The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 66 – The God of Death (2)

Juan quickly turned to the voice. Ras, and not Nigrato, was blankly staring down at Juan.

『What are you doing here? Where are the others from the Order of Huginn? I…』

“Ras! Don’t look anywhere else! Focus on me!”

Ras was looking at his limbs and the surroundings that had been completely ruined. Finally, Ras directed his gaze toward Juan who had stabbed a sword deep into Ras’ chest.

『I see what happened now, Your Majesty.』

“Don’t blame yourself for this Ras. You have…”

『You have once again killed everyone, just like you always have.』

Juan froze at Ras’ words.

“What?”

『Your Majesty’s life consisted of nothing but slaughter. You were born to slaughter, and you ended your life to slaughter. Your Majesty was so mighty that people continued to slaughter under your name even after your death. I can see that nothing has changed even after you have returned.』

Juan remained silent.

『Let’s see… How many have you killed until now? Even though I’m the incarnation of death, I’m afraid that I can’t be proud of my title as I only slaughtered a few in a short amount of time, unlike Your Majesty who has been slaughtering all your life.』

“Shut up.”

『You killed countless civilians back in Tantil. You killed trivial mercenaries as well as knights who willingly gave up their lives to protect law and order. You killed so many of the Laus Mountain Scouts… It’s hard for me to even remember everyone. Your Majesty, I am truly proud to be the child of such a great slaughterer.』

“I told you to shut up.”

『What is the purpose behind you slaughtering so much? Ah, that’s right. You don’t need to have a reason to kill. You kill just for the sake of killing, and only want the deaths of others. Excellent! Marvelous! I really admire you, Your Majesty. But at the same time, I wonder—』 Nigrato derided and whispered in Juan's ears. 『—that maybe the reason why big brother Gerard killed you was to put a stop to your slaughters.』

Juan’s cold face stiffened at the words ‘Ras’ was saying. Juan’s flames flickered violently in the wind.

『Big brother Gerard was the most caring and excellent out of all of us brothers—you also considered big brother Gerard to be your successor. I couldn’t help but wonder why such a person would stab you in the back.』

Nigrato bluntly ridiculed Juan and pricked at Juan’s scabs, stirring the emotions he was hiding inside. Any and all history related to death was known to Nigrato; every murder left a scar on both the souls of the murderer as well as the victim. Nigrato could easily use those scars to identify who was killed by who. Nigrato was currently digging into Juan’s weak spot. Juan getting so close to him was a perfect opportunity; when Juan finally got his chance to kill Nigrato, Nigrato created a situation for Juan to kill his child with his own hands.

Greed was brewing inside Nigrato—Juan was a much more fascinating prey to consume compared to Ethan and Ras. If Nigrato could take Juan’s soul and use his abilities to create undead with Juan’s body, Nigrato would no longer need to repeat his cycle of committing suicide and undergoing rebirth for more strength.

『And here you are, now trying to kill me too. Am I wrong?』

Juan’s flames began to become noticeably weaker. Nigrato realized that his whispers were working perfectly on Juan and shaking his inner emotions. It would be a different story if one was born a murderer without any emotions, but anyone was bound to be shaken by Nigrato’s whispers if they had doubts about themselves—especially if it was someone like Juan, who had been killed by the one he was closest to.

『Didn’t you wish to die?』

Juan suddenly flinched.

When Nigrato saw Juan’s reaction, he was convinced that his plan was working. Juan had been wishing for his own death up until just a few months ago.

In fact, Juan wished for death more than anyone else—so much so that even Nigrato could recognize his desire to die.

Nigrato doubted that Juan’s determination for death had changed. Nigrato didn’t think that Juan’s wish had changed much. Nigrato was certain that Juan still wanted to die and had only been putting it off.

『Why are you reliving a life that is only filled with death? Your Majesty, you shouldn’t live to kill. You have the right to take a rest—it’s what you have wanted for a long time. You wished for your own death, didn’t you?』

“I…”

『It’s a sleep that you will never wake up from. And I will protect you, right beside your bed. Take the rest that you have wanted for so long—this time without any betrayal or murder.』

Nigrato slowly began to grasp Juan’s body in his hands when the flames weakened.

Juan’s body was gradually trapped inside Nigrato’s hand as if the cover of the coffin was closing. Pale white fingers wrapped around Juan’s body.

At that moment, Nigrato suddenly saw a smile on Juan’s face.

“You monster, did you really think that I’d fall for your tricks?”

Flames began to rise from Juan’s entire body, and Nigrato screamed at the sudden burst of heat.

Juan had only been pretending to be led astray by Nigrato in order to buy enough time to recover his strength from using Blink so many times.

Nigrato writhed in agony as he realized that he had been deceived by Juan.

Meanwhile, Juan didn’t even move an inch.

Although he didn’t show it, Juan also wished to let out a scream. The blood in his body boiled up and the red steam rose. Flames burst out from Juan’s eyes and breath. Juan felt the instantaneous disappearance of the mana that made up his physical form, as well as his also starting to get extinguished.

‘I won’t last long.’

Meanwhile, Nigrato felt his heart even by just being near the high-heat flames which were as hot as a smelting furnace; Juan’s flames were so hot that even Nigrato’s white bones were scorched black due to fire and smoke.

At the same time, Juan’s body wasn’t doing any better than Nigrato's; all the blood in his body was burning. All parts of his body were losing strength and beginning to break down.

‘I need at least… to get… Ras… out of here.’

Ethan’s sword stuck in Nigrato’s chest burned even more intensely with golden flames. Nigrato writhed due to the heat rising from inside his body and tried to get Juan off of him, but his hands vaporized and disappeared before they could even touch Juan.

“A god trying to deceive me… how arrogant.”

『You threw away your only chance to have a peaceful death! Now I will let you know how your soul can be in more pain than even your body!』

Juan ignored Nigrato’s roar and attempted to cut him.

However, Juan couldn’t put strength in his hands.

Juan disconcertedly squeezed his hands and tried to apply strength one more time, but his body was no longer listening to his commands. At that moment, Juan saw his fingertips breaking and turning into ashes. The pain from his fingertips then spread to his entire body.

‘Why now of all times…’

Juan realized that his body had finally reached its limit.

In an instant, every part of his body began to break and fall apart. Juan was yet to realize it, but his foot had already disappeared a while ago. Juan couldn’t control his body anymore, and the vision in one of his eyes had dimmed. Juan was at a point where he could no longer sustain his physical form with just mana alone.

Nigrato laughed like a madman upon seeing the ashes that Juan’s body had turned into.

『Tired already, Your Majesty? You called me arrogant, but you should take a good look at yourself first!』

“You are mistaken if you think that I can’t take you down with me on my way to hell.”

Nigrato frowned upon hearing Juan’s words. The flames rising from Juan’s body were lethal and had enough power to damage Nigrato’s essence before Nigrato fully completed his physical form.

Juan squeezed the last bit of strength he had left in his body to move his hands—but soon his consciousness began to blur.

***

“Keuk, hah, ugh…”

“Dame Sina!”

Unable to move due to the tremendous pain, Sina covered her left eye with her hand.

When Kamil forced Sina’s hand off of her left eye to check her condition, Kamil couldn’t help but be perplexed; the tattoo on Sina’s left eye was glowing to the point that it appeared golden and the heat emanating from it was so hot that even Kamil could feel it.

“Dame Sina, what in the world is…”

“Th=they are… fighting… right now.”

“Fighting? What are you talking about?” Kamil asked in confusion.

Sina pointed to the darkness with difficulty.

A flame burning brightly within the darkness was constantly eating up Nigrato’s darkness. However, the flame didn’t get any bigger to engulf the darkness, but remained the same size.

Although Sina couldn’t understand exactly what was going on, she could clearly tell that the flame had something to do with Juan.

‘Juan.’

Juan’s thoughts, his strength, his frustration, his current condition—everything about Juan was being transmitted into Sina’s head; even Juan’s will to kill Nigrato despite his body turning into ashes.

Sina pushed Kamil off of her body and tried to approach the darkness.

“Sina, don’t! It’s too dangerous!”

“Let me go! I must go. If I don’t help him…”

‘If I don’t help him… then what?’

Sina was flustered at her own words. While Juan was doing his best to save everyone, Sina had no reason to be so desperate to help him—especially when considering that he had killed all of Sina’s comrades and turned her hometown into a sea of fire. However, Sina found it difficult to ignore Juan’s will. Sina suspected that the tattoo that Juan had engraved on her left eye was brainwashing her.

Then, someone walked in front of Sina; it was Anya, the Deputy of the Order of Huginn.

Anya reached out her arm to cover Sina’s left face with her palm. Smoke rose from Anya’s hand with a sizzling sound, and Sina freaked out and pushed Anya’s hand away.

“What are you doing…?! Is your hand okay?”

Anya looked at her palm without a change in her expression.

“The emperor’s watchdog,” Anya muttered.

Sina flinched when Anya read out what the tattoo on her left eye said.

Anya silently stared at Sina and then opened her mouth.

“The emperor’s watchdog shouldn’t jump into the fire with them, but rather find out what they can do to save them.”

Sina looked dumbfounded, almost as if she had been hit in her head.

‘What I can do to save the emperor.’

.

Anya was right—if Sina jumped into the darkness without a plan, she would only turn into another undead that attacked Juan. There wasn’t much she could do, as she was not a Templar and did not have the Grace bestowed by His Majesty.

Right when Sina was about to give up and accept that there was nothing she could do to help Juan, one thing came to her mind—she could bark.

Sina turned around and immediately ran toward Bishop Rietto. Sina grabbed and shook Bishop Rietto, who was still in a daze with his eyes out of focus.

“Rietto! Bishop Rietto! You must come to your senses!” Sina shouted.

“...When the day comes, His Majesty will appear again with the grand army…”

Rietto didn’t reply to Sina and only muttered a quiet prayer.

Surprised at Sina’s aggressive behavior, Kamil tried to stop Sina.

But Sina pulled Rietto up by his collar and shouted in a loud voice.

“If you consider that a pathetic man like yourself is His Majesty’s servant, you should know that you have no time to talk in your sleep like this!”

At that moment, a flame burst out of Sina’s left eye. The small flame blazed over Rietto’s face for a short second, while everyone in the room jumped as if they had been electrocuted.

When Sina shouted at Rietto in that moment, Rietto was certain about who the owner of the power he felt in Sina’s voice was. After all, he had already felt it once—it was definitely the power of His Majesty.

Bishop Rietto’s pupils regained their focus. He widened his eyes and looked at Sina with an unbelievable expression on his face.

Without even realizing what she had done, Sina continued to urge Rietto.

“Wake up, Bishop Rietto!”

“That voice just now…that was…”

“His Majesty’s biggest enemies are not humans, but rather evil beings—and they are coming back. We need His Majesty’s power right now more than ever! Rietto!”

Bishop Rietto could no longer feel His Majesty’s power from Sina’s voice. However, His Majesty’s will was fully transmitted.

Rietto stared into Sina’s burning left eye as if he had been possessed. As Rietto had heard His Majesty’s voice, which he never thought he would hear in his life, and then felt his will just now, he felt closer to His Majesty than ever.

“So today is the day,” Rietto muttered to himself.

Rietto stood up from the floor.

Kamil tried to help him move, but he refused her help and powerfully strode forward. Rietto directly faced Nigrato’s darkness, and stared at the flames burning like the lighthouse within the darkness.

The flames burning inside the darkness had the same color as the flame on Sina’s left eye, but it was gradually dimming.

Rietto tried to grab his rosary, but his hand grabbed nothing. Rietto recalled that Juan had crushed his rosary earlier. However, Rietto was able to use his Grace even without the rosary.

“His Majesty who shines brighter than the sun and burns hotter than the smelting furnace, our great Kennosis…”

Rietto’s prayer wasn’t fast, but it was full of energy.

All of a sudden, Rietto realized that his personalities were no longer split. In fact, he was singing his prayer in a united voice.

A group of lights began to condense over the dark sky in response to Rietto’s prayer.

“Here is a servant of yours who is in need of your benevolent power…”

Drops of sweat began to form on Rietto’s forehead. The prayer Rietto was reciting was much more dangerous and burdensome compared to the one he was reciting when he tried to summon Kelegrenon to Hiveden.

To a certain extent, it even felt disrespectful.

However, Rietto felt that in all his life as a Bishop, this was the best thing he was about to do.

“Please allow your power to bless your land and your soldiers.”