46. Madness Eventually Becomes Love and Sings
46. Madness Eventually Becomes Love and Sings
It hadn't been like this from the start.
It was simply that the more he achieved, the more his desires grew—and the distortion that followed had crept in unnoticed.
"...Mephisto. My first vassal."
And so, unlike her, her broken liege lord sank into contemplation, staring down at the blank sheet of paper before him.
A reflection on the days when he had pursued only the climb itself, unlike now, when there was nowhere left to ascend.
"Do you remember? Those days we spent together."
"...Yes, I remember."
Among the countless vagrants littering the scrapyard, one was remarkably strong, and one was so utterly weak they weren't even considered competition.
But whichever side they were on, surviving danger alone was impossible. So, the strong one reached out to the weak and said:
'Assist me. In return, I will guarantee you a future far better than your present.'
The beginning was merely clinging on for scraps.
Given breathing room by that assistance, the strong one gradually grew, conquering the streets teeming with thugs. His fame then caught the covetous eyes of the ruling class, leading him onto the battlefield in pursuit of victory.
Thus, he continued to grow, and the moment he crushed even them to claim the throne—finally standing at the peak of a world—he expressed his gratitude to his first vassal and shared the view before his eyes.
'Behold, my first vassal. Remember this sight, the view from the summit!'
To a weakling from the scrapyard, it was a brilliant, majestic vista he had never been permitted even to glimpse.
The very moment he realized that everything lay beneath his feet, a desire that transcended the mere will to live began to bloom in the heart of the prey at the bottom of the food chain.
The anticipation that simply by standing beside one with the qualities of a ruler, he could vicariously experience that glory.
The moment he realized that the one before him was the only one who could grant him that, that feeling eventually solidified into a mission to serve at his side.
"You must be just like me."
For that purpose, he had offered true loyalty. He had devoted himself with a true heart.
Even if such a heart was considered alien to the demons, he took pride in that very oddity.
If what he possessed was truly something a demon should not have—then he would embrace that very desire (madness) as the core of his being, with pride.
"You will understand me."
The Demon King, having sensed that his calling had collapsed while following him,
demanded that his vassal empathize with him.
"As time passes, this feeling of a growing vessel that can never be filled... you too will come to feel it in your very bones...!"
She understood.
Mephisto understood her liege lord's heart better than anyone, to the point where she had believed the only solution to resolve it was death.
"But then, why...? You, whom I believed would share my fate, whom I thought my sole kindred spirit—why do you tell me you are leaving my side?"
Yet in this moment, faced with her choice to leave his side, a strange light began to gleam in the Demon King's eyes.
"Expectation...."
Yes, that was expectation.
As if he held hope that his kindred spirit had finally found something she wanted so badly she would leave his side to achieve it.
"Have you finally found something to look forward to?"
"...My King."
"Tell me. You, who understand me—who are you going toward that you would leave my side...?"
Seeing him seek hope even after having his expectations so thoroughly betrayed, Mephisto felt her own heart clench.
"Is he stronger than me? Far stronger...? A being who can cross dimensions and destroy everything destructible—stronger even than me?"
She wanted to tell him.
That she, who knew the end that awaits one with nowhere left to climb, could never again feel yearning for the strong.
"Then introduce him to me. If there is a being who can fight me on equal terms as in the past, I might be able to relive the thrill of those days...!"
But could she tell him?
There was a vast difference between one who merely watched and fell into despair, and one who acted and fell into despair.
Who could guarantee that he, who had already ruined so much for his own desires, would not extend his demonic reach toward the man she wanted to protect?
"No, he doesn't even have to be that strong. Being strong enough not to be utterly crushed is fine! If only he is stronger than those around me...!!"
"...My King."
Therefore, she had to stop him.
Before her will to speak, a warning she wasn't even conscious of began to spill forth before him.
"You, do you remember the number of grains of sand you have trampled upon until now?"
The power of madness seeping from his body began to spread, riding on her voice.
Even knowing that the torrent of power he emanated would erase it meaninglessly, she hoped that at least her voice might reach him.
"I simply, one of those grains of sand you've trampled has remained especially vivid in my memory. A being who is nothing more than one grain of sand among the countless you have crushed underfoot."
"..."
"...Would you truly wish to devote your time to such an insignificant being?"
Yes, she had to stop him.
Because there was no telling how his twisted attachment to expectation would destroy a being once his demonic hand reached out.
Because she, who had barely escaped the infinite void he harbored, did not wish to be swallowed by it again.
"...I don't understand."
But as if even that intent hadn't reached him, only a hollow voice trickled from his lips.
"I cannot understand why you are doing this. I cannot understand what you are saying."
"...My King."
"Go."
His lowered head at the end was never out of understanding, nor out of respect or mercy.
Simply out of incomprehension.
Because he vaguely guessed that, whatever it was, the single fact remained: what he himself expected did not exist.
"I... I no longer wish to expect anything. So go, if you wish to go. As you said, we can no longer expect anything from each other..."
And so, as if treating the traces of those he had crushed to death as a bed, he buried his head down and closed his weary eyelids.
Like a child exhausted from playing, like an elder nearing his final moments.
Beyond a dying old tree, with an appearance that felt less alive than a corpse....
"...Right now, I just want to sleep."
Seeing him lie down on the floor with only his wrecked body, drifting off to sleep, Mephisto could do nothing but stare at him from that spot for a long while.
Because she believed the price for betrayal would never end with such a simple dismissal.
Perhaps the moment she turned her back, his hand would reach out.
Though he said he was going to sleep, she could still feel the torrent of power, so unrecognizable that it warped the very space around him...
"...My King."
But that was also just anxiety born of fear.
Mephisto, who had always watched over him, already felt in her bones the state of the being before her.
And that the only way to forget that reality was to turn away from this world and lie down....
"I am deeply grateful for everything up until now."
Thus, she resolved to turn her back without lingering regret.
To cast aside the lingering attachment to a liege lord who could no longer achieve anything.
"Then, farewell...."
Betrayal, despair, sorrow.
She knew that feeling even those things for someone who could no longer fulfill her ideals was nothing short of a luxury...
***
"Aha~ You survived after all~"
By the time she had passed through the wrecked castle and escaped even the ruined city beyond, a bewitching demon approached, revealing her presence beside her.
That sly whisper was familiar to Mephisto, yet it stirred her wariness.
"To manage to escape against His Majesty in that state.... Should I call that luck?"
"...Yasumo."
Come to think of it, she had vanished from the spot before the rampage even began.
Unlike Grizzville, who hadn't known the Demon King's condition, or Beelzebub, whose lingering attachment had delayed her escape.
"So you had noticed His Majesty's state, after all?"
"Rather than noticing, I'd say I lost all affection for him long ago. Frankly, my desire can't really be fulfilled just by being in the army."
Yes, she was the Demon of Lust.
She didn't care about the power hierarchy, position, or ideology of a partner she intended to mingle bodies with.
For her, who had grown bored even with that and turned her interest toward homosexuality, the Demon Lord Army's ruthless acts of destruction were probably of no concern...
"...Yasumo."
Then what of the other demons?
Could the demons who had crossed into this world looking solely to the Demon King survive navigating this unfamiliar realm without him as their rallying point?
"What will happen to the Demon Lord Army?"
"It surpassed its limits long ago. The battle-crazed baldy who led the charge at the vanguard, the insect bastard who commanded and managed the army—they're both dead. And the two of us no longer feel any need to stay in the Demon Lord Army either."
The Four Heavenly Kings were summoned, and two died in the blink of an eye.
Demons stationed in other regions who returned to the army would likely hear the news soon.
"What will happen to demons no longer controlled by His Majesty, I wonder?"
When that time came, it would probably be impossible for the Demon Lord Army to be maintained as before.
The reason a system like an army could even be established among the selfish demons was because they believed they could fulfill their desires by following an absolute power.
"Whatever happens, if you survive, it won't be any different from what you'll be doing from now on. Not listening to any control, just doing whatever you feel like...."
Yes, just as if there were no Demon King.
Controlled by no one, everything would simply revert to a chaos driven by pure desire.
"Ahaha~ You speak as if you're any different."
Bursting into laughter at that opinion, Yasumo began to eye her with drowsy, half-lidded eyes.
"A resignation letter. That was a really funny story. The mad slaughterer who's killed more intelligent beings in the Demon Lord Army than anyone else, trying to act like a human?"
Acting like a human?
Did her previous actions look that way to her?
"...Whatever one does, the foundation doesn't change."
It didn't matter at all.
Whether she was conscious of it or not, everything would stem from the demons' inherent instincts.
"We demons always live for our desires. And if we can't fulfill them ourselves, we do it by parasitizing someone who can realize them for us."
"...That's right. Even if His Majesty disappears, the foundation won't change."
Swish. Her physical form dispersed as if turning to dust.
Then, through the fading mist that scattered into the void, only her voice echoed like a reverberation.
-And for the sake of that desire, we are always ready to fight even former comrades, you know.
Ahaha, hahaha~♬
The laughter gradually faded into the distance.
Realizing that her presence had completely vanished, Mephisto left that spot, moving her feet forward.
Thinking that if they ever met again, the odds of them being enemies rather than allies were high, but since it wasn't an immediate issue, she needn't worry.
"...You survived."
True to that thought, the further she distanced herself from the scene, the more the tension faded, and her heartbeat began to register clearly.
Her breathing, too. And the sensation of the wind brushing against her skin.
As well as the warmth of the sunlight streaming down from where the dark clouds had parted.
"You survived. Truly."
Basking in that light, she even felt the very source of the desire that had constantly bound her growing faint.
She felt the memories of that aimless wandering journey becoming as trivial as a stone kicked underfoot in this moment.
"And, I still remember you, even now."
But what was to follow from now on was not an aimless, drifting journey, but a path with a clear milestone.
The opportunity was trivial, and the time spent together was short.
Yet, that light still rose vividly even in this moment, so she intended to follow its trace and step down from the stage she had danced upon for so long.
Burying in this earth the story of the most ignoble Clown in the world,
who merely waited for someone else to fulfill her ideals.
As a woman in love.
To live a life of seizing what she desired with her own hands.
-Ting~
As if to express that resolve, the strings of the instrument now in her hands began to twang.
A performance lighter than ever before, responding to genuine emotion.
-Ting-a-ling~♬
As that gentle sound resonated beyond the hill, dandelion seeds slumbering within the earth began to sprout, opening the path for her advance.
The seedlings, swaying to her humming, soon became flowers, sending the seeds that budded where their petals fell adrift on the wind.
"Hyosung-ssi. What about you?"
At the moment the path of the wind was clearly drawn, the bard who followed that path sang of her hopes.
Hoping that at the end of this journey, more precious than a mere intense mirage,
there would be a simple happiness she could grasp with her own hands.
"Would you still want to be with me, even in a world like this?"
In this moment, as humans, demons, and all others living in this world prepared for the coming annihilation,
to enjoy what might be the final game of this life.
****
...Yes.
She had abandoned everything solely for that one thing.
And yet, just when she was one step away from happiness, why had that woman appeared, glaring at her with such ferocious eyes?
"...What is this woman."
"...Could you say that again?"
She was no ordinary human.
Though still faint, if one measured her Dignity alone, she had reached a level comparable to the Demon King.
"I said take your hands off my man!!!"
At the words spat by this woman who could be called a 'Demigod' without exaggeration, Marilyn found herself wearing a blank expression.
Her man?
Was she talking about the man currently cradled in her arms?
"It seems... quite a lot happened while I was away."
Feeling her heart flutter at those words, Marilyn Sutherland's eyes flashed as she muttered lowly.
"You, can you handle what you just said?"
Glaring at the being who might become the greatest obstacle to realizing her desires.
At the one she could rightfully call a 'rival in love'.