DxD : The Siscon Demon King and the Swapped Princess

I really think I'm pathetic. Despite this crushing self-loathing, I still gripped the sacred artifact tightly, determined to do whatever I could. This barrier isolating us from the outside world naturally blocks cell phone signals. If I were to destroy the barrier itself, the stray demons would surely notice my presence. However, by piercing the barrier with my spear and targeting only its signal-blocking properties, I managed to temporarily communicate with the survivors trapped inside the warehouse.

"Please... come help us..."

The woman's voice trembled as she fought back sobs. Even I, who wasn't directly in danger, was shaking uncontrollably. The real killing intent I'd only known from anime and manga. The countless bloodstains and grotesque monsters I'd never seen before. No wonder she was terrified. It's only natural to cry. This place is so suffocating that it wouldn't be strange to give up everything and long for the peace of death.

Still, she entrusted everything to me in the end. She gave me hope. She believed in me, even though I was the one making unreasonable demands of someone who desperately needed help while I hid in a safe place.

Even now, I want to escape from this place immediately. I came here by chance, and I have no obligation to help this woman. I know I should abandon her, even though I'll be left with guilt and regret. I can't fight the stray demons directly. I don't have the courage to throw myself into danger to save her. So what can I do but abandon her? I don't want to die either.

"...Yes, I know that in my head."

In the end, my actions are completely contradictory. I'm hiding in safety, pushing all the danger onto the victim. To be honest, my way of helping is incredibly pathetic, and there's a strong element of luck involved, so there's a high chance she'll die anyway. Even so, even if this was the only way I could help, I couldn't leave this place.

The reason is simple. I was just stubborn enough to think I'd be an idiot for giving up so easily. Because I really hadn't done anything. I didn't have the courage to fight the stray demon directly or help her escape myself, but I still believed there was something I could do.

If I abandoned her here, I would definitely regret it. If that's the case, even if it ends badly, I wanted to at least try something, no matter how futile. My actions might just be a pitiful and cruel way of giving the victim false hope. I know that.

I won't do anything reckless. If I realize it's impossible, I'll run away immediately. But until then, I decided to do everything I could within my capabilities.

"I wasn't sure if the phone would connect, but I managed to guide her safely. All I can do now is secure the east exit, ensure Megumi-san's safety after she exits the warehouse, and inform the underground faction about the stray demon."

Just in case, I tried to eliminate part of the warehouse wall and stabbed the sacred artifact into the warehouse window. Due to the magical influence, I felt a slight discomfort at the tip of the spear, but I confirmed that only the area I stabbed had vanished. It felt slightly more tiring than simply erasing a wall. It was my first time eliminating something that magic could pass through, but it seemed like I could manage to make a hole large enough for a person to pass through.

"Ugh! ...The ground is shaking again. Let's hurry and secure the exit."

I glanced at the hole in the window and, on impulse, pulled the bloodstained cell phone from my pocket. I'd wanted to take it home as a memento, but it might help me save Megumi. I thought the owner of this phone would be happier if it was used to help a friend.

I opened the phone and, since it looked similar to a model I'd used in my previous life, I didn't hesitate to fiddle with the settings. Then I tossed it through the hole in the window into the warehouse, making sure it wouldn't break. As soon as I heard the soft impact, I ran toward my destination. I decided no one would notice me now, so I changed my target from concealing my appearance to reducing my gravity.

Even if I help her, the fact that she can safely escape from the warehouse is already a miracle. I don't know if she'll make it that far. But I made a promise. She believed my desperate words, even though she doesn't know who I am.

So I'll do everything I can to help her, believing in her safety. What I'm about to do is a gamble, but if it works, I'll accomplish all my goals. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to defeat the stray demon.

"It's a reckless plan, relying solely on the artifact's power with no caution or strategy, but..."

I know it's cowardly, but I won't hesitate to use any means necessary. After this is over, I'm confident the people involved in the cover-up will be furious with me. I truly apologize to those working to hide the truth, but this is an emergency, so I hope they'll understand. The root of all evil is the stray demon.

And finally, as I approached the warehouse door I'd finally reached, I called out my partner's name.

――――――

"...Hm?"

The stray demon felt a momentary unease about the warehouse it had been using as a hunting ground, but its focus remained on the prey it was about to corner. This prey had been quite entertaining, so the demon's mood was at its peak.

Until now, after just a few minutes of chase, any human's heart would have shattered from despair. Yet this prey was still fighting back. Excited by the sight of its quarry clinging to hope and struggling to survive, the stray demon's mind drifted to thoughts of the futility of it all.

It seemed the prey had escaped to the first floor—its heightened hearing could detect the small but continuous footsteps heading toward the east entrance. "What a waste," it thought, unable to suppress a laugh.

"You're trying so hard, aren't you? Here's a reward for you."

With a cackling laugh, the stray demon swept its scythe-like claws vigorously at the floor beneath its feet. The warehouse floor gave way, and its massive body plummeted from the second floor to the first in an instant. The sudden rumbling and crash, followed by the abrupt approach of despair, made the prey's screams sound even closer than before.

"Come on, hurry up and run before I catch you!"

Raising its voice deliberately, the monster began to walk slowly. The game was fun, but it was also true that boredom was setting in. Out of gratitude for the prey's will to live, it decided not to kill easily, but to take its time destroying it and make it the main course.

What it found ahead was fresh blood. When it touched the crimson with its scythe-like claws and tasted it, it was indeed from the prey currently fleeing. The creature must have been injured by the impact when the demon dropped from above. For a moment, the blood trail continued across the floor, but soon a bloodstained cloth fell to the ground. After that, no more bloodstains were visible, the prey had apparently moved carefully to avoid detection, letting the blood drip slowly to hide its location. The monster couldn't suppress a smile at such desperate effort.

However, in exchange, the footsteps that had been so loud were now barely audible. Perhaps, due to its injuries, it had hidden itself in one of the rooms. The monster thought of the game "hide and seek." That might not be so bad, it mused, and deliberately walked loudly to make its footsteps echo.

If it continued like this, it would soon reach the door on the east side. Just as it smiled to itself, thinking the prey was probably there, it heard a faint sound.

"Huh?"

It sounded like someone sobbing, and when it sniffed, it could faintly smell blood. The sound seemed to be coming from inside one of the rooms. Since it had no memory of hunting prey in this area, the presence of even a trace of blood meant that something was hiding in one of the nearby rooms. Realizing this, the demon opened the nearest door with a smile.

In reality, it knew exactly which room the sound was coming from, but it approached slowly, as if searching, to further terrorize its prey.

The crying had stopped, but it didn't seem like anyone was trying to escape from the room. Having cornered its quarry like a devil's pawn, it mockingly laughed "Checkmate" and opened the door—the last line of defense for its prey. It expected to see the face of a human woman twisted in despair, but what it found instead was—an empty room.

It realized too late that it had been enjoying itself carelessly. Upon reflection, there was no sign of anyone. Then, looking around, it noticed the faint smell of blood and found a bloodstained cell phone.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring like an alarm. The sound that followed was like someone sobbing—likely set to play every few minutes. Such a simple trick, something that might fool a child, had made it think its prey had fled here. Realizing it had been deceived, the stray demon's expression changed from playful to one of intense rage.

"Ah, that human...!"

Its delightful mood was ruined, and its mind filled with fury. This was a trap it would never have fallen for under normal circumstances. It was true that its guard had been down due to overconfidence, but it was also because it had been so excited. That was why it had been fooled. The realization that it had been outwitted by mere bait caused its vision to turn red, and its anger boiled over.

"I'll kill you! You're just prey, so I'll kill you right now!"

The demon's roar shook the warehouse. The stray demon, who had not used magic until now, immediately began searching for the prey's presence. The location its sharpened senses led it to was the eastern exit—its original destination. That much was expected, but it was startled to sense the prey's presence coming from outside the warehouse.

How had it escaped? The question was erased by the rage of "I'm going to kill it anyway," and it smashed through the warehouse wall with its sickle. The darkness of night, devoid of any light, spread out from the blown-out wall. At the same time, a small figure of a human woman appeared in its field of vision. She must have noticed the monster that had broken through the wall, as she sat there weakly, trembling.

Even seeing the face it had been waiting for, the stray demon's anger did not subside. Killing the prey was certain, but it would make her pay for humiliating it. Slowly raising its sickle, it approached her, amplifying her fear. It focused all its attention on her, ensuring she couldn't escape and that it could catch her if she tried.

Therefore—the stray demon did not notice several things. That she, wounded and with no room for error, could have set up such an elaborate trap—albeit a childish one—to make the alarm sound repeatedly. That she had escaped from the warehouse it had sealed with magic. That despite being night, the darkness was so thick that not even a single moon or star could be seen. And that the gaze of the human it had marked as prey was focused not only on it, but also, for some reason, on the space above its head.

If it had noticed even one of these things, perhaps the demon's fate could have been different. However, the monster never abandoned its arrogance until the very end. It never broadened its field of vision. And the one who had been waiting for this moment used the stray demon's arrogance to its fullest advantage, connecting it to a brute force strategy with no tactics whatsoever—befitting a coward.

The stray demon stopped moving at the sound that suddenly reached its ears. It was the sound of something cutting through the wind. The sound didn't seem far away; in fact, it felt as though it was right overhead. Finding this unnatural, it looked around, but there was nothing there. However, the sound didn't stop. As it turned its head upward in confusion, the stray demon's eyes widened as much as they could.

"What?"

Filling its field of vision was a massive red object. Thanks to its highly developed motion vision, it realized this red mass was made of reinforced steel and concrete. And the demon recognized this iron structure—it was definitely the machinery used at this port to transport containers from ships. It was a gate-shaped large crane, over ten times its height, known as a "gantry crane"—a massive iron structure weighing dozens of tons.

Normally, such machinery was installed along the port's wharf and should never have been seen in such a densely packed warehouse area. But what was most incomprehensible was that the massive machine was plummeting straight toward its head. There was no way to escape something of that size. There was no way to support its weight. The demon's thoughts froze in the face of this impossible phenomenon, and those few seconds sealed its fate.

"Ohhh!"

Suddenly, the voice of what sounded like a young boy echoed through the darkened port. The stray demon turned its gaze toward the source and caught a glimpse of the human woman who had been sitting on the ground, now being carried by someone wielding a red, gleaming spear as they sprinted away from the warehouse district. With incredible speed, they leaped into the air and ran at full speed without looking back.

The stray demon also had to flee, but its reaction was far too slow. A massive iron block, likely twenty or thirty meters in diameter, was plummeting toward the ground from a considerable height. The impact of its descent would turn the surrounding area into rubble. Its prideful scythe and brute strength were meaningless against the sheer size, weight, and speed of the falling object. Even if it tried to gather its magic now, it wouldn't be in time before impact.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

And then, as the massive crane plummeted from an unimaginable height onto a corner of the port warehouse, the deafening explosion and ground-shaking tremor caused nearly everyone in the vicinity to leap to their feet, as everything was blown to pieces.

Later, the unusually unnatural crane collapse and the presence of what seemed to be a stray demon led the underworld operatives to frantically cover up the incident, fearing it might be ruled an industrial accident. The explosion from the fall was heard by many people on the surface, and there was no way to explain the overly conspicuous and unnatural scene to them.

Incidentally, the stray demon had already died, so the underworld officials quickly disposed of it. There was no time to investigate, as the commotion on the surface was closing in. They had to act swiftly to prevent the demon from being seen by surface dwellers.

The church officials, who served as the front-line contact with the public, and the demon-related personnel bore the brunt of the cover-up efforts due to the nature of the stray demon incident. By the time the situation was finally brought under control, it was so chaotic that even the clergy and demons ended up embracing each other in relief. To this day, the stray demon incident remains under investigation, but the evidence has been completely obliterated, leaving little to go on. Nevertheless, many people continued to search for the culprit, driven by a mix of professional duty and personal vendetta.

Incidentally, the culprit probably knew they would be scolded, but the fact that they had created yet another reason to hide in the shadows—in various senses—because they had gone too far left them scratching their heads in frustration.

***

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