at Balhard with disbelief.

"You bastard. We'll settle this when I return."

"Huh? No, I just misspoke earlier..."

Ignoring Balhard's words, Damien threw himself into the rift.

***

As soon as Damien passed through, the rift closed completely.

Arriving on the other side, Damien looked around.

"...Did I come to the right place?"

Damien had expected to arrive at Mount Carion through the rift.

But the place he actually arrived at was a battlefield.

Soldiers wearing imperial armor lay dead. Their spilled blood had completely stained the field.

Damien walked among the soldiers and examined them. Then he suddenly noticed something.

There was a figure standing atop a mountain of corpses.

The knight had a massive build that seemed inhuman. Clad in thick armor, he looked like a giant.

Damien stared at the knight. His eyes trembled slightly.

He couldn't help it. That was himself.

"...Now I remember."

This was the battlefield where Damien had first been deployed. It was where he had first received orders from Dorugo as a Death Knight. It was Damien's first massacre.

His stomach churned. He felt nauseous.

Suddenly, the scenery changed.

It was another battlefield. Again, countless soldiers lay dead.

But the armor the soldiers wore was different.

Not the Empire, but the Apple Kingdom.

They were soldiers from his homeland.

"Damien!"

A familiar voice called from behind.

Turning around, he saw his father. A much older, frailer version of his father stood there.

"Why are you with that monster!"

His father was wailing, his face distraught.

"What's happened to you! What's with that appearance!"

His father was shouting at the black knight. But his cries didn't reach the knight.

"Damien... Ugh!"

A greatsword pierced his father's chest. It broke through his ribs and protruded from his back.

Blood vessels burst in his father's eyes. In extreme agony, his father coughed up blood and cried out:

"I'm... sorry..."

The black knight swung the greatsword sideways. It was a casual motion as if sweeping away the trash.

His father's corpse slid off the blade from the momentum. He rolled on the ground.

"..."

Damien's fingertips twitched. Veins bulged on his neck and forehead.

Silently, Damien gripped the divine sword in reverse. He thrust the tip of the sword into the ground.

The surrounding scenery shattered like glass. His father, the black knight, the battlefield—all vanished.

Instead, the landscape of Mount Carion appeared. Suppressing his rage, Damien spoke.

"You're still up to your disgusting tricks, just like in the old days."

Dorugo stood a short distance away. She smiled faintly and said.

"I prepared this in a hurry when I heard you were coming. Didn't you like it?"

"Stop spewing nonsense."

"Don't you think this level of payback is justified, considering what you did to me?"

One of Damien's eyebrows twitched.

"Justified? Have you finally lost your mind?"

"My mind is perfectly sane. I can't go mad until I've had my revenge on you."

Damien was dumbfounded. Dorugo was saying the very words he should be saying.

"Do you know what my goal was?"

Dorugo suddenly blurted out something unexpected.

"Your goal was to travel back in time to reunite with Ruin, wasn't it?"

"So you did know. Did you hear it from Milene? That damned traitor would remember everything. I shouldn't have accepted an elf into the Salvation Squad."

Dorugo's voice turned hostile. But she quickly regained her composure.

"Yes, my goal was to meet Ruin again. For that, I researched the authorities of the Demon Lords. With their authorities, I could reverse time."

Dorugo spoke in a bitter tone.

"It wasn't easy research. I failed countless times. There was so much to study, but a human lifespan was too short. In the end, I had no choice but to abandon my body."

Dorugo had abandoned her Demon Lord body to become human. Then she abandoned her human body to become a lich.

"As a lich, I threw myself back into research. Centuries and years passed, but there were no significant results. All I realized through my research was the reality that time reversal couldn't succeed."

Dorugo's voice was heavy with fatigue.

Even for a Demon Lord, dedicating over hundreds of years to fruitless research was exhausting.

"Do you know why? There was no soul powerful enough to wield all the Demon Lords' authorities simultaneously. I managed to obtain the souls of dragons and Marquise class demon beings to try, but they all failed. They were all destroyed, unable to withstand the Demon Kings' powers."

The light faded from Dorugo's eyes.

"In the end, I had no choice but to give up. I didn't want to, but I had no other option. So I changed my goal. I decided to destroy the Empire that killed him instead."

Dorugo's voice regained its strength. Her hatred for the Empire seeped through heavily.

"That wasn't an easy path either. The Empire was too strong, and I had no power. The Demon Lords' bodies was in Mount Carion, but I had no way to open it. The key was destroyed when Ruin was attacked."

Damien recalled the key that Vahel had possessed.

It must have been destroyed when Ruin's body was mutilated.

"To take revenge on the Empire, I spread dark magic, trained dark mages, and created Pandemonium. But it was far from enough. I thought I'd never be able to topple the Empire. Then one day... you appeared."

In his previous life, Damien had joined a mercenary group after being exiled from his family.

And during one of the mercenary group's missions, he encountered Dorugo.

"When I first saw you, I saw hope to destroy the Empire. Your talent was truly extraordinary. I knew that if I modified you into a Death Knight and trained you, you'd become the dagger to bring down the Empire."

After that, Damien was modified into a Death Knight by Dorugo's hand.

During that time, Dorugo realized something.

"While modifying you, I belatedly realized. That you had inherited Ruin's talent. At first, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know Ruin's talent could be passed down."

Dorugo's voice gradually brightened. It even became passionate.

"You can't imagine how happy I was when I realized that. The final piece needed for time reversal had fallen into my hands! I could meet the real Ruin again!"

Dorugo lowered her gaze to look at Damien. Madness swirled in her eyes.

"I stored all the powers I had gathered in your body! On the day I would complete my revenge by destroying the Empire! To use all that power to turn back time!"

Dorugo's voice rose. A broad smile spread across her face.

"My plan was perfect! I killed the Imperial Supreme Sword and toppled the Empire! I made the people of this era who had forgotten Ruin pay the price by killing them all! All that was left was to return to the past! All I had to do was meet Ruin again!"

Anger gradually filled Dorugo's voice.

"But who ruined that plan? My waiting! The reward for my hatred! Who ruined it, I ask you!"

"So you're saying it's my fault?"

"Of course it is!"

Dorugo shouted in a burst of anger.

"You used the immense power I gathered over hundreds of years to turn back time by mere decades! Because of you, all my plans were ruined! How can you say that's not your fault!"

Dorugo screamed as if throwing a tantrum. Damien wore a cold sneer.

"You stupid whore. I can't stand to listen anymore."

Damien raised the divine sword. Dorugo's eyes became languid.

"Right, I've talked too much. I should subdue you quickly and go meet Ruin."

Suddenly, Dorugo seemed to move far away.

It wasn't that Dorugo had moved. The space between them had suddenly expanded.

Damien tried to chase after Dorugo. At that moment, powerful energies exploded.

"Lord Damien, we can't let you go any further."

"Cannot pass. Face us first."

"Kahahah! I finally get to have my revenge on you!"

"......"

The Four Great Demon Kings.

Dorugo's children were blocking Damien's path.

"Right, I had forgotten about you a lot."

Black armor appeared from thin air and covered Damien's body.

Then he drew Erebos. Holding the divine sword and Erebos in each hand, he said.

"No matter how urgent it is, I can't ignore filth like you."

***

[Translator - Kie]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]