Extra 9: Embracing Until The End Of Time

"As expected."

The King said softly in his heart, looking at everything in front of him, he was not surprised.

He knew what he was seeing.

——The war that caused the Devil to lose his name.

The world was as scarlet as fire.

The majestic fortress was covered with battle scars, the ancient spears on the outside were broken, and deformed snake skeletons were twisted and hung on the spears. Thick black, red, and golden blood spattered on the outer wall, staining the pale fortress that symbolized the noble status of the gods. This was the Kingdom of the Gods.

The Kingdom of the Gods, the human world, and hell.

The human world was the chaotic zone of the world, the Kingdom of the Gods was the bright side of the world, and hell was the reflection side of the world.

The gods describe themselves as the supreme beings in the world, and the place where they live stood high in the sky, hidden among the stars. To express the distinction between gods and men and hell, the majestic Pale Fortress stood on the edge of the Kingdom of the Gods. Except for those chosen by the gods as agents who could enter as souls after death, it was impossible for mortals to see its appearance in their lifetime. The Pale Fortress was the pride of the gods, and its pure whiteness and splendor symbolize the supremacy of the gods.

But the gods’ dignity had also been torn off, thrown to the ground and trampled on.

Thick smoke billowed on the battlefield, scorching air waves carried black mist over the city wall, and the strong wind made a roaring sound. In the billowing smoke, the pride of the gods became a joke.

"You're going to pay… you worms of hell."

The spear-wielding god roared with anger and fear.

In the Kingdom of the Gods, in the Kingdom of the Gods that was always bright and glorious, the color of the sky was dyed with a dark haze for the first time. Nightmares swooped down from the haze, and with thunderous noises, corpses of hellish creatures and angels piled up like mountains.

"Do gods like to deceive themselves so much?"

Speaking in an elegant, soft voice, the Devil in black stepped on the god's head. He crushed the god's skull into powder bit by bit. His pale hand picked up the spear and threw it towards the fortress.

With an explosion, the walls of the Pale Fortress collapsed.

The Devil stepped over the dust and ruins, bringing the evil that the gods hated and despised to the gods' territory. The hellish creatures accompanying the Devil let out shrill, soul-dizzying cries of ecstasy. Hell was the reflection of the world, a place where all the dirt, evil and despicability gather. The gods despise them and they hate the gods in return.

Among the twisted and frantic hell creatures, the Devil was the most special one.

Wearing an exquisite black suit, with a smile on his face, he was elegant and calm, simply a peculiarity of hell.

The chaos and madness that seemed to be engraved on the creatures of hell could not affect him at all.

——But this just seemed so.

The King walked across the battlefield of gods and demons.

This was the memory of the Devil, and memory reflected the truth more than anything else. In this memory buried by the Devil, the world was as scarlet as fire, and the sky and the land were eternal and constantly tearing whirlpools——this was the world in the Devil's own perception.

The Devil put himself under the guise of gentility just to hide the fact that he was always on the verge of losing control. Beneath the elegant skin was a repressed and violent beast.

——He was a symbol of hell's "chaos" and "madness", and he was infinitely close to hell itself.

This destined him to be powerful, and also destined that he would never be able to truly control his own will.

He would be violent, crazy, and chaotic.

The King walked in this bloody and twisted world of the Devil's memory.

Anyone with a shred of sense should know that the Devil could not defeat all the gods by himself.

This was… a losing battle.

He quietly watched the Devil throw his spear at the gods, and sighed softly in his heart.

He knew why the Devil challenged the gods.

Because of pride.

The more proud one was, the less one could accept the feeling of losing control and the reality of not being able to control one's own will. The chaos engraved in the Devil by hell wanted him to be trapped in hell forever, so he insisted on crawling out of hell and attacking the Kingdom of the Gods in the sky. The world wanted him to rot, but he wanted to destroy the world.

Crazy, arrogant.

With such deep unwillingness.

The gods opened a whirlpool leading to the end of the world. When the Devil, who had been deprived of his name, was about to be swept away by the whirlpool, the King subconsciously stretched out his hand to pull the Devil.

……………………

Vultures and crows hovered in the gray smoke, painful moans were mixed with desperate cries, blood spread in the ruins, and the ground was covered with fire.

The Devil held an umbrella and walked beside the King.

The newly built city turned into ruins, and the King walked alone among the ruins. Fireballs were still falling from the sky, as brilliant as a gorgeous rain of fire, but hidden in this beauty was the ultimate cruelty of destruction. Fire, symbolizing divine wrath, destroyed this newly established human kingdom.

The day before, this small, new human nation had just been built.

The Devil looked at the silver-haired King and his people hanging roses on the city gate. Everyone cheered together, and someone suggested holding a feast to celebrate the birth of this country. The King was still hesitating, but the young children had already crowded around him and tugged at his hands.

The banquet was held on the banks of the river that ran through the center of the city.

Piles of bonfires were lit along the long winding river running from north to south of the city. The firelight reflected onto the river and shimmered like thousands of pearls. This was to celebrate humans finally walking out of the cold and damp caves. The strong castle protected them from now on, and they no longer had to worry about attacks by wild beasts. The bone flute was played, and to the brisk melody young boys and girls danced hand in hand, their tunics and skirts spinning in flower-like arcs.

Until fire fell from the sky.

The crowd who were laughing one second went up in flames the next.

The god's golden chariot rolled across the sky, making a loud rumble like the earth was cracking and the sky collapsing, and huge balls of fire rolled down from the golden chariot. People tried to run away, but there was not even a place to take refuge, because this punishment was directed at the people. In the fire, no matter how brave the knight was, he could only fall to the ground and howl in pain. The elderly, women, children… so long as they were exposed to the fire, they would not be spared.

Except the King.

He held his sword and walked down the street.

The golden chariot in the sky had already left, and the god responsible for delivering punishment didn't even bother to come down and take a look at the destroyed city in person. They did not even realize what authority was born here, and the reason for imposing punishment was to defend "the divine supremacy" and teach the people to prostrate themselves before the gods.

The balls of fire would no longer fall, but the fire that had fallen would continue to burn for three days and three nights. Those who were touched by the fire must endure the burning for three days before dying in extreme pain.

This was divine punishment.

Blood spattered and fell on the King's pale cheeks.

He thrust the sword into the heart of the man roaring painfully in the fire and drew it out. Blood gushed from the hearts of his people and seeped into the ground. The King's hand holding the sword was as steady as steel. He trudged through the ruins to find all the people struggling in the fire, and then ended their lives one by one with his own hands.

"Ahhh! It hurts!"

The last one with the divine fire burning on her body was a young child.

The child was rolling in the fire, and she reached out with all her strength to take the King's hand as she always did. 

She was too young to understand what was going on.

The King leaned down and took her hand.

"King! King!"

The child screamed and shouted as usual.

The sword held in the King's other hand was thrust into her heart.

The girl's screams stopped, she lowered her head, leaned on the King's shoulder and closed her eyes. The surviving people gathered together and found the King on the ruins. He was covered in blood, the robe on his body was dazzlingly red, and the sword was stuck in the ground in front of him.

The cold sun rose again, illuminating the King's expressionless face.

His eyes were empty.

Like there was nothing there, and also like everything was buried.

The Devil held the umbrella and looked at the King.

The Devil finally knew what the King had been waiting for all these years.

He was waiting for his people to kill him.

——Because he once killed his own people with his own hands.

"What should I say? My dear Majesty." The Devil said softly, closed the black umbrella and stepped forward. He leaned down, wanting to embrace the King who was sitting alone on the ruins.

A thick white fog surged up.

The world was flooded with fog.

……………………

The white mist of the Forest of the Past was billowing.

On the path in the middle of the dark forest, the King and the Devil walked through the haze of each other's deepest memories at the same time and walked out of the mist. They stopped and stood facing each other.

“Your Majesty."

The Devil raised his umbrella towards the King and smiled.

"We should go back."

The King held out his hand to him.

All sadness, anger, and unwillingness were things of the past. The original King with nothing and the proud and lonely Devil finally stood on the tomb of the old era.

The Devil stepped forward, closed his umbrella and embraced the King.