The light faded.The ground still sizzled.And the Demon King was gone.
But no one cheered.
In that cold, suffocating silence, the truth settled like ash over the kingdom. A truth more painful than any war, any tyranny, any nightmare.
They had sealed their only savior.
The Collapse of Lies
The Queen collapsed, her knees hitting the stone with a dull thud.
She stared at the scorched circle where her son had vanished—eyes wide, lips trembling, tears falling freely.
"That boy… that child… he wasn't a demon. He was… my son…"
Her voice cracked.
"I called him the Devil the day he was born… And I—!"
She clutched her chest, memories stabbing like knives.
The crib thrown across the chamber.The child left alone in the dark.The way she turned her face as he screamed.The name she cursed him with before he could speak.
"I'm the monster… Not him…"
The King, silent and pale, spoke at last.
"I… threw him against the wall the day he was born…"
His voice was distant.
"He survived. He didn't cry. He just… stared. I thought he was cursed."
He turned toward the ruined palace.
"But he was a god. And I… sealed him."
The nobles fell to their knees.
The crowd was still.
The wind blew over them all like a final breath.
Ashura Dominion Descends
Before the grief could fully bloom, Ashura Dominion arrived.
Not as allies.Not as liberators.
As conquerors.
Tens of thousands of elite soldiers marched through the kingdom's gates. Black banners flying high, led by the crowned prince of Ashura himself—a man wrapped in red silk and arrogance.
He saw the broken city, the scorched castle, the wounded warriors.
He smiled.
"How kind of you… to get rid of your monster for us."
The people barely understood.
"W-What?"
"You were supposed to help!"
The prince chuckled.
"Help? No. We made a deal with your dying king—to seal him. That was our price."
Then his smile turned cold.
"But now that your monster is gone… who will stop us from taking everything?"
His soldiers stormed the palace.
The royal vaults were broken open.
And what they found made even the prince lose breath.
The Demon King's Hidden Treasure
Mountains of gold.Rare gems older than nations.Forbidden artifacts.Weapons of fallen gods.Scrolls that could command stars.
"This… This is beyond imagination…"
"He lived in a cracked throne room while sitting on enough wealth to buy the continent…"
The Ashura Dominion had expected spoils.
But this? This was a god's treasury.
"He was a madman… Why did he never use any of this?"
"Because he didn't care for riches," one old advisor whispered. "He never cared for anything…"
"He just… ruled."
They took it all.
It was a hundred times more than they imagined.
A million times more valuable than any kingdom they had conquered before.
And no one could stop them.
Because the Demon King had turned Verdantia into a land of fear, not strength. His rule had bred obedience, not soldiers. There were no armies left.
No resistance.
Only guilt-ridden cowards who had called him evil.
A New King, A Worse Era
Ashura Dominion appointed a new puppet king—one of their own. A lord draped in crimson, who sat on the throne of bones and smiled as he ordered taxes triple-fold.
He executed those who questioned.
Burned towns that mourned the Demon King.
He tore down statues, destroyed history, and turned Verdantia into a slave state.
And the people?
They remembered the days of the Demon King—when food still reached their homes. When monsters didn't roam freely. When, despite the fear, there was order.
Now… there was nothing but chaos.
"This… This is worse…"
"He… protected us…"
"He kept them away…"
"We were safer… when the Devil ruled us."
But it was too late.
They had thrown their god into a cage and handed the key to the vultures.
And Somewhere Beyond Time…
In a world outside time, within a seal forged by the might of hundreds, the Demon King stood.
Alone.
But not asleep.
Watching.
Feeling.
And though his heart had never truly known love, not even joy—
For the first time… he felt hate.Not rage. Not vengeance.But hatred sharpened by betrayal.
Not just for the kingdom.
But for himself—for ever believing even for a second that he might have been wrong.