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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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I preferred true endings over bad endings. I was an ordinary gamer. And in , the ending where the player became the demon lord was undeniably a bad ending.
Although the current demon lord might have been defeated, it was an unsettling conclusion where the chain of evil remained unbroken due to the insatiable greed of a human intoxicated by power.
Given this context, an ordinary player wouldn’t want to become the demon lord. But I had no other choice. This wasn’t a game; it was another reality.
If sacrificing myself, an outsider, could undo Yeriel Artina’s transformation into a fallen angel, then it would surely be a happy ending for the others.
‘I think I’m going to lose my mind…’
By the way, inheriting the demon lord’s power… without the gamer’s traits, was a excruciatingly painful process.
It was worse than the pain I felt when my corruption level exceeded the limit and I was consumed by the gray mist. But it couldn’t be helped.
‘If I self-destruct, taking everything with me…’
It was a necessary evil, something I had to endure.
.
.
.
In the demon lord’s audience chamber, I was lounging on the throne, which only Satan could sit on, as if it were a PC bang chair. Of course, I was sweating profusely from the continuous infusion of black demonic energy.
“A mere… human… how rude…”
Lucifer’s bewildered expression lingered for quite some time.
“You don’t even recognize your master. How careless, Lucifer.”
“How dare you…!”
Boom!!!!!
In an instant, he imbued his spear with black demonic energy and threw it at me, but…
Clang!!!!
Crack!!!
…Yellody, beside me, cast a protective spell and blocked it.
“Demon girl… why do you side with a human?!”
Lucifer asked, and Yellody replied nonchalantly, “Hmm? He’s the demon lord now.”
“!”
As Yellody placed her hand on my shoulder, Lucifer was speechless.
“Lev…?”
And it was Edwin who reacted strongly to the words ‘demon lord.’
“Lev, why are you…?”
A very natural question.
“Why are you the demon lord?”
Edwin began to list various hypotheses he had imagined.
“Ah. Haha. It’s a joke, right? You defeated the demon lord and… there… no, no. The demon lord disguised himself as Lev, or…”
“……”
Silence filled the audience chamber.
“To joke about being a demon… you’re taking it too far, Lev.”
Edwin looked at me seriously and said, “You can’t be the demon lord.”
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“Haa…!”
Thump.
Meanwhile, Yeriel, whose forced transformation into a fallen angel had progressed, collapsed between Aria and Psyche.
“There’s no time. We have to purify Yeriel…!”
“It’s okay… Aria… I… leave me and go to Lev…”
At Yeriel’s weak words, Lucifer looked up at the ceiling and began to laugh.
“Kuh… hahaha!”
“?!”
A complete mess. He laughed until he cried, as if he couldn’t accept the current situation.
“I’m going crazy. How did these brats end up as demon lords and heroes? The last bastion of the demons, the demon lord’s castle?”
“…”
Lucifer vaguely understood. The chaotic state of the demon lord’s castle, the strange reaction of the nearby magic towers…
It was because that gray-haired man was truly the ‘demon lord.’ But that made the situation more interesting. The greed of humans was endless.
He didn’t know how he did it, but the gray-haired man who had betrayed his hero companion and become the demon lord… and the green-haired man who kept denying reality, asking what was going on.
“This is perfect.”
A tragedy, thick with the stench of betrayal and despair, which demons loved, was unfolding. And his creation, the fallen angel, Artina’s girl, would soon fall.
Even if she had somehow suppressed it with the Saint’s miracle before… it was impossible now.
The fallen angel’s curse wasn’t a simple corruption and would eventually manifest, and now she was in Pandemonium, in the demon lord’s castle.
An incomparable amount of black demonic energy would have begun to eat away at her, and she would soon fall into a pit of despair.
‘Then what can I do…’
Crisis was opportunity. With the change of the demon lord, the hierarchy was disrupted. Normally, it would be impossible for a 72nd-ranked Archdemon to harm the demon lord, but now, it was possible.
First, he would pretend to cater to that creature’s desires and bide his time. If he seized the opportunity and killed him… it wasn’t a dream that he could become the demon lord.
At that moment, the gray-haired boy… No, the demon lord Lev Denec, opened his mouth.
“Lucifer. An order. Bring Yeriel Artina here.”
At those words, Lucifer grinned and immediately carried out the order.
Snap!
“…!”
With a snap of his fingers, Yeriel, who had been bound by Lucifer, began to be dragged towards the dais.
“Lev…? No?! Snap out of it!!! What are you trying to do!!”
Simultaneously, Edwin began to roar. The Lev he knew wouldn’t be like this. He had defeated countless demons,
“Lev!!!”
…and hadn’t they promised to defeat the demon lord together?
‘Ah… what a disgusting and greedy sight…’
As Lucifer was marveling at the endless greed of humans, Lev rose from the throne, approached Yeriel, who was steeped in black demonic energy, and took her hand.
“By the authority of the demon lord, I command. All the magic towers and fallen sanctuaries in Pandemonium…”
“Hmm…?”
“…cease operation.”
Beep!
With a bombshell announcement that froze Lucifer’s brain, the two of them disappeared.
.
.
.
In the demon lord’s personal dimension. Yeriel Artina, who already had three pairs of black wings and was in the form of a succubus, and Lev Denec, who had now become the demon lord, sat facing each other.
“Hello, Yeriel.”
As if tattooed, his face was covered in countless black magic incantations. Yeriel looked at him with a sorrowful expression and replied, “Why, Lev…?”
“…You’ve been through a lot.”
“Why again this time!”
“I’m sorry, it took too long.”
He just kept apologizing and apologizing. His answers didn’t erase Yeriel’s déjà vu. She had a feeling that he was going to leave her and go far away.
“Hic.”
Yeriel held back her tears and grabbed Lev’s arm.
“Why do you always… leave me behind…”
“…”
“I… I like the world with Lev… but if this keeps happening… I…!!”
“I’m sorry.”
In that moment, Yeriel let go of his arm. And she asked cautiously, “…Do you… not like me anymore…?”
At the pure and cute Yeriel’s words, he smiled faintly and replied, “No, of course not… I’ve liked you since the first time we met.”
“I, sob… me too.”
“I’m sorry for being so cold then…”
“Apologies…! Stop! I don’t like it… It makes me sad…”
Yeriel, sobbing, held out her pinky finger.
“So promise, promise me…! You’ll come back again this time, right…?”
“I… guess I wanted to create a world where the people I like can live without worry.”
“Lev…?”
Ignoring Yeriel’s desperation, he answered her question with another muttered phrase, “By the authority of the demon lord, I command. Lift the curse of the fallen angel… from Yeriel Artina.”
Swoosh!
“Huh?”
Yeriel’s murmur was drowned out by the black demonic energy being sucked into Lev.
Vwoom!
“Ugh! Aaaagh!”
And painful moans began to erupt from Lev’s mouth.
“Lev…!”
In that moment, Yeriel’s mind went cold.
Why did Lev have to suffer? If he became the demon lord to lift her fallen angel’s curse and was enduring the pain in her stead…
“Lev…! No!! Stop!!”
She had to stop him.
“I’d rather… I… I’d rather die…! Stop! Lev!!”
Yeriel would rather die than see the person she loved suffer. She didn’t want to burden Lev anymore. And most importantly, he wasn’t a demon now. Just a human.
If he accepted the curse of the fallen angel on top of the demon lord’s black demonic energy, he wouldn’t be able to return to his former self.
“Lev… stop… please… please…”
As Yeriel, crying warm tears, approached Lev…
“I’m sorry. Aria and Edwin too…”
He began to back away, writhing in pain.
“Lev…?!”
“Tell them I’m sorry.”
“Lev!”
“And…”
Live happily.
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Live happily.
That was the end. In an instant, everything went white, and then they were back. In the demon lord’s audience chamber… And after that…
Ruuuumble!!!
Ruuuumble!!!!
…there was only a roar.
Crack. Crack.
Cracks began to form on the ceiling of the impregnable demon lord’s castle.
“F-Foolish…”
Lucifer stood there, dumbfounded.
“Foolish!!!”
The worst. The human he thought would be drunk on the demon lord’s power and walk a path of endless corruption had given an order to abandon everything.
If the magic towers and the corrupted sanctuary stopped working, the demon lord’s castle, Pandemonium, and…
Crash!!
…the demon lord’s own power would go berserk and then vanish. Lucifer immediately spread his wings. The gray-haired boy who had been acting as the demon lord was no longer there.
“Lev…?”
[…]
But a demon, armed only with the power of darkness…
-◼◼◼◼◼!!!
…was just looking at Edwin’s party, spewing out indiscriminate demonic pressure. He was neither human nor demon. A being that seemed to embody all the world’s suffering.
He might not be stronger than the former demon lord, but in this situation, getting caught up in it would be very dangerous.
‘I’ll bide my time… for a later opportunity…!’
Flap!
Lucifer fled from the demon lord’s castle.
Clank!
As the fallen angel disappeared, the restraints that had been binding Edwin, Psyche, and Aria also disappeared.
“Lev…? Lev…?”
“This is…”
Edwin Gwynne watching Yeriel, who was in a state of dazed bliss, was in a state of confusion. After Lev had taken her and reappeared, the black energy that had been emanating from Yeriel was completely gone.
Instead, a rampaging demon, whom he couldn’t believe was Lev, stood silently in his place.
Squeeze.
It was an instinct. Edwin gripped his holy sword.
Please kill the demon lord with your own hands.
Please kill the demon lord with your own hands.
Please kill the demon lord with your own hands.
“Lev…”
Belial’s last request, before he was defeated, somehow seemed to have been made with this situation in mind.
Thud.
At that moment, Yeriel stood in front of Edwin.
“No… without Lev… I’ll also…”
“I’m sorry, move aside. Yeriel.”
“I’ll die too…”
She just shed pitiful teardrops.
.
.
.
Ruuuuuumble!!
Everything was collapsing. Beyond the point of no return. Lev Denec. Demon Lord. Demon.
“Lev…?”
It wasn’t just Edwin and Yeriel who were shocked by the unbelievable sight. Aria was too. And Saint Psyche, who was watching all of this, closed her eyes and remembered.
-I failed… but for the sake of the next heroes…
-Psyche, please live. I beg you.
Krun’s last words. She recalled them and lifted Aria’s hand.
“…?”
Aria’s gaze, which had been on Lev, met Psyche’s red eyes.
“Psyche…?”
“It’s okay. Aria, you can… do it.”
Psyche smiled with the benevolent grace of a Saint, and then,
-Shaaaaaaa!!
…began to transfer all her holy power.
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