Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King's Personal Knight

Alaric was dead. Or rather—

"Fallen into the underworld?"

Lying in a sprawled position on the ground, Alaric gazed up at the massive hole above. Using the last of her gemstones, Ishtar with extreme embarrassment unleashed a burst of magical energy, shattering the earth beneath Alaric and sending him plummeting from the world of the living into the underworld.

In this era where gods and humans had yet to fully separate, even the underworld and the heavens were still one, not yet distinct.

All it took was digging down through the earth to enter the world of the dead.

It sounded strange, but Alaric had indeed entered the underworld.

No one needed to tell him; the moment he truly made contact with the underworld, Alaric understood the reality of this place.

Alaric, completely unprepared, had been forcibly sent into the underworld by Ishtar in a rather unfriendly manner, now face-to-face with the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal.

Yet, at this moment, Alaric didn't fall into a panic—nor did he show much emotional reaction to falling into the underworld.

His entire focus was drawn toward the changes happening within his body. Because of this, Alaric hadn't even resisted as Ishtar hurled him into the underworld.

Divine aura—the symbol of a deity's power, akin to a god's magical energy.

Ishtar, the Mistress of Heaven from Sumerian mythology, wielded a divine aura that could be considered omnipotent. It governed countless authorities and mysteries, the truest expression of divine power.

At this moment, Alaric could feel the dark magical energy pumped from his dragon heart, carrying within it a trace of divine aura—specifically, Ishtar's divine aura.

This wasn't a one-time theft, nor an act of seizing divinity.

It was a reflection.

The moment Alaric defiled Ishtar, his soul—an entity Quetzalcoatl once described as a pure white soul—had reflected Ishtar. The result of that reflection was this divine aura.

A divine aura, derived from Ishtar, now uniquely belonging to Alaric—the divine aura of the goddess of Venus.

The emergence of this divine aura had a tremendous impact on Alaric.

In this world of the dead, Alaric could distinctly feel his inhumanity growing rapidly. His body, which had been continuously strengthened under the nourishment of the Age of Gods' ether, now seemed ignited, evolving at an astonishing pace.

The changes brought by the divine aura weren't limited to physical strength. Alaric also noticed a transformation in his magical energy.

The dark magic, infused with divine aura, became easier to control, with its power and mysteries significantly enhanced.

This divine aura, born from that reflection, had also become nourishment for Alaric's growth, pushing him one step closer to the transcendence the Lion King had once envisioned for him.

After a long while, Alaric finally got up from the ground.

A sharp crackling sound.

Dark magical energy burst from his fingertips, gradually coalescing into a familiar dark holy sword under his gaze.

[Projection: Sword of End]

A false holy sword created through projection magecraft, it was originally nothing more than an empty shell. But under the influence of the divine aura, its durability had noticeably increased.

"Seems… pretty useless."

After a preliminary test of the magical energy infused with divine aura, Alaric concluded that its only improvement was in quality.

Even with Da Vinci's projection magecraft as a foundation and further enhancements, the result was still just a slightly sturdier empty shell.

Reproducing the true Sword of End with projection magecraft alone was impossible.

Alaric dispersed the projection magecraft with a flick of his hand and turned to survey his surroundings.

He stood in the underground underworld of Mesopotamia, a place like an abyss of perpetual darkness. The only light came from cold, luminescent eternal lamps scattered across the jagged terrain.

These lamps were the tranquil lights that accompanied the sole goddess of this realm.

Feeling the pervasive atmosphere of death, Alaric was reminded of the Azrael Altar, where he had once faced King Hassan. Though the locations were different, the overwhelming scent of death was the same.

It was precisely this scent of death that confirmed for Alaric he had indeed entered the underworld.

This kind of death could never exist in the world above.

"Time to leave. It's not yet the right moment to face Ereshkigal head-on—"

Stretching his body, Alaric prepared to summon the Heavenly Vessel and return to the surface world.

But as his instincts awakened and his dragon heart throbbed, Alaric suddenly turned to look into the depths of the underworld, locking eyes with a distant gaze that had been cast his way.

It was a curious gaze, and its source was none other than the flower of the underworld—Ereshkigal!

"She noticed me?"

Alaric raised a hand to his chest, quickly understanding the source of the dragon heart's disturbance.

It was the divine aura derived from that reflection. On some level, Ereshkigal and Ishtar could be considered the same deity.

And Alaric, as a third party who had forcibly inserted himself into this dynamic, had established a subtle connection with Ereshkigal through the divine aura.

"No hostility… Maybe I can try to approach?"

Alaric didn't sense any hostility. His instincts only reacted because of the connection formed by the divine aura.

Seeing that Ereshkigal had already noticed his presence and was gazing at him with curiosity, Alaric immediately changed his plan.

He decided not to leave the underworld but to head deeper, seeking his first encounter with the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal!

Without lingering in place, Alaric followed the path stretching ahead, moving toward the heart of the underworld.

Unfamiliar with the underground underworld, Alaric passed by a particular spot and came across a mound of earth that had been broken open.

Or rather, a grave mound.

"Something crawled out of here…"

Looking at the broken mound, Alaric realized that whatever had been buried there had already left.

Anything buried in the underworld was unlikely to be ordinary, but Alaric had no intention of tracking down what had left.

Just as he turned to continue his journey, his body froze abruptly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of an old man's figure in a dark, shadowy corner—an area so shrouded in deathly blackness that not even soul fire could reach.

Though his appearance had changed and his aura was completely different, Alaric immediately recognized the old man's identity—

"Hm? King Hassan? I didn't expect to see you here!"

The Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan-i Sabbah.

The origin of the Middle Eastern Assassin Order, the legendary assassin, and someone deeply connected to the Angel of Death.

Only when facing King Hassan did Alaric feel the omnipresence of death, as if a great sword rested against his neck, ready to decapitate him at any moment.

Alaric hadn't expected to encounter King Hassan here, and the sight brought with it a strange sense of nostalgia.

"…"

King Hassan didn't speak, merely gazing at the current Alaric.

After the destruction of the Singularities, Alaric was now a completely different person compared to who he'd been during the Sixth Singularity.

An indescribable miracle was brewing within Alaric's body and soul. When the dragon broke free of its shell and began its metamorphosis—

Uncertain of King Hassan's thoughts, Alaric maintained his smile. "Why are you here? It can't be because of your connection to me. That must mean it's Fujimaru Ritsuka. The disaster she's destined to face in this Singularity… will it be enough to warrant your intervention?"