Chapter 245
Ten years ago.
On that day, when black clouds covered the sky above them, young Rominia watched her father's death with her own eyes.
—Ghk…
—Dad!
Young Rominia desperately shook her father's fallen body.
But all that came back to her was her own small hand, stained red with blood.
Young Rominia could not accept that her father, who had been strong enough to never lose to anyone, had been defeated.
—It seems the battle has been decided.
—There should be no disagreement about who the winner is.
Soon, an old demon entered the middle of the dueling ground.
He looked over the faces of the high-ranking demons who had watched the duel one by one.
Then he looked at the demon who had defeated Rominia's father and spoke quietly.
—Now, new Demon King Lupellos.
—According to the old rules, end the old era and lead us into a new one.
—I was planning to do that anyway.
—I fucking waited for this moment.
—Kukuku…
—Then finish it quickly.
From their conversation, Rominia understood what would happen to her fallen father.
She stood in front of the approaching demon and covered her father's body with her own.
However, the demon looking down at her had an extremely cold gaze.
—Ha, what is this now?
—Don't… touch my dad…
—…Tsk.
SMACK!
The pain was enough to make her lose her mind.
But what hurt more than her burning cheek was the helplessness of being unable to do anything in this situation.
—Ah… Uuugh…
—What a fucking nuisance…
—Hey, old man.
—What should we do with this girl?
—Why leave behind the remains of an old era?
—You heard him, right?
—Sit there quietly and watch your father die by my hand.
—I'll send you off too once I'm finished.
That arrogant smile was burned deeply into her mind.
—Who… will let you…?!
Young Rominia turned her head almost like she had lost her mind and desperately looked around for help.
But the high-ranking demons there avoided her gaze.
—Lady Rominia!
Only one demon leaped toward Rominia after kicking off the ground.
He was her father's aide, who had always treated young Rominia kindly.
He took the old demon's magic head-on with his body to stop him.
Then he picked up young Rominia and used his specialty, spatial teleportation magic.
But unfortunately, from his shoulder, Rominia had no choice but to watch her father being killed.
STAB!
A hand pierced through her father's heart.
The demon who had done it looked directly at Rominia as if deliberately showing off what he had done.
And the old demon nodded in satisfaction, as if everything that had happened was his own masterpiece.
CRACK.
Everything was still as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.
“……!”
“Haa… Haaa…… Ha…”
That was why.
Rominia El Blanditear, the daughter of the dead former Demon King, had desperately chased after the enemy who had killed her father.
She was so out of breath that she could barely breathe properly.
But she did not care.
“Found… you…”
She had finally obtained the chance to take revenge on the enemy who had driven her father to his death.
“Grrk… I thought I had erased my traces…”
“You followed my short-distance spatial teleportation magic all the way here?!”
The old demon from her memories, Kacerto Rienz, stepped backward.
His body had already been critically wounded after being pierced by the stake outside his perception that Rominia had used once before.
Gush.
Blood intermittently spilled between the hands clutching his abdomen.
Even if Rominia left him alone now, the wound would eventually kill him.
But this was Kacerto Rienz.
Rominia did not let her guard down because she had no idea what he might do to his own body.
She would see with her own eyes until his stubborn life was completely extinguished.
Thinking that, she slowly stepped forward.
“Detecting demonic energy from this distance is nothing.”
“If you thought you could escape, you were badly mistaken.”
A deep chill filled Rominia's amber eyes.
Saaaaaa—
The black demonic energy surrounding Rominia began to take on a dark blue hue.
As Kacerto looked closely at it, his blurred pupils suddenly widened.
“That demonic energy… Don't tell me…”
“You finally recognized it.”
“When I pierced you the first time, you didn't recognize me.”
“I was honestly pretty disappointed.”
“So… that's what it was…”
“Hu… Is that what it was…?”
“Huhehe… Hehehehe…”
Kacerto let out a sinister laugh.
“I wondered why that demon betrayed his own kind for some reason…”
“Hehehe…”
“So that's what it was.”
The ominous energy surrounding him made Rominia frown.
“A girl who lost her father has returned to take revenge on me and the Demon King…”
“What a tragic situation.”
“But… if that's the case, why not go after the Demon King who killed your father?”
“Why have you come looking for this old man?”
“You're the same as him…”
“No.”
“You're the one who planned everything, aren't you?”
“You brought Lupellos into the Demon King's castle because you didn't like my father, who belonged to the moderate faction.”
Kacerto was the Demon King's adviser who had lived for hundreds of years.
He had always led the Demon King's army from the second position, manipulating things according to his own desires.
Whenever he disliked a Demon King, he would use cowardly and cruel schemes to replace that Demon King.
According to what Glenn had told Rominia, Lupellos was nothing more than a fool drunk on power.
The person who had contributed the most to her father's death was Kacerto Rienz, who had opposed her father at every turn.
“Don't worry.”
“After I kill you, I'll send that idiot away too.”
“I'll make him understand deep in his bones that he was nothing more than your chess piece.”
“…Kukuku.”
“You seem to know more than you should.”
“By the way…”
“Perhaps because you're the child of Diaro El Blanditear…”
“You really did grow up to be an excellent one…”
“To be able to use magic of that level…”
“And that dark blue demonic energy that looks exactly like your father's…”
“Hehehehe…”
The corners of his mouth rose grotesquely.
“As I thought… I should have captured you somehow back then and used you as experimental material, just like your father's corpse.”
At that terrifying smile, Rominia felt her heart sink.
“What…?”
“You mean… that day…”
“You used my father, who had lost to Lupellos…”
“My dead father's body…”
“You used it like that?”
Kacerto answered.
“Ah… It truly was the body of the former Demon King.”
“Thanks to it, I obtained some valuable data.”
“Although the man beside you burned all of it to ashes…”
PUKAAAK!
Before he could finish speaking, dark blue ice spikes shot up from the ground and pierced Kacerto's body again.
“KRAAAAAAA!”
“…Kuh… Hehehehehe!”
His body was pierced so thoroughly by the huge spikes that almost nothing remained intact.
Yet he alternated between groaning in pain and letting out a hoarse, insane laugh.
“Don't… laugh…”
Rominia spat the words through clenched teeth.
She released her cold demonic energy again and summoned more spikes.
CRACK!
SHUK!
The horrifying sound of sharp spikes piercing and crushing flesh echoed through the area.
“KRAAAH!”
“G… Guh… Hehehe!”
“…Why…”
Rominia had endured ten years in an unfamiliar land for survival and revenge for her father.
Therefore, facing Kacerto Rienz one-on-one was the beginning of the revenge she had dreamed of.
It was an opportunity that would never come again.
She wanted him to suffer and despair as much as she had when she was a child.
No…
She wanted him to suffer dozens or even thousands of times more.
She wanted him to regret what he had done again and again.
She wanted him to die alone after living a long life without finding any meaning in it.
But the person standing before her was not suffering.
Instead, he was deliberately provoking his own wounds and laughing at her.
“Fucking… hell…”
This revenge was not enjoyable at all.
Glenn's words echoed in her mind.
He had told her about Kacerto Rienz and warned her not to expect too much.
“……”
