Chapter 59
In the academy backyard, amidst the dead knights and half-dead demonic stars, stood Leo, Maria, Ryan, the four demonic stars on their sides, and the demons of Legion.
The Demon King, the absolute ruler, the true power of the realm, stood in the skies looking down on all those who existed.
Ryan spoke,
“Yo, Demon King, who the hell do you think you are? You are not special.”
The Demon King looked at him and asked,
“Since when did ants have the courage to look in my eyes?”
As he increased his mana suppression, pushing everyone down, making them struck to the ground.
Ryan, on the ground, spoke,
“Legion, activate the formation.”
The members on the ground all took out a badge that Lara gave Leo and the gang back in the Hell Star kingdom.
“Here,” said Hell Star as he threw three tokens to the Sword Princess, Leo, and Maria.
The Demon King noticed it. He rushed toward Leo, sensing the mana in the air gathering around the token bearers.
Ryan spoke,
“Too late, you foolish king.”
As one by one, the demons got teleported away.
As they thought they had escaped, the Demon King rushed forward, knocked the badge off the four Hell Stars, and in an instant grabbed Maria’s hands.
She screamed,
“Aaaaaa!”
Leo, as he was teleported away, witnessed this and got away screaming,
“Noo……”
The Legion escaped except for the four Hell Stars and Maria.
The aide with the Demon King came near and spoke,
“Your Majesty, we need to return.”
The Demon King said,
“Make the arrangement.”
The Demon King went back to his castle.
There was no news of Legion or Leo, but the following day the Demon King announced something:
A week from now he is going to execute the traitors — the four Hell Stars and Maria, the accomplice of Leo who belonged to the organization trying to bring destruction to the demon realm.
They will be executed in front of the central castle.
The whole kingdom was in a state of unrest.
The previous day, in the hideout of Legion base, the teleportation worked.
All those who held the badge came back.
Leo landed. He stood up and spoke,
“I am going back.”
Ryan came back to him and spoke,
“Leo, be patient. We will save them, but rushing without a plan will be of no use.”
Leo didn’t listen.
At that time, a figure approached Leo.
“I am glad to see you, Leo,” said the figure.
It was Lara with her mask still on.
Leo went to her and spoke,
“Leader, thank you for saving me, but I have to go. Maria is the only one left for me in this world. I can’t lose her too.”
Lera spoke,
“You are wrong, Leo. She is not your only family.”
Leo finally stopped and asked,
“What do you mean?”
The leader slowly removed her mask, revealing herself.
Tears poured down Leo’s face.
He rushed at her and hugged her as he cried out,
“Sister, you are still alive!”
Lera replied,
“I survived by chance, Leo. I have been watching your journey, how splendidly you have grown, brother, surpassing all my expectations.”
Leo cried nonstop.
Lera continued,
“Don’t worry about Maria and the rest. The Demon King won’t harm them, at least until he gets what he needs.”
She pointed at the medallion.
Hearing this, Leo came to his right state of mind.
“Sorry for faltering.”
Ryan stepped forward, knelt down, and spoke,
“Now, my prince, what do we do next? We await your command.”
Then the whole Legion knelt to him and asked,
“Please command us, prince.”
Amidst them came an old demon.
Leo looked at him and bowed,
“Master, greetings.”
The old demon spoke,
“You have done a splendid job surviving so far, Leo.”
“What next?” he asked.
Leo spoke,
“My demons, get up. We have a job to do. Get me Tom. Ryan, sister Lera, Master, and the magic engineering team gather for me.”
As he called them, the lead magic engineer Tom, his juniors and coworkers all came to his call.
Leo started to explain what he saw and what he planned to do.
The engineer Tom, after hearing it, said,
“You are insane. Just hearing it makes my head spin. You want to make it in one week?”
Leo replied,
“Yes. We have no other choice. Either we act fast or forever accept our fate as slaves under the tyrant.”
Lera added,
“How certain are you this will work?”
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Leo replied,
“I have no idea, but I got a feeling that this is the only way.”
Ryan spoke,
“If the captain says so, then we shall follow it.”
Leo asked Tom,
“Is it possible to make it, Tom?”
Tom replied,
“If we divert the whole energy supply of the Shield of West, then maybe we can do it.”
Master spoke,
“I shall inform the masses of your word discreetly.”
Lera spoke,
“I shall send word to the Mage Tower.”
Leo spoke,
“Ryan, you have the most important role of us all.”
Ryan spoke,
“I shall do it. As soon as Melody and Riley return to the camp, I shall make the preparations.”
Leo spoke,
“For the demon realm.”
The gang repeated after him,
“For the demon realm.”
Then time passed.
The promised one week came.
The four stars and Maria were all tied and hanged by their hands in front of the massive Demon King’s castle.
There were no demons gathered there except for the Demon King and his knights.
He spoke out with his amplified magic,
“Leo, the time I gave you is almost over. I shall wait till the twin suns reach their peak. If you are not here by then, then say goodbye to your beloved.”
Time passed.
The twin suns reached their peak in the skies.
A single demon walked toward the castle.
The Demon King sensed him and spoke,
“Welcome home, brother. Now let’s settle this ill-fated relation once and for all.”
“I am here. Let them go,” said Leo.
“First the medallion,” he said.
Leo replied,
“Let them go and I shall give you the medallion.”
The Demon King said,
“Very well. Release the pests.”
The knights released them.
They returned to Leo’s side.
“Now the medallion,” he asked.
Leo took out a box and opened it and threw the medallion inside it to the Demon King.
The Demon King caught the medallion.
He started laughing fanatically.
“Finally, after 20 years, I am going to get what belongs to me. From now on, I am the only true ruler of the demon realm.”
Leo took out the Legion teleportation badge and gave it to the five injured and had them teleport away.
When he too tried to teleport, the badge failed.
The Demon King laughed.
“You really think I would just let you leave, brother?”
Leo replied,
“I knew you wouldn’t. You are going to kill me, right?”
“Exactly. Just as brilliant as our mother.”
“Then at least tell me why you killed them? They trusted you, didn’t they? Father brought you here, an orphan with no home. He gave you a home. He gave you love, an identity. Yet why did you betray them?” asked Leo.
The Demon King’s voice went silent beneath the mask.
He sighed and spoke,
“You want to know? Okay then, listen well.
I was an orphan in the human realm. Your father and mother found me after I almost lost my life in another war. They brought me here, gave me love, an identity, and the name of crown prince.
I never wanted any of it, but they were given to me.
All went well until the day the king found that the queen was pregnant. The court started to whisper. Since the true heir is going to be born, the false one shall have no choice but to abdicate.
Then they suddenly vanished for 12 years.
I was the ruler of the realm. The crown was mine. The throne was mine. All the power it held was mine.
When they returned, all of my power was taken from me.
Then I heard that the world is ending and they have made a plan to save it.
Seeing the blueprint of the device they made to fight the disaster, I had another idea.
If the population increase is the problem, I can just cull out the peasant trash. And if only I can get the power of the device, I can easily win over the two.
I bided my time.
Just as you were about to be born, I stole the power. I came to kill you, but that damn queen was too keen. She set a trap which I fell into and had my powers sealed.
But I didn’t fail to kill them both.
I thought you were dead under the debris.
But fate is funny. You escaped all of that to come and die yet again in my hands.”
Leo asked,
“So you killed the previous king and the world is ending? And you plan to kill the demons of this kingdom for your selfish desires?”
The Demon King sighed.
“Yes. I have the power to do it now that you have handed me the medallion.”
He turned around and raised the medallion to the air.
The light glowed out.
The reactor activated for a moment.
Then the medallion cracked and finally broke.
The Demon King burst out in anger.
“How dare you! Give me a fake!”
Leo smiled and replied,
“A courtesy from my big brother.”
The Demon King scoffed.
“I don’t need the reactor’s power to end you.”
Leo smiled.
The Demon King, confused, asked,
“Did you go mad, boy?”
Leo replied,
“Thank you. You gave the final push I needed.”
“For what?” asked the Demon King.
“For the destruction of your empire.”
As he said that, he took out a holo projection stone.
“All your words have been conveyed to the people of all five kingdoms. They have already prepared to leave this place. Your words gave them the final push they needed. Take a look.”
He opened his magic bag and took out five holo balls, each showing the five kingdoms.
The demons of the kingdoms were teleporting toward the Knight Academy via massive teleportation gates the team under Tom created.
“That is not possible. You couldn’t have got the energy source needed for the mass teleportation,” said the Demon King.
Leo smiled and said,
“We couldn’t have done it without your subordinate’s help. Gord Goldstein — remember him? It is his hoarded mana crystals that power up our gates.”
The Demon King asked,
“What now? You want to make them fight me? They will just die.”
“I knew that the moment I saw you back in the academy. I knew that we couldn’t possibly overpower you, but I also knew we can outrun you — to the true world outside.”
The Demon King countered,
“So what if you gathered them? The feeble bodies of the demons can’t possibly cross over the barrier between the space.”
Leo replied,
“I don’t need their bodies.”
Leo opened another holo stone.
In there he saw the scene — the demons of the west led by a teenage girl with orange hair, the same one who gave life back to the Demonic Spear Star, going in front of the academy.
There, Ryan, Melody, and the mages of the Hell Star’s domain stood.
They used Ryan as a conduit and accessed and cloned the Blood Tear, which they used to separate the souls of the demons from their bodies and collect the souls.
Ryan spoke,
“That covers 80 percent of the kingdom, almost 40,000 demons. Let the rest come. Let’s go.”
The Blood Tears were loaded into a space bag, carried by the strongest people in the Legion.
All the demons were turned to souls — eleven such people carried over, including the four demonic stars and Maria.
Seeing this scene, Leo spoke,
“Now, oh mighty and powerful Demon King, have your power and rule the empty lands.”
The Demon King asked,
“Do you think you are saving them? Before long you will starve them to death, you fool.”
Leo laughed and explained,
“You don’t have to worry about that. Again, thanks to your subordinate, the evil Mage Tower Master hoarding the grains, my demons have at least ten years of food left.”
The Demon King screamed,
“Nooooo! I will kill you!”
He lunged at Leo.
At that moment, Leo took out a teleportation badge.
“The latest version capable of breaking any restriction you can come up with.”
Saying this, he pressed the badge and vanished to the End of the World where Maria, Lera, Ryan, Melody, Riley, the old master, Tom, the four Hell Stars, and Stark all waited for him, carrying the souls and hope of the demon realm.
Then Leo spoke,
“Let’s go. To our tomorrow.”
The twelve stepped forward into the door inside the cottage.
They passed through the space tunnel and arrived at a land where the land is green, filled with lush forests, animals, birds, and insects all lived in harmony.
The magic bag opened up as they passed through the exit.
The souls one by one converted into bodies.
The 50,000 demons of the demon realm have successfully escaped.
Leo gathered them and spoke,
“My people, from today onwards you are free. My teacher once told me a demon is one who is free from the thoughts of the world and one who follows his heart, not being a slave to his desires. Today we all came toward an uncertain future, but fret not — we are here, we are together, and we are free. We demons shall find a way.”
The demons cheered.
They all began to build homes, for this is their land from today.
Their families rejoiced.
The Legion celebrated.
Night fell.
Unlike the blue moon of their home, this sky held a normal white moon and a single sun in the sky.
The demons were celebrating their victory under the moonlight, drinking and eating under the bonfires.
Leo noticed Lera and the old master moving somewhere.
He followed them.
They moved until they found an isolated place in the forest.
Lera took out a crystal message transmission ball.
Unlike the ones Leo had seen before, this one had much more complex design.
The ball came to life.
The Demon King’s castle came into view.
The Demon King appeared in front on the screen.
The old master and Lera knelt down.
Leo’s eyes widened, unable to comprehend what was going on.
Lera spoke,
“Big brother, we have successfully brought all the demons of our realm.”
The Demon King replied,
“Good.”
“Then you both have completed your duties. Let big brother take care of the rest.”
He removed his mask, revealing a familiar face.
It was none other than Drake, the Crimson Knight.
Behind him stood Gord Goldstein, the slain Tower Master, Garry the Undead King.
Drake stood up.
“My friends, our preparation for two decades had all been for this very moment. The heaven decrees that demons be vanquished. Our king and queen gave their lives to seal the Heaven’s Messenger. For 20 years their seal lasted. It’s finally time to do our duties. Raise your weapons. Let’s go.”
Gord took out his golden spear.
The Tower Master raised his wand.
The Undead King raised his army from the ground.
Harry and Gilbert too stood, raising their swords in front of them.
The Crimson Knight headed toward the center of the dungeon of the castle.
Lera whispered,
“Good luck, brother.”
Drake replied,
“Take care of Leo.”
As the demons went to face their mortal enemy.
The transmission cut off.
Leo came forward.
He shouted,
“What is going on here?!”
His whole world collapsing.
His sister with his worst enemy who turned out to be his big brother.
The evil demons he killed all are alive.
Heaven’s Messenger — what is all this?
He asked in fury-filled confusion.
At that moment, the Fairy King came out of his body.
“Leo, to know the truth is to carry the burden of centuries. Will you carry it?” he asked.
Leo replied,
“I shall.”
Then he was pushed into the dreamscape again.
The truth of the demon world is finally here.
