Chapter 396: A Dream (2)
Any demonfolk possessing the needed intelligence to have some level of rational thought must have, at some point, had their suspicions about the Demon King of Destruction. There were so few actual known facts about the Demon King of Destruction that there were even a few conspiracy theories that speculated whether the Demon King of Destruction actually existed.
It was during the era of war, three hundred years ago, that the Demon King of Destruction left the strongest impression of his existence on recorded history. Until then, all of the Demon Kings and demonfolk had collectively remained within Helmuth, which gave the country its title as the Devildom.
But they didn’t all necessarily stay there. This was because there were a few species among the demonfolk who had no choice but to remain involved with the humans, such as the Night Demons and the Vampires. In fact, even before the dawn of the war era, it wasn’t rare for such demonfolk to attack humans.
However, it was only three hundred years ago that the demonfolk truly declared war on the humans and the entire continent.
The Demon King of Incarceration ruled the largest territory within Helmuth and, therefore, usually resided deep within Helmuth. But that Demon King, who had lived a quiet existence until then, suddenly destroyed one of the small countries located near the Devildom within a single night.
No one knew why he had done so, and the Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t shown any warning signs before taking action. It was just that, within the space of a single night, as the sun rose, the world discovered that a country had been destroyed.
That was how the war between the Devildom and the continent had started, with a sudden invasion by the Demon King of Incarceration. And as if they had been waiting for this opportunity, the three lower-ranking Demon Kings immediately mustered their Demon Armies and invaded the continent. Horrified, the nations of the continent raced to prepare a response.
Until that point, the Demon King of Destruction had still kept his silence. No one knew whether this was simply because of his dignity as the highest-ranking Great Demon King or if it was merely indifference... but the Demon King of Destruction didn’t bother raising an army of his own. The vassals who served the Demon King of Destruction also remained where they were instead of invading the continent with the other demonfolk.
The silent Demon King of Destruction only began to move when the entirety of the continent’s dragon population flew into the skies above Helmuth. The Demon King of Incarceration was the first to meet those dragons, but shortly afterward, the Demon King of Destruction also appeared.
‘It made you wonder if ‘that thing’ could truly be a Demon King,’ Noir Giabella recalled.
Noir had personally witnessed the battlefield where the dragons had died in droves, displaying none of their usual draconic dignity. At that time, Noir had been much weaker than she was now, and she longed for the strength the Demon Kings had shown.
When she had first heard that all of the dragons on the continent had gathered together to come and attack Helmuth, Noir had made her way to the battlefield on the off chance that she might be able to hunt down a few of the dragons and harvest their hearts. Harboring such hopes, she had headed out towards the front lines, but... she wasn’t even able to get close.
The Demon King of Incarceration had already arrived on the front lines of the battlefield, all on his own, and turned all of the other demonfolk, who had shown up to the battle while harboring the same greedy hopes as Noir, into bystanders.
It could only be described as a massacre, a truly one-sided massacre. Hundreds of dragons launched their breath attacks, chanted draconic incantations, and devastated both the heavens and the earth, but in front of the dark power of the Demon King of Incarceration, all of their desperate resistance still left them as helpless as children trying to stave off an adult. As hundreds and thousands of rays of light flashed within a single instant, dragons fell to the ground in their dozens, spilling their blood everywhere, only to soon be torn to pieces or crushed by the Demon King’s chains.
When about half of the dragons had been killed, the Demon King of Incarceration suddenly withdrew.
Because Destruction had arrived on the battlefield.
Noir couldn’t remember all that much of what she had seen back then.... Even though the sights and the emotions that she had felt at that moment were so intense it seemed like she would never forget them, she couldn’t remember much because she wasn’t able to comprehend much of what she had seen.
A riot of all sorts of colors, scattering apart before coming back together again, mixing and swirling together, before dividing back up into their separate colors once more; her entire field of view was swamped by these colors before they receded away like the tide.
All that was left was a lingering, disgusting sensation as if her brain itself had been tainted through the medium of her sight.
There was also an ominous foreboding that if she were to try and understand what she had just seen, her mind might be eaten away by it until it began to crumble.
‘That was something else,’ Noir thought with a shudder.
Noir had been alive for a very long time. Including the three Demon Kings who were now dead and fully erased from this world, she had met every one of the Demon Kings whose existence had been recorded in history. But among them, the Demon King of Destruction was a unique existence.
Was that thing really a Demon King? If it wasn’t a Demon King, then just what type of existence was it? Why was something like that being labeled as a ‘Demon King’?
“What has prompted you to take action now?” Alphiero asked, no longer attempting to hold back Noir. Instead, perhaps out of a desire to follow and monitor her, he was now flying a short distance behind Noir. “For the past three hundred years, you have never shown any interest in Ravesta, Duke Giabella.”
“That’s because there wasn’t any need for it until now,” Noir answered.
This was a fairly serious response on her part. While the Oath between the Demon King of Incarceration and the continent was intact and in full force, Noir had chosen to take advantage of the peace to cultivate her own strength.
During this era of peace, there was no need for her to find out more about this terrifying and ominous Demon King of Destruction. And even during the era of war, the Demon King of Destruction had merely wandered about, seemingly without any direct purpose.
During this peaceful era established by the Oath made between the Demon King of Incarceration and Vermouth, the Demon King of Destruction had hidden away in Ravesta, literally doing nothing at all.
However, the end of the Oath was approaching quickly. This wasn’t simply a guess on Noir’s part. After all, hadn’t the Demon King of Incarceration himself personally spoken out about the Oath coming to an end?
The terms of that Oath should also have something to do with the Demon King of Destruction, and the end of the Oath meant an end to this current peace. Would the Demon King of Destruction remain as silent as he was now once the world underwent such a change?
‘There’s no way that would be the case,’ Noir felt.
But to put things in another way, until the Oath ended, the Demon King of Destruction wouldn’t be making any movements. Even if Noir were to force her way into Ravesta and wander around, the Demon King of Destruction shouldn’t act to restrict Noir from doing so.
In that case — wasn’t this the perfect time to seek the answers she hadn’t been able to wring out of the Demon King of Incarceration? Noir thought of that ominous Moonlight Sword and of Eugene — who was somehow mixed up with that Moonlight Sword and the Demon King of Destruction.
“Have you heard about Jagon’s death?” Noir suddenly inquired.
The demonfolk of Ravesta were highly isolationist. From what Noir had heard, there didn’t seem to be a rule that actually prevented them from leaving Ravesta. Still, the vast majority of the demonfolk here, including Alphiero, who was currently following her, had never left Ravesta during these past three hundred years.
However, even among their number, there were still a few demonfolk who had escaped Ravesta, and of those, there were one or two who had also made quite a name for themselves.
There was Jagon, who had turned his fangs against his own father, Oberon, and formed his own gang of beastfolk.
Then there was also... one Amelia Merwin.
‘Though if you think about it, she’s not actually a demonfolk,’ Noir thought with a snort as she turned back to look at Alphiero.
She had been hoping to see at least a slight reaction from him, but Alpheiro’s face showed nothing but calmness.
“Yes, I have heard about it,” Alphiero confirmed. “They say that he died while felling the Dragon-Demon Castle.”
Noir nodded, “That’s right. It’s quite an unfortunate death, isn’t it? After all, I considered Jagon to be the best among the younger generation of demonfolk.”
“That’s true,” Alphiero agreed. “Setting aside his character, Jagon’s strength and youthful potential were exceptional. If only he had just been a bit more rational and patient, at least he wouldn’t have had to die in that battle at the Dragon-Demon Castle.”
Although his expression was as calm as ever, Alphiero’s sympathy felt sincere.
‘But ‘more patient,’ he says... what could more patience have potentially brought Jagon?’ Noir thought to herself with a smile as she turned around.
Could Alphiero still be waiting for the awakening of his master, who had been silent for the past hundreds of years?
“Isn’t living such a life of seclusion boring, Alphiero? Even now, if it’s a demonfolk at your level, you’re guaranteed to be able to claim a high position within Pandemonium. Or perhaps... how about it? Would you rather come to work in my city?” Noir invited him.
“Are you talking about your new Giabella City?” Alphiero asked.
Noir laughed triumphantly, “Ahaha, it seems the rumors have even reached Ravesta? That’s right, I’m talking about my Giabella City. It’s actually been a lot more successful than I had expected it would be, and because of that, we’re short on manpower in many areas. It’s not just you, Alphiero. I can accept your whole clan as well.”
Alphiero shook his head and said, “I am thankful for the offer, but I must decline.”
“But why?” Noir pouted. “As expected, is it because of your loyalty to the Demon King of Destruction? If so, it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about that. If the Demon King of Destruction ever calls for you, you’ll be permitted to leave my side immediately.”
Noir wasn’t actually so short of manpower that she needed to extend a hand to outsiders. To a certain extent, her question was only meant to probe Alphiero’s reaction. Though if Alphiero were willing to accept her offer, Noir felt she could just have him clean the bathrooms in Giabella City.
“His Highness, the Demon King of Destruction, has no need to rely on me or my clan,” Alphiero said, shaking his head in resignation with a wry smile. “Regardless of his will or lack thereof, we are committed to serving him here in Ravesta.”
Should she try to use her Demoneye of Fantasy on him? Noir was tempted to dig deeper into his dreams and consciousness so that she could try to open a hole to peek into Alphiero’s heart.
But no, there were several risks with taking such a course of action. That ominous and alien dark power of the Demon King of Destruction within Alphiero might just retaliate by causing any intruder’s consciousness to collapse. As someone who specialized in invading the minds of others, this made it quite an unpleasant opponent for Noir. So Noir didn’t want to take the risk of endangering her own consciousness just to take a look into Alphiero’s dreams.
Noir noticed something, ‘This... isn’t just at the level of showing loyalty to his Demon King. It’s like he’s a fanatic.’
Until now, Noir had developed quite a nasty hobby of corrupting and destroying the faith of many devout religious figures. When Alphiero spoke of the Demon King of Destruction, in some ways, he seemed to resemble those fanatics.
‘Though indeed, that thing... it does seem closer to a god than a Demon King,’ Noir admitted to herself.
Considering the existence of divine power and miracles, it seemed that gods did exist, but... even after having lived for so long, Noir had never once seen a god in person. So, in the same sense of being an existence beyond any mortal comprehension, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference between the Demon King of Destruction and a god.
If that was the case, didn’t it only make sense that others would worship and devote themselves to it? Noir herself wasn’t unfamiliar with being worshiped and treated as an object of faith by the unwashed masses. Right at this moment, Giabella City and Dreamea were full of naked monkeys who worshiped Noir like a god.
“It seems that there really is nothing here?” Noir muttered doubtfully while looking around at an empty beach and the scenery that lay beyond it.
Upon arriving at Ravesta, she discovered that there truly was nothing to see here. It was a barren wilderness without even a single blade of grass, let alone any trees. Even on the beach, there didn’t seem to be any waves. The only things wandering around on this desolate land were gray clouds of dust that looked like the ashes left after something had been burned.
“Should I just head in on my own? Or else, would you like to open it up for me?” Noir asked with a snort as she pointed a finger at the seemingly empty wilderness.
At this rude demand, Alphiero stepped forward with a wry smile.
Fwoosh!
The dust-filled wilderness split open as a black hole appeared in the ground.
“It’s like you’re all a bunch of moles,” Noir said with a giggle as she folded her wings.
Then, without waiting for Alphiero’s response, she jumped into the hole.
‘Or would it be better to call them fundamentalists?’ Noir considered idly.
This reminded her of a very long time ago, a time when humans couldn’t even distinguish the difference between monsters and demonic beasts, an era when demonic beasts didn’t possess any sapience or sentience and couldn’t be reborn as demonfolk.
In that era, light couldn’t be found anywhere in the world. Fire might have been warming, but it couldn’t light up the darkness. The only source of light was the sun that rose in the morning and set in the evening. Even the lightning that split apart the night sky could only draw lines of light; it couldn’t illuminate the ever-present darkness.
In that era, when the day and the night were perfectly divided into light and dark, the humans were only active during the day, while the demonic beasts were only active at night. Without a single speck of light, the night hours belonged to the demonic beasts, and the humans had to struggle to avoid being hunted down as prey.
According to theology, the God of Light descended upon this world and gave humans light. From the moment that the God of Light descended, flames became able to illuminate the darkness. Even the lightning, which was only capable of creating noise, was now able to brighten up the world with its flash.
From then onwards, the balance of power between humans and demonic beasts had reversed. Humans already possessed the advantage of intelligence, and now they were even able to transform the night into day.
Things such as egos didn’t originally exist among the demonic beasts who were born out of the ‘demonic’ darkness. However, at some point, the demonic beasts began to develop egos. As they slowly began to define their own existence as being something more than mere monsters, the demonic beasts transformed into the demonfolk.
That was how the species known as the ‘demonfolk’ appeared in this world. Just like how the origin of all spirits lay in the primal spirits, the source of all demonfolk lay within those demonic beasts that once wandered the eternal darkness. So, from that perspective, this underground city of Ravesta seemed to be paying lip service to the ‘demonic’ darkness that once served as the origin of the demonfolk race.
“So that’s why humans can’t survive here,” Noir realized upon arrival at their destination.
They had passed through a strangely distorted space. Although the hole she had jumped into appeared to be leading somewhere beneath the desolate island, the location they had arrived at wasn’t someplace underground. This space — no, should she call it by what it was, a dimensional rift? Noir giggled as she turned and looked out into the endless void of darkness.
“If it’s a human, their eyes would never be able to get used to the darkness in here. And if they ever could see anything, even just a little, it would drive them crazy,” Noir remarked as she idly wetted her lower lip with her tongue.
She had spotted the demonic beasts who were sleeping within the pitch-black darkness.
So these were the demonic beasts used during the war... no, there were more than that. It seemed that all of the demonic beats that had ever been born, lived, and survived throughout Helmuth’s long history had been ‘tucked away’ here, within the darkness of this city. The sight of all these countless monsters floating in the void looked like a star-filled sky drawn in shadows or a dark reflection of an aurora.
Noir gasped, “That’s... whoa! Those are the Centipede Mountains, aren’t they? I always wondered where they went after the war. So they were here? The Demon King of Incarceration is quite cruel. Even though they faithfully served as the gatekeepers for his territory during the war.”
The Centipede Mountains were giant demonic beasts that had once encircled the Demon King of Incarceration’s castle.
Pointing towards the Centipede Mountains, which were floating in the darkness like a nebula in the night sky, Noir laughed and said, “Though indeed, since the war is over and there is nowhere to put them to use, why not just stuff them away here. I’m asking this just in case, but they won’t suddenly come to their senses and attack us, right?”
Noir turned to look back as she said this. However, Alphiero’s figure was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she felt several gazes staring at her from the darkness.
“After having brought me here so far, are you now telling me to go wherever I please?” Noir said with a giggle as her eyes lit up.
The Demoneye of Fantasy flashed. Initially, the Demoneye was only capable of simple uses of hypnosis and hallucinations. So, compared to other Demoneyes, it wasn’t a very high-level ability.
However, when Noir Giabella used the Demoneye of Fantasy, she was capable of truly transforming reality into fantasy. Without needing to dive into their dreams, she could neutralize all of the gazes staring at her by simply showing them an illusion.
It was a blatant display of her power and also a threat. The demonfolk who had been watching Noir from the darkness immediately withdrew their gazes. No matter how they tried to hide themselves, Noir had shown that they couldn’t escape her sight, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to gain the upper hand on Noir if they kept trying to play hide and seek with her.
“There’s no need to be too wary. Just think of it as a simple tourist dropping by,” Noir waved them off with a snort as she deactivated the Demoneye of Fantasy.
Then she spun around and began walking forward.
‘It seems like requesting an audience won’t be possible.... Hm, isn’t there any other method to approach him?’ Noir considered the question.
This cavern was full of an ominous dark power. Any ordinary demonfolk would go crazy before too long upon entering this place. However, Noir was only left with a slightly sour taste in her mouth. Her consciousness wasn’t polluted or otherwise harmed.
‘I was hoping that there would at least be a Demon King’s Castle to head to,’ Noir thought as she looked around.
Even though this was the city where all of the vassals of the Demon King of Destruction lived... there wasn’t any form of lighting. Although it could still somewhat be considered a city, none of the infrastructure that Helmuth required of a city existed here.
‘It seems that all of their nourishment needs are taken care of by his dark power,’ Noir surmised. ‘...But how could they bear to be stuck in this place for the past three hundred years?’
Could it be that the dark power of Destruction had brainwashing properties? As she looked around at this extremely dull city, Noir couldn’t help but think that Jagon and Amelia, who had left Ravesta a long time ago, were the normal ones for leaving this place.
Noir encouraged herself, ‘But the presence of his dark power also means that the Demon King of Destruction must be here somewhere.’
She had no intention of getting too close to the Demon King. However, she wanted to get a deeper feeling for the Demon King’s presence than what the dark power currently floating around her was providing.
And should it be possible, if the Demon King of Destruction was an existence ‘capable’ of having a conversation, then... she was also eager to talk to him. There was a possibility that something might go wrong and he would try to devour her, but it wasn’t like she had just ventured in here blindly without even having a plan to deal with such an eventuality.
‘For now, let’s just explore...,’ Noir decided.
Thin thread-like strands of her dark power began to spread across the stifling curtain of dark power draped over the land. Noir mustered up her focus as she continued her search.
Soon, Noir’s lips parted in a gasp, “Oh my.”
She had found something. Unable to ignore her own curiosity, Noir moved towards it.
“Hey,” Eugene suddenly spoke up from beside her.
Noir, who had been flying through the dark void, ground to a halt as she turned to look at Eugene. Although he looked like a washed-out phantom of himself, Eugene was definitely standing at her side, staring at Noir with a surly expression.
Noir stuttered, “H-how did you do that?”
Eugene frowned, “Do what?”
“I’m talking about what you’re doing right now,” Noir clarified. “How have you appeared within this ‘dream’?”
All of this was a part of Noir’s memory. Noir had been showing Eugene the events she had experienced when she had gone to Ravesta just a few days ago by turning her memories of that day into a dream.
This meant that Eugene wasn’t a subject of this dream, so, in this dream, Eugene shouldn’t exist.
But Eugene had still suddenly appeared out of thin air. Noir, who had been busy replaying her memories as a dream, couldn’t help but be genuinely flustered by this fact. Even though it was true that she had created this dream without any intent to endanger Eugene, to think that he would still be able to manifest at will and interfere in this dream....
‘His mental strength must be beyond any human’s,’ Noir observed.
Of course, it was only natural that Eugene’s mental strength was stronger than any ordinary human. Eugene turned his gaze away from Noir’s flustered expression and pointed towards the demonic beasts floating within this dark space.
“Those things, are they real?” Eugene demanded.
Noir was snapped out of her daze, “Huh...?”
“I’m asking if they’re real,” Eugene repeated impatiently.
Noir hesitated, “If you want to know whether they’re fake or not, then for now... I’ll have to say that it’s fake. Because, Hamel, everything you’re currently looking at is an illusion I have created.”
Eugene shook his head, “No, I’m asking if what you saw there was real?”
“Of course it was,” Noir nodded. “Hamel, what benefit could I obtain from showing you such a lie? If your personality was even a little bit more docile, then I believed that I might have liked to show you something scary on purpose to see your frightened expression, but... you’re not that type of person, now are you?”
“So you’re saying that those things are real....” Eugene let out a sigh as he looked at all of the demonic beasts.
Not only were there far too many of them, but each of the demonic beasts was also gigantic in their own right. Just imagining all of them pouring out of here was enough for Eugene to already feel pissed off with having to deal with them.
“That’s...,” Noir fidgeted. “Hamel, just how have you done this?”
“Done what?” Eugene asked absentmindedly.
“I’m talking about you appearing in this dream. It’s true that I wasn’t all that careful about putting up a barrier, but that still shouldn’t have allowed you to break into the dream solely by using your mental power...,” Noir said doubtfully.
“I just tried it, and it worked,” Eugene said with a sullen expression as he began trying to move his body around.
However, it seemed that his body hadn’t been recreated all that accurately, so he wasn’t capable of moving off on his own.
Putting up with his current phantom-like existence for now, Eugene glanced at Noir and asked, “So, where are you going now? Are you heading off to see the Demon King of Destruction?”
“There’s someone else I have to meet before that,” Noir informed him.
“Who?” Eugene asked curiously.
“Amelia Merwin and her merry companions,” Noir slyly revealed.
At these words, Eugene’s face twisted in a scowl.
“I’m not interested in that fucking bitch or that son of a bitch beside her,” Eugene cursed. “Can’t we just skip them and go see the Demon King of Destruction directly?”
Noir shook her head, “To that, I would have to completely rewrite this dream, and in the process, a few fictions might slip in.”
This surprise had actually worked out for the best. Noir quickly leaned over towards Eugene and wrapped her arms around Eugene’s flickering form. Eugene’s eyes widened as he tried to get away from Noir, but Noir refused to let go of Eugene.
“There’s no need to be so disgusted, Hamel. Don’t you think that it would be helpful for you to get a look at their current plans?” Noir tempted Eugene.
To think she would get a chance to go on a date within her dream. With a bright smile, Noir resumed replaying the memory.
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