The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Chapter 281: The Flow for Him (1)

Do you know when a person suffers the most?

Is it when their body is stabbed by a sword and blood spurts out?

When deadly poison travels down the throat, twisting the guts?

Well, it probably differs drastically from person to person.

But if you ask me what the most excruciating pain is, according to my standards, I’d like to answer like this:

The agony of idleness.

The pain that surges when realizing that I am in a powerless state where I can do nothing.

This is, very much so, the pain I am currently feeling perfectly.

It’s as if the blood is flowing backward so violently that my internal organs seem ready to spurt out of my mouth.

“You seem to be in quite a bit of pain,” Haniel jeered at me with a sneer, taking pleasure in my torment.

For your information, since entering this place, she has done nothing to me.

Nor have I done anything to her.

Even if I offered her a pain worse than death, nothing would change.

Right now, I am helplessly trapped in this holy sword’s subspace.

-Bang!

In a fit of enraged emotion, I slammed my fist into a white pillar that rose in the corner of the space.

The nausea was so overbearing I felt like I was going mental.

“Seems the Demon King will soon arrive in Arem. Or perhaps he has already arrived.”

I turned my head sluggishly and locked eyes with her once more.

Despite my intense gaze, laden with murderous intent, the devil mother did not stop speaking.

“The lord of the demon realm will surely judge all the humans who dared to commit a massacre in the netherworld. However, his anger won’t be appeased by that alone. The unresolved rage will naturally be directed towards the human world.”

“By any chance, does that include the Duke of Vert, no, my father among those humans in Arem?”

“It’s an obvious question. Even if they are enchanted knights, someone must command them, right?”

Well, what a surprise. As if.

What does a husband who mingled with me matter anyway?

To him, they’re nothing more than disposable pawns for the sake of his oh-so-great child.

Human beings with power slaughtering powerless demons.

The Demon King’s anger towards humans who have crossed that line.

Haniel explained that a Demon King, unable to contain his instinctual nature, would unleash that fury upon the human realm.

I don’t feel like explaining what happens next.

It would be akin to a calamity, just as she said.

And here I am, locked in this revolting space, feeling the full force of idle agony.

It couldn’t be more the epitome of the worst moment.

“Was the pendant just a decoy in the end?”

“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to be able to delay the power of that pendant. Regardless, the complete release was never achieved, so inciting the Demon King’s rampage was only a matter of time. But hastening it doesn’t hurt.”

Even if I were to save that woman named Besti now, it’s already too late.

From the moment we, as humans, swung our swords against the demons, the Demon King’s anger was ignited, and it won’t be easily extinguished.

“Do you think it possible for your son to stop the rampaging Demon King?”

“Of course.”

“On what basis?”

A laughable question, and so I asked again with a hollow laugh.

“Because I made it so.”

Like mother, like son, their answers are strikingly similar.

“As a child of the House of Vert, you must have had your suspicions countless times. So did your brothers. Why did your father pour so much enthusiasm into only the eldest son……”

“Do you need to ask now? It’s obvious he was played by your cheap enchantments.”

“Do you think that was wrong?”

“Should I think it was right?”

“You must think it was inevitable. After all, it’s no different from the desperate struggle of humans for survival.”

To me, it was nothing more than a weak justification.

“Witch? Enchantment? You claim that you control people at will using strange powers? You know nothing! Not about me! Nor us! The suffering of those shunned by the world!”

She seemed to vent her frustrations that had accumulated over time.

“We simply followed the desperate instincts of humans! The instinct to survive! To realize the value of life! For that purpose, I chose Willyus Vert as my man, bore his son, conceived a completely perfect child from the beginning!”

The only thing I could empathize with was that statement.

She was right.

A completely perfect child from the start.

Because he took everything, I was left with nothing.

There was a time I thought that was how it should be.

Like a fool.

“Eshel Vert. That child is my everything. And I cannot stand to see him crumble because of an existence like you, Sian. Even if it means offering my soul to the demons! I will stop you!”

Offering her soul to demons.

How ironic, from where I stand, you all just look like demons to me.

The sad sorrows of those abandoned by the world?

I have no idea what you’ve been through to say all that, but I can say this for sure.

I, too, have been abandoned once.

By someone who was once my everything, my world, none other than your son.

That’s why I’m resolute in my denial.

Even if all the beings in the world turn their blades against me……

“An order made for your son, Eshel, was it?”

I’ve heard enough. My ears ache.

“Perhaps it was so in a past life, but not anymore.”

“Past life? What are you talking about?”

“The flow of this world is set to my rhythm.”

Ignoring her question, I continued.

“I’ll break out of this space and rush to where the Demon King is to stop him. That’s my role, and it shall be done.”

“You still don’t understand, do you? This world aligns with Eshel, not…….”

“We’ll see about that. Watch closely from the center of the crumbling space. Between the flow you designed and mine, we’ll see which one prevails.”

-Crack!

I poured every ounce of the fog’s strength I could muster into the Claram and slammed it to the ground.

[I thought I’d die of boredom. It’s unlike you to listen to such a long story, isn’t it?]

Exactly my sentiment.

Whether it works or not, it’s more my style to collide with action. I can’t believe I hesitated oddly for a moment.

-Dududu

The power of the fog transferred to the Claram began to disseminate across the subspace, initiating a tremor.

* * *

Whether it was days or hours apart,

The Demon King Belcarion made his appearance in Arem in an entirely different form than before.

“The, the Demon King?”

The atmosphere felt in the front lines was incomparable to this situation.

Aerin’s limbs quivered helplessly as she failed to move her body.

“Hello, humans?”

Belcarion greeted everyone with a laugh that was certainly not borne of a positive mindset.

“Ah, there are familiar faces and some new ones? Who will tell me what fun you’ve been having in a land that isn’t even yours?”

Of course, both sides knew the laugh wasn’t from a good place.

Veteran knights who’d experienced countless battles trembled at the mere presence of the Demon King’s killing intent.

“Why so silent? You don’t want to speak? Or do you find it difficult to speak to me?”

Belcarion’s eyes then passed over the humans and settled on the scattered bodies of fallen demons.

His gaze, initially on the dead, naturally shifted to the blood-stained swords of the knights.

“Did you do this?”

Instead of replying, the Duke of Vert reached out towards Belcarion.

“Gods Strike!”

With the incantation, a magic circle formed above Belcarion’s head and, without hesitation, lightning struck down.

-Crackle!

“What are you doing!”

Startled, Aerin went to cast a protective spell,

-Thud!

but Lunab grabbed her hand and shook her head.

“That won’t do anything.”

As Belcarion turned distracted by the knights, Aerin noticed Lunab silently emanated mana to escape.

“What are you doing, Lunab?”

“There’s nothing good in staying here. We’ll just be caught in that whirlwind of rage. Better to leave quietly.”

As the Demon King was preoccupied, Lunab was about to recite the last spell, when-

-Crack!

Suddenly, a crack appeared in the magic circle,

-Crash!

and it shattered into pieces like broken glass.

“Going somewhere?”

Without a moment to react, the eyes of the three women turned to the source of the sound.

“When did you…?”

“Trying to flee with something fishy, are you?”

Aerin wanted to explain they had no part in the slaughter and were in fact trying to prevent it, but she was overwhelmed by the bloodlust and couldn’t speak.

“Thinking about it, how would Sian react if I killed you here? Would his excitement and agony exceed what I’m feeling now? Surely he’ll feel something similar, right?”

Belcarion faced the women.

“He’d truly try to kill me. That wouldn’t be so bad! I’m sure it would be very entertaining!”

His purpose was clear as day.

The killing intent that had been directed at the knights was now fully focused on them.

“I wonder what kind of expression he’ll make?”

* * *

“Phew…”

Rogers, despair on his face, sat beside fallen Besti, glancing out the window.

As time passed, Besti’s lifeforce weakened rapidly, suggesting she’d unlikely survive the night.

In such a crisis, what could the Demon King be doing outside? Since it couldn’t be good, Rogers grew more worried about when he would return to the castle.

“Did the servants also feel like this under the former Demon King?”

Although he wished for an answer as he spoke aloud, no response came back – only the faint breathing of unconscious Besti.

“Wishing for a peaceful Demon Realm, was it always this difficult…?”

The only thing birthed from his despair was a plea of sorrow.

-Knock knock

A knock sounded at the door but Rogers didn’t even look.

Most likely, it was a demon from inside the castle with unpleasant news.

“Excuse me.”

However, the voice that followed the knock immediately made Rogers turn his head.

As the steward of the Demon King’s castle, he recognized the voices of all who dwelled within. Yet he never heard this unfamiliar voice – a clear female voice.

-Creak

The owner of the voice soon entered the room.

“This is the Demon King’s castle, right?”

The audacious woman who casually walked in asking if it was indeed the Demon King’s castle.

Though hooded and robed, Rogers understood immediately.

She was human, not a demon.

“Who are you?”

The woman hesitated slightly before responding.

“Ah, the name – for now, just call me Emily…”

(To be continued)