Chapter 253

There is a beginning, and there is an end.

After winter was defeated, the white and dark world of winter nights finally faded away.

Literally, for the current Dale, it was nothing more than a ‘past landscape’.

How the self-proclaimed true hero from another world had appeared before him, what his true identity was, and which of them was closer to the real thing. What the goddess Sistina had desired, and what had become of her frozen form.

It no longer mattered.

The specter of the winter night had vanished. Winter itself too.

The Great Hall of Saxony Castle, in the land of the Demon King’s Realm. There, after the world’s clash ended, those left behind remained.

“Dale.”

Charlotte was there. She who had defeated her father, the Divine Sword Bader, and claimed victory.

“Father, you fought Lord Bader, the Divine Sword.”

Dale spoke softly, but Charlotte did not answer. Understanding the meaning, Dale too remained silent.

“The hero from another world… has also appeared here.”

“The hero…”

Charlotte’s expression froze, and Dale nodded.

“So you fought the hero?”

The specter of two winter nights. And those who had fought and defeated that specter were there.

“Yes.”

“Did you kill him?”

Charlotte asked back. Dale didn’t miss the hatred in her eyes. Charlotte’s shadow fell upon Dale, who possessed the eyes of truth. The bitter hatred directed at the hero who had struck down her father with his own hands, and then resurrected him as the specter of the winter night.

And so, after a silence, Dale nodded.

“……The hero is dead.”

“I see.”

Charlotte quietly nodded at Dale’s answer. A faint smile touched her lips, as if she finally felt relieved.

“Thanks, Dale.”

“For what?”

“For avenging my father.”

“……”

Charlotte expressed her gratitude, and Dale did not reply.

The hero was dead. That was the truth, not a lie.

Yet to Dale, those words felt strangely false.

‘Only action proves our truth.’

The warrior’s words came to mind without thought. It was true.

Choosing silence over the truth that could be spoken.

That was Dale’s action, and that action alone proved Dale’s truth.

Thus, at the very last moment, the sovereign of truth uttered a lie.

It was the most hideous lie imaginable.

“Well, well.”

The Crimson Count, Marquis Yuris, was there.

Surrounded by the two Saxon fathers and daughters, Charlotte, Sepia, and countless shadow knights.

“I never imagined my trump card would be defeated like this.”

Marquis Yuris muttered bitterly, as if it were someone else’s affair.

Leaving behind the bloody history endlessly etched into his flesh, he smiled with resignation.

“Both Raido and Scarlet—my beloved ones have died, and I am left alone once more.”

The one left behind.

Watching him mutter bitterly, the head of the Saxon family, the Count of Jet Black, spoke.

“The war is over. And the terror of the apocalypse you feared has also ended.”

“……Is that so?”

“Even if the end of this universe is predetermined, this earth won’t freeze over tomorrow.”

“Ah, that is a relief.”

The Crimson Count laughed indifferently.

“It seems futile to struggle any further.”

“Is there anything you wish to say before you go?”

“Well…”

The Crimson Orb shrugged. Simultaneously, his circle accelerated, and flames surged forth.

“……!”

Several panicked and hastily tried to swing their swords, but Saxon’s Allen stretched out his arm to restrain them.

The swirling flames consumed no one else. It was the Crimson Ball himself.

“After witnessing the universe’s winter, I shivered in the cold for the rest of my life.”

Within the blazing inferno, the Crimson Duke murmured the words dispassionately.

“But what was truly cold… was the loneliness of being left alone after losing those I loved.”

“……”

“Why must we tremble in fear of an eternal future we cannot even promise?”

The blood-red orb murmured as if questioning itself.

“Now, I can understand nothing at all.”

Whoosh!

“I spent my entire life yearning for warmth. I realized far too late that it had been by my side all along.”

The Crimson Orb burst into laughter, as if mocking itself.

Swirling flames consumed his flesh and bone, melting his skin and scorching his bones.

Ironically, the final fate of the man who had struggled in terror at the thought of a world ending in ice was a blazing inferno.

The flames were consuming the man.

The bloody history etched into his flesh melted away. Yet even amidst the blazing flames, the man’s expression was profoundly peaceful.

As if savoring the warmth of spring sunshine.

At the very last moment, the man’s world finally came to an end.

It was a world consumed by fire.

After the war ended, a roar of unknown origin echoed across the entire North.

And there stood the leader of House Saxon, the Lord of Jet, to whom they pledged their loyalty and raised their voices.

The Shadow Lord had toppled the Emperor of the Empire and subjugated the Golden Standard Bearers, proving a power none could defy.

The northern and central continents, the island of Britannia stretching beyond them, and even the ancient imperial capital known as the Golden Heart were no exception.

The Great Hall of the Imperial Palace, once called the heart of the Golden Empire.

Within the golden citadel filling the entire area, the victor of the Great War, the one said to be the most powerful in the empire, was taking steps.

“We have been waiting for you, Your Highness, Duke of Saxony.”

And there, in that place left empty by the loss of its rightful ruler, it was the Empire’s Fifth Princess, Chiara, who greeted Dale.

“Princess Kiara.”

“Now we can no longer even call her a princess. Just as we can no longer call the Shadow Lord the Duke of Saxony.”

Dale did not answer. But it was true.

The Golden Empire had fallen, and where he now stood was upon its ruins.

“O King who shall bring forth a new order, the Empire of Shadows.”

Kiara knelt, smiling quietly. As a member of the imperial family, and simultaneously as the sorceress of the Blue Tower who claimed to be the standard-bearer of the Shadow.

“Please take your seat upon this imperial throne.”

“……”

Dale did not answer immediately.

“That’s impossible.”

Dale answered after a silence.

“What I desire is for the Golden Empire not to repeat its past mistakes.”

“Do you believe peace will come to this land with the empire’s demise?”

“At the very least, it won’t tremble in fear of an intangible threat and repeat the madness of the Black Robe Cult.”

“You place too much trust in the creature known as humanity.”

“Even if the Golden Empire vanishes, will not beings unworthy of the name ‘human’ still dominate this continent?”

Dale retorted coldly.

“You who claim to be the standard-bearers of the shadows will likewise build your kingdom upon the ruins of the empire.”

“Are you saying you refuse to bring forth the Empire of Shadows?”

Kiara retorted coldly, and Dale shook his head.

“I have already brought the empire of shadows.”

Dale answered.

“What will be created within this darkness depends solely on the capabilities of those who will establish that kingdom.”

“……”

“But as Princess Chiara said, I do not wish to see an age of war opened by countless nations.”

Dale said.

“Therefore, once more, I wish to convene the Imperial Council.”

The Imperial Council, summoned in the name of the Shadow Lord, the Lord of Pitch-Black.

“What do you intend to decide there?”

“We must test the qualifications of the lords.”

Dale said.

“As kings who will lead a new era, we must see how true they are.”

As the empire crumbled, nobles vying to become monarchs of independent states began crowning themselves kings in rapid succession.

Amidst this chaos, the Duke of Saxony—the Shadow Monarch who had defeated the Golden Monarch—convened the Imperial Council.

The one who toppled the Golden Monarch and the Empire, who drove the Empire to ruin.

Therefore, no one could refuse his summons. At the same time, they understood the significance of the assembly he convened.

The Shadow Lord, standing atop the empire’s ruins, never desired a single nation like the empire itself.

Yet he would not wish to see an era of perpetual war, fueled by the kingdoms sprouting like mushrooms from those ruins.

In other words, the imperial council he convened would serve as a testing ground for the qualifications of the monarchs who would arise from the empire’s ruins.

One order crumbled, and before long, a new order, one no one could defy, was being established upon its ruins.

Once, as with the Golden Empire, it was an order of power that no one dared defy.

Some time later, the final imperial council was convened.

It was a kingdom that could scarcely be called an empire anymore, a mere shadow of its former self. Yet the one who sought to convene the council was no mere shadow.

After the Great War ended, finally, within this empire, an entity possessed power that none could defy.

The Jet-Black Duke.

He was no longer even the Duke of Saxony.

He was the head of the House of Saxony in the North and the sovereign of the Duchy of Saxony.

Like Charlotte Lancaster, he bore the name of the Grand Duke of Saxony.

Countless nobles gathered in the Imperial Assembly Hall were paying their respects to that very presence.

In that seating arrangement, strictly assigned according to each individual’s rank, the highest seat remained vacant.

Below it sat Princess Chiara, Mordred, and the surviving members of the imperial family, and only then, beneath them, was the Count of Jet Black.

But with the throne empty, the relative height of the seats held no meaning here.

Moreover, this gathering was not even a forum for determining the empire’s collective will.

“I stand here…”

In the solemn silence that settled over the room, Dale, assuming the role of chairman, spoke.

“Against the Golden Empire and the great Emperor Arthur, we have achieved an unquestionable victory in this war.”

A murmur arose from all corners. Even though everyone knew it to be true, when those words flowed from Dale’s mouth, their weight carried a different weight entirely.

“And many here harbor ambitions to proclaim a new nation upon the ruins of the empire.”

Dale said. A collective gasp echoed throughout the room.

“As I said, I have no desire to insist on a single nation and monarch on this earth, as the past empire did.”

“…….”

Each lord finished their own calculations in their minds, waiting in silence for the very words that would flow from Dale’s lips.

“Therefore, upon the ruins of the fallen empire, I hereby formally declare the dissolution of the empire.”

It was a declaration signaling the end of one era and the dawn of a new one.