The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 412

Something felt wrong. Roman Dmitry stood in front of the Emperor, but there were no guards, no soldiers – just silence.

Was it a trap? The thought flickered through Roman Dmitry’s mind.

But Roman Dmitry was careful. He reached out with his senses, like feeling the air for a hidden threat. There was nothing. Only the Emperor.

The same was true for magical energies.

Roman Dmitry didn’t understand the Emperor’s plan, but it didn’t matter. Whatever Chronos had in mind, Roman Dmitry would overcome it.

As Roman Dmitry stepped inside, Emperor Chronos spoke, his voice strained.

“…From the beginning, I expected this would happen. That foolish Marquis Memphis thought he could find a way out by struggling to the end, but that was just a vain hope. Roman Dmitry, how could the likes of Marquis Memphis stop the one whom Alexandr revered?”

Once, Emperor Chronos had been a great figure. He was an Emperor who had reached the realm of Aura Swordsman, and everyone said he was born with the greatest talent of all time, but now he looked pathetic.

He was breathing heavily, each gasp a struggle. He looked as if he could die at any moment, but the light in his eyes shone sharply from within his dark, sunken sockets.

“I wanted to see you in person all this time, to understand why the being that is consuming my consciousness feels such infinite reverence for you. Alexandr respected no one. He was a monster who shaped this world with Aura, always believing himself superior. But to you, Roman Dmitry, Alexandr felt… small.”

Chronos spoke of possession. He explained that when Alexandr took control, Chronos could feel Alexandr’s emotions.

He didn’t know what kind of life Alexandr had lived, but he read the emotional fluctuations that arose whenever Roman Dmitry was mentioned.

It was shocking.

Alexandr was a monster who had surpassed the limits of humanity, yet in his relationship with Roman Dmitry, he psychologically accepted the position of an absolute weakling.

That was a surrender of the heart.

It wasn’t just about winning or losing. Deep down, Alexandr believed Roman Dmitry was greater than him.

“In fact, I still haven’t figured out the truth about you. What is certain is that Roman Dmitry defeated Alexandr and occupied the capital of Chronos in just one day. Alexandr’s reverence was not simply an unfounded emotion, but a genuine acknowledgment of your existence.”

He admired Roman Dmitry, who made the impossible a reality.

Lost in the darkness of his own mind, Chronos had time to think. When he briefly regained control of his body, he understood something important.

“I, Emperor Chronos, acknowledge your existence. You are qualified to destroy me, this Chronos.”

He glared, squeezing out his life force, and shouted as if in desperation.

“New absolute one. Take my head in front of everyone!”

That day, he still couldn’t forget it. Emperor Chronos, who had briefly lost consciousness during his coming-of-age ceremony, suddenly woke up one day.

“…What is this.”

Years from the coming-of-age ceremony had passed, time had been erased. His mind vividly recorded how he had lived, but those were not things that Emperor Chronos had thought or decided for himself.

He felt like a puppet, his actions dictated by someone else.

As years passed, people regarded Emperor Chronos as a symbol of fear, and he belatedly tried to solve the problem, thinking that something had gone wrong.

However, as soon as he broke out of the established framework, Emperor Chronos’ consciousness was sucked back into the abyss.

He was suffocating and felt stuffy.

In the pitch-black darkness, Emperor Chronos lived like a spectator watching someone else’s life. The unconscious puppet lived the life that Alexandr commanded, and sometimes Alexandr moved his body directly.

Again and again, Alexandr took over. Chronos understood his terrible fate: he was trapped, a prisoner in his own body.

His mind was being eaten away. He was broken, useless, forced to watch his own life pass by without him truly living it.

He could only watch, helpless and angry, as Alexandr controlled his actions.

Then one day, an anomaly occurred. Emperor Chronos, who had regained control of his body, forced out his voice to correct the mistakes he had made.

“…Is there anyone there? I asked if there is anyone!”

He called people in.

And then, he ended the war.

“This war was started for unjust reasons. I deeply feel the responsibility for it, and I will declare a truce.”

At that time, he believed it was right and thought it was the only way to resist Alexandr, who had taken control of his consciousness.

It was the truth of Chronos that people did not know. People were surprised when Emperor Chronos suddenly declared a truce, ending the First Continental War. But this was the real Chronos, briefly in control, trying to undo Alexandr’s damage.

Again, his consciousness was sinking into the abyss. Emperor Chronos gritted his teeth and shouted inwardly, thinking that he did not have much time left.

‘Alexandr, if I ever escape from this wretched cycle of life, I will do the right thing as the Emperor of Chronos. So I will endure to the end. Even in the abyss, my consciousness will not disappear, and I will wait for the opportunity that will be given to me even for a moment. Just as I declared a truce according to my will even for a brief moment, your world will not be eternal.’

In the abyss, he was losing consciousness. Even as darkness closed in again, one name echoed in his mind: Roman Dmitry.

Someday, if he ever regained his life, it would surely be because of that being whom Alexandr revered.

And now, Emperor Chronos said.

“This world has fallen into chaos because of the Chronos Empire. The Empire was in ruins. People were starving, homeless, living in fear. As the Emperor of the Chronos Empire, I have no intention of evading that responsibility. It is true that I did not make the decisions or give the orders, but it cannot be denied that Alexandr is also a person of Chronos.”

Alexandr was a clear evil. He planned everything single-handedly, but it could not be said that the atrocities he had committed were unrelated to the Chronos Empire.

But still, he was Emperor of Chronos. He couldn’t escape that fact.

Alexandr was deeply connected to Chronos. He created Aura, the very power of the Empire. In a way, Alexandr *was* Chronos.

How could such an existence be denied? If people were looking for someone to blame in the face of a terrible reality, they would have no choice but to mention Alexandr and Chronos, where he was born and raised.

After everything, Emperor Chronos accepted reality.

Emperor Chronos sat slumped on the cold stone floor, the air thick with the smell of dust and despair. He had thought long and hard in his suffering. *What could he do?* He, who had been a puppet his entire life. *What could he possibly do to help his country, to guide the world in the right direction?*

After thinking deeply, a decision had formed. “I must die with purpose,” he whispered, his voice raspy. Being controlled so many times had broken him. His body was failing. He was near his end. He didn’t want to just cling to this miserable life, waiting for death to take him. He wanted to give his shameful life some meaning, even at the very end.

A weak flutter in his chest.

His body trembled like a leaf in a winter wind.

His eyelids felt heavy, closing against his will. A wave of nausea rose from his stomach, making him want to vomit, to empty himself of everything foul inside.

Not yet.

It wasn’t time yet.

Because he had much to say, Emperor Chronos forcibly held onto the thread of consciousness and spoke of the reason he remained here alone.

“Kill me in front of everyone. By killing me, who represents the dark ages, take all the glory of the Chronos Empire. The empire’s reputation, the empire’s territory, my people. The person who kills me, the one who brought ruin like Alexandre, can have it all.”

Who will take my place?

Choosing Chronos’ future was the best Emperor Chronos could do, facing death.

It was unfair, truly unfair.

If he had just one more chance. If he had more time, Chronos would have begged to live, promised anything to survive.

Knowing that it was impossible.

He accepted reality.

However.

“I reject your offer.”

The returning answer plunged Emperor Chronos into shock.

Emperor Chronos had lived a complicated life.

He knew that his situation, his decision, was not easy, but that did not mean there was any reason to grant what he desired.

“…Wh-what are you talking about?” Emperor Chronos asked in a trembling voice.

His offer was one where the other person had nothing to lose.

He was offering his neck and dying as a symbol of evil, so why would they reject such an offer?

Roman Dmitry said.

“People sometimes fall into such delusions. The delusion that they can decide something for themselves. Emperor Chronos, you are the history of defeat. You and the successive emperors of Chronos were incompetent, so you were ruled by Alexandre, and the damage was borne by innocent people. So why should I inherit your will? If I hadn’t held a knife to your neck, your words might have been persuasive. But now, you have no choice, right?”

“Roman Dmitry! I’m not talking about winning or losing. I’m willing to die, I’m admitting defeat! Is that a joke to you?”

His eyes widened.

He expressed his intense emotions in a fit of boiling anger.

He understood.

For Emperor Chronos, that decision would have been the best.

“That’s why it’s a delusion. Losers always see reality as unfair.”

His past life.

Roman Dmitry rose from the bottom to the top.

Unlike Chronos, Roman Dmitry wasn’t a ruler who always got to decide things.

“Emperor Chronos, you were given the life of a decision-maker from birth, and that’s why you think this situation is abnormal. Most people live irrational lives. Because they are just ordinary people, not born with special gifts. They suffer for the mistakes of those in power and just accept it as normal life. Your life now, your situation – this unfair reality is what you must accept. From the moment Chronos couldn’t stop Alexandre, he became just a loser, like everyone else. Not just a sad, lonely man, but simply a loser.”

The story of Emperor Chronos.

It was not sublime.

He could be pitied, but there was no reason to elevate his life in any way.

In the end.

He had simply failed.

He succumbed to Alexandre and failed to control his own life.

It was definitely an unfair and sad story for him.

Born to rule the Chronos Empire, but caught in a big plan, it’s sad his life was taken without him having a chance to fight back.

But if you look at it differently, he didn’t have a completely miserable life.

Unlike Kevin, who was born weak and expected to be used, Chronos, as an emperor, at least had the chance to make his death meaningful.

That is.

The truth.

So Roman Dmitry didn’t agree.

He didn’t want anyone to praise Chronos for making this decision.

“History shouldn’t feel sorry for today. You will be remembered as a weak emperor controlled by Alexandre. No one will remember any great sacrifice you made for the empire. This will make people want a leader who is strong and cannot be moved by any danger. That is the future I desire. I won’t let anyone praise you. This moment is only about me.”

“…What is that supposed to mean.”

Emperor Chronos’ eyes wavered.

Not even once.

He had never thought like Roman Dmitry.

It is no different now, but he was not allowed the right to control this situation.

“Emperor Chronos, die a forgotten and useless death right here.”

Flash.

He severed his neck.

Emperor Chronos.

It was a futile and pathetic end that he did not wish for.

The floor was stained with blood.

Roman Dmitry looked away from the awful dead body and walked outside, without any regrets.

Some might.

They might call him cruel.

Because he didn’t even grant the last wish of Emperor Chronos, who had finally accepted death after a life of suffering.

But a leader must separate kindness from what is real and necessary.

No matter how sad his story was, no one could know how his story would affect the future.

The end.

It’s important because there’s nothing more after death.

He didn’t want to give any chance for people to praise a loser in the future he was creating.

Thinking about it, Chronos was truly unlucky.

Others could decide their lives, but Chronos never had that chance.

Chronos faced Roman Dmitry without running. Because he didn’t run and fought to the end, Roman Dmitry showed him a little respect by not killing him like an animal.

As he went outside.

Lucas approached and said.

“I found traces of Marquis Memphis. It seems he has hidden himself in a secret chamber.”

Soon, Marquis Memphis would face a terrible fate.

Unlike Chronos, he wouldn’t even get a peaceful death.

Roman Dmitry said coldly.

“Lead the way. I will go myself.”