NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 392
Chapter 393. If You Want to Live, You Die (3)
It’s not just Rukan who’s bewildered. Everyone here is staring at Keter with expressions that say, “Did I hear that right?”
“What on earth is the Grand Duke scheming?”
Keter answered his own question.
“I don’t know either. But it’s one of two things: world domination or world destruction. Childish as it may be, it’s a goal akin to a man’s dream. So, Rukan, do you want the world to be destroyed or fall into the Grand Duke’s hands?”
Once again, Keter didn’t give Rukan a chance to answer, continuing his monologue.
“That can’t be. From what I see, you just ended up here by chance. You didn’t want to lose the throne, so you stirred things up, and now the situation has escalated.”
“……?”
“What is Keter even talking about?”
Keter speaks as if he understands Rukan. The Rukan who is called the Demon King by the world.
Ignoring the shocked gazes around him, Keter places a hand on Rukan’s shoulder.
“You must have already realized it too. It’s the Grand Duke who escalated things to this point. So, let’s kill the Grand Duke first. The war can come later.”
Keter steps back, seemingly done with his speech.
Rukan stands still for a moment, then shakes his body. The Transcendent Beings restraining him are pushed away. His injured body is restored in the blink of an eye. But Rukan doesn’t attack immediately.
“What if I refuse?”
“Then I’ll have to use this on you. That’s probably the situation the Grand Duke wants the most.”
Keter shows the Misteltein Arrow.
At that moment, Rukan realizes something. Keter had intentionally missed when he shot the Misteltein Arrow earlier.
“Do you think I’d be scared of a mere arrow and cooperate with you?”
“You might not fear the Misteltein Arrow, but wouldn’t you fear the Grand Duke?”
“……!”
“Ignorant people would just call you a villain and say you should all die, but I’m not like that. I believe that necessary evils are needed for the world to function. And you’re better than the Grand Duke.”
“…….”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t hate you enough to reconcile just because we’re dealing with the Grand Duke together.”
Keter has already lost many precious people because of Rukan. Though he didn’t kill them directly, he’s the clear cause. That’s why Keter has no intention of letting Rukan live happily and die peacefully.
Rukan seems to ponder Keter’s honest proposal and persuasion.
‘My soul is screaming that I should kill him. But is that really my will?’
He calmly reflects on the past. Did he really have that much resentment towards Keter?
‘Not really.’
His hostility towards Keter stems mostly from the fact that Keter is the biggest obstacle and the orders of the late Queen Lilian.
Queen Lilian was extremely wary of Sephira, who possessed the Misteltein Arrow. She wanted to eliminate Sephira and retrieve the Misteltein Arrow at all costs.
And since Rukan absorbed Lilian, his hostility towards Sephira and Keter reached its peak.
‘If I fight Keter and self-destruct like this, I’m no different from a beast.’
As Lilian wished, Sephira and Keter would disappear from this world. But after that, there would be nothing left for him. That’s not what Rukan wanted.
As Keter said, he just wanted to inherit this country. Not to hand it over to his younger brother, Rakan.
If Rakan became the king of this country, Rukan would be as good as dead. What foolish king would let a sibling with the potential to become king live?
Even if it’s a moral issue, at the very least, he’d be exiled to a deserted island. Living on a deserted island for life is no different from being dead.
That’s why Rukan fought. But contrary to his initial expectations, Rakan was competent, and Sephira was a huge obstacle.
If the war drags on like this, everyone will lose. The Lilian Kingdom will be devastated and destroyed.
Rukan didn’t want that. So he needed absolute power. That’s when Grand Duke Alkione extended his hand.
He emphasized that to firmly suppress the three opposing forces, Rukan needed to become a monster.
Rukan didn’t initially intend to walk the path of a monster. He asked the Grand Duke if there was another way.
To Rukan, who was reluctant to become a monster, the Grand Duke said:
“Will you die as a human? Or will you survive as a monster?”
With those words, Rukan was convinced. He abandoned the path of humanity and became a monster.
But his heart didn’t become a monster. So at the very least, he didn’t massacre his own people or let them starve to death. Of course, his people thought otherwise, but in Rukan’s own way, it was the best ‘rule’ he could manage.
So naturally, he had no choice but to accept Keter’s proposal to kill the Grand Duke first.
Rukan didn’t come here to fight for his life. He came because he was confident he could win overwhelmingly.
And indeed, he did. He overwhelmingly pushed Keter. The gap in power was so vast that it didn’t matter even with the Transcendent Beings’ ambush or the Lords’ betrayal.
But the existence of the Misteltein Arrow was unexpected. Even without experiencing it, he knew. If he got hit by that, he might really die.
Seeing why Queen Lilian was willing to discard her pride and dignity to retrieve it, Rukan understood.
Rukan’s lips curl into a smirk. It’s clearly a sneer, but not directed at Keter.
It’s directed at himself. He finds it absurd that he agrees with everything Keter said.
‘I can kill Keter anytime. But not the Grand Duke.’
The Grand Duke ‘subdued’ Queen Lilian and brought her here. That means the Grand Duke is that strong.
He confidently declared, “After Keter, it’s the Grand Duke,” but after fighting Keter, he realized.
To fight the Grand Duke, he should have killed Keter within ten rounds. But in reality, he exchanged over a hundred rounds with Keter and couldn’t even kill him.
Assuming the Misteltein Arrow wasn’t a factor, he might have won if the fight continued, but Rukan realized he had become complacent with his own power.
“I guess I have no choice but to choose the lesser evil.”
He dislikes both Alkione and Keter. But he dislikes Alkione more. So he accepts Keter’s proposal.
Having made up his mind, Rukan extends his hand.
Keter sees this and extends his hand as well. Just as the two are about to shake hands, symbolizing their implicit alliance—
Sssk.
Rukan’s head is cut off.
By the sword of the Lord of the East, Dayal.
The moment Rukan’s head, severed without resistance, falls to the ground, it seems to happen in slow motion.
Keter looks at Dayal, who cut Rukan’s head off. He helped us, but strictly speaking, he’s a Lord recruited by Maknun, not me.
There’s no emotion in his eyes. That means he didn’t kill Rukan out of ‘malice.’ So why did he kill him?
What’s most puzzling is that even if Rukan was off guard, his body is made of Ether. So even if the Ether Shield was pierced, his body shouldn’t have been cut, just stuck—yet how did Dayal’s sword manage to cut Rukan’s neck?
Keter’s gaze shifts to Dayal’s sword. The secret is simple.
‘Ether.’
Dayal’s sword is also surrounded by ‘Ether.’
You might think it’s obvious. Dayal is also an 8th Star, so it’s not strange that he can wield Ether, a part of divine power.
No, it’s strange. If he could use Ether, why didn’t he use it when subduing Rukan?
And Ether is a destructive force among divine powers. It’s not something you can wield just because you have a destructive ‘tendency.’
Ether is the Power of Chaos. And as far as Keter knows, there’s only one person in this world who can wield the Power of Chaos.
‘Grand Duke Alkione.’
The puzzle is solved.
No, it didn’t need solving. Dayal confessed himself.
“As the Grand Duke said.”
Dayal was a devout follower of Alkione. That’s why he swiftly executed the traitorous Rukan.
“Traitors all look the same.”
Keter closes in on Dayal and throws a punch. It’s not a desperate punch. It’s a new technique he used to break Hyperion’s Iron Blood Divine Technique—Sephira’s Celestial Infinity Technique, First Form: Big Bang.
Kwaaaang!
Though not often used as a close-range technique, the Big Bang is the most powerful of Keter’s Celestial Infinity Techniques.
Dayal quickly raises his sword to block with the blade.
Crash!
The sword shatters upon taking the Big Bang head-on, and he’s sent flying dozens of meters, but he’s unharmed.
Whooosh!
What’s the big deal about a physical sword shattering? Dayal draws a new sword made of Ether.
Was Dayal the only traitor? Everyone else points their weapons at Dayal.
Their eyes are filled with tension and irritation. They barely convinced Rukan, and now there’s a traitor among them.
Moreover, he’s also a troublesome Ether user. Maybe, no, definitely more troublesome than Rukan. Rukan isn’t a master of combat, but Dayal is a master of swordsmanship. A clear-cut strong one.
Yet, they don’t back down because of two people.
‘Keter and Rukan.’
Keter has fully recovered and is in peak condition, and Rukan, though his head was cut off, won’t die from that. He’ll surely restore himself and fight alongside them. Because he’s a monster.
But it doesn’t take long for everyone to sense something is off.
First, Dayal’s reaction is strange. He drew the Ether Sword, but he doesn’t seem to have the will to fight.
And second, when they think Rukan’s revival is taking too long and turn to look at him—
Kwaaaaaaaah!*
Ether erupts explosively from the severed surface of Rukan’s neck.
This isn’t just a reckless outburst. It’s clearly an intentional eruption by someone.
Ether is being sucked into a hole in the sky that appeared out of nowhere. Not just the severed neck, but Rukan’s entire body is being pulled towards the hole.
Keter watches the scene, ponders for a moment, then nods and says:
“We’re screwed.”
That was the conclusion Keter reached after deep contemplation.