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Chapter 333: The Past (1)

Damien couldn\'t take his eyes off the Divine Sword.

It was a sword he\'d grown tired of seeing in his past life, but now that he knew the truth, it felt different.

The Ruin Damien had met in person was an unstoppable force.

Thinking that this magnificent being had been driven to death by a weapon gave Damien chills.

\'Why did the Salvation Squad betray Ruin?\'

Damien pondered this question.

Based on everything he\'d observed about Ruin’s character so far, he didn\'t seem like someone who would earn such deep resentment.

Despite that, Ruin was betrayed by the Salvation Squad and completely forgotten.

\'The answer must be here.\'

Damien gripped the hilt of the Divine Sword again and the memories flowed into him.

The scenery changed. Before he knew it, Damien was standing on a beach.

He could feel the salty scent of the sea and the cool ocean breeze. It was far too vivid to just be a memory.

In the distance, he saw Ruin who was drenched in blood.

Ruin’s condition was dire. His entire body was covered in wounds. Multiple daggers lodged in his thigh and back.

It was a pitiful sight.

Cough.

Ruin slumped on the sand and coughed up blood. The hot, crimson liquid spilled onto the ground.

Silently, a dozen men and women looked down at Ruin.

"Ruin, I won’t say I’m sorry."

One of them finally spoke.

He was of average build but strikingly handsome, with bright golden hair that shone like a brilliant pumpkin.

No one had to explain it, Damien understood instantly.

That man was the First Emperor of the Empire.

"You are too great. If you remain, the people will only revere you. All the glory and power of the world will be drawn to you."

Even though he was the first to stab a knife into Ruin’s back, there wasn’t the slightest trace of guilt in the Emperor’s voice.

"I, no, ‘we’ cannot allow that. We don’t want to just stand by and watch."

Ruin didn’t respond.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to speak but he physically couldn’t. He was barely clinging to life.

Instead, Ruin’s eyes moved and scanned the members of the Salvation Squad.

None of them could meet Ruin’s gaze. They all avoided eye contact.

Only the First Emperor held his gaze. He faced Ruin boldly and without hesitation.

"If you want to resent us, then do so. I will accept any reproach or insult."

The First Emperor raised the Divine Sword. Its blade glowed in piercing blue light.

The Emperor didn’t strike immediately. He stood still and looked down at Ruin.

Their gazes met. Damien who was standing beside the Emperor, also looked into Ruin’s eyes.

He was stunned by what he saw.

There was no resentment or anger in Ruin’s eyes. Only a profound sadness.

Ruin seemed to pity the one trying to kill him.

Damien couldn’t understand it. Neither could the Emperor.

- What is that look in your eyes?

The Emperor’s voice grew slightly louder and his previously emotionless tone now trembling.

- Do you not understand your situation? I betrayed you! I’m the one who brought these people here! I’m the one who ruined everything for you!

The First Emperor shouted with a face filled with frustration. By his tone, it almost sounded like their roles were reversed.

- You were always like this! Acting like you were some god! Always so noble! So pure! That’s how you behaved!

The Emperor grabbed Ruin by the collar, snarling at him from just inches away.

- Say it! Say you hate me! Say you want to kill me!

But Ruin only looked at him with bitter and sorrowful eyes.

In the end, it was the Emperor who broke first. He let out a beastly roar and swung the Divine Sword.

With a chilling sound, blood sprayed. Ruin’s head fell to the ground.

Even after killing him, the Emperor’s rage didn’t subside. He screamed at Ruin’s lifeless body.

It took a long time before the Emperor finally quieted down. He was exhausted and collapsed to the ground.

- "delheit, well done.

One of the members of the Salvation Squad spoke up. It was Bartholomeo, the First Holy Emperor.

- Now, even that weapon has lost its master.

The First Holy Emperor picked up the weapon Ruin had been holding.

‘That’s...’

Damien’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the weapon.

Its color was different, but he recognized it. It was Erebos.

As Bartholomeo lifted Erebos, all eyes turned toward him.

Everyone wore a greedy expression.

- Adelheit, as promised, we will take care of Ruin’s belongings. You don’t have any objections, right?

- …Do as you please.

The First Emperor’s voice was weak. Bartholomeo smiled with satisfaction.

- Then, we should first decide who will claim Erebos. This weapon…

Suddenly, Erebos let out a heaven-shaking roar. It was as if tens of thousands of souls were wailing in unison.

Even the members of the Salvation Squad couldn’t withstand the terrible sound. They all covered their ears in pain.

During that moment, the surface of Erebos began to crack. The fractures spread across the blade and the hilt.

Then, Erebos exploded and shards scattered in every direction.

- W-What?

- Erebos is disappearing!

The members of the Salvation Squad scrambled to grab the pieces. Only a few shards ended up in their hands.

But most of the fragments flew far away. The members could only watch in shock as they scattered.

In the midst of chaos, no one noticed.

No one, except for Damien, who saw some of the shards being absorbed into the Divine Sword.

Damien watched as the Divine Sword absorbed Erebos.

‘So that’s why, in my previous life, Dorugo was never able to complete Erebos.’

In his past life, Dorugo had scoured the entire continent but had never managed to gather all the pieces of Erebos.

One of the reasons this had gone unnoticed was because the Divine Sword had absorbed some of the shattered fragments of Erebos.

It made sense that no one would realize this.

‘To think that they had been hidden within the Divine Sword all along.’

In his previous life, Damien had defeated the Imperial Supreme Sword and claimed the Divine Sword.

But at the time, nothing had happened.

That’s why neither Damien nor Dorugo ever suspected that fragments of Erebos were concealed within the Divine Sword.

‘It must be because the Divine Sword’s energy completely masked the presence of Erebos’s shards.’

Just as he reached this conclusion, the First Holy Emperor suddenly shouted in a panicked voice.

- Erebos… it’s been destroyed…? This can’t be… how could this happen…?"

The First Holy Emperor trembled as he stared at his now empty hands.

- R-Ruin’s curse… It must be Ruin’s hatred that affected Erebos…!

His fear quickly spread to the rest of the members of the Salvation Squad.

They looked down at the pieces of Erebos they had managed to grab causing terror etched on their faces.

- R-Ruin must have destroyed Erebos… as part of a plan to exact revenge on us… We have to find the pieces… find them all and destroy them completely!

The members of the Salvation Squad all agreed with the First Holy Emperor’s frantic words.

It was a pathetic sight. Truely unbefitting their lofty reputation.

‘Fools.’

Damien clicked his tongue as he watched them.

The reason Erebos was destroyed was because of Ruin’s death.

Erebos was a weapon deeply and intimately connected to Ruin.

Naturally, it would have been devastated by the death of its master.

‘They betrayed Ruin, yet it seems they couldn’t completely kill their fear of him.’

The members of the Salvation Squad had witnessed Ruin’s feats firsthand.

Because of that, their fear of Ruin must have been immense.

‘In a way, the Emperor is impressive too. Leading these terrified people to betray Ruin… that takes nerve.’

Damien turned his gaze toward the First Emperor.

The Emperor was oblivious to the commotion around him and continued staring at Ruin’s lifeless body.

His face looked strangely sorrowful.

Just as Damien was about to observe the Emperor more closely, everything froze.

At the same time, everything in his sight began to blur.

‘It’s time to return.’

A sensation of floating, like being suspended in the air, swept over him.

At that moment, Damien was pulled back into reality.

“Damien, are you alright?”

As he returned to reality, he was met by the concerned face of the current Emperor.

Damien stared at the Emperor’s face.

It was the spitting image of the First Emperor’s face, which he had seen through the memory.

“You suddenly went quiet. You startled me.”

“I was just gathering my thoughts for a moment.”

Damien replied and lowered his gaze back to the Divine Sword.

Fragments of Erebos were hidden inside the Divine Sword. There was a possibility he could fully restore Erebos.

“Come forth, Erebos.”

Damien summoned Erebos from the mark on his wrist. He brought it close to the Divine Sword.

As expected, there was no immediate reaction. But it wasn’t time to give up yet.

‘I need to draw out the fragments sleeping within the Divine Sword.’

Damien had grown stronger than he had been as a Death Knight.

His both physical and spiritual senses were far sharper than they had been in his previous life.

Because of this, he could detect the energy of the fragments absorbed by the Divine Sword.

Damien infused the Divine Sword with his mana and pulled the fragments out. Darkness began to flow from the Divine Sword.

The darkness moved as if seeking its rightful place and flowed into Erebos. Soon, the broken parts of Erebos began to mend.

A new metal surface emerged at the tip of the blade where it had snapped. The metal wove together and formed a complete blade.

Damien looked at Erebos with deep satisfaction.

Erebos had remained broken since Damien\'s previous life now finally returned to its complete form.

“...Ha.”

Laughter involuntarily escaped his lips.

Damien hold the hilt of Erebos. He could feel the terrifying power sleeping within the weapon.

In truth, Erebos had been near completion already.

The fragment it absorbed from the Divine Sword wasn’t particularly large.

However, that small difference brought about an enormous change.

The completed Erebos held a power incomparable to its previous state.

Now Damien fully understood why the members of the Salvation Squad had coveted Erebos so much.

For the first time in a long while, Damien felt a childlike excitement bubbling up inside him.

He was eager to wield the fully restored Erebos.

“Damien, what was that just now...?”

The Emperor couldn’t help but ask Damien. Damien responded with a brief nod.

“I extracted a fragment that had been dormant within the Divine Sword and used it to complete my weapon. It has not harmed the Divine Sword in any way, so I hope you can overlook it.”

“What an odd thing to say. How could I ever be angry with you?”

The Emperor spoke with a firm voice.

“If you needed it, I’d give you half of the Empire!”

“T-That’s quite generous.”

Damien replied with a slightly awkward expression.

While he was relieved that the Emperor was letting it go, the response was a bit... excessive.

“Do you think I’m joking? I’ll prove how serious I am at once... Wait, what’s happening over there?”

The Emperor pointed behind Damien. Damien turned around to look.

Divine Sword was floating in the air.

Despite Damien not using his ability to command it, the Divine Sword hovered in midair. Not only that, it was circling around him.

“What the...? Why is it doing that?”

Damien was baffled by the situation. The Emperor cautiously spoke up.

“It seems... it has taken a liking to you.”

“Pardon?”

Damien looked at the Divine Sword in disbelief.

Suddenly, the Divine Sword halted abruptly in midair and began shaking its hilt wildly, almost as if it was nodding.

For Damien, this was a rather awkward predicament.

It was certainly a welcome thing for a powerful weapon like the Divine Sword to acknowledge him as its master.

However, the Divine Sword was the weapon of the First Emperor —a treasured artifact of the Empire.

For such a weapon to choose Damien, who wasn’t even a citizen of the Empire but a knight from another land?

That could easily offend the Emperor.

“Well, that’s fortunate. Take it with you.”

But the Emperor’s reaction was the exact opposite of what Damien had expected.

“...What? Take it with me?”

“They say a legendary sword chooses its master. Since the Divine Sword has chosen you, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Isn’t it the Empire’s treasure?”

“Indeed. But if it’s related to you, I don’t mind one bit.”

Damien carefully studied the Emperor\'s expression. He wondered if he was perhaps being tested.

To his surprise, the Emperor\'s gaze and face showed nothing but sincerity.

"Um... so I just take it?"

The Emperor nodded firmly. Damien was somewhat skeptical but he decided to take the Divine Sword.

"I’d love to give you a break, but I’m afraid I need your help."

"Is it Pandemonium causing trouble again?"

Damien asked sharply.

Though he had dealt with Vahel, Dorugo was still on the loose.

For all Damien knew, Dorugo might have been plotting something while he was unconscious.

"It’s not that but I do need your opinion on something."

"And what might that be?"

Damien asked curiously. The emperor gestured for him to follow.

"First, come with me."

Without knowing what was going on, Damien followed the Emperor. They headed towards the prison within the palace.

‘Quite well-guarded.’

Upon reaching the prison, Damien couldn’t help but be impressed.

From the entrance, a series of barriers blocked all forms of magic, dark magic, and divine power. The entire interior was constructed from rare metals.

In addition, numerous enchantments were in place to prevent escape.

As Damien observed the formidable defenses, they walked deeper into the prison.

Eventually, instead of iron bars, they arrived at a large glass window.

But it wasn’t ordinary glass—it was also made of rare metal.

"This is why I called for you."

Emperor pointed at the glass.

Beyond the window was a deep pit-like space. At the very bottom, a woman was shackled in chains.

She had a slender frame.

Her beauty was such that even the phrase ‘country toppling beauty’ seemed fitting.

The moment Damien saw her face, his eyes widened slightly.

Theta.

One of the Four Great Demon Kings created by Dorugo.

***