Chapter 210: An Irreversible Matter
Cough—
Dorche spat out blood. The black scales covering his entire body reacted nimbly.
“Damn you…!”
His black pupils rolled.
There were no other enemies nearby. But the power of the tower was pressing down on him.
The False that had risen from the throne was far stronger than he had thought.
“How dare you raise a rebellion!”
“That was amusing.”
The False laughed.
“At first, you were saying things like how a lowly race should know its place, and that it wouldn’t do—but once you realized that, you immediately started talking about rebellion? What’s next, the archduke? Go on, try it.”
One step—the False approached.
The pressure intensified. The scales writhed.
“…How could you have this kind of power?”
“I told you to try, didn’t I?”
One step.
The wind rose.
Sharp blades tore through the scales.
“I said try it, you trash dragon bastard.”
Lightning burst forth. The lightning energy pierced through the lofty Demon Dragon’s resistance, and Dorche screamed.
‘Impossible…!’
All Demon Dragons specialized in a single attribute. Just as Berje was fire, Dorche was lightning.
Lightning energy was his source and his strength. Because he was so familiar with it, his resistance to lightning was overwhelmingly higher than to other attributes. And yet it pierced through and struck him?
“Try it!”
This time, it was flames. The scales melted away. Muscles burned. Dorche swallowed a groan of agony.
“You’ll regret this. Archduke Arkaine will never let this slide!”
“Yeah, you said it.”
At last, the distance between the two closed to an extreme degree. Jason reached out and grabbed his neck.
“Kuh—!”
Bound by the constricting force around his body, Dorche couldn’t move.
“You Demon Dragon bastards are all the same. You have nothing except what you’re born with, yet you trust that and puff yourselves up. A lowly race? Pathetic? Then what does that make you, getting trampled like trash by that lowly race—just a lizard?”
“You damn traitor bastard…!”
“Yeah, I’ll give you that much. Those eyes—definitely a Demon Dragon. To not abandon your pride even in this situation.”
Jason threw Dorche aside. His body rolled across the floor like garbage.
“You have two choices. One, become my vassal. Two, die.”
“Don’t spout nonsense. Do you think a great Demon Dragon would bend to such a threat and become your vassal?”
“Ah, I figured you’d say that. That’s why I didn’t plan on killing you comfortably anyway.”
Jason smiled.
“You know this, right? A Demon Dragon’s blood is treated the same as this world’s dragons’. Well, distant relatives, so I guess it’s only natural. You know, right? There are countless demons and monsters who long to consume a Demon Dragon’s blood.”
“…What did you say?”
“You won’t be able to die. Your body will be restrained so you can’t move, and I’ll supply you with steady nourishment. In exchange, for the rest of your life, you’ll serve as a blood bag, having your blood drawn for me and for my vassals.”
“…Y-you bastard!”
That miserable future flashed before Dorche’s eyes, sending chills down his spine. In the hundreds of years he had lived, it was something he had never once imagined.
“Now, choose. Will you become a vassal, or a blood bag?”
“Why are you doing this to me! I descended to help you at your request!”
“The reason?”
Jason wore a contemplative expression for a moment. Then he spoke as if it were nothing.
“It annoyed me how you dared to demand Demonic Points from me. On top of that, I was already on edge from being harassed by Demon Dragons.”
“Over something so trivial…!”
“Whether it’s trivial or not—”
Thud—
Dorche’s head reeled.
“I decide. You trash Demon Dragon bastard. Now, I’ll give you five seconds.”
Jason’s outstretched fingers folded down quickly.
In the end, Dorche had no choice but to choose.
If it were a proud death, perhaps—but such humiliation and disgrace were unbearable.
* * *
『…What do you mean by that.』
“Jason Kokemundo—he is not Jason Kokemundo.”
From a blind spot invisible through the communication device, Berje quietly eavesdropped on the conversation between Reina and Archduke Arkaine.
『A Doppelgänger…?』
A sudden contact, and a sudden statement.
Archduke Arkaine was confused by everything. If it were anyone else, he would have flown into a rage and cut off the call. But he couldn’t—because the one saying it was Reina Sordein.
Not only could he not ignore the Frost Demon clan behind her, but the Frost Demon clan was also famous for its solemnity and for never speaking falsehoods.
『All Doppelgängers are dead. They’ve been wiped out for a long time.』
“I thought so as well.”
『Reina Sordein. Can you take responsibility for your words?』
『That everything Berje Deias did was actually the work of Jason Kokemundo, and that Jason Kokemundo was in fact a Doppelgänger who had been hiding his identity and operating in the shadows.』
“The Frost Demon clan does not put lies in its noble mouth. I can swear it upon the great First Demon Emperor and The Demon King’s Standard.”
『You’re even swearing. Do you understand what that means? It means there was a mistake in the Demon Realm’s administration.』
『That there was an error in what the previous Demon Emperor carried out?』
“Burying it despite the evidence being clear is the greater problem. For hundreds of years, he has been operating in the shadows in Arein, joining hands with heroes and killing Demon Kings.”
“If we fail to eliminate him, it will become a far greater calamity.”
『The evidence?』
“There is some. A recording orb that captured Berje Deias tearing apart the shell of the hero who cooperated with him—and the creature’s own statements.”
『Send it. I’ll confirm it first and then decide.』
“Yes.”
The communication ended.
“Good work.”
“I merely did what needed to be done.”
“But you don’t use ‘this one’ when speaking to the archduke, I see?”
“…Hurry and give me the recording orb. I need to send it.”
“I thought that was just how you spoke all the time?”
“Archduke Arkaine is waiting.”
Reina tried to divert the topic to the end, but Berje silently looked at her. In the end, Reina’s face flushed faintly, and she muttered in a shrinking voice.
“…I thought authority was necessary with my vassals.”
“As a Demon King?”
“As a Demon King.”
“But right now, you’re my vassal.”
“With you, didn’t we button the first clasp that way?”
“So you’re actually a demon with a different outside and inside?”
“This one is a steadfast Frost Demon. Outside and inside are the same!”
“But you’re different with superiors and subordinates.”
“…You.”
Seeing the smile forming at the corner of Berje’s mouth, Reina bristled.
“You enjoy teasing this one.”
“Not particularly?”
“…Please don’t tell others. Especially that succubus who doesn’t have a shred of dignity.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You!”
“Well, I’ll think about it. Take this.”
Berje handed over the recording orb.
“When Archduke Arkaine sees this record, how do you think he’ll act?”
“First, he’ll sever his connection with Jason Kokemundo.”
That was certain.
“It’d be a shame if that were all.”
“There are two possibilities. Either he makes it public, or he tries to bury it quietly.”
“What do you think?”
“The latter.”
Reina was right. Archduke Arkaine was an archduke with no further lust for power or ambition.
He was merely an elder satisfied with the present, who did not wish for a disgraceful retirement.
But to have it revealed that, under his jurisdiction, a traitor to the Demon Realm—a Doppelgänger—had emerged and devoured Demon Kings for hundreds of years?
No matter what, the archduke would want to avoid that.
“And what would follow from that?”
“If there were towers left, he would have sent his subordinates down as Demon Kings.”
The archduke was a supreme demon, one of those who had conquered dimensions multiple times. Under his command were also warriors counted among the strongest in the Demon Realm.
“But there are no towers left.”
Only belatedly did they learn that someone called Dorche had newly descended.
‘Dorche.’
He was a fairly famous Demon Dragon. To begin with, Demon Dragons were so few in number that all of them were famous.
They never expected someone who had conquered other dimensions multiple times to come to Arein. He must have been acting on the archduke’s orders.
In any case, what mattered was that he had already descended, meaning all five towers had been used.
“This one sees two options. Either he tries to subjugate Jason Kokemundo through cooperation between us and the Demon King called Dorche.”
“And the other?”
“Or he retrieves the tower and sends down a reliable subordinate again.”
“Retrieve the tower?”
“Isn’t there one? A Demon King who originally descended here earlier than Dorche, having received the archduke’s orders and promised to return.”
Yes, there was.
Someone who had been such a ‘Demon King.’
* * *
“…Good heavens.”
Archduke Arkaine examined the recording orb that had crossed dimensions.
There, a Demon King interrogated a suffering hero.
Berje Deias—the detestable rebel bastard—peeled off the hero’s skin. No, he tore away the shell.
It was unmistakably that of a Doppelgänger.
Because unless it was a Doppelgänger, it couldn’t have concealed everything so perfectly.
‘Berje’s self-staged act?’
Impossible.
No matter how great a race Demon Dragons were, they couldn’t do something like that.
‘Is it really a Doppelgänger.’
Reina Sordein had even sworn upon the First Demon Emperor and The Demon King’s Standard. There was no way she was lying.
Either she truly believed it was a Doppelgänger, or it really was one. One of the two.
And no matter how he looked at it, it was the latter.
‘Jason… is not Jason?’
How could this be?
‘He survived that chaos and hid himself in Arein? For hundreds of years, evading my eyes?’
Was it really only hundreds of years?
Reina had even said that he had devoured numerous Demon Kings. The hero in this recording orb said the same.
‘Perhaps.’
Truly, perhaps.
‘Is Arein becoming the worst dimension because of this bastard?’
No—that was going too far. It was true that Arein had an overwhelmingly large number of heroes compared to other dimensions, and it was also true that The Demon King’s Standard didn’t work there.
That was because the dimension’s own power was overwhelming—not because of the Doppelgänger wearing Jason Kokemundo’s skin. He was merely an additional factor.
‘If this becomes known.’
The responsibility would undoubtedly fall on him.
He didn’t want that. It had to be resolved quietly—very quietly. But how?
‘Reina Sordein.’
The Frost Demon Demon King who had informed him of all this. She would agree that the Doppelgänger had to be dealt with, and she would willingly lend a hand.
‘Berje Deias.’
He didn’t like him, but he had to acknowledge that one ability of his. With contact with the Demon Realm severed, he would be in quite a predicament. If offered a chance to clear his name, he would step forward eagerly.
‘Dorche Astain.’
The Demon Dragon sent down through a deal with him, to deal with Berje Deias.
He couldn’t be sure how strong Jason—who had devoured Demon Kings for hundreds of years—really was, but if they joined forces, he thought they could subjugate him.
‘No, if Jason is a Doppelgänger, he wouldn’t have fully released all of Dorche’s interference power.’
Then, even with Dorche, it was uneasy.
One more safeguard was needed.
“…Vivian Blunt.”
A succubus who, from the moment she descended, had longed to return. Though relations had soured—perhaps because she suddenly went mad—her desire to return should still remain.
He would summon her and have a trustworthy direct subordinate descend as a Demon King.
‘Even if I have to bear the Demonic Points required, it’s better than being exposed and forced into disgraceful retirement.’
The moment it was exposed, he would lose everything.
Having laid out his plan, Archduke Arkaine restored the connection with Vivian that he had cut off.
He initiated the communication and waited for quite a while.
Bzz—
A response came.
“Vivian Blunt. I’ll give you one more chance. Don’t you wish to return to the Demon Realm?”
Archduke Arkaine thought Vivian would naturally accept.
After all, even the reason things had broken down amid harsh words was because of that.
But.
『Shut up, you crazy bastard.』
Vivian’s response—
『If you were going to make an offer like that, you should’ve done it long ago, you damn vampire bastard…』
It was beyond imagination.
『Why, why! Why now of all times! If you’d just been a little faster, it would’ve been fine!』
She cried bitterly.
『Do you have any idea what kind of humiliation I went through? My tail, my horns…!』
『You sleep in coffins for a hundred years at a time, so everyone looks relaxed to you? Just go back in and sleep again! Don’t provoke a succubus’s temper!』
“…Y-you insolent—!”
『Shut up! Don’t piss me off! If anyone’s going to curse, it’s me!』
“You bitch will never return to the Demon Realm! Never! I’ll make you regret today for the rest of your life!”
Archduke Arkaine did not know.
That Vivian, who had already become Berje’s vassal and had her tower absorbed, was in no position to accept his offer.