—Which means...
“Aww, silly Ackie. You can’t do anything without me,” Keena said teasingly.
“I told you to stay back at the castle. ...But you saved me,” he said, relieved. Keena had flown in and grabbed him. He remembered that Keena was the one person who could ignore the game’s rules.
“But it’s dangerous. You need to head back,” Akuto said as he looked below.
The monster had slammed its head into the rock wall.
“Now put me down. I need to defeat him.”
But Keena shook her head.
“I’m not going to do that. Ackie, you’ve got a bad habit of trying to do everything yourself. He’s only after you, right? So just give orders and have them do it.” Keena’s words struck him deeply, since he’d just tried to solve things on his own and failed.
“You’re right... I tried to do this myself, and it didn’t work...” He sighed, shook his head, and called out to the people below.
“Fujiko! Once I give the order, blind him!”
“Okay, Akuto!” She nodded happily.
“The two of you in the back, when it’s blinded, attack its legs to take away its sense of direction!”
“Got it!” Junko and Yoshihiko looked at each other and nodded.
“Korone, use the surviving soldiers to open its mouth!”
“Roger.”
And then, in the next instant, Akuto gave the signal to Fujiko.
“Fujiko!”
“I’m on it!” she answered. And then she stood up and flung a vial of a blinding smoke chemical into the monster’s eyes before it could ready another attack.
Since it hadn’t stood all the way up yet, the vial struck it right on the face. The monster was surrounded by white smoke, but still it rose up to try and attack Akuto. It was probably going to jump at where it remembered Akuto being before it had been blinded.
But then Junko and Yoshihiko struck from behind. The beast’s legs were torn open and it lost its balance.
“Korone!” Akuto yelled, and Korone moved. She had the soldiers still clinging to its body move towards its head, and then blasted them with lightning magic. The soldiers were hit head-on by the lightning and fell backwards. But the lightning traveled through their swords and into the monster’s body as well.
It roared in pain, and opened its jaw — and its tentacle covered mouth — upwards.
“Keena!” Akuto had Keena drop him directly over the monster’s mouth.
As he fell, he fired the game’s strongest spell.
“Fallout!”
A nuclear explosion went off in the beast’s mouth, and it collapsed as its octopus head exploded in an incredible burst of flame and light.
○
Lily watched on the mana screen, letting out a cheer as the beast collapsed.
“Haha! Looks like you lose. Your ‘first Demon King’ just blew up!”
But 2V’s expression didn’t change. The smile on Lily’s face gradually vanished; 2V’s face told her that she clearly had a plan.
“...What are you plotting?”
“No, you see. It’s not over. It’s not over at all.”
“What’s not over?”
“If you think that monster is the Demon King... that is, the first Demon King, the one that was sealed within VPS, then you’re really stupid.” 2V chuckled.
Lily gasped.
“Then the first Demon King is still in there? And to awaken it, you need the Grail?”
“That’s right. The Grail is a program chip saved within VPS. The chip was caught up in the game’s rules and became the Grail. But what it actually is, is a fragment of the first Demon King.”
“Then that monster...”
“Was a bluff. A way to keep your eyes off the real Demon King. And reviving the first Demon King is what I’m trying to do. My original plan was to seal away the current Demon King, but when I saw the first one was trapped within, I changed my mind. I changed the plan so that they would bring the first Demon King to me. Of course, if someone died during the process, that was their problem, not mine.”
“Wh-What...?! Then the first Demon King is...” Lily fell silent before she could finish.
The scene on the mana screen was still unfolding.
○
“So the game’s over now, huh?” Akuto confirmed that the beast was dead, and waited for its corpse to disappear.
Yoshihiko walked up to him to apologize.
“Sorry to get you caught up in this mess.”
“So you’re the person who’s behind all this, huh?” Akuto looked at him suspiciously, and Yoshihiko shook his head apologetically.
“In a way, I guess. I was the one who got you trapped in VPS. But now the only threat that’s left is 2V.”
“2V? The guy who works for CMID-8?” Akuto asked.
Yoshihiko nodded.
“That’s right. This plan was 2V’s idea. The government’s, as well. However... I don’t want to make excuses, but I didn’t know that this plan had anything to do with the Demon King. I found out just before it went into effect, and decided I didn’t want to help. I turned this world into a video game so that nobody inside would die, and I would be able to talk with you.”
“...I guess you saved me then. You’ve got nothing to apologize for. Thank you. By the way, what’s this about another Demon King trapped in here?” Akuto tilted his head in the direction of the beast, whose corpse was still lying on the ground.
“This VPS was originally intended as a way to protect the god Megis. But an ancient Demon King was sealed here as well. No, maybe what actually happened was that the VPS was created to seal it, but everyone forgot,” Yoshihiko explained.
“I see. The first Demon King... It’s hard for me to believe, but if we can get out of here safely, I’ll have ways of finding out if it’s true or not, I’m sure. Now that I know that 2V is my enemy, I can deal with him once I’m outside. By the way, there’s someone else with you I don’t recognize...” Akuto pointed to Keisu, who was standing behind Yoshihiko.
“She’s been here since the VPS first existed, she said. Apparently she was watching over the Demon King to keep it from reviving,” Yoshihiko explained as he called Keisu over.
Just then, the monster disappeared. Enough time had passed since its death that the game no longer rendered it. At the same moment, Keena seemed to feel something. She shouted suddenly.
“Wait!”
Akuto was about to walk towards Keisu, but he stopped and turned around.
“What’s wrong?”
“The bad feeling... it isn’t gone yet. It’s like you, but it’s different, and it feels awful,” Keena said, shaking.
“Then this wasn’t the Demon King... Is that what you’re saying?” Akuto pointed towards the spot where the beast had been.
“I think so... But I know it’s close...” Keena nodded.
“So that explains why were able to beat it using the game’s rules. But what do we do now?” Akuto looked around.
“Even if the Demon King is here, the Grail’s in the castle, right?” Fujiko said. “If we end the game here, we win. All we have to do is keep him from getting it.”
“No... As long as there’s one player who’s alive, the game won’t end until they get the Grail. And to make matters worse, the reason we’ve been so focused on clearing the game’s rules is that if somebody’s here who isn’t a part of the game, any damage they do will be fed back to a player’s real body,” Yoshihiko said. He looked at Akuto. “2V seemed to know there was something hidden here. He probably planned to use it to kill you here, where you’re weaker than you are in reality.”
“I understand. Either way, if I win the game, it ends. But 2V is still in here. 2V might be you, for all I know. I’m sorry, but I can’t fully trust you two.” Akuto looked back at Yoshihiko.
Junko hurried between them.
“Wait. I um... He was with me the whole time. I think you can trust him.”
But Yoshihiko waved
her off.
“No. It’s natural that he wouldn’t trust me. As I said before, I think it’s my duty to humbly accept any criticism. However, it’s not the case that we’ve never met before — I’m surprised to say it, but you and I have kept our promise to play a game together.” Yoshihiko winked at Akuto.
Akuto immediately realized what that wink meant. His eyes opened wide in surprise, and then he nodded.
“Oh, you look different in the game, huh? I guess that makes sense, since you made the rules.”
“That’s right. But I can see why you wouldn’t trust me. I’m the one at fault for this, and looking back, I can see that I still had a lot to learn. I’d underestimated the importance of physicality, you see. Of communicating using your body. She’s the one who made me realize this,” he added, smiling at Junko. “She’s a very kind and noble girl.”
Junko quickly shook her head.
“No, stop it. That’s not true...” Junko said, but she couldn’t help but look at Akuto’s face as she spoke. Yoshihiko was making it sound like something had happened when the two of them were alone. Well, something had happened, but they weren’t dating or something. He’d said, “I hope you’ll like me,” but maybe that didn’t mean anything.
However, she was interested to see how Akuto would react to the hint that there was something going on between them. Honestly, she hoped he’d looked shocked.
But...
“Yeah. I hope that when we get back to reality, you and her can spend a lot of time together,” Akuto said.
Junko felt the whole world going dark. She almost fainted.
“Oh dear... are you okay?” Yoshihiko grabbed her.
Everyone was looking at her.
And just then...
Keisu moved fast. She dropped low to the ground and ran forward, quickly pulling Yoshihiko’s “Evil Slayer” from its sheath and charging towards Akuto.
The magic sword’s blade was aimed right at his throat. She was going so fast that a hit from it would be devastating.
But Akuto had seen it coming.
“I’m afraid that won’t work. Of course I realized that you were the one person here who wasn’t a player in the game.” Akuto had kept his eyes on her the whole time. He dodged to the side to avoid the sword, and slammed a fist into Keisu’s stomach.
“Gwah!” Keisu collapsed to the ground in pain.
○
“You’re not going to tell me there’s still more, right?” Lily cracked her knuckles.
This was probably 2V’s last card she had to play.
“So that Keisu girl is the Demon King? Well, it looks like your plan to kill Akuto failed. Can I just beat the shit out of you already? I’m getting tired of waiting.”
“I’m afraid not...” 2V remained unperturbed. “There’s more to come, I’m afraid. I haven’t failed yet. There’s still more tricks I’ve set up in the system... And Zero is still alive too.”
“Zero...? Is that the first Demon King’s name?”
“That’s right. Zero will grant my wish.”
“Your wish? What’s your wish?”
“Control — I want to control everything. And I have the perfect way to make that wish come true: Zero. The first Demon King — that is, the prototype — was born with enough power to destroy the world that the earliest gods ruled.”
“Wh-What are you talking about? What does that mean?”
“Don’t you understand? It has the power to control AI, and make it go insane. The first gods were very similar to our present Liradans, you see.”
2V’s words shocked Lily.
“What...? And you want to bring him back?!”
“Yes. Just watch. There’s more to come. A lot more, in fact...!” 2V laughed.
○
“She’s the only one here who’s not a player in the game,” Akuto said as he looked down at Keisu.
He held out his hand towards her and used a spell.
“Lightning.”
It was the lightning spell in the game. A blast of thunder fell from the sky and landed on Keisu. A snake crawled out from her clothing and died, then turned to dust and disappeared.
“What’s that snake?” Fujiko asked.
“It’s 2V’s arm. It’s all he could get inside the system,” Yoshihiko answered. “So even if that arm turned into a snake...”
“2V uses dolls to do everything. It’s possible he could use that snake to control a Liradan,” Fujiko said. Yoshihiko clapped his hands, impressed.
“Keisu is probably a Liradan. That means it’s not her fault.”
“So now we’ve got nothing to worry about, I guess?” Akuto asked, looking at Yoshihiko, who nodded.
“You’re probably right. Your punch seemed to temporarily shut her down, but when she wakes up we can hear what she has to say. I doubt she knows much of anything, though. Once that’s done, we can end the game.”
“I see. Then...”
Just as Akuto went to kneel down over Keisu—
“Watch out!” Keena yelled and pushed Akuto away.
“Huh?” Akuto felt something strange and cold in his chest.
“Kyaah!”
“Akuto!”
Everyone around him was staring.
“What...?”
The Evil Slayer was embedded deep in his stomach. The sensation he felt was different than when he took damage in the game. He shivered. His stomach was cold, but when he put his hand to it, it felt warm.
“How...?”
“The sword... the sword moved on its own!” Fujiko screamed.
“Correct. The sword moved on its own. It was like it had been waiting for this moment,” Korone said as she readied herself for battle.
“Then this sword is the first Demon King? No... I need to focus on healing first. I’ll gather the mana within me...” Akuto tried to heal the damage he’d taken like he always did, but he couldn’t. Every time he tried to put mana into the wound, it throbbed with pain.
“Ackie!” Keena ran up to him and cast a healing spell from the game, but it did nothing at all to Akuto.
“We’ll have to get him back to reality before he really dies. We can heal him there,” Korone said calmly as she raised her staff.
“Wh-What are you doing...?” Fujiko stammered, but Korone ignored her and blasted Akuto with a magic murder beam.
It went right through Akuto’s head. His body twitched a few times, and then he closed his eyes. The game decided that he had died, and turned him to dust.
All that was left was the Evil Slayer.
Everyone’s eyes went wide with surprise — the sword that had been embedded into Akuto’s stomach was now floating in the air.
“We were wrong! 2V only created the monster and took over Keisu to trick us...!” shouted Fujiko, who knew more about evil plans than anyone else. “If the First Demon King was actually the strongest sword in the game, then the players would be sure to take it on their journey to the Grail...! So that was the plan!”
“Be careful! We don’t know what will happen next...!” Junko shouted a warning.
“But the sword may only have limited power. It’s possible that it can only move a short distance on its own... Otherwise, there’s no reason it would’ve waited for someone to carry it,” Yoshihiko said.
“The Grail is inside the castle. It’s dangerous, but we have to stop the sword from getting there!” Junko turned to look at the castle.
But...
“Oh... The Grail... Oh no... I thought it was important, so I brought it with me,” Keena said as she took the Grail out from her robe.
It looked like a small cup, shining with a golden light.
“You idiot!” Fujiko yelled, but it was too late.
The Evil Slayer — or rather, Zero — flew towards Keena. She dodged, but she couldn’t stop Zero from touching the Grail. When the sword and Grail collided, both of them burst into a thin mist.
“Oh!” Keena shouted in surprise.
“Oh no... We don’t know w
hat the First Demon King is... But now the game is over. We’ll be sent back to our own world...!” Yoshihiko shouted.
“Th-Then the First Demon King will come back to life in the real world!” Junko cried. She picked Keisu up off the ground and woke the small girl up to ask a question. “Tell me. What happens if the first Demon King revives...?”
Keisu’s eyes opened as she was shaken. “Zero is...”
But before she could finish — the game ended.
5 - The Beginning of The Dream
A cold chill ran down Hiroshi’s back. He looked around, not knowing what it was. It took a moment, but he realized it was because of the town around him.
He was watching the second story of the condo, just as Lily had told him to. Of course, he’d been looking outside too, but it took time to see what had changed.
There were small sounds of destruction coming from across the town. The cars on the road weren’t moving.
“What’s going on...? Don’t tell me... something dangerous?” Hiroshi looked up when he heard sounds above him. A flying bus was crash landing on the other side of the city. “...What?!”
The bus slammed into the ground and burst into flames, and several houses seemed to be caught in the blaze. There was no need to say that this was a major disaster. He’d never seen accidents of this scale happen in the city.
“U-Uwah...” Hiroshi wasn’t sure if he should follow Lily’s orders or go find her. But when he saw the rest of the building’s occupants coming out of their rooms, he hurried to Lily’s location. When he opened the door, he came upon the student council president fighting several dolls.
“If you’re here, then help!” Lily yelled.
“Wh... What’s going on?”
The answer came from a pale, sickly-looking girl on the other side of a broken window, who was being carried by a doll.
“I’ve won.”
Even Hiroshi could tell that it was 2V. But what he couldn’t understand was why Lily was having problems with the dolls.
“President, just knock their lights out!” he said, but even when she punched the dolls, they just got back up.
“They’re different than before...! They’re stronger...!” Lily yelled. She kept knocking the dolls back with her combat techniques, but the dolls seemed to be somehow moving their fragile joints out of the path of each punch she tried to land.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 12
