The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Shwaaaaa.

The liquid pouring from the sky was no different from rainwater. Before long, Lukas’ entire body was soaked.

The Demon God was still standing there with a smile.

He stayed silent without saying anything. It was as if he was giving Lukas time to determine whether he was telling the truth or not.

“…”

The pattering of the rain, the cold touch of his clothes clinging to his skin.

However, the thing that disturbed Lukas the most was the presence that he could feel in the corner of his mind.

‘Is it true?’

[…….]

‘Lightning God, is everything the Demon God said true?’

[Right. It’s true.]

The Lightning God affirmed with a patient attitude.

‘Did you lose on purpose in order to enter my body?’

[Right.]

‘So that was your goal?’

[One of them.]

‘What are the others?’

[…]

Whenever he didn’t want to answer, the Lightning God remained silent. Lukas had no choice but to accept this attitude.

Gritting his teeth, Lukas quickly drew upon void. The surrounding air began to shake.

Hoh, the Demon God let out a soft exclamation. There was a look of genuine surprise in his eyes.

The Lightning God spoke.

[What are you trying to do?]

‘…’

[Are you trying to force me out? No matter the cost? In order to do that, we would have to compete in the imaginary world again. Give up. The Demon God is watching. Do you think he wouldn’t do anything to you while you’re defenseless?]

‘The existence of you hiding within me is much more annoying than the Demon God in front of me.’

The Lightning God fell silent at those sincere words before speaking.

[…I had no intention of causing any direct harm to you. Although, I won’t deny that I didn’t intend to use you.]

‘So what? We should keep going like before? Ha. Bullshit.’

[I will tell you about my goals.]

‘…’

[However, before that, listen to the Demon God’s offer. Didn’t you ask if the reason I sent you to the Three Thousand Worlds to make you listen to Diablo’s proposal? That was half right. As for the other half, it was to listen to what the Demon God had to say.]

‘…and after that?’

[After that I’ll clarify my goals and ask for your cooperation. If you want, I will remove my thought projection from this body. I ‘promise’.]

Promise.

It was a word that didn’t suit a Ruler the most, but it was because of it that Lukas became speechless.

…Had he ever heard the Lightning God say ‘promise’ before?

[─is the conversation over?]

A chilling voice.

The Demon God, who had sat down roughly, suddenly turned his gaze in a certain direction. It was the direction Diablo had gone in. And probably the place where the fiercest battle in the universe was taking place.

[It seems the battle between the Four Knights has begun in earnest. I’m sure you noticed.]

“…”

[I don’t think there is much time so I’ll get to the point. Don’t you want to be happy, Lukas Trowman?]

Lukas paused for a moment.

This was because that was a question he didn’t expect to come out of the Demon God’s mouth.

“You talk as If you know what happiness is.”

[Of course I know. The fact that beings like humans cannot live without happiness and pleasure. However, what about you? If you look back at it, what was your life like? Wasn’t it mostly pain? Compared to the number of years you lived, the amount of happiness you felt is ridiculously small… Have you never felt that before?]

It would be a lie to say he hadn’t.

Especially more recently.

There were even times when he cursed his own fate.

[I think the Lightning God should have revealed a bit about his goals. My goal isn’t that different from his. I also want to experience the apocalypse. If there’s a difference between me and him… I guess it would be that I could make an attractive offer to make you fulfill my goal.]

“What offer?”

[I will let you experience happiness as a human. I will send you back to your home universe. Not just return. The memories, achievements, and history of ‘Lukas Trowman’ that had disappeared from that universe. I will bring that all back.]

“…you, what are you talking about.”

[Do you not think it’s possible? Or do you think it’s a bluff? I can declare it in my name. Everything I say now is true.]

“…”

[It will be for a long time. I will give you and all those you love enough time to become numb to happiness. Not just those from your home universe. The relationships you made in other universes… perhaps I can even bring Sedi as well. You can live with them to your heart’s content, and when you get tired of it, think of death. There won’t be any rush. Even if it takes hundreds of millions of years, I’ll wait.]

Hundreds of millions of years of happiness.

To be guaranteed the happiness that Lukas longed for, for hundreds of millions of years.

[Then, when you and all those you remembered have died, and there is no longer any trace of them, then, I will let the ‘energy of apocalypse’ spread throughout the multiverse.]

“It’s said that no one knows when the apocalypse will occur. Much less adjusting the timing…”

The Demon God smiled brightly.

[It’s possible. If you become the Void King, and obtain the corpse of God in that place, it would be possible to postpone the apocalypse by hundreds of millions of years.]

“…”

[We can talk about the how and why later. For now, Lukas Trowman, focus on the offer. I cannot think of any reason for you to refuse.]

─Everything the Demon God said was true.

If that was the case, then just as he said, it was a hard offer for Lukas to refuse.

However.

“However… that is wrong.”

At that, the Demon God smiled as if that was what he was waiting for.

[Right. Perhaps from your perspective, just letting the apocalypse happen is wrong. However, isn’t that the thought of an Absolute?]

“What?”

[Don’t you know? Hundreds of millions of years… in other words, only after a period longer than the lifecycle of a star will I bring the apocalypse to the world. A length of time that humans cannot experience or even comprehend. Only after then will the apocalypse occur… Tell me. Do you know any humans who can fight for hundreds of millions of years? And even if you do, can their way of thinking still be called human?]

“…!”

[If you don’t kill the Demon King, the world will suffer. If that was all, most humans would struggle. However, what about this case? Grab a passerby and ask. Ask them to fight with you for hundreds of millions of years in order to prevent the world from being destroyed. It’s obvious what kind of answer you’d receive.]

…There was nothing wrong with the Demon God’s words.

The being that Lukas hated so much in the past, now had a better understanding of human behaviour than anyone else.

[Is it right to give up your happiness for danger that will come hundreds of millions of years later? Do you think that is also shifting the blame? It’s not. It’s the succession of the will or responsibility that the humans have been clamouring for.]

Lukas’ expression stiffened.

It was only at that moment that he understood what the Demon God’s proposal meant.

[What will you do, Lukas Trowman? Will you refuse? However, if you refuse…]

The Black Horned Demon God’s smile widened.

[Does that mean you are denying that you are human?]

* * *

A hectic life.

That was the evaluation Anastasia gave to her life.

Boom!

Suddenly, a huge explosion erupted. Wind pressure that could make even a typhoon feel like a summer breeze, rippled outward in every direction. For a moment, Anastasia was unable to keep control of her body.

‘Dammit. Give me some time to think.’

But in retrospect, relaxation was a word that was quite distant from Anastasia. From the day she was born until now, she had never had the time to really relax and think.

Naturally, she couldn’t get any significant answers about her identity.

‘I didn’t show it, but…’

At least on the surface, she pretended that she didn’t care much about that stuff. Nevertheless, it was not a problem that could be completely ignored. On a psychological level, she felt anxious.

Was she Schweiser?

Or was she an individual being that just inherited the man’s memories and personality.

If it was the latter, then what was the difference between her and Schweiser.

There was nothing more disturbing than being unsure about your identity.

The issue of self consciousness was not something that could easily be overlooked. She knew because she’d made a lot of golems in the past.

The first thing to do to a golem with self consciousness was to give it a name. You have to make them aware of who they are. Entering the rest of information was only secondary.

But according to this theory, Anastasia hadn’t even taken the first step yet.

Boom!

There was another explosion.

Anastasia forcibly opened her eyes and looked ahead.

Whenever the Blue Knight and Black Knight clashed, an overpowering feeling seemed to weigh on her skin.

“Lucid, that son of a bitch. Did he train even while he was dead? It feels like he’s thousands of times faster than before.”

“It’s not training, it’s because he inherited a special role.”

With a soft voice, Iris appeared.

Anastasia looked at her with an unfriendly gaze.

“Role? What role?”

“There’s no time to explain.”

“Then don’t say anything in the first place.”

“I’ll do that from now on.”

Resisting the urge to smack Iris upside the head as hard as she could, Anastasia said.

“…it’s nice to look impressive, but what exactly are we supposed to do here? If we step into a fight like that, we’ll get squashed like shrimp.”

“This… shouldn’t be the real show yet. The Blue Knight probably hasn’t used 10% of their real strength yet.”

“What?”

Iris’ gaze continued to point forward. Come to think of it, she hadn’t taken her eyes off the fight for a moment since it had begun. As if she was waiting for something.

“…right. Let’s pretend your words are true. Then what was the point of us coming here? If that monstrous fight isn’t even a warm up, then it wouldn’t change anything if we all were to charge in at once.”

Anastasia’s words were correct.

The people Iris brought were not only people from their universe. There were other powerful people from all other universes who agreed with Diablo’s ideals. But none of them dared to intervene in the fight.

In the end, they could only watch on from a distance of dozens of steps away, shaming their initial dignified appearance.

“…minimal time zone.”

“What’s that”

“It’s a place in space-time that probably only less than 20 people in this entire universe can enter. In order to influence this fight, we need to enter that place too.”

“How do we do that?”

At that, Iris turned to look at her for the first time and smiled.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained, so for now, just pay some more attention to the Blue Knight’s movements. Our chances of winning will go up if you do.”

…She really couldn’t deal with her.

Anastasia looked at Iris’ side profile for a while.

When was it? The moment her attitude changed.

Was it when the Great Medium told them about Lukas Trowman?

Was it afterwards, when Lukas completely disappeared from the continent?

Was it when Diablo, who appeared suddenly, revealed his goal and asked for their cooperation?

…Or was it…

After, when Peran Jun appeared-

Boom!

There was another explosion. The battle was heating up.

At first glance, it seemed like an equal fight, but the reality was different.

The one who knew that the best was Lucid, who was directly exchanging swords with Pale.

‘Since the fight began, dozens of battles of nerves, hundreds of feints, thousands of contests of force.’

Lucid hadn’t won a single one of all those encounters. If it wasn’t for the defensive ability of the black armour covering him, every bone in his entire body would have long since shattered.

He knew that, but it was hard for him to understand.

It was pointless to say that it was because she’d become one of the Four Knights before him, or because he was ‘too stable’ as Pale had said.

Lucid felt ashamed of being pushed around by a sword that carried no convictions. And it could be seen that, despite having so much power, Pale’s ability to wield a sword was unbearably pitiful.

‘This is no time for sympathy.’

When his shoulder armour shattered, Lucid decided to stop thinking about other things.

[I don’t believe you called so many people out to be spectators.]

Swinging her sword, the Blue Knight, Pale, spoke.

[What are you trying to do?]

[That’s what I would like to ask instead. Blue Knight, why are you not trying your hardest?]

[…]

[If you showed your real power, not to mention me, those behind me would be swept away simply by the aftermath. Nevertheless, you aren’t revealing more than 10% of your power right now.]

[I’m sure it’s the same for you.]

[I’m in a passive situation. If I exert my full power, you can respond to it. However, you are different.]

[…]

Pale’s sword attacks stopped for the first time.

She glanced at the staggering Lucid, then at those standing behind him, watching the fight, then at the surroundings.

[…if I do my best, this world will be destroyed.]

[What?]

[What kind of person do you think I am? Do you think I’d want that?]

…Her manner of speech changed.

For the first time, soft emotions mixed into Pale’s voice.

Only Lucid, who was nearby, and Iris, who was paying the most attention to their conversation, noticed.

Just as Iris’ lips moved slightly.

Boom boom boom!

Suddenly, dozens of spells poured down fiercely onto Pale’s body from the sky. Pale’s small body was quickly devoured by the magical storm and disappeared.

“Wh-, what was that? Did you allow someone to attack?”

Anastasia hurriedly asked Iris, but Iris’ expression was different from before.

“…no.”

“What?”

“It’s not someone we brought.”

The two looked towards the sky at the same time.

There, they saw a man standing in the pouring rain.

“Isn’t that…”

Anastasia’s eyes narrowed, then after scrutinising the man’s face, she uttered.

“…Lukas, Trowman…”

(1/2)