Demon King

“You’re back, Fate.” Rain greeted me with a bow of the head as always, but his appearance was a bit different. He had a small chain hanging around his wrist and the waist of his clothes. Noticing my gaze, he pulled a little at the chain with a bitter smile.

“As you know, this battle will be different than the previous one. I’ve done some preparations of my own.

“A chain?” I couldn’t imagine him fighting in person. Now that I had evolved into a Belkena Predator, I could measure his strength, but it was just the total amount of mana that appeared on the surface. I knew nothing about his abilities, either. Or rather, I didn’t remember.

“I apologize that I may not be a great source of strength in this fight.”

“No, it’s alright. It’s my fault. So, I do have a few requests. First, I need information on some artifacts.” I summoned Annihilation and Echo of the Soul, and Rain responded as if he had been waiting.

“I see. Sometimes great results come from dirty and dusty things. The result of the fighting against the Chaos Soul, correct?”

“Yes.” He stared at the two objects, formed by thousands of souls united and fixed in two completely different forms. His interest was plain on his face.

“The soul is utterly amazing. If anything is left in its natural state, it will shrink and disappear, but the soul will not. Even if they come together and become one, they won’t disappear. If more of them come together, its value multiplies exponentially…”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of a soul defined that way.” Combined and becoming one. If so, had all the souls I ate become part of my soul? I wasn’t in a particularly good mood to hear that.

“The elves wanted to get their value through the Chaos Soul, but they failed. Trying to change something that doesn’t change, paying the price…rather, you tried to calm the situation without thanking about it. You succeeded in creating something with a nice shape. How wonderful.”

“Experimenting with the soul of other humans…how disgusting…” Rain smiled and nodded at my sincere feelings.

“You can’t do it with your own soul, but your words are correct. You did a good job.”

“You helped, Rain.”

“It was just insurance. It wasn’t my own strength.” He shook his head without accepting the things I was pushing toward him.

“They can’t be handled by anyone other than you.”

“Even you?”

“It’s impossible for me and anyone else. Moreover, aren’t you already grasping the power of the artifact?”

“Well, to be precise…”

“Oh? Getting accurate information is a great way to make solid plans.” Rain wagged a finger and smiled.

“A product within a defined limit cannot produce anything other than a set result. The enemy you must face will not be defeated with obvious force. Have you not gone through it once before?” I wondered if he was referring to the Goddess’ Touch.

“If you regain enough power to fully grasp these artifacts, then maybe that will be the moment when everything is neatly finished.” I didn’t understand his words. Maybe he was still hiding something from me?

“Now, did you have anything else for me?”

“A record. I want it to work permanently.”

“It will cost you eight million gold.” After buying a record at a merciless price, all my work down in the underground was completed. I couldn’t help but be curious as I watched Rain take the huge amount of gold I had. He had a lot of money, but where was he spending it? I decided to ask the question again but was met with the same mysterious words. He handed me the record.

“Compared to when I saw you just after the Great Fusion, everything has changed so much in a short time.”

“…What I need to do hasn’t changed.” I gave up my question and responded bluntly, feeding the record some of my mana so I could track the energy of the Chaos Souls. I had been moving to survive, coming this far by killing and eating those who wanted to kill me. The only difference was whether it was against a goblin or a group called the Elakatra.

“I’ll be back on the Devil’s Night.”

“I will be waiting.” Returning to Earth, everyone, including my sister, was waiting for me. Han Jia had been completely dismissed, of course, but I called out Solas to join us as well.

“Myu.”

“Cute!”

[Do spiders originally cry so cutely?]

I used the record and watched the needle spin. Before, it was just Solas and me. But now that everyone here’s overall ability had increased, we could move together. However, Han Jia, despite being kicked out, kept persistently showing up. When she was about to be evicted once more with magic strong enough to make her faint, she ran up and whispered something into my sister’s ear. Her complexion immediately turned pale.

“How many elves are gathering in Seongbuk-gu right now?”

“It’s not a combat force, it’s a unit to guard and search us.” I left the party and started running, making full use of Ubiquitous. I headed towards the space where a large amount of mana was concentrated. The Elakatra were moving together, so it was easy to find them.

“Hey.”

“Ugh?!”

“Yes!” There were five elves in total, all of them fully armed higher entities. They weren’t demons turned into elves like Marcocias, but rather elves from birth.

“Why us?!”

“Damn, they’re poorly informed…who the hell are you?” Even for the elves, the intelligence of Erkindra was surprising. A smile played on my lips.

“Why did you block our path, human? We were just walking together.”

“Ah? Can I ask where you were going?”

“We have no obligation to tell you that.”

“You can’t tell me because you were going to follow me.”

“Ugh…” They couldn’t answer. Elves weren’t good at lying, not even the Elakatra. Since they viewed all beings as inferior, they felt no need to hide anything from everyone else. When I drew my dagger, they prepared their own weapons, but shortly after, I shrugged and sheathed my dagger again.

“I’ve no intention of fighting with you. I just want to fight the Chaos Souls.”

“…”

“If so…” The knights of Elakatra shared a look with each other. No doubt, they had already received reports of what happened in Incheon.

“Then, we’ll have to fight you too.”

“Is that so?” There was no more time to waste, then.

“Move!”

“No, don’t!” I swung my dagger. Black mana jetted out from the tip of the short dagger, drawing a diagonal line that cut through the body of three elves. It was a line of death that no one but I could detect.

[You gained 314 experience.]

[You gained…]

[You received 498 gold.]

“…?!” Even though I used it, the results shocked me just as much. How was the power of Reaper strengthened so much by this dagger?

“What a nonsensical power…!”

“Damn, why? That power is exactly like his…!” At the moment, the sky cried out loud. I exercised my power only once. Yet, with that, it seemed like all living and breathing beings in the world despaired over my strength. Yes, just as these ones who had witnessed the death that was Reaper. Countless emotions assailed me, making me unable to breathe. The dagger in my hand felt incredibly heavy, and mana boiled inside of me. As if waiting for this moment, the Echo that was wrapped around my throat began to rage again. It filled me with a destructive impulse.

Then, I suddenly realized. The moment when I was able to grasp my strength for myself. ‘Ah, I’m stupid.’ It wasn’t another’s fear that I felt; it was my own. My own fear and despair. It was so large that it gave me the illusion it was coming from countless other beings. I was still ridiculously weak, to be so afraid of my own strength.

The Echo calmed down first. I compressed the force of it, regaining control of the power and pulling it inside of myself. But it was then that one of the surviving elves’ red scarf spewed out ominous light. Was it because I was closer to the me in the past? I could instinctively sense what it meant.

[It’s about five years earlier than I anticipated.]

I swung my dagger at the calm, gentle man’s voice.

[It’s been a while, Fate…]

I sighed as I cut everything that was in the space where the voice occurred. It was the voice of the enemy I had to face one day.

My first reunion and conversation with the entity the elves called ‘L.’