Demon King

Black Moon – 4

To protect the underground, I would need to complete the Tower of Destiny. But to complete it, I needed gold. Gold? It was clear where I would need to go for that: Belphegor, and all that gold he had taken from me. Gold coins were one of the most common things to be found. Monsters, humans, demons, and angels would leave gold coins when they died without fail. They were used as a currency, of course, but also a valuable material needed for creating objects, whether they be artifacts or magical architecture. After calculating the amount I would need to complete the tower, I ground my teeth and returned to the underground.

“Fate!”

“Fate!”

“Captain!”

“Brother…!” Mireina stood atop the highest spire, spreading her shield outward as all the high-ranking demons struggled around her to add mana to the shield. They were aided by the members of Rebellion. It almost looked like a cult gathering around their priestess.

“How much longer do you think you can hold it up?”

“Thirty minutes at most!” I had been hoping for an hour and a half.

“I asked for three hours!”

“But…on my own…”

“No, you can.” Mireina was weakening, but when she saw my eyes didn’t shake, her face changed quickly. After reaffirming my belief in her, she began to emit more mana than before.”

“Yes, yes! I can do it!”

“It’s an ability that can’t even be used properly without Fate…” Belphegor muttered as if the sight was pathetic, but I was fortunate to arrive in time to replenish her energy.

“Rain, I need your money.”

“I will. It was for you from the start.” Until now, I thought he was some hustler robbing me of my money, but he had been doing it to save all of our lives.

“Poor Belphegor.”

“Go give up your strength, Rain.” The demons murmured sympathetically at him. Belphegor produced all the gold he had collected so far, a staggering amount that I was a bit flabbergasted to see.

“Don’t look so sad. Give it all to me.”

“You know how precious gold is to demons, Fate!” Gremory, who had one hand out-stretched to Mireina to pour magic into her, screamed at me. I replied with a kind smile.

“Then, choose what’s more precious between gold and your life. I respect your thoughts.”

“You’re so cool even when you’re being mean to me.” I took all the gold that every demon had before silently turning to the members of Rebellion. Lee Chan-yu was already taking out his money, and the rest couldn’t go against the atmosphere.

“Why are you borrowing as soon as you see us, brother?”

“You’ll see soon.” But even that wasn’t enough yet. At best, we had about 50%.

“…I have to go to Earth and take money from humans now.”

“Even though you robbed all the riches the demons had, it’s not enough? What the hell are you making?! Are you building a weapon to destroy the heavens?” The other demons yelled at Gremory, who was yelling at me. She seemed to be a bit resentful that her money had been stolen. But the underground would be destroyed if they didn’t, so they had to go along with it.

“Something like that.” I looked beyond the spire and pointed to the inner courtyard. The gold coins I collected were immediately converted into mana to start constructing the Tower of Destiny. The Black Palace referred to the palace I resided in previously. However, after becoming a human, it became impossible to maintain it, so I sealed it away. Now, it was taking shape due to the gold coins I had collected. A tower built out of black obsidian was already rising steeply above the demon castle.

“That’s…”

“What are you trying to build with that money…? Great king, why…?” Most of the demons were astonished as they looked up at the tower, which wasn’t even ten percent complete yet.

However, only one man didn’t seem impressed watching it. That was A.

“It’s an accurate name, the Tower of Destiny.” He smiled bitterly as he said that.

“There were times when I was puzzled by the role assigned to Belphegor, but I see it wasn’t because of a desire for wealth.”

“It was for this.” I wondered about my own Greed and that of my past self, to take everything we could. But, from the beginning, I didn’t get too greedy for things that didn’t arouse my appetite like things like gold.

“If you had been greedy and collected more, perhaps…”

“You are correct, A…no, Amimon.”

“How long it has been since I heard that name. You got everything back?”

“You’ll know when you see it.” Some of the demons listening to us stepped back, muttering amongst themselves now they knew who he was.

“No way, he was alive…?”

“Didn’t Fate eat him in the past?”

“That’s right…huh?” Amimon, or Mammon, was the great demon who surrendered Greed to me in the past- no. Instead of surrendering, he was forced to give it away after he lost in a game.

“…” I didn’t intend to owe him anymore, but now it couldn’t be helped. We both had something to keep safe.

“Please.”

“Huh.” With a snort, a black shade erupted behind his back. Soon, a cartoonishly large pile of gold had appeared behind me.

“Take as much as you want.”

“I’ll take at least ninety percent of it.”

“…” His eyebrows flinched. Perhaps he didn’t know I would take so much of the wealth he accumulated by defeating hordes of monsters. It was enough to match 50% of the gold I had taken from the other demons.

“Fate is even taking from Amimon.”

“It’s just like our king…” The demons were quite relaxed, even though we could all die soon. Well, that was only to be expected from beings called demons.

“Complete it quickly.”

“Thanks to you, it’s coming along nicely.” I wasn’t wrong in saying I needed 90%. I poured all the money collected from Amimon into the tower without leaving a single coin behind. The tower began to soar into the sky above us.

“Tower of Babel…?” My younger sister muttered blankly while looking at it. The Tower of Babel, built by arrogant humans, ignoring God’s will and tried to reach him. God scattered their languages to prevent the construction of the tower. In the end, they couldn’t complete it and abandoned it. I laughed at my sister’s words and denied her.

“I’m not trying to replicate such a human failure.”

“Was it really a failure…?” Many others opened their eyes wide at the mention of the tower. Apparently, there were common myths between Hater and Earth.

“It’s a tower.”

“It’s finally going up.” Gremory said while watching the tower soar without end under the black moon above—a collection of false wills from the distant past of heaven. Heaven was the largest cause of the Great Fusion and the master of that loud voice that instigated the demons when the Devil’s Night arrived.

“No way.”

“Aren’t you too gluttonous?” Knowing my intentions and the power of the tower, the demons stopped talking. I gazed up at it.

“Fate.” Just as I tried to move towards it, a voice held me from behind.

“Release me.” Her eyes opened wide, but she soon nodded with a warm smile.

“Alright.”

“Do you want me to call your name?”

“No, I was angry because you were flirting with another woman.” She seemed to be referring to Mireina and my sister. I smiled at her cute little grievances and then approached her for a kiss.

“We can do the rest after I get back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” The woman who monopolized the love of almost every demon in the past; the only woman I wanted to protect who stayed by my side. The No. 1 contributor who made Amimon concede to my strength, and perhaps even made me the demon king. She released me, and I waved at her before approaching the tower.

Now, it was time to devour that black moon.