Chapter 10:
The Demon Lord
A HUGE SHIP SAILED through space toward House Banfield's domain
—Liam's new flagship, to be precise.
This ship was a superdreadnought more than three thousand meters
long. As a specially commissioned, bleeding-edge ship constructed by the
Imperial Army's talented Seventh Weapons Factory, it was a frighteningly
capable vessel. It was also ludicrously expensive, crafted to Liam's
exacting specifications from a truly staggering amount of rare metal.
On the ship's bridge, an engineer cavorted with wild abandon. She
was collecting data during their flight to deliver the craft, and she couldn't
hide her excitement at the readouts displayed on the monitor in front of
her. Tears flowed from her twinkling eyes as she rejoiced over the
technological marvel she had seen to creation.
"Amazing! I want to show these numbers to everyone who ridiculed
me saying they were only theoretical! Just look at this data! It's exceeding
even the expected values! The energy conversion efficiency is outrageous!
And the performance! I doubt I'll ever see a more capable ship than this!
Ahh, my own talent frightens me sometimes!"
As she rubbed her cheek against the monitor, the House Banfield
soldiers who had come to collect the finished ship looked on. Even among
the top soldiers, they were the cream of the crop, the most elite of Liam's
fleet. They took the important delivery they'd been entrusted with very
seriously, but they watched Nias's antics with exasperation.
"Is she aware of the position she's in?"
"She's a perfect example of talent being unrelated to personality."
"Look. She's rolling around on the floor. I can't watch this.
Shouldn't somebody stop her?"
Displaying this unbearably eccentric behavior was Engineering
Major Nias Carlin of the Seventh Weapons Factory. She was a highly
talented individual who had known Liam a long time, but there were
several drawbacks to her personality. It was hard to criticize her
excitement, however, despite how cringeworthy it seemed to those around
her. After all, the completed ship's functionality exceeded even her
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expectations.
The ship's owner, though, was still missing.
Unbothered by that, Nias kept observing the monitor's data with a
dopey grin. In the process, she noticed something unusual. She
immediately began tapping the keyboard with a much more serious
expression.
As she investigated the strange readings, tilting her head left and
right in confusion, Nias eventually discovered the source of the curious
data. "Oh! It's picking up a distress signal. Looks pretty far away, too. My
baby's so talented, picking up a weak signal like this! Mommy's so proud
of you!"
No one commented as Nias cooed to the battleship, kissing the
monitor. They likely didn't want to get involved. The captain, however,
shot from his chair and rushed to scrutinize the monitor, bowling Nias over
in the process. As she hit the floor, she made a sound like a squashed frog.
Again, no one commented.
The captain checked the signal's source and exclaimed, "Contact the
home planet about this distress signal immediately! Tell them to gather
every friendly ship they can!"
Set on edge by the captain's attitude, the bridge crew scrambled into
action.
***
One of the Elite Four, Nogo, had been defeated.
Seated upon his castle's throne, the demon lord Gorius was a
wavering black flame with a vaguely humanoid shape, but no physical
form. Two sharp lights in his head of black fire—his eyes—narrowed
hatefully. "I share my power with him, and he lets the humans take him
down? Pathetic."
He had sensed Nogo's death without even receiving a report. Gorius
had imbued each member of the Elite Four—not just Nogo—with a
fragment of his power, so the death of one of the four meant losing that
power. A trifling amount of power, compared to the demon lord's full
might, but its loss was frustrating all the same.
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"In the end, beastmen are worthless. At least Nogo's troops did their
part terrorizing the humans. His loss matters not, since his campaign
yielded far more power than I entrusted to him."
Gorius did not eat to sustain himself; he absorbed negative emotions
like malice, despair, and fear. When the humans grew too numerous, he'd
left it to the beastmen to wage war on them and gather their negative
energy. The humans' terror filled Gorius's belly, so to speak; he'd long
since recovered the strength he'd passed on to Nogo. Still, that didn't make
him less annoyed.
"I didn't think the humans had anyone capable of defeating Nogo,"
he mused.
As Gorius fell into thought, his subordinates kneeled before him,
heads bowed. One spoke up, hoping to improve the demon lord's foul
mood.
"Please allow me to rectify this, my lord!"
"No, give me this chance!" another cried.
"I'd be better suited! I will defeat the human who bested Nogo!"
Gorius's gathered subordinates clamored over who would slay this
human.
The demon lord was sick of them. Do they hope I will share my
power with them, as I did the Elite Four? Hmph. I've tired of manipulating
these weaklings. I need to hurry and gain control of this world.
Gorius had been defeated by heroes several times, but when he was
vanquished and peace was restored, humans started their own conflicts
anew without his influence. As long as they continued to create strife,
negative emotions would accumulate, and Gorius would use them as fuel
to restore himself. Each time he revived, he only became more powerful.
Have the humans finally summoned a hero? At this point, it hardly
matters. A hero will not be able to defeat me now. I have already
surpassed the abilities of a mere demon lord.
Gorius was no longer anything like the version of himself heroes
had slain in the past. He was confident enough in his current strength that
he did not panic, even after learning of this hero's existence.
Enough of this. I'll kill my minions and decimate the humans myself.
That will create more negative emotions to feed on, further strengthening
me.
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As he decided this, a bloody giant arrived at the audience chamber.
Though he knew his entrance was impolite, he shoved the double doors
open roughly, rushing inside to make a report.
"M-my lord, the beastfolk betrayed us! They've entered the castle
with the hero leading them! Their...charge..." Upon beginning his report,
the giant collapsed and expired.
The demon lord's eyes narrowed to slits. "Oh? He's here to claim
my head himself? What a bold hero."
***
In her castle's audience chamber, Enola wore an anxious look. The
cause of her anxiety was Liam's march on the demon lord's castle.
Acquiring the demon lord's location from the beastmen, Liam had left the
capital heedless of Enola's attempts to stop him. To make matters worse,
he had taken the beastmen with him.
In the audience chamber, a number of the kingdom's key figures
were meeting to voice various complaints about Liam.
"I can't believe he advanced on the demon lord's castle without our
knights!"
"Why didn't he seek our assistance?"
"To fight with beastmen at his side, of all things? This is
unprecedented!"
However strong Liam was, they were sure he would need the
kingdom's help to defeat the demon lord. There was nothing he could do
all by himself; he'd have to acknowledge them eventually.
But Liam had never counted on Erle Kingdom's military strength in
the first place. Three days after defeating Nogo, Liam took some beastmen
and left for the demon lord's castle. He'd left the majority behind, since
the amount of food and water they could take was limited. The group he
led wasn't even one hundred strong. According to Liam, though, bringing
more would be pointless.
That wasn't all that was on Enola's mind. Before Liam left, a
strange woman who identified herself as Liam's servant delivered a bag of
severed heads to Enola's court. Everyone who understood the gesture's
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meaning had gone pale. They were surprised the dead men had taken it
upon themselves to have Liam assassinated, but more than that, they were
frightened of Liam's ability to kill important figures without anyone
noticing. According to his servant—Kunai—these men had been unworthy
of Liam's trust. Kunai had also told Enola's court to prepare for Liam's
return, and that Liam's people were on their way.
Some of the words she'd used had been difficult for Enola and her
court to comprehend. The queen recalled them as she sat gripping her staff.
I don't know what she meant by "intergalactic" or "spaceship," but she
definitely said Lord Liam's companions were approaching.
If Liam's allies were coming here, utilizing strange methods like a
"spaceship," Erle Kingdom should be ready to give them a grand
welcome. Unfortunately, although Enola had originally intended to foster a
friendly relationship with Liam, the assassination attempt had done
irreparable damage to that potential.
"What do we do?" one minister fretted. "If Liam's people come to
retrieve him, there will be war between us!"
"But how can that be true? It's impossible for someone from another
world to retrieve a hero without summoning magic!"
"What if they have abilities beyond what we can imagine?"
Enola glanced at Citasan, the court's wielder of summoning magic.
"Citasan, could Lord Liam's compatriots show up here?"
"There is no way, Your Majesty," Citasan replied confidently. "I
summoned individuals capable of defeating a demon lord from other
universes, and sending them back to their homes is impossible. It was a
one-way trip. That supposed servant of his was bluffing."
The response reassured Enola, but at the same time she thought,
What terrible magic. It's unfair that we can bring them here, but not send
them back.
Thinking about Kanami made Enola's heart ache. She might have
been a failed ruler, but she was a good person, as Liam said.
Suddenly, a soldier burst into the somber meeting. "E-emergency!"
he shouted. "The demon lord's army is floating above our city!"
The demon lord's army was invading—and Liam was gone.
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***
Upon storming the demon lord's castle, the hero slaughtered every
soldier, elite or not, who stood up to him. Watching this take place in front
of him, the demon lord Gorius was intrigued by the hero's power. The -
human's single-edged sword wasn't a saber; it was shaped in a way Gorius
had never seen. Its material was what really interested him, however.
"That's not mithril, is it? So, is it orichalcum?"
As the hero stood before Gorius blithely, the demon lord guessed the
material from which his blade had been forged. The hero was dressed only
in casual clothing, not armor, and there was no sign that he was at all
nervous.
"Hunh. You know your stuff," the hero said.
Gorius was impressed that humans could craft weapons from
orichalcum. That rare, precious metal was incredibly difficult to use. "I
applaud the effort obtaining that orichalcum must have taken. I don't know
how you processed it. Humans are capable of surprising things when
driven into a corner, aren't they? Unfortunately, that weapon won't even
scratch me."
Orichalcum was stronger than mithril, but still no threat to Gorius,
who had surpassed his physical form. Mithril actually could harm Gorius,
but there was no reason to tell the hero that.
The hero didn't react to Gorius's words. A moment later, the throne
the demon lord sat on split apart beneath him. Gorius's burning eyes
widened in surprise for a second, but quickly narrowed to bow-like arches
as he chuckled ominously.
"I have no physical form. You cannot cut me!"
The hero stood before him with his head cocked, a curious look on
his face. His sword skills had taken Gorius by surprise, but as long as the
human used physical attacks, the demon lord had nothing to fear. Even
most magic attacks wouldn't work on Gorius. The one type that could
defeat him was holy magic, which humans had a limited ability to use.
Even if the hero cast holy magic, it wouldn't be potent enough to defeat
Gorius—hence the demon lord's supreme confidence.
Gorius stood above his shattered throne, his body of black flames
flickering. "I wonder how long it took to build that power of yours. Such a
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pity. Even with your orichalcum sword and superhuman technique, this is
all for naught."
Gorius enlarged his flame body as he loped toward the hero. By the
time he reached the human, he was a looming giant of black flame at least
six meters tall.
"Everything you've done is to no avail!" Gorius told the hero,
peering down. "Shall I tell you what I feed on?"
The hero furrowed his brow, evidently taking umbrage at the demon
lord's condescension. "I have no interest in you."
After coming this far and learning how powerless he was, he
remained cocksure. Gorius found himself even more interested in the boy.
"Heh heh heh! Quite confident, aren't you? I look forward to seeing
how long you keep that up!"
He brought his fist down swiftly at the hero, but all that did was
smash a hole in the castle floor.
"Oh? You dodged that, eh?"
The hero's athleticism surprised Gorius, but still, the demon lord
didn't doubt his own superiority. It hardly mattered that the boy could
dodge his attacks. Gorius was incorporeal, but the hero was human—
eventually, he would run out of strength and be unable to elude the demon
lord.
As he lashed out, Gorius kept chatting to show the boy how self-
assured he was. "I have fought countless heroes in the past!"
The hero remained calm as he dodged the attacks. He even had the
peace of mind to respond, "Oh yeah?"
Gorius struck with both hands several times per second—dozens of
times per second. Yet the hero dodged every single blow.
Gorius kept up the conversation. "I've been defeated again and
again, but every time, I revived. In other words, I am immortal."
Even when Gorius stated this, the hero didn't react.
The demon lord could only imagine that the boy must be frantically
devising a way to defeat him. "Trying to think of how to best me, hmm?
I'm sorry to say it won't be possible. Neither swordplay nor magic will do
the trick. After all, I'm no less than an amalgamation of pure hatred!"
At that, the hero finally showed some interest. "Pure hatred, you
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say?"
"That's right! Malice itself! So long as negative energy exists, I will
return again and again! Defeat me as many times as you like! Each time I
revive, I become stronger! Weapons, spells... No attack will affect me
anymore! Even if you could defeat me, I would simply come back! Do you
know why? Because I can never be destroyed so long as you humans
exist!"
Gorius brought his hands together and slammed them down on the
hero like a sledgehammer. Delivered with all his strength, the strike not
only shattered the castle's floor, it caused cracks to radiate across the
ceiling and its support pillars. The castle was already beginning to
crumble, but Gorius didn't care. It was worthless to him now.
"So long as humanity exists, I cannot be defeated!" Gorius repeated,
unleashing punches and kicks at the elusive hero.
The demon lord almost landed several blows, but the hero avoided
his fists just in time. Gorius unleashed a kick at the spot the boy fled to,
but he sidestepped that as well.
"I'll revive as many times as I need to, as long as your kind is
around!" Gorius bellowed at the heavens as his castle crashed down to a
hill of rubble around him. "I am evil itself!"
His black flames flickered as he laughed loudly—until a flurry of
thousands of slashes suddenly cut him into fragments. The flames quickly
reunited, however, and Gorius was good as new.
He was impressed by the boy's shocking abilities. Of all the heroes
he'd fought, this was surely the strongest. "I respect you for not giving up
under these circumstances. You are strong, but that is all. Even with an
orichalcum sword, no matter how hard you've trained, you can never
surpass me so long as you remain human." It was impossible for the
demon lord to lose.
Before the supremely confident Gorius, the human hung his head
and appeared to shake. The demon lord believed he was trembling with
fright, but when the boy raised his head, his face was tense with seething
anger.
"You're evil itself? You shouldn't patronize humankind—
weakling!"
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***
"Evil itself"? Who did this guy think he was? It was thanks to
humans' negative energy that he could survive at all, but he acted like he
owned us. Sure, there was likely no one on this planet who could stand up
to him, but he was taking humanity lightly.
"You're too dismissive of mighty humans!" I told him. "We're
sustaining you, so know your place."
"Wh-what?"
I shouldered my sword and glanced down at my bracelet, noticing
its blinking light. "If you'll revive so long as humanity exists, that means
you can't survive without us, doesn't it?"
When the demon lord fell silent, I looked up at the sky. Our battle
had destroyed the castle roof; I could see dark clouds above us.
"An insignificant being like you probably can't comprehend this," I
continued, "but you're not the height of evil—humans are." It's laughable
for you to even speak of evil.
The demon lord didn't seem to understand. "What are you saying?"
Prior to me, he'd probably only fought weaklings. He couldn't
fathom the human civilizations beyond this planet. If he couldn't even take
those into account, he would never go further than this.
"You think you're evil, when you can't even take control of one
planet? The number of people you've killed doesn't amount to a fraction
of those I've murdered!"
How many people had I killed? And how much had I destroyed? I'd
ended so many lives, I couldn't even count. This "demon lord" reminded
me of a neighborhood bully—a small-time chump playing king of the hill.
"Have you killed hundreds of millions?" I demanded.
At that number, the demon lord's fiery eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"How would I keep track? If you're going to lie, be more realistic. There
couldn't possibly be that many humans."
This was his opinion, after coming back to life so often?
"There are hundreds of billions! Even more than that. And I have
killed hundreds of millions."
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I'd massacred pirates and other enemies. A single battleship
sometimes contained over ten thousand people, so when I shot one down,
how many died? Countless people cursed me; I was far more feared and
reviled than the demon lord before me. If anything, I was evil itself. This
wimp had no right to call himself "evil" in my presence!
"Can you hear the voices of the dead?" I snapped. "If you can, listen
closely. I think you'll find out just how brutal a human I am."
The demon lord had a ghostly look. I wondered if he could hear the
voices of the dead. If so, he'd get a real fright learning how many souls
held an eternal grudge against me.
"Wh-what?" The yellow lights that appeared to be the demon lord's
eyes went round in surprise.
I tossed aside my sword and held my hand up to the sky. "Don't
speak of evil to me, weakling! Mighty humans like me are this universe's
wickedest creatures! I am a true villain! Ellen, my sword!" I shouted my
pupil's name toward the clouds.
The demon lord didn't seem to have any idea what was going on,
but I sensed the dark clouds overhead ripping apart as if responding to my
voice, sunlight piercing them.
The demon lord was shocked. "Wh-what is happening? What is
that?"
Breaking through the clouds and descending, bathed in sunlight, was
the Avid. It dropped with its arms folded in front of it and directed its dual
camera eyes toward me, looking positively otherworldly.
The Avid shifted its arms out of the way, and the cockpit hatch
opened. A happily crying Ellen appeared within, my favorite sword
clutched in her arms.
"Master!" she shouted, tossing the sword to me. It sped downward
toward my waiting hand as if drawn there.
I caught the blade by the hilt and drew it from its scabbard. "Behold,
puny demon lord. I'll put you down with my favorite sword. I'll erase you,
so you'll never be able to revive again!"
I would teach a hard lesson to anyone so wrong about humans.
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