# Enhanced Translation
Maximillian was not "born" into this world. He "descended." With a falling star, he suddenly appeared in a mountainous region of the Tilles Kingdom.
At that time, a young man in his late teens, Maximillian was already an overwhelming force, sweeping away all monsters and demons in the vicinity to become a dueling proxy for a local territory.
His life was smooth sailing. This remained true even during the height of the demon race's great war, when they were continuously being defeated.
At a time when Tilles' powerful knights were constantly being pushed to the "front lines," creating a power vacuum in the homeland that led to noble house conspiracies and open plundering, Maximillian achieved remarkable feats.
And his brilliant military exploits end at some point. As a proxy for the "robber nobles" who encouraged plundering, at a moment when he could have become a pillar among the great nobles of Tilles.
Isabelle was born. And the man who vaguely considered this world as a "game he had possessed" suddenly looked up at the sky.
The morning star was shining.
"Lord, when my story ends, will I return to my world?"
-If you wish.
The morning star whispered to him. That great deity who had implanted in him a body that never tired, endless magical power, and the talent to absorb all skills like a sponge, affirmed his question.
"Even if the Demon King rises to power and the world crumbles, will my story end as I wish?"
-If you wish.
Maximillian thrust his sword upside down into the mountainside and prayed toward the morning star.
"If I defeat the Demon King, will the world regain peace?"
-...If you wish it.
When he drew his sword again, his god acknowledged him as his proxy. As it was still an era when gods directly spoke to the world, the Pope received a revelation and dispatched a Saintess to bless the birth of the Hero.
Several more years passed. The "Hero Party" recruited from various regions headed toward the demon territory.
Without any support, a strike force crossed the gloomy valley of death to directly assassinate the most powerful being walking the earth.
And at the threshold of the Demon King's castle, in the face of the Hero Party that had finally collapsed from the contaminated atmosphere, daily battles, and hellish living conditions where life could not be guaranteed.
This transmigrator, once just an ordinary student on Earth, sought his god and slashed the sky.
Through the split atmosphere of the demon territory, the morning star shone again to face his question.
"Lord, will heroes and demon kings be born again in the world? As it has been until now, throughout the long history of this world, will such war and despair come again in the distant future?"
-Your knowledge is correct. As it was with my birth, so shall it be even after a thousand years pass. We call the world you stand upon the crucible.
-As the sun and moon circle the sky, and this world circles the sun again as seasons flow, and that flow continues to become centuries. A thousand years ago, there were more gods in the world, but in the end only one remained. So it was a thousand years ago, and so it shall be a thousand years hence. You are sulfur burning to forge gods, and your souls will be refined to become forged gods.
Maximillian spoke to the morning star in the darkest night, before dawn broke.
"Even once in a thousand years is too often."
-That is also why I called you, so act.
"Can I accomplish it?"
-If you wish it.
The Hero ascended to the Demon King's castle. Even when all his companions had collapsed from exhaustion, he aimed for the Demon King's neck. And finally, even at the moment when his exhausted body was about to collapse and his eyes were closing.
The Hero rejected everyone else's help and advanced alone to strike the Demon King's neck.
The morning star hid itself among the clouds. Heaven lost hope.
The morning star shone under the Hero's hand.
The earth gained hope.
But now, no hope remained in the Hero's soul. Yet this was clearly the result that man had wished for until the end.
The Hero was born to awaken hope in the world. But he himself never moves for his own hope.
This is natural, if natural at all. Because the Hero's hope has already been fulfilled.
"Daughter."
The reason a dissolute man became reborn as a Hero.
The reason why a stranger from another dimension could give even himself freely for this world.
Remembering that tiny hand gesture that had circled in the air, the blindfolded Demon King smiled gently.
EP50. Avatar of the Morning Star.
-Kugugugugugu....
The dwarf's Earth Network Excavator was surprisingly quiet for its size and function. Originally, this ancient artifact was designed to minimize impact on the ground except when used for combat purposes.
In underground cities where even minor impacts could collapse tunnels and cause landslides, if the Earth Network Excavator caused ground impacts every time it was used, it would be impossible to utilize near urban areas.
That would hardly make it an artifact created for urban development. Proving its design philosophy, the last remaining Earth Network Excavator in this world was crawling like a snake through the Krasilov substratum.
And the fact that it causes minimal impact to the ground means that advancement can continue simultaneously with the excavation process. Only humans would restrict surface access for underground tunnel construction.
"It's more comfortable than I expected!"
"What?!"
"I said it's more comfortable than expected!!"
That might be true above ground, but not below. Along with the excavator's operation crushing the ground, the Hero Party had to advance through freshly created underground passages.
They walked through hellish passages where rocks turned to sand and flowed down, and sand vitrified, radiating heat. The passage, solidified without a single support beam, had become a stable underground tunnel.
Isabelle had to shout at the top of her lungs to barely convey her opinion to Yu-ri standing right beside her. Prolonged exposure to such noise levels would inevitably lead to hearing loss.
Therefore, trained agents would block auditory signals in this environment to protect their hearing.
The party members, having diligently completed Ivan's training, had blocked their hearing and were using sign language instead.
The party formation was different from usual. Normally, Ivan would have positioned himself at the front to coordinate offensive timing and organize the party, or rushed in alone to solve most problems.
But now, right behind the advancing excavator walked Lucia. She was walking carefully step by step with her eyes closed, concentrating deeply on something.
-Thump.
Lucia's heart beat strongly. More precisely, it was the blood reacting within her heart that had completely stopped since becoming a vampire.
With that reaction, Lucia stopped and raised her hand. Following the predetermined hand signals, Isabelle, Yu-ri, and Oskar stopped with tense expressions.
Then Lucia began walking again. Following the excavator that had already advanced several meters further.
When she stopped again and raised her hand, Ivan, Asidis, and Yu-jin were standing beside her.
Soon, the Earth Network Excavator noticed their stop and ceased operation. As silence returned to the underground passage, new sounds began to be heard.
-Thump, thump, thump.
-Dudududududu....
Like muffled sounds echoing in the deep sea, all kinds of noise from the surface distorted as they penetrated through the ground.
The noise of numerous troops moving, their footsteps, their shouts and screams, yells. Tearing sounds of destruction, followed by intermittent explosions.
A battle was raging above ground. A battle to drive them to dig into this place, and for another victory condition of this war.
Demons who survived the previous battle and humans who survived the previous battle were pointing weapons at each other and clashing.
Many would die. And the defeated side would literally be completely "eliminated" from this theater.
In the case of humans, it would result in the complete loss of the entire Krasilov region, the expansion of battle lines scattered throughout the allied nations, and the crushing of the alliance's remaining resistance. In other words, the end of the Allied Kingdoms.
In that case, humans would pay dearly for failing to stop the rampage of demons and the Demon King. Nations would collapse, cities would begin to struggle for survival, and this too would not last long.
In that case, humanity would perish. The price for losing their last military force capable of resistance.
But if the defeated side were the demons.
The demons had no retreat. The Great Gate had collapsed, and the Sky Mountains were dwarf territory. From the moment the dwarves allied with Krasilov, the demons could only move by land.
"All possible combat personnel" gathered from across the demon territory would be annihilated here. The remaining personnel in the demon territory were only vulnerable groups unsuitable for combat, such as young individuals.
In other words, the demons would almost permanently lose any possibility of recovery. Their culture would be severed, and countless tribes would not survive the harsh winter of the demon territory and would perish.
Even if they survived, it would be nearly impossible for them to restore their current prosperity. Even if they could, it would take a historical amount of time.
In that case, the demons would perish.
At this point, Yu-jin briefly organized his thoughts.
'But the winner...?'
In a game, the victor would monopolize all the spoils. But this world was not so simple. The current battlefield was close to mutual assured destruction.
The destruction the demons had inflicted on the alliance so far was at a fatal level. All nations had consumed everything in the previous battlefields except the minimum national power needed to maintain their structure.
The most luxurious thing a civilization can have is a military group. It has no productivity and only consumes enormous national resources.
After decades of war, all nations had little national structure left to maintain such groups. Even if they won the current battle, it would be impossible to expand territory to enhance national power, let alone secure colonial territories.
Therefore, victory in this war cannot be considered a complete victory for humanity. Literally, it is merely the maximum effort to avoid extinction.
At this moment, Yu-jin could vaguely understand what the Demon King above their heads... what the previous generation's Hero wanted.
'If mutual assured destruction itself is the goal....'
Humanity on one side, demons on the other. Completely crushing all growth engines of these two intelligent species that cannot mix.
Therefore, forcing them all to focus on their survival rather than the luxurious act of "warfare."
Literally, the final war.
Yu-jin raised his head with this realization. This was never a war meant to be won. It's a war waged for the sake of war itself.
As soon as he realized this, Yu-jin looked at Ivan. And he could finally understand Ivan's thoughts.
Though they had been together for almost two years, that madman who seemed eternally incomprehensible had now gone through the same thought process and reached the same conclusion.
"Brother."
When Yu-jin looked at him, Ivan quietly nodded. Soon, Ivan gave a hand signal.
-Kugugugugugu...!!
Lundis set up a small device. With Ivan's hand signal, the explosive detonated at the end of the device, causing a large explosion that pushed away the soil.
The ground was swept away. In the distance, the surface became visible.
The dim sky of dawn appeared. That strange time when stars, sun, and moon were mixed together was visible.
And a man appeared.
Wearing an eye patch, with a chained sword thrust upside down into the ground. Looking up at the sky with an inexplicable smile.
The earth he stood on rejected him and burned, the light from the sky denied him and refracted. Therefore, a man stood there who could see nothing and grasp nothing under the sky.
There stood a man who denied god. A man who denied the world itself was there.
Within a distance no demon dared to violate, alone, turning the grassland black.
"Father...."
Isabelle jumped onto the mound of earth and stood lightly on the ground, looking at her father. It was a reunion after four years. The man who abandoned his wife and daughter immediately after killing the Demon King and went into seclusion, and who now turned his blade against the entire world.
The man she respected most and loved most. The great man whose footsteps she had spent her lifetime trying to follow, yet couldn't even step on his shadow.
That man lowered his head. The face that had been directed toward the sky now turned to where his daughter would be.
"Daughter."
The voice she hadn't heard for four years was as calm as it had been four years ago... and before that.
Hero faces Hero.
Isabelle bit her lip once and briefly surveyed her surroundings. The demons dared not approach them. In the distance, the screams and shouts of humans continued.
Many people had died. After this battle ends, even more would die. By war, or famine, hunger and disease, poverty, and the approaching winter.
All those calamities began with one word from that man.
Now, Hero faces Demon King.
"I am Isabelle, daughter of Maximillian and Marie."
The Hero extends her sword toward the Demon King. Under the sky where stars, moon, and sun float in the same plane, at dawn, before the darkest sky.
The Demon King smiles.
"Maximillian de Etoile."
The Demon King extends his hand toward the Hero. Soon, thunder sounds in the previously quiet sky. Both demons and humans silently watch this moment.
Magic power swirls. An overwhelming presence gathers in one place. As if the entire world is watching this place, as if the gaze of the sky itself is cast upon this land.
As if a god is descending.
"Enemy."
At those words, cracks appear on the Hero's face. The man she loved most and respected most is now gone.
Gripping the sword handle with a crunch, the Hero charges.