N Years, the Demon King, the Hero, the Saint, and the Villain - 2
"I wanted to touch the sun."
"When I realized that sun was below me."
"I was deeply frustrated."
The blonde girl who had just finished a short and intense battle crouched on the floor of her jade cell. She was cold, hungry, and numb. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had a conversation with anyone.
Several times a day, she was brought before hundreds of transcendent beings, but none of them saw her as an equal. They saw her as nothing more than an amusing toy.
That fact didn't sadden her. She had been prepared for all of this from the very beginning. It was just... difficult to endure.
Thud.
Footsteps approached the bars of the prison where the girl was confined. Was it Chronos, the God of Time, coming to drag her back to the arena again? She turned her head with hollow eyes.
Her golden eyes trembled violently.
"M-Maria...!"
"Are you well, Lady Hero?"
"H-How are you here...? Don't tell me the Demon King...?"
"Judging by your appearance, you do not seem to be very well."
In those golden eyes were reflected two beings: black and white. Completely opposite existences. Behind the white girl stood a black being like a shadow.
"Demon King! What is the meaning of this! This wasn't the deal!"
The blonde girl, the girl, the Hero Frey, suddenly began shouting at the Demon King Kanos.
"Why did you bring Maria...! Why are you doing something that wasn't planned! If this happens, our scheme will...!"
The Demon King stared at Frey with a bleak gaze and raised his hand. Immediately, Frey's exhausted body floated into the air, her throat constricted by an invisible force.
"Do not be so hasty, Hero."
"Ghk... g-guh...!"
"I am not your friend. You have no right to question whatever I do."
Thump!
"Cough! Cough!"
"I brought the Saint here because I judged that her knowing your plan would be more helpful to our 'goal.' The Saint will be the one closest to 'Joker' in the future."
Speaking harshly to Frey, who was coughing after being released from the pressure, Kanos pushed Maria in the back. Pushed forward, Maria resisted the force, as she hadn't yet received permission from Frey to enter, but the Demon King's power was not something one could resist.
Thud!
"Don't treat Maria like that!"
As Maria fell before her eyes, Frey reacted with indignation. Maria felt a strange sense of dissonance from this.
'Why...? Why is the Hero worrying about me...?'
"Lady Hero... I have something I would like to ask you."
"Maria, no. There's nothing I can tell you right now..."
"Hero, do not refuse. I could explain it myself, but I brought her to you because your explanation would earn more trust."
"...Damn it."
At Kanos's action, overriding her words, Frey bit her tongue in frustration. She looked exactly like a cornered rat.
"I had anticipated it, to some extent."
"Huh? Maria, what do you mean?"
"I thought that the one entangled in Lord Joker's regression was not solely the Demon King. I believed there must surely be a helper by your side."
Calming her inner bewilderment, Maria spoke serenely.
"When I was on the guillotine, I heard from Lord Joker that the Demon King was not there. Because of that, I thought there must be someone behind the regression."
"Correct. That's right. As expected, Maria is smart."
"But at that time, you were not there either, were you, Lady Hero?"
"..."
"I had no eyes then, so I couldn't see around me. I couldn't know whether you attended the execution or not. But that was my feeling. You, Lady Hero, who carries a solar aura, are so radiant that even your mere presence nearby is palpable."
Maria's pure white, straight gaze met Frey's trembling eyes. Frey hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.
"...You're right. I wasn't there at that time. I was with the Demon King."
"And is it also true, Lady Hero, that you were behind Lord Joker's regression?"
"It's not wrong to say that. I was the one who made him regress. The Demon King helped, too. Have you told Joker that guess?"
"No. I thought that if the one behind it truly was you, then you must have your reasons for hiding it, so I kept it to myself. Was that the right choice?"
"Phew. You did well. That's really a relief. Joker mustn't know... I was being such a fool. I underestimated Maria."
Frey let out a deep sigh. Whether it was due to the physical exhaustion from the hardships she had endured, or because of Maria's sudden appearance, Maria could not tell.
"Lady Hero, please tell me. I need to know."
"Hah..."
"Why you joined hands with the Demon King, why you planned Lord Joker's regression, why you betrayed the continent and sided with the Demon King's army. And..."
Maria asked a question she had kept buried for roughly five hundred years.
"...tell me the reason why the Indomitable became the Abject."
In the previous life, when the war between the continent and the demon realm was escalating. The Demon King's Throne, the Maseongjwa, in the heart of the Demon King's Castle.
Upon it sat a girl in a pessimistic posture. With hair as black as an abyss and eyes as red as blood. The girl's eyes, as always, were trapped within black glasses.
'It's dark...'
If the darkness in his vision bothered him, he could simply take off the glasses he wore, but the Demon King Kanos did not. Whether 'darkness' referred merely to the scenery of the Demon King's Castle, or represented the hope that his heart saw, only Kanos himself knew.
'Such a fleeting world...'
Kanos's gaze, as if holding a deep sea, swept over the interior of the castle. It was a place utterly dreary.
'I'm tired of waiting. Of dreaming a dream too grand for the natural order... It's time to give up now.'
At that moment, the door to the castle opened, and a shadow covered in black rags entered. The Demon King nodded.
"There are no watchers here. I have devoured them all."
Even though he sensed the intruder, the Demon King did not blink an eye. He responded as if he had known of the intruder's presence all along.
"So, you may remove that shabby rags and disguise. Hero."
"...I greet the Demon King."
The intruder walked to the front of the throne, then took off the rags and mask, revealing bright blonde hair and a pale, delicate face. An appearance not to be associated with the Demon King's army; in fact, the intruder was far removed from it.
The hope of the continent.
The Demon King's adversary.
The indomitable Hero, Frey de Zikfried.
"The Hero, who should be training to the death on the continent right now, graces this place. What brings you here?"
"I have something I wish to discuss. Do you have a moment?"
"There is a military council scheduled shortly... but if it's important, I can cancel it. What business do you have?"
"Demon King."
Frey's attitude was courteous. She knelt on one knee before the Demon King, maintaining the utmost decorum, and opened her mouth like a foreign envoy granted an audience with an emperor.
"Could you possibly... stop the destruction of the continent?"
Kanos replied in a flat tone.
"That is the Hero's duty. I am the Demon King."
"There is no such thing as an absolute in this world. The strongest being under the sky, why would you bind yourself to such rules?"
"If you have come to waggle your tongue cunningly, I will pluck it out right now and make it into salted tongue. Do you wish for all in the demon realm to enjoy a feast made from you?"
"...!"
"The Hero's role is to kill the Demon King. The Demon King's role is to shatter the world. Do not toy with your pathetic words. You are only perfected when you kill me."
Frey bit her lower lip hard enough to hurt. Kanos raised his chin and looked down at the Hero with rather arrogant eyes.
"...If I may be so bold, I have something I wish to show you."
Frey's calloused hand touched the hilt of the massive sword strapped to her back.
"As you wish."
Clang!
As soon as Kanos's permission fell, the sword was drawn from its sheath. The Holy Sword Excalibur. No Hero except the first had ever been able to draw it, but the Legendary Sword that Frey de Zikfried of this generation had drawn erupted with light in the darkness.
The light seeped through the gaps of the shadows, seizing the space. A golden sword aura covered the blade of Excalibur. With a gale-like momentum, Frey rose from her kneeling position and leaped high into the air.
Excalibur traced a golden vertical semicircle. The sword, raised above Frey's head, fell like a thunderbolt. A heat as vast as the sun blazed toward Kanos.
To block that splendid attack from Frey.
Kanos raised a finger. Even his ring finger. Without infusing any demonic energy whatsoever.
BANG!
CRAAAAAACK—!
"Ugh!"
"...What are you trying to do, Hero."
The one sent flying was the Holy Sword Excalibur itself. The sword, whose blade was sharp enough to cut steel like tofu, failed to even nick a single ring finger and was repelled.
In contrast, Kanos seemed not to have suffered even the slightest shock, his eyes calm and sunken. Frey vomited blood from the shock of the reversed energy and spat out words.
"Kugh... What you just saw... is the best strike I am currently capable of."
"..."
"The Hero's power weakens with each generation. Meanwhile, you, Demon King, are called the strongest Demon King in history. I know. I know that you seek a worthy opponent for a life-or-death duel. But as you just saw, even after completing my growth, it is impossible for me to oppose you... Ghk!"
Kanos made a lasso shape with his hand and tightened it. Frey dropped to both knees, clutching her throat. An invisible force pressed down on her windpipe.
"Ghk! Kah! Ghuuuuh...!"
"Truly, a truly pathetic Hero. A Hero is supposed to possess an indomitable pride that does not yield to evil and does not lose its light. Yet before even properly fighting, you tuck your tail and prophesy your own defeat. You are not even worthy of the title of Hero. Die like this."
"Th, that is not...! The reason I sought you out today...!"
"Perish. A Hero who cannot stand against the Demon King has no reason to live. Calling someone so weak, who cannot even bear their own fate, a Hero. Miracles are things that appear only when one exerts utmost desperation and all their strength!"
Frey's complexion turned blue, as if she might suffocate at any moment. Of course, that did not bring a future where the Demon King's pressure lessened.
In a critical situation where her lifeline was shaking, Frey flailed her arms and desperately moved her tongue.
A black-coated red gaze caught in Frey's vision. A gaze filled with contempt and scorn. A gaze she had already received countless times, so it did not particularly wound her pride.
"Perhaps...! It is because I might be able to fulfill your long-cherished wish...!"
Stop—
At that single word, Kanos's pressure ceased as if dead.
"...Do you know what my long-cherished wish is, to say such a thing?"
"Cough, kugh! You are seeking a worthy opponent, are you not!"
"Indeed. But now I know. That is an impossible dream. Even if I pool the entire continent and all dimensions, I am confident I can defeat them all. Where am I to find my equal? I even placed some hope in you, but in the end, even you..."
"Why does the Demon King only consider finding a worthy opponent?"
Frey asked, as if puzzled.
A ripple appeared in Kanos's eyes.
"What... do you mean by that?"
"If there is no worthy opponent, you can simply make one. Your power is unlimited, is it not?"
"A god cannot create another god equal to themselves."
"A god... not necessarily a god. There are those who rival gods, like the God-Slayer Theseus. If you want to find a worthy opponent, you can raise one."
"Nonsense. To raise you, the Hero and the last hope of the continent, I have slowly sent my demon army, giving you opportunities to grow. But even you, having grown, could not surpass my ring finger."
"I am not the strongest one aside from you! Why do you think only I can become your adversary?"
Frey pressed on with momentum.
"This world is overflowing with strong beings. There are those stronger than me, not many, but they certainly exist."
"That would be by your standards. From my perspective, there is little difference between you and the others. The Archangels? The Five Kings? The Great Sage? To me, they are all on the same petty level."
"Yes, I know that much as well. But there is one, just one, who is worth pinning our hopes on."
"Who are you referring to?"
Kanos's sharp retort indicated he had not yet been swayed by the Hero's persuasion. After catching her breath for a moment, Frey continued in a calm voice, mentioning the existence she had been ruminating over.
"The second-in-command of the Demon King's army, the second-in-command of the demon realm, the second-in-command of this world."
"The one below the one, above the ten thousand. Joker."
"He is the magician of miracles who turns the impossible into possible. Who knows. Your long-cherished wish, which you had dismissed as impossible, might just be fulfilled by none other than Joker."