246
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake
Chapter 246
The researchers were obsessed with recording their observations whether Belial was expressing pain or not. Snake creatures with limbs gathered around Caesar.
Caesar kept scattering ashes while wielding Thunder.
"Do not worry about the snakes!"
Agatha poured the snakes that were attacking Caesar with ashes into the sea using charm magic. Indeed, mental magic specialists are the best when dealing with devils. The ashes dissolved in the sea and quickly disappeared.
Caesar continued to observe Belial. The horns had already reached the third one.
-It is too fast.
-Until when will the horns keep growing?
-New abilities?
Eventually, the chains binding Belial melted away. Belial fell face down on the ground and shed tears like blood.
-It hurts...
-It hurts. It hurts too much.
As Belial began approaching the researchers one step at a time, the researchers started backing away.
-Damn, run away!
-Knight! Call the knights!
-Magic does not work either!
Wizards with wands tried casting spells at Belial, but Belial did not budge at all. Another horn grew on Belial's head.
The fourth horn.
-Mother... Father...
-Brother... Sister...
-Where are you?
Belial cried like a child, searching for a family that did not exist. On the ground beneath Belial, ashes flowed like lava, thick and viscous. Eventually, the researchers began to flee, taking only their observation records. Caesar swung Thunder toward them. The researchers' legs were severed, and they fell.
-Aaaaargh!
The researchers were engulfed by the lava-hot ashes on the ground and disappeared.
Caesar stopped in his tracks. It was too hot to move forward. Belial's gaze fixed somewhere. There lay a dead snake person. On the snake person's head, a red ribbon hair tie dangled from what little hair remained.
-...Sister?
As Belial approached, the snake person burst into flames. The ribbon hair tie burned along with it. Belial screamed.
-No! Aaaah no!
Belial instinctively ran toward the dead snake person. But as Belial approached, the snake person turned to dust and disappeared.
-Aaaaaaaargh!
Belial cried like a child. Soon, a fifth horn grew on Belial's head… And immediately after, a sixth horn grew. Belial's body kept crumbling. The first to crumble was the nose, followed by the ears. Fingers and toes fell off, hitting the ground with a dry sound before disappearing. Having nothing left to burn, Belial was turning to ash. Becoming a disaster. Belial's ashes were scattered by the wind.
Caesar swung Thunder to block the indiscriminately flying ashes. The heated ashes ate through Caesar's clothes. Belial's form was no longer visible. There were only ashes without will, roughly encroaching on the surroundings.
"It feels like I had a dream."
Belial's voice flowed through the ashes spread like a sea. The ashes gathered into one and molded Belial. Belial looked at Caesar with empty eyes as if nothing had happened.
"Indeed, the succubus race is lethal. The Demon King is even more dangerous. Her charm magic is almost similar in intensity to mind control magic."
"Were you from the 666 Research Institute?"
To Caesar's question, Belial nodded as if it did not matter. The image of crying as if the sky would fall had completely disappeared.
"Are you following Niflheim because you want revenge against those people?"
"I do not know what misunderstanding you have, but I do not follow His Majesty for such sentimental reasons."
Belial began gathering ashes by raising a hand.
"I know that I was tortured at that institute. But for me, such an event is not much different from seeing the sea yesterday."
Belial stretched out the right hand into the air.
"I am ashes that have completely burned."
Ashes gathered in Belial's right hand, creating an Adoratorum necklace, the mark of a prophet. Belial wore the necklace around the neck.
"My life is no different from worthless garbage."
Belial sent the right hand behind. The ashes gathered and hundreds of Belial rose.
"There is only one person who uses me like this and tells me that I am needed. My king, the only one."
Hundreds of Belial opened their mouths simultaneously.
"I am His army."
Hundreds of Belial stretched out their hands. The ashes gathered and staffs appeared in their hands.
"I am his staff."
"You say nonsense quite convincingly."
Agatha's charm spell hit Belial directly. Pink light flowed from Belial's eyes, and he slumped like wet laundry.
"I understand that you go berserk when under a nightmare spell. However, that doesn't mean you're immune to charm spells."
Agatha flicked her finger.
"Shut up and all of you go drown yourselves in the sea."
As the charmed Belial ran toward the shore, another Belial shot ash powder arrows at his body.
Bang!
Belial's body collapsed instantly and scattered as ash powder on the floor. Then the ash powder gathered again and became Belial.
"Eh?"
"Do you think I would fall for the same trick twice?"
Hundreds of Belial spread out widely with different timing and different gaits.
"...Could it be that each one of those is a completely different entity?"
One Belial waved his staff. Then the ash-colored dome that had covered the entire Luxhope began to shrink. The dome narrowed but did not reach the dock.
"Is that all? You will no longer be able to pour ash powder into the sea either."
The Belials simultaneously waved their staffs. The ash powder scattered on the floor gathered to form arrows and snakes.
"Now death is all that remains for you."
Agatha and Yan swallowed dry saliva. This was because they could not think of a way to kill Belial.
"Caesar, don't you have any ideas?"
"Actually, it's become easier."
When Belial is cornered, he shows this pattern. He divides his mind into dozens, sometimes thousands of pieces to prevent collapse from mental attacks. This situation would be very tricky without a mental Wizard, but we have Agatha, an elite in mental magic.
"He's just split his consciousness to avoid charm spells, but each one of them is still Belial."
Caesar pointed to one Belial.
"Agatha, capture one Belial and eliminate the dome."
Even though Belial has split his mind, each one of them is still Belial. It's like having hundreds of remote controls for one TV. If Agatha can just properly hold one remote control, she can easily seal his abilities. Agatha immediately understood Caesar's words and cast a charm spell on one Belial.
"Remove that strange dome!"
As Belial's staff waved, the dome disappeared instantly.
"What...!"
"My goodness, it really works?"
Other Belials shot arrows at the charmed Belial to eliminate him. But Agatha cast a charm spell on another Belial without hesitation.
"It's cleaning time! Throw all the ash into the sea."
The charmed Belial began pushing all the fallen ash powder into the sea. Other Belials moved quickly to dispose of the charmed one, but Agatha captured another Belial and continued pushing ash powder into the sea.
"...You bastards!"
The Belials shot arrows at Agatha all at once. Caesar swung Thunder and Lefty to scatter the ash arrows while Yan also joined in blocking arrows flying toward Agatha.
"Don't think about defense, just focus on eliminating the ash powder!"
"Got it!"
The ash powder heated up fiercely. Belial tried to break through Caesar and Yan to kill Agatha, shooting thousands of arrows, but Yan and Caesar did not allow even the slightest opening.
'...This is comfortable.'
Yan felt familiar with Caesar as if they had coordinated dozens of times before. To be precise, should it be said that Caesar was adapting to Yan's patterns? When Yan blocked arrows coming from the right and a gap appeared on the left, Caesar naturally moved in from the left to defend. The perfectly matching combo play, as if reading Yan's mind, was extremely satisfying.
The problem was that this familiarity felt too unfamiliar.
'...Is this possible because of Caesar?'
Yan's gaze turned to Caesar.
'Is it really because he's Barre?'
Unlike Yan's complicated thoughts, the situation was rapidly improving. This was because Belial's offensive was gradually diminishing. The amount of ash powder that had sunk into the sea was enormous, and Agatha had become accustomed to controlling Belial.
"From now on, all magic is under control."
Agatha scattered all of Belial's magic that was shooting ash arrows. From now on, there was only one method Belials could use. That was to run in with their staffs and attack directly.
"When a Wizard comes in for close combat, that's when you know they've lost."
Caesar and Yan blocked Belial very easily. When the Belials scattered into ash powder, Agatha immersed all the powder in the sea. Belial became frustrated in a situation where he could do neither this nor that. If he unified his mind, he would be helpless against Agatha's mental attack, but if he dispersed his mind, he would lose control as he was now and be unable to do anything.
'...Then there is only one way.'
At this rate, it was clear that he would not be able to kill Yan, let alone Caesar. The thought of failing to fulfill the king's command to conquer and present the demon realm was suffocating, but it couldn't be helped. Belial decided to slip away secretly. Because informing the King of Niflheim about this situation would be better than a meaningless death.
'Caesar is dangerous.'
Caesar is a figure who interferes with the king's vision. It is right to kill Caesar by any means necessary. This is not running away. It is merely a strategic retreat. Belial sent the ashes up into the sky very gradually, little by little.
Simultaneously, he was being thoroughly destroyed by those opponents. For now, let them be intoxicated with the joy of victory. And in the distant future when he meets them again, he will even turn their bones into ashes and similarly immerse them by the seashore.
Belial suddenly felt as if someone was tightly squeezing his heart. It wasn't because of Agatha's mental attack but because of the anger boiling inside his own chest. Belial found this anger quite pleasant.
'Thank you, Caesar.'
Everything had been vague until now, but thanks to Caesar, something clear had emerged. The desire for revenge. Belial never dreamed he would obtain a clear goal—something he could only get from the king—through him, but Belial didn't think it was bad.
Because after turning him to ashes, he felt he would understand what true satisfaction means. Belial very slowly sent the ashes up into the sky... And the last remaining Belial on the ground turned to ashes and disappeared. Agatha wiped away flowing sweat and sighed.
"Is it over?"
"No."
Caesar stirred Thunder in the empty air. Then Belial's ashes, which were escaping on the wind, plummeted to the ground.
Belial sat on the floor and glared at Caesar.
"...How did you know?"
"Your acting was terrible."
Belial calmly considered how Caesar had detected his escape, and the answer came surprisingly easily.
"You read my thoughts. You have psychometric abilities."
Belial was right. Caesar had used psychometry to read that he was harboring other thoughts.
"Your nonsense increases as your end approaches. Just die."
"Wait."
Just as Caesar was about to stir Thunder, Yan blocked him.
"Belial, I have just one question."
Belial saw doubt blooming in Yan's eyes. Doubt is the seed of all divisions. Though Belial might lack empathy, he wasn't ignorant of this truth.
"You get one question. Is Caesar truly Barre?"
Yan tightly gripped the sword in his hand.
"What makes you so certain that Caesar is a doppelganger? What evidence do you have?"
"A doppelganger came to me and told me. That Caesar is a doppelganger and is Barre."
"Anyone could say such things. Provide clear evidence."
"Must you see to believe? Must you hear to believe? Aren't you asking me because you already harbor doubts?"
Belial's tone wasn't subtle. His expression wasn't cunning either. But his words were drawing out the truth that Yan had been deliberately ignoring.
"Caesar uses the Berserker that Barre used to use. Caesar used to use a sword but at some point started using an axe, and he began to stand out from the moment Barre went missing. All these circumstantial evidence proves that Caesar is a doppelganger and is Barre, so what more proof do you want me to provide?"
Belial stood up and looked straight into Yan's wavering eyes.
"You are simply covering your eyes and blocking your ears. Because Barre must not be a doppelganger, and Caesar must not be a doppelganger. Because you cannot bear the fact that the comrade you trusted and relied on is a doppelganger."
Unable to watch any longer, Agatha stepped forward.
"Why are we continuing to listen to this nonsense? Hero?"
"Shut up! Demon King! This is an extremely important matter to me!"
Even Caesar flinched at Yan's shout. Yan rarely becomes angry. For most things, he just laughs it off or simply keeps his mouth shut. However, if asked when Yan does become angry, it's precisely when it involves demon race.
"My family was torn apart and killed by the demon race. The villagers who cared for me were also devoured by your subjects, not a single one spared."
Agatha gulped at the pure killing intent emanating from Yan's eyes. It seemed as though he might raise his sword and behead Agatha at any moment.
"Even breathing the same air as you in the same space feels like a sin to me! So do not interfere."
Yan placed his sword against Belial's neck.
"I'll ask one last time. Do you have clear evidence that Barre is a doppelganger?"
"There is only one way to prove someone is a doppelganger. Take them before another demon race and ask if they are a doppelganger."
Belial gestured with his chin toward Agatha and said:
"So ask the Demon King now, Hero. Whether Caesar is truly Barre."
Yan looked clearly at Agatha. Agatha felt like she would suffocate under that gaze full of killing intent.
"I will ask you, Demon King."
Agatha kept looking at Yan's right hand, though she shouldn't. Because that right hand had beheaded the previous Demon King.
"Is Caesar truly a doppelganger?"