CH 279

There in the deepest part of the land where the demonic beings reside. The Demon King’s castle, the audience room. A place that could probably fit hundreds of people, but at the moment, there were only three figures.

“Is this all…?”

One of them was the master of this castle. The Demon King, who wrapped his whole body in jet-black armor, concealing his expression, casually muttered to the two kneeling before him.

“Damn, I never knew the Demon King was this powerful…!”

One of them  was the chosen one. The Hero Alexis, hailed as the world’s strongest swordsman and the only human capable of defeating the Demon King, propped himself up on his cracked sword like a cane, glaring at the Demon King with frustration.

“Hah…ha…ha…ha…”

And the other one… an uninvited guest. Ed, a porter who recently formally joined the Hero’s party but remained an outsider no matter what. He too leaned on his sword for support, trying to regulate his ragged breaths.

“What’s wrong? Have you given up already?”

“No way… considering the comrades who brought me this far, giving up is out of the question.”

“Yes, I.. we… have been entrusted with this… so we must…”

“Hmm, I see…”

With his body drenched in blood and his opponents barely breathing, the Demon King slowly rose from his throne to meet the pitiful ones at their level. Alexis swung his sword at the Demon King’s overly vulnerable figure, but…

Clang!

“…You understand it’s futile, right? Such a forgery… cannot harm me.”

Alexis’s sword couldn’t even leave a scratch on the Demon King’s armor. No matter how superior the swordsmanship was, it was meaningless against an opponent who cannot be harmed.

“Damn it, damn it! Why… why?!”

Alexis swung wildly. But no matter how many times he did, the outcome remained unchanged. This was the very reason why they couldn’t force the Demon King to leave his throne, the root of their defeat.

“That’s enough, it’s over.”

“Guha!?”

“Yuusha-sama!?”

With a single swing of the Demon King’s arm, without even drawing his sword, Alexis was blown away. Ed rushed over in a panic, but they had long since run out of healing potions. Even so, he stood in the Demon King’s way, sword drawn to protect Alexis. The Demon King sighed slightly and begans to speak.

“…I had two fears. One of them was the Holy Sword possessed by the hero. The sword, a physical manifestation of the world’s laws, is a power I could never counter. And the current hero had this Holy Sword from the start. Hence, my actions were severely limited… That’s why I came up with a plan. Continually send demons of strength just within the Hero’s ability to defeat, dulling the brilliance of the Holy Sword bit by bit with my power infused in them.”

“What, you say…!?”

“Alexis!? Are you alright!?”

""

Ed called out in concern to Alexis, who was trying to get up, but Alexis shook him off and glared at the Demon King.

“What does that mean? Don’t tell me the reason the Demon King’s army invasion was particularly weak in my country was…”

“Yes, I ordered it so. Even the Holy Sword’s power isn’t infinite. Continually forcing you to use the Holy Sword by sending demons just within its power to defeat, to whittle away its strength. I planned to send a large force for the final push, expecting that by the time you cut through them and reached me, the Holy Sword’s power would be less than half…”

The Demon King’s gaze turned to the sword in Alexis’s hand . The battered sword, in a state unimaginable to those who know the tale of the “indestructible” Holy Sword.

“Hahahahaha! I never imagined the story of possessing the Holy Sword itself was a lie! I did suspect something was off part way through, but I also considered the possibility of ‘what if.’ I dragged it out just in case… Let me say it again. No matter how much you swing around that forgery, you can’t stand against me.”

“Shut up! This may not be the Holy Sword, but it’s the culmination of human wisdom and technology! I’ll definitely defeat you with this!”

“So you say, Hero. Your skill is indeed admirable, to have mistaken a mere sword for the Holy Sword. But it’s not enough… just like them.”

“!?”

With a flick of the Demon King’s right hand, a black vortex appeared, and from it, the heads of a young woman and a mature man dropped and rolled on the floor.

“Ah… ah…”

“I had my subordinates retrieve these. I was protecting them with my power, so they should be well-preserved.”

“Aaaaaaaah?!?!?!”

“You bastard!!!”

Even though half of her face was burnt, there was no mistaking those proud slanted eyes. Even if his head was smashed, there was no mistaking those strong lips.

Rouge and Gonzo. At the sight of their companions’ definitive ‘end’, Ed screamed on the spot and Alexis ran towards the Demon King, swinging his sword with all his might. But the false Holy Sword shattered with a crisp sound, and the Demon King’s flashing hand blade easily beheaded the hero.

“Ah……”

“Hmph. A boring end.”

With a thud, he fell to the floor, and the heads of his companions happily rolled around on the floor in threes. Witnessing this sight, Ed’s mind finally reached its limit.

“Hii…ah…ahhh…waaaahhhh!”

Anger, fear, despair, resentment. His face, mixed with emotions that could not be categorized, was a mess with tears and snot, his sword shaking against the Demon King, his feet unsteady. Seeing such a state of Ed, the Demon King sighed heavily once again.

“…Another thing I feared. It was my main body.”

“Ho…ah…?”

“Yes. No matter how much power I acquire, my body is merely a fragment of power separated from my main body. Therefore, if the main body reached me, I thought it would be easily assimilated without suffering, and I would disappear. But…kukukuku…”

Holding back his laughter, the Demon King removed his helmet with his own hands. Then, the face that appeared beneath it was exactly the same as the pathetic man standing in front of him.

“M-me?”

“Absolutely not, my main body has fallen into such a pathetic existence! I feel no power, I see no resolve! Weak! Feeble! Frail! Meager! The two things I fear, were they both worthless illusions?!”

“Aggu!?”

The Demon King’s hand, approaching, firmly grabbed Ed’s face. The black fingers biting into his head tightened, and no matter how much Ed resisted, he couldn’t shake off even one of those fingers.

“Should I thank the gods… because God has separated unnecessary parts from me. Ah, don’t worry. I’ll take all your power. So rest assured… ‘End’.”

“Gaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Something was being lost from Ed with fierce momentum. It’s Ed’s soul, the essence of Demon King Ed, who had been sleeping in the shell without awareness, was being transferred to the new Demon King.

“Fuuu…what is this? Quite a lot, did you also collect pieces like me elsewhere? How did… well, it doesn’t matter. Hmph.”

“Ah…………ah…………”

When he finished absorbing all the power of the Demon King Of The End, Endroll, the Demon King dropped the former Demon King on the floor as it was. Ed, who was twitching and moaning, had lost all interest to the Demon King who didn’t look at him even once.

“With this much power, it’s easy to control this world. Then, next I need to find a way to break the wall of the world… Hmm, should I hit the elves first?”

Feeling somehow that the elves have the technology to cross the world wall, the Demon King left the audience room.. And left in the vacant room were three heads and one man.

“I, am…………”

The last one’s shaking hand reached out towards the rolling head, and without reaching its fingertips, it fell on the floor.

—World 001 {Record Of The Hero’s Story} Final Chapter – The End of the World

Thus, Hero Alexis was defeated by the Demon King, and the world fell into the hands of the Demon King. The world, which has lost the glory of God, is rapidly heading for ruin, and in the not too distant future, everything will return to nothingness.

No one knows what will happen later. Because there is no one to see a world that God has lost interest in.