The man with red red hair and eyes had his chest exposed, a black coat draped over his shoulders.
It was clear he was rather muscular, though not to a ridiculous extent like Basque.
Two twisted horns grew from his forehead, a distinctive feature of demons.
The others, called the Six Fallen Angels, also had high positions in the Demon King's Army, and Bildiga looked at them with reverence.
"I even prepared the Six Fallen Angels, but I see things are still like this. I was told the new hero had only been born recently, it seems like things weren't quite so simple though."
'My apologies, milord.'
Bildiga bowed to the man respectfully.
(I guess that's him then.)
"Allen, do you think…"
"Yeah, that's probably the Demon King himself."
That made the rest of Allen's friends nervous.
The Demon King appeared before they could defeat the Evil God.
The Demon King had arrived with his men just when Bildiga and Basque were about to be defeated.
'Wh-why are you here, milord?'
"Well Kyubel, I believe I told you to go all-out. And that includes all of my men."
'And that's why you came with the SIx Fallen Angels…'
Kyubel had not expected that either.
His face was covered by a mask, but his demeanor showed he was shocked.
"And so, how's the plan going? I have to say this doesn't inspire much confidence."
The transformed Evil God's tail, as well as Bildiga and Basque were covered in wounds.
'My apologies. The Evil God's tail has recovered his strength, but the Sacred Beast Stone was stolen by Allen.'
Bek's blood served as sacrifice, and the black flames gathered by the Evil Cult as offering, but they were missing the Sacred Beast Stone to control him.
"So you failed again. Or is this part of your plan too?"
'That's…'
"No matter. We can discuss that later. At least you resurrected him."
The Demon King did not feel like talking too much there.
(So that's the Demon King. He never showed up before, but he decided to meddle just when I was about to Level Up. At least this confirms he's a demon.)
There were no records about the Demon King's appearance.
He had always remained secret, only his army conducting the attacks for the last decades.
But the common theory was that he was a demon, as his army came from the Forgotten Continent which was inhabited by demons.
Merus had also said that usually it was a demon who was born as Demon King.
He had been born more than a century ago, and started his conquest half a century ago.
Many countries had fallen and he attacked all other races, making him the world's enemy.
Countless people had died at his hands.
Many families had completely ceased to exist as well.
The structure of the world had changed entirely in response to his attacks.
"So that's the Demon King…"
Cecile's brother Mihai had been killed while fighting the Demon King's Army, as he tried to complete his duty as noble.
"So the Demon King finally showed his face."
"Mhm. There he is. I guess we finally succeeded in drawing him out."
Helmios and Doberg also reacted to his appearance.
They had been fighting for a long time.
In a way, it was only thanks to Allen's efforts that they had managed to draw the Demon King to the frontlines after 50 years of fighting.
"What? What's happening?"
Ignomas was the only one who could not understand what was happening.
He only felt like something important was going on.
Not even Ignomas who had never fought demons before moved after the Demon King's entry.
The five figures that appeared with the Demon King looked more powerful than Demon Generals, likely being Demon Great Generals.
They surrounded the Demon King, as if protecting him.
They were probably even stronger than Basque and Bildiga, so any wrong move could be lethal.
The Evil God looked quite weakened from the fight too, the Demon King having a stronger presence.
(Why did you come here? Was it because the Evil God was about to be defeated?)
Allen thought of what to do now that the Demon King's Army's last boss was here.
"Are you the Demon King?"
Allen finally spoke.
He decided it was best to gather information now that he had a chance.
Helmios did not stop Allen.
Doberg was the same, silently watching Allen.
They had fought the Demon King's Army for years, but they had never seen the Demon King.
Allen had done something they had never managed to accomplish.
They decided to let Allen do as he pleased, he had clearly accomplished more than them.
Allen put all his Intelligence to work, trying to read into the Demon King's thoughts.
He wanted to know who he was, what he thought, and why he had come there.
(Somehow this is different from what I expected. I guess this isn't how I expected him to act too. There's something different about him, but exactly what is it?)
He looked strangely dignified, respected by the Demon Great Generals.
His voice also sounded rather arrogant, the way Allen expected.
He was quite close to what Allen imagined, but something was off.
There had to be a reason for his presence there on the frontlines.
Allen spoke to him, trying to figure out why he felt like something was off.
"Hm? Ahh, you must be Allen. You're just like they said, and I see you've gotten in our way again."
The Demon King slowly looked away from the Evil God and faced Allen.
Allen had been both in Rosenheim and when the Evil Cult appeared.
(Hmhmm, he doesn't sound exactly angry.)
He did not sound mad at Allen, and sounded rather confident.
"Yes, I'm Allen. So who are you?"
Allen asked who he was, that included his name.
He had always been referred to as Demon King, and never by a proper name.
Maybe there was a reason for that.
"Hmm, I guess it's only fair to ask for the name of the one responsible for all this destruction."
'Milord?'
The Demon King looked at Kyubel for a moment, then looked at Allen again.
"I hear you call yourself the Summoner Allen, yes? I'm the leader of the Demon King's Army, the World Ender, the Demon King Zeldias. Try to remember that."
He named himself, and showed he also knew of Allen's title.
(So I guess there was a reason he never gave his name before. Does knowing his name make something worse? But Zeldias huh, hmhmm.)
While Allen thought about that, the Demon King walked closer to the Evil God.
He was done talking to Allen.
"Where are you going? The Evil God is barely alive, aren't you going to fight us now?"
"I'll be done soon. Just think of seeing my face as a reward for coming all the way here."
"You won't fight, then?"
"No, I won't. It was nice meeting you, young heroes."
It seemed like the Demon King had no intention of fighting there.
He had interrupted the fight with the Evil God for a different reason.
He turned his back to Allen, walking away towards the Evil God.
"Huh? I don't know what you're thinking, but I won't let you do as you please."
Allen still did not know what the Demon King's objective was.
He decided to resume the fight.
'It's my turn! Freeze Cannon!!'
Makris opened his enormous mouth, shooting an ice cone at the Demon King.
"Gandura, watch my back."
The Demon King spoke to one of the Six Fallen Angels, facing away from Allen.
'Yessir! Right away! Full Counter!!'
A Demon Great General with a body that seemed made of adamantite, held a shield to block Makris' ice cone.
Firmly holding onto a shiny shield, he fended off Makris' [Freeze Cannon].
CLIIIINK!!
"Huh? Wai- Kyahh!! H-hold on!!"
Cecile started yelling behind Allen.
'I-impossible!! That's so much power. Please hurry milord, this won't last too long.'
Gandura was shocked, the attack was so powerful he was unable to completely block it.
He tried to reflect it, but the ice cone shattered and sprayed all over the surrounding areas.
"It won't take long. This is the day my wish is granted. Just complete your duty even if it costs your life. Ordo, you're in charge now."
The Demon King assigned Ordo as the leader of the Six Fallen Angels.
'You heard the Demon King!! We'll give our lives so he can accomplish his goal!!'
The Six Fallen Angels began moving hearing that.
'Bildiga, it's time to redeem yourself. Don't just stand there and do something.'
'Right on, Mara.'
One of the Six Fallen Angels, Mara, gathered mana.
A large magic circle, large enough to cover the crystal flower's style, appeared.
It was a healing spell, which quickly made Bildiga recover.
"There's too many enemies, we need to fight in formation!!"
Allen started giving orders.
Even if Merus and Makris had stats higher than the Demon Great Generals, this was not a fight that could be won so easily.
Fighting one-on-one was possible, but there were six enemies, with two attacking Merus.
While the fight resumed, the Demon King approached the Evil God.
'AaaAAAaa…'
The Evil God howled, seeing how the Demon King looked at him.
Mara's healing magic had healed the wounds left by [Freeze Cannon], but the Evil God had not recovered his spirits.
"So the new hero left you in this state. I guess I'll need to deal with that too."
The Demon King muttered, as if speaking to the Evil God.
'Please try to hurry!!'
Ordo's scream was heard behind the Demon King.
Allen had decided to keep trying to attack the Demon King, scraping off the Strength of the Demon Great Generals blocking for him. That made it easier for Allen's attacks to land.
"Right. This is my desire."
'AaaaAA?'
The Evil God tilted his head as the Demon King bent back to expose his stomach.
What had looked like toned abs before seemed to split apart.
'GRAAAAAAA!!'
There was a large mouth in the Demon King's stomach.
It was lined with jagged teeth, and seemed to lead straight to the Demon King's innards.
"Devour."
'AaaAAAaaaA?!'
As the Demon King muttered that, the Evil King was drawn into the mouth by a water current.
The enormous Evil God tried to stay outside, his claws grasping for the crystal flower, but that was not enough, and he quickly vanished inside the Demon King's stomach.
"Wh-wh-what?! He just swallowed the Evil God!!"
"Yeah, he did say [Devour] too. Maybe…"
Allen remembered stories in his past life with creatures that gained the abilities of enemies they ate. If that was the case here, he felt like things could get ugly.
The fight stopped for a bit the moment the Demon King ate the Evil God.
The gazes of both Allen's group and the Six Fallen Angels focused on the Demon King.
After eating the Evil God that was many times bigger than him, he stood looking down.
He seemed out of strength, and his red hair slowly began turning gray.
"I've done it. I can tell! I've grown past my limits!! I've become a Transcendental then! I might be a Higher Demon King!!"
His body shook as he announced with an elated voice.
"Transcendental?"
Allen heard yet another new word.
As everyone watched, the Demon King continued to move.
Pop pop
Even through the coat he wore, it was clear his body was starting to swell up.
Something seemed to be moving inside his body.
"Ghah?! What's happening? Is this an after-effect of eating the Evil God?"
His body began to shake and twist, like something was trying to break off inside him.
'M-maybe it really was too much trying to control the Evil God's power without the Sacred Beast Stone?'
That seemed to be an effect of devouring the Evil God without the Sacred Beast Stone.
"So that's why the Sacred Beast Stone was important."
'We should retreat for now.'
"Hmph, I guess so."
The Demon King decided to stop himself from reprimanding them for losing the stone.
This was no time to argue in front of Allen.
'Alright, that's all for today, folks. Bye bye. Teleport!!'
Kyubel turned to Allen to say that, then held onto the Demon King and teleported.
The Six Fallen Angels and Basque also vanished inside the magic ring.
"They went away, huh."
"Yeah, it seems so."
Allen and Helmios looked at the spot where the magic circle appeared, having lost their opponents.
Allen just gave a short reply to Cecile who pointed that out as well.
