DKFTI 135

“Ugh!”

Aizen rolled on the floor, still holding Sibel. Sharp shards of stone flew behind him, and a gust of black magic ripped through his skin, threatening to tear it.

“Aizen! Are you alright?”

With a suppressed groan, Aizen rose. His body was covered in blood. It flowed ceaselessly from wounds visible through his torn clothes. But his eyes remained vivid and alive.

Before Aizen’s gaze, a massive Leviathan stood before him. He had become a black mass, unrecognizable. Every time he gestured, the sky tore and the earth split.

“Ghaaaah!”

The resonant trumpet sounded again. The fallen men writhed in pain, coughing up blood. If this continued, they would all die.

“I… I have to stop it.”

Aizen’s obsession was pitiful.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

That was it.

A massive shadow rose through the dark clouds covering the sky. It was the mighty roar of a dragon.

“That’s…!”

Sibel’s eyes widened. The enormous dragon was Shanti, soaring with his black scales flashing. Following him, Kairin, spitting red flames, and dozens of dragons filled the sky.

“Sorry I’m late, Demon King!”

A familiar voice rang out from the sky. It was Ruru. Ruru, in the form of a giant fox, descended on the wind and blocked Sibel’s path.

“Ruru! Shanti! You guys…”

“You’re trying to do it all yourself, you’re so greedy!”

Ruru grinned and wagged his tail. And that wasn’t all. The sound of horses’ hooves echoed from beyond the ruined walls.

“Save the Demon King!”

Ron and his soldiers, carrying the flag of the Kingdom of Corteirn, were rushing forward. Raccoon, orcs, even the meerkat family. Everyone in the Demon King’s castle was gathered here.

Sibel’s heart swelled with emotion. He wasn’t alone.

“How did you summon everyone?”

“There’s a way! We can do that!”

Just as Sibel was speechless, Lilianthes appeared. She hugged him from behind.

“To think you’d do something so dangerous alone.”

Lilianthes’ finger tapped Sibel’s cheek. Startled, Sibel turned his head, but a boulder fell in front of him with a loud sound.

The boulder split, and a man, even more haggard today, stepped out from within.

“I almost lost a day of my three hundred years. Be careful.”

He didn’t know this Demon King would be here… Sibel found Karhan’s appearance most surprising.

“I called him.”

Lilianthes shrugged, and she stepped away.

“Is that really Leviathan?”

Lilianthes clicked her tongue at the sight of Leviathan. Those born of darkness have no sense of dignity, but this was too much.

With a single gesture from Karhan, the ground split open and a stream of crimson lava gushed out. The lava surged towards Leviathan like a living snake.

“…”

Leviathan didn’t even scream. He simply floated in the air, staring down at the world with empty eyes. Dozens of black shadows stretched out from his back, fluttering like torn wings.

His chest, where his heart should have been, was empty. Black sap flowed ceaselessly from that hollow hole. It was as if rotten, festering love had burst forth. With every breath he exhaled, the earth withered and the sky screamed.

His beautiful, yet horrifying form was that of a martyr, bearing the despair of the entire world alone, a demonic figure poised to destroy it.

As attacks aimed at interfering with Leviathan multiplied, thousands of demonic beasts crawled out from the shadows beneath his feet, engulfing the world.

“Why are there so many of them?!”

Raccoon cried out in horror. The sheer number of them seemed endless. Leviathan seemed determined to completely engulf the world.

“Sweep them all away!!!”

At Ron’s command, the knights of Corteirn charged. Dragons breathed fire from the sky, while on the ground, the Demon King’s family, Karhan, and Lilianthes began slaughtering the demonic beasts.

“Ah, it’s thrilling.”

Lilianthes was excited to see Leviathan being torn to pieces, to the point of losing her wits. Her red tongue licked across her lips.

“Everyone, attack him!”

Aizen shouted to the holy knights. They knew he had become a traitor, but in the face of this disaster, that was meaningless. At Aizen’s command, the holy knights raised their spears and shields.

It was a moment of unity.

The battlefield was utter chaos. Light and darkness, fire and ice, mingled and exploded.

“Cough…”

In the midst of this chaos, Aizen coughed up blood again. Sibel tightened his grip on Aizen to support him. His body was already at its limit. Yet, Aizen’s gaze remained fixed solely on him.

Sibel bit his lip. Everyone was fighting for this world.

A fierce battle ensued. Leviathan’s power met with the holy relic, causing a great disaster, but the efforts of the various creatures trying to stop him were creating memories.

The puddles on the floor weren’t rainwater, but blood. Human and demon blood, seemingly inseparable, were mingling and flowing.

Whoosh!

But the more Leviathan’s body was attacked, the more he swallowed his hatred, the more the abyssal power intensified.

Amidst the suffocating wind, so strong it was hard to open his eyes, Sibel held his gaze fixed on Leviathan, his form veiled in darkness.

At that moment, Leviathan’s power intensified. Screams and panic erupted from all around him.

“Ugh, is this the power a single being can unleash?”

“Everyone, stay alert! Block out any sound!”

“Wahh, Ruru is flying away!”

As Ruru was swept into the sky by the black typhoon, Kairin, who was flying nearby, grabbed him with his talon.

“Ugh, this guy is crazy! Why is he so powerful!”

Raccoon shouted, barely able to block the fierce storm that was slamming into his face with his arm.

“I knew no one could match Leviathan, but this is… pure primal power.”

Lilianthes looked ecstatic, completely reveling in this power.

“Damn, it’s no wonder we look like insects in his eyes.”

Karhan smiled crookedly.

Everyone was struggling. Just one being. But that was only natural. He was the deepest, darkest power that had ever existed. The one who could seize even gods

“Ugh!”

“What!”

As the storm intensified, the Demon King’s castle members beside him were blasted away. Sibel, worried that Aizen might get hurt further, hid him behind a rock.

‘No.’

In that moment, Sibel realized.

‘This is my fight. “It began with him and me, so it must end with me.’

Perhaps it was only natural. From the very beginning, from the moment he returned to this world, there had been a need to put an end to the relationship between Leviathan and himself.

Sibel’s gaze was fixed on the sword that had fallen to the ground. The Sword of Dawn.

Sibel adjusted his grip on the sword and raised his head. Far away, standing precariously in the center of the black darkness, he saw Leviathan. A pale face, tears of blood streaming down his face, a withered, ancient tree.

“Open the way!”

Sibel shouted. Shanti and Kairin, hearing his voice, roared simultaneously.

“The Demon King is coming!”

“Open the way!!!”

The dragons formed a wall of flame, and Lilianthes and Karhan swept away the demonic beasts on either side. In an instant, a straight path leading to Leviathan opened.

Sibel ran. His breath hitched and his legs trembled, but he didn’t stop.

“Leviathan!”

At Sibel’s cry, Leviathan, floating in the air, slowly lowered his head. His unfocused, gray eyes stared at Sibel.

For a moment, his expressionless face twisted. The expression in that moment was indescribable.

Sibel kicked off the ground and jumped. Brilliant wings spread behind him.

A silver flash traversed the dark, water-black sky. Sibel raised the Sword of Dawn high.

“It’s time to end our long bond.”

Sibel dove into Leviathan’s embrace. The sword sliced ​​through the tangled fabric of time.

Leviathan slowly opened his arms toward Sibel, approaching him. Just as he had embraced him long ago, in that beautiful meadow. Even in the excruciating pain of a blade piercing his chest, his expression remained remarkably calm.

Leviathan, eyes tightly closed, whispered something in a soft, gentle voice, audible only to Sibel.

Puk.

The sound of the sword piercing his heart was eerily quiet and clear. Leviathan’s black blood poured hotly onto Sibel’s hand, and the black shackles binding them together shattered.

At that moment, Leviathan’s eyes lit up.

Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted where Sibel stood.