Demon King

Black Moon – 5

A lot of materials were required to complete the Tower of Destiny. First was conquering the Black Palace’s seven areas, where the other demons and I had stayed in the past. That was the main step in starting the construction. The next was Destiny or Fate, a status that had been born from the luck stat. It had been gathering and growing from the start, waiting for the seal to release itself. It was something I could be sure would work, and I had to risk the lives of everyone in the face of uncertainty, so the name of it was bound to be destiny.

Then, all that was left was the gold that I barely gathered by shaking down all the demons. The Tower of Destiny wasn’t just ludicrously tall; it was like a huge artifact. It resonated with me and gradually increased my power. It was an extraordinarily complex magical artifact, achieved through all of our gold. It was fortunate that we were able to build it. The tower was still rising, but I was already heading up. It would’ve been nice to wait for it to finish first, but I had to go all the way from the first floor to the top. I had no time to waste.

“Shall we go?” The enormous plan I dreamed up before the Great Fusion was beginning to materialize into reality. Of course, the situation wasn’t one where I could sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labors. Failure would, as always, result in death. This was a desperate moment, but a smile was playing on my lips. It felt like the day I first went to a high-end restaurant to commemorate my graduation from high school. What would I eat, and how much? What will it taste like? I had similar thoughts in my mind now, an appetite worthy of the name Baal coursing through me.

From the first floor all the way to the top. This huge tower was like a booster for me, and the more I went up, the more I could feel it supporting me. The power of the first floor overlapped with the power of the second, and so on. It kept superimposing over me, raising my strength by several dozen times, at least. It was easy enough to put it into words, but I could feel the tremendous amount of time, money, and devotion that had been put into realizing it. I grappled with those feelings as I ran upward, feeling the tower resonating with my own heartbeat.

17th, 39th, 76th, 119th, the floors ran by as I sprinted with all my might. I hadn’t designed any windows when I made the tower so that I couldn’t see outside. I just calculated the floor I was on by my growing power and the power of the black moon drawing closer. The higher I climbed, the greater the burden on my body was. The pressure tormented me as my magic grew at an absurd pace. The 100th floor was bearable, but from the 200 onwards, I could feel my movement slowing down. In this situation, where I had no idea how long Mireina could hold out, I needed to be speeding up.

I clenched my jaw. Any power that I could use now was raised to a limit that I struggled to manage, but I kept climbing anyway. Shame drove me, as I was filled with the idea that there was another me that would accept the pain and push forward—250th, 320th, 400th. Mana welled up in me so intensely that I couldn’t see well in front of me. It threatened to crush me from within, made me want to break the tower, and run away as waves of pain filled me.

‘How’s that?’ If it was pain, I was used to it. Even in the days where I struggled to ascend to the position of the demon king, there were plenty of times where my body was damaged or even destroyed. The pain wouldn’t have any effect on me. As long as I could move forward, it didn’t matter if I was blind or my spine was crushed, or if my organs were bursting and my legs were broken. This was all my mana. My colleagues pushed me to go further so I could eat all I wanted. With that thought, even this endless pain brought me joy. This pain would bring me the sweetest nectar of Heaven.

Whenever the pain surged, I focused on the image in my mind. That distorted black moon, the heavenly celestial enemy before me, and my burning anger toward it. It was a lump of imperious and disgusting will that blocked my path, harassed Lilith, and judged those below it. It would only be the start. After I devoured it, I would go onto the main dish that was Heaven. Protect the underground and swallow up Heaven. With those two distinct goals, I stepped forward. I was no longer sure how much time had passed. I was only certain that Mireina was still holding on.

570th, 610th, 644th. The moment I crossed the 600th floor, the intensity of the buff increased. It felt like my magic was amplified by 10% for each floor I went up. It only kept increasing exponentially, both my power and the weight I had to bear. I couldn’t tell if I was walking, running, or crawling up the tower. All my thoughts were gone; I merely endured the weight and moved forward as I focused all my attention on controlling my mana.

650. 654. 657. At some point, cold air had begun to run all over my body. I wondered if it was a side effect of the mana, but I decided it couldn’t be. The cold was coming from somewhere else. An entity full of sharp and cold hostility. It was the black moon, my enemy, that was drawing closer. Which meant the end of the tower wasn’t so far away. With that realization, my eyes opened wide. As the meal I craved drew near, the energy of Predation became more active, eating away at the enormously dense mana that weighed on my body in preparation for the meal. My body was growing lighter, overflowing with a power I couldn’t believe. All that mana that was trying to crush me fused with the energy of Gluttony, amplifying its tremendous momentum to cause me to rise above.

660, 661, 662. The world’s largest booster was giving me all its mana. The energy of Gluttony, powered by that mana, had taken a recognizable form. At a glance, I could tell it was a wolf’s jaw—that of Fenrir, the world-devouring wolf in Norse mythology.

663, 664, 665. The higher I climbed, the stronger that power became. It swallowed up the cold air that tried to reject me, strengthening me even further. The moment I reached the 666th floor, the sky was above me. The black moon was huge above me, gazing down at me from below.

Only

[Swallow everything. Deny the one who stands next to you and stab the one behind you. Be alone, shining under the moon.]

The voice tried to deny everything but itself. Its influence had grown so much.

“It’s huge.” The words left me unbidden as I stared in awe of that sphere of power before me. I had walked up to the 666th floor, and now I was so close to the moon. I had succeeded in confronting it with my own strength. But it wasn’t my strength alone; I was backed by the power of all the demons and the members of Rebellion. Without even one of them, I wouldn’t be standing here. Well, maybe it would be fine if Katsuragi didn’t exist.

[Dominate. Destroy all things above you and reign over all.]

“Yes, that’s what you mean… I’ve already been doing that.” A huge connection of will and power, formed by the will of Heaven.

“Thank you. This is why you’re the perfect appetizer.” The burden I felt climbing the tower was relieved for a moment. With the chunk of mana dangling before me, I began to raise up the energy of Gluttony. The wolf opened its jaws, proceeding confidently towards the black moon before me. Was it just an illusion that I felt it tremble for a moment?

“Whoo.” The pressure I felt disappeared without a trace. The mana I had accumulated was pouring into the energy of Gluttony as it rushed towards the Black Moon.

“Thank you for this meal.”