Chapter 57
In the central capital, in the throne room, sat the large robed man wearing a black mask, sitting on the throne. A demon came running. He knelt down.
“Your Majesty, the Sword Star sent a message. They have found the Medallion of the King.”
The Demon King stood from his throne and asked,
“Where?”
The demon below replied,
“On the academy grounds, in the hands of a demon named Leo.”
He laughed.
“Little brother, so you survived for this long. Prepare the teleportation portal. We are heading there.”
The demon stood up and said,
“It shall be done, Your Majesty,”
as he left the throne room.
Under the twin suns’ rays shining on the arena, the two groups stood at a standstill, the guards evacuating the citizens. Two hooded figures among the crowd whispered.
“Shall we go?” asked one.
The other replied,
“Not yet, Ryan.”
Leo, Maria, and Gilda stood, Leo supporting poisoned Harper. There were hundreds of knights — true sword masters — and even more sword experts surrounding them, along with the two demonic stars.
Harry spoke,
“Give up, Father, Mother. It’s over. You can’t win.”
Harper moved from Leo, stood on his own two feet, took out his sword and replied,
“Who decided that?”
He started to burn his very life force and converted it into mana. His mana pushed down hundreds of sword experts. Sword masters barely held their own.
Gilda said,
“Dear,”
with sadness in her voice.
The Sword God replied, looking at her,
“Let me pay for the mistake I made long ago.”
Then the four also raised their swords.
Seeing this, Reginald spoke,
“So this is the Sword God.”
Harry spoke,
“Charge!”
Then Reginald and Harry charged toward the poisoned Sword God. Their blades clashed. The two barely kept up with the Sword God.
The sword masters all charged at Gilda, who single-handedly fought hundreds of them.
The sword experts charged at Leo and Maria. They too took out their swords and came forward. Their clash was brutal.
Time went by. The knights were defeated one by one, but their number didn’t decrease. Instead, reinforcements kept coming.
The duo of Leo and Maria were tired, but they didn’t give up.
The situation was not so good on the Sword God’s side. As time went by, he was losing his vital life force. It was strong, but not inexhaustible. As time went by, he became weaker.
Harry spoke,
“He is getting weak. Push!”
Reginald followed him as he leapt toward the Sword God.
He was tired, bleeding from his nose. The poison acted up. He lost coordination. His sword slipped.
Harry lunged at this opportunity and pierced his limbs. Reginald followed and tied him to the ground.
Harry’s next strike aimed at his heart.
But the Sword God didn’t falter. He retreated back with all his energy.
Gilda screamed,
“No, Harper!”
Harper replied,
“Gilda, take them back. Escape. Leave this place. Go there.”
Gilda bit her tongue and turned to face Leo and Maria.
“Leo, Maria, follow me.”
Leo replied,
“We can’t leave him behind.”
Gilda replied,
“My prince, let us do our duty.”
Leo nodded, steeling his resolve.
Gilda opened a path behind Harper. Harper stood in front, taking on the knights and the two demonic stars.
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Gilda guided the duo toward the academy.
Harry screamed,
“You will not escape!”
As he tried to follow them, Harper stood in front of him with his sword. He formed an impenetrable fortress.
The struggle went on for hours.
Finally, after three hours and the death of almost 900 of the 1200 knights stationed in the kingdom, and Harry losing one of his limbs and Reginald losing one of his eyes, the Sword God finally met his end.
Even when death stared at him, he smiled as he whispered,
“My queen, I have accomplished my duty after 20 years.”
As his life slowly faded from him, his body, which transcended the limits, slowly turned into a wave of blue dust as he dissipated into the air.
Harry spoke,
“Where are they?”
The knight captain replied,
“My lord, they went toward the academy. We chased them, but they vanished as they entered the academy building.”
“Find them, now.”
The knights ran to the academy.
Reginald came closer to Harry and spoke,
“Don’t worry, Harry. This academy has many secret tunnels running under it, built by the first king. We just have to search the tunnels. The old blueprints will be in the library. We will find them. It’s only a matter of time.”
Harry replied,
“Alright. Knights, search the tunnel blueprints from the library and start searching the tunnels.”
At the same moment, in the underground tunnel, Gilda walked with the duo. She felt a gentle breeze of mana washing over her. Her eyes got wet, unknowingly to her.
Leo, seeing this, asked,
“What happened, Grandma?”
Gilda replied,
“My prince, it seems that the old man has done his duty splendidly.”
Leo hugged her.
Gilda spoke,
“We need to move, my prince.”
Leo replied,
“Grandma, I am always your grandson. Please call me the same.”
She smiled and continued,
“Okay, Leo.”
Maria spoke,
“Grandma, where are we heading?”
Grandma asked,
“Leo, Maria, where do we live?”
Maria replied,
“In the demon kingdom under the Demon King’s rule, where we have lived for centuries.”
Grandma asked,
“Have you ever wondered what lies beyond the lands we inhabit?”
Maria’s eyes widened.
“Beyond the kingdom?” she asked.
Leo answered,
“The End of the World.”
Grandma’s face was surprised.
“You heard of it, Leo?”
Leo replied,
“Big brother Drake once said about it to me before he died. He instructed me to go there to find the truth.”
Gilda laughed.
“That crazy demon. He was always like that. Leaving that aside, listen well, Leo. What I am about to tell you is a closely guarded secret of demonkind that we demonic stars and the Demon King have guarded for centuries.”
Leo and Maria keenly readied their ears.
Gilda started:
“The world as you know it is not truly our world. We came from a place called the Starfield, where, like demons, other races existed — the angels, humans, and other abominations.
The world we resided in was about to meet its end. At that time, our ancestor, the first Demon King, with his magic prowess, opened an independent space in the gaps between worlds — a safe haven for the demons, but also a prison from which we can’t escape. He bound our bodies to the land.
It was thought that all life had ceased to exist in the outside world due to the disaster, until someone came to the realm from outside.”
“Who was it?” asked Maria.
Gilda smiled and replied,
“The greatest sorcerer this realm has ever seen, the kindest and bravest person I had ever met — your mother, Leo, Sara Sinclair.”
Leo repeated,
“Sara Sinclair.”
“Yeah. Your father, the then king, met her and found something dreadful — life outside survived, but the realm we were in is collapsing on its own. It was never meant to carry such a huge capacity of demons.
The Forest of Nightmare, the Tomb of Life — all were measures made by our ancestor to prevent overpopulation. But he never expected his descendants to find a way over it. They formed the barrier of the kingdom and deactivated the Tomb of Life, which supplied the space its power.
The queen and king didn’t give up. The king found a way to leave the kingdom — the Medallion of the King. It allowed one to travel between spaces. But there was a drawback — only one whose body is as strong as the Demon King could possibly survive the journey.
The king and queen traveled outside for 12 years until they came back. By the time they came back, they brought with them the crown prince. And they used their knowledge gathered in the outside world to build a mana reactor to stabilize the space, with the medallion acting as a gear.
During that time, you and your sister were born.
The queen noticed suspicious activity of the crown prince, but the king didn’t give him up, so she decided to hide your sister.
When the reactor was ready, fate played a foul move on us. It was also the time when your mother was pregnant with you — you were about nine months in her belly.
The ritual was ready. Our queen entrusted the role of guarding the palace to us. But my husband, unbeknownst to him, gave in to the sweet words of the crown prince and got drunk and fainted. He didn’t attend the ceremony.
The old tower master arrived. The ceremony started. The reactor gathered all the mana in the world. It was a success.
At the same time, when the reactor activated, something unexpected happened. The power which was supposed to flow back to the world diverted. It flowed to the crown prince. For his greed of power, he meddled with the formation. The mana flowed through him. He became unstoppable — so strong that the king and queen had no choice but to run and hide.
Even I was barely able to hold him down, giving time for them to escape. I barely survived.
Then I came to this place, hiding, until one day I received news from the Crimson Knight — the king and queen died sacrificing their lives to seal the power of the tyrant back in the reactor, which he can’t access until he gets the medallion.
We were told you too died.
It was not until I found you last year that I knew you were alive.”
Leo was at a loss for words.
As she was saying these words, the three arrived at the core of the tunnels, where the walls were covered with veins of old stone blocks covered in runes, forming a circle — a portal-like stone hedge.
Gilda spoke,
“This is the core of this world — the place where the first Demon King placed the portal to the End of the World, the threshold between our world and theirs.”
Leo stepped forward.
The medallion in his hands shone.
Mana gathered around the gate. The runes came to life. Blue light glowed. The mana got sucked into it.
The portal opened.
Gilda spoke,
“Follow me, my prince.”
The duo followed her and entered the gate and emerged out, where a grass plain stretched unendingly, a small cottage in the middle of the place.
Wind blew across their faces.
Gilda spoke softly,
“Welcome to the End of the World.”
