Chapter 166: The Demon's Wrath

How many years — tens of thousands of years — had it been since I was this angry?

I loathe that flaming knight standing right before me now.

I abhor that Sage Halt, the person who sent this knight.

There was nothing but revulsion against him in the depths of my very core.

Ahh, I thought of something good.*

Why not make him taste the same pain?*

That guy was accompanied by women when he came to this Holy City.

One of them had a familiar face.

It was that annoying Tina Harrivel.

She’s one of the party of heroes who defeated my fellow demon Velt.

Velt had been commanded by the Evil God to become the Demon King, sent to reign over this world. He had spread despair and horror far and wide.

That guy had a lower rank than me, and his own power was not a big deal, but he could control all his warlock subordinates well, and he efficiently destroyed the world of these people.

I also admired him for that skill.

However….Tina, that woman and another hero from the Isekai world defeated him.

The Evil God was extremely furious, and because all the souls of the demons were connected to his, the resentment against that hero and Tina spread among all of us.

Halt destroyed the daughter that I painstakingly prepared.

Tina, the enemy of the Evil God and all the demons.

I came up with a plan that would push both of them into the abyss of despair at the same time.

I would capture both of them and force them to conceive.

I would let them raise their child under my control until it reached the age of Lovelia.

It would be one of the greatest people to ever live.

I would lock them up and restrain all their movements for a few years, until they would get used to it.

They would forget that they were just pets raised by a demon, and they would eventually become happy.

I would crush that fleeting happiness with all my might.

I would kill that child that they had raised for sixteen years right before their eyes.

They would plead to let that child go in exchange for their lives, that was certain.

I would just turn a deaf ear to their cries as I slay that child.

They would be shocked, for sure.

They would wallow in misery.

Become hopeless.

Then they would feel scared that the person they loved would be the next victim.

It would be boring if they didn’t feel that.

I would make you regret from the depths of your soul that you messed up a demon’s possessions, even daring to challenge him.

Halt also had a few more women beside him other than Tina.

I would do the same thing to them, as I did to Tina and Halt. I would make them regret that they were with Halt.

I no longer cared whether they were indeed related to him.

As long as that face of his contorted in despair, then that was all that mattered.

I would love to see Tina beg for the life of her child with tears streaming down her face.

Halt’s heart would be wrenched in pain when he saw the wretched state of the women who were with him.

I would feed on their souls at that time, while enjoying their expressions to the fullest.

The finest souls would belong to the ones who had risen to the ranks of sage and heroine.

I was sure it would be quite the delicacy.

I felt a strange surge of strength within me.

Heh, was this the feeling of anticipating revenge?

It had been so long that I had already forgotten about it.

No, it wasn’t just anger.

Perhaps now that I’ve unleashed my true power after spending all those thousands of years being in human form, I was far stronger than before, to the point that my previous strength could no longer compare.

And that was not the end of it.

My reincarnation occurred dozens of times.

I had constantly pushed my human limits for each of them, thus succeeding in increasing the level of my own abilities.

Mages, gladiators, archers, enchanters, assassins —

I could use all the techniques and types of skills and magic that could be used for each occupation. Thus, I was able to possess these skills despite being an overwhelmingly powerful demon from the start.

“This is good.”

In this case —

I moved to the spot right in front of the flaming knight that had been standing in front of the saintess in an attempt to protect her.

The knight intercepted me, but I already unleashed my demonic powers, so it was like watching him attack in slow motion.

“This is all you got?”

I was holding a lump of mana in my hand — it was probably the core of this flaming knight.

The moment the flaming knight attacked me, I already wrenched it out of his body.

The flaming knight fizzled right on that spot after its core was extracted.

A human’s magic power could only amount to such, after all.

“N-no way…”

You probably thought it would save you.

Disbelief and despair were written all over her face.

“You’re no longer needed once the baptism is over...Well, just stay there and enjoy the show for a while.”

I drew nearer towards the gigantic crystal sitting right at the center of the Great Shrine.

“W-what do you want to do!? Wait, don’t go there! Stop!!”

She already noticed what I ws planning to do.

Of course I didn’t even have a shred of desire to stop.

I pumped myself with my demonic power, then gathered all the skills that I had obtained as a human within me, before punching this abominable crystal protecting the Holy City.

A huge crack appeared in the crystal that protected the Holy City and the Great Temple for several thousands of years.

“Tsk, it’s hard, as expected.”

“Impossible, this is impossible…”

I didn’t manage to shatter this crystal perfectly, but I was able to stop it’s function.

It was obvious from the expression of the saintess. The Holy Barrier that protected the Holy City had vanished.

So it was just as simple as this.

Then I shouldn’t have wasted my time on raising that girl. I could’ve destroyed the Holy City even on my own.

Now that I thought about it, I already spent a lot of time on that daughter.

I couldn’t believe that everything was rendered futile.

I enjoyed living with my daughter.

My loathing towards Halt, the person who murdered my daughter, increased once again.

“So, nothing protects the both of you now… What will you do?”

“.................”

The saintess was dumbfounded.

I didn’t glean any reaction from her, so it was boring.

.

“— Urk”

I wrapped my fingers around her neck and lifted her up.

Her throat was constricted, and she raised her voice in pain.

“You’re soul must be delicious after serving all those years as a Saintess, huh. Still, I want to dye it all in black with despair before I savor it.”

Her spirit was already broken.

However, I could still make her soul more delicious.

I would continue wounding, violating, and tormenting her until she’s driven in a corner, begging me to just kill her off.

Well, I could kill her for how many times she liked, I guess.

I would force her to bear the next Saintess, and then I would make her reincarnate in that person. Heh, then I could enjoy this scene as many times as I liked.

Ohh, what a great plan, even if I say so myself.

“Yeah, that’s right. Why don’t I make you bear Halt’s child? How about it? If you’re going to submit yourself to me then I will let you live.”

Just for a few years, though.

“...You will never win against that person.”

“What?”

The light returned to her eyes the moment he heard Halt's name.

She believed that the Sage would triumph over me — her strong conviction was as clear as day.

*

You will not get any help from the Creator God *— her soul had been broken when she heard those words, but she recovered, relying on that sage support.

Expectation, hope, courage — her heart was brimming with the righteous energy.

How disgusting.

Her spirit that I had taken such lengths to break was already completely healed.

It would take way too much effort just to break it all over again.

— too troublesome.

“I changed my mind. Yeah, I will kill you right now.”

I raised my left hand that was still gripping her neck, lifting her high up in the air as I summoned the Sword of Darkness on my right hand.

If a person was cut down with this sword in the midst of terror for it, then that person would never be able to come back to life, even if they immediately used revival magic on her.

And yet —

The saintess was not afraid.

She believed in the future.

She was overflowing with hope.

Stop it, stop looking at me with those abominable eyes!

“Die.”

I thrust the magic sword in her heart —

“— Ugh!?”

The saintess that was supposed to be just before my eyes had vanished in thin air.

It was not only the saintess.

My left hand that was gripping her neck was also gone.

I could feel the pain.

This was the first time I experienced this since I became a demon.

I also received damage when the flaming knight blasted me off, but I never felt pain back then.

A youth was standing there, clutching an enormous sword that was almost as big as him in one hand and the Saintess in his arms.

He — that sage had cut off my arm and seized the saintess from me.

This sage spoke with a voice filled with two of the emotions that I abhorred the most in this entire world — hope and courage — as he called out.

“Sorry for making you wait. It’s alright now.”