I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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The imperial palace complex stood at the heart of the Agnes Empire.

Within its structure lay something unique.

Five palaces surrounding Bai Cheng Palace.

These palaces, now used by the imperial succession candidates, were suddenly built after the First Great War ended, their purpose unknown.

One peculiar aspect:

When lines were drawn connecting these five palaces with Bai Cheng Palace at the vertices, they formed a massive magic formation whose meaning remained a mystery.

Excerpt from "Mysteries of the Imperial Palace Complex"

At the training grounds of Sinking Star Palace.

WHOOSH!

A silver-haired woman had been swinging her sword since early morning.

Her name was Claire Flosimar.

The one called the hero.

Though her sword movements were precise, her eyes held endless complexity.

"...Hah."

The reason this woman, who had recently found stability, was sighing again was-

A sense of powerlessness.

Claire knew.

The final war approached, and with it, this world's story neared its end.

Yet she remained too weak.

She couldn't even handle one Great Demon, let alone the Demon King.

Of course, she understood.

The current Great Demons possessed power incomparable to those before her regression.

But she too had regressed and gained all future knowledge.

Despite this, feeling such a vast gap still remained left her feeling helpless.

'Without Emperor Zion, I can't even handle a single Great Demon...'

The only solution to this powerlessness was becoming stronger.

But the wall to the next level before Claire refused to crumble despite seeming ready to fall.

'More... I need to work harder.'

Just as she tightened her grip on her sword with that thought-

"Attack!"

"We need more reinforcements!"

Commotion erupted outside the palace.

Claire's eyes filled with questions.

"What's happening?" she asked one of the rushing knights as she exited the palace.

"A demon is attacking the imperial palace complex."

"What? How many?"

"One... just one."

Claire's expression turned strange at this answer.

A demon attacking the imperial palace complex, heart of the empire, with just one person?

The situation made no sense.

"But this demon's power is so strong we're requesting reinforcements."

"...Let's head to where it is."

With those words, Claire swiftly followed the knight.

"Claire, did you hear?"

Rain and the other party members began joining her one by one.

"Yes."

"I thought the demon realm might move first at this point, but attacking the imperial palace with just one person... something seems strange," Tirian said with gleaming eyes.

The others nodded silently at his words.

How long did they move like that?

Finally reaching the center of the imperial palace complex, they saw it.

"Hehe, hehehehehe! The, the King is calling me!"

A demon laughing maniacally while staring blankly at the sky.

A previous battle must have occurred, as knights' corpses and blood stained the area crimson around her.

Moreover, something unpleasant flowing from Serkia's entire body was dying it dark red again.

The demonic energy concentration in the air rapidly thickened.

"...Serkia."

Just as Claire spoke the demon's name in a hardened voice-

BOOM!

Serkia grinned at the hero before her body exploded, sending all the blood within shooting upward.

The massive amount of blood that instantly reached the sky above Bai Cheng Palace began drawing an enormous magic formation in the air.

"Th-that's!!!"

Though Tirian noticed something about the formation and immediately cast dispelling magic-

DRIP!

It was already too late.

A blood-red line began tracing down the center of the massive formation covering most of the imperial palace complex.

SCREECH!

Space split along that line, revealing pitch-black abyss beyond.

SCREEEECH!

From that void, endless waves of monsters began pouring toward the ground.

A truly hellish sight.

Yet despite this unprecedented disaster, everyone in the imperial palace complex including the hero's party focused not on the monsters but on the abyssal hole torn in the sky.

"Ah..."

More precisely, they stared at the pitch-black eyes filling that hole while looking down at them.

That would be more accurate.

They couldn't look away.

As if the world's fate itself compelled them to stare at those eyes.

They couldn't turn their heads or move their fingers.

Under that transcendent pressure that made even breathing difficult, all people could do was tremble their unblinking eyes.

'Such a being... is our enemy?'

As the world filled with madness and despair amid the monsters' frenzied roars, the owner of those eyes declared:

-Rise.

At that moment,

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

As all five palaces surrounding Bai Cheng Palace crumbled-

---!!!

Beings that absolutely should not exist in this world began to rise.

---

'The trial's master? So my past self...'

Though his expression held questions, Zion indicated his acceptance.

There was no need to remain in the completed trial.

FLASH!

The world changed amid bursting light.

First the dazed subordinates and enemy forces around him vanished.

Then the sky and earth disappeared, darkness filling their place.

Countless stars appeared in that pitch-black world where even direction couldn't be distinguished.

It resembled the night sky, no, the universe.

Indeed, Zion felt as if he were floating in space rather than standing on anything.

And at the center of this universe, a massive dragon silently watched him.

The dragon's appearance was unusual.

Its body repeatedly scattered and reformed as if lacking physical form, its presence so faint it could be said nonexistent.

The Void Dragon Giagras.

The oldest living dragon and possessor of equally transcendent powers.

The being who had been imprisoned beneath the imperial palace after losing to Zion's past self.

-So much time has passed already? It's been a while, Emperor of the Black Star.

The Void Dragon quietly greeted him, instantly recognizing Zion as the Eternal Emperor.

Zion's eyes took on a strange light.

According to the chronicle, Giagras had been half-mad with frenzy at this time.

Yet he saw no such madness in the dragon's eyes.

"Are you the trial's master?" Zion asked the Void Dragon, putting aside his doubts.

-Yes. More precisely, I received ownership of the trial from your past self.

"That means... you knew I would come here?"

Zion's reasoning was simple.

The trial just now had been to prove he was himself.

Therefore, it would have been pointless if he hadn't come here.

Giagras nodded slightly as if confirming Zion's thoughts.

-It wasn't certain, but it seemed to have been anticipated.

"Then why create this trial and wait for me?"

Zion continued questioning.

The dragon watched Zion silently before slowly speaking:

-You seem to have many questions. Why not ask the person directly?

"...?"

As questions rose in Zion's eyes at those cryptic words-

SWISH

Giagras, who had been repeatedly forming and dispersing, vanished.

The stars illuminating the universe lost their light as black stars darker than darkness itself began appearing one by one.

Then-

STEP

Familiar footsteps rang in Zion's ears.

As he turned his head, a man entered his vision.

A man with the same deep gray hair and dark eyes as himself.

Though the man in black clothing resembled Zion, he gave off a sharper impression.

Zion knew who this man was.

No, he couldn't not know.

This was his past self when he was Aurellion.

Even the Black Star Force energy felt the same.

"...A 'remnant'?"

Zion watched his past self with interested eyes as he spoke quietly.

The man, who had the same languid gaze as Zion, nodded.

"Yes, 'I' am a remnant left by my past self to greet you who would come here."

Remnant.

The literal meaning.

Residual will left by a high-level being to convey their intentions to others, like message magic or illusions.

"Why create a trial here and leave you behind?"

At Zion's question, the remnant immediately answered as if expecting it:

"My past self thought - the me who went to the future without any information would constantly question the surrounding circumstances. And believed I would eventually come here seeking answers to those questions. Since the Void Dragon here had a connection to my past self."

The remnant was created for Zion who would come.

More precisely, to answer some of Zion's questions.

"I will disappear immediately after appearing once. That's why such a proof trial was necessary."

Understanding the situation immediately, Zion asked his next question:

"Then can you answer everything I ask?"

"Not everything, but I can answer more questions than any other being in the world."

That was inevitable.

The remnant before him was Zion himself.

His self with all past memories intact.

"I don't have much time to exist, so ask only the essential questions."

At the remnant's words, Zion smiled slightly and spoke:

"The contract."

His first question was already decided.

"I want to know everything about the contract with the gods."

Why he made the contract, what kind of contract it was.

And what would happen when the contract ended.

Zion wanted to know all of it.

The remnant watched Zion with unreadable eyes before slowly speaking:

"Do you remember your state as Aurellion before coming here?"

Zion nodded.

The infinite tedium felt only by an absolute being with nowhere higher to climb.

His past self had been stained by such tedium.

"Even with eight stars of Black Star Force then, I didn't try to reach nine stars. Everything in the world was already beneath me, and nothing would change even reaching nine stars."

The remnant absently watched eight black stars floating above his palm as he continued:

"But that thinking changed while fighting the unknown war with the demon realm. Because I learned of the existence of a new world different from this one we live in."

"A new world?"

"Yes, a completely different world untouched by my hand or rule. The moment I learned of that world's existence, I thought-"

Zion knew what came next without hearing it.

"That I must devour it."

The tedium and boredom that had ruled his entire being.

His past self must have thought that was the only way to escape them.

"But there were no connection points between that world and ours, so a special method was needed to cross over."

"And that was..."

"Yes, reaching nine stars of Black Star Force. And ascending to divine status."

The remnant's eyes began emitting a strange light.

"That was the method."

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