https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-712-Confrontation-and-Judgment-Stare/13677597/
Chapter 713: The Swapped Status
When the [Sacred Day] ignited the sky, Wilhelm’s Radiance abruptly dimmed. His Wings flared with black flames, his irises lost their vibrant hues, becoming vertical pupils oozing molten sulfur. Even his Luminous Wheel twisted into a crimson inverted pentagram array.
"No... no—what have you done to me?!" Wilhelm writhed in midair, gasping heavily, his agonized wails shredding the air—his once-ethereal hymn now twisted into the mournful cries of lost souls.
Zaril’s voice echoed within his mind:
"Come now, His Majesty Wilhelm. Embrace the strength of Hell. Accept your new life—"
"Stop deceiving yourself! The sun is dead. In Avernus, you shall find immortality!"
As the light intensified, Wilhelm’s skin began to burn. Cracks split across his body, oozing black, tar-like substances—evidence of the Abyssal Darkness consuming his last vestiges of Divinity.
"Spines...!"
Under Hell’s corruption, his six wings snapped one by one, devoured by inky mist. Countless burning feathers scattered through the sky, drifting down like ash.
In the end, only a regiment of swirling black mist remained—its form monstrous, limbs distorted, flickering in and out of sight. From within, soul-shattering screams and beastly roars echoed.
Kai Xiusu gazed at the darkened Wilhelm in the distance, then spoke aloud, his voice thunderous:
"Behold, citizens of the Thrace Kingdom. Wilhelm, who claimed the title of Eternal Lord of Light, who called himself ‘King of Angels,’ ‘Emperor of Fadalan’—his deeds have been nothing but vile, corrupt, and utterly evil! When I tore off his gilded disguise, you should now understand—this is the king you once pledged allegiance to: a fallen soul, a sacrifice to the Bast Demon from Hell, a tyrant who betrayed his nation!"
His voice grew ever more passionate, rising and falling with dramatic force. Backlit by the [Sacred Day], he stood bathed in holy light, his scales blazing with radiant glory—truly resembling an Angel of Judgment descending upon sinners.
At that moment, Good and Evil seemed to have switched places. The world felt inverted. People stood frozen, lost, disoriented.
"Gods..."
"Amanata above! His Majesty Wilhelm—he’s truly fallen into Hell!"
"How tragic… the once-glorious King of Angels reduced to this!"
The Thracians looked up, their eyes fixed on the sky—the sacred dignity of the Red Dragon, then on the monstrous figure wrapped in black mist. Their hearts believed Kai Xiusu’s words.
So the Emperor of the Ashen Flame was truly the one chosen by the Sun God. No—perhaps it was the Dragon all along. And their so-called King Wilhelm? He was now a creature of Hell.
The realization struck them like a storm.
Could they truly remain loyal to a tyrant who sacrificed spiritual souls?
Once, they believed that dying for Thrace would earn them passage to Heaven.
Now… would they fall into Hell itself, becoming sustenance for demons?
"No! He’s lying! That evil dragon is deceiving you!"
A hoarse, rasping cry erupted from the black mist.
"I am still the same Wilhelm of old! I am the rightful heir! I will lead your domain to rise again—Sacred Fedran shall be reborn!"
The black mist had swollen to a diameter of a kilometer, pulsing like the womb of Hell—something monstrous growing within.
"Roar—!"
The mist dispersed. Wilhelm emerged from the thick darkness, standing tall.
Where his wings had been, jagged bone spines now sprouted—Devil’s wings, twisted and grotesque. A root-like thorn crown erupted from his spine. His once-perfect form had elongated, thin, and horribly distorted—now towering fifty meters high.
The Power of Original Sin coiled around him:
Pride took form as a crown of thorns upon his head,
Envy became a writhing mass of venomous vines,
Wrath forged into a lava spear clenched in his hand.
At last, Wilhelm had utterly renounced the Sun God. He cast aside the Radiance of Angelic Divine Offspring, surrendering his status—now a true Apostle of Hell, a Great Demon.
From that moment of complete fall:
The roses within the City of August withered instantly; thorns twisted into serpents.
The sacred white pigeons of the sun turned black, their feathers stained with blood. Their coos became the shrieks of hell ravens.
Blood coagulated in the sky, forming crimson clouds that blotted out the earth.
Witnessing such a sight, every Thracian trembled with dread, their hearts pounding in fear.
Deyef stared upward at the monstrous figure—no, the Devil—his expression deepening into something complex. After a long silence, he whispered:
"Farewell, His Majesty Wilhelm."
In his heart, the old king was already dead. What remained was a creature born from Hell.
When he looked again, his eyes burned with hostility and alertness.
Suddenly, he froze—something struck him.
"No... the refugees in the City of August!"
With grim determination, Deyef drew his longsword and leapt from the city wall, racing toward the heart of the city.
Meanwhile, Kai Xiusu watched the newly reborn Great Demon with quiet fascination, murmuring:
"A fallen Angelic Offspring, eh? Interesting."
[Fallen Monarch - Wilhelm]
Challenge Rating: 29
Had this been years ago, this [Fallen Monarch] might have been a worthy foe. But for Kai Xiusu now? He was merely a slightly troublesome minor boss.
Not even close to breaking the thirtieth threshold—how dare he boast before him?
In Kai Xiusu’s eyes, the true enemy wasn’t Wilhelm.
It was the one who had always hidden behind him—Zaril, the mastermind seeking to drag the entire August into the dominion of the Demon Lord from Hell.
"Perfect! With this strength, I can finally kill that Red Dragon and reclaim Sacred Fedran!"
Wilhelm laughed wildly, reveling in the power of Hell—unaware of the horrified stares from the citizens below.
But then he looked down.
His hands—now monstrous claws—had transformed. His skin, once smooth, now resembled molten lava, cracked and bubbling.
"No… what is this? This isn’t me! I am perfect—I am the Offspring of the Sun God!"
Shock, disbelief, then utter rage and madness twisted his face.
With his six tattered bat wings, he unleashed a hurricane-force storm, flooding the sky for thousands of meters with blood-red light.
"You! It was you!"
He glared at the Red Dragon in the distance, his black eyes blazing with Hellfire.
"Red Dragon! You stole everything from me! You turned me into this abomination! I will destroy your empire! I will hear your soul scream in Hell!"
Kai Xiusu hovered above the [Sacred Day], silent and cold—like a judge about to pronounce the death sentence.
"How pitiful. Did I have to point a rifle at your head and force you to sign a pact with Zaril, the madman? This is your own doing. You were blinded by power, consumed by greed. You brought this upon yourself."
Kai Xiusu’s sarcasm cut like a longsword through Wilhelm’s soul. And yet, it was the truth.
In Kai Xiusu’s memory, in a past life’s storyline, Wilhelm had also made a pact with Hell—seeking power and immortality. Many players had uncovered the clues.
But in that world, there had been no Empire of Ashen Existence. Wilhelm could still maintain his radiant facade, continuing his reign as nominal King of Thrace amidst the War of the Luminous Kings.
Now, exposed and stripped bare, Wilhelm screamed in fury.
"Kai Xiusu! I will kill you!"
He flapped his ruined wings, summoning another crimson storm that swept across the sky.
Then, he became a black blur, hurtling through the air with thick black fog and endless hatred, aiming straight for the Red Dragon above.
In an instant, soul-shattering screams filled the heavens.
"Who gave you the nerve—dare to fight a Red Dragon in melee?"
Kai Xiusu shook his head, amused. His movements were slow, deliberate.
"Shaa—!"
The [Sacred Day] flared once more, emitting ten-thousand-zhang light. Instantly, it burned through the thick black fog, revealing Wilhelm’s emaciated form—his body blazing with pain.
Kai Xiusu unleashed the True Dragon Sorcerer’s Surge of Magic, instantly reinforcing himself with a barrage of buffs—Strength, Constitution, Speed all surged to peak levels.
The Red Dragon, over sixty meters long, flared its wings and shot forward a thousand meters in a single heartbeat. A sonic boom roared behind it as it descended from above, its broad wings casting a shadow that swallowed Wilhelm whole.
Wilhelm’s world turned black. He looked up, panic-stricken, his throat trembling:
"Him... he’s just a Red Dragon—how can he be this fast?!"
But Kai Xiusu gave him no time to recover.
The Red Dragon circled high above, then, with unstoppable momentum, dove like a thunderbolt—seizing Wilhelm’s bat wings with one claw, lifting him as easily as a giant eagle seizing a chick.
"Damned Crawler! Now I am far stronger than you! I am an Apostle of Hell!"
Wilhelm roared, struggling violently. He flapped his Devil’s wings, unleashing torrents of Hellfire from his eyes and mouth. His corrupted Spiral Spear shot toward the Red Dragon’s heart.
But Kai Xiusu stood unmoving.
No evasion. No fear.
He stood firm as if stepping into a bath of fire.
As an Ancestral Red Dragon and Elemental Noble, unless a sovereign like the Evil Flame Prince intervened, fire—no matter how fierce, no matter how cursed—could not harm him. Not even Hellfire.
The Red Dragon’s claw closed around the spear, halting it mid-flight.
"Die, die, arrogant Crawler! I will make you pay!"
Wilhelm’s hands trembled. His eyes burned with hatred—but he couldn’t budge the spear an inch.
Only then did he realize: he had overestimated himself.
He had underestimated this Red Dragon.
This was the beast that had driven Ghuush’s Avatar from the Material Plane—a true Evil Dragon.
Even with Hell’s power, he stood no chance.
Now, he understood—Zaril’s promises had been lies.
Kai Xiusu locked eyes with him, then grinned—a menacing smile.
"Is this the power of Hell you wanted to defeat me with? How pathetic."
With a sudden, brutal force, his arm bulged with muscle, veins erupting like roots beneath his scales. Steam hissed from the gaps in his scales. Space itself cracked and screamed under the pressure.
Then—Sun God’s Power surged.
Golden light engulfed the Red Dragon’s claw, amplifying its strength.
The Spiral Spear trembled violently. Within seconds, it cracked with a sharp crack!—shattering like glass.
"Boom!"
A violent energy shockwave erupted. Mithril, Meteor Iron, and other precious metals exploded into fragments, scattering across the earth.
The Sub-Relic-grade [Spear of Final Judgment], a sacred heirloom of the Thrace Kingdom, a symbol of Angelic Offspring—shattered in one arm.
Kai Xiusu then slammed his foot down onto Wilhelm’s back. His right claw tore through flesh, plunged deep into bone, and seized the Hell Monster’s vertebral column.
With a mighty beat of its wings, the Red Dragon lifted the writhing creature into the sky, soaring ten thousand meters high.
"Look, Wilhelm. This was once your city—the wealth, the glory. But you’ve turned it into this wasteland. Don’t worry. After I kill you, I’ll keep it safe. And who knows? I might even fulfill your dream of unifying Sacred Fedran. How does that sound? Surprise?"
Kai Xiusu’s voice dripped with mockery.
Wilhelm screamed, writhing in agony.
"No! You can’t kill me! I am the one chosen by the Sun God! Only I—"
"Boom!"
His voice was drowned by the roar of air.
Kai Xiusu tightened his wings, diving into a freefall from ten kilometers up—spinning through the sky.
Speed surpassed sound. The air, razor-sharp from friction, tore through Wilhelm’s body—riddled with holes.
The friction heated the air to luminosity. Combined with the Red Dragon’s crimson radiance, the sky behind them burned red.
"You can’t kill me! The Sun God… He won’t spare you!"
Wilhelm gasped, barely audible.
Kai Xiusu laughed.
"Sun God? Still clinging to your delusion of being an Angelic Offspring? Even if that King awakens, he’d likely kill you first."
"No… impossible…"
Wilhelm’s voice cracked. Despair had taken hold.
He knew—he had committed sins too great even for a deity to forgive.
In front of hundreds of thousands, the Red Dragon carried the Hell Monster like a meteor, streaking toward the distant wasteland.
Yet now, Kai Xiusu stood as the radiant figure of righteousness.
And Wilhelm—the once-glorious king—was reduced to a monstrous shadow in the background.
(End of Chapter)
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