Akuto suddenly cut her off. “No. I’m me. And I decide who I am.” He turned his eyes to look at her.
“But do you have what it takes to make that decision? To carry the weight of an entire country? You don’t, do you?” Kazuko’s smile never wavered.
But Akuto shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I have them.”
He looked at Keena, then Fujiko, then Yoshie. And even though they weren’t here, in his mind he saw Junko, Korone, and Hiroshi.
“I am the me that loves them. That’s why I’m me.”
None of the girls spoke, but their eyes were all locked on Akuto.
“So you won’t obey your country, then?” Kazuko asked.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll defeat 2V and Zero, just like you want me to. But don’t try to control my mind,” Akuto said.
Kazuko smiled and nodded. “You’re a fascinating person,” she laughed. “Very well. If that’s the case, then...”
Kazuko started to take a step forward... and just then, a thin ray of light flashed through the room. It pierced Akuto’s chest from behind and passed out through the front.
“Huh...?” Akuto froze. Blood began to seep from his chest.
“A-Ackie!”
“Akuto!”
“Was that... a laser?!”
Keena, Fujiko, and Yoshie all screamed at once.
Akuto put his hand to his chest, and then watched in disbelief as it turned red with blood. He turned in the direction the ray of light had come. “Korone...!”
Korone was there, holding her beam weapon. Akuto’s face was twisted with shock and terror, but Korone’s expression was completely flat, so empty that there wasn’t even a trace of coldness or cruelty in it.
“I had hoped that after it passed through you, it would reach Kazuko as well. But I underestimated your toughness, it appears. However, both Kazuko and the Demon King are my targets. This is my chance to get two birds with one stone. Next time, please do not block my shot. My priority list puts Kazuko above the Demon King,” Korone said emotionlessly. Akuto had buckled over from the impact, and now she had a clear line of sight at Kazuko as she aimed.
“No...!” Issei, who had been silent until then, suddenly held out his hand towards the floor. The whole room began to glow in response.
“A teleporter circle!” Fujiko shouted.
The circle’s magic seemed to affect everyone in the room. Issei activated the circle, and Akuto and his friends, as well as Kazuko and Issei began to disappear. But Korone quickly skated over to the teleportation circle, putting her own teleporter device on top of it.
“Now the teleportation will be incomplete. Instead, you will appear at a location I designate,” Korone stated. Akuto had buckled over from the impact, and now she had a clear line of sight at Kazuko as she aimed.
“No... She’s so fast!” Issei said in a voice like a scream.
But then they disappeared, and so did Korone. A moment later, they appeared in a forest they didn’t recognize. First Akuto, and then the three girls around him. Behind him was Kazuko, and a little further away was Issei. Finally Korone appeared, exactly as she’d been a moment ago.
“I assume that was an attempt to run, but you were far too slow. It will be difficult to flee in this forest with no teleportation to aid you,” Korone said.
“K-Korone...” Akuto slowly rose to his full height.
“Please do not stand between myself and Kazuko.” Korone readied her beam weapon.
“Korone, stop!” Keena yelled, but nothing happened. Korone remained expressionless.
“Stop it, Korone!” Akuto insisted. “Don’t shoot anyone! You can hurt me if you want, but you can’t kill any people...” He slowly staggered towards her.
“The Demon King is not a person. Neither is the Empress. Goodbye,” Korone said.
“Stop!” Akuto summoned his strength and jumped on her. He grabbed her weapon as tightly as he could and pointed it away from Kazuko, and then turned around and shouted, “Run!”
But Kazuko simply looked confused. “Run?”
“That’s right. Run—”
“You’re in the way,” Korone said as she wrestled back control of the weapon. Now it was pointed directly up against his stomach.
“Ackie!” Keena ran towards him. But in the next moment, a beam of light had pierced his body.
“...!” Keena let out a wordless scream.
Akuto’s body began to slump to the ground. Korone carelessly brushed him aside.
“Gaah...” He fell to the ground and moaned. He was still breathing.
“Ackie!”
“Akuto!”
Keena and Fujiko ran towards him but Yoshie was shaking too much to move, and Kazuko was still looking at him in confusion.
“Why did you tell me to run?” the Empress asked, as if she truly didn’t understand.
Akuto answered, the blood dripping from his mouth. “Because you’re like me, you were born with the burden of power... That’s why I decided to protect you... Because I once had someone like that. Someone who knew who I was, but who fought my side anyway, and who died laughing...” he said, moaning.
“Ackie, stop talking...” Keena helped him up.
“Oh... if only Akuto had awakened, these wounds wouldn’t bother him at all...” Fujiko cried in despair. She was using healing magic on him, but it wasn’t working at all. She could see the color draining from his face.
He looked at Keena and smiled as his lips moved, but no words came out. And then his head slumped towards the ground. As Keena held him in her arms, all the strength left his body.
They both screamed his name and clung to his body tightly, as if trying to bring him back to life.
But Korone only glanced once down at his corpse before walking right past them.
“That was far too easy. The Empress’s life wasn’t even worth protecting.” Korone turned to look at Kazuko.
Kazuko smiled at her. She almost seemed to be having fun. “Hahaha, you’re right. He should not have tried to protect me.”
“So you accept that the Empress is worthless? Then there’s no problem if you die, is there?” She raised her beam weapon.
“Not at all,” Kazuko said.
“?”
“There’s no need to protect me,” Kazuko waved her hand, and multiple mana balls appeared around her body.
“Black magic...!” Korone jumped backwards, suddenly cautious.
But amazingly, Kazuko stepped forward after her. “It’s not black magic. It’s the Yasakani Magatama, one of the Imperial family’s secret magics.”
Kazuko waved her hand and the mana balls began to dance and strike at Korone.
“Attack pattern unknown. Initiating close-range reactive dodging...!” Korone tried to twist her body out of the way, but the mana balls moved too fast and too randomly for her to stop them from slamming into her body.
“...! Unable to dodge...?” The mana balls clung tightly to her body. They seemed to be causing continuous damage without ever slowing down.
“They’ll keep dancing until I die, and keep dancing even after you die. That’s how the spell works.” Kazuko began to dance as she laughed.
Korone was a Liradan, but the damage seemed to be too much for her. She quickly opened her purse and jumped inside.
“Oh?” Kazuko’s eyes went wide, as if she’d been caught off guard.
Korone’s body disappeared feet first into the small bag. Her hand was the last thing to vanish, and before it did, it traced out a small teleportation circle to make the bag disappear as well.
“She’s a very talented Liradan, isn’t she?” Kazuko smiled as she looked towards a sobbing Keena. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Keena looked at her through teary eyes. “W-What do we do...?”
Fujiko, however, made no effort to conceal her hatred. “Th-This is your fault...”
“Oh? That has nothing to do with me. And like he said, he did what he did because of his deceased friend, right?”
Kazuko motioned towards Keena’s chest as she spoke.
“H...Huh?” Keena realized that there was a shining light coming from just below her neck. “Wh-What is this...? Petey?”
It was the necklace she’d hidden beneath her clothes. She took it out, and saw that it was overflowing with light. At the end of the necklace was a piece of one of Peterhausen’s fangs.
“Petey...”
It was as if the creature Akuto had called a friend was trying to tell them something in answer to their sorrow.
“This is...” She held Peterhausen’s fang gently to her chest and closed her eyes. And then she nodded, as if she was speaking to someone.
“Wh-What’s going on...?” Fujiko asked fearfully.
Keena opened her eyes. “He says there’s a way to bring back Ackie...”
“What...?!” Fujiko was completely confused.
“The Coffin of the Underworld King...” Kazuko said, “That’s the name of the device that can revive the Demon King. And of course, it’s also the device used to awaken him...”
“Why does something like that exist?” Yoshie’s words were tiny and hoarse, like she was overwhelmed with everything that was going on around her.
“There have been many Demon Kings throughout history. Some of them have been psychologically underdeveloped. That is why it is customary for the Demon King to be given several trials. And that’s why the device exists, as a safety measure,” Kazuko said.
“Then in some cases he might not awaken...”
“Most likely, yes. Some have died in the process of awakening. Now, go. I’ll wait here.”
“Wait...?” Fujiko turned her head towards Kazuko.
“Yes.” Kazuko’s smile never left her face. “I’ll be waiting for the Demon King to be born for the sake of the Empire...”
4 - The Last Demon King
“You saw a Liradan in VPS whose job it was to seal Zero?” Yuko asked.
Junko and Yuko had left the abandoned amusement park, and were discussing where to go next. Asakusa was close enough to the palace that they could get there on foot if they wanted. But Junko was insistent that they should find Keisu first.
“That’s right. She was a short girl with a long blade on her back, dressed in a kimono like a believer of Suhara, and with her hair tied back behind her head,” Junko explained.
Yuko looked suspicious. “...Zero knows what she looked like and what her powers were, right? Why hasn’t she been caught yet? The Liradans have eyes everywhere, right?”
“That’s right. And they’ve got the past records to go over too, so they know exactly where she was before,” Junko said. She had no proof of this, but it was a pretty safe bet.
“Then wouldn’t they have captured her already...?”
“Well, we know that she was originally at the Megis temple. But there’s been no reports from there, right?”
“That’s true...”
“Which means Keisu can’t have gone too far. If she can seal Zero, then isn’t it possible that she can hide herself from Zero too?”
“So if that’s true, then what does that mean?” Yuko seemed confused, but Junko’s mind had stumbled across a certain possibility.
“The Megis temple was shut down immediately after Zero took over. No human ever went inside...”
“So she’s still inside!” Yuko yelled.
Magic was off limits, and public services were offline. Junko and Yuko had no choice but to head to the center of the capital on foot. The cars weren’t working either, so there were many people walking on the roads. There was no security anywhere because the knights had already gone to the palace, but nobody was rioting or stealing anything.
Strangers were muttering to each other about how they had heard that people were gathering at the palace. There was no news coming from their terminals, so everyone was heading for the city center, just like they were. The roads became more crowded the closer they got to downtown, and when they finally made it to the Megis temple, the area in front of it was as crowded as a flying train platform during rush hour.
But even with all these people around, none of them were going into the temple. The front of the temple was a wide, stone-lined hall, and at its end was a locked glass door.
“What do we do?” Yuko asked. Junko suggested that they go around to the back.
“We should go around the back... Last time I was here, there was a door with a lock that looked easy to bust open,” Junko said.
It turned out that she was half right. There was a door around the back, but it didn’t look particularly vulnerable.
“It doesn’t look that easy to break to me...” Yuko said, just as Junko kicked it hard.
There was a loud bang as the door’s support pillar bent, and the whole lock fell off it.
“These temples are built cheaper than they look,” Junko said.
“That doesn’t mean you need to break it, though...”
Yuko pushed the door open, and it made a loud creaking sound. An empty building has its own unique atmosphere; their footsteps echoed in the cold air. The Megis temple even had its own little shopping mall, so now that it was empty, it felt lonelier than ever.
“It’s going to be hard to find a single person in a building this size.”
“Hm.. you’re right.”
Junko thought for a moment. It would take a lot of time if they just searched every nook and cranny. Which meant they needed to think of a place where their target was likely to be...
“She didn’t seem very smart. Let’s search the upper floors,” Junko said.
“The upper floors?”
“When we were in VPS, she came down from a mountain to see us. I can’t imagine she was always there. Maybe she’s just the type of person who always heads upwards? Like that saying about idiots and smoke.”
“...That’s a mean thing to say about someone you barely know.”
“Hmm... You’re right. She didn’t seem like somebody you should take seriously, I guess.” Junko crossed her arms.
They pushed the top floor button on the elevator. According to the plaque on the elevator wall, there was a cafeteria there.
“If she really is stupid, she’ll definitely be here,” Yuko said as she pointed at the cafeteria’s location on the sign.
“Probably, yeah...” Junko agreed.
They got out on the top floor into a spacious, comfortable lobby, then headed past it into the cafeteria. They could hear the sound of plates clinking together coming from inside.
“Don’t tell me...”
They wouldn’t be able to handle anybody dangerous, so the two of them held their breaths as they approached cautiously. At the end of one of the long rows of tables, they could see someone having a meal. The person was so tiny they weren’t sitting down to eat. Instead, they were standing and bending over the table. On their back was a katana that was far too large for them.
“...Don’t worry. That’s her,” Junko said.
She walked into the cafeteria. Keisu turned towards the sound and looked suspicious for a moment, but then clapped her hands when she realized who it was.
“Oh! You’re that little girl from before!” Keisu didn’t seem to think she was in any danger at all. There was a pile of fried food on the table; she’d clearly been emptying out the cafeteria’s fridge and reheating it by frying it.
“...Why are you eating at a time like this?”
“I love croquettes... Anyway, the world’s changed a lot since my day. I never expected to find the temple completely empty. It’s kind of depressing.”
“Are you an idiot? Zero came back. He imprisoned some priests and sent the others home. There were Liradans that came here, right?” Junko said.
Keisu’s eyes narrowed aggressively. “I thought I told you I don’t like being called stupid.”
“We don’t have time to talk about this. I apologize for saying that. But Zero’s back. How do we seal him?” Junko said quickly, but Keisu just seemed confused.
&n
bsp; “By ‘Zero,’ you mean the Demon King, right? That’s impossible. I may not be very bright, but if the Demon King was back, I wouldn’t be here eating.”
“So you know you’re not very bright... No, forget that. Zero is back.”
“I don’t understand. I have a mana-connection to the Demon King, the being you call ‘Zero.’ If he was back, I would know,” Keisu said.
“Then how were all the Liradans put under control? That’s Zero’s power, right?”
“Oh, that’s Zero’s normal power. He hasn’t been revived yet.”
“What?”
“If he’d been revived, he would put all of humanity under his control. Every human is given a ‘baptism’ where mana is implanted into their brain, right? He would try to use that mana to control humans like Liradans.”
“Is that possible...?”
Keisu didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but Junko was terrified of what she’d just heard. Keisu nodded like she didn’t notice, though.
“Of course, he can’t control their minds themselves, but he can sap their will to do anything, or force them to do things they don’t want. Zero thinks that all of humanity needs its protection. It wants to make a society where humans don’t do anything at all. Zero’s goal is, or should be, the complete cessation of all human activity.” The words came out clearly and quickly, like this information had been implanted in Keisu’s brain.
“Then why is he only controlling the Liradans now?”
“I don’t know. There’s probably someone who’s controlling Zero, who’s stopping him from doing that.”
“Which means if we defeat 2V...” Junko felt a cold sweat run down her back. “Come with me, now! We need to seal Zero again!”
○
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” Fujiko said with rage in her eyes.
For once, Issei didn’t smile. “Humans need to believe something. Even the black mages were never able to escape that need,” he said flatly.
“And black magic isn’t just a tool to create a free society, it’s a faith?”
“The Demon King’s the one who’s supposed to save us and bring freedom. The system that made people believe in the gods was a brilliant one, if you ask me. Humans need a story, even if it’s a bad one. And the truth is always a terrible story. A truly ‘equal’ society is one where everybody has the power of the Demon King. And if that ever happened, the only ending for that story would be a bad one: a mass slaughter.”
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 8 Page 9
