040. It's a Misunderstanding
The phoenix, hurling itself into the lava to be reborn in new flames, was a divine beast.
And a divine beast was closer to a spirit than an animal.
Naturally, the phoenix's corpse was a kind of spirit body as well.
An aggregate of the purest, hottest mana.
It was no different from a massive spiritual medicine.
But mana was a completely alien power from magic points.
That was why Berge planned to take the corpse back to the tower. Just as the tower corrupted and devoured stored spiritual medicines with magic points, he intended to slowly infect and consume it.
What was the rush? There were no heroes' blades aimed at him for the time being anyway.
But that was Berge's miscalculation.
Whoosh—
The moment his hand touched it, mana overflowed. The scorching heat of the flames seeped into Berge's entire body.
Kaboom—
A torrent raged.
'What the hell...!'
Mana forced its way in, while magic points rejected the mingling.
The intruder trying to drive it out, and the resident trying to expel it.
The two energies bared their teeth at each other.
They clashed, bit, clawed, and tore.
The battlefield was Berge's flesh. Muscles tore, veins melted. Crushing pain in his bones overwhelmed him.
Berge struggled to control the two forces somehow.
An eternity—or perhaps a mere instant.
Mana pushed out the magic points. It pounded on the door of his heart.
Thump-thump—
Black blood surged from his mouth.
The heart did not open its door.
All the magic points rose in rebellion. The weakness from dimensional interference was irrelevant.
With nowhere to go under the host's territorial aggression, the mana wandered. Then it settled in a new place.
'......?'
Berge was stunned.
He had two hearts.
One massive, the other smaller.
Both held magic points, one primary and one auxiliary.
But now, the uninvited guest called mana had smashed open the door to his second heart.
The auxiliary barrier was weaker, and under the constraints of interference, it couldn't block the tidal wave of phoenix power.
His heart burned hot. It spread through his body like an explosion.
His mind grew hazy.
Through the blur, he saw an erupting volcano—and himself floating amid it.
Berge's body flew with the volcanic explosion.
He opened his eyes to the damp sensation on his cheek, finding himself buried in some unknown grassy hill.
His clothes had burned away completely, leaving him naked.
"...Scram."
The deer licking his cheek toppled over in fright at the killing intent and scampered off unsteadily.
Watching its plump rear, a question arose.
'A deer approaching me? Licking my cheek?'
No matter how well he hid it, he was a Demon King, an invader from another dimension.
Animals with keen instincts shouldn't approach something so fundamentally alien.
Only then did he register his own state. He sensed his body's condition.
'The phoenix corpse absorbed itself on its own.'
After clashing territories with the magic points, it had given up on the first heart and claimed the second.
The first heart writhed with more magic points than usual, swollen to the bursting point—not good news.
All the expelled magic points had flooded there. And in the second heart, which should have been empty, a massive presence had taken root.
It was unbearably hot, unbearably vibrant.
But strangely, the previous alien rejection was gone.
'Why?'
It was still pure mana itself. His body brimmed with magic points.
Yet the two powers coexisted in one body without clashing.
He soon learned why.
'It locked the door.'
The intruder was brazenly playing house owner, completely sealing off contact with the outside to prevent the alien energies from mixing.
Poking at it with magic points only got them burned away.
His pride flared. Clutching his throbbing chest, Berge ground his teeth.
"You seem to have forgotten whose body you're squatting in."
I am the great Demon King, Berge Dayas.
All magic points surged toward the heart. They pounded relentlessly on the firmly shut door.
It was self-harm, stabbing the heart with magic points.
But crumpled pride mattered more than this pain. Rage at himself for yielding to a mere divine beast's mana fueled him.
And at some point.
The door opened. Volcanic mana dormant in the heart poured out like a waterfall.
"......?"
Berge's face twisted at the sight of the magic points crawling back home against his will.
But then, at the changes in his flesh.
"......!"
He was aghast.
The magic points Berge unleashed in explosion.
And the magic points boiling in response to Drakson's rage.
All the heroes of Tartarus sensed the two surges.
They reported the severity to Tartarus's lord, and word quickly reached the Hero Guild.
The city erupted in chaos, reports flying to the capital.
In that chaos, the wounded dwarf princess arrived.
"Demons and monsters ambushed us. Ormus's second prince fought to the end to protect us but fell to a powerful demon. I wanted to bring his body at least, but..."
Tartarus's warriors raged at Luize's tearful breakdown.
"Avenge the prince!""Heaven's wrath on that insolent Demon King!"
The entire Ormus Kingdom was in uproar.
"We'll sever the Demon King's head to soothe the prince's soul!"
The king raged, the ministers raged.
Couriers raced to heroes and guilds across the continent.
A national draft call gathered warriors.
People knew: when trouble hit, it hit hard.
'What the hell is going on?'
Granada was living in Hotenwork. Back as captain of the Red Hawk Mercenaries, he trained mercenaries while receiving data from the Golden Moon Merchant Guild.
The Demon King's new orders included buying elf slaves and sending them to the tower— this was the intel for that.
Slave markets, slave trader hubs, places with many elves or ones up for auction.
Joy at saving kin mixed with sorrow at selling them to the Demon King, but Granada believed they'd come around eventually.
Better to fight for the Demon King, avenge humans, and gain freedom than die miserably as slaves.
But with the continent in turmoil, he couldn't focus.
"Why would the Beast Demon King suddenly...?"
Demon Kings were terrifying, but not invincible.
They knew it too, maintaining a precarious coexistence for centuries.
'The Beast Demon King kept the line pretty well, though?'
As far as Granada knew. If not, he wouldn't be alive—his head would've rolled like the Lust Demon King's long ago.
But dismissing it as rumor was hard; the matter was too grave.
Especially with Berft's second princess sensing mortal threat and surrounding heroes feeling terrifying magic points.
"A high demon led dozens of demons and hundreds of monsters in a surprise attack. Ormus's second prince fought to protect us but lost his life. We barely escaped."
The princess, Luize, awoke after two days unconscious; her words had holes upon scrutiny.
The biggest: why would reclusive Drakson suddenly kill a prince? And selfish, greedy Ormus's second prince sacrificing for Luize? Laughable.
Granada had never met Prince Max but heard the rumors: ambitious schemer gathering forces to usurp the throne.
He wasn't alone in doubting. But the blatant magic points and severe injuries to Luize and the dwarves made full disbelief hard.
Enraged, Ormus's king issued a mobilization, requesting the Hero Guild.
Heroes smelling blood began gathering in Ormus.
It was no longer about whether Drakson did it.
'Should I go too?'
He needed to gather elves now, but aiding Hillon during the hero expedition to the Frost Demon Tower was another duty.
But now what?
Straight to the Frost Demon Tower?
Or a change in the planned expedition's course?
Hillon as leader?
A new hero stepping up?
Questions swirled.
Then, the crystal orb rang.
『Can you reach the Demon King?』
"No idea, haven't tried."
『You're still so insolent.』
"Get to the point."
『Tell him to contact me if you do. The hero expedition to the Frost Demon Tower is canceled, so focus on your current mission for now.』
"Canceled?"
『It was just for show anyway. No need to run two ops with a stronger pretext now. Sucks I lost the expedition command, though.』
"...Too bad."
Granada disliked this fake-ass hero, but that was sincere. He knew the Demon King had high hopes.
『It's fine. Plenty of chances. The investors covered the costs anyway.』
Calling it "investment" was insulting, but fitting for how heroes treated Demon Kings.
'Investment means lobbying, huh.'
Granada, knowing the hero world's gears, clicked his tongue. Can't even be a hero without money.
Connection cut.
"Guess I focus on elves for now."
But uncontactable?
He infused mana into the direct line to Berge.
Dead silence.
"Talk sense!"
Bam! A fist slammed down. The sturdy oak desk splintered.
"Me killing the second prince? Slaughtering them all? Where'd the ones I released go?!"
"...Perhaps Luize the princess and the dwarves killed them all to hide their shame."
"You bitch!"
The nearby lycanthrope took an undeserved hit. Chest caved, wheezing as it collapsed.
"Should've confirmed to the end!"
Distracted by intruders, that was his eternal regret.
"My lord, calm yourself."
"Lost the phoenix corpse, now framed for killing the prince!"
The phoenix body vanished in the volcanic blast. Overflowing mana swept the area, killing all grizzly bears and erasing intruder traces.
"With that, it wouldn't be this fucked!"
"Damn it." Drakson spat curses.
Truth was, the prince's death mattered more than the phoenix.
With the dwarf princess naming him culprit, the rest was predictable melodrama.
Demon Kings kidnap princes and princesses; heroes and kingdoms tolerate it to a point.
But there was a line never to cross.
Killing a throne heir.
Touching a kingdom's reverse scale—like the Lust Demon King Thuras Hindler, who vanished after Ormus's first prince.
"Heroes will move. An expedition will form."
Not just any prince, but Ormus's top two succession contenders. He was dead.
"I will not die like Thuras."
He couldn't say death was impossible.
Objectively, Drakson wasn't weak. Top-tier among demons, Demon King Academy grad.
In Alein, he couldn't rampage like in Ma-gye but steadily built his tower, shedding interference.
Couldn't live his ideal Demon King life due to Alein's state, but he'd honed his blade in hiding.
Drakson's eyes flashed murderously.
"List top heroes likely joining the expedition."
"Monitor where they gather, how, scale, movements—report everything."
"Watch Ormus and Hero Guild too."
Casey bowed silently. At Drakson's gesture, she left.
Drakson quietly pulled out a communication orb.
"Damn it, me, a Demon King, groveling like this..."
Still, he'd grasp any slim hope.
Grind. Infusing magic points, response came after ages.
"It's all a misunderstanding. I absolutely did not kill Ormus's second prince."