Chapter 152: Final Scheme

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༺ Final Scheme ༻

"Hoo."

Whilst bowing his head, Frey emitted a short sigh before gazing upwards.

"...…."

The Demon Army, their numbers so vast that it was impossible to count, fixated their gazes at him.

"Everyone, focus."

Frey, who had been slowly scanning the massive Demon Army, began to speak with a chilly, cold undertone.

"The story I'm about to share is of such significance that it won't be excessive even if I repeat it multiple times. So, etch it deeply into your minds. If anyone dares to act out of line, they should be prepared to face my wrath."

Frey, who seemed so delicate and fatigued that a mere touch could make him crumble, uttered these words.

"Do you understand?"

"…..Yes."

The Demon Army sprawled like ants across the expanse of heaven and earth, as they mechanically responded to Frey.

"From now on, we will attack the Imperial Palace."

Addressing the Demon Army, Frey continued.

"Clad in the armor that the Hero once used to protect the empire a thousand years ago, I will bring down the very same empire."

Donned in the Hero's Armament, Frey declared serenely.

"The magic circle that will be used to kill the Princess and rule the world… will be activated in the sky above the empire."

As Frey spoke, pointing to the sky of the Imperial Palace, the army of demons all raised their weapons towards the sky.

As if they were golems, they moved in unison without wasting any movement.

The Demon Army fixed their gazes on Frey once more, having transformed into war machines entirely devoted to executing his commands.

"The ones going into the final battle include myself, the combat executives, and strategist Lemerno."

From a raised platform, Frey, who had been surveying the Demon Army, pointed toward the combat executives behind him whilst giving his orders.

"My loyal subordinates! Today, you shall bear witness to the final sunset….and the ascent of the black sun."

"Wowwwww!!"

Frey received thunderous applause as he descended from the platform with his hands in his pockets, and began leading his subordinates toward a tent.

"…Young Master Frey."

Frey, who had wanted to check his plan alongside his executives one last time before advancing to the Imperial Palace, furrowed his brow upon seeing Lemerno's grave expression.

"What is it?"

"I have something to say."

"…..?"

Lemerno, who had been staring at Frey, spoke simply.

"Surrender."

Her expression was cold as she spoke.

"Surrender? What do you mean?"

"Why did you kill Dmir Khan at your mansion today?"

As Frey questioned her with a composed expression, Lemerno inquired back in a cold voice.

"He tried to rebel. So, I executed him."

"Don't lie. I saw the whole situation."

"You saw it?"

"You didn't even detect the surveillance magic tool I casted on the mansion. You may be the most powerful being in the world, but your intelligence is lacking."

Lemerno looked towards the bewildered combat executives standing behind him and said,

"Right now, I've blocked any noise of this conversation with my magic."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, and I have also cast Absolute Obedience Magic on myself."

"So, what is this all about?"

In response to Frey's inquiry, Lemerno's lips curled into a smile.

"It's simple. It is so that I can execute my plans to control you."

Saying this, Lemerno placed a rather familiar piece of paper on the desk.

"It's the worn-out document you always carry with you. You thought of the text as something only you could read, but weren't you too careless?"

"How did you get your hands on that? I'm sure I was keeping it safe."

"Did you think I, the strategist of the Demon Army, couldn't secretly steal an unprotected piece of paper without anti-duplication magic from you, who is only strong yet ignorant?"

Frowning, Lemerno continued to speak with his arms crossed.

"After copying and analyzing the characters, I found out that the characters matched those on the relics of the Western Continent that the Hero left a thousand years ago."

"So?"

"I compared and scrutinized them. For years. I endured sleepless nights and endless days."

Lemerno, who made a slightly tired expression, pointed to the dark circles under her eyes.

"So, after years of difficult analysis, I finally found out."

"What did you find out?"

"That you are a 'False Evil,' subject to a 'Penalty' if discovered, and most importantly…"

She smirked and delivered the final blow.

"…that you might be 'pretending' to be the Demon King."

Frey couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at Lemerno, who had put considerable emphasis on the phrase 'might be.'

"From the way you're talking, it seems that you really have Absolute Obedience Magic cast on you, huh?"

"Yes, as I said earlier, I cast Absolute Obedience Magic on myself to ensure I don't believe anything about you without complete certainty. And, of course, to avoid your detection."

"Is that possible?"

"It is. The Demon King herself has verified the enchantment."

"The Demon King?"

As Frey tilted his head, Lemerno's expression turned proud.

"If the Hero was pretending to be a Demon King… who do you think the Demon King was pretending to be?"

"…Ha."

"Based on that speculation, I discreetly approached the Hero after ordering myself to not believe anything about the Hero with certainty… Finally, I was able to meet my true master, the one I should serve."

"So, you're saying you've been a spy for the Demon King all this time?"

As Frey asked this.

"That's right, so just surrender."

Lemerno, who had been wearing a cold expression, ordered Frey's surrender once again.

"Surrender?"

"Yes, surrender. If you don't, I will unveil your true identity to the combat executives behind you."

She pulled out a scroll from his possession and continued.

"I have already prepared a video scroll containing evidence that you are actually the Hero."

"Video scroll? What is that?"

"Without ripping or touching it, the video will be transmitted directly to the brain of the person I choose in less than a second."

"Hmm…"

As Frey groaned upon hearing this, Lemerno spoke to him with a cold expression.

"The supposedly real Demon King has made a proposal to you, the Hero."

"A proposal…"

"The proposal is to surrender and become her ally, thus not only sparing your life, but also allowing you to rule the world together."

Frey briefly chuckled before responding.

"What if I refuse?"

At that, Lemerno opened her mouth with a disbelieving expression.

"Um… this is the 'benevolence' that the Demon King is bestowing upon you. You have no other choice."

"Do I really have no choice?"

"Sigh… I guess words won't do."

However, as Frey calmly crossed his legs, Lemerno's annoyance showed on her face.

"Once you receive at least one penalty, your thoughts might change, right?"

Saying that, Lemerno raised his hand to the magic scroll and began to look at Frey with a triumphant expression.

"…Huh?"

However, for some reason, Frey was fine.

"What-what is it?"

"This is…"

With a slightly pitying tone, Frey looked at the perplexed Lemerno and spoke.

"…How a duckling trying to imitate a phoenix will end up as."

At Frey's words, Lemerno began panicking, sensing that something was amiss.

"What… What is it? Why?"

She quickly looked at the other combat executives and fiddled with the scroll.

""...….""

They were just standing blankly inside the tent.

"Are you wondering why the situation turned out like this?"

Frey, who had been quietly watching the scene, slowly rose from his seat.

"W-What did you do to the combat executives?"

Frey, who looked at Lemerno starting to sweat, replied with a cold voice.

"…What's the use of revealing the truth to those who are already dead?"

As he said that, Frey withdrew his hand from his pocket, where he had been fiddling with the 'Stone of Domination.'

Thump…!

At that moment, the combat executives who had been moving vividly, collapsed in unison.

"How-how did you…?"

"Do you know about the 'Ordeal' if you saw the prophecy?"

"…Ordeal?"

"Oh, it seems you haven't interpreted everything."

Observing Lumerno's bewildered expression, Frey started speaking.

"That's one of the reasons for your defeat."

Frey began to tell the story with a smile.

"You may not know, but the 'Fourth Ordeal' of the System… targets people who 'worry' about me."

"What, what do you mean…"

"Making the entire Demon Army 'worry' about me, as I pretended to be the Demon King, was a piece of cake."

"…..!"

Although she didn't know what the 'Fourth Ordeal' was, Lemerno, the sole individual who could somewhat challenge Serena's intelligence, realized what had happened.

"Ah, ahh…"

From Frey's tone and context, as well as the word 'System,' she could roughly infer the sequence of events.

"Ah, ahhh…"

It would have been better if she couldn't infer it.

""...""

She ran out of the tent with a slim hope of staying alive. However, she was met with countless members of the Demon King's army staring at her with soulless expressions. Seeing this, she had no choice but to understand what was happening.

"After that, it's been simple. The Demon Army, which had become worried about me, was all swept up in the 'Fourth Ordeal' and, as a result, couldn't overcome the ordeal and was turned into 'monsters.'"

"M-monsterization…"

Frey, appearing behind Lemerno, rested his hand on her shoulder, further driving the point home.

"Of course, you weren't swept up in the ordeal because you were the only one who 'doubted' me."

Saying that, Frey looked at Lemerno's increasingly pale face and continued.

"At that time, you were preoccupied with comparing the prophecy I deliberately leaked with the language of the Western Continent."

"You deliberately… leaked it?"

"Furthermore, you were busy executing my orders and conspiring with the 'Demon King impersonating a Hero.' That's probably why you didn't notice anything odd about the rest of the army."

As those words registered, Lemerno's mouth gaped open, and Frey extracted the 'Stone of Domination' from his pocket.

"Well, there's also the fact that I've been masterfully controlling the Demon Army with the 'Stone of Domination' until now."

"No way! With the mental power of a mere human… that's impossible!"

"…The mental power of a mere human?"

Hearing Lemerno's words, Frey let out a hollow laugh.

"It was so easy that it made me yawn."

"There's no way! It's beyond a mere human's mental capacity to control that many monsterized members of the Demon Army…!"

"…I'm not a mere human. I'm the culmination of countless regressions and endless experience."

After Frey's explanation, Lemerno was dumbfounded.

"By the way, do you want to know something interesting?"

"…..?"

Lemerno, who had been desperately analyzing the meaning of what Frey had just said, cocked her head as she observed Frey speaking to her in a mocking tone.

"Absolute Obedience Magic can't be cast on oneself."

"…What?"

Her eyes widened at Frey's response.

"That's absurd! I definitely cast the magic on myself! The Demon King even confirmed that 'Absolute Obedience Magic' was cast on me…!"

"The former Demon King who invented the magic, the current Demon King, the Tower Master, and even Irina at her prime, all of whom could use 'Absolute Obedience Magic,' never once casted the magic on themselves."

As Lemerno protested vehemently, Frey remained unfazed while calmly explaining.

"There was no reason to cast Absolute Obedience Magic on their own self."

"Then… how do you know that it isn't possible?"

"I tried it on myself."

At Frey's overly simple answer, Lemerno's eyes momentarily went blank.

"I was tired of regressing constantly and tried to cast magic on myself to suppress my emotions… but it didn't work."

Frey continued to speak with a sullen expression as Lemerno hastily asked him.

"How can you use 'Absolute Obedience Magic'? It's absurd to…!"

"…I don't remember the details, but I learned how to use it around the middle of my regressions. Of course, I lost interest after realizing I could only cast it on one person."

"I've heard you mentioning regressions, but what exactly… No, wait. How can you, a swordsman, use magic…?"

"I can use magic because of a magical vein in the forest near my house. It's something that I discovered early on in my regressions."

Watching Frey answer bluntly with a soulless voice, Lemerno racked her brain.

"…Huh?"

She soon reached a conclusion.

"If… if what you're saying is true… then what is the 'Absolute Obedience Magic' that's cast on me?"

At the terrifying conclusion that sent chills down her spine, Lemerno questioned Frey.

"If you can't cast Absolute Obedience Magic on yourself… then what on earth is cast on me?!"

"…Haven't you noticed it already?"

Looking at her, Frey calmly answered.

"The Absolute Obedience Magic that's cast on you is the one I cast."

"...!!!"

"The orders you thought you cast on yourself were actually the orders I gave you."

"…Ah."

"Since I gave you the command, 'Believe that the person who cast the Absolute Obedience Magic is yourself', you had no choice but to be mistaken."

Lemerno was stupefied.

"To begin with, there's no way a bitch like you could possibly wield magic that only the most powerful could use."

Frey gazed at Lemerno, who had collapsed to the ground in shock.

"Do you understand now? From the beginning, both you and the Demon King have been dancing on the palm of my hands."

Frey drove the final nail in the coffin with a cold expression.

"You stupid duck."

"Pl-please spare me."

From that moment on, Lemerno began to beg with a frightened expression.

"I'll do a-anything, you want me to do."

"...…."

"When everything is over, I'll offer you my intelligence. Then, won't you be able to live a little happier for the rest of your life? And, if you want, I'll even offer my body…"

"…I didn't expect to hear this line again."

Looking at her, Frey said,

"You should have left the children alone."

Drawing a sword from his waist,

"Sacrificing countless children to awaken the Demon King with a sacrificial magic circle. That was your work, wasn't it?"

"Ah, aah…"

Frey whispered coldly.

"Even I, who caused countless atrocities in countless timelines… never once touched a child."

And at the next moment,

Lemerno's neck sailed through the air.

"With this, your last scheme has failed, Demon King."

Frey, who had been standing still in the blood-stained tent, seared the image into his brain.

"…I command every member of the Demon Amy."

Frey spoke again whilst manipulating the army with the 'Stone of Domination.'

"After the battle ends, become powerless."

He had already identified and isolated those with extenuating circumstances, or those with a chance for redemption.

Frey observed the group of demons that remained, the very personification of slaughter and evil itself.

"Follow me."

Soon after, he addressed the monsterized combat executives.

"We need to go to the Imperial Palace for the 'Final Battle.'"

Frey pointed towards the Imperial Palace, which was directly ahead of them.

.

.

.

"…..Hm."

Frey, who had arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Palace, saw some familiar faces.

"Frey Raon Starlight."

"...."

"…Our mortal enemy."

Lined up in front of the nervous royal knights were the sub-heroines.

"We will hold you back until the Hero's awakening is complete."

As Frey stared back at the sub-heroines who were coldly glaring at him, he gave an order.

"Subdue them."

He instructed the monsterized combat executives standing behind him.

"Do not kill or injure them."

And so, the 'Final Battle' began.

You can read 505 episodes for $10. p.*atreon.com/Astrid02