Dragon Maken War

Chapter 239 - Fate of the Races (1)

1

Suddenly, Reygus raised his head.

<Almarick.  In the end, you died.>

“What?”

Kieren became surprised at the words that had come out of nowhere.  He was lying down on the ground, because he was exhausted.

It wasn't because he had used Extreme Extinction.  The problem arose after he destroyed the Infinite Beast with the Extreme Extinction.  He had to destroy his Dragon Demon weapon Bleeding Star.

An analogy was a dam holding back the water from a reservoir.  The dam was the Dragon weapon Bleeding Star, and the gathered magical energy was the water.  When the dam was destroyed, the stored magical energy rushed out as a fearsome torrent.

He only needed 10% of the stored magical energy to manifest the Extreme Extinction.

Kieren was an outstanding magician, but even he couldn’t control that much magical energy without a medium like the Dragon Demon weapon.  Kieren desperately tried to use up all the magical energy.  He sent spells out in all directions, and he had caused great destruction.  It allowed the rest of his party to escape without much problem.

Reygus spoke.

<He probably fought against Azell.  Hmmph.  That cheap bastard.  He should have died after he fought me.>

Reygus and Almarick had been long time foes before they became Dragon Demon generals.

They had known each other for a very long time.  At times, they had been foes trying to kill each other.  In other times, they had been brothers in arms.  They had willingly fought back to back with each other.  This was why their relationship had been very complicated, and outsiders wouldn’t be able to understand the difficult and complicated emotions being felt by Reygus.

<Still, he died fighting Azell once again.  At the very least, he won’t have any regrets.>

After speaking those words, Reygus silently looked into the distance.  He was probably looking towards the direction where Almarick had died in his fight against Azell.

2

Demon King Balserk spoke.

‘Demons do not lie.’

Azell had considered his words to be absurd.  The Demons may not lie, but they twisted the truth in an intricate manner.  The Demons slowly pushed people to their deaths using these false truths.

This was why Azell didn’t put much faith in what Balserk had said overall.

The only part that he hadn’t found fault was the truth about the Demon race.  On the other hand, he was suspicious of the being that had made a deal with Balserk.  Balserk had to tell the truth about the Demon race to Azell.

According to Balserk, the person that sealed him was different from the person that made the deal with him.  The one to make the deal had been an unbelievable magician, but he had been human.  

“…now that I think about it, he skillfully avoided telling me a lie.  The one to seal him was Atein, and the one to make the deal was Atein’s reincarnated self.  Am I right?”

Atein had captured and imprisoned Balserk before the Dragon Demon war had started.  After he was reincarnated as a human, he had tried to wrap up his unfinished business.  In the process of doing so, he had made arrangements, so the Demon would deliver a message for him.  Next, he made a request to Albatan.  This was around the time when he was trying to convince Reshoo to come over to his side.  

If Azell thought about it, it all made sense now.

Atein replied to Azell’s conjecture.

“You are half right.”

“What?”

“You got everything right except for the fact that I didn’t seal the Demon.  It was Baldazark.”

“…….”

“Basically, there was no lie in Balserk’s assertion.”

Atein laughed as if he found this amusing.

Azell queried him.

“Why did you to that?  Did you truly think I would work towards solving the problem with you if I saw the big picture?  Did you really think I would be persuaded by that?”

“No way.”

Atein shook his head as he spoke.

“However, I truly need you and the Sky Splitter.  At the very least, I needed to make the attempt at trying to convince you.  It was an avenue I had to pursue.  You can think of it as a courtesy towards you.”

He knew he couldn’t convince Azell, yet he had made an attempt in trying to convince him.

It looked like a pointless gesture, but Atein didn’t think of it like that.  In the past, Azell had fought him for the fate of the world.  If they were to fight once again for the fate of the world in this era, he felt the need to inform Azell about the reasoning behind his actions.

“Aunsaurus, Baldazark and I researched about the Demon race for a very long time.  We found out the identity of the Demon race.  We elucidated the problem that arose from the presence of the Demon race.”

After a long research, they had found out many truths.

They had found out how the Demon race was born, and they learned about a world that could be described as hell.  They even found out about how the Dragon Demon race was born.

“However, we still couldn’t find out the initial reason that caused the Demon race to form.  They existed before me.  It meant that someone created hell and the Demon race before magic existed…..   After countless trial and error, I was successful in finding the very first Demon.  However, he knew nothing.”

“Isn’t there a simple answer to all of this?”

Azell shrugged his shoulders.  Atein tilted his head in puzzlement.

“What’s the answer?”

“God made them.”

“…….”

“Atein, you are like a god in some ways.  However, you are not a god.  You found out the genesis of the Dragon Demon race, and you went further back to research the origin of the Demon race.  Do you know how this world started?  Ah.  Do you know the genesis of the humans and Dragons?  What about the Orcs and the Wolfenoids?  Are you trying to find out the genesis of each race?”

“I do not know.  My research stopped at finding the origins of the Demon race and hell.  Any stories that predate the Demon race is full of holes.  They are mere theories, and I’ll have to research those topics in the future.”

“Then you can think of the genesis of the world in this way.  Nobody has directly witnessed the existence of the gods, yet there aren’t many people that deny the fact that the gods made this world.  Maybe, the gods made hell and the Demon race.”

At his words, Atein laughed.

“I’m sad to say that I cannot refute your words.  Hell and the Demon race are extremely illogical existences, yet our lives and this world is illogical too.”

“Isn’t that the reason why you created such a ridiculous plan?  You despaired at the fact that the world was wrong from the start.”

“You are right.  It took me a very long time to come to this conclusion.  However, it is very difficult to make someone else understand the process  in which I came to such a decision.  At the very least, it’ll be impossible for me to make you understand in this place.”

“I do not want you to make me understand.  Hurry up, and tell me what you came here to say.”

“I’ll do so.  You heard it from Balserk and Albatan, right?  The occurrence of the Dragon Demons is increasing as hell and the world is starting to converge more and more.”

Atein found his answer when the population of humans increased and when he was in his death and rebirth cycle.

“After I created the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual, the territory of the humans continued to expand.  The population increased alongside it.  As a result, there was a sharp increase in the occurrence of the Demons.  It was to be expected”

The critical problem occurred at this point.

At some point, humans died.  A portion of them became Demons.

However, the concept of death didn’t exist amongst the Demon race.

“It is more correct to say that it used to not exist.  I’ll expand on that later on.  As you probably know, Demons cannot be destroyed.  If a summoned Demon is defeated in this world, they are merely returned to hell.”

This was why Baldazark had sealed Balserk.  If Balserk was banished to hell, someone else would be able to summon him again.  History would repeat itself.

“When a dead human becomes a Demon, their true essence is not in this world.  It is within hell.  However, Baldazark found out that a Demon was capable of possessing a body if the contractor died.  He used this fact to seal Balserk.”

The body of the possessed being was turned into an Undead.  In the process, it tied the essence of the Demon to this world.  One had to go through this cumbersome process to imprison the soul.

“Even if this process was successful, it isn’t as if it could completely kill the Demon.  The Demon stole the body of a human, but it didn’t matter if the body was alive or dead.  It was just a means to an end that allowed us to maintain the Demon’s true form in this world.  However, the Demon was eventually sent back to hell when the body was destroyed.”

In some ways, the Demons were the true immortals.

This would continue to be true until Atein researched a way to kill the Demons.

“I promised Balserk that I’ll find a way to destroy the Demon race. I would find a way to kill him.”

The method he developed was the Great Darkness.  He bound Balserk to the Great Darkness, and he dissolved Balserk into the flow of information and power within the Great Darkness.

“In truth, it isn’t a true death.  However, I can imprison the Demons, and I can destroy their sense of self. ”

The problem was the fact that it was a very inefficient solution.

There were countless Demons, and they were constantly being created.

Just eliminating one of them took an incredible amount of time and effort.  One had to trap a Demon in a living body, then one had to make the living body into an Undead.  It was something only Archmages could do.  After achieving this state, one had to go through a very lengthy process of subordinate the Demon into the Great Darkness.  Finally, one was able to ‘kill’ the Demon.

Azell realized something at that point.

“I see!  That is why you need the Extreme Extinction.”

“Correct. Extreme Extinction is a violent method that’ll allow us to solve the problem of the Demon race.  In my long term plan, I want to find another solution that doesn’t rely on the Extreme Extinction.  However, I need a solution right now to stop the immediate problem..”

“The reason why you need me is….”

“You probably have the right idea.  It is the Sky Splitter.  I know Carlos Rizester created a technique that could replicate the Extreme Extinction, but it requires the sacrifice of a Dragon Demon weapon, which is an invaluable commodity.  On the other hand, the Sky Splitter could create the Extreme Extinction without any sacrifice.”

At this point in time, Azell was the only being that could create the Extreme Extinction using normal means of magic.

Moreover, Carlos had received Azell’s full help in his research.  This was the only reason why Carlos had been able to recreate the Extreme Extinction even if the sacrifice of the Dragon Demon weapon was needed.  If Atein didn’t receive similar cooperation from Azell, he had no idea how long it would take him to reach the same point in his research as Carlos.  

Azell furrowed his brow as he asked a question.

“So why are you trying to acquire a method that’ll allow you to destroy the Demon race?”

“That is at the heart of the story I’m going to tell you.”

3

Atein spoke.

“Azell, you probably heard this from Albatan.  The number of 1st generation Dragon Demons are increasing as time passes.”

“He said it was proof that the number of convergence between this world and hell is increasing.”

“This phenomena will continue to accelerate.  The number of Demons are continuing to increase.  This is an entirely different problem from humanity expanding and growing in numbers.  The beings, who have no concept of death, will continue to accumulate.  Do you recognize the problem now?”

“I’m not sure what you are trying to say.”

“Hell is reaching its saturation point.”

At his words, Azell’s eyes widened.

Atein continued to speak.  

“This world and hell has an organic connection with each other.  When the humans die, the dead humans become Demons.  The Demons observe the world, and when the opportunity presents itself, they are able to travel to this world.”

Atein was able to come to the conclusion that the space of the world called hell increased as the number of Demons increased.  The ‘space’ in hell differed from the surface area of this world, but it was the space that could be occupied by the residents of hell.  

“The population of the Demon race is increasing faster than the increase in space within hell.”

Whenever the number of Demons exceeds the area within hell, the phenomena where hell overlaps with reality occured.  Atein was the first Dragon Demon, so hell had already been dealing with this chronic problem by the time he was born.

“As the frequency of occurrence of the Demons increases, the saturation in hell will worsen.   It’ll accelerate the problem I mentioned earlier.”

The Dragon Demon war had ended 220 years when Atein was revived in this era.  He knew the problem had exacerbated itself during that time.

“The plague called the Black Darkness made human civilization take a big step backwards, but it didn’t stop the acceleration.”

In fact, the plague had caused an explosive growth in Demon population.  Hell had suffered under the explosive population growth.

“Of course, it doesn’t guarantee that a Dragon Demon would form if this world and hell converges with each other.  In most cases, nothing occurs.  However, the rate of the Dragon Demons forming would overtake the population of the Dragons.”

Every Dragon on this world would become a Dragon Demon.  In some ways, the Dragons would be able to achieve their wish of gaining wisdom.

With that, the Dragons would become extinct.