Chapter 416

Chapter 416
## Chapter 416

The Great Demon World War (3)

Ba-bump— Ba-bump—

A robust and unyielding rhythm echoed from the depths of his chest.

Krushaior, the Dragon Marquis… or rather, the mutated entity that had discarded that identity… plunged his awareness inward, letting his mind fall into the core of his existence.

Erratic, shattered memories flickered across his thoughts, tracing the long, punishing path he had walked.

The journey of an ordinary dragon who had ventured into the Demon World and climbed to its absolute peak.

He had endured thousands of years of grueling trials, defying countless perils and overcoming every barrier in his way.

All of it had led him to this exact moment, fueled by a singular, burning fixation.

Vengeance against the ones who had wronged him, the ones who had driven him from his native lands.

He would claim the throne of the Demon King, subjugate the Demon World, and launch a grand campaign against Auterica, vindicating every choice he had ever made.

‘…My path was the correct one.’

The error lay not with him, but with the universe itself.

He possessed the ultimate power, standing far above the rest.

Dominion was his birthright.

This was his absolute truth.

And he harbored no doubts about his ultimate triumph.

“Oh~ So this is where you’ve been lurking? And in such a… pitiful condition?”

Until that particular voice shattered his thoughts.

Rumble—

Buried deep beneath the earth, his colossal form coiled and shifted in a raw, defensive reflex.

It was a familiar, mocking female voice, dripping with casual amusement.

A voice he despised with every fiber of his being, the one that had shattered his schemes and brought everything crashing down around him.

The thunderous rhythm of his pulse seemed to vanish.

…No, that was merely an illusion born of his fury.

His heart continued its frantic hammering within his chest.

The sound had simply been drowned out as his entire focus locked onto the intruder who had spoken.

“I was curious about how you were generating such a ceaseless tide of abominations…”

Rumble—!

Paying no heed to her condescending tone or her dismissive clicking tongue, he uncoiled his massive framework, ascending from the depths of the soil.

The earth shattered beneath his weight, sending a massive plume of dust and shattered rock into the air. The surrounding demonic currents swirled in a violent vortex as the ground shuddered violently…

…but he paid it no mind.

“…You’ve literally converted your entire physical form into a gateway to the void.”

Hella looked up at the towering monstrosity, her expression filled not with admiration, but with sheer revulsion.

He had entrenched himself in the heart of the Abandoned Lands, the most barren and lifeless territory across the entire Demon World.

Yet his current state was vastly altered from their previous confrontation in the heavens.

His frame, extending over a kilometer in length, had become a grotesque, misshapen fusion of flesh and skeletal structures that defied normal geometry.

His three pairs of wings, absurdly small compared to his titanic mass, appeared crudely fashioned, as if forged by stitching together countless lesser humanoids.

The horrific patchwork extended across his entire body; every section was an unnatural amalgamation of disparate entities.

Myriads of eyes glared down at her, their pupils freezing and brimming with malice.

‘…Ugh, truly repulsive.’

Hella felt her stomach twist with distaste as she surveyed the warped creature.

An endless swarm of beasts, resembling insects pouring from a disturbed nest, cascaded from his massive hide, their vacancies instantly occupied by new abominations clawing their way out from within him.

He had transformed into a living production line, endlessly generating twisted lifeforms.

“Fresh off the line and delivered straight to the front lines. Talk about… impeccable service…”

Naturally, no one had requested such an aggressive delivery.

Hella’s expression turned icy as she watched the creatures sever themselves from Krushaior’s hide, vanishing into the void only to manifest instantly across numerous conflict zones.

‘…So that’s why their numbers never dwindle.’

Her hypothesis had been correct.

The sole method to halt this onslaught was to eliminate Krushaior himself, the root of the infestation.

He had concealed himself in this wasteland precisely because he understood that vulnerability.

“Actually, this might work out… simpler.”

Had they persisted with traditional military maneuvers, the conflict would have dragged on indefinitely.

Now, she merely needed to erase this lone madman to bring down the entire apparatus.

Furthermore…

“My schedule is packed. I can’t afford to dally here with you. I trust you understand.”

She had given her word to her followers that her absence would be brief.

Since he had been the one to escalate this, she had no intention of holding back.

She gave a casual shrug, offering a playful wink.

[“——!”]

The abominations anchored to Krushaior’s frame shrieked in unison, their myriad gazes locking onto her with concentrated fury and resentment.

It was a collective, primitive reaction to the immense danger she radiated.

Halting their departure from his body, they shifted into defensive arrays… yet Hella paid them no heed, her tone remaining tranquil and poised.

“Therefore—”

…as her presence, the absolute authority of the 「Demon King」, surged with terrifying velocity.

“…stop making such a mess and drop dead!”

A manifestation of a ‘world’, a densely compacted sphere of pure force, drove straight through his titanic form.

—

High above, where the landscape below seemed to shrink away,

Goooo—

…Hesperon hovered in the sky, his propulsion systems whining as he observed the scene from above.

He looked down at Krushaior, the fallen Dragon Marquis, whose massive frame had expanded to twice its previous volume due to the endless layers of fiends clinging to his flesh.

‘…He no longer functions as a lone entity; he is a collective consciousness. Striking the core is essential… but his scale makes it incredibly difficult.’

They resembled a swarm of trivial ants from this height… yet each component was a formidable adversary in its own right.

They were certainly not fragile enough to be brushed aside effortlessly, given their capability to unbalance the entire power structure of the Demon World.

Moreover, their defensive potency multiplied as they massed together, weaving a collective aegis that repelled the vast majority of incoming strikes.

‘…Even inflicting a heavy wound results in instantaneous restoration.’

It differed from conventional healing. The obliterated sections merely sloughed away, instantly supplanted by fresh bodies. Even the anti-regeneration properties of 「Destroyer」 were proving largely ineffective against this mechanism.

Granted, she would eventually grind him down if granted unlimited time…

‘…But there is no reason to drag this out.’

He offered a brief shrug and raised his left arm.

This exact scenario was the reason he had arrived here after concluding his reconnaissance.

The Dark Soul he had claimed previously remained unavailable for use.

Its volatile magnitude exceeded his current capacity to regulate safely, requiring an extended period to settle and integrate.

‘…However, my current arsenal will suffice.’

The primary obstacle was the sheer density of the horde, which obscured the precise location of the internal core.

Consequently, thinning the herd was his immediate priority.

‘…And when it comes to overwhelming destructive force, nothing beats this!’

A digital targeting system mapped itself across his vision, calculating variables like range, atmospheric currents, and moisture levels.

The Dragon Heart, functioning as the primary power reservoir for Titan, began to radiate an intense, escalating illumination.

“Ion Cannon, chambering.”

The escalation did not stop there.

Following his command, a substantial metallic structure materialized from his left shoulder, causing the local atmosphere to shimmer and warp.

A massive artillery barrel, summoned directly from his 「Subspace Storage」, locked seamlessly into the Titan plating on his left forearm.

Click— Whirr—!

The ‘Ion Cannon’, a devastating instrument of destruction recently perfected by Howard and driven by the energy of a Dragon Heart, resonated deeply with Titan’s internal pathways, their respective energies intertwining and multiplying exponentially.

Wooong—!

An implement that defied the natural order of this reality, blending advanced engineering with arcane principles, bypassing the fundamental laws of Auterica through the application of 「Technological Revolution」.

A terrifying concentration of force gathered within the chamber, emitting a blinding, lethal radiance from the tip of the barrel.

At long last,

“Fire!”

…cascading from the heavens down to the soil,

…a monumental torrent of light erupted downward.

—

Rumble—!

The assault was far from one-sided.

An expansive field of mortality rippled outward, dissolving the ground-based fiends into nothingness, while a merciless tempest of crimson fluid reduced them to liquefied remains. Yet their ranks were replenished the very next instant, only to be systematically vaporized once more.

Simultaneously, a colossal beast driven by pure lunacy and a dragon unleashing a torrent of scorching breath waded into the conflict. Unable to match this overwhelming level of destruction, Krushaior’s titanic physical mass began to visibly diminish.

[“——!”]

Naturally, he did not simply endure the punishment passively.

Demonstrating that his utility extended beyond mere monster production, he mobilized his full capabilities. His six Eyes of Domination flared with a brilliant light, warping the local fabric of space as he liquidated his own thralls to spread the taint of the void…

However…

[“Khehehe… Attempting to employ an Instant Death gaze against me… How incredibly naive.”]

“Foresight… It entails much more than merely… viewing what is to come. It proves quite troublesome.”

“Khahaha! That merely tickles! It tickles!”

[“Cough, cough! What makes you all so maddeningly stubborn?! And the atmospheric quality here is utterly dreadful!”]

He had engaged the absolute worst targets possible.

Every single one of his opponents was a titan capable of standing alone in combat.

Now, they operated in perfect unison, their strikes woven together seamlessly, their positioning flawless, and their intents perfectly aligned…

He stood absolutely no chance of victory.

[“——!”]

Krushaior, his massive frame now hammered back down to its initial proportions, let loose a cry of pure exasperation.

It was a desperate demand for an honorable, isolated duel.

Yet Hella, her poise unshaken, remained completely unmoved.

“Is that the limit of your strength? Did you compromise your entire existence just to achieve this meager display?”

Her scathing critique and superior demeanor only served to stoke the embers of his fury.

He glared at her, all six of his eyes blazed with pure malice and resentment, radiating a suffocating desire to kill.

[“…So be it! I shall drag you into oblivion with me, even if I must consume the absolute last remnant of my soul!”]

Breaking from his previous wordless growls and snarls, a coherent cry of sheer desperation and wrath broke from his throat.

As that roar echoed,

…the very nature of his power began to twist.

Saaaa—

His core identity, his fundamental presence, underwent a radical mutation.

[“Hmm? This sensation…”]

Hans, the Immortal King, noticed the shift before anyone else.

He detected a recognizable wavelength, a foul and ancient power bleeding out from Krushaior.

It mirrored an ominous frequency he had faced once before, an unsettling force that vibrated in tandem with the 「Immortal Heart」 embedded in his own chest.

Harley, bearing the 「Seed of Madness」, recognized the shift as well.

———!

An ancient gaze, an ancient focus, originating from the far side of the void, manifested through Krushaior’s distorted anatomy.

The natural laws of the world itself seemed to recoil from this intrusion, the atmosphere buckling and contorting in an attempt to reject the foreign presence… yet the world’s resistance lacked the necessary strength.

‘…He hadn’t thrown everything away. He kept a final card hidden for the end.’

Now, pushed to the absolute brink, he had finally played it.

His ultimate gamble, a desperate final play, surrendering everything he had left to ensure Hella’s destruction alongside his own.

It was an act of desperation that corresponded flawlessly with the designs of ‘that entity.’

Swish—

The metaphysical bridge solidified, the alignment between the two forces locking into place.

There was no method available to sever the connection.

It had become an absolute certainty.

‘…This presents a genuine hazard.’

The manifestation would be brief.

Yet it remained a splinter of a deity, an entity that had once stood against the Main God himself.

Even in its current degraded and bound state, it possessed more than enough power to extinguish a handful of newly formed divine essences.

‘…Would it be wiser to… pull back?’

While she weighed her choices with gravity,

…she suddenly froze, her frame shuddering almost imperceptibly.

‘…Hold on, could this mean… ’

Her eyes, her pupils shifting with an unnatural radiance, scanned the empty air as if deciphering unseen text.

Slowly, a subtle grin graced her expression.

《Your authority as a Demon King has expanded. Your existence has achieved greater definition.》

《Your gathered karma has bypassed a critical boundary.》

She could actively sense the shift.

She had just stepped over an invisible line, a fundamental threshold of existence.

Immediately confirming her realization, a succession of system alerts manifested before her vision.

《Achievement Granted! You have ascended as a ‘Demon King’, the sovereign of the Demon World.》

《You have brought a conclusion to the protracted conflict, establishing yourself as the singular ruler of the Demon World. You have unlocked the attribute “World Invasion”.》

《You have executed an act that rewrites the world order. Karma has been significantly elevated.》

Throughout the course of the battle, Helheim’s domain had been quietly expanding.

If anything, the imminent threat had accelerated the process.

With all competing entities removed from the equation, her ultimate dominance had become an absolute certainty.

It was merely a matter of duration before the inhabitants of the realm recognized this truth.

‘…It appears the Demon God granted me an early dividend.’

Given the precise timing, it was a highly plausible deduction.

Regardless, that detail was secondary.

The primary focus was what she could accomplish now, wielding the mandate of a legitimate Demon King.

‘…Now the passive stance of the Demon God makes perfect sense.’

The truth finally became transparent to her.

She understood what the Demon God had surrendered, and why the mantle of the Demon King carried such immense weight within this realm.

‘…The Demon King serves as the fundamental instrument to command the Demon World.’

A true deity was barred from executing direct actions within the lower realms.

The Demon God, while operating under fewer constraints than the Main God, was nonetheless shackled by definitive cosmic boundaries.

To oppose the bound deity, it required a proxy capable of sidestepping those overarching limitations.

“I am Hella, the 16th Demon King.”

That proxy was none other than the Demon King.

The chosen instrument of the Demon God, endowed with the ultimate right to govern the Demon World.

‘…Granted, restrictions still apply, as the 15th clearly demonstrated.’

A manifestation of a ‘world’ coalesced directly within her grasp.

It transcended the immediate landscape.

The collective essence of the entire Demon World converged and compressed, reshaping itself into a monumental blade, its total power answering entirely to her will.

She had long since harmonized with the essence of the 「Demon King」.

“Krushaior, you who have fractured the stability of the Demon World—”

Her focus locked onto Krushaior, whose invocation process was still unfolding.

After all, a transaction cannot be completed without the exchange of currency, even with a reservation.

“—I decree your execution.”

As she brought down the world held in her palm,

———!

…a fresh fissure, crossing the existing scar that marked the vault of the Demon World,

…tore through reality.