O King
[Kneel.]
A voice pressed down on her skull.
A single word. That was all it took for electricity to seem to lance through Ash, from the base of her spine up to the crown of her head, and her legs buckled beneath her before she even realized she was falling. It felt like lightning crawling up her backbone in an instant, searing her brain pitch-black. Thought was impossible. Her body simply reacted to that voice.
What... what is happening?
Strength refused to gather anywhere in her body. Her legs would not move. Her trembling gaze whipped across Isaac's platinum hair, across the vestments of a priest draped over that small frame.
She looked, and looked again — and saw the same repulsive pack of holy men she knew all too well.
What is this. Why? Why does a priest have mana!
Ash's frozen eyes contorted with terror. No — the mana wasn't even the real problem.
This mana.
As a high-ranking demon, she knew better than anyone: this was not the mana a mere human could ever possess. A black aura was rising from Isaac's body. A crimson magic eye. Her whole frame shook and rattled. Terrifying. She couldn't breathe. This was the first fear she had ever truly felt.
No — was it really the first?
Quite suddenly, a memory flickered through her mind. O Great King. To be sure, a demon like Ash had never had the chance to behold the eyes of the Skeleton King firsthand. But once — just once — she had witnessed the Great King's power for herself. It must have been back when the detestable gods threatened to strip the demons of their homeland.
Countless divine messengers hurled themselves at the Skeleton King, and the True Demons readied themselves for total war — but the King had only said a walk was in order. With a single line drawn through empty air, it was over. The presumptuous messengers plummeted to the ground in an instant, and even the gods, wary of that power, dared not approach again. Every demon alive had shuddered before that strength. Even the haughty purebloods had bowed their heads to the mightiest of Demon Kings!
So why — why did that feeling belong to... that brat?!
Ash's eyes bulged, and then a frozen smile split across her face.
"And where exactly do you think you're looking right now?"
"...!"
Before the words had even finished falling, Ash's head smashed into the ground.
CRASH!
Ugh...! An unseen force crushed her skull; her forehead ground against the earth as if it might be pulped. Tears welled in Ash's eyes. Damn it...! What is this monstrous presence?!
It was on an entirely different level from before — an overwhelming power that made her feel, to her very marrow, that she was nothing more than an insect. And the most terrifying part was that this wasn't even an intentional display of strength. As if on cue, Isaac approached with his arms crossed, mighty mana coiling around his body.
"Crawled out on your own, did you? Saved me the trouble of hunting you down. You're the one who abducted the paladins?"
At those words, Ash — her head still pressed to the floor — flinched.
...Right! She'd been too terrified to remember, but yes! Come to think of it, hadn't she been planning to eat this brat? Why, you ask? Because this brat had devoured the Great King's sacred body!
Ash's stiffened lips twitched, only now realizing its place. So that's why this little monster was radiating mana like this! Yes! That had to be it!
"You ate the Great King's holy flesh — that's how you took His power for yourself!"
"?"
Ash barely managed to force her mana into motion. That mana snaked along the ground and dragged magical beasts into the world.
"You damn little runt! Flashing His power around won't save you!"
Four magical beasts rose from the earth.
"O King, pray wait but a moment! I shall slice open that brat's belly and deliver the holy body back to you at once!"
A bird larger than the building itself reared skyward. These were no ordinary magical beasts — they were creatures Ash had raised using the Skeleton King's own power, the very beasts that had abducted the paladins. Blessed with the King's strength, they had snatched up even senior paladins without giving them the chance to lift a finger. With His power at her command, tearing that brat limb from limb would be nothing!
But at the sight of the beasts, the corners of Isaac's mouth curled upward. That smile — and the black mana spreading across the ground with it.
KUGUGUNG!
A mana potent enough to bring every mage alive to their knees radiated out in all directions. And what he summoned forth was one of the Eight Hot Hells.
Black Rope Hell!
The infernal pit reserved for those guilty of murder and theft — one of the Eight Hot Hells. Fire drawn from that place took on physical form through Isaac's mana.
⟨ Black Rope Hell — Flame ⟩
KWARRURUK!
The burning chains of the Eight Hot Hells punched straight through the hearts of the magical beasts. Not even a moment was granted for the blood to fall. The blazing coils wrenched themselves tight around the beasts' hearts in an instant—
CRUNCH!
—and the hearts, squeezed until they could burst, hardened into black demon stones, fuel for the fire. The very next moment, rough flames erupted like briquet catching alight. Not even a scream survived. The four beasts torn apart by the fire were reduced to the Skeleton King's fuel and vaporized in a heartbeat, as though they had never existed in that place at all.
The only trace left behind was the beasts' fur drifting down along with black ash. Ash, doused head to toe in that fur, could do nothing but blink.
...Huh?
What just happened?
Ash's eyes trembled. ...Huh? Wh-what? ......Huh???
By the time she understood what had occurred, Isaac was already standing right in front of her.
"You dare come at me with nothing but 6th-Tier trash?"
"...?!"
That ghastly voice sent her mind reeling. Nothing but? Four 6th-Tier magical beasts would have required humans to prepare for a full-scale war!
But Isaac only let out a snorting laugh.
Well — for all his mocking words, he was actually rather grateful to Ash. I'd been wanting to test my magic's firepower anyway! Inside the Holy Empire, he couldn't cut loose freely. He had, of course, crafted a mana core that was arguably the Skeleton King's finest masterpiece, and the Saint's body compressed and concentrated his mana even further. There was no way the power wouldn't rise — but even so, he hadn't been able to gauge just how far it had climbed.
And then, this power!
As expected — stronger than the old days.
Whisper was on the verge of ecstatic death. Moreover, the power Isaac had just used was fire from one of the lower-ranked hells among those his master could summon — fire still barely a breath in comparison. And yet!
Granted, the beasts had possessed no magic resistance — but even so, the difference was unmistakable.
So mixing holy power with mana really does produce something special.
He'd been only half-sure, but this settled it. Holy power and mana — forces that could never, ever be combined — when fused, would open a new realm that had never existed before.
Perhaps that's exactly why the gods refused to make me human.
The Skeleton King had always been a master of every art in existence, and having fought the Saintess face to face, it was fair to say he understood holy power better than anyone. If he'd gained a body capable of wielding it, he might well have become a threat in their eyes.
But even so, this exceeded expectations.
At such a low stage already, and this much power.
Isaac's current level of magic was still only 5th Tier; his holy arts, aside from Purification, still 4th Tier. So one could only imagine what strength awaited if he reached the Transcendental Tier — no, even just the 10th Tier. And of course, Isaac was a Demon King who had already scaled the summit of magic once before. On top of that, the mana dwelling in his core — the Skeleton King's inherent quality of mana, crafted this time with even greater care than before — was something no one alive could hope to match.
A low tier just means fewer spells to draw from. It doesn't mean the power itself is weak.
Subduing one measly demon hardly counted as work at all.
Isaac seized Ash by the skull and pressed down.
"Kgh...!"
Still, Ash could not move.
...I can't use magic!
She had already understood. What had just happened was no mere discharge of the Skeleton King's power he'd devoured.
That was His own strength...!
And in all the world, there was only one being entitled to wield it.
The King!
The moment that realization landed, Ash's breath caught in her throat. Sure enough, a voice she could not defy dropped into her ears.
"Did you—"
Cold enough to cut to the bone.
"—find my words amusing?"
Every time Isaac added a word, the pressure on her skull deepened.
"I distinctly remember telling you not to touch the humans."
An inescapable, murderous mana coiled around her throat and sealed her airways. In the end, Ash could only squeeze her eyes shut. She felt, against her will, that she was about to wet herself.
Wh-why is the King...?
Wasn't His Majesty supposed to be in the royal castle? No — now was not the time to be working her brain. She could not fathom why he was here, or why he wore a human's body, but—
That isn't what matters.
Ash pressed her forehead deep into the ground.
"O King...! My life is forfeit! I shall surrender the antidote this instant, I swear it!"
"No. Forget the antidote."
...What?
Wasn't the antidote the single most important thing here?
But Isaac's eyes glittered.
"It's useless anyway. Just tell me where the paladins you took are."
"Yes, my King! I shall transport them here at once with spatial magic!!"
"Oh. You can manage that?"
Delight colored Isaac's voice, and Ash, taking that as approval, bowed her head deeper still.
"Yes, my King! Speak but a word and it is done!"
Yet Isaac only tilted his head.
"You see, though."
"Yes!"
"If I'm to take a flawless King title at the Gold Pentagon, I don't just need the paladins rescued. I need evidence."
"E-evidence, you say..."
At that, Isaac hacked his own neck flat with the edge of his hand and smiled, a shiver crawling up the spine.
"Proof that I have dealt with the demon. Thoroughly."
At the look in Isaac's eyes — a gaze pointing directly at her throat — Ash froze solid.