Chapter 117

My heart doesn’t beat; my lungs don’t work. My body temperature was rapidly dropping, and my peripheral nerves, including my fingers and toes, grew numb as my organs shut down. My body was already dead.

However, Iron Man postponed death. Instead of using the heart and lungs, my blood vessels artificially contracted and repeatedly relaxed to transport blood and oxygen. It was just a workaround to save some time, but it was good enough. All so that my death would not be discovered by the Sophien of this world. So that her next memories could continue normally.

I reached the basement of the Imperial Palace, the wooden gate. The door was already open as if in wait.

“…”

I stepped out into the basement, reaching the middle of the darkness with my slow stride.

“You knew it was going to be like this.”

I heard a voice at that moment, prompting me to glance over. It was the Devil’s Mirror still assuming Sophien’s form.

“It’s over. You are dead.”

“…”

I nodded. I consumed 60,000 mana in an instant and took a huge amount of dark energy in without any preparation. From that point on, there was no chance of survival.

“I know.”

“Why did you do that if you knew? I’m curious.”

I just closed my eyes. I had quite a few thoughts. Among them, there were Deculein’s, and there was also Kim Woojin’s. But there was only one answer to his question.

“It was a promise, and I didn’t want to lose.”

My body was already broken, and my brain was slowly wasting away, but strangely, I smiled. In that state, I opened my eyes and stared directly at him.

“I didn’t want to hand over the world and Sophien to a twisted demon like you.”

“…”

The demon’s face hardened. Then, the bastard nodded.

“Then, congratulations. You won.”

That was the last thing he said. I first lost my sight, and then I was deafened. There was only silence. Inside the emptiness, I felt death approaching me.

…It felt so cold to the touch.

* * *

“…”

Sophien woke up. Her head was somewhat cloudy from the mixed memories, but the distinction was clear. Deculein had kept the promise he had made with her.

“…Persistent bastard.”

Sophien smiled as the words left her. He had indeed witnessed all her deaths. Of course, as if any other methods of death other than sickness were out of the question, he left as soon as she got well.

“But…”

Sophien looked around. Two mugs full of cold coffee on the tea-table; it was just as it was when Deculein left.