Quit The Hero Party

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EP.508 Master of the Demon Lord, Demon Lord Subjugation War (1)

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The Demon Lord’s corporeal form has been obliterated.

The collapse of the last queen of Arcadia, the mother of the Shadow, meant that the Shadow had lost its purpose. The Shadow, which was heading towards the tower at the edge of the continent, halted in its tracks.

Rumble!

The earth ceased to tremble.

The murky darkness that stained the sky stopped.

All phenomena caused by the Shadow’s movements froze in an instant. Having lost its purpose, the Shadow stood still, thrashing violently. Black claws erupted from the waves, striking the ground and raking the earth.

—————.

Heads of the dead emerged from the black sludge, their mouths gaping as they wailed. The land and sky shook as if resonating with the screams of a false god. The Shadow, having lost the chance to reclaim its body, merely spewed out cries of anguish.

Woosh!

Rain poured from the darkened sky.

The ground that the Shadow ravaged became furrowed, and the rain flowing through the furrows soon turned into a river. On the surface of the black river, the Shadow howled ceaselessly. The sky itself seemed to tear apart.

And that scream reached someone.

Not a god beyond the heavens, nor at the ends of the world, but towards a human approaching the Shadow’s temple.

“······.”

Raniel van Trias.

The Ashen Mage silently gazed at the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord, who had been in constant motion, stood still.

Screaming at the heavens while clawing at the ground. Even from a distance, the screams were clear. It felt as if it scraped against her eardrums and shook her brain.

Listening to that scream, Raniel chuckled.

The halted Demon Lord. The scream of the purpose-less Demon Lord.

For Raniel, it was a signal. The signal that the subjugation team, which was to head to the ends of the continent, had completed its mission. With that realization, Raniel exhaled deeply.

Ganikalt had been defeated.

The Braver was subjugated.

Nothing stood in the way anymore.

Having overcome all difficult conditions, now only one enemy remained before her. Shifting her gaze from the distant Demon Lord, Raniel looked at the bonfire set before her.

Crackle, crackle.

She saw Kyle sitting opposite the bonfire. Looking at the howling Demon Lord, Kyle shrugged his shoulders.

“Looks like your disciples succeeded.”

“I raised them well, didn’t I?”

“Then there’s only one left?”

“In that sense, yes.”

Only the Demon Lord remained as the enemy.

Lost in thought while mulling over that fact, Raniel inadvertently let out a smile. Kyle, not understanding her laughter, tilted his head in confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“Hey, isn’t it funny when you think about it?”

Raniel let out a long sigh, saying, “In the end, it turned out just like I said at the beginning.”

“At the beginning?”

“That day you became a Hero. Do you remember what you said to me then?”

Kyle shuddered at the memory.

It was over a decade ago, now a somewhat embarrassing recollection. The thought of his actions since then made it even more so.

“…I remember.”

You became a Hero, Raniel.

Let’s catch the Demon Lord. Let’s go capture the Demon Lord together. We’ll create an achievement that no one has ever accomplished. Something no one can dismiss.

Recalling the words he had uttered, Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle. In retrospect, they were indeed ridiculous statements. The naive bravado of a boy who hadn’t yet become an adult; mere folly and delusion.

“What a foolish time that was.”

A dream of a boy who couldn’t face reality.

A dream that alone could never be realized.

“That makes no sense.”

“Do you even know what kind of being the Demon Lord is? Do you know what a calamity is? They’re not meant to be caught. It’s impossible.”

The Mage had attempted to enlighten the dreaming boy of reality with lengthy explanations. However, she ultimately failed to break the boy’s stubbornness.

“…I get it. I get it.”

With a sigh, she laid down everything and set out on a journey beside the boy. Remembering that past, Kyle smiled bitterly.

“I didn’t realize how nonsensical those words I spoke were until I heard yours…”

“When you experience it in reality, it feels different, right?”

“Exactly. Reality isn’t like a fairy tale.”

The boy and the Mage had to confront reality on their journey. The battlefield is not a fairy tale. The world isn’t that easy. People die. Responsibilities arise. The burdens of someone’s sacrifice, and the weight that keeps piling up…

The more they faced reality, the more distant their dreams became.

Their shoulders grew heavy, and their steps slowed.

The boy became a young man by giving up, while the Mage dragged the weary young man forward. She cleared the path on behalf of the young man. She bore responsibilities. She fulfilled her duties.

“It was I who suggested capturing the Demon Lord…”

Kyle looked at Raniel.

Though her appearance had changed much since then, she was still Raniel. The Mage who had shown him the way.

“But the one who walked this path was you. You were the one who kept holding onto the dream I had given up.”

“Well, it’s just a long detour.”

Raniel shrugged.

“In the end, we came back here.”

She smiled.

“Thinking about it, it’s true. After going round and round, we’ve come quite a distance; yet ultimately, just as you said that day.”

Having defeated all calamities, they arrived before the Demon Lord.

They achieved what no one had ever accomplished. Both Kyle Toven and Raniel van Trias had done likewise.

The boy became a young man, and the young man transformed into a Knight, becoming an irreplaceable, special existence. As a young man, he dealt the death blow to the Demon Lord’s immortality and, as a Knight, defeated the strongest Knight, cementing his achievements.

The Mage became a Wise One, and the Wise One became a Hero, a beacon illuminating humanity’s path. As a Hero, he had quelled all calamities, guiding humanity, and as a Wise One, he punctuated the tales of heroes that had persisted since ancient times.

Each had lived their own life.

They may have wavered, hesitated, or regretted, but they reached the very place they had gazed upon at the beginning. Amidst the bonfire, the two of them laughed out loud. Kyle, with a look of disbelief, chuckled.

“You blew off all the processes and ended up with ‘Just like I said,’ huh? Raniel, isn’t that a bit much?”

“What of it? Ultimately, that’s how it turned out.”

Raniel shrugged.

“It all started from your one word that day, and look where we are now.”

So much had happened.

They experienced a lot and learned many things. Between the start of their journey and now lay countless untold events, yet Raniel saw no need to elaborate on them.

“The important thing is that we are here.”

Raniel pointed at the bonfire.

Where they had lit the bonfire, waiting for signals, was at the edge of the Phantom Territory where the Shadow’s temple resides. Ultimately, they had reached the very deepest part of the Phantom Territory.

The delusions of a foolish boy had become reality.

The Guide had brought the boy’s dream to this place.

After growing and growing, they had reached this destination. Both individuals who had lived their own lives stood up. Kyle stamped out the flames in the bonfire, and Raniel took a deep breath, stretching her body.

—————!

The two looked towards the howling Demon Lord in the distance. In the past, they had sometimes envisioned such a scene. Having grown, strengthened, and at last reached the Demon Lord… they imagined a distant future at that moment.

Yet now, there was no longer a need for such fantasies.

For the being standing here was precisely the form that their past selves had envisioned. The two exhaled deeply.

“Are you ready?”

“Is there really a need to be ready?”

“Geez.”

Raniel chuckled.

Laughing, she took a step forward. Kyle also stepped forward. Without a hint of hesitation, the two stood in the same position, walking in unison.

“Don’t run away like last time, okay?”

“And you don’t collapse and cough up blood.”

They exchanged jokes as they walked.

With every step, the magic intensified. The screams grew louder. There had been times when they had fled in fear of that magic, those screams, and that pressure. Times when moving forward required risking their lives.

Because of those past times…

The two could now casually converse as they walked towards the Demon Lord. The moment they set foot into the Shadow’s domain, the Shadow’s movements shifted drastically.

Thud!

The pouring rain abruptly stopped.

The Shadow’s wildly swinging arms came to a halt. The Shadow’s howls ceased. The Shadow gazed upon the two who were approaching. It had once ruled as a god in the sky, trampling countless heroes and Warriors beneath it.

It had devoured numerous heroes and Warriors, yet…

Even now, it could not disregard the two humans approaching it. The Shadow understood. Their existence. The Knight who had snatched immortality from it, and the Mage who had imperfectly pulled it from its vessel, rendering it incomplete.

The ones who had defeated it stood before it.

The Master of the Demon Lord howled towards the two humans approaching. The once-stopped rain poured again, and the floodwaters swelled, aiming to engulf them. Facing the rushing sludge, the two brushed their hands aside lightly.

Swish!

Kyle Toven raised his sword.

Whoosh!

A chain coiled around Raniel’s hand, glowing platinum.

Boom!

Without hesitation, both charged towards the rampaging Shadow.

There was a Hero Party.

A party formed to sever the Demon Lord’s neck, bearing the hopes of the entire nation.

The mightiest Knight of Humanity, Kyle Toven.

The proud Elf, Archery Master Remia.

The miracle-performing Priest, Sara.

And…

The Hero, Wise One, and Ashen Mage, me.

Raniel van Trias.

This party of four achieved numerous feats. They made their names known across the continent, repelled the Demon Lord’s army multiple times, and brought down all four calamities.

Is that all?

They punctuated the tales of ancient heroes intertwined with the calamities and quelled the Braver who had schemed behind the ancient kingdom of Arcadia. Finally, they prepared to subdue the Demon Lord… Ah, but that’s still ongoing.

This is still in progress.

I reached my hand forward.

“Balance.”

Not the Balance of a Mage trading everything away but the balance of a Hero laden with the jewel of the stars. The moment I clenched the appearing balance, it shattered.

One last opportunity I had saved for this day.

That flowed into my body along with the shattered celestial jewel. The sparkling light that clung within my body was the starlight I had acquired at the price of my lifespan when first facing the Demon Lord. Reflecting on that day, now distant, I grasped at the void.

Rattle, rattle, rattle!

The platinum chains soared high into the sky.

On that day, I had to hold the Demon Lord by myself with these chains, but today is different. Unlike that day, it wasn’t my role to bind the Demon Lord.

“Go, Raniel.”

Amidst the rising chains, Kyle laughed.

With a smile, he shouted, “I’ll clear the path.”

Gripping his sword tightly, he took a deep breath.

Boom! With a stomping foot, he turned the ground into a weapon and unsheathed his sword. Watching the swirling sword energy, I couldn’t help but smile.

The Demon Lord’s Subjugation War begins.