[Translator - Kie]
[Proofreader - Kawaii]
Chapter 349: Death Knight (1)
***
Dorugo reacted instinctively as soon as she grasped Damien's intentions.
She planned to stop him even if it meant breaking his neck.
However, just before her hand could reach his throat, an explosion erupted around Damien.
An immense force pushed Dorugo back.
She was caught off guard by the sudden phenomenon and was sent flying backwards.
Upon landing, Dorugo glared at what lay before her.
Gray smoke from the explosion obscured Damien.
"Damien Haksen...! You're really going to... summon the past?!"
As the gray smoke slowly dissipated, a human silhouette emerged.
The first things to catch the eye were the gray-tinged skin and tall physique. It looked like an ancient tree.
Scars densely covered the steel-like thick muscles.
They were too neat to have been caused by battle, more resembling surgical incisions.
"Damien...?" Count Haksen cautiously called his son's name.
"What on earth... has happened...?"
Count Haksen stared at Damien's transformed appearance in disbelief.
Their eyes met, and in that moment, Count Haksen saw it—his son's eyes were vastly different from what he remembered.
The once sky-blue eyes now emitted a red glow.
The irises appeared to be constructed of countless tiny gears, resembling some sort of magical device upon closer inspection.
That wasn't all. Unknown instruments were embedded in Damien's upper body.
"What... what happened... what happened to you...?"
Count Haksen grabbed his son and asked, but Damien merely turned away.
Black armor began to materialize out of thin air and covered his entire body.
The scars that had covered his body and the magical devices embedded in him were all concealed by the iron plates.
Red light gleamed through the gaps in the helmet that obscured his face.
Death Knight.
The monster that once wiped the life from the surface has appeared again.
***
"You're out of your mind."
Dorugo clicked her tongue as she looked at the transformed Damien.
"To think you'd return to that body. I've never seen someone as stubborn as you in my life."
Dorugo was the one who first conceived the idea of time reversal.
That's why she knew well. Time reversal wasn't a convenient technique that solved everything at once like magic.
To achieve results through time reversal, one had to follow a set process.
"But what can you do with that body now?"
Although she was taken aback by this unexpected move but Dorugo soon realized she had no reason to feel threatened.
In this life, Damien had become more skilled than in his past life.
And Dorugo had easily defeated the current Damien.
So why should she fear Damien just because he had returned to the Death Knight's body?
"Well, fine. It's good for me. I won't need to modify you again."
After all, Dorugo had planned to capture Damien and modify him into a Death Knight once more.
To reverse time by thousands of years as Dorugo wished, she needed a body strong enough to withstand time reversal.
"I won't kill you. I'll just break your limbs."
Dorugo said in an arrogant tone.
"I won't make the same mistake as in your past life. This time, I'll turn you into a loyal slave."
The arm she had punched with was gone.
It wasn't just her arm.
A clean portion of her upper body, including the shoulder had torn apart.
"Guh, gaaaah!"
Dorugo clutched her wound and let out an agonized groan.
This was impossible.
Dorugo had absorbed three Demon Lords, including her own core self.
Thanks to that, she'd obtained an incredibly powerful body and life force that defied common sense.
Yet she had been overpowered in a head-on clash. She'd even lost an entire arm.
"How unpleasant."
The red glow from Damien's eyes flickered with disgust.
"Returning to this body, moving it myself... it's all so... I’m totally disgusting."
Damien Haksen said as he lowered his extended fist.
"But what's most unpleasant... is how comfortable this body feels."
Damien Haksen stared at the fist he had just used.
"Now that I'm back, I can feel it clearly."
The aura Damien Haksen was emitting began to expand rapidly.
"How extraordinary this body was."
Like pouring oil into the fire, Damien's aura engulfed the entire world in an instant.
"How meticulously you modified me."
It was so intense that it was difficult to look at directly. It was as if the sun had descended to earth.
Dorugo blinked repeatedly, wondering if she was seeing things wrong.
But no matter how many times she looked, nothing changed.
"You... could it be?"
Suddenly, a hypothesis flashed through Dorugo's mind.
In his past life, Damien's ego had been sealed.
Because of that, his mind and body had to move separately.
But now it was different. His mind and body were in perfect unity.
Not only that, Damien was much stronger than in his past life.
Strong enough to defeat a Duke class demon and easily handle one of the Four Great Demon Kings who had absorbed a Demon Lord.
"If my thinking is correct... then..."
Originally, the Death Knight's body was created for time reversal.
To create that body, Dorugo had to use all the best materials she had collected until then.
A soul that had reached the supreme realm had obtained the Death Knight's body.
Dorugo couldn't fathom what level Damien, who had perfectly met all conditions would reach.
"With this body, I won't have to worry about pushing it too hard."
The ground where Damien Haksen stood began to burn.
Crimson flames covered the ground in an instant. The whole world was engulfed in flames.
The flames wavered in a distant wind. Sparks flew high into the sky, like scattering flower petals.
"Dorugo."
Damien Haksen reached out into the air. Erebos materialized in his grasp.
As he gripped Erebos, Damien's presence became even sharper.
Dorugo felt a chill run down her spine at that eerie aura.
"Let's settle this."
The red glow flickered within the black armor.
***
[Translator - Kie]
[Proofreader - Kawaii]