As I consumed and incorporated the blood, I called it to wakefulness, and with it, the genetic lineage of the First. My Lord had refrained from taking on any shape other than that of a human, but now I sublimed my body, my very being, into the true form of our origin!
“Do you want to die?!” the defective product screamed at me.
“Hey, if he’s gonna blow himself up for us, may as well let him.”
Veiss stared out at me, believing that he had seen through me—that he understood my essence.
Pathetic fools.
Power was absolute. Power, and power alone, could reshape the world. Those who held justice without power were weaklings to be cut down and abandoned. Those who held true, absolute power could be as Gods, objects of fear and awe.
But my Lord had fallen before the weak. He had fallen, believing in some innate goodness of the human spirit.
“Now you shall learn your own foolishness!”
My body swelled from within, regenerating long-lost organs and faculties. Blood surged through me, and my consciousness was elevated to heights beyond imagining.
“The power of the Demon Lord lies at the root of all.”
Making my own being a testament to that truth, I used the assassin’s step to catch the wolfman from behind. This was a power ingrained in blood. I had no need to comprehend it. Every living being possessed blind spots, and this perceptual inhibition allowed me to step effortlessly from one to the next. The Hero, slayer of the Demon Lord, had won her renown through this same cursed power.
“Die.”
I struck to cleave the wolfman’s head from his body—only to be intercepted by some animal instinct.
“C’mon, really? You think I can’t see through my own apprentice’s tricks?”
An indomitable smile spread across his face, but the truth was laid bare to me by the power of that woman who had fallen before our Lord—the Crimson Witch’s telepathy.
“Oh, but you did falter.”
My other hand shot toward his heart. He raised an arm to block me without a moment’s delay, but my strike retained its momentum, and my fingertips tore into his flesh. As panic began to bleed into the champion’s features, I calmly activated yet another power. The power of the champion, savior of the kingdom. The power of the Hero, slayer of the Demon Lord. The power of the Demon Lord, heritor of the First... But, no. There was another name to give it here.
“Scarlet Brave.”
Veiss let out a grunt of shock, and his face twisted in pain. But it brought me not the slightest amusement.
“Master!”
The Hero immediately leaped to his aid, but I reached out with newly grown arms to catch her in my grip.
“You— Are you fucking kidding me...?”
“Surely you didn’t presume that such power was yours alone.”
It was all perfectly simple. Just as I had done to the Golden Lion and to the other demons, I drained out the champion’s vast reserves of mana for my own sustenance, awakening more and more of the power of the First that had been lost with the passing of generations.
Even the mighty champion was unable to keep himself from howling in pain as his blood was drained from his body. He released my right arm from his grip and attempted to peel away my left as it dug into him—but the armored scales covering it were impenetrable even to the claws of the wolf.
“Mas...ter!”
The Hero writhed and struggled as well. But as I poured freshly incorporated mana into my arms to grow them stronger and thicker, her resistance quickly stopped.
Emotion could never foster strength.
“You—motherfucker!”
The champion’s casual ease mere minutes ago was gone without a trace as he fought violently to force my arm away. And so, I simply grew more. It took not even a thought. The flesh of my Lord within me showed me exactly what to do and how. This was true omnipotence and omniscience—the rightful attributes of the First, master of all the world’s knowledge and power.
“If you wielded such might, then why?”
Holding back my tears, I swung down the long, sickle-shaped arms sprouting from my body. This champion had slain countless demons, bathing himself in their blood until he’d lost his humanity just as I had, acquiring the traits of a devil-touched. And yet, he would meet his end not as predator, but as prey.
“How anticlimactic...”
My arms struck to bring an end to it all. But as they fell, an obstacle stood in their way.
“Ngh... Too heavy—!”
They were held back by the defective product and the translucent barrier she had created.
“What’s the matter, Sir Veiss?” she gritted out. “Needing a little girl to protect you is rather unbecoming of a champion, don’t you think?”
In her hands, she held her bible filled with the words of manufactured Gods. She raised it as a shield to push away my arms while using her orisons or whatnot to produce her barrier. Her eyes held a deathly resolve, and blood dripped from her wounds. Such unseemly struggling...
“I would have done you no harm had you simply behaved yourself,” I said.
“In that case, I’d ask that you resolve your grievances peacefully to begin with!”
The washout certainly had a mouth on her.
“A pathetic display, Veiss Volg.”
I shot a glance at the champion. He was on the verge of crumbling, but even now, his eyes still burned with the will to fight—irritating to the very last.
“Try as you might to protect one another, the weak cannot triumph over the strong.”
With just a little more force, the translucent barrier shattered to pieces.
“Screw you!”
The defective product tried to kick Veiss away to safety, but my claws in his chest budged not a fraction. I closed my arms around them both with inescapable momentum...and blood sprayed through the air.