664/666
664/666
When night falls, pitch-black darkness inevitably descends.
Current demons emerge from this darkness, but that wasn't always the case.
It started at the Black Pit on the Demon Continent.
The entrance to the pit was covered by an opaque membrane, making it impossible to see inside.
When Kalina thrust her sword in, it pierced a hole, but it soon sealed back up like a mucous membrane.
After a moment of hesitation, she pierced through the membrane and entered the pit.
She couldn't see the outside from within, but it was possible to exit. Having confirmed that entry and exit were not an issue, Kalina went back into the pit and began to inspect the interior.
Inside the Black Pit, there was a staircase that led endlessly underground.
Looking down at the bottom, there was only a faint, flickering blue light.
Instead of taking the stairs, Kalina threw herself into the empty space beside them.
664
——
666
Soon, she realized the source of the blue light. It was a number the size of a person, floating in mid-air.
The bottom was a massive pupil, and sitting in the center was something enormous.
Thud!
Even though she had landed from a height of hundreds of meters, Kalina stood up as if nothing had happened. And then, she faced it. The identity of the massive thing.
It was the largest and most bizarre demon she had ever seen. A majestic presence reaching the height of a 10-story building.
It was Abaddon.
Looking up, Kalina saw that it had a jumbled face, wearing a sinister, malevolent smile.
It had four eyes embedded on the left and two on the right,
and six twisted horns sprouted haphazardly from its forehead, adding to its grotesque appearance.
Usually, the more horns a demon has, the lower its rank, but this being felt like an exception. She had never even seen a demon with five horns, and the presence exuded by this six-horned demon seemed to far surpass Satan, the highest-ranking demon.
Only its six tails felt somewhat normal.
Kalina immediately drew her sword and slashed through its head, but the sword simply passed through as if cutting empty air, without any sensation of impact.
This time, she threw a 'Fire Spear' with all her might, but it also failed to deal any damage, scattering upon hitting the wall of the pupil.
If it were a normal pupil, the walls would have melted, but here, there wasn't even a scratch.
She had assumed it wasn't a physical entity, but it clapped its hands as if delighted by Kalina's actions.
Behind it was a projection membrane, shimmering with intangible blue light like a hologram.
On the projection membrane was the number she had seen earlier.
Numerous pictures were engraved in intaglio on the projection membrane.
Beastkin with bull horns, beastkin with rabbit ears, long-eared elves, short-eared Soi tribe...
And two strands extending from that projection membrane were connected to Abaddon.
She realized instinctively. These two strands were binding its existence.
"What are you?"
"Since you found me, I'll show you a gift."
Instead of answering, it pointed toward its shadow. Where its finger pointed, a demon with giant horns was rising, with only its feet submerged in the floor.
"Satan...!?"
What one horn signifies.
Four horns for a Demon, three for a Devil, two for a Pitfiend, one horn for a Satan.
But that demon's horn was much larger than a Satan's.
"No, it's an Arch Satan. Wait a little longer. It will be out soon."
Kalina felt it instinctively. If something like that were unleashed upon the world, even she would struggle to suppress it with physical ability alone.
She had to use 'Before the Sun' here.
[Before the Sun]
Kalina manifested 'Before the Sun' and immediately flew up with 'Firebird'.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. A white dot the size of a fingernail grew larger and soon rose as a spherical sun.
An immense heat immediately spread, covering the pupil, but for Kalina, who had already exited beyond the black membrane, not a shred of heat leaked out.
It was a completely separated space.
When Kalina stopped manifesting 'Before the Sun' and re-entered the pupil, Abaddon was laughing, looking perfectly fine.
"Amazing! To think such a powerful being would be born!"
In Abaddon's hand, an Arch Satan was held, with only its ankles remaining.
"It took quite a while to summon this."
Watching Abaddon burn the Arch Satan's remaining ankles as if without regret, Kalina opened her mouth.
"So you were the one spitting out the demons. What is this space? What are you?"
"You handle fire well, indeed. Have you seen this too?"
Abaddon spread the hellfire that had burned the Arch Satan in all directions. The intense heat, difficult even for Kalina, the Transcendent of Fire, to endure, filled the pupil.
"Wait!"
As Kalina tried to immediately escape the pupil again with 'Firebird', Abaddon extinguished the hellfire and called her back.
"Don't you want to kill me? I could kindly tell you, you know?"
Kalina, seeing that Abaddon didn't chase her but called her back, was convinced that it could not leave the pupil.
"You incorporeal phantom. Why did you call me back? Isn't it because you cannot escape the shackles of those strands? If I leave this place, you won't be able to follow, will you? You will be trapped here forever."
"Hehehe."
Abaddon shook its shoulders as if finding it funny.
"Powerful, yet trivial mortal. I have no lifespan. Do you truly think I will be trapped forever? Shall I tell you what the number above me means?"
Abaddon pointed to the number on the projection membrane where the intaglio drawings were.
"There are two races left. You people go beyond killing each other to the point of extinction. 664 races have already gone extinct. How long do you think this will last? Shall I tell you how long it took for those 664 races to go extinct?"
It closed its eyes and continued, smiling as if savoring the thought.
"It's soon anyway. So, go ahead and wipe out just two races right now. Anything will do. Whether it's pink bugs or sky-blue snails. Is there a race you usually dislike? You could easily wipe out any of them, couldn't you? Don't you want to fight a powerful being comparable to yourself?"
Kalina realized the direction her empire needed to take.
"That will never happen. As long as I am here, I will not let any race go extinct. You shall remain trapped here forever."
"Seeing that immense power, you could even become the ruler of the world. Yes, I understand. You could do it. You're an elf, so you'll live quite a long time, right? Since I've already waited, I'll gladly wait longer."
After that, Kalina periodically visited the Black Pit. She learned that the cycle was 66 days for a Demon, 6 years for a Devil, and 66 years for a Pitfiend. Satan would be 666 years. For the Arch Satan, only the tip of its horn was visible. It was certain to take 6,666 years.
Kalina cut off their heads before they could fully emerge. For Satan, who had its head out, 'Before the Sun' was enough.
At some point, Abaddon stopped summoning demons from its shadow, but even so, demons kept popping out endlessly.
"Where are you summoning them from?"
"It doesn't necessarily have to be summoned from here. It takes much longer, but any shaded shadow cast at night works. Thanks to that, even a mere Devil takes 66 years."
Thus, two thousand years passed.
Abaddon's face began to contort.
"Why... aren't you aging?"
"I didn't know either. That I wouldn't have a lifespan."
Kalina, who had first entered the pit, had been overbearing in her tone as she had just established the empire and was building up her dignity, but 2,000 years later, she had developed her current, relaxed tone.
"Elven lifespans are supposed to be around a thousand years, aren't they?"
"Your demons aren't very loyal, are they? Seeing as they still don't know what kind of being I am?"
"Will you tell me? Once a demon leaves the black membrane, it cannot re-enter."
"I am a Transcendent. I look like an elf, but I am called a High Elf. Do you know? It has been 2,000 years since I was born. And I am still exactly as I was at the beginning."
Kalina continued confidently.
"664/666. I have been watching this for two thousand years since I learned of it. My empire has become more solid than it was two thousand years ago. It seems this number will not change in the future."
Not long after Kalina left, leaving those words behind.
An intaglio was carved onto the projection membrane binding Abaddon.
"Why have there become two pictures of the Soi tribe?"
20 years later.
On January 1, 2026, another one was carved next to the two Soi tribe intaglio drawings.
"Why have there become three pictures of the Soi tribe alone!"
Abaddon's roar echoed in the empty, deep pupil.
The Azure Slug is a slug that emits a sky-blue light.
It was a disgusting creature that ate away at the target's intellect and turned the host itself into another Azure Slug, making it crawl around in search of intelligent beings just the same.
Longing to assimilate with intelligent beings, it springs up like a spring when it sees prey and attaches itself to the face.
Then, while suffocating the target, it slowly mutates them into one of its own kind.
Fortunately, the Azure Slug, which melts just by touching seawater, could not swim across the ocean.
Pitfiend brought these into the empire by putting them in Shadow Storage.
Shadow Storage is an intangible space where living things can be stored.
The fanatics' plan was as follows.
They wanted to release the Azure Slugs, which swarmed only on the Demon Continent, and have an enraged Saklasi wipe them out with a tidal wave.
Even if that didn't happen, it didn't matter. They had nothing to lose. Because there were many Soi tribe haters among the fanatics.
Because just seeing the Soi tribe die horribly was a joyful thing.
Until now, it had been difficult to kill the Soi tribe because the empire protected them, but if they could kill the empire's Soi tribe this time, that alone would be a gain.
"The second coming of the Evil God! Eternal life!"
They firmly believed that if they purified the world with Abaddon's hellfire and burned to death in it, they would be reincarnated as great demons and attain eternal life.
I had no choice but to take Ariun to the Koopong camp as well.
Because I couldn't possibly leave a dragon beastkin wearing a maid outfit at home!
"I am Ariun! From now on, I will be taking on the role of acting manager of Koopong, which is run by my lord and husband. I will protect you from now on, so rest assured!"
At Ariun's declaration, Shed looked at me with eyes full of shock.
'No! It's not what you're thinking!'