Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 427

If I failed to fulfill my mission in my lifetime, then my son was destined to inherit it, and would complete the annihilation of humanity. But one day, he turned against me.

The despair and betrayal I felt when he struck me down and broke my horns were indescribable. Yet, perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to kill his mother, for after breaking my horns, my son cast me out of the Dark Land.

An Archdemon who lost their horns loses all their power. I could no longer rule over the demons, nor did they follow me anymore.

It was only later that I realized being cast out of the Dark Land was my son’s final act of mercy towards his mother. Had I remained, the demons, freed from my control, would have developed a hatred for me and sought to kill me.

I became a wretch, unable to use any power, mana, or knowledge.

The pain of having one’s horns broken by another demon was worse than death. For a long time, I suffered from the pain that lingered where my horns once were.

Did I come to my senses and realize my mistakes? No—I was simply filled with resentment and a feeling of injustice.

I was inconsolable. Having lost everything I had built over a long time, and with the thought that everything was ruined at the last moment, even by my son’s hand, I trembled with rage.

I couldn’t die like that. I was too resentful, too hurt, too overcome with a sense of injustice. I didn’t want to acknowledge that everything had ended.

I sought revenge, though I didn’t know how.

I wanted to reclaim the throne from the son who had brought such disgrace to the mother who bore him, and fulfill the mission that was left unfinished.

I searched for a way for a demon who had lost their horn to regain strength.

Realizing that I had to live for a very, very long time in order to accumulate power, I became an immortal being, a vampire.

I sought to become strong again by becoming a vampire and assimilating the power of other beings into me.

I crossed between the Dark Land and the human territories, taking the blood of numerous powerful demons, mighty beasts, and strong humans, sometimes engaging in life-threatening battles to acquire the blood of the strong.

Hearing rumors of those who had achieved the pinnacle of vampire power in a distant, desolate place in the far north, I sought out the Vampire Lords and seized the power of a Vampire Lord, thus becoming a member of the Tuesday clan.

Even after that, I took the blood of countless beings.

Consuming, consuming, and consuming endlessly... The countless corpses were piled as high as mountains, and the amount of blood I drank flowed like a river. I consumed and consumed for a very, very long time.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

At some point, I inevitably became the head of the Tuesday clan.

The previous head, who had grown weary of living and abandoned the world, passed the position to me, saying, “Isn’t it time to stop the slaughter for the sake of slaughter? Even if you drink all the blood in the world, your thirst will never be quenched. Think about whether you truly desire what you seek.”

With those words, he closed his eyes.

It was something I had never thought about. I realized that, for a very long time, I hadn’t been thinking at all. At some point, I had become a being driven only by the inertia of killing for the sake of killing, drinking for the sake of drinking, and becoming strong for the sake of becoming strong.

Aimlessly wandering the world in search of strong blood, the original desire for revenge and the purpose for which I sought that blood had been buried and lost under the layers of time.

It was still not enough. It was still not enough to face the Demon King.

Though I was still far from reclaiming the throne, and while I continued to pile up slaughter to become stronger and stronger, the throne of the Dark Land had already changed.

I only realized then that my son, who had broken my horns and cast me out, had long since passed away, and his daughter had become the next Demon Queen.

I had become a vampire without a purpose, merely an immortal wanderer searching for blood across the continent.

Why the throne of the Demon Realm had to be mine again, why humanity had to be annihilated, and why I had desired it—all of it had become unknown to me.

Caught up in an obsession with strength, in the time spent seeking blood, I had become a mad vampire who had lost all desires except the thirst for blood.

I realized far too late that my vague desire for revenge and the throne had already vanished.

The power derived from the mountain of corpses and the rivers of blood was within me, but I realized far too late that there was nothing I actually wanted to do with it.

Even if countless tyrants sacrificed their people through wrongful actions, ultimately, it was not by my hand that they died.

As a tyrant, I had sacrificed countless demons, and after becoming a vampire, I had once again piled up a mountain of corpses with my own hands. There likely exists no one in the world who has committed more slaughter than I have.

And so I no longer engaged in slaughter. It wasn’t atonement, but it had lost its meaning.

I had wandered the world in search of blood, but once again, I fell into emptiness and wandered the world once more.

Having lost my purpose and my desires, I floated aimlessly, like a wind blowing across the world, sometimes finding myself in the Dark Land, and sometimes in the lands of humans.

Despite having lived for a very long time, it was only then that I truly saw how beings lived.

When I was the Demon Queen, I only saw demons as tools, and humans as enemies. As a vampire, all beings were merely raw materials to grow my strength.

Only after losing all my desires could I look at the beings living in the world without seeing them as anything.

The way humans lived, and the way demons lived... I watched them without any purpose or reason, simply because they were in front of me.

Even though I had wandered countless lands and drunk the blood of countless beings, all the sights I had seen countless times now seemed new to me.

I spent one day crossing mountain ranges, another walking through snowfields, deserts, straits, and jungles. I saw the many ways in which countless beings lived, and different forms of existence.

As I took in the landscapes of lives that seemed similar yet different, I realized how great my sins were and how many lives I had destroyed.

I had destroyed and shattered countless lives and foundations, gathering things that could have been more beautiful if left alone, things that were sufficient as they were, into the insatiable sack of my desires.

I am a sinner who learned too late what it means to love. A vampire, ugly and cowardly, who realized only after losing all the right to love and cherish anything that those things were truly worthy of love.

And so I thought that the mountain of sins I had piled up was too great, and a day would never come when it could be covered with good deeds, so at the very least...

At the very least... I did not want to add any more sins to the pile.

It was still a vague life, nonetheless. Though I no longer drank blood, I wandered the world aimlessly, observing and trying to help others whenever I could, while being careful not to overstep my bounds.

I had no right to accumulate good deeds. The best I could do was to offer a small amount of sympathy to someone else, something hardly worthy of being called good.

I spent my time this way, in indifference and contemplation.

As I lived my vague life and time continued to pass, I eventually heard a story.

A war between the Dark Land and humanity was imminent.

I felt confused for the first time in a long while. I didn’t think there would be a role for me, a forgotten Demon King and an ancient vampire, in a war where countless would inevitably die.

However, I felt a sense of duty. As a Demon Queen who had once plagued the Dark Land with tyranny, as a Demon Queen who hated humans and desired the end of humanity, and as an ancient being who had once been an Archdemon.

Though I couldn’t play a major role in the war, I felt a duty to at least bear witness to it.

I couldn’t say that I felt no sense of kinship from the diluted, vanished blood of the Archdemon within me. I believed that even if I couldn’t provide significant help, I had to at least offer some small assistance to my distant descendant.

So, I sought out Baalier and joined his ranks.

I hoped the war would conclude without much bloodshed. Regardless of who won, blood would be spilled, so I believed the only good in war lay in its swift conclusion.

And so I took on a role that wasn’t particularly special, and observed the progress of the war from afar.

And as the war drew to a close, on a day when the war had ended far away, a boy walked into my shop.

When I realized that boy was you, I...

I felt like destiny had found me.

***

Eleris looked at me after finishing her long story.

We had come face to face with each other in a place where the Demon King was never supposed to appear.

I wondered what thoughts had crossed Eleris’s mind at that moment.

Though she had not intended to take a significant role, the fallen Demon King of the Dark Land, her distant and last descendant, had fallen into her lap.

Eleris must have felt a powerful sense of destiny, that she could not remain a bystander, observing events from the sidelines.

“The story after that... is as you know,” she said.

Eleris was an ancient Demon Queen, forgotten long ago. Even though the previous Baalier might have known Eleris was a Vampire Lord, there was no way for him to know she had been an Archdemon.

I finally understood all of Eleris’s actions. Her gaze and her demeanor was always motherly every time she dealt with me, perhaps because she truly felt that way about me.

The previous Baalier, as the Demon King, must have already held the position of absolute ruler. But since I was clumsy, had lost my memory, and lacked proper abilities, Eleris couldn’t help but worry about whatever I did, fearing I might get hurt or die while doing something reckless.

Eleris, who had been a tyrant when she ruled, could not have been a proper parent. Thus, when dealing with me, she might have tried to give a semblance of affection that she couldn’t give to her own child back then.

During the time I had been curious about Eleris’s identity, I once wondered if she was something like my mother, and it turned out she was indeed something similar to that.

An Archdemon who became a vampire... That was Eleris’s true form.

Though she had lost all her power as an Archdemon, her essence as one remained. Thus, she had chosen to stand on the side of the Demon King, to witness either the end or the victory of the Demon Realm that had been established by the Archdemons.

“But there’s something I’ve been curious about for a while,” I said.

“Yes, Your Highness?” Eleris replied.

Now that I knew Eleris was my ancestor, I wondered if I should address her differently, but since she continued to call me “Your Highness,” it seemed unnecessary to change titles.

“Eleris, does that mean you had a husband?”

“Ah.”

It was something I had been curious about for a long time, and I was finally asking about it.

“And since Archdemons are so few in number, how do they maintain their species?”

I was the only Archdemon. If we stretched the definition, Eleris and Charlotte could be included, but strictly speaking, I was the only pure-blooded Archdemon.

Had Eleris married another Archdemon? Did the numbers dwindle down the years into this state?

Eleris looked at me, her expression asking if I truly wanted to know.

“Archdemons are not restricted in their... um...”

“I get what you’re trying to say. You don’t have to say more.”

“Thank you... Of course, there isn’t precise information on what exactly is and is not possible, but generally speaking, that is the case... And it is also very difficult for Archdemons to have descendants...”

Judging by Eleris’s evasive response, I understood what she meant.

‘Archdemons can... with anything... uh... something like that. Though why it works is unknown and the limits are unclear...

‘It’s terrifying. Just terrifying! Perhaps it’s better not to know who Eleris’s husband was! And is that why Eleris and the others never said much when I told them who I liked?’

“And so, with each generation, the blood of the Archdemons becomes increasingly diluted.”

Now I understood why my Control Demon ability was so weak.

We walked down to the deepest part of the Demon King’s Castle.

“When I heard that Your Highness intended to prevent a great tragedy in the future, I presumptuously thought that perhaps atonement might be possible.”

I had shared all my secrets with Eleris. That the Gate Incident would occur in the future, bringing a great tragedy to all beings in the world, and that I wanted to prevent it. That was why I had gotten involved in finding Akasha in the first place.

“Of course, nothing can clear away the mountain of sins I have accumulated... But I dared to think that, if it were possible, if I could contribute even a little to prevent that future tragedy, perhaps just a little... then perhaps I could lessen the weight of the slaughter and sins I have piled up...”

Eleris desired atonement but knew that wanting such a thing was both a luxury and a horrendous thing.

Nevertheless, Eleris was willing to work with me if doing so could counterbalance her sins, even a little.

She might have feared taking sides in a war, but this was about saving everyone. That was why Eleris hoped my words were sincere, and why she had chosen to help me.

“Your Highness...”

“Yeah?”

“Regardless of how this turns out, I am glad to have met you. I believe it was my fortune and yours that you wandered the imperial capital filled with humans and found me.”

Eleris hoped that our meeting was a stroke of luck for both of us. I supported Eleris as we continued to descend the stairs.

“Our meeting might not have been luck.”

“...”

I put more strength into the arm supporting Eleris.

Our encounter at a scroll shop in the imperial capital was the beginning of this entire story. If I hadn’t met Eleris, I might have wandered the streets of the capital, living as a beggar, or been discovered as a demon and executed.

Ultimately, if I hadn’t met Eleris, I wouldn’t have entered the Temple, and none of this would have even begun.

Could our meeting truly be considered a fortune for both of us? Could it be remembered that way? I didn’t know.

Even so, I wouldn’t regret any of it.

“But even if it wasn’t luck, I’m confident I won’t regret it,” I told Eleris.

“...”

Tears welled up in Eleris’s eyes.

***

We soon arrived at the underground bunker beneath the Demon King’s Castle. We had arrived before Antirianus and the archlich.

Eleris seemed to have regained some energy, having somewhat recovered from her mana depletion.

“Since they know the way to bypass the Quantum Maze, could they also use the same method to break through the labyrinth above and get here?” I asked.

“I’m not sure about that,” Eleris replied.

Recent developments meant it wasn’t clear whether being in the company of an Archdemon was necessary to reach this place. What mattered was that Eleris could enter this place, just like Charlotte and me.

Since Charlotte, with her half-soul, had been able to enter, then an Archdemon vampire would be able to enter as well.

Eleris and I headed to the library.

Rother Dwin had coveted the tomes that Charlotte had retrieved from the library in this bunker, leading to the murders in the imperial palace and his journey to the lich’s tomb. Now that Antirianus had betrayed me, Rother Dwin would soon find a way to reach this place.

Before they arrived, we needed to either take away or burn all the books in the library.

“Still... it’s a shame to burn them...” I said.

“As a mage myself, it’s unfortunate that we can’t secure them all... but we don’t know what might happen if Akasha is completed...”

Eleris and I sighed as we stood in front of the library.

“Still, if that archlich’s meteor shower or similar magic is in here, it might be safer to burn it,” I said.

“You’re right if we think about it that way...”

I knew magic was powerful, but just imagining what would happen if that meteor shower had ended up striking the earth was overwhelming.

Of course, what Harriet had done to stop it was even more unbelievable.

A meteor shower... Magic was inherently dangerous, and magic of that level was better off not existing in the world. Such a tome might be slumbering somewhere in this library, so it might be better to burn it rather than secure it.

As I gazed at the library, the title of one of the books caught my eye.

[Understanding the Structure of Meteor Showers Through Celestial Observation and Dimensional Gate Creation Through Orbital Calculations]

It was an incredibly thick book with a rather long title.

What could it be? Even though I wasn’t sure, I felt like this was somehow related to the summoning of a meteor shower.

I pulled out the hefty book.

“Your Highness. Here...”

Eleris had also pulled a book out of one of the shelves. The book Eleris held had the same title.

[Understanding the Structure of Meteor Showers Through Celestial Observation and Dimensional Gate Creation Through Orbital Calculations]

Eleris was staring blankly at the tome I was holding.

“It seems to be the same book...” she said.

“... Indeed,” I replied.

We had pulled out the exact same book from entirely different shelves.

A strange chill ran down my spine.

Charlotte had recently taken a significant number of tomes from the library, if not all, and I had seen the pile of books scattered in Rother Dwin’s house. I clearly remembered that the pile was significantly large. If that were the case, at least one or two of the bookshelves here should have been empty.

“Why... are all the bookshelves...”

However, every bookshelf in my view was completely filled, without a single gap.

***

Both Eleris and I were holding copies of the same book, which was likely a magical tome related to the summoning of a meteor shower.

Memories of past experiences flashed through my mind.

When I first discovered this bunker with Charlotte and Tana, I had tried to find magic that could improve Charlotte’s condition. For instance, magic that dealt with souls, and I had immediately found a book on soul manipulation.

The second time I had come, with Eleris and Lucinil, I had tried searching for another version of the soul manipulation book to show Lucinil and had immediately found a demon language version of the same soul manipulation book.

And Eleris, believing that a tome detailing the magic that was used to design the labyrinth above would be here, had found the Quantum Maze tome right away.

This time, I had thought about finding a dangerous tome that dealt with the summoning of a meteor shower or similar magic, and I had immediately discovered a tome presumed to be related to meteor showers.

Eleris had to have been thinking the same thing, which is why she had found the exact same book as me.

This library was... strangely abundant in magic. Strangely so.

‘Could it be? No way. This has to be a coincidence, right?’

Eleris and I stared blankly at each other.

I turned my gaze to one of the bookshelves in the library.

‘Could there be a tome about Fireball magic?’

As I shifted my gaze, a book caught my eye.

[Understanding and Application of Basic Destructive Fire Magic - Fireball]

It was relatively thin compared to other tomes, but there was indeed a tome about casting Fireball.

“The books on these shelves are changing in real-time,” I said.

“... Yes... Indeed...” Eleris muttered.

Whenever I tried to find a tome, it would somehow appear on the shelf. That was why I could always find the tomes I needed without wasting time searching every single shelf.

Eleris and I both turned pale.

There was something that I knew would be in the hands of others, which was why I never even wondered about whether or not there would be any information about it here.

But now, I wanted to know, and this bookshelf would tell me.

‘What is Akasha? Is there a tome with information about Akasha?’

I let my gaze roam around once more, but no book caught my eye.

‘Is there no material on what Akasha is? Or am I using the wrong keyword? Could there be other books, not just magical tomes?

‘Anything else will do. Any record about Akasha, even if it isn’t a book on magic. Anything.’

As I shifted my gaze about again, a book caught my eye. Among the magical tomes and their titles, there was a book, or rather a notebook, bound in red leather, without a cover or title.

I pulled out the book, but it had no title.

I opened it, and when I saw what was written on the first page, my breath caught in my throat.

[My son,]

[Never use Akasha for destruction.]

That single sentence was enough. It wasn’t a multitude of complex theories and explanations, but those words explained everything to me.

“Eleris...” I said.

“Yes... Your Highness?”

I had been searching for Akasha without realizing it was already in my grasp.

I knew that Akasha was an artifact, and I had naturally assumed that the artifact would be an object.

But it was not an object.

“It seems... this, this bookshelf, no... not just this bookshelf...”

I looked around the library and then gazed blankly at the underground bunker.

“This space... itself... seems to be Akasha...”

Akasha was a space.