Volume 8, 4 – The Birth of Belle

Volume 8, Chapter 4 – The Birth of Belle

Eighty-seven years after Tachibana Akari activated Kara’s reincarnation magic, the world was engulfed into chaos.

The cause of it was Belle, daughter of Beldir, who’s one of the chiefs of the Demon Clan. Her massive powers ran out of control.

The Demon Clan, also known as the Demons, existed in this world from the beginning of time.

Contrary to popular belief, the Demons are a gentle race with a small population. Although they are blessed with a strong physique and magic power, they don’t like to pursue conflict.

That was also the perception of the humans of this world back then.

They also had a relatively friendly relationship with humans, far from being dreaded as the top foes depicted in today’s fairy tales.

And, as expected of the daughter of the chief who was voted often for being strongest of the clan, Belle possessed a high amount of magic power, far in comparison to her peers.

This should be the good news for the clan who always respect the strong. However, there was a problem as Belle’s power increased day by day. By the time Belle was over ten years old, her strength was already far beyond the current Demon Lord, the supreme ruler of the clan.

Obviously, she had no way to control such a massive amount of magic with that child-like body of hers. All she could do was suppress it.

But even in her utmost efforts, the excess magic power leaking from her body is already toxic enough to weaken her fellow Demons just being near to her. It was also the first time they felt a sense of fear from it, rather than the usual pride and joy.

And so, the current Demon Lord, also feeling the impending of danger towards it, decided to take Belle away, ‘confining’ her far from his people until she can finally control her magic powers.

However, it was only the beginning of the tragedy.

For the young Belle, as well as other children her age, living away from her father and mother is a tough thing to do. It was even more so that she had a terrible sickness that she has to endure.

Why can’t I play outside like other children?

Why can I only meet my beloved parents once a month?

She had a lot of questions like the other children of her age, and yet they are all left unanswered.

Still, Belle endured.

She wanted to be a good girl. She wanted her parents to be proud of her. She wanted to get rid of this sickness and return as early as possible. She doesn’t want to see their distressed faces anymore.

Several years had passed since then.

However, as patient as she was, Belle was still a child in the end. She wasn’t able to resist anymore, meeting her parents once a month.

So, she secretly smashed the building where they ‘confined’ her and went away to finally see her missed mother.

She thought back then that her mom would be happy that she’s come to meet her.

She thought back then that her mom would praise her, saying, “Belle is such a good girl”, while stroking her head.

However, the reality was just too cruel.

Her mother, upon seeing Belle out from her ‘confinement’, felt terrified, as they have known that the place where she was ‘confined’ into was impossible even for adults of heir clan, to escape.

Yes, it was a prison, and the tighest prison they have. And yet, she’s here, all in one piece.

For the first time, Belle realized that her mother was looking at her with terror in her eyes.

She tried to approach, but she only stepped back.

M-mom?

H-how did you get here! That place should have……This is impossible!

B-but I just want to see you, mom! I really missed you! I—

No! Stay away! You monster!

At that moment, it was only a single word. Yet, everything she had been enduring till now all now, everything she had believed in, everything she had dreamed of, all of it started crumbling down.

Don’t tell me, my parents made me stay in that cruel place because they don’t need me anymore?

But why? Why would they do that? I was a good girl! I endured so hard! Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Many times, many times, she asked her little self that question.

She kept believing, kept denying.

However, her pure mind could only arrive with only one answer.

That she was mistaken all along.

That she was different from the others.

That she, was a monster.

Now that the dam was broken, Belle’s consciousness was swallowed by the vast magical power residing inside of her.

Belle still threw a tantrum like a violent child.

However, with her powers grown up to another level, the Demons were no longer able to stop her.

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The original Belle wasn’t supposed to be born with this massive amount of magical power at first.

Her powers were supposed to awaken at the age similar to her best friend in her cryostasis state. Or at least when her body is large enough to contain Akari’s magic powers.

However, maybe because Belle was just too talented for her age, or maybe because of the unique constitution of the Demons, or maybe the spell was still incomplete due to the lack of tests, the reincarnation magic had malfunctioned, activating earlier than the target age.

Because of it, the soul of Kara, which was supposed to be consumed as a price, was absorbed by the soul of Akari instead. This is the primary cause that significantly boosted the amount of magic power in the little child’s body.

Despite both being human beings, it was still a massive amount of magic power, as it is equivalent to two otherworldly archmages.

Thankfully, the body chosen was that of a Demon. If not, Belle would have burst from the massive surge of mana, much, much earlier than now.

Still, because of the malfunction, Akari’s memories had fallen into a deep sleep inside her soul.

――Why did that happen?

First, we have to explain why the chosen body was that of a Demon instead of a Human.

That time, the continent has upgraded its utilization of magic power. Still, it didn’t mean that the human’s constitutions will improve by a lot because of it. It just made their lives more comfortable, but their ideals and traditions were still of the old.

They wage wars for their hunger for power. They hoard artifacts to appease their greed, they abuse peasants to fulfill their pride. They violate women to relieve their lust.

With all the sins being rampant, the population of this world only continued to dwindle, so to speak the quality of their lives. Deaths from wars, famine, violence, et cetera…… all these factors made the mortality rate of this world to exceed the scales, giving the reincarnation magic no other choice but to choose a much safer place, or else all their efforts will turn into a waste.

And so, the spell had chosen a pregnant existence closer to a human who also had a constitution enough to house another existence, strong enough to win against their foes, and can live long enough to see her best friend once more.

This is why spell ended up being in a pregnant Demon in that timeline.

Demons, compared to humans, have greater constitutions surpassing them in almost every way, be it in physical ability, magic power, even lifespan. Their only lesser attribute is their reproductive ability, but for the spell, it was the most obvious choice.

That time, the wife of the Demon Lord Beldir was pregnant with his child, which was then confirmed to be a girl. Being born in a strong bloodline, the baby already possessed a large vessel containing a vast amount of magic power. This served as a huge beacon for the spell, and as a result, the unborn child was finally chosen as Akari’s new host.

However, the succeeding series of unfortunate events would have never happened if they had treated Belle with good care than isolating her all alone.

Whether it was due to the influence of her human soul, being separated from her beloved parents at a very young age has given a massive impact on Belle’s mind.

Added to that was her hostile environment where she grew up, making her more and more impatient even though she has already endured quite a lot.

Her mother gazing at her like some kind of monster was her final straw.

When she saw that, the world had ended――she felt.

Belle’s soul, which had closed its heart in this way, resonated Akari’s soul, who was hiding inside her.

Akari was deeply hurt with the grief of Kara sacrificing herself to make her use the reincarnation magic to reunite with her best friend.

Belle was deeply hurt by the fact that her parents, whom she loved the most, betrayed her, all because of her enormous magic power.

The negative emotions of each other fused together, making the enormous amount of magical power go out of control.

This led to Belle losing her sense of self, becoming the true epitome of violence, becoming the true Demon Lord in its name.

The Demons became her first victims, and were almost wiped out.

From then on, she dealt with every little thing and every being she has met in her path with force. All the things she crammed up, all the things she had endured, she had all of it released in every violent way possible. Be it caravans, villages, kingdoms, wars and natural calamities, she had left nothing standing in its wake.

It was the birth of a dark era. All until that particular time.

Maybe because Belle’s mind was mature enough to feel rational or maybe because the longing of her other part of the soul is just that strong, or maybe the countless battles had reduced the stress of her body’s powers, Belle crossed numerous continents with a fixed destination, as if her body was aiming for something.

Yes, by this time, she’s unconsciously aiming for the Lavabelle Tower, where her long-lost friend, is sleeping. However, there is still quite a distance left for her to cross, making the path difficult.

It was even more so now that every being in the world wants her dead. So, battle after battle, she advanced to the tower, leaving blood and corpses along the way.

With this, Belle was now entirely renowned as the Demon Lord, who plunged the world into its near apocalypse.

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A few years since her magic power started its rampage.

That time, Belle had already healed the wounds of her heart and mind. However, it left a bloody scenery where nothing was left standing around her.

She was already awake, but she kept on fighting, kept on dealing with enemies who came to end her life.

However, she didn’t stop. Rather, she couldn’t.

Because she knows that if she did, she’s done.

The only thing that moved Belle was the thought of not wanting to die.

“……someone, please, help me.”

No matter how desperate she had told them that she had no intention of fighting anymore, no one would listen.

After all, she already possessed magic power enough to blow away a city in a whim. And it was countless times her body has done it so. Things have just gone too far at this point.

Akin to a cornered rat, all the enemies become more desperate to take her down, with their lives if needed, because they believe that if they don’t, countless more will die.

Of course, Belle wasn’t stupid enough to realize that she had done something very wrong to them. Even though she had no memory of when she was a rampaging Demon Lord, the evidence of the bodies around her, and the bloody eyes of the soldiers that come to her, she had already guessed that she was the cause.

Thus, she battled and battled, every single day, leaving mountains of corpses in every road she takes.

She didn’t want to kill anyone as long as she could.

However, if she didn’t kill, the enemy would only recover and aim at her life once more.

Rest is still necessary, no matter how powerful Belle may be.

For that, she needed to reduce their numbers before hiding. The more she cleaves, the longer she will be left undetected.

She repeated this process every day, coming against the enemy by the day, hiding and sleeping while frightened at her pursuers by the night.

She knows that this mustn’t go on, or her heart will eventually wear out.

After a few years, Belle finally reached her destination, the Lavabelle Tower.

“……Finally, I finally arrived.”

However, just because she arrived here doesn’t really mean she had already known everything. Rather, she was still clueless about why she had got herself here.

In the first place, she just got here because she was guided by her instincts. But even after she made it, she felt no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.

She felt nothing.

“……and yet, why?”

Belle couldn’t hold on, and tears overflowed from her eyes.

“Why is it? Isn’t that because you reincarnated here?”

“――Who-!?”

Surprised by the sudden voice that talked to her, she immediately looked back.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Cecily Bain. I hope we get along well from now on, Demon Lord-san.”

It was a young female mage who called out to Belle.

And Belle, who had fought with countless mages before getting here, knew. ――This girl is strong.

“You’re a mage, and you still have the gal to show yourself at my face just like that? You know, you could have lived a little longer if you had used magic from a distance, you know, like the usual.”

“Then why are you so scared? Don’t worry. I have no intention of fighting you.”

The magician, who identified herself as Cecily, sat close to me when he saw through my strength.

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“……why?”

I was puzzled by Cecily’s actions.

Up to now, my enemies have tried to kill me without any notice.

“I just said that I don’t want to fight. Please don’t tell me that the Demon Lord is a stupid person?”

I was offended. I was offended! I know all my enemies are angry at me, but she called e stupid, right in front of my face! And she was even younger than me!

And so, just to intimidate her a bit, I tried to use a little magic.

However, perhaps because I was also feeling angry at that time, the magic sphere I have conjured turned out larger than I imagined.

“Ah, shit! ――Eeh!?”

I was going to cancel the magic spell at once, but before I did that, the magic sphere disappeared as soon as Cecily waved her hand.

“Good grief. Maou-san is really enthusiastic. Even though I wanted to finish it smoothly, do you really want to fight me that much?”

The magic sphere I had conjured was already at a level where it could make an ordinary person disappear in an instant.

Yet, Cecily erased it just like that, and even continued our talks as if nothing happened in particular.

“……no, I was the one being rude here. My apologies”

Was it because of the excessive shock? I apologized for the first time in a long while.

“Yes, yes. That’s good, I’m here because I really wanted for us to have a talk.”

The apologizing Demon Lord, and the Mage who just laughs it off as she forgives her. The situation which should usually be the opposite had now its tables turned.

After we found out that we had no intention of fighting each other, or perhaps it was just because I was craving for interaction, we spoke to each other. By that, I mean a lot.

From her speech, I have found out that Cecily, the girl beside me right now, was the strongest human mage, also known as the archmage, and she was tasked to subdue the Demon Lord, which was me. I then questioned her why she was doing this, but the only reply I received is that she didn’t really feel like doing it.

I don’t know if she was feeling arrogant at that time, or she was just not right in the head.

But I still kept going on for some reason. Although I had no memory of that time when I was rampaging all over the world, I was already tired of running. I want to spend the rest of my life in peace.

Also, while I was talking to her, I felt like all the splinters on my body were getting plucked out one by one. By the time it ended, I felt a sense of relief.

Little did I know that I was already in tears when I ended my tale. If not for her question why am I crying, I wouldn’t even realize that I was.

Then I told her about how I came onto this tower. That there was a sense of mission that I have to accomplish, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

At that moment, for some reason, I couldn’t stop crying.

“Hmm. I see. Then it must be ‘that’. No, it could only be ‘that’.”

That time, I couldn’t understand what Cecily was saying.

“You know, I am a part of the lineage that watches over this tower. You want a place to relax, right? Why not stay here till your hot tail cools down? Of course, I have to seal your powers, or else it will run amok once more.”

What is this girl saying? I understand. Why would she offer something so ridiculous?

However, deep inside my soul, it wanted to accept her. It wanted me to trust her……it was, strange.

“If we keep going like this, you’re only leading yourself to a path ruin, of kill or be killed. Wouldn’t that be a waste? Plus, it is as you said, you’re already tired, yet you’re still here, wanting to live on. So, I’m offering you a solution. Don’t worry. Once you have proven yourself that you are not dangerous anymore, the seal will unlock by itself.”

Cecily said, then went to the tower without even checking my consent.

“……What a really absurd thing to say”

I certainly thought at that time. However, I still entered the tower, chasing after Cecily.

Thus, with this, the tragic stories of the Demon Lord Belle finally came to an end.