Chapter 695

“Let’s stop here for today since the beast man managed to survive and we don’t have enough information about the man with the energy of death.”

Chamber waved her hand while putting the shrunken lollipop back into her mouth.

“It sounds good. And...” King Lecross gulped before he looked at everyone. “According to the information from Cameloon, the factions following the Five Demons are spreading like wildfire. I believe it’d be best to focus on internal stability for a while.”

He advised them to stay safe because the balance of the Six Kings and the Five Demons was broken.

“I don’t leave my home to begin with...” Larian shook her head while rubbing the dark circles under her eyes, which resembled coal.

“Oh right! I looked into it, and she didn’t participate in the previous Conference of the Six Kings because she was lazy!” Chamber bit her lip while glaring at Larian.

“I wasn’t being lazy. I was busy with experiments...”

“You didn’t even set up the magic network!”

“Hehe...”

Larian scratched the back of her head as if she were embarrassed by a compliment. Her hair rippled peacefully in a golden hue, as bright as melted gold.

“I wasn’t complimenting you!” Chamber ground her teeth furiously, as if she was going to attack her.

“It’s so noisy with everyone around.” Ogram shook his hand while chuckling.

“I can feel the peace amid that chaos.” Derus twitched his lips with an expression that didn’t look peaceful at all.

“It appears we’re done here if you all are beginning to spiral into pointless drivel.” Glenn raised his right hand with a serious gaze. “Let’s end the conference...”

“Wait a second! We still have an important matter to talk about!” Chamber interrupted Glenn and shoved her face into the blue screen. “What are you going to do about Raon’s duel to the death?” She narrowed her eyes while looking at Raon, who was standing next to Sheryl.

“Hmm...”

“It’s indeed an important matter in the current situation.”

“There’s not even a month left, after all.”

The other heads of the Six Kings fell quiet and focused on Glenn, implying that they were also curious about it.

“About that...” Glenn closed his mouth and lowered his gaze. He nodded at Raon, implying that he should tell them himself.

“I’m planning to fight, of course.” Raon walked up to the center of the audience chamber. An unwavering resolution dwelled in his calm steps. “Postponing a promised duel just because of an incident like this would be unbefitting of Zieghart.” He smiled while looking at Derus among the heads of the Six Kings.

“Ahem!” Glenn curled his lips into a smile, satisfied by Raon’s declaration.

“Seriously, the youngsters from that side are so fearless.” Chamber let out a short, worried sigh.

“The Axe King is an old generation warrior just like us, but you should be able to overcome him.” Ogram lifted his large fist, showing his trust in Raon.

“I’m also going to believe in the Light Wind Division leader. I wouldn’t want Lephon to be disappointed.” Derus shook his head, using his youngest son’s name once again.

“He will never be disappointed in me, of all people.” Raon smiled at Derus.

‘He will be disappointed in you instead. No, he might even despair.’

If anything was going to disappoint Lephon it was going to be Derus’s hideous nature, not Raon’s defeat. Raon turned his head after laughing at Derus to his heart’s content.

“......”

Derus’s lips curled even further inward, realizing the meaning behind Raon’s words. Raon could guess that he was still infuriated.

“Then let’s end the conference now.” Glenn casually shook his hand, and the five blue screens floating at the center of the audience chamber disappeared like an extinguishing candlelight.

Raon rubbed his fingers while looking at the spot where Derus’ face used to be displayed.

‘The volcano erupted in the end.’

Derus had maintained a peaceful expression until the end, but his lips were curled deeply inward. That implied that he was extremely furious.

‘He might have destroyed everything in sight by now.’

Derus maintained his reason even more coldly than the Northern wind, but there was a limit to it since he was still human.

The fact that Ogram managed to wake up, on top of being rescued, must’ve been irritating enough—but Raon’s continuous provocations that followed must’ve destroyed a large portion of his mental barrier.

‘It’s a shame that I didn’t get to see it.’

Raon clicked his tongue, saddened by the fact that he couldn’t watch Derus’ frustration, and suddenly noticed a gaze coming from behind. He turned his head to see that Glenn was watching him with an indescribable look in his eyes.

“My lord?” he asked.

“Raon!” He was going to ask if he had a question, but Balder came up to him and gripped his shoulder tightly. “Did you really barge into the White Blood Religion to rescue the Beast King?! You’re a real man!”

Balder gave a big nod of approval, a praising look in his eyes. “This is my first time seeing all the leaders from the Six Kings complimenting the same person. You never fail to surprise me!” He laughed, loudly enough to echo throughout the audience chamber.

“That’s true.” Sheryl nodded. “All Six Kings complimenting someone like they did today has never actually happened before.”

“Huhuhu, I’ve never seen it before either.” Roenn said that it surprised him, a faint smile on his face.

“......”

Denier simply watched Raon and Balder without saying anything.

“I’ve had this feeling for a while, but you have the exact same personality as me! I wish I was as smart as you, though!” Balder gave him a thumbs up with the hand that was patting his shoulder.

“What...?” Raon gasped while looking at Balder’s passionate eyes.

‘What is he even saying now?’

He thought Balder was going to pick a fight with him, but he seemed to be complimenting him in his own way. He couldn’t understand why Balder had been acting like that recently after hating him so much in the past.

Raon shifted his gaze to look for someone to take Balder away from him and met Denier’s eyes. A serene smile was showing up on his face, contrasting with the twisted expression he’d made when Raon had made fun of Derus.

‘He is so difficult to read.’

Balder was fine because he was such a simpleton, but he couldn’t tell at all what Denier was thinking.

“Thank you for your work.” Glenn shook his hand towards Chad, the leader of Shadow Agents, and the magicians who’d set up the video conference.

“I-it was nothing!” Chad and the magicians hurriedly lowered their heads as if they were getting a divine revelation.

“The Shadow Agents’ leader shall create a summary of today’s conference. The rest may leave.”

“Yes!”

The magicians and the executives bowed at him before leaving the audience chamber.

“Raon.” Glenn stopped Raon by calling him by his name instead of his title.

“Yes, my lord.”

“I won’t stop you since you’ve made up your mind. However...” He tapped on the throne’s armrest heavily with his finger. “I’d like you to change the date and location, at least.”

Glenn advised him to change the date and location, worried about the swordsman with the energy of death interfering with the duel.

“Understood.” Raon nodded since he’d been thinking about it ever since the incident occurred.

“Alright, you can leave now.”

It looked like the serious look in Glenn’s eyes was finally relaxing a little.

Raon had the feeling once again that Glenn was a bit different from the way he looked, just like when they were saving Ogram together.

Raon bowed at Glenn politely before he left the audience chamber.

“My lord.” Sheryl weakly tapped on her lips while gazing up at Glenn. “You are making various expressions today.”

“A-about that...” Glenn’s chin trembled as he hurriedly hardened his expression.

“Huhuhu, it’s only natural since his grandson was complimented by the Six Kings.” Roenn shook his head with a gentle smile.

“Of course! I couldn’t possibly be unresponsive when those cheapskates were making such a fuss!” Glenn immediately nodded in agreement.

“Then it would be nice to show that to Raon. How about taking this opportunity to officially treat him as a grandson?”

“Hmm, actually...”

“Huhuhu, it looks like he can still feel the distance. Let’s wait a bit longer. After all, this incident clearly brought them closer.”

“Yes! That’s right! Now isn’t the time yet.”

“When is it going to be the time? At this rate...”

“Err...”

Glenn’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat as Sheryl and Roenn kept giving him the carrot and stick, influenced by Rimmer’s behavior.

The smile hanging around Derus Robert’s lips disappeared like popping bubbles. He couldn’t suppress his anger anymore and slammed his fist into the black wood desk in front of him.

Wham!

With a tremendous impact that made it feel like the entire land was trembling, all of the furniture around the table crumbled into pieces, turning into gray dust.

“Ugh...”

“Kuh...”

The executives of House Robert sitting in the chairs around him, who were actually the executives of the Shadow, could only swallow nervously, unable to say anything.

‘How could this have happened?’

Derus raised his fingers like a hawk’s claws without paying any attention to his nervous subordinates.

‘Did the White Blood Religion leader’s bloodsucking distort the energy of death? No, there’s no way.’

He had already tested it out many times. The bloody energy and the energy of death weren’t incompatible with each other. There was no reason for the bloodsucking to influence the energy of death.

‘Then did Glenn Zieghart really manage to save Ogram?’

He was well aware that Glenn was the strongest among the Six Kings, but he didn’t believe that he would be able to remove the separation. The slightest mistake would’ve led to Ogram never waking up. Derus was astonished by Glenn’s guts, carrying it out while being fully aware of that fact.

“There is a good reason he is referred to as a god despite being a human being.”

Glenn’s aliases were the Destructive King of the North, the Northern Conqueror, and the Lightning God.

The Destructive King of the North and the Northern Conqueror were oppressive names, but the Lightning God was the best description for Glenn since it implied that he became the god of lightning with a human body. Derus realized why he was called a god.

Whaap!

Cubara shook her finger, and the dust filling the air was sucked into her hand.

“It looks like...” Derus remained silent for a while, then stroked his chin while looking at Cubara. “Glenn and Ogram seem to believe that there’s a spy among the Six Kings.”

“What?” Cubara’s lips parted slightly, wondering what he was talking about. “What do you mean...?”

“They must be lying about Ogram’s well-being.”

When the White Blood Religion’s leader consumed someone’s blood from the source, she even consumed their power in addition to their life force.

Since Ogram was exposed to the energy of death as well, he was most likely bluffing about not having lost any power. Glenn and Ogram were definitely lying about his wellbeing after realizing that there was a spy among the Six Kings.

“Hmm...” Cubara gripped her wrist, watching Derus come up with an assumption.

‘He’s insane.’

Even though Derus was flustered by Ogram’s survival, he was still analyzing the conference thoroughly in order to understand the situation. She felt like no one could match his level-headedness and calmness

“And the one who came up with that plot...” Derus took off his glove while twisting his lips. Sticky blood was dripping from the back of his hand, implying that his wound had opened up again. “Must’ve been him. Raon Zieghart.”

Whenever Raon Zieghart ruined the Shadow’s plan, Derus felt intense pain from the wound on his hand and blood started dripping from it.

It was unbelievable, but it confirmed his suspicion that the assassin Raon, who had perished while leaving the scar in the process, and Raon Zieghart must’ve been the same person.

Moreover, Raon Zieghart had planted the seed of doubt to the other Six Kings while pretending to be worried about him. The heads of the Six Kings were no idiots. They seemed to be quietly overlooking it, but they were definitely going to remember his twisted face.

“Yes, you got me this time. You absolutely got me.” Derus clenched his fist, thinking about Raon’s twisted smile.

‘But I’ve gained something from it.’

Glenn Zieghart. He was supposed to be such a coldhearted man, yet he clearly reacted to the compliments directed at Raon. It confirmed his assumption that he cherished Raon more than his other grandchildren.

‘That’s why the upcoming duel to the death is important. It’s the perfect opportunity to defeat that annoying grandson and grandfather pair at once.’

He had planned to finish Raon and Glenn off using other people’s hands, but he couldn’t do that anymore. He decided to kill them both by personally, devising a plan.

“Message all of the Five Demons. And as for the South-North Union’s leader...” Derus Robert stood up proudly. He twisted his lips, shaking off his blue coat.

“Tell him that I’ll be going to see him personally.”

* * *

The Axe King Roman Reycal remained around the river even after all the gravel was shredded to pieces. He simply breathed calmly, his sharpened Red Dragon Axe lying on his knees.

An old man with white-gray hair was reflected in his quiet gaze, which was only showing the river and the sky. It was Hellgrum, the South-North Union’s vice leader.

“Roman.”

Roman lowered his gaze upon hearing his call.

“You must be aware, but the Beast Union has collapsed. Since there are so many things to do right now, just ignore the duel to the death and—”

“The Six Kings and the Five Demons don’t matter for this. This is a promise between warriors—Raon Zieghart and myself.” The frightening look appearing in his serene eyes was akin to a hungry beast. “It would be a different story if there was an issue with us, but I have no intention to stop the duel to the death because of someone else's business.”

“I thought you might have changed your mind when I heard you’d sent the Blue Sky Hawk, but you aren’t surpassing my expectations at all.” The South-North Union’s vice leader shook his head while clicking his tongue. “Then why did you even send the Blue Sky Hawk?”

“I was messaging him to tell him not to run away.” Roman raised his gaze again while stroking the Red Dragon Axe’s shaft.

“Not to run away?”

“Indeed. I told him to not even think about running away from the duel because I’m willing to fight when and where he wants, even if it is at Zieghart’s main building.” He nodded his head confidently.

“Haa... You’ve already gotten stronger. You’ve achieved a huge amount of growth over the past three years. I don’t understand why you are so fixated on that promise when it’s possible for you to reach transcendence at this rate.”

“Because that promise is what allowed me to get stronger.” Roman put his hands together, saying that the duel to the death against Raon was the very reason he managed to become his current self.

“Haa... Do whatever you want. But as I said before, if you lose against him...” The South-North Union’s vice leader narrowed his eyes while looking at Roman. “All of the fame you’ve gained so far will fall into the gutter. Make sure to defeat him and return.”

“I’m obviously going to do it, even without your worries.” Roman gripped the shaft of his axe, a frightening amount of energy blazing from his shoulders.

“...At least you’re capable enough to say that.” The South-North Union’s vice leader nodded and disappeared towards headquarters.

“It doesn’t really matter what those people say.” Roman curled his lips into a smile, watching the setting sun. “We are the ones who matter, Raon Zieghart.”

* * *

As soon as the conference ended, Raon started to train in the training ground.

“Are you still going to train on a day like this?”

He was practicing the basic techniques like always, and Rimmer shook his hand, lying on the platform.

“It’s going to happen soon.” Raon shook his head and stabbed his blade into the air. A dark dot was created on the setting sun, as if a hole had been made into it.

“No, when you hit a jackpot like this, you should treat your teacher to a meal, lend him some money, and thank him for all his efforts so far.”

“Rather than that, I want to have a spar with my teacher. How about it?” Raon beckoned Rimmer with his finger and a bright smile on his face. “Battle experience is what I need right now.”

“I-I can’t really do that because I haven’t completely recovered from my injuries yet...” Rimmer shook his head while smiling awkwardly.

“Don’t be like that. Help me out since your disciple hit a jackpo—” Raon was trying to walk up to Rimmer, who had turned pale.

Scree!

With a sharp screech, a blue hawk descended rapidly, landing in front of Raon.

“This hawk...” He remembered seeing it before. It was the blue hawk that was sitting on the mast of Misfortune, the Axe King Roman’s warship. “It looks like the Axe King’s hawk...”

“Yes, it’s the Blue Sky Hawk.” Rimmer nodded, saying that it was the intelligent animal raised by the Axe King.

“Come over here.” Raon raised his hand, and the Blue Sky Hawk calmly landed on the back of his hand. Raon removed the white note tied around its ankle and spread it open.

“Hah...” Raon gasped after reading the note.

“What does it say?” Rimmer curiously licked his lips.

“He’s asking me to fight without running away. He is telling me to decide on both the date and location. He is even willing to fight inside Zieghart’s domain.”

“Isn’t he just insane?” Rimmer gasped at his ridiculous statement.

“Well, he wasn’t exactly normal when he accepted the duel to the death.” Raon smiled faintly while reading the note once again. “He is a different type of person from the ordinary Five Demons,” he said, lifting his pen.

“Huh? What are you doing right now?!” Rimmer quickly came towards him and shook his head. “Don’t decide right now. You should discuss it with the head of house first...”

“The head of house said that he would leave it to me.” Raon shook his head and put his pen on the back of the note. “The location will be Gazel River, at the place of our first encounter, and the date...”

“A-and the date?”

“It will be the last day of this year instead of the first day of the next year.”

The golden sunlight seeped into Raon’s eyes.

“I’ll reschedule it to an earlier time instead of postponing. It’s time to put an end to this fight.”

Footnotes:

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