The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Today was the last day he and she could spend together, but Grandis prepared food as usual.

Ainzel looked at her as usual, and she finally finished cooking and served the food to him.

It wasn’t anything more extravagant than usual or anything. He and she greeted the morning as they always had, just as they always had.

“Okay, this time it’ll be really good. Just try it.”

Grandis said with a refreshing smile. Ainzel put it in his mouth even though he knew that in his entire life, not a single recipe she had created had ever tasted good.

“…It’s delicious.”

Ainzel took a bite of the creation and told her so.

Grandis opened her eyes wide at those words and smiled.

“Really? Then, where… ”

So Grandis put his creation to his mouth and frowned. The texture, the smell, and the taste were all fine. Grandis’s face instantly turned into a grimace.

“…Something doesn’t seem right. Are you doing this on purpose to get revenge on me? Because I fed you something tasteless?”

Grandis picked up the plate with her brow furrowed. She was planning on throwing it away.

Then, Ainzel grabbed her wrist and said.

“…No, it’s delicious.”

Grandis met his eyes.

“There is no need to throw it away.”

Grandis set down the plate. Ainzel ate every last bit of the food she had prepared, even though it must have tasted horrible.

Grandis smiled at him and hugged him tightly.

I felt the wrinkles on Ainzel’s face. I felt the white hair that had turned white. I felt the beard on his chin.

But his dark, shining eyes were still the same, so she was relieved.

“… Okay, now that we’ve eaten, should we go?”

“huh.”

They teleported to the imperial capital.

When Ainzel opened his eyes, the place that was once the capital of the empire was being used as a base for the Demon King’s army.

Ainzel let out a hollow laugh at the sight.

“It has become a complete den of demons.”

Grandis said with a bitter smile.

“Even though he has seized control of the world, he has implanted his magical power into the bodies of all the demons he rules. He doesn’t even trust his own people… Can someone like that be called a king?”

As Grandis spoke, Ainzel looked at her and said.

“Coming.”

The storm raged. The light scattered. The sky opened.

At the center of all this spectacle was a face I already knew, the same as it had been decades ago.

“Oh. Did you come here because you wanted to die?”

The Demon King was looking down at them and laughing.

“Yes… Hero, when the empire was destroyed, when your hometown disappeared, you were nowhere to be seen, so why did you come now? It was nice to hear the imperial people resent you. To come now, you seem quite late.”

“…well.”

Ainzel looked straight at the Demon King. Seeing that he showed no signs of agitation, the Demon King began to mock Ainzel even more.

“What is that appearance? I’ve heard that the lifespan of humans is less than a tenth of that of demons, but what is that shabby old appearance? Is it possible for you to wield a sword properly?”

Ainzel heard those words and chuckled.

“Don’t worry.”

Then the Demon King’s face hardened. Then, he began to pull out his sword from the darkness.

The Demon King swung his sword lightly once.

Zzz, with the swing of that sword, everything in front of it was cut in half. Even though so many of his people died in that single attack, the Demon King didn’t seem to care at all.

Grandis said at the sight.

“I don’t know how you can dare to call yourself their king after doing that.”

The Demon King looked down at Grandis and said.

“Shut up. You traitor to the race that has been with the hero. Was playing lover with the hero fun?”

Grandis heard that and laughed.

“At least it was more fun than wasting my time working for a retard like you, old man.”

The Demon King began to scatter his black magic into the air.

Ainzel began to absorb the Demon King’s black magic.

The Demon King, unaware that he was absorbing his own black magic, simply scattered his magic as if he was happy to disrupt Grandis’s mind even for a moment.

Ainzel gritted his teeth as he accepted the Demon King’s black magic.

The feeling of my mind being invaded gave me a headache.

But he didn’t hesitate and glared at the Demon King. His eyes seemed to be gradually becoming bloodshot.

The Demon King began to weave a black magic formula.

Ainzel knew what kind of black magic his dark magic was, and he shook up the Demon King’s dark magic.

Of course, it was impossible to dare to completely break the Demon King’s black magic spell. That was because the Demon King and the other man’s ability to handle black magic was so different. However, it was possible to temporarily weaken the structure of the black magic.

And Grandis did not miss the structure that had become so vulnerable. The Demon King’s spell was broken.

The Demon King let out a hollow laugh.

“Grandis… You taught the warrior black magic? This is truly amazing. A servant of God who holds the holy sword and uses black magic!”

Ainzel began swinging the holy sword regardless.

The holy sword was engraved with a sword spirit. The realm of a master. It was an incredible realm, but it did not reach the realm of transcendence, or even beyond… the realm of the ‘king.’

The realm of the king. Not the lowly kings of humans, but the realm that only the angels, spirits, and kings of the demon race, each appointed by their gods, can reach.

Only the four archangels of the heavenly realm, the four spirit kings of the spirit world, and the demon king have reached that level.

At that point, even Ainzel’s attacks, which were at their most extreme, were too weak.

It’s too shallow, too slow, too loose, too light.

The Demon King blocked his attack with one hand.

Ainzel gritted his teeth and began to unleash magic, miracles, and black magic.

And all those attacks did not reach the Demon King.

“How insignificant, warrior. Is this the result of decades of being with Grandis? I knew that humans have short life spans but develop quickly, but this is disappointing.”

Ainzel heard those words and distanced himself from the Demon King.

Grandis stood in front of Ainzel and spoke.

“Hey, it’s time to start playing with me. I need to get revenge on you, but it’s not going to be fun if you ignore me, right, old man?”

The Demon King laughed when he heard that.

“Okay, let me see if you have the skills to take revenge on me.”

The Demon King swung his sword.

Grandis blocked the attack with a shield and then blasted black flames. Even low-level black magic was sometimes better than high-level black magic when attacking within a short period of time.

The Demon King tried to block the attack, but at that moment, an arrow rushed in. It was an arrow shot by Ainzel. The Demon King caught the arrow with his hand and blocked the black magic with a shield.

“You’re having so much fun playing.”

After saying that, the Demon King began to gather all his strength.

Then, when the Demon King lowered his hand, the heavens and the earth were transformed.

Ainzel was confused and tried to analyze the spell, but he couldn’t see it.

Just a mass of pure black magic. Ainzel tried to overlap his defensive barriers somehow, but he couldn’t block all of the attacks.

“Ugh!”

Ainzel eventually collapsed and rolled on the dirt floor.

The Demon King continued to attack Grandis. Grandis began to raise undead by sacrificing nearby dead demons.

And so, what was created was Mountain of Death.

A mountain of corpses appeared before the Demon King’s eyes.

But the Demon King showed no emotion and just pretended to press something with his hand.

Then the Mountain of Death hesitated and did nothing, and finally burst under the pressure. The skin, entrails, and marrow of the corpses were scattered in great quantities.

Grandis smiled and said.

“Ha, you haven’t lost your mind yet, have you, old man?”

“Well, I think that description would be more appropriate for the warrior crawling on the ground next to you.”

As soon as he heard that, Grandis growled.

“Don’t insult Ainzel.”

“Ha, are you in love with a human? A species whose life span is ten times longer than ours? There can be no farce more ridiculous than this.”

Grandis became even more enraged by the Demon King’s words and began to rampage.

The Demon King teleported to Ainzel behind Grandis, who was running wild like that.

The Demon King swung his sword. Time seemed to slow down.

Ainzel thought. This is, this is the last moment.

And at that moment, Grandis was blocking his way.

Grandis’ body was cut by a sword.