Volume 2, Chapter 5: Ira’s Resentment, Part 3: I am a Coward

Rage up, my flame.

My resentment shall birth dark flames greater than the cauldrons of hell, to do the Devil’s work of reducing the universe to ash.

You unsightly insects fluttering about the skies, before my ambition, you hindrances are all no greater than flies.

The heavens that looked down on the red blazing sun were simply high, and a realm beyond the reach from us beings forced to crawl along the ground.

But that’s how it should be. That’s why it’s perfect.

To us, wings are.. unnecessary.

We don’t need those white bonds that tied us down to some inept God.

This lightless soil is the land we shall rule.

“You all will learn the meaning of that soon enough.”

I’ll have them regret setting foot here in jest. I’ll carve it into those bodies, those wings.

Otherwise.. I won’t be able to feel satisfied.

A flying dragon’s wings ranked equal to those of an Angel’s in speed.

Boasting the greatest influence across these lands, my steed was faster than any ordinary dragon you’d find out there.

Because of the wind, there was quite a bit of turbulence atop the dragon. From up here, sitting on the gliding beast, that was letting off rough breaths from its nose in excitement, the boundary that marked the territory of Heaven felt horribly close.

What my ancestors.. no, what me and my ancestos yearned for, a world of light.

It’s not that I don’t understand that sentiment.

This faint malaise I feel in my soul core, simply by looking up at the sky. That was probably.. aspiration.

Even when it’s been less than ten thousand years since I first came to be, I could feel it. For those Demon Lords of old, forced to look up at it for hundreds of thousands of years, their yearning must be much greater than I.

But at present, I held no interest in such a thing.

There’s no guarantee that dazzling light is capable of bringing about any change to us. Just as it’s not certain our darkness will drop one to depravity.

I knew that all too well.

That’s why, it’s likely that even if some Great Demon King of old had managed to subjugate that world up there, I doubt anything would have changed.

Sitting aboard a flying dragon a little smaller than the oversized one I took as a steed, Lize sat with a grim expression as she flew to my lower left.

It’s been several of tens of minutes since we first entered the Dark Prison.

In this land constantly bathed by silence, while there still wasn’t a touch of sound, there was an unrest the likes of which the land had yet to see before.

It wasn’t by much, but niisama’s perception from his 『Abyss Zone』 was vaster than mine.

My zone was currently encompassing approximately three fourths of the Dark Prison’s vast land. I probed through the contents of that without leaving a stone unturned.

Through concentrating on all the faint traces of information I picked up, my head began to hurt.

But I can tell. I can see it clearly.

The presences of all shapes and sizes gathered around this land.

Apart from the countless irritating forces adorning the sky, there were three large powers. By size, there was no doubt they were Demon Lord Class, and for three powers of that extent to be in such close proximity was usually something that never came to be.

One of them was definitely clad in light. With the presence tracing the sky, and the flock following its lead, an overwhelming amount of divinity was being released.

Even if this isn’t heaven, that would be quite a debilitating factor.

The other two were ones I knew.

Two simple ones faithful to their sinful desire. At the summit of the Demons that governed the Demon World, two Lords of Demons.

『The Prideful Kaiser』, Heard Lauder.

『The Devourer』, Zebul Glaucus.

They were the presences of two Lords top class in this Demon world.

With those two presences at the center, the air sunk. Just by being there, their massive souls caused the world to creak and grate.

Strangely enough, both of them were specialized in attack, and their power transcended that of the other Demon Lords. In this den of beasts and monsters, their power that didn’t permit pursuit was much greater than any of the divinity coming down from above.

The level of power of Angels and Demons were decided by the souls embedded in their bodies.

With Heard and Zebul, the gap between them and the Angel was close to double.

While it’s not like the quantity of power directly correlates with battle ability, that gap wasn’t something to be overturned so easily.

Heard might be able to settle this with one hand.

Then was my anxiety unfounded?

Definitely.. not.

The fact I can sense them means that they can sense my location as well.

Heard was a given. Also Zebul, and likely, the enemy Angel.

On all those forces swarming towards the Castle of Shadows like moths to a flame, I remembered a scalding crimson emotion, which I frantically clenched my teeth to contain.

“They’ve stepped a little too far out of line.. of all things, to set foot in the Dark Prison..”

Lize’s prediction was correct.

The Angel’s destination was undoubtedly the Castle of Shadows.

I felt that my own decision wasn’t wrong.

There would be nothing I could do if I sent a representative, and they were to fail.

The Castle of Shadows was the Lord of Sloths bedroom, and his coffin.

I won’t allow a single one to set foot in there.

I remembered niisama’s eyes when I last saw him a year ago. All he wished for was a quiet rest.

“We sure are.. foolish..”

As ones with power, we cannot help but attract stronger ones to us.

When I think of such a trifle disturbing niisama’s rest, along with a helpless feeling, I felt the sensation of my gut being burned through weighing me down. It was an emotion I’m sure I‘d learned to control before.

The flying dragon raised a low voice, and tis body swayed greatly. On the smell of something burning, I finally noticed that my own Ira was inflicting damage onto my steed.

With that small voice I hear below me compared to the beast’s large build, I can’t help but find it quite lovable.

.. This is no good. At this rate, I’ll break into a smile again.

I took a deep breath. Little by little, I sink my Wrath back down to the depths of my existence.

Level-headed anger. Sharm rage, honed like a blade.

I already knew all the ways to swallow my anger.

I licked my lips. The beat has already quieted down. But it’s not like my resentment had disappeared.

It was merely left without eyes. It was constantly burning up my soul. All the parts of it I didn’t show on the surface were merely sharpening themselves. In order to bring ruin to my enemies.

We got closer to the battlefield, and the information I picked up grew more vivid.

There, was a scene that raised my concern.

“Tsk.. Heard.. just what’s holding him up.”

As if to show himself off, I witnessed a pulsating black flash.. The wave of darkness that resulted from a clashing of mana spread across the sky like an aurora.

The mass of power came into contact with the other mass, and gave off an intense flicker like stardust. But there was no sign of either light going out.

The spectacle I could even see from a distant sky felt something like a premonition of the end of the world.

The devourer, Zebul Glaucus.

Blessed with an endless hunger, a witch of Gluttony.

She was conspicuously atrocious, and conspicuously sinful, even among the Demon Lords. All to devour all creation.

Even that Heard Leader won’t be able to knock down that perpetually lived gifted child of starvation.

Or maybe he’s just playing with her..

To blow away the gloomy feelings sticking to my head, I scoffed.

But that didn’t clear away any of my inner resentment in the slightest.

“Hmm.. just do whatever you want. I’ve no intent to rid myself of either of you two. Go at it as you will.”

Annoying. It’s annoying, but.. otherwise, there would be no point in me coming here.

If you were to look at Heard Lauder in terms of simple power, then he would be within the top three of all Lords.

It’s not like I conceded Rank One to him simply because he was an old friend.

Direct physical strength.

Absolute confidence in himself to lord over all.

Those were the qualities of Pride. He more than accomplished his own Sin.

I’ve no doubt in his victory. Even if it were to take a bit of time.

Even if I didn’t really like him all that much, I had at least that level of trust in him.

But still, the current situation is a little too rowdy.

Far behind Heard, there was an army of around five hundred racing over the land.

To chase the sky-bound Angels, a Legion atop flightless dragons was rushing over.

While kicking the ground at a speed that didn’t fall behind those of the Angels’ wings, the ominous army that seemed uniform enough to gain a constant measurement with a meter stick was one belonging to Vanity.

I’m not sure if they were even focused on the Angel flock, as without even a sign of them using a Skill, they quietly continued their dash. Their presences were exceedingly light, and for some reason, they brought about a psychologically unpleasant feeling with them.

Lize let her shoulders tremble.

“As always, that’s a repulsing army he keeps.”

The army with such a fleeting feel to it was a rare one among the Demon Lords’ forces, which had been given a specific name.

Vanity himself had tacked it onto them, the 『Ravus Persona』.

Even from this distance, the lost individuality and colorless grey souls I felt may be the origin of the name.

It’s not like there was a gap of power between that army’s Demons and others, but their somewhat ominous atmosphere made it so even I couldn’t tell for what purpose they had come into being.

Originally, I should have been analyzing the Angels. But rather than them, I found myself naturally concentrating on the army trampling the ground.

Quite different from than those holy messengers, who were irritating from their nature opposing ours, it was that army’s lack of nature in its entirety that made them all so irritating.

In that Legion advancing over the wasteland, the presence of their Lord Vanity was.. absent.

I can’t feel him anywhere in the extent of my perception. Within my Zone, there are but three existences of Demon Lord Class apart from myself.

Was he annihilated? No, even like that, he’s Rank Four.. he’s not of the caliber to go down so easy. Even if he were up against a Lord of Angels, he should have held out no matter the case..

There are too few characters on this stage. It’s a strangely ominous sensation.

I can’t think that Vanity’s army would act without its master.

At the conference, he clearly declared that he would bring death to the Angels.

At this point, I’m even beginning to doubt those words of his. The warning I heard from my father long ago threw my analysis of the situation out of line.

In the first place, no matter what sort of army it may be, there’s no way that Demons could pull off such coordinated movements with no one leading them.

My thoughts, stuck in a ditch, were snapped back with a thunderous sound.

Now’s not the time to think of such things, I see.

By taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down.

An army of Angels. And army of Demons.

Zebul Glaucus. Heard Lauder. Serge Serenade..

And Kanon Iralaude.

It’s quite an extravagant lineup we have there, but to Leigie-niisama, we’re at quite a disadvantage.

No matter how strong he may be, Heard Lauder’s but a single Demon. What’s more, of all things, that lone Demon was up against another Demon Lord who should be part of my own army.

Without their master, Vanity Seidthroan, that army was.. a meaningless gathering.

While five hundred was nothing to scoff at, that level would find taking anyone of Demon Lord Class on to be difficult.

A low ranking Demon Lord may be one thing, but to one who took down the Rank Seven, they won’t even be a hindrance to Serge.

A Lord for a Lord. Those were the bare bones of anti-Demon, and anti-Angel tactics.

God dammit, if only Vanity was here, I’m sure it would work itself out one way or another.

Racing like shooting stars above the ether, the Angel forces weren’t all too high in power, but they were numerous, and anyways, they were fast.

The number of them Vanity reported was ten, but this time, their forces pretty much equal the man’s army. I’m surprised they managed to get such a large army to infiltrate this place without triggering a single Lord’s zone. A strange smile started to come across my face.

The heat I should have kept confined started singing my thoughts.

Are we unlucky, or incapable? The enemy’s numbers are beyond expectations. We’ve too little hands here.

For all the enemies I imagined to be gathered here..

Just like Demons, Angels were few in number. A few of them was one thing, but it’s been a few thousand years since several hundred of them appeared at once. However, my urge for battle wasn’t worked up at all.

I had no physical enhancements born from the urge to do battle. All that was in me was simple impatience.

No matter how many Saint Lord Class Angels unify themselves, this scale isn’t going to make the Demon World fall. Rather than that, if we had an honest clash of power, it’d all be settled in an hour. It’s just a way to pile up corpses. These guys are merely needless casualties.

It’s a perfect form of harassment, mind you.

This is all just an inconvenience.

historical

Perhaps I should have taken along another Lord.

First of all, defeat ain’t happening here, but there’s a chance of letting them escape. Once they’ve gotten away, it would be difficult to give chase.

The main point Angels overlooked Demons in was their speed.

Hard to catch even aboard a mount, the flight of an Angel’s wings was of the highest speed, and with their stamina, Demons were no match.

If there’s something out there called fate, then I can’t just spend my life placing curses on it.

Power naturally flowed to my hand, and my nails sunk into my upper arm.

Why.

Why do they head for the Castle of Shadows?

To the side of the Lord who without accomplishing a single thing, spent his peaceful time in a deep slumber.

An abyss of sorrow. Always clad in a deep and dark sea of gloom, the most sorrowful existence of this world.

Even if you look upon him as one with power, I could only see it as saw.

And at the same time, I was certain.

If that’s the burden my niisama is to carry, then it must be my role to assist him.

I smiled at my own cowardice.

Fine.. it’s something I knew from times long passed.

This world will make a fool of me.

Inconvenient? Too numerous? Absurd.

Fine. I’ll swear it here.

“With my name Iralaude on the line, I’ll leave not a single one of you all alive.”

From far away, along with the sound of the collapse of a mountain, a large fissure emerged in the earth.

Right over the horizon, I finally got a view of the battlefield.

The numerous holes dotting the ground and as if lines had been drawn in, the countless cracks.

In the center of that stood the arrogant Heard Lauder, and a Demon of small build, with black miasma circulating all over her body.. Zebul Glaucus’s miniscule form.

The ground rumbled, as if trembling before them. Lize’s face was colored with fright and surprise as she strongly gripped her reigns.

For a brief moment, Heard Lauder’s mana swelled up. But with just that, it felt like a normal Demon would be rendered unconscious.

So she’s an opponent he has to let out that much power to defeat. I didn’t think I would arrive in time to actually witness Zebul’s destruction.

With that much force going around, there’s no way he isn’t serious.

The wind that blew across this land was violated with a thick magic, to suck in each and every desire.

This was the wind of a battlefield.

Birthed by the clash of desire, a wind of chaos.

As if it were actually suffering wounds, the mana that soaked into the Dark Prison.. niisama’s zone was torn asunder.

While it was cut through a couple of times, it’s not as if the Zone itself was effected as a whole.

But that truth was irrelevant to me.

Those that get in my way.. be they Demons or Angels, or Valkyries, they’re my enemy.

Finally capturing the battle scene in her pupils, Lize opened her eyes wide.

“Absurd.. what.. power.. They’re equal? No, Heard has the advantage, I see.”

There was affinity between Demons.

With high offensive power, it’s quite rare that a clash of Pride and Gluttony would turn into a drawn out battle.

Affinity-wise, Pride was the stronger of the two, but the gap was not a great one.

Lize’s discernment was correct. Given the time, it would likely be Heard’s victory.

But there’s no longer the time to wait for such a thing.

I cannot match the speed of those heavenly wings. No matter how proficient a dragon I ride, I cannot overturn that biological deficiency.

While I looked one, I could do nothing but measure the velocity of the encroaching Angels. That was the pure physiological difference between the Angel and Demon race.

If there was a single Demon out there to oppose it, then it would be the Superbia Demon who saw time as stagnant.

And that truth was likely what dulled Heard’s fists.

The malice the man released wasn’t only directed at the enemy before him.

Heard was a battle maniac, but he was also once niisama’s follower.

While he once waved a banner of rebellion, I don’t see his devotion weakening at present.

Battles between Demon Lords were where desires ate into one another. Each and every blow exchanged was potentially fatal, and the Lords put their very existences behind each and every one of those blows.

Zebul’s life was too powerful to be taken down so simply, even with Heard’s unfollowable speed.

She wasn’t an opponent that could be defeated merely by finding a gap in her defense.

On the other side, the holy flock was, to their natural archnemeses.. to the Legion marching along the land, and to the large-scale destruction raised by the warring Demon Lords, they showed no signs of even paying the slightest attention. With what one could call pure honesty, they headed at full speed towards the Castle.

Their powers weren’t as high as I had heard. While there surely was a Saint Lord Class there, if you were to ask whether she would be capable of destroying Rank Seven, I would be left in doubt.

But that doesn’t change that it’ll become a pain if I let her off here. At the very least, it wasn’t a level of power those middle class Demons at the castle like Lorna or Medea would be able to deal with.

Me revoking his army in order to protect his silence backfired on me.

Leigie of Sloth lacked high offensive power, or dexterity, but his defense and vitality alone were extraordinary. That’s why even if he were hit around left and right, he wouldn’t die too easily, but that Angel’s actions weigh heavy on my mind.

She bore an undaunted will, as if she had some sort of scheme to surpass Leigie-niisama’s needlessly high defensive ability.

With the million to one, billion to one chance that he’ll be killed in mind, I cannot let her pass.

Even if that wasn’t the case..

“.. I shall not let her disturb his sleep.”

“..”

The distance between us was but a few kilometers. But as if to avoid us, the flock had altered its path.

My luck lay in my Palace’s location in relation to the castle of Shadows, making it so they were forced to head in my direction. If that had not been the case, then I wouldn’t even be able to confront them.

My misfortune was in that my Wrath was mainly of Skills for single targeting use. With five hundred on their side.. that’s a little high to capture them all.

Burn up their souls. Converge my entire being on my desire to further hone my blade.

One of my unconsciously clenched teeth snapped, and fresh blood scalded the back of my dragon. From its mouth, a small groan was audible.

I wiped it off with my sleeve.

Perhaps too much blood had rushed to my head. My footing was unstable.

Even so, while swaying, I stood upright on the dragon’s back, and silently held my staff in front.

It was the greatest treasure of the Demon Race, a gift handed down from the Evil God to the very first Great Demon King. Its height was about a meter and a half. The lumber that formed its main body was tougher than any material found in this Demon World, and its tip was garnished with an ornament made in the like of a beast’s jaw.

(TL: Its height is given as 5 Shaku, which converts to 1.515 (repeating) meters)

The inscription on it read, The Emperor of Destruction’s Staff, Weydhe. Among the countless treasure littered around the world, it was an item with the opposite nature of a holy relic, a treasure of the Evil God.

Within the reptilian jaw was inlaid a golden crystalline eye to direct at mine enemies.

The reflective surface of the finely cut jewel caught the sunlight to give an ominous shine.

Ira was the manifestation of violent emotion.

A heartless sin to burn away all other sentiment.

I took a deep breath. I let out the resentment I had been building up all these years.

Right now, I’m likely making an expression I would never display to another.

My vision is died a bright red, and viscous fury swept over my mind.

But still, I could remain calm. That was what Leigie-niisama taught me.

It’s what he sacrificed his body to teach me.

Anger isn’t something to release so recklessly. It’s something to control, and hone.

I give a short incantation. What dyed all I saw in red was channeled through my prized possession into the sky.

“『Wrath Drive』”

Countless crimson lights raced across the air.

At the speed of light, those crimson comets burned up the sky, and in the next instant, they had reached their targets. They pierced through the Angel flock from the side, and continued to go through one body after the other.

Like scraps of paper, the divine robes were bore through. No sort of defensive wall holds any meaning before me.

Several dozens of Angels were instantly reduced to nothing, leaving not but faint afterimages in the air.

I heard the ominous sound of something breaking resound through my skull.

An impact to my taste buds, the flavor of iron. I completely ignored the pain I felt, and clicked my tongue.

Having been pierced through, the Angels were halted for but a moment, before restarting their flight once more. That gesture made it feel as if they were following a set program, and there was barely any lag. An army prepared for death.

I subconsciously spat out my crushed tooth.

While I had not experienced the wars of old, I knew enough about those beings called Angels. At least, I thought I had known.

They are our sworn foe, and brutes whose tenacity lied only towards hunting us down. Their bodies themselves didn’t differ from ours at all.

That’s how it should be.

Then in that case, what is this supposed to be?

If the attack was ineffective, that would be another matter, but after so many of them had fallen, for their flock to continue to go on like that should be heresy to an Angel.

Wrath Skills weren’t suited to rapid fire.

The Angels spread out. It was likely a plan for them to not all be taken out at once. That wide formation showed off their clear knowledge of how to deal with Ira Skills, and their narrow area of effect.

And as I thought, those heavenly wings still didn’t have me set as their destination.

They didn’t fight back, and they didn’t use any Skills.

Before my wrath, these Angels’ flight.. their march was surely backed by some form of strong will. Something that exceeded their innate instinct to oppose Demons.

“Even with me before their eyes.. they’ll still head for niisama..”

Then there’s even less reason to let them through.

I spread that dark heat across my mind again. My instincts and emotions raged up to burn through my entire body.

In proportion to my anger, the incessant violent waves of Mana weighed down on my psych, And I only gathered them at the head of my staff.

Put all my fury into a single attack.

Formation? Plan?

Useless. It’s just a pain.

Then I’ll just have to burn up everything in the world.

I just have to turn heaven to ash in one strike.

Niisama is the King of Despair, and the most sorrowful Lord on these lands.

With just a few hundred Angels, to stand before dear niisama.. it makes me sick.

Foolish Angels. Decay away on these dark lands.

Just like all that have come to oppose niisama before you.

I poured nothing but directionless Mana into the staff, dying it a strong red, and point it at those foolish heathens. The moment I was about to use a Skill, Lize, who was moving right below me, let off a shrill shout.

My subordinate’s face seemed to be at its wits end as I looked down upon her.

“Kanon-sama, is this.. not the time to use Heard Lauder!?”

“.. What?”

Those words released from an unexpected position made me instinctively suppress the powers I was to bring out.

Having become the Great Demon Lord, there were few out there to contest my opinion. For those that hadn’t even become Demon Lords yet, I could count them on the fingers of one hand.

Lize’s opinion often found itself to be leaning on one side, but her devotion was quite high, even among my direct subordinates.

In this land of warring powers, she was one of the few who had sworn loyalty to me. Her words held some worth in considering.

Perhaps sensing a shift in my will, the flying dragon dropped its speed a little.

“That army is moving at a considerable pace. There’s some distance between us, and when they’re spread out that vast.. to burn all those Ange-->>

next page