DKFTI 80

“I cannot run away. I am bound to this place.”

“Why? Since when? Then why did you come to me?!”

To be exact, Ruru had not come to Sibel. Ruru had only been staying in Valheim from before Sibel was even born.

“…I did not follow the Demon King. I only stayed wherever I could gather magic power…”

“Magic power?”

Ruru nodded.

“I only used the people of the Demon King’s castle for that…”

“You used them? You need magic power? Why?”

It was at that moment when Sibel was questioning Ruru.

“I will answer that.”

A man appeared from the darkness. A demon with long black hair covering half his face. The aura around him felt eerie.

“Demon King, be careful.”

Shanti stood by Sibel’s side and looked at the being before them.

“This is the Demon King of Petra.”

Sibel looked at the man’s face. His lifeless face looked like a statue that might crumble any second.

“Ruru made a contract with me. That was to gather the magic power appointed every three hundred years and offer it to me.”

“You are Karhan, the Demon King of Petra?”

“That is right.”

Karhan brushed past the iron bars and came right up to Sibel. Sibel raised his head, and their eyes met.

“Let Ruru go.”

“Did you not hear that this one is bound to me? My seal is in that heart. If you want it, you must rip out the heart and take the leftover meat.”

“…Ruru is not an object.”

Sibel turned his head to look at Ruru. Ruru was already shedding tears.

“Ruru, tell me. You want to go with me.”

“…No, I, here…”

“Why are you lying?”

Sibel did not believe Ruru’s words. He did not need to. Ruru’s eyes looking at him were so sad, how could he believe them?

“Why is Ruru bound to you?”

Sibel asked Karhan. Karhan tapped his long fingernail on his lips and rolled his eyes.

“I was about to crush a worthless village, but that one dared to block my way. Then it said it would give me magic power if I spared the village, right? Ruru?”

“……”

“For that reason, that one made a contract with me. The seal was carved in the heart, and once every three hundred years, it would pay me magic power.”

Sibel thought it through. So Ruru had willingly made a contract with the Demon King to protect the village.

“Can the contract be undone?”

“If you rip out the heart and leave it, then there is no contract.”

Karhan’s lips lifted in a split smile. At that moment Sibel realized that this man was enjoying the situation. His malice was overflowing.

“Then Ruru will die!”

“That is what contracts are. Anyway…”

Karhan stretched his hand toward Sibel.

Shanti tried to block him, but with Karhan’s gesture Shanti’s body was thrown away like a bullet.

Bang!

“Shanti!”

A black barrier formed around Sibel and Karhan. It shut off the surroundings and separated the space.

Sibel turned his head in surprise, but Karhan grabbed Sibel’s chin and forced his face toward him.

“What are you…”

“What are you? You have a very strange smell.”

Karhan slowly closed his eyelids and inhaled like he was smelling Sibel.

“I am the Demon King of Valheim!”

“Valheim?”

Karhan furrowed his brows and stayed silent for a moment, like he was searching his memory for that name.

“I do not remember names of insignificant things.”

“Let go!”

Sibel barely pried Karhan’s hand off.

“Your smell is unusual, what you carry is unusual too…”

Karhan’s eyes fell on where Shanti and Aizen had been.

“Did you take a liking to that fox?”

Karhan asked Sibel. Sibel glared at him.

“That is my friend.”

Why is this bastard speaking down to me already?

In front of Ruru, Sibel did not want to be overwhelmed by Karhan. He quickly cut off his words.

“Friend? Hah, with that kind of fox demon?”

“That is not some kind of thing, no, it is not.”

Karhan’s violet eyes gleamed with a slick shine.

“Well, that works. I was just starting to lose interest in that fox.”

At Karhan’s words, Sibel thought maybe things could go smoothly. If he lost interest, he could just send Ruru back to his Demon King’s castle, right? If Sibel talked well, it might work.

“But now I am interested in this one.”

Karhan’s eyes fixed on Sibel. At that moment, goosebumps rose all over Sibel’s body.

‘What is this. Is this bastard a pervert?’

His gaze felt sticky, it really seemed like he was a pervert. Sibel crawled back on the floor and stepped backward little by little.

“The seal in Ruru’s heart can only be removed by me.”

“Could you remove it? If you need magic power, I can give you the small amount I gathered instead…”

It was magic power that had taken three years of careful saving. Thanks to it, he could even hide his horns. But if he could bring Ruru back, he did not care about throwing away three years’ worth.

“Magic power alone will not be enough.”

“Then is there something else you want…?”

He honestly did not want to say that. He thought of what kind of garbage answer might come back.

“I want to have that heart.”

As expected, the words that came out of Karhan’s mouth made Sibel’s blood pressure rise.

“If I lose my heart, I die.”

“That is not my concern.”

Karhan’s lips, close to ash in color, curved in a smile. At that moment Sibel felt the fear of death.

“Why, why do you want my heart?”

“I feel a strange energy. I have never seen anything like this.”

“I am also a Demon King. At most it is just some dull magic power.”

“…You do not know yourself at all. Ah, I remember. Valheim.”

At that moment Karhan opened his eyes wide, like he recalled something.

Crack–crack, crash–!

Right then.

Cracks appeared in the black barrier that had enclosed Sibel and Karhan, and then it collapsed like breaking walls. The surroundings suddenly became bright.

“You were having some disgusting secret talk.”

It was Aizen who had torn apart Karhan’s barrier. He held his holy sword, glowing with golden holy power.

Karhan’s eyes moved toward Aizen. Like light and darkness, the two of them radiated completely different colors.

“Human, you irritate me.”

Black energy rose from Karhan’s body.

“Demon King! It is dangerous! Step back!”

Ruru shook the iron bars and shouted to Sibel.

Yeah… it does look dangerous. Why is he suddenly going into dark mode like this…

“Ruru…”

“He is someone you cannot face! Run away immediately!”

But Ruru’s words wounded Sibel’s pride.

“Why can I not face him!? He and I are on the same level, right?! No, wait, first you make it clear, do you like that Demon King or me more!”

Sibel also shook the iron bars and shouted to Ruru. The truth was, Sibel was not in his right mind right now.

At that moment, Shanti returned, the one who had been blown far away earlier. His white wool was covered in dirt.

“Ugh, my back almost folded in half.”

Shanti rubbed his back and spoke.

“But why are those two like that?”

Shanti asked as he looked at Karhan and Aizen facing each other.

Boom–!

Light flashed. An explosion erupted and its shock wave engulfed Sibel, Shanti, and Ruru. Crow on Sibel’s shoulder cawed loudly.

“Ugh.”

“Eeek!”

Sibel curled his body and covered his face from the sudden impact, he cautiously opened his eyes.

In the distance, Aizen and Karhan were outside, beyond the broken iron gate.

“Why did they go that far…?”

“From what I saw, the king of Petra attacked the Apostle, and the Apostle blocked him with the sword and got pushed all the way back, and then in between he quickly kneed him in the side…”

“No, I did not ask you to narrate.”

“Right.”

Shanti, who had been eagerly explaining the sudden clash between Aizen and Karhan, closed his mouth.

“First, let’s do something about this cage.”

“Yes, sir!”

Shanti started pulling on the bars. Inside, Ruru’s face distorted into a cry.

“At this rate everything really will end badly…”

“Is that Demon King really that strong?”

Sibel helped pull the bars and asked Ruru.

“It is not a matter of strong or weak. That person… is very, very cruel.”

“Cruel, huh… That is bad. Is there no other way to remove the seal in your heart?”

At Sibel’s question, Shanti suddenly clapped his hands.

“There is a simple way!”

“A simple way?”

“If the one who holds the contract dies, then the contract disappears, right?”

“……”

Shanti’s words made sense. If the contractor died, then the contract ended.

But you know…

“Who is going to kill that…”

Boom–!

In the distance, a rocky mountain was collapsing. Could that thing even die?