Chapter 295 - The last Demon Lord

Kretos woke up feeling a bit light-headed. The moment he woke up he saw that his head was laying on top of someone's thighs and that someone was a golden-haired Kitsune. Kretos tried remembering what he was doing here and who this Kitsune was. After thinking for a while he remembered that this was the Demon Lord Tsukiko.

Now that he remembered who the person was, Kretos was wondering why they were in this position. He tried to recall what happened before he lost consciousness, but all he could remember were fuzzy details. 

"You're already awake?" 

"... Yeah, so can you tell me what am I doing here?" Kretos asked while continuing to lay his head on Tsukiko's thighs. 

"You came to me to ask for a favor. I've fulfilled my end of the bargain I hope you fulfill yours."

When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said he could vaguely remember making a promise with her. He promised not to harm her or her territory, but what was the favor he asked of her?

"What kind of favor did I ask for?" 

"You asked me to wipe away a specific memory." When Kretos heard what Tsukiko said he closed his eyes and frowned. 

"Is there something wrong? If you're feeling light-headed that will dissipate after a while." Tsukiko spoke a bit worried that Kretos would get irritated by the aftercare treatment and then he would go against his promise and kill her. 

As Tsukiko was getting a little bit anxious about what Kretos would do next, Kretos himself was deep in thought. Even though he couldn't remember much of what happened, he was sure that Tsukiko wasn't lying to him. If she wanted to do something to him, she could've done a thousand things while he was unconscious. Also, it would be hard for even Tsukiko to mess with his memories without his permission. 

"So, in the end, I was a coward and ran away. I don't know what memory was removed but for me to even think of such a thing, shows that I'm still immature and too weak." 

When Tsukiko heard Kretos's mumblings she wanted to tell him, if you're too weak then what about the rest? 

Kretos looked at the falling leaves of the Jubokko tree. It was already noon and the sun was high up in the sky. Being under the shade of the gigantic tree made it a bit breezy. The warm summer breeze blew by Kretos and he felt at peace. 

Kretos unconsciously smiled, it was a normal everyday smile that you wouldn't normally see on his face. He then closed his eyes and decided that it was good to take a little nap. 

Tsukiko who watched the changing expressions on Kretos's face was surprised to see him sleeping. But more surprising than that was the expression on his face, he was smiling but at the same time crying. 

'That girl must have meant more to him than I expected.' Tsukiko gently wiped away Kretos's tears. She then gently caressed the face of the young demon laying down on her thighs. 

'I wonder what drives you forward? What made you choose, battle over the memory of her. What is it that you seek, and what is it you wish to gain?' Tsukiko giggled as she looked at the defenseless Kretos. If she wanted to she could probably kill him now. 

'As expected from someone so strong. Am I so weak in your eyes that even if you're asleep, you think I won't be able to do anything to you, or perhaps this is something else.'

...

A few days after Kretos lost his memory of Leila news of Demonic Fox Tsukiko's surrender spread throughout the land. It was shocking enough that Kretos was able to get through the Eastern Lands without anyone noticing, but he was able to make the tricky Tsukiko surrender without fighting. 

"There's only one demon lord left." 

"If Demon Lord Kir loses, will that make Kretos demon king?"

"We haven't had a demon king for a long time now. No demon is that powerful or even that charismatic. Still, maybe he could actually do it." 

"Don't go saying that just yet, the last of the demon lords is the Mighty Lord Kir. He isn't like the other demon lords and he's basically the strongest. Even if all the demon lords came together to attack him he would still win. The only reason why he doesn't rule over us all is simply because he just wants to stay in his territory. If he decides to go out and do it, he would've been the demon king long ago." 

"I almost forgot about that, since it's been a few centuries since his last battle. That's why he's able to stay in the middle of all the other demon lords territories since he doesn't fear them at all."

"Are we going to watch the battle?" 

"Are you kidding me, we all went to the Northern Lands and we didn't even get a glimpse of the fight between Jiro and Kretos." 

"Yeah, this time I'm going to sit this one out." 

"Yeah me too, I think this fight is going to be too dangerous to spectate anyway." 

All the demons were all talking about the upcoming fight between Kir and Kretos. The two demons who have never known defeat before. Who between them will remain undefeated? Who will be known as the Demon King? The excitement of the upcoming match made all the other demons start betting on who would win. Some of them know they will die if they watch the fight, but they couldn't help it and wanted to see the fight that would determine who the strongest demon was, even if death was the price to watch.

...

While all the demons were having fun gossiping about Kir and Kretos. The Demon Lord of the Lycans was sitting lazily on his throne. By his side was his adjutant Shera who was giving a report about the rumors of Kretos coming to challenge him next. 

"So I'm the only one left. This Horned Demon seems to be stronger than all the other challengers that came before him. Well, it doesn't matter the moment he steps foot in my territory there will be no mercy."

...

A few days after resting in the Eastern Lands Kretos finally set out to face the final demon lord. When Kretos left the Eastern Lands, Tsukiko announced that she was renouncing her title as a demon lord. 

This announcement of hers didn't shock many demons, seeing as she already surrendered to Kretos calling herself a demon lord would be a bit awkward. 

...

Kir was as usual lazily sitting on his stone throne when he started smelling the scent of an unknown person entering his domain. Kir who was in his human form stood up and started howling, signaling his citizens to move out of the way of his strike. His howl was being echoed by the other Lycans. 

When the demons heard the howling of their demon lord, they quickly moved away from the location that was about to get hit. In fact, they all started fleeing the middle lands, since they know a very destructive battle was about to happen.

When Kir sensed that all of his citizens had evacuated he started gathering mana into his fist. Demon Lord Kir was a demon that didn't know how to use any spells. Yet even without the use of spells, he knew how to use mana. 

After gathering a significant amount of mana into his fist Kir punched out. The punch released a massive beam of mana that destroyed everything in its path. The trees and everything else that were in the way of the punch were disintegrated. The mana beam that Kir released reached the very edge of his domain. 

Nothing in its path should be able to survive, yet to Kir's surprise, the intruder was still moving. The intruder had actually evaded his strike. Kir then gathered mana again and released multiple mana beams. 

Once again the intruder was able to survive and was getting closer to Kir. The Demon Lord Kir unconsciously smiled as he felt the intruder coming closer. How long has it been since someone was able to survive his first strike? It has been centuries since the last time. 

'Will this challenger be able to show me something new?' Kir no longer attacked and waited for the intruder to come to him.

...

Kretos was surprised that he was attacked the moment he set foot into the middle lands. It was such a powerful strike as well. The fight was just beginning but Kretos was already super excited. Yet after evading numerous mana beams the attacks stopped coming. 

Kretos sped up and finally arrived before the Demon Lord Kir. The first thing Kretos noticed upon seeing Kir was that the Lycan Demon Lord was still in his human form. That would mean he sent those powerful mana beams in his weaker form. Just thinking about that gave Kretos goosebumps and he started showing that vicious smile of his. 

"Name yourself intruder." 

"Kretos of the Shadow Clan." 

"As expected... Did you come to challenge me?" 

"What else would I be doing?" 

"A cheeky one... Very well, Warrior Kretos I Demon Lord Kir, accept your challenge."