How anticlimactic. How truly pitiful it had been.
It would be a lie to say I’d expected nothing from them. If anything, I’d regarded the defective product with appropriate caution. One could never be too careful. And yet...
“Pathetic. Utterly pathetic. What a disappointment.”
I stood before the temple in the throes of chaos, and I issued my command to my divine soldiers.
“Kill them all. Leave none alive.”
Obedient to my orders, they began the slaughter. They would bring death equally to all, human and demon alike.
The archbishop had done well. The divine soldiers I had bidden he build me were truly well crafted.
Every human had some of the blood of demons flowing in their veins. Those who reawakened those latent traits through atavism became the misshapen beings known as devil-touched, wielding power in between that of humans and that of demons. What, then, would happen if a devil-touched obtained even more mana? What if a demon had still more mana injected into them?
These divine soldiers had unmistakably been elevated as close as possible to the level of our primal origin—the true form of our species that had been degraded through generation upon generation of interbreeding. If humans were merely a degenerate form of demons, then there had to be something further above, wielding all demonkind’s power combined.
It had all been naught but a hypothesis. Once, I’d rejected it. Even afterward, I’d only half believed it. But when I’d looked upon the Demon Lord, when I’d touched him, I had seen. I’d seen that it was the truth. I’d seen that there truly was a monster with the power to rule over all the world.
I’d seen, and I’d envied him. If he wielded such incredible power, then why...?
But our Lord abided even me to exist at his side—as though to show that such tolerance was merely befitting of his station.
And yet, somehow, our Lord departed ahead of us. Even with all his power, he left us behind.
“Raven!”
The temple plaza overflowed with blood and screams. Amid the havoc, a voice called out to me. I turned, but it was no one of any great import—merely that old general who had once led half our Lord’s armies, the Golden Lion.
“Well, hello there, General. I’m pleased to see that your invasion has been successful.”
“Enough pleasantries! What the hell are those things?! Are they your soldiers?! Stop them, now!”
The old lion’s bawling cries grated on my ears.
“There’s no need to get so out of sorts, General. Your men are handpicked elites. Surely even an unfortunate misunderstanding should pose them little difficulty—”
Would I finish speaking, or would he close in on me first? I’d predicted the latter, and just as I’d anticipated, he charged at me like a wild beast. His thick claws, adapted for the hunting of prey, stopped barely short of carving into my chest as they grabbed me by the collar.
“Make them stop! I’m not asking again!”
“Such arrogance... I said that I would be quite all right on my own, and yet you supplied me with troops, did you not? Surely the renowned Golden Lion would never stoop to stealing another’s valor?”
His claws dug into my ribs, and red stains began to spread across my white shirt.
“If I kill you, will they stop?”
“Will your men stop if I kill you?”
This invasion had always been an outlet for his forces’ aimless rage at our Lord’s demise. I had just happened to be aware of the humans’ experiments on prisoners of war, and thanks to that, matters had proceeded quite smoothly. Even the patient Golden Lion could scarcely ignore the cries of his own men. It was all readily apparent in the actions of the fools who had marched thoughtlessly into the jaws of death, with just the slightest enticement from me as I’d presented them with a chance to vanquish the Hero. Their care for their comrades had led them to throw themselves into a war of vengeance—playing perfectly into my hands.
“To call such actions virtuous is a privilege reserved for the victors.”
I stabbed my own fingers into the lion’s chest, just as he had done to me. The faint pulse of his life sat in the palm of my hand, and I wielded the Lord’s power to devour it.
“Y-You... Wh... What are you...?”
“Surely you didn’t truly believe that a mere human vanquished our Lord, did you?”
“So it was you—!”
How utterly simpleminded. He wielded such strength, and yet his intellect was pitifully lacking—what a repulsive beast.
“I’m only joking. All right, Golden Kitty?”
Even among the humans, it was the sort of epithet only the royal knights might use, not the mercenaries. As I addressed him, a low growl escaped his throat, and his face twisted comically in rage. I continued speaking, perfectly undaunted.
“But I would like you out of the picture. I’m quite serious in that regard.”
“Raven!”
“Oh?”
He swung his sharp claws at me, but I easily dodged them. All that was left before me was a frail, pathetic old soldier.
“This is your comeuppance. You always resented the former human who appeared out of nowhere and made himself indispensable to our Lord, did you not?”
I kicked him away, but even as he grimaced in pain, I saw no anger in his eyes—merely shock, and...
“You pity me, even now? Such is the privilege of the mighty...”
How truly, utterly repulsive.
“Listen to me, General. I am the one who put the White Wolf’s village to the torch. I am the one who leaked the location of his encampment to the human mercenaries. You had grown too powerful—the White Wolf alone, and the Golden Lion with his pack. The two wings of our Lord’s armies moved under your command. And yet, you allowed that girl to slip past you... This is your punishment. In your foolishness, you feared to wield the power you held in your hands, and now the time has come for your penance. Do I make myself clear?”
“Raven... You still bear the name our Lord bestowed upon you, and yet... Why? You were our—”
“You understand nothing—nothing whatsoever. That is your true sin.”
Call me whatever words you will—your comrade, your family, your kin. However, if you truly believe that...then you must accept my wrath as well.
But the Golden Lion merely furrowed his brow in total incomprehension.
“No matter,” I said. “Old soldiers are meant to depart with the dawning of a new age—that is what history teaches us.”