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‘Gerard.’
It was Gerard Gain.
Juan’s eldest son and the assassin who he had been searching for a long time was sitting on the throne on his behalf. After waiting for decades for Juan to arrive, Gerard finally faced Juan once again.
Juan had imagined the situation where he would encounter Gerard again countless times. However, this was nothing like he had imagined. There was no way that Juan could imagine Gerard attaching his own body’s parts to Juan’s corpse and waiting for him within it.
Juan wanted to scream, but he couldn’t move even a single inch.
Gerard roared and refused to let go of Juan’s arm—it was as if he would break it.
“Give me
 the Crown!”
Juan had a hard time understanding this situation. In Juan’s memory, Gerard was a knight who tried his best to be noble despite being imperfect.
But now, he couldn’t understand why Gerard was standing in front of him looking like a monster.
Then, it suddenly occurred to Juan that Dane might have ruined Gerard.
“I trusted you! I trusted you, but this is what I get?!” Gerard shouted desperately.
Juan couldn’t understand Gerard’s words.
‘What did he believe in me for? In fact, I am the one who believed in him and was betrayed.’
Juan lit up his flames in his best attempt to hold out against Gerard. The white flames around him burned in a rough and unstable manner. Nevertheless, the flames slowly spread toward Gerard.
The jewels planted in Gerard’s eyes dropped to the floor and his faint, gray-colored eyes were revealed. Those eyes were burning fiercely with rage.
“I believed that you might be the real emperor! I desperately wanted you to be who I believed you to be!”
Gerard’s anger and despair that was being poured out surged in as if to crush Juan.
Upon facing Gerard’s despair, Juan realized that he wasn’t fully ruined yet.
Just like he himself said, Gerard wasn’t as weak as Dane thought him to be. Gerard was only disappointed in Juan. But Juan couldn’t figure out what it was that he was disappointed about.
Gerard stood up and pressed down upon Juan as if to attack him. The gold foil and jewelry that had decorated the body broke down and scattered away as the body stood up for the first time in decades. Gerard’s muscles were completely dried up, looking pathetic, and he was only composed of skin and bones.
Amidst the scattered gold dust, Gerard grabbed Juan’s arm and pressed down on him. At the same time, Gerard’s furious roar pushed away the flames released by Juan in an instant.
“It was the last stage! You betrayed my beliefs when everything was about to finally end! How could you give up on your identity as the emperor! How!?”
‘Ah
 was that it?’
Juan remembered Sina and Haild, who must be standing behind him—he also sensed the trace of the power of the Crack left on Haild’s eye.
That eye belonged to Gerard.
Only then did Juan realize that until now, Gerard had been watching Juan’s each and every move through Haild’s eyes.
And the last thing Gerard had seen was Juan giving up on being the emperor, because of a single woman.
‘So don’t call me the emperor anymore. I am neither an emperor nor the god of humans. I’m nothing more than a selfish idiot.’
Juan had given up on his responsibility to all humans.
“You are not the emperor! There is no way you could ever be the emperor! His Majesty is not such a weak man like you!”
For Gerard, Juan announcing that he was not the emperor anymore looked no different from the appearance of a monster.
After all, the emperor was a man who was fair and just, someone who only raised his sword for the sake of justice.
Gerard could willingly offer his own neck to the emperor if that were what it took to undo all of his mistakes. However, the man standing in front of him had the power of the Crown, yet abandoned his responsibility to humanity.
“Because of just a single human being!”
Gerard’s roar was loud enough to shake the entire red fortress.
Juan felt the pain of his skin being peeled off as too much of his power was being sucked into Gerard. The entire Crown was being moved, and this immense pain made Juan feel as if his soul was being torn apart.
“It’s not just a single human being.”
However, Juan couldn’t help but answer, despite the terrible pain he was in.
“Only Sina believed in me when everyone suspected that I might be a monster,” Juan gritted his teeth and continued to whisper. “Only she believed that I could still love humans even when I really became a monster—unlike a bastard like you who betrayed me after constantly doubting me!”
Sina was neither a fanatic nor did she have unconditional loyalty toward Juan. Sina watched everything within Juan and made a judgment regardless of the fact that Juan had burned down her hometown and annihilated her entire knight order, which she considered to be her family.
Nevertheless, Sina still believed that Juan was the emperor and had a character that suited such a status, even if that was not the case.
Despite Juan’s answer, Gerard’s anger didn’t subside.
Juan could feel the Crown leaving him much faster than before. Everything that made Juan who he was, was slipping out of him and filling Gerard.
As his consciousness grew distant, Juan recalled Sina.
‘Would it have been a mistake to revive Sina? But could I have become a proper emperor if I decided not to save her?’
Juan thought that he might have turned into a ghost of vengeance that was filled with divine power if he was without Sina.
‘Would everyone have been satisfied if I had remained an eternal emperor even in that form?’
Juan could not tell what the right answer was or whether there even was a right answer.
But Juan couldn’t think anymore.
Splat!
With the sensation of being stabbed, something suddenly popped out of Juan’s chest.
It was Elkiehl, with a blade that resembled a black thornbush.
Gerard screamed and let go of Juan’s arm, which he had been holding onto until now.
“Go away, you devil!”
At the same time, Haild’s roar came from behind.
***
Juan barely managed to free himself, and then collapsed to the floor, just before the power of the Crown was taken away from him for good.
Haild supported him before he fell down.
When the absorption of Juan’s power was stopped, Gerard’s power, which had penetrated into Juan deeply, was expelled at the same time. At the same time, the white light that filled the red fortress disappeared in an instant and the surroundings returned to their original color.
Haild pulled Elkiehl out of Juan’s back, glaring at Gerard.
Only then did Gerard recall that Elkiehl was the only thing that could repel his power.
Gerard glared at Haild while looking at his hand that was injured by Elkiehl.
“Haild.”
Haild did not answer—he only glared at Gerard while pointing Elkiehl toward him.
Haild was breathing heavily. From the very beginning, Haild directly used Elkiehl against Gerard. This meant that he had already known that the opponent was Gerard.
Gerard inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled.
All of a sudden, the decorations that were messily clinging to Gerard’s body fell off. Then, flesh and muscles began to grow on his body—it was as if someone was blowing up a balloon.
Gray hair fell off and new hair grew in its place. As the pieces of dead skin and bodily waste were peeled off, Gerard’s real form began to appear.
Gerard, who had regained the perfect appearance of his heyday, looked exactly like the emperor. The only difference was that he was blonde.
Gerard looked at Haild in a calm manner and opened his mouth.
“It seems that you stabbed me even though you had recognized me.”
“Of course, Father,” Haild muttered while gritting his teeth. “Will you just stop and fuck off? I could have killed you.”
Haild’s words were true. Gerard could have died when he was cut by Elkiehl, just like Juan in the past.
Hearing this, Gerard glared at Haild, feeling displeased.
“I don’t remember teaching you to behave like that.”
“Maybe betraying our own fathers runs in the family.”
Gerard sighed and stepped down from where the throne was.
Seeing this, Haild did not hesitate to attack Gerard with the most powerful skills he had ever learned. He directly used Fleeting Moment, the fifth stage of the Baltic Sword.
However, in the next moment, Haild was the one rolling on the floor in the center of the hall. He couldn’t even understand what had just happened.
Meanwhile, Gerard clicked his tongue upon seeing Haild’s confusion.
“Did you think that you could win against just anyone as long as you had Elkiehl? Neither do you know magic, nor is your swordsmanship any good. You have no intrinsic ability, no regenerative ability, no nothing. I don’t even need to mention your lack of practical experience. Honestly, it’s a little disappointing that hardly anything has changed from the time when I last taught you.”
This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
Haild coughed up blood. Based on his wound, he figured that had been kicked by Gerard. He had used neither the Baltic Sword nor magic.
Haild looked at Gerard with confused eyes—he still couldn’t understand what had happened.
“But the fact that you are my son remains unchanged,” Gerard said, sighing.
At that moment, Gerard appeared behind Haild in an instant—Haild couldn’t even see him moving. The only thing that Haild was able to see was a brief flash.
Then, Gerard stepped on Haild’s hand, causing Haild to helplessly drop Elkiehl from his hand. At the same time, the sound of bones being broken rang out
Gerard picked up Elkiehl from the floor.
“I’ll take back what belongs to me.”
“You
”
Then, Gerard touched the back of Haild’s hand with his finger. For a moment, Haild felt a numbing pain, and then his broken wrist bone quickly began to stick together on its own. Even the internal injuries caused by Gerard’s kick from earlier were healed in an instant.
“I believe that you won’t do anything reckless now, since you must have realized that you’re still quite lacking.”
Haild was still glaring at Gerard. In the face of this gaze, Gerard took a step away from Haild with a heartbroken expression.
Then, in the next moment, Gerard was once again sitting on the throne with his hand placed on his forehead.
“All right, forget it. I wouldn’t have anything to say even if you wanted to kill me. My sins are heavy and indelible, so you can try to kill me as much as you want. But you saw what this man was trying to do earlier as well, didn’t you? Didn’t you also get angry enough to draw out Elkiehl?” Gerard asked Haild while looking at Juan who was still lying on the floor.
Haild hesitated but soon approached Juan to support him. Juan’s breaths were weak, and Haild could sense that Juan’s strength was now incomparably weaker than before. Blood was still flowing out of the wound caused by Elkiehl, even though it should have already been healed on its own.
“Is that your excuse for betraying your own father?” Haild derided.
“If you have to choose between the birth of a monster that can fiddle with the lives of all humanity and betraying me, then you should betray me—just like I did.”
It was then.
“Was that why?” Juan, who was drooping and shedding blood, suddenly opened his mouth.
Haild and Gerard’s eyes turned to Juan at the same time.
Juan opened his mouth, muttering while drooping helplessly.
“Are you saying that you stabbed me because I’m a monster?”
“It wasn’t you I stabbed!” Gerard shouted. “It was His Majesty who I stabbed! The sins I committed against him are irrevocable, but the responsibility cannot be abandoned! His Majesty has passed away, and you have proven yourself to be the monster through your own mouth! You are nothing more than a monster!’
Juan stared at Gerard for a moment.
Gerard felt an unknown weight from Juan’s silent gaze.
‘I don’t understand
 this doesn’t make sense.’
Juan had already lost most of the power of the Crown and had barely enough power to sustain his own life.
On the other hand, Gerard had successfully seized the power of Mananen McLeir, the Crown, and even had Elkiehl. Gerard’s current strength exceeded the emperor’s from his heyday.
Even so, he couldn’t understand why Juan was looking at him with such eyes.
At that moment, Juan once again opened his mouth.
“I am neither an emperor nor a monster.”
Right now, he could speak with more conviction than ever.
“I am Juan Calberg Kennosis.”
However, at that moment, a man’s voice denying Juan’s words rang out.
“No. Sorry to break it to you, but you’re wrong. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you about it when I first met you.”
Haild quickly turned toward the voice.
A little boy was walking into the hall of the Red Citadel while dragging a cane. Haild could immediately identify who he was.
‘Dane Dormund.’
The magician grinned as he passed by them and looked down on Haild and Juan.
“Your real name that was given to you by Aruntal is Qzatquizail Calberg Kennosis. That’s what you were named in the beginning.”