“Return this child’s hand without a single scratch.”
Melrum couldn’t help but feel flustered.
The Demon King, who was excessively cruel.
The fact that he tenderly embraced someone with both arms was simply astonishing.
‘… How pitiful.’
He couldn’t yet figure out the girl’s true identity, but Melrum couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.
Whether good or bad, gaining the interest of the Demon King was no different from calamity.
She was a killer, a tyrant, and an embodiment of pure evil.
Receiving attention from such a being was something even he, who had transcended death, would hesitate to do.
Perhaps that girl would spend half her life dancing to the Demon King’s whims before dying a miserable death.
However, Melrum also held a significant curiosity about Hera.
When he had once examined the girl’s body, he was left speechless.
The fact that three incomparable powers were mixed within that frail human body was simply overwhelming.
It was a struggle to suppress his overflowing academic enthusiasm.
If it weren’t for the Demon King’s orders, he would have placed that woman on his experimentation table immediately.
Finding a way to bind multiple powers into one body.
If he could discover that…
He too could acquire those immense powers.
[Cough, cough… Don’t worry, my lord. I’ll return it perfectly.]
As the Demon King carefully laid Hera down on the floor, he gently stroked her head.
[My Lord.]
“Speak.”
The Demon King continued to touch Hera’s face without giving him a single glance.
Melrum cautiously addressed the Demon King.
[If you allow it, I have a method to greatly enhance the power of our Demon Legion.]
“I have no interest in such matters, so take care of it yourself.”
[Cough, cough… Thank you. Then while treating the woman’s hand, I’ll take the opportunity to examine her body as well.]
At Melrum’s words, the Demon King’s hand that was stroking Hera’s head suddenly froze.
“….. Speak again.”
[There are energies of powers that cannot coexist within her. If we thoroughly dissect her body—]
Melrum’s words were cut short.
[Kwah-CRACK!]
Without any warning, his head disassembled from his body and flew away.
The Demon King quietly gazed at the headless body of Melrum with an infinitely merciless gaze.
“There are quite a few things troubling my mind lately.”
[I… I am sorry, my Lord.]
In an instant, Melrum’s severed head regenerated and reattached to his body in a gruesome spectacle.
But the Demon King spoke with a cold expression, as if he were used to such sights.
“You may have a tenacious life, but you must realize that if she wishes, she could annihilate you.”
Melrum knelt on the floor, bowing to the Demon King as if submitting.
[I dared to speak out of turn, blinded by desire. Please spare me just this once.]
The Demon King looked down at Melrum with blazing eyes as if he could kill him at any moment. However, he shifted his gaze to Hera, sighed, and relaxed his killing intent.
“Know that you owe your life to that woman. You are the only being capable of providing treatment here.”
[I thank you for your undue favor.]
Melrum deeply bowed again in front of the Demon King.
Yet even after narrowly escaping death, he could not take his eyes off Hera.
“Ugh… Uh…”
Feeling someone’s hand gently stroking her head, consciousness slowly returned.
She opened her heavy eyes in search of that warm, familiar touch.
“Ah… Athena…?”
“Hmm… Are you mistaking me for another woman?”
“The… Demon King…”
“Not a pleasant feeling, is it?”
Her eyes trembled in shock at the completely unexpected figure.
Did she perhaps offend her? Would she have to experience pain again? That was the first worry that crossed her mind.
But should she be glad? The Demon King merely smiled gently and continued to stroke her head.
“It’s alright. Time will resolve everything, anyway.”
With her words, the trembling in her body began anew.
Having met Lily and Dania, she had been slowly healing, but it felt as though everything was crumbling again.
“Is your arm okay?”
“My arm…?”
Memories flooded back.
The wrist that had been gruesomely shattered by the Demon King’s power.
Yet, looking at her arm now, it was as it had been before the break.
“How…?”
“There are those who can revive the dead, so surely fixing an arm should be possible.”
Was she talking about Melrum?
The worst of commanders, who used life as mere alchemical ingredients. The fact that she had been treated by him made her stomach churn.
“Now that your arm is healed, you should cry for me once more.”
The Demon King said this while delicately holding her wrist.
The sensation of her hands on her wrist, coupled with horrific memories, made her heart sink.
“P…please, don’t do this..!”
She hurriedly turned away and begged her.
She did not want to experience the agony of shattered bones and ruptured veins again.
“Please… please… my Lord…”
Bowingly, she continued to plead.
Perhaps her desperate heart had reached the Demon King.
Luckily, he released her wrist and instead stroked her head.
“Don’t worry too much. Today has different plans.”
“D…different plans…?”
This relief of not having to endure pain again clashed with the unknown dread of what the Demon King would order next.
“Yes. I had thought your body appeared too frail. I never imagined you would faint just because an arm was broken.”
“Isn’t that… well, kind of a big deal?”
“Perhaps according to the standards of weak humans.”
The Demon King nodded several times, seemingly agreeing with her, then smiled and pulled something from her sleeve.
What emerged from her sleeve was a very small knife, about the size of a palm.
But instead of a blade, something ominous and swirling with a menacing aura took its place.
“Therefore, I shall generously grant you a blessing.”
“What… what is that knife?”
“It’s an object that will make your body much stronger.”
The Demon King grinned and brought the blade up to her chin.
“People usually refer to this as ‘Magical Energy.'”
“M-Magical Energy…?”
Magical Energy.
Having read about it in a novel, she knew exactly what it was.
Special energy that only came from the Demon Race.
It was used for only one purpose: to transform non-demonic beings into Demons.
She had seen it once before.
When Bordin had ambushed her in Athena’s Mansion, he had injected it into himself as a last-ditch effort.
Afterward, Bordin had gained abnormal recovery and strength.
But power always came with a price.
Once injected with Magical Energy, there was no turning back to a human form, and one would live the rest of their life with an insatiable thirst for blood.
“W-why Magical Energy…?”
She already knew in her mind what the Demon King intended to do to her.
But unwilling to accept it, she could only shun reality with trembling limbs.
As if sensing her inner turmoil, the Demon King pulled her into her embrace with a gentle smile.
“This is no ordinary Magical Energy. It is the most powerful one, taken from the heart of a Demon superior to any other.”
“Ah… no, no…”
She had to escape.
She had to break free of this place no matter what.
Once that enters her body, she would never return to her human form.
But no matter how much she tried to struggle and escape, the Demon King held her tightly, and she found herself unable to move an inch.
“Everyone will envy you. This is a power that all demons living in this Demon Realm yearn for. So accept it gratefully.”
“N-no… please… just this… Aah…”
The overwhelming terror made her mind go blank.
All she could think about was escaping from the Demon King.
She clung desperately to her, begging for release.
“J-just break my wrist instead! You can tear my body apart if you like… anything is fine, just please… not Magical Energy…”
“…….”
“I-I will cry! If that’s what pleases you, I’ll cry as much as you like… please…”
“Enough.”
She lifted her gaze and earnestly met the Demon King’s crimson eyes.
Please.
Please, just not Magical Energy…—
“Then we shall proceed as you wish.”
“Y-yes?”
“I mean we will do as you suggested.”
“A….ahh…!”
A vast wave of relief flooded her heart at the thought that she wouldn’t have to transform into a Demon.
So much that tears of joy began to flow, and a smile naturally appeared on her face at the Demon King’s merciful treatment.
“Thank… thank you… truly, thank you, my Lord…!”
“Once you’ve become a being like me, you can do as you wish.”
“Th—thank… w-what?”
At that moment, as her eyes trembled from the Demon King’s words.
[SPLAT!]
She felt the sensation of flesh being torn, accompanied by the horrifying sound echoing sharply in her ears.
With shaking eyes, she turned her head to where the sensation was coming from.
A knife of pure black Magical Energy was plunged into the center of her chest.
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