Chapter 234: The Death King (1)

I put my hand on Preta’s shoulder.

Swish!

A vortex wrapped around her, strong at first, then gradually losing its intensity until it shrunk to the size of a marble.

This small marble was the Box of the

Earthbone Dragon’s Skull

. Preta’s memories were inside. A nameless doppelganger had swallowed a village girl, become the saintess, been condemned to a witch, and then her paradise had disappeared without a trace. Every single memory of Preta’s was stored inside this little box. One could describe this box as her soul.

I looked down at Preta’s soul in my palm. “Preta, can you hear me?”

The marble trembled very slightly.

“From now on, I will eat your memories. I don’t know how it works, but it seems your memories aren’t going to be stored as a Box within me. They’re going to turn into black water and pool in my heart.”

From afar, somewhere in the neighborhood, it sounded like rain was splattering against the ground. Dark clouds would pass through these poor alleys and soon reach this old

hanok

. The jet black marble looked radiant by comparison.

“Preta, a little while ago, Miss Ja Su-Jeong said something important.”

The marble didn’t even move.

“Even if I were to give someone a body using my Skill, they’re still in control of their bodies.”

Inside the black marble, the vortex kept swirling.

“No one in this world chooses to be born or picks who their parents are going to be. This doesn’t just apply to people who are generally considered unhappy. Even unparalleled geniuses, unprecedented beauties, and great saints have no say in their birth. Everyone in the universe is unfortunate because they can’t choose how they are born. That’s why I think this moment, the one when you can decide you want to restart your life, is very, very special.”

The swirling marble seemed to be looking up right at me.

“Preta, will you be my daughter?”

Silence prevailed. The summer rain that had passed through the neighborhood reached the street where this

hanok

was. The street’s drainage system was from the Japanese colonial period, so when it rained, the residents could only hope that the street wouldn’t flood.

Rain poured down on the old, worn-out street, even splashing on my palm. Rainwater pooled along the grain of the old wooden floor. Despite some deserters, a little bit of rainwater welled up in my palm, drowning half of the small, jet black marble.

“Preta, will you be my daughter?” I asked again.

The marble spun forward like it was swimming. Communicating beyond that was impossible, but I could still tell that Preta nodded.

“Okay.”

I slowly grasped the marble in my palm. Slowly, I put Preta’s soul in my mouth and swallowed it. The marble turned into black liquid and flowed down my throat, spreading out into hundreds of strands and permeating my every organ.

It was like a shadow, slowly eroding my internal organs until it finally found its target—my heart.

Hundreds of shadowy strands tightened around my heart, covering it in soot. The heart had no problem functioning, but it was as if a veil fell over it. Each of the shadows depicted someone’s memory.

“

Earthbone Dragon’s Skull.

”

[Activating the Skill.]

Swoosh!

The shades that had been binding my heart until now were released. Thousands of black remnants poured out into the esophagus, then in my mouth, onto my tongue, then finally escaped from within me.

When they came out, they were just a bead at best. The bead bounced down the

daecheongmaru,

where the rain kept splashing. Every time it bounced, the marble became exponentially bigger. Eventually, it became large enough to take up the entire space

.

In the end, it cracked.

Meow! Nyaa! Nyaaaaa! Meowww!

Meowy, a cat with the body of a dog, cried for a long time. The shell of the marble melted and became a shadow. In that shadow, Estelle stepped foot.

She looked like a country girl and was wearing a typical yet comfortable outfit. A small basket for the vegetables that she would have picked on the farm for the day would have suited her perfectly. A girl who should have been in the middle of a rice paddy had just been reborn from a shadowy egg.

“

Ah

?”

Preta looked around, confused. Certain memories washed over me as I looked at her.

Ah, yes.

Those who entered the Tower couldn’t bring anything with them, not money, not their ID card, not clothes, not even their socks. Everyone entered the Tower completely naked, as if they had just been born. They passed through a long tunnel until they reached Babylon Plaza. Afterward, they receive a title, a new name.

All of this was a metaphor for birth. This was the Tower master’s way of saying that everyone who entered the Tower was her new child.

It was the same thing now.

“What name do you want to be called?”

The Demon King of Autumn Rain didn’t respond for a long time. However, it wasn’t because she had no answer. She had an answer ready, but she wasn’t sure if she could dare to say it aloud. The hesitation came from not knowing whether she was allowed this luxurious miracle.

She started crying. “Es... telle. Estelle. Please name me Estelle. Estelle, please.”

I nodded. I had an idea why she chose the name of the first human she killed as the name of her newly born self. It seemed that she had decided to live on behalf of the person.

“Okay, Estelle.”

“Yes. Yes... Master,” she answered.

“I’m also your father now.”

As the avatar of a goddess who sought to be the mother of all watched me, I also watched the life I had created.

“You will encounter many difficulties in life. Always treat others with respect. You have the strength from your Constellation days back now, so you can achieve almost everything with your sword. But you still lack so much life experience.”

“Yes, yes. Yes...” she sobbed.

“For the time being, work part-time at Cafe Planetarium. Meet people, serve customers, calculate money, feel financially pressured, talk to coworkers, fight with them, and take responsibility. I hope you will learn what it means to be a human while working there.”

She tried to hold back her sobs. “Yes.”

“Estelle,” I said. “Do your best to learn.”

***

It was raining when it opened its eyes. It didn’t have a form or a name—just calling it a shadow was fitting. When the shadow opened its eyes, the first thing it saw was a creature

Croak.

At first, it didn’t understand what the creature was. It didn’t know many things, but it could hear sounds. Rainwater splashing all around, as well as croaking surrounded it. The rain even carried over a sweet scent.

Now, when the nameless monster became Estelle, an ordinary human life was granted to her. The time Estelle had been called a saintess, it seemed she had an honorable and divine future ahead of her. After the saintess fell as a witch, she became a Demon King and destroyed her world.

Yet she never felt as if she was truly alive. Life was just something she was given, so she lived it as it was. She became a saintess not because she was divine but because she could replace a dead child. That was why the people used to call her an angel or a saintess. No, she just lived her life because she had to.

But now, she truly wanted to live.

“Estelle, do your best to learn.”

Estelle was born holding a huge, jet-black sword which had rolled down from the bead. The sword slowly turned red; it was the weapon that had made her the invincible Demon King.

She held up her sword. Compared to her small size, it was excessively large. However, to Estelle, this sword was part of her soul. Holding her soul so high in the air seemed simple.

“I shall prove myself in this poor life.”

Estelle’s voice turned solemn, as if she were reciting a prayer of her own. The red sword slowly cut through the air.

“Today, I look up to the sky and let out a cry of birth as loud as possible.”

Her sword howled, releasing a red ray that split apart the whole world. Raindrops parted at once, the dark clouds dispersed, and the sunset hidden behind them was shattered.

When the brilliant sunset was revealed, raindrops followed. Each drop contained a golden light, shrouding the old

hanok

with it.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain has appeared.]

Ja Su-Jeong looked blankly at the golden shower in the middle of the yard. Raviel and Uburka, who were sitting on the

daecheongmaru

, quietly looked up at this mythical shower.

Ja Su-Jeong looked at me and smiled. “It’s beautiful. Mr. Gong-Ja, the people around you are beautiful in many ways.”

I nodded. “Yes. Today is Estelle’s birthday.”

***

It wasn’t just Estelle’s. In the old yard of the

hanok

, numerous followers of the Heavenly Demon Cult prostrated. Due to the lack of space, many bowed down on the shoulders of their fellow cultists.

There was one person missing from the cult—their old leader. Still, their feelings were the same as ever.

I called the name of the most robust man among them. “Blood Demon King.”

“Yes, Lord Young Heaven!”

“You served Lady Heavenly Demon and took care of all kinds of chores. If there was evil that needed to be vanquished, you dealt with it. When the followers needed a house, you built it. You not only punished evil, you also helped a lot of people. You’re the secretary among secretaries and the worker among workers.”

“Thank you, Lord Young Heaven!”

I nodded. “Ghostfire Demon King.”

“Yeah.”

“When Lady Heavenly Demon made her decision, you told her the strategy to achieve it. Your world was buried in snow, along with your tactics, but it was thanks to your dedication that Lady Heavenly Demon was able to establish her final will.”

I nodded again. “Moonlight Demon King.”

“The captain of the Deceased Shadow Unit is at your command, Lord Young Heaven.”

“The demonic cult planted spies all over the world and knew that the world turned into a snowfield earlier than anyone else. They hurriedly traveled around, guided the last elites of the Murim Alliance, and summoned the last warriors of the Demonic Heaven. Without you all, it would have been impossible to determine the winner in the last remaining region of

gangho.

”

The Moonlight Demon King’s eyes gleamed.

I turned my head again. “Sword Demon King.”

“Go on, Lord Young Heaven!”

“You are strong. In the final battle, you defeated the Murim Alliance. A battle may be so beautiful that it could become a story worth telling until the end of times, but what use does it have if the fighters aren’t strong? The most important thing in battle is to win.”

“

Hahaha

! That’s so true. I want to give you a bear hug!”

I turned around and looked at all the cultists. “You. All of you were the reason we were able to win. Because of us, Teacher was able to win.”

Silent fire burned in the cultists’ eyes.

“Was Teacher’s victory just about defeating the Murim Alliance?”

“No!” the cultists answered in unison.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“Was her victory just about defeating Namgung Woon, their leader?”

“No!” the cultists shouted so hard that some coughed up blood.

“Then what did our supreme leader win against?”

Above the evening sky split apart by Estelle earlier, the people of snow who had once perished cried out, “The world!”

Correct.

“Lady Heavenly Demon has conquered the world!”

I nodded. “Eternal snow fell and covered the land, and everyone froze to death in the snow. Despite everything, Teacher never gave up on anything, or doubted her sword. That was why she cut down the mountain.”

“This is the Heavenly Demon Cult’s

murim!

”

“The world is owned by the grassroots!”

“But many, many worlds still challenge us.”

I raised my finger and pointed at the sky. Only the shattered sunset was there, but everyone knew I was pointing at the Tower beyond the clouds. The cultists’ bloodlust reached its peak.

“There are still so many worlds left that listing them will take forever! Are we going to carry on the Demonic Heaven’s legacy?”

“

Whish!

”

“If there are many, many worlds to cut down, what should be done?”

“

Whish!

”

“Live!”

“

Iwish!

”

“Our hearts are like candles.”

“We’ll burn the world!”

So I melted all their Boxes in my heart. The revived cultists were still immersed in life. However, what they unleashed wasn’t only life.

“This is the Heavenly Demon Cult’s

murim

,” I said.

All the cultists unsheathed their swords at once.

“The world is owned by the grassroots!”

Their swords possessed dark qi.

“We will conquer the Tower!”

The monsters tied to

Monster Legion Reincarnation

had been freed and reborn from my heart, harboring the strength of their prime. The strongest army had just been born.