The Looming Threat (1)
Even after four centuries turned it into ruins, the city still hinted at the grandeur of its heyday. Weeds sprouted thick in spots now, but the roads, meticulously paved with bricks, boasted a width rare even in modern cities. Priced mana stone streetlamps—found only sporadically in the hearts of the continent's major cities today—lined every street here at narrow intervals.
Spacious carriage stations, plazas so vast they opened up the skyline, banks visible every block... all spoke to the overflowing wealth this city had once enjoyed. Amid all these remnants of pre-curse abundance, the crowning glory was undoubtedly the castle.
The most opulent building in a city where the empire's riches converged, it pierced the heavens. Unlike other structures of brick and stone, it boldly incorporated metal and glass for reinforcement, claiming the continent's tallest height even now.
Demon King Luciferia gazed at the shattered city from the glass garden atop the castle. She savored the sight of a place once so rich, so bountiful, now in ruins.
"Hm, hmhm...♪"
She loved it here. From this vantage, she could take in the scars the previous Demon King had left on the continent at a glance. Residential districts where people once lived had rotted into rubble. Libraries preserving humanity's wisdom across generations lay in ashes. Academy knights slumbered in their metal armor as coffins, and the armory's sharp weapons rusted into dust.
Vines blackened and festering like gangrene from magic poisoning clung grotesquely to Gothic walls, heightening the eerie atmosphere. She relished every trace of the previous Demon King's destruction.
What an arrogant city. Inferior humans, oblivious to their place, had tried to "use" the sealed prior Demon King.
Ha, harnessing magic as an eternal power source for endless prosperity...
The empire's mad hubris—treating a Demon King as a living engine—had turned an entire city into a magic-tainted wasteland. This ruin, born of human arrogance and ignorance, suited her perfectly.
Having enjoyed the view, Luciferia strode from the castle with light steps. In a motion too swift for her dainty frame—ripping the air with a sonic boom—she vanished into the nearby forest.
Once filled with flowers and manicured trees, this vast woodland was now a horrific demon realm shrouded in thick fog after four centuries. In the impenetrable mist, she stared intently ahead, as if awaiting something.
Soon, the ground she watched trembled like an earthquake. But it was no quake. An enormous horde of magic beasts marched forth.
Defeated after fierce battles with the hero party, leaderless and grievously wounded, the horde approached her.
"You've returned, my precious children."
She gazed lovingly at the battered creatures.
"I promise you this: when we reclaim the domain of demons and beasts, glory shall be yours."
The magic beasts prostrated before her, reverently regurgitating what they carried in their mouths. Trophies from the heroes: nails, hair, occasionally blood...
As she sifted through the hair, she plucked out a platinum-tinged strand and smiled.
"Found it... Excellent. At last, I can create my final kin."
"...Is this that human mage's hair? Mother?"
A delicate voice echoed from the forest depths.
"Yes, a vital ingredient for my final kin."
A doll burst from the fog, identical to elf hero Lora—save for the thick horns sprouting from her head.
I am different from them.
The first Demon King faced the hero alone and died decapitated. The second, descending with greater might, burned away under holy power. The third mobilized hordes to pressure humanity but fell to heroes tempered by trials. The fourth was mighty enough to challenge an empire solo yet overwhelmed by numbers.
The first, the next, the one after... all failed repeatedly. But I, Luciferia, will not repeat their failures.
I won't fight alone. I won't let the heroes grow. I, Luciferia, will deceive and exploit them.
Drawing magic from my dantian, using the hair as a medium, I invoked my Demon King's Authority. A special power granted only to Demon Kings.
"Hoo..."
Through the golden strand, a body identical to its owner formed. Using my Authority, I cloned the heroes into my kin.
One of the first-born watched her writhing "sibling," then asked me—as if baffled by my tedious efforts.
"I don't get it. Why leave the heroes alone, Mother? With your power, couldn't you crush them the moment they set foot here?"
She descended from the trees, questioning me insolently.
With grotesque tree-like horns and an utterly expressionless face, she was the spitting image of hero Estelle. Any other demon showing such cheek would learn manners instantly, but I liked hers. It proved she matched the original's equivalent value.
"With Mother's power, you could've smashed them easily..."
"There was reason to let them live."
With a benevolent smile, I infused magic into the growing kin body.
Within a Demon King's domain, the Demon King can create forces equal in number to their foes.
That's what humans believed. Fair enough, judging by four Demon King descents in history.
But that was half the truth. A Demon King's domain Authority didn't create mere equal numbers.
It created forces of equivalent value.
"Previous Demon Kings believed they could overwhelm heroes with human wave tactics."
Foolish. Why squander precious Authority on weak monsters that rusted to blood at a single sword stroke?
I couldn't fathom past Demon Kings wasting Authority on middling kin to fight heroes. The results were always disastrous. Heroes rising from trials, blades honed sharper, claiming the Demon King's head.
"The prior Demon Kings were mistaken. Half-hearted trials only make them grow stronger."
Unhappy with my pacing, she snapped a twig from her horn.
"...Still not explained. Why not just obliterate them in one blow? No growth then, right?"
She tilted her head.
"Oh, my child. Demon Kings who thought they could handle everything alone all perished."
"I seek superior kin."
My puzzled child tilted her head further when her elder sister spat venom from the shadows.
"You're so stupid. No wonder your original hero is too."
"...What?"
A pink-haired knight emerged, looking down pityingly at the short elf demon.
"Hey, when's your birthday?"
"...A week ago?"
"If we'd killed them on arrival like you say, we wouldn't even exist. Mother's Authority only works on living enemies."
She finally got it, letting out a short "Ah."
"Mother needed time to make us."
Her armor clinking, she eyed her sister coldly.
With a merciful smile, I explained.
"Frail as they are, they're humanity's strongest... perfect materials for my Authority."
As I refined the new kin's body, I outlined the plan.
"To make kin as superior as you, they had to live."
The Authority-forged body began maturing. The insolent mage who slew my first kin with Word Spirit: Bella Sodus.
The moment the Bella Sodus clone was born, a small horn sprouted on her head. Devouring ambient magic, it grew starkly unlike the original.
"That's how such superior kin are born."
As the clone's body completed, her sealed eyes slowly opened.
"...Ah?"
In her confused yet obedient gaze, I stroked her and kissed her forehead.
"Teach your new sister her duties?"
I left the newborn's training to the magic tower lord clone.
"...This way, please."
Watching the two vanish into the castle, I envisioned the heroes' end.
"Savor your petty victories while you can, heroes."
Adding experience only aided their growth, so I'd sent moderately weak monsters.
Blind to the anomalies... pathetic, arrogant fools.
Luxuriating in lavish lodgings deep in enemy territory without suspicion? Unbelievable laxity.
"Even modulating threats to deceive them... I didn't expect such carelessness."
Tsking my tongue, I preemptively celebrated the coming triumph.
Soon, they'll pay for their hubris.
Only upon reaching the Demon King's Castle would the heroes kneel before me and my kin's overwhelming might. Then, my children—identical to humanity's hope, the heroes—would exterminate every human on the continent.
"It'd be fun to order them to raze their original's homeland... hehe."
Imagining the day all human hope turned to despair, I smiled. The day the continent drowned in human blood was near.