The Indomitable Martial King

[ Chapter 87 ]

“Siris?”

Startled, Siris turned her head.

“Ah, Lord Repenhardt.”

Repenhardt had been wandering around the Grand Forge for a while looking for Siris.

“What are you doing here?”

Siris replied absently.

“I was watching the children.”

“The children?”

Repenhardt looked puzzled, turning his gaze as he tilted his head, watching the dwarf children. Siris silently watched his profile.

Repenhardt.

Her master, once thought to be merely a pervert. But now, a man with astonishing martial and magical powers, dreaming an absurd dream of changing the fate of other races.

And… always looking at her with warm eyes…

Siris inadvertently spoke out.

“These children are free.”

Repenhardt looked back at her with somber eyes. A soft, somewhat melancholic voice followed.

“The tough life of hardship awaits these children… There are those among them who will not live to grow up…”

“…Siris.”

Repenhardt uttered her name almost like a moan. Siris was flustered. ‘Why am I talking about this?’ But once opened, her lips continued to spill the thoughts of her heart.

“Yet, these children are free. Like my people when I was young…”

Repenhardt’s expression hardened. Clamping her mouth shut, Siris clicked her tongue. She didn’t even know why she had said those things. It wasn’t even a complaint…

She forced her expression to harden.

“It’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of home…”

After getting up from her seat, Siris spoke with a calm expression.

“You came back a bit early today. I’ll prepare dinner.”

With that, she strode away. Repenhardt’s expression sank as he watched her go.

‘Home, huh…’

He already knew where Siris’s homeland was.

The Spelrat Desert in the western part of the Graim Kingdom, a remote area in the western continent, a barren land of only sand and rocks where no human was allowed. The land of lamentation where her family, the Dahnhaim tribe, had lived.

In a past life, Repenhardt had visited there several times with Siris.

‘After all, it’s practically my in-laws’ home, so how could I not visit?’

That’s when Repenhardt realized.

‘Wait? Haven’t I visited there at all in this life?’

Siris remembered that all her kin had died, but the reality was slightly different. Indeed, when Siris, then a child, was kidnapped by slavers, the Dahnhaim kin had been driven to the brink of extinction. However, a few elves had barely managed to escape and when they later returned to the Land of Wailing, they found a substantial number of elves still alive. The memory of how overjoyed Siris had been at that time was still vivid in her mind.

‘Ah, I feel like I have already been back, so I didn’t think of it…’

Repenhardt chastised himself as he smacked his forehead. Knowing how happy Siris would be, yet he hadn’t even thought about it until now… Returning to the past and knowing the future was advantageous, but having memories of a future that hadn’t happened yet often led to confusion.

“Tsk, I was careless.”

With a click of his tongue, Repenhardt made a decision. Now that he had about five days of free time because of Russ, he resolved to earn some points with Siris!

Taking the lead, Repenhardt grabbed Siris’s hand as his eyes sparkled.

“Siris!”

“Yes.”

At his call, Siris turned her head with a blank expression. Repenhardt continued.

“Since it came up, why don’t we visit your homeland for a while?”

Her expressionless face suddenly lit up with emotion. Seeing the bewildered Siris, Repenhardt smiled triumphantly.

“Just the two of us.”

Indeed, this was what he had truly aimed for. A trip just for the two of them, how cozy and wonderful would that be?

Siris asked incredulously.

“It will take at least two months to get there, you know?”

It was a valid concern. The Spelrat Desert, where the Land of Wailing was located, and the Setelrad Mountains where they currently were, sat nearly at opposite ends of the continent—north and west respectively. The distance was not minor by any means.

However, Repenhardt was not so foolish as to overlook such details, being a powerful sorcerer often referred to as a demon king. Although having Teslon’s body had habituated him to handling things with brute force, he was not simple-minded.

Grinning slyly, Repenhardt confidently replied.

“Here, at Grand Forge, there is a way.”

Deep within the heart of Gairak’s Grand Castle, the Abyssal Throne.

* * *

Until yesterday, this hall boasted its grandeur as the greatest architectural marvel on the surface, but now it stood in ruins.

The once sturdy granite walls bore horrific signs of destruction, appearing as if they might collapse at any moment. The marble floors were ripped apart and cracked as if they had encountered an earthquake. Fires blazed here and there, casting intense heat all around. Cold dawn light seeped through the cracks in the shattered ceiling.

Beneath the faint light of the early dawn, two men faced each other.

A man in a blood-red robe with long black hair spoke in a feeble voice to his opponent.

“You are strong, Fist King Teslon…”

The towering middle-aged man, reminiscent of an iron tower, wiped the blood from his mouth and responded.

“It is our victory, Demon King Repenhardt.”

Despite his pain, Teslon managed a smile of victory.

They had won. They had finally subdued the ‘Nightmare of the Continent.’

Demon King Repenhardt.

The emperor of the Dark Empire of Antares, the strongest and most malevolent sorcerer in human history.

He commanded a million forces of darkness, summoned demons from another world, scorched half the continent, and slaughtered millions—a true demon god incarnate among humans.

How many lives had been lost in the effort to bring down this wicked sorcerer who harbored an infinite hatred for humanity?

Millions in the army had sacrificed their lives to carve a path through the dark forces.

Numerous heroes had given their lives battling demons from another realm.

Bleeding rivers of blood and sacrificing their lives like stray dogs, they never hesitated to give up their lives.

It was on the backs of these countless sacrifices that they had finally made it here. Through the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon, through the waning of the moon and the arrival of dawn, they fought with all their might against the Demon King. But the power of Repenhardt, the Nightmare of the Continent, was unimaginably tremendous. Swordsmanship, martial arts, divine power, magic, etc., even his comrades who had reached the pinnacle in their respective fields fell one by one, vomiting blood before the limitless magical power of the Demon King.

As the chill of dawn enveloped the surroundings, only one stood among them, the one with the strongest physique, hence called ‘Unbreakable,’ Fist King Teslon.

Though all his comrades had fallen, Teslon did not give up.

Fending off cascading despair with a single blade of will, Teslon endured and endured. Then, in the final moment, with an iron will, he burned all his life force, moving his body, which seemed on the brink of death, to deliver the first and last strike.

“Ku, kugh!”

Repenhardt was continuously vomiting blood. The blackened blood, like rot, was evidence that his body was rapidly dying.

“Finally, everything is over…”

Teslon murmured with an emotional expression. Memories of past events flashed before his eyes like a fast-moving lantern slide.

Countless sacrifices, endless pain, frenzied orcs, dwarves, trolls, and elves swarming in demonic frenzy, many comrades dying at their hands…

Their sacrifices were not in vain.

Never in vain.

“…Now the others will also escape from the demonic influence and return to their original forms.”

Everything would return to normal. Orcs, elves, and dwarves would regain their gentle and good-natured temperaments, living peacefully as friends of humanity.

Now, it was time to end everything.

“Disappear, Nightmare of the Continent!”

With a solemn voice, Teslon clenched his fist. Now, all that remained was to deliver the final blow to that wicked Demon King.

That’s when it happened. Repenhardt gave a faint smile.

“Hehehe…”

A sly smile surfaced on the face of the dying Demon King. Teslon was startled. What cunning trick was he planning to pull in this situation by smiling?

Then the Demon King pulled something from his bosom. It was a small red gem. From the bowed head of Repenhardt, a chilling voice flowed.

“La Fert Dem Ested Sapia… I, twisting the righteous laws, shall deceive the eyes of fate…”

“Kugh!”

Startled, Teslon summoned all his strength. From the red gem the Demon King had revealed, a sinister energy was emanating. It was invisible but distinctly palpable, a powerful and overwhelming unknown force!

With a look of having been blindsided, Teslon desperately lunged forward.

‘Could it be that he still had strength left!’

Repenhardt lifted his head. A bizarre light leaked from his black eyes.

“…I shall remain under the law of Heaven’s defiance, against the current…”

“Impossible, you monster!”

Teslon’s massive form shot through the hall like a cannonball. He had to block it. Whatever the trick, it had to be stopped.

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

With his last strength, Teslon’s right fist, wrapped in golden chi, smashed through Repenhardt’s magical barrier. His fist, glowing with energy, ferociously thrust toward the red gem.

At the same time, a devilish voice wailing as if from hell filled Teslon’s ears.

“…I shall become the one who reverses time and space!”

* * *

Teslon opened his eyes.

“Heaving! Heaving!”

Breathing heavily, he looked at his fist extended into the air.

‘Again this dream…’

Looking at his outstretched right hand, which was well-trained but comparatively weak compared to the past, Teslon sighed. Then, lowering his hand, he got up.

‘Hmm, must have dozed off.’

Last night, he had stayed up practicing both magic and martial arts, and it seemed he had fallen asleep momentarily.

‘I just meant to lie down for a bit to cool off my head…’

Clicking his tongue, Teslon rose from the sofa and walked to the window. The afternoon sunlight brilliantly illuminated the table filled with various documents. These were the personal details of the strong individuals of this era and those ‘destined to become’ strong that he had investigated.

Beside them were booklets containing information about future meteorological changes and the political situations of various countries. All of this was precious information that he had painstakingly revived by continuously dredging up vague old memories. Human memory being unreliable, he had written these down whenever he had time since his reincarnation at sixteen in this era.

Looking down at the documents and booklets, Teslon muttered.

“Still not enough…”

For the past six years, he had been constantly on the move without a day’s rest.

He had mastered the realm of aura to its extremes and, using that, had managed to awaken to aura at the age of twenty even with Repenhardt’s body. He used that to coerce the elders of Delphia’s mage tower into granting him the status of a regular mage.

He had also made connections with future strong figures in the world. Although they were weak now, these bonds with those who would eventually become powerful would later be a great strength to him.

He had successfully become a member of the Silver Sages using future information. The Silver Sages, who were secretive about their existence, had recognized Teslon’s ‘wisdom,’ which could even foresee the future, and decided it was more beneficial to ally with him than to oppose him. It was as he had expected.

However, it was still not enough. To become the ‘strong’ figure his connections desired, he needed more time. Even as a Silver Sage, he had no real authority. The only thing he had managed was to secure the patronage of Duke Iranad, a fellow Silver Sage.

‘I can’t defeat the Demon King with just this!’

Teslon crumpled the document in frustration, clenching his teeth. Even though he had awakened his aura and mastered up to the fifth circle of magic, he still felt uncertain about facing Repenhardt.

That was how powerful his past self had been. That was how formidable his true body was. Additionally, he had failed to steal Elucion’s voice from the Demon King. It was also unclear how much of the Demon King’s magic had recovered.

He was anxious. Insanely anxious.

As time passed, the Nightmare of the Continent would regain its strength. Just as he remembered, or perhaps even worse, it would once again turn the continent into hell. Teslon shivered. Knowing the future was for him nothing less than horror.

‘I can’t let that dreadful future happen!’