The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

They somehow managed to escape the basement and returned to the surface.

Unfolding before Lufry and Neville, was a match between two monsters trying to eat each other.

The ground shook and the air trembled. A clearly abnormal deep darkness and the presence of powerful magic.

A Lich, who had mastered countless combat magic and required the utmost vigilance as an extermination target for the Death Knights. Vampire, who possessed many unique abilities and couldn’t be killed despite having clear weaknesses. The visage of two powerful demonic beings, who should have been almost extinct due to the activities of the Order of Death Knights, fighting, foreshadowed the arrival of the dark era.

Light exorcised darkness. Death Knights wouldn’t lose easily even to the opponent that outmatched them.

However, as expected, it would be difficult to properly take the two of them on while also missing other members of the team.

Lufry, who was controlling the blessing and hiding, shrugged.

“The power of death is too much. He is a pretty tough opponent.”

“Shit! Even though we finally reached them――”

Letting him get away was a mistake. No matter what, they should’ve destroyed him when they had the chance. End had grown much more than Lufry and Neville expected. That vampire was no longer the kind of demonic being that could be dealt with one on one.

It was unexpected that neither had Senri given up on him nor had End done anything that would make her give up on him. Even if his memories were intact, was his reason so strong that he could endure feeding urges for so long?

End was strong. So was Senri. It would be impossible to proceed with force against the two of them.

“If that vampire dies, Senri will sober up.”

Neville said as if spitting out. His stern gaze was turned towards End, who had turned into a giant monster.

The match was equal. The life force of the undead surpassed all living beings. Magic didn’t work on vampires, but it was also difficult to forcefully kill the Lich that was protecting himself with magic. Dawn was also still far away. The blessing attacks from Lufry’s group should’ve worked, but the accumulated power of the death was too strong to make purification possible.

Then, Lufry, who was keeping quiet, opened his mouth.

“But, that’s not what we should be thinking about now, Neville.”

“…Tsk. I know. It’s that strange power, right?”

The power that swelled up before Lufry’s group that was fighting in the basement.

It was a huge power of darkness that even Lufry and Neville, who had encountered all kinds of demonic beings, had never seen before. Right now, the shaking of the ground had subsided, but the thread of sensations enabled by blessing clearly caught the stirring power right beneath the ground.

Even the two monsters in front of them, added together, wouldn’t be able to match just its total amount of power alone. If End’s last words were true, he was trying to stop its resurrection. Lufry didn’t think that a monster would try to uphold justice, but if Senri acted together with him, it sounded more credible.

End himself was a problem too, but if Lufry only focused on him and ignored the other one, he would have failed as a Death Knight.

“The Mirage King, huh…”

“Undead are really tenacious. Just like cockroaches.”

The power was on the verge of awakening any moment now. But it was incomplete.

He didn’t know what kind of magic had a hand in this resurrection, but the Mirage King should have been completely destroyed by the Order of Death Knights.

No matter how tenacious the undead is, it was still in the process of resurrecting. Thus, they still have time. And, even if the Mirage King does resurrect, it wouldn’t be perfect.

The fact that his subordinate, the Lich, was still fighting against the ill-matched opponent on which magic didn’t work, was the biggest proof of that.

Lufry didn’t have time to adjust his posture. If he let End go now, he would surely turn into a big calamity.

Lufry and Neville just followed End, but this was a ―― once in a lifetime chance.

He would take the advantage of the Lich being distracted by End and finish him while he wasn’t moving.

Each unit in the Order of Death Knights had a specialty. Lufry’s group, led by Epèe the Destroyer, excelled in emission-type attacks. Its final form was Photon Delete, which obliterated everything that got engulfed by the light.

Then, he heard a voice from behind. The voice that had been together with him for a long time and the voice he remembered every day those past few months. The voice of a girl, that sounded cold but was in fact gentle in every way. “Lufry, Neville, I’ll blow away everything. Gather power to me.”

“Got it.”

“Tsk.”

He had expected it, so he wasn’t surprised. She wasn’t the kind of person to turn a blind eye to this situation.

There was no need for extra words. He would also forget their feud for now. After all, the Order of Death Knights existed to save the world. While the upbringing and ideas of its members differed greatly, that was the only thing that remained the same.

And there is a reason why Death Knights, who are powerful even alone, act together in groups.

Some beings of darkness have overwhelming power that could surpass Death Knights. But, the light that exorcises darkness shines even more brightly when it’s united.

Senri unsheathed her sword and readied it. Lufry and Neville stood on her left and right side respectively.

Blessing was poured in. Three people’s worth of power gathered at the sword’s tip. The power of blessing gathered in one place shone like the Sun.

End’s giant body was pushed away. The Lich crawled out from below him. But it was too late. End had smashed the Lich’s staff, which swung up, perhaps intending to cast defensive magic, with his forelegs.

— And, the light was released.