### Chapter 448 – Room 206, The Room of Curses – ‘The Demon King who Revives after 100 Days’ Re (13)
—
– Kim Ahri
According to the information I got from the Mayor and the Progenitor up top, the power that suppressed the Demon King has been twofold.
First, it’s the humans that made up the city built over the scattered pieces of the Demon King around the world.
Second, it’s the indomitable logic established by the Order that formed beneath all those cities.
Now, about the first—since the city couldn’t be built in a short time, it definitely wasn’t the initial force suppressing the Demon King.
So how could the Order manage to put the Demon King to sleep before the city was even constructed?
I dove into the depths of Paradise to find this answer, and finally gleaned it from the head’s mind.
The true strength of the Order, which the Mayor or the Progenitor on the surface had no clue about.
The great miracle that even treated the Mayor’s circle of extra chances that astounded us as degraded items.
The Ruler of Time was the answer.
As modern physics has shown, even the black holes in the cosmos, known for their long lifespans, are ultimately fleeting mortals that will one day evaporate.
The fun fact is that the lifespan of a black hole is ‘relative.’
To an external observer, a black hole can endure eons, making thousands of billions or even trillions of years feel like mere moments. But in the perspective of the black hole, that’s another story.
From the black hole’s view, it could vanish explosively in mere ten minutes.
The extreme time distortion turned the black hole’s ten minutes into our eternity.
In the black hole’s perspective, explosive events could appear as the slowest occurrences in the universe.
This is what time distortion is all about.
Moreover, this was precisely how the Ruler of Time initially suppressed the Demon King.
Imagine if, in a day, they sacrificed 100,000 people to the indomitable logic.
That sounds enormous, right? Yet, during Earth’s peak with a population of 8 billion, 300,000 new humans born daily seems manageable for organizations like the management bureau or the Order.
But the twist? That sacrifice of 100,000 daily was far too little to suppress the Demon King.
According to the Order’s calculations, they needed to sacrifice at least 50 million humans each day.
Fifty million a day?!
That’s a figure that only makes sense if humanity had conquered the galaxy and had about 100 trillion people at their disposal.
Hence, the Order deformed time in the vicinity where the Demon King’s pieces fell.
If ten minutes for a black hole is an eternity for us, then a day for the Demon King could translate into ten years for humans.
The pressure created by 100 million souls sacrificed over a decade could be exerted on the Demon King as if it were just a day!
The Order’s desperate wish to keep humanity alive came true.
Of course, the Ruler of Time couldn’t be used infinitely, so this approach was just a temporary reprieve.
The Ruler of Time simply bought the Order the time needed to build a city.
—
“Ahri! Please! You figured something out, right?”
“Uh? Uh?”
“Do it now! Immediately!”
Hearing Gain’s frantic voice made me realize just how fast time was flowing outside.
What day is it now?
If it was around day 80, he wouldn’t be that panicked.
Day 90? No, it must be after day 95. Maybe—
Suddenly, Gain’s eyes went wide, fixated on something in the air.
Did the Owl say something?
At that moment, Gain’s body collapsed to the ground.
“What the—”
— Thump!
It was soft and warm.
Darn, the smell of blood is a buzzkill, but is that a hint of sweetness?
“Yikes!”
“What the heck?!”
“What’s happening?!”
“Ugh, the patron just told me to jump into Miro’s body—”
“Why did you even touch her?!”
“I just grabbed anything while trying to get up and that—”
Calm down.
This idiot was flustered due to the advice and wobbled his way into Miro’s body.
“… Let’s get moving.”
With Gain now residing in Miro’s body, we headed toward the “City Control System” that the Order had established in the depths of Paradise.
I found myself curious about whether that bizarre incident happened between Miro and me, or between Gain and me.
—
“Craaack! Area 17 has—”
Screams erupted from all sides as the Order’s researchers panicked.
In the meantime, Gain, racing through the corridor, stood with his mouth agape.
“No… what kind of ridiculous—”
“Did you already read the head’s memories?”
It felt like only ten seconds had passed since he possessed the head, yet Gain was already beginning to grasp things.
As much as the grimoire specializes in this sort of power, the old blood must have a significant speed disparity, typhoon of jealousy striking me.
In a hurry, Gain spoke.
“I know how they originally sealed the Demon King.”
“Fast, aren’t you?”
“They delayed time with the Ruler of Time to put the Demon King to sleep, then built the city. After that, the mass of billions of humans gathered in the city could suppress the Demon King, so the Ruler of Time stopped working.”
“Correct.”
The Ruler of Time isn’t something you can use endlessly.
According to the Progenitor’s words, before about 100 years ago, there was interaction between the depths and the city, meaning no time distortion back then.
Gain, wearing a worried expression, continued.
While it may seem like a casual conversation in this urgent moment, it certainly was one we had to have.
“Recently—probably around 120 years ago, in Paradise time—the head used the Ruler of Time again. Why?”
“The Demon King must have started rampaging again. So they used their initial method once more.”
No need to overthink it. Just like before, they turned decades of Paradise into a day for the Demon King and applied the suppression generated over those decades as a day’s worth of pressure on the Demon King.
Gain spoke even more urgently and swiftly.
“Shit! I don’t get it!”
“Miro, quit cursing—what don’t you get?”
“Why is it failing? Even after digging through the head’s memories, I still can’t figure that out!”
Gain had accessed all the head’s memories, yet still didn’t know the cause of the failure.
Which honestly makes sense.
The head firmly believed it could contain the Demon King.
He thought he would succeed, so how could he glean anything he didn’t know the reason for?
Thus, we have to ponder it.
If their plan to suppress the Demon King via time dilation succeeded the first time, why did it fail this time?
How did the actual history unfold before we intervened?
A variable already occurred but wasn’t considered by the Order crossed my mind.
The mayorship—Leon Cadilof—who was unaware of his impending doom.
In the original timeline, he would have died unexpectedly, causing the indomitable logic to halt.
But that’s no longer an issue.
The position was taken over by Songee, and she’s managing just fine.
So then, what’s the problem—
“Kiiaaaaaak!!”
As if waiting for that moment, a piercing scream ripped through the air right beside me!
“Yikes! Miro?! No, Han Kain!”
Gain suddenly fell to the floor, eyes rolled back as he let out a shriek!
A memory associated with the first instance of Room 206 came flooding back.
Gain and Elena saw Miro, who transformed into the Demon King’s minion down in the depths.
Could it be that this phenomenon is why Miro is becoming the Demon King’s henchwoman?
Then this is his process of taking control over her—
The grimoire appeared, dark and ominous like tar.
With wide eyes, Gain clutched the grimoire, emanating malice.
In that split second, an invisible battle raged, one no one could intervene in.
As the bubbles flowed from Miro’s mouth, the outcome was becoming clear.
“Phew… it’s done.”
“Are you… okay? Are you really Han Kain?”
“Yeah, let’s get moving again.”
The power of the grimoire pushed back the force of the Demon King attempting to seize Miro’s body!
… Dark blood streamed ceaselessly from Miro’s eyes, nose, and mouth.
She surely wouldn’t last long.
But at this point, that hardly mattered.
Just earlier, the head had nearly lost Miro’s body to the Demon King.
In the original history, the rampaging head would have brought everything crashing down.
This too was a variable she wasn’t aware of.
Yet this still wasn’t the fundamental cause of the failure.
—
Finally, we reached the depths of Paradise, the place where we could control the entire city.
“…”
“…”
Having read the head’s memories, I knew what had to be done.
I came ready.
Yet, standing before the control unit, both Gain and I found our steps halted.
“Ahri, once we get back out, I feel like I’ll have a ton to say.”
“Yeah, sounds about right. Glad we gathered so much info.”
“Right.”
Now that the entirety of our second attempt was winding down, I can confidently say we truly learned a lot this time.
Except for one tiny little thing.
“One thing I can’t figure out.”
Gain nodded in agreement.
“Just how are we supposed to solve this room?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
In front of us was the control panel prepared by the Order as a last resort.
It was the final hope in case the Ruler of Time failed to suppress the Demon King.
It was also the only way for us to escape this hellish Room 206.
But.
“This is definitely not a solution for Room 206.”
By this means, we could escape, but it won’t resolve the root cause! No way!
Gain looked at the control panel, bewildered with a hint of confusion on his face.
From Miro’s bloody body, a gloomy voice echoed.
“I, a Level 2=9 of the Order, command this with high executive authority.”
— Whoooom!
Responding to the voice of the head, the ‘final measure’ began to activate.
“There will surely be painful sacrifices. But the price of humanity’s existence… For that, no sacrifice, however great, is excessive.”
Those words didn’t sound like something Gain came up with impulsively.
More likely, they’re a kind of activation phrase the head prepared for some horrifying future that may arise.
— Kururung!
The final measure prepared by the Order was nothing elaborate.
Why would they ever imagine a third method might exist?
If there was, they’d have used it long ago.
If the Ruler of Time couldn’t suppress the Demon King, then there was but one option left.
‘More sacrifices.’
And—words that will curse us all flowed out.
“I hereby execute the death sentences on the 2.34 billion souls who have survived to this point. We shall start anew….”
Everything was over.
But one of us might yet be granted a slight reprieve.
They’ve been chosen as the Adam and Eve of the new world.
A blinding light erupted, enveloping Gain and me.
This was my last memory within Room 206.
—
… But how the heck do we resolve this room?
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.