Reawakening

I stared blankly at the message.

It was absurd, yet strangely convincing—a ridiculous combo of skills.

Can my luck really be this good? Is this the power of 999 Luck too?

Right now, whether it was the power of 999 Luck or not didn't matter.

All I could think was how insane it was that those two randomly fired skills had fused.

Is this like a bonus skill or something?

To check the skill details, I pulled away from the fake Demon King.

The quest completion message hadn't popped up yet, which meant the bastard was still alive. I found a safe spot in case it counterattacked.

A skill on this insane scale. It was no mere bonus.

It let me reverse Earth's axis to turn back time.

Did the owner of that clock tower foresee this ridiculous skill emerging? Part of me felt like this whole thing was part of some scheme he'd cooked up.

But why would he?

Why make me—the Dark Demon King who'd regressed 998 times under that curse—pull the holy sword, fight a fake version of myself, and even generate this clownish skill?

Suddenly, everything happening in this 999th regression felt brand new.

Why this loop? What made it different? Why had my Luck been cranked to 999?

If I kept pulling out skills like this, I'd be near god-level—stronger than in any previous loop. Could I even handle that kind of power? Hell, maybe that scared me more than anything.

I was confused as hell, but no way was I backing out now. Time to finish the quest.

I headed back toward the fake bastard.

Hold still, fake. Incoming spicy skill platter.

What even is spicy in life?

Sisyphus, endlessly rolling that boulder up a hill in a timeless, sky-less void. The hopeless punishment from the underworld lord Hades—that had to be the spiciest hell he could dish out to a human.

Dangling hope that enduring it would lead to the next stage, only for the agony to reset the moment you thought it was over. Infinite loops of that bullshit torment.

I'd savored that spice for 998 loops myself.

So painful that all my ordinary deaths felt like blessings by comparison.

A long, dark tunnel shredding my soul to ribbons while I lived.

That was the time I'd spent regressing.

And now, the pain I was serving this fake was straight out of that playbook.

The moment it unleashed Death Terraforming on my minions, I dumped Silence Out and Sacred Imperial Flame Tornado on it—then activated Axis of Reaction - Reverse Terraforming every single minute from that point.

BOOM!

GRRROOAAAR—

From its perspective, it'd just fire off Death Terraforming when I'd pop in with Silence Out and the tornado. Everything after that? Beyond its cognition.

Result: It endured body-shredding agony every minute, slowly sinking into the tightening dark corruption.

That was the decisive gap between me and it.

The reason why I—so overwhelmingly powerful across 998 loops—ended up self-destructing with Earth.

Dark energy corruption.

Get drunk on infinite dark energy, spam dark skills mindlessly, and suddenly your very existence loses its life-light, paying the price of oblivion.

That was the Demon King's fate.

It started with one curious taste of dark energy.

That single use, amplified by the curse of the Eternally Cursed Body on my soul, dragged me through 998 more loops of corruption and annihilation.

But not anymore. Unlike that thing, my 999 Luck let me mitigate the corruption, purify it with divine power, and march toward a bright future.

And this fake? I'd smash it so it couldn't even see a minute from now.

With that resolve, I kept spamming Reverse Terraforming until a message appeared.

Unlike infinite dark energy, my divine power pool was a measly 100,000—not endless. Still, by now the fake's body should be wilting like a deflated balloon.

Guess that leaves the real swordfight.

With my divine-armed gear set equipped, it'd be rude not to use it.

I blasted it with another Sacred Imperial Flame Tornado and landed right in front of the baffled fake, clueless why it was weakening.

BOOM!

"……."

I had 15 minutes before it shook off Silence Out and could use skills or speak again. Even as a projection of me, this fake seemed pulled from my first final Demon King phase.

15 minutes to crack Silence Out and resume attacks.

Me? Fresh level 30 Demon King chick.

Had to throw everything at it fast to clear the quest.

I aimed my holy sword; it drew its Demon King's greatsword and took stance.

Clang clang clang—

Even with its HP whittled by Reverse Terraforming, it clashed blades without mercy.

I burned divine power batting away the relentless sword auras whipping at me.

If not for the holy sword Gianteus and gear's high ranks holding strong, my current level would've turned me to rags against lower-grade weapons.

Holy sword and demon sword clashed amid blinks across the vast Demon King Castle.

Its massive dark energy clashed with my dwindling divine power, my pitch-black wings edged in pure white fluttering nonstop.

I could try Death Terraforming it in this state...

But I squeezed my remaining divine power to fight because I didn't want to crumble it with dark energy. Erasing a mirror of myself that way felt like it'd drag the real me back into the dark energy trap.

If I'm using divine power anyway, better summon and end it flashy.

To scrape every last bit of divine power, I briefly fought bare—sword only, no infusion.

Thud! Thud! BOOM!

Way tougher than expected without divine power. My technique edged it out from more regressions, but raw power and level crushed me.

I gritted my teeth, blocking monstrous sword strikes battering my body, waiting for divine power to recharge. The gear's divine traits helped a bit, speeding recovery.

As Silence Out's effect neared end, tension spiked. Spotting no divine power from me, it gloated—loading sword auras with heavier dark energy.

Forced me to fight every instinct screaming to counter with dark energy.

Suddenly, its dark energy trails scarred my vision like black lines—multiplying exponentially, chills running down my spine. They wove into a black curtain.

This quest nailed my peak swordsmanship as final Demon King.

That curtain of countless lines? Its sword aura storm—too much for current me to block.

Clang!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I reflexively backstepped; as black afterimages lost target and strikes thinned, I swung to parry its thrust.

Clang clang clang clang—

It lunged wildly again.

Its blade, aura bigger than its body, blasted like cannon fire—ferocious, destructive.

I recalled the paladin orders and hunters who'd died ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attacking me across loops, blocking shot by shot.

Did they fight this hard?

I swallowed surging blood and fleeting regret, shoving it deep for quest success.

"Not bad, 'me.' But can you block this?"

I flicked its explosive aura aside on trajectory, channeling full divine power into holy sword Gianteus.

Fake's face twisted seeing me parry its ultimate strike with raw swordplay—and divine power gathering on the blade.

"Don't make that shitty face with my mug, asshole."

I gripped holy sword Gianteus two-handed and swung full force. It reflexively raised to block overhead.

But my strike wasn't a divine sword aura.

RUMBLE RUMBLE BOOM!

Holy sword Gianteus's option: Summon Giant Giantiana.

The 9-story warrior giantess appeared, shattering the Demon King Castle ceiling—earthquake shaking the realm.

[ROOOOAAARRR—]

Her colossal roar rivaled the quake. Even I, the summoner, took ear damage—note to self: tone it down next time.

"KIIIIIAAAA—!"

Silence Out wore off; fake screamed, aura'd its demon sword, and rocketed at the giant.

I kicked off too, holy sword gleaming with last divine power, soaring to impale its gut.

"GRRAAAAHHH!"

Gutted, it writhed in pain, final desperate reach for Death Terraforming.

The hell you say.

"Silence Out."

I flipped it the bird, veins bulging, and it plummeted.

"……!!!"

As it clutched its belly, mouthing curses, I perched on the giantess's shoulder, smirking.

"Stomp it."

BOOM!!!

Giant's foot crushed down mercilessly. Majestic boom, dust cloud erupting.

Thud!

Thud! Thud!

Not enough? She stomped repeatedly, then stood tall, grinning at me like job done.

"Haha... good work."

Her massive grin chilled me to the bone, but I played cool, dropping to check the fake.

Its body cracked like dry mud, shattering to pieces.

Fake Demon King defeated.