Adamantine Dragon

At this moment, Marcdrak had just crossed the boundary between worlds. He could feel everything he was slowly fading away...

According to the theories he had developed in the old days about inter-universe jumps, the natural laws of this new world were now trying to 'purge' him. As expected from another world, it clearly didn't welcome a foreign being, and thus, he was being disintegrated.

A grin appeared on his face. Marcdrak was not afraid of death. Not at all. On the contrary, he had lived far too long and didn’t mind—no, he welcomed it. After more than 40,000 years, he had grown weary of life, but he forced himself to carry on because they were there. They were with him, so he had to live. He had to go on. He had to protect them...

[Time: 2 minutes ago.]

[Place: Center of the Demon Realm, inside the main chamber of the floating castle of the Demon Emperor]

The Demon Emperor's enormous aura suddenly exploded, exerting pressure on everyone.

The invading army stormed through the 50-meter-wide black gate and entered the Demon Emperor's Chamber. There he was, on the far side of the chamber—the Golden Beast Demon, also known as the enemy of women, a name widely used to scare little girls. He was seated leisurely in the middle of an oversized Red Throne, which essentially served as his bed. In a split second, several female warriors gasped in amazement—the young-looking male was extremely handsome. At that moment, he definitely stole their hearts, but only for a moment. "If only he weren't the Demon Emperor..." they wished.

The man leisurely raised his head, briefly glancing at the intruders with his green eyes, and, finding nothing interesting, resumed petting an extremely beautiful girl who lay with her head on his lap.

[???: Y-You!]

Despite the oppressive aura of the Demon Emperor, one of the men suddenly stepped forward.

[???: Murderer of the Ellysian Emperor! Not only a kingslayer, but you also kidnapped the imperial princesses to make them your playthings!]

(The man seemed to think there were multiple princesses, though I thought he only took one.)

The young man continued.

[???: Today I'll make you pay! Today we will kill you!]

His voice was filled with fury. The Demon Emperor responded with a mocking smile.

[??? #2: Stop, Kine! This is going too far.]

Suddenly, a female elf sitting next to the throne stood up. Ah, that’s right—there were over a hundred females sitting on colorful cushions surrounding the throne. That number alone made all the male warriors furious, not to mention that each one was a first-class beauty. Envy fueled their animosity towards the young-looking man to its utmost.

[Kine: Allena! What are you talking about? I've come to save you!]

[Allena: Then stop, Kine. I'm here because I want to be. I was never forced...]

Hearing this, the man named Kine gave the Demon Emperor an even more hateful glare.

[Kine: Y-You! Even going as far as brainwashing... Kill him! Kill!!!!!!! Melthias!]

[Allena: Wait, Kine!]

The beautiful blonde elf was looking seriously nervous now; she knew the extent of Marcdrak's power all too well...

Three years ago in the Ellysian Empire, a major event occurred: The Emperor died and appointed his second son as his successor. But it wasn’t resolved easily. His brothers organized a coup and, after disposing of the legitimate successor, fought each other for the right to the throne. In the end, the fourth prince won, but simply winning the throne wasn’t enough for him.

After becoming Emperor, he grew paranoid and ordered the quiet assassination of his two sisters, who, thanks to the bloody struggle, had become next in line for succession. Allena saw all of her most trusted servants die right in front of her, and in her grief, she invoked an ancient curse and an ancient call. She cursed her fate and the world, and thus he answered. A contract was formed, and she offered herself as payment. Marcdrak came, murdered the new Emperor, wiped out most of the Elven army, slaughtered half the population of the capital, and then left—simple. This led to the current situation.

[Melthias: Right, Prince.]

An old man standing next to Kine raised his voice. Ironically, in the chaos, Kine's father, General Kane (originally 145th in line for succession), had become the new Emperor.

[Melthias: For the eltheal planes, your humble servant requires your protection, Meah-sama! DIVINE PROTECTION!]

[Allena: Wait, Melthias!]

The young elf princess knew the old man; he was a royal mage who had served the empire for the past millennium. He was one of the few who had achieved the highest Flow tier—the 12th circle! She turned her head to look at Marcdrak with pleading eyes. At that moment, the Demon Emperor was watching the mage with amusement, but just as he was about to raise his hand to sweep away those old bones along with the divine protection, he noticed those pleading eyes...

[Melthias: For revenge! For death! For retribution! I call thee Verdetea-sama, Mave-sama, Bloe-sama! BANISH!]

And that moment of hesitation was all it took.

An enormous black hole opened behind Marcdrak, and from within, countless black hands appeared, grabbing him to pull him inside.

To explain the situation, we need to talk about the gods' favors. Gods exist in the Flow world; they are an essential part of the ecosystem. Nature Gods fertilize the fields, while Death Gods take care of the remains of the departed. While these are natural favors, there are also special favors granted to the populace for their faith. Among them are spell-reinforcing favors, and to gather those favors, one needs to spend a huge amount of effort and time.

In that brief moment, the old mage had used four favors! To gather enough faith for four favors, even the Ellysian Empire would need at least a hundred years. A favor from Mave, goddess of night and death, granted the power of banishment. Supported by two more favors, Verdetea—god of darkness and revenge—and Bloe—god of hatred and retribution—these provided the power supply, using all the resentment a person had accumulated in his life to work against him. Unfortunately for Marcdrak, he had lived far too long, and in the past 40,000 years, he had slaughtered an uncountable number of beings... And all that malice was now coming back at him, all at once! Even Melthias was stunned by the power of the spell.

The Demon Emperor instantly summoned a great amount of power to resist... If only he had a bit more time, just a second more... The power was so immense that it broke through the universe's boundaries, throwing him out of his world. But by then, he had already gathered enough power to resist the curse...

[Place: Inter-dimensional Space]

He found himself in a blank white space, surrounded by countless white spheres and one black sphere. The black substances surrounding him were desperately pushing him toward the black one. Black chains formed and attached themselves to the black sphere, and the pull on him strengthened. But who was he? Now prepared, he didn’t budge a millimeter.

[Marc: Another inescapable prison, huh? So this is the power of all the malice I gathered during those 40,000 years? Quite weak.]

He announced this with a haughty voice. Though the situation might have looked bleak, during his long life, Marcdrak had developed a method to deal with all those inescapable seals and curses. That's right, the structure of the curse was definitely perfect. He could cut the chains, destroy them, tear them apart (that was easy), but everything would be repaired immediately... Left with no other choice, he raised his Flow output. Two meters away, his Flow condensed and formed a body...

A second Marcdrak came into existence. With the link between them, the second one was a perfect copy of the first. Two pairs of jade green eyes looked at each other. Both were identical in every fiber of their bodies, every fragment of their memories, and every corner of their souls—there was only one difference...

The Chained Marc put a hand on his chest, and a bright golden sphere formed in it. He grasped it and extended his hand toward the Free Marc.

[Chained Marc: Here. All my power and all their links, with this, you are the True one. Even though you are me, I'm still jealous.]

A mocking grin formed on the Chained Marc's face.

[Free Marc: Hm. Got it.]

The Free Marc took the golden sphere and absorbed it into his chest.

The Chained Marc carefully observed the process. Once it was finished, his duty was over, and he closed his eyes. The True Marc manifested a pitch-black blade in his right hand. This was the rule he had imposed on himself, and it wasn’t the first time he had done this. In fact, the Chained Marc had also killed the previous one as he inherited the power and links.

The True Marc raised his arm and swung down. However, at that instant, he received a spark of inspiration, and the black blade halted a centimeter away from the Chained Marc's shoulder.

[Chained Marc: What are you doing?]

He opened his eyes and stared at the mischievous smile on the True Marc's face.

[True Marc: Say...]

[Chained Marc: Do your duty.]

Vertical pupils in the Chained Marc's eyes contracted, leaving a slim line as his iris color changed to violet.

[True Marc: I was thinking that you could try it.]

The True Marc's irises also changed color to match.

[Chained Marc: Two of us cannot exist.]

The Chained Marc recited the vow he had made for himself.

[True Marc: True, however...]

[Chained Marc: Are you trying to insult me?]

[True Marc: Of course not. Insulting you is insulting myself, after all.]

[Chained Marc: I'm not afraid.]

[True Marc: I know.]

[Chained Marc: ...]

[True Marc: I thought about changing that vow a little.]

[Chained Marc: ...]

The Chained Marc's eyes shone with bright violet light.

[True Marc: Two of us cannot exist in one world. How about that?]

The light in Chained Marc's eyes dimmed in response.

[True Marc: How about it? Do you want to try that world?]

[Chained Marc: Are you sure?]

[True Marc: Heh, with the curse, there’s no way you’ll be able to escape that world, and I have my girls in mine.]

True Marc showed a self-mocking smile. Those girls were equivalent to the curse, maybe even worse. They forced him to stay, they forced him to move, they forced him to live.

The Chained Marc responded with a wide smile, the violet light disappearing from his eyes, reverting back to jade green. He was clearly pitying the True one.

[True Marc: Curse you. But you are me! You can't escape MY fate!]

True Marc raised his voice as he made a cut in the space between them. That was the signal for the start. The link between them broke. The black chains instantly gripped the Chained Marc and pulled him inside the black sphere. Now that he had lost all his powers, he couldn’t resist them at all. After swallowing him, the sphere turned white.

[True Marc: So it still remains... Well, if it didn’t, I would just escape that world after some time.]

True Marc nodded as he observed the black chains still surrounding the white sphere.

[True Marc: Now... Shall we resolve that problem?]

The playful aura dissipated as he turned back. He subconsciously knew which sphere led to his own world—or more like his link was showing him the way. "They are calling you," Marc could almost hear that mocking voice of himself as he moved towards the correct gate. Shaking his head in resignation, with a sheer amount of Flow, he forced the sphere to open, and he entered...

[Time: 1 minute ago]

[Place: Demon Emperor's Chamber]

[???: No!]

[???: No way...]

[???: Lord Marcdrak!]

[???: Marcdrak!]

[???: Marc!]

[???: Master!]

[???: ...]

Over a hundred voices were raised as almost all the girls in the room stood up. All of them knew the power of Marcdrak. For most of them, it was the first time they had seen an actual magic attack work against him. Normally, all attempts would bounce off him without even leaving a scratch.

[Allena: Melthias!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring him back!]

A loud voice roared throughout the room—it was Allena.

[Melthias: Princess Allena...]

The old man was speechless.

[???: So even after being banished, his control still remains? What now?]

An older female voice asked.

[Allena: Melthias...]

The Elf Princess' expression darkened as she summoned her Flow, stunning everyone present. The range of the Spirit magic she invoked was 10th circle. Among the invaders, there were only four people belonging to the highest class tier (10-12). The Elves were the most shocked—three years ago, Princess Allena’s power was at the 6th tier. Reaching the 6th tier at 500 years old, she had been acknowledged as a talented spirit mage, but to jump from 6th to 10th in just three years? That was impossible. Yet, there she was with an Emperor-class Water spirit...

[???: Calm down, everyone.]

One of the girls spoke up. An extremely beautiful redhead, likely someone of a higher tier here, because as soon as she raised her voice, all the girls fell silent, and most of them stopped panicking.

[Allena: But Miss Lily, Emperor Marcdrak...]

[???: It’s fine. As long as we’re here, then he is here.]

Another girl sat up. She was the one who had been sitting with Marc on the throne.

[Allena: Krishna-neesama...]

[???: Right. If we were to disappear, then you girls can start panicking.]

[Allena: Miss Nec...]

[Melthias: W-Who are you?]

The old man was clearly agitated. The moment ‘Miss Nec’ spoke up, he felt an indescribable shiver run through him.

[???: Me? Heh, the name His Majesty gave me is Mari, but you’ll most likely recognize me by the other one. It’s Necronomicon.]

[Melthias: Back! Fall back!]

The old mage roared as cold sweat ran down his face. The Necronomicon! The profane book of black magic. If she really was the Necronomicon, they all might just perish. Seeing the old man react in such an unusual manner, people started moving back towards the door. However, with just a flick of her fingers, the green-haired girl closed those massive doors behind them.

[Mari: You may have entered this castle, but without His Majesty’s permission, you may not leave... Not alive.]

A cold voice said, sending chills down the spines of all the men in the room.

[???: Kill.]

Another girl spoke up, emitting a breathtaking amount of killing intent. Immediately after her, most of the others followed her example.

[Krishna: Wait. They are Allena’s acquaintances, and Kaya, please calm down.]

[Lily: Heh, she can’t help herself—her beloved Marc was taken away, after all.]

[Kaya: Hmph.]

Kaya frowned. While these girls were leisurely talking to each other, the invading army was forced to hold their breath, unable to breathe properly due to the intensity of the killing intent.

[Krishna: Well, m'lord will be back soon, though... he is running a bit late...]

She was right. Normally, he would already be back, but at that moment, Marc was having a leisurely chat with himself.

[Kaya: 30 seconds. If Marc is not back by then, they all die.]

‘Kaya’ made up her mind. It seemed like it was the highest consensus she could reach. At that moment, a grand black vortex appeared above the throne.

[Mari: See? His Majesty is back.]

As if to confirm her words, a hand appeared and grabbed the edge of the vortex, and then he came... The Demon Emperor had returned...

[Place: New World, in the middle of nowhere.]

Back to the beginning. Marc smiled as he was disintegrating.

['Not chained anymore' Marc: Heh, as if. What fate? As if. I'm finally free.]

Very content, he closed his eyes. Now he only had to wait until everything was finished, and he would be able to enter his eternal rest. For the last time, he decided to enter his soul domain.

He appeared on the front terrace of his Floating Castle. It was just a reproduction of his original one and existed only inside his Soul Realm. He took a tour around it, reminiscing about the old times. Although it had been quite tiring, those were happy times—happy enough to force him to live, to move forward... In the end, he moved towards his chamber.

He was going to wait for the end on his throne. With a flick of his fingers, the massive black door opened to reveal the beautiful, rich interior...

There...

On top of his lavish Red Throne...

In the middle of violet cushions...

[--Marc--: C-C-C-Curses.]

There were seven girls sleeping.

[--Marc--: Curses! Curse you, FATE!]

A howl echoed throughout the hall as Marcdrak’s vertical pupils contracted, and his irises began glowing violet. And again—he was forced to live…