Chapter 65 - When Salvation Returns as Ruin
BOOM!
The trajectory of the rock was changed by the great-axe Uthor swung.
"Aaargh!"
The rock swept away the soldiers near Uthor. Losing his balance, Uthor tumbled backward off his horse.
CRACK!
And as soon as he got up, Geshkapo's forearms collided with the great-axe he had raised.
"Human, you're amazing!"
To be precise, it was gauntlets.
Geshkapo swung his gauntlets, which covered his fists and forearms, to push Uthor back.
Clang! Crack! Crash!
Geshkapo's attacks, using his own body as a weapon, were very savage and aggressive.
"Ugh!"
Even Uthor, the King of the Barbarians, was surprised and stumbled back.
"What are you doing! Protect His Majesty at once!"
At the adjutant's shout, Yafenon's soldiers belatedly came to their senses. They were in utter chaos due to the former hero appearing as the Demon King, but they were also trained to respond to unexpected battles at any time.
They overcame their momentary hesitation and soon charged at Geshkapo.
"Go."
Seeing that, Clay also gave a command to his demons.
"Help Geshkapo."
The shouts of Yafenon's soldiers and the roars of the demons instantly mixed. Axes and swords traced arcs everywhere, and blood gushing from torn skin spread like a shadow on the dirt.
"Aaargh!" "Ugh!" "Gaaaaah!"
The sounds of death filled the surroundings.
Uthor, who was wildly swinging his great-axe, looked around at a sudden chill.
'We're losing…!'
They were elite soldiers, but they were exhausted from fleeing Iser. They lacked the stamina to respond to the suddenly appearing Demon King's army.
Moreover,
'Are these really those demons?!'
Weren't these the creatures who had been hiding like rats after being defeated by the hero and the Holy Kingdom Alliance? They should have just been getting beaten while the alliance remnants were being cleared out.
'They've completely changed…!'
Could it be that a new leadership had strongly united them? Whatever it was, the change in the demons could only be attributed to the appearance of that Demon King.
CRASH!
"Where are you looking?"
Geshkapo's fist slammed into Uthor's great-axe.
"You call yourself a king while you can only do this much?"
"Shut up!"
Uthor was furious.
"Where does a piece of trash demon think he is! You will also be torn to death by this great-axe along with that traitor to humanity!"
RUUUUUMBLE!
The power of the spell contained in the great-axe was unleashed. At the same time, the power in the weapons of Yafenon's soldiers also began to burst out, as if resonating with it.
"You fool! We will never be defeated like this!"
CRACKLE!
As he swung his great-axe, Geshkapo was pushed back.
"!"
Geshkapo hurriedly moved his heavy body, dodging the great-axe that was continuously tracing arcs.
'Something has changed.'
Seeing Yafenon's soldiers charging like madmen, Geshkapo roughly understood what was happening.
'It's the power of that great-axe.'
Before the battle began, Clay had told him that Uthor's great-axe was the medium for all of Yafenon's spells.
In other words, this was Uthor gathering the power of all the spells around him into one place for his own survival.
'As expected.'
The power of this spell, which took away their reason and sharpened the blades of their weapons even further, insanely increased the lethality of Yafenon's soldiers.
Demons fell one by one to Yafenon's soldiers, who were charging like beasts. Geshkapo grabbed Uthor's great-axe, which was swung at his face, with both hands.
"Let go!"
Uthor shouted as if letting out a roar.
"You cannot stop us now!"
"Why didn't you do this when you fought Iser?"
Geshkapo mocked Uthor.
"There must have been a reason why using it then would have made it impossible to even escape if something went wrong."
"What?"
"GRRRRRRRAAAAH!"
Geshkapo gripped the great-axe tightly and spun his body around. Uthor instantly clenched his hand tightly to not lose the great-axe.
"Th-this bastard! What are you?!"
At that moment, Geshkapo, with Uthor's feet off the ground, threw him along with the great-axe.
"Ugh!"
He could have fallen in mid-air if he had let go of the great-axe, but Uthor couldn't. And in the end,
THWUMP!
He flew along the predetermined trajectory and got his shoulder impaled by the demonic sword.
"AAAAARGH!"
With a scream, Uthor dropped the great-axe.
"…Utterly foolish."
The one who had pierced Uthor's shoulder with the demonic sword was none other than Clay.
"Do you even know how to properly use the primeval prayer?"
"U-ugh! Th-this cursed bastard…!"
"From now on, you will see what happens due to your foolishness."
Clay picked up the great-axe.
At that moment, the madness in the eyes of Yafenon's soldiers disappeared, and the light faded from their weapons.
"Wh-what is it?"
Like people who were suddenly stripped naked, Yafenon's soldiers stumbled, looking bewildered in the middle of the fight. And in that instant, the demons began to immediately cut down Yafenon's soldiers.
"A-aargh!" "F-fuck!" "Runnnn!"
Those who were terrified scattered, unable to maintain their formation. Clay looked at the scene and said to Uthor.
"I have taken away the barbarism that was given to you."
"What?"
"Manufactured vigor, madness, or courage. You are not real wild beasts. You were just able to fight ferociously through spells."
It was a monarchy built around a magical great-axe. They were false beasts who had tried to rampage by only believing in that.
"That's why you didn't want to lose this great-axe, I suppose."
"S-shut up!"
Uthor's expression was distorted as he shouted.
"The great-axe is only a tool to assist me, the king! You, a mere collaborator of the filthy demons who have appeared in their corruption, dare to teach me…!"
"I have no intention of teaching you."
Clay looked at Uthor with an expressionless face.
"You lost. That's all there is to it."
Defeat.
What that meant was extremely simple.
"D-don't be ridiculous…"
To have to face death from such an absurd ambush.
Uthor couldn't accept that fact.
"What is your goal? What are you thinking, hero, by returning?"
Goal.
Clay let out a hollow laugh at the question.
"If you are asking because you don't know, I don't feel the need to teach you."
"What?"
"Blame your own foolishness."
Clay shook the sword hard.
Uthor, who was impaled on the sword, was thrown off and rolled on the ground.
"Siltnaro."
At Clay's call, the demonic sword, Siltnaro, replied.
『Yes, my Demon King.』
"From now on, I will cast a spell on you."
The primeval prayer was now in his hands. That meant he could also use the spell.
『Spells are different from magic. Are you sure you wish to do this?』
Spells were a power that used twists close to curses. Even demonic energy was merely a perversion within the world's framework.
Spells had their roots outside of this world, in an unknown space.
No one around him could help but worry about what kind of conflict it would cause if the Demon King were to use it.
"It's fine."
However, Clay already knew a lot about spells.
He had visited the magical archives in Yafenon, which Yafenon's citizens rarely went to, countless times.
He had gone there to study another power to defeat the Demon King, but he didn't get any help from it at the time.
'Because it was a power that didn't match holy power.'
Holy power was based on purity, so if other powers were mixed in, it would cause a backlash that could destroy the body. On the other hand, demonic energy was extremely accepting of other powers.
As if it were a resource focused only on becoming stronger.
-The demons do not reject your power, on the contrary.
As the former Demon King had said, in this regard, the demons might have been the more open beings.
However, it was said that when all colors are mixed, they become black.
An excessive desire for power eventually brought darkness.
'It doesn't matter to me.'
He was already walking in the darkness.
ZING.
The primeval prayer engraved on the great-axe began to exert its power.
"Th-this bastard, how are you doing that…?"
Uthor mumbled as he staggered to his feet.
"How are you handling the primeval prayer?"
No matter how accepting demonic energy was of all powers, the primeval prayer was not something anyone could use.
The user needed a qualification. That was being a descendant of the ancient Yafenons, the first people to receive the primeval prayer.
"It must have been widely known that only you could handle this power."
But Clay had already found the secret of that power in the historical archives.
"To be precise, your blood is the key to handling this power."
It could be handled by someone with the blood, or,
"It can be used by anointing it with your blood."
And the great-axe Clay was holding had blood on it that had splattered from Uthor's injury.
"From now on, I will add a new user to the primeval prayer."
A possessor of the primeval prayer who had solved the qualification problem could immediately engrave their own name and acquire the qualification permanently.
"I, Demon King Clay, request to have my name put on the primeval prayer."
At that, the light from the great-axe enveloped Clay.
"Th-this can't be! It can't be!"
Uthor did not know about that secret. He had never felt the need to investigate it.
He had no idea that Clay had found that secret in a place he could enter as a hero. The Clay from his hero days had never given him a hint about that secret.
"You bastard! You really were a turncoat!"
That's why Uthor could only come to one conclusion.
"That's why you kept quiet about that secret! So you could take it later!"
But Clay just let out a laugh at his shouts.
"I don't even feel wronged now. Well, it's true that I kept it a secret."
At the time, he had thought that there would be no good in the secret of that power being known. He had only thought it would cause conflict.
"Oh, primeval prayer, I will find you a new vessel."
The light from the great-axe that was enveloping Clay slowly began to flow into the demonic sword, Siltnaro.
『Guh?!』
As it wasn't something they had discussed beforehand, Siltnaro was surprised and his blade trembled.
"Wh-what are you doing!"
Uthor shouted in a panic.
"You can't! The primeval prayer is not something a bastard like you can take!"
"But I can."
The great-axe was just a vessel from the beginning. If the possessor willed it, the vessel could be changed.
"And what will you do about it, Uthor?"
Clay looked at Uthor as if provoking him.
"You don't think this is the end, do you?"
"Wh-what?"
"What I want to take is not your life."
What Clay had aimed for using this opportunity.
It was,
"An arm of the Holy Kingdom Alliance."
Yafenon would now be erased from the continent.
"Don't worry."
Clay walked toward Uthor and said, with the strange gleam in his red eyes shining brightly.
"I will let all the barbarians, who are useless to me as my people, fight to their hearts' content and die."
It was then that Uthor realized.
'What on earth have we…?'
That the 'salvation' humanity had strangled to death had returned as 'ruin.'