The Demon King opened his eyes.
His face, formed of shadows, displayed two hazy outlines of eyes. Struggling, he raised his shadowy body from where he lay submerged in a tar-like black liquid.
Refined nightmare.
Here, the dreams of millions of citizens from the Lake Kingdom were collected, extracting only the deepest nightmares.
Within this nightmare, they extracted the 'fear' from the subconscious, the memories of 'destruction' imprinted in human genes.
These resurrected nightmares are the true nature of the monsters.
Ancient creatures that once threatened humanity's survival, the shadows of those memories.
And the Demon King was certain that the 'person' he was searching for was also within this nightmare.
Thus, he had endlessly repeated the world, meticulously searching every part of the nightmare...
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Even after delving into the deepest abyss this time."Where could she be..."
He still couldn't find her.
For the first time, the Demon King felt fatigue. Despite never tiring during the countless long searches, he now felt exhaustion.
So much time had passed.
Even the player who had fought him with indomitable will could no longer continue the game...
"..."
The Demon King fully stood up and exited the room of nightmares.
Rumble...
The wall between the nightmare room and the audience hall opened to the sides, and the Demon King stepped out behind the throne in the audience hall.
‘I must have searched the nightmares for quite a long time...’
The Demon King intended to grasp the current situation of this 'game'. It would be troublesome if the human world had already ended.
"Cromwell!"
The Demon King called for his loyal servant and the acting commander, the demon guard captain.
"Cromwell, where are you?"
Eventually, he found her.
Outside the castle, in front of the sewers.
In this filthy place, filled with collected nightmare residue and trash...
Lay the brutally dismembered corpse of Cromwell.
"..."
Had she been chewed up by the black dragon?
The second-in-command of the nightmare legion lay with her body crushed and burned, her expression twisted in agony... reaching out to the sky.
The demon guard captain's body was already decaying, rotting among the piled corpses of his subordinates.
"What a pity..."
The grotesque and repulsive sight of the intertwined rotting demon bodies only evoked a flicker of pity on the Demon King's face.
"Why are you dead in such a place? My loyal servant."
The Demon King clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers lightly.
Snap-!
"I never gave you permission to die."
Then the black darkness enveloping the Lake Kingdom surged down, pouring over the bodies of the dead Cromwell and the demon guards.
"Rise, Cromwell. It's too pitiful to end like this in such a place."
The Demon King's white lips curled into a long smile.
"At the very least, you should tread the mortal realm before you die. Right?"
With that,
Squirm!
The corpses of the demon guard captain and his subordinates, who were undoubtedly dead, pulsed as if life had returned.
Crack, crack...!
Soon, the eerie sound of joints snapping emanated from the corpses, followed by,
"Screech, aaaaah, aaaaaah-!"
Cromwell twisted her body grotesquely as she rose.
Her entire body, decayed, crushed, and shattered, stood hideously on the ground. Her lifeless eyes, showing only the whites, opened eerily.
Oooooo...!
A sinister green magic power coiled around the giant antlers on her head, connecting her to her subordinates.
Screech!
Aaaaah!
Following Cromwell, the corpses of the demon guards also rose one by one, screaming horrifically.
Facing the moving corpses, the Demon King's white smile grew even more wicked and deep.
***
In front of the castle, at the fountain plaza.
"..."
Nameless was bound to the fountain.
No longer spurting clean or dirty water, the dried-up fountain had her tied with pitch-black chains. She sat on the ground with her head bowed, completely motionless.
"..."
In front of her stood Crown.
She stood there, quietly watching as the chains dug into her sister's body, slowly tainting her once pure skin.
Footsteps echoed. Crown turned towards the source of the sound—the castle.
From the open castle door, a shadowy figure descended the long staircase.
A flickering presence, literally shaped like a human shadow.
Crown spat out the name with disdain.
"...Demon King..."
The King of Monsters, who had remained hidden for so long, had finally returned from the nightmare.
"It seems a lot has happened while I was away."
Clicking his tongue, the Demon King descended the stairs, surveying his surroundings.
"I left the grand game to Cromwell, and she cut the chessboard to pieces. She's loyal but always lacked the ability to handle things without direct orders."
"..."
"And... who is this? The eternal rebel of the Lake Kingdom, the deposed princess herself."
The Demon King slowly approached the bound Nameless.
"A pitiful sight. Bound by the nightmares of your own people."
"..."
"But what can you do? It was you who made them cling to you like this, Nameless."
The Demon King picked up the chains binding Nameless. As the chains rattled in his fingers, he sneered.
"You showed them 'hope.' You promised them 'salvation.'"
"..."
"When a false promise is made and not fulfilled, a price must be paid."
These chains emerged from the nightmares of the Lake Kingdom's citizens.
The collective unconscious, the collective consciousness. From within, distilled... resentment.
Resentment towards the royalty that plunged the kingdom into despair and hell. Resentment towards the failed savior who spread false hope.
The world was nearing its end, and the possibility of salvation was diminishing. The people sought someone to bear this long suffering in their stead.
- Bear our nightmares for us.
Nameless did not refuse. She could not.
Through the chains connected to her body, the people's nightmares seeped in. The immortal nightmares of every person in this country piled up inside Nameless.
Nameless was engulfed by the collective nightmares of millions. Her consciousness was slowly melting into them.
And when her consciousness fully dissolved into this nightmare, Nameless would transform into the ultimate monster, the aggregate of all nightmares.
"..."
Crown quietly watched her sister.
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Even while listening to the Demon King's mockery, her poor sister, who bore the curse of all the people, was slowly succumbing to the darkness...
The Demon King turned his gaze from Nameless to Crown.
"Even now, you still want to save your sister? Crown?"
"..."
"Is it because of familial love?"
The Demon King sneered.
"What is it about those shallow emotions between people that everyone in this world clings to?"
"...You too."
Crown quietly opened her mouth.
"Aren't you the same, Demon King?"
"What?"
"You're searching for 'that woman,' endlessly, in the nightmares."
The eyes behind Crown's mask gleamed coldly with ridicule.
"Isn't that also love?"
The shadowy face of the Demon King twisted.
"...A jester dares to speak presumptuously."
"It's the same for you, Demon King."
Now Crown openly laughed.
"You too are just a jester for the outer gods."
Crash!
With a gesture in the air, the Demon King slammed Crown's head to the ground with an invisible force.
Crown didn't even groan. Blood trickled from his smashed forehead, flowing down his mask.
"My feelings for 'that woman' are not love."
The Demon King cracked his knuckles.
"It's merely guilt."
"Didn't you say before? That if thinking of someone makes your heart race, your body tremble, and tears well up... That's what love is."
Crown laughed softly.
"Your obsession with saving 'that woman,' from what I've seen, is undoubtedly love."
"Crown."
The Demon King's voice turned icy.
"I included your memory in this endless cycle as a punishment. So you, the culprit who plunged your kingdom into this hell, would pay for your sins."
"..."
"It wasn't to make you talk presumptuously."
The Demon King snapped his fingers lightly, and an invisible force choked Crown.
But Crown, already indifferent to death, continued speaking. He had long abandoned formal speech.
"...Isn't this endless cycle coming to an end?"
"What?"
"Your player Aider is broken, and even Ash, his successor, has reached the final round. The game of destruction won't continue any longer."
This is the final round. The last game.
That was undoubtedly true for Aider and Ash. But the Demon King denied it lightly.
"The final round? That's for the player and his successor."
"..."
"My soul hasn't worn down from this ordeal. I'll just find the next player, the next successor, and start the next game."
Until he finds that woman in this eternal nightmare. Crown shook his head at the Demon King's obsessive determination.
"Why not give up by now?"
"...What?"
"The woman you're looking for isn't in this nightmare. It's time to acknowledge that."
The Demon King had already dredged up all the monsters from the deepest part of the nightmare. There wasn't a nightmare he hadn't scrutinized.
The woman, she isn't in the nightmares of this Lake Kingdom.
Crown thought, but the Demon King shook his head vehemently.
"No. She is definitely in these nightmares. She has to be."
"..."
"And I will save her no matter what. Even if I have to infinitely destroy your kingdom and your world. I'll do it willingly."
Looking down at Crown, who had his forehead pressed to the ground, the Demon King growled wickedly.
"You will continue to be crushed and watch helplessly, Jester. Witnessing everything you love being engulfed by darkness and perishing. Infinitely. Eternally...!"
The Demon King walked past the fountain plaza into the darkness of the kingdom.
Watching the Demon King's retreating figure, Crown thought.
‘It is the end for me too...’
He had accompanied countless cycles of this 'game,' even if only as an observer.
Crown's soul had also reached its limit. He instinctively knew there would be no next cycle for him.
And if he vanished too, if the game repeated yet again...
His poor sister would suffer in this hell without even a hateful brother by her side.
At that moment.
"Aid, er...?"
Nameless, who had been bound motionless to the fountain, slowly opened her eyes.
She seemed to have heard the conversation between the Demon King and Crown earlier. She muttered the name of a certain person from that conversation.
"Aider, Aid, er... Ah. Why did I forget that name?"
Her white, gray hair, tied with a red ribbon from the last festival, swayed gently.
"I gave him that name..."
Finally recalling the distant past, Nameless sobbed quietly.
"He was fighting too, for over 500 years..."
No.
Not just 500 years.
Repeating this world countless times... Aider has been opposing the Demon King.
For one reason only.
'To save you.'
Solely for Nameless...
Crown knew but didn't say it. He didn't want to prolong his sister's suffering.
‘Aider, Ash, and myself.’
This is the last.
The final opportunity to confront the Demon King and end this cursed game.
‘Save my sister, Ash. Keep your promise.’
As Nameless continued to sob, more black chains flew at her, wrapping around her body. Crown quietly watched his sister's corruption, wishing.
‘I deserve to perish. My kingdom must also pay for its sins. But my sister, my sister alone.’
Must be saved.
Crown bit his lip.
He had been a useless brother all his life, but if he could save his sister in the end...
He would do anything for that.
***
To save their precious ones.
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Everyone was diving into their own personal hell.
Into the perpetually repeating cycle where no one had yet found salvation.
Hoping that someone would eventually break this cycle...
--TL Notes--
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading