Chapter 86

〈 Episode 87 〉 Meeting (2)

*

“So you’re telling me you’re my fan?”

Her statement was hard to digest.

I mean, it was a Demon King admitting to being a fan of someone who had defeated three Demon Kings.

It really had me questioning if I should even be considering her a Demon King at this point.

Anyway, we moved to her office to have a more specific discussion.

After all, it wasn’t the type of conversation you could hold in a multipurpose classroom where no one was around.

She casually sat at her office desk and smiled.

“Yeah, as I looked into your past deeds, I came to feel that way.”

Sure, my record of taking down three Demon Kings in the last few years was quite the spectacle.

But what did that have to do with her being a fan?

“But you’re a Demon King!”

“Just because we’re both Demon Kings doesn’t mean I’m the same as them or they’re the same as me.”

That clarified everything.

This girl perfectly matched with Freira from Sung Yoo-rang’s knowledge.

Among the individualistic Demon Kings, she was especially headstrong, always sticking to her own way.

Of course…

“But why would you go so far as to become a fan?”

There really wasn’t a reason to become a fan.

Sure, if she had feelings for me, that would have been nice, but this was a kind of admiration I hadn’t anticipated.

I wished she’d elaborate a little more.

However, what she said next was rather unexpected.

“Well, to tell the truth… I was a bit sad about Libero’s death. I learned swordsmanship from him when I was little.”

That was a strange reason for her to become my fan.

No, it would be more natural to think the opposite.

“Then why…”

“The way he died wasn’t sad at all.”

It wasn’t sad to see Libero die?

I recalled his last moments.

He had indeed been smiling.

‘Why was he smiling like that?’

His end was undoubtedly tragic.

He had killed countless heroes against his will, and he was slain by his own disciple.

Yet, he smiled in his final moments.

“What do you think is the greatest weakness of Demon Kings?”

That was yet another bizarre question.

In the end, I gave up on arguing and answered her question.

“Weakness?”

Of course, each Demon King had their own specific weaknesses, but in general…

“Heroes, and Relics?”

She shook her head and brought out two fists.

Then she clashed them together.

“No, that’s like fighting fists with fists.”

Then she spread one fist wide open.

“I’m talking about a definite weakness that can be a fatal blow to those fists.”

A definite weakness for a Demon King?

If such a thing existed, the Demon King eradication would’ve ended long ago.

And even if there were, I never thought it would be revealed so easily.

While my doubts grew, she said:

“The weakness of Demon Kings is… time.”

“Huh?”

Time?

That was the opposite of what I had thought.

Wasn’t time the greatest weapon of Demon Kings?

“Demon Kings are immortal beings unaffected by time, right?”

She grimaced.

“Not really. They don’t die, but they still live through time just like you all.”

She spread her arms wide.

“And while living through that eternal time, what becomes most important is ultimately the objective. Time without any objective slowly eats away at the Demon Kings, …and eventually completely breaks them. Libero was one of those Demon Kings.”

His objective was to reach the end of swordsmanship.

But the moment he became a Demon King, he realized he could no longer achieve that goal.

Libero wasn’t the only one like that.

“Most Demon Kings are the same. They all become Demon Kings with some objective, but most of those objectives are meaningless or impossible. So they all end up living for false purposes.”

False purposes.

They came in various forms.

“For instance, Gineus’s goal was to accumulate wealth. Some guy holed up in a corner finds pleasure in voyeurism. And most others… aim for the destruction of this world.”

Finally, I understood why she had said that time was their weakness.

And why she brought this topic up.

Freira’s eyes sparkled as she said:

“The death of Libero was a new stimulus for those living with fake objectives. Maybe not for the early Demon Kings, but for the new generation, they have never seen a Demon King die while achieving their goals.”

“So that’s why you became my fan?”

But this fan seemed to have a different nuance than the definition I knew.

“Yeah, so…”

I sensed that something was winding up badly again.

“Kill me too!”

Of course.

*

Demon King’s castle.

In one of the most secluded rooms.

In the dark room, only the light from the crystal ball illuminated a girl with purple hair.

“Hmmm…”

The crystal ball was filled with a hazy color.

She wanted to see Saint City Hailen.

Except for some exceptions, it was the only place she could never see.

“Is there really no way to see it?”

After many attempts, she had long given up.

But recently, she had the urge to try again.

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy, but she wanted to.

As she clutched the crystal ball and struggled, the 59th Demon King, Ael, who had been watching her from behind, finally spoke up.

“If that worked, humanity would’ve been wiped out long ago.”

She was right.

If Violet could see inside Hailen, she could have taken down the Church long ago.

But reality was different.

Regardless, she was trying again because there was someone she wanted to see.

“It’s the strange feeling I had when the early Demon Kings went; I feel weird after seeing Libero go.”

“What does that have to do with that 15th Demon King?”

“It’s just my gut feeling. I’ve watched the previous Demon Kings go, and something tells me she will be next.”

Ael let out a hollow laugh.

“You’ve been staring at that crystal ball all day and now you think you’re a prophet? But that bat girl is unlikely to die. The second-ranked hero is on her side.”

“Just like no one expected Libero to fall to a disciple who practiced the same swordsmanship as him.”

Everyone thought Libero wouldn’t last long.

He had survived a long time without significant purpose.

And the ends of such Demon Kings were generally similar.

‘After completely losing their sanity, they get hunted down by heroes.’

Everyone expected Libero to meet his end that way.

He had come close to that.

But his death turned all those expectations upside down.

In the end, he faced death with a smile.

“Well, that’s true…”

Ael said, looking frustrated.

“Honestly, I don’t know why we let such a stubborn individual live. If you think about it, there are plenty of spies in the Church who could do the job just as well.”

“…”

“And honestly, if someone were to leak news from our side, he would be the most likely candidate, right? I think he was involved with that 71st Demon King incident too.”

That wasn’t just Ael’s opinion.

Most of the other new Demon Kings shared that thought.

From their perspective, there seemed to be no reason to keep the 15th Demon King alive.

Of course, there were rules that Demon Kings shouldn’t interfere in each other’s affairs.

But now that the Demon King’s Meeting had overriding authority, the only reason he hasn’t faced any repercussions until now could be…

“Still, she’s the only Demon King who can enter Saint City Hailen. That alone gives her enough value to keep her alive.”

She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve after taking her hands off the crystal ball.

Once again, this attempt had resulted in failure.

The strong barrier set over Saint City Hailen was so powerful that it was almost a miracle for any Demon King to get inside.

“Anyway, what were we supposed to be looking at?”

Come to think of it, there was a reason Ael had come to her room.

Then Ael’s expression brightened.

“Let’s see what’s happened to that house we saw last time!”

“You mean the house with the twin siblings?”

That had been the most intriguing house they had been watching lately.

Violet switched the focus of the crystal ball.

And as the scenery unfolded, she said:

“But is this the right place?”

“Honestly, even as a Demon King, I can’t tell.”

*