The night was hazy, and the breeze tonight was a bit cold.
The King of the Anareto Kingdom had just finished today's government affairs and was looking out at the night scene to relax his mind. Whenever he thought of the frequent news of Demon Race movements from the front lines lately, he had a premonition that these peaceful days might soon be shattered. This pressing stress often caused him to wake up from nightmares at night. He dreamed of his son dying tragically under the Demon Lord's sword, saw the allied front lines being broken, the Demon Race invading all the way into the kingdom, and his people being swept up in the flames of war.
"I hope this is just a dream..."
The King muttered painfully to himself.
If the Demon Race could be reasoned with, they would have wished to solve the problem without war. However, according to Julius, the Demon Race didn't seem to want war either, yet they had reasons that forced them to start one.
Julius was looking for that reason in an attempt to stop the war. As the King, all he could do was provide support for Julius and the others from behind, because this task was one only the Hero Julius was capable of, and even if he wanted to help, he lacked the ability.
He could only do his best to handle the country's affairs so that no internal problems would arise, ensuring that Hero Julius and the others had no worries at home, while constantly sending support troops to provide supplies to the allied front lines. Although he didn't want war, the means to deal with it were already prepared. The defenses of the border fortresses were as solid as an iron wall; surely even the Demon Race, who were born with superior abilities compared to humans, couldn't easily take those fortresses down, right?
The King couldn't find an answer; humanity's impression of the Demon Race had always been vague. He only knew that the Demon Race was very strong, but it wasn't as if there were no means to resist them. Over all these years, the Demon Race had never truly captured a human fortress. This was because every time before the Demon Race could win the war on the front lines, a Hero would appear, standing up to defeat the powerful Demon Lord, and the Demon Lords Army would immediately withdraw after the Demon Lord's death.
It seemed the reason the Demon Race started wars lay solely with the Demon Lord. Once the Demon Lord died in battle, the remaining demons would automatically lose their morale. However, he didn't want to see this happen, because every Hero in history had to give their life to defeat the Demon Lord, and the Hero of this generation, Julius, was his son. He knew it was the Hero's mission, but if there was hope, he wished to achieve a true victory rather than sacrificing the Hero's life for a temporary peace.
He didn't have the power to influence the outcome; the King was very clear on this point. Although he was the ruler of a nation, there were many things he couldn't do. Just as he couldn't replace Julius as the Hero, nor could he stop the Queen from being wary of Shurein, the things he could accomplish were extremely limited.
As a king.
King Anareto was far too mediocre and conservative.
In times of prosperity, he would have been a very good king.
But in these chaotic times, he was destined to have many worries.
Just as the King intended to close the window and go back to rest, a gust of cold wind blew into the room. In the next second, the lights went out. This sense of dissonance made King Anareto feel that something was wrong. He was about to leave the room when he saw a Person in Black standing in the center of the room, with her back to him. Just as he was about to ask who she was, the shadow on the ground suddenly jumped up and seized his throat.
The King was strangled by his own shadow and could not make a sound. His face gradually turned red, the veins on his forehead bulged out hideously, and he finally died of suffocation. When he died, his eyes were still wide open, staring in the direction where the Person in Black was standing; that was the only movement he could make at the time.
After the King's death, his shadow tried to enter his body, but at that moment, the deceased King came back to life and ejected the shadow that had entered his body. The King had actually been resurrected at this very moment.
"Who are you?" King Anareto asked.
Seeing this scene of resurrection, the Person in Black fell into silence, seemingly having completely failed to expect such a thing to happen. But this silence did not last long; the shadow on the ground moved again, and a weapon even appeared in its hand as it lunged toward King Anareto. King Anareto's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly tried to counterattack, but he hadn't expected this body to be so weak and completely uncontrollable.
The shadow's sword pierced the King's chest.
"To think such a thing would happen..." Looking at the sword piercing his heart, the King's expression was very complex, but it uniquely lacked emotions like fear or pain, showing only great regret at the outcome.
He looked toward the Person in Black and suddenly laughed.
"We will meet again
."
Since his plan had been ruined, no matter who this Person in Black was, they would meet again one day. Although he would be using a different identity and a different body to meet the other person then, that didn't matter.
What mattered was.
He would make the other person experience the feeling of death as well.
The King's body collapsed.
The Shadow Assassin returned to the shadows.
The Person in Black remained silent.
Although some accidents had occurred, the matter was finally settled. This way, Shurein and the others would be called back tomorrow.
Before leaving, the Person in Black unscrupulously set a fire, burning everything in the study. She didn't know if the King had left a will, but if such a thing existed, it was usually hidden somewhere in the study, and she didn't have time to look for it. It was better to burn it all away and make a clean sweep.
However, such a thing could not be guaranteed; perhaps the Queen's side had also prepared in advance. Thinking this, the Person in Black saw another Shadow Demon she had sent out earlier return, bringing back news that the Queen was already dead.
The King and Queen were dead; tonight's mission was accomplished.
Leave the remaining princes for Shadow Shurein to deal with himself. After all, to gain the recognition of those ministers and generals, he would need to have some opponents left for him, this prince, to prove himself. Furthermore, the biggest competitor could not take the field because of his identity and might even assist Shadow Shurein.
Additionally, Shadow Shurein had the support of Princess Su.
This war for the succession to the throne.
The outcome was already decided before it even began.
The Person in Black used a flight skill to leave the palace.
At this moment, she thought of the King's performance of coming back to life just now.
She hadn't expected the Elf Race's tentacles to reach so deep, to the point where even the King had been planted with a Soul Seed. According to the information sent back by the Shadow Demon, the same thing had happened on the Queen's side as well.
If the other party hadn't been restricted to using the original attributes of the body's owner, today's matter might not have been so easy.
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