Who was this guy? What was he doing here?
Apart from those questions, there was a mountain of other suspicious points that deserved questioning. However, Eugene wasn’t curious about any of those details and didn’t have anything to ask this figure. Because Eugene was experiencing a state of emotion so pure that it was much higher in terms of precedence and importance than anything else going through his mind.
Eugene just wanted to kill him.
This sole emotion drove Eugene to break into a run. This single-minded and intense killing intent also led him to place one hand on his heart.
The fingers of his hand wrapped around the hilt of the Divine Sword, clenching so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged out.
A thought suddenly flashed through Eugene’s head, ‘No, hold on.’
Reason floated to the surface from within the surging river of killing intent. Eugene’s hot head cooled down as if ice water had been poured onto it.
He hit the brakes on his speeding body. His right hand was still holding on tightly to the hilt of his Divine Sword, but he had yet to draw the blade.
“Phew,” Eugene took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling.
Eugene was focused on calming the murderous intent boiling within him. Now that he had put the brakes back on, his sense of reason grew even stronger.
He needed to think of something. Anything. Something other than the thought of killing the person in front of him.
“I don’t think that you’ve come here to be killed by me,” Eugene eventually said.
This wasn’t an opponent so insignificant that Eugene could kill him with just one swing of his Divine Sword. Eugene had already acknowledged this fact. But even though he didn’t really want to fight the specter here, if he had to, then it couldn’t be helped.
“From what I’ve heard, you have a talent for suddenly appearing and disappearing. And even if your head is chopped off and your body broken into pieces, you somehow still managed to survive,” Eugene observed curiously.
Agaroth or Eugene’s Divine Sword could even manage to slay Demon Kings. That had been an indisputable fact during the mythological era, and now, in the present era, when Iris had become the new Demon King of Fury, Eugene had ended her life with the sword.
However, would it really have been possible for him to kill Iris if she had been in perfect condition with just one swing of the Divine Sword?
The Divine Sword might be strong, but Eugene wasn’t going to overestimate its power. He had always been cautious in matters like this, even during his time as Hamel. He would always assume the worst when it came to battles. It was only by preparing for the worst-case scenario that he could deal with anything unexpected.
“Just what are you?” Eugene demanded.
If Eugene swung the Divine Sword at the specter, would he be able to kill the man right here and now? He should be able to deal at least some damage. However, the problem of whether he would be able to reliably ensure the specter’s death after that first blow was a matter that required careful consideration.
The Divine Sword was different from the Moonlight Sword or the Holy Sword. Whenever Eugene swung the divine sword, it consumed a part of his divine power. His divine power might have increased tremendously compared to when he had first drawn the Divine Sword, but drawing the Divine Sword still placed a heavy burden on Eugene.
So if he ended up unable to use the Divine Sword to its full potential at a critical moment because he swung it here today….
‘...That would be a stupid thing to do,’ Eugene thought as he held back his urge to attack.
There was also a strategic reason for not using the Divine Sword.
‘This bastard doesn’t know about the Divine Sword,’ Eugene reminded himself.
So if he couldn’t kill this guy here and now, it would be better not to show him the Divine Sword in the first place.
The specter had been busy staring at Eugene but suddenly said, “How unexpected.”
He measured the distance between Eugene and himself. They weren’t all that far apart. It was a distance that would only take a hundredth of a second for Eugene to cross if he were to try and take the specter's head.
The specter had predicted that Eugene would immediately rush over to him to slice off his head. He had even thought about allowing it to happen.
But Eugene hadn’t done so.
So why had he stopped?
The specter had felt Eugene’s killing intent wash over him the moment that their eyes had met. The killing intents of Gavid Lindman, Molon Ruhr, and Sienna Merdein had been impressive, but Hamel or Eugene Lionheart’s was on a different level.
Eugene was the only one who could muster up such a single-minded and violent killing intent, so when that killing intent suddenly disappeared, the specter had to wonder whether he was dealing with the real Eugene or a fake.
“No, this really is like you,” the specter corrected himself.
The specter hadn’t expected Eugene to suddenly stop like that. But that just proved he had been thinking too simply. If it was Eugene — or Hamel — then the right thing to do was to stop there. As the specter realized this, he smiled wryly. He hadn’t understood what Eugene was doing right away and had had to give it a bit more thought to put himself into Eugene’s shoes.
All of that just seemed to prove to the specter that he was just a fake.
“How difficult,” Eugene muttered.
The specter’s face couldn’t be seen because of his mask. However, Eugene could easily imagine the face hidden behind the mask and even vividly picture what kind of expression he must be showing through the specter’s downcast voice.
“It’s so difficult to resist the feeling of wanting to kill someone,” Eugene sighed to himself.
It felt like his insides were boiling. Far too many thoughts were roiling inside of his head.
The sound of Molon’s confused voice. The sight of Black Lion Castle left in shambles. The scene of the forest after all the trees were swept away. The cries of the wounded soldiers. The smell of blood. The groans that leaked out, not because of the agony they might be feeling, but because they couldn’t stand the rage welling up within them.
Eugene took a few deep breaths to calm his emotions. His face, which had carried an expression of murderous rage, was wiped clean. With eyes that were as cold as ice, Eugene glared at the specter.
“Why haven’t you answered my question?” Eugene demanded.
“It’s hard to know what I should say,” the specter confessed.
“In that case, allow me to provide an answer myself. You’re an asshole, a son of a bitch, and a fake. Is that enough of a description?” Eugene said angrily.
Instead of saying anything in response, the specter just chuckled. Since the original had already voiced the truth like that, what was the point in trying to refute him? The specter had no desire to even try denying Eugene’s words.
Eugene voiced his doubts, “You, just what on earth is that you want to do? Why get up to such bullshit in a city that doesn’t even belong to you?”
“Because it’s necessary,” the specter claimed.
“Necessary for you? Or perhaps, for me?” Eugene pressed, his eyes narrowed.
Eugene already knew this bastard might be hypocritically claiming to do all this for his sake.
“I guess you could say that this is something that we all need,” the specter hummed and replied.
“That’s just something that you went and decided on your own,” Eugene argued, his head tilted to the side in question. “I know that you’ve got a lot of things causing you distress. I also know that your situation must be shitty and confusing.”
The specter’s personality was created from the fragments of memories left behind in Hamel’s corpse. Those memories had then been manipulated to make him easier to use.
That was how the specter had been born, with Hamel’s memories, along with Hamel’s personality. At the same time, ‘he’ held hatred and a desire for revenge aimed at Vermouth, Molon, Sienna, and Anise.
He initially had no awareness of the fact that he was a fake, but he had suddenly come to that realization in Ravesta. After going through a lot of agonizing doubts about who he was and why a fake like him even existed, in the end….
“If it were me,” Eugene said slowly, imagining what he would do if he were the fake. “I would probably act in the real me’s best interest. Or at least, that’s what I think I would do if I were the fake. Because no matter how much I make a fuss about it, there’s no way I could become the real deal. Even more so if the real me was alive and hadn’t died yet.”
But that was exactly why Eugene couldn’t understand this current situation.
“You said that all of this is necessary for all of us, but I just can’t comprehend that. If I… if I were you, I wouldn’t do this,” Eugene stated firmly.
He understood why the specter would go looking for Molon, but then the specter had gone on to attack the Black Lion Castle. Eugene couldn’t understand why the specter had felt the need to attack the Lionhearts, Eugene’s family.
He said that he had come there to bring them rage, right? Fine, the specter’s attack did have that effect.
However, if that really was his goal, then there were other methods that he could have used. Instead of using a way that Eugene would never have used, the specter could have used a means that Hamel might have.
“The reason you can’t understand is that you aren’t me,” the specter said while shaking his head. “I admire and respect you, and I also can’t help but imagine what it would be like if I were you. However, as the real thing, there’s no need for you to do the same to me. Isn’t that right?”
Eugene remained silent.
“You said you wouldn’t do what I did if you were me? I already know that. I also had that same thought, you know, that if it were you, you wouldn’t do this. If it were you, you would despise this kind of behavior,” the specter added.
There was no way that the specter wouldn’t be able to tell that he was doing something that Hamel would never do.
“That is exactly why I did it,” the specter explained.
Even while knowing all that….
The specter continued, “Because by doing so, I was doing something that only I would do.”
Eugene glared at the specter without saying a word.
He didn’t feel any need to question the specter’s explanation. He instinctively knew it was the truth. The instinctive feelings currently growing inside Eugene were so strong that they could even compare to the intuition brought about by divine power.
That thing looks like me.
But it is not the same as me.
It resembles me, but it is different.
That is why I have no choice but to kill him.
“Why have you come here?” Eugene demanded once more.
“Before I kill you,” the specter said with a wry smile and a tilt of his head, “I wanted to meet with you one last time… and have a good talk. Because a lot has changed since we last met in the Rainforest.”
“You’re right. A lot has changed,” Eugene agreed. “It’s strange to say this, but at that time, you were actually more similar to me than you are now.”
What would it have felt like if the specter had heard those words when he first realized he was just a fake copy in Ravesta? Before he had been recognized as a warrior by Molon, before he had seen Sienna smiling happily as she picked out clothes and a ring… before he had learned the truth from the Demon King of Incarceration.
If he had heard those words back then….
‘Perhaps they would have instilled greed within me that doesn’t have a right to exist,’ the specter speculated as he raised his hand and pointed to Hauria in the distance.
“I will be waiting for you in the palace,” the specter declared. “There will be many things blocking your way. But… even if you don’t manage to make it there, I will not move from my throne. The road to the palace will be arduous. Though I don’t really imagine that you will fall before managing to reach the end.” The specter then turned to look somewhere other than Hauria.
His gaze was now focused on what lay behind Eugene. Although they were quite some distance away, the specter could see each of the flags waving over the various forces’ camps.
“A lot of the people who have gathered under your name will perish. Are you prepared for that?” the specter warned.
“From now on, you're a Demon King,” Eugene finally spat out. “It’s fine if you don’t have a real name. In fact, it doesn’t really matter whether or not you really are a Demon King. Because, no matter what, I will treat you as a Demon King. Your actions are similar, so it would be strange to think of you as anything other than a Demon King.”
The specter was terrifyingly strong and couldn’t be killed easily. He had demonfolks, black wizards, and demonic beasts under his command. He had captured a city, taken it as his territory, and was now waiting in his castle for Eugene.
“I am the Hero,” Eugene said as he released the hand that had been clutching his chest. Instead, Eugene drew the Holy Sword as he continued speaking, “All of those following me are warriors willing to sacrifice their lives to kill you, a Demon King.”
The specter realized his question had been unnecessary.
But that said, he still felt like it had been a good idea to ask it. Having heard such a response, the specter would no longer hesitate.
He didn’t think of himself as a Demon King. He thought it was ridiculous to call himself a Demon King when he really wasn’t one.
However, now that Eugene had said such words, the specter had no choice but to become a Demon King.
“Then I will be waiting for you in my Demon King’s Castle,” the specter said with a grin as he turned around.
Tomorrow, Eugene Lionheart would be coming for him. A Hero would be leading a group of warriors to fight him. Since a Hero would be doing something worthy of a Hero, a Demon King should just do what a Demon King did. So this Demon King would do his best to block the way of the Hero and then kill him once the Hero arrived.
‘If you aren’t able to kill me…’ the specter thought.
If Eugene was weaker than him, ‘then it is only right for the world to end here.’
Those were the specter’s last thoughts before he disappeared from right in front of Eugene.
For a few moments, Eugene just stared at the place where the specter had disappeared. Then he looked at the distant Hauria, as well as the black Centipede Mountains that surrounded the capital city and the ominous gray sky above it.
”Are you alright?” Eugene asked as he pushed his hand inside his cloak.
Mer and Raimira, who had been left trembling in fear, hurriedly grabbed Eugene’s hand from either side. Eugene grinned at the cute and clingy touch of their hands as he spun around.
“That bastard. If he’s going to wear a mask, then there are a lot of other masks that he could use. Why that one? It’s way too pale,” Eugene complained.
Who could that specter resemble to have such a strange sense of style? Eugene clicked his tongue as his feet made their way back towards the camp.
* * *
The sun set, and the day turned into night. After a night filled with countless twinkling stars, it was the moon’s turn to set.
Dawn had arrived. As the light melted into the darkness of the night sky, the starlight faded and slowly dissipated.
The camps outside of the palace walls had been dismantled by dawn. Preparations for the expedition had also been completed. Two types of wyverns — normal wyverns of the Lionhearts and ice wyverns of Ruhr, griffins, pegasi, familiars, and summoned creatures all flew up into the sky. The knights left on the ground mounted their horses.
Even the infantry who didn’t have horses weren’t being forced to walk to Hauria. The wizards of the Red Tower of Magic summoned huge creatures for the infantry to ride, while the spirit summoners of the White Tower of Magic also summoned earth spirits to provide their own mode of faster travel.
Even as dawn broke, the skies above Hauria were still dark. Everyone who had gathered in the name of the Liberation Army strengthened their resolve as they looked towards Hauria.
Eugene silently climbed to the top of the palace walls.
He hadn’t said anything. He hadn’t even made a sound. However, everyone turned to look at Eugene.
As if they had been waiting for this moment, they all let out an excited cry as Eugene’s gaze swept over them. Although the sound of hundreds of wings flapping at the same time that was coming from the flying squadrons was unavoidably noisy, no one made any unnecessary sounds as they all turned their ears towards Eugene. Right now, Eugene was at the center of everyone’s attention.
“This is a bit embarrassing,” Eugene muttered with a grin.
But he couldn’t say that it felt burdensome.
His small mutter was heard by everyone standing beneath the palace walls. Those who knew Eugene well also grinned and laughed, just like Eugene was.
However, there was an overwhelmingly larger number of people here who didn’t know Eugene all that well. So, instead of laughing, they just looked up at Eugene with even more serious expressions.
Eugene climbed onto the battlements of the palace walls. Although it was only a little higher, his field of view seemed to have opened up hugely. He could see everything clearly, including what had been hidden by the tall battlements — the view of what lay beneath the walls.
He saw everyone who was serving as the commander of each nation’s army. They were all people that Eugene had met during the short meeting yesterday. On top of that, he also saw Sienna and Kristina.
Instead of addressing them directly, Eugene just crooked his finger towards the two. At this gesture, Sienna grinned and pulled out her staff while Kristina unfurled her wings of light.
“Although it’s a bit late at this point, there is something that I want to say,” Eugene announced.
The Sage and the Saint flew up to the top of the palace walls to stand next to Eugene.
“If you don’t want to die, or are afraid of dying, or if you’re worried about who’s going to provide for your family if you’re gone… if there are any here with such circumstances, it’s alright for you to excuse yourself from this expedition,” Eugene generously offered.
A few people laughed, but that was all the reaction that Eugene’s words got. There wasn’t anything like any dissatisfied murmuring with an undertone of agitation.
Eugene nodded, “Indeed, if there was anyone who didn’t want to take part, then they should have already run away by now.”
He was very familiar with the looks on their faces and in their eyes. Eugene had seen it more than a few times three hundred years ago. While unconsciously smiling, Eugene pushed one hand inside his cloak.
“I,” Eugene began as he drew out the Holy Sword, “am the Hero chosen by the God of Light.”
He embedded the tip of the sword down into the battlement at his feet.
Aaaaah!
Riding the giant pegasus Apollo, Raphael led an excited cheer. The Holy Knights, the priests of the Luminous Covenant, and the priests of the Graceful Radiance were gathered around Raphael, and they all looked up at Eugene with tears in their eyes.
After releasing the hilt of the Holy Sword, Eugene’s hand reached into his cloak once more.
“I am also a descendant of the Great Vermouth,” Eugene said as he pulled out a large standard from within his cloak.
When the standard was erected, its flag was caught by the wind and began to flap loudly. This was the standard of the Lionhearts. As the flag flapped in the air, the lion’s mane depicted on the flag seemed to be fluttering.
“I am Eugene Lionheart,” Eugene proudly declared.
The dawn grew even brighter. Rays of light fell and bathed both Eugene and the standard of the Lionheart clan. Everyone who was looking up at him felt dazzled by this sight. However, no one could bear to turn their gaze away.
Standing in the center of this eye-piercing light, Eugene unknowingly erased one of the many names used to describe him from everyone’s minds.
He had once been called the Second Coming of the Great Vermouth, but now….
‘No,’ Gilead thought as he unconsciously laid a hand on his left chest.
The Lionheart’s sigil was embroidered there, the same image of a lion that was depicted on the flag.
Gilead wasn’t the only one who placed their hand over their hearts, touching the Lionheart’s sigil. Both the White Lions and the Black Lions, as well as everyone who belonged to the Lionheart clan, all placed their hands on their hearts as they looked up at Eugene.
Everyone had realized the same thing, ‘He isn’t the Second Coming of the Great Vermouth.’
They couldn’t call Eugene by that name any longer.
He was Great.
Wise.
Faithful.
Brave.
And Stupid.
“The Radiant Eugene Lionheart,” Carmen muttered.
Eugene propped the Lionheart’s standard onto one shoulder and said to his awed audience, “Now then, let’s go and kill ourselves a Demon King.”
Raimira disappeared from inside his cloak. She had been transported high into the sky through a spatial leap and was now wrapped in light.
Whoooosh!
A huge black dragon unfurled its wings in Raimira’s place. The airborne squadrons flying in the sky didn’t panic at her sudden appearance and immediately pulled on their reins to open up a path through the sky. Flapping her wings, the dragon flew down and lowered her head towards Eugene.
“Wasn't that a bit too flashy?” Eugene commented.
[There’s no way I could lose to your magnificence, Benefactor,] Raimira answered in a spirited tone.
Eugene was caught off guard by her response, but responding to the expectant gazes of those around him, he climbed on top of Raimira’s head.
A loud cheer erupted from the crowds below.
Openbookworm & DantheMan's Thoughts