This World Needs a Hero

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What Does the Demon King Actually Look Like?

Was he similar to most other demons, taking on a humanoid form?

Or perhaps he resembled a gigantic monster?

Maybe he was an ever-changing, indefinite shape?

These were questions many people had.

However, even though it had been hundreds of years since the start of the Human-Demon War, there weren’t many accounts or stories about the Demon King.

There were two main reasons for this.

First, because anyone who saw him didn’t live to tell the tale.

Second, because the Demon King rarely showed himself before humans in the first place.

In fact, throughout that long period, the number of times the Demon King appeared on the battlefield could be counted on one hand.

Of course, whenever he did appear, whether it was a small army or a couple of cities, they would disappear without a trace…

Nonetheless, unlike the other demons, the Demon King did not actively participate in the Human-Demon War.

‘If he had, humanity would have been annihilated long ago.’

He mostly stayed holed up in the Demon King’s Castle, known as the first region of the Demon Realm… only to suddenly appear and wreak havoc before vanishing again.

Cuculli, who inherited the ancient dragon’s knowledge through the “Baptism,” understood the reason behind the Demon King’s sporadic appearances.

It was causality.

A mysterious law that mortals could hardly comprehend was binding him.

Maktania explained further:

“Transcendental beings who have achieved a certain level of power are constrained by the law of causality in this world. Just as a body resists disease, the world itself fights against the intrusion of external threats.”

The Demon King had exhausted most of his causality in a past battle with the original Doppelgänger, causing him to suffer unexpected penalties as a result.

“…So humanity survived thanks to that bastard, after all.”

The hero who learned the truth couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

Because of this, even the elite Dawn Knights, who fought in the most perilous battlefields, had never encountered the Demon King.

Only Ted Redymer had faced him, but he too perished and could not leave any accounts.

Thus, when Cuculli was a student, she had a rather absurd worry:

‘What if I meet him one day and don’t recognize him because I don’t know what he looks like?’

It was a laughable concern.

If that being wasn’t the Demon King, the king of all demons, then what else could he be?

Cuculli stared blankly at the sky, where the sun used to be.

‘…Eyes?’

The surroundings had become completely dark as if it were midnight.

Sssssss—

In the darkness, only the Demon King’s eyes glowed faintly.

Sssssssssss—

His pupils did not have a fixed form.

They moved and transformed continuously.

At first, it seemed like one enormous pupil, but soon it split into two, three, and then dozens… eventually into countless numbers.

The pupils, rolling in different directions, soon merged again into one larger eye.

Staring at this, Cuculli felt a very unfamiliar sensation.

‘Uh… uh?’

Pride and determination—these were intrinsic to Cuculli.

From the moment she followed the bloodline of the great chieftain Dorempa and let out her first cry in this snowy land.

Even before horns sprouted from her head!

Fear had always been a mere abstract concept to her.

…At least, that’s what she believed until just moments ago.

“Hik.”

Unconsciously, Cuculli folded her wings.

She no longer had the courage to keep flying.

If she could get even a little further away from that thing, she would even crash into the ground willingly.

Whhhh—

Her streamlined body wobbled as it plummeted to the ground.

“Cuculli… snap out of it….”

Maktania whispered urgently, but her words did not reach Cuculli.

Even though she possessed the soul of a high-ranking dragon, she couldn’t remain unaffected by the concentrated malice and madness of the Demon King.

The ice dragon, falling from the dizzying heights.

The battlefield unfolding beneath her was in utter chaos.

“Aaaaaa….”

All the noise from the battle had already ceased.

People looked up at the sky with terrified faces.

Some tried to gouge out their own eyes or break their immobile necks to escape the Demon King’s gaze, but most failed.

It was the same for low-ranking demons and monsters.

“Grrr….”

Those engaged in bloody combat all froze, looking in the same direction.

The Demon King’s gaze didn’t just instill fear.

His transcendental eyes, viewing the world as a mere plaything, provoked the innate confusion and terror in mortals.

It felt like being a small creature trapped in a tiny box.

An overwhelming sense of powerlessness, never before imagined, surged within them.

“…Cuculli!”

“……”

“Please, snap out of it!”

Just before Cuculli’s body collided with the ground, her massive head was enveloped in a brilliant holy light.

At the same time, the light returned to her dazed pupils.

“Huff!”

Swish—

Her wings spread wide.

Just before the crash, Cuculli soared dramatically into the sky, shaking her head as if awakening from a deep slumber.

Maktania’s shout reached Cuculli’s ears.

“Are you going to let your subordinates die while you’re out of it?”

“Uuuu…”

“Wouldn’t you be ashamed in front of your father!?”

That statement snapped Cuculli back to full awareness.

She quickly assessed the situation and used half of her remaining mana to unleash a powerful dragon command.

[Retreat! Everyone, run! Don’t ever look up! Just keep your eyes on the ground!]

As the materialized mana swept across the battlefield, the bodies of the frozen tribesmen began to move slightly.

Cuculli didn’t stop there; she used the rest of her mana to create a massive ice dome over her subordinates.

Rumble—

Once the Demon King’s gaze was physically blocked, the tribesmen seemed to regain their senses.

Maktania followed up by releasing another burst of holy power.

The allied forces, now fully alert, began to run.

As close-knit tribal members, they carried their frozen comrades as they retreated.

“Uuuu…”

Having exhausted all her holy power, Maktania hung limply next to Cuculli’s horn, her mouth slightly open.

Yet, her eyes still burned with life.

“…Isn’t this strange?”

Cuculli also sensed something was off and nodded.

“Yeah… why….”

Both turned their heads simultaneously, looking toward the direction of the seal.

“The seal is intact, right?”

Moments ago, amidst the chaos, they hadn’t noticed, but the seal was surprisingly intact.

The seal’s power was vividly present… still detectable.

Maktania muttered in disbelief.

“This doesn’t make sense…”

They naturally assumed that the Demon King’s appearance was due to the seal being broken.

There had been a peculiar vibration and noise from the seal’s direction earlier…

‘We heard that other seals were also under attack… we thought multiple seals collapsing simultaneously had brought the Demon King here.’

…But that wasn’t the case.

Maktania frowned, unable to comprehend.

“Then what is that?”

How could the Demon King be rampaging in the mortal realm if the seal was intact?

“I’ll remove the ice wall for now. We need to conserve our mana for the battle.”

“Okay.”

Sssss—

The pitch-black sky was revealed again.

Cuculli had a perplexed expression.

The Demon King’s eyes still glinted where the sun should have been.

However…

‘…Something’s off.’

As the saying goes, even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, if you keep your wits, you can survive.

Cuculli began to notice a series of clues she had previously missed.

“…He hasn’t fully manifested.”

“What?”

“It’s not over yet!”

Cuculli, risking everything, gathered the rest of her mana to enhance her eyesight.

She looked up again.

Realizing what she intended, Maktania also scraped together her remaining holy power and poured it into Cuculli.

‘If my guess is right…’

Cuculli raised her head, staring at the sky where red lightning crackled.

Her blue eyes pierced beyond, into the hidden side of the world.

Drip—

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Blood flowed continuously from her eyes.

While desperately maintaining her sanity, the wisdom of the ice dragon helped her intuitively understand the phenomenon before her.

“…He can’t fully cross over.”

“……”

“He found another passage… but it’s imperfect. That’s why he’s using the power of his subordinates…”

There was a reason why the previously imposing Theo and Malekia suddenly became immobile.

Wooong—

A massive vortex of demonic energy was being siphoned from them, heading somewhere.

Though they weren’t completely destroyed, it seemed as if they were being stripped of all but a minimal amount of energy needed to maintain their existence.

The vast amount of demonic energy being drawn from the two commanders was…

“The dimensional rift… a forced passage?”

Having finally understood the situation, Maktania and Cuculli’s expressions became complex.

Of course, this was much better than having the Demon King fully manifest.

However, if all that demonic energy was absorbed, the outcome would be nearly the same.

‘…He must have recovered quite a bit of causality after returning to the demon realm.’

Cuculli realized there was no time to waste.

‘First, we need to stop the flow of demonic energy.’

Swish—

Her giant wings adjusted their angle for takeoff.

“…Maktania. Can you fight?”

Maktania sighed softly as the wind battered her face.

“Huff…”

Both Cuculli’s magic and her own holy power were completely drained.

This was effectively a death sentence.

The original plan to chase the Doppelgänger’s tail and tour the human world seemed distant now.

Maktania grumbled briefly.

‘…And where on earth has Izaro gone?’

Did he get caught up and killed by the Demon King’s power manifestation?

As the end neared, Maktania felt a tinge of unfairness at the absence of Izaro, one of the individuals who had summoned her to this world.

But there was no other choice.

Preventing the Demon King from taking over the material world was imperative from a celestial perspective, and if the seal and her comrades were all destroyed here, the doppelgänger would be utterly devastated.

“Though I would like to see him cry in person…”

Flap—

As Cuculli flapped her wings diligently, she asked,

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

Screeech—!

Soon, a sword of light appeared in Maktania’s hand.

With a weapon like a toothpick made from her last remaining holy power and Cuculli, who couldn’t even use flying magic anymore and was using her wings to keep her massive body aloft, their eyes still burned with determination to somehow sever the flow of demonic energy and stop the Demon King’s manifestation.

“Let’s go!”

“Right!”

Thud—!

It was then that the same noise as before came from the direction of the seal.

As Cuculli and Maktania hesitated at this unexpected situation.

Rumble—!

A sound several times louder than before resonated.

The air around them shook.

Cuculli, feeling an inexplicable intuition, halted her wings.

And soon.

[Descendants of the traitors! It is time to repay our debt to this world!]

A loud roar that drowned out all other sounds hit their ears.

Despite its content, the voice carried a spirit of victory and determination rather than defeat and despair.

“What!?”

“No way.”

At the same time, Cuculli and Maktania felt the life force of some humans near the seal abruptly disappear, like a candle being blown out.

Maktania’s face contorted as she realized something.

“…Wait!”

But despite her cry, a wave of light quickly approached.

In a moment of frozen time, the light spread, turning everything white.

The surrounding scenery gradually disappeared, and everyone’s vision turned to a world of pure white.

As if all the colors in the world had vanished, with only light remaining, Cuculli and Maktania saw shapes slowly fading within it.

* * *

‘Barrett Namsov and all members of the Namsov family dead, 133 allied warriors of the tribes killed… Izaro, Cuculli, and Maktania are in a state of incapacitation…’

The Emperor walked briskly through the long corridor, recalling the report she had just received.

She reflected on the sentences written at the end of the report.

‘…The descent of the Demon King was temporarily halted, but its imminence remains.’

Barrett Namsov, who maintained the seal, had sacrificed himself along with his family and Izaro, the homunculus of Zero, to delay the descent.

Despite the tragic news, Euphemia’s expression was resolute and determined, without a trace of despair.

Her grip tightened on the staff she held.

She took out a communication orb from her robe.

Mother Ghost, who was following her closely, naturally kept watch around them.

“There’s no one here.”

Only then did the Emperor speak.

The communication was already connected.

“Are you ready?”

[Of course]

A calm voice was heard from the other end.

Whether he was good at hiding his emotions or just incredibly bold, during the four years Euphemia had known him, he had never lost his composure in any situation.

Although his calm demeanor could be frustrating and pitiful at times, on a day like today, she found it very reassuring.

Euphemia smiled faintly.

“It feels rather liberating at this point.”

[I feel the same]

“Though it’s earlier than expected…”

[I’m prepared]

Thud—!

The Emperor entered a vacant chamber.

A silent room.

She placed the communication orb on the table with a thud and stared at it intently.

After taking a deep breath, she spoke clearly.

“Begin the multi-way communication.”

Wuuuuu—

With a strange sound, the communication orb glowed, ready to cast the ‘multi-way communication spell.’

It was the same spell Euphemia had used to summon the members of the Dawn Knights during the Stagnum escape (auction house incident).

A high-level spell that consumed an enormous amount of mana, incomparable to ordinary communication spells, creating a phantom conference room to invite participants.

In just a few seconds, Felson, who was commanding the front lines, Zion, who was overseeing the defense of the capital, Noubelmag who was on a secret mission, Yussi, who had unexpectedly arrived in the capital looking for the hero, Duke Wellington who was defending the academy, and even Arpheus, who had newly been invited as a hero, would all be summoned.

…An unprecedented grand meeting of the human leadership would be held.

And there, they would –

“Meet an unexpected guest.”

[And hear an unexpected proposal from the unexpected guest]

“Hah… I can’t even imagine what their reactions will be.”

Euphemia shook her head.

…Though it wasn’t the right sentiment for the situation, she felt like a child about to play a mischievous prank.

The man beyond the communication orb briefly smiled silently before murmuring quietly.

[Let’s hope they don’t throw stones]

His words brought back an old conversation to the Emperor’s mind.

…Perhaps it was during a time when they were left alone after a meeting, talking with a sense of despair.

“It’s like a stage with the lights off.”

“Then we’re the actors giving our all to deceive the audience.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t get pelted with stones during the curtain call.”

“We’ll try to avoid that.”

“…I’m looking forward to it.”

They silently smiled at each other as if they had made a pact.

“Well then.”

[Well then]

Swish—

The illusion spell enveloped them.

The meeting had begun.

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