The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

As Gray listened to Philippa's desperate, yet incredibly clear, "final plea," and looked at her pained face with her eyes tightly closed, as if awaiting final judgment, the last shred of faint, perhaps unrealistic, hope in his heart was completely extinguished.

He was silent.

The excruciating pain in his chest persisted, and the burning sensation from the conflict between the light magic and his own origins did not lessen. However, all this physical pain seemed far less intense than the boundless desolation and coldness in his heart at that moment.

Countless thoughts surged and collided in his mind, finally turning into a silent sigh filled with endless mockery.

Perhaps this world... from the very beginning, did not welcome him, this "outsider" from a foreign land?

Otherwise, why give him the identity of "Demon King"? A character who seems to stand at the top of power, but from the beginning he is bound by invisible threads of fate, pushed to destruction by a predetermined script, and driven to the brink by so-called "destiny" and "righteousness".

A tragic character who, no matter how much he struggles or tries to break free of the constraints, ultimately finds himself still mired in the mire, even dragging those he cares about into his suffering...

This "demon king" is truly... pathetic.

Those former powers and influences, those seemingly glorious pasts, now appear to be nothing more than a mirage, easily shattered.

He possessed the power to shake the world, yet he could not change a heart filled with responsibility and fear. He could be an enemy of the gods, yet he could not avert the fatal blow that was so close, a blow woven from love and despair.

He seemed to hear the cold, merciless turning of the gears of fate and see the invisible, gigantic net that enveloped everything.

Resistance? Struggle? The moment Philippa plunged the sword into his chest and uttered the words, "I wish you were dead," all resistance seemed to lose its meaning.

He slowly, very slowly, raised the hand that wasn't holding the sword, as if wanting to touch Philippa's cheek one last time, but in the end, the hand fell limply down in mid-air.

He turned his gaze to Philippa again, and in his eyes, all the complex emotions—pain, sorrow, mockery, and understanding—gradually settled into a near-dead calm.

"Ah."

He responded softly, his voice low and hoarse, yet carrying a strange, almost liberating sense of relief.

“Just as you said…” he repeated Philippa’s words, his tone calm and even, “Perhaps… my death will bring… a better ending.”

The moment the words left her lips, Philippa suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him in disbelief.

Gray had already closed his eyes.

He no longer tried to dispel the rampant light magic in his chest, nor did he mobilize the vast, ocean-like vitality to repair his damaged heart and torso.

Instead, with his powerful willpower, he proactively and thoroughly... severed the operation of his own magic, abandoning all instinctive reactions to sustain life.

The immense magical power that had once surged within him, enough to shake the heavens and the earth, quickly subsided and dissipated like the receding tide.

At his chest, the light magic lost its resistance and spread and destroyed within him like wildfire. He simply endured it silently, no longer making any form of resistance or struggle.

He chose to agree with her "wish".

He chose to... face death.

He ended his contradictory and helpless "demon king" life in an almost sacrificial manner.

The last glimmer of twilight finally disappeared completely below the horizon.

In the darkness, only Philippa's suppressed, desperate cries and Gray's fading life force remained.

Life, like the receding tide, irreversibly flowed away from his body.

Coldness and darkness began to spread from every part of my body, gradually eroding my senses and consciousness.

It is said that people see a revolving lantern before they die.

Greyburn had died once, so he couldn't say he was used to death, but at least he could say that his understanding of the ultimate concept of "death" was far deeper than that of most living beings in the world.

At this moment, in the depths of that ever-sinking consciousness, fragments of the past, like shattered glass, shimmer with mottled light and shadow, surged up uncontrollably.

In my past life... on that blue planet, my life came to an end quietly.

In this life... I became the "Shadow Demon," inheriting the power and destiny of the Demon King.

What did he do? He established the Shadow Court not for conquest, but rather to create a kind of order of his own amidst chaos.

Wipe out the demonic cults lurking in the shadows, eradicate the slave-hunting teams and bandit groups that revel in plunder and enslavement, and bring death and fear to those scum who truly deserve to go to hell...

He believed he had done some "good deeds." At least, within the scope of his power, he had reduced the filth and wailing in this land.

He was neither a bloodthirsty tyrant nor a madman who craved destruction.

He was simply fulfilling his perceived "duty," using a method entirely different from the so-called "brightness" to maintain a certain kind of "balance" and "justice."

But the result?

As a result, the girl he trusted and even fell in love with personally plunged the sword containing the power of light into his chest.

He, who could have resisted, retaliated, or continued to live, chose to give up and accept her "peace" built on sacrifice...

What does this ending mean?

Is it a... tragic, happy ending?

For him, it was a complete tragedy. For her, killing her "lover" in exchange for "peace" meant she would live the rest of her life in endless pain and guilt—could this be considered a "good ending"? For humanity, losing a potential ally who could have guided them to see the truth and fight against the real enemy only strengthened the rule of the mastermind behind the scenes—could this also be considered a "good ending"?

Ridiculous and sad.

So, looking at these two lifetimes, what kind of protagonist is Gray?

Is it an epic of heroism? He never received the reverence of the masses, but instead bore the name of a demon king.

Is this the path of darkness? Though he possessed power, he ultimately succumbed to emotions and "righteousness," willingly choosing his end.

Is it a tragedy? That's quite fitting. A powerful figure unable to escape fate, betrayed by trust and love, ultimately choosing death... a tragic character.

No, perhaps more accurately, he's more like... an actor who wandered onto the wrong set.

A soul that should have lived a life of ordinary daily routine was mistakenly thrown into a script with a pre-written tragic ending, playing the role of a "demon king" destined to be defeated by a "hero".

No matter how hard he tries to perform in his own style, the curtain will eventually fall according to its predetermined trajectory.

Can I accept this kind of ending?

Consciousness became increasingly blurred, bodily sensations were almost completely stripped away, leaving only the soul slowly falling into endless nothingness.

They were about to face death.

Within the body, which could no longer utter a sound, the thoughts of the dying man echoed.

"Almost?"