DEMON KING'S Love Redemption

Chapter 36

Vann pulled his hand away, his breathing heavy. His face looked gaunt and exhausted, and black blood began to trickle from his nose. Altering the fundamental nature of mana was a god-tier technique that placed a monumental strain on his teenage body.

"Darkness is merely light that has lost its way, Lady Freya," Vann said, wiping the blood from his nose. He tried to smile, but the expression looked broken.

"I only nudged its path a little... for you."

Freya stared at Vann, her heart a chaotic blur of conflicting emotions. She could feel his mana thrumming within her—a power that felt achingly familiar, fiercely protective, and heavy with a grief that needed no words. She could no longer lie to herself. The boy standing before her was the most feared Demon King in history, yet he was also the one willing to incinerate his very soul just to mend a mere scratch on her cheek.

"Why, Vann?" Freya asked, her voice softening into a breathy whisper. "Why did you do all this? Why hide who you are and enroll in the academy when you have the power to level this entire place in an instant?"

Vann looked deep into her eyes. As the Chamber of Divine Exile began to crumble around them, it felt as though time had drifted back thousands of years to the moment he first saw Freya beneath the academy linden tree.

"Because I wanted to graduate," Vann answered with an honesty that felt like a physical blow. "I wanted to graduate as a top student. I wanted to stand beside you on commencement day and see you smile without a trace of fear in your eyes. I am tired of being a monster, Freya. I just wanted to be... Vann."

Freya stood frozen. She saw tears pooling in the corners of his crimson eyes. For the first time, she didn't see a Demon King. She saw a profoundly lonely boy struggling against a cruel, relentless fate.

Suddenly, the sound of the dimension fracturing grew deafening. The ceiling of the hall began to cave in. The entire realm was seconds away from a total collapse.

"Vann! We have to go!" Freya grabbed his hand, this time gripping him with a desperate strength.

Vann glanced up at the jagged rifts forming above them. He could feel Professor Mordred watching from the outside, and he sensed something else—something far grander and more terrible observing them from behind the veil of the world.

"Someone is waiting for us out there, Freya," Vann said, struggling to his feet. He brushed his thumb against her cheek, wiping away the last traces of dust. "Everything changes once we leave this place. You might never be able to look at me the same way again."

"I do not care," Freya countered firmly. "You saved me. You healed me. That is the only truth I am holding onto right now. Let's go, Vann!"

They bolted toward the flickering pillar of light at the center of the hall. Vann used a subtle thread of gravity magic to pull the unconscious Kael along, making him drift effortlessly behind them.

Just as they plunged into the gateway, a mysterious voice echoed within Vann's mind—regal, ancient, and dripping with malice.

"You have used your power, Vann. The ancient pact is void. The world shall know your true face, and your Hero will be the first to despise you."

Vann did not offer a reply. He simply tightened his grip on Freya's hand as they hurtled through a dimensional tunnel of distorted light. He didn't care if the world knew. He didn't care if the gods were finished with him. As long as Freya drew breath, he would continue to defy fate itself.

They hit the grass of the academy's main grounds with a heavy thud. The morning sun of Aethelgard washed over them, but the atmosphere was suffocating. Hundreds of students and professors stood paralyzed, their eyes locked on the survivors.

On the podium, Professor Mordred stood deathly pale, though his eyes gleamed with a manic satisfaction. The monitoring crystal in the center of the field remained active, but its screen displayed only a dense, pitch-black void—proof that Vann had wiped the recording clean before they escaped.

Vann let go of Freya's hand and dropped to his knees, gasping for air. He tried to hide his eyes, which still flickered with a faint crimson hue, behind his dark hair.

"Vann! Freya!" Elric came sprinting toward them, his face a mask of worry. "You made it! The dimension imploded! We thought you were..."

Freya stood tall beside Vann, fixing Professor Mordred with a piercing glare. She could feel the surge of mana radiating through her body, and she knew Mordred felt it too.

"Professor Mordred," Freya's voice rang across the grounds, carrying the undeniable authority of an awakened Hero. "This exam was sabotaged. There was an Abyssal monster inside that simulation. We demand an explanation."

Mordred descended from the podium with slow, measured steps. He stopped directly in front of the kneeling Vann. "An explanation? Certainly. But perhaps we should first discuss how a low-tier student like Vann survived an Abyssal Chimera and emerged with mana that is... remarkably pure."

Mordred leaned down, his voice a whisper intended only for Vann's ears. "You healed her with your very essence, didn't you? You've just placed a permanent mark upon her soul. Now, she isn't just the Hero... she is the Demon King's consort."

Vann looked up, his eyes flashing a vivid, terrifying red for a split second, forcing Mordred to recoil from the sudden, crushing pressure of his aura.

"Touch her again," Vann whispered in a tone that could freeze hellfire, "and I will ensure your next dimension is a living nightmare."

Amidst the mounting tension, Freya noticed something strange. On her palm, where Vann had held her, a small symbol shaped like a crown of thorns glowed with a faint gold light before sinking beneath her skin. She looked at Vann, then at Mordred, realizing the true battle was only just beginning in the very heart of their academy.

Vann's dominance might have been silent within that dying dimension, but the echoes of his power had just shattered the peace he had fought so hard to maintain. The secret of the Demon King had been stripped bare, and under the Aethelgard sun, the shadows of a blood-soaked future began to stretch long.

The great academy bell suddenly tolled twelve times—the highest emergency alarm. In the sky, a massive, blood-red dimensional gate tore open, and a voice from the heavens thundered: "VANN THE DESTROYER, SHOW YOURSELF!"