In Irus’s arms,

Hulim Heyerar forced her heavy eyelids open.

She stared at the ominous black cloud of condensed mana swirling high in the sky,

her eyes widening with profound shock.

A Celestial-Rank Demon?

This was the mightiest demon rank beneath the Demon King himself—on par with the power of a Hero?

Its aura was terrifying beyond words.

Even among all the memories etched into her mind, only Avery, the strongest of the Seven Sages, could rival such power—save for those who had transcended into the realm of gods.

And yet, every great war boasted several beings of this caliber.

Was this the true face of the cataclysmic battles that had plagued their world?

Hulim Heyerar finally understood why the Demon King’s invasions were deemed a crisis that could spell the end of the world.

“Hulim……”

Irus lowered her head, gazing down at the girl in her arms.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“Wait, Irus! I want to come too……”

Hulim Heyerar tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, sending her slumping back down.

She gritted her teeth in frustration.

Had that single attack drained her so thoroughly?

If this persisted, she would be utterly useless for a long time to come!

“You don’t have to do anything, Hulim.”

Irus read the girl’s thoughts instantly. She brushed a strand of hair from Hulim Heyerar’s forehead gently, stopping her from struggling.

“Irus……”

Hulim Heyerar looked up into Irus’s eyes, still wanting to protest.

But Irus shook her head.

“Just rest well……”

With that, she carefully laid Hulim Heyerar down on the ground.

Then she rose to her feet, turning to face the sky.

In the next moment,

her Elven Demon Garb blazed with a flame-like emerald radiance.

BOOM——!

A violent gust of wind erupted around her, and Irus’s figure vanished from the spot.

Within the black cloud,

a humanoid form took shape rapidly, nourished by the surging mana.

“Lucky for me, so many lives were lost on this land. Otherwise, reconstructing my physical form would’ve been a real hassle. Still, I never thought that fool Darius would deny me the chance to merge with him right up until the end. I almost died along with him.”

The Black Crystal embedded in Darius’s forehead had indeed served the purpose the Celestial-Rank Demon had claimed.

It could truly turn a human into a full-fledged demon—not the half-baked, flawed transformation that Gulos had experimented with.

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But the demon had concealed a crucial truth about the crystal’s origins—and its other, more sinister function……

The crystal was, in fact, a fragment of his own power that he had forcefully severed and condensed into a physical vessel.

That was why it could fully transform a human into a demon.

A Celestial-Rank Demon’s life essence stood leagues above most beings in Himril. Once the assimilation process began, the demon’s consciousness would inevitably seize control, leaving the host’s body fully turned into a demon’s vessel.

The elaborate scheme to convert the host was a contingency plan: if the demon’s true body ever met an untimely end, he could resurrect himself within the host’s form.

And as fate would have it, the demon had indeed been slain by a Hero.

What he had not anticipated, however, was that Darius—wracked by paranoia—would refuse to merge with the crystal at all. The demon had been trapped inside the crystal ever since, biding his time for an opportunity.

“Sure enough, you never had any good intentions when you gave me this thing.”

A voice echoed abruptly in his mind.

“What? Impossible! I should’ve erased your consciousness long ago!!!”

“Wait…… What’s happening? No—this can’t be! Why is your will so strong? NOOOOO——!”

The voice cut off abruptly.

A few seconds later,

the newly formed body opened its eyes once more—but the consciousness that dwelled within it was now Darius’s own.

He flexed his fingers, marveling at the unprecedented power coursing through his veins.

“If I’d known your will was this weak, I would’ve taken over long ago. With power like this at my fingertips, things never would’ve gotten so complicated.”

Darius turned his gaze toward the World Tree.

He reached inward, savoring the sheer magnitude of his newfound strength.

Then a cold, confident smile spread across his face.

“Now, I don’t need any tricks or underhanded schemes to destroy that tree. I can do it with nothing but my own power.”

He was, without a doubt, the most powerful being in the world right now. Intrigues, stratagems, cheap tricks—none of them mattered anymore.

Merely revealing this power would be enough to make the entire world kneel before him.

Wait a minute.

Make the world kneel?

A sudden realization dawned on Darius.

If he was already the strongest being in the world—stronger than anyone else—

then why couldn’t he be the one to claim the title of Demon King?

After all, wasn’t the Demon King simply the most powerful demon of all?

And right now, in this world,

he was the strongest demon alive!

That’s right——

A blazing light ignited in Darius’s eyes.

He was the Demon King now!

“King!”

He raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist.

BAM——!

A deafening shockwave exploded from his palm, rippling outward in all directions.

A title that had once been nothing but a distant dream.

King!

“I am the King now!”

“The new Demon King!!!”

His surging emotions caused his mana to erupt like a violent tempest.

“But……”

His tone shifted abruptly, and the raging mana storm subsided just as quickly as it had appeared.

Darius slowly lowered his gaze to the ground below.

“Before I ascend as the Demon King and rule over this world, there are a few loose ends I need to tie up first.”

SWISH!

Far below,

a streak of light was hurtling toward him at breakneck speed.

Darius watched the approaching figure with a cold, impassive expression. He raised his right hand again, curling his fingers into a fist once more.

Then,

he threw a single, casual punch.

In mid-air, Irus’s heart skipped a beat, a primal sense of dread washing over her. She dodged instinctively.

BOOM——!

The moment she moved, a colossal black fist-shaped aura streaked past her,

slamming straight into the ground below.

BOOM……

The entire city of Ilz trembled violently, as if shaken by a massive earthquake.

When the tremors finally subsided,

a fist-shaped, bottomless abyss gaped open in the earth.

“……”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Irus’s forehead.

This was terrifying……

Against power of this magnitude, victory was impossible.

The gap between their strengths was no longer a matter of skill—it was a difference in fundamental levels of existence.

“What’s wrong, Saint? You’re wearing an expression I’ve never seen before.”

Darius spoke slowly, his voice dripping with contempt.

“That voice?”

Irus’s eyes widened in shock.

“Darius!? How is this possible? You’re alive—and you’ve even transformed into a Celestial-Rank Demon! What in the world……”

Irus could not comprehend what had transpired.

He should have been dead. His body had been utterly annihilated, reduced to nothingness.

So why was he standing before her now, reborn as a demon?

“Hmph!”

Darius let out a cold snort.

“You don’t need to know the details. All you need to understand is this—as the soon-to-be Demon King who will rule over this world, I shall grace all of you with the equal gift of death!”

As he spoke, he glanced down at the ground once more.

He had not forgotten the being who had nearly killed him earlier.

That power……

Just the memory of it sent a shiver down his spine.

Even with his current strength, facing that power again would mean certain death!

He could not allow such a threat to exist in his world.

Irus noticed Darius’s downward glance, and her heart sank as she realized his target.

She immediately raised her Holy Tree Staff, pointing it straight at Darius, and shouted at the top of her lungs:

“Don’t dream of it, Darius! You’re nowhere near worthy of the title of Demon King! You know nothing—absolutely nothing—about what a true Demon King is!!!”

Darius, who had been about to make his move against Hulim Heyerar, froze mid-action.

He slowly lifted his head, fixing Irus with an icy, murderous stare.

“……”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep