Chapter 11
“ARE YOU ALL RIGHT, Marchosias? You’re okay. Come on now, open your eyes.”
The seal that was on Marchosias had been completely lifted, as had the state of suspended animation that he’d been in, such that he was fully functional once more.
However, perhaps because so much time had passed, he was in an extremely deep sleep. His consciousness was buried deep, and there was no sign of it making a return.
Deducing that he might need to do something to wake him up, Barbatos unsparingly filled Marchosias with a surprising amount of concentrated mana.
Sure enough, the shock from this did indeed evoke a response. As he abruptly filled with mana, they suddenly saw a sign of life.
“…!”
Seemingly reflexively, Marchosias’s eyes darted open and he rose to his feet. However, he did so somewhat chaotically, and immediately afterward, cried out, “Ooouch!” before clutching at his abdomen and flipping over.
“…Was that the best way to wake him up?” Mira asked.
“I guess that’s just how demons do it,” Wallenstein answered.
It’d surely been quite a long time since he lost consciousness. Mira and Wallenstein couldn’t help feeling that Barbatos was treating him rather roughly.
Seeing Marchosias before him, Barbatos smiled faintly. However, he didn’t seem to be smiling out of happiness at seeing his friend released from such a perilous state, but that Marchosias’s reaction had been exactly the same as it’d been long before.
“Wow, could it be…?” Marchosias said.
Having calmed down a bit, Marchosias was now examining his body with an incredulous look on his face.
Having sealed himself and bet all his chips on the future, Marchosias probably hadn’t held out much hope for himself. Realizing that his transformation into a dark demon had indeed stopped completely, he murmured, “No… It can’t be.” His eyes opening wide, he continued, “Is that you… Barbatos?!”
Despite his surprise, he’d recognized his friend. Quickly turning his head, Marchosias was visibly shocked to see someone very familiar standing before him.
It seemed that, after grasping the current situation and thinking things over, he’d found a faint glimmer of hope. Still quite bewildered, he glanced at Barbatos and asked, “…Hey, have I been saved?”
“Yes, the sword in question is just as you see it. And we’ve dealt with the change that was going on inside of you,” Barbatos answered.
And when he said that, a wave of joy washed over Marchosias’s formerly anxiety-ridden face.
That wasn’t all. Next, he said, “Wow, Barbatos! My beloved brother!” before leaping through the air.
Rather than trying to avoid him, Barbatos simply knocked him out of the air without hesitating for a second. Marchosias should still be recovering, but Barbatos really wasn’t taking it easy on him.
Seeing how worried Mira and the rest were about whether he was alright, Barbatos laughed and answered, “He’s nothing if not tough.”
Sure enough, Marchosias seemed quite hale and hearty. Springing back up as if he were perfectly all right, he clung to Barbatos and asked, an anxious look on his face, “But on that note, are you okay?! You are, right?!”
“By all right, you’re referring to the state you were in up until now, no?” Barbatos replied.
From his curiosity about Barbatos’s body, as well as everything that’d happened there and the seal that he’d put on himself, he deduced that Marchosias was referring to transforming into a dark demon.
“Yes, that’s right,” Marchosias replied, indicating that this had indeed been what he was asking about. Then, looking again at Barbatos, who was perfectly all right, he once more asked, “So, how about it? You’re okay, right?”
“Judging from how you’re acting, I’d guess that you do indeed know something. Why don’t you tell us what exactly happened first?” Barbatos replied.
Having an idea of the answer that Marchosias was looking for, Barbatos nevertheless urged him to start by sharing with them just what had occurred.
When they’d first entered the room, they’d found the sword of the Monster-Ruling God, a giant mass of flesh, and the bizarre monsters. It seemed likely that Marchosias knew why this situation had come about.
“Sure thing,” agreed Marchosias.
But then, just as he was about to begin, he finally noticed Mira and their other companions. Looking at them with intense curiosity, he asked, “By the way, who are those three?”
“This is Wally. He’s one of my comrades from the organization that I belong to now. And this is Mira, who I’m deeply indebted to, as well as Meilin, a friend of both of them,” Barbatos said, introducing them.
Wallenstein said hello, while Meilin seemed intensely curious about Marchosias’s power. “You’re pretty strong, huh? I’d love to spar with you,” she quickly proposed.
Marchosias, who seemed to be of a similar disposition, cheerfully replied, “Sure, that sounds like fun. Let’s do it!”
That said, they couldn’t very well spar there and then.
“Meilin, perhaps we could do that some other time.”
“I see no problem with that, so long as we finish up everything we need to do first.”
Wallenstein and Barbatos called off the abrupt sparring session with their responses. And while Marchosias and Meilin looked rather displeased, it was quite obviously not the right time.
“On that note, I’m Mira. A pleasure to meet you,” Mira said, straightening her face and holding out her right hand.
Seeing her hand, Marchosias responded, “You must mean to shake hands, huh?” He smiled proudly at knowing of this custom, before taking Mira’s hand.
“It’s been a long time, Marchosias. My gosh, I wasn’t quite sure how things would turn out, but I’m glad to see you back to your usual self,” the Spirit King said immediately, seizing the opportunity to speak as soon as his hand touched Mira’s.
“Huh?! Wh-what the… I heard the Spirit King’s voice… Where’d it come from?! What’s going on?!” Marchosias cried.
Having never expected such a reunion, he’d been caught completely off guard. That shocked him beyond words, and his reaction was indeed priceless.
“You got him,” Mira said.
“Indeed, that was too good,” the Spirit King replied.
As soon as Marchosias had opened his eyes, the Spirit King had been quietly scheming to give him his [Sudden Spirit King Surprise]. Having pulled it off flawlessly, Mira and the Spirit King admitted as much, and they shared a chuckle.
“I believe that day I was going about my fourth check…” Marchosias said, finally beginning to explain what on earth had happened there, after he and the Spirit King had joyously caught up with each other.
It all happened a very, very long time ago, after the Monster-Ruling God had been vanquished.
Its body had been split into six different pieces, but its sword was indestructible, and Marchosias had been tasked with sealing it.
“That was because, among all the demons, I was the most proficient at using seals!” he continued, taking a moment to brag.
The seal that’d been placed on the Monster-Ruling God’s sword, which was fashioned using spirit leylines that lay at the bottom of the sea, had apparently been set perfectly.
And so, from that day on, Marchosias assumed the role of the “Guardian of the Seal.”
Over the next tens of thousands of years, he went about periodically checking the seal and occasionally strengthening it and whatnot.
“I never would’ve thought that all this would happen to the Spirit King while I was busy with that.”
While he was doing his duty, conflict had erupted between the Spirit King and oni-kind, which ultimately led to the Spirit King being shut within the Spirit Palace.
The trouble all began many, many years after all of that. Marchosias was going about his regular inspection, just like usual, which meant he was at the bottom of the ocean.
“…But something unusual happened. The seal was perfect, and it had more than enough strength to suppress the power of the sword. I also had plenty of time to go about the inspection. Furthermore, I’d enhanced the seal with the power from the leylines, and so even the Spirit King shouldn’t have been able to break it. And yet, there was a tiny tear in it,” Marchosias said.
But by the time he realized this, it was already too late.
It had been waiting for him to set foot there the entire time.
And so, the power of the Monster-Ruling God that was contained in the sword flooded out of the seal.
“Just before the Monster-Ruling God was defeated, he transferred a portion of his power into the sword. Over the course of tens of thousands of years, that power grew, little by little, such that it created a hole in one part of the seal by pouring forth,” he continued, explaining how the once perfect seal had been broken.
But then Wallenstein suddenly had a question. He asked how Marchosias knew all this in such detail. Marchosias answered that it was because he had been caught in the trap that’d been laid for him there. Having set foot in the area with the seal, he was corrupted by the Monster-Ruling God’s power, which had spilled forth from the tear in the seal.