As he was rolling across the floor, the hand of the Demon King of Incarceration dug a furrow in the ground. This made for quite the inelegant sight, but the Demon King of Incarceration didn’t feel any sense of embarrassment. Right now, the only thing he was feeling was praise for his foes who had managed to push him to such an extent.
‘How impressive,’ Incarceration thought to himself.
It wasn’t as though the Demon King had never thought the world was without even the slightest hope of survival. But then, what purpose was behind the Demon King of Incarceration’s current actions?
It was all to see if Agaroth’s reincarnation, who had died in vain during his previous life, could return all the way to this point while single-handedly shouldering the burden of his fate as the Hero. By presenting him with such an ordeal, the Demon King wanted to see Eugene’s full might as a sort of test for him. And in his opinion, Eugene didn’t seem to be lacking in any way.
To be honest, the Demon King of Incarceration was already satisfied with what he had seen. Eugene’s obsessive levels of determination and the insane focus he had shown, as well as the assault that they had launched at him with their full force — all of that had already surpassed the standards that the Demon King had previously set for them.
However, just like Eugene and his comrades refused to give up on their goals, the Demon King of Incarceration had no intention of simply giving in either. He wasn’t just going to roll over because he was satisfied with their strength. This was because, similar to Eugene's faith that their choice of action was the right one, the Demon King of Incarceration also believed that his choice was the only option.
‘But is that really the case?’ the Demon King suddenly thought to himself.
He was reminded of the specter. The specter hadn’t known the whole truth of the matter, but he had been made aware of the constant cycle of Destruction as well as the fact that the Demon King of Incarceration possessed the ability to cross over to the next era. Even after learning these facts, the specter had still made his own choice of what to do.
‘In the end, just like how he wanted to prove his worth by dying the way he did, I am no different,’ the Demon King thought as a smile crossed his blood-drenched lips.
This test wouldn’t just end with both sides backing down after reaching a satisfactory outcome. This battle would only end after one side had managed to completely destroy the other’s will.So what exactly was behind the Demon King of Incarceration’s will?
After repeatedly succumbing to despair and being forced to patch himself up from the rags that his attempts to commit suicide by Destruction had left him in, Incarceration had settled on the solution of coexisting with Destruction. Since he couldn’t kill or be killed, he was left with no other choice but to coexist. He refused to allow everything to end just because he went haring off trying to kill something that couldn’t even be killed.
Even if that meant he had to continue reigning as a Demon King for all eternity, even if he had to carry all the souls of the deceased and constantly repeat the cycle of creation and destruction while knowing that it would be all for nothing in the end… the Demon King of Incarceration would do what he believed was right.
“Who’s the one truly being unreasonably greedy here?” the Demon King asked softly as he dug his fingers into the floor and pulled himself up. His bloodshot eyes glowed with an inner light as he continued, “Aren’t I the greedy one for stubbornly insisting on building up a sand castle, all while knowing that it will be swept away by the waves?”
Just like how the sun set and the night fell, only for the sun to rise once more, the waves of Destruction were sure to follow each other no matter what. The man who had planted the seed for the birth of Destruction and had been left with no other choice but to bear witness to the fruit of his mistakes had transformed himself into a Demon King to save the crumbling sand castle that the world had been transformed into. No matter how many times the unceasing waves would eventually tear the sand castle down, once the waves had receded, he would build the sand castle once more with his mud-stained hands.
“I don’t know the answer to those questions. I truly can’t tell,” the Demon King of Incarceration said with a shake of his head. “However, Eugene Lionheart, I still feel that the hope you are clinging to is nothing more than stubborn foolishness. Therefore, I cannot accept your desired course of action.”
The Demon King of Destruction and Vermouth Lionheart were one being. Even if they had been temporarily separated, Vermouth’s essence was still linked to Destruction. This meant that it would be impossible to defeat the Demon King of Destruction while trying to save Vermouth.
If instead, Eugene and his comrades were willing to give up on Vermouth, if they only wished to kill both the Demon King of Destruction and Vermouth Lionheart to save the world, then the Demon King of Incarceration may not have felt the need to go this far. However, since Eugene had given his final word on the matter, insisting that he would accomplish the impossible, the Demon King definitely couldn’t allow such foolishness. That was why he had wanted to drive them into despair and force them to give up.
“I don’t need your approval,” Eugene said coldly as his Divine Sword rose to block the Demon King’s path forward.
While pulling back the shreds of his fist for another punch, the Demon King of Incarceration burst into laughter.
Eugene wasn’t the only one who looked ready for a fight. Behind him stood Molon, and Sienna was floating above them. The Saints were responsible for supporting them so that the three of them could focus exclusively on their fight.
“If I defeat you, that means I’m the one who’s right,” Eugene stated determinedly.
Right now, it didn’t matter which of their beliefs was objectively correct. To put it simply, whoever won today was in the right. Even if they couldn’t overcome Destruction in the end, today’s loser wouldn’t have any grounds to argue with the results.
That was what Eugene firmly believed, and the Demon King of Incarceration burst into laughter once more as he agreed, “That certainly seems to be the truth.”
Incarceration didn’t think that such a mindset was selfish or self-righteous. After all, The Demon King of Incarceration was also the same in that he had lived his entire life without ever needing anyone else’s understanding.
Since each of them believed that they were in the right and insisted that theirs was the only course of action that should be taken, they had no choice but to clash with each other until one of them was ultimately forced to give in.
‘No,’ the Demon King suddenly thought as he clenched his fist.
There was a difference between them.
Eugene wasn’t alone. He had his companions with him. He also had believers who were praying for his victory. Even if they didn’t know the full story behind the matter, they still didn’t want the current era to end. They all hoped that the Hero, their god, or the Light, would defeat the Demon Kings and bring peace to the continent.
But what about the Demon King of Incarceration? The demonfolk participating in this war didn’t know the first thing about the Demon King of Incarceration. The only things the demonfolk desired were to win this war, trample the losers beneath their feet, and establish an immortal empire that would rule over the entire continent.
They didn’t know about Destruction or the fact that even if they did win this war, their immortal empire was something they would never get to witness.
They didn’t know that, once they were victorious, they would be annihilated by the Demon King of Incarceration or the Demon King of Destruction without even getting enough time to enjoy their victory.
They didn’t know they would lose all memories of this era before moving on to the next one.
They didn’t know that some of their souls would be harvested to become one of the countless souls trapped within the Demon King of Incarceration’s chains before being reborn into the next era.
They didn’t know that a part of the souls that were not chosen would be rendered down to become the base elements of dark power, primal spirits, and the new world’s mana.
They didn’t know that the remaining souls left after all these processes were complete would become fused together and form part of the sinister power that the Demon King of Incarceration had sealed deep within himself.
That was how things had always been. Incarceration didn’t expect anyone to understand him. He had never talked to anyone about this. He had never shared his complaints with anyone either. He had never gone to a confession. That was the way that things had been in the previous eras, and that was also how things would be in the current era.
Even his close associate, Gavid Lindman, who Incarceration had kept by his side for an exceedingly long span of time and who he had favored to the point where even the Demon King himself recognized that it was unusual for him, hadn’t known the truth that the Demon King of Incarceration had kept to himself until the very end.
—I hope that your Majesty’s wishes come true.
In his final moments, Gavid seemed to have formed a slight understanding of his liege. However, other than Gavid, the demonfolk would never truly be able to understand the Demon King of Incarceration.
—Once I am dead, please accept my soul. Please allow me to see the end of the world together with you, Your Majesty.
After leaving these last words while knowing that he would definitely be meeting his death today here in Babel, Balzac Ludbeth had died in a vain attempt to guard the gates. There was no way that he could have understood the ‘end’ that the Demon King of Incarceration was waiting to see.
All that was waiting for them was a hopeless void of despair with no means of averting it, and any who found themselves in such a situation would be bound to resent the one who had brought them to such a tragedy.
Even the demonfolk who had been loyal to the Demon King of Incarceration their entire lives, even the immigrants settled in Helmuth who had suckled on the welfare of the Demon King like it was their lifeblood and who had mortgaged their souls as payment for all the privileges they had received during their lifetimes; they would all resent the Demon King of Incarceration for conceding to and compromising with Destruction.
And the Demon King of Incarceration was willing to humbly accept all of their resentment.
Boom.
The world shook as Eugene moved. But the Demon King of Incarceration wasn’t just staying still during this time.
Suddenly, a short span of a single moment was somehow stretched out endlessly, but within the split seconds of that single moment, the Demon King of Incarceration was constantly attacking, defending, and searching for openings. But the Hero and his companions were so closely linked together that there weren't any openings in their attacks. By breaking apart and scattering each of their attacks, the Demon King managed to keep his damage minimal, but their attacks were gradually growing ever more intense.
Molon came charging in with his overwhelming might. With his strength amplified by his status as Eugene’s Incarnation and the resonance of the world also aiding Molon, the Demon King of Incarceration’s very existence was shaken with each blow that Molon managed to land.
Through the power of her imagination, Sienna’s spells were able to materialize the impossible. She had already brought the night sky to come crashing down on the Demon King more than once. Sienna’s magic had even turned this entire world into a forest, overturned the earth to transform it into a blazing hell, burned what was left into a stifling desert, and then froze everything to leave the ground covered in cold permafrost, only to repeat the cycle anew. All of these natural disasters were directed solely at the Demon King of Incarceration and weren’t causing any harm to her comrades.
And on top of that, Eugene’s blazing suns repeatedly came crashing down on the Demon King before floating up once more. As if to prove his past identity as the God of War, the weapons in Eugene’s hands kept changing. His attacks, which were so variable that it was impossible to react to them even if one stared directly at them, were slicing away at the Demon King of Incarceration.
However, all of this still wasn’t enough to kill Incarceration. Even a world like this couldn't fully suppress the Demon King of Incarceration’s power. No matter how well-made this dream world might be, it was still ultimately just a product of merging dreams with reality. It couldn’t completely replace reality.
Eugene and the divine power of the Light that he was linked to, and Sienna’s divine power, might be able to push the Demoneye of Fantasy to its very limits, but even so — this absurd world wouldn’t be able to last forever.
And if Incarceration really looked for it, he should be able to find a way out of this world. If he could only find the breaking point, he could break apart this world and collapse it around them.
So, where was the breaking point? Wasn’t the answer obvious? There was no need for the Demon King of Incarceration to laboriously figure out the entire structure of this world to destroy it. After all, there was a much easier method than that.
The Demoneye of Fantasy was responsible for starting up and maintaining this world. And the one wielding the Demoneye of Fantasy was Noir Giabella, who had been transformed into an angel after she had been left with only her soul.
Cliclink.
Chains erupted from the Demon King of Incarceration's abyss once more. Then, the Demon King of Incarceration’s arms lost their original form and transformed into limbs of pure dark power that rippled as they moved. At the same time, the Demon King’s eyes were dyed black as if ink had been dripped into them.
Incarceration’s sense of reason shook as he loosened his hold on his madness. The madness that he had sealed away for him to be able to endure his long eons of life, along with all of the strength that this madness carried, was finally being released.
“Gurk,” when Incarceration coughed, instead of blood, a dark stream of poison leaked out from between his lips.
Even for the Demon King of Incarceration, it would be dangerous to release any more of this poison. If he weren’t careful, his ego would collapse, and he would become an insane, rampaging disaster, no different from the Demon King of Destruction.
Naturally, the Demon King of Incarceration had no desire to experience such a fall. While he might be able to continue coexisting with Destruction even if he did become the same type of natural calamity, it would mean that Incarceration would no longer be able to create any future eras for this world.
‘To think that they would be able to push me to this extent,’ the Demon King of Incarceration thought as his dark eyes glowed with an inner light.
Eugene, Molon, and Sienna, who were still trying to push the Demon King of Incarceration just that little bit further, felt a primal fear and uneasiness strike them when they saw his eyes. It was the same feeling they had experienced when they first saw the Demon King of Destruction.
[Ah,] Noir gasped as she felt his poison begin to target her.
Just the initial release of Incarceration’s poison was causing her hold on the dream world to shake. Noir felt an agonizing pain spreading from her left eye socket as if she was being burned alive, but she still refused to close her eyes. This was because she was certain that they had finally managed to reach the turning point of the battle.
If they didn’t take this chance to push him just a little bit further, they wouldn’t be able to seize this opportunity to finally defeat the Demon King of Incarceration. This poison wasn’t just his last resort; it was also the Demon King of Incarceration’s fatal weakness.
‘I’m all too familiar with such feelings of obsession,’ Noir thought to herself as she forcefully held her lips tightly clamped in a twisted smile.
The Demon King of Incarceration was obsessed with ensuring the next era. He would never allow himself to completely fall to the corruption of that deadly poison.
‘Though, in the first place, even that poison isn’t enough to kill someone like you,’ Noir thought wryly.
That poison might not be enough to endanger Incarceration’s life, but why had he still insisted on sealing it away instead of using it? Was it because he hated the pain that it brought him? No, it couldn’t be such a simple answer.
The reason the Demon King of Incarceration had suppressed such a powerful poison and the signs of the madness within those ink-stained eyes pointed to the outcome that the Demon King of Incarceration absolutely refused to allow.
‘You don’t want to lose yourself,’ Noir sympathized.
She was very familiar with such feelings. Noir had been like that before, as well. She had been afraid and disgusted by the thought of becoming someone else, someone completely different from the current her.
In other words, before the Demon King of Incarceration would fully reach the point of losing himself, he would be left with no choice but to reapply his chains to that poison and return it to its incarcerated state. So even if Incarceration was a Demon King burdened with a curse of never being able to die, once all of his means had been blocked, Incarceration would be forced to admit defeat.
As such, Noir couldn’t allow herself to close her eyes. If she could just hold out until the Demon King of Incarceration couldn’t bear it any longer and was forced to withdraw his poison, then it would be Noir’s — no — Hamel’s victory.
‘Although your victory is what I too desire, Hamel,’ Noir thought as bloody tears began flowing down from her Demoneye of Fantasy.
Having realized that the darkness unleashed by the Demon King of Incarceration was far from ordinary, Eugene and Molon had once again resumed their attacks.
Noir clenched her teeth while staring at Eugene’s back and thinking, ‘Even if your victory demands a harsh toll from me.’
Would they really be fine if they could just hold out until the Demon King of Incarceration was forced to withdraw his poison? There was no way that could be possible.
That poison was the Corpse Poison distilled from the decomposition of countless dead bodies and souls as well as the deaths of multiple eras. Even when Noir was alive and reigning over Giabella City, it would have been impossible for her to hold out against such a poison for very long. So, for Noir, who had died and was left with barely her soul, it became even more of an impossibility for her to hold out against the Demon King of Incarceration’s poison for all that long.
Noir was certain of a single fact. Before the Demon King of Incarceration would be forced to withdraw his poison, her soul would have already been thoroughly contaminated. What would happen to her once she was so contaminated? Would her soul just disappear? Or perhaps, would even her personality be contaminated to the extent that she was no longer herself?
No matter what happened, it meant that she would not be able to reincarnate and reunite with Hamel.
[Ahahaha,] Noir burst into laughter.
By this point, should she still be afraid of such an outcome? No, Noir wasn’t afraid at all. Since, in the first place, Noir had never even counted on the possibility of reincarnation following the death that she had so craved.
The only thing that Noir desired at this point was Hamel’s victory. No matter what happened to her in the end, it didn’t matter. Even if she were to completely disappear once this dream world had collapsed, Noir’s only desire was to give everything she had to serve as a stepping stone for Hamel’s victory.
That was why Noir continued to glare back at the poison without closing her Demoneye of Fantasy. This dream might still collapse in the end, but until then, she hoped to push the Demon King of Incarceration as far as possible.
‘What’s this?’ Eugene thought to himself with a frown.
Eugene and Molon weren’t able to sense the existence of the poison. They could feel that the dark liquid that the Demon King of Incarceration had released wasn’t anything ordinary, but they didn’t know it was poison. This was because Noir had completely suppressed the effects of the poison and had kept it contained to herself. However, Sienna, who was connected to Noir, was able to analyze the existence of this poison to a certain extent and was staring at Noir with an astonished look in her eyes.
[Shhh,] Noir whispered.
As Noir’s emotions were conveyed to her, Sienna bit down heavily on her bottom lip. She couldn’t tell Noir to stop what she was doing. Noir had made up her mind to do this, and Sienna also understood that, at this point, there was no other way for them to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration.
‘We just need to finish this fight before anything happens,’ Sienna encouraged herself.
Allowing Noir’s soul to be destroyed like this would go against Sienna’s ideals. Because of that, Sienna wanted to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration as quickly as possible before Noir was erased.
Meanwhile, Incarceration knew that Noir would do something like this. The Demon King swung the limbs of darkness that had replaced his usual arms at his foes.
Sisisizzle!
The poison scattered along the trajectory of his swings and caused the world to shake once more. But Eugene and Molon, who were protected from the poison’s effects, simply sliced and smashed apart the globs of dark liquid as they charged at the Demon King of Incarceration.
“It seems that she still underestimates me,” the Demon King of Incarceration muttered to himself with a chuckle.
This poison indeed held dire consequences for the Demon King of Incarceration, but it would take a long time before it could even hope to destroy his ego completely. Even with Eugene, Molon, and Sienna’s attacks consuming the Demon King of Incarceration’s strength, it would still take much less time for Noir to succumb to the poison and either be destroyed and go insane than it would for the Demon King to reach the limits of his endurance.
Incarceration shook his head as he thought, ‘Noir Giabella, I knew that you would be willing to go so far for Hamel’s sake, but in the end, your sacrifice will only—’
Suddenly, the Demon King of Incarceration’s mind received a great shock.
“Gurk,” Incarceration coughed as his blood that had been completely transmuted into the poison flowed down from his lips once more.
The Demon King of Incarceration was confused, not understanding what strange affliction had suddenly come over him.
‘What is this?’ the Demon King thought in shock.
Soon, the Demon King of Incarceration understood the true nature of this unexpected weakness.
A different source of contamination from the Corpse Poison was eating away at the abyss contained within the Demon King of Incarceration.
‘This is…,’ Incarceration thought as the face of a particular man appeared in the Demon King of Incarceration’s mind. ‘Balzac Ludbeth?’
Openbookworm & DantheMan's Thoughts
OBW: I’m getting the feeling that Eugene should name his first son and daughter Balzac and Noir.