CH 156

(…… What is this place?)

Before I realized it, I was drifting in a pitch-black space. Well, not just dark, but black? Anyway, everything around me was black and there was no ground, so I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. Was I floating, falling, or flying horizontally? There was no wind or scent, so I really didn’t know anything.

(I’m …… nnnn)

The moment I became aware of my own existence, the sensation returned to my body. Something was seeping into my body from my fingertips, which did not move even a twitch no matter how much effort I put into them. At the same time, an indescribable feeling of discomfort clinged to my entire body. It was like having rain-soaked clothes sticking to your skin. It was incredibly annoying, but there was nothing I could do about it.

(What is this? What kind of situation…oh, right. Come to think of it, I feel like I was eaten by something. So this is what it feels like to be eaten by the Demon King..?)

It doesn’t make sense, to put it mildly, that this is the result of being swallowed whole from the head down. Is it possible that the body is already gone and the Demon King has captured me in a spirit-only state?

(Haa, I messed up. Damn it, I wasn’t a good match. A guy like that can easily be defeated by using absolute magic, right? If only I had come here with Tia from the beginning. …… No, I wouldn’t have been able to break through the horde of magical beasts.)

It should be a rather desperate situation, but somehow there was no sense of frustration in me. The black world embraced me, and I was aware of the power of the Demon King who was trying desperately to enter my mind. …… Then suddenly, a voice echoed in my head.

–Why?

(From this feeling, the Demon King’s goal must be to merge with me, right? No, more accurately, it’s to return to the way things were?)

–Why?

(Then is winning or losing a matter of initiative? So the result is all the same. ……)

–Why?

(But if I think about it, everything ultimately comes down to me, the soul of the Demon King. In addition, I have already collected the power of two other Demon Kings. I used to think that the Demon King was incredibly strong and had no way to fight back from a human perspective, but in reality, this entity is just a fraction of my power.)

–Why?

(That’s right. Why ……)

–Why was I so scared and running away from an opponent like this?

Suddenly, I felt the world tremble. The all-encompassing blackness, which had no variation or texture, pulsated and thrashed violently.

My arm extended forward as if with no resistance at all. As I focused my consciousness, the power that was slowly seeping into me was suddenly and forcefully sucked into my being.

“Oh, this guy is amazing!”

It’s nothing. There’s no point in resisting. It’s my own power that wants to return to me, so I should accept it actively.

However, the control belongs to me. There’s no obligation to listen to the claim of my big toe suddenly saying “I’m the boss from now on!” If I squeeze my fist tightly, the consciousness of this world’s demon king, who was innocently playing around by multiplying and chasing after things like a child killing bugs, shatters more easily than candy.

If that’s the case, then all I need to do is collect all of my power and it will be over. I’m not sure what’s happened to my physical body, but well, [Regenerate] should take care of it. It has to, or else I’m in trouble… right? Just to be safe, I’ll gather my energy and activate my abilities a little early… alright, this should do it.

“Haha! Absorb it, Absorb it!”

The black that had filled the world was now covered with white polka dots. The dots gradually increased in size and number, and already about half of the world had turned white…though it’s strange to say that the white is “spreading” since it seems to be filling up where there was nothing before. Anyway, that’s how the world was changing.

That’s good. Really good. Power surges throughout my body, and an indescribable sense of omnipotence fills me. I could probably defeat any enemy now, and I feel like I could eat the rumored excruciatingly spicy hot pot without spewing fire from my butt the next day… Is there room for a power-up in that direction? It would be effective for having a blast with my mercenary buddies. Fufufu, I’ll send those stupid bastards to the toilet one by one.

“…wait. Is something wrong with my thoughts? There’s something more important to consider…ugh!”

Suddenly, my consciousness was distorted. It feels like I’m being forced to drink water even though I’m not thirsty, and a sudden sense of suffocation overwhelms me. I instinctively cover my mouth with my left hand.

But the suffering had not stopped. Or rather, it was increasing at an accelerated rate. The cause of this was probably my right hand, which was still absorbing the “black”.

“Ugh… damn it, stop it! I don’t need it now! Later, I’ll absorb slowly! Ughhhh…”

It’s painful. Painful! Despite being attacked by intense nausea, I can’t spit out a single drop of it that keeps being forced in afterwards. This is bad… Really bad.

Pish.

“Eh?”

Suddenly, the world in front of me split in two. … No, no. Not the world, but a crack in my face. Because of the crack, the world I see with my right eye and my left eye were slightly different.

“U-ugh!? Hey, hey, this is no joke…!”

Pish!

Cracking sounds could be heard coming from every part of the body. A black mist was spewing out from the crevices, and its intensity was gradually increasing.

(No way, that’s what it is!?)

I was astonished and shuddered in my heart when I realized the answers that were being derived from my increasing knowledge and experience, as if they were being forced upon me. The Demon King Of The End. I, Ed, am like an eggshell covering the surface of my soul. And when I encountered the Demon King for the first time in the Reil’s world, he drilled a hole in the shell called me.

The Demon King’s power travels back and forth through that hole. It seems that the reason why I could not use my banishment skill when the Demon King touched me was because if the power and soul are connected through that hole, they would be able to surpass my ability to interfere, which was only a shell on the surface.

The shell of the Ed was of no importance to the Demon Kings, who were divided into 100 parts. They try to forcibly enter through the small hole that was made, but since it was created by a divine being, it cannot be easily broken from the outside. They are forced to take their time to either crush it or dissolve it… Well, they are trying to remove the shell of Ed using some kind of method like that and fuse it with the soul inside.

In contrast, if I won, once I defeated the Demon King and took the initiative, all I had to do was to absorb the Demon King’s power little by little through that hole and there was no problem. Although the hole was too small to achieve a significant power-up, if I took the time to slowly fill up the contents of the shell, the Demon King Of The End would eventually be in a perfect state, and he would have broken through the shell and fully revived.

But because I didn’t understand the logic of this, this time I tried to absorb all the power at once. A shell that could not be broken from the outside was different from a shell that can be broken from the inside. Because I ignored the limits of the shell and absorbed power, my body was now on the verge of exploding from the inside.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. [Regenerate] can regenerate the body, but it cannot do anything about its existence. I have no power to do anything about the cracked shell of my body, and there are already countless cracks all over my body. It’s just a matter of time before I shatter completely.

When an egg hatches, the shell breaks. Then it was destined to disappear someday. The thing that emerges in this way is the true self, so perhaps there is no need to be afraid of anything. But――

(Sorry, Tia. I promised ……………………)

On that day, Ed’s existence, a clown puppet created by God, did not die or disappear, but simply shattered into pieces.

(T/N: Damn I did not expect this. Also any bonus chapters will be posted on weekends rather than along with usual chapters and I’ll be posting a single chapter instead of two for now, College tires me out)