The World After the Bad Ending
Chapter 272

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 272

In front of the Demon Dungeon Gate of Zerion Academy.

Troops gathered from across the world for the final offensive had assembled in one place.

The towering walls of the Demon Dungeon, built from the blood and sacrifice of mages, loomed overhead.

Those standing atop the wall stared tensely at the ground below.

Zerion Academy’s Demon Dungeon was the closest entrance to the capital.

Thus, they were certain — if Demon Sovereign were to appear, it would be through this place.

This was confirmed by Duke of Whitewood herself, a direct participant in the first sealing war against Demon Sovereign.

Additionally, to prevent any possibility of infiltration, all entrances to Demon Dungeons around the world had been demolished.

「I know where all the other entrances are. I looked into it out of personal interest.」

Surprisingly, Hannon had played a crucial role in this.

Having lost his mother to Demon Sovereign, Hannon had long researched him.

He had always been obsessed with ruins and relics.

Through sheer obsession, he had uncovered all the hidden entrances — things even seasoned scholars had failed to discover.

Even Vikamon's knowledge of alternate entrances had come from Hannon, though no one else knew that.

Thanks to him, entrances across the world were destroyed.

Normally, blocking the Demon Dungeons in such a way would leave no way to deal with the growing Apostles within.

That’s why no one had dared make such a decision before — but this situation was different.

If they failed now, Demon Sovereign would fully revive and bring about the end of the world.

To protect the future, they had to protect the present.

And so, every other entrance had been sealed off.

Now, only one entrance remained:

The gate of the Demon Dungeon at Zerion Academy.

Boom—

A heavy footstep echoed from beyond the walls.

It wasn’t a single footstep.

They came simultaneously from many — yet felt like one.

Faces grew increasingly grim.

At the far edge of the horizon…

A massive horde of humans filled the landscape and froze the hearts of those who saw them.

People, controlled by nightmares.

Once someone’s family, once their comrades — now hollowed out monsters with only slaughter on their minds.

It was a horrifying sight.

Worse, they were no ordinary humans.

Each of them had been reforged by nightmare.

Even if you cut off their arm, their leg, even their head — their bodies would simply reform, filled with black nightmare matter.

This had been confirmed during skirmishes by the scouts.

They were an immortal legion.

There was only one way to stop them:

Defeat Demon Sovereign.

Even though the entire population around the capital had been evacuated, the sheer number of those corrupted by the nightmare was staggering.

And the nightmare legion was approaching fast.

“Hear me, all of you!”

A powerful voice echoed through the air.

At the center of the wall stood a woman.

A living hero of the world.

The one who had defeated the mysterious Whitewood.

Duke of Whitewood, Raksid Anubecia.

Commander-in-chief of this war, she addressed everyone with a voice that carried across the entire battlefield.

“The enemy is an immortal legion! And if you are wounded by their weapons and that damage accumulates, you too will fall to the nightmare and become one of them!”

Was this the right time to say something that could lower morale?

People murmured anxiously — but Duke of Whitewood held her head high.

“So endure.”

Endure.

That one word pierced everyone’s hearts.

“Hold the line until I, and the heroes of this era, bring down Demon Sovereign.”

Duke of Whitewood’s figure began to dissolve into glowing white petals.

The one here was never truly her.

Her goal was only one thing:

To defeat Demon Sovereign.

“I believe in you — the heroes gathered here.”

A hero who had protected the world from the distant past to the present was now calling them heroes.

There were few words more uplifting than that.

Those gathered to stand against the nightmare legion raised their voices as one.

The cries of those fighting to protect the world rang louder than ever before.

In that moment — blue lightning and meteor showers poured down from the sky toward the nightmare legion.

It was the mages, launching the first strike to signal the start of the war.

But the enemy had mages too.

Mages empowered by Demon Sovereign’s magic.

They cast powerful defensive spells to counter the attacks.

The blasts of clashing attack and defense magic boomed across the battlefield.

Some spells slipped through the defenses and struck the legion — but even then, the nightmare soldiers quickly regenerated their broken bodies and stood again.

To the nightmare legion, death was not allowed.

The legion began to move.

As one unified mass, they marched on the walls, shaking the ground with every step.

Arrows flew, magic exploded again.

War machines fired, and soldiers desperately defended the walls.

The war engulfed the very earth.

Had the god of war seen this, he would have wept in awe.

Numerically, the nightmare legion was inferior — but qualitatively, they were on a whole different level.

Each of them was a monster, granted power by Demon Sovereign, equal to a knight.

And with immortality added on top, they became perfect killing machines.

But even so — humanity did not yield.

To protect their world, they relentlessly attacked the immortal legion.

Those that broke through and reached the wall pounded on it like madmen.

One person pounding on the wall wouldn’t make a difference.

But two, three, ten, a hundred, a thousand?

Eventually, even the strongest wall would falter.

Thud thud thud thud thud!

The wall trembled violently.

They were like insects burrowing through a tree, eating away at its core.

Mages tried to reinforce and rebuild the walls.

But many were already stretched thin trying to fend off the enemy's magic.

Soldiers clenched their weapons tightly.

The day would come when the wall fell.

And when that day came — they would defend this place even at the cost of their lives.

Everyone burned with the determination to protect this position, even if it meant their own death.

Everyone here carried that fire within them.

And that fire burned more brightly than ever before.

It was the sacred duty of those who wished to protect their families and their world.

* * *

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Meanwhile, in the midst of the war…

Demon Sovereign walked slowly, escorted by the Celestial Echo Squad.

He was in no rush.

Eventually, he believed, humanity would realize they could not win.

The nightmare legion was infinite.

They would multiply endlessly — until every living being fell to the nightmare.

It was an unavoidable reality.

Time was not on their side—it was on this side.

That’s why Demon Sovereign could afford to be more relaxed than ever.

In the past, the reason for his defeat had been singular.

A being named Wolfram who possessed regression.

Wolfram had learned all of Demon Sovereign’s counters through regression, chained together countless miracles and tricks, and finally broke through Demon Sovereign.

Demon Sovereign had also regressed, but back then, time was not on his side.

He merely recognized that he had regressed—but retained no memory of his regressions.

However, time had passed, and the situation had changed.

There was no Wolfram in this world.

And along with that, no regression either.

Originally, he too had once been Demon Sovereign, but in this world where regression no longer existed, there was no one who could stop him.

【Persistent little thing.】

Yet even in such circumstances, deep inside Demon Sovereign’s soul…

Someone was rampaging violently.

Wolfram of the past, now going by the name Vikamon.

By some twist of fate, the man who always stood in his way was now desperately resisting being devoured by Demon Sovereign’s soul.

A human soul cannot endure for thousands of years like the godlike being Demon Sovereign.

Souls, too, consume the power of the world.

Eventually, when they exhaust all their strength, they disappear.

Wolfram, the once-great hero, was no exception.

He had lost his ego and barely maintained his will by creating a new consciousness.

His soul had been reduced to mere fragments.

For someone like that to struggle not to be devoured—it was quite laughable.

It seemed he had entered Vikamon’s soul world to parasitize it in some way.

But that alone would not allow him to recover as he had in the past.

Even so, it was irritating.

That stubborn refusal to give up reminded Demon Sovereign of his past self, and it annoyed him.

It looked like he had skimmed through the memories etched into his soul.

Apparently, he still hadn’t realized just how different the current situation was.

“Is something the matter?”

At that moment, Celestial Duke cautiously asked Demon Sovereign.

【Nothing of concern. Pay it no mind.】

“Is that so.”

【No... There is something worth paying attention to.】

As Demon Sovereign corrected himself, Celestial Duke looked puzzled.

Just then, the cat Adora suddenly lifted her head.

“They're here! They’re here! They’ve arrived!”

Adora cried out excitedly.

Seeing her reaction, Celestial Duke immediately grasped the situation.

“Everyone, prepare to receive our guests.”

At his command, the Celestial Echo Squad all drew their weapons.

They weren’t alone.

Knights and knight commanders from the Empire, including Hanadin and Duke Ironwall, stood at their side.

Crack—

In that instant, the sky split open and space tore apart.

A downpour of light rained down, sweeping the entire area.

The undead army surrounding Demon Sovereign was completely wiped out and vanished.

The sheer force of the light was enough to halt the army’s advance momentarily.

The lingering light prevented the undead from regenerating.

What was engraved in that light was not ordinary magic—but divine-tier magic.

Magic capable of suppressing even Demon Sovereign’s nightmare.

Yet Demon Sovereign and Celestial Duke remained unharmed.

Demon Sovereign didn’t even need to move—a mage from the Celestial Echo Squad had protected them.

A figure so emaciated he resembled a skeleton.

The Vowed of the White Bones.

His specialty was ultimate defensive magic that would not break even if the world ended.

“So solid.”

Soon after, a voice echoed from beyond the rift.

A woman with snow-white hair appeared.

She strode confidently forward despite her small stature and locked eyes with Demon Sovereign.

Her eyes seemed to tremble briefly, but she took a deep breath and declared,

“…I’ve come to take you home, Fram.”

The reincarnation of Zerion.

Xenia Niflheim.

She had recovered her past memories and now stood here.

Upon seeing Xenia, Demon Sovereign’s brow twitched.

He was well aware of the threat Zerion once posed as she relentlessly wielded divine-tier magic beside Wolfram.

But she wasn’t the only one who had appeared.

Far away, atop the fortress wall, high-ranking spirits rose and roared.

Mages from the Royal Mage Towers began casting spells.

That marked the beginning—as countless heroes stepped out from beyond the walls.

More figures appeared through Xenia’s spatial magic.

“I didn’t expect to be dragged here, but…”

“You’re their teacher, aren’t you? A guardian should be here.”

Two women landed first.

One, scattering white petals.

The other, reeking of alcohol.

Yet the strength they exuded was extraordinary.

Duke of Whitewood, Raksid Anubecia.

Martial Arts Professor, Vega Mercia.

“Sorry, something weird was stuck to me,”

Vega said.

Immediately after, a massive man leapt down behind her.

“Professor Vega! How could I not come where you go?!”

Rexalon Bizvel.

Known as the scoundrel of the Bizvel family.

And they weren’t alone.

“Heh heh, I knew this day would come. A rematch!”

“Revenge! Revenge!”

Vinesha, housing the reincarnated soul of Aquiline, former warden of heroic souls.

And Grantoni of the Otherworld.

“Hmm.”

The Blue Tower Master, Emperadion Sazaris, looked at Xenia with intrigue.

And alongside him, the tower masters of other kingdoms and active knight commanders.

All gathered with one purpose—to defeat Demon Sovereign.

Watching them, Adora tilted her head.

“Huh? Hmm?”

Spinning her staff in her hand, she scowled.

“That blond girl… where is she? The one they called the Warrior of the Goddess!”

The Warrior of the Goddess.

She was talking about Isabel Luna, who was notably absent.

Demon Sovereign let out a short chuckle as he understood the situation.

【They sent the Warrior of the Goddess to the Demon Dungeon?】

At Demon Sovereign’s next words, the powerful figures present stiffened.

Just the sound of his voice radiated overwhelming pressure.

The Demon Dungeon.

There, Demon Sovereign’s sealed soul remained.

The young heroes had descended into the dungeon, targeting that soul.

And they were right to do so.

The war would not end unless Demon Sovereign’s core soul was destroyed.

As long as that soul remained, Demon Sovereign could not be killed.

【How amusing.】

Demon Sovereign slowly leaned his body forward.

【Devourer of the Whitewood—let’s see how long you can stand in my way this time.】

Can the heroes hold him back until the children reach his soul—or not?

“All units,”

The Duke of Whitewood raised her weapon.

“Crush them.”

The curtain of war had risen.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]