The Misfit of Demon King Academy: Volume 5, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Keywords
Prologue: The Moon of Creation
1. A Plea to the Demon King
2. The Sleepy Witch
3. An Unusual Transfer Student
4. Sword Instructor of the Demon King Academy
5. Sword Training Warm-Up
6. The Sword Instructor’s Guidance
7. The Hero’s Blade and the Parent’s Destiny
8. Hero of Justice
9. Savior of the Royalists
10. Resistance Hideout
11. Collared by the Demon King
12. Looming Threat
13. Lesson on Lost Magic
14. Dragon-Slaying Order
15. Delinquents of the Hero Academy
16. The Can That Won’t Open
17. Playing in the Water with the Demon King
18. Oracle
19. The Selection God
20. Phys Ed with the Conflagration King
21. The Holy Capital, Gaelahesta
22. Everastanzetta, Institute of the Gods
23. Summoning the Saint
24. The Inscribed Revelation
25. An Offering to the Gods
26. Mystery of the Royal Palace
27. First Aske Experience
28. Trampled Pride
29. A Royal Welcome
30. The End of Running Away
31. A Pinch of Courage
32. Battle of Pride
33. Dragon Extermination Operation
34. Heroes versus Dragons
35. Lurking Underground
36. The Melody Resounding Above
37. Divine Message Exposed
39. Judgment Flutters Down
40. Underground Snowfall
41. Sword of the Almighty
42. Almighty Demon King
43. Words of the Pact
44. Her Repentance
45. Where She Belongs
Epilogue: Promised Reunion
Afterword
Color Illustrations
Bonus High Res Illustrations
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
§ Prologue: The Moon of Creation
The Mythical Age.
Snowflakes fluttered towards the ground, glittering as they reflected warm rays of light... Actually, no. The snowflakes were, in fact, a form of light themselves. Altiertonoa, the Moon of Creation, hung full in the sky alongside the regular moon. Its silvery light shone down on the world below, creating the illusion of falling snow. The “snowflakes” were shaped like flowers, which had earned them the name of lunar snowdrops.
Under the light of the Moon of Creation, all life gained magic at the core of its being. This created the origin and foundation of all life—the source.
Illuminated by that silver moonlight was a battlefield where many had lost their lives. The dead bodies, broken trees, and wilted plants on that wasteland froze like time had stopped then ceased to exist. Once the old was gone, the new could be born. It was said that after thousands of nights of destruction, the Moon of Creation would shine in the sky and create new life. Through Altiertonoa’s miracle, the order of the world was maintained by cycling the lives that had been lost.
Silver lunar snowdrops fell like snow upon the piles of corpses, but within that frozen scenery, one figure was still moving. It was a demon man. He stood alone at the center of the destruction—that was more like overwhelming devastation—dressed in black from head to toe. He was the infamous Demon King of Tyranny, Anos Voldigoad.
The Demon King slowly stepped forward, glaring up at the heavens with Magic Eyes dyed mauve. A plank-shaped foothold made of darkness appeared in midair. Another black plank appeared one step above it, followed by another. The darkness spread to form a staircase that stretched all the way up to the shining Moon of Creation in the sky. The Demon King began to climb that staircase.
Just how much time did he spend climbing those stairs? Altiertonoa was so high up, even when the mountains below looked like pebbles, there was still no end in sight. It seemed as if seven days had long passed, yet the night never turned to day. As long as the Moon of Creation shone in the sky, morning would never arrive.
Another seven days passed, but the silver moon was still far in the distance. As the Demon King continued climbing, lunar snowdrops fell upon the stairs he’d created. The flowers suddenly glowed brightly, and a silver-haired girl appeared ten steps above the Demon King. Her hair reached all the way to her ankles; her eyes were a bright silver; and she was dressed in a pure-white gown.
“Go back,” she said.
“I refuse.”
The Demon King resumed climbing the staircase, but no matter how many steps he climbed, the distance between him and the girl remained unchanged.
“What is your purpose here?”
“To bring down the moon.”
An emotionless gaze pierced the Demon King. “You won’t succeed.”
“Nothing is impossible for me,” he replied.
The girl disappeared.
Unfazed, the Demon King continued climbing. Another seven days passed before the glowing lunar snowdrops fell once again, signaling the silver-haired girl’s arrival.
“Why do you wish to bring down the Moon of Creation?”
“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”
The girl stared wordlessly at the Demon King.
“When morning comes, the Sun of Destruction takes lives,” the Demon King explained. “When night falls, the Moon of Creation creates new life. We’re sick of being your toys.”
“That is the law of this world.”
“Which is why I shall destroy it.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“If something so absurd is the law of this world, we’re better off without it.”
“If the law is destroyed, order will crumble. This world will perish,” the girl said.
The Demon King glared at her menacingly. “Is this world a kind place?”
She didn’t reply to his question—perhaps because she was unable to.
“Is this a world worth defending? Only death and destruction exists. All hope has long been lost. This world is nothing more than a giant torture chamber. As long as its laws exist, no light will ever reach us. Only the echoes of screams and cries can be heard.” The Demon King stopped and looked up at the girl. “Carve this into your skull, unknown god: I am not one to simply obey due to an overused threat like the end of the world.”
The girl finally broke her silence. “Militia.” When the Demon King looked at her questioningly, she continued. “I am Militia, the Goddess of Creation, the order that created this world. And you?”
“Demon King Anos Voldigard,” he replied.
“Anos.” Her voice was flat and detached, but for some reason, the sound lingered in one’s ears. “The world isn’t kind.”
She disappeared again, leaving behind a lunar snowdrop.
The Demon King remained where he was, staring at the flower. For some reason, he didn’t make any attempt to walk again. He glared at the Moon of Creation in the distance, seemingly lost in thought as he gazed into its abyss.
One hour passed, then four, then ten. A whole day passed. The Demon King remained as still as ever, standing there until another glowing flower fell before him. The silver-haired girl appeared on the staircase once more. The Goddess of Creation’s emotionless eyes stared into the abyss of the Demon King.
“Hmm. You were much faster that time.”
“Because you were waiting.” Militia lifted her hand and pointed at the Demon King.
“You could tell?”
“I could.”
“I see. You aren’t the Goddess of Creation for nothing.”
The Demon King turned around and sat down on the black staircase. Without any of the hostility he showed towards the Moon of Creation, he gazed down at the world below. There was a hint of grief in his expression.
Curious, Militia descended the stairs. The distance between the two of them shortened. With his back still facing Militia, the Demon King turned to look over his shoulder.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” he said.
“About the world?”
“About you.”
Militia’s eyes widened slightly.
“Now that I think about it, I realize I’ve never tried to understand the gods. Tell me what you’re feeling, Militia.”
In a voice devoid of emotion, she answered. “Gods are order. We do not feel anger, kindness, sadness, or pride. We are merely born as order and fulfill our roles. We are immortal, thus we are not living.”
“So you have no feelings.”
“Immortal beings do not need feelings,” she said matter-of-factly. “They are a function bestowed only on the living.”
The Demon King’s gaze returned to the ground, and he thought for a moment. “Gods aren’t immortal,” he eventually said. “No beings are immortal before me.” The Demon King asked the Goddess of Creation another question. “Will you tell me about yourself?”
“What do you wish to know?” Militia replied, as unaffected as ever.
“Anything about you.”
The god that looked like a young girl closed her mouth. A long, long silence passed. Eventually, she replied, “I have a little sister.”
“Oh? Do you get along?”
“I’ve never met her.”
“Why is that?”
&
“Can I ask one more question before you go?” the Demon King asked.
Militia nodded.
“What’s your sister’s name?”
The silver moon in the night sky faded as the sun rose in its place. Militia transformed into a glittering lunar snowdrop and disappeared, but not before leaving behind her sister’s name.
Time passed. Life on the earth continued to perish. Millions of lives were lost. Seven years from that night, the Moon of Creation rose in the sky once again. In the silent world where time seemed to have stopped, a black staircase stretched up to the silver moon. And someone was climbing it. It was the Demon King of Tyranny, Anos Voldigoad.
He walked for seven days and seven nights, until the mountains below looked to be the size of pebbles and a lunar snowdrop softly fell upon the staircase. Its brilliant silver light intensified, and the flower took the shape of a person. Militia, the Goddess of Creation, appeared, her appearance the exact same as before.
“Hmm. Long time no see, Militia.”
“It’s been seven years.” Militia descended the staircase.
The Demon King reached into his breast pocket and took out a letter. “I have a gift for you today.” He handed it to her. “It’s from your sister.”
Militia opened the envelope and removed the letter from within. A magic circle was drawn on the paper. When she pressed her hand against it, words played in her head. She listened to them for a moment, then smiled softly.
“What did it say?”
She looked back at the Demon King. “You didn’t read it?”
“I wouldn’t read a letter addressed to you.”
Militia replied. “Give my regards to my Demon King, she said.”
“Hmm. I did go through quite the trouble to get her to write that.”
The Demon King sat down on the staircase while Militia remained standing beside him.
“I had a dream,” she said.
“Oh? So the gods can dream too.”
Militia shook her head. “It was my first time.”
“What kind of dream was it?”
“One of a god reincarnated,” she said as though her thoughts were on the ground far below.
“What happened?”
“Even if a god reincarnates, order is order; a god is a god,” she replied plainly. “But in my dream, a god became a life other than order. I left everything of mine to my sister.”
“What did you do after you left everything with her?”
She stared at the Demon King as she answered. “I don’t know.”
The Demon King thought for a moment, then changed his question. “What did you want to do, then?”
“I wanted to become the kindness of a cold world.”
The words had spilled from the Goddess of Creation’s lips so casually, the Demon King smiled.
“Is that funny?” she asked.
“No. I just realized my own foolishness,” he said with a smirk. “It seems there are many kinds of gods out there.”
“There are many types of order, not life.”
The Demon King chuckled. “Do you have time tonight?”
“A little.”
“Then to continue from where we left off seven years ago, let us talk the night away.”
On a night when the moon shone silver and lunar snowdrops fluttered down from above, the Goddess of Creation and Demon King of Tyranny falteringly conversed upon a dark staircase reaching into the sky.
§ 1. A Plea to the Demon King
The morning sun pierced my eyelids, rousing me from my sleep.
I’d had a dream. A dream of two thousand years ago, in which I’d met Militia’s little sister and delivered her letter to Militia. However, I couldn’t recall her name or what we’d said to each other. I dug through the depths of my memories, but a dazzling light blinded my eyes.
The same happened when I tried to recall Abernyu. In order to seize the order of destruction, I had defeated her and brought her to the ground. The Goddess of Destruction had become the Demon Castle Delsgade, and the Sun of Destruction had become the Abolisher of Reason. But had that truly been the only reason? Hadn’t there been another goal to bringing down the sun? Why hadn’t I destroyed the Goddess of Destruction? It shouldn’t have been impossible for me.
I knew that the Goddess of Destruction’s power—Venuzdonoa, the Abolisher of Reason—was effective against gods. Had I kept her alive as an extra countermeasure against them? Or was she like the Heavenly Father in that the complete destruction of her order would risk the destruction of the world?
If I couldn’t remember both Militia’s sister and the Goddess of Destruction, it was possible that they were the same person. The younger sister of the Goddess of Creation could be Abernyu, the Goddess of Destruction. The Goddess of Creation’s power was the Moon of Creation, while her sister’s was the Sun of Destruction. When the moon rose, the sun fell, and vice versa.
If this was true, it would explain why Militia couldn’t meet her sister. But there was no proof. At present, there was only one way to confirm the truth: to restore the Demon Castle Delsgade to its original form as the Goddess of Destruction to ask her directly.
Of course, if that were a realistic option, I would have done so already. Manifesting Abernyu into this world would mean the complete restoration of the order of destruction. The world itself would be one step closer to destruction. All living beings would be more susceptible to death, and the lives that had been extended through the Goddess of Destruction’s absence would be lost.
If I could talk to her without releasing her power, there wouldn’t be a problem, but things don’t always work out that well, and there was no guarantee that my memory loss wasn’t the work of another god. In other words, it was possible my memories had been stolen to tempt me into restoring Abernyu. I had no recollection of being caught by a god, but the chance was there. I might have forgotten even that. But now that I’d noticed one thing missing, I was beginning to identify more and more of my incomplete memories.
Perhaps it had happened back then—when I’d destroyed the jinx the Sun of Destruction had cast on my memories. That was when I’d come to realize my reincarnation had been incomplete.
Was the Goddess of Destruction on my side? Or was she just appearing to be? At any rate, I was certain that someone had indeed interfered with my reincarnation. Their efforts had been half successful, and I had reincarnated in an incomplete state. Or had this situation been intentionally planned by someone?
“Hmm. Well, it doesn’t matter.”
This was no different to that time with Avos Dilhevia. If there was someone else plotting things, they would eventually reveal themselves. While I waited, I could take my time thinking about how to restore my memories.
I sat up and drew a magic circle, changing clothes from my sleepwear to my school uniform. Then I left my room and went downstairs, where I could hear mom’s energetic voice coming from the other room. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted from the kitchen.
“...and you’ll never guess what happened next! My little Anos became the Demon King! I thought he’d go somewhere far away, but I couldn’t get in his way, so I decided I’d see him off with a smile, right? I asked him to spare a thought for his mother from time to time, you know? And do you know what he said next? Go on, what do you think he said?”
I entered the kitchen to find mom and Misha preparing breakfast together. Misha was wearing an apron over the white uniform of the Demon King Academy. They were all but done with cooking, so Misha was serving bread, salad, scrambled eggs, and bacon on a plate.
She looked over at mom and answered in her usual flat tone, “‘I’d like to have mushroom gratin for dinner tonight, mom.’”
“That’s right! That’s exactly what he said!” mom cried, lowering her clenched fist. “Anos came back to us! He’s grown into such a fine man, but he’s still a mommy’s boy. I mean, that only makes sense, right? My little Anos may be the Demon King, but he’s still only six months old. He still needs his mother, right?”
The reason Misha knew what I’d said was because mom had told this story multiple times already. Anyone else would have grown fed up with hearing it by now, but Misha always answered her dutifully.
“Anos is kind.”
“That’s right! He truly is! He’s so kind. I worry about him getting tricked by someone bad someday.”
