Revenge (9)

Stereotypes keep people trapped in the past.

Some call it wisdom, but without flexibility, it is merely stubbornness.

The Demons who had believed they could keep siphoning off humans like a piggy bank’s emergency funds had been sorely mistaken.

The decades-old authority of the king had hit rock bottom, and other Demons whose names had never been heard filled the void.

Yet even as the world rapidly changed around him, the Demon Sovereign firmly believed some things remained immutable.

‘Everyone dies.’

‘And when you kill them, that’s the end of it.’

It had been so for the heroes who had nearly slain him.

Those who had gnashed their teeth, vowing to return for revenge, never came back, not even as ghosts.

How conclusive and clean an ending. To the extent that he had learned the wisdom of not harboring excessive regrets after a kill.

What was the point of writhing in guilt or being tormented by trauma, only to let it distract him from his work later on?

He was long past the age of mistaking a tree branch’s shadow for a ghost and losing his wits.

Kill decisively if you must, but once the killing was done decisively, that was the end of it. At most, he would only have to worry about disposing of the body afterward, which was pragmatic.

In reality, his governing style had been razor-sharp.

Betrayal meant an instant slicing, even the slightest hint of it, a temporary underground prison tour for a few days, and if they still failed to reform, another slicing.

Thanks to this, his subordinates had been obedient thus far, so one could say he had enjoyed quite a bit of amusement.

-Tap tap-

“…Hm?”

However, this steadfast belief.

Had now returned as stubbornness, at least for the present moment.

Sif had approached the window to scan the area outside the factory, checking if anyone was approaching.

So apart from the corpse, there should have been no one inside the factory except herself, the Demon Sovereign, and Freugne.

-Tap tap-

Yet the sound of footsteps on the hard floor, a noise that should not have been heard at this very moment, reached his ears.

“What’s…”

“Too late!”

And just as he sensed the presence behind him and began to turn his head, a moment too late.

-Thwack!-

“Gurghk.”

Something sharp pierced his neck.

Cold, hard, and rough. Although he was borrowing Sif’s body, having directly held it moments ago, he could discern its identity.

‘How, in the world.’

Which made it even more incomprehensible.

The sluggishly turning gaze met Edan’s. The Demon Sovereign’s eyes widened slightly.

That flesh, which should have been chilled and awaiting its return to the soil, was standing before him once more.

For an instant, he wondered if Edan might be a Demon adept at high-level mind magic, but his blood was clearly red. He was not in a position to deceive the Demon Sovereign.

Cerulean blood pooled on the floor. To see his own life fluid spilling out, not another’s, was a truly rare sight these days.

But before the sense of time slowing could linger, Edan acted first.

“…You’re not dead yet?”

“Kuh, ughh…!”

Having played all his cards and spent his last coin, he truly had nothing left.

When the Demon Sovereign did not immediately collapse, Edan began coursing electricity through him. The full output, unrestrained by the kingdom’s myriad safety regulations he had never had the chance to fully utilize, instantly assailed him.

Amidst the searing agony, all sorts of hypotheses flashed through his mind, but the Demon Sovereign soon brushed aside such idle musings. Pondering them now would be of no help.

Revive again? Then he would simply kill him again.

If this was not a revival but some kind of trick like his own? Then it did not matter if he killed him again.

‘You think I’ll go down like this…?!’

Even worms would convulse when stepped on.

Having rarely faced a life-threatening crisis, the survival instinct he had been unaware of finally kicked into gear.

However, having gone so long without use, its direction was rather violent – more akin to a child’s primal behavior than an adult’s.

The Demon Sovereign raised one hand to firmly grasp his wound, while the other seized the first thing it could – Edan’s hair.

“Argh!”

“Yes, let’s go together!!”

“Who taught you to fight like thi-“

The sudden blood loss induced dizziness, and the electricity forced his disobedient limbs into involuntary spasms.

Amidst this, his ability to grab Edan’s hair, if only partially, was due to his innate resistance to magic, combined with a superhuman determination to take any action.

Even through the searing agony in his neck, the Demon Sovereign’s eyes remained wide open.

No, in fact, it was better this way. Since he had not died in a single blow, he could now kill Edan more decisively.

And living eternally was preferable to constantly seeking new vessels. Perhaps by studying Edan’s body later, he could find some clue to achieving that.

Even a five-year-old brat would conclude that harboring such hopeful dreams was impossible with a pipe implanted in one’s neck.

And yet, for him to emerge like this.

‘Is this a denial of reality born from being driven to the brink?’

Or did he truly harbor some belief? Could he possibly be intending to cast mind control on the Demon Sovereign here?

As expected, that ominous mana began creeping up his arm once more.

Distracted by the electrocution, he lacked the swiftness and precision from before, but he was gradually preparing to cast a spell.

‘Should I try to trip him and apply some technique?’

With little time left to decide, Edan suddenly noticed something squirming in the corner of his vision.

---

From the very start, the Demon Sovereign had been walking a tightrope act.

Unbeknownst to him, for he was not particularly adept at mind magic, a scene worthy of a standing ovation would have unfolded had he brought along a decent Demon mage.

Suppressing Edan’s magic as much as possible while simultaneously injecting his own into the gaps – it was a skill befitting his self-proclaimed title as the Demon King.

But to perform this high-wire circus act, some areas inevitably had to be neglected.

Making the most generous assumption, performing two games simultaneously with both hands might be possible.

But to play games while holding a laptop and using exercise equipment would be sheer madness, not mere passion.

For the Demon Sovereign, who had mastered mind magic, controlling two mind-controlled individuals simultaneously was no great issue.

He could even dabble in minor mind magic to occasionally probe Edan.

However, he could not possibly maintain all that while undergoing the real-time process of being electrocuted.

And the result was.

“Mmnh……”

Freugne finally opened her eyes.

-Kwaaah!-

“……!”

It was like the sensation of falling asleep on a bus and waking up at the destination.

Still slightly dazed, as she rubbed her eyes and began to rise, the explosive sound caused Freugne to violently flinch.

However, after briefly glancing around, Freugne grasped the situation.

The elderly man now engulfed in maddened screams, and Edan in the midst of attacking him – an elderly man with azure blood flowing from him, no less.

Even with just this, one could surmise the general flow of events.

Whether that figure was the Demon Sovereign himself or merely a subordinate was unimportant.

The crucial fact was that the old man was clutching Edan’s hair, appearing intent on killing him.

Then there was no need for further deliberation – he was the enemy. Assessment complete.

“Anything usable around here?”

Using magic to intervene did not seem particularly helpful at this juncture.

As Freugne scanned the partially demolished surroundings, already showing signs of some prior skirmish involving Edan, her gaze landed on a suitably thick piece of lumber.

Aha, this will do.

One could not dismiss how forcefully a mere girl like her could swing it.

Though she had received a slight advantage, her body had already overpowered Edan through sheer might on the bed once before.

Freugne quietly picked up the makeshift club.

And just as Edan had done, she stealthily approached the Demon Sovereign, muffling her footsteps.

The Demon Sovereign, his surroundings now blind to him as he glared intensely at Edan, was ranting madly.

“You think I’ve never faced such a crisis before! I’ve endured far worse than this countless times!”

“But, no one asked, so why are you ranting?”

“I will rise again! No matter how you interfere, I will surely return one day-“

Edan, meeting the Demon Sovereign’s gaze, abruptly cut off his words.

“Wait, what’s that behind you?”

“Ha! As if I’d fall for such a blatant lie from the likes of you!”

The Demon Sovereign repeated the same words like a broken cassette tape, as if truly believing that by saying it, such a future would come to pass.

“You humans have always been like that. That arrogant bravado of yours will only last for so long-“

“Alright, that’s enough.”

-Thwack!-

“Guhahck……”

Now that she thought about it, in the initial future she had witnessed, she had already revealed to Sif and Edan that the Demon Sovereign had come to Londinium. Looking back, she could understand why she had done so.

“This is why you were so easily exposed.”

-Thud-

The withered, lifeless body of the elderly man briefly swayed before collapsing.

As if no screams or explosions had ever occurred, a profound silence descended upon the factory.