The Cursed thought how strange and unusual it was to feel himself conquering a Kingdom. But this was the Dark Kingdom.
One more tower remained. One more part of the Demon-King's power, after the fall of which no one would give a penny for the life of this creature.
A gloomy single-story building stood before them. The door was locked. The walls had no windows.
The building stood beneath the night sky on a wide stretch of steppe. Scattered trees surrounded it. In the distance, a dark, dense forest could be seen. The fourth Border Tower was nowhere to be seen.
In one spot closer to the forest, a bonfire was burning. A large figure with horns sat beside it. By all appearances, a demon.
Bones and skulls lay around the bonfire within a radius of 150 feet. Human bones and those of other creatures.
"Hey, mister, get ready to die!" said the Ice Queen.
"Have a seat, travelers. Show a demon some respect," replied the one sitting by the bonfire.
They sat opposite him on tree stumps, several of which stood around the bonfire.
The demon was roasting a headless, limbless human carcass on a spit. He was turning it evenly over the fire.
"Whose house is this? Yours?" the Ice Queen asked.
"This is the abode of the Duke of Demons. They live here and travel to other spaces."
"You speak as if you're not one of them."
"But I'm merely a Gatekeeper. I decide who is worthy of visiting the Duke and who will be given to him and his demons to be devoured."
"And what about us? Have you decided?"
"You smell strangely of demons," he said, pointing his clawed index finger at the Cursed. "The Duke should see you."
He waved his paw. A current appeared in the air, lifting the Cursed and the Ice Queen above the ground and carrying them toward the building. Resisting was useless. Nor was it necessary, considering that the direction coincided with their goal. The door of the house opened.
They were flying down the corridor. Stone rooms floated past on the left and right, with demons sitting against the walls. Some had their eyes closed, while others stared carnivorously at the delicacy flying past.
At the end of the corridor was a large hall, with the chief demon sitting in the center.
And here they saw something quite unpleasant. As they flew closer, the chief demon was opening his enormous mouth ever wider. The black hole of his bottomless throat loomed before them. Long, sharp saws of teeth extended from above and below.
An unenviable fate awaited the prisoners carried by the current.
At that moment, the demon's mouth snapped shut. His red eyes stared wildly at the Cursed.
"Who are you?! What are you?!" he howled frantically.
His broad nose was greedily sucking in the air.
"You reek of Sleeping Demons! They are horrible creatures! I don't want to get involved with them!"
He turned around and rose into the air. A section of the hall's roof slid aside, and the Duke flew out into the starry night sky. All the other demons in the house followed him.
The palace staircase. The Demon-King's staff raised for a magical strike. Too late for him.
The Cursed struck with the sword from Territory 77 and pierced his muscular carcass right through. The demon roared and sprayed the Cursed from head to toe with a stream of black blood from his mouth. Without stopping, the Cursed swung and struck again. The sword severed the Demon-King's horned head, and it bounced and rolled down the staircase.
The Cursed climbed to the upper landing and entered the palace. Without looking back, he felt the presence of the Ice Queen behind him.
He came to the throne room. The throne of the Dark Kingdom stood in the center against the far wall, on a raised platform. Beside it stood a narrower throne. A throne for the Queen.
He had to sit on the throne for new magic to fill the Kingdom.
He climbed the steps and sat on the throne.
Ending A. The Ice King.
The Cursed sat on the throne. One figure remained standing in the hall. A very attractive female figure. The Ice Queen.
He nodded to her. She smirked coldly. She understood everything without unnecessary words. And agreed without hesitation. As if she had been expecting this for a long time.
She climbed the steps and sat on the second throne beside him.
She held out her hand to him. He took it in his own.
The Ice Crown appeared on his head. He was King again. Just as he had been 10 years before the Demon-King came, destroyed his favorites and army, and banished him himself.
Now justice had triumphed.
The demonic horrors had been driven away.
Now there would be a new order in the Kingdom. Not the same as during his first reign.
Tracks of frost ran across the throne room. The walls were being covered with a thin layer of ice.
Eternal Winter was descending upon the Kingdom. Something its inhabitants had never known before. But something they would now have to live with.
With the death of the Demon-King, the walls of darkness that had surrounded the Kingdom, preventing anyone from leaving it, collapsed. But along with this, streams of external demons and monsters now burst into the Kingdom from the outer lands.
Having become King, the Cursed gained the right to terminate the contract. The Ice King's power drove out the Curse and its forces. The deal with the Sleeping Demons was over.
Now the external demons and monsters would have to face the power of the Ice King and the Ice Queen.
Ending B (True Ending). The Cursed King.
The Cursed sat on the throne. His gaze slid over the capsules that stood in the adjacent room.
The memories that had led him all the way to the throne touched him again.
There was a single figure standing in the hall. The Ice Queen.
He shook his head. She turned and left.
He approached one of the capsules. Inside it slept the one he had known long ago. The Queen. Captured by the Demon-King.
He pressed a button, and the capsule opened. The woman lying inside opened her eyes. She smiled at him. She recognized him. Her beauty was unmatched by anyone. Not even by the Ice Queen. The years of life spent with her instantly resurfaced in his memory. He had been striving toward her all this time. Because he and she were parts of a single whole. This was the law of the universe, and he remembered it well.
He took her hand and helped her out of the capsule. The fair-haired, slender, beloved tigress emerged from it. A warrior queen such as the world had rarely seen.
At that moment, the world around them began to crack.
The King realized that this had been the Demon-King's final magical strike. His Curse, sent to destroy him and knock him off his life's path from within.
But now the Demon-King's Curse had been destroyed.
The King and Queen sat on their thrones.
When the Cursed achieved his goal and became King, he gained the right to terminate the contract. But the King refused to do so. And thus refused to rid himself of the Curse. With the death of the Demon-King, the walls of darkness that had surrounded the Kingdom, preventing anyone from leaving it, collapsed. But along with this, streams of external demons and monsters now burst into the Kingdom from the outer lands.
He would need power to destroy them.
The King remained the Cursed. Now forever. Or until the next Messenger of the Curse killed him.
Or until he himself reached the Sleeping Demons and killed them.