Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

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Chapter 332: Father and Child (3)

***

When Damien opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange space.

“Where am I?”

Looking around, he saw a bright red palace, as red as blood.

“What kind of place is this?”

The most peculiar thing was the size of the palace.

The ceiling was so high it resembled a cliff. It didn\'t seem like a place where humans could live.

“Hey, what are you looking at?”

An all-too-familiar voice echoed. Damien turned to face the source.

It was Vahel.

Despite having sacrificed his body, Vahel before him seemed perfectly intact.

Damien stared at Vahel before speaking.

“You’re Vahel’s residual thoughtform.”

Powerful beings always leave behind residual thoughts.

When Damien killed Vahel, part of his residual thoughts must have flowed into him.

Vahel’s residual thought form shrugged with a hint of disappointment.

“Not much fun when you figure it out so quickly.”

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull as a mere leftover?”

Damien’s voice was laced with killing intent. Vahel waved his hands defensively.

“Don’t get so worked up. After all, I’m just a remnant that can disappear at your whim.”

No matter how powerful Vahel’s residual thought form was, it couldn’t affect Damien’s Grandmaster-level mind.

As he said, Damien could get rid of him at any time if he wished.

“And I arranged this place for you.”

“What nonsense is that?”

“Why don’t you take a seat first?”

With a snap of Vahel\'s fingers, a table and chairs appeared between them.

Vahel sat down naturally. Damien, after glaring at him, took a seat opposite.

“This could take a while. Want something to eat?”

Vahel snapped his fingers again. This time, food appeared on the once-empty table.

Damien frowned immediately as he saw the food.

Squirming entrails, a fish with seven eyes, and even fruits shaped like animal heads.

The mere sight of the food was enough to kill his appetite.

Unlike Damien, Vahel began eating without hesitation. Each bite elicited a horrifying scream.

“Not hungry?”

“That’s not the issue. How am I supposed to eat this?”

Damien tapped a plate with his cutlery as he spoke. Vahel, chewing on a large eyeball, replied.

“\'This’? This is a gourmet dish from Inferno you won’t find anywhere else.”

“Just say what you have to say, or I’ll leave.”

“Impatient, aren’t you?”

Vahel wiped his mouth with a napkin, quickly erasing the blood that had been around his lips.

“Damien, beware of Dorugo.”

***

A moment of silence passed between them. Damien glared at Vahel and asked.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“When I returned suddenly during our fight at Carion, it was because I received a report that Dorugo had escaped.”

Vahel continued speaking quietly.

“I had my subordinates investigate the traces of the dimensional portal, and they said it led to the Empire. So I went to the Empire... but once I arrived, there was no sign of her.”

If Dorugo had gone to the Empire, there should have been traces.

But Vahel’s senses didn’t pick up any sign of her.

“She couldn’t have concealed his tracks in such a short time. That means she never went to the Empire. Which raises a question: why did my subordinates conclude that Dorugo went to the Empire?”

As Vahel spoke, he roughly mixed the food on his plate with his cutlery. The food became unrecognizable.

“It’s strange when you think about it. How did Dorugo escape? My subordinates claimed they were caught off guard, but that doesn’t add up.”

Vahel’s hands stopped. He slowly fixed his gaze on Damien.

“Damien, Dorugo is plotting something. You must be fully prepared to face her.”

Damien silently regarded Vahel before slowly speaking.

“It seems you’re confused about a word.”

“Confused about a word?”

“You should refer to him as ‘him’ not ‘her’.”

Vahel tilted his head in confusion at Damien’s words.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“We’re talking about Dorugo, so why use the word ‘her’?”

Vahel hesitated, then asked with an incredulous expression.

“...You didn’t know Dorugo is a woman?”

Damien’s brows furrowed deeply.

“What nonsense are you spouting? Why would he be a woman?”

“She is a woman. She was Ruin’s lover.”

“...She was Ruin’s lover?”

Damien felt his mind go blank.

[TL/N- I\'m not sure what the author is up to, but the Author started using \'she\' for Dorugo from the moment Damian met Milene. Milene referred to Dorugo as \'she\' in her first meeting with Damian, and Damian also referred to Dorugo as \'she\' in their conversations.]

Was that skeleton actually a woman? And Ruin’s lover, no less?

“...You seriously didn’t know until now?”

Vahel asked in disbelief. Damien felt a strange sense of injustice.

Dorugo’s skeletal form made it hard to determine her gender. She always wore a gloomy robe and had a voice that sounded like grinding stones.

“...I’ll think about this later.”

Damien decided to put aside his confusion for the moment. He needed to stay focused.

“Right now, Dorugo doesn\'t seem like a threat to me.”

Currently, Damien possessed greater power than in his previous life. He didn’t consider Dorugo a threat.

“She was originally a demon.”

Vahel spoke in a short, firm tone.

“But I can’t remember what kind of demon she was. I tried to uncover her secret but found nothing. She definitely has a huge secret.”

Damien recalled his past life.

As a Death Knight, he had always been by Dorugo’s side.

Even so, he didn’t know what kind of person Dorugo was or what past she had.

“Moreover, Dorugo is obsessed with you. She’s willing to pay any price to get you.”

Vahel\'s voice turned eerie.

“A being like her will not leave you alone. She will undoubtedly do something unimaginably horrific.”

Vahel’s body began to burn from the fingertips.

He couldn\'t maintain his residual thought form any longer and started to collapse.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Huh? Isn’t it obvious? It’s a matter of pride.”

Vahel said with a laugh.

“I can’t stand to see the guy who killed me fall to someone like Dorugo.”

With those final words, Vahel’s thoughtform completely vanished.

***

Right after Vahel’s thoughtform disappeared, Damien slowly opened his eyes.

“Over a week has passed, and why hasn’t he woken up yet!”

The first thing Damien saw upon waking was the Emperor, angrily shouting at a mage standing in front of him.

“I-I don’t know the reason, Your Majesty...”

“Always saying you don’t know! Is that all you can say?”

“My apologies!”

“Silence! Go fetch the Heart of the Mountain and the Tears of the Sea!”

“B-But didn’t we use two just yesterday? There’s barely any left. Squandering such precious treasures that the Empire has only acquired in small quantities over its entire history is...”

“Does it matter that such treasures are important when the hero of the Empire has not awakened? Bring them at once if you don’t want to lose your head!”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”

Damien rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He seriously wondered if he had misheard.

“Your Majesty?”

Damien cautiously called out to the Emperor. The moment he heard the voice, the Emperor hastily turned to Damien.

“Damien Haksen! You’ve awakened!”

A broad smile spread across the Emperor\'s face.

“We were so worried because you didn’t wake up! Thank goodness! Truly, thank goodness!”

The Emperor’s eyes even welled up with tears.

Damien looked at the Emperor with a sour expression. He always felt overwhelmed by this man.

“Where are we?”

“This is a secret part of the imperial palace. Only a select few are allowed to enter.”

That explained why only the Emperor and one mage were present.

Damien glanced around the space. For a secret area, it was quite spacious.

Then, something caught Damien’s eye.

In the center of the secret room stood a sword, stabbed into the ground.

The blade was smooth, but the hilt appeared rough, seemingly carved out of any random piece of wood.

It looked like an unimpressive sword. Yet, upon seeing it, Damien felt a shiver run through him as if struck by lightning.

The Divine Sword.

The legendary weapon wielded by the Imperial Supreme Sword during the War of Destruction was right before his eyes.

Yet it made no sense. The Divine Sword was known to have mysteriously fallen from the sky at the end of the War of Destruction.

Why would such an artifact be in the imperial palace’s secret chamber?

“...Your Majesty, what is that?”

At Damien’s question, the Emperor looked troubled.

It was astonishing. The Emperor had never shown such an expression when dealing with Damien.

“I’m not sure how to explain... That is the most closely guarded secret of the Empire.”

“A secret?”

“That sword was used by the First Emperor .”

The First Emperor.

He was a member of the Salvation Squad and accomplished many feats.

However, Damien knew the truth about the First Emperor. He was a traitor who had betrayed Ruin and stolen his achievements.

“The First Emperor instructed that this sword must never be shown to the outside world. So, it has been stored here through the generations.”

“...Why did you bring me to such a place?”

“This sword has the ability to nullify harmful effects.”

The Emperor continued his explanation.

“Those who battled demons may carry unknown curses on their bodies. That’s why everyone who participated in the recent battle was brought here for treatment.”

A nullifying ability.

Damien had experienced it in his previous life. In other words, this was indeed the Divine Sword he knew.

“May I take a closer look?”

“Of course.”

Despite it being a treasure of the Empire, the Emperor readily granted permission.

Damien approached the Divine Sword. He reached out and stroked the hilt.

-Why are you hesitating?

In that moment, Damien could read the residual thought contained within the hilt.

-You feel like a burden? What are you talking about? You’re doing great.

-Last time, we won the battle because you covered the flank.

-You will become even stronger. I guarantee it.

-Here, I made this for you. This will be your sword from now on.

Within the residual thought, Damien could hear Ruin’s voice.

Damien looked at the sword with a shocked expression.

The Divine Sword was a weapon Ruin had created by splitting his own essence. It was almost like Erebos’s sibling.

The next moment, the memory shown by the residual thought changed.

The smiling Ruin disappeared, replaced by a blood-soaked crying Ruin.

-Why...?

-Please... Just say something.

-Why did you do this to me...?

Damien slowly withdrew his hand from the hilt. His voice trembled as he muttered.

“...So this is the disgrace the First Emperor tried to hide.”

When the Salvation Squad betrayed Ruin, the first sword to pierce his heart was this one.

***