Chapter 432: Epilogue (1)

Tesranach opened his eyes. Yet another failure?

There was no need to be disappointed. He was already used to failure. What really mattered was the resolve to never give, until the very end.

To save the world, he had to act first. Then I'll start again.

He rose to his feet, spreading his wings and stretching out his long neck and tail, along with his four limbs. Then he froze. Wait. Isn't this my old body?

To steal the fate of the Monarch of Death, he needed the name Tesranach and Lord Varos's body. Thus, ever since becoming Tesranach, he had always awakened within Varos's discarded body. But now, for the first time in a long while, he had returned to the body of the dragon emperor.

What's going on? It took him a moment to come to understand. I didn't awaken in a physical body.

He was still a soul. He had not yet returned to flesh. This body, too, was merely a spiritual form. And yet, it possessed substance. In this world, a body formed of spirit existed physically.

Only then did Tesranach notice that the scenery around him was... different. At first glance, it resembled reality. But the colors were different, the contours unfamiliar. Mountains, fields, and forests were painted in astonishingly vivid hues, and above him was a crimson sun and a deep blue sky.

The entire world looked like a dreamscape drenched in brilliant color. It was an unreal, almost childlike, fantastical world.

"My... goodness..." The dragon emperor's wisdom pierced through the nature of the world. "A reversed world where death has become life... what is this?"

Fear crept over him. Whenever darkness or death was involved, there was one thought that inevitably came first. Karnak... What has that man done this time?

***

The massive dragon, hundreds of meters long, soared through the sky. The air, filled with death energy, felt remarkably pure. The land, composed of malice, felt richly fertile. In this world, the foul energies of reality were reversed, purified instead.

What a strange sensation...

After flying for a while, he spotted something beyond a distant mountain range. Against the backdrop of a vast plain, tens of thousands of troops were locked in fierce battle. Grotesque monsters surged forward like a tidal wave.

They were beings from another dimension, demons of hell invading this world. And they were being met by a human army. No—not just humans. There were elves of the fairy race, dwarves, and even dragons among them.

At the forefront stood a man and a woman leading them all. It was a middle-aged man in armor swinging a golden sword, as well as a woman with flowing golden hair unleashed terrifying magic in rapid succession, sweeping away the demons.

Tesranach narrowed his eyes. The faces were familiar. Dreltein and Elezar?

He lowered himself and headed toward the battlefield.

I don't know what's going on, but... Under no circumstances could demons of hell be allies. The colossal dragon exhaled a breath. A pillar of light swept across the demons, annihilating thousands of them in an instant.

Faced with overwhelming destruction, the demons' momentum broke. One by one, they retreated, until eventually they all fled beyond the boundaries of the world. As the battle ended, all eyes turned to Tesranach.

"A new dragon has joined the fight?"

"But why are they so huge?"

In truth, even during the battle, everyone had noticed his presence. A size of five hundred meters was impossible to miss. Finding it inconvenient to move around like this, Tesranach shrank into a two-meter-tall draconic humanoid, a drakan.

As he approached, Dreltein frowned in confusion. "Grateria? No... Tesranach?"

Elezar shook her head. "It seems to be Tesranach. The feeling is different."

The Dragon Eye of Insight allowed him to perceive their true nature. I see.

They were the future Elezar and Dreltein who had once been controlled by the Monarch of Death. But that control had been completely broken. No longer servants of evil, they were now the souls of heroes who had once protected humanity.

He had thought they had died in the final battle. He had never expected to see them again like this. He had to ask, "Why are you here?"

Dreltein looked even more puzzled and asked in return, "What is so strange about the dead being in the world of the dead?"

"The world of the dead?"

Only then did Elezar notice that Tesranach's voice was trembling ever so slightly. "It seems you don't know yet?"

"Ah, that could be the case."

Elezar briefly explained the creation of the afterlife. Upon hearing the truth of this world at last, Tesranach's expression shifted in a strange way. "Then... does that mean he will no longer return through time?"

"Even if he wanted to, he can't anymore," explained Elezar. Astra Shunaph had become the afterlife itself. It was no longer bound to Karnak alone. "He is still the ruler of the afterlife, but not the master of death."

"I see..." With a hollow expression, Tesranach gazed up at the sky for a moment. So it was true... that there was another way.

His expression was not one of joy nor sorrow, neither anger nor elation. It was something far more complicated.

Then what have I... been doing all this time?

Meanwhile, Elezar and Dreltein's forces had already reorganized their ranks and completed preparations to withdraw.

Tesranach asked, "What exactly are you doing here?"

Dreltein answered plainly, "We are protecting this world."

This was the afterlife, a world where the souls of the dead found rest. To the demons of hell, it was nothing less than a treasure vault filled with gold and riches. After all, what they valued most were human souls.

Since the creation of the afterlife, invasions from hell had occurred repeatedly. And so, those who had been powerful in life had risen once more after death and took up their swords again.

"It's not forced. He never compelled us."

"We're simply protecting what we want to protect."

It was not just Dreltein and Elezar. All the heroes, past and future, who had been caught up in the battle between Karnak and Tesranach were now fighting for this new world. There were the archmages, Giyen Ren and Diogres Kolon. There were the martial kings, including Leven Strauss, Malican Thun, Gellard Strauss, Batalok, and even Emil Strauss.

As for the fallen popes, they did not remain in the afterlife. They had ascended, each to the heaven of the goddess they believed in.

"Then..." Still unable to believe it, Tesranach asked again, "Have you forgiven him? No, have you forgiven us?"

Dreltein and Elezar gave cold smiles.

"Of course not." They had merely accepted it. They had accepted his existence, the sins of the Monarch of Death, and even this world. "Since the immutable evil has changed, we have no choice but to change as well."

Anger and hatred did not disappear easily. They simply soothed them and let them settle over time. This world had been created for that very purpose.

"I see..." Tesranach looked up at the sky once more. "Where is he?"

The two answered in turn.

"You mean the king of the afterlife?"

"He resides in his palace." Elezar pointed toward the far reaches of the sky. "At the heart of the afterlife, Vespera de Ortus."

Far in the distance, he could feel the energy of the world converging at a single point. Tesranach took to the air once more.

***

He continued to beat his wings, heading toward where the flow of the world guided him. Villages could be seen scattered throughout the afterlife. More precisely, villages of the dead. All of them were living their lives after death.

They woke in the morning, went out to the fields, tended their homes, and cared for their children. Among them were faces he recognized.

"Mom, I made a necklace out of wildflowers!" A little girl, no more than five years old, ran up to a middle-aged woman, smiling brightly as she held out her tiny hands. "It's for you!"

"Oh my, how lovely." The woman took the flower necklace and hesitated for a moment. It was too small. She gently placed it on her head instead and smiled warmly. "Thank you for the flower crown, Lapicel."

"It's a necklace!"

He saw those he had killed, those who had died because of him. Those killed by the Monarch of Death. Those who had died because of the Monarch of Death. Tesranach continued to fly as he passed by them all.

***

At last, a vast city came into view, one that held within it a grand palace. It was the imperial palace of the afterlife, Vespera de Ortus. Countless souls stood in a long line at the palace entrance. The line stretched so far that its end could not be seen.

Hundreds of men carrying scythes and women in robes moved back and forth along the line, managing the crowd.

"Alright, alright, stay in line properly."

"The process will be over soon."

"You're all dead anyway, so you've got plenty of time, right? Why the rush?"

Only after observing for a while did Tesranach understand what they were. The afterlife was a world where souls took on substance. The men with scythes were specters, and the women in robes were wraiths.

The very same evil spirits that were infamous in the material world were merely running errands here.

This is absurd...

Tesranach shifted into the form of a draconic humanoid and stepped toward the front of the line. At the palace entrance, a black-haired woman scolded him. "Hey, you—get in line properly!"

Tesranach stared blankly at her. "Maloka?"

It wasn't just Maloka. Demphis was there as well. Neither of them appeared as archliches but in the forms they had in life.

They recognized Tesranach too.

"Grateria? Or Tesranach?"

"It must be Tesranach. The dragon emperor wouldn't have died already."

Their attitude was similar to Dreltein and Elezar's. There was no sign of hostility, just the sense that something inevitable had arrived.

Tesranach pointed at the long line of souls and repeated the question he had asked at the boundary of the afterlife. "What exactly are you doing here?"

Demphis shrugged. "We're judging good and evil, sorting souls, and weighing the severity of their sins."

Maloka scratched her head and continued. "Well, that's how it's taught in the living world..."

But in truth, this was a more accurate way to put it. "We're basically handing out residency permits for the afterlife."

At its core, it was about guiding the dead to places where they could stay in the afterlife. However, even if death embraced all equally, there would always be those who were evil. And even the mere presence of the wicked could turn another's world into a living hell.

They had no intention of letting the afterlife they had painstakingly created become such a place. So they judged the weight of each soul's sins and assigned appropriate labor. Depending on the severity of their crimes, they were sent to the borders of the afterlife to fight off demons from hell.

Among the good, there were those who wished to protect the afterlife as well. The wicked would serve under them, atoning for their sins in life.

"Of course, like most villains, they don't listen very well."

"But once they're sent out there, they tend to behave."

The four great archliches had taken on the roles of administrators and judges of the afterlife. From the beginning, they had been better suited to administration than combat. It was, in a way, a return to what they did best.

"So he didn't stop at simply creating the afterlife. You're even tending to the souls who reside here?" Tesranach clicked his tongue in disbelief. "I never thought he would act like this."

Demphis let out a small chuckle. "This isn't something he ordered us to do."

"Honestly, he probably never even thought of it." Turning toward the palace, Maloka spoke calmly. "This is an order from our queen."