In a dark, damp cave, a small child huddled in a corner, staring at the flickering campfire in front of him. His eyes were filled with despair.
If asked what it felt like to be reborn as a beast, perhaps that was the feeling gripping the young boy named Ash at this moment.
Even more so, in this foreign world, there existed a terrifying race.
They had no familial bonds like parents or children. After birth, they were like wild animals. No, in truth, most animals cared for their young, except for a few. But this race did not nurture their offspring at all.
With such a way of life and social structure, they possessed little emotion or empathy. Only a handful of individuals showed any inclination to help or socialize with one another.
They did not survive by feeding on humans, but they would kill humans from time to time without any particular motive, purely as an instinctual act. They also mercilessly tormented weaker members of their own race. Relationships between individuals in this race were extremely distant, maintained only by the strongest at the top of the pyramid.
They did not hate or oppose humans. Thus, their reasons for killing humans felt bizarre, as if they were a race of murderers created by a god.
To humans, this strange race was undoubtedly the worst and most cruel. And that race was the demon race.
What made this young boy even more unfortunate was the fact that he was a demon! And not just any demon, but a rare kind—a hornless demon, one without horns.
Born amidst this barbaric race, he realized from birth that weakness was the greatest sin.
If he encountered an adult demon who disliked him, he could be killed at any moment. Thus, even at the age of three, they had to be independent.
Yes, they.
"Hey, Ash, what are you thinking about?" A pink-haired girl with two pairs of small horns on her forehead sat beside him, hugging her knees.
She snapped a small twig in two and tossed it into the fire. Noticing Ash lost in thought, she frowned. "It's your turn to cook today, right? Hurry up."
"That's not what I meant." Ash, who had adopted a new name to better adapt to this world and avoid standing out, sighed deeply. He placed his hand on the girl's head and said seriously:
"Aura, you shouldn't call me by my name. You should call me big brother, right?"
"…Big brother? What's that?" The girl named Aura looked at him with wide, curious eyes.
Ash felt exhausted and didn't want to argue with her. "Haaah… Never mind, just hurry up and cook."
"No. It's your turn to cook."
"Be quiet. I'm stronger now, so you cook!"
"…Fine." Aura paused for a moment, then stood and walked toward the pots by the cave's side and the half-carcass of a wild wolf lying there for dinner. She couldn't help but mutter, "…Ash is so weird. He said he'd take care of me, but in the end, I'm the one who has to work?"
"…"
Ash, who clearly heard her muttering, chose to ignore it and closed his eyes to meditate and practice magic.
Yes, magic.
Thanks to the inherited memories of the demon race, from birth, he understood language, writing, and even how to train in magic. His own name was etched in his heart like an instinct.
Because of this, demons born without parents could speak and walk from birth and not simply die off. Though the mortality rate among the young was still extremely high.
Regardless, magic had to be learned. It was the pride and foundation of a demon's survival—a part of their genetic instinct that gave Ash a deep drive to study it. Whenever he had free time, he would unconsciously practice it.
Like other demons who chose one field to master, he too had his own goal—gravity magic.
Though for three years as a young child, he lived like a primitive human eating raw meat, these childhood memories were truly pitiful. But now… he had no choice.
At least today, he managed to gather some fire from a nearby forest that had accidentally caught ablaze, so he didn't have to eat raw meat for the time being.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
As night fell and the world grew quiet, the two sat together at the cave's entrance.
Before them stretched an endless night sky, with a spectacular meteor shower unfolding.
The stars shone, streaking across the night sky, leaving beautiful trails that stirred his heart. Ash felt grateful to have been born in the forest:
"It's beautiful."
"Beautiful? I don't get it." Aura, still rubbing her hands with wild grass, seemed uninterested compared to him.
"That's why you're still a kid."
"We're the same age, aren't we?"
"I mean mental age."
"Did you eat a lot of hearts?"
"…How about we change the topic?" Ash was so fed up he didn't want to respond.
Aura, however, stared at him and said seriously, "By the way, Ash, tomorrow I want to eat beef. The beef we found last time was so good!"
"The wolf we got yesterday isn't finished yet. Don't be wasteful. Besides, where am I supposed to find it?"
"I believe Ash will find a way." Seeing his lack of enthusiasm, Aura tried to encourage him.
But her tone was so flat it didn't make him feel proud at all. Ash only nodded tiredly. "Yeah, yeah, I'll try. But for now, be quiet and let me enjoy the meteor shower."
"That wolf is already smelly. It's not good."
"Don't be picky with food."
"Ash is so noisy."
"That's my line."
While casually responding to Aura, Ash watched the meteor shower grow heavier. He recalled something he'd heard—that a wish made during a meteor shower would come true. Without realizing it, he made a wish to the sky.
"…When I grow up, I'll never watch a meteor shower with Aura again."
As he swore in his heart, a series of strange writings he didn't recognize, yet somehow understood, suddenly appeared before him.
[Ash, the chosen Demon King candidate. Accept the blessing of the ancient Demon God, become the Demon King, sacrifice the world to ascend as a new God, slay the Goddess, and create a new cycle on this planet!]
Ash was stunned by the words, because—based on his inherited memories, there was only supposed to be the legendary Creator Goddess.
Since when was there a Demon God? And he seemed like an utterly insane individual? He wanted to sacrifice the world?