I looked down at the blade piercing my heart.
‘Is this death?’
After graduating from the Demon King Academy that existed in the First Demon Realm, we were sent to random worlds. We were what people commonly called “Demon Kings.”
Heroes would arise by the will of the god who governed that world, and they would struggle desperately to subjugate us.
In the process, both Demon Kings and Heroes grew stronger, but not every Demon King was great.
“…Hey, hey. Aren’t you way too weak?”
Fuck, I know. I know I’m weak….
“Hah, if you only build a five-story tower and can’t grow any more than this, then in the end, from our perspective as the ones hunting you, we don’t gain any honor!”
As if venting his anger, he planted the holy sword in my heart and then kicked my body.
He kicked me again and again.
My tenacious life force, far too stubborn, refused to let me die and delivered every bit of the pain to me in full.
“If you’ve got a mouth, then say something, you fucker!!”
Now he clenched his fist and struck my face.
‘This piece of shit is supposed to be a Hero?’
In truth, the Hero I had imagined was someone far more splendid and upright, a powerful foe worthy of being called my destined enemy.
‘…It’s because I’m pathetically weak.’
I didn’t even feel like speaking.
The eternal last-place student of the Demon King Academy—and on top of that, I had a truly irritating stigma.
The Demon King Who Researched. Yes, I was an empty husk who knew only theory inside and out. And in the end, I had met a miserable end, waiting for a humiliating death with a holy sword stuck in my heart like an ornament.
“At least there are other Demon Kings. Thanks to that, you can still gain a reputation for having hunted a Demon King, so I’d say it’s a decent start.”
At the words of the Saintess standing beside him, the agitated Hero straightened himself.
But the problem was not only the Saintess.
Even the others who seemed to be the Hero’s companions were all women, and half-naked at that, clinging to the man called the Hero and fawning over him in every way.
‘Just… if you’ve done this much, then kill me….’
It was a moment when I truly wished for death, but the Hero did not seem inclined to let me die easily.
“A Demon King’s vitality means he won’t die just because I cut off his arms and legs, right?”
“What are you planning?”
“I’m going to carry him around and parade him for ridicule. If I can’t properly gain fame, I can at least make use of him this way, can’t I?”
“S-stop…”
“Hah, this bastard can talk?”
The Hero clenched his fist and smashed my mouth.
The horrific pain was one thing, but the act he intended to commit was so vile that it made me shudder.
I would have had no regrets if I could die right then, but as if he had absolutely no intention of killing me, he spoke to the Saintess.
“You have corrupted holy water, right?”
“…Are you trying to heal him?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking of carrying this cripple around. If I stick him on a pole and hang him from a horse, I’ll be able to make my name even more as the Hero who captured a Demon King. A Demon King is an object of resentment. Besides, how many people died in the monster wave this bastard caused?”
‘…I didn’t kill them. I… I only….’
It was a tragedy brought about by the natural logic of power that unfolded after I descended upon this land—the monsters, swallowed by fear, fled away from the Demon King’s Castle.
I had not wished for that. I was not someone who had any desire to succeed as a Demon King.
Even the reason I studied theory was not truly because I wanted to succeed as a Demon King, but simply because I wanted to hide for a long time and live well.
Tears felt as if they would spill out, but I forced them back, and somehow tried to make the demonic energy gathered in my heart clash with the holy sword so I could die.
But the Hero pulled the sword out with a slick motion and sneered.
“You don’t get to die just like that, you cripple… Where do you think you’re going?”
Then he mercilessly sliced off my arms and legs, and sprinkled the corrupted holy water he had received from the Saintess over my body.
I despaired at that terrible, burning pain. The corrupted holy water that reached even my heart forcibly seared the wounded organ, causing tremendous agony.
A scream burst out on its own, and I howled, but as if he did not even want to hear that, the Hero thrust his blade into my vocal cords. Everyone except the Saintess burst into snickering laughter.
‘All I wanted was… a peaceful, quiet life. To live ordinarily… to blend into this world with bated breath, as if buried within it….’
Merely because I was called a Demon King, because of the laughably insignificant privilege I had been given, I had ended up drawing a Hero to me, and in the end, I had been cast into this wretched situation.
‘I… only….’
My thoughts ended there.
* * *
It had been a little over a year since I was dragged around by the Hero as an object of ridicule. In that time, I had suffered all manner of tyranny and witnessed vile deeds that were difficult even to imagine.
The man who had captured me was so unhesitating in murder that he seemed like a villain wearing the mask of the name Hero. Intoxicated by his own authority and power, he committed every kind of outrage, yet was admired by people solely for the title of the Hero who had hunted a Demon King.
He had even gained greater fame because of the bizarre act of keeping the Demon King he had hunted alive and carrying him around, but it seemed today would be the last of that as well.
“Insignificant Hero, were you so proud after hunting nothing more than a wretch like that?”
There were three Demon Kings who had descended upon this land in total.
There was me, the “Demon King of Savagery,” who was known to have had mid-level grades, and one of the five who had achieved top marks.
He had become known by the title Demon King of Corruption, and now, one year after his descent, he had swallowed two kingdoms and was scattering despair.
And the one who had come before me now, likewise trampling the Hero who had once trampled me so contemptuously, was a subordinate of the Demon King of Corruption.
“D-damn it… Why, why are you so strong? You’re nothing but a mere underling!!”
The Hero’s companions had been crushed underfoot and reduced to playthings for the demons, violated as they screamed and moaned in utter despair.
Even the Saintess, barely standing beside the Hero, was in the worst state. One of her arms had been torn off, and while barely maintaining consciousness, she was using holy arts to protect the Hero. But as if he had no interest in whether such a companion lived or died, the Hero’s eyes darted about, and then he abruptly grabbed the Saintess by the nape of her neck and threw her at the demons.
Then, just as he turned and fled without looking back—
As if swatting away a mere insect, the demon knocked aside the Saintess who came flying at him, immediately kicked off the ground, caught up to the Hero, and kicked him in the back, sending him crashing to the floor.
“I am Talos of Wrath, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King of Corruption. It would be proper for you to remember the name of the demon who killed you.”
“S-spare me, I’ll do anything, just spare me!!”
It was a desperate plea. But as if there was no such thing as mercy, Talos grabbed the Hero’s head and burst it apart.
After the situation had been dealt with, Talos, who had been looking around, met my gaze as I vacantly took in the scene.
“…Demon King of Disgrace, death will be mercy for you. This is the final courtesy to one whom I may once have had to serve. Is there anything you desire?”
I shook my head, then raised the demonic energy that was twitching ever so faintly and spoke to Talos.
[ Send me off without pain. ]
With a sorrowful expression, Talos nodded. He approached me and placed his hand on my head. Then he spoke in a calm tone.
“I hope you know that the Demon King of Corruption pitied you. You have endured much.”
At that moment, along with the sensation of pressure crushing my head, my consciousness instantly grew distant.
It was death.