Chapter 37
“Aaaaaaaagh!!”
Kardin clutched his stomach and writhed on the floor.
Pain overwhelmed him, as if his entrails were being torn out and cold metal were carving up his insides.
He couldn't believe that he, nothing but bones, could feel such agony.
Kardin couldn't believe what was happening.
“Heh heh. How did it feel to stab yourself?”
The Demon King sat on the throne, savoring Kardin's ugly contortions as he rolled on the floor.
A devilish sneer.
She looked as though she took pleasure in toying with her opponent.
“Kghk! Cough! Kuh…… What on earth……?”
“Curious? Heh heh, of course you are. To explain it simply for someone as slow on the uptake as you, I merely 「synchronized」 you and myself so we would feel the same sensations.”
「Synchronization」
This ability, one of the Demon of Lust's unique skills,
was originally nothing more than a way to make sex more satisfying.
It connected the other person's senses with one's own.
The Demon King had used her own body, which was entirely incapable of feeling pain, to remake it into a flawless technique.
“Hiya♪”
Crack! Rattle……!
“Kraaaaaaagh!!!!!”
A scream louder than before.
The Demon King twisted the lance impaling her abdomen this way and that.
Kardin bounced wildly like a fish in response.
His agonized screams filled the audience chamber.
The Demon King watched, then rose from her throne with a mischievous smile.
The Demon King approached him where he lay.
In Kardin's bleary eyes, she looked like the embodiment of death.
‘I see. It was all part of the Demon King's plan…….’
Perhaps the outcome of this battle had been decided before it even began.
Unless he were in peak condition, he couldn't think of any way to break this technique now.
“It seems you've figured it out. Though you realized it long after it was too late. Hup.”
“Keh……?”
The Demon King lay down beside the fallen Kardin.
Then she pulled his arm over and made him use it to support her head.
“Hmph. I intend to let you spend your final moments in the form you long for, so consider it an honor.”
Her voice came in a soft whisper.
Kardin turned his head to look at the Demon King.
He sensed her gentle gaze and the fragrant scent of flowers.
‘She truly…… is beautiful. And how can she be so cruel……?’
“Hmm, with you staring so intently, you're making me blush. Well, I suppose this is enough to satisfy you.”
It's time to wake from your dream.
Saying that, the Demon King reached out.
Before he knew it, she was caressing his core through his shattered breastplate.
She seemed to hesitate…… then crushed it in one swift motion.
Crunch.
The sound of biting into something slightly hard.
A truly anticlimactic sound for the end of someone as powerful as Kardin.
The cracked core soon slipped free of his body.
‘Heh heh…… What will become of me now?’
Fear of death.
He felt no such thing.
He was simply…… at peace.
So much so that, without thinking, he wished this moment would last forever—
Forever.
“……Ah.”
Kardin gave up.
Everything felt meaningless.
He had trained for hundreds of years with the sole purpose of protecting the Demon King, only for it to end like this.
“Did you truly have to do this……?”
With such overwhelming power, why did the Demon King covet his authority?
The thought made him feel a little choked up.
Was that…… all I was worth?
I was prepared to give everything for the Demon King.
“What did you think of me, my Demon King……?”
His voice cracked.
He couldn't even speak properly anymore.
“Hmm, I live only for amusement, so if I had to put it plainly, you could call yourself my toy. This whole process is merely the destruction of an old toy, now that I've found a new one. Is that answer enough for you?”
After hearing that shocking answer, Kardin
simply stared blankly.
……A toy.
The old toy probably meant me.
Then what was the new toy?
“Phew……”
Kardin let out a deep sigh.
What did it matter now?
He would soon return to nothingness.
At this point…… he just wanted to rest in peace.
Thinking that, he slowly closed his eyes.
All he could see was darkness.
He only had to feel his life slowly fading away in this primordial terror.
I don't need to say goodbye……
The Demon King wouldn't look at me anymore anyway……
Even in the pitch-black darkness, the Demon King's face flickered before him.
Long ago.
He remembered when the Demon King still called him ‘Sir Knight,’ and they innocently played on a hobbyhorse.
The days when they would play knights and princesses whenever they had the time……
It was as if he could hear the sound of the music box from those days.
“Heh……”
He softly hummed the melody.
‘I never dreamed back then that I would come to love the Demon King this much.’
Just being together had made him happy.
Whenever he saw her utterly radiant smile, the weight of life pressing down on his shoulders felt as if it would lift away.
He simply…… wanted to greet warm mornings with the Demon King forever.
If possible, he wanted to be closest to her…… and become the reason she kept going.
He wanted to be happy.
‘Did I ask for too much……?’
And so Kardin waited for the end.
However.
Bang!!!
“K-Keugh……! What is this……! My head!”
‘Hm?’
The Demon King's strangled cry.
Kardin cracked his eyes open and saw her clutching her head.
At the same time, the subspace began to collapse.
The audience chamber slowly started crumbling.
‘What in the world happened……?’
Kardin was still alive for the moment, since his demonic energy hadn't been completely drained.
A faint trace of power remained.
“Come over here……”
So, with his last strength, he embraced his liege.
Because he didn't want to see the Demon King in pain.
Because he wanted to feel that embrace from those days once more.
Pat, pat.
As he comforted the Demon King with gentle pats,
he saw the Hero lying in the distance.
In that instant, it was as if lightning struck Kardin's mind.
The Demon King was in pain.
The Hero had raped her.
Could all this misfortune have begun with that man?
Crack, crack.
He hauled his crumbling body upright.
To fulfill his duty to the very end.
‘I will eliminate anything that threatens the Demon King.’
That was the Demon King's loyal spear.
The very purpose of Black Knight Kardin, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Army.
“I……”
Boom—!!
He stamped his foot.
He drew out what little demonic energy he had left.
Then he channeled it into his lance.
“I shall always be the Demon King's loyal spear.”
He braced against the recoil.
To his very limit.
He paid no heed to the backlash.
“I will fulfill the duty entrusted to me—!!!!”
“Ah, s-stop! Kardin!!”
I cannot.
Because I must free the Demon King from the Hero.
Because I must protect the Demon King until the very end.
Ssshh—!
He slid his right foot back.
Then he bent his left knee as far as he could, taking a stance to charge.
The preparations were complete.
“「Ruin」”
“Kardiiiiiin!!”
KWA-BOOOOM——!!!!!!
Along with the sound of splitting wind,
Kardin's form stretched out as he shot forward at near-lightning speed.
He lacked the strength to unleash 「Ruin」 fully, so once again he used it for mobility.
KABOOM—!!!
He arrived in front of the fallen Hero.
There.
Now Kardin's task was clear.
Without hesitation, he lowered his lance,
and drove it down!!
Fwoooosh——!!
“Cough……!!”
A great void appeared near the Hero's heart.
Blood began gushing from the gaping wound like a fountain.
To attack someone who was unconscious……
Kardin had no more honor.
But.
“Keh, kgh, with this……”
The Hero would die.
And he had protected the Demon King.
The hated Hero's face lost its color.
Having watched him, Kardin turned away.
In the distance, he saw the Demon King running toward him.
Even her panicked appearance was dignified and beautiful.
“Truly, it was an honor……”
He had been able to protect the lord he loved.
That made him so happy.
His body, having exhausted its demonic energy, crumbled into dust.
It began with his legs and eventually reached his head.
His consciousness ended there.
‘……I love you, my Demon King.’
***
“Tsk, I took a hit.”
The Demon King had tried to absorb her authority from Kardin's core.
But something must have been out of sync, because the attempt provoked an intense rejection, and an unexpected headache made her clutch her head.
‘It must be because of my other personality. There can't be two wielders of the same authority.’
A female personality named ‘Yubel,’ with memories distinct from the Demon King's.
When the Demon King woke in the castle, she had already lost control of the body.
So the Demon King had opened the door to her heart, devoured Yubel's memories, and waited for another chance to descend upon the world.
Of course, some doors to her memories were firmly shut, but the Demon King didn't particularly care.
The memories accessible through the open doors were enough to lower Yubel's intelligence.
That was how she planned to erase the other personality.
At first.
As time passed, the Demon King began to enjoy watching this woman's antics.
Watching her struggle to seduce a man named Se-on without even realizing it was a new thrill for the Demon King, who had grown bored with life.
‘So, just when I was getting a little bored, I took the old toy's authority to add some amusement…… I never thought it would lead to such a disaster.’
In the end, she hadn't obtained the authority, and even the Hero who could have entertained her was dead.
The old toy had ruined the new toy.
The Demon King felt a little irritated.
“Haa…… Still, it's not as if there's no way.”
She didn't know if it would work, but what if she infused the Hero with the Authority of Domination?
Perhaps he would come back to life.
No. He would definitely be revived.
Still, the circumstances were a little different from Kardin's, so she couldn't be certain.
When she'd resurrected Kardin as a demon, she had given him a ‘core containing authority.’ This time, she would have to give the Hero ‘Kardin's core.’
“Perhaps he'll inherit Kardin's power……”
Even so, since she had no other choice, the Demon King slowly took the Authority of Domination and tipped fragments of Kardin's core into the Hero's mouth.
Then she inscribed a magic circle in the air and poured in mana along with demonic energy.
As expected, the resistance was fierce, but the Demon King's ability to control mana was more than enough to suppress it.
If this succeeded but the Hero's personality changed completely…… Hmm.
Well, it hardly mattered.
The Hero was nothing more than a tool to make her toy more entertaining.
As long as the personality named Yubel remained, she didn't care what happened to a Hero like him.
She was going through this troublesome process for Yubel, who cared so much about the Hero.
“Keh, hurry…… Hurry up and give me some amusement.”
Her refined manner of speaking had vanished; now she was a common bitch, sucking on her finger and begging.
The moment she thought of Yubel, sleeping in her mental landscape, an overwhelming excitement swept over her.
Before she knew it, her bikini had grown so wet that its shadows showed through, even though she was wearing panties underneath.
It was astonishing that she was still a virgin when she got aroused so easily.
“Heh heh, I wonder how she'll react if she wakes up with the Hero buried inside her.”
Since this personality had no awareness that she was a woman, the Demon King was very curious about how she would react if she made her realize it.
She wanted to see it so badly that she would gladly sacrifice her own chastity for the chance.
As she gave free rein to her pure desires, the Hero's breathing returned.
It seemed the ritual had succeeded.
At the same time, the Demon King began to feel her body growing heavy.
Since she still didn't have control of the body, her time in it was limited.
“Hehe, now I must settle in for a long sleep.”
And so the Demon King's consciousness sank into the abyss.
***
A few hours later.
“Cough……!! Ngh……”
The Hero woke up.
“My heart's burning……”
That wasn't all.
Right now, Se-on felt as if his penis were on fire.
“What the hell……?”
What else could it be?
He'd died and come back to life.
With Kardin's desires still inside him.