Children of the Holy Emperor

Tap tap tap.

Logan swiftly traversed the main palace garden, tracking the assassin’s presence.

The fierce rain ruthlessly struck his body from the front, but it posed no hindrance to Logan, who was enveloped in a curtain of his own half-materialized aura.

Cutting through the pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, he effortlessly closed the distance with the assassin.

Strangely, as he moved away from the main palace, the headache and tinnitus that had been tormenting him subsided, and his mind began to function normally once again.

Finally, he had a moment to calmly ponder the current situation. Judging by how rapidly his condition improved the moment he gained some distance, there was no doubt that the epicenter of this bizarre incident was that office.

-[Gaps] opening in the palace is a common occurrence. It’s just that this time, it was so sudden that His Majesty didn’t have a moment to enter the prayer room.

That’s what Katrina had said.

Did that mean such things happened whenever the Holy Emperor occasionally entered the prayer room? Why had he never noticed it until now?

He would seclude himself in a remote place every time, dismissing even his escorts, so Logan had thought it was some kind of unnecessary arrogance.

Indeed, anyone who merely approached him would find it difficult to maintain their sanity. If even Commander Katrina, the Holy Emperor’s sturdiest shield, was in such a state, no matter how many knights were by his side, proper escort would be impossible.

What exactly were these gaps?

What kind of effect did they have that they could disrupt a person’s senses to such an extent and ultimately cause them to lose consciousness?

As he organized his thoughts, the assassin was running towards the greenhouse. It seemed he intended to pass through the second east gate.

However, the two were already in close proximity.

‘Got you.’

The moment Logan nearly entered the range of his sword slash…

Swish!

As if sensing the danger, the assassin spun around and hurled throwing knives.

Clang! Clang!

Effortlessly deflecting the unexpected blades, Logan thought to himself.

‘A simple deterrent? No killing intent, just trying to escape.’

To detect his range, which was far wider than that of ordinary knights, the assassin was quite skilled.

Moreover, judging by the aura carried on the throwing knives, the assassin seemed to have accurately grasped Logan’s officially displayed combat prowess.

If he had to conceal his abilities as usual, he would have definitely struggled with the pursuit. He became curious about the identity of his opponent.

Swoosh.

Simultaneously with the throwing knives, the presence emanating from the opponent nearly vanished completely. He had unleashed aura concealment to the maximum extent possible.

However, no matter how skilled an assassin was, there was no way Logan wouldn’t notice the unnatural movement of the aura.

Swish.

Logan synchronized his body with the surrounding aura. An ability that could make him the ultimate assassin if he so desired. It was the aura synchronization of the Decaron Knights.

The enlightenment from his previous life never disappeared, allowing Logan to freely control his aura activity from birth.

That’s how he had lived, displaying an aura activity level that appeared appropriate to others. Otherwise, he would have been suspected of having an inexplicably high aura activity from a young age.

On top of his already remarkably high aura affinity from being reborn and the leisurely environment that allowed him to devote himself to training…

Thanks to that, Logan had long ago reached the realm of a 10th-tier aura knight, a Decaron Knight, in this life as well.

Concealing his presence in such a manner, Logan swiftly overtook the assassin and released his aura synchronization right in front of him.

“…!”

The assassin was shocked and hastily drew his short sword. Then, reflexively imbuing it with his maximum aura, he swung it towards Logan!

However, Logan’s reaction was even faster.

Clang!

The Henesys longsword, with its parrying hook pulled back to the limit, instantly deflected the assassin’s blade far away. Losing his grip on the sword, the assassin momentarily lost his balance and staggered.

Swish.

Not missing that opening, Arjuna surged towards his neck.

The assassin reflexively raised his arm to guard, but Arjuna’s blade, deftly penetrating the gap, was already pressed against his jaw.

“…”

“Reveal your identity. On whose orders did you enter the palace?”

Logan tapped the assassin’s mask, which was pulled up to the tip of his nose, with the tip of his sword and asked.

If the opponent harbored no killing intent towards him, Logan had no intention of arbitrarily taking his life either. He would simply have the assassin reveal his identity and safely escort him to the Imperial Guard.

Of course, the moment he directed killing intent towards someone in the palace, his life might already be forfeit.

The assassin hesitated for a moment. However, realizing that there was absolutely no chance of escape no matter how much he contemplated, he meekly pulled down his mask.

It was a pitch-black night with a raging thunderstorm, but as a bolt of lightning struck at that moment, the assassin’s face was brightly illuminated.

And…

“…!”

Upon seeing the opponent’s face, Logan’s eyes widened. The assassin’s face was far too familiar to him.

The face of someone he thought he would never see again.

Faced with this unbelievable sight, Logan unconsciously opened his mouth.

“…Benicio?”

Ah.

If this were a dream, it would truly be a terrible nightmare.

***

Barely managing to open his eyes amidst the severe dizziness, Seongjin carefully surveyed his surroundings.

‘What is this now…?’

He was floating in an unidentifiable space.

As if filled with shattered mirrors or glass shards, the surroundings produced a dizzying scene, like the interior of a kaleidoscope, with various images intermingled.

A black sky with flashing lightning, a dense forest. Occasional glimpses of the office’s scenery. And stars and nebulae shining as if about to pour down.

‘Did my soul get separated again?’

As he could barely feel any gravity, he recalled the near-death experience he had not long ago.

However, upon closer inspection, he was still in Morres’s appearance, wearing the banquet attire. Judging by the tangible sensation of his body, it seemed he hadn’t been flung out as a mere soul this time.

But it was a bit ambiguous whether he had fully brought his body to this place. Among the fragmented images of the office that occasionally overlapped, there was clearly a scene of his own body collapsed right beneath the sofa.

A strange feeling, as if he simultaneously existed in the office and here.

What kind of bizarre phenomenon was this?

‘Hey, Demon King?’

He called out to the one who seemed most likely to explain this situation well, but there was no response.

It wasn’t as if the Demon King’s presence had disappeared from his mind, though. The Demon King’s soul, frantically flailing about in confusion, could be distinctly felt.

He was probably making a fuss inside Seongjin’s head. It was just that something was misaligned or the frequencies didn’t match, so Seongjin couldn’t properly receive the Demon King’s thoughts, like a malfunctioning radio.

Rumble rumble.

Whether it was due to the thunderstorm visible in the scenery or some other cause, the entire space intermittently shook from the impact. It didn’t seem like a place where one could stay for long.

‘Anyway, that gentleman must be somewhere around here, right? I need to find him and quickly leave this place…’

But then, a curious thing happened.

The moment he thought of the Holy Emperor, his field of vision suddenly warped, and the distant images rushed towards him as if being pushed, in an instant.

Seongjin had a similar experience before. It was when he was sucked into the Vantra Moss caterpillar’s channel and soared to the boundary between dimensions in one breath.

At that time, he thought he was simply flying somewhere faster than light, but…

‘I’m not the one moving quickly…!’

Rather, the spaces surrounding him were crumpling and rapidly propelling his body beyond.

During the near-death experience, he had failed to properly perceive it, but strangely, he could now understand how the scenery warped and swiftly flung him.

How far had he flown?

Boom boom boom!

The occasional tremors gradually intensified, and their frequency also increased. Now, with each shake, a shock wave that seemed to almost shatter the surrounding space struck. Something ominous was definitely occurring here.

And after a while…

Seongjin spotted a small figure confronting something like gigantic shadows.

The fluttering white ceremonial robe and the golden crown shining above the head.

Seongjin unwittingly called out to him with all his might.

[Father!]

What burst forth was not sound but a kind of thought wave. At this, the Holy Emperor turned around with startled eyes.

[You…!]

Boom boom boom!

The world shook once more. As his vision spun wildly, Seongjin’s body was instantly far away from the shadows.

And before he knew it, the Holy Emperor had approached and was vigorously shaking his shoulders.

[Why have you entered this place, my son?!]

Seongjin blinked.

Huh? He could clearly hear the Holy Emperor’s voice, but his words weren’t the usual ‘sound’.

It was as if an entire sentence was hammered into his head, with the first and last syllables entering his mind simultaneously.

[What kind of place is this for you to say that?]

[This is a gap. It is not a place where a human body can remain for long.]

Again, ‘this’ and ‘for long’ were simultaneously driven into his head.

It was almost like the sense of time…

Suddenly, the Holy Emperor flinched and turned around.

Then…

Boom boom boom!

His body was mercilessly shaken by the impact, and his vision distorted in a dizzying manner.

When he came to his senses, Seongjin found himself dangling by the scruff of his neck, being carried somewhere by the Holy Emperor.

‘…!’

Despite the tremendous speed, fortunately, his neck wasn’t being strangled or anything. His gaze naturally directed backward, he could finally clearly see the identity of the enemies pursuing them.

There were two monsters.

One was a massive black beast with six legs and three tails. Its shape resembled both a dog and a wolf, but it was impossible to discern whether it was a tangible form or a mere shadow. Its body, which didn’t reflect light at all, lacked any sense of volume.

The other had an even more bizarre appearance.

With something densely protruding up and down, it resembled a plant wriggling its roots and stems, or an anemone with numerous tentacles.

Ah, seeing the green luminous bodies attached to some of the tentacle tips, it might be a deformed jellyfish.

‘But why does it feel familiar…?’

Seongjin leisurely critiqued them while dangling.

The malice-filled gaze piercing his body. The gaze the monsters directed at him resembled the unpleasant one he had sensed from the high-ranking demon kings at the dimensional boundary.

The only difference was that the pressure had diminished to a tolerable level.

[…To force your way into this space.]

The black beast, Greed, growled while fixing its gaze on Seongjin.

[Indeed. Who would have thought a child would interfere with the space? But why does that face look so familiar?]

The dark green tentacled monster, Sowing, responded with a puzzled tone while shaking a bundle of root-like protrusions that had risen upward. Although it was impossible to tell if it had a head, the gesture was like tilting its head in confusion.

At this, Greed let out a sneer.

[Isn’t it obvious? You fail to recognize him even after directly preparing him?]

[Ah, was that so? Come to think of it, my apostle might have mentioned something like that before.]

Sowing, scratching one tentacle with another by bending a clump of tentacles, spoke in an embarrassed manner. Then, the sporadically attached luminous bodies simultaneously emitted light.

[Well, what does it matter? We just need to eliminate the emperor anyway, right? Since it’s troublesome, let’s just get rid of him together here!]

As the distance was close, fragments of their thoughts reached Seongjin as well.

‘Did I inadvertently become a burden to this gentleman by coming here?’

Should I ask him to flick me and send me back, even now? But before that, if I could at least land a valid hit on one of those bastards…

While gauging the distance from the monsters and fiddling with the Walnut Cracker, he felt the Holy Emperor’s gaze glancing at him.

[You’re unnecessarily racking your brain again, I see.]

This time, too, his words flowed into Seongjin’s mind without any time lag, but Seongjin was now somewhat accustomed to this mode of communication.

[So I did end up being a hindrance, didn’t I?]

[…]

The Holy Emperor fell silent for a moment but soon shook his head.

[No, it was rather timely. If not for you, the causality would have been insufficient, and it would have consumed a considerable amount of time.]

Causality?

[It’s a side effect of the birthday banquet. Since I have no choice but to bestow blessings upon many people, it inevitably leads to a tremendous expenditure of causality. That’s why those fellows targeted today.]

Hmm. Honestly, he didn’t quite understand what he meant.

Pondering for a moment while dangling and swaying, Seongjin suddenly thought of something amusing.

When it came to causality, although he didn’t know much, it meant some conditions were necessary, like with Commander Bruno, right?

[Father, I have a request!]

He felt the Holy Emperor glancing at him.

[A request.]

[Yes.]

Then, Seongjin confidently exclaimed.

[Please give those bizarre bastards over there a good beating, no, could you eliminate them entirely?]

Instantly, a strange attraction was felt enveloping both Seongjin and the Holy Emperor simultaneously.

And…

[…]

The Holy Emperor did not respond to those words, but from the conveyed atmosphere alone, Seongjin could tell that he had smiled.