**Chapter 428. The Demon King and Basara**
—
Basara looked up at the sky.
A clear, pristine sky without a single cloud.
“The weather’s nice.”
After saying it herself, Basara let out a small, awkward laugh.
In the Demon Realm, she had always looked up at nothing but gloomy, overcast skies.
There had been no reason to comment on the weather.
This was the first time she had ever looked up at a blue sky and felt its beauty.
*I’ve changed too.*
She had believed she would live her entire life without emotion.
She had thought that feeling anything in response to what she saw was nothing more than pointless waste.
Living without relying on anyone, without leaning on anyone, without ever wavering—
That was the way of life Basara had pursued.
…And yet.
She had changed completely.
Even to herself, she felt like an entirely different person from before.
The weather was nice?
“B-Basara-sama… what did you just say?”
The demon walking ahead turned around, eyes wide in disbelief.
A high-ranking demon who had followed the Seventh Lord Basara for a long time.
In all those years, he had never once heard her say something like *the weather is nice*.
No—he had never even heard a positive word come out of her mouth.
He had heard her say things were boring, or that someone was incompetent, countless times, but never this.
Basara said,
“Look up at the sky.”
“The sunlight is strong. It’s truly unpleasant weather.”
That wasn’t wrong.
Demons hate the sun.
By demonic standards, weather like this really was unpleasant.
Basara had been the same.
She disliked brightness, and hated sunlight even more.
But the current Basara was different.
Park Hyun-myung.
Though it had been a short time, spending time with him had brought Basara to a turning point.
“…By the way, why are you suddenly trying to use the *main gate*? You could just take a private warp.”
At the moment, Basara was walking straight toward the entrance of the Demon Realm.
She had summoned the high-ranking demon to use him as a guide.
The entrance to the Demon Realm shifted constantly, and was even more dangerous than the Abyss.
Basara shrugged.
“Conquest.”
“…Pardon?”
“The First Realm through the Third Realm. They still don’t have new owners, do they?”
Hearing her words, the high-ranking demon couldn’t help but panic.
“W-Wait… what? Th-that’s because the Demon King hasn’t approved new rulers yet! ‘Conquest’—that’s dangerous talk!”
The First Lord Ahram, the Second Lord Issera, and the Third Lord Mammon.
All three had died during the invasion, leaving the First through Third Realms vacant.
Ownerless lands.
Every lord coveted them, but none dared to move rashly because no order had yet come down from the Demon King.
Basara’s eyes gleamed.
“Since when did I wait for another’s permission?”
“The other lords won’t just sit still, you know…?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
If they came at her, she would simply crush them all.
In any case, the Demon King would not intervene.
The Demon King—he cared far less about the Demon Realm than people thought.
Whether the Demon Realm flourished or fell meant nothing to him; only his own achievement mattered.
*Just as I changed, the Demon Realm can change too. I will change it.*
Basara thought differently.
She believed that even this dark, oppressive Demon Realm could be transformed.
To do so, she intended to conquer everything.
The lands of the Demon Realm, its lords—and even the Demon King himself.
*I will become the Dragon God of the Demon Realm.*
And thus, she intended to become a Dragon God by her own hand.
She did not seek the aid of Phantom, who had become an Absolute.
She would rise proudly, and face it proudly.
*That Dragon God… Hana, was it?*
Though that Dragon God currently stood beside Park Hyun-myung, Basara understood him well enough to know that he was not the sort of man who would remain still just because someone stayed by his side.
*It won’t be easy to cling to Park Hyun-myung. He’s already gone far away—off to create his own Primordial.*
Park Hyun-myung had already left the Labyrinth City.
As if there was still room for him to grow.
If he became even stronger than now, she couldn’t even imagine how far he would reach.
And so, if she wished to follow him, she could not afford complacency.
“…Hm?”
That was when—
In the distance, near the *entrance* to the Demon Realm.
There was a long procession.
The high-ranking demon following her gasped in shock.
“Th-That procession is—khk! The Demon King…?!”
The figure at the center of the procession—
It was unmistakably the Demon King.
Why was he walking toward the entrance of the Demon Realm with his legion?
“That is… the *Celestial Whale*.”
Basara quickly realized why.
One of the Seven Kings of the Abyss—the being known as the *Princess of the Abyss*, the Celestial Whale!
She was imprisoned within an iron cage, battered and barely recognizable.
The Demon King had returned from a successful *whale hunt*.
Yet she was not the only one there.
Another *Abyss King* was included as well.
Basara muttered softly.
“Bearers of the *Fragments of Destruction*…”
“It seems His Majesty has already absorbed all of the *Goddess’s Stars*. As expected of the Demon King!”
The Demon King had absorbed all of Goddess Pina’s stars.
And he had not stopped there—he had begun collecting the *Fragments of Destruction* as well.
And yet, something felt strange.
*Why leave them alive instead of taking the fragments?*
The fact that the fragment bearers were still alive.
She couldn’t understand the reason.
But then—
“…!”
Basara flinched.
The Demon King’s gaze had landed on her.
…Just a look, and such tremors ran through her.
The density of magic she felt from him was unprecedented.
The first gate to changing the Demon Realm—and the most important problem.
Basara straightened her back and walked toward the Demon King without hesitation.
*
*
The closer she got, the clearer it became.
*He’s gotten stronger.*
An unimaginable rate of growth.
He had already been untouchably strong before, yet in such a short time, he had grown even stronger.
Just standing beside him made her heart ache.
Which made it all the more puzzling.
Even if he had seized *Wilhelm’s body*, this level of power defied explanation.
*The Golden Mask was a clone made from Wilhelm’s blood. Even if the Golden Mask carried Annihilation, wasn’t Wilhelm himself ultimately just a copy of the Emperor?*
Wilhelm’s body, too, would merely be a clone created from the Emperor’s blood.
That body should not have been able to surpass the Emperor’s potential.
Judging by the story that the Emperor had gone into slumber to avoid becoming Destruction, Wilhelm, too, should not have been stronger than Destruction.
And yet, no matter how she thought about it—
The Demon King who had stolen Wilhelm’s body had…
*…Surpassed Destruction.*
She had fused with the Golden Spirit and had been continuously observing the battlefield.
Naturally, she knew exactly how powerful Annihilation had been.
Though Annihilation had met an empty end at Phantom’s hands, it was still *another Destruction*.
A being with power sufficient to destroy a world.
And yet—how had the Demon King surpassed that?
“Mammon was nothing more than that in the end.”
“….”
The Demon King spoke suddenly.
There was no emotion stirring in his pitch-black eyes.
An existence impossible to read—his thoughts, his feelings.
He looked directly at Basara.
“Do not disappoint me.”
What disappointment did he mean?
Basara ignored it and asked,
“…Why did you spare the Celestial Whale and the fragment bearers?”
“The *Fragments of Destruction* only reach those with overwhelming talent.”
“And what do you mean by overwhelming talent?”
“Exceptional martial skill, art capable of calling illusions into reality, hands that can perform miracles. That sort of demonic talent.”
“…You intend to steal their talent?”
“Steal? Poor choice of words. I will surpass them. Only then can I fully absorb *Destruction*.”
In other words, he had kept them alive in order to plunder their talent.
The Demon King continued.
“The most powerful being that once sought to destroy Pangaenia. The fragments contain that being’s power—power incomparably greater than Destruction’s.”
“…!”
As expected, the Demon King had noticed the emergence of Destruction as well.
His astonishing words continued.
“I am the sole blood relative of that Destruction. Thus, the fragments of Destruction are like an inheritance to me. Absorbing them fully and making them my own is only natural.”
“…Do you truly mean that?”
Destruction.
It had left behind a blood relative?
How could a weapon of the Heavens leave offspring?
More than that, it could not have been born alone.
As if he no longer intended to hide it, the Demon King said plainly,
“The two Goddesses are my mothers. Destruction is my father.”
The reason the Demon King could fully absorb both the Goddess’s Stars and the Fragments of Destruction.
The decisive reason he could surpass Wilhelm!
…Basara recalled *Park Hyun-myung’s memories*.
During the Grand Expedition, just before Wilhelm was killed by the Demon King—
The memory of Goddess Pina splitting Park Hyun-myung’s soul.
And of Pina being captured by the Demon King.
*Goddess Pina did not resist.*
Why?
At the time, her rank had been higher than the Demon King’s.
Even weakened, she had once been a chief goddess.
Yet she had been divided into stars so helplessly.
If… the Demon King truly was her child, and that was why she did not resist—
Then hadn’t both the Demon King and the Demon Realm been restored because of it?
It had been the best possible outcome where neither Park Hyun-myung nor the Demon King died.
“Phantom… that one is mistaken. He believes he was chosen by the Goddesses, that he has truly surpassed the mantle of Destruction.”
The Demon King shook his head.
Phantom had not been chosen.
Both the Goddess’s Stars and the Fragments of Destruction submitted fully before *him*.
By that logic, the Demon King himself was the true *chosen one*.
“Then if the two Goddesses did not choose Phantom… why is he the *Goddesses’ Knight*?”
Yet Basara felt it clearly.
The souls of the two Goddesses were undeniably with Phantom.
They were all gathered in Park Hyun-myung’s *home*.
They were not watching over their child, the Demon King.
The Demon King replied as if it were trivial.
“It is to prevent me from killing him.”
“…?”
“And to prevent me from touching Pangaenia.”
In other words, the only reason the Demon King and the Demon Realm had not attacked Pangaenia was because of the two Goddesses.
Thinking about it, the Demon King had never shown much interest in Pangaenia.
Nor had he made great efforts to seek out Phantom.
Despite the massive damage suffered during the Grand Expedition.
Given his temperament, he should have retaliated—but he did not.
*…So he deliberately refrained?*
If that was the case, everything fit.
The two Goddesses undoubtedly loved Park Hyun-myung.
And… the Demon King loved him as well.
“Basara. The reason I have spared you is also my mercy.”
“……”
“Why did you return?”
…He had seen through her.
The Demon King knew Basara had defected.
With his current power, severing Basara’s head would have been trivial.
The reason he spared her was the same reason he refrained from attacking Phantom and Pangaenia.
It was mercy.
As long as she did not cross the line, he would let her live.
And so, Basara answered carefully.
“…I intend to change the Demon Realm with my own hands, Demon King.”
“Are you saying you intend to become the Demon King?”
“If necessary.”
At that, the Demon King smiled.
“A declaration of war… To think the Seventh Lord, who seemed as though she would never change, would raise a banner against me. Is this also Phantom’s influence?”
“It is my own will.”
“…Interesting. Very well—do as you wish.”
He accepted the declaration of war.
And yet, there was no execution.
The Demon King respected Basara’s resolve.
*Am I… feeling jealousy?*
…Perhaps it is jealousy.
It was the first time.
The first time the Demon King had felt such an emotion.
He had thought she belonged solely to him.
That Basara’s world should contain only himself.
That was why he had accepted the mutants Basara and Issera and granted them the qualifications of lords.
And yet—
…To think that emotionless Seventh Lord, that woman content to stagnate in the Demon Realm, would raise her hand against him.
That was why, unlike his usual self, the Demon King had given Basara such a long, unnecessary explanation.
The Demon King looked into her eyes once more and said,
“And when you reach the end, choose again—me, or Phantom.”
He wanted to take her back.
From Phantom.
The Demon King’s expression hardened as he thought,
*You have crossed the line, Phantom.*
The sin of stealing what was his was a grave one indeed.
