Chapter 108 – There Is No Answer (8)
Honestly, I was a bit on edge because I had no idea what kind of powers that guy had or their level of strength.
After all, these were monsters from another world; they might just surpass my common sense… That’s what I thought.
Considering the complex and extravagant nonsense they were pulling off, I figured they must have some hidden strength. Of course, most of that was just my imagination.
“But, from the looks of your eyes, you’re definitely messed up. Are your eyes just decorations? Even the stray dogs in the street know whether what’s in front of them is prey or predator.”
“…What?”
“If you still don’t get it, there’s no need for long-winded explanations. As you said, the strong are justice. The victor has everything. You dumb monster, do you want to own this world, me? Then try to beat me.”
As I provocatively spoke toward him, I could see the scene that Gabi was sharing with me through my one eye.
In my view, the three strongest people in this country were teaming up and desperately fighting against his clone. Clearly, the lurking and powered-up monster Smalillian was an unprecedented beast even surpassing SS-level with that clone.
Its true form, which had fed on the energy of wealth overflowing in modern society, was without a doubt a powerful monster that had not been recorded in history.
SSS-level, or even beyond that.
“Impertinent. Well, I guess you need to be tamed. I’ll crush you step by step, breaking your bones piece by piece until you cry and beg.”
Knowing his strength well, he accepted my provocation with a laugh.
Surprisingly, we might have similar tastes.
“You won’t even be able to use your precious shadow here!”
He launched the first strike. A massive wave of energy burst forth, simple yet powerful.
If it had fallen to the ground, its power could have turned hundreds of meters into ashes. I crossed my arms to block it as it hit my body.
*
“I’m sure you’re just a rag now. How cute.”
When she didn’t evade his blow and instead blocked it, an enormous explosion occurred. And when she was propelled at incredible speed, crashing into the mountaintop nearby with a deafening sound…
Smalillian sensed victory.
He had never before acquired such a strong power. Moreover, he could no longer find an opponent, and there was plenty of room to grow stronger.
Even he, who had lived a considerable time and accumulated experience, couldn’t control his excitement.
“I, I am the true ruler! Wail, despair even more, let your fury explode!”
He burst into laughter while looking down at the panicked people trapped inside the dome. Soon, some of the city citizens began to exhibit bizarre behavior.
With their eyes rolled back and completely losing their rationality, they rampaged. After building up their inner anger, he planned to suck away the power emanating from them.
Such things were happening to thousands of people all over this vast city.
“Now, offer that power to me.”
With his eyes gleaming from within his hood, he raised his hand to snap his fingers. The moment he snapped his fingers, the rampaging people would burst and he would absorb the power they possessed.
“Ugh?!”
But at the moment he was about to snap his fingers, something surged forward and pierced his hand.
Startled, he turned around only to find himself wide-eyed in shock.
“No way! How?!”
“That’s quite a strong reaction. Did you really think you won with just that one strike?”
Smalillian stared in horror at the steel thorn whip that had pierced his hand. At the end of that whip stood Takilas, looking perfectly fine and smirking.
“That’s impossible. The difference in our power is clear! After taking that blow, there’s no way you should be unharmed!”
“I’m not unscathed, though.”
He glared while clenching the thorn that pierced his hand. Takilas responded by showing her arm.
The armguard she was wearing had been torn off, revealing pure white skin where a fresh stream of red blood trickled from a scratch.
“It must have taken at least 60 years to see my own blood flow like this.”
“Shut up!!”
The smile that twisted her lips was certainly mocking.
Smalillian, who had been in high spirits before, could not comprehend this abrupt situation.
No, accepting it was impossible. Therefore, consumed by rage, he unleashed his power toward Takilas once again.
“You’re still lacking!”
This time, Takilas countered his power. Swinging the whip in her hand with all her might, she poured her magical energy into the air she split.
The collision of the two attacks produced a strong shockwave, and soon the force from Takilas’s whip sliced through Smalillian’s energy, swiftly closing the distance between them.
“Gah?! Gaaaah!”
He panicked, trying to block that force as she had blocked his.
However, overcome by the intense impact covering his body, he screamed and, just like Takilas had, was flung back, crashing through the glass windows of a building below.
‘This cannot be! I… I’m being overwhelmed in terms of magical density!’
In an office that had turned into a scene of chaos filled with screams, his body slowly wriggled while he lay embedded in shards of glass, and all he could think about was Takilas.
The greatest shock came from having failed his own belief that he would never be defeated.
“Surprised, are we? You really didn’t think you’d lose, did you? How arrogant.”
“Impossible… impossible! No matter how strong you are, Magical Girl Takilas! You’re just a teenage girl. How could the power accumulated from countless people’s negativity…”
Wobbling, Smalillian stared at Takilas, who was lightly landing on the external wall of the building he had smashed through, astonished.
She merely smiled with satisfaction at his sight.
“You look quite wronged, but it’s a simple reason, monster. I know your origin, and I know what your desires are. They are cold, heavy, and dark. With the level of power a mere magical girl possesses, it cannot be handled.”
“Y-You…”
“It’s just that my power is colder, heavier, and darker. You, a frog in a well, thought that your despair and hatred made you the true ruler of magic?”
Dragging her whip behind her, Takilas slowly approached, lifting her foot to firmly stomp on his head lying on the ground.
“If you’re despair, I am chaos. Despair is merely a component that lies sleeping within chaos.”
And then, she bent down and quietly whispered.
In that instant, Smalillian’s eyes widened as his body trembled violently. He could not trust his current state.
‘I, the one who has finally transcended, am feeling fear!’
The fear of a weakling standing before a strong one was instinctively felt. The despair of realizing that he was merely a component in front of true darkness.
For a monster, having their desires denied meant losing the meaning of existence.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I am the ruler of this land!”
Therefore, he had no choice but to deny it, even while knowing. The roaring Smalillian shook off the foot of Takilas that was on his head, bursting out through the window and soaring into the sky.
“Power is flowing in. From the humans!”
Smalillian’s body, caught in a fierce black whirlwind, began to undergo transformation. As a last resort, he desperately gathered all the power that could be collected from within the dome.
The source of that power was none other than the citizens of Seoul trapped in the dome. It was a makeshift measure with a time constraint, but he had forcibly manipulated their emotions to siphon their energy, leading most of them to faint from abrupt fatigue.
“Did you see? I manipulated the lives of these pathetic humans at will, and I have grown stronger. It will surely be different from before.”
“And what exactly are you now?”
“A Demon King. Yes, I am a Demon King. I can even devour chaos!”
With a gleeful laugh, Smalillian began to smile. Originally, he had thought of ruling over humans while claiming to be a god, but in this urgent situation, he changed his mind.
He decided that instead of worshipped as a god, he would become a Demon King who subjugates and rules.
[I will not forgive you now. I’ll tear you apart alive, or rather, crush you to death!]
When his body, enshrouded in black whirlwind, enlarged to the size of a giant building, he swung his fist toward Takilas, intending to annihilate her along with the building.
[Hah… ha… aah..]
[You are weak and futile, little monster.]
However, at the moment he swung his fist, he was overwhelmed by an immense pain and gasped for breath.
That massive form had mostly disappeared, leaving only a part behind due to the powerful shockwave.
It wasn’t until he realized this fact that he screamed in horror.
“How… what are you?”
[The condition to become the ruler of death is solely to be the strongest. Did you think you could just be wicked and it would suffice, you deluded monster? Weakness bears no sympathy.]
A girl with a pair of large black horns on her head laughed as she drew back the dark energy enveloping her body, illuminating her red eyes as she smiled.
[I, the victor, am the true Demon King.]
And in that moment, upon discovering her true identity, Smalillian truly despaired.
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