Chapter 13

The Principality of Balse rested in the middle of the desert, surrounded by a permanent cloud of sand. Rain was rare. No one would argue that living in such a place was easy, but the king had built his nation there for two reasons. The first was the defense that the harsh environment provided against invaders. The second was to ensure that the remains of the legendary humans known as the “Ira Sutoya” could rest in peace deep below the earth. These champions were a party of six people who had been assembled to put a stop to a previous Demon Lord’s destructive whims. They eventually triumphed and enjoyed great praise for it. Unfortunately, this sextet was also filled with maniacs who refused to accept death. A hero was one who possessed a strong sense of justice and couldn’t turn a blind eye to people in need. They were the sort who’d risk it all to help others. The six entombed below Balse were not regarded as heroes but rather sages, and that was not without reason. Not one of them was a kind person, nor did any possess a strong conscience. They’d only challenged the Demon Lord to flaunt their strength. It was rumored that before their climactic struggle against the embodiment of evil, the Six Sages had all been deviants who enjoyed toying with humans and demons alike. They carried out merciless experiments on the demons they captured, seeking to find the most painful methods of death. By sapping souls and strength from others, they extended their own life spans. At times, they’d even resort to stealing bodies. The Six Sages were not ordinary people. They were just as twisted by insanity as the Demon Lord of their era, and that was what had enabled them to oppose him. There was no denying they were infinitely strong. They were also shrewd strategists. After they fought the Demon Lord, they formed a plan to rest their injured bodies for hundreds of years and then recover their youth by using someone with extremely strong and terrible magic power. They sealed themselves away in a safe location and hypnotized generations of Balse kings into building a suitable environment for their scheme. As a result, the tombs constructed for the Six Sages underneath the town of Balse were vast and tough. Astoundingly, the catacombs were larger than the castle town above. Iron and stone encased the structures, blocking out all light. The expansive desert terrain of the Balse region enabled the tombs to be arranged in the shape of a pentagon, and the Six Sages had also constructed a solid prison to ensure their safety for when it came time to absorb the impossibly strong magic power of someone like the current Demon Lord. “…Okay.” After she finished messaging the Hero, Mako flicked the smartphone in her right hand into the air with her thumb. The object soared above her messy red hair and floated there. Its liquid-crystal display captured Wonn performing his warm-up exercises. Wonn had the elderly body of a human man in his late seventies. However, his glossy skin and the black aura flowing from his form were proof enough that he had already absorbed some of the Demon Lord’s power. “I’m not the type to enjoy hitting girls, little missy,” Wonn admitted suddenly in a near whisper. Mako twitched, unable to hide her anger. “…How gentlemanly of you. Naturally, that means it’s okay for you to absorb magic power from the Demon Lord, who happens to be a girl, right?” Mako spat. Her smartphone landed cleanly into her pocket, and she folded her arms and glared threateningly at Wonn. “Don’t be ridiculous. The Demon Lord is a cretin that must be eliminated—regardless of gender. That thing cannot be called a girl. It is a repulsive creature that plunges the world into fear. It is a malign god of destruction that steals countless lives.” A crease formed on the brow of Mako’s usually sweet face. “…This is actually a relief, you know. You being this much of a piece of trash is going to make this easier, meow.” The beastman demon stretched her neck and glowered at Wonn as if she were looking at a worm. She then concentrated her animalistic instincts and dropped into a crouch to release the overwhelming force in her legs. Mako was the fastest member of the Demon Generals, and all that strength was currently leveled at this old man who had dared to cross her master. “Hoh-hoh. A lowly beast could never hope to stop me as I am now.” Wonn, who was considered the mightiest among the Ira Sutoya Six Sages, waved his hands and assumed a martial-arts stance—that of a style that aimed to suppress the opponent’s power. The ominous ebon vapor flowing from his body collected around his hands and feet. His honed combat senses made it extremely easy for him to master the vast magic power he had absorbed from the Demon Lord already. Just like the guy said, he is definitely stronger than me “as he is now.” He has experience fighting a previous Demon Lord on equal footing, and he’s leeching the Demon Lord’s magic power. If my strength as the strongest of the Demon Generals is a seventy, his strength is a one hundred, meow. Mako’s body burned with anger, but her mind was cool. She could tell instantly from her opponent’s flawless guard alone that he was stronger than any human she had ever encountered. Thankfully, his drooping right shoulder suggested that the tip about his arthritis had been correct. “Good job, Hero… All that’s left now is to kill him,” muttered Mako. The great strength in Mako’s feline legs continued to build until it caused the muscles in them to swell to double their size. With this, Mako was able to charge at the speed of sound—a feat that had earned her a reputation as the fastest individual in the entire Demon Army. “Hoh-hoh, I’m impressed.” Wonn could sense his foe’s strength and seemed to guess that holding back would not be an option. “We probably won’t be able to talk as we fight, so I’ll go ahead and speak my mind now. You all lured the Demon Lord into a trap by taking advantage of her pure heart and kindness. You betrayed her wish to improve relations between demons and humans… For that reason, I’m going to kill you,” Mako stated. “…Then allow me this reply. I can’t imagine a more absurd notion than unity with wickedness given form. And a beast like you should know better than to defy a human,” Wonn answered. A second later, the two combatants disappeared. Cracks began to form on the walls of the tomb. It was a fight too fast for normal eyes. Shortly after Mako and Wonn began their clash, Oniko was staring fixedly at the sage named Tew in the southeast tomb. “…Call yourself a Six Sage or whatever the fuck else you like, but you’re just a bigoted old man,” Oniko snarled, lifting her club and resting it on her shoulder. Tew was small of stature, only reaching four feet tall, but he was floating in the air to meet his enemy’s eyes. “You have an unthinkably dirty mouth for a girl. That’s a reflection of your poor upbringing,” Tew fired back in a mocking tone. Like Wonn, he had also siphoned power from the Demon Lord, and dark energy radiated from his body. As the atmosphere of the room grew increasingly strained, both settled into their combat stances. The Hero told me that revival magic is effective against this guy, but why? I could just try using Relife repeatedly, but he’s clearly stronger than me. I need to avoid running out of magic power until I figure out why revival spells would hurt him. Despite her foul mouth and massive weapon, Oniko was the sort who preferred to think things through. Her role in battle was to heal the party, similar to a priest. However, if she ran out of MP, which were the magic points that enabled one to use spells, she became the kind of club-wielding muscle-brain you’d expect a lot of demons to be. Oniko had made it into the Demon Generals because of her huge MP supply and talent for recovery magic. She was also quite skilled with teleportation spells. “Hey, ogre, are you just going to stand there? Not that someone of your level of strength would stand a chance against an immortal like me,” Tew jeered. “…Huh? Immortal?” “Did you not wonder how the Six Sages, who perished three hundred years ago, still manage to walk the realm of the living? …Well, you’ll understand soon enough.” After that ominous statement, Tew’s left arm suddenly separated from his body and plopped to the ground. It was as if he had cut it off himself. “God, that’s disgusting! What the hell was that?!” “If that surprised you, just wait for what comes next.” The severed limb steadily grew in size, eventually forming into a second Tew. It didn’t just look like him; by cutting off a part of his body, he’d created a second self just as authentic as the original. And he didn’t stop there. Tew lopped off his right arm, his legs, and even his limbless torso from under his neck. Before long, there were five copies for a total of six Tews. The original sprouted a new little body as though it were the most natural thing in the world. “After sacrificing many lives during long years of experimentation, this is the strongest magic I managed to create. They may be products of fission, but they are all just as capable as I am. You know what that means, right? You have to fight six of me at once, each of us possessing the strength of one of the Six Sages.” Evidently, Tew was quite proud of himself, as he and his duplicates all grinned eerily at the original’s pompous monologue. “…It is seriously creepy watching six of the same face smile at the same time,” Oniko said with an expression of disgust. She spit on the ground in evidence of that. “I should have known all you Six Sages were off your rocker. I don’t give a damn about the lives you’ve already sacrificed, but whether they be demon or human, none of them will be able to rest in peace after dying for your stupid research. I pity their souls.” “What are you saying? My subjects offered themselves to me. For me and the prosperity of this world.” “Ha, are you saying the Demon Lord offered her magic power to you of her own volition? If so, then you’re just delusional. I doubt any of them were willing, which would mean you forced them all to participate.” Irritated, Oniko swung her club through the air with her right hand, then pointed her left hand at Tew in a threatening pose. “…Quit your yappin’ already and come at me. Talkin’ to you makes me want to puke. I’m gonna kill all six of you!” The Tews eyed her blankly, then smirked in unison. “Give me all you’ve got,” they muttered before charging at Oniko. Meanwhile, Pino was fighting Thrie in the northwest tomb. She kept her distance and prepared to use offensive magic, her specialty, by spreading her black wings wide in flight and gathering magic power in the air. This wasn’t to suggest that she possessed low amounts of magic power. It was simply because her opponent had proven to be a foe skilled enough to restrain the Demon Lord. She couldn’t risk anything but her best against such an enemy. “Hoh-hoh, you seem quite skilled,” Thrie praised with ample confidence as he watched Pino soar through the sky. It was clear he wasn’t taking her seriously. His body was old, but possibly due to the energy he had absorbed from the Demon Lord, he had straightened up his spine. “You’re an angel, aren’t you? I heard a rumor once that some kind of heavenly tribe lives way up above the clouds. Ah, but you have black wings. Are you perhaps a fallen angel, driven out from the heavens?” “Silence.” Pino didn’t have the slightest bit of intention of talking to the sage. Unsurprisingly, much of that was because she wished to save the Demon Lord as quickly as possible, but she also feared that Thrie would discover her strategy if they continued to banter. According to the Hero’s intel, Thrie excelled in melee combat. Pino wanted to control the pace of the battle as best she could and avoid getting too close. “What terrible manners you have. I just woke up for the first time in three centuries. I would’ve liked a bit of decent conversation, even if you are a demon.” “…” Although Pino knew there was no need to feel sympathy for this old man, her inner kindness distracted her for a brief moment. “Where’d he go?!” That was all Thrie had needed to disappear. Losing sight of him for even a split second risked disaster. Pino quickly scanned her surroundings, afraid he had fled. He had not. “I’m right here.” A thud reverberated through the room as a sharp pain ran up Pino’s back. With speed and strength that was far beyond what any regular person could achieve, Thrie had circled quickly behind Pino and delivered a heavy kick. “Tch!” Pino clicked her tongue and stopped herself in the air just before she collided with the wall. If she hadn’t been aware of her opponent’s proficiencies, that move would have knocked her out. Thankfully, she had used a spell to bolster her defense before the fight. “Impressive. You’re slender but quite tough,” remarked Thrie. Pino maintained her posture in the air and used a recovery spell to mend her injury. Thrie watched her with an expression of ease. His blow proved there was a significant difference in their level of strength. “He’s a monster…” The sage significantly surpassed Pino in almost every way. Realizing this, Pino had no choice but to keep her distance and rely on what she was good at: magic. She concentrated the power she had collected from the atmosphere around her hands, shot a powerful fire spell at Thrie, then worked another bit of magic to increase her strength. “Whoa! That’s some impressive spellcasting you’ve got there.” Despite the compliment, Thrie evaded the flames handily. “I see this could get dangerous if I don’t take this seriously.” “You and your foolish Six Sages will fall here for what you’ve done to the Demon Lord,” declared Pino. Wasting no time, she hurled ice and wind magic at him, moving back to increase the distance between them every time she did so. Thrie was swift, and Pino blocked him with physical reflect and counterspells whenever he charged at her. The man seemed to be overjoyed at the prospect of his first strong adversary in years. Even when Pino landed a direct hit on him, he would laugh loudly and keep coming. “Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! This is great, fallen angel! Let’s have some fun!” “…You’re a simpleton who only thinks of brawling. I’ll burn you to a crisp!” Having now each confirmed the other’s abilities, they charged at the other with full strength, unconcerned about the walls crumbling around them. Nicoletta had realized something the moment she stepped foot inside the tomb of the one named Fore. “This room…” It was starkly empty. While it was the same shape as the chambers the other members of the Demon Generals were fighting in, Nicoletta felt there was an essential element missing. “Where are the candles, whips, and blades? Why do I not see any weapons? Are the Six Sages not professionals of torture?! No matter how far I walk, it’s just walls, walls, and more walls! What in these empty rooms could possibly satisfy me?!” That’s right. That absent necessity was pain. Agony ruled supreme for Nicoletta, to the point that it could even be called her purpose for living. But there was nothing in the tomb that could satisfy her. Suddenly, she hit upon an idea. “I’ll crash into the wall!!” How she arrived at that notion was a little difficult to understand, but the vampire intended to sate her desires by whatever means necessary. Yet in a curious bit of irony, her wish for pain was granted. “You’re pretty annoying, you know.” A kindly voice speaking insulting words echoed through the chamber and was immediately followed by a powerful blow to Nicoletta’s back. Fore, who had concealed himself in the dark, caught Nicoletta completely unawares and struck her with a powerful uppercut. Before she even knew what was happening, she smashed hard against the wall. “Hey, what the heck?!!” Nicoletta screamed, not even fazed. Turning as she slid down the wall, she leveled a finger at Fore. “That attack was too fast for me to process! Unfair!” A small amount of blood dripped from her mouth when she stood up. “…That’s because it was a surprise attack,” Fore responded. “What a waste!!!” bellowed Nicoletta. Fore stared at her in confusion, unable to comprehend what this crazy girl was so upset over. “From now on, when you attack me, do it properly. If the attack comes too swiftly, I have no time to savor the agony. That is an unforgivable insult to pain.” Fore could not figure out why Nicoletta was upset but eventually decided she was simply off in the head. “Well, now I know you’re an absolute lunatic. Sorry about before,” he said. “Very good. Be careful next time,” responded Nicoletta. A strange atmosphere had formed between the two. Undoubtedly, it would have been too weird for any observer. “You appear to be a vampire, but is it safe for me to assume you are an assassin in service to the Demon Lord from whom we are currently absorbing magic power?” “That’s right. But there’s one more thing you should know. I am an extreme masochist. Please abuse me to your heart’s content.” Fore stared at Nicoletta with his mouth agape. After a moment, he elected not to ponder on that unnecessary information for too long. “But the Demon Lord is not a masochist,” Nicoletta appended meekly. “She welcomed me with an open mind, without judging me for who I am. Other people always looked the other way and ignored me completely, but she allowed me to serve her. It had to have been embarrassing for her to choose me as a member of the Demon Generals. Do you see what I’m getting at? The Demon Lord is the nicest, greatest, and purest person in the world. All she wants is peace. For an outcast like me, she is my one shining beacon of hope.” It was rare to see Nicoletta so serious. Her reasoning made sense. “For that reason, pain does not suit the Demon Lord, and she does not wish for it, either. You’re forcing it on her for greedy designs—reasons that lack excess sadism or masochism, and are barren of love. What you’ve done is an arrogant act of self-pleasure.” “…H-huh.” How long is she going to go on? thought Fore. “You tricked the Demon Lord and inflicted her with the greatest possible mental pain. In exchange, you will give me, Nicoletta, the weakest member of the Demon Generals, the greatest possible physical pain.” Fore was still having a hard time getting a sense of what exactly she wanted to say, but now that it seemed like she was done talking, he could finally get a word in. “…Uhhh, if that’s what you want, then I’ll attack you now. Is that okay?” “There’s no need to hold back. Come at me with all you’ve got!!” “You got it.” Fore bent down into a crouch and dashed toward Nicoletta with a sonic boom. He punched, kicked, chopped, kneed, elbowed, head-butted, and hit her with every kind of physical and magical attack one could think of. …Huh? As Fore beat Nicoletta to a pulp, something felt off to her. “Gah, blargh, ahh, oof…” She couldn’t even speak through the onslaught of attacks. Every strike landed accurately on a vital point, and her HP was being steadily chipped away. “No, wai—” “What’s the matter? You told me to give you everything I had.” Fore then hit her with a finishing move square in the chest, causing a comic-book-esque pow to echo throughout the tomb and sending Nicoletta crashing against the wall a second time. “Gahh!!” Yet again, she’d received the much-desired wall collision, but after she fell to the ground, she noticed something odd within herself. This is weird. Nicoletta felt different today. This pain should have felt good, but instead, her body was rejecting it and crying out. “It can’t be…” A moment later, Nicoletta heard the violent roar of an empty stomach. I see. Now that I think of it, I haven’t sucked human blood in many years. I was satisfied during my last withdrawal episode by a full-on bombardment of adorableness, but this sage is showing me no mercy. A vampire can only go so long without blood. I didn’t think I’d reach my limit here, but my hunger has numbed my cranial nerves that convert pain to pleasure. I can’t let myself just die like this. If I perish, then the Six Sages’ barrier won’t dispel, and we’ll lose our chance at saving the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord allowed me to serve her even though I’m a masochist and everyone thinks I’m a freak. I can’t betray her. I want to save her, and not because she could give me more incredible pain than anyone else in the world. I want to save the Demon Lord because…she accepted me. It’s definitely not because she showers me with greater agony than anyone in the world. That’s so important that I have to repeat it. That is certainly not the reason. For the sake of the Demon Lord, I can’t afford to lose. “Nrgh…” Nicoletta’s consciousness was fading. In a last-ditch effort for help, she threw away her pride and began to message a certain boy.