I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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"Damn you humans! How dare you come here!"

With ear-piercing screams, dozens of demons charged forward in a spear formation. Each one was at least a high-ranked being with exceptional abilities. The power radiating from them was truly overwhelming, but...

"I'll handle this."

Turzan, the giant who stood before them with his shield covering his upper body, didn't back down. Instead, he took another step forward.

WHOOSH!

As he stepped forward, the heavy energy emanating from his shield formed a wall. CRASH! A tremendous shockwave erupted when the charging demons collided with this barrier.

The impact pulverized nearby objects and sent dirt flying everywhere. And the ones who were sent flying were...

"Guh! What kind of power is this?!"

Not Turzan, but the dozens of high-ranked demons.

Their eyes filled with shock at this completely unexpected outcome. But their shock didn't last long.

"As reliable as ever!"

"I'll take the left side!"

BOOM!

Spear strikes and magic from behind Turzan swept through their ranks.

"ARGH!"

With their formation broken by Turzan, the demons couldn't properly defend against these attacks and died in droves.

"We won't let any of you pass here!"

Though they were called high-ranked demons for a reason - several unleashed desperate counterattacks by expending all their demonic energy.

But as if waiting for exactly this...

"Light."

As this short invocation left Elysis's lips, golden wings sprouted from her back and FLASH!

Pure white light poured forth, completely nullifying all their attacks.

Her holy power and mastery far surpassed when she first awakened her wings of light in Lezero. She had grown tremendously in the short time since entering the demon realm and joining the hero's party.

"How is a Light Saintess here?!"

As the demons exclaimed in shock, SWOOSH!

A silver flash cut through the blinding light.

Every demon caught in its path was split in two before they could even scream.

Before their corpses hit the ground...

"Don't stop."

Claire Frosimar, owner of that silver flash, spoke coldly as she passed between them.

"I know."

The rest of the party followed right behind her.

They had already penetrated deep into the "Tomb of Lament" which was crawling with demons. Any delay would certainly result in them being surrounded.

'We must be nearly there.'

Claire thought this as she increased her pace further.

She had led her party here for one reason only: to destroy the being who ruled this tomb.

This was directly connected to her purpose for entering the demon realm.

'The ruler of the Tomb of Lament is Zeloth's hidden child - his only weakness.'

Only the Demon King and the other Four Great Demons knew this fact.

If his child died in this situation, Zeloth's rage would certainly be directed at them.

This would naturally lead to civil war or rebellion.

'Even if it's revealed that we killed the tomb's ruler, it won't matter much.'

At this point, the Archdemon of Jealousy was already looking for a reason to rebel, and wouldn't let such a perfect excuse slip away.

Though he might hesitate, Zeloth's blade would ultimately point toward the Demon King.

'To think he could come up with such a plan...'

Claire inwardly clicked her tongue as she thought of Prince Zion who had sent her here.

It was a scheme that even she, who had regressed, hadn't considered.

Had he calculated this far ahead even when attacking the Plants in the capital?

His scheming was truly chilling.

It felt as if everything was moving within Prince Zion's palm.

'Zion Agnes...'

As Claire shuddered slightly while recalling that ominous and alien presence...

"Frosimar."

Turzan suddenly stopped running and called out to her in a hardened voice.

The hero's eyes also began to sink as she looked where the giant was staring.

RUMBLE!

What met their eyes was an enormous cavern, and in its center, a figure slowly rising from a throne made of skulls.

The entire cavern began shaking from the unimaginable demonic energy radiating from this being, distorting their vision.

-Welcome, sacrifices who shall decorate my throne.

Caletus, King of Lament.

At last, the tomb's ruler revealed himself before them.

* * *

His connection with Shadow Dragon Stigma.

Though memorable, it wasn't particularly special.

In the past, Stigma had been tainted by dragon supremacy, treating all other races like insects beneath his notice.

This inevitably led to friction with Aurellion - the current Zion - who had consumed the entire world at that time, resulting in Stigma being put in his place.

The only difference from Obergia was that Stigma had challenged him alone rather than with others, and Zion had simply ground him down a bit more thoroughly than the Light Dragon.

'Was that really worth such rage?'

Zion thought this while watching Stigma thrash about before him like a madman.

But from the dragon's perspective, such rage was natural.

While it may have been just another unremarkable incident to Zion, for Stigma it had been his first and only defeat ever.

And an utterly humiliating one at that.

-How dare you show your face before me again!

Truthfully, Stigma couldn't tell whether the royal before him had merely inherited the Eternal Emperor's power or if the Eternal Emperor himself had truly returned in a new body.

But it didn't matter.

What mattered was that this human he wanted to tear apart used the same darkness and spoke the same words with the same smile as back then, touching memories that were like open wounds to him.

RUMBLE!

The entire nest began shaking in response to his rage.

Simultaneously, countless spears formed from every shadow where light couldn't reach, infused with destructive energy as they shot toward Zion.

An attack so powerful that even Zion's earlier Annihilation Step couldn't erase them all.

'In that case...'

WHOOSH!

As Zion watched the approaching spears, he instantly made his decision and took a step forward with his right foot, striking the ground.

A wave burst forth from this.

Up to here was the same as the earlier Annihilation Step, but this wasn't the end.

BOOM!

With another vibration, Zion's foot dug deeper into the ground, releasing another wave.

This wave overlapped with the first, creating terrifying amplification.

Partial Eclipse.

Annihilation Step Double Overlap.

Though normally impossible with newly achieved six stars, Zion could perform this technique, albeit imperfectly, having reached even greater heights before.

CRASH!

The shadow spears touching this amplified wave crumbled to dust as if denied existence itself.

This power, belonging to neither martial arts, magic, nor authority, was incomprehensible even upon second viewing, but FLASH!

As if familiar with this sight, Stigma was already preparing his next attack.

He had seen and experienced this countless times in the past after all.

-I never expected this to work from the start.

With these words, a black breath shot forth in a straight line from the dragon's mouth.

Stigma knew.

Though that power Eternal Emperor used could deny everything in the world, it struggled against attacks of high density or volume.

And the breath Stigma had just released was one of his most densely concentrated attacks.

But the dragon had overlooked one thing.

He had simply assumed Zion would try to counter his breath head-on.

Of course, Zion had no such intention.

While in the past as Aurellion he had no need to dodge and simply shattered everything head-on, there was no reason to do so now before reaching that level.

First,

SLASH!

Night Cutter deployed alongside Partial Eclipse erased all traces of the breath's "guaranteed hit" property, and Dark Current Transformation.

Then Zion's form vanished from that spot, appearing right in front of the ancient dragon along the Soul Extinction thread he had prepared.

And,

-...!

Moon Piercing Upper Strike.

Moon Extinction.

The slash came before Stigma could react.

Zion's strike cut through dozens of layers of dragon speech defense surrounding Stigma's body and SWOOSH!

Finally left a deep wound on the dragon's body.

-ARGH!

A great cry burst from Stigma's mouth as the authority of denial seeping through that wound ran wild inside his body.

As if not wanting to miss this opportunity, Eclaxia, already drawn to maximum, shot straight toward the dragon's neck.

Perhaps his instincts warned him this strike would be fatal if it connected?

-Kuh!

Despite being wracked with pain, the dragon transformed his entire body into shadow to avoid the strike while releasing an overwhelming shockwave to throw Zion back.

After creating this distance, Stigma immediately shot another breath at Zion.

-Hit!

Simultaneously, supreme dragon speech burst from the dragon's mouth like before, layering "guaranteed hit" properties to prevent dodging.

An authority so powerful that even Zion couldn't unravel it in the brief time before the breath would reach him.

Yet despite being forced to take this breath head-on, no trouble showed in Zion's eyes.

After all, while it was difficult to handle, that didn't mean it was impossible.

Slowly.

Eclaxia, thrust into the center air, was drawn downward very slowly.

CRACKLE!

Space split along the sword's trajectory, revealing endless darkness within.

Abyss Upper.

Hellfire Sword.

As if it had been predetermined from the start.

WHOOSH!

The dragon's breath was instantly sucked into the darkness beyond that split space and vanished.

-...!

Perhaps unable to help being shocked despite having experienced this power before?

The dragon's pupils expanded.

Then, filling those pupils,

SLASH SLASH SLASH!

Countless trajectories formed by Zion's Eclaxia, which had closed the distance right before him.

"...I never imagined it would be to this extent."

White Flame Emperor Ahmad's voice carried both admiration and shock as he watched Zion and Stigma's battle from nearby.

It hadn't even been a year since facing demons at the Grand Magic Tower.

He simply couldn't believe someone could become this powerful in such a short time.

No, even without the "short time" qualifier, it was incomprehensible.

'How can he face an ancient dragon like this...'

Stigma had made even Ahmad himself, one of the 'Seven Heavens', feel despair.

Yet Prince Zion wasn't just facing such a dragon - he was gaining the upper hand.

'At this level, he must be equal to or greater than those two considered irregular even among the Seven Heavens...'

The First and Second Heaven.

Though Ahmad himself had never properly seen those two's power, he was still certain.

That's how far beyond imagination Prince Zion's current power was.

'Joining that battle would be reckless. In that case...'

With this thought, Ahmad turned his head to see the nest's magicians who, like them, were watching Zion and Stigma's battle.

'We should do what we can.'

Just as the archmage's eyes began to gleam with this thought,

BOOM!

With an explosion too massive for human ears to properly register, terrifying shadows of authority burst from Stigma's entire body.

Zion created some distance, unable to completely erase them.

ROAR!

A massive roar erupted from Stigma's mouth as the exploding shadows covered the dragon's entire body, forming a sphere.

The dragon's form gradually shrank within this sphere.

Simultaneously, all the dragon speech Stigma had scattered throughout the floating city to make it fall gathered together, horrifically amplifying the dragon's power and class.

'This cannot continue.'

Stigma could feel it.

If the battle continued like this, it would end in his defeat.

Perhaps this truly was the power of the Eternal Emperor who had devoured the entire world.

Even after studying countless ways to break this power since his previous defeat, it remained just as difficult to handle.

Wounds kept appearing all over his body as his power rapidly diminished.

His authority was completely crushed before that alien darkness, and even his high-ranked dragon speech was losing its light.

Therefore, he needed to reverse the situation somehow before losing all advantage.

-From this moment, I shall devote all my power solely to destroying you.

Words like an oath.

Though this would greatly delay his plans to make the city fall, it didn't matter.

After all, that too required him to stay alive.

Finally, the shadow sphere, now only about the size of a giant, disappeared to reveal Stigma walking out in humanoid dragon form with pitch-black skin.

Full Power form.

This was the form in which the Shadow Dragon could unleash all his power.

RUMBLE!

Shadows far denser than before began flowing from Stigma, annihilating all mana and air they touched.

Space itself screamed, unable to bear his presence.

"Ah..."

Dazed voices escaped the mouths of several watching magicians at this unimaginably overwhelming difference in class.

Shadow King.

Stigma's true title.

-Everything changes from here.

These words from Stigma's mouth weren't mere arrogance.

They came from confidence born of power completely different from before.

'Indeed strong.'

Zion's eyes sank as he watched Stigma from across the battlefield.

Perhaps this was truly befitting one of the ancient dragons said to possess absolute power even among dragonkind.

The being before him was stronger than any opponent Zion had faced so far, excluding the Fallen Angel in Lezero.

As proof, even Zion's Dark Domain at six stars was gradually being eaten away by the dragon's shadows.

If they clashed again now, the advantage would certainly shift to the other side.

However,

'That's only if things stay as they are.'

As Zion thought this, his lips curved into what looked like a smile.

His eyes began to close.

Earlier, when Obergia had asked how he would handle Stigma, Zion had mentioned one assumption.

That assumption was about "inheritance of contracts."

Could the authority contracts made by Black Star Emperor Aurellion Khan Agnes be inherited by the current Zion Agnes?

Zion intended to test this assumption here and now.

WHOOSH!

A strange resonance flowed from Zion as he completely closed his eyes.

-This is...

As Stigma's eyes filled with question upon feeling the world's laws being overturned by this resonance,

"Time to fulfill the contract, Light Dragon."

Dragon pupils glowing golden began to appear beyond Zion's slowly opening eyelids.

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