CHAPTER 92
The Ex–Demon Lord and the Whereabouts of Love
He looked like a ghost.
Lizer’s cheeks were sunken in, and his eyes glowed in their deep sockets. His hair was falling out in patches. Drool spilled from the corner of his mouth. He was senile, it seemed.
Gone was the shadow of the veteran hardened by war. All that was left was a pathetic old man consumed by madness.
“M-Mari-Mariaaaaa…” The corners of his mouth curled. Saliva oozed from between his lips.
Lizer slowly staggered toward us.
“Keh-keh, heh-heh-heh, ha-ha…” Lizer chuckled eerily, and his eyes locked on to Maria. I turned to face the old man and felt the presence of an Evil God.
It was him. He was right there with us. Mephisto Yuu Phegor was inside Lizer Bellphoenix.
The devil was staring at us from within him. By peering into Lizer’s eyes, I could feel Mephisto’s dark intentions.
“So it’s the climax of our little drama.
“Will you follow the script, or will you rewrite it?
“Either way, I hope this game will be fun for us, honey.”
As usual, he saw people only as his toys. And I would crush his reign of evil at any cost.
“…Is everyone ready?”
“Obviously.”
“Just say the word!”
“I hate getting all serious…but I guess I don’t have a choice, huh?”
“I’ll try my hardest not to be the weakest link…!”
I stared down the enemy, growing confident in my friends.
Lizer still only had eyes for Maria. Keeping her in his sights, he drooled and dragged himself toward her.
“No, no… What’s going on…?” Maria looked bewildered, sweating from fear.
Lizer seemed to take note of her alarmed expression. He stopped mid-stride, tilted his head, and began to mumble.
“Why that face? Why, why, why, why? Why are you making that face at me? It’s strange. We’re finally together again. You should be smiling. Why aren’t you smiling? Why? It’s not right. Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why ?”
Lizer’s eyes rolled around in his sockets, and he pulled his hair. Maria recoiled at his behavior.
“…Please don’t worry. We will protect you.” I stepped forward to defend her.
Then—
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I—I see. I see, I see, I see. It-it-it-it’s you. You. It’s your fault, isn’t it? Yes, yes, I’m positive. U-ugh-ughhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
Lizer grabbed his head and began to moan…
“Whaaaaaat did you dooo to Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”
Rage and bloodlust burned in his eyes. He lurched forward.
Lizer was impossibly fast. The sallow man moved like a wild animal.
“Prepare for battle!” I shouted as he launched his assault.
Lizer closed in and swept his right arm sideways. He was aiming for my head. His speed was overwhelming. I couldn’t dodge. Thus, the only option was to defend. I cast Wall—
And I received a direct hit a second later.
Lizer’s right arm slammed into my protective film and pulverized it. The impact carried through and went straight for my head.
Did I underestimate his strength?
I jumped to the side, and seconds later, Lizer’s arm struck the side of my temporal lobe. The impact rattled my body, and in the blink of an eye, I felt like I was floating, flying like a piece of scrap paper in the wind, before breaking through a wall and leaving the palace altogether. I crashed into the courtyard and rolled along the ground for a while. I had jumped to the side prior to the impact, so the damage was minimal. Still, I could tell I had a mild concussion, and my vision was unfocused. I needed to take a few deep breaths and calm down—
“Arrrrrrrrrrd Meteooooooooooooor!”
Apparently, I wouldn’t even be allowed a single breath. The crazy old man came charging after me via the tunnel carved by my body.
“…You never let up, do you?”
When the fuzzy form of the enemy took shape in my blurred vision, I launched a counterattack—a barrage of elemental magic, twenty-seven circles around me, fifty-seven more to encompass Lizer. I cast a total of eighty-four spells, calling up a maelstrom of destruction.
Fire, wind, earth, water, lightning. The flurry of five major elements covered a wide range—including the courtyard, which was reduced to an empty plot. The scene looked like a battlefield, but…
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Even after taking a blow that would drive back the largest of armies, Lizer pressed onward. There wasn’t a scratch on him. His white priest robes weren’t even singed.
However, I had bought myself some time.
“I’ll crush youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
As he came closer, the giant mace that appeared in Lizer’s right hand swung down. Avoiding it was easy enough; my brain was already stabilized and back to normal. I dodged his swing, and it dug impressively into the earth.
“Hmph. I knew it would be a challenge to take you on my own. However—” I watched the clods of dirt fly in all directions and took a steadying breath.
“I, Ard Meteor, do not stand before you alone.”
Just as Lizer went to prepare his next attack…
“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Sylphy let out her wild battle cry, raining chains down on Lizer.
The Divine Chains of the Shackle God. The Armor snapped in to capture the enemy.
“Nghhh!”
The chains shot through the empty air. Sensing danger, Lizer jumped back to put distance between him and the Armor.
—That was where she was waiting.
“Aaand lightning!” Verda shouted, her upper body peeking out of some midair portal.
She used the Mirror Shield of Omniscient Reversal. Its light flashed and engulfed Lizer; then…
“Oh?” Half of Mephisto’s body protruded from Lizer’s.
Determined not to let this opportunity go to waste, Olivia vel Vine stormed in and closed the distance in a millisecond. As soon as the enemy was within reach of her blade, she took up her weapon…and unleashed the Supreme Sword of Destruction. The jet-black blade could slice and annihilate all creation. And its current target was…
“It’s over…! Mephisto Yuu Phegor!!”
The devil’s astral spirit was now detached with the power of the Mirror Shield. Mephisto possessed Lizer’s body after casting aside his own physical form and becoming a spirit. If they could separate the two and cut him with the Supreme Sword…this battle, at the very least, would be theirs. That was all it would take.
“Heh-heh. It’s not over just yet.” Mephisto’s spirit retreated into Lizer’s body as he jumped back.
Olivia’s attack missed him by only a hair.
“Nooo! We were so close!”
“True, but now we know there’s hope.”
“…Right. We have a sufficient chance.”
“Let’s get payback—a hundred times over!”
My friends and I surrounded Lizer…
“Now!”
On my signal, we all moved as a unit. While issuing orders to everyone, I would act as a decoy and engage in guerrilla warfare alongside Ginny. As soon as Ginny saw an opening, she would use the Divine Chains to bind the enemy. Verda would then cast the Mirror Shield and separate Mephisto’s astral spirit. Finally, Olivia would use the Supreme Sword to rend his spirit in half and end the battle.
—I hoped it would work out that way…but we were dealing with the greatest psycho. A monster who we risked everything on before and still couldn’t beat.
So obviously, it wasn’t going to be so easy.
“Aaaaaaaaaargh!!”
We completely missed our target. Just when we thought we had finally beaten him to the punch—with him surrounded and cornered—it fell apart at the next moment. Our situation only continued to worsen, and there was little sign things would improve.
“If I could just chant my Original…!” I exclaimed, involuntarily clicking my tongue.
Private Kingdom was our best chance of survival. The problem was that our enemy was swifter than I’d expected, so attempting it was a risk.
“I don’t even have time to invoke it…!”
The chant required ten seconds to complete, depending on my mental state. Every nerve in my body would be focused on this task during that time, so it created a long opportunity for the enemy to get me. If this was any other lower-ranked fighter, I might be able to chant and deal with them at the same time…but there was no chance of that this time around.
Still, casting an Original didn’t guarantee victory. Mephisto had wormed his way into Lizer, and there was no question that their spirits had merged. As long as that bond was solid, separating them with the Mirror Shield was meaningless. They’d quickly rejoin, like they had just demonstrated.
“I knew it. To weaken their connection, we’ll need…”
Maria. The key rose to my mind…
“That’s enough…! Stop it, Lizer!” the girl cried out sorrowfully.
The man immediately seized up.
It wasn’t anything the rest of us did. Lizer stopped fighting and looked at her.
“Ohhh, Maria…! What’s wrong…?! Why are…you crying…?!”
Tears soaked her cheeks.
“Did someone…make you cry…?! Th-that’s unforgivable…! How dare they make Maria…!” Lizer’s face twisted.
The trembling girl looked straight into his eyes. “Why are you doing such horrible things?!”
Maybe Lizer was suddenly forced to realize he was the one to blame. His mouth was slack in shock, and he stared at Maria.
“I finally know why I was feeling so off all this time…!” she lamented. “It’s because you were hiding things from me, Lizer…! The wicked parts of you, all of it! Everything—every single little thing! You hid them from me!”
“M-Maria…?”
“Why?! What’s the point of this awful stuff?! How can you do such things?! You’re making everyone suffer! You’re making them cry! You even hurt everyone from the orphanage! I don’t know you at all, Lizer!”
“I—I…! I did everything…everything for you! To bring you happiness! That’s what all this is for!” Lizer said, breaking out in greasy perspiration. Like a sinner pleading his innocence. “Y-you were happy, weren’t you?! I resurrected your friends! I made you into a Saint! I made your ideal world! I did as you wished! A-and yet……you look at me like this!!”
Maria’s eyes were a muddled dark gray as she stared at Lizer. What emotions were roiling inside her heart?
…It was at least safe to say there was nothing positive in there. For Lizer or us.
“Yeah, I’m the bad one.”
“…Maria?”
“That’s right. Yeah. I was bad. I understand now. I’m sure this is my fault. It’s all my fault. After all, I didn’t tell you something important back then.”
“Wh-what are you talking about…?”
“I’m to blame for all this. This happened because of me. Everyone else had to suffer because I’m here. Even you, Lizer… I should have never been born.”
“……! D-don’t say that! It’s not true!” Lizer’s eyes shot open as he approached Maria.
She held both arms out. “Stay away!” she shrieked tearily. “Everything is my fault. I’m to blame. But I still…I still can’t forgive you, Lizer.”
She choked on her sobs. “I liked you. I loved you. That’s why…I’ll never forgive you. I’ll never forgive you for hurting everyone, Lizer…”
Maria gritted her teeth and glared at the old man across from her.
“I…hate you, Lizer!”
Fatal words. It was more than enough to break Lizer’s heart.
“U-uwagh…! Agh, aghhhh, aghhhhhhhhhhhh…!”
He gripped his head and wailed in frenzied agony. It was the sound of his soul cracking.
“G-gah… Ughhh… Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Just then, Lizer’s whole body floated into the air and up toward the sky.
—This was bad.
Sensing danger, I instinctively called out, “Please come here!”
As unsettled as she was, there was no way Maria could move herself. Upon reaching the same conclusion, everyone raced over to her. Just as we all clustered together…
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” Lizer screamed up in the sky, and something strange began to happen to his body. A dark aura swallowed him, and then—
The energy swelled.
It bubbled and fumed. The black silhouette grew. It expanded to the size of a small mountain, then stopped.
“Wh-what’s going on, Ard…?!”
“Well, I can’t imagine it bodes well for us.”
As if to confirm this theory, the aura dissipated, revealing…a grotesque titan with a towering body.
Its statuesque figure was a monotone gray and reminiscent of a soldier’s naked, chiseled form. It glowed like a burning ember from head to toe. Six arms sprouted behind it, and each gripped either a sword or spear. Two arms growing from its shoulders were immobile and clasped together in prayer in front of its chest. There were four faces around its head, each revealing individual expressions of agony, sorrow, dejection, and rage.
“Gya-hya-hya-hya-hya! Someone’s wearing their birthday suit! You’re buck naked, Lizer!”
“This isn’t a time to be laughing…!”
“Uh-oh, this doesn’t look good!”
“A-Ard…!”
Danger. My heart pounded.
“Giga Wall!” I cast a defensive spell without a second thought. It was the best my current form allowed.
Multiple layers of Giga Wall manifested above our heads to create a thick barrier. Then…
“Come, destruction.” The ghastly titan spoke in a penetrating, cold voice, then—
It emitted light beams from the six weapons in its six arms. It was an indiscriminate attack. The blazing heat that the behemoth fired upon the earth destroyed everything in sight. The palace was obliterated in an instant, leaving not even rubble behind. The capital itself turned into a devastated wasteland. Amid the vortex of chaos, we were the only ones who remained untouched. Nevertheless, it was a close call.
“Geez! That was reckless…!”
I had created the toughest shield possible with layers numbering in the hundreds of millions. Yet, even that would have been pierced through if I didn’t constantly repair it. This ridiculously catastrophic power was already fearsome enough, but…
“Hey! Th-the mountains! The mountains are disappearing!” Sylphy exclaimed.
The peaks and hills towering in the far-off distance were vanishing before our very eyes.
“So his power and range are both insane…!”
“Wow. The teacher’s going a liiiiittle overboard.”
“A-at this rate, the whole world is gonna be annihilated!”
What Sylphy said was hardly an exaggeration. Back in Mephisto’s heyday, the world was in constant threat of destruction. And—
I (the Demon Lord) and Lydia (the Champion) were always the ones to put down this Evil God’s violence.
“…Lady Olivia, Lady Verda, Sylphy. Please hand me your Armor.”
I began equipping the Supreme Sword, Mirror Shield, and Divine Chains and turned to Maria. She was trembling and crying. Were those tears on her cheeks a sign of her fear? Or—was she regretting her words?
At any rate, we were at a critical juncture. Our fates would be decided here. Whether we would win and save everything or fail and lose it all depended entirely on Maria.
“…I’m about to head into almost certain death. I hope to save everyone and bring back stability,” I stated, staring at the young girl before raising a certain issue. “Should Sir Lizer be included among the rescued? …What do you think, Maria?”
“Huh…?” she asked, rubbing her swollen red eyes as she looked at me.
“I vow to defeat this evil and return the smiles to everyone’s faces. That being said, I have a question for you. Is Sir Lizer a fragment of menace that ought to be vanquished? Or is he a victim worthy of salvation?”
Her answer would decide everything. I continue to nervously watch Maria. Then…
“…I think what Lizer did was truly deplorable,” Maria said with a downcast look and quivering lips. “It’s appalling…and unjustifiable…but…”
“…But?”
“I said I hated him…! I made that clear…! And yet, I…I still want to forgive Lizer…! After all, this is my fault…! Not Lizer’s…!”
Maria’s tears spilled over, and she continued to voice her feelings.
“Lizer…! He’s my Champion…! Even if he does these terrible things…! I can’t…I just can’t…bring myself to hate him…!”
In that next moment, her words, her decision…were definitive proof of our victory.
“Please…! Save him…! Save Lizer and everyone else…!”
I patted the girl’s head. “Leave it to me.”
My words were simple but heartfelt, and I turned my gaze skyward. The titan’s destructive potential seemed limitless, and I could sense Lizer’s agony within.
“Are you smiling, Mephisto Yuu Phegor?”
The devil’s glee was equally palpable.
“…I’ll see you all later.” I cast magic and rose into the sky.
“We’re counting on you.”
“Sock him for me!”
“May you be victorious…!”
“Make it quick. Y’know, like ya always do.”
The voices of my friends gave me an extra boost from behind. As soon as I left the protective membrane, a deluge of light beams came crashing down on me. I evaded them at the last second and glared at the goliath.
“…Ah, I knew it. You are smiling, Mephisto Yuu Phegor.”
I soared fearlessly upward to the monster in the sky, and rays of heat formed clusters to shoot me down. Each one was bursting with his malevolence.
“It’s useless.
“Your fate is sealed.
“There’s no happy ending.
“Nothing you do will rescue Lizer.
“You can’t save anyone.”
…No. You’re wrong. Nothing has been decided. This is far from over. But if you still think it’s funny—
“—I’ll wipe that damn grin right off your face.”
I gave my enemy a cutting look…then invoked my chant.
“All roads lead to despair.
“That is the way of life for a pitiful man.”
I thought about him as I readied my greatest asset, Lizer Bellphoenix.
“In complete solitude is he.
“For there are those who follow his lead
“But none to rule together with him.”
He was a man who rose to prominence in my army and quickly became a Heavenly King. I distinctly remembered his first audience with me. The eyes of that man who tepidly swore loyalty to me were cold as ice and, more than anything—brimming with grief.
“There is not one who understands.
“All are eager to leave his side.”
I couldn’t figure out why at the time, but I simply labeled Lizer as odd and made no attempt to comprehend his true nature. This was even truer once he became my enemy.
But after peering into Maria’s memories, I came to understand this man. I grasped the root of his sorrow, which was why I could no longer see him as my enemy.
“Cast away by his one and only friend,
“He sinks into a sea of madness and isolation.”
Lizer and I were alike, just as Maria said. We were born from nothingness, lived in solitude, finally found an end to our misery—whereby we lost everything.
We were one and the same. Completely consumed by thoughts of those who have departed and only able to look backward. Living like emotionless dolls as we made the same mistakes.
“Rest without peace. Drown in anguish and despair.”
Back then, there was no one who could stand in my way. I wished for failure. I begged for someone to stop me. Yet no one did.
—That’s why I’ll be that person for you, Lizer Bellphoenix.
“That which guides this tale.”
I’ll be your salvation. You can still go back. To Maria. To those you love. Lizer Bellphoenix, I won’t let you repeat my mistakes. I won’t let you suffer the same fate. That’s why—I’ll unleash my power.
“—Private Kingdom—the Story of a Lonely King!”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login