‘What the?’ Eugene thought in surprise.
His vision was engulfed in darkness. Startled, Eugene leaped backward.
The darkness was so thick that he couldn’t even make out his own body, let alone the figures of Molon, Sienna, and the two Saints. The first thing that immediately came to mind was Balzac’s Signature spell, Blind. Balzac may have died in a vain attempt to defeat Sienna, but his soul hadn’t been erased by her and had instead been retrieved by the Demon King of Incarceration. Because of that, if he really wanted to, the Demon King of Incarceration should have enough knowledge to reproduce Balzac’s Signature adequately.
But was that really the case? Eugene first settled his nerves. This darkness… was something different from Blind. It wasn’t some type of spell that blocked the five senses, but was something much simpler than that, something that couldn’t really be described as a spell or an ability.
It was simply dark power. But the nature of this dark power, which the Demon King of Incarceration had previously kept under control and allowed to permeate his entire palace, had undergone a change. The dark power had become extremely thick, dense, and concentrated, so much so that it had even corrupted the space around them — transforming it into a separate world. This absurdly dense and concentrated dark power was even able to extinguish and erase the light of divinity that Eugene had been flaring.
‘My sanctuary…,’ Eugene thought in concern.
It had yet to collapse. The sanctuary had been maintained because Eugene’s presence was still present. However, the dark power that was now covering everything outside of his sanctuary was capable of completely suppressing any of the benefits that the sanctuary had once granted Eugene.
Eugene closed his eyes and sharpened his senses. His aim was to see if he could confirm the status of his comrades.
However, his search failed. While it was understandable that he would fail to sense Sienna, Eugene became more than a little flustered by the fact he wasn’t able to sense Molon, Anise, or Kristina either. The latter two were both Eugene’s Incarnations and his Saints. Yet despite that, he still couldn’t feel them. It was as if the very laws of the world had been subverted.
He had never been so completely constrained, not even when he had entered the nightmare within Giabella City, but this darkness — it had left Eugene completely isolated. Step step.
He could hear footsteps. Startled, Eugene turned to look in the direction of the sound.
Though he was surrounded by a darkness so thick that he couldn’t even see his own body, Eugene felt reassured that he could at least still feel the grip of his sword in his hand.
“Who is it?” Eugene cautiously asked.
It could have been Molon or Sienna or maybe even one of the Saints. As he couldn’t see, Eugene needed to carefully judge the other person’s identity before swinging his sword at them. However, the person that had appeared in front of him wasn’t one of his comrades.
It was the Demon King of Incarceration.
However, something was different about him. The Demon King of Incarceration, who arrived with the sound of footsteps, looked much different from the one Eugene had seen earlier. Perhaps the biggest difference was that the Demon King looked much younger. Other than that, the atmosphere that Incarceration gave off was also very different.
Despite his younger appearance… this Demon King of Incarceration didn’t give off any of the spirit or passion that came with youth. That said, he also didn’t have that same air of boredom that clung to this era’s Demon King of Incarceration.
From this young-looking Demon King of Incarceration, the only thing that Eugene could sense was… terrible despair.
Although he wasn’t covered in blood or wounds, it felt as if this Demon King of Incarceration might collapse at any moment and break into wailing sobs.
Eugene couldn’t imagine that the Demon King of Incarceration he had become so familiar with would ever show such depths of emotions. It had to be because, in the first place, this person was a completely different type of being from the Demon King of Incarceration that Eugene knew.
Eugene could feel it.
The sensations were startlingly clear. Emotions that didn’t belong to Eugene were rushing into his mind as if being fed through pipes connected directly to his brain. There was a terrible and overwhelming amount of despair, rage, loss, and also….
‘Betrayal?’ Eugene thought cautiously.
He felt dizzy from the emotions flooding into his mind. His legs, which were still invisible due to being engulfed in darkness, staggered, and he was barely able to keep his balance.
It was difficult for Eugene to understand or even accept the burden of all these emotions because he didn’t know why he was experiencing these emotions in the first place.
What was clear was that all of this despair, rage, and loss were born from a great betrayal. But in that case, what kind of betrayal could have caused Incarceration to feel such great surges of emotion? Who on earth would even be in a position to betray the Demon King of Incarceration?
Eugene lifted his head to stare at the Demon King of Incarceration once more.
The Demon King of Incarceration slowly walked closer to Eugene, but his gaze wasn’t directed at him. In the end, this figure was nothing more than a remnant of Incarceration’s memories that was embedded in this dense cloud of dark power.
The Demon King of Incarceration had somehow dragged Eugene into his consciousness using his chains, and he had locked Eugene into his subconscious mind, trapping him within this terrible abyss of dark power.
Eugene blindly grabbed at the side of his own head in pain. This figure might have just been a remnant of Incarceration’s distant past, but Eugene had been able to glean something from it .
Even though it was simply a remnant of a memory that had been imbued with dark power, Eugene noticed that the Demon King of Incarceration from that period of time hadn’t given off the sensation of possessing dark power.
But how could that be possible? Eugene couldn’t believe what he had discovered. There was a simple reason why he hadn’t been able to sense any dark power from that memory. It meant that the Demon King of Incarceration of that time hadn’t been a Demon King.
“I don’t miss that period of time,” a voice said, accompanied by the clanking sound of chains.
Eugene turned his head in surprise. The current Demon King of Incarceration was now standing right next to Eugene.
“Everyone has memories that they would rather not remember. Isn’t that so?” the Demon King of Incarceration said as he looked at the phantom from his distant past. “The same also applies to me. I don’t want to remember any of these memories. That period of time holds no value for me to recall. As such, I have buried these memories here, deep down in my mind, with everything else that I don’t have a use for.”
“You…,” Eugene hesitantly spoke.
“However, there are times when they do become necessary. When I… no longer have the will to do all this. When I just want to abandon everything and quit. At those times, I take out these memories and look at them,” the Demon King of Incarceration said with a wry grin as he shook his head. “All thoughts of wanting to quit get completely erased. I tell myself that I can do it… that I have to do it. It is what gives me motivation.”
Eugene glared at the Demon King of Incarceration, unable to say anything in response. He didn’t feel all that weirded out by Incarceration’s admission that his motivation was born from his feelings of betrayal. This was because Eugene himself was familiar with drawing on the spite that came from such negative emotions for strength.
“Just what on earth is going on?” Eugene finally couldn’t help but ask.
However, this time, it was the Demon King of Incarceration who fell into silence.
“Why do I get the feeling of divine power from the you from back then?” Eugene pressed for an answer despite the continued silence.
Eugene couldn’t help but feel greatly shaken by the shocking revelation that he couldn’t sense any dark power within the Demon King of Incarceration from the distant past. Instead, what he felt from that figure was an abundant source of divine power.
This was completely absurd. It was extremely hard for Eugene to accept it. How could a Demon King have anything to do with divine power? Moreover, that divine power wasn’t something on the level of an ordinary power.
That divine power could have belonged to a Saint… or perhaps even an Incarnation. Eugene swallowed a gulp as he glared at the Demon King of Incarceration. Having noticed that divine power, Eugene was now able to sense something other than the dark power infused into this world of darkness he was currently trapped in. It felt as if… as if there was divine power fused with the dark power.
The silence ended.
“At that time, I wasn’t a Demon King,” the Demon King of Incarceration admitted with a bitter smile. “I was the Hero.”
“What?” Eugene blurted out in disbelief.
“I said that I was the Hero,” the Demon King of Incarceration repeated himself as he raised his head.
In this cloud of darkness, there was no way to see the sky or the ceiling. There was only a pitch-black darkness wherever you looked.
While staring into this darkness, the Demon King of Incarceration continued speaking, “I did the exact same thing that you… and Vermouth… did. I wanted something similar to what you desire. To defeat the Demon King and to save the world.”
Eugene listened silently.
“At the very end, I managed to succeed, only to be met by failure. I defeated the Demon King as I had hoped, but… I was betrayed by the comrades who had accompanied me up until that point. Some fell for the temptations offered by the dying Demon King. Some lost their minds due to the Demon King’s curse. And some….” The Demon King of Incarceration closed his eyes as he paused for a moment. “My dearest friend, he fell for the allure of the Demon King’s throne. In his greed, he sought the power to rule the world as he pleased. I considered him to be my best friend, but he never once truly thought of me as a friend.”
His dearest friend….
“My friend was jealous of my strength, of my position, of the glory that I would be able to enjoy in the future, and of all the praises that I would receive.”
What kind of person would the Demon King of Incarceration call his best friend…?
“Amidst those final moments, he betrayed me. He stabbed his knife into my back. Those who had fallen for the temptations or had been swayed by the curse also raced towards the throne that lay in front of them, but, in the end, the one who was sitting on the Demon King’s throne… was my best friend who had stabbed me in the back.”
Just how much had that person meant to the Demon King of Incarceration…?
“But his greed was endless. The desires of the Demon King, who now sat on that throne, grew even larger. He desired eternal power. As such, he started devouring everything around him. In the end, he ended up devouring more than he could handle, so that finally…”
The Demon King of Incarceration opened his eyes.
“...he became Destruction.”
When the Demon King of Incarceration had first seen Vermouth, he had been greatly shaken by that appearance and the name Vermouth Lionheart.
Vermouth was the clone of Destruction born from the wound that Agaroth had inflicted on the Demon King. Vermouth had had that appearance and name from the moment he was born, and it wasn’t taken from someone else.
This meant that the Demon King of Destruction’s original appearance must have looked somewhat similar to Vermouth’s.
“Then why… why did you become a Demon King?” Eugene asked haltingly as he tried not to stagger under all these revelations. “How could you… after being a Hero, and after being betrayed… become a Demon King?”
“Even a Hero would fall into corruption after experiencing such an immense betrayal, wouldn’t you agree?” the Demon King of Incarceration replied with a smile. “Falling was the most natural course of action to take in that situation… and it proved to be the best and wisest choice for me, personally. As a result of doing so, I managed to escape being devoured, and I stayed alive.”
Clink, clink, clink.
The sound of chains rang through the darkness once more. Eugene’s eyes were now able to make out the countless chains that were flowing through the pitch-black darkness. At one end, all of these chains were wound into one huge chain connected to the chest of the Demon King of Incarceration.
As he played with the chain connected to his chest with one hand, the Demon King of Incarceration continued speaking, “I… have been alive for a very long time. I have witnessed Destruction destroying the world several times over. Everything I have experienced over that immensely long period of time grew to be too much for even myself to handle. That is why I bound all of those memories within my chains and incarcerated them here. Until now, that course of action has been enough. However….”
Clink.
The Demon King of Incarceration’s hand tightened around the chain.
“Now, these memories are needed once more.” The Demon King of Incarceration shook his head, saying, “You truly are impressive, Eugene Lionheart. You are the strongest and most outstanding Hero I have ever seen in my entire life, including this version of myself from the distant past. Your companions, who haven’t given in to temptation, who haven’t succumbed to curses, and who don’t harbor any secret desires for greater power, are also amazing. Because of that, I, as the Demon King, have been left with no choice but to greet you with an even greater challenge.”
Clicliclink.
The Demon King slowly began to pull the chain out of his chest.
“Until today, I have witnessed countless eras and worlds. And I have to admit it: Of all the countless eras and worlds that I have observed, this one is the one that has come closest to ending Destruction. But that is why I must become an even greater source of despair to truly test you, the Hero, in order to see whether you will truly be able to bring an end to Destruction. If you are able to defeat me, the Demon King of Incarceration, then….”
Right when Incarceration began to pull out the chain, the darkness around them had also started shaking.
“Then I might truly be able to witness the end of Destruction,” the Demon King of Incarceration finished saying.
All his strength that had been sealed within this concentrated cloud of darkness had finally been released. It wasn't just dark power. All of the divine power that had been corrupted and fused with this dark power was also released. And also… there were the souls of those who the Demon King of Incarceration had collected from all the worlds he had lived through. The souls of those who he had once killed and those who he had once commanded. The souls that the Demon King had imprisoned in this space instead of taking them with him to the next era.
The Demon King’s chain was pulled free.
Rooooooar.
The darkness was suddenly filled with rows and rows of twisted death masks, so many that they were impossible to count. In the next moment, the sight of them all being absorbed back into the Demon King of Incarceration almost made it look like there was a dark river that was flowing down into hell. The cloud of darkness quickly cleared. The surroundings that had previously been hidden within the darkness started to become visible once more.
Eugene spotted Molon, Sienna, and the Saints. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to be injured, but their expressions were filled with shock as if they had also been listening to the conversation just now. Before Eugene could think of what to say to them, he looked down at his hand. More specifically, at the Divine Sword that he had previously created and had been holding in his hand.
He couldn’t feel any Light coming from the Divine Sword, even though he could feel his divinity still burning away. The darkness around them may have been disappearing, but it felt like something evil and ominous was still clinging to him.
As he felt his fingers begin to tremble, Eugene bit down heavily on his bottom lip. Having pulled the chain out of his chest, the Demon King of Incarceration seemed to stagger on his feet, as if he was feeling a slight dizziness.
Along with the Demon King’s unsteady appearance, Eugene felt a sense of eeriness coming from Incarceration. Eugene exchanged gazes with his comrades. There was no doubt that they were all sharing the same thought.
It was dangerous.
Eugene immediately grabbed his chest. It was still far from being the decisive point of this battle, but now wasn’t the time to think about such things. Eugene had the gut feeling that it was impossible to deal with whatever the Demon King was doing without using Ignition.
Molon, Sienna, and the Saints also understood the necessity of this measure. The Saints immediately transformed into light as they returned to Eugene’s side. This was so that they could reduce the burden of Ignition on him while also amplifying its power.
Sienna also activated the Demoneye of Fantasy once more while holding Mary aloft. In order to buy time for their preparations, Molon charged at the Demon King of Incarceration.
None of them were able to see the Demon King of Incarceration move.
But he did something, and Molon was suddenly left falling forward without being able to arrest the momentum of his charge. The blood that spurted from Molon, as he rolled for quite some distance, splattered the dark floor with crimson streaks. Even at that moment, the Demon King of Incarceration’s figure was still nowhere to be seen.
Blood was spurting from Molon’s neck. A large piece of flesh was torn out of Molon’s throat, making it look as if he had been bitten by some kind of beast.
Eugene still hadn’t activated Ignition. This was because Molon had collapsed at the very moment that Eugene’s fingers had first plunged into his chest. Likewise, Sienna also hadn’t activated her next spell. Just as Sienna began to pour the soul power that she had generated into Mary and the Demoneye of Fantasy—
Sienna’s knees suddenly buckled. Before she could even open her mouth, blood was gushing out through the small gap between her closed lips. A large hole had been pierced straight through her stomach. Just like Molon, Sienna hadn’t been able to respond to the attack made by the Demon King of Incarceration as he flashed right past her.
“Allow me to ask you once more,” the Demon King of Incarceration said as Eugene’s fingers, which had been trying to grab hold of his heart, were forcibly pulled out of his chest.
The Demon King of Incarceration had suddenly appeared in front of Eugene, clutching his wrist tightly.
“Do you truly have no intention of giving up?” the Demon King asked once more.
Creak, creeeeeak….
Eugene’s wrist creaked as his hand was forcibly pulled away from his chest. The eyes of the Demon King of Incarceration, as he stood directly in front of Eugene, were filled with a cold and calm reserve that left Eugene with an indescribably deep sense of impending doom.
The Demon King asked a different question, “Have you given any thought to taking your own life?”
Eugene had been prevented from activating Ignition, but instead of forcefully trying to pull his hand free, Eugene swung the Divine Sword that he was holding in his other hand. That was his answer to the Demon King’s shitty suggestion.
“I see, so that really is the case,” the Demon King of Incarceration sighed.
Crack!
In mid-swing, the Divine Sword shattered and dissolved into specks of black ash. The Demon King of Incarceration slowly raised his other hand and reached toward Eugene’s chest.
“In that case, I have no choice but to show you such despair that you are forced to give up,” the Demon King said regretfully.
Booom.
The Demon King delivered a light tap.
Eugene fell to his knees on the spot.
Openbookworm & DantheMan's Thoughts
OBW: Poor Incarceration. That doesn’t sound like something Vermouth would do, but a lot could have changed over the countless years.