Children of the Holy Emperor
chapter-2

Morres Klein, the third prince of the Holy Empire Delcross.

The laughingstock under the heavens.

The unparalleled disgrace of the Imperial Family.

This idiotic prince, in stark contrast to his father, who was recognized as the most powerful emperor in history, was a worthless son who inherited neither his sword skills nor a speck of his holy power.

Most of all, his fiery temperament and vulgar speech, which were nothing like the calm demeanor of the emperor, were too excessive to simply be dismissed as youthful impetuosity.

It wasn’t unreasonable for some bishops and high priests to whisper that perhaps Prince Morres might not be the Holy Emperor’s biological son.

However, an opportunity for change came to Prince Morres, who seemed forever doomed to idiocy.

One day, he suddenly fell ill with a severe fever. He suffered through three days and nights of near-death experiences, but when he regained consciousness, he had become an entirely different person.

“People really can change after a near-death experience,” everyone thought, dismissing it lightly. But the truth was, the prince had a deep secret he couldn’t easily reveal to others about his sudden transformation.

That’s because the one who opened his eyes in the dying body of Morres was a man named Lee Seongjin, a human from Earth.

* * *

From an early age, Lee Seongjin was a boy with a peculiar persistence.

From infancy, he was stubborn about seeing things through to the end, causing his parents, despite him being their only child, to experience an exceptionally challenging upbringing.

“Who on earth did he inherit that stubbornness from?”

His mother would tear up looking at her son who was still stubbornly suckling on his pacifier past the age of four, worried about potential dental issues.

Fortunately, his baby teeth grew out evenly and nicely.

Just when they thought his interest in pacifiers had decreased now that he was in kindergarten, he started insisting on not going home after school.

No amount of persuasion, whether it was promising snacks at home or watching Pororo¹, worked.

The kindergarten teachers, suspecting child abuse at home due to his refusal to return, could only return the mother’s awkward smile.

In the end, the routine continued with either the mom or dad carrying the child, touring the playground until he fell asleep, and then returning home late at night.

With Seongjin entering elementary school and maturing a bit, his parents were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. They thought that at least now he was at an age where he could communicate.

That was until one day he returned home with a classmate’s crayons, resulting in a call from his homeroom teacher the next day.

It was a brief period of peace.

“He broke my crayons. So, I toomkis instead.”

“Seongjin-ah². Hyung-cheol already apologized. It’s wrong to forcibly take your friend’s things.”

The child’s eyes sharpened.

“So, you’re saying if I say sorry, that’s it? What about my crayons?”

“We can buy more crayons.”

“Why should you buy me crayons when it was Hyung-cheol’s fault? The person who caused the accident should take responsibility.”

Stunned by her son’s retort, the mother lost her words. From the child’s perspective, he wasn’t wrong.

After some hesitation, the mother finally said, “Seongjin-ah, friendship with friends is priceless compared to the cost of crayons. When a friend apologizes, accept it first. If you still feel wronged, let’s discuss what to do next, okay?”

The child seemed dissatisfied but reluctantly nodded.

“But, the broken crayons were a 24-pack. Why did you take Hyung-cheol’s 56-pack crayons?”

“That’s for my mental distress. Of course, I should get something better, right?”

She couldn’t tell if her son was shrewd or just intelligent.

After a unique childhood, Seongjin became quiet as a middle schooler, as if he was a different person.

His parents were cautiously watching to see if their somewhat different son was adjusting to school life.

But his uniform and textbooks were always neat, and there was no sign of bullying.

He’s finally grown up.

Seongjin’s parents were overjoyed.

In reality, while it seemed peaceful on the surface, Seongjin’s school life was a mess, but his parents were none the wiser.

While the son failed to acquire the easygoing sociability his parents wished for, he did gain the cunning to conceal incidents and accidents from his homeroom teacher and parents.

For instance, he was unlucky enough to be targeted by a school bully, but after persistently attacking one of them for three months, the bullies ended up trembling and declared a truce.

Or, he stalked a student council member who picked a fight with him for a week, causing the member to develop social anxiety and paranoid delusions, leading to long-term absence from school.

His school life was a colorful journey that straddled somewhere between justice and crime.

Although not an outstanding student, he was somewhat diligent and, at the end of his school life, Seongjin entered a reasonable four-year university in Seoul.

He dated moderately, served in the military after becoming a sophomore, and found employment at a decent small-to-medium-sized business after graduation.

– That Mr. Lee, there’s something cheap about him.

– Really? Isn’t he diligent and good at his work?

He did receive suspicious glances from some older superiors, but externally, Seongjin performed the role of a diligent company worker flawlessly.

Job proposals started trickling in, and he began flirting with a female coworker.

If nothing unusual had happened, he probably would have led a normal life, getting married and living uneventfully.

***

August 2035.

The Gehenna Gate Incident.

As the Stargates, which connected to the demon world of Gehenna, suddenly appeared all over the world without warning, armies of thousands, tens of thousands of monsters began to rush out.

Cities and facilities were destroyed in the blink of an eye, and the world fell into a temporary state of anarchy in just a few days.

After a hard struggle, humanity, focusing on a few militaries that managed to establish defensive lines, began to counterattack, but the scale of human casualties in just a few days reached astronomical numbers.

With most of its major cities destroyed, human civilization greatly regressed as well.

Seongjin, who was on a business trip and was lucky enough to take refuge in a bomb shelter within the defensive line, survived. However, he lost everything, including his family and his life’s base.

In front of this massive tragedy of humanity, Seongjin did not cry. He just calmly contemplated who he should repay this debt to, while watching the endless stream of monsters pouring out of the gates.

Monsters kept coming no matter how many were killed, but this stubborn man never gave up once he targeted something.

Seongjin became a Hunter. He became a professional monster hunter.

After killing a monster, if one touched its corpse, a strange energy-like thing was sucked into one’s body, which the hunters called the monster’s aura.

People who absorbed this became capable of exhibiting abilities beyond human limits. As if absorbing part of the monster’s power.

Sometimes it was simple physical strength, sometimes it was a reinforcement-type ability to create a tough outer skin, and sometimes it manifested as superpowers like telekinesis.

The more monster aura the hunters absorbed, the stronger they became, and soon, superhumans began to emerge who could single-handedly kill thousands of monsters.

Humanity, which had been pushed to the brink, began to slowly push back the front line, and a lengthy war of attrition continued for decades.

The demon world, which ambitiously invaded Earth, ironically faced destruction along with Earth several decades later.

As hunters became stronger, the monsters killing humans also became stronger. The front line, maintaining a steady balance of power, forced both sides to exhaust an unbearable amount of life force.

When the final superhuman squad of humanity stood before the Demon King, who had been hiding deep within the heart of the demon world, the Demon King greeted them with a grim face and sighed.

“So it has come to this. What have we been doing for decades? I feel ashamed.”

Of course, they didn’t care about the Demon King’s disappointment. There was virtually nothing left on both sides to catch their breath and stop this war of attrition.

Total annihilation of one side.

That was the only thing left between the demon world and humanity.

Regardless of his resigned attitude, the Demon King’s resistance was tenacious to the end.

The superhuman squad and the Demon King fought tirelessly for three days and nights, and by the time the third night fell, only the upper part of the Demon King’s head was barely intact, and there was only one human being left alive among the superhuman squad members.

That was the unyielding man, Seongjin, who never gives up until the end.

He strained to lift his now barely moving fist towards the demon king’s head. The demon king, with only his head remaining, spoke in a bored tone.

“This stubborn one. I thought you were the least interesting of all, but I never thought I would die at your hands.”

So, what’s your point?

Seongjin sneered as he threw a punch.

Crash!

A crack appeared on the only remaining horn of the demon king, which was dark as obsidian.

“…Huh?”

Crash!

The next punch sent the demon king’s nose crashing down, but it still lacked the strength to crush his head in a single blow.

Seongjin caught his breath and clenched his trembling fist again.

“Hey! Wait! Just a moment!”

The demon king, whose double nose was bleeding, was startled, but Seongjin just clenched his mouth shut and threw another punch.

Crash!

“Argh! Hey, this is a bit……”

Crash!

“…Wait a moment, you brat!”

No more fists were thrown.

Of course, it wasn’t because he heeded the Demon King’s words, but rather he took a moment to recover his strength, which was no longer being exerted in his fists.

Surprisingly, in the meantime, the flattened nose of the demon king began to gradually rise again. Although the speed was significantly slower than before, a demon king of this otherworld has the ability to regenerate his body, even with only a head left.

An ominous feeling swept over both the demon king and Seongjin that the final blow was going to take longer than they thought.

“Stop with your pitiful punching. You’re not putting any strength into it! Look, human, you can’t kill me like this. How about we have a temporary truce, get ourselves together, and fight again?”

That was nonsense.

If two fully recovered opponents fight, it’s blatantly clear who will be at a disadvantage.

As Seongjin tremblingly lifted his arm again, the demon king spoke in a desperate voice.

“No, let’s just stop fighting altogether! I’ll leave Earth and Gehenna forever. I won’t show up again, okay?”

“……”

“I get to save my life, and you get to keep both Earth and the demon world. Think about the potential of the two merged worlds! You might be able to match the power of a demon king!”

“……”

“If you kill me as I am, the masterless Gehenna will perish, and Earth, having lost its pillar, will gradually be sucked into the gate. Both worlds will end! What does that mean to you?”

Seongjin finally responded to the demon king.

“What’s important to me isn’t this world. Whether you’re done for or not, that’s all that matters.”

Since the result will not change anyway, he didn’t need any silly persuasion.

The demon king watched with a pale face as Seongjin slowly clenched his fist.

Just how many more punches will it take to be done with him?

“Hey, hey! Can’t you at least let me die by myself? I’m losing strength because of the auto-regeneration. Just give me a moment, and I can burn my soul with Gehenna’s flame. I’ll disappear all by myself so you won’t have to bother!”

“……”

“And… I’ll also close the gate. Even if the demon world vanishes, Earth won’t be affected!”

That proposal seemed rather attractive. Lee Seongjin nodded.

“Alright. I’ll think about it after killing you first.”

“How can we converse if I’m dead… More than that, you won’t be able to kill me like that! No, why am I even trying to reason with someone like you!”

The Demon King screamed.

How long had the neverending punches gone on for? As Seongjin was taking a breather, he started to hear sobbing sounds.

“This… This damn brat… I truly didn’t want to resort to this……”

Suddenly, a crimson flame ignited from thin air, engulfing the Demon King’s head. Even amid the persistent regeneration, the Demon King’s skin started to warp in the burning red flames.

“This is……”

Gehenna’s flame.

The deep corrosion of the demon world that obliterates the very existence of objects.

The constant regeneration of the Demon King’s flesh and even his soul could indeed be extinguished. It appeared the rumors were true.

And that means…

“So you couldn’t kill yourself because you lacked power, all of it was your trickery.”

As Lee Seongjin smirked and lifted his fist again, the Demon King flinched and shouted out loud, “…What! Why! What! What’s the difference! I was trying to disappear into another dimension as if I were dead, so what!”

Despite his teary eyes, there was a strange pride in his demeanor. Even Lee Seongjin was momentarily lost for words at this attitude.

“But now everything is wrong. Sob! Yes. I’m dying as you wish. But I won’t go alone.”

The flame that was burning the Demon King slowly grew and transferred to Seongjin’s body. With a surge of intense heat, his body was also swallowed by the crimson flames in an instant.

“Burn along with the noble soul of this Demon King as fuel! I will definitely annihilate you! I’ll burn your soul to ashes!”

In the flames, his flesh warped and his bones were exposed, yet the Demon King smiled, seemingly delighted. It appeared he was deeply resentful for being hit for so long.

“What, this……”

“Hahahaha! How does it feel! The pain of your soul burning! Uhuhahahahaha!”

Even as his own soul was burning.

Listening to the Demon King’s laughter, which sounded more like sobbing, Lee Seongjin examined his burning body.

Indeed, his body, which had become strong by absorbing demonic energy for decades and was not harmed by ordinary physical forces, was now melting away futilely.

Despite the body becoming insensitive to pain due to multiple enhancements, the process of dermis burning and muscle fibers getting exposed was extremely painful.

He had fought countless battles on the brink of death, but this time, Lee Seongjin could feel that he was surely dying.

However, one way or another.

The instigator of the demon world invasion, the target of his lifelong enmity, was finally defeated.

“Uhahaha! Hahahaha……”

The Demon King, who was laughing insanely, abruptly closed his mouth as he saw Lee Seongjin, covered in flames, mile. An involuntary chill ran down his spine.

“So, I guess this is the end for me too.”

With his muscles, now nothing more than skeletal remnants, slowly moving, he lifts his fist engulfed in flames.

“So let’s take one last hit.”

“What!? You bastard… even at this point……”

“Consider it compensation for psychological damage.”

Kwaaaang!

“Aaaaaargh!”

The piercing scream soon faded.

After confirming that the Demon King’s face had crumbled and turned to ash, Seongjin closed his eyes.

In the darkening consciousness, it seemed like he heard a sound of something shattering in his mind.

That was the last memory of Hunter Lee Seongjin.