Chapter 45 - The Demon King’s Name (2)

2

[You have entered the boss stage.]

This was the second time.

My second time entering a boss stage.

Comparing then and now... much was the same, and much had changed.

[Challenger: Death King. One person.]

[May fortune be with you.]

First, the notifications.

Just as when I challenged the Infernal Mansion, I was still the only challenger. A solo player. As always, the Tower quietly wished the challenger luck—wished me luck.

But there were definite differences from back then, too.

[Clear rewards will be granted.]

[Rewards for floors 11 through 19 will be calculated together.]

I was no longer merely a challenger.

I was a conqueror who had subdued floors eleven through nineteen and climbed all the way here.

Welcoming me as that conqueror, the Tower joyfully sounded nine trumpet calls.

[Calculating floor 11 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 12 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 13 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 14 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 15 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 16 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 17 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 18 clear rewards.]

[Calculating floor 19 clear rewards...]

STEP

I took a step forward.

[Calculation complete.]

Listening to the melody welcoming my steps.

[The Tower recognizes your great achievement.]

[You are granted the right to modify a skill!]

[You may enhance any skill that is not EX-rank.]

It was like a hymn blessing me.

The Tower had prepared the stages in advance. The quest path had already been laid out. But I had not walked that paved road. I had created an entirely new stage and cleared it my own way.

The Tower had acknowledged my approach.

As though saying, “That works, too.”

[Adjusting Death King’s authority!]

It was doing so again.

[You are granted limited apostle authority.]

[For this reward only, you have limited administrative authority.]

[Which skill to enhance and how to enhance it are entirely up to you!]

A stage that had not been predetermined.

An approach that had not been predetermined.

Naturally, then, the reward had not been predetermined either.

'... I see.'

I nodded inwardly.

'It’s leaving the choice to me.'

I didn’t know why the Tower had been built. I didn’t know who had built it. Nor did I know why it was filled with life from other worlds.

There was still so much I didn’t know.

But now I had some idea of [what sort of being] the Tower was.

'A being that watches our choices.'

And a being that remembered mine.

'All right.'

SHING!

I drew my sword.

'I’ll show you my choice this time, too.'

A relic said to have been wielded by the empire’s founder.

[Lefanta Aegim’s Holy Guardian Sword] resonated with my aura, spilling white light.

I pointed it at the [enemy] before me.

“Now, then.”

At the entrance to the twentieth stage, it stood on a road leading into a small village.

“It’s time to bring your story to an end, Demon King.”

—...

It growled softly.

Like a beast that had suffered an irreparable wound.

Caught in the world’s conflagration and driven out by its flames, the beast now had only the tiniest refuge left. The road leading into the village.

—My...

Acacia trees lined both sides of the road.

In the middle of that road, hung with white blossoms, the beast stood alone.

—This is my village!

It howled.

—Don’t you dare destroy my paradise!

And a voice rang out.

[The boss stage will now begin.]

The curtain rose.

On a stage for defeating the weakest boss in the world.

“...”

For a moment, I looked up at the sky.

It was clear. Blue.

The sky had always been blue territory.

Looking up at that cloudless sky, I was certain.

Today, no rain would fall.

3

White acacia petals fluttered through the air.

They made no sound as they drifted.

The road was powdered white with those silent petals.

Only the breaths passing back and forth upon it filled the world’s emptiness.

—I cannot forgive you!

The breaths filling the world were ragged.

—I will never forgive you! The scorch marks still linger in my eyes! The stench of burning is branded into my mind! Those flames! You bastards! Did you think I would forget your malice?

It screamed, swinging its red sword.

Each time someone screamed, the world grew that much smaller.

The twentieth stage was particularly cramped.

Floor twenty.

On the minimap, it was less than one hundredth the size of the other stages. Checking the world map changed nothing. There was only a single-pixel red dot marked on it.

That was floor twenty’s boss stage.

—Going back again! Turning back time again!

It was just an ordinary country village.

—Are you trying to burn my paradise again?

The smallest stage in the world.

And the weakest boss monster in the world.

—Again! You bastards, you do this! Always, this way!

It was howling on the road where acacia petals fell. One person’s scream. A thin voice. Yet this world was so cramped that even a single person’s cry could fill it.

A small world.

A tiny village.

“Our positions have completely reversed.”

I knocked the Demon King’s sword aside.

Our blades clashed sharply.

“Remember? On floor twelve, you were the Demon King and I was the Hero. You invaded, and I stood in your way. Man, life sure is full of coincidences, isn’t it? Now you’re the one defending.”

—Die!

“Sorry, Demon King.”

I twisted my blade.

“But of all the things you could say to me, that means the least.”

My sword pushed the Demon King’s blade aside without difficulty. Our strength was on entirely different levels. The Demon King’s muscles were already pitifully weak. Unable to withstand my push, it left its waist exposed like a wide-open road.

An opening.

My blade easily sliced across the Demon King’s upper body.

—Kraaaaagh!

Red blood burst forth.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Blood flowed.

The white of the acacia petals fallen on the road.

Red fragrances pattered down, staining those petals.

“You’ve grown weak, Demon King of Autumn Rain.”

I took a step forward.

Red petals were crushed beneath my foot.

“Truly weak.”

—Ugh, khh... ahh... ggh...!

“But it’s still not enough.”

I swung my sword.

“Grow weaker.”

—You...

“Much weaker than you are now.”

The blade sliced the Demon King.

The white petals grew a little redder.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

The road to the village.

The stretch of road beyond the Demon King’s back was white.

But the road behind me was being stained an ever-deeper red.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

One step.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Another step.

Each time the Demon King stepped back, the petals lost more of their white.

Each time I stepped forward, the single acacia-lined road grew a little redder.

And that was not all.

—Ggh... ugh...

Little by little, the Demon King’s entire body was revealed.

Grudges. Resentment. Outcry.

The foul water in which they had congealed was peeling away.

—No...

The tops of the Demon King’s feet emerged.

—No...! No more, not any more...

Both legs planted on the road emerged.

—Ugh...

Its left and right arms were fully revealed.

Its body below and above the waist emerged.

Its long neck emerged.

—Tower, no... no...!

I swung my sword.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

At last, the covering on its face began to peel away.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Its chin.

Its lower and upper lips.

Its philtrum, the tip of its nose, both cheeks.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Red eyes.

A white forehead.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Finally.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

Its hair, resembling a lion’s mane.

Strand by strand, it lost its blackness.

Even the last of the foul water flowed away.

—Ah...

It moaned. Its slender arms trembled violently.

They could no longer bear the weight of its sword.

—Uhh, uh...

The thing standing beneath the acacia tree was no longer a Demon King. No one in the world would call someone who could not even properly lift a sword a Demon King.

And.

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain’s existence is becoming less distinct.]

[The Demon King of Autumn Rain can no longer maintain its authority.]

The Tower, too, ceased to call it a Demon King.

[Initiating rank adjustment.]

[Revoking the epithet Demon King of Autumn Rain.]

What had been the Demon King trembled.

—No...!

White light enveloped it.

It thrashed as though surrounded by a swarm of bees.

—No...! No! No, no!

But it was useless. The light wrapped around it without dimming in the slightest.

[Repeating the announcement.]

It carried out the sentence.

[Revoking the epithet Demon King of Autumn Rain.]

[Revoking the Demon King of Autumn Rain’s authority.]

It screamed.

—Aaaaah...!

A fall from heaven.

A constellation that had boasted absolute might was now falling.

—Ahh, aaaah! Aaaaah!

It reached out as though trying to catch the scattering droplets of light. It grabbed wildly for them. But the light could not be caught. It only slipped between its fingers.

The white light scattered, then scattered still further.

—Ah.

There remained...

“Ahh.”

Only a single frail beast.

“Ah, ugh... no, ugh, uh... aaaah...”

Not the Demon King of Autumn Rain.

Not the master of nightmares.

Not the Saintess of the Borderlands.

A fragile being.

“Yes.”

I gripped my sword’s hilt.

“Now you’re finally weak enough.”

“Don’t come... don’t come closer...”

“Then stop me.”

STEP

I took a step forward.

“How will you stop me? With your rights? With a sword? Try whatever you can. Otherwise...”

One more step.

“I’ll walk right up to you.”

It took a step back.

As I approached, it struggled to speak.

“You... all of you did that to me, to my children... After that, what right do you have to do this to me—”

“Wrong.”

I took another step forward.

“As you said before, I’m a stranger who crossed over from another world. Yes, the alliance of demihumans, the temple, kings and emperors—everyone living in this world joined forces to burn you and your village. Let’s say there isn’t a single human on this continent free of responsibility for that. But I am. Because I’m a complete outsider. Hunters like us are free of that responsibility.”

“Ugh...”

“You have no right to hold me responsible. And of course...”

As it took a step back, I took another forward.

“You no longer have the strength to stop me, either.”

It trembled. That trembling spilled out through its lips.

“I... I didn’t do anything...”

“You mean you did nothing wrong?”

“I! I only helped the sick...”

“[Estelle] was afraid, too, just like you are now.”

It flinched.

“She screamed for you to spare her. Cried that she didn’t want to die. Called for her father. What did you do to that little girl?”

I calmly recounted what it had done before becoming Estelle, before acquiring human memories.

“You sank your teeth into the struggling girl’s throat. You ate her as you pleased and became Estelle. And was that all? You swallowed a newborn that a woman cherished and trusted you with, then strutted around claiming you had saved people. You betrayed the woman who believed in you and entrusted her baby to you.”

“I... that’s not. It wasn’t like that. I...”

“You concealed the truth. You hid that you had become Estelle, and you never told anyone you had swallowed the child. You knew people would misunderstand, but you deliberately kept silent because you were afraid they would treat you as a monster. You deceived them.”

I took another step forward.

“Making excuses won’t help. No one in this world knows you as well as I do. I know every detail of what you went through, what you felt, and how you changed.”

“...”

“You are not a flawless saintess. You are not an innocent victim. We don’t even need to get to the woman and her baby. As I said, the moment you swallowed Estelle, you lost any right to claim you had never done wrong—”

“I!”

Then it cried out in a fit.

“I didn’t know!”

I stopped.

Clenching its teeth and trembling violently, it covered its face. Wails spilled through every gap between its fingers.

“I, I didn’t know. Back then, I didn’t have human memories... or knowledge, so I didn’t know...”

The meaning of a plea to be spared.

Of struggling.

Of begging.

“Back then... back then, what any of it meant, I...”

“You made a mistake because you didn’t know?”

“Yes! That’s why I, if I’d only known, I never would have—Estelle—”

It was about to say that it would never have eaten her.

But I spoke first.

“That’s what humans do.”

It was at a loss for words.

“The kings who burned you could make the same excuse. No, they certainly would. They did, didn’t they? When the world was covered in blood, what did they say as they stood before you?”

I didn’t know.

We didn’t know you bore us no malice.

We just thought you were an evil witch. A monster.

That was why, that was the reason, if only we had known, they had said.

“Obvious lies...”

“Of course some of them must have lied.”

I acknowledged that.

“There must have been people who ordered you and your followers burned out of hunger for power, arrogance, or prejudice, then denied it. Why wouldn’t there be? This is what humans do. But can you be certain every last one of them was like that? Can you say for sure there wasn’t a shred of truth in that excuse?”

“That...”

“Even if all the kings gave their orders with those motives, the point still stands.”

I simply said what had to be said.

“What about the soldiers who obeyed their orders? The people who were living their daily lives in those kingdoms and had to flee? Was there not even one among them who could say, just like you, ‘I didn’t know’?”

Its face twisted more horribly than when my blade had struck it.

I took another step forward.

“What did the one-eyed giant sitting on the mountain ridge say to you?”

“...”

At last, it fell completely silent.

I spoke quietly to the silent creature.

“Sorry, but I haven’t learned much. I’m ignorant, you see. There’s only one kind of justice in this world that I know.”

One more step.

“Reaping what you sow.”

Its shoulders trembled.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you believe that what you swallowed into your shadow and spat back out was human, fine. Let the same thing happen to you. At the very least, wouldn’t that be fair?”

“Wh... what are you saying...?”

“Tower!”

I looked up at the sky.

“I want to use my clear reward!”

I took out a golden card. The clear reward I had earned by fighting through floors eleven to nineteen. I had decided to use it on this very skill.

+

[Summon a Hundred Ghosts]

Rank: SS

Effect: Summons those you have personally killed as monsters. The dead do not inherit the abilities they possessed in life. They do not inherit their memories, either. They are summoned only as monsters such as goblins, orcs, zombies, and skeletons.

※However, you may summon them only once per week.

+

Summon a Hundred Ghosts.

An SS-rank skill.

Gripping the card, I held it up toward the lofty blue sky.

“You clearly said I could modify a skill however I wanted!”

[The Tower affirms your statement.]

A voice answered my shout.

[However, excessive modifications are not permitted.]

[The Tower will provide an example to aid your understanding.]

[Evolving an SS-rank skill into an SSS-rank skill is within the permitted range.]

I nodded.

From the beginning, there had only been one thing I wanted to request anyway.

“I request a modification to the skill Summon a Hundred Ghosts!”

[The Tower asks you to state your wishes.]

“You don’t need to touch anything else! Only the memories. I want you to change the part that says, ‘They do not inherit their memories’! If and only if I wish it, let those summoned inherit the memories they had in life!”

It flinched, then hesitated.

“You... what are you trying... to do...?”

“Well? Isn’t that a reasonable request?”

Ignoring Estelle, I shouted.

“I’m not asking them to inherit the abilities of those I’ve killed! I’m not demanding that they inherit their skills. I’m not even asking you to reduce the cooldown. Memories! Only memories. I want the dead I’ve killed to remember their lives!”

Silence.

The sky had fallen silent.

[Assessing the level of your request.]

[Assessment in progress...]

A little later.

[The Tower acknowledges that your request is within reasonable limits.]

Permission was granted.

[Confirming your request.]

[Would you like to use the privilege earned as a reward for clearing floors 11 through 19 on the skill ‘Summon a Hundred Ghosts’?]

“Yes.”

[Your requested modification to Summon a Hundred Ghosts is as follows.]

[If you wish, the dead will inherit the memories they possessed in life.]

[Are the above details correct?]

“Yes.”

[Confirmation complete.]

[Requesting approval from Zrakua.]

[Approval complete.]

And.

[Death King’s request is approved.]

White light wrapped around my skill card.

A storm of light swept over it.

Once all the light had subsided, I carefully examined the card.

+

[Rebirth of a Hundred Ghosts]

Rank: SSS

Effect: Summons those you have personally killed. The dead do not inherit the abilities they possessed in life. However, if you wish, the dead will inherit the memories and appearance they possessed in life. If you do not wish it, they will be summoned only as monsters.

※However, you may summon them only once per week.

+

Rebirth of a Hundred Ghosts.

That was the new name of my very first SSS-rank skill.

'Good.'

Everything I had wanted had come to pass perfectly.

I turned my head to look at it.

Our eyes met.

“Now I’m going to kill you.”

“...”

“If you don’t like the word ‘kill,’ think of it as [swallowing] you, like you did. Just as you thought when you swallowed Estelle, the sick, and the children into your shadow. I’ll swallow you in exactly the same way...”

Slowly, I raised my sword.

“And spit you out in exactly the same way.”

It trembled in terror.