He had already given Lutheran everything he deserved so far: enough despair to crush an ordinary man.
But now...
Now it was time to give him something even more precious.
Pain.
Although someone like Lutheran wasn't even worthy of dying by his hands, the story—disgusting, abject—about what he had done to Sherry's mother...
Leon frowned slightly, as if annoyed by stepping on something filthy along the way.
"Someone like you doesn't even deserve the privilege of being eliminated by me..." he muttered with absolute disdain, walking slowly, his steps echoing like divine judgment. "But even so... what you did irritated me. I'm indulgent, after all. I like to personally take care of trash like you."
And then… he decided.
He would give Lutheran the greatest pain possible.
Lutheran trembled, yet still clung to his arrogance like a drowning man to a broken plank.
"This is useless, Leon!" he shouted, his voice wavering between hatred and fear. "You and Night Raid are finished!"
Leon raised an eyebrow, a mix of boredom and amusement.
"Oh?"
Lutheran smiled, but it was an ugly, distorted grin, like a broken puppet trying to appear human.
"I planned everything!" he exclaimed, puffing out his chest in a last attempt to seem grand. "I committed every crime I could, and blamed them all on you! There are countless testimonies! Now, Night Raid is nothing but a terrorist group in the eyes of the world! From this moment on… you'll be hunted to the ends of the earth! How about that!?"
He laughed, like someone who truly believed he had won.
For this enemy he was about to kill, Lutheran had prepared his revenge in advance.
And indeed… the girls of Night Raid shuddered upon hearing that. Even the Seven Shadows seemed, for a brief second, affected—their eyes wavering.
But…
"Why...?!" screamed Lutheran, his voice now filled with disbelief. "Why aren't you reacting?! I slandered you as criminals! I destroyed your reputations!"
He then stared at Leon, desperate to find some emotion in his gaze.
Anger? Resentment? Fear? Denial? Curse? Surprise?
Nothing.
Just an abyssal, inert gaze, devoid of any ripple, like the deepest frozen sea.
Even if stones were thrown into that ocean...
Nothing would ever move.
"Eh...?" he let out a pathetic sound, like someone realizing the weapon in their hands was nothing more than a twig.
Leon let out a long, exaggerated sigh, like someone watching the most tedious play in the world.
"So... that's all?" he asked, with a half-smile, his tone dripping with contempt.
Lutheran widened his eyes, speechless, suffocated by the insignificance that consumed him.
Leon took a step forward, tilted his face slightly, and declared with imperial calm:
"It's laughable. Try, if you can. Even if I draw the hatred of the entire world... I will accept it. That... that is what it means to be a king."
His battle garments fluttered gently in the wind, as if nature itself bowed before his presence.
The magic sword in his hand pointed directly at Lutheran's heart—not with hatred, but with the coldness of someone killing an insect that dared to land on their table.
In his eyes… there was no hesitation. No doubt. No trace of confusion.
Lutheran had thought Leon would explode in fury at the filth thrown at him, but...
He was fundamentally mistaken.
The title of "king" was never tied to purity.
A clean king does not exist.
The true king… is the one who bears all the mud, all the sin, all the shame, without ever looking away, without ever bending.
This word… is meant for the one who endures everything.
Be it sin… glory… or power.
Leon raised his sword and declared, his voice resonant like thunder:
"King… A man covered in the mud of sin… but still, resplendent with unparalleled glory!"
The air around seemed to tremble.
The girls of Night Raid felt their hearts race, their blood boil, their bodies shudder involuntarily.
They looked at Leon as if witnessing an unshakable pillar amidst chaos.
He was… the anchor of their hearts.
Their safe harbor.
The one who, even if he wished to be the enemy of the entire world...
Would never...
Never be afraid.
If they were allowed, those women would have given their hearts and bodies to Leon at that very moment, surrendered not only to his power but to his sublime existence.
"How… how could this happen…?"
Lutheran could barely believe it. It wasn't his body that trembled, but his soul, shattered by Leon's overwhelming presence. How could such a being exist in this world? Was he human… or a living legend walking among mortals?
Impossible… such creatures shouldn't exist…
And, unable to accept such a reality, the man could only growl, in a pathetic act of self-defense.
"You don't fear?! Even being the enemy of the whole world?! You're just… an arrogant man, Leon!"
Leon smiled with a cold contempt, as if hearing the bark of a dying dog.
"Try to destroy my arrogance, if you can…" Leon tilted his head slightly, in a gesture almost of pity. "Unfortunately, that is far beyond the capabilities… of a miserable worm like you."
"Uuuaaaarghhh——!"
Before he could finish his outburst, Leon grabbed Lutheran's head as one would hold trash, and with a swift movement, hurled him into the air like a rag doll.
What followed was a spectacle of pure carnage: a merciless storm of blades!
"Keep going… keep stabbing… from the edges of the limbs to the center of the body… pierce the heart… then twist the blade… and rip out his life… That's how it should be, right?"
"No… no! Wait! UAAAHHHHH!!!"
Leon didn't hesitate: he stabbed him 3,171 times in the two seconds Lutheran's defenseless body hung in the air.
Each strike precise, surgical. Each thrust a macabre masterpiece.
Lutheran's limbs were shredded under that rain of steel, his human form dissolved into an unrecognizable mass of flesh and blood.
And, surprisingly, he was still conscious, forced to endure a pain so excruciating that anyone else would have begged for death.
But Leon wouldn't grant him such mercy… not yet.
"P-please… don't kill me… don't kill me…!"
Between bloody gasps, Lutheran began to beg, his pride completely disintegrated.
"I-if… if you kill me… Sherry… Sherry won't have a father anymore…"
His voice broke, more fragile than cracked glass.
"That girl… she's already lost her mother… If she loses her father too… with that fragile heart… she… she'll kill herself! She'll lose all hope!"
Leon stared at him as one observes an insect squirm after having its wings torn off.
"Please… please… spare me… I… I swear… I'll be a good father… I promise…"
Leon arched an eyebrow, indifferent.
"It's… surprising…"
"W-what…?"
"…that you still have the energy… to talk so much nonsense."
Lutheran widened his eyes, not understanding, until Leon slowly raised his sword, pointing it toward the staircase in the distance.
"Don't worry about Sherry. She was here a few seconds ago… and she's right over there."
Lutheran's agonized gaze followed the direction of the blade… and then he saw.
The unmistakable pink hair.
"Leon… what… what are you going to do… with her…?"
Leon let out a soft sigh, as if the question was too irrelevant to deserve an answer.
"Ah… nothing much…" He shrugged, with a cynical smile. "From now on… I'll be her motivation to keep living."
Lutheran's gaze faltered.
"I will be…" Leon raised his chin, like a king delivering a commoner's sentence, "… her enemy… and the object of her vengeance. I'll sustain her spirit with cruel hatred…"
And then, with an even more wicked smile, he added:
"… but I'll also be her lover… and sustain her heart with tender love."
He twisted his wrist, making his muscles crack, then leaned in, looking Lutheran in the eyes with absolute contempt.
"You… can die now, useless worm."
Without haste, Leon plunged his black sword straight into Lutheran's heart. But he didn't stop at piercing it—he slowly twisted the blade's hilt, tearing and gouging, as one digs the earth to bury an insignificant piece of trash.
"Ugh… hnn…"
And then, Lutheran died.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!"
A scream tore through the hall.
The pink-haired girl ran, staggering, toward the body left like refuse on the ground.
She threw herself over it, sobbing desperately, hugging the blood-soaked corpse.
"Father! No… no… don't die!!"
Leon watched her, eyes half-closed, indifferent to the melodramatic scene before him.
"Hide until the end… stupid girl."
He whispered, in a tone too low for her to hear.
Turning his back, he raised his hand.
"Everyone… fall back."
"The master's orders are absolute!" — the members of Night Raid replied in unison as the dimensional gate opened.
One by one, they vanished alongside Leon, leaving behind chaos and tragedy.
Mission accomplished.
The cult's conspiracy was completely annihilated.
All remnants eliminated.
The ancient relic, [Rose of Desire], was successfully recovered.
All according to Leon's plan.
A "perfect ending."
Inside the academy…
"Sherry! Sherry! Are you okay?"
As if nothing had happened, the black battle uniform gave way to the usual school uniform.
Leon approached the pink-haired girl, who was still kneeling, her gaze empty, before the corpse of Vice Principal Lutheran.
"Prince… Leon…"
She looked up, her eyes swollen from crying.
"I know… something terrible happened." Leon placed a calculatedly gentle hand on her shoulder. "From now on… follow me. I'll take care of you."
"Your Highness… uah… ah… ah! My father… my adoptive father is dead… murdered… why… why is this happening to me? My family… was murdered… again…!"
Sherry threw herself against Leon, crying loudly, her tears soaking the top of his uniform.
Leon embraced her with a cold yet protective hug, gently raising his hand and stroking her hair with an almost mechanical patience.
"Don't be afraid… I'm here."
"Your Highness… I… want revenge…! I need… I need to get revenge! I want to kill… that man… I… I have to do it!"
Leon curled his lips into a discreet smile.
"Yes… I'll help you with that too."
Sherry clung to him even tighter, planting the seeds of hatred within her own heart.
And Leon knew… it was that hatred that would keep her alive.
He embraced her more firmly, gently caressing her nape, like someone watering a flower… or feeding a serpent.
[It's all right… you don't need to know the truth… at least, not now…]
(End of chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."