Chapitre 32: Darkenes

Alicia and Lumine were at a loss for words at this moment. Alicia had never met a demon, but she had seen humans doing even more heinous acts than a demon could. So she felt pity for the demon child whose family was killed.

As for Lumine, she had no good feelings towards demons. She had only fought demons, and they were all evil hideous monsters who massacre without blinking. So it was hard for her to empathize with the demon child.

"So, how is it related to this dungeon?" Lumine asked.

Instead of directly answering her question, Luis continued with the story.

"Witnessing the Ghost King's powers, the demon child who wanted to take revenge against the villagers, begged the Ghost King to take him as his pupil."

"Did he accept?" Alicia asked.

"He rejected without hesitation. Well, the Ghost King had his reasons. But the demon child didn't give up. He continued following the Ghost King on his journey and hoped to get his approval. The more time he spent following the Ghost King, the more he firmly believed in his choice."

"In their journey, maybe because of the Ghost King's influence but, slowly, the demon child's personality was also affected. The kindness and the great deeds of the Ghost King made his resolution for revenge waver." When Luis said this, he saw Alicia's expression wasn't good.

He knew she started comparing her situation to the demon child's. Sighing, he went close to her. While gently patting her head, he said, "It doesn't matter what choice he made. We have to make our choice based on our own judgment, not just following someone else's footsteps." Getting closer to her left ear, he whispered, "So, don't think too much, understand?"

She softly nodded her head. Not sure if it was because of his words or his gentle patting, but Alicia's mood improved a lot.

"So anyway, after some time they were together, an incident happened," Luis said with a serious expression.

"The village they were passing by had a dungeon outbreak. The Ghost King decided to save the villagers and the demon child also followed his steps in helping those villagers."

"The demon child wasn't good at combat, so he helped the injured and other people vacate. He didn't care about his resentment towards other species. His only thoughts at that time were to save as many people as he could."

"The Ghost King solved the monsters which came outside in the dungeon break. Witnessing the actions of the demon child, the Ghost King promised him that once he returns after clearing the monsters inside the dungeon, he will take him as his disciple. The demon child was delighted that his efforts and goodwill were rewarded. He started helping the villagers even more enthusiastically. Well, he was a child, so there were only limited things he could do."

"Leaving the enthusiastic demon child to help out the villagers. The Ghost King went inside the dungeon to solve the outbreak." Luis paused and took a deep breath as he continued.

"When he returned, looking forward to starting the training of his new disciple, what he met wasn't his new disciple. But his severed head, which was hung at the center of the village." Luis paused as he saw Alicia and Lumine's expressions. Alicia was very angry and frustrated and even Lumine, who didn't like demons, couldn't help but get angry.

*Sigh*

He continued, "When the crisis was resolved and they found themselves out of danger, the villagers he helped let out their frustration on the demon child and finally killed him because of their resentment towards demons."

"..." Alicia and Lumine were silent, as they couldn't believe how ungrateful those villagers were. Both of them felt pity for the demon child.

Looking at their expressions, he said, "Stop thinking about it too much. It's something that happened a long time ago. Millions of innocent people have already died. If you count as a whole, billions of people had already died before the great war. There's nothing we can do about them."

His words made them come to their senses. That's right. There is no point in thinking about it. They can't change anything. Taking deep breaths and calming their hearts down, they looked at Luis seriously. They wanted to know what did the Ghost King do after that, so they waited for Luis to continue.

But instead of continuing, Luis revealed something even more shocking. Holding the Red Skull in his hand, he said, "This Red Skull here represents the head of that demon child."

After their initial shock, Lumine muttered, "So that's how it's connected to this dungeon."

"What's its use, Luis?" Alicia asked the important question. Although they found out how is it related but how will they use that skull which has no magical properties? It is not even the real skull. At least the demon head could be used for mage craft and such, but this is just an imitation.

Luis smirked and said, "This thing is the key to obtain the Ghost King's legacy."

Both their pupils dilated. Not caring about their response, Luis pressed his thumb on the sharp horn and rubbed his blood lightly on the Red Skull.

"O the hero, who purged evil. Thou, who stood against the 'Army of Chaos' and fought with the 'Fragments of Destruction'. I want to prove myself worthy and complete your tests."

Then under Lumine and Alicia's dazed expressions. He broke both the horns of the skull.

*Crack* x2

As soon as the horns broke, the ground started shaking. Cracks formed on the ground. This snapped Lumine and Alicia out of their daze. Lumine immediately flashed from her spot. Grabbing Luis and Alicia, she jumped. With her skill, they stood in midair as she asked, "Luis, what's going on?"

It wasn't just the ground, but the whole dungeon was shaking. All the monsters in the dungeon disintegrated.

"The Hidden pathway is opening." He uttered.

"Hidden path?" Lumine and Alicia looked at Luis, astounded.

In a short time, the quaking stopped, and the dust on the ground started to recede. A staircase that went into the ground appeared in the center of the place where Luis and Alicia clashed with the Skeleton Knight.

Lumine's eyes widened as she gave a glance to Luis. Pointing her fingers, she asked for confirmation. "Is that?"

Nodding his head in confirmation, he replied, "Yes, that's the hidden passage I'm talking about."

With a smirk on his face and excitement in his eyes, he continued.

"Here lies the Legacy of Darkenes, the ruler of souls, also referred to as the Legendary Ghost King."