The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 209

Cort gritted his teeth. He was furious, even though he tried to hide it.

He wanted to scream, but since he was talking to the Chronos Empire, he tried hard to hide his anger.

“…Are you using us as bait?”

“[Bait? That’s a strong word. We didn’t force you to do anything. You agreed to kill Roman Dmitry. You were happy to take the big reward. If you had done the job as planned, we would have paid you everything we promised.]”

It was a fair deal.

However, Baron Charlton wanted to make sure the job was done right.

“[Think about this. The Emperor himself said he wants Roman Dmitry dead. Everyone on the continent knows we want Roman Dmitry’s life. If it fails, what will happen to the Empire’s reputation? We just made a smart choice. We really hoped Echorse would succeed. But this mission was too important to only trust you.]”

Roman Dmitry was not an easy opponent.

When Roman Dmitry killed Count Fabio and Commander Gustavo, he showed amazing power. Because of what he did before, we thought he might be even stronger than he looked.

So, we needed to plan very carefully.

We wanted Echorse to do it first, but we also prepared a secret weapon.

“[I hope you understand why we did this. We couldn’t trust Echorse alone with something so important for Chronos’ reputation, could we?]”

“…Damn it.”

He wanted to curse.

Charlton’s words. Cort understood what they meant. They never really trusted Echorse.

If they had another weapon ready, they could have used it with Echorse to attack Roman Dmitry together.

It was just fancy talk. They used Echorse as a shield.

They wanted to save their own power. They sent Echorse to die, knowing Echorse couldn’t win alone.

Just then, blood came up in his throat.

“Cough.”

He knelt down. His body shook violently. His face became white as paper, and sweat poured down.

The liquid Lucas had given him was definitely poison.

And the fact that it was now taking effect meant only one thing.

‘Did they calculate the minimum time for me to report what happened in Dmitry?’

He was sure of it. He didn’t walk, but used the magic device to talk. Dmitry knew he would do that.

Now he thought about it, he remembered something Lucas said.

They wanted everyone to know what happens if you mess with Dmitry. Dante was there, watching him die, to show everyone that lesson.

He felt like his mind was collapsing.

Charlton’s words and what was happening to him made Cort look at Charlton with angry, bloodshot eyes.

Maybe the Dmitry he experienced guessed what Chronos would do.

They were more dangerous than he thought, but seeing Baron Charlton, he didn’t want to tell him the truth.

Let them figure it out themselves. He glared in pain, then slammed his face into the ground.

“[Oh dear, what a shame.]” Baron Charlton looked at Cort, pretending to be sad.

Cort was finished. This was a sad end for a great assassin.

Roman Dmitry left the city. He was going back to Cairo. After walking for a while, he stopped.

“Come out.”

As if darkness itself was moving, mysterious figures came out of the shadows.

“Since when have you known of our existence?”

A dull and unpleasant voice.

More than ten people. They all wore black cloths over their faces. You could only see their eyes. They were completely black, with no white parts. It was impossible to see where they were looking.

Front and back. On the trees. They surrounded him from all sides.

They held their daggers pointing down, ready to attack.

Their look. In the Chronos Empire, there was a group like them.

‘These are the Shadows of Chronos. People say they are made of darkness. The Empire talks about its ten shining swords, but the Shadows are the Empire’s dark secret. I knew it. The Emperor sent his most dangerous killers.’

The Shadows. They had no names.

But no one denied their existence.

Anyone who fought against the Chronos Empire was attacked by the Shadows. People found dead in terrible ways showed that the Shadows were real.

People called them ‘the three shadows,’ but nobody was sure if there were really only three. Once, Shadows were seen in many places at the same time. So, people guessed there were three. Nobody knew for sure how many Shadows there were or how strong they were.

This situation. He had expected it.

Chronos. They always wanted to be special.

Their Emperor was like a god to them. When he said he wanted Roman Dmitry killed, they couldn’t just trust groups like Echorse to do it.

It was easy to understand if you knew how powerful people think.

If something *had* to work, the Shadows had to be involved.

But Roman Dmitry still crossed the border. He knew Chronos wanted him to leave Dmitry’s land. He knew revenge on Echorse wasn’t the most important thing right now. But he wanted to set an example.

He burned Echorse’s base. Brakan’s head was put on display in the street. Dante would tell everyone that Dmitry did it.

That was his message. He wanted any future assassins who might fight Dmitry to know what would happen to them.

Now. It was time to show the Chronos Empire what fighting him really meant.

The question of when he knew.

Roman Dmitry smiled. “From the beginning.”

At that moment, the Shadows rushed towards Roman Dmitry all at once.

He drew his sword.

As the gleaming sword cut down the first Shadow rushing towards him, his body scattered like smoke.

Fwoosh.

It wasn’t magic, but a strange, unknown power.

The Shadow’s body came back together a few steps away. Dark energy came from the Shadow’s dagger. It attacked Roman Dmitry.

For a moment, he felt a strong urge.

The Shadows attacked him one after another. Roman Dmitry blocked attacks from everywhere and looked for a chance to strike back.

‘Lightning Flash.’

Flash. He cut off the enemy’s neck.

They moved so fast, it was impossible to see them coming. If turning into smoke was something they could control, then this attack should have been deadly. But something else happened.

Their bodies seemed to melt into smoke around their necks, like candles blown out, but their black eyes, like chips of night, never left Roman Dmitry. They were fearless, or perhaps they didn’t feel pain. Even when Roman Dmitry’s attacks would have crushed any normal person, they kept attacking him.

CRASH! BOOM! It sounded like thunder when their powers hit each other. Sparks of light flew out as their auras clashed. Even though he was surrounded, Roman Dmitry was like a storm himself, pushing forward. The shadows stumbled back, confused by his strength.

A thick darkness suddenly rose, like black smoke from a fire. It snaked around Roman Dmitry’s body, like the slimy tentacles of a sea monster trying to drown him. But Roman Dmitry was ready. He roared with power, and a wave of bright energy exploded outwards, blasting the darkness away. It was a horrible power, this darkness. It felt cold and hungry, and he could sense it trying to steal his strength whenever it touched him.

A cold memory flickered in his mind. He had seen powers like this before, in the world he came from. Powers that were forbidden, that stole life itself. He frowned. Where did these shadows get such a dark ability? It was definitely not natural.

“Chronos Empire,” he thought, his eyes narrowing. “They have embraced evil.”

He understood ambition. Even the desire to conquer. He, of all people, understood that. But the Chronos Empire had crossed a line. They were playing with forces they shouldn’t touch, and it was changing them, making them something monstrous.

He couldn’t forget the horrors of the Hector Kingdom. The Chronos Empire hadn’t just attacked them with soldiers; they had poisoned the very land itself. They had used a dark magic to suck the life out of the fields, hoping to starve Hector into submission. He remembered the terrible stories of hunger and death.

Black magic. That same chilling power seemed to cling to these shadows. Were they created by black magic? Were they servants of those dark magicians he had heard whispers of – beings who traded their humanity for demonic power? He knew the legends: black magic was born from blood and death, and it always brought ruin. This was not just a fight; this was facing pure evil that had taken root in the heart of Chronos.

But Roman Dmitry was not afraid. He had seen evil in its purest forms, in a life before this one. Whatever dark magic these shadows wielded, it was just another kind of darkness to him. He had walked through shadows darker than these, and he had climbed to power by crushing evil under his heel. In that other life, they had called him the Heavenly Demon – a name whispered in fear and awe. He knew evil, and he knew how to destroy it.

With a chilling *swish*, the shadows launched themselves at him again, heedless of danger. They threw themselves into the attack as if they were made of stone, unbreakable. But Roman Dmitry was not facing stone. He unleashed his power.

*THUD!* The air cracked, and a wave of force ripped through the shadows. Their forms exploded outwards, not like smoke this time, but like flesh and bone tearing apart.

The shadows were in pieces, scattered across the ground like butchered meat. A sickening black energy still throbbed within the fragments, like a dying heart, trying to pull them back together. They were unnaturally persistent. Roman Dmitry felt a grim satisfaction as he ground his heel into the pulsing darkness, then surged forward. *CRUNCH* – the sound of bone and something unnatural breaking under his boot.

He had been watching them, learning their weaknesses. Now he was ready to fight back properly. Shadows lunged from his left and right, but Roman Dmitry moved like lightning. His sword, shining like a star, sliced through their chests again and again. Black smoke poured out, like dark blood. He felt a strange, clinging power try to grab his sword, but he twisted his wrist and sliced through the smoke once more. This time, bright red blood sprayed out, staining the ground.

The shadows recoiled. They weren’t immortal. They could be killed. With each fallen comrade, they retreated, fear creeping into their voices.

“Impossible…” one hissed, his voice full of disbelief. “How is he doing this?”

They knew their bodies were not solid, not like flesh and blood. Ordinary weapons passed right through them. But Roman Dmitry’s attacks were different. They ripped through their smoky forms as if they were made of paper. They were facing something they couldn’t understand, something beyond their experience. They had underestimated Roman Dmitry. He was far more dangerous than they had imagined.

Without a word, the shadows unleashed their final attack. It was like a wave of darkness crashing towards him. *WHOOSH*. They blazed with dark energy, their forms flickering like flames. This was their ultimate power, a desperate surge of strength. They were twice as fast, twice as strong, a terrifying force. Roman Dmitry met their charge head-on.

‘Individually, they are weaker than Gustavo,’ he calculated in a split second. ‘But together… together they could overwhelm even Gustavo.’

He acknowledged their strength. These were the most formidable foes he had faced in this life. To cross the border alone, to face them here, was a gamble. Chris and the others had begged to join him, but he had refused. He needed to face this alone. He needed to understand the true might of Chronos. The Dmitry Principality was on a collision course with the Empire. He had to know what he was up against. These shadows, the Empire’s elite assassins, were their answer to him. They believed these shadows were his death. He had walked into their trap willingly.

He raised his sword, not in fear, but in anticipation. The past year had been a forge, hammering him into something new, something stronger. He had faced trials, endured battles, and grown in ways no one suspected. He had held back his true power, waiting for the right moment. *WHOOSH*. His senses exploded outwards, encompassing the battlefield. He drew upon the Cheonma Shin’gong, the ancient art that flowed through his veins. He had trained relentlessly, pushing himself beyond limits. And now, he felt it – the breakthrough. He had shattered the barrier, ascended to a new level. He had moved beyond the stage of ‘man,’ and stepped into the realm of ‘earth.’