The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Finally, Ainzel and his companions faced the Demon King before their eyes. He was a man with long black hair and a somewhat languid impression.

However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the power felt from that body was absolute. The thick darkness seemed to cover even the sky, so Ainzel bit his lip without realizing it.

“You finally made it this far.”

The Demon King greeted them with a calm expression. Ainzel and his companions did not even respond.

“Hmm, can’t you understand? I thought you’d be able to at least give me an answer.”

Ainzel said with a hardened face.

“I just thought there was no proper greeting to share with you.”

“Hmm, is that so? Well then… Okay, let’s get to the point.”

The Demon King took out a black sword.

Sein clenched her hands tightly around the sword. Although she didn’t know it, the sword wielded by the Demon King was no less powerful than hers.

When the Demon King snapped his fingers, a huge explosion occurred in an instant.

Ainzel couldn’t even react to it, and Beatrice barely managed to block the explosion.

“Hmm, for a human priest to be able to stop this, it’s not bad at all….”

Beatrice glared at the Demon King, sweating profusely. At that moment, the Demon King suddenly rushed forward and swung his sword.

“…uh?”

There was no time to react. In just one moment, my vision flipped upside down.

I absentmindedly thought to myself, “My shoulders feel light.”

When I came to my senses, I felt my soul leaving my body.

Ainzel returned to the past.

He was killed by the Demon King in one fell swoop.

The fight didn’t even come to fruition. Ainzel was a little shocked by that fact, but tried not to show it.

The Demon King greeted them again.

Ainzel tried hard to ignore those words.

“Hmm, you’re not going to finish talking? Well, fine. Let’s get to the point.”

The Demon King snapped his fingers again, causing an explosion, which Beatrice blocked.

And once again, when the Demon King ran towards him, Ainzel was barely able to avoid the attack by moving to the side.

The problem was what happened next. After dodging an attack just once, I had no idea what to do about it.

As the Demon King was about to strike with his sword again, Se-in stood in front of him.

Clang! The sound of blades clashing was heard. Ainzel took a step back without thinking.

Lena fired a powerful arrow at the Demon King. The Demon King easily intercepted the arrow with a sphere made of black magic.

Ainzel felt a creepy feeling when he saw it. The fact that it blocked the arrow itself was nothing special. The sphere wasn’t even a great black magic to begin with. However, the creepiest thing was that it intercepted the arrow with the sphere.

It was clear that he was trying to ‘save’ his black magic power by not simply blocking the arrows that had reached the level of transcendence, but rather intercepting them with black magic. This in itself meant that he had some leeway in blocking the attacks.

Only then did Ainzel understand the meaning of the fact that Grandis was called the strongest black magician, but the Demon King, who was also a black magician, was not called that way, but was only called the strongest demon.

Not as a warlock. Not as a swordsman. Not as any other type. In the first place, he is a being that cannot be contained within such standards.

Completely out of the norm, strong just as a living thing… That was why the Demon King was called the strongest demon.

The Demon King didn’t stop there. He shot black magic at Sein, and when Beatrice barely managed to block it, he threw his sword.

“Ugh… .”

Beatrice fell to the ground, spitting out blood as her neck was stabbed by the sword. The Demon King smiled and once again hurled black magic at Sein, who barely managed to dodge it.

Peria fired her magic at the Demon King. The most powerful magic she could use, the Spear of Chaos, fell down through the ceiling of the Demon King’s castle.

The Demon King pulled out his sword from around Beatrice’s neck and struck the giant spear with it.

The Spear of Chaos shattered with a loud crack. Ainzel hurriedly shot magic at the Demon King, but the Demon King lightly deflected the attack with his self-defense weapon and then shot black magic at Ainzel.

He died without even being able to cope properly.

After that, he died, and died, and died again.

His head was blown off by a sword, and his entire body was burned by black magic. Even amidst these countless deaths, he continued to absorb black magic containing the power of the Demon King.

My five senses were distorted. I saw hallucinations before my eyes, and I heard screams in my ears. An inexplicable discomfort spread through my body.

My values ​​were fading away. I couldn’t remember what I was fighting for. I was getting used to dying, and I couldn’t remember the memories I had left behind.

Even as he was consumed by the Demon King’s power, he would return to the past and repeat the process of absorbing it again. … He didn’t quite remember why he was doing it, but he just kept doing it.

Even the sense of duty to do this was erased. In the endless, endlessly repeating regression, Ainzel felt his soul becoming emptier as his body was filled with the power of the Demon King.

Fight.

Why?

Swing your sword.

For what?

Let the magic fly.

how?

Shoot the arrow. Make a miracle happen.

just-

The reason he fights is gradually fading from memory. What is he fighting for?

Why don’t you hesitate?

Because I don’t see any particular reason to hesitate.

Death. Resurrection. Death again. Resurrection again. In this endless cycle, he would occasionally come to his senses.

How many times have I died? I don’t know, but it must have been hundreds of times already. And I thought that it would probably be the same next time.

I just fought empty-handed, dying toward death, fighting toward the past. I didn’t really think anything would change.

To begin with, the gap in power between us was this big. It was ridiculous to win.

But I never really felt like giving up. I didn’t think that anything would change if I ran away.

He got tired of fighting, but he didn’t feel better just because he didn’t fight, so he fought. He swung his sword, he shot magic, he did all sorts of things, and then he died again.

And it was one of those times when he came to his senses after what could be considered a very long time – of course, he didn’t even realize it.

He gradually realized that the cycle of coming to his senses was getting longer. After failing this time, he wondered if he could come to his senses again, but he didn’t think he could.

Yes, it could have ended with a complete breakdown of reason. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as an ending.

He faced the Demon King again. The Demon King greeted him as usual.

“You finally made it this far.”

Ainzel stared blankly at the Demon King and then spoke.

“okay.”

He had finally arrived here, in pain, losing, and dying. He just stared blankly at the Demon King.

The Demon King blew up an explosion as usual.

Ainzel reversed the Demon King’s explosion. The Demon King’s ability to control black magic was not even comparable to his, so he could not make the explosion seem like it had never happened, but he could at least reduce the power of the explosion considerably. And Beatrice’s defense barrier, if it took less damage, the burden on her would also be reduced.

The Demon King charged again. Ainzel calmly dodged it, then swung his sword back at the Demon King. The Demon King snorted and blocked the attack with his bare hand.

“That’s what I was aiming for.”

He already knew that the Demon King would choose not to dodge in order to deliberately play with him. From behind, Se-in stabbed the Demon King’s body with his sword.

“Ugh!”

It was blocked in the middle and could not cause any more damage to the Demon King, but it gave the Demon King a scar.

So they continued their battle. Ainzel already had a clear idea of ​​how the Demon King would react, and eventually the Demon King’s black magic power began to slowly decline.

It probably also included the backlash that covered the entirety of his Demon King’s Castle with power. Of course, that power had already been absorbed into Ainzel’s own body.

So, the Demon King charged again. As if reflecting his growing impatience, he swung his sword at Ainzel with a rough gesture.

Ainzel sensed death at that moment. Time slowed down.

‘This time, it was a failure.’

He thought that absentmindedly. He thought to himself that there was still a chance and that he could do more, but on the other hand, if it still didn’t work out after doing this much, shouldn’t he give up now? That thought was slowly creeping into his mind.

While his reason was making such a judgment, his body unconsciously took the most familiar action.

It was a stabbing motion. Ainzel thought to himself as he performed the motion.

‘That won’t work.’

There’s no way that his own stabbing, which is at the extreme level, could be faster than the Demon King’s.

By the time he was thinking that, the holy sword had already been thrust into the Demon King’s heart.

‘…uh?’

Only then did Ainzel realize what had happened.

The Demon King gave a hateful look, then died.

The Demon King’s power that had filled the Demon King’s castle disappeared immediately.

He stared at the sight, stood there dumbfounded, and then fainted.