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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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After waiting a hundred years,
Gulp—
He coughed up blood that welled up from within.
Everything was arduous and heavy.
Yet he stood firmly on his two legs, for he had to indelibly etch this scene into his memory.
Ah.
Everything that could have been intact was no longer so.
This was a truth that applied to all, regardless of whether something was alive or not.
Everything was destroyed, everything died.
Ared – one of the massive islands of the demonic realm.
Just three days ago, this island had been perfectly intact, but now there was no trace of life left.
He gazed upon the pool of blood covering the ground.
“…Pathetic.”
His two wings were tattered, and his right arm was gone.
One eye wouldn’t open at all.
Even standing on two legs, his appearance was wretched.
Yet he had no leisure to berate his own pitifulness, let alone feel the pain.
“Why did you do it?”
He asked his fallen subordinates on the ground.
Why did you believe in me until the very end?
No answer would come.
The ones growing cold did not return any response.
The demonic realm’s crows began pecking at their flesh, but he could take no action.
Not a single one survived.
Those who had once proudly sung the praises of the sin of pride, would never return.
As always, the demonic realm’s sky was red.
Now the color of the ground hardly differed from that of the sky.
He simply gazed vacantly at this world drenched in blood.
“Why did you do it?”
He asked again, knowing no answer would come.
It had been solely his battle.
Neither particularly noble, nor particularly great.
It was merely a fight to fulfill his mission.
The demonic denizens would scorn and mock the deaths of his subordinates.
He knew it full well, yet…
Why did you, who knew that fact better than anyone, go to such lengths for me until the end?
He slowly turned his head.
And dared to look upon the one who had soaked Ared in blood.
The one he had challenged – the King of the demonic realm, who held the seven deadly sins under his sway. His name may be innumerable, but his existence was singular.
The Demon King Legalus.
This grisly scene was mere amusement for him.
Sitting high above the piles of corpses like mountains, his visage was undoubtedly that of the demonic realm’s ruler.
Staring down at him with an expression of delight, that look evoked in him a feeling he had never experienced before.
After a prolonged, solemn standoff, Legalus finally approached.
“Jekkiel.”
The haughty Vampire King.
The sin of pride.
My name spilled from his lips.
“It was enjoyable. Truly enjoyable. None have entertained me as much in recent times.”
“…Yes.”
“It is a matter of pride. Why else would I have spared you? Few have entertained me this much. In the name of Legalus, I acknowledge your excellence.”
Then he surveyed the surroundings.
“Well… It’s a bit of a pity, though.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder.
“You can always make more subordinates, can’t you?”
Though spoken nonchalantly, to my ears his words struck like thunder.
The ember in my heart burst into a raging blaze.
Before I knew it, I whipped my head around to glare at him with murderous intent.
But those sun-scorching golden eyes were already fixed on me.
“As promised, a reward for entertaining me.”
He told me thus.
“Do you desire my power, or wish to live longer? No, it can be anything. Speak, and I shall grant it without fail.”
“…Anything, you say?”
“Yes, even replacing your lover’s heart with a new one is possible. You need only ask.”
How dreadful that battle had been.
To put an end to it, I rummaged through my pocket with my remaining left arm.
Legalus’s golden eyes twinkled, as if anticipating my answer.
Plop.
I dropped a paper bag onto the ground.
This was all for the sake of that.
I had wanted to prevent the ruination of this game world’s setting.
With that sole desire, I had come this far.
I know too.
That wish alone does not guarantee a happy ending.
The path to reach it would be impossibly arduous, and may well cost me my life.
Moreover, the moment I die, even the last subordinate whose life I could have entrusted would fade away.
It would truly be a death in vain.
I knew that better than anyone.
Yet despite knowing it better than anyone, still…
‘I wanted to try.’
I did not wish to see the bad ending where the Demon King’s hand brings ruination to the world.
Even a happy ending where human happiness is preserved would be insufficient – I wanted to see the true ending where the demonic and human realms coexist in harmony.
No, I will see it.
My desire for this world to reach a happy conclusion…
…It was an unchanging conviction, even a hundred years after inhabiting this demonic body.
Would it have been different, if I had inhabited a human body from the start, without going through such an ordeal?
It’s pointless. No use dwelling on that now.
From this point on, giving my full effort is all I can do.
I wrung out that feeble line from the depths of my shattered lungs, for the sake of a mere utterance.
“I resign.”
The sin of pride, among the seven deadly sins.
The Vampire King Jekkiel.
I became the first demonic denizen to willingly resign from my high-ranking position.
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“Haah.”
Visiting the human realm after so long, it felt quite familiar.
Was it worry or relief that drew that sigh, a mixture of the two perhaps?
When I first inhabited this body, I naturally strove to fulfill the role of a Vampire King.
There had to be a reason I was made to inhabit it.
I thought that by considering this one’s mission as my own, I could live naturally in this form.
However, even living that way for a hundred years proved impossible.
The memories of my previous human life remained vivid.
In the end, I spent a century in the demonic realm, resigning from my high rank of my own volition to avoid being exiled.
If asked why I had to go that far, well, I simply had to.
I wanted the true ending over the world’s ruinous bad ending.
That’s all there was to it.
The difficulty, of course, is incomparably harder for the true ending, but isn’t it better to endure utmost hardship for the true ending than to sit idly watching the bad ending?
This world is based on an academy game setting.
A typical story where the protagonist protects the world from the Demon King’s invasion.
While the story itself is common, the difficulty is anything but.
Infamous for its extreme difficulty, this game kills off the protagonist immediately upon starting the main scenario.
And from then on, death flags line up relentlessly.
Kill, kill, and kill again… until the very end.
Not just the protagonist, but even the named NPCs and heroines crucial to the plot bear numerous death flags.
It practically forces the bad ending, to put it bluntly.
I too only have memories of the bad ending from playing it in front of the monitor.
‘But I will not fail, absolutely.’
My subordinates believed until the end in that pitiful mission that sounded like mere drivel.
Without even asking the obvious question of why, they simply followed me into battle.
What did I…
Still, their deaths amount to nothing more than ignoble ones.
Not a single one of us has achieved victory.
‘Therefore, I must survive and succeed.’
I must live to honor their souls, and allow this world to reach the true ending.
It is the only way to turn their fight into victory, and protect this world.
The human realm that came into view felt sorely nostalgic.
Anaity.
The sharp rooftops lined up to create an antiquated atmosphere, as if proudly boasting the academy in the city’s possession.
The vigor of students strolling about in academy uniforms.
A few passing female students chatted in front of me.
“The entrance ceremony for Rahel Academy is less than a week away, huh?”
“Yeah. But there was a long line at the academy entrance again today.”
“Ah, today they were hiring new professors, apparently. There’s gonna be interviews.”
“Eeek! It makes me nervous just seeing the crowds of people!”
So it finally begins.
With Rahel Academy’s entrance ceremony as the point of departure, this world’s main scenario will start.
It has been such a long wait.
A full hundred years spent awaiting this very starting line.
‘I won’t let the protagonist and heroines die.’
In this world that forces the bad ending, I intended to resist defiantly.
They are, above all, beautiful flowers meant to bloom.
My modest role is to help them endure the winter.
Fortunately, I have always summarized and scrutinized the pivotal branch points related to the main scenario, reviewing them countless times to prevent even the slightest error.
This is no longer a game, but reality.
One misstep and there are no restarts.
So I shall give it my all, gritting my teeth.
‘It’s about time I made my move.’
Was what the paper in my hand stated.
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