THE DEMONIC ONE: THE KING OF CORRUPTIONCHAPTER 2
Dust still drifted through the forest.
Far in the distance, pieces of the destroyed mountain continued collapsing.
The earthquake had finally stopped.
Pezo remained exactly where he had been standing.
His red eyes moved across the devastation.
Then toward the survivors.
A few wolves remained.
They stood completely motionless.
None growled anymore.
None attempted another attack.
One slowly backed away.
Then another.
Within seconds, their instinct to fight had been replaced by something much simpler.
Run.
The wolves turned.
They disappeared into the forest as quickly as their legs could carry them.
Pezo watched them go.
He could have killed them.
Obviously.
A small movement would have been enough.
Instead, he remained still.
"…No."
He lowered his hand.
There was no reason to bother.
More importantly, another careless attack might create another earthquake.
Pezo glanced toward the ruined landscape.
His first attack had already announced that something existed in this region.
He did not need the entire planet discovering exactly what that something was.
Not yet.
He had only just arrived.
He knew almost nothing about the civilizations here.
He had limited access to his former abilities.
And somewhere in this universe were things he needed to recover.
Revealing himself immediately would be inconvenient.
Pezo looked toward the direction the wolves had fled.
"Consider yourselves fortunate."
Then he started walking.
The forest stretched far beyond the location of his arrival.
Pezo traveled without urgency.
He had existed for longer than civilizations could comprehend.
A few hours meant nothing.
Even years had once meant almost nothing.
Still, this world was new.
And Pezo observed everything around him.
Animals.
Plants.
Energy.
The structure of the planet.
The way life had adapted.
Occasionally, something attacked him.
That became annoying.
At first, Pezo ignored most creatures.
Some had enough survival instinct to recognize that something was wrong and stay away.
Others did not.
When a group of monsters blocked his path, Pezo usually identified their leader.
Then killed it.
One attack.
One corpse.
One demonstration.
The rest normally fled.
Pezo found this efficient.
Kill one.
Terrify the rest.
Continue walking.
Less destruction.
Less noise.
Less wasted time.
It worked repeatedly.
Until he encountered one particular species.
Pezo killed their leader.
He expected the usual response.
Fear.
Panic.
Retreat.
Instead—
they stared at him.
Pezo stared back.
Several creatures lowered themselves.
Others began making excited sounds.
One approached cautiously.
Pezo narrowed his eyes.
"…What are you doing?"
They continued.
Their behavior changed from fear…
to admiration.
Pezo remained silent.
The creatures gathered around the body of their dead leader.
Then looked toward Pezo.
Their behavior became increasingly obvious.
They weren't treating him as an enemy.
They weren't even treating him as a predator.
They were treating him like—
Pezo's eye twitched.
"No."
The creatures continued praising him.
Pezo stared at them.
"You think I'm a hero?"
Their response confirmed it.
Something about what he had done had apparently made them believe Pezo had saved them.
Pezo looked genuinely offended.
He had been called countless things.
Monster.
Demon.
Destroyer.
Abomination.
Corruptor.
Tyrant.
Those were acceptable.
Hero?
Absolutely not.
Pezo raised one hand.
"Disgusting."
The creatures stopped.
A moment later—
they were gone.
All of them.
Pezo stood alone again.
He stared at the empty area.
"…New least-favorite species."
Then he continued walking.
For someone titled The King of Corruption, Pezo's existence had not always been centered around corruption.
Long before that title—
before countless wars—
before entire realms learned to fear him—
Pezo had possessed another title.
One that almost sounded incompatible with the being he eventually became.
The God of Law.
That was what Pezo had once been.
A god connected to law itself.
Order.
Rules.
Structure.
The foundations upon which realities operated.
And for an unimaginable amount of time…
he had done almost nothing.
When a being existed for eons, boredom became different.
Humans could become bored after several hours.
Pezo had experienced eras.
Civilizations rose.
Civilizations fell.
Stars were born.
Stars died.
Wars began.
Wars ended.
And Pezo continued existing.
Eventually, simply watching reality repeat itself stopped being interesting.
He had power.
Authority.
Time.
More time than almost any mortal mind could understand.
And he began wondering something.
What did it actually mean to be a god?
Was it simply possessing power?
Sitting above weaker beings?
Following rules established before his existence?
Maintaining whatever role reality assigned him?
Pezo eventually decided that wasn't enough.
If he was going to be a god—
then he would become what he considered a true god.
Not what creation expected from him.
Not what anyone else wanted.
His path changed.
And eventually…
so did he.
The God of Law disappeared.
The Demonic One emerged.
Then—
The King of Corruption.
There had once been people who knew the Pezo that existed before all of that.
Old friends.
People who remembered what he had been.
People who knew his history.
People who understood things about him that almost nobody else ever would.
They were gone now.
Not dead.
Death would have been simpler.
They had been erased.
Across universes.
Across existence.
Beyond existence.
Every version.
Every trace.
Gone.
Pezo still remembered them.
Apparently, he was the only one who did.
He continued walking.
His expression remained hidden beneath the mask.
His pace didn't change.
He didn't stop.
He didn't speak their names.
Eventually, the forest began thinning.
Pezo looked ahead.
Signs of civilization.
Finally.
COCO VILLAGE
Pezo stopped outside the settlement.
Humans moved throughout the village.
Merchants.
Workers.
Travelers.
Ordinary people living ordinary lives.
Pezo watched them.
He had observed humans for an extraordinarily long time.
Their behavior wasn't difficult to understand.
Fear.
Greed.
Love.
Anger.
Loyalty.
Violence.
Self-interest.
Generosity.
Contradiction.
Humans were complicated creatures who often pretended they weren't.
Pezo had dealt with them before.
He could probably enter the village without immediately causing a massacre.
Probably.
He adjusted his posture slightly.
Then walked in.
People noticed him.
That was unavoidable.
The plague-like mask didn't exactly make him look friendly.
A few villagers stared.
Others quickly looked away when his red eyes moved toward them.
Pezo ignored them.
For now.
He needed information.
Supplies could also be useful.
There was only one minor problem.
Money.
Pezo possessed none of this world's currency.
He considered the issue.
Then noticed someone nearby carrying enough of it.
Problem solved.
A few moments later, Pezo had money.
Its previous owner did not.
Pezo continued walking as though nothing had happened.
Eventually, he found something that interested him more than shops.
A bar.
Pezo stopped outside.
He looked at the building.
Then entered.
Conversation weakened almost immediately.
Several people turned toward the door.
Pezo stepped inside.
Mask.
Red eyes.
Dark clothing.
An aura that made several people's instincts quietly suggest that staring was an extremely poor life decision.
Pezo ignored them.
The bartender didn't.
The man behind the counter watched Pezo approach.
His posture tightened.
Pezo sat down.
Unfortunately for the bartender, directly in front of him.
The bartender swallowed.
"…Can I get you something?"
Pezo looked at the bottles behind him.
He knew humans drank various liquids recreationally.
He had simply never cared enough to study every variety.
"What is your best drink?"
The bartender blinked.
"My… best?"
"Yes."
Pezo placed money on the counter.
"Bring it."
The bartender looked at the money.
Then at Pezo.
Then decided that asking unnecessary questions was probably a terrible idea.
"Right."
He prepared a drink.
Placed it down.
Pezo picked it up.
Examined it.
Then drank.
Silence.
He set the glass down.
The bartender waited nervously.
Pezo stared at the empty glass.
"…Another."
The bartender blinked.
"Another?"
Pezo looked at him.
The bartender immediately grabbed another.
"Yes. Of course."
Pezo drank that one too.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
At some point, the people inside the bar stopped pretending they weren't watching.
Pezo continued drinking.
Ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
The bartender's confusion gradually became stronger than his fear.
Forty.
Pezo showed absolutely no sign of stopping.
Eventually—
approximately fifty beers had disappeared.
Pezo placed another empty glass on the counter.
"Another."
The bartender stared at him.
Pezo stared back.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
The bartender hesitated.
Then finally asked the question everyone else had been thinking.
"How are you not drunk?"
Pezo tilted his head.
"Drunk?"
The bartender blinked.
"Yes."
Pezo looked down at the empty glass.
Then at the bottles.
Then back at the bartender.
"What do you mean?"
The bartender's face slowly changed.
"…That's beer."
"Yes."
"It has alcohol in it."
Silence.
Pezo looked at the glass again.
Then at the bartender.
Then back at the glass.
"…It does?"
The entire bar went silent.
A man at a nearby table nearly choked.
Someone else slowly lowered their drink.
The bartender stared at Pezo as though he'd just witnessed something more confusing than the masked stranger himself.
"You drank almost fifty of them!"
Pezo looked toward the bottles.
He seemed to genuinely think about this.
"So that's what alcohol tastes like."
Several people stared at him.
Pezo nodded once.
"Interesting."
The bartender looked like his understanding of reality had been personally attacked.
Pezo pushed his glass forward.
"Another."
Before the bartender could respond—
a shadow fell across Pezo.
Someone had walked up behind him.
Large.
Very large.
Pezo turned his head slightly.
The man stood close to two meters tall.
His body was heavily muscular.
Scars covered portions of his exposed skin.
He looked like someone accustomed to other people getting out of his way.
The bar became quieter.
Several customers recognized him.
Pezo observed the man for less than a second.
Physical structure.
Muscle density.
Movement.
Breathing.
Balance.
Estimated strength.
Approximately—
fifteen times stronger than a normal human.
Pezo turned back toward the counter.
Not impressive.
The man frowned.
"Hey."
Pezo didn't answer.
The man's expression darkened.
"You're sitting in my seat."
Pezo looked at the stool beneath himself.
Then at the man.
"This?"
"Yes."
Pezo glanced around the bar.
There were other seats.
Many of them.
He looked back at the man.
"And?"
The muscular man's jaw tightened.
A few people subtly moved their chairs farther away.
"You should move."
Pezo stared at him.
"No."
The man stepped closer.
"Maybe you didn't hear me."
"I heard you."
"Then get out of my seat."
Pezo remained seated.
The bartender slowly began backing away.
Pezo studied the man.
Humans.
Such strange creatures.
The man could simply sit somewhere else.
Instead, he had chosen confrontation.
Perhaps this was some type of challenge.
Pezo tilted his head.
"Are you threatening me?"
The man smiled.
"You could say that."
Pezo considered this.
A threat.
A challenge.
A confrontation over territory.
Pezo understood.
At least—
he believed he understood.
"Oh."
He turned fully toward the man.
"So we're fighting to the death."
Silence.
The bartender froze.
Several customers stared.
The muscular man's smile disappeared for half a second.
Apparently, that had escalated faster than he expected.
Then pride took over.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Fine by me."
Pezo stared at him.
Then slowly stood.
The room seemed to become colder.
The bartender took another step backward.
Pezo's red eyes glowed behind his mask.
He had been resurrected.
Thrown into another universe.
Attacked by wolves.
Accidentally caused a planetary earthquake.
Been mistaken for a hero.
Eradicated his new least-favorite species.
Entered human civilization.
Stolen money.
And discovered alcohol after consuming approximately fifty beers.
Now—
apparently—
someone wanted to fight him to the death over a chair.
Pezo looked at the man.
"…Humans are entertaining."
END OF CHAPTER 2