Ch.183Return – 2
by fnovelpia
“What’s going on here?”
I could only stare blankly at the absurd scene before me.
Why did the Demon King attack Aria? Why was Aria attacked by the very being she summoned? Was he the type to attack anything he saw first and ask questions later? Countless questions rose and disappeared in my mind.
In the distance, a shockwave engulfed an entire building and crashed down. Watching the shockwave that writhed like a living snake multiple times from just a single strike brought back memories from my past.
Not particularly pleasant ones.
“I wonder who you think you’re ordering around. Don’t you agree?”
The Demon King, who had been watching the bizarre scene where not a single sound could be heard, turned his head.
“…Are you talking to me?”
I asked reflexively. It seemed like he was addressing me, but I hadn’t realized it. The current situation was so absurdly incomprehensible. It’s a miracle I wasn’t suffering from cognitive dissonance.
“Who else is here besides you and me? Surely you don’t take me for a fool who talks to himself in empty air.”
A flat voice with almost no inflection, a face that would look like nothing more than a handsome man if you ignored his skin color, and a moderately muscular body.
His appearance was definitely that of the Demon King I knew, but what on earth had gotten into him to make him speak to me so amicably? I couldn’t understand it at all.
‘Does he not recognize me?’
If this was the Demon King summoned from a time before he was defeated by me, I could somewhat understand his behavior. That’s exactly what his personality was like when we first met.
At first glance, he seemed like someone who could be persuaded with words to stop the war, with a demeanor so calm it was hard to believe he was the cruel king of demons.
Of course, that wasn’t the reality at all.
“I’d like to correct that thought. I remember you, Savior of Humanity. I also remember quite clearly fighting you for seven days and nights, ultimately being defeated and having my head severed.”
“……”
I instinctively felt disgusted at having my thoughts read by him of all people. When I frowned, he laughed lightly.
“An interesting reaction. Well, how could I not read the emotions of an adversary I fought against for so long?”
“I can’t read yours.”
And I have no intention to. I pointed Eternity at him. He seemed amused even by this reaction.
“What are you plotting? Acting all friendly before launching a surprise attack?”
“A surprise attack? Nonsense. You must know how I’m feeling right now. There’s no need to point your sword at me.”
“……”
“Hmm, are you embarrassed? I understand completely. I’ll say it directly.”
“What the hell—”
“Joy. I can finally follow my instincts as a demon.”
“…What nonsense is that?”
This guy wasn’t in his right mind either.
Instead of answering, he swung his demon sword again. In the distance, a figure trying to rise through the slash was slammed back to the ground.
A crimson slash swirled around the area, grinding everything like a whirlwind. The space near the vortex became constrained and continuously released shockwaves inward. All this from just a single slash.
How much chance would I have fighting without healing magic?
The only certainty was that the moment even a hair’s breadth of that slash touched me, there would be no second chance.
“That woman summoned me to this strange world. And she ordered me to capture you alive. Is that correct?”
“Yes, but so what?”
“That’s precisely the problem. Why should I follow the orders of a woman I’ve never met before?”
His voice rose slightly at the end, which was rare for him.
“Demons obey the strong. That’s why I was called the Demon King, and why I ruled at the pinnacle of all demons. Is there anything wrong with what I’m saying?”
There’s nothing wrong. The demonic instinct to obey those stronger than oneself was the same in the first world too. Probably because both were novels written by Laura.
That’s not to say that demons in the first world went around half-naked like the stronger ones here. Rather, good armor was a privilege of the strong, and the powerful ones wore heavy armor.
This guy in his simple cloth outfit that looked like a suit was the exception.
“I too am a demon. What do you think that means, Savior of Humanity?”
“……”
“It means I only obey the commands of those stronger than me. And there’s only one person stronger than me here. The human who fought the King of Demons for seven days and nights and finally cut off his head.”
While I was frowning, I saw the shockwave behind him scatter. In the distance, a black sphere flashed and flew directly toward us.
The demon sword slashed horizontally. A crimson slash bloomed and blocked the sphere.
“Now, command me. As a demon, I will gladly obey your orders.”
“What are you scheming?”
This behavior didn’t suit the Demon King at all. The Demon King in my memory was far from the type to listen to humans. At my reaction, he snorted.
“How many times must I explain? I’m following demonic instinct. You don’t have time to leisurely doubt my sincerity.”
In the distance, Aria was approaching with a venomous expression. Looking back and forth between the venomous Aria and the Demon King with his faint smile, I made my decision.
I didn’t understand his reasons, but if he was volunteering, I had no reason to refuse.
“Fine. I’ll do as you wish. Fight that person and buy me time. Until death.”
I didn’t specify whose death. Even if he won, I had no desire to see him alive before me again.
After all, who was it that slaughtered surrendered humans with his own hands to awaken the Divine Spear?
“Understood. I will gladly obey, Demon King.”
Despite it being essentially an order to die, he nodded with satisfaction as if he had expected it.
“Now I’m the Demon King, not the Savior?”
I disliked both his original way of addressing me and the new one equally. But that didn’t mean I wanted him to call me by my name either.
“You defeated me. If that doesn’t make you the Demon King, what does? Go. I’ll buy you time.”
“Stop putting on airs. You just said with your own mouth that you have to do this.”
“That’s true.”
That was the end of our conversation. I drew a dimensional magic circle. I’d never opened a dimensional gate before, but since it was magic from this world, I might just barely manage it.
I needed to find the other four.
The Demon King, who had been watching Mira disappear into the dimensional gate, turned his head. The woman who had summoned him to this strange world where no sound could be heard and nothing broke was walking toward him with a furious expression.
“What do you think you’re doing? Are you so desperate to die again?”
“What are YOU doing, human woman? How dare you subject me to such humiliation?”
In truth, there was an emotion the Demon King hadn’t expressed to Mira.
Rage.
The Demon King was enraged. He was extremely angry at that woman who had summoned him at her whim, given him orders, and was now trying to forcibly continue a story that had already reached its perfect conclusion.
His life had ended satisfactorily. With a desperate battle where both sides gave their all, ending in the Demon King’s defeat. He had been able to smile even as his head was cut off because he had finally experienced the fight he had long desired.
But that woman had ruined it.
The Demon King had been shamefully resurrected, and the Savior of Humanity had become much weaker than before. The constraints placed on him were visible even to the Demon King’s eyes—how must he feel?
This was an insult to both himself and his adversary, as well as to their final battle. The Demon King could not tolerate this fact.
“You have insulted me. And you have insulted my life.”
That woman was strong. Strong enough that defeat loomed larger than victory before his eyes. According to demonic instinct, he should have obeyed her words rather than those of his adversary.
“From now on, you will pay the price.”
But he didn’t. It was a choice made by his own will, not demonic instinct.
He calmly gripped his demon sword. A weapon he had contentedly let go of, thinking he would never wield it again. The demon sword, absorbing its master’s negative emotions, began to writhe and grow in size.
“Both this one and that one…! They’re all out of their minds…!”
Aria drew a magic circle with rage-filled eyes. She had summoned him thinking he would want revenge for having his head cut off by Mira, but she hadn’t expected him to be such a madman.
Soon, crimson slashes and magic soared to the edge of the sky.
“…Am I in the right place?”
I carefully checked my surroundings. A large tent for the Saint stood in the center, and except for a few people standing guard on the walls, everyone else was frozen in the midst of their bustling conversations.
I had hesitated a bit because I didn’t know the exact coordinates, but fortunately, it seemed I had arrived at the right place.
‘Judging by the divine energy I sense in there…’
I still couldn’t summon the Divine Spear, but if I concentrated, I could at least detect divine energy. I could sense divine energy coming from the tent meant for the Saint.
I approached closer. I could hear murmuring voices. Familiar voices. Thankfully, the four of them didn’t seem to be frozen.
—Shh. I hear footsteps.
With Elysier’s small warning, the voices immediately fell silent. They were probably staying quiet to assess the situation, not knowing who was approaching.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Mira! Are you safe? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Wow, Mira! You came to rescue us! You’re not going to say you got caught too, are you?”
“Art thou safe? Thank goodness.”
“We’re fine. Except for being trapped here and unable to leave.”
Various responses came back. I was relieved that none of them seemed to be in a panic.
“What on earth is happening outside? I can only think that someone has used time magic affecting the entire world.”
“It’s a long story. Extremely long.”
It really is a disgustingly long story. Starting with Aria revealing her true colors.
“First, we need to think about how to solve this…”
I looked around the tent. I needed to rescue them, but the first problem was figuring out how to make the stopped time flow again.
“Um… I hate to suggest this, but couldn’t you try hitting it with the Divine Spear? It shouldn’t harm us anyway.”
“I can’t do that, that’s why I’m like this.”
“…Why?”
“I don’t know. For some reason, I just can’t use it.”
I didn’t mention that it had been that way since meeting Latina. If I brought that up, I’d really have to explain everything from the beginning.
“Uh… then what do we do?”
From inside, I heard someone groaning in thought. I was in the same boat. As I was pondering how to solve this, a good idea suddenly came to mind.
An idea that might not be impossible.
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