Demon of Darkness (2)
The Demon King's castle. The little hero staggered forward and finally stood before the door to the Chamber of the End, where the Demon King awaited.
Behind her lay the mighty demons and devils who should have guarded the Demon King, all sprawled defeated on the ground.
"Urgh... H-how could a mere human...!"
Lumia of the White Night, the strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings. She bit her lip in frustration, pitifully reaching out a hand—only for it to slump lifelessly moments later.
No one seemed capable of defeating this hero of reversal, who had overcome every trial and tribulation to reach this point. The perfect hero.
Except the sword she wielded wasn't a holy sword, but a demon sword. And her tiny frame set her apart from your average hero.
Regardless, she pushed open the door to the Chamber of the End.
A vast hall stretched before her. At its far end sat the Demon King, reading a book.
Without hesitation, the girl leveled her sword at him.
"Reading a book right before our final battle? You must plan to conquer the world and force everyone to read afterward."
She took a deep breath and bellowed in a clear, resounding voice.
"You're evil that must be eradicated. This hero, Cecilia, will never forgive you!"
The Demon King glanced up from his book and looked at the girl.
"Bored, are we, First Legion Commander?"
"......"
The girl fell silent for a long moment, then ignored him and shouted again.
"Playing tricks at a time like this? Disgraceful for a Demon King. My holy sword must scare you that much."
"......"
Cain fell silent too, staring intently at the sword in her hand.
"That's not a holy sword. It's a demon sword—one only the Demon King can wield."
He extended his hand.
"I don't know how you stole my sword, but hand it over."
"......"
The girl shot him a sidelong glance, then clutched the demon sword tightly to her chest. She shook her head vigorously, turning away like she refused to give it up.
"......Lumia."
"Yes, sir!"
"Retrieve my sword from the First Legion Commander."
Lumia, whom everyone thought dead, sprang to her feet and positioned herself in front of the girl. Matching her eye level, she asked ever so cautiously,
"Commander, are you gonna give that to me?"
The girl looked up at Lumia with half-lidded eyes.
"The corpse is talking."
"If you give me that, I'll give you this."
Lumia held out a candy.
"......"
The girl stared at the candy for a moment, then traded the demon sword for it and munched away.
"Aww, so cute."
Lumia tossed the demon sword roughly to Cain and patted the girl's head.
"First Legion Commander. Enough playing with your subordinates just because you're bored. And the Lumia petting your head is the Second Legion Commander—and one of the Four Heavenly Kings."
The girl stared blankly at Cain, tilting her head.
Cain closed his eyes briefly and said,
"Send them all back."
"Commander, the Demon King's mad."
"What a narrow mind."
"......What now?"
"Next time, you be the hero, Lumia. I wanna be the heroine for the lolicon hero."
"Hee hee, leave it to me, Lumia of the White Night."
A faint crack appeared on Cain's expressionless face. It was the first time in nearly twenty thousand years.
"Are you deaf? I said go home."
Sisilia had no choice but to shout,
"Okay, you can go home now!"
"Phew, finally over?"
"That was a long one today."
"Humans do this every time a kid's born?"
"Makes humans seem impressive for once."
The demons rose one by one, chatting idly as they left the Demon King's castle.
"......You return to the Four Heavenly Kings' castle too."
"Yessir."
With even Lumia gone, only the girl and the Demon King remained.
For the first time, Cain felt a headache coming on and pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Is this what humans call a 'headache'?"
The Demon King's castle—a name that struck terror into every human heart.
......Right now, that castle was deep in co-parenting.
All thanks to one new legion commander.
"First Legion Commander Cecilia."
Three months prior. Demon King Cain had dragged his heavy frame from his seat to meet one demon.
It was Sisilia Windsor’s duplicate body—now the little "Cecilia" who had named herself thus.
"A fake that copied a transcendent so perfectly it gained ego and shattered its limits."
The reason? The sheer existence sparked immense curiosity.
"I sensed her original rivaled my power, but I never expected even the duplicate to briefly evoke death in me."
As they clashed, that curiosity deepened.
Cain revealed a truth unknown to any other, drawing her into the demon fold and appointing her First Legion Commander.
"Surely, you'd sworn with your own mouth to cooperate with us demons going forward."
Cecilia was a vital key in Cain's mind. Recruiting her brought the demons' world that much closer.
But.
"Yet when you lost the duel, you moved to slit your own throat without hesitation. Even humans with the strongest sense of duty—even the heroes you so praise—hesitate slightly before suicide. You showed no such thing. Forced into demonhood, your core identity remains utterly human."
Cain harbored doubts. A human so devoted to humanity, swayed by mere words into joining the Demon King's army?
"I'll ask once more. Why did you choose to join us? Was the truth I revealed that shocking?"
"Wrong premise."
Cecilia clasped her hands behind her back and toddled forward cutely.
"First off, I tried to off myself because the Demon King's army had zero chance. Even if I joined and fought my hardest, the original me would never lose. No point in living a meaningless life, right?"
"So humanity meant nothing to you from the start?"
"I'm a demon now. Gotta feel loyalty to whatever race RNG gave me."
Cecilia yawned, rubbing her eyes. Even as a demon, drowsiness hit past midnight.
"But what you told me changed things. Now there's a chance my original could lose."
"You thought joining would alter that? In other words, without you, demon defeat was certain."
Cecilia beamed.
"Obviously."
Cain smirked.
"You're lying."
Cecilia just smiled, saying nothing.
"......Fine, whatever. I'll let it slide while you stay on our side."
Under that premise, of course.
"So prove you're on our side. And that you have what it takes as First Legion Commander."
"You scouted me."
"Answer?"
Sisilia sighed at the Demon King already trying to rein her in. She turned away reluctantly.
"What do I gotta do?"
"Neutralize Sisilia Windsor to prove your worth. Doesn't have to be total incapacitation—just make it so she can't rampage like now."
"......Pretty grand for a power test."
But she fell silent for a long while.
"No way after all?"
"Nah."
Cecilia's eyes held zero emotion.
"Too many options. Don't know where to start."
Cain chuckled soundlessly.
"Then do them all."
**
Sisilia repeated herself, wondering if it hadn't registered.
"Watch me."
But the darkness offered no reply.
Instead, thick tendrils of shadow reached for her—like hands offering something.
Looking closer, it really gripped an object.
"......Take it?"
"......"
"Can't skip?"
The darkness forcibly seized her hand and placed a letter in it.
Sisilia opened it with a dismissive expression. The surroundings were too pitch-black to see well.
But the words on the letter were inked in shadow even denser than the gloom, legible enough.
Memento mori.
"Remember death"—the famous phrase. Sisilia smirked bitterly.
"Should've skipped reading."
Darkness. One of the Demon God's closest servants, an indispensable concept to confront the Demon God itself.
Its Authority: Manifest any "negative assumption" harbored by living beings in its presence.
And Sisilia, reading the letter, had envisioned it—the worst possible assumption. The one way she could die here.
Dong.
The sound of light extinguishing. Unlike before, where the "denser darkness" allowed faint reading, her surroundings plunged into perfect void.
It felt like plummeting into endless ocean depths—profoundly unpleasant.
The first condition for killing Sisilia Windsor: translocation to the demon realm, fulfilled.
-Grrrrr.
A chill crept up her back. Pain stabbed her throat, chest, heart.
Death's arrival.
The Authority triggers inevitable death the instant one perceives "death" in any form.
Sisilia had sensed its presence by aura alone, activating the power.
As a conceptual force, evasion or negation was impossible. The only counter: die first, then revive.
Like stopping the heart temporarily or becoming undead.
"Trouble."
Up to here, manageable. Instant-death gimmicks were common; she had countermeasures galore.
The problem came next.
Memory.
As the name implied, an Authority over all memory-related manipulations. It could erase knowledge of how to slay the Demon God or even twist thoughts themselves.
That too, she could handle. Memories lost could be recovered; her unique thought processes would flag anomalies instantly.
But the letter's "Memento mori"—remember death.
Facing the Demon God with death etched in memory left zero chance of victory.
"First."
Sisilia reached back.
Krunch! She twisted Death's neck, killing it.
"I'm Sword God Sisilia. You targeted the wrong one—Sword Princess Sisilia sensed you, so execution."
Dong.
The proposal accepted; translocation to the demon realm confirmed. She shut her eyes.
'Five seconds till Death revives.'
Five seconds because that's how long until the Demon God arrived post-realm entry. It could revive any demon with a gesture.
'At least I don't know the names of this pre-boss trio.'
Knowing Darkness, Death, and Memory's names made reversal impossible. Their names were only audible in the demon realm.
Hearing them meant 100% awareness: this is the demon realm.
Trapping Sisilia there until the Demon God died. No more reunions with her beloved newbies.
'Can't let that happen.'
So somehow, before the Demon God arrived.
One second elapsed thinking that. Four left.
'I wanna see those squishy newbies celebrate slaying the Demon King...!'
"Death's name is—"
Thud.
A sinister voice from the side. Sisilia ruptured her eardrums with wind. Three seconds left.
'They'll say this game's fun. Not trash... Wait, why can't I remember Memory's name? Oh right, Memory's name is.'
Sensing the incongruity, she obliterated the brain regions tied to memory.
The voice echoed in her mind. Sisilia detonated her brain entirely.
Now devoid of thought or memory. Two seconds.
Shing.
Her spinal cord, handling reflexes, remained intact. Her body moved on pre-programmed instinct.
Her sword pierced rightward precisely. Heaven-Breaking Powerless Sword interrupted mid-cast, but its immense mass tore a tiny rift in space.
One second.
Sisilia's mouth moved. Brain gone, but faithfully executing its final order. Vocal cords were flesh too.
"Goddess."
Her voice was serene.
"DDS—Debug Dispatch Signal."
In that instant.
Crunch—!
Unfathomable interference flooded the pinhole rift.
How dare you touch my baby.
Enveloped in a warm cradle, Sisilia returned to the human realm.
**
"Hee hee."
Sisilia lay sprawled on the floor, staring at the ceiling and giggling like a madwoman.
She was proud—that was the only play in that scenario.
Darkness triggered on Demon King kills. True, she'd slain the previous one, but Cain held more claim.
Framing it as a "bug" gave the Goddess intervention pretext. It worked.
DDS: emergency bug report to the admin. The Goddess—who'd backstabbed Sisilia in Another World—knew exactly what it meant.
"Hee, exhausting. Gonna die from exhaustion. But fun! Ehehe."
The Goddess had fixed her brain, but Sisilia-cat couldn't escape the dopamine high.
"No way."
Freya, sensing ill omens upon return, froze at the familiar demonic scent.
"Demon realm."
Sisilia struggled upright.
"I'm back...?"
Freya's eyes shrank to dots.