He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 156

“Sarah, Stella, if I don’t return within a day after entering, burn the palace to the ground. Ensure nothing inside survives.”

Then, before the Abyss collapses, leave with the Abyss race.

I issued my final order, just in case.

Even if I don’t die inside, if I fail to purify the Heart of the Abyss, the Abyss will perish.

This order was for that eventuality.

“But…”

“Understood. If it’s Your Majesty’s command. But please, return alive.”

Stella hesitated, while Igritt watched me silently.

Sarah, ever composed, spoke with her usual poise.

I smiled confidently at the three of them and stepped towards the palace, now a breeding ground for curses.

-Heh, heehee… Huhuheuk…….

“…A palace maid? Pitifully driven mad.”

An Abyss race maid, half of her face and body grotesquely distorted, was sobbing and laughing as if her soul had already departed.

Not just her, but throughout the palace, those who had remained were either sprawled out, driven mad, or dead.

Everyone had succumbed to the curse. Most weren’t as dangerous as this one.

-Die! We don’t need a queen or a ruler! Only despair and oblivion will rule the Abyss!

However, a few were raving madly and charging at me.

Churyurururuk- Pajijijik!

The problem was that some of these madmen were well-versed in Abyss magic.

Tentacles stretched out from all directions, and bolts of sea lightning magic flew towards me.

“How annoying.”

Chwaak- Shupat!

Of course, they were no match for me. I severed and dismembered the tentacles with dazzling swordsmanship and dodged the lightning using Blink [a short-range teleportation ability].

“Die.”

Seokeok!

Soon, I beheaded someone who appeared to be a court official.

-The curse… the Abyss whispers… I will dream forever!

However, already severely transformed into a sea wraith, he did not die even when his head was severed.

Kwajik!

“Sorry, but your dreams are over.”

You usurped the queen and enjoyed power for a long time, so I suppose you wouldn’t want to wake up from your dreams.

But things in the world don’t always go as you wish. Sorry, but you all have to die for the new world.

Chwaak! Seokeok! Shushuk! Paaaat!

I cut down everything I encountered while advancing through the palace.

Since there was no meaningful resistance, it wasn’t difficult to reach the audience chamber where the throne was located.

“…Here.”

And there, an unexpected sight unfolded.

-Hahaha, what a wonderful ball!

-The emperor of the human empire has also attended? Ha, an empire of land monkey race.

-It’s better than those arrogant tree-hugging elves who are so high-nosed.

-That’s true! Let’s just have a glass of shadow wine!

Instead of the ruined palace, it was a splendid Abyss ballroom.

Amidst the attendance of all kinds of races, the Abyss race was proudly enjoying the ball.

“Is it a hallucination…? No, it feels too real to be one.”

A hallucination with substance.

It was that powerful of a hallucination. There was no way ordinary power could be used to create this level of illusion magic.

I inevitably thought of the Heart of the Abyss.

-Everyone, let’s praise Her Majesty the Queen for creating this wonderful ball!

-Long live Her Majesty the Queen!

I walked across the ballroom towards the throne.

The queen was there. But if this ball was a hallucination truly showing the past, then that queen had to be Ktallion.

But it wasn’t Ktallion.

“Sellenbris.”

Ktallion’s enemy, the usurper who was once Ktallion’s maid.

She was sitting as queen, with the happiest expression in the world.

This wasn’t a hallucination of the past, but just her dream.

She was merely using a powerful illusion that turned this space itself into a dream.

“How do I break this?”

A power that turns the space itself into an illusion.

Unless I break the illusion of this space, no matter what attack I use, it will be useless.

-You wretch! Can’t you even serve properly!

“Hmm?”

While pondering a method for a moment, I heard Sellenbris’s voice.

She was suddenly scolding a maid.

Of course, a high-ranking person like a queen wouldn’t get angry at every mistake of a maid, so it must be a dream production.

“…Wait, the maid is Ktallion?”

And ridiculously, that maid was Ktallion.

It seemed her inferiority complex towards her was quite severe.

-I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty.

-You wretch! That’s why you can’t make it!

-Huhuheuk…….

Even the Ktallion who was a maid had a timid and weak demeanor, unlike the Ktallion I knew.

…Even if it’s a dream, it’s too artificial. Well, it’s a dream, so….

“Wait, artificial? Because it’s a dream? Then…”

Conversely, if I create an awareness that it’s not artificial, that it’s not a dream, then she’ll wake up, right?

In movies about dreams, they call it a kick [an action to wake someone up from a dream].

Of course, there’s also lucid dreaming [being aware that you are dreaming], so simply making her aware won’t do.

There must be awareness and shock at the same time.

In that case….

“Sellenbris.”

“…Hmm? Who dares to call me?”

“Have you forgotten me?”

“You are… who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

If she’s never seen me before, then that person hasn’t appeared in her dream yet.

Good, then things will work out well.

“It’s me. The emperor of the empire. I was invited to this ball, you know?”

What I’m trying to imitate is the first emperor.

According to Ktallion, Sellenbris also admired him, so I was planning to act like him.

“Kalintz? Is that really you? Oh, finally… have you finally returned to me?”

But something about her reaction is strange. It was as if she had never seen the first emperor even in her dreams.

Well, it doesn’t matter. It’ll work even better that way.

“No, I didn’t come to see you.”

“Yes?”

So you’re dreaming of someone you’ve desperately loved, huh?

“You there, your name is Ktallion, right?”

“H-How do you know my name…”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Teop-

I grabbed Ktallion’s illusion and pulled her in.

Then I kissed her. Even though it was an illusion, the sensation was very realistic.

“K-Keueueue… N-No wayyyyyy! Even in my dreams…!”

Jjeok, Jjeojeojeok-

The illusion began to crack.

Sellenbris was shedding tears of blood as she watched me, whom she mistook for the first emperor, kissing Ktallion.

“Ah… a dream… it was.”

But even Ktallion’s illusion was reacting strangely.

Is it because it’s a powerful illusion with substance? She was acting like a real person.

“Yeah, sorry. I did what I wanted.”

“No, rather… thank you.”

Jjeok-

“Then, goodbye. Again-”

Jjeong-

Before I could finish my last words, the illusion shattered.

Where the illusion shattered, there was only an empty audience chamber where only a desolate curse lingered, which now even looked eerie.

The throne that was there, and the queen with a hideous appearance sitting there.

Kung- Kung-

And the Heart of the Abyss.

The heart, swollen and enlarged as if afflicted with cancer, and dripping with a black blood-like curse, was beating laboriously.

“Kyaaaaa…! Kalintz! Why did you choose her again! I’ll kill you!”

“Still talking in your sleep?”

Sureureung-

I drew Silver Rose again.

The silver radiance drove away all the curses that Sellenbris spewed out.

Sharp and hard tentacles then covered me, but they couldn’t stop me now.

Puuk!

“Keueueueue-! I am the queen! I am the queen! The crown of the Abyss is mine!”

“There is no eternal king. The queen is no exception.”

Chwaak, Seokeok!

I beheaded her.

Heuooooooo-

“Hmm?”

But her death was not permitted, whether she wanted it or not.

As her life was cut off with her head, her body soon turned into ashes and reverted to the heart.

The heart, absorbing her remnants, pulsed rapidly as if in pain, and soon created a new being made of curses.

-Kkiaaaaaaaaak!

Hair faded to gray, a black scale dress, a rusty and seaweed-covered crown, and a dagger full of curses in her hand.

It was Sellenbris, returned as the queen of the black sirens.

-Kalintz! Look at me, love me!

“Hey, don’t come at me so scary while saying those words!”

She spoke like a lover begging for affection, but she was running at me as if to stab me with the black dagger in her hand.

Chwaak!

Of course, I mercilessly cut her down with Silver Rose.

Seuseuseuseuseu-

“What?”

Even when Silver Rose cut her, it was as if she was cutting through the air as ashes scattered.

Silver Rose, which could harm even magical beings, seemed to be of no use at all.

-I will not forgive you! I won’t give you to anyone! Especially not to that bitch!

Chwaak!

“Damn it!”

On the other hand, even though the black dagger she wielded was clumsy, the curse imbued in it was too powerful.

Even a graze on the armor left a terrible curse, trying to melt it away as if exposed to strong acid.

If Silvanstein hadn’t been dwelling in the armor, it would have melted away in an instant.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

[Divinity Deployment]

[Silver Rose is imbued with the blessing of exorcism.]

[Deals greater damage to incorporeal evil beings.]

Chwaak!

This time, I felt the sensation.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

And she screamed as if in pain.

Seokeok!

Not missing the opportunity, I beheaded her again.

Heuoooooo-

But this time too, she turned to ashes and returned to the heart.

-Kalintz, why do you hate me?

-Ktallion, is it because of that bitch? Did that woman bewitch you?

“This will never end.”

This time, two of them appeared. Continuing to cut them down like this didn’t seem like it would improve the situation.

In the end, the solution came down to one thing.

I have to purify that heart. Or… destroy it.

But I can’t choose the method of destroying it.

I broke Ktallion’s dagger myself, but in order to save the Abyss and Ktallion, I shouldn’t destroy it anyway.

Then how should I purify it?

-Use Sellenbris’s dagger.

“…!”

At that moment, I heard someone whispering.

“Who is it?”

-There is no time. Take her dagger, Emperor of the Empire.

That voice, strong yet gentle, merciful yet filled with passion and holy anger towards evil.

“You don’t mean… Tch, I have to take that first!”

I think I know who he is, but first, I decided to take the dagger as he told me.

I already knew the method. It was even easier since there were two of them.

Seokeok! Teop!

This time too, I cut off her arm with a blow imbued with divinity and took the dagger.

But as if trying to return to the Heart of the Abyss again, her cursed dagger was also trying to disappear.

“What should I do now?”

-Stab it into your heart.

“What? Why would I do that?”

Is he telling me to die? No matter how much I’m helping Ktallion, I can’t give up my life.

-Trust me, Emperor. Stab your heart, where the soul of the empire flows. That is the only way.

“Damn it.”

But the person speaking was someone I couldn’t help but trust, to the point of being unfair.

I took the dagger.

“I’ll trust only you, First Emperor.”

Puuk!

The black dagger pierced the heart of the empire.