Chapter 591: The Demon King of Incarceration (12)

Chapter 591: The Demon King of Incarceration (12)

The Demon King of Incarceration didn’t know why Balzac Ludbeth’s face had popped up in his mind at this moment.

Could Balzac truly have been capable of this? If he were, there was no way that the Demon King of Incarceration wouldn’t have noticed.

After all, no matter how clever Balzac might have been, the black wizard was personally contracted to the Demon King of Incarceration. The Demon King was able to read the minds of his contractors at any time he pleased.

Of course, the Demon King of Incarceration had always permitted his subordinates the freedom to plot rebellion. As long as they didn’t put any of their ideas into action, that is. If they did try something and failed, he would always be sure to hold them responsible for their mistakes.

However, the Demon King of Incarceration had never once felt any desire to rebel from the human black wizard known as Balzad Ludbeth. Balzac had always shown loyalty to the Demon King of Incarceration, from the moment that he had arrived in Babel to the moment he died. In his final moments, Balzac expressed his admiration for Sienna’s magic and, at the same time, he died hoping for the victory of the Demon King of Incarceration.

‘Balzac Ludbeth,’ the Demon King of Incarceration mused.

He was certain of it. The Demon King of Incarceration knew that Balzac Ludbeth wasn’t capable enough to be a threat to him. Balzac had also never once shown any thought of betraying the Demon King of Incarceration.

Yet even so, the Demon King of Incarceration couldn’t remove Balzac’s name and face from his mind. Although there was no evidence for it, the Demon King of Incarceration was now sure that Balzac Ludbeth was the source of these uncomfortable and dangerous shifts taking place inside of him.

That was what both his intuition and instincts were telling him, so there wasn’t any need to waste time looking for evidence to support this theory. The Demon King of Incarceration sensed that whatever was currently afflicting him was a poison even deadlier than the Corpse Poison that had been slowly fermenting and accumulating inside of the Demon King throughout the course of his long life.

‘Just what... is this...?’ the Demon King thought with a frown.

His senses were becoming skewed. It felt like he had lost control of himself and that time was passing slowly for him, leaving him separated from the world. He was even left uncertain whether he was currently standing up or lying down. Incarceration tried to use his remaining sense of clarity to get a hold of himself somehow, but his body wasn’t responding the way he wanted it to.

Instead, he could feel his poison levels rising. The poison spilling out from the abyss within him had slipped out of the Demon King of Incarceration’s control and was currently eating away at his own dark power.

This was the start of a rampage. The poison was beginning to run out of control. It shouldn’t have been possible for something like this to happen. Still, the power that the Demon King of Incarceration had managed to hold in check for the entirety of his life was gradually freeing itself from his control.

‘This is dangerous,’ Incarceration realized.

Even the Demon King of Incarceration couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis at this moment. He had been storing up far too much poison within the depths of his internal abyss. And above all, the one thing that the Demon King of Incarceration needed to keep secure at all costs, even in the worst-case scenario, was the chain that connected him to the Demon King of Destruction. If that connection was severed or destroyed, there would be no way for the Demon King of Incarceration to cross over to the next era.

The Demon King of Incarceration was the only one who felt that time seemed to flow slowly. This meant that those attacking him weren’t subjected to any such inconvenience. Eugene and Molon quickly noticed that there was something strange about the Demon King of Incarceration. The Demon King, who had been able to respond to all of their previous attacks without being phased or put off-balance, had suddenly stopped reacting to their attacks.

At first, they thought this might be a part of some kind of trick. They suspected the Demon King might have deliberately left an opening, wanting to draw them in deep before springing the trap.

However, that wasn’t the case. Even after they braved the risk and ventured in deep, the Demon King of Incarceration still hadn’t reacted to them. He didn’t do anything to push them back, block them, or launch a counterattack.

‘What is this bastard up to?’ Eugene thought to himself as he glared into the Demon King’s stiff gaze.

Even though Eugene was examining Incarceration from such a close distance, all that could be seen in the Demon King of Incarceration’s eyes was a dim reflection of Eugene’s figure. It was as if Incarceration's eyes weren’t really looking at him but instead seeing something else.

And that was indeed the case.

The Demon King of Incarceration stood alone in the center of the abyss, his consciousness being pulled out of the normal flow of time. There, he parted his lips and said, “Balzac Ludbeth.”

As he called out that name, the rippling, black sea below him began to bubble over as it boiled.

“What are you doing here?” the Demon King of Incarceration demanded.

This sea was the abyss hidden within the Demon King of Incarceration. All of his madness and the souls he had accumulated over the eons of his life were all dissolved into this sea. But the soul of Balzac, who had just died today, wasn’t meant to be in here. The Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t thrown Balzac’s soul into this abyss.

The Demon King of Incarceration frowned as he asked, “Could you be trying to usurp my power and status? If that’s the case, it will be a waste of your effort, Balzac Ludbeth. I admit that the dagger you have stuck into my back has delivered quite the lethal blow, but as someone who is already deceased, you will never—”

“Usurp?” a voice suddenly flowed out from within the bubbling foam.

Countless souls had been dissolved within this abyss, and right now, Balzac was included as one of their number. If Balzac’s aim was to crawl out of that abyss and turn the tables to devour the Demon King of Incarceration’s soul, thus forcefully seizing the Demon King’s power and status, Balzac would never be able to succeed.

“It seems that you’ve come to a great misunderstanding, Your Majesty. I have no desire to become a Demon King,” Balzac stated.

He no longer had a physical body, and Balzac wasn’t strong enough to pull himself out of this abyss and create a new body for himself, either. Balzac’s soul had already become trapped within this vast sea.

But there was something strange going on. Even though he had become a part of this vast and unfathomable sea, Balzac hadn’t lost his sense of self. He, who had been alive for less than a hundred years, was still able to maintain his independent ego when fused with all of these countless souls.

Balzac reminded the Demon King, “Don’t you already know what my greatest wish is, Your Majesty?”

The Demon King of Incarceration felt the need to acknowledge the wizard once more.

Chuckling to himself, he placed a hand on the ground for support as he stood up. “This is certainly a fatal blow. And it’s not just you. Everyone present could currently prove a fatal threat to me.”

Eugene and Sienna had frozen at the sudden mention of Balzac’s name. However, they didn’t get the chance to ask why the Demon King had mentioned that name.

Their eyes were drawn to the Demon King of Incarceration’s shadow, which was visibly swelling up from the floor as the Demon King staggered to his feet. The Demon King of Incarceration proceeded to wrap his arms around his shoulders before slowly crouching down.

“What the hell,” Eugene cursed nervously as he swung his Divine Sword.

The long slash that flew from his blade sliced through the Demon King of Incarceration’s neck.

However, even when the Demon King’s head fell to the ground, the warning from Eugene’s intuition hadn’t disappeared. Molon, who felt the same sense of danger, immediately gripped onto the fabric of space and pulled Eugene backward. Then, while leaping back himself, Molon swung his hand forward once more.

Whoooosh!

As the fabric of space was forcefully pushed forward, the distance between the Demon King of Incarceration and the members of their party was widened.

“Sienna!” Molon roared out.

Sienna also lifted Mary without hesitation as she got ready to defend herself. At the same time, she used her other hand to grab the Demoneye of Fantasy that had been floating nearby.

Noir tried to stop her, [Hold on, I still have to—!]

Sienna scolded her, “You’re just my tool, so don’t go sacrificing yourself as you please!”

Sienna knew that Noir had prepared herself for self-destruction. Earlier, she had respected and understood Noir’s determination, but now that things had changed, Sienna couldn’t allow Noir to go through with her original plan. The rampaging poison had already begun to collapse the dream world. And whatever the Demon King of Incarceration was currently attempting, it didn’t feel like something that could be avoided just by stubbornly maintaining this dream world.

‘Why has he suddenly changed patterns?’ Eugene thought in concern.

Was it because they had managed to push the Demon King to such an extent? Did it have something to do with how the Demon King had uttered the name ‘Balzac Ludbeth’?

Incarceration had said that he had felt a fatal threat. It seemed that it was true that the Demon King of Incarceration had been pushed to the point where he was left with no other choice but to admit that honestly. However, the Demon King of Incarceration wasn’t going to give up just yet. As his shadow continued to swell, all of his sinister dark power began to coalesce around the Demon King of Incarceration.

Kristina and Anise’s prayers conjured a dazzling light as a barrier rose up from the holy ground below, covering Eugene, Molon, and Sienna. A spell was also shot out from Mary as Sienna ripped apart space to create a path of escape.

Cracracrack!

Right at that moment, a river of darkness began to flow from the stump of the Demon King of Incarceration’s severed neck. The poison endlessly pouring out from the abyss began to engulf the world around the Demon King. Since the need to maintain the dream world had ended with Sienna’s withdrawal of the Demoneye of Fantasy, Eugene and Molon could also now sense the effects of this poison. The poison and dark power continuously gushing forth from the Demon King’s neck formed a huge wave that swept toward Eugene and his companions.

Hahaha... hahahahaha!

The sound of laughter rang out from this dark torrent of liquid. It was Balzac’s laughter. The Demon King of Incarceration had managed to completely flush Balzac from his inner sea. This would guarantee Balzac’s complete annihilation, but Balzac didn’t care.

“With this, it should be possible for me to become a part of your legend, don’t you think?” Balzac’s clear voice flowed into Sienna and Eugene’s ears.

At that moment, Eugene and Sienna understood what Balzac had intended to do with his death at their hands. Sienna gaped blankly for a few moments, then she let out a snort and shook her head.

“So much so that I even feel the urge to write a fairy tale just for you,” Sienna said, her voice filled with sincerity.

However, that was the last that would be heard of Balzac’s voice. Balzac had already completely disappeared.

He had left without any regrets. In his final moments, Balzac managed to achieve what he had always dreamed of, and he died satisfied. As the black wizard who had betrayed the Demon King, he was a legendary wizard who had contributed greatly to the Demon King’s defeat.

However, Balzac’s wish hadn’t been fully realized just yet.

Roooooooar!

The poison and dark power erupting from the Demon King of Incarceration was beginning to erode and collapse Babel itself. Before they could get caught up in this senseless destruction, Eugene and the others used the spatial door created by Sienna’s magic to escape from Babel.

After floating through space for a few moments, Eugene and his party arrived at the skies above the battlefield.

Then they watched as Babel collapsed behind them.