Chapter 187: A Bolt from the Blue
Reina did not believe that the Towers could be merged. She told him to stop joking and show her a proper solution.
“That is the proper solution. If you become my vassal, your Tower can be merged with mine. Once that happens, all members of this Tower will be transferred to my Tower.”
“If such a thing were possible, why has no one in the Demon Realm ever tried it before!”
“What Demon King would ever want to become another Demon King’s vassal? Unless they were pushed into a situation like this, in a damned dimension like this.”
“...I see.”
Only then did Reina accept it. Still, she had not cast away her doubts completely.
“Really....”
“It truly is not a lie.”
And Berje understood. She had bent not her own life, but her pride and her future, for the sake of her vassals.
But if the end of that choice were paved with lies and her vassals all died, who could possibly bear that despair and sorrow?
“I swear upon the First Demon Emperor and the Demon King’s Standard. There is not a single shred of falsehood in my words.”
If Ernan or Kaede had been here, they would have looked at Berje with half-lidded eyes, but they were not present.
To begin with, it was not a lie.
“However.”
Reina rolled a piece of candy around in her mouth.
She had clearly chewed it all up earlier, so when had she unwrapped another and put it in her mouth?
“Why is it that when you swear, you do not use honorifics for the First Demon Emperor?”
Her eyes sharpened.
“It was a coincidence.”
“Not just this time. Even the last time when we all swore together, you alone said ‘First Demon Emperor,’ not ‘the great First Demon Emperor.’”
“I fell into this place while cursing The Demon King’s Standard from the very beginning.”
“That is The Demon King’s Standard, not the great First Demon Emperor, is it not?”
At a glance, the two seemed like separate issues. But to Berje, they were the same issue. The one who created The Demon King’s Standard was the First Demon Emperor, that bastard.
“...I swear upon the great First Demon Emperor and The Demon King’s Standard that there is not a single shred of falsehood in my words. Is that enough?”
“I am satisfied.”
Reina smiled contentedly, then soon let out a sigh.
“...I never dreamed that even after becoming a Demon King, this one would become another Demon King’s vassal.”
“In the end, surviving is what matters.”
“And you becoming this one’s vassal?”
“If you want us all to die, then by all means. You know better than anyone that such a future would never be a good one.”
“If my Tower truly merges with yours—though I still cannot believe it—the claim that there is a method must be true. If it is not, then even I do not know what I might do.”
“Reina Sordein. Being cautious is good, but when taken too far, it becomes unsightly.”
“...No one may call this one unsightly.”
“...I apologise.”
Under her chilling gaze, Berje turned his head away.
“In any case, that is not what matters right now. I will ask you properly once more. Reina Sordein.”
O noble Demon King of the Frost Demon race.
“Will you become my vassal?”
“...I will.”
A brief hesitation, but in the end, Reina nodded.
Reina knelt. Berje placed his hand upon her forehead.
A contract of souls.
Bound the two together.
“Now that you have become my vassal, I will tell you this—no matter how incomprehensible my Tower may be from your perspective, you will have to accept it.”
“What? What in the world does that mean?”
“You will understand when you see it.”
Watching the fish caught in the net, Berje smiled.
That day, one Tower upon the snowy plain vanished without a trace.
* * *
“...This is absurd.”
Haha.
It was so ridiculous that laughter would not even come out.
Balraf grabbed the guide by the throat.
“Did you not say you knew the way? Did you not say the Tower definitely existed?”
Was that a Tower?
Was this the path you spoke of?
“I-It was definitely here! Th-there are traces! Are there not traces left behind!”
“Traces!”
Balraf snarled.
“They mean nothing at all.”
They were nothing more than traces. There was neither Tower nor Demon King anywhere.
Only a small pit, and the thick snow covering its interior, greeted them.
The hope they had reached after countless hardships instantly turned into emptiness, helplessness, rage, and despair.
“The Tower of Frost is gone, too?”
“Was it really here to begin with?”
“There are traces, though.”
“No, does this make any sense! I have been to the Tower of Frost before! There was definitely a Tower here—where did it go!”
“Weren’t we completely played by the Demon Kings?”
“What the hell is this!”
The allied forces fell into panic. The feeling that every piece of common sense they held about Demon Kings was shattering one by one only deepened their confusion.
The negation of common sense bred even greater chaos.
“Lord Balraf, everyone is shaken.”
“....”
The aide who had been gauging the intentions of Balraf, the commander-in-chief, closed his mouth. The ferocity twisted across Balraf’s face was something he had never seen in all his time serving him.
‘Once is a mistake.’
Twice is a coincidence.
‘And three times is inevitability.’
Since when had Towers vanishing become inevitable? And why had it become inevitable?
‘The noisy hero’s march.’
Yes, that was the problem.
They treated the conquest of Demon Kings like an event, making a great spectacle of it.
In other words, it was no different from sending a letter announcing that they were coming to attack the Demon King.
They gave Demon Kings time to prepare, and time to spare. Once that grew beyond what could be handled, it even opened the possibility of them moving their Towers.
‘If that is the case.’
Balraf suppressed his rage with superhuman patience. His mind spun at full speed.
‘Then I will do the opposite.’
If Demon Kings no longer followed the well-known Standard, then humans had no need to cling to custom either.
If the obvious was no longer obvious, then there was no reason for this side to proceed in the obvious way.
‘Jason Kokemundo.’
He had not betrayed them.
Balraf had spent quite a long time with Jason. He had received help, and he had given help as well.
Even if they could not fully trust one another due to their differing agendas, he knew Jason would not do something as foolish as cutting ties like this.
‘It was not Jason’s intention, but Jason’s actions may have influenced the escape of Dark Flame or Frost.’
Because they were Demon Kings of the same kind.
That was why he would hide this even from Jason.
Rather than raging, he would move swiftly when no Demon King could know.
When they let their guard down, believing they had survived.
He would strike elsewhere.
“Marquis Argann.”
“Lord Balraf.”
“Lead the legion in my stead. There will be some losses, but delay them as much as possible on the snowy plain.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If there is no Tower here, then we target another Tower.”
“That means?”
“I will take most of the Stars and Heroes, including Rozel Charnte, Aina Diaphrin, and Ralph Schmitz.”
“Where to?”
“The Gold-Steel Demon King. If they refuse to follow the Standard that has been handed down until now, then we should smash the back of their heads instead. I will behead that complacent bastard without fail.”
To begin with, Balraf had never needed it to be Frost in particular. Any suitable Demon King who could restore his fallen reputation and raise his lacking power, even a little, would have sufficed.
He had merely chosen Frost as the first target at Jason’s request.
“It is not a bad plan, but the Gold-Steel Tower is in Arkan! If a group moves there recklessly, it will cause diplomatic problems—”
“Rozel Charnte. What do you think?”
“If it is just Heroes, I will handle it somehow. Go.”
Rozel Charnte, who had been listening quietly, spat the words out as if chewing them.
“Being played by these damn Demon King bastards day after day—no matter what it takes, I will twist off at least one of their heads.”
“Good. We will move quickly using transport magic circles, so there is no need to waste too much time.”
“But if a force of that size moves, problems will arise.”
“I will take care of that, so do not worry.”
“Rumors will spread as well.”
“Then we move before that happens.”
That day, four Stars and three hundred Heroes vanished without a trace.
* * *
It was hell.
That was what the great giant thought.
“The third floor has been breached!”
“Orman and fifty-one lower-ranking demons who went down to the fourth floor to stop the Heroes have been annihilated!”
They had stormed in without warning.
Recently, he knew that public sentiment toward Demon Kings was poor.
Because of what Berje had done, hostility toward Demon Kings had been rising. He had been uneasy, but Jason had said it would be fine as long as he behaved himself.
He had believed him.
Just as Jason said, the humans moved to conquer not his Tower, but the Tower of Frost.
Though he felt some regret for Reina, he was relieved that it was not himself. He prayed for her repose and tore into some meat.
And yet—why?
Why were they in his Tower?
“Lord Hamers is dead!”
He knew. He was watching it happen.
The one who incinerated the body of Hamers, a mid-grade demon, was unmistakably Rozel Charnte.
“Sixth floor breached!”
Large-scale ice magic froze every monster on the sixth floor. That was Aina Diaphrin.
“Lord Moitai!”
The iron mace of the upper-ranked Titan, Moitai, was blocked by a steadfast shield. He was overpowered. Anyone could see it was Ralph Schmitz.
A clean sword stroke severed his neck. The Titan’s massive body collapsed in an instant.
Balraf Dislode flicked his sword.
“How could this be...!”
Why were four Stars here!
Why were hundreds of Heroes hell-bent on killing him!
“Stars—four Stars!”
Stars were strong. That was undeniable.
When two or three Stars gathered, they could hunt even a Demon King.
But that only applied to those who had existed for a few decades at most.
Ugar Velbek had been incarnated for well over ninety years, and while pursuing stability, he had also pursued strength.
Two or three ordinary Stars? It would be difficult, imperfect, but he could somehow hold them back.
Moreover, it was not like tens of thousands of troops had been mobilized as when they headed for Ergest or the snowy plains.
But if there were four, and one of them was Balraf Dislode—
That was a different story.
“What in the world is going on! Jason Kokemundo!”
You said all I had to do was behave myself.
You said not to cause trouble.
You said Frost would serve as the sacrifice.
Then why were they in my Tower!
『....』
Jason, beyond the communicator, did not answer. He merely adjusted his monocle with a stiffened face.
After a long while, he finally spoke.
『...Regrettably, there is nothing I can do for you.』
“You were the one who told me to trust you! And so I trusted you!”
『I know. I am deeply grateful for that. That is why I also made great efforts to assist you, Lord Ugar.』
“Do you hear yourself! It is Balraf Dislode! Did you not say he was a collaborator cooperating with you! Did you not say you were drawing a grand picture together!”
Ugar trembled at the revelation of betrayal.
“And yet he comes to kill me? So there was never a place for me in that grand picture to begin with! Reina was right. You were a Demon King full of lies, unworthy of trust!”
『...I will not make excuses.』
『But I sincerely pray that you survive.』
The communication was cut off unilaterally.
“Jaaasoooon!”
Ugar roared. A fist steeped in rage smashed the communicator to pieces.
“...My lord. They have reached the eighth floor.”
At the adjutant’s report, Ugar bit his lip.
‘I do not want to die.’
After all the effort it had taken to survive until now.
‘A vassal?’
Vivian’s final desperate struggle came to mind. Perhaps—if he could survive that way. Perhaps that would be better.
Above all else, Ugar valued his own safety. He thought it better to be a craven vassal than a proud Demon King.
Death was the end. Even if he were praised as befitting a Demon King after dying, the one concerned would know nothing of it. Was there anything more futile than that?
‘...Whose?’
It would not be Jason. Balraf was his pawn, and it meant Jason had clearly abandoned him.
‘Then Reina....’
No, he could not imagine becoming the vassal of that lofty Frost Demon.
‘Berje.’
He did not like it, but among the remaining Demon Kings, he was the best option.
‘Just you wait, Jason Kokemundo.’
He would take revenge without fail.
Ugar searched for a new communicator. But time did not wait for him.
Kwaang—
The doors of the great hall opened.
Clack, clack—
Combat boots trampled the Tower floor. The stench of monster, beast, and demon blood filled the air.
“So this is the top.”
Humans carrying the nauseating power of dimensional interference discovered Ugar.
“So you are the Gold-Steel Demon King.”
“And you are Balraf Dislode?”
Ugar bit his lip. He had to buy time, somehow.
“I must be famous. Every Demon King recognises me.”
“Did it really have to end like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean—did it really have to come to seeing this through to the bitter end?”
“This is surprising.”
Balraf sneered.
“For a Demon King to speak of righteousness before the Heroes who came to kill him.”
His gaze sank. The other Heroes were the same.
“Do you not remember what you have done? Planting Black Mages in the Empire to sow chaos, unleashing monsters to destroy cities, killing Heroes and legions, even abducting the Empire’s First Crown Prince.”
“That was not my doing. If you wish, I can even tell you the location of the Tower of Dark Flame!”
“Truly a Demon King. No loyalty between your own kind.”
And precisely because of that—
“There is no reason to trust you.”
Swords were leveled at him.
“I will handle him.”
“Wait, I also—”
“I promised you the byproducts. If you step in, would everything not just burn instead?”
“Fine.”
Balraf stepped forward. Ugar seethed.
He knew that Balraf Dislode was a formidable Hero. But no matter what, he was still a Demon King, and the man before him was merely a single Hero.
No matter how much of a Star he was, it was an established truth that one could not face a Demon King alone.
“You bastard! I showed you kindness, and now you dare look down on me!”
Ugar heaved his massive body up. The Titan’s flesh roared as it charged.
“No.”
Balraf calmly extended his sword forward. Just before the collision, he slipped aside like flowing water.
─!
Ugar’s massive body staggered. Balraf’s sword used the Titan’s skin as a canvas, painting a crimson picture.
─!
A gigantic fist came crashing down. With a crunch, Balraf’s foot sank into the floor.
Overwhelmed by the shock that crushed his entire body, he bared his teeth and laughed.
“As expected, a Demon King is a Demon King.”
Ninety years. To a Demon King, time was truly precious.
But—
“You are weaker than that one.”
“What did you say?”
Balraf did not answer. Instead, he reached into subspace. The red sword spewed flames.
That day.
The Gold-Steel Tower was forcibly summoned into the Demon Realm.