The Demon God
Struck by lightning, the newly built Demon Lord's castle half-collapsed.
Before the ruin, Rirya and Arisa stood frozen, stunned.
"Again... coming!"
I was the first to notice—eyes not on the building, but on the sky.
Black clouds churning. Thunder roaring.
A lightning bolt—descending!
"Damn it!"
I instinctively raised DORECA, summoning a stone house into the air. The lightning struck it dead-on, pulverizing it in one blow.
"Amazing, Papa-sama!"
"Thank you, big brother!"
"Both of you, hide behind me! You too, get over here!"
Shielding my mother and daughter slaves behind me, I called out to the Goddess (temporary).
All the while, I didn’t look away.
The sky still growled. The color deepened—more ominous than before.
"What's going on all of a sudden? What's happening?"
"..."
"Big brother?"
"Probably... this is..."
"This is... what?"
Glanced at the Goddess—temporary, for now. Her posture, frozen in place, legs giving out, couldn’t help but feel off... yet...
But if she truly was that Goddess—then one possibility rose.
That was...
“F-fufufu…”
A laugh echoed from nowhere.
It rang through the air, vibrating through the ground. The two slaves clung to me, trembling.
“W-what’s going on...?”
“Papa-sama…”
It was—exactly right.
That laugh, crawling over my skin like something unwelcome. Familiar male voice.
“Fuhahahaha!”
In the next instant, a person fell from the sky.
Slowly. Landing upright, descending like a statue.
Arms outstretched. Feet pointed, toes aligned.
The word “Incarnation” floated into my mind—inevitably, stubbornly.
The one known for persistence—Saint Night.
Saint Night landed slowly in front of me, still wearing the form of the Demon God from before—but something was off.
What was different? How?
If I had to guess… an aura?
An aura unlike anything I’d felt before, radiating from Saint Night.
“Long time no see, Akihito.”
“Saint Night. You really are the one.”
“Huh. So you saw it coming, huh?”
“If she’s the real deal.”
I glanced at the Goddess—temporary, for now.
No, not really. The moment the Demon God appeared as Saint Night, the ‘temporary’ tag could be dropped.
She was undeniably that Goddess.
“Your look—way stronger than a regular monkey. And now you’re descending from the sky. That’s enough to tell me what’s happened.”
“Ah.”
“You’ve gotten your hands on the Goddess’s power, huh.”
“Yep!”
Saint Night grinned.
A grin so sharp it made the mother and daughter slaves cling to me, squeaking in unison.
"Ever thought about it, Akito—why the hell can't I beat you? Even with the power of the Demon God, I still can't figure out why I lose to you."
"..."
"What do you think, Akito?"
"Ask me like I'm holding a test paper?"
"Still as annoying as ever, you are."
Saint Night laughed. But his voice didn't match his smile—too cheerful, too bright.
"Yeah. It's that Goddess’s power. You're strong because you've got her strength."
"You got it too, back then. With Lisaa."
"No. That's different. What I got that day was a degraded fake."
"Huh?"
"Even when we both own the same slave, I can't pull out even a tenth of your power. Hell, maybe only a hundredth. Why? Because it's a fake."
"..."
I don’t care what you did to get that woman to take you in, win her favor, and pull strings for you. Not now. What matters is how to actually get the real thing.
……
How do you get the real thing? Simple. Kill it and take it. And I did just that. It was easy. The power of a demon god alone couldn’t reach it—but I had the demon god’s power, so I reached it easily. I killed her—the goddess, even the original demon god couldn’t manage that. And I took the power.
"Is that so."
Glance at the Goddess again. No trace of power emanates from her now.
Nothing more than a human, nothing more than a woman—nothing at all.
When the Demigod razed the earth, she was surely watching from there.
Where even the power of the Demon God cannot reach.
Risha launched her assault from another world—she’d been there once before.
Ah, I see.
She spread her arms wide, gazing up at the sky with a rapturous expression.
"Finally, I understand. I feel it. I can do it!"
Her face twisted further, grotesque.
"What exactly are you going to do?"
"Enslave every human on the surface."
Saint Night spoke softly, yet with iron certainty.
I frowned. I could feel my own face tighten.
"If you enslave every human on the earth, you’ll surpass my power with ease. Don’t you think so, Akito?"
"..."
Bad. This is very bad.
Enslaving everyone on the ground—probably not just Eternal Slaves, but ordinary humans too.
It’s hard to believe Saint Night would think this without a way to draw power from it. So there must be something in it.
If every human becomes a slave, even her method would generate an ocean of magic.
That’s… bad!
“…Guess I’ll have to stop you here.”
“Can you? Right now? With no weapon?”
“Still gonna try.”
“Hah. Then I’ll just warm up. Twist you a little.”
The Demon Goddess Shinyo raised her hand. I drew out DORECA.
“Big brother!”
“Father-sama!”
Their voices were strained. Both of them clearly understood the situation was dire.
“Let’s do it—help me!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Leave it to us!”
They nodded. As long as there were slaves, we’d manage.
That’s what I thought—then, in an instant.
The sky darkened. A lightning strike—red and black mixed—cracked down.
It struck—directly hitting Shinyo!
“Ggh! W-what? Huh?”
She staggered, knees buckling to the ground.
Instantly blackened, her body crumbling to ash.
“What… the hell… is this?”
“Fufu… good work, little one.”
The voice came. Same as before—echoing from everywhere at once.
A strange voice. Neither man nor woman. Unfamiliar.
A chill ran down her spine. Frozen solid.
Pressure. Stronger than before.
What… the hell is going on?
“Demon God…”
The Goddess murmured, barely audible.
…No way!?