I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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"What is..."

Just as the lion beast-kin muttered these words while watching countless lines trace across his body- SLASH!

His body, along with all the others who had charged at Zion, split into pieces and scattered to the ground.

What exactly had happened?

Their eyes remained filled with confusion until the very end, as if unable to comprehend what had befallen them.

As the flesh pieces fell, silence descended over the battlefield once again.

The scene was shocking even to the Crown Prince's martial artists who had already glimpsed Zion's power.

After all, he had casually dispatched two members of the 'Twelve Seas' among those martial artists just now.

"Can't just stand around."

CRASH!

Seemingly unconcerned with their shock, Zion activated Soul Puppet again with an indifferent face and began slaughtering the Beast King's forces.

"Damn! We must kill that mage! Kill the mageee!"

Though the Beast King's martial artists who had barely regained their senses began charging at Zion-

"Stop them! Don't let them get near!"

The resistance fighters, having realized from the earlier commotion that this strange situation was Zion's doing, immediately moved to completely block their path.

The tide of battle began turning sharply.

Of course, in the resistance's favor.

"...This is unbelievable."

A trembling voice escaped the Crown Prince's lips as she watched the scene.

She finally understood what Jang Maldong had meant earlier.

A sight that defied all common sense.

One person.

A single person had completely reversed the flow of battle.

And this was a battle they had thought impossible to win.

'I thought only the 'Seven Heavens' were capable of such things...'

Did that mean this man called Zion possessed that level of power?

He was truly unfathomable.

'Just where did someone like this suddenly appear from...'

As deep wonder and admiration mixed in Wolhaun's eyes-

"RAAAAH!"

A massive roar burst from where the bodies sliced by Zion's Soul Extinction lay scattered.

A snake beast-kin rose up.

It was Sahyeoldo.

As if his earlier death had been a lie, he stood perfectly fine, gripping his curved blade.

The Sa-il clan.

His bloodline was considered the strongest among snake beast-kin.

Their distinguishing feature was a powerful curse on the entire bloodline that gave them two lives from birth and power that increased exponentially with each revival.

And Sahyeoldo was special even among them.

Unlike other Sa-il clan members, he possessed three lives.

He had just used his second life.

But-

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Despite this, the revived Sahyeoldo burst into maniacal laughter.

The great wall that had blocked his path to higher realms and kept him among the 'Twelve Seas'.

That wall had completely crumbled thanks to this revival.

He could feel it.

He had finally reached Heaven!

"From now on, the 'Seven Heavens' will become the 'Eight Heavens'!"

With this cry, green energy burst from Sahyeoldo's entire body and began spreading outward, consuming space itself.

It was Domain manifestation, said to be possible only for those who had reached 'Heaven'.

The resistance fighters' faces rapidly darkened at the overwhelming energy emanating from him.

"An awakening at a time like this...!"

Sahyeoldo had already ranked among the upper echelons of the 'Twelve Seas'.

For someone like him to say such things, perhaps the world really had gained another 'Heaven'.

"Behold! The power of one who has reached Heaven!"

WHOOSH!

From within his domain now completely dyed green, Sahyeoldo's form shot toward Zion.

As if folding space itself.

His speed was so monstrous that even the nearby martial artists couldn't perceive it at all.

Having reached right before Zion in an instant-

"It ends here, mage!"

He swung down his curved blade filled with power incomparably greater than before.

BOOM!

A massive explosion accompanied by a deafening sound that could rupture eardrums.

The surrounding air was torn apart by dozens of shockwaves that followed, while the entire frozen sea began shattering.

Truly a strike that could easily demolish a mountain!

'Got him!'

Though the Beast King's martial artists clenched their fists watching this-

"Wh-what..."

The eyes of Sahyeoldo who had actually launched the strike were filled with shock.

His curved blade.

It had stopped just an inch from Zion and couldn't advance any further.

SCREECH!

No matter how much strength or energy he poured in, it wouldn't move forward or pull back.

The blade remained frozen as if fixed in space itself.

"Really now."

Zion spoke coldly while watching Sahyeoldo's increasingly wavering eyes.

"What's this about reaching Heaven?"

CRACK!

Spider web-like cracks rapidly spread from the blade across Sahyeoldo's entire body.

"And I told you I'm not a mage."

As pitch black darkness descended once again over the green-tinted space around them- SHATTER!

Sahyeoldo's body crumbled like glass.

For one who had finally broken through the wall to stand alongside the 'Seven Heavens' called the world's strongest, it was an incredibly anticlimactic end.

"..."

After finishing Sahyeoldo, Zion slowly turned his head toward the battlefield.

Everyone had already stopped fighting and was staring blankly in his direction.

To these people-

"Let's wrap this up now."

Zion declared the battle's end with a grin.

In the highest floor of the Beast King's soaring palace.

Tap, tap.

Inside the library there, a man sat tapping his fingers on the armrest.

A middle-aged man wearing a black rabbit mask.

It was Beast King Wolbyeokcheon.

"...They were defeated?"

The muttering that escaped his lips.

Undisguisable anger colored those words.

That anger came from the news of defeat he had just received.

"It was a battle that couldn't possibly be lost. No, that shouldn't have been lost."

Ten thousand.

That was the number of elite martial artists Wolbyeokcheon had mobilized to kill the Crown Prince.

A force strong enough to face the entire rebel army.

Compared to that, the enemy forces numbered only hundreds.

He simply couldn't understand how defeat was even possible.

'Did they throw themselves into the sea and commit suicide?'

Otherwise there was no possibility of losing.

'Things are getting complicated.'

Not only had they lost many elite martial artists, but the damage to the key facilities that had been attacked was also substantial.

They wouldn't be able to function properly for some time.

Just then-

"There was a mage, they say."

Along with a low voice, a man appeared in the empty chair beside him.

A handsome man wearing white clothes contrasting with Wolbyeokcheon's black robe.

"Name's Zion Haness. Human, seems to have come from the empire. He appeared on the battlefield, froze the sea, cast powerful spells giving hundreds of martial artists top-tier buffs, and that's how the tide turned in the Crown Prince's favor."

Though the man spoke without honorifics, Wolbyeokcheon's eyes showed no concern.

This was natural as their relationship was horizontal rather than vertical.

Damodeus of the Five Great Demon Generals.

That was the man's identity.

"Zion Haness..."

Wolbyeokcheon rolled the mage's name around in his mouth.

No matter how much he searched his memory, he had never heard this name.

Someone capable of single-handedly reversing the tide of battle should surely be known as a 'Seven Heavens' level figure.

Yet having no information whatsoever could only mean he was hiding his identity.

"Additionally, there were helpers who assisted the resistance in attacking our key facilities. We're currently investigating their identities."

"..."

At the demon general's words, Wolbyeokcheon massaged the top of his mask as if getting a headache.

'That thing is about to be completed, yet variables like this appear now of all times...'

As he thought about 'that thing' he had obtained from the 'real Moon King's Tomb' in the past-

"Your Majesty! A message has arrived from the rebel side!"

A booming voice came from outside the library.

"What is it?"

A tiger beast-kin immediately entered through the library door, bowed his head and spoke urgently.

"The Crown Prince has requested Moon King's Battle!"

In that moment, a strange light began filling Wolbyeokcheon's eyes.

In a quiet clearing under soft moonlight.

Swish-

There, Zion quietly watched black stars floating and rotating above his palm.

The seven stars indicated that his Black Star Force had reached seven stars.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

'Only eight stars remain?'

The final realm his past self had reached.

Actually, there was no special method to advance from seven to eight stars.

There wasn't even a wall blocking the way.

The only issue was that it took quite some time.

In the past, he had needed 10 years to reach eight stars from seven.

'I need to think of a way to reduce that time.'

Less than a year remained until the world's destruction, and the great war with the demon realm could break out at any moment.

He couldn't wait 10 years in this situation.

'...Should I use that?'

As Zion contemplated something in his mind-

"So this is where you were."

An androgynous voice reached his ears.

Turning his head, Zion saw Crown Prince Wolhaun walking toward him.

"My uncle has accepted Moon King's Battle."

Perhaps wanting to deliver this news as quickly as possible?

She got straight to the point.

"I see."

Seeing Zion's face remain completely unchanged at these words, faint surprise flickered in the Crown Prince's eyes.

"You already knew, it seems."

"It was an inevitable result."

The defeat in battle days ago and the loss of other key facilities' functions.

The Beast King's side had taken massive damage because of this.

Therefore they too would need time to reorganize rather than continuing the war immediately.

Moon King's Battle was sufficient excuse to buy that time.

After briefly watching Zion give this answer with a strange look, Wolhaun smiled slightly before turning her gaze to the night sky and speaking again:

"Thank you, for helping someone as lacking as myself. Meeting you has been an incredible stroke of luck for me."

Wolhaun felt truly grateful to Zion, not just in words.

Thanks to this man, hope had been reborn in the resistance.

"I said this before, but I wanted to say it again."

Though Zion remained silent at this, the Crown Prince continued after a brief pause, as if unconcerned:

"Since I was young... I've admired the Agnes Empire's first emperor, the Eternal Emperor. Because of that, I always wanted to be like him."

The qualities of a ruler, that ruthlessly cold judgment, that explosive drive to accomplish anything once decided.

Wolhaun had wanted to emulate everything she had read about him in records.

"Moreover, if I ever met him, I wanted to ask. How did he overcome so many hardships to reach the emperor's throne, and how did he shatter all those adversities to devour the world..."

Pausing there, Wolhaun turned her head toward Zion.

"It's completely absurd but... when I look at you, I'm reminded of him."

This man called Zion Haness's atmosphere, way of speaking, personality.

All of it reminded her of the Eternal Emperor she had pictured in her mind.

"If I may ask... if it's not too presumptuous, could you tell me? What your true identity is."

A man so remarkably similar to the Black Star Emperor she had admired so much.

Wolhaun truly wanted to know who this man was.

"I am..."

Just as Zion was about to speak-

Step.

A single footstep echoed.

As Zion and Wolhaun turned their heads, they saw a silver-haired woman walking toward them.

It was the hero Claire.

'So she's here now?'

Having been the one to summon her here, Zion turned toward Claire.

As if the Crown Prince didn't exist at all-

THUD!

Claire approached with her gaze fixed solely on Zion, dropped to one knee, and deeply bowed her head.

Then from her lips came-

"Hero Claire Flosimar greets the one true master of the world."

Her voice trembled as she spoke these words.