I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

Chapter 105: King of Signs (4)

TL/Editor: Rungir

Schedule: none

Illustrations: none

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In the ethereal realm, the entire expanse burst into a radiant white, illuminated by the celestial starlight of Cheonseonghae. The sea of sins, once touched by this stellar brilliance, vanished without a trace. But that wasn’t all—the starlight Zion unleashed not only shattered the ethereal realm but also pierced through, reaching the skies of the original world beyond.

It was a sight like a mythical tableau.

“......”

King of Demons Hanosral looked up at the night sky beyond the torn barrier, his eyes filled with disbelief. At this point, his body was already ravaged; the lower half completely gone, and two-thirds of his upper body obliterated by the starlight.

“I’ve lost.”

Soon after, a low voice emanated from him, breaking the silence. Hanosral knew. He knew that his body had sustained such massive damage that regeneration was impossible. In a short while, just like the collapsing ethereal barrier, he would completely vanish from this world.

“...Did you know about me?”

With languid eyes, Hanosral looked down at Zion, who was gazing back at him, and asked. Until moments ago, his mind was clouded with excessive excitement, preventing him from thinking straight. But now, he could see. He could see that the man before him had been waiting for him to use the ethereal barrier.

He must have known that Hanosral had an extra life hidden within the barrier and had deliberately targeted it. Such a move would have been impossible unless he had known about Hanosral beforehand.

“I’ve always wondered, Zion Agnes… How do you know about our identity? And how do you know about our plans?”

Starting from the first confrontation at Chimseong Palace, through the Eternal Shadows, the Illusionary Forces, the Empire’s Grand Magic Tower, the Angelos Territory, and now Hanosral himself—Zion Agnes had flawlessly annihilated every magic shadow involved and seized everything he desired, without a single failure.

This level of prowess went beyond deep scheming and meticulousness; it was a realm that couldn’t be explained with mere intelligence and strategy.

“Answer me.”

This was Hanosral's last question before death.

“Who exactly are you?”

He was curious about the being named Zion Agnes—a person who, in less than half a year, rose from being an imprisoned prince to becoming one of the most promising candidates for the throne. A person who, despite being under the scrutiny of magic and the other royal families, built his own power base and gained enough strength to kill a King of Demons on his own.

Is there really any being in this world capable of achieving such feats? Hanosral doubted he would have believed it himself if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

Zion, faced with Hanosral’s question, couldn’t help but smirk.

‘Why do they always ask the same things?’

With that thought, he was about to crush the King of Demon's head underfoot when suddenly, he stopped—his foot hanging in the air as if he had just thought of something.

"Checking his reaction wouldn’t be such a bad idea."

With that thought, the trace of Evelyn's 'Heavenly Chain' that was restraining Zion's entire body vanished without a trace, and promptly, the energy began to fill its place.

Simultaneously, the surrounding brightness darkened, and an intense, eerie aura grew stronger.

"Yes, that power you originally wielded... I've been curious about the true nature of that power. How could it be so similar to ‘that existence’...!"

Hanosral was speaking as he observed Zion’s energy, but he suddenly stopped.

His eyes began to fill with astonishment as he realized something monumental. His gaze was fixated on the three black stars swirling in Zion’s eyes.

"Could it be..."

He had thought they were similar, but he had never believed it could actually be possible. ‘That existence’ had disappeared hundreds of years ago, and its power was something that couldn't possibly be passed down through generations.

However, doubt was starting to creep into Hanosral’s mind.

What if it was not an impossible concept? What if there was an infinitesimally small chance that the power had been passed down to the present generation?

His doubt quickly grew into a new conviction.

"So, it was you... It was you all along...!"

It had to be this way. This was the only explanation that made sense of everything that had happened so far.

Hanosral, seemingly having resolved all his questions, kept repeating that revelation. His physical body began to disintegrate more rapidly.

"Damned descendant of eternity... This time, we will surely..."

But before he could finish his sentence, Hanosral completely vanished from this world.

‘...Was this related to the Eternity Emperor as well?’

Zion, silently observing the spot where Hanosral had disappeared, was deep in thought.

The cursed blood of Agnes.

He had always wondered what these words meant. Every monster he had encountered had uttered the same phrase.

The demon he had faced during the phantom military exercise had definitely recognized the energy and had spoken those words.

So he had deliberately revealed his energy to Hanosral, hoping for a clue, and it seemed like he had gotten one.

‘Dark magic appeared a long time after the Eternity Emperor died. But how are they related?’

Was it a setting error in ‘Chronicles of the Hero of Frosimar’? Or was there something else at play?

He had no way of knowing with the information he had at the moment.

‘Maybe I’ll naturally find out as I continue hunting.’

Just as Zion was concluding his thoughts, Crackling!

The boundary of the alternate space completely shattered.

And beyond it, the original world was revealed. There, another Hanosral was meeting his end at the hands of the Witch of Heavenly Punishment.

“How...”

Hanosral, watching Zion walk out unscathed, looked at him with eyes filled with astonishment, and then completely vanished.

“Huh? Master, you came out just in time?”

Soon after, Liushina, having noticed Zion, cheerfully waved her hand as she greeted him with a smile.

From the start, a knowing light filled her eyes, as if she had anticipated this very outcome.

"His Highness Zion has arrived! Quickly, let's wrap this up!"

Boom! Crash! Bang!

"Aaaargh!"

With Girard’s shout, the surrounding battlefield was swiftly cleared. Zion and Liushina didn’t even need to intervene. Realizing that their leader Hanosral had been killed, the monster troops immediately lost their will to fight. For the Maelstrom Squad, finishing off these monsters was as easy as breathing.

"Are you unharmed, Your Highness Zion?"

After clearing out all the monsters, Liam approached Zion and asked. Excitement from the rare battle still lingered in his eyes.

"Yes."

"I can hardly believe the report. To think that monsters, especially high-ranking ones, would roam freely within the Imperial City..."

Liam muttered in a daze, looking at the corpses of the monsters. Frankly, he had been skeptical when Zion called him to the Imperial City, saying he needed to hunt monsters. If someone else had said that, he would have dismissed it as nonsense. What happened today at the Chimseong Palace was both shocking and hard to believe.

"If they're bold enough to attack His Highness Zion so openly, they must have infiltrated not just the Imperial City but the entire empire."

Girard, the commander of the border guard, approached and spoke to Liam. Despite his muscular appearance and seemingly battle-oriented demeanor, his words were insightful.

"That's right. Exactly."

Zion responded with a slight laugh.

"Yet, seeing that you haven't publicized this fact until now... Do you have something in mind?"

"I'm planning to set a deep trap and catch them all at once."

Now was not the time for a full-scale confrontation with the monsters that had infiltrated the empire. They were aware of each other's existence, but there was a world of difference between making it explicit and keeping it under wraps. Just today, because they hadn’t exposed themselves, the monsters couldn’t mobilize in large numbers.josei

For now, slowly whittling down the enemy's forces seemed to be the best strategy.

'I should start preparing, though.'

As Zion thought about the inevitable full-scale confrontation, Thierry, the head of the shadows, appeared.

"Your Highness Zion."

"I've gathered all the information."

"Speak."

"I've traced back the path of the monsters that invaded Chimseong Palace today."

This was something Zion had instructed Thierry to do before the battle even began.

"All of them entered from outside the Imperial City, and some were connected to the secret businesses run by Fourth Prince Utekan in the capital."

"Have we finally caught a tail?"

Zion’s eyes glowed coldly at Thierry’s words.

There was no mistake.

The location in question was indeed one of the hidden branches of monsters that had infiltrated the empire.

“What shall we do?”

“You’re asking the obvious.”

A sinister smile formed on Zion’s lips as he spoke.

There was no way Zion was going to let this matter end just like that. His nature was to completely uproot the existence that dared to reveal itself to him.

‘This time, I’ll significantly reduce the number of demons in the capital, along with Utekan's influence.’

“In that case, we should move as quickly as possible.”

“Right, we’re moving immediately. Deploy Liushina first.”

If they moved before the monsters realized that their attack had failed, they could inflict more damage.

“I like it. It means I get to kill more.”

The Witch of Slaughter gleamed in excitement at Zion's words.

However, just then,

“But Prince Zion, there is one problem.”

Thierry addressed Zion, his expression slightly troubled.

“There may be only one of the Fourth Prince's operations exposed right now, but attacking it will reveal numerous other secret forces connected to that place. If Your Highness wishes to obliterate them all, we will need more power than we have right now, and it must be power that we can mobilize at will.”

Thierry spoke, knowing Zion's inclination to complete things perfectly once started.

To be honest, it was no exaggeration to say that there were virtually no military forces under Zion at the moment. While Liushina was powerful, she had her limits when acting alone. The Border Legion and the Anti-Demon Corps had to maintain their vigilance against demonic magic and thus could not be freely mobilized. The Walro Legion, seized from the Fourth Prince, was in the same situation.

“Don’t worry.”

Zion responded with a smirk.

The absence of a direct military force.

Zion was well aware of this fact. And so, he had already thought of a solution.

“It will be available soon.”

His cryptic words left everyone in doubt, but Zion’s lips, curving into a quiet smile, did not open any further.

---

---

In the small garden near Chimseong Palace, a woman clad in a monk's robe stood alone, murmuring to herself in a dazed voice, "What in the world is happening?"

Flashes of a recent crisis filled her mind:

"Answer me. Why do I not feel the touch of the divine from you?" First Prince Rubrious had persistently pressed this question upon her.

She couldn't fathom what this divine touch was, and with madness and conviction already dancing in the prince’s eyes, she found herself unable to respond.

Considering her standoff with Rubrious and the subsequent escape, the woman was at a loss.

Suddenly, starlight soared from the Chimseong Palace, shooting up to the ends of her vision and illuminating the imperial sky with brilliant celestial radiance.

"Hmm, I’ll have to ask again next time," Rubrious pondered for a moment between the starlight and the woman before finally deciding to leave, his figure fading into the direction of Chimseong Palace.

"What on earth is going on?" The woman, having somehow survived the crisis, couldn’t shake off her growing unease as she looked towards Chimseong Palace. After the burst of starlight, no other sound or light emanated from the palace. And due to Rubrious heading there just moments ago, she couldn’t go to check it out herself.

"Could it be that Zion Agnes got the better of them?" she mumbled, but immediately shook her head vehemently.

That was impossible. Or rather, it had to be impossible. They had invested overwhelmingly superior forces to eliminate all variables from the start.

"I need to join up with Utekan," she decided, quickly moving into action as if to shake off her thoughts. However, the image of the starlight she had just witnessed lingered in her mind, amplifying her anxiety.

"If, by some chance… if Hanosral really has been defeated…" It would be an enormous event, enough to overturn the entire situation.

The balance of power that had been maintained secretly within the empire for over a hundred years was on the verge of collapsing.

Perhaps she needed to start preparing for such a scenario.

But what the woman didn't know was that the balance had already been crumbling, little by little, for quite some time.

And that someone was watching her, unaware of it all.