Chapter 155

CHAPTER 95 The Ex–Demon Lord and a New Despair “T’was such a long wait. A long, long wait.” A destroyed landscape. A gray sky. As darkness engulfed the world, the enemy in front of me smirked in pleasure. Alvarto Egzex. Once, he was one of my vassals…and the most powerful member of the Demon Lord’s army. A person I had previously shared meals with as a comrade later became the worst enemy I’d ever known. “Finally, all things have come to fruition. It was worth the millennia of waiting.” Alvarto puffed out his chest proudly in triumph, letting out a sigh of satisfaction. Honestly, the situation filled me with anguish. “A lovely sight. A lovely, lovely sight. Do you not agree? My Liege?” Spears. Long swords. Great swords. Armor. Bows and arrows. Mauls. Shields… The six hundred and sixty-six pieces of equipment that possessed overwhelming power were known as the Armor of the Demon Lord. One of my most vital assets was now in the hands of my enemy. “A frustration without equal, is it not? To have everything you could possibly possess taken from you.” Alvarto grinned as he turned his gaze in our direction. His eyes moved down to those around my feet. There was…everyone who was of any value to me. Ginny, Olivia, Sylphy, Verda, Lizer. The corpses of my friends lay upon the ground. “…” Silently, I looked upon them. Even if the results were exactly as I’d expected, I couldn’t help but wonder how it had come to this. “So, my dear Demon Lord, if you do nothing, the next move will settle it all.” With those words, the weapons and armor that filled the gray skies flashed. They were all aimed at my body. Their very presence was so overwhelming that it filled the target with the fear of death. Which was why… …my mind began to play back the events that had led to this moment. A short time had passed since I’d faced off against Lizer Bellphoenix and the cursed Mephisto Yuu Phegor. Our first concern was the matter of a certain young girl—Maria. She was more important to Lizer Bellphoenix than anything or anyone. In a way, she had set off the whole incident. Maria had no unique powers or anything of the sort. She was exactly as she appeared. And that was why we couldn’t have her tagging along on our journey. “…I’m afraid there’s no choice but to have her wait here.” Unfortunately, the Megatholium, the site of the battle, was now as good as a burned-out wasteland. Leaving a young girl in a place like this was out of the question. That’s why I restored everything to its original state using magic, a deed that should have put the issue to rest. “We’ll have Miss Maria wait inside the palace. Is that all right with you?” The girl herself offered no objection. Lizer, however, looked anxious and began to babble on about the possibility of sneak attacks to take Maria hostage, so we took steps to account for that possibility. “With this, there’s no more cause for objections.” “…Yes.” Lizer, or rather, the creepy geezer, gave Maria a lingering look of regret. Although it was clear he still felt uneasy, he understood that any further delay was a waste of time. “I’ll return soon. Stay safe until then.” “Okay. I’ll be waiting. Go do your best, Lizer.” The words of the one he cared so deeply for helped keep Lizer from dawdling. With him in our group, the party now totaled six as we departed from the Megatholium. Several nights later, I was listening to the crackling fire while we all made camp on the plains. As relaxing sounds echoed in the quiet evening air, Verda sighed. “Al’s just got this saturnine tendency, y’know?” She was probably referring to the bit of harassment that had occurred several times since we’d left the Megatholium. Soldiers valued speed above all else. It was best to take care of conflicts as swiftly as possible. Any wasted time allowed for unexpected complications to arise, catch you off guard, and cause all sorts of havoc. For that reason, we’d intended to use teleportation magic to send ourselves directly to the enemy’s home base and put an early end to this matter. Unfortunately… …the enemy had no intention of humoring us. The capital of the Asylas Federation was where the opposing supreme commander, Alvarto, made his lair. The region around it had been completely enveloped in anti-magic spells, making teleportation impossible. “…Is there a chance he’s just trying to buy time?” Lizer asked, rubbing his chin as he sat on a rock. Verda shook her head in response. “I can’t imagine Al resorting to any plans that would require him to stall.” I agreed with that assessment. His schemes were almost all focused on vexing me as much as possible. Changing the world and turning all my classmates into monsters, kidnapping Ireena and keeping her at his side—the common thread that bound these things together was the intent to make me suffer. And this teleportation blocking, along with the monstrous hordes that had attacked every day… It was all meant to stress me out. It was working. I was quite irritated. I wanted to save Ireena and return my classmates back to normal as quickly as possible. Now, now, now, now, now. I wasn’t expressing it overtly, but I felt the impatience bubbling up inside me. Thus, our slow pace was an extremely effective bit of needling on Alvarto’s part. “For now, we can only endure. When the time is ripe, we’ll turn the tables on Alvarto and give him a taste of his own medicine. Yes, an excruciatingly irritating bit of trolling.” “Oh? Looks like you’ve got something in mind.” Verda turned her head in interest, and I slowly began to speak as I looked at the faces gathered around the campfire. My voice seemed to carry particularly well in the night air. The campfire lit the faces of my comrades as they listened intently. That didn’t last long, though. When I finished my explanation, their expressions brightened. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That’s good! It’d be amazing! Let’s go with that!” “…A fairly effective bit of vengeance, I think.” “I have no objection. However, I admit to a bit of anxiety on the matter.” “You need to stop worrying so much, Lizer! It’ll all work out!” “Quite. Ard is the one who came up with it, after all.” There was real trust in my companions’ eyes, and I continued to outline the plan. After straightening my posture, I confidently said, “Let’s make sure we thoroughly destroy his schemes.” Hearl-Si-Pearl, the Capital of the Asylas Federation. It was a beautiful city, a veritable treasure of wooden architecture guarded by towering walls. Each year, countless tourists came to gaze upon its buildings. Though once plagued by constant civil wars, the recent reunification by the current king had brought stability to Asylas, and the domestic political situation had turned for the better. In the newly reborn Asylas, there was no trace of the despair that had once so thoroughly hung about the region. The capital’s residents enjoyed the surprising arrival of peace—at least, for a while. Changed beyond all recognition by the Strange Cube, Hearl-Si-Pearl was no longer an oasis of tranquility. It was a demonic city where hideous monstrosities wandered the streets. Alvarto Egzex, gazing down upon the ruined city from his castle, smiled as he took in the scene. “This is now a lair befitting a Demon Lord from fairy tales. Though…perhaps it’s a little too overt?” He stood at the top of a spire, a chuckle in his throat and his long black hair billowing in the wind. The newly altered world considered him the monster who bore the cursed title of Demon Lord. Yes, he had claimed the same title as the man who had robbed him of everything that mattered. “If only… If only he had kept his promise to me, I would have never had to adopt this annoying position, and all this hassle could’ve been avoided. Alas, this is only made bearable by the thought that he must be boiling over with irritation.” Alvarto made a show of shrugging his shoulders. It was then that a young woman appeared next to him. She was a pretty little thing who had appeared out of thin air, but something was off about her—an aura of wrongness. “Hah! It looks good on you, Kalmia, as I knew it would. That attire is indeed fit for a lieutenant of a Demon Lord.” The girl, Kalmia, replied expressionlessly, “…I meant to mention this a while ago, but your sense in clothing is repulsive.” Her words were dismissive, though even as she gazed down at her attire, her face remained still as stone. “Gothic lolita is a style that was perfected long ago. You’ve completely ruined the delicate balance by adding all these gaudy little accessories. Why include this tiara-like hat? The sword-shaped decorations on the skirt make no sense. By heaping on unnecessary decorations, you’ve also ruined the color balance—” Alvarto cut her off with a boisterous laugh. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Kalmia! You truly are a master at trampling upon my heart! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Kalmia let out a small sigh at Alvarto’s reaction and changed the subject. “…We’re close, aren’t we?” Alvarto immediately understood what she meant, and he nodded in response. “Yes. My wish is about to be fulfilled. The moment I’ve anticipated for ages is about to arrive.” With that remark, Alvarto gazed up at the heavens. In sharp contrast to his mood, the skies were gloomy. That just added to the ambiance in its own sort of way. Alvarto’s features twisted with a mad grin as he practically sang out his words. “Today, my tale that has dragged on for so long will finally reach its conclusion. Ahh, it’s such a wonderful feeling. So this is what bliss is like.” Kalmia remained silent. She stood at Alvarto’s side and simply stared at his face. If he paid any heed to her gaze, he made no sign of it as he exhaled with satisfaction. “At any rate, our preparations are complete. All we wait for now is for our guests to arrive.” Alvarto smiled maliciously as he gazed at the city below. “Ahh, just thinking about it makes me chuckle. That guy and his companions are suffering through such inconvenience on their way here. And that accumulated stress will reach even greater heights when they arrive in the city. I may very well become the second individual in existence to give the Demon Lord an ulcer! I am so looking forward to it! My limbs tremble with anticipation! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Kalmia let out an exasperated breath as Alvarto cackled next to her. “…Sicko,” she murmured. “Sicko indeed! I’ve been kept waiting for thousands of years! Of course, my heart has grown odd! Surely I can be forgiven for indulging in one or two hundred bits of harassment in revenge!” Alvarto pictured his former liege and current rival in his mind’s eye. The man who had altered his appearance and changed his name to Ard Meteor. Just the thought of his enemy’s usually calm expression twisting in anger brought Alvarto to the brink of ecstasy. Surely he would fulfill Alvarto’s expectations and more. After all, this city and this castle were filled with countless little gifts of malice that would drive Ard Meteor up the wall. Diabolical traps, monsters positioned in the nastiest of places, and once the man made his way through all of that, the one thing he wanted would elude his grasp. “Ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Alvarto gazed up at the sky and spread his arms. Joy was practically radiating from him. Yet something unexpected quickly brought his revelry to an end. There was an object glittering in the sky. “Hmm?” Alvarto knit his brow in consternated surprise. An enormous ball of light emerged from behind the clouds. By the time Alvarto realized it was an attack from that man…everything he’d prepared had been reduced to ashes. “…Phew. That makes me feel a little bit better.” The sight before me gave me a sense of satisfaction, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long and stressful journey, but we had arrived at the objective at last. Obviously, we were never going to work our way through the city. Having assumed Alvarto had filled the place to the brim with all sorts of unwelcome surprises, I’d elected to simply get rid of it all. “Ah. Impressively done.” “Full power really does make a difference. It’s hard to believe you were born in this era.” “…This brings back memories. It was such a simple thing to destroy an entire city with a single blow.” Three former members of the Four Heavenly Kings each offered their opinions on my maneuver. “It’s just too much to even make sense of…,” Ginny said with her mouth agape. “For someone born in this era, you really are far beyond the norm.” Sylphy chuckled as she offered her praise. “I guess I went a little overboard. Maybe I was angrier than I thought.” Hearl-Si-Pearl had been reduced to a smoldering wasteland. Where there were once tall buildings, there was now only scorched, flat land. Mentally, I flipped off Alvarto. Loom. Suddenly, an enormous presence bore down upon us. “Hmm. As I expected, he survived unscathed.” The sheer presence was enough to bring goose bumps to my skin. That proved the man we were after was still alive. “Ahh, what a shame. I’d forgotten what sort of man you are.” The tension in the air increased in weight as a voice like a petulant child’s offered a comment. “Why must you be such a spoilsport?” Rage began to creep into the speaker’s words. As if in reply to that shift in tone, an anomaly formed ahead of us. Shadows flooded from under a piled mountain of debris. It spread slowly, staining the air around it. “Everyone, retreat!” My command came more as a reflexive response than as a conscious order. Everyone responded by moving backward in unison, as though they had coordinated the timing. Their expressions were tense, and they appeared to be struggling with the cold prickle of fear. It was clear that we needed to avoid those shadows at all costs. As though to prove that point, the flowing darkness demonstrated its terrible power. It slowly spread out in a fan shape, and the moment it touched the pile of rubble…it vanished. This was more than dismantling, vaporizing, or pulverizing. It was erasure. The flood of shadows had utterly wiped the debris from existence. “The Flames of Hades…! I see they’re as dangerous as ever…!” Olivia cried as sweat beaded on her brow.