Ch-308. **Sanctuary of Honor**
—
Another Destruction.
And the Primordial Heavenly Demon.
At their core, they were similar.
Both classes were founded upon **evil** and **demonic** essence.
The disposition of light and glory had gathered within Park Hyunmyung, while every opposing tendency had been concentrated entirely within Randolph.
And the result far exceeded my imagination.
Just by *existing*, merely by *switching*, it produced power of this magnitude.
It had surpassed the realm where restraint and containment were even possible.
…Strong.
Too strong.
The demonic aura.
The form of evil.
The already powerful darkness-oriented nature had converged, fused, transcended its limits, and finally reached a state of complete perfection.
And at the same time—
《‘Another Destruction’ is one who calls forth ‘Destruction’.》
《You may choose a ‘world’ and bring about ‘Collapse’.》
《Collapse a world and be reborn as ‘Complete Destruction’.》
《You gain ‘Destruction Points’ each time you collapse a world.》
《Alternatively, you gain ‘Destruction Points’ each time you destroy a ‘Divine Symbol’.》
《‘Destruction Points’ may be used to strengthen the power of Destruction.》
《Each time a world is destroyed, the number of your vassals increases.》
《You may summon the first vassal, ‘Crow of Destruction’.》
……
……
The description of *Another Destruction*.
A selfish class that destroys worlds and draws power from the worlds it has destroyed.
It went far beyond the scope of a mere hidden class.
And a *Divine Symbol* likely referred to sacred relics representing divine rank—or things like *Towers*.
To destroy those and gain points, strengthening the very essence of destruction.
Was the *Destruction* that once annihilated Pangenia endowed with a similar power?
Still, I had no intention of destroying Pangaenia—or Earth.
If everything were to be destroyed, then the target would be *Heaven* itself.
*Vassals, huh.*
And even a first vassal derived directly from me, like the Four Calamities.
Why a crow, of all things, was simple to understand.
The power of the crow that had continuously evolved through the Gods of Omen and Ash.
This could be seen as its final evolutionary form.
And that wasn’t all.
More text continued to appear.
This time, concerning the Primordial Heavenly Demon.
《‘Primordial Heavenly Demon’ is the first demon to ascend to Heaven.》
《A name that once threatened the skies and polluted the world, but was sealed directly by Heaven for being too powerful.》
《All demons that came after were influenced by the Primordial Heavenly Demon and sought to inherit that great name, but none reached its rank.》
《They imitated the Primordial Heavenly Demon’s techniques, calling themselves Heavenly Demons by creating arts such as the ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art’ or the ‘Soul-Devouring Technique’, yet never reached the origin.》
《‘Primordial Heavenly Demon’ is the strongest demon.》
《‘Primordial Heavenly Demon’ devours all demons.》
《You may use the unique hidden skill of the Primordial Heavenly Demon, ‘World-Destroying Heavenly Demon’.》
……
……
Everything related to the Heavenly Demon that I possessed had fused and been completed as the *Primordial Heavenly Demon*.
The original Heavenly Demon.
Bearing the name of the strongest that had ever existed.
Neither of the two newly acquired names was lacking in power.
Rather, they were *too* powerful—that was the problem.
It was strength far beyond what I could possibly handle at my current state.
《Using the ‘Glove of Ash’.》
《Transforming into ‘Park Hyunmyung’.》
I switched back immediately.
If I stayed as Randolph, I had no idea what might happen.
Especially since this was the heart of the Empire.
If discovered, combat would break out instantly.
The demonic power was overflowing to a degree that made concealment nearly impossible.
*…So simply leveling up isn’t the solution.*
Only then did I realize it.
That Randolph, before the separation of dispositions, had been chaos itself.
And that merely raising my level would never establish true balance.
I had to strengthen the power of light.
Only then could I restrain Randolph’s darkness.
If I failed to control it, merely transforming and existing would accelerate the destruction of the world.
The Seven Deadly Sins—or even the Demon King—might come running, eager to befriend me.
…Just imagining it made me dizzy.
Only a few minutes later—
“What happened?!”
Bang!
Raiga burst through the door in a rush.
Fully armed.
His eyes tense and alert.
—
—
“Phermone and Raktusha are dead…?”
The Black King frowned as he received the report from the Dark Elf Lord.
They were his closest aides—sent out with the absolute belief that they would never be defeated.
Yet they had died without even retrieving Baal or the Fragment.
And those two had been further strengthened by his own grace.
“Who killed them?”
“Raktusha was killed by Phermone. Phermone was killed by Wilhelm.”
“……”
The Black King pressed his lips together.
He still frowned, but the report itself made no immediate sense.
Those who received his grace could not kill one another.
Because the Black King did not permit it.
There were exceptions, of course.
“Did Phermone lose my grace?”
Losing grace.
But if Phermone lost it, he would simply revert to a mindless monster.
He would lose his intelligence and degenerate.
Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to kill Raktusha.
Yet he did. How?
“He evolved into a complete form.”
The Dark Elf Lord answered.
But he did not explain *how* that loss of grace had occurred.
Nor did he mention the emergence of the Black King’s natural enemy—
The being that shattered mysteries and destroyed grace itself.
He merely glossed over it as “evolving into a complete form.”
The furrows on the Black King’s face deepened.
“And yet he still died to Wilhelm?”
Evolving into a complete form meant becoming the final shape designed by the Black King.
It meant the Cells of Despair had been maximized.
Enough to kill Raktusha.
Yet even then, to lose to Wilhelm—
*Wilhelm. The one who tore out one of the White King’s fangs.*
He knew the name well.
He also knew Wilhelm was the one who had severed the White King’s fang.
But hadn’t that man died?
“I have brought back the bodies of Phermone and Raktusha.”
“Well done.”
Analyzing the corpses would yield clearer answers.
But the moment he saw them, the Black King frowned.
Raktusha’s corpse was crushed beyond recognition.
In contrast, Phermone’s corpse—
Refined into the form of a black human, Phermon’s body, the one supposedly killed by Wilhelm, was almost completely intact.
The Black King muttered quietly.
“…Killed in a single strike.”
Defeated instantly due to an overwhelming disparity in skill.
His very source of life had been severed precisely.
So thoroughly that regeneration was impossible.
Tsk.
The Black King clicked his tongue.
*The limits of an ant, I suppose.*
In the end, still an ant.
Raktusha was still just an orc.
No matter how much grace was bestowed, the limits of one’s species remained.
Still, with their corpses, one experiment became possible.
A smile curved the Black King’s lips.
“How are things progressing in the ‘Primordial Forest’?”
“We have secured many High Elves, including an Elder. However…”
“However?”
“The queen could not be captured due to the appearance of an unexpected entity.”
“An unexpected entity?”
“The White King.”
The White King?
Why would someone who should be rotting away in northern Cramdel appear in the elven stronghold known as the Primordial Forest?
Still, even if the White King appeared, nothing truly changed.
A tiger without fangs was nothing to fear.
Then the Dark Elf Lord continued.
“It seems the White King has regained his strength.”
“He recovered his fangs? Hm…”
The Black King stroked his chin.
If the White King had restored his peak strength, the Dark Elves alone might struggle.
But it was fine.
Failing to capture the queen was unfortunate, but the High Elves alone were enough.
Especially with an Elder among them—it was ideal.
…And then—
“……!!!”
In an instant, the Black King’s eyes shook violently.
Unconsciously, he turned his gaze beyond the horizon.
Somewhere.
Just now.
An overwhelming **evil** had emerged.
His thoughts froze.
It felt like destruction itself—
An unmistakable presence of evil powerful enough to annihilate the world.
—
—
The Black King wasn’t the only one.
“Hm?”
The Demon of Pride.
King Friedrich also gazed beyond the horizon.
He felt a strangely familiar aura.
“‘Destruction’…?”
The aura of destruction itself.
The other demons, Pride included, felt it as well.
But it was too soon.
It was not yet time for Destruction to appear.
Pride looked up at the sky.
Then tilted his head.
*The time is far off.*
Destruction appearing now made no sense.
The conditions for its descent had not been met.
Heaven only sent Destruction under one condition—
When civilization had flourished and the gods had grown arrogant.
When it reached its most splendid peak, when the civilization level rose so high that it sought to touch Heaven itself—only then would Destruction appear.
But Pangaenia was far from that point.
Only the War God Karas and a single Dragon God had been revived so far.
Far from flourishing civilization—it still had a long way to go.
And if that weren’t the case, countless gods should have appeared the moment Pride looked up at the sky.
Yet none did.
The gods and the level of civilization were still woefully inadequate.
*It vanished?*
Moreover, the aura of destruction disappeared in a fleeting instant.
What was that?
It couldn’t have been an illusion.
“……”
And Pride wasn’t the only one who felt that doubt.
The Demon King.
Seated upon the throne of the Demon Realm, occupying Wilhelm’s body—
He gazed quietly into the distance with eyes like a bottomless abyss.
—
—
A tense Raiga could only tilt his head in confusion.
The horrifying aura of evil he had sensed just moments ago had vanished abruptly.
As if it had never existed.
Was it an illusion?
It had disappeared in an instant—brief enough to dismiss as a mistake.
And the only one present at the location was *Hyun*.
“Did something happen?”
“……”
Raiga found himself at a loss for words.
It seemed as though only he had felt that dreadful presence.
Within the Empire—within the Imperial Palace, no less.
Then—
*Am I truly nearing death…?*
…Perhaps it really was an illusion.
His senses might have been failing as his end approached.
After all, the Hyun of Adrium was far removed from evil.
A devout follower of the Goddess.
A place where, due to the Goddess’s barrier, no evil could enter.
Not to mention that Aaron, the son of a cardinal of the Goddess Church, followed him with fervent devotion.
Yes. It had to be an illusion.
It *had* to be.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Raiga looked at Hyun and spoke.
“…Prepare yourself.”
“Where are we going?”
At Hyun’s question, Raiga nodded.
“To the *Sanctuary of Honor*. We will perform the *Rite of the Eight Houses*.”
A rite that must be completed to be formally recognized as a disciple.
Even if the Eight Houses’ clan objected, he intended to force it through.
And to pass it on completely.
His strength.
The will of all those who had led the Eight Houses before him.
It was fine even if Hyun did not pledge loyalty to the Empire.
As long as he never raised his sword against the Emperor.
Raiga no longer intended to pass down that burden.
He simply wished for Hyun—unlike himself—to live freely.
To escape the dark abyss, to explore the world, and to make a name for himself.
To reach the realm of the War God and fulfill the Eight Houses’ long-cherished wish.
Even if all it did was prove to the world that the name of the Eight Houses still endured.
That alone would suffice.
For that must have been the intention of the first immortal who founded the Eight Houses.
