Chapter 99

Gods from beyond.

Outer Gods.

Absolute beings who had created countless universes since time immemorial.

The Itarim.

["... Once, the ‘god’ of our world was one of them as well."]

A conversation Suho had once had with Beru flashed through his mind.

The god who had created the world to which Earth belonged had also been one of the Itarim. But even such an absolute being could not escape one thing: death.

And his end had been truly wretched.

The rebellion of the angels.

Born as the god’s apostles, the angels had one day discovered the truth: the god they served was neither good nor righteous, but a cruel being who simply delighted in creation and destruction.

Upon realizing this, the angels had finally rebelled against their god—and succeeded.

["And so the god ultimately died. At the hands of the very angels he had created."]

But that was when the trouble began.

A world without a god.

A land without a master.

The vast reserves of mana remaining in this world were now there for whoever claimed them first. And the Outer Gods scattered across distant dimensions—the other Itarim—had noticed.

["That was when the Outer Gods began turning their attention to our world."]

At first, it had been a race to get there first. All that mattered was who would arrive and plant their flag on this land before the rest.

Whoever lived here, whatever the dead Itarim had created here, they needed only to destroy and devour it all. It was an exceedingly simple race.

Yet when they actually arrived, an unexpected variable awaited them.

That variable was...

["Our king. Your father, Young Monarch."]

The god of this land was dead, but a new king who ruled over death itself was here.

The greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light, Sung Jinwoo, the Shadow Monarch.

Suho’s father had led his vast army into space and begun holding back the armies of the Itarim.

... It was the opening act of the War of the Outer Gods.

["Our war was fiercer than any other, and it continued without end. Even at this very moment."]

No one could guarantee who would win this war. On one side were beings who created without end; on the other, an immortal army that rose again no matter how many times it died.

No one knew how long that precarious balance would last.

They could only fight, and fight again.

["Then, to break that deadlock, the Itarim tried another approach."]

A detour.

The front door guarded by Sung Jinwoo was too strong to breach, so they had decided to take a long way around and attack the back door.

["And that was Earth."]

In truth, Earth was the least appetizing territory to the Itarim. Compared to the other dimensions, its remaining mana was so weak that there was little to eat.

But that also meant it had plenty of vulnerabilities they could exploit to get inside.

Having chosen Earth as their target, the Itarim’s apostles had immediately begun melting the dimensional walls to open a path there. As a result, the already unstable dimensional rifts had begun twisting unpredictably, and Gates had started springing up all over Earth.

Yet unexpectedly, those who actually invaded Earth through those Gates were not the Itarim’s armies, but dimensional refugees.

The races of the dead Monarchs, torn apart and left adrift after their defeat in the War of the Monarchs, had begun invading Earth.

["I suspected the Itarim’s apostles were working behind the scenes, but..."]

"So this is the form they took."

Suho glared at the Frenzied Blood Tyrant with a chilling gaze.

Mist Burn.

A flaming magic beast that blazed with a dead human as its wick.

The dead demon’s corpse was burning in precisely the same way. Of course, there was one clear difference from Mist Burn. A human wick quickly burned to ash, but a demon wick was far more durable.

WHOOSH!

Flames flickered above the neck Suho’s sword had severed, forming something resembling a face. It looked as though a flaming magic beast were wearing a full suit of armor made from a demon’s corpse.

"What a snail-like creature."

Beru clicked his tongue in scorn.

"O Tyrant King!"

"O Tyrant King!"

All around, demons trembled and prostrated themselves at the Frenzied Blood Tyrant’s appearance. The atmosphere was feverish, like fanatics greeting their cult leader.

But the Frenzied Blood Tyrant seemed not to hear them. Its interest lay solely in Suho, the only one here who was not bowing.

"... How interesting."

At last, its mouth opened as it studied Suho with interest, releasing a voice with an uncanny resonance.

"To think I would find someone like you in a place like this."

Suho gulped, his expression tightening at those words.

‘Has it figured out who I am?’

Nothing good could come of an apostle of the Itarim learning that the Shadow Monarch’s son was here.

‘I’m Father’s only weakness.’

Suho swallowed hard as he watched the Frenzied Blood Tyrant, which seemed to have realized something. The consequences were obvious if the true nature of his powers was exposed to none other than the Itarim.

He had never imagined he would encounter an Itarim apostle here. He could hardly help being rattled.

"Heh heh heh!"

The Frenzied Blood Tyrant stretched its mouth into a wide grin and burst into crazed laughter.

"To think a demon noble was still alive!"

... Huh?

The tension abruptly drained from Suho’s face. Beru apparently felt the same way, for he whispered from Suho’s shadow.

"Ahem. It seems Vulcan’s and Esil’s auras are so strong on you right now that it has been misled, Young Monarch. This may be for the be—"

Just then, a sinister gleam entered the Frenzied Blood Tyrant’s eyes.

"Remarkable. An heir who has even inherited a Monarch’s power."

"...!"

"...!"

Suho’s and Beru’s eyes widened simultaneously.

In a flash, Suho readied himself to spring forward and cut it down. He had already come up with thirteen ways to kill it as quickly as possible.

"Young Monarch! We must kill it here, no matter what! If we let it escape, information about you could reach the enemy—!"

At that moment, the tyrant spoke.

"How in the world did a demon become the Monarch of Fangs’ heir?"

"Kieek?"

"How did you know? You have good instincts."

"... Young Monarch?"

Suho promptly nodded and answered the Frenzied Blood Tyrant’s question. He could feel Beru staring up at him from his shadow in disbelief, but ignored him.

The Frenzied Blood Tyrant gave a knowing smile.

"Do you take me for a fool? With that beastly stench pouring off your body, how could I not know?"

[The King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs, watches the Frenzied Blood Tyrant with a look of contempt.]

Suho felt as though he could hear Rakan clicking his tongue from afar, but he maintained his brazen expression. Then he proudly revealed his identity(?).

"You’re right. I’m a demon noble who inherited the Monarch of Fangs’ power."

"So that was it. Hahaha! Excellent, excellent! To think I would find someone like you in this backwater!"

Suho’s confidence seemed to have worked, for the Frenzied Blood Tyrant burst into pleased laughter. As it rang through the colosseum, the demons cowered all the more.

Indeed, Suho currently had Gray possessing his body through Spirit Possession. And while he was holding Vulcan’s Horn in his hand rather than wearing it on his head, that made perfect sense if he were a demon who could turn his own horn into a weapon, like Esil.

‘Good. I just barely managed to hide my identity.’

"I-is this really okay?"

Esil’s incredulous voice reached Suho as he smiled in satisfaction, but he pretended not to hear. Quay and Beru had appeared outside his shadow during the battle, but fortunately, the Frenzied Blood Tyrant did not seem to have noticed that much.

"So what exactly are you planning?"

When Esil whispered from within Vulcan’s Horn, Suho turned her question right back on the Frenzied Blood Tyrant.

"So what exactly are you planning?"

He challenged it with a haughty, arrogant gaze, as though he truly were a demon noble.

The Frenzied Blood Tyrant regarded him with scorn.

"Did you come here after me from the start?"

"Enough talk. Tell me why you’re going so far as to use slaves to gather hell iron in this backwater."

Countless demons were enslaved here, yet all they did was mine hell iron. What could it want with so much of it?

Only one reason came to mind.

"You aren’t preparing for war, are you?"

As Esil had once told him, hell iron was the most commonly used material for making weapons in the Demon Realm. Steeped in demonic energy, it was not merely hard. It was also the ore most responsive to demonic energy, capable of significantly amplifying mana.

In response to Suho’s question, the Frenzied Blood Tyrant spread its blazing arms, gesturing at the demons throughout the vast colosseum.

"Now! Do you see? This place is already completely under my control. But as you know, it is nothing more than a fragment of the Demon Realm."

That was why it called this place a backwater. Countless fragments of the Demon Realm lay scattered throughout the dimensional rifts, drifting aimlessly. This was merely one of them.

"I intend to train these creatures and conquer every one of those Demon Realms. And then..."

Its expression deepened as it looked at Suho.

"I will bring every other dimension beneath my feet as well. I will kill and kill, and devour them all."

So that was it.

The Frenzied Blood Tyrant—no, the Itarim’s apostle—intended to use the demons to seize the Demon Realm, starting here. Then it would conquer the other dimensions one by one, until finally...

‘It reaches for Earth.’

Suho’s brow furrowed as he realized what the Itarim’s apostle was planning.

Meanwhile, the Frenzied Blood Tyrant smacked its lips as it unleashed an utterly malevolent aura. Then it focused that aura on Suho.

"That is why I’ve been searching for someone just like you."

"Like me?"

"Yes. Just how much stronger would I become if I wore the body of a demon noble like you as armor? Heh. The very thought is thrilling."

Utter ecstasy.

Clad in the demon head jailer’s body like a suit of armor, the Frenzied Blood Tyrant looked as though it already had Suho’s body in its grasp.

That was neither empty bluster nor delusion. Every demon filling the colosseum was its slave.

Yet even in this overwhelmingly dangerous situation...

‘Beru.’

With a deeply composed gaze, Suho was asking Beru a question.

‘Has Father...been fighting things like this all this time? Alone?’

"He has."

Beru answered solemnly.

"Our king has always fought alone. In places no one knows, in times no one remembers."

And even at this very moment...

Suho’s father, Sung Jinwoo, was still fighting that solitary, lonely battle.

At the farthest reaches of the universe, where no one could reach him.

‘... I see.’

Suho nodded silently. A quiet fire began to burn in his eyes.

"Father must be terribly bored."

So...

"I’ll have to go see him myself."

Honestly, he did not know what help he could be even if he went. But as his father’s only son, shouldn’t he at least go give him a shoulder rub while he struggled alone so far from home?

"... It’d be even better if I brought plenty of presents along."

Suho turned his gaze toward the Frenzied Blood Tyrant and its oppressive presence.

Yes, presents.

That was what this was.

He would start by taking care of the small fry in front of him on his own.

"Arise."