air!”

“What are you planning to do?” I walked closer to Adair and roared, “No, the proper question should be, ‘What is Lesus planning to do,’ right?!”

Adair looked at me, his eyes full of acceptance, as if he was already intending to meet death. This made my fury burn even stronger!

The giant hand gripped him tighter and tighter. Even he couldn’t help showing an expression of agony. This method of holding the person would render one unable to breathe. If I were to squeeze him a little tighter, I think even his ribs would break.

“Stop it!” Vidar yelled anxiously. “He can’t breathe anymore! You’ll kill him!”

Compared to the experienced Adair, Vidar seemed more like a young man. He was impulsive, hot-blooded, and lacking an awareness of sacrifice. Indeed, that’s why a superior can’t be too serious, or his subordinates wouldn’t have any opportunities to train.

“In order to accomplish his mission, Adair nearly killed you just now. Now, he must pay the consequences for his wrongdoing. What are you upset about?”

Vidar glared at me, his heart beating heavily yet not too quickly. Now his furious expression and his heartbeat matched up correctly.

“The person who nearly killed me was you!”

I smiled as I looked at him, and removed his restraints. The moment Vidar felt his body lighten, he ran to Adair’s side and frantically attacked the giant hand. It wasn’t that his attack was weak, just that once the giant hand was damaged, dark element would immediately repair it. No matter how much he attacked it, it was futile.

Time passed second by second, and Adair fell into a semi-unconscious state. Vidar finally yielded. He groveled and begged me, “Please don’t kill him. Adair has always been loyal and devoted to you—”

“What is Lesus planning to do?” I interrupted his superfluous words.

Hearing this question, the color of Vidar’s face changed. He hesitated and turned to look at Adair, but Adair was no longer in any state to give him hints.

I said indifferently, “You have thirty more seconds to think it over. He can still bear it, probably.”

However, when he heard this, Vidar clenched his teeth and said, “The army was only used to divert your attention. The Twelve Holy Knight-Captains are actually going to teleport straight into the Demon King’s Castle to look for you!”

“That’s impossible!” I frowned as I rejected it. “They can’t teleport in here. Don’t joke around with me!”

The Demon King’s Castle had very powerful wards against magic. I was the only one who could teleport directly in. Everyone else had to carry around a magic article that was connected to a magic circle in the castle, and only by using it could they teleport in. It was utterly impossible for someone to accomplish it unaided.

Vidar said quietly, “That’s why the Knight-Captains had Adair head here to the Demon King’s Castle to set up a teleportation circle in advance.”

The giant hand slackened and Adair fell onto the ground. Vidar immediately rushed forward to examine him, but almost immediately exclaimed, “He’s not breathing! Adair!”

“.. Pound on his chest forcefully.”

Hearing that, Vidar struck down hastily.. but he used a bit too much strength, and Adair’s ribs broke. However, this move was clearly very effective. Adair curled up in pain, but at least he moved.

I waited for Adair to catch his breath before walking over to him. With a wave of my hand, I sent Vidar flying into a wall, incapacitating him. Thereafter, I looked down and asked, “Adair, why have you betrayed me?”

Adair was shocked, and protested hurriedly, “Captain, I haven’t betrayed you!”

“Like hell you haven’t! And you can actually say it so naturally!” There aren’t even any abnormalities in your heart rate! I shouted at him, “You followed Lesus’s orders to come here as an undercover agent, yet you still dare say you haven’t betrayed me?!”

However, Adair shouted back in a voice even louder than mine, “I’m not obeying Knight-Captain Judgment’s orders, but yours!”

Mine?

“Captain, ‘Even when I am the Demon King, I will still want to be the Sun Knight!’—Don’t tell me these weren’t the words you told Knight-Captain Storm? I am only carrying out your will. I came to bring you back to continue being the Sun Knight! I haven’t betrayed you, sir!”

Adair’s sincerity wasn’t an act at all. Rather, it was because he firmly believed it from the bottom of his heart that there weren’t any abnormalities in his heartbeat. Should I call him amazing, or stupidly devoted? Why couldn’t he be willing to just obediently take up the position of the Sun Knight?

“But you’re wrong—I don’t want to be the Sun Knight!” I was unable to hold back my rage and yelled, “Not even killing five hundred holy knights is enough to make this clear?!”

No, not just that number: from the beginning of the war till now, far more than just five hundred holy knights must have died. So many people have already died..

“Why is it that even now, none of you are able to understand it? I can no longer return!”

Since the moment that I became the Demon King, I knew that I would not be able to go back again!

Every minute, every second, I have to constantly battle with the dark element. Every person living by my side must live in fear. If I were to lose for a single instant, they could very well be killed!

How could I possibly return to Leaf Bud City, return to the Church of the God of Light?

“You can return, Captain.” Adair smiled unexpectedly and said, “Because no one has died at all, not a single person. That battle was only fought for your viewing pleasure, nothing more.”

“..What?”

I was stunned. How is this possible? I clearly saw holy knights falling down and not getting up again.. And then I left. I didn’t stay to watch the end of the battle. So it turns out that those five hundred people didn’t actually die?

No, whether they died or not, it doesn’t matter!

“Even if those five hundred people did not die, it has nothing to do with me! I don’t want to go back at all. I have everything in the Demon King’s Castle. Compared to the shabbiness of the Church of the God of Light, it’s an infinite number of times better!”

Other than jewels, stone sculptures, and corpses.. What else is there here?

“Wherever I wish to go, I can use teleportation and go there immediately. I’m absolutely free!”

I’m at a complete loss as to where to go.

“No one can restrict me!”

There’s no one by my side at all..

“I’m very happy!” I shouted with all my might, simply hoping to convince them.. and myself.

However, Adair still said obstinately, “Captain, the Demon King’s Castle doesn’t have the holy knights that you always protect, and it doesn’t have the Sun Knight Platoon. Moreover, it doesn’t have the Twelve Holy Knights whom you regard as brothers! There is nothing here. It’s basically a ghost town! This is a specialized prison to lock the Demon King in!”

Damn it—

After saying all of this, Adair abruptly closed his mouth and only stared at my face. I didn’t know what he was looking at, and in my current state, I didn’t have the slightest inclination to use farsight to see.

“Since you know..” I tried to smile, but couldn’t manage to do it and simply gave up. “Why did you all come to tear my new world apart?!”

Only after I finished screaming did I realize that my voice was cracking.

“Captain..”

Adair looked distressed, and even Vidar, who had been crushed against the wall, was failing to glare at me. What are the two of them doing? I’m about to kill them! Bastards!

“Do you know how much determination I’ve had to muster to close myself into this prison? In order to sever all alternative routes, I even unhesitatingly gave you a command to kill five hundred holy knights! Is all of that still not enough for you?”

I looked at Adair and Vidar, and chuckled as I said, “If I throw the corpses of you two in front of Lesus, and throw the corpses of Ann and Jasmine at Elmairy’s and Elijah’s feet, will that be enough?”

Following the utterance of the words “be enough,” Adair also flew into the wall and was unable to move, joining Vidar in his predicament. The walls of the corridor previously held the relief sculptures that I had just destroyed. They were uneven and sharp. Hurtling both into them was definitely not a comfortable matter.

This time, I could not let them off again.

Adair said with difficulty, “Cap-Captain, please don’t do anything that you will regret.”

I looked at him and suddenly burst out laughing. The more I laughed, the louder my laughter became—

“Haha, how do you know that I will actually regret killing you?”

As long as I killed him, he would not say any more things that would put me in a bad mood. Such an easy way to resolve the problem–why have I hesitated?

“Your plan is to use a teleportation circle to let the Twelve Holy Knights come over?” I laughed as I said, “I, on the other hand, want to know, in these circumstances where you can’t move and can’t even speak, what method do you have to cry for help? Don’t claim I have no care for our camaraderie. I’ll give you ten seconds to come up with a way to call for help. After ten seconds, I will kill you both!”

However, Adair didn’t do anything. He merely watched me. I was somewhat hoping that he would show an expression of despair. It had been way too long since I had seen him make an expression like that.

I remember the first time we met, Adair was as excited as if he had found the lover of his dreams. But when he discovered that my real personality differed from my outer appearance, and my swordsmanship was particularly astonishing—astonishingly terrible—he first appeared as if he had been struck by lightning under a clear sky, and then as if I had cheated his feelings.

I had to spend a lot of effort to make him recognize me as his captain from the bottom of his heart. In the “teaching” process, he had showed expressions that were close to despair, but only close to.. This time, I should be able to see his true expression of despair, right?

A large dark blade floated by my side. If this blade were launched, both of them would definitely be split in two at the center.

“Goodbye, Adair.” I released the restraint on his mouth. At the very least, I should give him a chance to say his last words.

At that moment, Adair smiled sadly and unexpectedly said, “I’m sorry, Captain. I’ve failed.”

“..” I waved my hand. The dark blade also followed and rose up, then slashed downward—

“Big brother! Don’t kill anyone!”

Elaro stood by the doorway, his face full of alarm. I had actually already discovered him a while ago; I just didn’t care. What could an eight-year old child do..? Hold on a minute! I turned my head to look at Adair, and said suspiciously, “Your heart rate has slowed down—why?”

Nothing has happened at all, only Elaro appeared.. Elaro? He was looking at me with a remorseful expression. This hardly made me feel reassured, and I asked him at once, “Elaro! What have you done—? Eh!”

The place where Elaro was standing suddenly exploded. In a moment, an immense amount of burning light attacked me, making me feel as if I were about to die. Under the pressure of such huge amounts of light, which made me blind to everything but a stretch of white before my eyes, I couldn’t even tell if I was alive or not, let alone use my sensing ability or farsight.

“Captain? Are you okay?”

I heard Adair’s voice as he apologized in a tone that didn’t carry a single trace of remorse.

“Captain, I’m sorry. In order to prepare for any eventualities, I even lied to Vidar. Only the Twelve Holy Knight-Captains and I know the real plan. This teleportation circle isn’t actually for the Twelve Holy Knight-Captains to teleport over, but to teleport you out.

“Also, when I learned that Vidar had been captured, I was afraid that our scheme would be exposed. So I had already passed the magical artifact for teleportation to Elaro. I am truly grateful to you for bringing him to the Demon King’s Castle.”

Go to hell!