Chapter 116 - Black Wedding (2)

Shadows blanketed the ground.

Each shadow wore fluttering black robes. Even facing the ghost army halted in the distance, they showed no surprise. They had lived in a world overrun by living corpses.

They had died there.

Ghosts could not frighten them.

“You look particularly fine today, Young Cult Leader.”

The Ghost-Soul Flame Demon spoke leisurely. One of the Demonic Cult’s Four Demon Lords, this was the cultist who had fought the abbot of Shaolin in the last Great War Between Orthodox and Demonic Forces.

“You’ve even powdered your face. You look as though you’re getting married.”

I nodded.

“I am getting married.”

“... Pardon?”

A thousand cultists turned their heads at once. These martial artists had regained the strength of their prime. Apparently, all of them had enhanced their hearing with internal energy to listen to me.

I spoke for them all to hear.

“I’m getting married today.”

Silence fell.

The cultists looked at one another, then back at me. They scrutinized me, trying to determine whether I was serious or joking. I answered their scrutiny with a single nod.

“Th-the Young Cult Leader...”

The Ghost-Soul Flame Demon’s mouth fell open.

“The Young Cult Leader says he’s getting married!”

The cultists erupted.

“Our Young Cult Leader is getting married!”

“The supreme sovereign of the Demonic Cult’s world is getting married!”

“It’s not even an engagement! It’s an actual wedding!”

The cultists went wild, forgetting even the ghost army before them. They shouted and shouted again. The very fact that I was getting married seemed, to them, to be news that urgently had to reach the whole world.

“Who is the bride?!”

“Over there.”

I gestured respectfully with both hands.

“The silver-haired lady over there is my wife-to-be.”

Raviel was calming the bewildered people of the empire.

Her profile was cool and commanding, as always.

Following my gesture, the cultists turned and gaped.

“She’s beautiful...”

“Sh-she certainly is pretty.”

“Our Young Cult Leader has discerning taste.”

“Young Cult Leader! How many sixty-year cycles of internal energy does your lady possess?”

True to their martial roots, they asked about her martial prowess first.

“Well. My wife doesn’t know martial arts.”

Their eyes widened. Before long, dissatisfied murmurs spread through the gathering. Their eyes revealed a rebellious refusal to accept this marriage.

“But she’s to be his partner in demonic rule over the world...”

“Isn’t it a bit much that she doesn’t know any martial arts at all?”

“Hmm. Authority comes from martial might...”

“The Blood Demon Corps cannot recognize this marriage!”

I added something.

“I forgot to mention this, but my spouse is the highest-ranking noble in this country after the Emperor.”

The cultists began murmuring again.

“Well, that changes things...”

“It’s not as though everyone born into this world has to learn martial arts. Right?”

“Indeed. Authority comes from political power...”

“Congratulations on your marriage, Young Cult Leader!”

They really were simple souls in so many ways.

But one among them was not a cultist. Hungry Ghost. The child once feared throughout the world as the Demon King of Autumn Rain had been opening and closing her mouth ever since I said I was getting married.

“M-my lord is getting married?”

“Yeah. That’s how things turned out.”

“Impossible. A complete nutjob like you... Ah, no, forgive me. Does someone truly exist in this world who would marry a person as singularly unusual as you, my lord?”

Hungry Ghost, you...

You followed me so obediently, calling me your lord, while thinking I was a nutjob all along...

Adding another tally mark to the wounds in my heart, I sighed.

“Yes, someone really does. I’ll tell you the details at the reception. For now, focus on the battle.”

“Uh, ah. Yes. As you command, my lord. What enemy are we facing...?”

“Apostles from another world who invaded to conquer this one.”

Then I added,

“They’re also the bastards trying to ruin my wedding.”

The cultists’ mood changed the instant those words left my mouth.

“Oh, really.”

The Blood Demon, head of the Blood Demon Corps, stroked his sword hilt.

“Hmm...”

The Ghost-Soul Flame Demon, head of the Spirit Consolation Unit, curled his lips upward.

“Interfering with the wedding vows of the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader, are they?”

The Moonshadow Demon Lord, head of the Corpse Shadow Unit, swept aside the hair at his temple.

“Hah. What a bunch of nutjobs.”

The Sword Demon, head of the Assassination Unit, twisted his neck up, down, left, and right.

“...”

Finally, Hungry Ghost silently drew her sword. The very sword that had forced me to die hundreds of times. A demonic sword that spewed dark-red beams.

“I see. I understand. I had surmised that you had undergone another awakening, my lord, allowing us to regain the strength we possessed in life... But it is a constellation’s blessing instead. Those must be the constellation’s lackeys.”

“That’s right.”

“May I dare ask which constellation those children are clinging to?”

“Mahos. I know it as The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains.”

Hungry Ghost twisted her lips.

“Idiots who know nothing but fighting.”

Lurking in that sneer was the arrogance she had possessed before I brought about her fall from heaven.

The enemy numbered ten thousand. We were only a thousand. Yet the cultists gripped their sword hilts while chatting, and Hungry Ghost slowly raised her blade. We held the advantage. No one thought we were at a disadvantage.

Not a single one of us.

“My lord, give your command. What would you have me do?”

I commanded,

“Wipe them out.”

Hungry Ghost raised her demonic sword high.

“It shall be as you desire.”

A single flash.

A beam redder than blood split the blood-red sunset.

GROOOOAR!

It was a red beam. Hungry Ghost’s strike carried such power and majesty that no other description could be permitted. The ghosts caught in it screamed as they vanished.

Even the general leading the ghost army narrowly escaped.

“What is this... No, impossible. A constellation...? You aren’t even a constellation, yet you command one as your subordinate...?”

As the general stared at me in horror,

“Fuck them up!”

The cultists unleashed savage roars.

“They’re small fry! We don’t even need to recite the doctrine!”

“What fucking bastards dare interfere with the wedding vows of demonic rule over the world?!”

“The heads we take today are our wedding gifts to the Young Cult Leader! Understood? Any little shit who brings back fewer than five heads dies by my hand today!”

“Bwahaha! Assassination Unit, bring back at least ten heads apiece!”

“This is why these uneducated louts...”

Some charged in anger, some roaring, and others clicking their tongues. The ghost army was still far away, but distance meant nothing. A full thousand shadows employed their lightness arts at once.

“What?! Stop them!”

The general shouted in alarm.

The ghost army, too, consisted of elite soldiers. They raised their shields and formed seamless ranks. Spears packed the formation, turning it into a hedgehog.

But...

“How dull-witted.”

Hungry Ghost, the specter of autumn rain, sneered.

“The horse fodder are making targets of themselves.”

The red beam tore through the sky again.

KABOOOOM!

The tightly packed ghost army was swept away with ease, leaving a gaping hole in its square formation. The ghost soldiers scrambled to close the gap.

“Kahaha!”

But the battle-hardened cultists would never miss an opening.

“Tear them apart!”

They pounced like beasts. The shadow host collided with the ghost army.

SLASH!

SHRAAAK!

The cultists slaughtered the ghosts, scattering internal energy.

Unlike in the Great War Between Orthodox and Demonic Forces, they did not bother chanting Baraya. None mentioned why, but I could guess. This was no duel. No great war.

Merely a hunt.

The cultists butchered the ghost army, dismissing them as mere beasts.

SKREEEE!

The ghost army lacked the strength to overcome that arrogance. Its ranks crumbled beneath the cultists’ blades. Shields shattered, and spears broke. The cultists thrust their swords through the gaps left by broken shields, then seized broken spear shafts, reversed them, and drove them down.

It was a massacre.

“Regroup by unit!”

The general raised his banner and shouted urgently.

“Do not panic, warriors! There is no hurry! Follow your squad leaders...”

“Hey.”

TAP.

Someone landed lightly atop the banner the general held.

“Howdy.”

The Sword Demon. One of the Four Demon Lords, and the foulest-mouthed man among them. With the evening sun behind him, his face lay in shadow.

“I hear you’re interfering with our Cult Leader’s wedding, pal?”

“You wretch.”

“Fucking bastard. Just die.”

The sword tip flashed. One strike. Two. Three. Three sword paths intertwined like a spiderweb. The first severed the general’s right arm, the second slashed his chest, and the third tore his banner.

“Guh, hhk...”

The war god’s apostle spat blood. Even that lasted only an instant. The Sword Demon aimed his final strike at the very throat from which the blood had come. The scream was cut short, and the head flew into the air.

“Oh. Hup.”

The Sword Demon kicked off the flagpole and sprang upward. He snatched the general’s head out of the air.

“Whoops, can’t let this treasure get away. Haha! Did you see that, you little shits? I’m the Sword Demon, Commander of the Assassination Unit! Our unit takes first place for wedding gifts to the Young Cult Leader!”

“Damn it.”

“Of all people, that blockhead...”

Quiet mutters of “fuck” rose here and there. Perhaps there was an odd rivalry even among the Four Demon Lords. The other cultists looked miserable, complaining that the Sword Demon had stolen the spotlight.

[The apostle of ‘The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains’ vanishes.]

The general’s head in the Sword Demon’s grasp softly dissolved into light. It was not alone. The general’s headless body and the ghosts following him crumbled like dust in an instant. The army vanished.

“Huh? Wha...?”

Flustered, the Sword Demon looked up at his suddenly empty right hand. A moment later, he turned blankly toward me.

“Uh... um... Do you accept gifts in spirit, too, Young Cult Leader?”

I chuckled.

“It’s fine. I’ll give you a little leeway.”

That was when it happened.

“Lu. La.”

The remaining [Immortal Evangelist of Happiness] began to sing. Lu. La. The children joined hands and danced in a circle in the air. Every step they took upon the sunset added another melody to the sky.

“Hmm.”

“Ugh.”

The cultists frowned. Some hurriedly tried to muster their internal energy to resist the song, but failed. With the death of [The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains]’s apostle, the area effect had ended as well.

“Ah...”

Hungry Ghost also groaned in dismay. The black sludge covering her body streamed off rapidly. Clicking her tongue, she glared at the Sword Demon.

“That idiot... An ally, yet no help at all. Forgive me, my lord. Unless I am in my prime, I am... vulnerable to mental attacks like these, um... fighting... is...”

Her voice slowed as she spoke because she was falling asleep. Her body swayed.

She was not the only one. The cultists who had been tearing madly across the battlefield moments before collapsed one by one. So did the guests following Raviel’s commands. The humans were helpless against the dream apostle’s lullaby.

“Wait a moment, Death King.”

The Inquisitor formed a hand seal.

“I’ll create an immunity field right now!”

“No.”

I caught his hands and stopped him. He tilted his head.

“Death King? If we leave things like this, we’ll fall victim to the apostle’s song as well.”

“Perhaps. But if I’m right, I don’t know about anyone else, but Raviel, you, and I will be fine.”

“Hmm.”

Smiling, the Inquisitor released his hand seal.

“Understood. You must have a reason for saying so.”

By then, the sunset had reached its height.

“Lu. La, la.”

“La, lulu. Lu.”

The setting sun blazed red, shining upon the children. Their shadows stretched all the way to the horizon. The shadows on the ground repeatedly receded and approached, shrinking and then growing again.

[“It’s a form of mental attack.”]

[“Exposure to that song forcibly traps you in your happiest memory.”]

The wedding venue fell quiet.

The cultists sat on the ground, dozing with their shoulders leaning against one another. Some guests had fallen asleep facedown. Were they all immersed in their own happiness?

“Oh.”

But three people could still speak.

“You were right?”

The Inquisitor stroked his chin with interest, looking between Raviel and me.

“As you said, Death King, the three of us are perfectly fine. I may feel a little sleepy, but my body remains in normal condition. Aha! What magic have you worked this time?”

The Inquisitor was not the only one curious about the situation. The dream apostles slowly stopped their dance. The children tilted their heads, looking down at me.

“What a strange human.”

“He won’t sleep. Don’t you dream?”

“Don’t you have any happy memories?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

I slowly surveyed the wedding venue.

“That’s not it.”

There was Hungry Ghost, asleep and breathing softly. There were the cultists, dozing against one another’s shoulders. There was the life I had taken into my care, and the lives that bore witness to my Master.

I had many reasons to be unhappy.

Countless reasons.

I had burned to death, killed myself thousands of times, and witnessed my companions succumb to suspicion and kill one another. There had even been times when I had to throw away dozens of lives to take a single step forward. A dead corpse had torn out my throat, and I had been forced to say goodbye to someone who called me beautiful.

Perhaps no one would blame me if I called my life unhappy.

“I’m happiest right now.”

But the person I loved was here.

That single reason for happiness mattered more to me than hundreds of reasons to be unhappy.

“I don’t know if you know this, but today is my wedding day. I can’t speak for other days, but today, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone happier than me. You chose the wrong date to invade this world. Completely wrong.”

I shrugged.

“As for the Inquisitor... Either he isn’t happy at all, or he’s simply happy every single day.”

“Ah! I see! That’s it. I am indeed always happy, all the time! There’s truly no matching your discernment, Death King.”

Laughing, the Inquisitor whispered,

“Divine Art. Divine Conveyance.”

The next instant, we had been transported behind the apostle.

Unlike the other apostles, [The Immortal Evangelist of Happiness] had no fighting ability. The child-shaped apostle offered no resistance upon seeing us. It merely stared up at my face.

“What a strange human.”

I steeled myself and swung my sword.

[The apostle of ‘The Immortal Evangelist of Happiness’ vanishes.]

Then we returned to the ground through the Divine Art.

We had defeated every otherworldly being that had invaded this world.

“...”

No, perhaps not every one just yet.

Adjusting my grip on the holy sword, I turned around. The apostle holding the enormous hammer stood in the distance. She flinched when our eyes met.

“Eek, uh... ah...”

I spoke slowly.

“This is your last chance to fight me. Your last chance to defy me, and your last chance to resist me. I will kill you and take you into my care.”

“T-take me...?”