Chapter 56 – The Executioner of Luxaris

King Dorian Luxaris stormed into his castle with his escorts, shaking the snow from his cloak. Yet even here, within his own walls, the blizzard refused to relent. Ice coated the corridors as if the seasons themselves had lost all meaning.

“Are the Yuki attacking us?” he growled, striding down the hall toward the throne room. Each step crunched harshly against the frost beneath his boots.

“Be careful, Your Majesty,” Makoto Itsuka warned, his voice carrying the weight of age as his eyes scanned their surroundings. “The ground will make movement difficult…”

The guards pushed against the throne room doors. Heavier than ever, compacted snow made them nearly impossible to budge. At last, the doors gave way, and an eerie blue glow of ice spilled into the chamber.

There, seated silently upon the throne, a figure waited.

Makoto immediately drew his bow, while the guards closed in around Dorian with spears raised.

“An intruder!” the king thundered, his voice echoing through the frozen walls. “Get out of my throne this instant!”

The figure slowly lifted his head. A white mask reflected the icy light. Phantom smiled.

“Is that how you welcome your savior, Dorian? What a shame… I thought Solmara still had some manners left.”

The king staggered back in confusion, while Makoto’s eyes lowered toward him.

“Your Majesty… I suggest you run. I’ll fight him.”

Phantom rose calmly from the throne, the echo of his footsteps carrying across the frost.

“Makoto Itsuka. My dear friend… the years have not been kind to you.” His voice carried a trace of melancholy. “Tell me, how is Haruna?”

Makoto’s brows knit together in shock.

“H-how do you know that name?”

Phantom let out a quiet laugh. The king, unable to comprehend, could only watch the exchange like a stranger.

“I know far more than you think. That you hated biology class… that you were never chosen captain of the soccer team… and that you ran away with Haruna the night Lilith appeared.”

The bow trembled in Makoto’s hands. The disbelief tore at him more than any blade ever could.

“That’s impossible… how do you know all that?”

Phantom turned slightly toward the king.

“And you, Dorian? Still poisoning your own heroes?”

The monarch’s eyes flared with pure hatred.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Phantom brushed the snow from his blue coat and raised his left hand. A surge of holy fire lit the throne room as Versalles, his divine weapon, materialized in his grasp.

“Twenty years vanish in the blink of an eye, don’t they?” His voice echoed like a ghost between the frozen walls.

“N-no… it can’t be…” Dorian stammered, backing away. “That sword… Versalles! Impossible! Takao died long ago, struck down by the demons’ curse!”

Phantom drove the blade into the snow covering the floor and began to clap slowly.

“You’re right… I did die that day. But it wasn’t a curse.” His eyes burned beneath the mask, locking onto the king.

“It was your poison, Dorian. You never wanted a just world. All you craved was more power, more wealth, more impunity… wasn’t that it?”

The king clenched his teeth, shaking with fury.

“You deranged cynic! Now I see who was behind it all!”

Ren’s voice lashed like a whip.

“Why don’t you tell them the truth?”

“Why don’t you confess that you poisoned Takao Ryonosuke?”

“That the so-called war against the demons was a sham?”

“That the Church of the Sun has slaughtered, kidnapped, and enslaved entire villages… all for profit?”

Silence pressed down like lead. Dorian said nothing.

Makoto closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his bow was drawn taut.

“It doesn’t matter whether your words are true or not.” His voice was steady, yet carried a quiet sorrow. “Thanks to the king, I was given a second chance. And I won’t waste it.”

Light blazed along the string. A pure flame arrow began to take shape.

“Stubborn as ever,” Phantom murmured, reclaiming Versalles. The blade flared with solar flames, flooding the hall with the brilliance of dawn.

Makoto roared:

“Sunlong—Solar Flare Dragon!”

The arrow erupted into a blazing dragon, its incandescent body roaring as it surged forward to consume everything in its path.

Phantom stepped back, raised his sword, and swung it wide.

“Sunshine Phoenix!”

A golden phoenix burst forth from the blade, wings of radiant light spreading wide.

Dragon and phoenix collided in the center of the throne room, locked in a brutal dance. Fire and light clashed and tore at one another, trying to devour the other, igniting every corner of the frozen castle.

The heat was unbearable. The guards raised magical shields around the king, trembling as marble split and ice groaned, the world itself threatening to collapse.

The two forces ascended skyward, ripping the castle roof clean off. The midnight heavens seemed to shatter—just for a heartbeat, the world gleamed as though dawn had come.

Makoto fell to his knees, drained. He had unleashed his ultimate ability—far too much for his age. His body shook, unable to even hold the bow.

Phantom, however, stood tall, unfazed. Versalles vanished with a gesture, and he strode toward him.

“You did well… for someone so old.” Ren set a hand on his shoulder and, with a sharp strike to the neck, knocked him unconscious.

He walked past, advancing toward the throne. In his hand, Wisteria materialized—the divine blade exhaling frost.

“Twenty years…” he whispered. “Twenty long years I’ve waited for this moment.”

King Dorian brushed aside his guards with a flick of his hand. His face bore not fear, but arrogance.

“Do you think I’ll repent? I did what I had to, to keep Solmara standing. And I’d do it again.”

Fanatic light blazed in his eyes.

“Even if you kill me, others will take my place. One of my six daughters will carry on my path. This cycle is eternal.”

Phantom lowered into the stance of the Aseina clan, frost creeping up his arms.

“I know. But I want to believe… it’ll be many years before another tyrant like you rises again.”

For a fleeting moment, his gaze softened—thinking of the daughter not yet born.

“And when that day comes… someone who shares my ideals will be there to stop them.”

Silence blanketed the hall. Phantom raised his katana.

“Dorian Luxaris… in this trial, you are guilty. May Shion show no mercy to your soul.”

The king spread his arms wide, as if to embrace his sentence.

“I’ll see you in hell… ghost.”

“Aseina Style… Silent Winter!”

A freezing gale ripped through the chamber. Dorian’s men collapsed, their bodies slashed by invisible cuts, lotus blossoms of frost blooming from their wounds. Phantom appeared behind the king, sheathing his blade with a crisp snap.

Dorian crumpled to the ground, his body frozen in one last posture of arrogance.

Ren lifted his gaze to the crimson moon looming over Solmara. His lips curved into a bitter smile.

The king had been the easy part.

The worst… was still to come.

“You can stop hiding now…” His voice rang out among ice and blood, heavy as a verdict.

The shadows of the throne room quivered. A deep, mocking echo replied:

“Heh… I’m glad you finally call me by my true name.”

Slow, graceful footsteps emerged from the darkness.

“True Demon King… Lucifer.”