CHAPTER 82
The Ex–Demon Lord and the Beginning of the End
The sooner I finished this battle, the better. The more time that passed, the more loose ends I’d have to tie. Such was the nature of war. I walked into the fight with the intent of ending it immediately.
Plus, I knew my friends were in serious danger. I couldn’t afford to hold back.
As the battle between us commenced, I cast my Original technique and switched right to Phase III. This put me at the greatest possible advantage. I drove Mask into a corner, then—
“Gwah?!”
I pierced my dark blade straight through the heart. Normally, it’d be a done deal by this point.
“Heh. Heh-heh. I expected no less. You’re wonderful, my Demon Lord.” That hit should have taken my enemy out, Mask was alive and well. They raised their palm toward my face.
Sensing danger, I drew my sword from their chest and moved back. I glared at my enemy as I put distance between us. …That marked the third time. I’d already delivered three fatal blows. And I wasn’t going easy on Mask or anything.
They’d all been merciless attacks meant to completely eradicate their astral body. But it seemed like my enemy had barely felt them. In fact, Mask grew more elated with every attack.
…No one with immortality was supposed to exist in this era. They had to be from the past. Not only that, I was pretty sure this was someone close to me.
I had a number of reasons for thinking this. At the top of the list was—
“Hell’s Gate. Open.”
“Oh, that’s not good.”
They knew my battle techniques. This served as my number one clue.
The basic technique in magic wars was to cast as many spells as possible to catch your opponent off guard and strike them when they least expect it. Like chess, magic battles were all about predicting your opponent’s moves. Those who possessed the most unknown spells had a powerful advantage.
Put another way…knowing all your opponent’s moves put you at a great advantage.
The masked figure seemed to know pretty much everything I had up my sleeve. When I compiled that with his weird inability to die…I was able to narrow my options down to a few people. They would all be difficult to handle. I sighed when I thought of a particular man.
“You seem to be growing impatient, my Demon Lord. I am, too. Although I would enjoy facing each other full force, we’re still in the prebattle stage, so I’m afraid I cannot act as I wish. Oh! Woe is me!” cried out the masked figure dramatically, gesticulating wildly.
That behavior. These speech patterns. I’d had a vague inkling the first time we met but…I knew it. It was him.
If I was right, even Phase III wouldn’t be enough to finish him off. If I wanted to take him down, I’d have to switch to my fourth form: Final Phase.
Even if I could defeat him, I’d end up completely incapacitated afterward if I deployed it. Back when I was Varvatos, my body could handle it just fine, but on my average body, it would take too much of a toll. If I couldn’t get back to my friends and defeat Elzard, what would be the point in taking out this enemy here?
…There was no need to beat him. Immobilizing him for just a few seconds would be enough. A victory here wouldn’t help us win. I had to meet back up with my friends.
If I could stop him for just two or three seconds, I could make my way back to them with warp magic. If Mask was who I thought he was…my best option was to take my detailed knowledge of all his moves. I quickly formulated a battle plan and put it into action.
“Glisten. O Light and Might of Heaven.” I chanted a two-verse spell to throw him off, beams of light raining down from the sky.
Mask had no difficulty handling this spell from ancient times. I had made it to take down armies of men, but he didn’t even try to block them. Taking direct hits, he charged right at me as his body was riddled with holes. He raced forward, even as the light rammed into him.
Only his powers of immortality kept him alive. Even if his body was ripped apart or full of holes, he knew his wounds would be healed in an instant. This spell meant to take down entire enemy forces had no effect on him.
That was fine. After all, it was just part of my plan to get him to misidentify my magic.
“Fasten. O Chains of Paradise,” I chanted. Magic circles appeared to both sides of Mask. Chains snapped out to bind him, but—
“Ha-ha! So you’re going with your favorite sealing technique!”
He’d read me again. The masked figure took a big step back and dodged the tangle of incoming chains. Originally, I’d planned to bind him with those chains and use a six-verse chant to seal him away in an eternal prison. He had apparently figured out this out.
Even so, that was exactly why he would fall for my trap.
I intentionally stopped the light beams and pretended to make another move. This seemed to send his mind in yet another direction.
As the masked figure jumped backward through the air…something was waiting for him.
“Consume. Eternity Snake.” A short two-verse incantation.
Mask soared through the air, and as I chanted—he landed at the exact moment that I was waiting for.
A small black dot rose before him.
“This is—” He sounded shocked, but he never got to finish what he was saying. The black dot instantly inflated and swallowed up his entire body.
The dark orb was a sort of “gravity prison” so to speak, and the victim is locked away under its crushing weight. I’d only developed it after my reincarnation into modern times, so I figured even a foe like him couldn’t possibly know how to deal with such a new spell, but…it seemed it would only buy me the few seconds I’d been hoping for.
I’ve got to use this chance to teleport back to Ireena and the others—
“Doing so is futile.”
I heard the voice of a familiar girl. I felt a murderous aura behind me and jumped to the side. A second later…a beam of light blasted through the place I had just been standing.
I took this sight in and glared at the new intruder.
“…I had planned on finishing this up early to avoid any surprises, but I guess I was a bit too slow,” I remarked. I looked at her and sighed.
Kalmia. One of the Queen’s Shadows. Regardless of whether she was in league with Mask or not…her intrusion had cost me my chance to warp away from this place. The black orb began to change. It released flashes of lightning, then…vanished in some sort of explosion.
Now free from his gravity prison, Mask was disheveled and more than a little worse for wear. His tailcoat was in tatters and his black ponytail had come undone. Loose strands of hair now cascaded down his back and fluttered in the wind.
The mask hiding his features was sporting a new crack, and—
“Heh-heh-heh…! I’d expect no less of my Demon Lord…! What a warm way to be welcomed…!”
He laughed as if thoroughly enjoying the pain, and the mask crumbled with his mental state.
Clink. Clink. Piece by piece, it started to break away and fall to the ground. This didn’t bother him at all, and he turned to Kalmia.
“Oh! My sidekick! If you are here, that must mean…!”
“…Yeah. All according to plan.”
Mask looked up at the dark sky overhead and laughed loudly. “Ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! My time to shine has cooooooooome!”
His disguise broke some more. The mask crumbled, letting the wearer’s face slowly come to light. It seemed like a metaphor to the situation: that the reality I’d worked so hard to get was falling apart.
And the worst was just getting started.
…This guy always managed to bring the worst out of everything.
He had surrendered to my army, but continuously still brought calamity to all of us. I’d hoped to never lay eyes on him again.
“I knew it. You’re…!”
The last vestiges of the mask hiding his face broke away—and his appearance completely transformed. The clown mask was completely stripped away as if revealing his true self. The black tailcoat transformed into a majestic crimson outfit, and the air grew heavy.
Unbelievable force and siren-like beauty—paired with utter insanity in those eyes…
There was no mistake. This was the most terrifying monster of all my subordinates.
Alvarto Egzex. A former Heavenly King and my army’s greatest weapon.
* * *
…Smiling as if in a trance, he looked at me. “How long I’ve been waiting to meet up with you! It has been three thousand nine hundred years, two months, and three days since you so cruelly broke our promise. For all that time, I continued to wait. Ah, it was like my personal hell to wait for you, my Lord. A world without you is a living nightmare.” Tears pooled in Alvarto’s eyes and fell to the ground.
This was no act. He was that happy to see me again.
…Like the other Heavenly Kings, Alvarto hadn’t changed at all these past few thousand years. He was as bound by his twisted love for me as ever.
“Long ago, you defeated me and said this as you stared down in contempt: ‘I’ll kill you when my ideal future has been realized.’ I surrendered to your army because I, too, wanted you to be my death bringer. Yet this is the thanks I get. You have no idea how much it hurts to have suffered thousands of years in vain.”
His teary eyes now flashed with fury. “I prepared while awaiting your reincarnation. I made great efforts in both mind and body to create a scenario that combined two things: a method of pestering you and a most supreme battle.”
Alvarto looked up at the sky with distant eyes as if reminiscing over the last thousand years. “My first thought was that I would need an army of laborers if I hoped to attain my most cherished desire, so I gathered my demons and established Lars al Ghoul. By falsely telling them that we would revive the Evil Gods, I was able to make them obedient.”
I’d assumed that Mask/Alvarto was one of the important people in that organization, but to think he was actually their leader…
…So this guy was a pure-blooded demon and someone who held authority among the Evil Gods this entire time. Even after he betrayed them, there had to have been plenty of demons who still worshipped him. Establishing the organization must have an easy task.
I feel sorry for those he’d tricked.
“After establishing the organization and watching it blossom in the blink of an eye, I started to mobilize my workers. They’ve been hard at work, collecting information for me since the old days. First, I had them investigate people who might be your reincarnated self. Second…I had them look for a prop that would make you suffer and call for a battle like no other. Those efforts have proved to be worthwhile, since I now have all the materials I need.”
Alvarto looked at me once again. There were no longer tears in his eyes; now, only delight and madness. A wicked smile appeared on his face, and he shouted the unforgivable.
“The appearance of my sidekick, Kalmia, can only mean one thing! The last and most important ingredient—Fräulein Ireena’s transformation to become an Evil God—is complete!”
Ireena’s transformation to become an Evil God…?! My eyes grew wide, and Alvarto’s smile deepened. He cast a single spell: warp magic.
A magic circle manifested right next to him…and summoned a single girl. Someone more important to me than life itself. A friend in this era like no other.
Ireena.
…She must have just fought with Elzard. Vald-Galgulus was in her hand. She was covered in blood. Her clothes were little more than rags. Ireena looked between me and Alvarto.
The sight of her unsettled me.
By all appearances, she was no different than usual. She seemed mentally fit.
However…her soul had transformed into something else entirely.
Until just a short while before, her soul had been mortal, though it was unique in a way, because she was a descendent of the Evil Gods. But now, it was shifting into one of these dark forces.
…I finally understood. Since the day Ireena and I first met…the enemy had been with us every step of the way. Everything we’d gone through had all been Alvarto’s doing…and his goal had been Ireena activating her true powers.
And why would he do that? Because by changing Ireena into the equivalent of an Evil God, he could drive me into a mental corner.
“Wonderful! Ah, that was magnificent, Fräulein! You’ve evolved so much!”
The corners of Alvarto’s mouth twisted upward as passion filled his eyes. An instant later… A small box appeared in his hand. Gold lines snaked across its pure white surface. Anyone would agree it was beautiful, but my eyes saw something ominous.
Ireena seemed to feel the same way. Her entire body jolted when she gazed upon it, and she stood on guard. At the same time, her eyes seemed steely, determined. Destroy the box, she seemed to say.
I was of the same opinion. That thing can’t exist. We both took on a defensive stance.
“It’s useless, Fräulein! Now that you’re fully an Evil God—you have no choice but to become the Holy Grail that will fulfill my desires!”
Before I had a chance to make my move, Alvarto had already accomplished what he needed.
“Aaah…?!”
As Ireena stared in wonder, beams burst from her body. The white box in Alvarto’s hand absorbed them… The light left Ireena’s eyes, and she began to fall to the ground.
“Ireena!” Before I could rush over and catch her in my arms, Alvarto used warp magic to draw her to him.
“That won’t do, my Demon Lord. This girl is a precious one. It would ruin things if you touched her now,” Alvarto said with a sweet smile.
I directed my unbridled rage at him. “You cretin…! What did you do to my friend?!”
My anger made the air vibrate and earth crack. Even as natural disasters erupted in tandem, Alvarto never lost his grin.
“Her life is in no danger. It’s a single component, one that will make this Strange Cube operational and maintain its effects. That is what Fräulein Ireena in her current form is for. Furthermore—” Alvarto raised the box to the heavens as he shouted. “The time to fulfill my greatest wish has finally come!”
The white box began to shift around as if disassembling itself.
This is bad. I don’t really get what’s going on, but that thing is trouble. I have to destroy it fast. I tried to spring into action, but…I couldn’t lift a finger. I couldn’t cast magic either. I had no choice but to listen to Alvarto and watch him carry out his grand plan.
“It’s time to start the endgame! If you wish to overcome the worst of circumstances and take back your dear friend, then come to me! To the one who has become the true Demon Lord!”
The white box soon transformed into a spiral—and the golden shine that radiated from it clouded my vision. That was the last thing I saw in Asylas. As my consciousness faded, I grit my teeth and mentally screamed the name of my dear friend.
Ireena.
Her face flashed in my mind…and immediately, my vision went dark—
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login