489 Final Act
"No!"
The old Demon King knew the implication of his words, but he didn't have any choice at this point.
It was an ungrateful, conceited approach, but he was left with no other option.
"What did you just say?"
"No. I won't let you... I can't let you."
The human furrowed his brow and sighed. He stretched out his hand and gave a serious look that made Aries shiver a little.
"The Arcana."
"N-no. I won't give you."
The death of his entire Race, Aries would never stand for that.
His son's foolishness would bring about many deaths... there couldn't be more added to the pile.
"You haven't changed, uh? Doing whatever it takes for your people." The blonde spoke.
Aries knew who the human was, and while he wondered how it was possible, he didn't know what to say.
'I failed in our agreement...' The old one thought.
The first War started because he needed to aid his people. He caused such great tragedy, and now his son trod the same path.
Even at that... even then...
'I can't—no, I won't—give up on my people!' With this thought clinging to his head, Aries stared hard at Jared Leonard—the one he knew as Lewis Griffith.
A wave of unease filled the hall as both parties looked at each other. The one who was uncomfortable by the other's straight face was the former Demon King.
One would think the tension would be forever.
"Whatever. I'll just look for it myself." The human shrugged and began exiting the Palace.
For a moment, Aries was relieved by what he heard. However, he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"W-wait. Are you serious about this? You'll really kill all my people?"
"Yes."
"Is there no other way?"
"I remember what happened the last time I sought another way. So... no. This is the end of the line."
Aries didn't want things to reach this point. However...
"I-I can't allow that."
Rising from his throne while raising his body through Magic, the old Demon took to the air.
His body was shrouded in incredibly dense Miasma, and the power kept climbing.
"What are you doing?" Lewis Griffith's reincarnation asked with a somewhat annoyed expression.
"I won't allow you to destroy my people."
The human shook his head and gave an exasperated sigh in response.
"You are too weak to stop me, you know? Your level of power is nothing compared to back then, but even if you were at full strength, that wouldn't mean anything to me."
"Heh. Old age does something to you. I may be weaker, but I don't intend to lose." Aries smiled devilishly, summoning a dark blade from nowhere.
It was his Demon Edge, a blade that had the natural ability to absorb Miasma. Since Aries hadn't used it in ages, the level of negative energy it had was phenomenal.
"Old age has nothing to do with this. This weakness of yours isn't normal. You must have been poisoned or something."
"W-what?!"The words of the human shocked Aries.
"Do you understand now? The very Demons you chose to protect poisoned you so that you would grow too weak to rule. Abellion took that as his chance to rise to power."
The old Demon was fraught with disbelief at this point. Despair began to slowly seep in too.
"This whole time, you probably thought your weakness and inabilities were the reasons for things turning out this way, but that's not completely true."
"T-they betrayed me...?" Aries mumbled, his body trembling a bit.
"Of course. Though it's not their fault as well. They were being manipulated as well. This entire situation really isn't your fault, but your race is still at the center of everything. To protect my people, I must decimate yours."
"I... I see..."
Aries understood Lewis's point of view.
Both of them desperately wanted to protect their own. Since that was the case, there was no way he could not respect the man's choice.
Nevertheless—
"I will still raise my blade to stop you." Aries drew his sword.
"As expected, you won't change, uh? Well, that makes me a little happy."
Aries found the human smiling, and then a wave of nostalgia permeated his heart.
This was the Lewis he remembered indeed.
>VWUUUUSSSHHH<
A ripple appeared in space, and Lewis brought out a blade from its depths.
It was similar to Aries' weapon, filled with immense Miasma.
"Since you want to do this the hard way, let's get this over with."
With both parties drawing their blades and giving each other fierce smiles, they readied their stance and poured their energy into their whole bodies.
Even though they were clashing as enemies, both sides knew fully well what the other wanted—and they understood their stances perfectly.
Life had just dealt them this situation, and things could only be resolved with one side completely exterminated.
"Let's do this Aries!"
"I'm coming, Lewis!"
Energy clashed, and the two opposing forces smiled whole crossing blades.
>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM<
Only one would emerge as the winner.
*******************
"Two minutes, five seconds. That's awfully short." I mumbled while exiting the decimated Demon Castle.
It was basically nothing but rubble at this point.
"He really has weakened by a lot. Those bastards just had to take things this far..."
Aries and I weren't really friends, but we understood each other—even in the past.
That was one of the reasons we got along so well—it was also because of this that Kahn couldn't exactly despise me.
After all, that Shadow Demon Lord idolized the King with everything.
'I'm surprised he didn't ask to see Aries before I killed him...'
Kahn had a selfish request, which was to kill Kyron—the one who betrayed him—by himself.
I granted the request, and also promised him something else.
But, to think he never addressed meeting the Demon King for the last time.
'I guess he now sees me as his master.'
In any case, things went as expected. Aries was stubborn to the very end, so that meant no one else knew the location of the Miasma Generator and The Devil Arcana.
>VWOOSH<
Taking to the sky, I departed from the ruined Demon Castle—a smile on my face.
"Perfect. Then, let's get down to business."
It was now time for the final act.
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