Now, being able to use the Demon King’s power accumulated in the crystal ball, the clown doll that housed the Demon King’s soul had become a little stronger. However, that was far from enough to deal with the infinite loop created by God, the [Eternal White]. In addition, every time it looped, it lost the power it had acquired along with its memories, and as a result, there was not much difference between it and the previous state.
However, by repeating such a state for thousands or tens of thousands of times more, God’s calculation went wrong again. The power stored in the crystal ball was directly used and consumed by the Demon King’s soul, and the power of the crystal ball, which should normally only fill up after the banishment from 100 worlds, was shifted slightly, and to my surprise, it showed its power right after a new round of the looping had begun.
This time, too, the Demon King’s soul, which had thought that its memory had been erased and brought into an incomprehensible world, was astonished by its existence. It was only natural that, having been subjected to an unreasonable ordeal, a means of ignoring it all suddenly existed in front of him. As a result, the Demon Lord’s soul wished to “go home now” and “finish that lap” to enter the door from which it had just emerged, and a new lap began immediately after being stripped of almost all its memories and powers.
However, that was exactly how the collapse began. When the soul of the Demon King who entered the next cycle was “banished” from the first world, the power of the Demon King, which had not been consumed in the previous cycle, was doubled and flowed across the world into the [Eternal White]. The torrent caused a fissure in the narrow road that connected the world, and the road widened rapidly with each subsequent lap.
Once that happened, the change was rapid. With each lap, the power that the Demon King’s soul gained grew, and even the concept of “banishment” from the world became more lenient as the path widened. Because of the tampering of memories and consciousness, the soul of the Demon King himself had been unaware of this for a long time, but now the Ark of the Time created by God was full of holes.
In such a broken world, the demon king’s soul finally stabbed the finishing blow. With the power of the crystal ball accumulated three times, he wished, “I want to carry over all my memories and powers and start over.”
(T/N: OH SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED)
It was a forbidden and fatal wish to end the laws that supported the very foundations of this world. Finally, the soul of the Demon King, spiraling out of the eternal circle, deviated from the path laid down and forced by God and began to live as it pleased. ….
“And, well, something like that?”
I exhaled after finishing my long story. In a normal world, I would be thirsty after talking this much, but in this place, it didn’t happen.
And it was the same for Tia. She listened intently to what I had to say and twisted her head with a difficult expression as she tried to digest it in her own mind.
“Let’s see, …. so that means Ed is the Demon King, right?
“Oh, yeah.”
If she didn’t even understand that, I would be tempted to hold my head, but I guess she wasn’t that dumb. Good, good, good.
“So, in all the worlds, including ours, there is a shard of Ed’s power in the form of the Demon King?”
“Mm, you’re right, …. I’m sorry, but I’m not the one making them go wild, so take your complaints to God.”
“And for … Ed, you’re saying this isn’t the second time around?”
“…… I guess so.”
“I see ……”
Tia, who had been sitting on the floor listening to the conversation for some reason, stood up and came to my side and held my head tightly to her chest.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Haha, this is nothing.”
My memories were as hazy as the other side of a sandstorm, but I certainly had painful and sad memories. But even as I recalled them, I still felt no bitterness toward the Heroes who had treated me so ill.
Because, you know, right? An amateur who doesn’t even know how to hold a sword forcibly joins a party of Heroe for some reason? It’s only natural that they would be angry and kick me out. Of course, I had my own reasons for doing so, and I was desperate to do so, but it was of no concern to the Heroes.
“I don’t remember, but did we ever say anything bad to Ed?”
“Of course, it was terrible but it was the truth. ‘Even if you try to force your way along like that, nobody will recognize you as a member of the Hero’s party. That’s why you won’t be able to gain any fame. Furthermore, real allies are being put in danger just to protect you. Be aware of your own uselessness and disappear already!’. Again, I don’t hold it against you, okay? I was acting like a piece of shit at the time, and I deserved to be told that, but I had no other way out of the world, so I was forced to do what I thought was best for me. I’m just thankful I didn’t get cut down.”
“Ed……!”
The arms holding my head tightened. Tia’s chest was quite thin, so it honestly hurted a bit, but I wasn’t wild or brave enough …… to point that out in this atmosphere. The Demon King of the End can read the atmosphere.
“That’s all? I was thinking you might say, ‘You’re the enemy of mankind, and you’ve been deceiving us all this time!’ or ‘How can a puppet created by God pretend to be human?’ “
“I wouldn’t say that! Because Ed saved me …. no, not just me. Alexis and all the other Heroes of the world, you helped us all! Or do you suddenly want to destroy the world now that you remember you’re the Demon King?”
“Nah, that’s not it. Besides, I never wanted to destroy the world in the first place. It may not be very convincing since the power that was shattered seems to be causing chaos, but…”
“No, I believe you. Because the current Ed is the Ed I know.”
The words, so honest, soak into my heart … penetrated into my soul. I couldn’t see it because she was hugging me, but I’m sure that Tia’s eyes were now filled with overflowing trust.
“But…I am a personality created by God, right? I ain’t a decent human being to begin with, remember?”
“Even if you say so… since the last time you lost your memory and became the current Ed, you’ve been alive for over 100 years from your subjective point of view, right?”
“Yes. The first round … or was it before the first round? I’m taking over the memories from that time, so that’s how I’m feeling.”
“Then there’s nothing wrong with that. No matter how it started, you’ve lived a normal human life since you were born, Ed, so that’s Ed now, okay?”
“Uh,…… I see?”
Although it varies from world to world, the average lifespan of a normal human being is roughly sixty to eighty years. There are very few special people who live longer, but excluding those special cases, I now spend more time as “Myself” than I did in most of the world before.
Then, I don’t think it’s too exaggerating to say that it is indeed the development of an individual personality called “Myself”. It would be rather unnatural to live 100 years and not develop even a single individuality.
“Well, then, what about my body? My body wasn’t born normal, okay?”
“……I don’t know if I should be saying this now, but every time we come back here from another world, our bodies are rejuvenated, or rather, rewound, right? So is my body the same as my original body in the first place? I can’t say that my body is the same as a normal elf’s.”
“O-oh ….?”
I had never thought about whether my body was normal or not. But now that I think about it, it’s hard to say that I’m normal, even if you take the Demon King out of the equation. I’m not an elf, and the fact that I’ve maintained the body of a 20 year old for 100 years was certainly abnormal.
“Then………………Is that okay?”
I swallowed, and Tia patted my head lightly before releasing me from her arms, looking me straight in the eye and smiling.
“Of course it is! I don’t care if your the Demon King or not, Ed is the Ed I know. Nice to meet you, Ed!”
“… Ah. Nice to meet you, Tia.”
It was accepted so easily, so easily, as if it were a matter of course,… and I returned her smile with a smile, feeling so discouraged that I wanted to cry.
(T/N: Just finishing this arc, will post its last chapter whenever I am done with it. Next Arc From 20th March.)