St!


    The Emperor didn''t hesitate at all. Instead, she seemed to use all her strength to send the holy sword in her hand directly into her heart.


    The thick, holy radiance instantly pierced through her chest, and arge amount of purple, tainted blood stained her robe.


    The swaying Emperor fell from the golden throne.


    It was as if dering the fall of humanity.


    The Emperor, who had tumbled down, had disheveled clothes. Only then did it be clear that the Emperor no longer had a human form. Beneath the thick imperial robe was an obese, mutated flesh monster, just like the one seen in Stillwater Prison before, having be a child of the Evil God.


    The only difference might be that although the Emperor''s appearance had been corrupted and transformed, she still retained her own consciousness.


    "You... you madwoman!!"


    When the dazed Eileen came back to her senses and sensed the Emperor, who was now lying on the ground, on the verge of death, with her life force rapidly fading away, she screamed at the top of her lungs. At this moment, the Subus was also about to go crazy.


    Because...


    "King! King!!"


    Just as the Emperor had said before.


    If they wanted to preserve the Demon King, the Emperor couldn''t be killed. At least at this critical juncture, the Emperor couldn''t die.


    Otherwise, with arge number of humans already transformed into faceless people, and the Emperor''s death, under the judgment of the "rules," the human civilization of this world would be considered destroyed, and the "Demon King" would also disappear along with it.


    Eileen could see Reji''s body gradually fading away, and her connection with the Demon King was indeed disappearing along with the Emperor''s fading life force.


    "Is this what you wanted?! You want to use the entire human race to achieve your revenge?!"


    Facing the frenzied Subus, the Emperor, now a flesh monster with only a vaguely human face remaining in the pool of blood, remained silent and closed her eyes, as if quietly weing her death.


    And Eileen could only watch helplessly as all of this unfolded, with no way to stop it.


    For the demon race, this was undoubtedly a victory. With the Emperor''s demise and theplete destruction of humanity, their revenge wasplete.


    But... How could this be called revenge?


    What was the point of a world without the Demon King?!


    Summon a new king?


    No!No, no, no, no!!!


    Absolutely not!


    I would never ept any new king! Never! No!


    But the demon race couldn''t be without a king...


    What if the other apostles insisted on continuing the new summoning ceremony?


    Right.


    Got it.


    Kill them.


    Kill them all.


    The Demon King title forever belongs only to Lord Reji!


    If there must be a new king, then I... I would be that new king! I would temporarily rece Lord Reji and continue to rule the demon race. And then, then... yes.


    Destruction.


    A demon race without Lord Reji had no reason to exist anymore! Die! All of you, die!!


    A substance simr to "ck mud" gradually appeared on Eileen, who was close to going "berserk" at this moment.


    The Subus''s originally fair skin began to show bizarre ck stripes along with Eileen''s out-of-control mind. It was a pattern that would make people feel ufortable and extremely evil at first nce.


    The Emperor, who had been closing her eyes and waiting for death, now reopened them and looked at the Subus, who was currently being "transformed," with a look of sympathy, pity, and even more so... sorrow.


    She had said that Eileen was very simr to her.


    Even their reactions after losing the "Descender" were exactly the same, so familiar.


    "Sorry."


    The Emperor spoke in an extremely weak voice, emitting a faint sound. This was a heartfelt utterance because she had personally experienced it, so she also understood Eileen''s feelings at this moment.


    But for the Subus, who had already gone berserk and lost her reason, this was like adding fuel to the fire.


    Eileen, who was already enveloped by arge amount of "ck fog" and filled with evil patterns, vented her boundless anger on the Emperor.


    "Die! Die! All of you, die!!"


    Just as the thorn whip woven from ck mud was about tosh down on the Emperor''s head.


    Finally, another voice that had been "silent" for a long time spoke up at this moment.


    "Eileen, it''s not over yet."


    "She is deliberately provoking you. If you really do this, you''ll fall into her trap."


    Reji, who was about to disappear along with the Emperor''s declining life force, came to the Emperor''s side and stopped Eileen.


    At this point, the only one who could stop the berserk Subus was Reji.


    Reji''s voice made Eileen slightly more sober.


    The ck fog on her body also dissipated a little, and the vaguely visible evil patterns on her body dimmed reluctantly.


    "Yes, we can''t kill her, but she has already... wait, I know! Lord Reji, you must have a way to revive her, right? Right? It must be!"


    Eileen grasped at the straw of hope.


    Reji first nodded, then shook his head.


    "Eileen, thank you. If it weren''t for the time you bought me to think, I''m afraid the Emperor would have really seeded."


    "But now..."


    "Emperor, I have understood your true n. Your death is not the end, but rather the beginning of everything, right?"


    The Emperor still kept her eyes closed, unmoved.


    Until... Reji came to the holy sword that had pierced her chest.


    "Using the holy sword to disguise that relic, you were still trying to numb me until the very end? But actually, I knew. From the moment you started transforming all humans, from the moment you started destroying humanity, I understood what your final trump card was."


    "You had already created a certain save point at another node. I guess it should be before the humans were transformed, right? No, perhaps even earlier, a few months ago, when the demon race had not yet descended? The Descender''s words are a bit difficult to understand. To put it in simpler terms, it''s... time reversal."


    "Your biggest trump card, and also your strongest Hero''s Relic, is this, right? Time reversal."


    As Reji spoke, he reached out and touched the holy sword in front of the Emperor''s chest. Correspondingly, the holy sword itself did not respond to Reji. Instead, at the indentation of the hilt, a certain inconspicuous stone suddenly began to glow.


    "So as long as you eliminate me in this timeline, after you load the save, even if you return to the past timeline, it will still take effect? Meaning that the demon race will be unable to summon the Demon King, right?"


    "In this way, you can easily eliminate the demon race, allowing humanity topletely remove the greatest threat without deploying a single soldier or suffering any casualties."


    At the end, Reji sighed.


    Finally, he ced his hand on the Emperor''s ugly and distorted face, which had long mutated into a "flesh child," on her head. Then Reji leaned down and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear:


    "After a thousand years, you really haven''t changed, Freya."


    The Emperor''s eyes snapped open.


    She couldn''t hold back anymore.


    She stared with wide eyes, her pupils trembling violently. She finally realized something, but it was toote.


    Reji''s palm touched the "Philosopher''s Stone" on the holy sword.


    At that moment, everything around them seemed to be frozen.


    Then, the sttered blood began to retreat back to its original ce, and the Emperor, who had originallymitted suicide and rolled off the throne, began to be forcibly restored.


    To be precise, it should be... Except for Reji, everything else''s time was reversing.


    This was the strongest relic.


    It was also the yer''s strongest ability in the game, loading a save.


    In thest moment before being forcibly "time-reversed," the Emperor still stared fixedly at Reji, filled with countless emotions converging together.


    Because... Freya was very certain that the Descenders indeed possessed simr relics, but there was only one thing that was absolutely "exclusive" to each Descender.


    That was the only "special" relic.


    It was unique.


    It was something that other "Descenders" absolutely could not use.


    That was... the Philosopher''s Stone.


    Because what was preserved here were memories, precious memories, the proof of the "Descender''s" existence. Even a new "Descender" absolutely could not use this relic.


    Unless...


    Unless...


    Buzz!


    From the moment Reji touched the stone, Freya''s dominance disappeared. This Emperor finally became one of those who would be "reversed."


    The reversal power of the Philosopher''s Stone ultimately devoured everything.


    The gray light, with Reji, who had retained his "color," as the center, engulfed Freya, engulfed Eileen, engulfed the empire, then engulfed... the entire world.