#003 Escape
#003 Escape
'Where am I? Why did I become a woman?'
When I came to my senses, I had taken residence in the body of an unfamiliar girl.
What was this?
A nightmare?
Did I try to devour some woman in my sleep and end up with my soul lodging inside her?
Or was this some kind of mental magic cast on me by another Demon King?
'That doesn't seem to be the case.'
No.
It felt vivid.
Right then, I had 'taken residence' in this girl's body.
'I possessed a corpse.'
The girl's mind was dead, and her soul had departed, but her flesh remained and became my body.
But...
"Ghk...!"
A gush of blood burst from my mouth.
It wasn't that a blood vessel had burst somewhere inside the body; it was blood that had pooled in the mouth bursting out.
This girl had no heart.
Her heart had been torn out, and she was on the verge of every drop of blood draining away. The blood I just spat out was the last blood remaining in this body.
There was only one reason this body moved despite being a corpse.
'It's become undead.'
I had taken residence in the flesh of an undead.
There was no other way to explain my current state.
"...What is this?"
I surveyed the people performing a ritual centered on me.
"Ooh, you have come!"
"How joyous! At last, a savior for us has arrived!"
"Praise! Acclaim! The great being!"
'Are they lunatics?'
They looked like some fanatics I'd seen before.
These people I didn't want anywhere near me were all wearing robes of unknown origin...
'The Seal of Sloth?!'
Five hundred years ago.
The seal of the legion I had led was emblazoned on their robes.
The crest that had flown over my Demon King's castle was emblazoned on their robes.
"Ooh, you have awakened! Our mighty Great Demon King, Belphegor, has finally descended!!"
"""Belphegor! Belphegor! Belphegor!"""
They looked almost possessed by collective madness.
I wondered how to deal with them, but when I sensed mana that felt strangely familiar, I spoke without thinking.
I knew that mana.
"Zepar?"
"Yes! That is correct! I am your loyal retainer, Zepar!"
The man removed his robe.
His face was a skull.
"Zepar, Zepar. You were the head of the School of Necromancy, leading the Black Mages of the 17th Legion. A human who surrendered to the Demon King Army. Have you become a lich?"
"Yes, that is correct! Ahh, even with a child's voice, your dignity overflows...!"
"...I thought you were dead."
"How could that be! I, Zepar, have waited five hundred years thinking only of you, Master."
Zepar knelt before me, nothing but gaunt bones remaining.
"Ahh, do you know how much we suffered after you passed?"
A glance showed that the others all appeared to be human, but they were all necromancers who had learned Dark Magic.
"The Battle of the Igrasis Plains, which would decide the fate of the Demon King Army and humanity. You awaited our army's victory at the Demon King's castle. We tried to advance to victory against humanity, but..."
"I was murdered by the Heroes."
"Ghk...!"
The Demon King had been murdered right before the great battle.
Naturally, most of the monsters under the Demon King's control would have gone berserk once that control was released, and the human alliance would have swept away the Demon King Army, which had become a rabble.
"I barely survived. And I gathered forces, praying for your return."
"Is that so? Then what is it you desire from me?"
"Regain that valiant form once more! My master, Black Demon Dragon Belphegor!"
Black Demon Dragon.
To put it bluntly, it's just a Black Dragon.
I was a dragon who had become one of the Demonfolk, and my own kind cursed me for it. I crushed them all and even claimed the seat of Dragon Lord.
The Dragon Lord's bare flesh had been incredible.
I wondered if she was still alive. The last time I fucked her, I'd locked her in a cave after she passed out from climax.
"Now, bring your true body here! And once more, let the Great Demon King’s feats resound across this land!"
"I don't want to."
"...Excuse me?"
"It's a bother."
Whatever Zepar had in mind for me, I had no intention of committing those atrocities against humanity again.
"Summoning my true body would also require enormous mana. It's tiring. Trying to gather the Demon King Army again would only bring suffering. And anyway, even if the Demon King Army existed, wouldn't the Holy Swords still remain? Then why would I gather an army again? Half the Demon King Army would be blown away by a single Holy Sword strike."
"M-My Demon King! How can you say such things!"
"And above all."
I pointed at the body of the girl I inhabited—specifically, at the empty cavity where her heart should have been.
And at Zepar, who had cut out my heart and was still holding the knife.
"What do you intend to do with me? Hm? You filthy human bastard. Just because you've become a lich doesn't mean your human nature has disappeared, has it?"
"......Heh, heheh."
Zepar began to laugh, his bones clattering.
"Ngh, heh heh, heh...! Hah, ha, hahahaha!!"
"You're insane."
"Insane?! Yes, I'm insane! As expected of the Great Demon King! I never thought you'd figure it out!"
As expected.
"If you had summoned me with pure intentions, you wouldn't have summoned only my soul."
"Did you think I'd summon only your soul and serve it? Yes, first summon the soul, then enshrine the soul... something like that."
"If that were the case, you wouldn't have carved out this body's heart to use it for necromancy."
"......Heh, heheh."
I rose from the altar.
"Zepar. You've trapped my soul in this flesh and intend to control this body—what exactly are you trying to do?"
"World conquest."
"How truly absurd and laughable."
"You don't know. A loser who spent five hundred years holed up in the Demon Realm couldn't possibly know. The persecution we suffered all that time because we served under you—you bastard, no, you bitch!"
"What do I care? But what did you say? Bitch? You son of a bitch."
Who's he calling a bitch?
"Heh-heh-heh, son of a bitch? You're about to be controlled by that son of a bitch... Huh?"
"Idiot."
I extended my hand forward.
"Even as nothing but a soul, I can easily subdue a lich like you."
"Ghk, ngh...!"
Zepar writhed in agony—
"Ta-da."
He spread both hands.
My arms rose in exactly the same way as Zepar's.
"Still, it seems you have a trick or two as the Demon King, but I'm sorry—right now you're nothing but an undead under my control."
"......."
I'm screwed.
"Heh-heh, obey me quietly! You may once have been the Great Demon King, but now you're nothing but a worthless demon bitch I summoned as a soul!"
"We have a serious problem, Zepar!!"
One of his subordinates came running and knelt.
"We've been discovered! Holy Knights are coming!"
* * *
"Break through! Kill the enemies of humanity!"
At the shout of a female knight in white armor, the knights ran into the cave.
Before them, all manner of skeletons and zombies blocked the path with their bodies.
"Charge!"
"For humanity!"
The Holy Knights ran on, their bodies wreathed in Divine Power.
Treating their own bodies like chariots, they smashed through the undead with their bodies and opened a path.
"These bastards...! Kidnapping children while pretending to be slave traders."
The female knight gripped a sword brimming with Divine Power.
"You'll face divine punishment...!"
"General. We have a serious problem. The Black Mages' resistance is too fierce. If we continue like this..."
"If we continue like this, what! Even if the resistance is fierce, must we not go inside and stop the ritual!"
The female knight leaped from her horse.
"I will go inside myself! Everyone, follow me! Charge!"
At the female knight's shout, the waiting Holy Knights also dismounted and ran inside.
"Run faster! We have to arrive before the ritual is completed!"
However.
WHOOOOOSH!!
A wind of immense mana blew from deep within the cave.
"Ahh...! It's already too late...!"
The knights despaired.
Some knights fell to their knees and offered prayers to God.
The ritual was already at its end, and before they could even reach the altar where it was being performed, the ritual had already concluded.
"...No, not yet."
Clang!
The female knight raised her sword high.
"They say a demon is weakest immediately after being summoned! We're not too late! There is still hope!"
"Saintess...!"
"Run! Even if the Demon Dragon has been resurrected, we will kill the Demon Dragon!"
The female knight—the Saintess—ran forward ahead of everyone else.
"For the world———!!"
The knights began their advance again.
* * *
"Oh, damn...!"
Zepar ground his teeth in irritation.
"I never thought humanity's dogs would catch the scent so soon...!"
"Pfft, your work is sloppy. Your tail got caught and the ritual site was discovered. Back in my day..."
"Shut up!"
Zepar fired a Magic Bullet at me.
I took the Magic Bullet head-on and was knocked backward.
"Cooperate with me, Great Demon King! If we're captured, you'll be tortured too!"
"Torture? I'd rather not."
I barely managed to rise.
And I gave Zepar the finger.
"I'd also rather not become your slave."
"Wha, what...?!"
I pointed beyond the altar.
Ssssss.
Below the cliff, a river flowed through the cave.
"No! Stop! I said stop!"
"You think you can control me with Dark Magic? Hey, I'm the one who taught you people Dark Magic."
The monstrous creatures below had momentarily left their posts to deal with the Holy Knights.
"No! Don't go! Give me your power before you go, you fucking bitch!"
"No, this bastard just won't quit."
I gave Zepar the finger again and leaped off the cliff.
"I'm a fucking bastard, you son of a bitch."
Splash.