The Gardener
"I've been searching for a hero worthy of standing against me for a long time."
A vein bulged on Cain's forehead.
"I didn't ask for grandeur. I would've been satisfied with the bare minimum."
His voice trembled more with each word, laced with uncontainable fury.
"But this? This disgrace? Struggling against mere low-level monsters?"
The hero party couldn't even draw a proper breath under the weight of Cain's presence—the Demon King's aura.
"I see no value in sparing you."
Cain's form twisted with disgust. In that instant, he appeared before the terrified, trembling Ruby and thrust his pitch-black sword.
Thud!
The girl blocked the strike with her shortsword.
Only now did Ruby get a clear look at the girl's face. She'd suspected it before, but now she was certain.
"...Lady Sisilia?"
It was Sisilia as a child.
"Not Sisilia. Cecelia."
Cecelia gave a faint smile.
"The species change altered the pronunciation a bit."
Clang! With strength unbelievable for a child's form, Cecelia repelled Cain's sword. She dropped into a low stance and unleashed a diagonal upward slash. Cain retreated a step, his face impassive.
"Sudden interference is against the rules, Demon King. We agreed you'd turn back based on appearances alone."
"Sisilia Windsor ignored me. That pathetic party is proof."
Cain's rage showed no sign of fading.
"I withdraw my respect. Step aside."
Their swords met in midair.
Boom!
Each clash unleashed sword winds so fierce no one could keep their eyes open.
Ruby could only stare blankly. The level difference was overwhelming.
'The Demon King?'
Why was he here? Was it even possible? Before logic could kick in, Ruby understood. If that wasn't the Demon King, humanity had no hope.
"Forgot already? You've lost to me once before."
But Ruby found Cecelia even more astonishing than the 'very picture of a Demon King' that was Cain. She herself couldn't even twitch a finger just from watching, yet this tiny, adorable child was holding her own against him.
It was awe-inspiring on sight alone.
"...Child abusers are worse than lolicon creeps."
But that was the end of it. Cecelia couldn't match the Demon King after all. Moments later, she was sent flying in tatters to land beside Ruby.
"Ow."
Cecelia pushed herself up from the ground with effort. Her pale, soft cheeks were bruised, her clothes caked in dirt. Watching a child get battered like this was viscerally hard to stomach.
Ruby's voice cracked with tears. "A-are you okay?"
What she hated most was her own body, still refusing to move even now. But Cecelia's eyes lit up with childlike innocence at her words, and she flashed a bright smile.
"Just stay put. I'll protect you for sure."
Ruby felt a warm breeze envelop her. The paralyzing fear ebbed away, replaced by an inexplicable sense of relief.
"Demon King, every party has potential. Even like this, they'll become fine heroes."
"And I'm to trust that?"
Cain eyed Ruby like she was some insect.
"You had plenty of time. More than enough to prove your worth."
Yet the hero party had shown nothing, and Cain saw no reason to wait longer. Their very existence grated on him endlessly.
"This is why I despise humans."
Cain's pitch-black sword hummed with power—enough to obliterate an entire city without effort. A declaration that he would hear no more arguments.
He swung at the hero party like lightning.
"Do you know why a gardener uproots budding sprouts?"
But neither the city's annihilation nor the party's death followed.
"Because he's afraid they'll grow. Uprooting the hero party here would just make you a coward, Demon King."
Cecelia spoke lightly, her finger poking near the hilt of Cain's sword. That simple act halted the blade's overwhelming destructive force.
Yet Cain showed no surprise or panic. If anything, he seemed intrigued. She'd targeted the precise weak point where the force transmitted most feebly, neutralizing it. The slightest miscalculation in position or timing, and her arm would've been severed.
Cecelia was no ordinary demon. Severed limbs didn't regenerate for her. Even as a perfect clone of humanity's strongest, her foundation was the magic of the Seven Deadly Sins' Envy, Fern.
And yet this spirit and skill...
'Then how strong must the original body be, to match?'
Cain licked his lips. His interest surpassed even his first glimpse of Heaven-Breaking Powerless Sword.
"Come to think of it, you were human once."
Cain chuckled. Then, with a chilling smile that raised goosebumps all over Ruby's skin, he said,
"I've thought of something amusing."
He hurled his sword at Cecelia. As she lunged to exploit the opening, he caught her wrist bare-handed and slammed her to the ground.
"Ugh."
Cecelia looked like it hurt badly. But she desperately bit into Cain's arm.
Cain stared at her with utter disbelief.
Embarrassed, Cecelia released her bite and glanced around awkwardly.
Cain let out a faint sigh.
"Enough of your nonsense."
He grabbed her by the nape and turned her toward Ruby.
"Kill her yourself."
"...What?"
"Do that, and I'll forgive this farce."
"......"
Cain nodded curtly and stepped back. Do as you please.
Cecelia picked up the sword and approached Ruby.
Ruby bowed her head in resignation.
And in that moment—
Cecelia turned the blade on her own throat.
"How absurd."
Cain blocked it just before it touched. From the force behind it, her suicide attempt was genuine.
"I've always wondered—why are you so earnest about this?"
"Give me one chance, Demon King. I'll submit from now on."
"How... utterly... delightful."
His words came in halting bursts as he impassively hoisted Cecelia like luggage and walked off. He extended a hand into the air, summoning a black gate.
Cain glanced back.
"Lucky humans."
Before vanishing into the gate, Ruby saw it. Cecelia's eyes, brimming with endless sorrow, her tiny mouth forming words.
-Save me.
"...!"
Ruby reeled from the shock.
**
"You've arrived."
In Lumia's castle, she prostrated the moment Cain emerged from the black gate.
Cain replied curtly.
"Yes."
"And Cecelia?"
Cain's brow twitched.
"Off to play."
"So cute, just like her."
Lumia giggled, then rose to walk beside him.
"Unexpected, though. Who knew the Demon King would grace us personally?"
"Grace? Don't delude yourself. I merely wanted to see how easily a budding sprout snaps."
And to witness it. How that haughty expression would shatter when her cherished sprout was broken before her eyes.
"Sure, sure."
"......"
Lumia seemed utterly indifferent. They halted in a vast cavern—the largest space in Lumia Castle, etched with intricate magic circles all around.
This was the final stage where humans challenging Lumia would ultimately face her. They were inspecting it in advance.
"The Demon King's too bashful—that's the problem. I was honestly impressed. What humans did only to us, now we're doing to them."
Recruitment success, right? Demon King.
Lumia tittered. Cain merely gazed at the spells. Even he needed time to comprehend their complexity.
Lumia's night-white incantations were always like that. Even as they unfolded, grasping them would be impossible.
Especially for a party without a mage.
"Cecelia's seal preparations are complete. No matter how strong Sisilia Windsor is—or isn't—she ends here."
Cain said quietly,
"Then I can finally slay the second Abel."
Meanwhile, the true mastermind behind it all, Lady Cecelia, strolled leisurely through the alleys of Brockenfeld Territory.
This was the next destination for the hero party. After all, Sisilia had planned this 'Demon King攻略 route for future newbies' at age seven.
With her perfectionist creed of 'no plan unless perfect,' the odds of revisions were zero.
Surprisingly averse to change, Sisilia was.
"Which gives me a shot."
More than a shot, perhaps an edge. She knew the opponent's hand completely; they knew nothing of hers.
'Your precious newbie's mine now.'
Ruby would grow stronger. For the sake of 'poor Cecelia, held hostage by the Demon King.'
The childlike form was perfect for Ruby's personality.
'I handled her tutorial from the start. Meanwhile, you don't even know Jay's blessing is 'Resurrection.'
This was an unwinnable game. Sisilia had never lost a match.
'I win.'
As she imagined triumphantly and stepped out of the alley—
Cecelia froze.
"...Not quite that simple."
Cold sweat beaded on her skin as she drew her shortsword, bracing for full combat.
"Me too."
A calm voice echoed.
"I think growing sprouts should be protected."
Sisilia stood at the alley's end. Wind Shear already enveloped the area—no escape possible.
Cecelia, still sweating, leveled her sword.
"Because a truly beautiful flower might bloom."
Cecelia charged with everything she had. Victory over the original meant one thing: land a fatal blow before true name release.
But.
"The gardener believes he's done his duty."
Cecelia's perfect strike failed. Her arm was half-severed from a blind spot the instant she lunged—yet she hadn't even noticed how.
Sisilia's sword remained sheathed.
Meaning...
'The original's growth outpaces my estimates.'
"Don't you agree?"
Sisilia crouched, stroking the fallen Cecelia's head.
"Weeds sprouting anywhere ruin the view."
Time to uproot them.
As Sisilia coldly drew her sword to slit her throat—
"Kill me."
"......"
"And I'll unleash Heaven-Breaking Powerless Sword right here. Can't fully release, but enough charge to obliterate this whole area."
Sisilia's brow twitched ever so slightly.
But she didn't decapitate. It was true.
"If that were me, I'd have ended it myself. No hesitation."
"......"
"Why choose that?"
Cecelia whispered so softly,
"...I want to see the newbies all grown up."
Sisilia closed her eyes, then opened them. She rose with a blank expression and walked out of the alley.
"Pity. Stay out of my sight, watch from afar, and I won't bother hunting you."
Sisilia left Cecelia behind and vanished.
But Cecelia lay motionless on the ground.
"Pathetic enough to die."
Cecelia gave a bitter smile through teary eyes.