“...Welco to My palace.”
The Demon King’s low greeting reached them.
Remaining seated on his throne, he sent a light welco. After looking at U-jin and greeting him, he turned his head to address Shuten, who stood to the right.
“It has been a long ti.”
“…….”
“Wrath.”
As if in response to that greeting, Shuten spat on the floor.
“Piss off.”
“…….”
“I discarded the na you gave a long ti ago.”
The resentnt of being discarded after serving one’s purpose ran deep.
It was impossible to dismiss a subordinate who had been utterly loyal as a ‘traitor’ and then settle the matter with a single apology.
“…I feel sorry about what happened in the past.”
“…….”
“It was unavoidable for the greater good. I ask for your understanding.”
Shuten’s voice thundered through the Demon King’s Castle.
“The greater good, my ass!”
“…….”
“What kind of ‘greater good’ is achieved by sacrificing the lives of your subordinates? What exactly does that bring?!”
Just like the na the Demon King had ntioned, Shuten, manifesting his ‘Wrath,’ took step after step toward the throne.
“…You have beco quite rude.”
The Demon King, who had been quietly watching each of those steps, muttered lowly.
“No, you were always like that.”
Woooong—
As the Demon King reached out toward the approaching Shuten, a red energy shimred.
Soon, the Solo Darkwing mark engraved on Shuten’s left arm began to vibrate.
“Urgh—!”
With a heavy thud, Shuten’s body was slamd flat against the floor.
Despite Shuten’s desperate struggles to break free, the Demon King turned his head back to U-jin, seemingly unconcerned.
“…There is much I wish to discuss with you.”
Snap—
As the Demon King snapped his fingers, a rectangular stone pillar rose behind U-jin with a grinding sound, accompanied by a sudden flicker of ‘red energy.’
“Sit for a mont. I have sothing important to say.”
The Demon King gestured with his hand, inviting him to sit.
Sss—
Then, he rose from his throne and slowly walked forward, taking a seat directly on top of the prone Shuten’s torso.
The sound of Shuten grinding his teeth echoed repeatedly, but the mont the Demon King snapped his fingers again, all sound ceased.
“Do you truly believe this world is right?”
The sudden philosophical question was so abrupt it almost seed like a joke.
However, the Demon King’s expression was serious.
As if he had nothing else to talk about but that, his sincerity was fully contained within that short sentence.
Of course, U-jin did not answer.
He simply remained silent, staring into the Demon King’s eyes.
But it seed U-jin’s answer wasn’t very important to the Demon King.
He showed no agitation at U-jin’s reaction, which was practically ignoring him, and imdiately offered his own conclusion.
“I do not think so.”
“…….”
“This world has been wrong from the very beginning. Terribly wrong.”
A hint of bitterness appeared in the Demon King’s eyes.
It was as if he were recalling a fragnt of a past mory.
“I hold the grand title of ‘Demon King’ now, but my origins were quite pathetic.”
“…….”
“I was born as a lowly marginal Magical Beast with no notable lineage or even a proper ‘race’ to speak of.”
The story the Demon King began was sothing even U-jin was hearing for the first ti.
Even though they had t face-to-face in his previous life, U-jin had died before he could hear such things directly.
Judging by the fact that he hadn't heard this within the Suicide Squad either, it seed the Demon King didn't go around spreading this story easily.
“My father was killed by an arrow from a human who ca out for ‘hunting practice,’ and my mother died from being beaten while working under humans.”
“…….”
“Back then, the gap between humans and Magical Beasts without a proper race was so vast they couldn’t even be compared.”
This was a story from ancient tis, before the concept of an alliance of Magical Beasts existed.
Even then, a few powerful races of Magical Beasts possessed the strength to rival humans, but as in the Demon King’s story, those who failed to form a faction were treated as playthings by humans.
Much like the case of the ‘Beastkin,’ who were treated as a slave race by the Church Alliance.
It was a natural progression.
Humans were accustod to uniting, while Magical Beasts were not.
“Back then, in my childhood, I realized it. That sothing was wrong with how this world worked. That this world needed change.”
“…….”
“And I made a resolution. That I would change everything with my own hands.”
The Demon King nodded to himself.
U-jin still hadn't said a single word, but perhaps just having soone listen was enough.
The Demon King continued without concern.
“Humans and Magical Beasts, the poor and the rich, those with talent and those without, the strong and the weak, those born with everything and those who were not.”
“…….”
“Soone must be trampled because they were born a Magical Beast, and soone else can trample because they were born human.”
“…….”
“Because soone gained, soone else had to lose, and everything was divided by birth. How miserable and violent. I believe all of this must be shattered.”
The Demon King’s idea that everything must be destroyed just because he didn't like it was quite radical.
But setting aside right or wrong, there was definitely ‘power’ in his voice.
It was clear he wasn't the leader of a massive force occupying half the continent for nothing.
Of course, U-jin wasn't swayed by it, but there was a strange magnetism that made one listen in spite of themselves.
“So, I searched. I looked for the ‘cause’ of why the world ended up running this way.”
Snap—
He snapped his fingers again, and sothing massive that had been hidden in the dark shadows of the Demon King’s Castle walls was revealed.
“…….”
Each had a different appearance, and they were all skewered and embedded into the wall, their forms hideous and grotesque.
U-jin knew what they were.
“…They were the Constellations.”
Stigma.
The marks proving that he had dragged the Constellations of each region, whom he had fought throughout the War against Demons, down from the firmant.
In fact, even if the Demon King hadn’t said it himself, anyone could have guessed.
The reason the Demon King had fought the War against Demons all this ti was solely to drag down the Constellations.
While the Church side called this war that spanned an eternity the ‘War against Demons,’ the na the Demon King’s Army used was the ‘Constellation Hunt.’
“The reason humans could form groups was that they had leaders called ‘Constellations.’ They ford their forces around them.”
“…….”
“I didn’t care about that part. After all, the thod I chose to gather the scattered Demon King’s Army was inspired by that very thing. One can build a faction.”
“…….”
“However, it was their constant incitent that created the current state of affairs.”
Before long, anger seeped into the Demon King’s voice.
“They praised those who killed more Magical Beasts and gave rewards to those who brought back more heads. Lives with infinite potential were snuffed out simply because they were born as Magical Beasts.”
“…….”
“They didn't even limit their targets to Magical Beasts. You, born during the heyday of the Church, might not know, but long before the Church ford its alliance, strife among humans was common. They gave rewards to those who brought back the heads of their enemies, even if they were fellow humans.”
Grit—
The uniquely elegant atmosphere vanished instantly as the Demon King ground his teeth.
He was sincere.
At this mont, he was unable to control the rage boiling in his heart just by recounting the story.
“Those things are not creators or anything of the sort. They are rely pathetic things that ride the coattails of the Saint who ca to the continent long ago, acting high and mighty in their respective regions.”
“…….”
“So, I decided to prove it. I decided to drag those beings acting arrogant in the sky down and slam them into this earth. Then everyone would know. That those beings pretending to be noble Constellations are nothing more than that.”
At the end of the War against Demons, the Demon King was speaking of its beginning.
In fact, he had been doing exactly what he said.
The Falling Star, sothing no one in the long history of the Upper Plane had ever achieved.
The Constellations, who existed only in a sanctuary beyond dinsions where humans could not reach, were dragged to the ground and brutally slaughtered, just as he said.
“The mont I slamd them into the earth, I felt a sense of catharsis. It was the mont it was proven that I was not wrong.”
It was from that point on that the human forces began to form an alliance centered around The Order’s Headquarters.
The mont a Constellation was struck by the Demon King’s harpoon and dragged from their sanctuary.
It was the mont an absolute being, thought to be ‘eternal,’ transford into a ‘creature’ that could die at any ti.
The human forces, feeling a sense of crisis, also began to gather to oppose the Demon King’s alliance, which was growing in power at the ti.
“…If you look at my appearance, you might have guessed, but human blood is mixed within as well.”
“…….”
“That is why I had no racial faction to speak of and was treated as a half-breed, becoming a marginal Magical Beast.”
The Demon King t U-jin’s eyes directly.
“As you can see from my friend Isaac, my enemy is not humans. It is this twisted world.”
“…….”
“Even a human can be welcod as a comrade as long as they join my cause. I believe you, of all people, can agree with my thoughts.”
Sss—
The Demon King reached out his right hand.
“Well then, will you not join ?”
“…….”
Attempting to recruit the person who ca to kill him was not sothing that could be done with ordinary courage.
Even if he brought soone in as a mber, things could change at any ti.
It was a matter of his 'vessel,' so to speak.
The Demon King’s thod had always been like this.
This was how he had unified nurous Magical Beast races through his greater good.
U-jin’s eyes lowered solemnly.
And after a brief silence.
Clasp—
He took the Demon King’s outstretched hand.
“Fine.”
A short affirmation.
It was a clear sign of agreent.
The corners of the Demon King’s mouth curled up.
This was a much more positive developnt than he had expected.
He had thought they might have at least one test of strength since U-jin had made it this far, but if he agreed like this, there was no need to go that far.
The Demon King sincerely welcod him.
Or rather, he tried to.
“…Everything sounds great.”
“…?”
“But then you shouldn’t have brought in those hideous Outer Gods from outside the system. You piece of shit.”
Whoosh—
U-jin violently pulled the Demon King’s hand toward him, and at the sa ti, the ‘Dark Sword’ held by Shuten, who had been crouching beneath the Demon King, swung out.
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