Chapter 228
*
As Pina Grancia and Lee Soo-hyun were pledging their resolve, someone was approaching Grand Hertz Academy.
“..My lord. I’ve come to see you!”
A woman with white hair.
A mage dressed in a magic hat and formal attire appeared.
Blanc hummed a little tune as she moved forward.
“I never thought you liked the Inrang Tribe..! That’s why it took me some time!”
Now, her appearance was quite similar to Pina Grancia.
Her silver hair was just a tad shorter than her waist, though the shape of her wolf ears varied slightly.
“If this happens, just like the Nameless Saintess, you too will come to like me..♡”
It seemed that the mage, weaving lies to gain love, didn’t care about such trivialities.
She placed her hands on her flushed cheeks and smiled eagerly.
From her twisted lips, a continuous heehee laughter leaked out.
‘Where in the world could there be a virtuous wife like me! My lord..!’
It was a long-awaited reunion.
She had even gone through the trouble of becoming a demon god for this moment and kept the promise he made to her.
Blanc stretched her arms wide in a feeling of accomplishment and looked up to the sky.
Just a little more walking, and she would arrive at the academy.
Normally, she would activate her omniscient power to predict everything and set off, but…
“I want to be your one and only ‘first’! Just like you were to me..!”
Blanc didn’t bother to do that.
Lee Soo-hyun’s clever schemes, the fatal strikes to attack, and even the murderous intent directed at her…
For Blanc, who wanted to monopolize everything, it felt no different from knowing the plot of a movie she loved in advance.
“If I know everything in advance, it would be no fun… Oh?”
While moving, she noticed something strange.
“…How could it be. It really is you, my lord.”
It was quiet. An eerie silence hung in the air, almost suffocating.
A place that should normally be bustling with people was empty, and all the shops were closed.
Only scattered belongings remained on the street, forgotten.
“Did you evacuate everyone beforehand, just in case..?”
Blanc wandered alone through the empire’s center, a satisfied smile on her face.
Lee Soo-hyun had asked Dennis to evacuate people beforehand.
It was a decision that prioritized the safety of others over his own.
“A hero who prioritizes others’ lives over his own.. He truly is the Licht I remember.”
Normally, Dennis shouldn’t have known about 3D magic circles.
Due to the Black Knight’s presence, everything in the world was slightly off balance.
“This time, I’ve managed to kill as few people as possible because of you. I miss it..”
A person who normally couldn’t exist.
An event that normally wouldn’t happen.
Could it be a punishment for forcibly rewinding the gears of fate?
“At this rate, I wouldn’t be seen as a crazy person who just kills people. Right, my lord?”
Now, even letting go of the title of Demon King of Truth, she called out for her lord.
Blanc believed she had kept the promise made with Licht.
Instead of killing people at the academy, she limited herself to stealing faces.
“I will definitely make you like me!”
Even though she tried to bury Pina socially, while acting as a tutor, she never actually harmed anyone around him.
When they first met in the Demon Beast Forest, she was likely to hear the compliments again. Her steps became lighter.
At that moment, as Blanc was heading to the academy, she paused in front of the fountain.
“Ha.. My lord..”
A statue depicting the Black Knight who defeated the demon lords of the Hero Church.
Looking at the statue with the knight’s helmet pushed down tightly, Blanc let out a blissful sound.
“Indeed.. you.. are.. the only one who can understand me…”
Even though she had sent the demon lords of the Hero Church, she hadn’t expected Lee Soo-hyun to defeat them all.
If it came to that, she could have stepped in to save him, just like a savior. She even plotted to make him fall for her.
Mocking her plan, Lee Soo-hyun systematically decapitated the demon lords.
“The first one to kill me was… not by chance.”
The sharp sensation of steel.
Blanc brought her hand to her neck and swallowed hard.
At first, she thought he was just another guy playing hero.
People who were intoxicated with power and satisfaction were full of themselves, calling themselves the hero.
But the Black Knight was different.
The burning determination embodied in his gaze, the will that never gave up and always shouted hope.
He was a magnificent person who swung his sword at her no matter if everything returned to nothing.
This time, she wanted to acquire him for sure.
“My very own lord..”
Blanc reached out her hand towards Licht’s statue.
As if trying to grasp the moon in the sky, just out of reach.
But it no longer mattered to her, as she had absorbed all the powers of the demon lords.
From behind Blanc, a massive arm emerged.
Something dark shot out, unlike the Golem the Demon King of Might controlled, and twisted the space, changing the statue’s form to stand alongside the Magic Hat.
“You can’t escape from the truth that is me.”
Finally, with a satisfied expression, Blanc left her spot.
The transformed statue had Licht’s name alongside her real name inscribed on it.
Demon God.
Rather than a Demon Lord that covers this world with concepts, a being capable of influencing other worlds.
Though she needed one more condition to become a true demon god, this was simple enough.
“No matter what moment, what world, I will always fervently adore you!”
Blanc wrapped her arms around herself as if embracing a beloved lover.
Her body trembled slightly. Her uncontrollable heartbeat grew louder with each step toward the academy.
The place where she first met the man with the Black Knight helmet and where he had killed her.
“Please love me this time. My lord..”
With a smile that seemed to know where Lee Soo-hyun was, Blanc continued to walk forward.
*
In the distance, two wolf statues began to come into view.
The academy, located in a place that could be called the heart of the empire.
A place that should be bustling with students was silent, carrying an ominous atmosphere.
“Grand Hertz Academy.. I almost forgot this place even existed.”
Blanc looked around with an expression as if lost in memories for a moment.
She had lived purely for fun.
Even running for student council president using her real name was for that reason, and she had pretended to cooperate with demon lords of the Hero Church while betraying them.
Reviving a dead former lover wouldn’t be as fun as the Black Knight named Licht.
“Asha Aureus’s Phoenix….”
She attempted to break through the academy’s protective barrier using the power of lies, but it failed as fire ignited on her fingertips.
“So you’ve taken care of this for me! My lord!”
The spirit magic known as the living sun of the Ten Heroes.
This was Lee Soo-hyun’s countermeasure against Blanc smoothly moving through the academy.
The cradle of the Phoenix was the best defense he could offer. It provided absolute invulnerability to the caster.
Even when the Demon King of All Knowledge’s head led the Hero Church to raid the academy, the barrier had been effective.
“But.. I’m getting tired of this now. I’ve seen it too many times.”
Blanc chuckled as she looked at it disdainfully.
She pulled a trump card from her bosom and began to shake it in her hand.
The Queen of Hearts might’ve been taken by Lee Soo-hyun, leaving her feeling somewhat empty, but it was no problem for her.
“Tada! It’s the Holy Lance Longinus! This isn’t a replica!”
As she shook the card, its shape gradually shifted.
Like magic, a long spear emitting a blue light sprang forth from her hand.
The Holy Lance Longinus.
The weapon that Giseok had mentioned in conversation with Lee Soo-hyun, capable of dealing damage even without a physical form.
“It’s quite clumsy, but with this level of ability, I could be called a demon god, right?”
With the ability to create all weapons in her hand and a talent to skillfully wield all of them.
Having gained the powers of the Omnipotent Demon Lord and the Dark Cloud, Blanc grinned wickedly.
She swiftly plunged the spear down, causing the Phoenix to let out a painful scream as it retracted its wings.
If it was to be called a contradiction.
The shield that blocks everything was pierced by the spear that penetrates everything.
“Meticulously done, but this isn’t enough.”
Releasing the barrier, Blanc entered the interior of the academy.
Soon after, a familiar-faced man welcomed her.
“…My lord! I missed you!”
“Yeah, it’s damn good to see you, you son of a b*tch.”
*
I frowned at the distant Magic Hat.
‘She looks like Pina but weirdly gives me the creeps.’
Her hair wasn’t white, but a slightly lighter silver.
Her hair didn’t fall to her waist, instead being a tad shorter.
She had wolf ears and a tail, but they didn’t seem as soft as hers.
The sight of a fake trying to forcibly mimic the real thing sent chills down my spine.
“What brought you here, Magic Hat?”
“Heehee, of course, I came to see my lord! Since you’re here, you must be the successor!”
The mage tilted her head in a twisted smile as she looked at me.
Successor. Could it be that I really met this creature in the past, as the pillar guy said?
“And my real name is Blanc! Please call me by my real name instead of when I was a mage..! My lord!”
As I frowned, she puffed out her cheeks.
Even with the similar laughter and behavior to Pina, I felt a shudder.
“Oh, right. I’ve prepared a gift for you. Here’s the heart of the Black Cloud!”
“……”
“It’s my love for you, my lord!”
Then she pulled something slimy out from her bosom.
The heart, dripping with dark red blood, looked disgusting to anyone.
“With this, I’ll become even stronger..! Just like when you killed me..!”
Mana-concentrated dragon’s heart.
Just like Pina brought me back to life, the Dragon Heart is a dream item for magic users.
“I’m not a magic swordsman, though. Magic Hat.”
“Excuse me? That’s impossible! The Lee Soo-hyun I know is a magic swordsman..?”
But as someone who can’t even use magic alone, there’s no way I could use it.
Seeing the reaction of the Demon King who became a demon god reminded me of the pillar guy’s speculation. Perhaps she wasn’t seeing me, but something else overlapping me.
“I don’t know how you know me, but I don’t know someone like you.”
“Just let me teach you step by step! I’ve become a demon god to win you over…!”
Crazy b*tch.
If she wanted my love that much, she shouldn’t have killed people or touched Pina.
Sighing deeply, I got ready to execute my plan.
“Kainel. Ariel. As prepared…”
I signaled to the heroic couple watching this scene from afar.
“Blow it up.”
Originally, I couldn’t use the technique because Kainel ran away in Black Heart.
The ultimate move that requires the light warrior and the flame mage to join forces.
I struck it directly.