Chapter 15: Chapter 11 – The Truth

Elissa was now a full-blown member of the Demon Lord Council after only making her vow. The whole situation was very sudden, and I was still making sense of it all.

The throne itself and its segment on the Pentagram had glowed red just moments before, conveniently indicating Elissa’s place on the Pentagram. She moved instinctively and took a seat on her new throne next to Mellow. Elissa stood Rodd next to her. It balanced perfectly, practically floating in the air, bound by the force of Elissa’s Evil Aura.

Tomiko followed and took up the position behind us, just like the other cat maids and butler. She was beaming. I could tell this was a big moment for her, but I had other things to focus my attention on.

Mellow was staring at Elissa with a look of pure lust on her face. Maybe it was because of how Elissa looked?

Elissa was encased in black latex from her toes to her neck, tight and shiny like black glass. Her petite, youthful body was being squeezed and pulled in all the right places to make it even more refined in its beauty. Elissa projected a great power and strength thanks to her high level and aura. There was something slime-like to rubbery, transparent latex material clinging to every inch of Elissa’s pale skin, and it was catching Mellow’s attention.

Mellow leaned over to Elissa, whispering conspiratorially, “Do you know why they chose you? Because you’re like us...”

“How’s that?” Elissa replied, sitting upright. It was the expected posture for someone in the company of three apparently fearsome Demon Lords, including the one in a panda onesie, that appeared completely disinterested. Yes, Pandora’s outfit, I had just realised, was a terrible pun on her very name. She baffled me, as did everyone else on the Council. All the Demon Lords on the Council were very... unique, and Mellow, who was eyeing Elissa intently, was no exception.

“You know... we Demon Lords have something in common…“ Mellow said. Her breasts jiggled as she spoke. They were mesmerising.

Elissa cocked her head to one side, not understanding. “We all made contracts with Abyssal Beings,” Mellow added. She pouted her lips and stuck two fingers inside her mouth as she sucked on them inexplicably, without breaking eye contact.

Elissa turned towards Justus and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“The Council has not yet announced your status, Demon Lord Elissa, but it is known to every single Demon Lord present here,” Justus ignored Mellow as he fixed his gaze upon Elissa.

“We are all there is. There are no other Demon Lords but those gathered here,” he sighed heavily.

We are all there is? These were all of the Demon Lords?!

“Ask us anything,” Justus said sensing Elissa’s confusion. His tone was harsh and tried. There was something strange about him… something he wasn’t telling us. But I had a feeling that if we pressed too hard right now, it would make things difficult. Something definitely weighed heavily in the air.

I watched as Mellow sat up straight on her throne, her posture becoming uncharacteristically rigid. The look on her face became more stony and uncomfortable.

“Ask us anything,” Justus repeated softly.

Elissa turned her gaze to Pandora, who was pointing her leaf-stripped tree branch at Elissa.

“Do you know why we are the only Demon Lords in the world?”

This little girl was apparently capable of speech. I almost expected her vocabulary to entirely comprise of “Panda!”. Was the difference that she was now talking to her peer on the Council?

Pandora looked at Elissa, expectant.

Elissa took in the question with wide-open eyes and an expression that suggested she didn’t understand.

“It’s because the other Demon Lords are all dead,” Pandora said glancing at the empty throne on the Pentagram, her expression completely neutral, revealing no emotion, “now ask your questions. If you have none, let your stomach do the talking.”

It was an invitation directed at me. It was an opportunity to learn more about this world and what it meant to for Elissa to be a Demon Lord. However, I wasn’t ready to ask about my title of “Abyssal Lord” or my skills. It would show all our cards before the game even begun.

I decided not to reveal any personal information about me and Elissa. Not yet, anyway… I needed to consider things before exposing any of our secrets, since I didn’t know if the Council was trustworthy yet. But I had one burning question.

I turned my attention to Justus, who stared at Pandora intensely.

“Do you know anything of a curious old man who used to own a specialty clothing store in Wealdthurst?” I finally asked.

Justus opened his mouth, as if ready to say something important. But instead, he fell back into silence. It seemed he hadn’t known, after all.

“No,” Mellow said flatly from her seat next to Elissa’s throne. She narrowed her eyes. “I am very curious about your wardrobe, however,” she said, turning her eyes on me. She raised a hand to brush aside a lock of hair hanging down over her forehead. Her gesture sent tingles up my spine, though I wasn’t sure why.

“Panda has no clue”, Pandora put the matter to a close.

Ok, fine. I guess there are probably better questions I could have asked in the moment. I’m sorry!

Fine then, while we’re at it, Elissa gained only one skill after awakening as a Demon Lord: Command. Whereas I got a bunch of skills. So…

“Do Demon Lords have any special abilities by virtue of their title?” I asked.

Justus grimaced. I guess I was getting closer to the painful line of questioning he was avoiding. Elissa took my question seriously as well. I felt her butt cheeks pressing harder on the stone surface of her throne.

“Only that cursed skill, Command,” Justus said, his words sounding so grave I couldn’t help but feel confusion.

Mellow rolled her eyes at Justus, but still looked down at me, not speaking or moving. The room had become tense.

“It is the curse of a Demon Lord to gain power through conquest, to command their followers,” Pandora explained, raising her gaze to meet Elissa’s.

“Let me explain,” Justus added. “Indeed, it is a curse. A curse designed to lead to conflict between Demon Lords as they fight for control of the largest monster armies, greatest swathes of land. Simply put, it is a means for the competition between those vying for power and domination.”

Elissa nodded as if understanding, then turned towards Mellow who was now looking less tense, but still uncharacteristically serious.

“The idea is to command legendary monsters, of course, which have levels beyond 200. I mean, those are small fries. Ideally, you want level 300 and up,” Mellow said, licking her full lips. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy around her… maybe it was the familiar way in which she talked…

“The Command skill gives you direct control over all monsters under your level,” Pandora continued the flow of conversation, though her expression remained unreadable, “You can force them into combat with a higher level monster.”

Mellow frowned when Pandora spoke, turning away slightly, as if disinterested in the conversation. No, it was something else. I got the sense she didn’t exactly… like Pandora.

“A Demon Lord can take their army of minions and unleash their fury against another Demon Lord’s horde of creatures, leading to battles that ravage great areas and change entire landscapes forever,” Pandora explained.

“The fact we were all notified of your awakening and location is to give us an opportunity to eliminate you before you get too strong,” Justus interjected, “In my time I have seen two Demon Lords battle to their mutual doom, and I have seen one Demon Lord fall by the hand of another the moment of their awakening. It was most unfortunate.”

I guess Elissa and I were lucky the Council was established and so… friendly.

“Oh, and that title? The one in the Status? That’s a curse too! It totally attracts heroes like glue-flies. Also, the church and any other idiots calling themselves servants of justice will swarm to eliminate you the moment they learn of your existence!” Mellow piped in. She was still turning away from Pandora somewhat.

“Is this why you’re here? On this island?” Elissa asked.

Justus reached into the air and picked up a handful of dust drifting through the room. The dust was glowing in the beams of light cast by the afternoon sun. Then he spoke in a poetic verse.

“The Island of Rozpacz,

A symbol of an age gone by

An old kingdom of power and might

In ruin, we remain, waiting to be reborn once again

But one thing remains, our memory, and pride

Waiting to see what is to come next

This is the final battle. This is the last stand

Of the Demon Lords against the light!“

Pandora closed her eyes and spoke, “The Demon Lords gathered here have taken on the burden of guarding this place. We will fight and protect this island until the very end, with no hope of survival if we lose.”

Pandora’s words sounded like those a veteran warrior, battle-worn and scarred, but still willing to fight. For a moment I almost forgot she was a loli in a Panda onesie.

Justus continued, “We’ve been keeping our existence and this island a secret for millennia, ever since the Gods of this world have been destroyed by the goddesses.”

“Gods?“

“Goddesses?”

Elissa and I spoke at the same time.

There was a silence in the chambers.

“The Gods are the Czr to the goddesses’ Byw,” Justus finally said.

The words were unfamiliar to me, but filtered through Elissa’s ears, they felt a lot like “Yin” and “Yang”.

“It took me a while to get it, so don’t worry about Justus and his riddles, I’ll explain,” Mellow added, turning towards Elissa.

“Basically, let’s see, the Gods’ alignment is Evil, like us. And the goddesses’ alignment is good. Get it? Ok, good. So they were both totally getting along with each other for a really, really long time. Then those bitches got something up their assholes and decided that their side, ‘good’ as they call it, was the only way it was gonna be. So then they got together and schemed and killed the Gods. The end. Now we’re fucked,” Mellow said all that with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Justus squirmed a bit. Apparently, this wasn’t the way to share deep secret Demon Lord lore. But I think we all got the idea.

Justus spoke again, “Now we can fight for pointless glory against one another or join forces for survival. Though I must say, you seem rather young to be caught up in all this, Demon Lord Elissa.” Elissa frowned slightly.

“Isn’t Demon Lord Pandora a lot younger than me?” she asked quizzically.

“Oh by the Seven Hells! Demon Lord Pandora is the oldest one of us all here!” Justus burst out, eyes wide open.

I don’t think he meant to reveal the truth about Pandora just then, but well... talk about a 10,000 year old Loli stereotype…

“She’s the one who designed the maid system, and she knows more than even I ever could hope to learn! I spent my entire life in the pursuit of knowledge and I couldn’t compare to Pandora’s endless well of wisdom!”

Alright, alright! You think Pandora is great. We get it!

Hold on a moment? She designed the maid system? The cute cat maids and their gorgeous outfits are her doing?!

“Justus, stop playing around! Tell her the truth!”, Mellow stood up, her jellyfish-like body flashing a hue of red for a second.

Whoa! What is going on here?!

I looked between Justus, Pandora and Mellow, wondering if they might be in some sort of lover’s quarrel.

“Demon Lord Elissa, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you everything right now. We’ll explain when the time comes,” Justus said, looking to the side and avoiding eye contact. It almost felt like he didn’t want us to know he was in love with a loli…

“Demon Lord Justus, are you… in love with Demon Lord Pandora?” Elissa asked, tilting her head. She was thinking the same thing as me. But she actually went and said it!!

“BWAHAHAHAH!” Mellow bellowed out in laughter as she collapsed onto the stone floor, clenching her stomach.

Amazingly, none of the attendants present even flinched, except for Tomiko, whose ears twitched slightly the moment Mellow’s translucent body hit the ground after rolling off the seat in uncontrolled hysterics.

Justus’ face turned red, his jaw clenched tightly. He opened his mouth but nothing came out, then finally nodded slowly, “Yes, I am. Anyone with a craving for knowledge would feel as I do. It is the love one holds for wisdom itself which stirs within me!”

Hello? The Police please. I’d like to report a lolicon on the Demon Lord Council.

“Hahahah… stop it, you’re killing me!!”, Mellow called out from beneath the table.

Pandora seemed unfazed by the conversation and maintained her trademark plussed expression, not seeming to take notice of what had just transpired.

Mellow spoke again with a more serious tone as she struggled to get back up to her seat. “But seriously, just tell her.”

“…”

But Justus’ lips remained sealed. Hey, this wasn’t the deal!

It was Pandora who finally spoke up. She was drawing circles in the air with the branch.

“Do either of you know what happens after you die?” she asked, her big, dark eyes reflecting the view outside the bone castle from behind her thick frames.

“No,” Elissa said.

… No comment.

“I guess... It’s not that important to me,” Elissa added with a shrug.

Pandora put down the tree branch and looked down towards her hands resting atop the stone slab of the Pentagram, then closed her eyes.

As Pandora opened her eyes slowly, she said: “It will take a long time to explain everything, and you may not understand it, but I believe you should be told now.”

Justus nodded. But he did so mournfully. He began speaking quietly, his face somehow even more serious, more wrinkled with tension than before. “In order to create life, you need to use life essence. The Gods and goddesses together created all living beings using this essence.”

He glanced at Pandora.

“Sometime in the past, the original Demon Lords discovered they could simply transfer their own souls into new bodies because the soul is immortal and separable from the body. Normally, this cannot be done without losing individuality.”

“Losing individuality is what happens during reincarnation,” Pandora added.

She knows about reincarnation!

I could tell Elissa wasn’t really understanding any of this. But given my experience of being reincarnated into their world, I followed most of what they were talking about so far.

“I think I understand, but if the old Demon Lords could just transfer their souls into other people, doesn’t that make it possible to bring back dead Demon Lords?” I asked, remembering how I came back to my life as a pair of white tights after dying.

“Not exactly.” Justus spoke up again, “You see, the Gods and goddesses created life essence by channeling the energy from the universe through the Tree of Life.”

He paused and looked down on the table as he continued his explanation. “In order for life essence to be collected, you need to absorb life essence from living things, whether that be plants or animals.”

“But you need a substantial amount of life essence, and most importantly, access to the Tree of Life,” Pandora added. She was guiding the conversation along, probably doing Justus a favour.

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“There’s no way to transfer life essence to someone else,” Justus said. “Only a few creatures can naturally create life essence, beyond that which they receive at birth. So one must gather it themselves from other living things. It would take millions of years even for a Demon Lord to gather sufficient amounts. Even if you could somehow acquire that much in time… There’s another problem: transferring one’s own soul into another body creates an identity crisis.”

Justus turned towards Elissa again, his voice still betraying his discomfort as he continued: “I’m not trying to confuse you, but think back to what happened with the Gods and goddesses. If souls could just change bodies as easily as changing clothes, then everyone who died from old age would return! Not into existing bodies with souls, but to new bodies with sufficient life essence but no souls, that is, newborn life. They’d come back a child or a monster or some other being entirely! The Gods themselves would be among us this very moment!”

“And this is what ordinarily happens to all creatures after they perish, under the guidance of the goddesses, for they control of both the life essence and the Tree of Life,” Pandora added.

“But the Gods were killed. They were killed completely, permanently, forever. Do you know why?” Pandora asked Elissa.

“No, I don’t,” she answered honestly.

“The goddesses went to the Tree of Life after winning their great battle with the Gods, and cut the branch from which the Rzcz of ‘God’ sprouted,” Pandora casually snapped the branch she was holding in half to illustrate.

Justus looked up, his face tightened with a look of frustration.

“Without their branch in the Tree of Life, the Gods could not move their souls to other vessels after they were defeated, for they were cut off from the means of transferring their souls into any other living form. So when the goddesses finally slayed them all, their souls perished forever, into the void.”

This was getting to be more of an information dump than even I could handle now. But I knew how important it all was, so I committed everything to memory.

I brought things back to my original question.

“But if a Demon Lord collected enough life essence and had access to the Tree of Life, they could still reincarnate?” I asked.

Pandora looked straight at me.

“The goddesses did not just cut the Gods’ branch of life — they cut the Demon Lord’s one as well. Do you know what this means?”

Everyone in the room, including the attendants, looked down with sorrowful faces.

“No, I do not.” I said.

“Without their branch on the Tree of Life, a Demon Lord cannot transfer their soul into another body, and can’t be transferred into any other form either,” Pandora continued, “This leaves us unable to leave our current vessels upon death.”

“We become trapped within our own rotting flesh until we disperse into dust! The treacherous goddesses used the same technique on the Gods!!” Justus shouted in anger.

“Even after slaying every single God, they were not content. So the goddesses set their sights on the Demon Lords and exterminated them!!”, he continued, his rage fresh despite his aged appearance.

Mellow was quiet.

As Justus was regaining his composure, Pandora continued. “After the extermination, there was a handful of Demon Lords left because they happened to have transferred their minds to inanimate objects before the war. They could no longer return to their original bodies and their souls were destroyed. Even now, these Demon Lords exist somewhere free of their original vessels’ minds and souls, acting as parasites in order to feed off living beings.”

Wait, inanimate objects? Parasites? I didn’t exactly like the sound of “parasite”, but was this what I actually was? A human soul transferred into a hollowed out Demon Lord’s shell, a demonic pair of white tights?

“I see you are confused,” Pandora snapped me out of my thoughts. She was looking at Elissa.

“Demon Lord Elissa, let one thing be clear: if you die, you will die forever. When you meet you end, you will be trapped in your body. As your corpse decomposes and turns to dust, you will feel the pain of your decaying flesh, or the pain of being picked apart by insects, or the pain of being burnt to ash and every part of your existence dispersing — but not just in your body, in your very soul as well.”

What?!

“And because the soul is immortal, this will stretch on for all eternity from your perspective. And at the end of this eternity, you will simply cease to exist, never to be reborn again,” Pandora added.

“That is the fate of all Demon Lords,” Justus added.

What the hell were they taking about?!

“This is the punishment given to all souls deemed unworthy of existence by the goddesses. They are destined to become Demon Lords, so upon their demise they be removed from the cycle of life forever.

The goddess of reincarnation…

“According to Demon Lord Pandora, Demon Lords used to be given more skills than just the cursed Command skill, but the goddesses banished them when they banished the Gods…”

It’s then it hit me.

All voices turned into distant echoes. Everything faded away into nothingness. A mixture of sorrow and anger was bubbling up from the depths of my very being.

Suddenly, it was just me and Elissa. Alone. Together. She was just innocently sitting there. Intently listening. Not realising what was being said.

Elissa.

My Elissa.

The only person I could say ever made me feel anything.

AND IF SHE DIES, SHE WILL GO TO HELL AND DISAPPEAR FOREVER!!??

…

And it was me that got her caught up in this!

SHE’S A DEMON LORD BECAUSE OF ME!!!

…

I felt a pang of pain I didn’t recognise. I had never felt it before in this or my previous life.

… was this what people called “guilt”?

It overwhelmed me. It was as if an avalanche of shame and regret were crashing down on me. My heart contorted with the effort to hold back tears. I wasn’t even capable of crying.

Instead, a single tear streamed down Elissa’s cheek.

The moment I saw it, something in me snapped.

{YOU WILL NEVER DIE}

[NOTICE: Unauthorised]

{{I WILL DESTROY ALL WHO GET IN OUR WAY}}

[NOTICE: Unauthorised]

{{{THOSE OF THE LIGHT KNOW THAT I AM YOUR END}}}

[NOTICE: Unauthorised]

I had contained my anger. But the shining afternoon sun completely disappeared as the world was cast in darkness for a split second. Only Pandora noticed.

—

A nondescript office building. Two beautiful women in their office uniforms are huddled in front of a screen.

Can you tell me what these mean?

This doesn’t look good. Those kinds of system messages shouldn’t even exist.

What’s the source?

Here, found it. That transfer was done by 0x445F’s. She set it for nullification.

Why hasn’t it been sent to null yet?

I don’t know, and besides. It can’t be. It’s the wrong class.

How?!

Let me look at the logs... The host was marked for transfer into a D-class object.

So what’s the problem? The system should have already optimised the disposal process.

The problem is, it wasn’t actually a D-class.

That’s impossible.

Everything shows it was an assigned as a D-class object, but that’s an Ab-class artefact. The only explanation is that it was an Ab all along. But that doesn’t make sense. The system never makes mistakes.

…! Actually, it’s now an Ab-L.

You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re joking. Those are strictly forbidden by the Board of Directors.

0x445F’s In big trouble, isn’t she?

For something like this, summary de-printing…

Please, I owe her a favour. It can’t be her fault! Can’t we just send it to null directly?

You know that’s not going to happen without the approval of the Board. And if this goes that high, it won’t be just 0x445F that gets de-printed…

So what can I do?

Are you really willing to go that far to help her?

I can’t let her… I don’t want to lose her…

You’re that close?

Yes, we are…

Alright, then do this: queue up a new H-class, give them top level special permissions…

Top level? That high?!

You do want to fix this, don’t you?

Yeah…

Alright, also unlock all limiters.

This is crazy.

You don’t know why Ab-L’s are forbidden, do you?

No.

Then just take my word for it. If we leave this thing as it is, it’ll get worse. Much worse.

… Alright. What should the starting environmental conditions be?

Give it every advantage.

… This is insane. Just what is an Ab-L?

It’s not what it is, it’s what it was, and what it can become.

Don’t tell me…

We shouldn’t even know this, alright? Keep it to yourself.

What about the host?

I just found the perfect one. Whatever you do, make sure not to wipe the memory.

Why?

You don’t want to know…

Ok… I’ll start the transfer.

No transfer needed. It’s in the same layer.

What’s the ID? I’ll execute it now.

0xDCDD51FD70D92FB67DFF9281E6BA1742/H-(Label:Gruen Greenwood)

I hope this works.

It will.

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