‘Do I want to live?’

If the Emperor was asked such a question, of course, he would say he wanted to live. From the day his personal old doctor stopped nagging about his health, the Emperor began to pray to God every day.

‘Please let me live a little longer. I understand that you are in a hurry to take me away because of the many sins I have committed, but allow me to finish this long fight properly.’

‘O God, please don’t take me too soon.’

Ever since the Temple of Glory became corrupted and began to overwhelm the Emperor’s authority little by little, the Emperor had never relied on God even for a moment. But after realizing that death was nearing him, he could not help but pray to God.

He wanted to live. But this time, it was not for the revival of the Empire, it was only for Acerus, the son of whom he was proud of. And now, after inheriting his responsibilities and duties, his son had grown up well on his own, without warm embraces or parental love.

The Emperor laughed despondently. His wrinkled eyes were stained with tears. The Emperor wiped his tears off with the back of his hand and murmured with a sigh.

“Do you know? When you get old, tears come out even if you don’t do anything. It’s very annoying.”

The Emperor decided not to ask the identity of the one in front of him. So what if it was Demian? So what if it was God?

“Putting aside you being the Crown Prince’s friend or the mighty warrior of the saintess, how dare you disgrace me, the Emperor…”

“You’re going to die soon.”

Demian said neatly. The Emperor’s aides turned restless and vented their anger, but this time, they were blocked again.

This time, the Emperor said.

“I will die fighting honorably.”

“Your Imperial Majesty!”_.

“Thus, I will go down in history!”

The Emperor, who prayed, prayed, and prayed to God, suddenly realized one night when he vomited black blood with the pain that tore his heart. If God really existed in this world, he would never grant his wish. The Emperor had killed countless people and reigned at the top of the continent, but only when it was time to die did he seek God. If he were God himself, he would not even grant his own wish out of spite.

God was omnipotent and fair, so, of course, he would be on the side of the poor and oppressed, not the Emperor.

“There is no God in my land. That’s what I believe in all this time. Everything I accomplished was the result of my choice and effort, and so is my sin.”

So, the Emperor did not look for God again.

“Don’t tempt me. Don’t make me commit more crimes than this, saying that you will let me live longer. Don’t test humans in the name of God if you don’t intend to save them anyway.”

Demian was listening in silence to the Emperor, not even emotionally agitated. His white face was so pale that it looked bluish, and it showed no signs of warmth. Every time he breathed, the air felt heavy. The same was true for his low voice that would weigh on one’s chest, along with his eerie blue eyes.

“I see.”

Demian nodded.

So, there’s a God in this land.

The Emperor realized. That was a scary and very high being. He was not as benevolent and beautiful as his people expected. He was closer to punishment, fear, and death than love, pity, peace, and comfort.

“Oh…”

The Emperor groaned. The tremors in his hands stopped. The chest pain, which had been coming stiffly every time he breathed in, had disappeared. His blurred vision brightened, and his limbs, which had only felt heavy and cumbersome, became lighter. He was as energetic as he was in his heyday.

It was the power of God. Just as the sky seemed to brighten for a moment before the sun went down, the Emperor was granted his last power before his death.

“Prepare for war.”

Demian said.

“The gates of hell will open.”

“What?”

“God has appeared, so with their newly-gained karma, the demons will, in turn, appear with their troops. This place will soon become the bridgehead for the great demon war.”

“Is that true?”

The Emperor sprang to his feet. The aides pleaded for him not to work himself up for his health, but it was useless.

The absent God had returned, and hell would come. It was the beginning of destruction.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Because of Isadora and the Emperor’s presence, it did not take much time for Memoria city to prepare for war. And thanks to the two best people on the continent gathering to work, everything went smoothly. The city was filled with war supplies and the city walls were surrounded by several layers of barriers. Dozens of wooden barricade fences were also built outside the gates. Even the actions of tens of thousands of people could be done in an instant

Meanwhile, the Barbarians took on the role of a detached force within the city, after all, they had sworn to obey Demian and moved separately from the Emperor’s soldiers. However, Oscar was an exception, he faithfully carried out the duties Lara had given him and was among the knights of the Imperial Army.

“Oh, well, I told you so! Go find the knights who were dispatched to Gorgon and ask them. I’m sure it’s the saintess. I saw her from a close distance and I don’t think I was confused.”

“But it could just be a woman who looks like the saintess. I just can’t believe it. My child has been sick for so long but it was only after the saintess came could the priest heal her. She’s like a savior to me…”

“Don’t you think there’s something going on?”

After listening to Oscar saying that the saintess had become the demon lord and would destroy the human world, several knights felt awkward and intervened in his words. Even as they watched the demon worshippers grow like cockroaches right before their eyes, they still did not believe in what Oscar said.

“I don’t think that’s the saintess.”

“Right, who knows? Maybe the demons just found someone who looks like the saintess and put her up as their puppet.”

They were knights from the capital—those who had experienced the miracles that Lara had caused and had witnessed the restoration of the fallen temple. They did not easily believe that Lara had become the demon lord.

Oscar felt good about that, but at the same time, he strangely hated it.

“I mean, she was riding a demonic beast and was treating the demons as her servants…”

People’s reaction was one of the two. Either hating Lara, resenting her, criticizing her, or assuming there was something going on with her. The majority reaction was the former. Still, Oscar was comforted by the fact that there were some people who believed in Lara. Of course, contrary to his feelings, his mouth was more faithful to his duties.

“It’s because she’s the saintess that the demons must have badly wanted her on their side. I thought you all are from the Empire, do you people not even learn mythology? All the saintesses before this were eaten by demons. There’s no guarantee that won’t happen to this saintess too.”

“Is that so?”

“To put it bluntly, the saintess may have fallen into the demon’s temptations. Perhaps she’s been promised something like eternal life, I suppose!”

“Oh…”

The knights looked at the Gorgon mountains range rising in the distance with gloomy faces.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

“It’s suspicious.”

Konny muttered.

Valentine nodded hastily. He hid behind Konny with his quivering hands clasping his cape despite being much bigger than her.

“Very suspicious.”

Konny was on her way to Isadora’s lodging. As more and more people cursed, criticized, and pointed their fingers at Lara and her demon lord transformation, the small maid’s curses also increased. She was annoyed at the people who said whatever they wanted when they did not even know Lara well. Her lady was not someone like that.

But suddenly, on her way to visit Isadora to complain, Konny found Oscar slandering Lara among the knights of the Imperial Army.

It was out of place to see a Barbarian sitting together with the Imperial Knights. But it was more out of place to see Oscar swearing at Lara. Konny quickly sank into a position where she could eavesdrop out of sight. Valentine, who was following Konny, lowered himself and laid down too.

“You think so, right?”

“Yeah, it’s suspicious.”

“A Barbarian of all people shouldn’t be doing that… This is ridiculous. Maybe he’s not Oscar, maybe he’s a black sorcerer pretending to look like Oscar… Or maybe it’s a demonic beast who ate Oscar and is wearing his skin? Valentine, you’re an alchemist. Do something about it.”

Konny, who thought of an alchemist as a jack-of-all-trades, grabbed and shook Valentine’s arm. Then, Valentine squinted his eyebrows and said.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ “I don’t think he’s a black sorcerer. I don’t know if it’s a demonic beast… But the fact that the Barbarians are suspecting milady also isn’t right.”

“That’s what I’m saying, you idiot.”

They canceled their plans to visit Isadora and remained there. They wanted to keep an eye on Oscar. Fortunately, the whole city was moving in a hurry, so no one noticed Konny and Valentine.

After mingling with the knights of the Imperial Army and enthusiastically spreading the story; ‘the saintess had become the demon lord,’ Oscar moved to another location in the evening. He went to a break room for soldiers working on the construction of a wooden barricade fence. Unlike the knights from the capital, they had either never seen Lara up close or only knew very little of her. And so, they easily believed in the story of how the saintess had become the demon lord. Even if Oscar did not instigate it, the rumors were already widespread in the barracks.

After hanging out with the soldiers for a drink, Oscar finally made his way to his living quarters where the Barbarians were gathered when it was late at night.

There, Lampion was having a fistfight with Domino.

Lampion ran wild. After traveling a long distance away carrying Demian on his back, Lampion had finally come back only to hear that the saintess had become the demon lord. ‘What nonsense is that?!’ he asked. Seeing Lampion running wild, Domino tried to calm him down, but instead, he got punched in the face. After getting angry himself, Domino and Lampion fought each other.

“Oh no, it’s not the time to step in.”

Oscar turned around and went out of the city. Konny and Valentine also sneaked out with him.

“Konny, are you going to keep following him?”

“This won’t do. Valentine, this is too dangerous. You go back and tell Madam Isadora about this, while I follow him. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. My body is small so I can just hide anywhere.”

“N, no.”

“You idiot!”

“I’m going alone. You go to Madam Isadora.”

“No. This is about my lady. If it’s not me, who will do it?”

“But it’s also about my lady.”

They argued and glared at each other. Konny thought Valentine was just a cowardly kid. Valentine thought Konny was a reckless kid.

“You might get hurt.”

“Speak for yourself.”

The two eventually followed Oscar out of the city while tightly holding each other’s hands. They headed for the Gorgon Mountain Range, where Lara was located.