Demon King Daimaou: Volume 5 Read online

  Prologue

  Boichiro Yamato had already lived, from his perspective, several centuries. He’d made an appearance in every era, and he had been disappointed in each of them.

  Disappointment had made him strong, but had also made him obstinate. The cause of this was a certain contradiction at the bottom of his heart, one that he couldn’t resolve. It was something he’d failed to resolve for years, no, centuries.

  In the past — or rather, from the perspective of the present, the future — he had been at a university lab, where he’d studied the science of information synthesis. It was before he became a time traveler. In other words, the first era of his life.

  “If a certain race is intellectually inferior, it’s right and proper for superior races to lead them, right?” It was Rimu Sudo, Boichiro’s instructor, who’d said that.

  “Nonsense!”

  Boichiro had instantly made his displeasure plain. Racial discrimination was a wicked tradition of the past. For example, the mistake at the core of slavery, a sin which had troubled mankind for ages, was the assumption that the civilized were superior to the uncivilized. It was a hateful idea.

  But Rimu shook her head, as if she’d expected that response. There was a slight disappointment in her eyes. Boichiro noticed it and slumped his shoulders.

  “Is this some new way of annoying me?”

  In the lab, Rimu was his instructor, not his girlfriend. Sometimes she would ask mean questions like that in order to keep that fact fresh in his mind.

  “No, that wasn’t really what I meant.”

  Rimu sighed. Not only was she a genius when it came to information synthesis, she was also gorgeous. But she had one obvious flaw: her worship of knowledge and reason left her unable to hide her disgust with those who acted based on emotion.

  “I suppose everyone responds that way, even you. But think about it. If you take the statement at face value, it’s absolutely correct,” Rimu said, like a teacher speaking to a student.

  Boichiro nodded.

  “I see. As an academic matter, you’re right.”

  “But once you take that out into the real world, it instantly becomes too much to swallow. Even if there were beings out there that were greater than humanity, which of us would agree to be ruled by them?”

  “Why are you bringing this up now?” Boichiro asked, not seeing what she was getting at.

  She answered with a more serious look on her face than he’d expected: “Because humanity is going extinct.”

  “Hmm... this is one of the times when I regret the fact that you don’t tell jokes,” Boichiro said in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Rimu’s expression remained unchanged. That was enough to scare him. “Extinct? Is this some kind of metaphor? Or...”

  “Literally,” she said.

  Boichiro looked around the room. Nobody was listening to them. She must have chosen this moment to talk to him deliberately.

  “So this is something you can’t talk about publicly.” He gulped.

  She nodded, pleased that he finally understood.

  “Of course. You’re the only person who’d hear this and not think I was insane. If we don’t start Ragnarok, someone will annihilate humanity.”

  “What are you talking about...?” Boichiro said, as he tried his best to stay calm. “You’re the one who created the fundamental theory for the weapons used to defeat the Demon King. Because of that, even if the Demon King appears, we’ll be able to deal with him immediately. So why would humanity go extinct without Ragnarok?”

  “The theology that I used for my research was fundamentally incorrect. That’s why Demon Kings keep coming back no matter how many times we defeat them.”

  “Fundamentally incorrect?”

  “That’s right. The gods have a will of their own now. We failed to see that. We’ve failed to see that for centuries.”

  “Then the gods are going to wipe out humanity...? But then, why say ‘someone’...?”

  “That’s right. Perhaps somewhere out there there’s real gods, not a mechanical creation like the system humanity created. The ancient gods, the ones worshiped when humanity first created religion. The gods of the old planet.”

  Rimu’s words put Boichiro in a state of indescribable confusion. What she was saying was that gods were real, and that they were going to destroy humanity.

  When she saw that he couldn’t speak, Rimu laughed in resignation.

  “See? That’s the normal reaction, right? But you see, our mechanical gods are using their greater minds to save humanity by killing the vast majority of it. That’s what I think.”

  At this point, Boichiro understood what she was getting at. But if that was right, the implications were terrifying.

  “So your first question was...!”

  “Yes. Something that’s theoretically correct can still invite a negative emotional reaction. It’s true that our lives have gotten materially better since we stopped talking about how wars can be righteous, or whites can be cowards. But what if that goes against the reason humanity was created?”

  “You mean humanity was born to do acts of discrimination and slaughter?”

  “Perhaps so. The gods that made humanity are trying to destroy us, and the mechanical gods that we made are trying to save us.”

  Boichiro could barely keep up with what she was saying, let alone decide if she was right.

  “Y-You’ve got no proof of this, right?” Boichiro said. It would be far better if she had just gone mad. But Rimu calmly shook her head.

  “Like always, when you’re dealing with information synthesis, you end up sounding like you’re talking about philosophy. But the reason one type of animal feels no compunction in killing another is that they’re both part of a greater system, like drops of water in a lake. The only ones who resist that natural order are beings with high intelligence, like us humans. I believe that intelligence consists of resisting becoming part of the natural order. But the gods we created are able to maintain their intelligence while still becoming part of it.”

  “So then, humanity’s destruction...”

  “Yes. I heard directly from a god. The priestesses of Suhara told me. Nobody else was able to ask the right questions, so they couldn’t get the answer. And that was enough to keep it concealed for centuries. The reason the Demon King is born. And the reason he’s driven to war.”

  “It sounds unbelievable. That means there’s even a possibility we’re being deceived. Why do wars need to be started to decrease the population, if saving humanity is the goal? It’s impossible...”

  Rimu’s shoulders slumped in resignation.

  “That’s where you lack any kind of subtlety. But there’s no time, so figure it out yourself. But I do have proof that the gods of the old planet exist. Why is it that the mana teleportation we use can’t cross through time? No mana-based technology can. In other words, we can’t manipulate the dimensions themselves. So it doesn’t make sense that the teleportation works at all. The reason lies with the ‘Law of Identity:’ The fact that you can’t escape the thought that you are yourself, and that the cores of our minds are living creatures. It was the gods of the old planet who created this law.”

  She shook her head, as if once again disappointed in Boichiro’s failure to understand.

  “You don’t need to believe me. If you don’t, I can give you a chance to research it for yourself. If you succeed, maybe you’ll understand me.”

  She made her mana gauge appear and showed it to him.

  “This is the resonant frequency of my mana. It can be used to travel through time.”

  “Th-That’s...”

  Impossible, he almost said, but changed his mind. He was starting to think
that maybe she really had gone insane. Just like she’d said, time travel had been a research subject for years, and everyone who’d tried had failed.

  “You’ll understand if you do it. I can do it because I am the Law of Identity,” she said, and smiled softly.

  There was nothing for Boichiro to say. “I’ll try” was all he could think of.

  “Don’t go public with what you’ve heard here. The time travel technology needs to be a secret until it’s complete, too. I’ll come and check on you every once in a while.”

  And then she left him alone in the lab. But before she did, she turned around to say one last thing: “If I go public with this, what will happen to me?”

  She was still smiling, but she somehow seemed sad.

  Boichiro understood what her expression meant. She would be made out to be a madwoman. Nobody would believe her, and if she ever acted to make her ideals real, she would surely be arrested.

  It seemed to Boichiro that her smile came from despair. And he couldn’t help but think that the despair was his fault. Rimu would’ve wanted someone who could think the same things she did, and until she’d explained, he’d been unable to do so. Just as many had doubtless been unable to do so before him.

  “W-Wait...” Boichiro tried to stop her, but she left without answering.

  Boichiro never saw her again. She’d said she’d come to check up on him, but soon afterward, she’d started to help the Demon King.

  Boichiro’s despair was beyond healing. He dedicated himself to his research, the last connection he had with her, and as a result he gained the ability to control spacetime. But when he learned that he could never return to a time when he’d existed, he realized that he’d lost any chance of seeing Rimu ever again.

  And not only that, the instant he’d developed this technology had been the instant mankind had been destroyed.

  Every time he closed his eyes, he still saw it.

  A dark red sky with a strange whirlwind. In the center of the whirlwind was an indescribable huge and ominous being. Surrounding it in a spiral were tens of thousands of the Demon King’s soldiers, and at its head was the transformed Demon King. Next to him was Rimu.

  Despite the apocalyptic scene unfolding before him, what he felt more than anything was that he had betrayed his lover’s trust, and been betrayed in turn. If he could have, he would’ve killed himself. But he knew that he would be the last human left. The results of his research had shown him that the gods of the old planet would destroy humanity for sure.

  Boichiro had to flee. Now that he was humanity’s only time traveler, he was the only one who could change things.

  He set off through time, alone, and this was the beginning of his long, long despair.

  1 - Chaos from the Start

  Three thousand and seven hundred soldiers surrounded the Demon Castle that was previously Constant Magical Academy. The aerial carrier “Genkaku” was there as well. No matter how many demon beasts were forming the walls of the castle, the situation would rapidly be under control. Or it would be, if it weren’t for the Demon King, Akuto Sai.

  The school building and its yard could be seen from the camp where Eiko Teruya had taken command. Junko Hattori’s 600 Iga ninjas were in the yard, and a 1200-strong regiment of imperial infantry were there as well, making a total of 1800 soldiers. The plan was for them to cut a path through the demon beasts surrounding the school, and open a way for the rest of the force to get in.

  But Eiko’s plan had already fallen apart. A screw-like stake had burst out of the ground, and Akuto and the black dragon Peterhausen had appeared. Now the troops were on the verge of a riot.

  “Mistress, your orders!” the leader of the regiment said to Eiko over the comm system.

  “Don’t call me ‘mistress!’ I’m the head of the family now! Orders? The only possible order would be to take down the Demon King!” she shouted back.

  But in that minute, she felt someone behind her and turned around. She’d been standing alone in her tent, but now there was a man in a suit with her.

  Eiko sighed. It was the agent from the Cabinet’s Magical Information Department that had been lurking around since before this mission, codenamed “Operation Castlebreaker,” had started. He was one of C-MID8, the personal staff of the Information Department’s leader, Boichiro Yamato.

  The man spoke into the comms system, though of course he hadn’t been given permission.

  “The Demon King isn’t as frightening as he appears. He won’t attack anyone who flees, and he has the naive idea that it’s better not to kill if you can avoid it. Keep your distance and try to provoke him.”

  “...What?!”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She ended the call and turned around, glaring at him with the imposing manner unique to the Teruya clan, but he seemed completely unperturbed.

  He looked to be in his 30s. There was nothing particularly unique about him, besides his casual manner. It was possible to believe that he was just a normal businessman. There was no hiding his well-built frame, but it was impossible to guess how much muscle might be under that suit. She’d heard that all of C-MID8 were experts in magical combat, but it didn’t seem that way to her.

  “You said you were going to just act on your own!” Eiko yelled. The man just smiled.

  “My apologies. I just gathered some information, and I believe we can cooperate. One of the things I learned of was the Demon King’s personality. So, I simply suggested that you take advantage of that.”

  Eiko didn’t know what to say. She took a glance over at the flow of battle. The Demon King and his dragon seemed to be dealing poorly with the infantry’s passivity. They’d blown away several of the troops on the surface, but now they seemed to be simply flying in circles.

  “...I’ll keep that in mind. What’s your name?”

  The man answered by making V signs with both hands. He looked so ridiculous that Eiko couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

  “Are you making fun of me...?”

  “2V. That’s my codename. Nice to meet you, pretty lady.”

  2V ignored her obvious anger and began to move the different pieces on the map that signified the battle units.

  “Your goal was to destroy the demon beasts and capture or kill their king, right? But the situation has changed.”

  “I-I was planning on having the infantry delay him until the carrier could attack,” Eiko said, but 2V ignored her.

  “A carrier attack would cause severe damage to the school. This whole battle is being broadcasted nationally, and we can’t damage the school’s reputation. It would be better for the infantry to take out the Demon King on their own. Am I wrong?”

  “I-I know that!”

  “No, I’m sorry, but this deployment shows several bad habits of new commanders. You forgot that magical battles take place in three dimensional space, right? The dragon is flying. The soldiers provoking him are on foot. The only ones you have who can fight him are your air units on standby in that carrier. You were planning on sending them into the school at a critical moment, right? But that’s not how you fight magical battles. You use your air forces against theirs.”

  All Eiko could do was listen. 2V waved a hand to motion for her to calm down.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll remain in command. I’m just offering you information. My information says that there’s a device in the school that’s controlling the demon beasts. If you change your goal to getting at that, you’ll find it easier to win. As soon as it’s down, the demon beasts will lose control when the Demon King is farther away,” 2V said confidently.

  Eiko wasn’t sure what to think. Army intelligence hadn’t said anything about a demon beast control device. But 2V seemed to sense what she was thinking, and cut her off.

  “This is information we found on our own. Finding information is our job, after all. I’m sorry to say this, but we’re superior to your own intelligence officers.”

  “Can I trust you?” Eiko asked,
and he grinned.

  “Of course.”

  “You say there’s a device that controls the demon beasts?”

  “That’s right. Now, why don’t we change the goal of the operation to be destroying that?”

  2V reached out a hand towards the map, but Eiko grabbed it.

  “I’m the one in command, here. You just give me the information. And what’s more, you’re planning on going off on your own, right? So do it.”

  “Of course.” He pulled away, pretending to be far more intimidated than he obviously was.

  ○

  “A control device?” Student Council President Lily Shiraishi, in her trademark hat, asked. In front of her were Keena Soga and Fujiko Eto, mounted on a giant three-headed Cerberus.

  “That’s right,” Fujiko replied. “I call it the ‘altar.’”

  Fujiko’s long hair waved as she moved her head. She was wearing an extremely skimpy leather outfit instead of her usual uniform. It was her own idea, evidently, of what a servant of the Demon King should look like. The “evil queen” look suited her beautiful body well.

  “That outfit is against the school rules. And now you’re making a device to control demon beasts and putting it here? Are you trying to pick a fight?”

  There was a big difference between violating the school rules on uniforms and illegally controlling demon beasts, but since the tiny Lily lacked Fujiko’s figure, they seemed to be equal in her eyes. Lily looked about ready for a fight, but Fujiko only laughed in response.

  “Hahaha! Of course not! The altar is for Akuto. It’s not the school, but Akuto, who is righteous and strong. It wouldn’t even be a fight.”

  There was murder in Lily’s eyes.

  “If you don’t cut it out, I’ll take down both you and him,” she said.

  “Don’t fight, guys. The principal’s doing his best for us, right?” Keena tried to calm them both down.

  “I didn’t expect to hear that from you,” Fujiko said, but it was enough to get her to relax. Lily seemed to feel the same way.

  “...Let’s worry about the details later. Just where is this altar, anyway?”