The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-490

Chapter 490: The Hound Runs (1)

[...Why I sent you back in time.]

Figgy’s voice trembled slightly.

At the same time, memories from the past began to flood Vikir's mind.

These were events that had unfolded the same way before and after his regression.

“When did we ever bully you?”

“This is all just to get closer to you. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on.”

“Hey, why are you crying, you fat ass? Are you trying to make us out to be the bad guys?”

“Come on, don’t cry. Have a drink.”

“Ew! That’s so disgusting! You got it all over my stockings!”

“Hahaha! This lunatic threw up? You’ve been a mess since orientation!”

“From now on, your nickname is Puke Figgy! Puke Fi- you know what Puke Piggy!”

“I’m going to call you Puke Figgy until the day I graduate!”

“Yea, he’s Piggy Figgy.”

In his previous life, Figgy couldn’t endure the bullying at school, so he dropped out and lived a tough life as a low-level civil servant.

He struggled to support his parents, who had gone into debt to send him to the academy.

After that, when the era of destruction began and the Great War against the demons broke out, Figgy volunteered for the front lines. He contributed significantly to the Allied Human Forces by implementing numerous supply strategies and conducting information analysis and gathering.

He was a comrade worthy of respect.

Though he left, disappointed by the world and himself, he overcame his trauma and joined the Allied Forces after witnessing the fall of the academy, the burning of the imperial city, and the deaths of his juniors and civilians. He was a man of immense strength.

However, just a few months after the war began, Figgy was assassinated.

Vikir still vividly remembered the devastated expressions of Figgy’s parents when they saw their son’s cold, lifeless body return home.

That’s why Vikir, after returning, twisted the threads of fate.

“Try causing trouble in the academy one more time. I won’t just kill you—I’ll kill your parents and everyone you love too.”

The Night Hound terrified the bullies who tormented his friend, ensuring they would never repeat their vile actions.

This small act of kindness snowballed into something much greater, ultimately leading to a monumental change: driving a blade into the heart of the most powerful demon, the final villain.

[It seems that even in that other timeline, I thought of you as my only friend.]

Figgy’s words made Vikir recall Figgy's final moments before his return.

Vikir had collected Figgy's body back then too.

When Figgy was assassinated, he wasn’t killed instantly.

When Vikir first found him, bleeding out and dying, many people simply ignored him.

In their defense, it was wartime, and the situation was urgent.

Saving Figgy would have required time and effort that was deemed better spent on treating a minor wound of a great hero.

After all, that would save more lives.

The world runs on efficiency.

It turns on the gears of causality, each gear assigned its position, role, and value.

In a situation where everyone turned a blind eye, a small and insignificant gear was left to grow cold.

Amidst the distrust of the world, the loneliness, and the profound cynicism and misanthropy, at that very moment…

There was a hand that closed Figgy’s eyes.

It was wrinkled, scarred, and covered in sticky blood, rough and marred with burns and cuts.

…But it was a large and warm hand.

The boy Figgy had once met at the academy was there.

Figgy looked at Vikir with his fading vision.

It was a face he remembered. The servant of the boy who shared the same dormitory room.

The hand that would silently offer medicine when Figgy was beaten and crying.

The one who would sit quietly beside him when no one else was around during travels.

The one who would suddenly appear and sit across from him, whenever Figgy ate alone.

The boy who would comfort him on the days he failed his exams, missed his mother too much, or felt like ending it all.

And now, at the very last moment of his life, whether by chance or fate, that same boy was there, closing his eyes.

The only person who had ever been kind to him throughout his school years.

Though it may have been just a fleeting, small act of kindness, it remained in Figgy’s heart, warm and as large as the sun.

Suddenly, Figgy remembered a voice he had heard during his midterm exams at the academy.

Looking back, it was undoubtedly the voice of that servant boy.

“It’s okay now.”

The servant boy spoke as he closed Figgy’s eyes.

It was a statement with more power than any magic in existence, instantly wiping away the pain in both body and mind.

It eased the sorrow of his birth, the guilt toward his parents, the burden of his duties as a son, the stress of his studies, the loneliness of not making friends, the anguish of being rejected by the world, and even the pain in his body.

“...Rest in peace.”

It was the comfort of a friend.

And as Figgy heard Vikir’s voice from across the timeline, Vikir too heard a voice he had often heard as a hallucination.

“...You’re a good person.”

Now he remembered clearly.

It was the last words Figgy had left behind in the past that Vikir had personally experienced, beyond just a different timeline.

It was the identity of the voice he heard as a hallucination every time he spilled Figgy’s blood to Kill the demons Amdusias, Chimera, Andrealphus, and Phlorosya.

[People often say humans are just beasts with black hair.]

“...”

[But the humans I’ve known remember the kindness they’ve received.]

Human Figgy smiled brightly at Vikir.

“You’re a good person, Vikir.”

That smile was as bright and radiant as the sun.

He couldn’t turn away from him.

Just like the invisible thread that once connected Sere and Camus, the residual thoughts Figgy left behind became a strong and unyielding bond that connected him to Vikir, who had crossed into another timeline.

It was a weak hope, a wish for a different outcome in that parallel world.

And so, Vikir returned. Or rather, he crossed the parallel timeline.

This was due to Figgy’s plan, which guided Andras in choosing and summoning Vikir.

It was the result of a collaboration between the Figgy of this timeline, the Figgy of that timeline, and the two forms of Andras.

A small, seemingly insignificant act of kindness toward someone who seemed worthless had brought about a miracle that will save the world.

…And of course, there were those who couldn’t accept this improbable and implausible turn of events.

[Speak sense! Who do you think you’re fooling with this garbage plot!?]

Andras, Golding Jack.

He had strangled himself with his umbilical cord while still in the womb and awakened early as Andras. From his childhood, he had made every effort to eliminate the low-born Figgy.

Sending snakes to his cradle, deliberately driving him into dangerous situations, or having him cast out of his family, and more…

[I never imagined that wretched woman would escape the palace. I should have killed her right away. Ugh!]

But Figgy shook his head.

[Even without you, I would have died eventually. I was already consumed by distrust of humanity and hatred of the world.]

[...!]

[If someone had just said to me, ‘You’re a good person,’ things wouldn’t have turned out this way.]

Figgy seemed to be recalling his other-world self.

However.

[In this timeline, I’ve come to understand and appreciate the value of people—family, friends, and those around me.]

The classmates he met at Colosseo Academy: Tudor, Sancho, Bianca, Sinclaire, Dolores.

The numerous comrades from the Abyss Tree, and those who had endured the burning thirst with him, his allies from Tochka.

Carrying their faces in his heart, Figgy entered the coffin.

And naturally, Figgy made his choice.

[I will close the door.]

Andras's two personas were divided into ‘The Opener’ and ‘The Closer.’

The door opened by Andras cannot be closed by Andras; it must be closed by other Andras.

Conversely, the door closed by Andras cannot be opened by Andras; it must be opened by the Opener Andras.

The door opened by Jack can only be closed by Figgy.

The door closed by Figgy can only be opened by Jack.

Ultimately, the same principle applied: if either of them were absent, irreversible events would occur.

Sssssssss……

The door opened by Andras was being closed by Figgy.

[Noooooo!]

Andras’ scream echoed, but it was already too late.

Thud— Thud— Thud— Crack! Splurt!

As the door closed, the massive bodies of several demons that had been slowly emerging beyond the dimension gate were severed.

The serpent that devours nebula, the leader of insects, the king of vampires, the scorpion spewing venom, the beautiful but mysterious woman, the anglerfish devouring the desert, the master of all things rotten, the centipede encircling mountains, the one walking beneath the sea, the giant tearing the earth, the lion breathing fire, the bird with wings covering the sky, the executioner of the graveyard, the decaying corpse in the swamp, the deep-sea tentacles, and many more……

…Boom! …Crash! …Rumble!

The severed parts of the demons' bodies fell to the ground, causing tremors.

[Ugh…… Ughhhhh……!]

Andras trembled with fury.

At this very moment, the 62 dimension gates were slowly closing.

[This cannot be! If you close it, I will keep opening it!]

Andras squeezed the remaining magical power.

Sssssssss……

If Figgy opens and Andras closes, the result would be the same.

Now, it’s a matter of who has more magical power and who can interfere with the door faster.

But.

“Have you forgotten me?”

Andras felt his heart, already split into two pieces, shatter into four.

Vikir stood directly in front of him, driving a knife into Andras’s heart.

…Thud!

Vikir continued to stab Andras’s body with the knife.

Andras’ sword was destroyed, and Asmodeus was now in the distant hands of Kirko.

The twin swords that symbolized Andras were down to one, and that too was now destroyed.

Moreover, unable to claim Figgy’s soul and body, Andras had been reduced to a mere half of himself.

In such a situation, Vikir, who had unleashed nine fangs, was not about to falter.

Puffpuffpuffpuffpuffpuff!

Andras’s body was collapsing in real time.

The hound, having seized its prey’s neck, sensed victory.

It then exerted even more strength to break the prey’s neck.

…At that moment.

“!?”

Vikir’s eyes widened in shock.

Black blood spurted from Andras’s body.

It flowed into Vikir through his wounds.

Sssssssss……

Just as Figgy’s blood had shocked the demons, Andras’ blood now caused a bizarre phenomenon within Vikir.

[Didn’t I tell you? I inherited the bloodline of the founder, the First Emperor.]

It wasn’t the blood of a demon but of a human.

It was a relic of an ancient hero known for possessing the most unique abilities in human history, who had risen to the pinnacle of humanity with his extraordinary powers.

It was the ability of the imperial family, or rather, the prophetic Golding clan.

[Here’s a spoiler. I’ll show you your future now.]

Andras, holding tightly onto Vikir’s arms, laughed.

[...Aren’t you curious about how your life, intertwined with demons, will end?]