The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 221 – Ruins

With Juan’s every step, the ground beneath his feet seemed to be crumbling down.

Juan’s mouth was dry like the desert and grains of sand flowed down through his hair. The city was flooded with sand and the bodies scattered everywhere had no meaning. All the blood, screams, aspirations, pain, fear, and joy that had once been part of the city had all turned into a meaningless desert.

Amidst all this, Juan stood still—it was as if he had become a stone statue in the middle of the desert.

Sina Solvane was lying in the middle of this desert.

Juan had given Sina his essence. The essence granted some of Juan’s power and abilities to Sina, but it did not grant her immortality; after all, even Juan himself wasn’t immortal.

A dry sandstorm blew into the city. Amidst this sandstorm, Juan was the sun that was burning red. Everything around him had miserably dried up in the wake of his blazing flames.

Everything had turned into ruins.

“Dismas.”

Juan blankly looked up. Dismas was restoring his own vitality by squeezing out the lives of all the living things around him and turning them into dust. He desperately wanted to die, but the gods that had descended into his body did not. The gods yearned for life, destroying everything around them.

Juan’s expression twisted even more upon witnessing Dismas’ distorted appearance.

“Do you realize just who it was that you killed?”

There was no answer. Only meaningless murmurs and groans were carried by the wind.

Juan stumbled toward Dismas. When Juan approached him, Dismas slowly looked up and showed a small reaction. The only part of him that still remained somewhat intact was his face, but even his face was full of wounds. Bloody pus flowed down from his eye, which was strangely swollen.

“You just killed the only person who made me believe that I was still capable of loving humans.”

Juan stumbled, feeling a rush of emotions after uttering those words. He had already reached his limit and it was difficult for him to even stay standing.

Juan stood still and blankly looked up at Dismas.

‘Can Dismas even understand what I’m saying? I hope that he can.’

Juan wished for Dismas to understand the sense of despair and fear that he was feeling.

“The possibility of your long-awaited return of the emperor has now disappeared completely.”

Dismas’ only reply to Juan’s groan was an unintelligible murmur.

But neither could Juan understand Dismas, nor was he interested in what Dismas had to say.

He continued to approach Dismas and slowly opened his arms.

“The emperor has disappeared, and the only thing that remains is me, a lunatic desperately craving revenge.”

Dismas flinched at the sight of Juan, who was approaching him. At that moment, a part of Dismas’ body suddenly moved on its own and struck Juan, regardless of his intentions.

Juan was flung into the air and slammed against the wall. Seeing this, Dismas let out a painful roar and bit down on his own body part that attacked Juan.

Nevertheless, the gods who now resided in all parts of Dismas’ body went on a rampage and poured out all their hatred toward Juan.

Juan slowly got up and walked back toward Dismas, looking completely unaffected by the previous attack.

The gods who took control of Dismas tried to strike Juan, but Juan did not let them do so this time. Juan firmly blocked the sharp nails and fists that were flying toward him and continued to approach Dismas.

When Juan finally stood in front of Dismas’ huge swollen body, he held Dismas in his arms, almost as if hugging him.

When he finally fell into his father’s arms, Dismas struggled and finally let out a murmur.

“Ugh… Your Majesty… hah… f-father…”

Dismas hunched his shoulders as if to accept Juan’s hugs.

But at that moment, Dismas felt like something was suddenly slipping out of his body. Dismas’ body began to collapse immediately, almost as if the foundation that was upholding a huge structure had been pulled out.

Dismas screamed at the pain of all his flesh and bones melting away. This was a type of pain that he had never felt before in his life; even the pain he felt when he cut out his own flesh to create Cainheryars couldn’t compare to this.

Meanwhile, Juan continued to hold Dismas, who was spurting pus and body fluid from all over his body, in his arms.

“Now, I retrieve my essence from you,” Juan whispered.

The gods inside Dismas’ body struggled and tried to escape from Juan. However, Juan had no intention of letting Dismas go.

Dismas had only managed to maintain his form until now despite summoning so many powerful gods due to the essence of the emperor. As soon as Juan retrieved his essence from Dismas, Dismas’ entire body was torn apart like a broken water tank, and everything inside him began to flow out.

Blood and pus were sprayed everywhere, and the stench began to permeate through the streets of Cabragh.

“You are no longer my child.”

Soon after, Dismas’ body which had swelled to the size of a huge house, disappeared. Instead, only the dry rag-like face of Dismas was left in Juan’s hands.

Yet, Dismas was still alive even in such a state. Now, it was only the vitality of the gods drawn into his body that was keeping him alive—but it was clear that he wouldn’t last long.

Juan looked at Dismas with empty eyes.

“You were full of hate, but now that all of it has disappeared, you look like a ruin.”

Dismas puffed his lips to say something in reply, but Juan didn’t even bother to pay attention to him.

“Maybe I’ll also turn into a ruin like you after all of this is over.”

Juan dropped the dying Dismas on the ground and turned his back.

Sina’s corpse was in front of Juan’s eyes.

Juan tripped and stumbled while trying to carry Sina. But he did not stop walking. He continued to stumble and walk in pain.

Not everything was finished yet.

But he didn’t know if all that was important anymore.

***

“Your Majesty.”

Juan, who was walking with Sina in his arms, ran into Pavan on the street.

Pavan also looked exhausted after facing Helgrim. He was entirely covered with blood and dust, but his eyes were still burning with fierce desire. Pavan’s eyes turned to Sina for a brief moment, but decided to ask Juan the most important question first.

“Is Dismas Dilver dead?”

Juan walked past him without giving an answer.

Pavan tried to ask again, but he turned his head instead.

The road where Sina and Dismas had fought was full of blood. Then, Pavan noticed something that had collapsed in the middle of the road. Pavan, who was holding a sword dripping blood, approached the road with a look of madness.

It was Dismas who had yet to die.

.

It was only after staring at the grotesque figure for a long time that Pavan realized that it was Dismas.

Dismas was constantly muttering something, but there was no sound coming out of his mouth.

After observing Dismas’ lips closely, Pavan made a derisive smile.

“Hah.”

Pavan slammed Dismas on the head with the sword in his hand. Then, he slammed Dismas down several times without stopping. The blood and flesh scattered everywhere soaked Pavan, but Pavan continued to smash Dismas down like a dedicated miner.

Pavan rested for a while whenever his back became stiff but diligently continued to swing his sword over and over. When there was finally no sign of Dismas’ presence left, Pavan wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Pavan’s sword, which had struck the stone pavement countless times, was chipped and bent all over.

Then Pavan threw away his sword and untied his belt. Soon, a stream of urine began to flow down and wet the place where Dismas had been.

Then, Pavan looked up at the sky with a lighthearted face.

“Master, who said that the taste of revenge was bitter? Nothing can be sweeter than this.”

***

Ivy looked out the window with a pale expression.

She could see a panoramic view of Cabragh. It was a scene that would make anyone exclaim at normal times, but the only emotion Ivy felt right now was fear.

When the battle was about to begin, Ivy had witnessed the beams of light being launched from the tower she was in. She already knew that the huge beam of light being launched from the tower was Telgramm from the previous conversation she had with Dismas—it was thanks to Dismas telling her all the confidential information due to his confidence in being able to turn Ivy to his side.

Ivy thought that there was nothing she could do to stop this madness, but she couldn’t stay still the moment she saw the beam of light sweeping over the imperial forces that were beyond the wall. That’s when Ivy remembered that when the Pope used Telgramm on her, she wasn’t affected by it at all.

Ivy figured that she might be able to stop the Pope. This was the reason why she took advantage of the confusion of war to secretly head to the Pope; however, the tower was already on the verge of collapse even before she could reach the top.

“Why… why does everything get so twisted every time I try to do something…?” Ivy muttered.

It was not easy for Ivy to walk inside the shaking tower. She thought that it would be better to stop now and go back down, but such thoughts immediately left her mind as soon as she saw the path she had walked on collapsing and breaking.

Now she had no choice but to move forward.

“Lenly…”

Ivy murmured the name of the person who had always protected her. But he wasn’t here now.

‘He must be fighting somewhere outside Cabragh.’

Ivy tightly bit her lips and clutched the railing to stand up. Although she had been protected by Lenly until now, he was no longer obligated to protect her. Lenly was the Captain of the emperor’s Imperial Guards, not the Saintess’.

And Ivy had come here as a subordinate of the emperor, while knowing all the risks.

Ivy gasped for air and continued to climb up the tower with difficulty. The way down had been completely cut off, but Ivy didn’t know what was waiting for her at the top of the tower.

‘Maybe I can find a way to rebuild the tower back to its original form.’

Just when Ivy was getting close to the top of the tower, she heard a groan coming from the room at the top.

“Keuk, ugh, ah, ahhh…”

Ivy peeked into the room and quickly hid herself, shocked.

Pope Helmut was groaning painfully with burns all over him. The top of the tower was collapsing slowly and revealing the sky.

“You look in pain, Your Holiness.”

Then, a familiar voice other than the Pope’s was heard. Ivy soon found Imil Ilde on the other side of the room.

Ivy had seen Imil, the biggest supporter of the Church, several times before. She had heard that he left Torra to join the Western Army, but she hadn’t expected to see him at the top of the tower.

“What happened? Why the heck isn’t my Grace working!” Helmut howled loudly and raised both of his arms.

The burns all over him were quite severe, but what was even worse was that both of his arms had been burned completely black and almost turned into ashes.

Imil looked at the Telgramm rolling on the floor.

Helmut had been exposed to the destructive power of Telgramm while trying to hold it, without realizing that the power of his Grace had disappeared.

When Helmut shook his arms, his burnt fingers snapped one by one and fell to the floor. Helmut screamed and tried to pick up his fingers, but they ended up getting crushed.

“What do you mean what happened? It simply means that your era has ended completely.”

Imil’s voice that was answering Helmut was calm—it was as if he knew that this would happen.

Helmut’s eyes rolled like a lunatic as he glared at Imil.

“Right when Doctrinal General Dismas used Spirit Calling, all the Cainheryars were destroyed. His Majesty’s holy body that we have been forcibly holding onto until now must also be collapsing right about now. There is no more Grace, Your Holiness. All of His Majesty’s power has returned to him,” Imil said.

Helmut gasped for air.

‘There is no more Grace?’

Only then did Helmut feel that the heat that was flowing throughout his body had disappeared. His skin suddenly felt cold and his exhausted body felt heavier than ever. The inability to use the emperor’s Grace meant that Helmut no longer had a chance of winning or even a future.

“No,” Helmut groaned. “No! I- I still have a lot of work to do for humankind! There are achievements that must be made on behalf of His Majesty! Without me, humanity will… it will…!”

“It will be well off—just as how it was in the days when His Majesty wasn’t here.”

Helmut glared at Imil with his eyes wide open.

Meanwhile, Imil looked down at Helmut with a pathetic expression and continued to speak.

“To be honest with you, I never thought you would be this pathetic, especially when you could have monopolized the power of His Majesty. It is quite a sight to see you trying to hide in the back room like a senile old man with dementia when you have such great power. You know what that means? It means that you were not even worth housing His Majesty’s power inside you in the first place.”