These humans were hanging in the air, expressions of pain on their faces. There were around 30 of them in all. From their numbers, they were probably the crew of several of the submarines. Seeing all of them there, frozen in place by the Demon King, made terror well up in Hiroshi’s heart. And an even uglier and more terrible scene, one Hiroshi couldn’t look away from, came only a moment later.
Kei used his telekinesis to tear off their heads. The blood spurted up about a dozen meters, and began to rain down like a shower. Kei used his powers to freeze even the blood as well. There were drops of crimson of all different sizes, floating in the sky like water droplets in zero gravity. For someone who could guess what kind of magic that would require, it was a shocking sight. But what would surprise someone even who had no idea of the power this would require was how clearly Kei was enjoying it.
The survivors’ faces twisted in fear as they realized they would be next. But as if to betray their expectations, Kei suddenly ripped all their torsos in half. Even after the loss of your torso, your consciousness remains for several seconds. Hiroshi was able to see the expressions of disbelief form on their faces. He could tell from the joy on Kei’s face that he’d done it just to see that look.
Hiroshi could see it all clearly. He was using his suit’s zoom function, which could see the expressions on the faces of the Republic soldiers, as well as Kei’s, clearly. Brutality. Cruelty. Fear. Rage. All those words came to him a moment later. He felt something hard pressing down on his heart, and his whole body felt like it was on fire. His ears couldn’t hear a thing, but something from within was exploding as it headed toward his mouth.
He was probably screaming.
For the first time, Kei turned towards him. Kei had probably known he was there the whole time, though. Maybe he’d killed them sooner than he’d planned to for just that reason. Kei’s expression was the opposite of Hiroshi’s: cool and collected.
“Has anyone ever been shown cruelty as beautifully as you? Or are you my only audience? Unfortunately, the King wasn’t here.” Kei turned to Hiroshi and softly smiled.
It had the effect of bringing Hiroshi down from his angry high. A huge sphere appeared in the air. It was formed from all the crimson droplets. The ball glistened in the sunlight, and the wind formed tiny waves across its surface. In the center of it was Kei, holding out both his hands. It was like a beautiful picture, whose painter was the demon king. It was a work of art made by a man who knew his own beauty and power, and used others lives to paint it.
“I don’t care what’s going on! Don’t move!” Hiroshi charged.
He activated his suit’s mana canceler and set all weapons except his plasma ball to standby.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. The real beauty is just about to appear,” Kei said, and waved a hand.
The droplets all began to fall, like gravity had suddenly returned. A rain of blood poured down. A rainbow appeared in the falling blood, one the same color as any other rainbow, but which felt strangely different.
“Defeating you will be easy!” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow. But Kei flew backwards and refused to fight him.
“I know. That’s why I’m going to run. Your suit was given to you by someone else, but as long as you have their permission, it’s yours. But I don’t know when they’re going to take that permission from you.”
“I don’t care! I’m going to do what I can! Get back here!” Hiroshi yelled, but Kei just ignored him and dodged.
“I refuse. If he doesn’t turn off your suit, it means he wants you to kill me. I’ve achieved my goal. I’m going to run.”
Kei flew through the air, forming a teleportation circle with his own hands, and then he vanished into it.
“Wait, damn it! What are you going to do now...!”
Hiroshi yelled, but his words just echoed in the sea as the bloody rain fell.
(Calm down. I have the video. Even if we can’t publicize it, we may be able to get it to USD.)
Yuko’s voice brought Hiroshi back to his senses. He didn’t realize it, but he might’ve been screaming for a long time.
“The equipment you gave me helped a lot. Thanks,” he said, as he touched the camera attached to the side of his helmet.
“I’ll take some footage of the sea surface and then head home,” he said, as he started to approach the scene of the tragedy and record. The blood had already vanished into the sea’s blue, but sharks were gathering around the corpses.
“This is awful...”
He heard Yuko’s voice, but didn’t know what else to say. He thought of attacking the sharks to relieve his frustration, but there wasn’t any point. But then he saw something that wasn’t a corpse floating among the sharks.
It was a dolphin lying on its side that was probably caught up in the attack. Its belly was exposed and its fin had been nibbled off. There was a shark beneath it that would poke at it occasionally.
—If it died in the fight, I feel bad for it...
“Huh?” Hiroshi gasped.
Something was pushing the dolphin’s belly upwards from within. A blade suddenly poked out from it, and began to saw it apart from within.
“Someone’s coming out...”
Hiroshi readied for a fight. The dolphin’s belly split open and a human arm came out. He could tell immediately that it was someone from the Republic.
—He’d said he missed the king, didn’t he?
What he’d heard before was that the king of the Republic was supposed to be on board one of the submarines. Hiroshi saw a powerful looking young man appear from within the dolphin covered in blood. He was covered in blood, but he looked at Hiroshi with a fierce glint in his eyes.
“If nothing else, I’m your enemy’s enemy,” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow. The young man moved away from the dolphin’s belly and into the sea.
Several of the sharks approached him, drawn by the smell of blood. The young man’s knife flashed, slightly injuring one of the shark’s noses. That was enough to keep the rest of them away.
The young man buried his face in the water, returned the knife to a case at his side, and washed his face with seawater. He pushed back his hair with both hands, revealing a face that was handsome and imposing.
“I watched helplessly at what happened outside. I don’t know who you are, but I thank you for screaming on behalf of my friends.”
The young man spoke in a loud, clear voice. There was a calm and honest air about his words.
“It’s a shameful thing to have survived alone, but one of my men sacrificed this innocent dolphin’s life to save me. Now I must work to repay the sacrifice they made. When this is over, you may ask me for any boon you wish. I am the King of the Republic, Marine.”
“Brave.” Hiroshi gave his name.
Marine nodded and moved to dive back in the sea, but Hiroshi felt a sudden stirring in his head. The next thing he knew he was calling out to Marine.
“Wait!”
“What is it?” Marine looked up at him. Hiroshi offered Marine a hand.
“Let me work for you.”
Marine seemed suspicious.
“There’s no reason for you to do that. Think about whether that desire springs from more than a moment’s emotion.”
Hiroshi paused. But then he reached out a hand.
“Then let me work for you until you meet the Empress, at least.”
“The Empress?”
“I know what’s going on here. If you really do want a peaceful solution, and that solution involves the next heir to the throne and dealing with all these problems, you and I want the same thing,” Hiroshi said as he charged through the rainbow.
Marine thought for a second before taking Hiroshi’s hand.
“I thank you, Hero.”
○
Meanwhile, Fujiko was away from the others, sneaking into an apartment near the academy. Normally, a girl like Fujiko sneaking into your apartment would be a cause for celebration, but this time, th
ere was no hint of any fun in the air. She was more like a thief.
“Answer the question.”
Inside, she’d strung a rope from the ceiling and hung it around the neck of a man who was sitting there. The room’s table was flipped over, and a bowl of ramen had been knocked over, spilling its noodles and soup onto the floor.
“A-Answer what question?”
The rope was loose around his neck, so he couldn’t resist as he flailed his limbs about. His hair was a mess and he wore strange glasses. It was Issei Suzuki, the former leader of the black mages. He was the “former” leader now because Fujiko had stolen the black mages’ secret, and after the priests had captured him, he’d decided to retire. But right after he’d started his new life, Fujiko had broken in and strangled him. Not a good start.
“There was something I didn’t understand from the documents. No, you could say that because of those documents, there’s something I came to understand.”
Fujiko already had all the information about the black mages she’d stolen from Issei. It was all technical information, though, with little information about their network or its origins. That was what she wanted to know. Issei had been around long enough that he probably knew how the black mages came about through his connections.
“Is there some relationship between the republic and the black mages?”
“Oh... is that it? Well... I guess that wasn’t in the database whose password I gave you,” he said, painfully. He gestured at his neck.
Fujiko loosened the rope and repeated her question.
“So there is some relationship, right?”
“I don’t have any proof myself, but I realized when I heard the news about the Republic’s origins. When the Empire was founded, believers in pure freedom left the country. They probably founded the Republic.”
“Kazuko said they all died, didn’t she?”
“You saw the database, right? It says they died, so what I’m telling you now is just a guess.”
”Maybe they still have the records. Also, I don’t know what it is you want so badly, but if it’s perfect freedom, the ideal of the black mages, you should just join the Republic.”
When she heard this Fujiko yanked tight on the rope again.
“Wait, so in the end, do you not know anything?”
“Uwah... Wait, wait! This is what happened.”
Issei coughed to clear his throat so that he could begin.
“You’d better not be making something up just to save your own skin.”
“No, I’m being serious...” he said. “The Demon King system was originally intended as an internal thing. In other words, once we created the social system we have now, with the gods, it would only be natural that everybody would be able to use its resources. So the Empire created rules that stopped everyone from killing each other. And the Demon King is something that’s free from those rules.”
“I’ve heard that story before.”
“Yes. But when I heard about the existence of the Republic I realized that only applied within the Empire.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that even if we did change the system, and the black mages’ ideal world came to pass, it probably wouldn’t destroy humanity. It would probably destroy the Empire, though.”
Fujiko already understood that much.
“I see... You’re right.”
“Yeah. So even if the Demon King starts a war, it’s not clear whether it would destroy humanity.’
“I can accept that as well,” Fujiko nodded.
“So don’t you think it’s strange? If the Demon king is a weapon like Kazuko said, he’s too strong. And if he’s what the Gods insist he is, something that will destroy humanity, he’s too weak.”
“If the Demon King can really only use resources from within the Empire, then he can’t be something that threatens all humanity...” Fujiko whispered.
No matter how much a heretic she was within the Empire, she was still an Imperial. But once she was freed from that perspective, it was the logical conclusion.
“...But Kazuko said the Law of Identity didn’t exist, even though she should have known better...”
“She was lying. Or maybe she didn’t know the truth. That’s possible. Even if the Gods and the Demon King are working together, neither the Empire nor the Demon King has the power to destroy all humanity. If anything does, it has to come from the outside. In other words... an Outer God. A real God, in the true sense.”
What Issei said made sense. And it matched the few things that Boichiro Yamato had said that she’d managed to catch.
“So you’re telling me... a real god exists?” Fujiko said, with terror in her voice.
“I don’t even want to think about it myself, but first we had the problems with Empress Kazuko and now the Republic. It’s the only thing that makes sense. You had the same thought, which is why you came to me, right?”
Issei took the robe, which was now slack, off his neck and looked up. Fujiko was already gone.
—Everything points to the existence of a real god...
Who could deal with such terror? Fujiko was struck with an indescribable fear.
4 - Colorless Flames
She was watching the sea. But there was nothing romantic about it.
—No Imperial citizen has ever looked at the sea like this before, I bet.
Junko was sitting in a command center that had been hastily erected on an observation deck in a seaside town, looking out the window. The command center was getting video feeds, but an old manual she’d read once said it was better to see with your own eyes.
She and her ninjas were responsible for running information up and down the front lines. Her father was in command of the troops, but of course, he wasn’t there personally. He’d simply sent members of his family instead.
Ground troops had assembled in the seaside town. There were ground cars, soldiers, flying cards... a division of each, assembled and ready to go. All their guns were pointed at the sea. And far away in the distance, they could see several shadows clinging tight against the waterline. They were submarines.
—But Yuko said they weren’t going anywhere...
Junko had heard what was going on from Yuko via an encoded line. She hadn’t passed that message on to the Hattori troops, though.
—The King of the Republic must be a well-respected man. And he must have told them not to start a war...
She knew Yuko wasn’t lying to her, but it bothered her that this King had abandoned the battlefield. Was it because he had something more important to do?
“I hope nothing happens...” Junko said to herself.
“Mistress, kindness is forbidden in this place,” one of the Hattori ninjas said to her, reprovingly.
She gave a slight nod.
“I understand that, but after what we just saw...”
She was referring to the video footage of Kei sinking the submarines. But of course, it was the edited version. The edited version showed the Republic attacking first, and didn’t show the massacre that took place afterwards. Kei’s power seemed unstoppable. Edited or not, that seemed undeniable.
She didn’t know how serious the Republic was, but in a magical battle The Empire, no, Kei, clearly had the upper hand.
“I know you’re concerned about Republic casualties, but that pity has no place here.”
“No... that’s not what bothers me. It scares me that the C-MID8 Esper is becoming a hero.”
What worried Junko was the Prime Minister’s announcement. The PM had said that a Demon King had destroyed the submarines. But this Demon King, according to the announcement, was just a servant of Akuto, the Great Demon King who’d surrendered to the Empress’s glory.”
“That man didn’t look to me like he was under the Empress’s control...”
“That’s not all. What scares me is the way the people acted. Once they were told that he was an Imperial secret weapon, the people ceased to have a problem with him. T
hat’s a change in the way they think about the Demon King. I didn’t expect them to change so much just because something appeared from outside the Empire.”
Her voice was filled more with shock than disgust.
“The greatest threat to the Empire has now been recognized as its greatest weapon. That’s all. Of course, I understand how you feel, but that’s all it is.”
Junko understood that as well. But the fact that she understood it made her afraid.
“So what do we do when something comes from even further outside? Do we rely on humanity’s ultimate weapon to deal with it for us?”
“Now’s not the time to think about things like that,” the ninja scolded, but Junko didn’t agree. Maybe she’d realized on some level that the situation was starting to indicate the existence of a real god.
“He says all the time that people recognize what’s going on around them as a story, so why is it that I feel like when something that doesn’t fit into that story appears, it means tragedy is coming?”
“Mistress...”
“...No, I’m sorry. I’ll go back to my job as a useless figurehead. All we’re doing here is getting ready for a conflict that might not occur anyway. And even if it does, it won’t be a big one. There’s no way we can lose. I’m right, aren’t I?” Junko said, even though she didn’t believe it, and everyone nodded.
“Of course, that’s correct, Mistress.”
But their words didn’t come from the heart.
—Nobody can really be strong at a time like this.
Junko looked back to the horizon and let out a long breath. She was starting to feel like everything that had happened was a lie.
○
“So if we head to this village of the Marlay, it’s possible I can meet the Empress,” Marine said to Hiroshi, who was carrying him.
Hiroshi was flying above the sea. He looked at the coordinates for the Marlay village that Yoshie had given him, and nodded.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 11 Page 9
