I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Episode 159, Chapter 44: Ambush (2)

It was an incredibly sudden and truly groundbreaking statement, but Zion thought it was worth a try.

'The Pope also said there's a possibility Rubrious might give up the competition on his own.'

The reason for thinking this was simple.

If the First Prince had heard everything about what happened in Lezero and the Order of Light's headquarters without any omissions, he must have also heard that Zion was designated by Luminous and experienced a descent.

Though it differed from the truth, at least on the surface, there had never been anyone in history who received this much attention from the Light.

By Rubrious's standards, Zion might be the most suitable person to ascend to the throne as God's representative and spread the will of the Light throughout the world.

Though he probably wouldn't show it outwardly, he must be extremely conflicted inside.

In fact,

"......"

Rubrious remained silent in response to Zion's words, not immediately refusing.

His eyes looked complex.

How long did the silence last?

"I can't answer that right away."

A much lower voice flowed from the First Prince's mouth.

As Zion had thought, Rubrious was hesitating.

His biggest goal in ascending to the throne was to make the Order of Light the state religion of the empire, ensuring all citizens worshipped Luminous.

If what he heard from the headquarters was true, it might be right for Zion to ascend, but he couldn't be sure if Zion as emperor would spread the Light's will as he would.

Moreover, the deeply rooted thought that only he was suitable for the throne still persisted in his mind.

"...I'll think about it, but I'd like to discuss this again later."

With various thoughts swirling and colliding in his mind, this was all he could say.

"I believe it won't take too long."

Zion nodded with a slight smile, as if seeing through Rubrious's mind.

He hadn't expected him to accept such a proposal right away from the start.

For now, just knowing the First Prince's thoughts was a good enough result.

"How much do you know?"

Zion took a sip from his teacup and asked in a low voice.

"About what?"

"About the demons hiding around."

"...All I know is about the demons revealed in the Order of Light this time and a few hiding in the Order's branch within the imperial palace. But I do know there are far more that haven't been exposed."

At first, it was just a guess, but after the large-scale discovery of demons in the Order of Light, it turned into certainty.

If the Order of Light was like this, then undoubtedly they had taken even deeper root in the imperial palace, which was essentially the heart of the empire.

"And I think Enoch and Utekan, whose lives you took, and even the Ascalon family are related to the demon realm... Am I right?"

"You know quite a bit, don't you?"

Zion grinned at Rubrious and snapped his fingers.

Then, CRACK!

The water vapor in the air froze, creating a large ice sheet.

What appeared on this ice sheet was a map showing the entire empire.

"The black marks indicate places touched by the demon realm."

As he spoke, a black dot made of darkness stained the imperial palace area of the map black.

Using that as a starting point, black dots began to appear continuously on the map.

The Ascalon family, the Ozlima family, the five great families surrounding the imperial palace, and even the Order of Light.

'As expected...'

Up to this point, Rubrious's eyes showed that he had anticipated this.

It would have been stranger if they hadn't touched the other five great families after getting their hands on the Ascalon family.

But soon after, the First Prince's eyes began to fill with surprise.

The speed at which the black dots appeared didn't slow down at all.

POP POP POP POP!

The black dots spread instantly beyond the capital to the entire empire.

"...!"

As if that wasn't enough, the black dots finally stopped spreading only after covering even the three outer territories like the Giant Colony, Fairy Forest, and Beast Sea.

No, it wasn't appropriate to say they stopped.

The entire map was already stained black.

"......"

Rubrious stared blankly at the map with a shocked expression.

He knew it was serious, but he never imagined it would be to this extent.

It was at a level where it wouldn't be strange if the entire empire fell to the demon realm right now.

Of course, it was just marking places they had touched, not complete domination, but even so, this was beyond comprehension.

'What kind of battle have you been fighting all this time...'

With that thought, Rubrious looked at Zion with eyes full of astonishment.

Whether aware of his thoughts or not, Zion erased the floating ice map with a still calm face.

Though it was the first time he revealed this fact he had thoroughly hidden to another member of the royal family, there was no agitation in Zion's eyes.

Zion had always thought that if there was one person among the royal family to who he could reveal this fact, it would be Rubrious.

The reason was simple.

'Rubrious is such a fanatic that it's rumored throughout the empire.'

Which meant he had dedicated his entire being to the God of Light, Luminous.

Therefore, there was no possibility that he had been seduced by the demon realm.

Moreover, he was the only royal family member in the chronicles who had no demons among his close associates.

He just hadn't revealed it until now because there was a greater possibility of him becoming an enemy.

"...Zion, about what you said earlier."

After looking at Zion with wavering eyes for a moment, Rubrious slowly opened his mouth as if he had made a decision.

"My answer hasn't changed about not being able to give you an immediate response, but one thing has changed in my mind."

"What is it?"

"Regarding matters related to the demons that have infiltrated the empire, I'll not only cooperate but follow your opinion completely."

It was a statement that didn't match his usual nature of always taking the lead and reigning over everything, but that's how seriously he viewed this situation.

"Do as you like."

As Zion smirked at the First Prince's words and put down his empty teacup,

"By the way, Zion."

A cold voice, different from before, flowed from Rubrious's mouth.

"Are those outside your guests?"

Words with an incomprehensible meaning.

Currently, there was no one outside the café.

Liushina had already been sent back to the imperial palace, and the café owner had been sent home as well.

The only sight visible through the window was the lake, its surface constantly rippling from the steadily falling rain.

"I thought they were guests looking for you, but they're not?"

But Zion asked back naturally, as if understanding those words.

"If they're not guests for either of us, there's only one possibility left."

Enemies.

At that moment, WHOOSH!

The speed of the rain visible through the window noticeably slowed for an instant.

Raindrops falling slowly, as if time itself had slowed down.

As Rubrious was about to rise from his seat at this strange phenomenon, BOOM!

The raindrops, almost suspended in mid-air, all turned black and swelled up before causing a tremendous explosion.

The café building disappeared without a trace in this monstrous explosion, and the lake shook violently, spilling water.

Before the lake's vibrations subsided, SWISH-

Dozens of monstrous beings with purple skin and human-like forms appeared out of thin air.

Blatant demonic energy flowed from their bodies without restraint.

"Finish them off completely."

As a cold voice flowed from the mouth of the one who seemed to be their leader, no, the demon, WHOOSH!

Some of them dashed towards the center of the explosion, where dust was still thickly rising.

Their movements were extremely swift and systematic.

Just as their forms completely disappeared into the dust cloud,

A moment of silence.

Then, FWOOSH!

A pure white light explosion burst forth from inside.

BOOM!

As the light subsided, the demons who had entered the dust cloud were thrown out, their bodies charred beyond recognition.

"Damn demon vermin, how dare you..."

A low mutter was heard from within the dust cloud.

Along with it, Rubrious walked out slowly with an arrogant gaze, wrapped in holy flames as bright as sunlight.

His appearance was overwhelmingly impressive, enough to make one's entire body tremble at the sight.

"All-out attack."

Despite seeing this sight, the demons maintained their composure and rushed towards the First Prince all at once at their leader's command.

But at that moment,

"You shouldn't just look that way."

Along with a languid voice from behind, SLASH!

Thin lines appeared on the necks of five or six nearby demons.

Their heads, separated from their bodies along those lines, fell helplessly to the ground.

THUD THUD THUD!

As the demons' heads hit the ground, the owner of the voice slowly revealed himself behind them.

A man smiling at the demons, surrounded by ominous darkness.

It was Zion.

SCREECH!

Were they unshocked by the sudden death of their comrades?

The two demons closest to him swung their transformed arms at Zion without a moment's hesitation.

An attack that occupied all space above and below, leaving no room to dodge.

Just as these attacks were about to touch Zion's body, TAP.

Zion's outstretched foot lightly touched the attack coming from below.

The demon's arm, its path altered, shot upwards and, CRASH!

Collided with the other demon's arm, creating a loud noise.

While the two demons' arms were locked, POP POP!

The Black Star, not missing this gap, immediately burst their heads.

Before the headless demon corpses could fall to the ground, Zion's form dashed towards the other demons.

Hundreds of black dots appeared around Zion, then, POP POP POP POP!

They scattered and shot in all directions.

The black dots embedded themselves in the demons' bodies without a single miss.

BOOM!

As if that wasn't enough, these black dots exploded, erasing the demons' bodies without leaving a trace.

A large empty space formed around Zion as a result.

"First, restrain him so he can't move!"

Perhaps because nearly a third of their forces had vanished in an instant?

For the first time, an urgent cry filled with desperation burst from the mouth of the demon leader commanding the battle.

Slow down, be crushed, be blinded.

Following these words, the demons, keeping their distance, began to pour out all sorts of curses towards Zion.

The numerous status effect spells activated by this seemed to suppress Zion's body for a moment, but then, Soul Extinction Stage 2.

Soul Extinction Armor.

The darkness enveloping Zion's entire body like smoke transformed into armor-like shapes, then began to burn madly, consuming all those spells.

Along with this, the Dragon Rage Spear was grasped in Zion's right hand, absorbing all the light around it.

Agdravar began to vibrate furiously, then, Dark Thunder.

CRACKLE!

As Zion swung it, dozens of streaks of black lightning poured out from its trajectory.

The demons, unable to properly perceive the lightning shooting at the speed of light, were pierced and annihilated without even being able to scream.

"Why is it like this..."

For the first time, fear appeared in the eyes of the remaining demons watching this scene.

They were elites.

Elites ranking in the top five among the newly dispatched troops from the demon realm.

'He said we would surely be able to handle them...'

But they never dreamed they would be overwhelmed so decisively.

CRASH!

All the attacks they launched were either blocked or deflected, while their opponent's attacks all struck their important points.

Moreover, the bigger problem was that there wasn't just one such opponent.

On the other side, BOOM!

The golden-haired man, his entire body clad in armor of light, was shooting streams of holy power in all directions, carrying out a massacre at almost the same speed.

The number of demons rapidly decreased as a result.

As bewilderment appeared on the demons' faces,

'Something's different.'

Zion thought as he pierced the hearts of three demons rushing at him from the side with a single strike.

He had experienced numerous ambushes before, but this one was different in nature from the others.

From carrying out an attack without hiding their demonic energy in the capital, even if it was on the outskirts, to the boldness of targeting two royal family members simultaneously.

It didn't match at all with their previous behavior of moving as stealthily as possible unless they were certain.

'But they're too weak in comparison.'

It wasn't that the attacking demons themselves were weak.

On the contrary, they were among the strongest and most well-trained.

They just weren't enough to face Zion himself.

There was only one reason why the demon realm, which had a fair estimate of his power, would send such inadequate beings.

And that too when the First Prince, who possessed power similar to Evelyn's even if he wasn't included among the 'Seven Heavens', was present.

'They must be disposable pieces from the start.'

While there could be various reasons, the probability was high that the mastermind, or at least a link to the mastermind, was nearby.

They wouldn't waste such pieces meaninglessly.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH-

The Black Star, secretly extending from Zion's entire body as he continued to slaughter demons, began to spread in all directions, riding the darkness in the rain.

Along with this, Zion's senses rapidly expanded.

Then,

"Found it."

Zion's eyes emitted a cold light.

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