Luxiu began to recall the past.

Brad, standing atop the wall, coughed.

“Kuh, kuh...!”

“...Your Majesty, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

He was a king who coughed like this from nothing more than cold wind.

And yet there was a fierce desire in his eyes.

“Sir Luxiu.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I may be a sickly king who can’t even swing a sword properly, but someday, I want to become stronger than any king.”

A king’s great wish.

Luxiu asked,

“Why do you want to become that strong?”

Brad’s desire felt even larger than Luxiu had expected.

If it was simply to heal his weak body, that would be understandable, but Brad believed he needed to become far stronger than that.

Brad looked out over his beautiful kingdom and spoke.

“So I can protect this country, wouldn’t you say?”

“...”

Luxiu marveled.

Because the lord he served was such a magnificent and good man.

“And so I can protect my friend, too.”

“...”

And he was grateful.

For him to say such words for a mere knight.

Brad looked at him with warm eyes.

“...Thank you. The stories told about you across the world are full of nothing but astonishing things.”

Just the name of an undefeated knight.

Powerful figures from every kingdom and empire had come seeking to test him.

Yet Luxiu had not lost to any of them, and so the world called him the Undefeated Knight.

“And you show a chivalry stronger than any knight’s... so I should protect you as well.”

Luxiu’s second name, known across the world.

He was Loyalist Luxiu.

Not merely someone with the job title of knight, but the king’s friend, his shadow—someone who would do anything, solely for him.

That was the kind of man Luxiu was: someone with the finest chivalry, devoted to protecting the one he had sworn to serve.

Luxiu dropped to one knee and observed proper etiquette.

“I, Luxiu, will do everything I can to help Your Majesty become strong. At times, I will even offer up my life.”

“Hahaha. Don’t offer up your life.”

A smile gathered at Brad’s lips.

“Just stay by my side.”

That day, Luxiu had thought he wouldn’t mind dying for him.

*****

Back then, Luxiu had been happy.

Because he had such a good king at his side.

That was why.

He couldn’t understand a king who had sold himself to Gremory and betrayed everything.

Was it to save the kingdom?

Or was it to make himself stronger?

He wanted to confirm it.

Luxiu sensed that Hyunsoo would chase him up to Atlas, and so he met him.

And they arrived at the Kingdom of Enya, where Luxiu had once lived.

Luxiu fell into a tremendous shock.

How...

Everything in the Kingdom of Enya, once so beautiful, had become like a kingdom of death.

A population that had been close to fifty million had been reduced to less than one million.

What Luxiu couldn’t believe even more was that people who had lived in his era were still alive.

“...”

He realized it.

The entire Kingdom of Enya [N O V E L I G H T] had been swallowed by demonic power and ruined beyond recognition.

And in exchange, it had gained a half-immortality.

But Luxiu said nothing and walked after the Blood King.

Maybe it couldn’t be helped. Maybe His Majesty didn’t summon Gremory.

The one who summoned Gremory into the kingdom was Brad.

That was what Legion Commander Robs—who had tortured and tormented Luxiu—kept saying as if it was a catchphrase.

How could he trust a legion commander’s words?

He wanted to know the real truth he didn’t know.

Passing through several doors, he finally entered the audience chamber.

The moment Luxiu stepped inside, he saw—along with a stench—corpse after corpse piled to one side, dried and shriveled like mummies.

That is...?

As Luxiu sensed something wrong, Brad spoke from a rusted throne.

“I’m glad. To see you again here.”

Luxiu observed proper etiquette before the king and dropped to one knee.

Like a child waiting for the answer to a question, Brad asked,

“What do you think?”

“...What do you mean, what do I think?”

“My appearance. Seeing me again after so long.”

Luxiu took in the king’s appearance.

He had changed into a red robe embroidered with dragons.

His sickly appearance was nowhere to be found.

He looked brimming with vitality—if anything, younger than in the past.

“It won’t be bad. No, it will be quite splendid, considering I’ve taken a seat among the five thrones.”

The five thrones were like the three absolute lords of the previous era.

A collective title for the strongest kings or emperors alive in the present age.

In truth, Luxiu couldn’t believe it.

Brad now radiated an overwhelmingly strong power.

And the modifier Blood King felt unfamiliar.

Luxiu gave an honest evaluation.

“Compared to before, you are so strong it is astonishing beyond words. You have become so strong that even I question how many exchanges I could manage with you.”

“H-hahaha, hahahaha!”

Brad burst into manic laughter Luxiu had never heard from him before.

Amid laughter that spread on and on—

“However.”

Luxiu spoke to the essence.

“You spoke of the five thrones, but I believe it is lacking.”

“...”

The Blood King’s expression hardened.

“A strong and great king must seek the peace and well-being of the nation, and even seek happiness. Yet there seems to be no more happiness in this land, and this nation has collapsed. It appears you have ascended only a half-throne.”

Brad’s face turned savage.

His lips twitched. Startled by the cold judgment, he then nodded.

“It’s true. Luxiu, it’s right that a strong king must also possess a great nation. As things stand, that has become impossible.”

The Blood King clicked his tongue and smiled faintly.

“And yet I am overjoyed, because thanks to you, I have found a way.”

He found a way because of Luxiu?

“If the people and nation do not support me, then I simply need to become far stronger than I am now, don’t I? In the end, this happened because my strength was lacking.”

“...”

Luxiu let out a strained sound.

Even now, Brad was overwhelmingly strong.

And he meant to become even stronger?

It was excessive greed—no, was that even possible?

As Luxiu looked at him with trembling eyes, Brad stepped down the stairs.

“My long-time friend. The one so loyal that you were called the Undefeated Knight, Loyalist Luxiu.”

“...”

“Through Gremory, I found a way to steal the strength of others and fill my weakness.”

“...”

“Now I am extremely strong, so to fill the amount I need, I require stronger strength. And Luxiu... it seems you can fill that strength.”

Only then did Luxiu understand.

Luxiu looked around, unable to hide his horror.

“...Don’t tell me you maintained your half-immortality by feeding on their vitality?”

He looked at the piled corpses, dried into mummies.

“To become the Blood King... you consumed so many of your people?”

Brad did not deny it.

“That’s right.”

He continued calmly.

“I did not consume everyone. Those who wished to become demonkin were left because they were needed to make a strong kingdom. Those who refused were used as examples, or I consumed them.”

Luxiu’s entire body trembled at the sight of the Blood King saying it so matter-of-factly.

Finally, Luxiu shouted.

“Telling anyone, ‘If you become demonkin, you live—if not, you die,’ is forcing a life they do not want! And you consumed everyone who refused to become demonkin!”

The Blood King replied without emotion.

“They were my people anyway.”

Luxiu was shocked.

He had been a good king—no, Luxiu had believed he was.

That was why he was here again, seeking to confirm the truth of that day.

“...That day—did Gremory truly invade our kingdom?”

Luxiu remembered how he had thrown himself at Gremory alone that day, saying—

Do not fear. No matter what, I will protect Your Majesty.

He did not tremble before a demon, humanity’s object of terror. It was to protect the king.

“...You didn’t know? I summoned Gremory.”

“Why... why....”

“Because I knew that if I gave you to him, I would become strong.”

“...”

“Gremory gave me the power to become the Blood King, and for the price of throwing away just one knight, wasn’t it a splendid bargain?”

Tears began to spill from Luxiu’s eyes.

“How... how...”

The Blood King was a cruel man.

“Do not worry. I did not make your family demonkin. I let them live forever inside me...”

He had consumed even Luxiu’s family.

Luxiu denied it.

He couldn’t understand if this was truly the good king he had known.

He had known, to some degree.

That Brad was consumed by an inferiority complex toward the strong.

But this was too different from the man he remembered.

Tears poured endlessly from Luxiu’s eyes.

Brad spoke.

“Thank you. Because you returned, I can finally sit upon the true five thrones.”

A king who did not even say he was sorry for what he had done.

Luxiu grabbed the grip of the sword at his waist.

GRIP—!

He was thinking something he must never think.

Kill him, and then I will die too.

Wouldn’t that be better?

If he was a king who had ruined his own country and sought only to seize power for himself.

And if Luxiu was the man who had served such a king without noticing.

But Luxiu froze.

He gripped the sword, yet he couldn’t draw it.

No—he didn’t.

“...Unfortunately, you cannot cut me down.”

Luxiu had lived his entire life for the Blood King.

The knight’s vow, that he would swing his sword only for him.

And the most loyal loyalist could not cut him down.

Then another truth was revealed.

“It is true you are loyal... but there was also something that made you so.”

What the Blood King produced was a small orb, black currents trapped inside it, wavering.

[Brainwashing Orb of the black mage Lily.]

A gift the grand black mage Lily had given Brad long ago.

“From the moment we first met.”

Brad had recognized Luxiu’s inborn talent and raised him thoroughly as his own dog.

Not merely a trained dog.

A dog raised to love and cherish its master, a dog that would burn everything for its master.

Flinch—

“Ugh... uuuugh...!”

Even his loyalty had been made at the Blood King’s fingertips.

Realizing that even that conversation atop the wall long ago had been an act to drive the brainwashing deeper into him, Luxiu screamed with his hand still wrapped around the sword grip.

Everything collapsed.

As the Blood King extended his hand, he spoke.

“Luxiu.”

To the man who had lived his whole life for him.

“I... want you to die.”

He was telling him to die. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

A blood-red current stretched from him toward Luxiu.

The moment that blood-red current touched his body, smoke rose from Luxiu’s body.

Chiiiiik—

Luxiu’s sky fell.

A hollow laugh slipped from his lips.

The king he had devoted his whole life to was telling him to die.

Then a thunderous sound began to ring out.

[It is the most perfect trinity.]

[An additional 10% attack power is imbued.]

[The title The One Who Made the Strongest Shot shines.]

[Double damage is applied.]

A single arrow tore the gate open, punching a massive hole through it as it flew in.

It shattered the orb in Brad’s hand—and at the same time, struck him dead-on.

“Gah!?”

[Brainwashing Orb of the black mage Lily is destroyed.]

The gate opened, and one man walked in.

Luxiu’s eyes shook as he saw him.

Luxiu knew it too.

Breaking in here alone was no easy thing.

As if proving it, the man’s entire body was drenched in blood.

Spattered in blood, he stared at Luxiu.

The king Luxiu had served all his life had said to him—

I... want you to die.

Die for him.

But that man said something else.

“Luxiu, I want you to live.”