Chapter 46. The Demon King's Name (3)
Chapter 46. The Demon King's Name (3)
4
Fear.
An emotion more human than any other.
"Hih......"
It was that emotion which colored the face of the fallen Constellation.
Anxiety about the unknown future. Terror that he might die just like this.
'It' was afraid of me. When I took one more step forward, it whimpered in terror. But a mere whimper could not stop someone's footsteps.
"I'm really glad you became human."
I said.
"If you'd stayed a monster, no matter how hard I killed you, you wouldn't qualify for [Hundred Ghost Summoning], would you? No, I guess it's [Hundred Ghost Reincarnation] now. Not that the skill name matters......"
"Uwaaaaah!"
Stagger.
It resisted its fear one last time. The Demon King's crimson sword. A blade now too heavy to even hold properly. It seized the greatsword in a final desperate struggle. Arms weakened beyond weakening lifted the crimson sword and swung it wildly at me.
"Hm."
Of course, there was no way I'd be hit by such flailing. I moved my feet lightly and dodged. Once, twice, three times. The fallen Constellation swung its sword, trembling all the while.
The guardian spirit muttered flatly.
-It's hopeless.
He was frowning.
-The stance is clumsy from the start. The feet don't even plant properly on the ground, and for someone swinging a sword, he doesn't even look ahead. There's no conviction in the sword path. Hey, what are you going to do after swinging that? What are you trying to do?
The guardian spirit grumbled.
-Tch, the typical swordsman who relies only on skills and Aura. No, he's not even a swordsman.
He'd kept silent ever since we cleared the 19th floor, but the 'farce' being staged by the fallen Constellation before his eyes seemed deeply offensive to the Sword Emperor's sensibilities.
-Look, zombie. Look at that. This is exactly why I keep emphasizing that you must be faithful to the fundamentals. In the final moment, the only things you can rely on are your own hands and feet.
The guardian spirit said.
-You show me the ending.
I showed him.
I swung my sword once and shattered a sword. Chaang! Blade clashed against blade with a savage cry. The fallen Constellation's eyes flew wide open as if in shock.
"Ah."
One stroke, two halves.
The crimson greatsword split in two before its eyes.
"Aah, uh... Aaah......"
Along with the shattering of the sword, the fallen Constellation's last will to resist also broke. Thud. The frail beast collapsed onto the road. Acacia petals were crushed beneath its small hips.
'So this is the Demon King's end.'
I calmly looked down at it, collapsed on the ground.
'The one who harvests death......'
Suddenly, the words the Tower had spoken when it granted me my epithet came to mind. Respect to the king who harvests death. That was what the Tower had said. For some reason, it felt strangely fitting for the current situation, and the feeling was odd.
'Yeah, it's not wrong.'
I slowly tightened my grip on the hilt.
It was the moment I was about to bring the sword down to take the fallen Constellation's head.
-Hey, zombie? Wait a second.
"......"
-Sorry for interrupting while you're striking a pose you've been holding for a while. No, actually, I'm not really sorry. I just said it because I was bored. Anyway, don't kill him yet. Wait a bit.
As always, the Sword Emperor did a 'Sword Emperor'.
"Ah, shit. Why?"
Irritation flared up, so I answered out loud instead of in my head. I hadn't brought the Sword Saint or the Witch to the 20th floor anyway. There were no hunters around to think I'd gone crazy.
-No, because you seem to be taking it for granted.
"Taking what for granted?"
-Listen. Let's say it's certain that he's no longer a monster. But does that make him human? I mean, is he treated as the same kind of human as you, zombie? Maybe he just became an ordinary NPC?
"What does that matter......"
-Are you sure that killing an NPC also processes them into [Hundred Ghost Reincarnation]?
I stopped my sword.
"Uh... wouldn't it, probably?"
-You're such a goddamn pushover that you've never killed a single NPC. It's clear that monsters don't get processed into [Hundred Ghost Reincarnation], but we still don't know if NPCs do.
"......"
-What if you just push through on vibes and later it turns out like [Sorry! NPCs are not valid skill targets!]? Huh? Are you going to take responsibility when the mood suddenly dies?
"No, but......"
-Hey, Kim Zombie. Snap out of it! I've been through this, and the Tower is really cold-blooded about this kind of thing.
Damn it.
The fallen Constellation was still watching me with a terrified expression.
Eyes stained with the fear of death.
Cursing under my breath, I checked the skill card again.
+
[Hundred Ghost Reincarnation (百鬼還生)]
Rank: SSS
Effect: Summons those you have personally killed. The dead do not inherit the abilities they had in life. However, if you wish, the dead inherit the memories and appearance they had in life. If you do not wish it, they are summoned merely as monsters.
※However, you may only summon once per week.
+
-Look. It says those 'you have personally killed'.
The guardian spirit pointed at the card.
-How do you know whether NPCs are included in that 'those'? Huh? Can you be certain?
"Uh, NPCs are people too. People."
-Ooh, that's your opinion, Mr. Kim Zombie.
The guardian spirit said with a stern, solemn, and serious expression.
-Before you lop that bastard's head off, try negotiating with the Tower first.
"Negotiate with the Tower......"
-Why? What's wrong with that? I saw you handling it fine on your own earlier. You've already done it once, so can't you do it twice?
"Hm......"
That was true.
Feeling a bit awkward, I looked up at the sky.
"Um, Tower......?"
[The Tower lends an ear to your words.]
Fortunately, the catastrophe of being completely ignored did not occur.
Earlier, I'd heard a notification that the 'authority of an apostle' was being granted, albeit in a limited capacity. Perhaps that was why. At least for the time being, I seemed able to communicate freely with the Tower.
"I have something I'd like to ask."
-Hey, earlier you were talking down to the Tower, so why are you suddenly scrambling for polite speech? You're a funny one.
"That was because my emotions suddenly surged and I slipped into casual speech without realizing... Ah, forget it. Be quiet!"
Even while we bickered back and forth, the Tower responded faithfully.
[The Tower confirms what your question is.]
"Let's see. Hmm, so does the Hundred Ghost Reincarnation skill recognize NPCs as dead if I kill them? Or does it only count hunters like me?"
Then an unexpected answer came back.
[Requesting confirmation from Zurakua.]
[Confirmation impossible.]
[This question exceeds the Tower's authority.]
"Excuse me?"
That wasn't the end.
The voice that followed exceeded my expectations even further.
[The Tower confirms the questioner's authority.]
[Pass. Death King currently holds the qualification of a provisional apostle.]
[The Tower formally recognizes Death King's raising of the issue as an official agenda item.]
And then.
[The Tower requests a majority vote conference from the Six Pillars of All Life (萬生).]
Flaaash!
White light flooded my vision.
* * *
'...Huh?'
When I blinked after a fleeting moment, I had already been dropped into a remote place. It wasn't unfamiliar. It was precisely because it wasn't unfamiliar that I was even more bewildered.
The Underworld (冥界). My dark hell.
The starting point I returned to every time I died.
Put conversely, a place I had no reason to come to unless I died.
'Why am I here......?'
At that moment, a voice roused my consciousness.
[Confirming participants.]
No.
It wasn't just a voice.
[The Sixth Pillar. 'Primeval Staff' is in attendance.]
[The Fifth Pillar. 'Princess Who Walks the Mirage' is in attendance.]
[The Fourth Pillar. 'Moon That Contemplates Blindness' is in attendance.]
[The Third Pillar. 'One Who Legislated the Beginning' is in attendance.]
[The Second Pillar. 'God Who Dances in the Void' is in attendance.]
'......'
I held my breath.
No matter how I looked around, only endless darkness stretched out, so my eyes could see nothing. But even if I couldn't see, I could feel it.
Presence.
[Confirming that the Six Pillars of All Life are in attendance.]
[The Tower shares the issue raised by provisional apostle 'Death King'.]
I could feel presences from all directions.
Presences far too overwhelming to be called mere signs of life.
They were silently watching me from beyond the darkness.
[Sharing complete.]
A voice flowed through the space thick with gazes.
[Proceeding with a majority vote conference on the agenda.]
[Are NPCs included in the targets of the skill 'Hundred Ghost Reincarnation'?]
[If you agree that NPCs should be included, please vote in favor.]
[If you do not agree that NPCs should be included, please vote against.]
Softly.
The formless beings opened their mouths.
-Gesh... la... ZaquA cho... Deo.......
An unknown language.
-Sato, yovela? Weloyo-na Shu......! Deo phenta.......
-kunto, nyola Gesh-ve-Nail na? Nai-Gesh-Nail na?
It was like a language made of shadows.
Invisible serpents filled this place. From the left and the right, from above and below. No, they hissed right in front of my nose. Shhhk... shhk...... Their voices were serpent tongues. The tongues were red and long, flowing into my ear canals and prodding a corner of my brain. Licking.
-Gesh... Mula-Gagamia... cho Gretehen Weloyo.......
-Nail.
It was dizzying.
It was nauseating.
Right now I should be nothing but a bodyless consciousness, yet vomit surged up. I wanted to throw up. Anything would do. I wanted to spit out anything and everything. Grease seeped into my stomach... no, grease seeped into my brain.
The sensation of my soul being licked to its very bottom by tongues.
-Layo na.
Then, the voices all stopped at once.
-Gesh. Nail. Nai-Gesh-Nail.
-.......
-.......
-Deo zakun.
Silence.
Silence settled over the void. No being opened its mouth. They were silent. The voices that had flowed into my ear canals and licked and drank my brain matter... they too had stopped before I knew it. Only then did I feel as though I could finally breathe.
'They're not beings inside the Tower!'
I barely managed to collect myself.
'Whatever language beings inside the Tower speak, it's translated for me to hear...... But these ones are different. They're beings who dwell outside the Tower. They're existences that can't even be compared to the Demon King of Fall Rain!'
Perhaps they were the very ones who designed this Tower.
Beings lurking somewhere I couldn't yet even imagine.
After a long silence,
[Proceeding with the vote on the agenda.]
A familiar voice rang out.
Hearing that voice, I felt at ease, as if I'd finally come home.
[The Sixth Pillar, 'Primeval Staff', casts a vote against.]
[The Fifth Pillar, 'Princess Who Walks the Mirage', casts a vote in favor.]
[The Fourth Pillar, 'Moon That Contemplates Blindness', casts a vote in favor.]
[The Third Pillar, 'One Who Legislated the Beginning', casts a vote against.]
[The Second Pillar, 'God Who Dances in the Void', abstains.]
2 votes in favor.
2 votes against.
1 abstention.
'......'
I hesitated.
I still didn't know who these beings were or where they came from. I didn't know. But one thing was certain: they had the right to decide about my skill [Hundred Ghost Reincarnation]. And yet they had cast a vote that was neither for nor against.
Why?
What did they want from me?
'...Wait.'
I realized something.
I looked around the space where the hissing serpent sounds had now vanished.
'There's still... one being who hasn't voted.'
That's right.
When I was summoned into this space, it had clearly sounded in my head.
「The Tower requests a majority vote conference from the Six Pillars of All Life.」
And was that the only time?
Just before the serpent voices began hissing, I'd heard a similar notification.
「Confirming participants.」
「Confirming that the Six Pillars of All Life are in attendance.」
'Right, it said six!'
The Tower had guaranteed that there were six beings in attendance here. If so, the vote that had just taken place was strange. 2 in favor, 2 against, 1 abstention. That added up to only five.
Where had the remaining one vote gone?
And.
-.......
-.......
Who was the remaining one, that everyone fell silent?
'......'
One who had no need to attend this space.
One who had no need to come, because they had been here from the beginning.
One who was always here, and therefore knew everything.
The master of the Tower.
'...I.'
I looked straight into the dark space.
The heaviest presence lurked there.
'I believe that in favor is correct.'
I thought as calmly as I could.
I spoke quietly of what I had been pondering all along.
'Let's suppose NPCs are not included in the skill. Then how did the Demon King summon so many monsters? The humans of the Empire and the people of the Kingdom that the Demon King slaughtered would all have been NPCs too.'
The gazes silently watched me.
'Of course, I can guess what you're worried about. You're concerned that I might kill NPCs indiscriminately and then use them as summons...... But I'm confident that I've shown you sufficiently what kind of person I am.'
The dark space.
I looked in turn toward each direction where I felt a presence.
And I said.
'I'm not that kind of person.'
-.......
'I won't live that way in the future, either.'
In the end, it was the same.
No matter how mighty the opponent, the methods available to me were fixed. There were two, just as always.
Fight, or persuade.
'The Demon King can kill NPCs and use them as summons, but I can't? That's unfair.'
-Not bad.
At that moment, something opened its mouth.
A voice.
It seemed to whisper right in my ear, and also seemed to come from very far away. It was chilling. Every time a syllable broke off, an electric current ran down my spine.
-But it's noisy.
That voice was laced with laughter.
-Death King, speak with your heart, not your head.
'......'
I was silent for a moment.
And then, the words I had to say.
'That Demon King is my prey.'
I said what I could say.
'...He's mine, so don't touch him.'
The voice burst into laughter.
[The First Pillar.]
['Master of All Life (萬生)' casts a vote in favor.]
It was a laugh that carved through the darkness and shattered it.
[The vote is now closed.]
[3 votes in favor. 2 votes against. 1 abstention.]
[NPCs are included in Death King's skill 'Hundred Ghost Reincarnation'.]
Crack, craaack! Cracracrack!
At the sound of that laughter, the darkness split like a windowpane. In the hollow hell, hollow fissures opened once more. White light streamed in through them.
[Death King's provisional apostle authority is revoked.]
As I was enveloped in the dazzling light, I realized it.
[The conference is concluded.]
That I had succeeded in persuading the Tower.
[May fortune be with you all.]
* * *
-Zombie? Hey, Kim Zombie?
Blink.
When I opened my eyes again, what entered my vision were acacia petals, the guardian spirit. And the fallen Constellation once called the Demon King of Fall Rain. The acacia petals made no sound, and the fallen Constellation did not dare make a sound.
Only the guardian spirit hovered in the air, speaking to me.
-Why are you suddenly spacing out? I told you to ask the Tower.
"......"
-Mr. Kim Zombie? Hey, Zombie King. Can you hear me?
The feeling was strange.
It seemed as though only the time it took to blink once had passed... yet at the same time, it felt as though an eternity had flowed by. It was truly odd. The memories of what had just happened blurred in an instant, and I couldn't clearly recall exactly what we had discussed.
"Sir Sword Emperor......"
-Wow, now he reacts. Since I keep teasing him by calling him a zombie, I guess his brain is starting to resemble a real zombie's.
"You didn't hear it? You didn't see it?"
-What?
"I mean, the Tower summoned me to the Underworld... something about All Life, something about Pillars...... Some being like the master of the Tower appeared and laughed... You don't know?"
The guardian spirit frowned.
The face of someone looking at a rabid dog.
In short, the expression of someone staring at a madman.
-Zombie, I'm sorry. I pushed the zombie thing too far. I'm a man who has never felt sorry for anyone in my life, but suddenly I'm feeling apologetic...... From now on I'll tease you in moderation, so hurry up and snap out of it.
"......"
He didn't know.
Even the Sword Emperor, who had conquered the Tower up to the 99th floor in another world, and who had thereby earned the name 'Sword Constellation' and become a guardian spirit—even this legend before my eyes did not know what I was talking about.
A chill ran down the back of my neck.
'Who did I just meet?'
The cold sensation coiled around my nape and spread to my shoulders. Finally, it spread down my spine.
'Just what......'
Grip.
I deliberately tightened my hold on the hilt.
'...No. Calm down, Kim Gong-ja.'
I swallowed once, then looked ahead.
The path I had to walk still stretched out before me.
'There's still much I don't know.'
The fallen Constellation sat collapsed in the middle of the road.
'But there are also things I clearly know.'
I slowly raised my sword.
'Right now, I am delivering the final blow to my prey.'
Perhaps when I someday reached the 100th floor of the Tower, I would learn something.
The guardian spirit tilted his head.
-Hey, Gong-ja? You're just going to kill him? You don't need to ask the Tower?
"It's fine."
I said.
"I already got my answer."
The fallen Constellation reached out a hand.
"W-wait......! Spare......!"
I swung my sword.
This sword was the weapon I had received as a reward for mourning the 10th floor. It was the sword that had moved the soldiers' hearts when I first conquered the 11th stage. Dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times. When I was imprisoned like a jail on the 12th stage, it was the sword always in my hand.
A blade that proved itself by sharing my time.
With that sword, I cut down the fallen Constellation.
"......!"
There was a very brief scream.
As the scream cut off, the fallen Constellation collapsed.
Blood flowed.
The blood flowed and dyed yet another acacia petal. Watching one white petal become stained with one dot of red, I slowly opened my mouth.
"Hundred ghosts, return to life."
Writhe!
My shadow churned.
From the shadow that should have been nothing but flatness, a pitch-black hand shot up. That hand, as if escaping from a pit of hell, strangely resisted as though it did not want to escape this hell. But it was a futile struggle.
"Stand."
The shadow could not defy my command. It spat out a head from the shade. It spat out a chest. A waist was spat out, and legs were spat out.
"Uh... huk, ah... aah......"
Its limbs trembled like a newborn antelope's. No matter how fully grown an adult's body it possessed, it was nothing more than a life that had only just now been born.
And then.
"Estelle is nothing more than a name you stole. It is not a name you are permitted to have."
The one who brings a life into this world always bears responsibility.
The first of those responsibilities is to give a name to the life I carry.
"Agwi (餓鬼)."
Its long hair spilling down, it looked up at me.
"From now on, your name is Agwi."
"......"
"Serve me as your master, and live."
The one once called Estelle.
The one praised as the Saintess of the borderlands.
The one revered as the Demon King of Fall Rain trembled at the shoulders.
"Yes......"
The one who had no right to bear any name at last received a name from me and bowed its head. White petals fell from the acacia and settled in its hair.
"I will follow your commands......"
The final day of the promised five days.
"...My lord."
The Death King and the Demon King.
Of the two kings, one fell like a blossom (落花).
