Legend of Sun Knight volume 8 summary part 3/3
Summary Part 2
Chapter 10: God's; The Demon King's; People - Plan
Long version:
Grisia heads to the summoning room and cries. Scarlet comments that he must be at his limit. She tells him it's okay not to endure it anymore. She says that the God of Light thought His plan was perfect, thinking he would use the position of Sun Knight to push the Demon King down, but even that failed.
Grisia doesn't understand. Scarlet explains that He wanted Grisia to be the Sun Knight, a holy light container, in order to combat how he would become a dark element container after becoming the Demon King. This way he'd retain his sanity, unlike previous Demon Kings who all eventually went crazy.
This is the first time Grisia has heard about how the Demon King will eventually go crazy from absorbing too much dark power.
Grisia wonders if he had become the Sun Knight all because of this plan to keep the Demon King lucid. If not, then how could he have become the Sun Knight when Scarlet had already found him? As Scarlet explains more about how she thought maybe the Sun Knight's holy light would have helped (but obviously now she sees it's not enough) Grisia is infuriated. He grabs her and squeezes, destroying her fake body. What were they treating his life as?
Pink replies (from within Eternal Tranquility) that of course they were treating him as a tool. Grisia asks Pink how dare she talk to him. Wasn't she afraid Grisia would kill Roland? Pink tells him to try. She's already done all she can for her child. He's a death lord protected by the Church of the God of Light. Although she claims this, she doesn't sound entirely confident.
Grisia asks Scarlet if she'd done all she could for him too. Scarlet answers that she hasn't. He was stolen from her too early on. Grisia makes a new body for Scarlet. Grisia apologizes and says he is very easily angered at the moment. Scarlet says it's okay. She cannot be killed. If he wants, he can even throw her back into Eternal Tranquility and only retrieve her when he needs her. She also comments that this gem is a piece of work. It allows people to keep calm. Grisia wonders if the God of Light also had a hand in his teacher coming across this stone.
Scarlet then reveals that the jewel on the throne also has calming effects. Even with all these things done to prevent him from going crazy, he was still...
He makes two more bodies and throws Pink and Stephen into them. They cannot walk more than ten meters away from him. Adair rushes into the room, asking Scarlet for undead creatures. He pauses when he sees that Grisia has returned.
Grisia tells Adair to kneel. Does he not know manners? Adair hesitates only for a moment before he kneels.
Grisia thinks to himself only those who cannot die can stay by the Demon King's side.
Grisia abducts two more females, Ann, princess of Moon Orchid, also Leaf's lover. The other is the princess of Forgotten Sound, also Elijah's betrothed. The princess rolls her eyes, unable to believe that Grisia knows Ann's name but not hers. Grisia has only ever heard her called "Little Flower" by his teacher. She tells him that her name is Jasmine.
Alice is dismayed to see her sister here, but she quickly regains her composure. Alice then exclaims that oh, so he's collecting princesses! And a prince (since Tailin is a prince). Grisia has no use for princes. It's not like he can exchange them for a king after collecting ten of them.
Charlotte tosses the plates on the table and rudely says, "His majesty, your meal!" Grisia is angry at her manners, but he refrains from blasting her since she would likely die from it.
Pink is overly amused that all his underlings have lovers but he can't even deal with a servant.
Grisia destroys all the tables and chairs. He declares that plenty of the Twelve Holy Knights don't have girls. Lesus for one!
Pink says that's just because he was too busy.
Grisia was also busy!
He grabs Pink and smashes her. This alarms Ann and Jasmine. Grisia looks at Stephen, who doesn't care about dying. Grisia does not know how to deal with him since liches only cared about their children. His was already dead.
Grisia instructs Scarlet to throw Ann and Jasmine into jail.
Grisia walks around the castle and sees a lot of statues. Walking through each room was like walking through a different story. The one that depicts knights fighting a dragon sours Grisia's mood, as it reminds him of the time when everyone came to save him after he lost his memory. At the time, he had decided that he already had power. He didn't need power.
Adair comes over, kneels down, and asks if someone has angered his majesty. Grisia calms down but is dispirited by how easily his emotions sway from two extremes. How long before he goes mad? Before he harms people he cares about? If such a day is going to pass, what is the point of becoming the Demon King? If everyone he cares about is going to die in the end, he might as well destroy everything right now!
Adair tries to convince him not to worry about everything by himself.
Grisia watches Adair in his kneeling position and realizes that yes, Adair has always been loyal, but he has never been this without pride. Even Ceo has claimed that Adair is respected everywhere. Even Elijah is friends with him, and Elijah's about to marry the princess. Who is this Adair who is kneeling in front of him?
Grisia tells him to rise and to tell him about current conditions. Adair says there's nothing to worry about. Everything is progressing smoothly. Grisia tells Adair that he's abducted Ann and Jasmine. Adair regretfully says they'll probably only be useful against Leaf and Elijah. Grisia then asks if he should offer them as a blood offering. Adair's heart jumps but he merely says that killing a princess will take time to prepare.
Even though Adair appears normal, Grisia does not feel this "Adair" in front of him is right. His vice captain would not have kneeled. He would not have accepted the order to kill two princesses just like that.
Grisia wonders about Lesus. Has he gone mad from anger? Why send everyone off on a pointless battle? Grisia notices that Adair reacted to that. He tells him to spill. Adair says he has no idea what they're planning. Grisia says that can't be possible. Has he truly forsaken all of his past comrades? Grisia doesn't believe it.
He teleports and snatches Vidar. Grisia commands Adair to kill Vidar. He tells him he's already learned how to make Vidar his undead guard.
Adair draws his sword. Vidar calls Adair a traitor, but his expression and his heartbeat don't match up. When he saw Adair, his heart calmed. This is not the reaction to a traitor. His acting is way too poor. Even though Adair's acting's good, he cannot make other people into good actors.
Adair swings. Grisia blocks him and tells him he made a grave error. Adair backs up. Grisia continues on to say that if Grisia really had wanted to prevent the Church of the God of Light from coming after him, he only needed to kill the Twelve Holy Knights, but he didn't. Did Adair now know where he erred?
Adair pales.
Even Grisia is unable to strike down people he supposedly gave up on, yet Adair is willing to strike one of his fellow comrades. Grisia's vice captain has never been this cold blooded. Someone's behind this.
Grisia grabs Adair. Vidar yells out for him. Grisia demands, "What exactly are you planning? No, I should be asking, 'what exactly is Lesus planning', right?" Adair still doesn't give anything away while Vidar pleads for Grisia to let him go (Grisia thinks that bosses cannot be too overly serious or else your subordinates won't have the opportunity to grow. Take Lesus and Vidar for example).
Grisia wonders why Vidar cares so much about Adair when he'd almost killed him. Vidar claims the one that had almost killed him is Grisia, not Adair. Grisia asks about Lesus' plans again. Adair's condition leaves him unable to guide Vidar, so Vidar answers. He answers that the army's goal was to divert Grisia's attention. The captains planned on teleporting directly to the castle to find Grisia. Grisia declares this impossible, as he has strong protections guarding the place. People other than himself would need special artifacts for teleportation to be possible.
Vidar explains this is the reason why they planted Adair here. Grisia releases Adair. Vidar shouts that Adair is no longer breathing. Grisia tells Vidar to knock him on the chest. Vidar does so strongely. Adair moves.
Grisia asks Adair, "Why have you betrayed me?" Adair answers that he hasn't. That he's not listening to Knight-Captain Judgment's orders. He's listening to his captain's wishes, since he personally told Knight-Captain Storm that even if he became the Demon King, he still wanted to be the Sun Knight. This is why Adair has come to bring him back, as this is what he truly desired.
Adair's heartbeat does not change. Grisia understands that this is what Adair truly believes. Grisia wonders why Adair didn't just go and take the Sun Knight position for himself.
Grisia says he's wrong. He doesn't want to be the Sun Knight. And he can no longer return. He's already caused the deaths of 500 knights.
Adair tells him that not a single person died. That he is allowed to return.
All this time, they'd put on a show for Grisia.
Still unconvinced, Grisia tells Adair that his castle has everything he wants. It's so much better than the Holy Temple! He can go anywhere he wants with teleportation. He's so free! No one can stop him! He's happy!
But while he says all this, he thinks - there is nothing here except jewelry and dead people. He has no idea where to go. No one can stop him because there is no one around.
Adair continues on. There is no one here his captain wants to protect. No Sun Knight Platoon. No Twelve Holy Knights that he treats like brothers. There is nothing here! This is a castle of death. A jail for the Demon King!
Grisia already knows this. He asks why Adair had to come and point out the truth. It took so much out of him to keep himself in this jail. He even decided to kill 500 knights as a warning. Wasn't that enough? Would it be enough if he were to kill Adair and Vidar and throw their corpses at Lesus, and then kill Ann and Jasmine and throw their corpses at Elmairy and Elijah?
Adair pleads for him not to do something he'll regret. Grisia laughs and asks if he thought he'd regret killing him. If Grisia were to kill him, he'd stop spewing these hurtful words. What was there to hesitate about?
Grisia tells Adair that he'll give him 10 seconds to see if he has anyway of calling out for help. After that, he'll kill them. Adair doesn't respond and merely looks at Grisia. Grisia looks forward to seeing Adair display a crushed expression, something Grisia hasn't seen for a long time. Grisia recalls the first time they met when Adair behaved like he'd met the person of his dreams. Later, once he found out Grisia's two-facedness and his terrible swordsmanship, Adair displayed an expression like he'd been utterly tricked.
Two blades of darkness, ready to cut. Grisia dissolves the fetters on Adair's mouth to let him speak his last words.
"Goodbye, Adair."
"I'm sorry, Captain. I've failed."
Elaro runs in and yells for him not to kill. Adair's heartbeat calms down. Grisia is suspicious. What can a kid do? Grisia gets blinded. Adair explains that as a caution, he even tricked Vidar. The plan was not to teleport the Twelve Holy Knights in. It was to teleport Grisia out. He was afraid Vidar would ruin things, so he gave the device to Elaro. Thank you captain for bringing Elaro here.
Short version:
Grisia has a breakdown. Scarlet explains that all Demon Kings eventually go mad. Grisia kidnaps Ann and Jasmine. He goes on a stroll through his castle and comes to a sudden realization that Adair is suspicious. He confronts Adair, commands him to kill Vidar, and then discovers that Adair was planted here by Lesus. Just as Grisia is about to kill Adair, Elaro stops him. Adair carries out Lesus' plan. Grisia is teleported out of his castle.
Notes
-Stephen was Charlotte's lich, the third lich.
Lucathia's thoughts:
Oh my heart. Seeing Grisia break down is just... damn, Demon Kings eventually go crazy? I'd expected that but I don't want that to happen to Grisia. Ah, so the jewels calm him down. No wonder Grisia always puts his hand on that jewel when he sits on his throne. I feel for Grisia. He's truly been manipulated throughout his entire life. If not because of the God of Light's meddling...would Grisia have become the Sun Knight? Most likely not, but then that might be why he is so favored. He was personally picked. Haha, the princess of Forgotten Sound finally has her name revealed! (I don't think it was mentioned before?) Well, her name's Jasmine. Nice to know. Nooo Grisia, why are you telling Adair to kneel? You are going back on your word! You told Adair that he would never have to kneel before you! Aha, but it leads to the next part nicely. Yes, who is this Adair who is kneeling before you, Grisia? Vidar gives the plan away! But of course! Adair is too good an actor...but Vidar isn't. My heart was bursting from the part where Adair tells his captain that this is a cage. A prison. Grisia has known it all along, omg. ;____; Stop torturing yourself Grisia. Get out of there! And yes, Adair would have made a fine Sun Knight. I kind of want to see an AU about that!
Chapter 11: The Twelve Holy Knights - Gathered
Long version:
Grisia is unable to see anything. He's surrounded by thick light element. He yells furiously at Adair and hears movement. An attack. He's furious Adair's attacking him. Grisia retaliates with blades of dark element. He senses various shadows darting about. It seems that Adair is not alone.
Grisia continues attacking while blind. He keeps attacking but he can't fall his opponent. Who was it? Who was this strong? The Pope? It mattered not. He was scoring. He smelled blood. He sensed people on the ground.
Finally, the light element is dissipating. He can see now with his elemental sensing. He uses his dark element to stop his opponent's movement. No matter how strong his swordsmanship, if he can't move, he's a goner. Grisia picks up his opponent's sword and apologizes that he really shouldn't have chosen Adair as his vice-captain. First was overworking him and worrying him to death, now he even had to die by his hands. Remember in your next life to follow every single order, even absurd orders like letting your captain become the Demon King!
Grisia strikes his opponent through the chest with the sword and thinks this is it. He even killed Adair. Now they can no longer care about him.
The light dissipates some more. Grisia sees that his opponent hasn't died yet. He thinks his swordsmanship is truly poor. He needs to strike again to end Adair's suffering. But then...
"Sun..."
Only the Twelve Holy Knights call him that.
Blood dribbles out of Lesus' mouth.
How could it be Lesus? The sword in Grisia's hand is even the Divine Sun Sword. Grisia looks around. It's full of corpses. Of the bodies of the Twelve Holy Knights. Chikus's left shoulder has been sliced, his shoulder broken. Elmairy's neck was slit. There's an x shaped scar on Ecilan.
Lesus again utters, "Sun."
He falls. Grisia catches him. Grisia tries to gather holy light to heal him, but he has none.
Lesus talks. He tells Grisia that all of them had a dream on the same night. Even Roland had the dream, and he didn't need to sleep. Understand, Grisia? The God of Light has not abandoned you.
Grisia is stunned. What did this have to do with anything? He tries to get Lesus to shut up and heal himself, but Lesus keeps talking. In the dream, Grisia turned blue eyes on them and was crying. Alarmed, Roland came rushing to tell everyone he dreamed this. Everyone then discovered they had the same dream.
Lesus asks, "Did you know what we all thought from the dream?"
"You wanted to yell at me?"
Lesus eyes close. "So nostalgic...your blue eyes."
Lesus falls silent. Grisia tries to shake him and keeps repeating his name. Roland walks over. He's battered.
"Y-You actually killed them? You killed your brothers in arms?"
Grisia is speechless. He almost loses control but he can't, their corpses are still here, he can't destroy that.
He yells. It hurts too much. Someone shakes him and tells him to use Resurrection. But he can't. He's not the Sun Knight anymore. He's the Demon King. He has no holy light.
Roland tells him to calm down. He brings him the Divine Sun Sword. It must hurt him, but Roland doesn't let go.
Grisia takes the sword. He commands Scarlet, Pink, and Stephen to draw the circle for Resurrection. Pink scolds him. There's no way he can revive 10 people. Stephen says that in his current state, he can't even revive one single person. Grisia knows this. Even the Divine Sun Sword doesn't recognize him as the owner.
Grisia tells everyone that he believes in Lesus. That the God of Light hasn't abandoned him. He raises the sword. Even though he can't see the sun, he faces upward and shouts that he believes the God of Light would not abandon his Twelve Holy Knights. He yells that he will always be the God of Light's Sun Knight. Please, don't abandon me now. Don't abandon your Twelve Holy Knights, or I will truly fall into darkness...
Above Grisia, a large entity of light appears. Grisia is so touched he almost cries. The God of Light is too forgiving of him. Grisia apologizes for doubting Him, for thinking that he was only chosen for the sake of becoming the Demon King.
The light comes down and surges through Grisia's body. It is painful. Scarlet is alarmed but Grisia holds in his scream so as not to break Scarlet's concentration on drawing the circles.
This is the power that will let him revive everyone.
Grisia tells Roland to carry everyone over--
Judgment stands in front of Grisia and pushes Eternal Tranquility to his chest. Grisia is confused. Next to him is Earth who takes one of Grisia's shoulders and says that kind of injury isn't enough to kill them. Metal takes Grisia's other shoulder and says he can even take another stab. Moon says that Metal would probably be happier getting stabbed again. Stone pulls Grisia's hand and tells him not to underestimate them. Leaf touches Grisia's face and says that he died once when someone slit his throat, and this time he had to fake that. He probably needed some kind of metal choker in the future. Storm grips Grisia's left arm and comments that he hasn't had such good sleep for a long time. Blaze hugs Grisia from the back. Ice takes Grisia's other hand. Cloud sees nowhere to grab, so he grabs Grisia's hair.
Only Roland hasn't joined in.
No one is dead.
Grisia wonders what they're doing, but he doesn't care. They're alive. He asks them why they're touching him.
The Pope jumps out from behind a pole with a box. He starts drawing something on the ground.
Lesus explains there is only one way to do this. They will turn the entire city of Leaf Bud into his seal so that he can remain "Sun". This can only be done inside the Holy Temple with the Twelve Holy Knights as his temporary seal.
Stunned, Grisia exclaims that the Demon King is necessary for the world's survival.
Lesus explains that every half year, they will remove the seal. All Twelve Holy Knights will go to an uninhabited location. Grisia will fight with Roland. They will use various abilities to support Roland. Both of them will use up lots of dark element during their fight.
Grisia falls silent and then says there is a lot of risk in this plan. If they were being reasonable, they would know the best course of action is to leave him be. What if one day he truly went mad?
Metal answers, "You think we would use reason with you?"
Storm also says that Adair never used "reason". If he did, he would have become the Sun Knight himself.
Sun's teacher has no reason. He agreed to the plan. The Pope has no reason.
Lesus explains that the king knows that this way guarantees that the Demon King will be controlled. That is why the king agreed. Storm explains that the king is also extorting a lot of money from the other kingdoms for his kingdom's large sacrifice in this matter.
Earth complains that Sun is the one who is least reasonable.
This throws Grisia back. How is he not being reasonable?
Roland - If you were reasonable, you should have burned me a long time ago.
Leaf - Were you reasonable when you revived me? If you were, you would not have gone blind!
Everyone looks at Lesus. Lesus calmly states that even if he is the Judgment Knight, he follows the leader of the Holy Temple, the Sun Knight, and his Sun Knight has claimed that the Twelve Holy Knights never give up on the Twelve Holy Knights. He never said anything about being reasonable.
Lesus goes on a tangent about how sometimes he doesn't understand why the Twelve Holy Knights need to pretend and hide themselves. He can somewhat understand why the Judgment Knight should keep calm, but what's the purpose of surface things like having black hair and black eyes?
Grisia doesn't understand why Lesus is bringing this up. Everyone else answers.
The Twelve Holy Knights represent everlastingness. Unchanging righteousness. Even if the world changes, some things never change. The Sun Knight never changes. He will also always have eleven brothers by his side. You just have to pretend a bit, and you'll earn yourself eleven brothers. What a deal!
Turns out these were Grisia's words to Lesus way back. Grisia wonders if Lesus told everyone. Lesus explains that everyone else saw this as part of the shared dream.
Lesus asks, "Grisia, you once asked me what there was left for you to do when even the God of Light wanted you to be the Demon King. Now the God of Light wants you to obediently return to the Holy Temple. What will you do?"
"...but I'm so scared."
What if one day he acted even worse than now? Will they still continue to refuse to abandon him? He's afraid. So afraid that they'll decide once and for all that he's not worth it.
Storm pats him on the shoulder and reassures him that they'll beat him up if it happens. Grisia starts crying. Earth comments that he looks ugly when crying.
The Pope finally finishes drawing the circle. He tells everyone to strip. They all have some kind of design drawn on their bodies like the magic circle. The Pope explains that this circle has never been used before. It works in theory but has not been tested. It is not very practical as it needs large amounts of holy element and the person being sealed needs to completely accept it.
He turns to Grisia and asks him if he seriously, from the bottom of his heart, wishes to be sealed. Because if not, they would all be completely at his mercy after using up all of their holy element.
Grisia looks at everyone and thinks that he could not have asked for better fetters.
Short version:
Grisia is blinded. He fights an unknown opponent that he thinks is Adair. After striking him down, Grisia realizes he's killed Lesus. He looks around. His nightmare has come true. Everyone is dead. Roland accuses Grisia of killing everyone. Anguished, Grisia prays to the God of Light so that he would have holy light to revive everyone. He answers. As Grisia is about to have Roland carry Lesus over, he finds that no one has died. Everyone touches him to keep him in his current state. The Pope comes and draws a circle that will turn Leaf Bud City into Grisia's seal.
Lucathia's thoughts:
I knew from the start that Grisia totally couldn't have been fighting Adair. Before volume 8 was released, I read someone's prediction about how Grisia's nightmare about killing Leaf, Blaze, and Lesus seems like foreshadowing, that maybe Yu Wo was hinting about something that's going to happen later, so when it looked like it did come true here, my reaction was..."shoot." I was also afraid that this would become a dues ex machina ending. That would royally suck! The God of Light intervened! Everyone's saved! Thankfully, that's not entirely what happened. Yes, the God of Light plays a large part. But the other part is thanks to the plan that Lesus and everyone else came up with. They forced Grisia into wanting to have the power to revive everyone. They forced him to admit that he's scared. I do feel bad for Adair though. Grisia was much more willing to kill him than Lesus!
Chapter 12: Ending the Demon King
Long version:
Grisia thinks that he finally understands what Earth means by men being an ugly sight with they cry and laugh, because now Adair is doing both. Even though Grisia knows Adair sacrificed a lot, having him fly at him with that kind of face makes Grisia kick him. After a second, Adair regains his composure and welcomes his captain back.
Grisia thanks him and tells him that one of the luckiest things in his lifetime was having Adair as his vice-captain. Even if he were to repeat his life 100 times, he would always choose Adair as his vice-captain.
Adair blushes.
Grisia immediately puts him to work. All the Twelve Holy Knights are asleep (including Storm, Leaf, and Cloud who Grisia usually foists work on). Thank goodness for Adair!
Adair asks if they're pulling the army back. Grisia answers that they can't do such a thing. That would ruin the Church of the God of Light's reputation, and he can't let that happen. So of course they're going to continue battling the Demon King.
Adair - "But you're the Demon King."
Grisia looks at Adair. Adair stiffens. Grisia wonders what there is to be afraid of. Adair even faced down the Demon King. Adair answers that the Demon King has nothing on the Sun Knight. His captain is much scarier as the Sun Knight. As the Demon King, he threw tantrums and hit people, but as the Sun Knight he plotted people to death.
Adair says all this with great respect. Grisia thinks this isn't something to be respected.
"So captain, how are we going to battle the Demon King when you're the Demon King?"
"Who says I'm the Demon King?"
Adair blinks.
Grisia smiles. "You're the Demon King."
"Huh?"
Grisia leads the army. On his horse, he uses some convoluted speech. He thinks he's a bit out of touch with it. His Sun Knight Platoon looks up at him with wet faces. Someone compliments him on his speech.
Storm is awake and wishes he could sleep for three more days. Grisia says that he can probably sleep on his horse with his skill. Storm says a bed would be better. Someone comments that he has a bed back at the temple, but he's never been able to use it much. Storm tells them not to say that.
Lesus explains how the Pope needed time for the seal, so they had to divert Grisia's attention away from the Holy Temple. By leaving with the army, Grisia would have no need to visit an empty temple. Lesus continues to explain that they decided to send someone to Grisia's side to prevent him from doing needless stuff out of boredom. Lesus wanted to send Storm, but Adair volunteered. Adair had a better reason for jumping ship. Lesus comments that Grisia has a good vice captain.
"I know."
Adair also came to an agreement with Scarlet. Without her help, they could not have prevented needless deaths that would have made it impossible for Grisia to return.
This shocks Grisia. Scarlet is unable to betray him. Lesus explains that she hasn't. She was looking out for his best interests. She believes that this way, once he lost his power in the future, the Holy Temple would be able to protect him. Scarlet also agreed for another reason. She knew that Grisia secretly wanted to return, that he struggled and was in pain.
Grisia comments that Scarlet once killed Lesus. Lesus says he doesn't remember. His heart beat doesn't even change when he utters this lie.
Grisia tells Lesus that they shouldn't have done this. What if he really ended up killing them? Lesus explains that could not have happened. From the start, the only opponent Grisia battled was Roland. Everyone else pretended to be dead. Their injuries are real though. They made use of the nightmare Grisia had before to make things appear more real. This is why Leaf and Blaze's injuries are the most difficult to handle though. One false step, and they might have truly died.
This frustrates Grisia. It was too risky. But then Grisia understands why they needed to go so far. If they'd been discovered they were faking it, Grisia might truly have killed them for real.
Their end goal was to force Grisia to take the Divine Sun Sword for the sake of reviving them all.
Lesus also explains that Grisia will no longer be able to leave Leaf Bud City without the Twelve Holy Knights. Grisia is okay with it. Everything he cares about is in Leaf Bud City. Lesus also explains that everyone swore that they would all remain in Leaf Bud City even after they retire since Sun can't leave.
Grisia thinks they didn't need to go so far. Some of them came from outside of the city. Lesus tells him that he would have to convince them himself. He's not doing it.
Grisia thinks these fetters from the God of Light are truly strong. This confuses Judgment. The magic circle had nothing to do with the God of Light. Cloud pops out of nowhere and points out that Sun meant something else other than the magic circle.
Judgment asks what he means. Cloud looks at all the Twelve Holy Knights. Judgment realizes what Grisia meant. He smiles.
At this time, a black cloud appears above head. The "Demon King" makes a grand speech. (Storm was still sleeping. Earth was yawning). Earth compliments Adair's speech. "Such a good actor! He's even more like the Demon King than someone else!"
Storm compliments Adair. He can do everything! From being a vice captain, to being a spy, to being a fake Demon King..Sun, you are lucky to have found such a vice-captain.
Grisia thinks it's all thanks to his training for throwing everything at Adair to do. Training him into becoming a two-faced person, smiling after beating someone up, now he can even be the Demon King's double! Bwahahaha!
Grisia almost forgets he's not supposed to do the evil laugh anymore.
Grisia commands the Twelve Holy Knights to defeat the Demon King.
And so ends the largest cover-up of all history.
Afterwards, Demon Kings continued to be born, but they no longer threatened the world, as each kingdom had secrets that passed down through the generations...
Short version:
Adair is super happy that his captain is back. Since the Church of the God of Light cannot pull back the army without dropping their reputation, Grisia tasks Adair to pretend to be the Demon King. Lesus explains to Grisia his plan and how it worked. Together, the Twelve Holy Knights battle the fake Demon King.
Lucathia's thoughts:
Can Adair get any more awesome? I love his lost of composure here, and then Grisia...telling Adair to pretend to be the Demon King! Oh this is priceless! Haha, I laughed about Storm falling asleep on his horse...and how he rarely gets to use his bed back at the temple. Poor guy. He's actually getting more sleep now than back home. Huh, so Grisia can no longer leave Leaf Bud City without the other eleven. And they've all promised not to leave the city even after retiring, awww! Makes me want to see what their retirement life is like. Strong fetters from the God of Light, omg. <3333 Yes, these are such strong fetters. Bwahaha, Adair pretending to be the Demon King!
Epilogue: The 8th Shared Rule of the Twelve Holy Knights: The Demon King is actually the Sun Knight. Shh!
Long version:
The day for choosing the 39th generation of holy knights has come. Sun has already made his decision (he merely has to announce it), but many of the others have not. He meets up with Storm, Earth, and Leaf. Storm comments that Sun must be choosing Elaro for sure, but Elaro is a little too old. He's 7 years older than Storm's Shuis. Sun complains that it's Storm's that is too small, not that Sun's is too big. Earth makes a lewd joke out of that. Sun growls but Leaf hurriedly reminds him to remain graceful when some holy knights pass by them.
Elaro is 15. Storm says that Sun is completely showing favoritism. Sun retorts that Storm is showing favoritism. Shuis is only 7. The ideal age is 10-12. Storm states that Shuis is only 3 years away from the ideal age. Sun claims the same for Elaro. Earth cuts in that they're just using the lower and upper ages of the brackets to their advantage. He also goes, who cares? Elaro and Shuis like each other just fine.
Storm falls silent and says this is what worries him. Shuis is already going "Brother Elaro! Brother Elaro!" In the future, he's so going to be taken advantage of! Earth replies that it doesn't matter who Storm chooses. With him as a teacher, his students would of course end up this way. Storm almost agrees until he realizes what exactly Earth is saying.
Leaf cuts in to say that Luchile is looking for Sun. Sun wonders what Cloud's vice captain wants with him. Luchile frets about how he hasn't been able to find Knight-Captain Cloud. It's been 5 days! In his hands are the lists of candidates for the next generation.
Cloud has upped his hiding skill over the years to include any space that he can wiggle into and is no longer bound by cabinets and closets. Sun even found Cloud in his wine cellar once. This was after Luchile almost started crying from not being able to find his captain. Sun had to use his mage sight/element perception to find Cloud.
Sun uses that now and tells Luchile Cloud's whereabouts. Thankful, Luchile immediately heads off to find his captain.
Leaf leaves first, telling Sun he wants to observe the candidates from the shadows. Earth gives Sun and Storm a look and tells them they should at least pretend they're making a decision still, otherwise people will think this is rigged.
Sun answers that he of course will head over. Elaro is waiting for him. Earth hasn't made a decision yet, but Sun feels that he probably doesn't care too much about who he's choosing, so Earth stays with Sun and Storm, slowly making their way over.
The plaza is full of curious kids. Elaro completely stands out with his height. Although he's 15, he can totally pass for 18. He looks awkward in the middle of all the kids, and the kids seem to regard him as a holy knight instead of a candidate. They keep asking him questions and he answers kindly. In the middle of explaining, he looks up and smiles brilliantly like the sun, completely forgetting Sun's orders to pretend they don't know each other.
After the selection, everyone brings their chosen knights to have them greet each other. Sun doesn't want a repeat of the previous generation where they didn't meet each other until 3 to 4 years later.
When Sun sees everyone's chosen knights, he thinks they did it on purpose. Elaro is so much taller than everyone else. It looks like he's among infants. These kids are even younger than the ones in the plaza.
Sun asks Judgment if he can really tell if this young a kid is suitable to be the Judgment Knight. Judgment answers that he doesn't have many choices. Sun realizes this, as a lot of the Judgment Knight candidates made Sun want to punish them.
Metal wonders if Judgment Knight's kid is really a boy. He looks very feminine. The kid immediately retorts that he is of course a boy. He has quite a temper. Judgment hushes him. His name is a homophone for "Really Hungry". Everyone giggles at this. One of the other kids kindly offers some bread. "Really Hungry" glares at the kid and then glares at Sun.
Because Sun was the one who gave the kid his name.
Sun thinks to himself that people really should not be naming kids when they're really hungry. This could be the result.
Storm says he already decided on his seven years ago, and he'd already informed Sun about that.
Earth comments saying, "Don't you feel the way 'Judgment' speaks is so honest?" "Judgment" is the kid who offered "Really Hungry" bread. Sun thinks he looks more "stupid" than "honest". And wait...what had Earth called the kid?
Sun thinks Earth must have chosen the kid on purpose.
Ice chose a kid called "Berry" (which sounds like "Did Not Come Here"). Ice protests that he did not know the kid's name before choosing him. Sun takes this to mean that he chose without even looking at the list of candidates. The kid does look mature, but his cheeks are rosy like Strawberry Milk Bread. Choosing based on resemblance to bread?! Is Sun supposed to look forward to him changing from Strawberry Milk Bread to a Strawberry Milk Popsicle?
Storm comments that this isn't out of the ordinary. Sun has named plenty of the city's kids.
But Sun thinks to himself that he hasn't given out that many whacked out names!
Elaro speaks up and says that he's the problem. Everyone else is around the same age. His teacher doesn't necessarily have to choose him.
Sun immediately says he would never exchange Elaro for anyone else. Elaro wonders why.
Sun thinks back. He can't really say. There are too many reasons. Elaro is gentle. Had enough courage to leave with the Demon King all for the reason of not being able to leave someone who had once saved him. He is easy to get along with, strong in his beliefs, righteous, protective, and Sun happened see the boy's golden hair and blue eyes even before he figured out how to "see" while blind.
Sun knows that Elaro is the one who will continue the legend. He is the 39th generation Sun Knight. The spokesperson of the God of Light. The leader of the Holy Temple and the Twelve Holy Knights.
Sun offhandedly replies, "Well, maybe it's because your smile is really brilliant!"
The end!
Short version:
The 38th generation chooses the 39th generation. Sun chooses Elaro, who is 15. Storm chooses Shuis, who is only 7. Elaro is the oldest out of all the ones who've been chosen. The others choose kids that Sun gave weird names to. When Elaro asks why he was chosen, Sun answers that it might be because of his brilliant smile.
Notes:
-Hughes (just my guess at a translation for his name) Now revealed to be officially Shuis.
-Luchile, Cloud's vice-captain. Again, just a guess for his name. I have no idea how to translate his name. I picked something I thought sounded similar enough.
-Not even going to attempt to translate the names of the next generation. They're all homophones for very silly names. "Really Hungry" "Judgment" "Berry".
-ETA: Really Hungry = Hungri.
Lucathia's thoughts:
This is such a cute epilogue to the series. Dying of cute here. Of course Sun's going to choose Elaro. He had his heart set on him the moment he saw him. I think the kid Storm chose is Awaitsun and Alice's handsomest child? I think that's what Storm means when he said he already decided on his candidate seven years ago? Does this mean Hughes is the baby that Grisia rocked while he was on the throne of the Demon King? Eeee, Cloud's vice captain! The poor guy! He must have had so much trouble with his captain over the years, unable to find him when he needs him... oh dear, all those HILARIOUS names. Hahaha, Sun, your lapse of judgment while naming these kids have come back to bite you! Judgment Earth. Pfffft, poor kids... it seems that the kids are mostly all right with their names, except for "Really Hungry". He so has it in for Grisia. XDDD;; I bet he's going to take it out on Elaro. And awww, Elaro is like, double the age of all the rest! He'll be like the big brother to all of them. Interesting dynamics for the next generation. Sun ending with such an offhand reply truly makes this come full circle, as Neo totally gave an offhand reply too when he had so much more reason than picking Grisia for his brilliant blond hair.
Thoughts on the whole book:
Wait, we never heard about what happened to Elaro's sister? And what about Awaitsun? Does he ever get his speech back? Is Tailin still rotting in that jail? What about Charlotte? What exactly is Grisia's habit, that thing he does when he's giving a serious order? I thought we would find out about that habit of his, and that it would play a major part in how Adair and the rest determined if Grisia was being serious or not! And darn, Neo and Aldrizzt only showed up for the prologue? D: There are still loose ends...but overall I loved the book a lot. And Adair was all kinds of awesomeness. I can't believe LSK is over. ;___;
On the series overall:
I just find it unbelievable how many tropes Yu Wo has overturned. Rescuing a princess? The princess doesn't want to get rescued! Slaying a dragon? Oh, that's just an afterthought. Defeating the Demon King? The protagonist is the Demon King! And the Demon King is the savior of the world! I love how the prologue foreshadows everything. The series is very well planned, and I ached for Grisia as he lost one feature after another that defined him as the Sun Knight. I love, love, love his loyalty to the Twelve Holy Knights.
The end of the book also includes a questionnaire. Yu Wo answers some fun questions about the series.
Yu Wo also mentions she will be writing side stories to LSK. Female Warrior is a prequel about the 1st generation that she will be writing. She will also be writing the sequel Searching for Roland. I wonder what Searching for Roland will be about? There were two chapters of it floating around before Yu Wo took them down, and I thought the protagonist was Grisia, but now I'm not too sure after volume 8. He has Illu by his side in Searching for Roland, and he's well, searching for "Roland". I would be sad if the protagonist is Grisia because he seems so lonely in it, and he has memory problems...I want Grisia to have a happy ending! Spending eternity alone is so depressing.
Chapter 10: God's; The Demon King's; People - Plan
Long version:
Grisia heads to the summoning room and cries. Scarlet comments that he must be at his limit. She tells him it's okay not to endure it anymore. She says that the God of Light thought His plan was perfect, thinking he would use the position of Sun Knight to push the Demon King down, but even that failed.
Grisia doesn't understand. Scarlet explains that He wanted Grisia to be the Sun Knight, a holy light container, in order to combat how he would become a dark element container after becoming the Demon King. This way he'd retain his sanity, unlike previous Demon Kings who all eventually went crazy.
This is the first time Grisia has heard about how the Demon King will eventually go crazy from absorbing too much dark power.
Grisia wonders if he had become the Sun Knight all because of this plan to keep the Demon King lucid. If not, then how could he have become the Sun Knight when Scarlet had already found him? As Scarlet explains more about how she thought maybe the Sun Knight's holy light would have helped (but obviously now she sees it's not enough) Grisia is infuriated. He grabs her and squeezes, destroying her fake body. What were they treating his life as?
Pink replies (from within Eternal Tranquility) that of course they were treating him as a tool. Grisia asks Pink how dare she talk to him. Wasn't she afraid Grisia would kill Roland? Pink tells him to try. She's already done all she can for her child. He's a death lord protected by the Church of the God of Light. Although she claims this, she doesn't sound entirely confident.
Grisia asks Scarlet if she'd done all she could for him too. Scarlet answers that she hasn't. He was stolen from her too early on. Grisia makes a new body for Scarlet. Grisia apologizes and says he is very easily angered at the moment. Scarlet says it's okay. She cannot be killed. If he wants, he can even throw her back into Eternal Tranquility and only retrieve her when he needs her. She also comments that this gem is a piece of work. It allows people to keep calm. Grisia wonders if the God of Light also had a hand in his teacher coming across this stone.
Scarlet then reveals that the jewel on the throne also has calming effects. Even with all these things done to prevent him from going crazy, he was still...
He makes two more bodies and throws Pink and Stephen into them. They cannot walk more than ten meters away from him. Adair rushes into the room, asking Scarlet for undead creatures. He pauses when he sees that Grisia has returned.
Grisia tells Adair to kneel. Does he not know manners? Adair hesitates only for a moment before he kneels.
Grisia thinks to himself only those who cannot die can stay by the Demon King's side.
Grisia abducts two more females, Ann, princess of Moon Orchid, also Leaf's lover. The other is the princess of Forgotten Sound, also Elijah's betrothed. The princess rolls her eyes, unable to believe that Grisia knows Ann's name but not hers. Grisia has only ever heard her called "Little Flower" by his teacher. She tells him that her name is Jasmine.
Alice is dismayed to see her sister here, but she quickly regains her composure. Alice then exclaims that oh, so he's collecting princesses! And a prince (since Tailin is a prince). Grisia has no use for princes. It's not like he can exchange them for a king after collecting ten of them.
Charlotte tosses the plates on the table and rudely says, "His majesty, your meal!" Grisia is angry at her manners, but he refrains from blasting her since she would likely die from it.
Pink is overly amused that all his underlings have lovers but he can't even deal with a servant.
Grisia destroys all the tables and chairs. He declares that plenty of the Twelve Holy Knights don't have girls. Lesus for one!
Pink says that's just because he was too busy.
Grisia was also busy!
He grabs Pink and smashes her. This alarms Ann and Jasmine. Grisia looks at Stephen, who doesn't care about dying. Grisia does not know how to deal with him since liches only cared about their children. His was already dead.
Grisia instructs Scarlet to throw Ann and Jasmine into jail.
Grisia walks around the castle and sees a lot of statues. Walking through each room was like walking through a different story. The one that depicts knights fighting a dragon sours Grisia's mood, as it reminds him of the time when everyone came to save him after he lost his memory. At the time, he had decided that he already had power. He didn't need power.
Adair comes over, kneels down, and asks if someone has angered his majesty. Grisia calms down but is dispirited by how easily his emotions sway from two extremes. How long before he goes mad? Before he harms people he cares about? If such a day is going to pass, what is the point of becoming the Demon King? If everyone he cares about is going to die in the end, he might as well destroy everything right now!
Adair tries to convince him not to worry about everything by himself.
Grisia watches Adair in his kneeling position and realizes that yes, Adair has always been loyal, but he has never been this without pride. Even Ceo has claimed that Adair is respected everywhere. Even Elijah is friends with him, and Elijah's about to marry the princess. Who is this Adair who is kneeling in front of him?
Grisia tells him to rise and to tell him about current conditions. Adair says there's nothing to worry about. Everything is progressing smoothly. Grisia tells Adair that he's abducted Ann and Jasmine. Adair regretfully says they'll probably only be useful against Leaf and Elijah. Grisia then asks if he should offer them as a blood offering. Adair's heart jumps but he merely says that killing a princess will take time to prepare.
Even though Adair appears normal, Grisia does not feel this "Adair" in front of him is right. His vice captain would not have kneeled. He would not have accepted the order to kill two princesses just like that.
Grisia wonders about Lesus. Has he gone mad from anger? Why send everyone off on a pointless battle? Grisia notices that Adair reacted to that. He tells him to spill. Adair says he has no idea what they're planning. Grisia says that can't be possible. Has he truly forsaken all of his past comrades? Grisia doesn't believe it.
He teleports and snatches Vidar. Grisia commands Adair to kill Vidar. He tells him he's already learned how to make Vidar his undead guard.
Adair draws his sword. Vidar calls Adair a traitor, but his expression and his heartbeat don't match up. When he saw Adair, his heart calmed. This is not the reaction to a traitor. His acting is way too poor. Even though Adair's acting's good, he cannot make other people into good actors.
Adair swings. Grisia blocks him and tells him he made a grave error. Adair backs up. Grisia continues on to say that if Grisia really had wanted to prevent the Church of the God of Light from coming after him, he only needed to kill the Twelve Holy Knights, but he didn't. Did Adair now know where he erred?
Adair pales.
Even Grisia is unable to strike down people he supposedly gave up on, yet Adair is willing to strike one of his fellow comrades. Grisia's vice captain has never been this cold blooded. Someone's behind this.
Grisia grabs Adair. Vidar yells out for him. Grisia demands, "What exactly are you planning? No, I should be asking, 'what exactly is Lesus planning', right?" Adair still doesn't give anything away while Vidar pleads for Grisia to let him go (Grisia thinks that bosses cannot be too overly serious or else your subordinates won't have the opportunity to grow. Take Lesus and Vidar for example).
Grisia wonders why Vidar cares so much about Adair when he'd almost killed him. Vidar claims the one that had almost killed him is Grisia, not Adair. Grisia asks about Lesus' plans again. Adair's condition leaves him unable to guide Vidar, so Vidar answers. He answers that the army's goal was to divert Grisia's attention. The captains planned on teleporting directly to the castle to find Grisia. Grisia declares this impossible, as he has strong protections guarding the place. People other than himself would need special artifacts for teleportation to be possible.
Vidar explains this is the reason why they planted Adair here. Grisia releases Adair. Vidar shouts that Adair is no longer breathing. Grisia tells Vidar to knock him on the chest. Vidar does so strongely. Adair moves.
Grisia asks Adair, "Why have you betrayed me?" Adair answers that he hasn't. That he's not listening to Knight-Captain Judgment's orders. He's listening to his captain's wishes, since he personally told Knight-Captain Storm that even if he became the Demon King, he still wanted to be the Sun Knight. This is why Adair has come to bring him back, as this is what he truly desired.
Adair's heartbeat does not change. Grisia understands that this is what Adair truly believes. Grisia wonders why Adair didn't just go and take the Sun Knight position for himself.
Grisia says he's wrong. He doesn't want to be the Sun Knight. And he can no longer return. He's already caused the deaths of 500 knights.
Adair tells him that not a single person died. That he is allowed to return.
All this time, they'd put on a show for Grisia.
Still unconvinced, Grisia tells Adair that his castle has everything he wants. It's so much better than the Holy Temple! He can go anywhere he wants with teleportation. He's so free! No one can stop him! He's happy!
But while he says all this, he thinks - there is nothing here except jewelry and dead people. He has no idea where to go. No one can stop him because there is no one around.
Adair continues on. There is no one here his captain wants to protect. No Sun Knight Platoon. No Twelve Holy Knights that he treats like brothers. There is nothing here! This is a castle of death. A jail for the Demon King!
Grisia already knows this. He asks why Adair had to come and point out the truth. It took so much out of him to keep himself in this jail. He even decided to kill 500 knights as a warning. Wasn't that enough? Would it be enough if he were to kill Adair and Vidar and throw their corpses at Lesus, and then kill Ann and Jasmine and throw their corpses at Elmairy and Elijah?
Adair pleads for him not to do something he'll regret. Grisia laughs and asks if he thought he'd regret killing him. If Grisia were to kill him, he'd stop spewing these hurtful words. What was there to hesitate about?
Grisia tells Adair that he'll give him 10 seconds to see if he has anyway of calling out for help. After that, he'll kill them. Adair doesn't respond and merely looks at Grisia. Grisia looks forward to seeing Adair display a crushed expression, something Grisia hasn't seen for a long time. Grisia recalls the first time they met when Adair behaved like he'd met the person of his dreams. Later, once he found out Grisia's two-facedness and his terrible swordsmanship, Adair displayed an expression like he'd been utterly tricked.
Two blades of darkness, ready to cut. Grisia dissolves the fetters on Adair's mouth to let him speak his last words.
"Goodbye, Adair."
"I'm sorry, Captain. I've failed."
Elaro runs in and yells for him not to kill. Adair's heartbeat calms down. Grisia is suspicious. What can a kid do? Grisia gets blinded. Adair explains that as a caution, he even tricked Vidar. The plan was not to teleport the Twelve Holy Knights in. It was to teleport Grisia out. He was afraid Vidar would ruin things, so he gave the device to Elaro. Thank you captain for bringing Elaro here.
Short version:
Grisia has a breakdown. Scarlet explains that all Demon Kings eventually go mad. Grisia kidnaps Ann and Jasmine. He goes on a stroll through his castle and comes to a sudden realization that Adair is suspicious. He confronts Adair, commands him to kill Vidar, and then discovers that Adair was planted here by Lesus. Just as Grisia is about to kill Adair, Elaro stops him. Adair carries out Lesus' plan. Grisia is teleported out of his castle.
Notes
-Stephen was Charlotte's lich, the third lich.
Lucathia's thoughts:
Oh my heart. Seeing Grisia break down is just... damn, Demon Kings eventually go crazy? I'd expected that but I don't want that to happen to Grisia. Ah, so the jewels calm him down. No wonder Grisia always puts his hand on that jewel when he sits on his throne. I feel for Grisia. He's truly been manipulated throughout his entire life. If not because of the God of Light's meddling...would Grisia have become the Sun Knight? Most likely not, but then that might be why he is so favored. He was personally picked. Haha, the princess of Forgotten Sound finally has her name revealed! (I don't think it was mentioned before?) Well, her name's Jasmine. Nice to know. Nooo Grisia, why are you telling Adair to kneel? You are going back on your word! You told Adair that he would never have to kneel before you! Aha, but it leads to the next part nicely. Yes, who is this Adair who is kneeling before you, Grisia? Vidar gives the plan away! But of course! Adair is too good an actor...but Vidar isn't. My heart was bursting from the part where Adair tells his captain that this is a cage. A prison. Grisia has known it all along, omg. ;____; Stop torturing yourself Grisia. Get out of there! And yes, Adair would have made a fine Sun Knight. I kind of want to see an AU about that!
Chapter 11: The Twelve Holy Knights - Gathered
Long version:
Grisia is unable to see anything. He's surrounded by thick light element. He yells furiously at Adair and hears movement. An attack. He's furious Adair's attacking him. Grisia retaliates with blades of dark element. He senses various shadows darting about. It seems that Adair is not alone.
Grisia continues attacking while blind. He keeps attacking but he can't fall his opponent. Who was it? Who was this strong? The Pope? It mattered not. He was scoring. He smelled blood. He sensed people on the ground.
Finally, the light element is dissipating. He can see now with his elemental sensing. He uses his dark element to stop his opponent's movement. No matter how strong his swordsmanship, if he can't move, he's a goner. Grisia picks up his opponent's sword and apologizes that he really shouldn't have chosen Adair as his vice-captain. First was overworking him and worrying him to death, now he even had to die by his hands. Remember in your next life to follow every single order, even absurd orders like letting your captain become the Demon King!
Grisia strikes his opponent through the chest with the sword and thinks this is it. He even killed Adair. Now they can no longer care about him.
The light dissipates some more. Grisia sees that his opponent hasn't died yet. He thinks his swordsmanship is truly poor. He needs to strike again to end Adair's suffering. But then...
"Sun..."
Only the Twelve Holy Knights call him that.
Blood dribbles out of Lesus' mouth.
How could it be Lesus? The sword in Grisia's hand is even the Divine Sun Sword. Grisia looks around. It's full of corpses. Of the bodies of the Twelve Holy Knights. Chikus's left shoulder has been sliced, his shoulder broken. Elmairy's neck was slit. There's an x shaped scar on Ecilan.
Lesus again utters, "Sun."
He falls. Grisia catches him. Grisia tries to gather holy light to heal him, but he has none.
Lesus talks. He tells Grisia that all of them had a dream on the same night. Even Roland had the dream, and he didn't need to sleep. Understand, Grisia? The God of Light has not abandoned you.
Grisia is stunned. What did this have to do with anything? He tries to get Lesus to shut up and heal himself, but Lesus keeps talking. In the dream, Grisia turned blue eyes on them and was crying. Alarmed, Roland came rushing to tell everyone he dreamed this. Everyone then discovered they had the same dream.
Lesus asks, "Did you know what we all thought from the dream?"
"You wanted to yell at me?"
Lesus eyes close. "So nostalgic...your blue eyes."
Lesus falls silent. Grisia tries to shake him and keeps repeating his name. Roland walks over. He's battered.
"Y-You actually killed them? You killed your brothers in arms?"
Grisia is speechless. He almost loses control but he can't, their corpses are still here, he can't destroy that.
He yells. It hurts too much. Someone shakes him and tells him to use Resurrection. But he can't. He's not the Sun Knight anymore. He's the Demon King. He has no holy light.
Roland tells him to calm down. He brings him the Divine Sun Sword. It must hurt him, but Roland doesn't let go.
Grisia takes the sword. He commands Scarlet, Pink, and Stephen to draw the circle for Resurrection. Pink scolds him. There's no way he can revive 10 people. Stephen says that in his current state, he can't even revive one single person. Grisia knows this. Even the Divine Sun Sword doesn't recognize him as the owner.
Grisia tells everyone that he believes in Lesus. That the God of Light hasn't abandoned him. He raises the sword. Even though he can't see the sun, he faces upward and shouts that he believes the God of Light would not abandon his Twelve Holy Knights. He yells that he will always be the God of Light's Sun Knight. Please, don't abandon me now. Don't abandon your Twelve Holy Knights, or I will truly fall into darkness...
Above Grisia, a large entity of light appears. Grisia is so touched he almost cries. The God of Light is too forgiving of him. Grisia apologizes for doubting Him, for thinking that he was only chosen for the sake of becoming the Demon King.
The light comes down and surges through Grisia's body. It is painful. Scarlet is alarmed but Grisia holds in his scream so as not to break Scarlet's concentration on drawing the circles.
This is the power that will let him revive everyone.
Grisia tells Roland to carry everyone over--
Judgment stands in front of Grisia and pushes Eternal Tranquility to his chest. Grisia is confused. Next to him is Earth who takes one of Grisia's shoulders and says that kind of injury isn't enough to kill them. Metal takes Grisia's other shoulder and says he can even take another stab. Moon says that Metal would probably be happier getting stabbed again. Stone pulls Grisia's hand and tells him not to underestimate them. Leaf touches Grisia's face and says that he died once when someone slit his throat, and this time he had to fake that. He probably needed some kind of metal choker in the future. Storm grips Grisia's left arm and comments that he hasn't had such good sleep for a long time. Blaze hugs Grisia from the back. Ice takes Grisia's other hand. Cloud sees nowhere to grab, so he grabs Grisia's hair.
Only Roland hasn't joined in.
No one is dead.
Grisia wonders what they're doing, but he doesn't care. They're alive. He asks them why they're touching him.
The Pope jumps out from behind a pole with a box. He starts drawing something on the ground.
Lesus explains there is only one way to do this. They will turn the entire city of Leaf Bud into his seal so that he can remain "Sun". This can only be done inside the Holy Temple with the Twelve Holy Knights as his temporary seal.
Stunned, Grisia exclaims that the Demon King is necessary for the world's survival.
Lesus explains that every half year, they will remove the seal. All Twelve Holy Knights will go to an uninhabited location. Grisia will fight with Roland. They will use various abilities to support Roland. Both of them will use up lots of dark element during their fight.
Grisia falls silent and then says there is a lot of risk in this plan. If they were being reasonable, they would know the best course of action is to leave him be. What if one day he truly went mad?
Metal answers, "You think we would use reason with you?"
Storm also says that Adair never used "reason". If he did, he would have become the Sun Knight himself.
Sun's teacher has no reason. He agreed to the plan. The Pope has no reason.
Lesus explains that the king knows that this way guarantees that the Demon King will be controlled. That is why the king agreed. Storm explains that the king is also extorting a lot of money from the other kingdoms for his kingdom's large sacrifice in this matter.
Earth complains that Sun is the one who is least reasonable.
This throws Grisia back. How is he not being reasonable?
Roland - If you were reasonable, you should have burned me a long time ago.
Leaf - Were you reasonable when you revived me? If you were, you would not have gone blind!
Everyone looks at Lesus. Lesus calmly states that even if he is the Judgment Knight, he follows the leader of the Holy Temple, the Sun Knight, and his Sun Knight has claimed that the Twelve Holy Knights never give up on the Twelve Holy Knights. He never said anything about being reasonable.
Lesus goes on a tangent about how sometimes he doesn't understand why the Twelve Holy Knights need to pretend and hide themselves. He can somewhat understand why the Judgment Knight should keep calm, but what's the purpose of surface things like having black hair and black eyes?
Grisia doesn't understand why Lesus is bringing this up. Everyone else answers.
The Twelve Holy Knights represent everlastingness. Unchanging righteousness. Even if the world changes, some things never change. The Sun Knight never changes. He will also always have eleven brothers by his side. You just have to pretend a bit, and you'll earn yourself eleven brothers. What a deal!
Turns out these were Grisia's words to Lesus way back. Grisia wonders if Lesus told everyone. Lesus explains that everyone else saw this as part of the shared dream.
Lesus asks, "Grisia, you once asked me what there was left for you to do when even the God of Light wanted you to be the Demon King. Now the God of Light wants you to obediently return to the Holy Temple. What will you do?"
"...but I'm so scared."
What if one day he acted even worse than now? Will they still continue to refuse to abandon him? He's afraid. So afraid that they'll decide once and for all that he's not worth it.
Storm pats him on the shoulder and reassures him that they'll beat him up if it happens. Grisia starts crying. Earth comments that he looks ugly when crying.
The Pope finally finishes drawing the circle. He tells everyone to strip. They all have some kind of design drawn on their bodies like the magic circle. The Pope explains that this circle has never been used before. It works in theory but has not been tested. It is not very practical as it needs large amounts of holy element and the person being sealed needs to completely accept it.
He turns to Grisia and asks him if he seriously, from the bottom of his heart, wishes to be sealed. Because if not, they would all be completely at his mercy after using up all of their holy element.
Grisia looks at everyone and thinks that he could not have asked for better fetters.
Short version:
Grisia is blinded. He fights an unknown opponent that he thinks is Adair. After striking him down, Grisia realizes he's killed Lesus. He looks around. His nightmare has come true. Everyone is dead. Roland accuses Grisia of killing everyone. Anguished, Grisia prays to the God of Light so that he would have holy light to revive everyone. He answers. As Grisia is about to have Roland carry Lesus over, he finds that no one has died. Everyone touches him to keep him in his current state. The Pope comes and draws a circle that will turn Leaf Bud City into Grisia's seal.
Lucathia's thoughts:
I knew from the start that Grisia totally couldn't have been fighting Adair. Before volume 8 was released, I read someone's prediction about how Grisia's nightmare about killing Leaf, Blaze, and Lesus seems like foreshadowing, that maybe Yu Wo was hinting about something that's going to happen later, so when it looked like it did come true here, my reaction was..."shoot." I was also afraid that this would become a dues ex machina ending. That would royally suck! The God of Light intervened! Everyone's saved! Thankfully, that's not entirely what happened. Yes, the God of Light plays a large part. But the other part is thanks to the plan that Lesus and everyone else came up with. They forced Grisia into wanting to have the power to revive everyone. They forced him to admit that he's scared. I do feel bad for Adair though. Grisia was much more willing to kill him than Lesus!
Chapter 12: Ending the Demon King
Long version:
Grisia thinks that he finally understands what Earth means by men being an ugly sight with they cry and laugh, because now Adair is doing both. Even though Grisia knows Adair sacrificed a lot, having him fly at him with that kind of face makes Grisia kick him. After a second, Adair regains his composure and welcomes his captain back.
Grisia thanks him and tells him that one of the luckiest things in his lifetime was having Adair as his vice-captain. Even if he were to repeat his life 100 times, he would always choose Adair as his vice-captain.
Adair blushes.
Grisia immediately puts him to work. All the Twelve Holy Knights are asleep (including Storm, Leaf, and Cloud who Grisia usually foists work on). Thank goodness for Adair!
Adair asks if they're pulling the army back. Grisia answers that they can't do such a thing. That would ruin the Church of the God of Light's reputation, and he can't let that happen. So of course they're going to continue battling the Demon King.
Adair - "But you're the Demon King."
Grisia looks at Adair. Adair stiffens. Grisia wonders what there is to be afraid of. Adair even faced down the Demon King. Adair answers that the Demon King has nothing on the Sun Knight. His captain is much scarier as the Sun Knight. As the Demon King, he threw tantrums and hit people, but as the Sun Knight he plotted people to death.
Adair says all this with great respect. Grisia thinks this isn't something to be respected.
"So captain, how are we going to battle the Demon King when you're the Demon King?"
"Who says I'm the Demon King?"
Adair blinks.
Grisia smiles. "You're the Demon King."
"Huh?"
Grisia leads the army. On his horse, he uses some convoluted speech. He thinks he's a bit out of touch with it. His Sun Knight Platoon looks up at him with wet faces. Someone compliments him on his speech.
Storm is awake and wishes he could sleep for three more days. Grisia says that he can probably sleep on his horse with his skill. Storm says a bed would be better. Someone comments that he has a bed back at the temple, but he's never been able to use it much. Storm tells them not to say that.
Lesus explains how the Pope needed time for the seal, so they had to divert Grisia's attention away from the Holy Temple. By leaving with the army, Grisia would have no need to visit an empty temple. Lesus continues to explain that they decided to send someone to Grisia's side to prevent him from doing needless stuff out of boredom. Lesus wanted to send Storm, but Adair volunteered. Adair had a better reason for jumping ship. Lesus comments that Grisia has a good vice captain.
"I know."
Adair also came to an agreement with Scarlet. Without her help, they could not have prevented needless deaths that would have made it impossible for Grisia to return.
This shocks Grisia. Scarlet is unable to betray him. Lesus explains that she hasn't. She was looking out for his best interests. She believes that this way, once he lost his power in the future, the Holy Temple would be able to protect him. Scarlet also agreed for another reason. She knew that Grisia secretly wanted to return, that he struggled and was in pain.
Grisia comments that Scarlet once killed Lesus. Lesus says he doesn't remember. His heart beat doesn't even change when he utters this lie.
Grisia tells Lesus that they shouldn't have done this. What if he really ended up killing them? Lesus explains that could not have happened. From the start, the only opponent Grisia battled was Roland. Everyone else pretended to be dead. Their injuries are real though. They made use of the nightmare Grisia had before to make things appear more real. This is why Leaf and Blaze's injuries are the most difficult to handle though. One false step, and they might have truly died.
This frustrates Grisia. It was too risky. But then Grisia understands why they needed to go so far. If they'd been discovered they were faking it, Grisia might truly have killed them for real.
Their end goal was to force Grisia to take the Divine Sun Sword for the sake of reviving them all.
Lesus also explains that Grisia will no longer be able to leave Leaf Bud City without the Twelve Holy Knights. Grisia is okay with it. Everything he cares about is in Leaf Bud City. Lesus also explains that everyone swore that they would all remain in Leaf Bud City even after they retire since Sun can't leave.
Grisia thinks they didn't need to go so far. Some of them came from outside of the city. Lesus tells him that he would have to convince them himself. He's not doing it.
Grisia thinks these fetters from the God of Light are truly strong. This confuses Judgment. The magic circle had nothing to do with the God of Light. Cloud pops out of nowhere and points out that Sun meant something else other than the magic circle.
Judgment asks what he means. Cloud looks at all the Twelve Holy Knights. Judgment realizes what Grisia meant. He smiles.
At this time, a black cloud appears above head. The "Demon King" makes a grand speech. (Storm was still sleeping. Earth was yawning). Earth compliments Adair's speech. "Such a good actor! He's even more like the Demon King than someone else!"
Storm compliments Adair. He can do everything! From being a vice captain, to being a spy, to being a fake Demon King..Sun, you are lucky to have found such a vice-captain.
Grisia thinks it's all thanks to his training for throwing everything at Adair to do. Training him into becoming a two-faced person, smiling after beating someone up, now he can even be the Demon King's double! Bwahahaha!
Grisia almost forgets he's not supposed to do the evil laugh anymore.
Grisia commands the Twelve Holy Knights to defeat the Demon King.
And so ends the largest cover-up of all history.
Afterwards, Demon Kings continued to be born, but they no longer threatened the world, as each kingdom had secrets that passed down through the generations...
Short version:
Adair is super happy that his captain is back. Since the Church of the God of Light cannot pull back the army without dropping their reputation, Grisia tasks Adair to pretend to be the Demon King. Lesus explains to Grisia his plan and how it worked. Together, the Twelve Holy Knights battle the fake Demon King.
Lucathia's thoughts:
Can Adair get any more awesome? I love his lost of composure here, and then Grisia...telling Adair to pretend to be the Demon King! Oh this is priceless! Haha, I laughed about Storm falling asleep on his horse...and how he rarely gets to use his bed back at the temple. Poor guy. He's actually getting more sleep now than back home. Huh, so Grisia can no longer leave Leaf Bud City without the other eleven. And they've all promised not to leave the city even after retiring, awww! Makes me want to see what their retirement life is like. Strong fetters from the God of Light, omg. <3333 Yes, these are such strong fetters. Bwahaha, Adair pretending to be the Demon King!
Epilogue: The 8th Shared Rule of the Twelve Holy Knights: The Demon King is actually the Sun Knight. Shh!
Long version:
The day for choosing the 39th generation of holy knights has come. Sun has already made his decision (he merely has to announce it), but many of the others have not. He meets up with Storm, Earth, and Leaf. Storm comments that Sun must be choosing Elaro for sure, but Elaro is a little too old. He's 7 years older than Storm's Shuis. Sun complains that it's Storm's that is too small, not that Sun's is too big. Earth makes a lewd joke out of that. Sun growls but Leaf hurriedly reminds him to remain graceful when some holy knights pass by them.
Elaro is 15. Storm says that Sun is completely showing favoritism. Sun retorts that Storm is showing favoritism. Shuis is only 7. The ideal age is 10-12. Storm states that Shuis is only 3 years away from the ideal age. Sun claims the same for Elaro. Earth cuts in that they're just using the lower and upper ages of the brackets to their advantage. He also goes, who cares? Elaro and Shuis like each other just fine.
Storm falls silent and says this is what worries him. Shuis is already going "Brother Elaro! Brother Elaro!" In the future, he's so going to be taken advantage of! Earth replies that it doesn't matter who Storm chooses. With him as a teacher, his students would of course end up this way. Storm almost agrees until he realizes what exactly Earth is saying.
Leaf cuts in to say that Luchile is looking for Sun. Sun wonders what Cloud's vice captain wants with him. Luchile frets about how he hasn't been able to find Knight-Captain Cloud. It's been 5 days! In his hands are the lists of candidates for the next generation.
Cloud has upped his hiding skill over the years to include any space that he can wiggle into and is no longer bound by cabinets and closets. Sun even found Cloud in his wine cellar once. This was after Luchile almost started crying from not being able to find his captain. Sun had to use his mage sight/element perception to find Cloud.
Sun uses that now and tells Luchile Cloud's whereabouts. Thankful, Luchile immediately heads off to find his captain.
Leaf leaves first, telling Sun he wants to observe the candidates from the shadows. Earth gives Sun and Storm a look and tells them they should at least pretend they're making a decision still, otherwise people will think this is rigged.
Sun answers that he of course will head over. Elaro is waiting for him. Earth hasn't made a decision yet, but Sun feels that he probably doesn't care too much about who he's choosing, so Earth stays with Sun and Storm, slowly making their way over.
The plaza is full of curious kids. Elaro completely stands out with his height. Although he's 15, he can totally pass for 18. He looks awkward in the middle of all the kids, and the kids seem to regard him as a holy knight instead of a candidate. They keep asking him questions and he answers kindly. In the middle of explaining, he looks up and smiles brilliantly like the sun, completely forgetting Sun's orders to pretend they don't know each other.
After the selection, everyone brings their chosen knights to have them greet each other. Sun doesn't want a repeat of the previous generation where they didn't meet each other until 3 to 4 years later.
When Sun sees everyone's chosen knights, he thinks they did it on purpose. Elaro is so much taller than everyone else. It looks like he's among infants. These kids are even younger than the ones in the plaza.
Sun asks Judgment if he can really tell if this young a kid is suitable to be the Judgment Knight. Judgment answers that he doesn't have many choices. Sun realizes this, as a lot of the Judgment Knight candidates made Sun want to punish them.
Metal wonders if Judgment Knight's kid is really a boy. He looks very feminine. The kid immediately retorts that he is of course a boy. He has quite a temper. Judgment hushes him. His name is a homophone for "Really Hungry". Everyone giggles at this. One of the other kids kindly offers some bread. "Really Hungry" glares at the kid and then glares at Sun.
Because Sun was the one who gave the kid his name.
Sun thinks to himself that people really should not be naming kids when they're really hungry. This could be the result.
Storm says he already decided on his seven years ago, and he'd already informed Sun about that.
Earth comments saying, "Don't you feel the way 'Judgment' speaks is so honest?" "Judgment" is the kid who offered "Really Hungry" bread. Sun thinks he looks more "stupid" than "honest". And wait...what had Earth called the kid?
Sun thinks Earth must have chosen the kid on purpose.
Ice chose a kid called "Berry" (which sounds like "Did Not Come Here"). Ice protests that he did not know the kid's name before choosing him. Sun takes this to mean that he chose without even looking at the list of candidates. The kid does look mature, but his cheeks are rosy like Strawberry Milk Bread. Choosing based on resemblance to bread?! Is Sun supposed to look forward to him changing from Strawberry Milk Bread to a Strawberry Milk Popsicle?
Storm comments that this isn't out of the ordinary. Sun has named plenty of the city's kids.
But Sun thinks to himself that he hasn't given out that many whacked out names!
Elaro speaks up and says that he's the problem. Everyone else is around the same age. His teacher doesn't necessarily have to choose him.
Sun immediately says he would never exchange Elaro for anyone else. Elaro wonders why.
Sun thinks back. He can't really say. There are too many reasons. Elaro is gentle. Had enough courage to leave with the Demon King all for the reason of not being able to leave someone who had once saved him. He is easy to get along with, strong in his beliefs, righteous, protective, and Sun happened see the boy's golden hair and blue eyes even before he figured out how to "see" while blind.
Sun knows that Elaro is the one who will continue the legend. He is the 39th generation Sun Knight. The spokesperson of the God of Light. The leader of the Holy Temple and the Twelve Holy Knights.
Sun offhandedly replies, "Well, maybe it's because your smile is really brilliant!"
The end!
Short version:
The 38th generation chooses the 39th generation. Sun chooses Elaro, who is 15. Storm chooses Shuis, who is only 7. Elaro is the oldest out of all the ones who've been chosen. The others choose kids that Sun gave weird names to. When Elaro asks why he was chosen, Sun answers that it might be because of his brilliant smile.
Notes:
-Hughes (just my guess at a translation for his name) Now revealed to be officially Shuis.
-Luchile, Cloud's vice-captain. Again, just a guess for his name. I have no idea how to translate his name. I picked something I thought sounded similar enough.
-Not even going to attempt to translate the names of the next generation. They're all homophones for very silly names. "Really Hungry" "Judgment" "Berry".
-ETA: Really Hungry = Hungri.
Lucathia's thoughts:
This is such a cute epilogue to the series. Dying of cute here. Of course Sun's going to choose Elaro. He had his heart set on him the moment he saw him. I think the kid Storm chose is Awaitsun and Alice's handsomest child? I think that's what Storm means when he said he already decided on his candidate seven years ago? Does this mean Hughes is the baby that Grisia rocked while he was on the throne of the Demon King? Eeee, Cloud's vice captain! The poor guy! He must have had so much trouble with his captain over the years, unable to find him when he needs him... oh dear, all those HILARIOUS names. Hahaha, Sun, your lapse of judgment while naming these kids have come back to bite you! Judgment Earth. Pfffft, poor kids... it seems that the kids are mostly all right with their names, except for "Really Hungry". He so has it in for Grisia. XDDD;; I bet he's going to take it out on Elaro. And awww, Elaro is like, double the age of all the rest! He'll be like the big brother to all of them. Interesting dynamics for the next generation. Sun ending with such an offhand reply truly makes this come full circle, as Neo totally gave an offhand reply too when he had so much more reason than picking Grisia for his brilliant blond hair.
Thoughts on the whole book:
Wait, we never heard about what happened to Elaro's sister? And what about Awaitsun? Does he ever get his speech back? Is Tailin still rotting in that jail? What about Charlotte? What exactly is Grisia's habit, that thing he does when he's giving a serious order? I thought we would find out about that habit of his, and that it would play a major part in how Adair and the rest determined if Grisia was being serious or not! And darn, Neo and Aldrizzt only showed up for the prologue? D: There are still loose ends...but overall I loved the book a lot. And Adair was all kinds of awesomeness. I can't believe LSK is over. ;___;
On the series overall:
I just find it unbelievable how many tropes Yu Wo has overturned. Rescuing a princess? The princess doesn't want to get rescued! Slaying a dragon? Oh, that's just an afterthought. Defeating the Demon King? The protagonist is the Demon King! And the Demon King is the savior of the world! I love how the prologue foreshadows everything. The series is very well planned, and I ached for Grisia as he lost one feature after another that defined him as the Sun Knight. I love, love, love his loyalty to the Twelve Holy Knights.
The end of the book also includes a questionnaire. Yu Wo answers some fun questions about the series.
Yu Wo also mentions she will be writing side stories to LSK. Female Warrior is a prequel about the 1st generation that she will be writing. She will also be writing the sequel Searching for Roland. I wonder what Searching for Roland will be about? There were two chapters of it floating around before Yu Wo took them down, and I thought the protagonist was Grisia, but now I'm not too sure after volume 8. He has Illu by his side in Searching for Roland, and he's well, searching for "Roland". I would be sad if the protagonist is Grisia because he seems so lonely in it, and he has memory problems...I want Grisia to have a happy ending! Spending eternity alone is so depressing.