Emperor of Steel

Luke was aware of the assassination attempt of the Knights of Guard SS in advance.

It was because the spy of the Baroque Empire’s intelligence agency, who had remained in Sherwood City, reported that the SS knights asked for ‘the king’s quarters in the manor’.

So, Luke deliberately emptied the residence in Sherwood to sweep them off altogether.

Including the escorts, the commanders were asked to leave the place as well.

And as obvious as it could get, Philip and Belik strongly opposed to it. However, Luke said, “I am going to a place very far from here with something like a teleport circle to take them down. Don’t you think it would be difficult for me if my allies are involved in it?”

With those words, the commanders who knew Luke’s skills in magic eventually agreed to it without saying anything anymore. Luke’s words were not only for his commanders but for the regular knights as well.

After telling them his plan, Luke built a magic circle in the manor, which would blow all the knights.

The problem was the magic circle was different from a normal teleport circle.

The magic circle, which had magi elements in it, which were used to summon the demons, was coordinated to the Devildom.

When he was still Saymon, he was curious about where the demons live, and how the conditions of their living were. He tried out a demon summoning circle by changing its elements and went to the Devildom in person.

From the air around them to the soil below their feet, Luke was shocked by the harsh environment where no human could ever live.

Understanding the reason as to why the demons were so tough and angry, he returned to Middle Earth after a brief investigation.

What was the reason why Luke had to take the Knights of Guard SS into such a place?

‘Kuekk. If it is the Devildom, even if I use all my abilities, there would be no one to see or say anything about it.’

Luke wasn’t able to use any of his other abilities except for the sword and the white magic when fighting with the Sword Masters of Symphonia, excluding Philip.

It was certain that his subordinates would be upset if they knew about Luke using dark magic or the demons’ abilities.

Using only half of his abilities, Luke was honestly stressed.

However, it was a different story in the Devildom.

Nobody would say anything if the Knights of Guards were killed in there.

So he thought of it as a stress relief and brought them there. However, those SS knights took a lot more time than he though to show up and began to use something that shocked Luke to the core.

It was the sword that was passed in his family.

The skills they unfolded were far more systematic and effective than what the Symphonia Kingdom could perform.

‘This is surely a nice thing, right? Later, this would be very useful once I go against Rudolf of Arsene…’

He had the time to prepare it before the knights appeared, but it wouldn’t be possible to use it every time he wanted to fight.

It actually would have failed once. If Karen from the future hadn’t come to the past by using the power of Space and Time, Luke would have lost everything after getting defeated by Hiros, who claimed himself to be the descendant of Rakan.

‘That is why I need to be thoroughly prepared. I need to prepare all means and methods to win.’

This was why Luke changed his plan of killing the knights at once and decided to get a good look at their skills and formations before taking them down.

In order to understand their methods of formation and skills, he intentionally put them to play while using only his sword and white magic.

Well, Luke didn’t just use sword and magic.

It wasn’t noticeable, but Luke used the ability of Insight that he had taken from the fallen angels, who were placed in the warehouses after the Military Parade.

‘There is nothing better than being able to figure out and steal another person’s ability.’

With Insight reflecting in his eyes, all their tricks were found out.

It indeed was surprising that Kurian and some of his men were able to use Gold Sword, but the attacks from the Gold Sword was something he had seen through.

Luke, who realized that further understanding the men was pointless, decided to use his demon abilities as well as his dark magic to wipe them out.

“Thousand Bullets!”

Swoosh! Swoosh!

When the Aether Globe on his heart transformed into the black circle, thousands of dark magic spheres began to form all around Avenger.

The bullets, which flew faster than sound, smashed right into Atlas.

Pung! Bang!

“Ack!”

When hundreds of bullets that were more powerful than shells poured down like rain shower, Atlas’ gloves quickly turned into rags.

As a result, their formation was no longer effective.

Kurian stabbed his sword into the core engine of Atlas and held the shield high to avoid the movement of the bullets.

Crack!

The destroyed core engine quickly flashed red and was about to explode.

“W-what the?!”

Kurian, who moved Atlas toward Luke, was shocked to see that the explosion was stopped.

Kwang-!

Atlas’ core engine exploded, and the shock that formed because of it shook the ground.

The other Gigants that couldn’t avoid the attacks bounced back because of the explosion, rolling around like an empty can while the dust soared high into the sky.

Once the tremors subsided, Kurian’s Atlas appeared after a huge hole was formed in the ground.

He fell to the ground to avoid the engine’s explosion.

“Kuek. Surely, the explosion of a Hero class Gigant has a lot of power.”

If it exploded properly, it could sweep away any small manors and create huge pits in the ground.

That was the reason why riders were careful to not damage the opponent’s core engine in a Gigantic Duel.

“Did Luke get smashed? It would have been nice if I was the one to hit him…”

While Kurian was getting up and thinking about Emperor Rudolf rejoicing, the other SS Knights began to crawl out of the ruins created by the explosion.

Although their Gigants were a mess, a lot of knights seemed to have survived.

“Kuek, Kurian, you bastard!”

“Calm yourself before speaking out of turn!”

“Cough! Rather than that… I have been feeling it from before. The air here seems to be too cloudy and heavy, right?”

“I feel that too. Where the hell are we? A desert on the west of the continent?”

Abandoning their metal Gigants that turned into scrap, the knights looked around the region while covering their noses.

They opened their eyes wide to see if they could find something.

The sky was where their gaze headed.

Luke’s avengers were descending from the sky.

Their gloves were full of debris, yet it didn’t seem to be damaged.

“T-this can’t be! How the hell did this happen?”

The one who was shocked the most was Kurian, who believed that Luke had been defeated.

He bit his lip upon seeing Avenger slowly walking toward him.

‘I have no idea how he managed to survive the explosion, but he seems to be stronger than I thought. I need to end him soon!’

With aura on his sword, he rushed wildly toward Avenger to strike him down.

“Die, you traitor!”

Clang!

It was a direct hit.

However, it seemed like the huge sword, which was supposed to hit Avenger’s head, broke in half.

“H-how is this possible?”

“Kuekk! What do you mean how? Everything has an explanation.”

Luke was being sarcastic at Kurian since he missed.

Shortly before being caught up in the explosion, he used a shield spell and amplified the demon ability Build-up with the help of the core engine.

The armor of Avenger was several times harder.

And the core engine wasn’t even scratched by the explosion, which made it safe for him to face the full-fledged attack of Kurian.

“Uhk, you devil! You are the devil, Luke de Rakan!”

When Kurian was feeling struck because of the difference in power, it made Luke laugh.

“Yeah, well, I am the devil made by you guys.”

After saying those words, Luke knocked Atlas with a punch.

Bang!

Atlas, who was hit by Tekken Punch, flew for about 10 meters away and fell to the ground.

The punch was so strong that the head of Atlas flew off and rolled on the ground like a ball.

“T-that was!”

The knights, who watched the fight from a distance, hurriedly stepped back.

It was because their morale and motivation to fight Luke had disappeared, seeing Viscount Kurian fall to the ground.

‘I am not running away from here. I am just going back to inform His Majesty that Luke de Rakan has gained the power of the demons!’

‘Even his Majesty had struggled with the demons. We need to tell him about it and make counter measures!’

Luke pretended to not see those who were running away on their own.

However, their own leader, Kurian, was different.

He broke out of Atlas’ hatch, which was no longer in a usable condition, and looked at his companions who were running away.

“Kuek! Aren’t you going to come back?! You stupid good-for-nothing bastards!”

Regardless of whether the Gigant was broken or not, it was an untold principle that one had to fight the enemy till the end.

“Come back right away! If not…!”

“Ahk!”

One of the knights who escaped was suddenly sucked into the ground.

The knights, who were shocked, stopped right away. They pulled out their swords from their waist and looked at the ground.

They could sense something moving in the ground.

However, the ‘enemy’ wasn’t just in the ground.

The anti-intruder ghosts who were in the clouds and sand hit the knights.

Kiiik!

“W-what is that! Ack!”

The knights wielded their swords with aura.

However, the enemy wasn’t a demon that could be killed by just striking him with a sword, it was a high-ranking demon, Kinon, who was reigning as a predator in the harsh environment of the Devidom.

No matter how man times they were cut, they rushed to the knights with their sharp teeth and poisoned claws.

“Ack! Help me!”

Those who managed to escape from Kinon ended up getting caught by ants which dragged them into the ground.

“Hick!”

Kurian, who saw his men being eaten alive, went pale.

“W-what the hell is this place…?”

“Didn’t I say it in the beginning? Welcome to hell. This isn’t Middle Earth. We are in Devildom.”

At the words of Luke, who didn’t seem to care, Kurian was shocked.

He had felt it from the beginning that the land was a little strange, but he couldn’t imagine that they were brought into the Devildom.

Luke soothed the man.

“Don’t look so disappointed. The Emperor you respect so much will end up being sent here too.”

“Uhhh! Luke, you…!”

“Well, I don’t know if you can manage to stay alive till then.”

The last words of ridicule ended with Avenger turning transparent. Luke, who finished his work, returned to Middle Earth.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!”

Feeling scared, Kurian ran over to Avenger to catch him.

However, Luke was already far away, and Kurian only stumbled down and fell on the dry ground.

The demons, which were done eating his colleagues, began to move toward him.

Kiiik!

Keeek!

In order to take their last remaining prey, the delicacy that they hadn’t tasted for a long time, the demons quarreled.

And the victorious one went for the nape of Kurian.

“Ack! Help me! Please help me, Your Majesty!”

The cry of Viscount Kurian, who was pleading for salvation, sounded all through the desolate sky of Devildom.