Chapter 344: Truth and Consequences

From the moment I learned the truth, not for a single moment have I stopped hating myself.

I’ve merely respected my brother’s wish—to live as long as I could, as he sacrificed himself to save me. But Deon Hart was always ready to end his own life.

For years, I postponed death in the name of revenge. Now that I’ve achieved even that goal of extending my lifespan, Deon raised his head and aimed a dagger at his own neck. A faint smile touched his lips.

“Sir Deon, what are you doing?!”

I thought I heard someone shouting my name, but it must have been my imagination. Which demon would worry about and stop the one who killed the Demon King?

Not just demons.

A parricide who killed his family. A fool who lost even his brother. A Hero who betrayed humanity. The Commander of the 0th Legion who betrayed the Demon Realm. A disaster that overturned the world, regardless of Human or Demon Realm… I’ve swept up every derogatory title imaginable. My death will bring joy to everyone. They might even throw a festival.

‘So, no fool would mourn my death.’

…Ben, rampaging at the edge of my vision, came into view.

I averted my gaze, pretending not to see him, and then the Demon King’s corpse caught my eye. Even with his chest pierced by a sword, the look in his eyes, filled with utter delight, flashed in my mind, and I simply closed my eyes.

It was disgusting.

‘…I could never be anyone’s salvation.’

Even Dan, who chose to approach and follow me, saw Deon Hart as a disaster, not salvation.

But, do you know what kind of eyes the Demon King looked at me with?

“He didn’t say ‘thank you,’ but his eyes said it all.”

He looked at me as if I were his salvation.

Beyond just delight, it was the adoring, joyful gaze he often showed, as if looking at something utterly beloved. Perhaps because it was the end, gratitude was clearly evident.

“You cowardly bastard, even at the very end.”

The Demon King, who didn’t hide his gaze, annoyed me, and I hated myself for ‘not knowing’ what he wanted most.

In the end, I’m just a cowardly fool who hasn’t done anything right, tired of life, and even gave up on the most important revenge.

‘…Still, I’m glad I can at least ensure this last revenge.’

I chuckled and moved my hand. As if according to my will, the dagger descended to sever my breath.

From a while ago, an unusually large number of crows had been gathering around, but I didn’t care. My life would end soon anyway.

…That would have been the case if an unidentified man hadn’t walked out from the flock of crows and stood before me.

“Sir Deon!”

Caw! Caw!

Flap!

Beyond the crows’ cries and flapping wings, Ed’s shout faintly reached me. It seemed he wasn’t just calling out to me but had even rushed over, yet he couldn’t approach further, blocked by the curtain of crows.

Deon, halting his movement at the bizarre phenomenon, quietly raised his gaze. A chilling sensation ran down his spine, and the source of the energy he had sickeningly felt countless times on the battlefield was right in front of him.

It took a human form, but it was definitely not human. Even at a glance, it was clear that this being could not belong to any race on this land. Overwhelmed by a terrible sense of incongruity, Deon tilted his head, forgetting even the dagger that had slightly pierced his neck.

“…Who are you?”

Drip. Blood finally trickled down his neck.

The man glanced at it and met his red pupils. The moment Deon, instantly overwhelmed, hardened his gaze, a low voice flowed out.

“Well… I believe you’re already somewhat anticipating it.”

“….”

“One who takes the breath of the living, halts movements, and an agent of all worlds. Humans call me with reverence, ‘Death.’”

“…What?”

“I wanted to converse with the being who manifested me, and just as you summoned me, I came immediately.”

His finger pointed to the dagger still slightly piercing his neck. Only then did Deon lower the dagger.

It was hard to understand the suddenly shifting situation.

“‘Death’? You are?”

Judging from the energy he felt, he had expected something related to death, but at most, he had guessed it would be a grim reaper or something similar, never imagining it would be ‘Death’ itself.

Death wasn’t supposed to be a formless existence in the first place?

‘Ah, right.’

He had called me the being who manifested him. Meaning he was originally a formless existence.

Even as death loomed, his mind quickly processed and pinpointed the part of Death’s statement that bothered him.

“…You said I manifested you. I think some explanation is needed.”

“It’s nothing much. It’s merely because of the large-scale massacre you conducted.”

“Massacre, you say….”

“Yes, massacre. When too many lives die in a short period, death stagnates on the earth and takes the form of the race of the perpetrator of such a massacre.”

Blood flowed in all directions. The continent was submerged in blood. Countless people cried out names that would never be answered, and lives became so cheap that they were offered as means. It had become such a world.

Death was saying that because death was stagnating on the land and couldn’t leave, it eventually coalesced and manifested.

…Was the reason I was overwhelmed for a moment because the opponent was ‘Death’? Deon frowned, stroking the wound on his neck that had already healed.

“Me summoning you is…”

“Related to the action you were taking just now.”

It was easy to understand.

Cutting off my own breath had become a way of summoning the manifested Death.

Anyway, it’s a situation where I have nothing to lose. ‘Death’ wouldn’t stop me from ending my own life.

I could ignore the guy in front of me and end my life right now, but… Deon looked at the being.

“You said you came because you wanted to talk to me?”

“Indeed.”

“Then, will you answer if I ask questions?”

“Especially for you, yes.”

“In that case….”

It would be a waste to just let go of this rare opportunity to talk to ‘Death.’

Even though words allowing questions had been spoken, Deon hesitated for a moment before finally voicing the question that had always been on his mind since the moment he learned the truth.

“What happens to people… after they die?”

“…….”

Death paused, silently looking down at Deon.

Unreadable expressions and gazes exchanged, and after a brief silence, a slightly delayed answer popped out.

“Do you remember the most famous folk song circulating on this continent?”

At this point, there’s only one folk song that could be mentioned.

Even the Demon King, who wasn’t human, knew it….

“…‘Death’s Advice’?”

“Yes. The advice I actually gave elsewhere flowed to this place and became a folk song.”

“Does that mean….”

Deon’s expression became subtle.

Regardless, the explanation continued as if not caring about a mere human’s expression.

“The sins that humans commit, big and small, accumulate as karma. After death, if their karma score is below average, they gain freedom, and if it exceeds the average, they are reincarnated into a miserable life.”

“…Reincarnation is a punishment?”

“Living and dying, which is more painful for you?”

“…….”

He understood instantly.

Deon, pausing his fidgeting with the blood-stained dagger, suddenly recalled the second verse of the song and opened his mouth.

“Then what does the second verse mean?”

「If you cannot help but commit sins.

Commit the greatest sin of all.

So that the moment you die, your soul shatters and vanishes, allowing you to evade the price of sin forever.

This is the greatest consideration I can offer.」

“Originally, the karma of sins committed in life is borne by both the body and soul. When the body dies, the soul bears it alone. Usually, the weight of karma is mainly borne by the body, so in this case, the soul, unable to bear the weight of karma, begins to shatter.”

“…So, the first verse said that the greater the scale of sin, the faster the reincarnation process.”

“Yes. Usually, even with the shattering speed, souls are reincarnated before they completely crumble… but very rarely, if karma excessively exceeds the average score, the soul shatters and vanishes at the moment of death. Starbe Illuster almost evaded the price of sin through this.”

Starbe Illuster… Duke?

‘Why is the Duke mentioned here?’

Deon’s face contorted at the unexpected mention of the figure.

Certainly, someone of the Duke’s stature would likely know even the forgotten second verse of a widely known folk song… He made people feel disgusted even in death, dying without regrets in life, and now he’s evading the price of sin even in death?

For a moment, he almost burst out in anger, but his reason, barely holding on, found a loophole in the words.

“‘Almost evaded’ means, he failed?”

“Making a contract with the Demon King and gaining magic power to use magic was good, but the problem was that the method was ‘curse.’”

Duke Starbe used his remaining magic power to curse Deon Hart.

“Curses directed at others tend to return to oneself.”

Magic is a grave sin that arbitrarily violates the core rules of the world, so beings who use magic usually have their souls shattered immediately upon death, but for Duke Starbe Illuster, there were the special circumstances of being a ‘human’ who contracted, not a demon himself, and magic that borrowed the form of sorcery, ‘curse,’ which was magic but not quite.

“The backlash from the curse bound his shattering soul and reincarnated him. It will be quite a miserable life.”

“…That’s good to hear.”

Annihilation is too easy.

I have no idea how painful soul shattering is, but still, to vanish in an instant, shattering so quickly that reincarnation is impossible, means that pain would disappear before it’s even recognized.

If I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have wanted to hear that Duke was evading the price of sin like that.

“But….”

I certainly understood that the price of sin is reincarnation. However.

“Is ‘freedom’ given to the sinless?”

A karma score below average means they lived quite virtuously. And the reward for that is ‘freedom’….

As if telling me not to look down on it, Death raised the corner of his lips.

“Yes, freedom. You can watch the human world from a comfortable space, or sleep until you feel like waking up. You can interfere in the human world or reincarnate under good conditions, or if you feel everything is tedious and meaningless, you can choose annihilation. For reference, annihilation is easier to understand if you think of it as an eternally unbroken deep sleep. There is no pain or anything.”

“…Wait, just now you said you could interfere in the human world.”

“Yes. But the more you interfere, the more karma accumulates, so you must be cautious.”

“…….”

The flower blooming on Cruel Hart’s grave came to mind. The message the flower conveyed, the white light that woke me from nightmares, the man who desperately shielded me from the curse surging like a tsunami in my dreams, flashed through my mind.

Interference in the human world was definitely within the scope of ‘freedom.’ ‘Freedom’ is a reward for those who lived virtuously, so that means….

“Ah, for reference, even sinners waiting to be reincarnated can interfere in the human world. Though usually, they can’t even think about it because of the pain of soul shattering.”

“…….”

“At least you have committed too many sins and will have to reincarnate several times. You will be reincarnated immediately before you even get to see the afterlife, let alone interfere in the human world. You will repeat a life full of pain until all the karma you have accumulated is reduced.”

“…That’s not what I was curious about.”

It wasn’t that I was curious about the Duke’s afterlife or what would happen to me after death that I started this conversation.

The Duke had been out of my mind from the moment I confirmed his death, and I didn’t care what would happen to me after death.

It’s just. What I was curious about is.

“…You said that karma accumulates if you interfere in the human world, but what happens if you exceed the average value that way?”

“Then you will have to go through the reincarnation process. You will be placed on a hot iron plate where sinners line up to reincarnate with their souls starting to shatter.”

“In that case… then Cruel is?”

Deon asked with a pale face. The question he had wanted to ask all along but hesitated to ask due to fear finally formed a sentence.

Is my brother, is Cruel alright?