Race: Human — Age: 45
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Weapon Sodom’s Fire
A knife that can be used as a close-combat or projectile weapon. Infinite uses. Bonus Effect: Chance to Burn the target.
Armor Assault Queller
Negates any attack from those under Level 30. Infinite Durability. Has no effect on magic, which didn’t exist in the game.
Item The Laws of the Empire (Book)
An item given to those who defeat Kunai. It actually has no effect in the game. Rather, this item would have an effect in the real world.
Item Mild Heaven
The best-selling cigarettes in the Empire. There are many other brands on the market, like Hi-Nite or Spellcaster.
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Level: 1 — HP: 40000/40000 — Stamina: 600/600 — Attack: 70 (+50) — Defense: 80 (+20) Dexterity: 60 — Magic: 0 — Magic Defense: 0
Equipped Skills: First: Charge Second: Eye Gouge Third: Supersonic
Combat Skills: Mad Rush, Break Through, Fake Out, Intimidate, Lock-On, One-Shot Kill, Instinct, Ruler, Avenger, Strategist, Mind’s Eye, Overlord, Obliterate, Equal to None, Limit Breaker, Second to None
Survival Skills: Recover, Fighting Spirit, Duality, One Step Ahead, Meditate, Medicine
Duel Skills: Tyrant, etc.
Special Abilities: Administrator, etc.
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Akira Ono, a Japanese man, merely borrowing the appearance and abilities of the game’s final boss. While still categorized as a civilian, he has serious potential when he can commit to it. Acquired through years of running the game and surviving the Japanese workforce, he can fake it until he makes it through any situation. The final boss of the game is no joke, and his stats, especially his HP, are astronomical. He may appear invincible at first glance, but his lack of any protection against magic (which didn’t exist in the game) makes him precariously unbalanced. Deep down, his original mind still lurks. Insurmountably cold and cruel, he rules atop 4,143,792 corpses. A bona-fide Demon Lord.
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This response triggered the Demon Lord to do a spit-take before coughing into a tizzy. The Demon Lord and Aku, the Japanese word for ‘evil’... Was this some sort of sign?
“W-What a wonderful name. Have you heard of the country of Japan? Or, like, New York?”
“N-No, I’m sorry... I have never heard of them...”
After mumbling ‘thought so,’ the Demon Lord lit a cigarette. From the looks of it, there was no way that Aku’s clothes were made from modern technology. It seemed to be made of cheap fabric, with a small blue design or two. Fashionable would not have been how the Demon Lord would describe it. The child’s hair was cut-short, except for their bangs, which hid the left half of the child’s face.
The Demon Lord almost directly asked the child if they were a boy or a girl, before being an adult and thinking better of it. Since the child seemed harmless, the Demon Lord decided to ask some of the countless questions he had. ‘What is this world called?’ ‘What is this forest?’ ‘What was that Demon earlier?’ Aku’s answers were all mumbled, and didn’t provide any real insight. It looked like Aku didn’t really have much knowledge, per se. While Aku seemed to understand how one was expected to act in this world, the child didn’t seem to have any existential knowledge on this world. Aku seemed like Average Villager #1, and had the looks to match. There wasn’t much for intellectual discourse between an average villager and an average working Joe.
“I still have some questions for you, but... There’s a lake over there. Why don’t you clean up a bit first?”
“M-May I!?”
“Hm...? I-I don’t see any problem to it. Take the time to dry off, too.”
“Th-Thank you!”
† † †
(Ugh... What to do...?)
Watching Aku trot away to the lake, the Demon Lord let out a sigh. Who he had hoped to be a precious source of information was an ordinary villager, which left him with too few questions answered. The only new pieces of information he gained were about the country he was in and Aku’s village.
(Holylight, was it? Sure doesn’t sound like a country on Earth...)
Apparently, the nation worshipped the Wise Angel, who, according to legend, had sealed away that devil from earlier. On top of that, the Demon Lord was bombarded with all sorts of laughable stories about things and sayings from groups like the three Holy Maidens who serve the Wise Angel, the Holy Knights’ Order, and the Holy Church.
There was no denying the fantasy in this world. It’s not like Akira was a high-schooler with infinite possibilities ahead of him. What was the point of summoning an almost middle-aged grown man? Then, a scary thought crossed his mind. What if he wasn’t the one who was summoned, after all?
(What if this body was the one that was summoned...?)
After the rapid-fire series of unthinkable events this man has gone through, who could blame the Demon Lord for detaching himself a little bit from the rules of the real world? One of the ex-players of the game, Virgil the Kentucky Fried Butcher had always jeered ‘Everyone and their mother is getting sent off to different worlds.’ A character in a game, a giant statue of Buddha, a samurai lord... Anything could be summoned across worlds, nowadays. With this kind of mentality, it made sense to the Demon Lord that his vessel was the one that was summoned.
The Demon Lord had no idea what purpose there could behind the summoning, but if whoever it was was actually after Hakuto Kunai, he figured that there could be a million uses for him. By coincidence, he had been logged in as the character...
(Which means I was roped into this for no reason!)
This conclusion boiled his blood. All because of this stupid final boss, he was thrown into a world he knew nothing about. The Demon Lord wanted to convince himself of this.
(I have to find a way home... Fast.)
Fortunately, for once, Akira Ono had already lost his parents and was a bachelor, leaving no one behind that would worry about his whereabouts. His work, though, was another story. What would his boss say if he pulled a ‘no-call, no-show’ at his age?
(Now, should I head for some town? Or look for clues in the forest?)
He took a good look around, but only eerie silence filled the forest. Under normal conditions, this was not the sort of place he would enjoy sticking around in.
(Jeesh, Aku’s taking a while... It’s been a while, right?)
† † †
(Thank goodness I’m alive...!)
Aku could not be happier to be bathing in so much crystal-clear water, able to wash and launder as long as they liked. Not even the villager elder could afford this luxury. Water was a precious commodity around these parts, and Aku’s village could barely provide enough drinking and cooking water for everyone. Any more water, of course, had a price tag on it, and only a select few could afford to rinse their bodies with it. The only time the villagers, including Aku, could bathe or launder was during the rain. It had to be a rainstorm, too, not just a sprinkle. Since this land had been ruled by a devil in the past, the soil had been dried out, and most of the old wells were poisoned. Obtaining even the bare minimum water supply was a difficult task on its own.
Moreover, Aku was ‘tainted.’ There was no way this child was going to pass up on such an opportunity.
(But really, who is that man...?)
Aku pondered, bathing in the lake up to the neck, naked. He had blown that top-tier devil to bits with a single blow. Could he really be the Demon Lord, told of in legends in the Holy City? Judging by his all-black attire, Aku doubted that he was an angel. Finding him alone in this forest was strange to begin with. The forest held a hallowed shrine, and coming here was taboo.
They had been told that there was a beautiful lake in the forest, but the devil’s presence, on top of its mythological status, prevented anyone from actually paying a visit.
(Could it be... he just wants to clean me up before eating me...?)
A shiver ran down the child’s spine. Aku felt the urge to run for it, but the child had already washed and hung their clothes on the tree. Flee now, and there may not be a chance to recover those clothes. Considering that there could be more devils around, that was suicide.
“Hey, you done yet? Hurry it up, I want to check out the Aku-stics in there.”
“I-I’m sorry! I’ll be right out!”
“Nah, I’ve just been holding on to that one. Take your time cleaning up.”
Despite the Demon Lord telling Aku not to rush, the child shuddered at the thought of keeping the Master Demon Lord waiting.
(He might have some reason for keeping me alive now, but one wrong move to upset him and I’m done for.)
As the child peered over to see if the Master Demon Lord was upset, Aku saw him mumbling to himself as he moved both of his hands in a flurry. Was he performing some kind of curse ritual?