Chapter 693 – An Unpleasant Rebellion (2) #PART2

The King of Seoul.
The harmony of Word of Command and Royal Decree.
Negative emotions surging like proof of its greatness.

Yet even amid such abundance, Agares did not grow excited.

‘I know it was not perfect.’

The process of ascending the throne?
As I said—it had not been smooth. By all accounts, Lee Hoyeol should have resisted fiercely rather than yield the throne of Seoul.

At that thought, Agares recalled the third Throne’s Demon King—Vassago.

‘A pity I couldn’t dispose of him.’

Now only two seats remained of the Ten Thrones.

Though Vassago had sworn loyalty, Agares never trusted him. He had intended to throw Vassago at Hoyeol and let him be neatly dealt with.

‘That makes four drawn-out threads all the longer.’

He thought of Vassago’s Authority.
The Ten Thrones were born from the realm of the Anomaly; thus, counting their years was meaningless. Even so, Vassago was one who had lived longer than most of his kin.

‘What did you glimpse with your power?’

His current whereabouts? Most likely still in China. Naturally—Hoyeol had yet to appear, so Vassago had no cause to move. Perhaps he might even take advantage of my absence to seize the Palace of Malice.

‘Let him have China if he wishes.’

Agares’s lips curled upward.

‘Whatever schemes you harbor—they’ve become meaningless now.’

The value of Seoul was beyond words. And now, as king, he could bend every fiber of that city to his will. He had tried to remain composed, yet he clenched his hand lightly. A malice unlike anything he had ever felt surged forth.

‘This power I now grasp…’

Agares’s pupils blazed.

‘It exceeds even the days when the Demon World was whole.’

And at once, his gaze of searing malice turned toward the impurity stirring in Seoul. The Holy War Alliance, was it? So, even dung beetles have their tricks.

‘To resist my Command, despite its scope…’

No doubt their encounters with the other Thrones had tempered their resolve. Agares found himself intrigued.

‘To face the Thrones themselves means…’

They had stood closer to Hoyeol than most.

‘If so…’

Even as I toy with them, Hoyeol—will you remain idle? Agares had overlooked no variable.

‘I will not grant you the time to measure my power.’

His burning gaze locked onto one figure—the adventurer Hisagi Kazuma, the very man who had killed a fellow adventurer who offered himself as sacrifice for Agares.

“?!”

As expected of one close to Hoyeol.
To sense my gaze from such a distance… But that was all. Though Hisagi had stepped into the Anomaly’s domain, the path he had walked beyond it was negligible.

Indeed.

“…Just my imagination.”

That Hisagi slipped free of Agares’s gaze was due solely to a distraction—his focus shifting elsewhere. Underground, near Hisagi.

More precisely—to a pitiful human trembling in fear at a subway station. Agares tilted his head.

“…Curious.”

A mere human, not even an adventurer.

“How is she resisting my Command?”

A trembling woman.

If a king wills it, he may know all of his subjects. Agares turned his Anomaly upon her. If she had merely slipped through by luck, then this time she could not escape.

“?”

But it was not mere chance.

Agares’s brow creased, ever so slightly. He despised the uncontrolled. And what he witnessed now was more shocking than Hoyeol’s passivity.

‘How…’

Word of Command and Royal Decree.
Even in the advanced realm of the Anomaly, my authority is being defied. She does not bow to me. A human—brushing off my pressure as if it were nothing.

No—more precisely…

‘Wait. That shadow rising behind her…’

When he focused his gaze, he finally saw it. The “Infinitely Deep Darkness” that wrapped around the woman, shielding her. A chill swept through him.

‘…Grandfell!’

Yes. Without a doubt, it was the unique aura of that monster—Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo.

Agares’s mind raced faster than ever.

‘Grandfell is unlike Hoyeol.’

If Hoyeol was an unsettling presence for his unpredictability, then Grandfell had already proven overwhelming might.

Yes—Grandfell was the one who had slain Bael, the first Throne, the foolish Demon King.

By doing so, he had become the vessel that devoured all negative emotion within the Demon World. Sweat gathered upon Agares’s brow.

‘Grandfell… has he returned to Seoul?’

Yet the knowledge of the Ten Thrones contradicted.

‘No. Impossible.’

After slaying Bael and seizing his throne, for Grandfell to appear in the Adventurers’ World would require an immense sacrifice. The Demon World, having barely avoided complete collapse, could not possibly have produced such tribute.

Agares’s doubt only deepened.

‘Then this aura…’

It could only mean one thing—an arrangement set ages ago. A safeguard Grandfell had woven long ago, to protect this very woman.

Agares felt a sudden dissonance.

How could he have foreseen this moment, so long in the past?

‘That I would one day gaze upon this woman?’

Old rumors about Grandfell echoed in his mind.

-His words manifest, as though he sees the future.

If so, then all of this was a grand trap.

‘And Hoyeol’s passivity… was that why?’

Agares shook his head. Nonsense. Nothing but exaggeration—baseless speculation.

‘Besides, weren’t they separated?’

He could not accept it. To grant Grandfell foresight, perhaps—but to claim Hoyeol shared it as well? Unthinkable.

For if he admitted that…

‘Then I am already hopelessly ensnared.’

Grit.

Agares ground his teeth. If all this was a trap—very well, let him admit it.

His lips curved faintly.

“…I am but a king who cannot sway even the stubbornness of a foolish subject.”

Grandfell.

When seen apart from your lingering presence, the truth revealed itself. Even you are not omnipotent.

‘All you can do is shield a single human.’

I know not what binds you to her. But I will not linger on it. Even if not by my Command, there are countless ways to overturn your schemes.

Ssshhk.

“As ever, it is the duty of vassals to enact a king’s will.”

Agares’s gaze shifted again. To the Holy War Alliance, locked in desperate battle with demons. Most of all—to Hisagi.

‘That frail spear will suffice.’

To pierce the troublesome variable.

Agares would erase them one by one. If he did not know why Grandfell protected her, then killing her would answer everything.

‘You cannot shield her flesh as well.’

And so, a Royal Decree fell upon Hisagi.

“Kill her.”

“…!”

Fzzzt.

At once, Hisagi’s limbs twisted as he hurtled toward the subway station where the woman trembled. Yet Agares cocked his head again.

“…How tiresome.”
“A tragedy, indeed.”
“The Supreme Commander will be disappointed.”

Suddenly, figures barred Hisagi’s path. The Shadow Mercenaries—once candidates for hollow vessels.

Agares paused. Because they might obstruct him? No—he was the King of Seoul now. His power was beyond compare. Whatever infamy they had carried across Arcana,

‘They can only stall for seconds at best.’

So why was he shaken? The reason was simple. From the start until now, every plan he conceived… felt as though it was being anticipated. And so, he could not help but overestimate.

‘Could it be…’

Do they truly see the future?

‘Not only Grandfell, but Hoyeol as well?’

Unacceptable.

Whooom.

Agares lent a fraction of his Authority to Hisagi. That alone would be enough. After all, only three mercenaries barred his way.

“Take pride, adventurer. I grant you my majesty.”

Of course, such overwhelming power would shred Hisagi’s mortal shell. But to Agares, it was meaningless. Behold my kingdom—Seoul.

Adventurers enough to replace him abound. With but a word of mine, all is possible.

“Ghhhuuuuaaaghhh…!!”

As Hisagi convulsed, madness finally seeped into Agares’s gaze. The malice he had hidden until now spilled forth.

There was no longer need to restrain it.

‘You are not the king Seoul desires, Hoyeol.’

It is too late. You’ve fallen into your own snare. Even should you reveal yourself now, my subjects will hate you. They will brand you a traitor for defying me, their king. They will curse you forevermore, even in death.

And as Agares smiled his sinister smile—

“…Damn it. Should’ve… exercised more…”

A new variable revealed itself.

“Haa… haa…”

Fragile. Proof of it, gasping just from climbing the subway stairs. A mere human.

And yet, a woman who could call upon the one who bore countless names as lightly as a sibling’s.

“…I don’t know where you are, but I know you hear me.”

For the sake of the only brother she had in this world—

“Lee Hoyeol!!”