Chapter 27: 0:0:0 part 2

The bowl Professor Yeno was holding seemed to slip from his grasp and crashed to the floor.

The food inside scattered all over.

The red juice from the tomatoes stained the carpet.

Before his wife and children could ask what was wrong,

The professor, as if struck by some great stimulus—an exhilarating stimulus—lost his usual reticent and reserved demeanor.

Instead, he displayed an expression his wife and daughters had never seen before.

It was

Excitement.

As if...

Something that existed only in history and legends had truly appeared before him.

Yeno disregarded everything else.

He rudely pushed the chair away and rushed out of the dining room at top speed, sprinting towards his study.

The wife and daughters left behind were confused and puzzled.

But the reason was known only to Yeno himself.

Upon entering his study in excitement, he forgot to lock the door and immediately reached into his chest with his trembling hands. There, he had a green emerald pendant that Professor Yeno always carried with him.

For the most part, no, it should be said, since Yeno had obtained this green emerald pendant, it seemed to be nothing more than an ornament.

But now,

Now, when Professor Yeno placed the green emerald pendant in his palm, the pendant's ghastly green glow enveloped the entire study.

Covered Yeno's entire face.

"Master"

"Is it you, master... Master!?"

Yeno shook his head frantically, looking towards the walls of the study, the ceiling, or perhaps some farther depth.

The voice of this ancient history professor trembled as much as his body.

"The time... has come"

From the ghastly green necklace in Professor Yeno's palm, a demonic voice emerged, a voice that only he could hear.

"Master! The time? What time? Are you implying... implying!!!"

"That's right. It's time to prove yourself. Prove your ancient history studies prove that what you have devotedly researched is not just... rubbish in the eyes of those ignorant fools."

"The Demon Race will return to the world, and you will enjoy our new world as a new human."

Lordan's voice was seductively persuasive.

Yeno's inner darkness and the frustration he had always borne were infinitely magnified. The "weird" ancient history professor now had a crazed smile on his face.

"Master, I, we have waited too long for this day. What do you need us to do, we"

Yeno's fervent speech was cut off.

"Anchor point."

"For our arrival. In the human world. Establish a coordinate anchor point. Next, I will give you power. Let us break through... the tunnel together."

Lordan cultivated such a force in the human world.

Next, he wanted to test the Demon King and verify his suspicions about Reji through these humans.

Therefore, Lordan needed to bring the Demon King to the area within his power.

That's why he intentionally offered his essence to the Sorcery Demon to stabilize the portal, so that, in collaboration with the human side, he could somewhat secretly control the teleportation location.

So far, everything was still proceeding smoothly as planned.

The evil ghastly green energy flowed into Professor Yeno's body through the green emerald pendant.

Until

*Snap!*

Another sound of a bowl breaking.

Nana, the little daughter who came to bring food to her father, stood at the doorway of the study, petrified, watching her father absorbing the demonic power inside the room.

"Get out!"

"Get out!"

Yeno's eyes were also emitting a miserable green light, and with his ferocious and angry expression, he looked like a monster.

He angrily ordered his little daughter to leave, but at that moment, the dissatisfied voice of the demon sounded.

"Kill her"

"Kill... her? No! Master, she's just a child, she doesn't understand anything, she won't affect us."

"Kill her!"

The demonic voice intensified its tone, leaving no room for doubt, while also increasing the transmission of power, engulfing Professor Yeno with evil desire.

The struggle and hesitation on his face vanished in an instant, and Yeno became a complete puppet of the demon, his skin turning a ghastly green. The half-human, half-demon Yeno reached out his claws towards his little daughter, who was crying at the doorway.

"My dear, what's wrong, why is Nana... Ah!!"

Yeno's wife was also drawn by the noise, but what she saw was a heart-wrenching, blood-curdling scene.

"Monster, monster!!"

"Run, Haila, run fast..."

With a scream, the wife fell in a pool of blood, and Yeno, now corrupted by the ghastly green demonic power, sought his little daughter in the room, only to find a trace of a teleportation spell.

It was the last of her strength that his wife used to release Haila.

One got away.

*Ahhhh!*

The demonized Yeno, emitting a beast-like roar of rage, was about to storm out, clearly having lost his reason.

"Come back."

Still, it was the demonic voice from the green emerald pendant that stopped Yeno.

"This is... a hasty transfer spell she... has likely been torn apart by the spatial turbulence. Do not chase."

"The coordinate anchor. This is... what's most important."

Yeno regained some semblance of reason. Some things, like Pandora's box, once opened, there's no turning back.

The professor's cold gaze fell upon the dining room that was warm just minutes ago, now turned into a blood-red scene. He stepped over the bodies of his wife and daughter, returning to his study.

"As you command, my lord."

With Yeno's assistance in the human world, it didn't take long for Lordan to secure the anchor point he desired.

"Master, what more can we do for you?"

Of course.

Beneath Yeno's feet, the pool of blood, under the power of the demon, began to move swiftly, eventually forming a human portrait in front of the professor.

The portrait of a human Boy— Reji.

"Find him and kill him," the demonic voice echoed in Yeno's mind.

A whisper of temptation like falling into an abyss.

"Upon completing this task... you will shed the human shell... become one of our kind."

"I will not disappoint you, master!"

With Yeno's final vow, the satisfied demon ended the connection. The ghastly green glow on the pendant disappeared, and Professor Yeno returned to his normal state, as if nothing had happened — if one could ignore the blood-stained carpet and the two bodies in the pool of blood.

But.

What of it?

Wasn't the "Chosen One" of those years the same?

Indeed.

He is on the right path.

He is not betraying humanity.

He is saving it, this now rotten and irredeemable human world!

He.

Yeno-Gwen

Will become the new savior of humanity, a thousand years from today!

…

....

[Time until the arrival of the Demon Race, ——0 hours 05 minutes 27 seconds]

The Chaotic Rift.

Although Reji only brought three apostles for the descent, the remaining six Demon Race apostles still respectfully lined up as if to see Reji off.

What surprised Reji even more was that not only the Wisdom Demon, but also Shadow Demon Sherman and Sorcery Demon Dian had chosen to descend with him, not as projections, but in their "true forms."

The void passage was fully prepared.

Reji looked towards the human world displayed across the passage, filled with anticipation in his heart.

Although the first cycle of Magic Chronicles was just a game, Reji had invested a lot of emotion into it.

A thousand years later, humanity, with the legacy left by the powerful protagonist of the game, should have advanced civilization to a higher level, right?

Those companions who had fought side by side with him a thousand years ago, were their descendants still around? How were they faring?

And most importantly to Reji, the Radiant Church, with which he had the 'closest relationship'.

With such an eager heart, Reji, along with the three apostles, entered the passage amidst the deafening roars of the demons, symbolizing a new chapter for the Demon Race since their sealing a thousand years ago.

The imperial capital.

The remote forest.

Five or six "humans" with pointed ears surrounded a well, the dim moonlight shining on the well's surface, reflecting a series of complex characters that were constantly shifting.

That was the Elven script.

The text inside the scipt have the following display:[Time until the arrival of the Demon Race, ——0 hours 00 minutes 03 seconds]"

As the countdown continued to decrease, the "humans" around the well held their breath, their expressions serious and tense.

Finally, the moment the countdown reached zero.

*Buzz!*

A huge ripple appeared on the surface of the well, and a blurry image quickly reflected inside it.

That was the Demon Race.

The demons, sealed within the Chaotic Rift for a thousand years, had once again opened the void passage, ready to bring disaster and destruction to the world.

"Elder! The prophecy... the prophecy is true, the Demon Race, the Demon Race..." several of the younger "humans" panicked.

Only the leading old woman remained calm.

"What? Are you afraid? Have you forgotten why we came here?"

"No, Elder! We have never forgotten the shame of the Elven blood. The homeland destroyed by the Demon Race is a hatred etched in the bones of every Elf!"

Revenge overcame fear.

This was also why these elf refugees, whose homes had been destroyed, were willing to expose themselves and take action.

Their homes and world had been destroyed by the Demon Race.

For revenge, and to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, they followed the prophecy to warn humanity, to awaken this world that had once defeated the Demon Race but had now completely fallen.

"The princess has already gone ahead to study at the human academy in the royal city. Go quickly and join the princess, report to her the confirmation of the prophecy. Humanity has defeated the Demon Race once before. With the assistance of us Elves, we must completely eradicate the Demon Race this time! *Drive them out, leave none behind*!"

"Understood, Great Elder, we will *Drive them out, leave none behind*!!"

Under the moonlight, in the forest, were the resolute vows of the Elves, their brave faces shining.