Book 2: Chapter 432
The interior of the castle was silent, but Lukas paid more attention to the deep darkness instead. This was because there were no candles or other light sources. Nevertheless, it didn’t have a gloomy atmosphere. There wasn’t a single speck of dust on the floor as if it was cleaned regularly, which didn’t seem to suit them.
‘Pressure.’
He felt a suffocating pressure.
How should he say it, it felt as if he was finally entering the territory of one of the Twelve Void Lords in a true sense.
As mentioned before, the castle was very quiet, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any movement. Rather, there were demons of all shapes and sizes walking through the hallways. But their footsteps couldn’t be heard, and they didn’t seem to make any sounds.
It was as if they were ghosts wandering the castle’s halls, which, in a sense, was pretty frightening.
Lukas didn’t have any interactions with them. In the first place, the castle’s hallways were very wide. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they were wide enough for four horse drawn carriages to drive side by side.
They didn’t directly talk to each other, but every time Lukas and Kasajin pa.s.sed one, they gave them a strange look. To be precise, their gazes were directed at Kasajin.
The emotions in their gazes were mixed.
Doubt, vigilance, surprise, embarra.s.sment, respect, and even disgust.
Lukas knew that it was rare for one being to be on the receiving end of such differing opinions.
“Ignore them.”
He heard a dry voice.
It was a voice that was quieter than a whisper, so even in the quiet surroundings, Lukas was the only one who could hear it.
“All they can do is look at me like that. They can’t hurt me. And of course, they won’t suddenly attack you.”
Without him realising it, Kasajin had bandaged his face again. He walked with calm steps, ignoring the gazes of the demons. He walked through the castle as if he was familiar with it, and at some point, Lukas realised there were fewer demons walking around them.
‘Is this a trap?’
As soon as he had that thought, he immediately felt the self disgust within him skyrocket. He never would have thought such a thing would happen in the past. A day when he doubted this guy beside him.
However, Lukas’ blind trust had been worn down after he’d experienced countless things that he’d never wanted to experience.
Before long, Kasajin opened a door in the middle of a hallway and walked in first. When he saw that Lukas didn’t follow, he spoke.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“…”
“We don’t have time for this. Don’t tell me you think I’m going to eat you.”
Although he said this in a joking tone, in truth, those words couldn’t be taken as a joke in the World of Void where the concept of predation was a thing.
But Lukas shook his head and walked inside. There were several reasons for his behaviour, but the biggest reason was because the current Kasajin didn’t seem to be stronger than himself.
Tak.
The door closed.
This room also didn’t have a single candle in it, but it wasn’t completely dark. There were flickering red lights on the wall which at least made it possible to distinguish the things in the room.
‘A pungent smell.’
A wine cellar. The stacked wooden barrels supported this guess.
“No one will come here. We can-… ‘t relax, but at least this is a good place to talk for a while.”
Kasajin roughly placed his a.s.s on one of the wooden barrels lying around. That meant he sat down.
Of course, Lukas had no intention of using a wooden barrel of wine as a chair.
“Hmm.”
It didn’t really matter, so Kasajin shrugged his shoulders.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Of course, I knew you’d come here eventually.”
“You knew I’d come here?”
His head throbbed. Ignoring his headache, Lukas said.
“Are you talking about the World of Void, or Demonsio?”
“Both. But you…”
Kasajin looked at Lukas again. From head to toe.
“…you look really tired.”
And repeated his previous words.
“I see.”
Lukas replied roughly in a subdued voice. Then he hid his fatigue even deeper so he wouldn’t have to hear Kasajin repeat those words again. He didn’t want to be pitied now. It wasn’t the time.
“Earlier, you claimed that you would be a guide. To guide me to the Lord.”
He looked around the cellar.
“I don’t think your Lord… the Void Lord, is here.”
“Of course, your adopted daughter, Sedi Trowman, is not here.”
Kasajin said the exact name that Lukas was reluctant to mention. In addition, he appeared to be well informed of his exact relationship with her.
Surprised. Or embarra.s.sed.
For a moment, Lukas didn’t know what to say.
“Lukas, we don’t have much time to talk like this, so I will just be direct. You can’t meet Sedi right now. I was waiting for you at the castle in order to prevent that.”
Of course, that was also what Lukas wanted, but he didn’t expect to hear it from Kasajin.
“Why? I heard that Sedi’s looking for me.”
Apocalypse Apostle Haspin.
He didn’t know what that position meant, but at least Haspin was certainly not just an ordinary member of Demonsio. Lofiken, the flying demon that he’d just met, was also a being with formidable power, but he was still inferior to Haspin.
It was such a formidable demon that said it, so it couldn’t be a lie that Sedi Trowman was looking for him.
“You know about that. I don’t know who you could have heard that from or when… Well, I suppose it’s obvious. It must have been one of the Apostles scattered across the world.”
“…”
“It’s like a murderer looking for someone to kill. It would be best if you didn’t meet her.”
“Are you trying to say Sedi is the murderer?”
“Um. No. Was that a.n.a.logy a bit too strange?”
Kasajin scratched his head. At least with that bashful expression, he looked like the Magic Warrior King that Lukas remembered from a long time ago.
“I mean, just because someone is desperately looking for someone else, it doesn’t mean their reunion would be beautiful.”
Lukas thought about Sedi as he heard those words. He hadn’t thought about it too deeply before, but how had she ended up in this world? Did she also die in the ‘Preliminaries to the Great Game’ like Lee Jong-hak?
If that was the case, who was it that killed Sedi?
He looked at Kasajin.
His past best friend, a trusted comrade, the Magic Warrior King.
However, now, he was a mystery that Lukas didn’t know.
“Are you Kasajin?”
Kasajin didn’t answer right away, and instead raised the corners of his lips slightly.
“No. I’m not the Kasajin you know. I’m just a sh.e.l.l.”
“…”
“You said that you met Kasajin in a different universe, who called himself the Demon King.”
Then, Kasajin said something quite shocking.
“In fact, he is more of ‘Kasajin’ than me.”
“What?”
“I don’t have any reason to hide anything anymore, so I’ll just tell you everything. About the Demon King Kasajin. The Magic Warrior King Kasajin. And the Kasajin in front of you right now. And… about the situation Sedi is in right now.”
The smile on Kasajin’s face disappeared.
“Firstly, I’ll tell you about the experiences of the Magic Warrior King after he met his end in the Amakan Desert.”
* * *
‘s.h.i.t.’
Kasajin spat out a curse.
Gurgle, unexpressed anger burned his insides.
‘Is this it?’
He fought.
He’d fought a DemiG.o.d in the desert.
And in the end, he’d successfully killed him.
He had subjugated a DemiG.o.d on his own.
It was certainly a great achievement. However, Kasajin didn’t feel delighted.
‘It can’t be.’
This was the end for his body.
He couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept it.
He didn’t want a meaningful death.
Kasajin had just wanted to prove himself.
He wanted to show everyone that he could succeed even without Lukas.
That didn’t happen.
Lucid, that son of a b.i.t.c.h, hadn’t stopped his unprovoked conflicts. Schweiser, who was still talking about peace in this era, p.i.s.sed him off just by showing his face. Iris, who travelled the continent as if she had lost her mind, annoyed him.
They weren’t the only ones.
The officials from the various Kingdoms had approached them with a smile while Lukas was alive. The fact that their att.i.tudes had changed as easily as flipping a palm was frustrating. Inwardly, he really wanted to destroy their castles.
‘…I didn’t think I could replace you.’
In the first place, it was impossible.
Lukas’ role was something only he could play. In the same context, Kasajin thought that Kasajin’s role was something that only Kasajin could play.
So he swung his fists. Because that was all he could do.
There was nothing else he could do to take revenge, or get rid of his trivial thoughts.
…And he died.
He died fighting with a DemiG.o.d who could control sand in the Amakan Desert. At the last moment, his fist pierced his stomach and he felt something that wasn’t a bone or an organ break, but that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that in the end, Kasajin died.
Just like Lukas.
Kasajin collapsed as he felt the hot wind of the desert. He could also feel the sweeping sand covering his lonely body. His body slowly cooled and his consciousness faded. Just as he felt the sense of death looming around the corner.
‘Ah…?’
His mind suddenly became clear.
Kasajin jumped up from the ground. He couldn’t feel any pain in his body. After he started touching himself, he found that his wounds had disappeared.
“What is this…”
He looked around.
Was it night? The air felt a bit cooler.
“No. That’s not really it.”
The colour of the desert sand had changed to grey. Kasajin looked up at the sky. And for a moment, he was speechless.
The sky was a mix of dreamy colours, as if paint had spilled on it.
“Where… the h.e.l.l is this place?”
Of course, there was no one to answer his murmur.
* * *
Kasajin decided to walk aimlessly through the desert first. There were occasionally monsters that popped out of the sand and attacked him, but they weren’t a major threat.
He looked down at the corpse of a monster and murmured.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the Amakan desert.”
There weren’t any monsters like this there.
“…but can I eat this?”
He didn’t feel hungry at that moment, but he felt like he should eat. It seemed difficult to find food in the desert, so he ate a piece of flesh from a monster which looked like a fish with four legs just to taste it.
“Wah. f.u.c.k.”
And swore instantly.
He wasn’t a particularly picky eater, but this was really the worst. The taste and smell of the flesh and blood was so bad that it made vomit flow up his throat. Nevertheless, instead of spitting it out, he forcibly chewed it a few times before swallowing it.
“You have a good appet.i.te!”
Kasajin suddenly turned his head and took a stance. He hadn’t felt a presence.
Squatting at the sand dune he was looking at was a young blue haired woman. She was grinning at him with a smile that seemed a bit unpleasant.
Was it because of that smile?
Although this was his first time meeting this person, he didn’t welcome her.
“What the h.e.l.l are you?”
“I’m Pale!”
“Okay? I’m Kasajin.”
“Uh. That’s a weird name. Kiki.”
…What the h.e.l.l. Who was this woman?
The strange feeling was bothering him.
With slightly narrowed eyes, he observed the woman named Pale as she stood up and slid down the sand dune.
Then, she circled around Kasajin a few times before nodding.
“Um. You’re not ‘Forgotten’ are you?’
“What?”
“And you don’t seem like an ‘abandoned possibility.”
“What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”
“If a being who is neither of those comes to this world, it means they have one of three major fates. They’re either a King Candidate, Knight Candidate, or Twelve Void Lord Candidate.”
Pale smiled gently.
“I wonder which of those roles you will have.”
Then, after taking a few steps back, she curled her finger at Kasajin.
Kasajin looked at her with a ridiculous expression.
“What are you doing?”
“Provoking you.”
“Eh?”
When Pale answered calmly, Kasajin couldn’t help but confirm her true intentions once again while blinking slowly.
“Hey. Are you saying you want to fight me?”
“Yeah.”
“…I really think I’m going crazy.”
He shook his head before gesturing as if to shoo her away.
“I’m in a pretty annoying situation right now. But I’m not the type of person to take it out on a skinny girl like you. If you want to fight me, you should gain at least twice as much weight as you have now first.”
“You scared?”
“Right, right. I’m really scared.”
“Umm.”
Although it was just a rough answer from Kasajin, Pale seemed to consider his words seriously.
Then she smiled gently and said,
“Fine! Then a handicap. I will not move from this spot.”
“What?”
“Uh. Is that not enough? Then I won’t use my right arm either. So I’ll only use my left arm to deal with you. That should be enough for you to not be scared anymore.”
“…”
After that remark, Kasajin’s laid back att.i.tude changed. He hated being looked down on more than anything else. Pale’s att.i.tude perfectly stepped on his bottom line.
With a grim expression, Kasajin looked at the blue haired girl in front of him. She grinned at him with clear eyes and lifted her left hand.
“You’re pretty rude, brat.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Even though you knew it needed fixing, you didn’t fix it. So I’ll help you.”
Kasajin raised his right index finger.
“You’ll only use your left arm? Then I’ll use only one finger to deal with you.”
“Ah.”
Pale smirked and said,
“Is that so?”
Her att.i.tude was like an annoying brat.
Right. If he gave her three lumps on the head, he was sure this spoiled brat would learn some manners.
With that thought in his head, Kasajin walked towards Pale.
(TL: Kasajin is about to learn.)