The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 67 – The God of Death (3)

Juan’s flames became extremely dim as his consciousness blurred. Juan’s limbs had already turned into ashes, and his limbless body with only his head was faintly burning.

Nigrato had been anxious at Juan’s sudden counterattack, but was certain that he would be able to absorb Juan sooner or later. Furthermore, Juan left an unexpected gift for Nigrato; he had extinguished the flames on Ethan’s sword that was stuck in NIgrato’s chest.

『Thank you for such an unexpected gift, Your Majesty,』 Nigrato said sarcastically upon seeing that Juan had gotten noticeably weaker.

Nigrato picked a spot from Juan's body that was not on fire and carefully lifted Juan’s body using his long fingers. Although Nigrato was cautious and tried to avoid contact with Juan’s flames, his flesh continued to burn. Nigrato had no choice but to constantly use energy for recovering his physical form.

『It's such a relief that I got to fight you in your current incomplete state. I must acknowledge that even the current you were a threat to me. As a show of respect, I will use methods to make sure your body doesn’t decay when I preserve it.』

Nigrato checked Juan’s body, only to find that the flames were still burning and slowly turning Juan to ashes. The fact that the flames had yet to extinguish was a problem for Nigrato.

『I need to get rid of these annoying flames somehow…』

Nigrato sent his massive finger toward Juan’s heart in order to finish him off for good. Nigrato’s sharp dagger-like finger touched Juan’s chest. As he carefully tried to avoid leaving damage on Juan’s body as much as possible, Nigrato adjusted his strength with caution.

However, when blood seeped out of Juan’s pale skin, Nigrato suddenly felt the unexpected change in his surroundings. Nigrato’s gaze turned toward the sky above him.

A group of lights had pierced through the darkness, and Nigrato felt something unusual upon seeing the lights shaking as if they were dancing.

Although Nigrato didn’t want to damage Juan’s body, he decided to hurry up and firmly squeezed Juan’s body with his hand in order to remove any unexpected variables.

At that moment, Juan opened his eyes and the light suddenly burst out from his body.

Upon seeing the sudden burst of bright light piercing through the darkness, Nigrato fell into confusion and couldn’t understand what was happening.

Nigrato stumbled and quickly tried to kill Juan, but he only managed to swing his arms in the air. Only then did Nigrato realize that his arms were no longer attached to his body.

A blinding light flashed from the spot where Juan had been—and there he was inside the light, burning as fiercely as a flame itself.

Juan’s body was still slowly burning to ashes. But this time, it was due to a completely different reason—Juan’s current physical form was unable to withstand the overwhelming mana that was suddenly empowering him.

Juan grabbed Ethan’s sword with hands that he had out of flames. In an instant, Ethan’s sword that had been cooling down instantly started burning with a golden glow.

The scenario of dying had always been a positive situation for Nigrato, but it became more terrifying to him than ever as he faced death right in front of his eyes—the death he faced wasn’t cold and pale like he had expected, but rather it burned fiercely. Nigrato desperately swung his sword at Juan.

『You don’t even know what death is!』

Nigrato’s sword met Juan’s sword. At that moment, it was like the sun had exploded and the sudden burst of light from the sun swept the entire Hiveden.

Juan blankly stared at the light as he felt familiar heat from it. Juan then noticed that his physical form had scattered into pieces and completely disappeared.

‘No…it’s different.’

Juan realized that he was constantly absorbing an overwhelming amount of mana, which his physical form had been unable to handle. As his physical form was gone, the mana now took the form of an enormous burst of light— this light was Juan himself with his will. Juan could guess the source of the mana being poured into him.

‘The heart of Mananen McLeir.’

The mana from Juan’s true body, which was known to be resting on the imperial throne was currently being connected to Juan directly. If it were any other ordinary person who absorbed Juan’s mana, they would instantly explode or turn into ashes. While the same was true for the current Juan, his consciousness was kept upright. At this moment, Juan was the emperor himself.

『How can, such a trivial, you dirty little…』

Juan could hear Nigrato’s voice from beyond the light. His voice sounded as if he couldn’t believe what was going on while he tried to recover his physical form with all his might in order to desperately block the light.

Of course, Juan wouldn’t allow him to succeed.

With a smashing sound, Nigrato’s body shattered into dust. It was the humble end of the god of death, who had almost shaken the entire world.

Nigrato’s physical form that held him on the ground scattered away as ashes. The only thing that was left in the place where Nigrato had disappeared was his essence.

Juan reached out his hand to completely eliminate Nigrato’s essence.

『...Your Majesty.』

Then, a weak and tired voice came from within the essence. Such a heavy and calm voice didn’t belong to Nigrato.

“Ras.”

『So Nigrato’s consciousness had… It seems like I… ended up being a burden to you.』

“Don’t think of yourself as a burden.”

Juan surrounded Nigrato’s essence in light.

“Ras. I could feel it whenever you helped me fight Nigrato. But I’m planning to completely annihilate Nigrato’s essence. He is the god of death, and there is a possibility of him resurrecting as soon as there’s a chance. Above all, I can’t stand the fact that you would have to live within Nigrato’s essence for eternity.”

Ras remained silent for a moment, but soon agreed to Juan’s words.

『You… are right. In the end, you even have to… take care of… the mess I created…』

“Do not say that Ras. Dilmond told me that he heard your voice. I understand the situation you were in, as well as your anguish. There is no need for you to consider yourself a burden.”

『I… appreciate your consideration… There is something I want to… give you. If I’m going to perish anyway… I want to be able to help you… the power bestowed upon me by Your Majesty sharing your essence… with me. Please use that and…』

The essence Juan had given to Ras had stayed with him for so long that it had completely become a part of Ras. The same would be true for the others whom Juan had given his essence to.

However, as Ras was fused with Nigrato, separation of the essence was impossible.

“Ras, that’s impossible.”

『It is… possible. I researched… and developed the replica of Mananen’s heart… for a long time… with Dane. At that time, I developed… a way to objectify mana…』

Ras’ voice was unclear and hard to understand, but Juan noticed what Ras was about to do. Before Juan could even stop him, Ras began to condense the darkness leaking from Nigrato’s essence into Juan’s essence.

『I… have made far too many mistakes.』

“Ras!”

『But getting the chance to see you again, father…』

Ras whispered his last words to Juan.

『…it has all been worth it.』

***

Everyone in Hiveden could see the light in the sky above the city—everyone including the Templars who continued their desperate battles while being surrounded by the frightening darkness, the soldiers who jumped into the collapsing buildings to save the civilians, and the civilians who were waiting for their deaths while hiding in the basement. In that moment, they all saw the light and felt their bodies heat up with a gentle warmth.

The light was bright, but not blinding, and the heat was gentle, and not painful. The unidentified light quickly cleared away the darkness that had been hanging over the entirety of Hiveden, while all the undead disappeared, turning into dust.

The survivors blankly stared at the light. They lacked the experience and knowledge needed to understand the situation they were in.

Kamil was the first one to kneel down out of everyone that was staring at the light. Her understanding of the situation pointed to one thing only.

“Your Majesty.”

Upon hearing those words from her, the Templars all simultaneously toward the light. Words of praise for His Majesty echoed throughout the city.

The knights from the Order of Huginn were perplexed at the sight—while they also worshiped His Majesty, their history and life was surrounded by deep-rooted doubts.

However, they too had no choice but to kneel before the sacred sublimity soon enough.

People of Hiveden were not the only ones that felt the immense power that could shake the world. It was only for a short moment, but the continental tectonic plate had shaken. Most people had only felt the light vibration, but there were also few people that knew what the vibration meant.

The last remaining dragon in the world lifted her head up within her nest. She was the only dragon who survived the massacre led by Gerard Gain, the first son of the emperor. She shook and spread her wings upon feeling the presence of a mythical being whose presence she had not felt in the past few decades.

The god who had been hiding her divinity and living among the ordinary people took off her headscarf. While most believed that all the gods were either dead or exiled, she was able to survive with the help of a few faithful believers. She remembered an old memory that she thought she had forgotten—the sound of war was approaching.

The magicians who believed that they had learned the truths in the world turned their attention back toward the world. They shuddered at the appearance of unbelievable power, and dusted off their old books. They felt the flow of life coming back to the world that had stopped.

The people who had inherited His Majesty’s essence detected the presence of a figure that shouldn’t exist in the current world.

In the north, the captain of the Order of Penlil and His Majesty's eldest daughter, paused the war that she had been fighting ever since she was five.

In the west, His Majesty's third son, a Doctrinal Executor and Bishop, who also held the title of the captain of the Order of the Hammer and The Fanatic, paused his inquisitorial trial.

The Saintess who had been spewing out new oracles atop the altar of lies stopped her prophecies. Then she cut off her own tongue as she claimed that she could no longer lie.

The Pope who had been listening to her prophecy while sitting in the very front seat was drenched in her blood and felt chills running down his spine.

The monster who had remained silent in the crevice of the world opened his mouth for the first time in decades. His voice was stained with betrayal and despair. The monster who had been aging to the point he got mosses on his body shuddered and raised himself up.

The last survivor of the race that used to be an assistant to the gods but were then destroyed by them stared toward the south—Barth Baltic—muttered as if he couldn’t believe it.

Everyone spoke in unison.

“His Majesty.”

His Majesty had awakened. This unbelievable fact rang throughout everyone’s minds.

Sina was in tears to see such an enchanting light—it was a benevolent light that didn’t hurt anyone who faced it. There was no doubt that this was the light of His Majesty. Sina couldn’t stop crying; she could no longer deny that Juan and His Majesty were the same.

‘Juan. You are…’

Sina cried because she could understand Juan’s disappointment as well as the despair he felt toward humans, and she cried because she could imagine the loneliness he felt—Sina cried because she couldn’t acknowledge Juan, who had been distorted by such dark emotions as the Emperor.

***

Ras’ voice completely disappeared.

Juan noticed that the mana pouring into his body was gradually diminishing, but he wasn’t surprised; he already knew that it would be temporary. It was unknown as to who it was that connected Juan’s current body and his emperor's body enshrined on the throne by force, but Juan was grateful that he was able to escape from the crisis, thanks to the stranger.

‘So what happens when all this mana disappears?’

It would be best to make all this mana his own, but the current Juan didn’t have a physical form that could accept such an enormous amount of mana. Juan wondered if he would end up dying if he forced it, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t.

‘I should at least give it a try.’

Juan reformed his physical body with the mana that remained around him before doing anything else. Soon after that, Juan hastily poured the mana into his new physical form. While he hurried to recover his body, he noticed that the success of storing mana into his new body wasn’t due to his will, but rather due to a magic that had been implemented to help him. In fact, the magic had already been engraved on Juan’s soul. This type of magic was unknown to Juan, but he thought that it might be related to his resurrection.

The light that surrounded Hiveden disappeared not long after, and Juan felt that his connection to his original body had completely disappeared. However, he still sensed a small connection that was as thin as a thread. It wasn’t powerful enough to bring the mana from his original body to his current body, but it allowed him to feel connected to his past that had been broken off.

Juan slowly raised his hand—his fingers were long and lean as if he had just been born, since his body had just been newly created.

‘I’m maybe about 18 years old now?’

Juan’s new body was developed enough to be called an adult. Now, Juan was completely free from the limitations he faced due to his height being too short and weight being too light. Up until now, Juan hadn’t been able to utilize his skills to full potential due to his short limbs and light weight.

‘But the mana that I recovered is not as much as I wanted…’

As Juan used too much mana to fight Nigrato in the first place, and more had been used to recover his body, Juan couldn’t fill his new body with enough mana to be satisfied. However, he still managed to absorb an incomparable amount of mana compared to the mana he possessed when he first arrived in Hiveden.

At that moment, Juan heard rushed footsteps.

“Juan.”

Juan could already tell that the footsteps belonged to Anya even before he turned his head to face her. Anya was looking at Juan while she panted with a flushed expression, as if she had run all the way.

Anya seemed perplexed for a moment upon seeing Juan, but soon approached him while she caught her breath. Anya hesitated as if she didn’t know what to say, but then quietly put one knee on the ground and bowed.

“Greetings to Your Majesty.”

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