The first [Demon Lord], [Lord of Darkness], Guy Crimson.
Clad in crimson magic power that rippled around him like armor, he stood at the center of the training ground and gazed up at the sky with quiet eyes.
"..."
'This brings back memories.'
Back then, before he had been summoned to the surface.
He still remembered the days when he had reigned as the king of hell.
The [Primordial Demons] who had begun to be born one after another after him, and among them, "Black," who had become his first true rival.
Even now, after thousands of years had passed, the memories of that era remained vivid enough to recall as clearly as if they had happened yesterday.
'Aside from that bastard, I thought there'd never be another demon who could entertain me...'
Until he came to the surface and met a [saint], that one had been Guy's only rival.
Until he fought that [Hero], the one he had met because of the arrangements of the "god" who had defeated him in a single blow.
'...Veldanava. Was this one of your arrangements too?'
His first defeat in life, and his last.
The memory of challenging his old friend, the one called the [Creator God], was carved just as deeply into his mind as the memories of his rivals.
He had known Veldanava was the god who created all things, but even so, he had never imagined he would lose to a mere single strike.
'If making that one bear a [Hero's Egg], if making him similar to a [True Dragon], really was your arrangement... no, I hope it was.'
His old friend had cast aside omnipotence, yet remained infinitely close to it.
After that friend died, Guy became, in both name and reality, the apex of this world. But he could not be satisfied with that result.
He had risen to the surface to earn the title of the strongest, but gaining it like this brought him no satisfaction.
Because he had never once doubted that only by defeating the [Creator God] with his own power someday could he truly become the strongest.
'If that one really is your arrangement, then he'll surely be able to satisfy me—'
Guy longed for a rematch.
A new rival, one through whom he could prove himself and acknowledge himself.
In other words, the birth of a second omnipotent monster, one worthy of comparison to the [Creator God].
And if he were the one to defeat such an opponent—
'—then this thirst of mine should finally be quenched.'
—And the title of strongest would bear no further shame.
Of course, it would still take a long time for such a day to arrive, but he did not mind.
'Whether that one reaches it, or this one does, either is fine.'
Either his disciple would become the king of hell, or that [Hero] would come to wield the "power of an archangel" perfectly.
One of the two would surely arrive at that future someday, so there was no need to be hasty now.
What mattered at the moment was seeing how much his immature first disciple had grown.
"...Come out."
At Guy's short murmur, a single longsword appeared in his hand, shining with the rough gleam of iron ore.
The demonic sword [World].
That blade, which had reached the highest tier of [God-grade], was not like the [Deva] [Earth God], the [Asura] [Heavenly Demon], or the [Ark] [Void], which Veldanava had personally created. It was a demonic sword Guy had obtained through his own power.
All those who stood infinitely close to the peak of the current age possessed Veldanava's armaments or [skill]s, but Guy alone possessed none of his power.
Because Guy himself had refused Veldanava's help.
Power received from another was something his pride would never accept.
That was why the [skill] he had awakened was [Pride].
In other words, it was his very pride itself.
"...Is this the first time I've drawn this since fighting Velzard?"
The ability of his beloved blade, [World], was extremely simple and utterly ordinary.
It could endure the user's power to the utmost limit, and reduce all needless loss of power to zero.
For ordinary adventurers or knights, it was not an especially attractive ability.
Once one reached [Legend-grade], their weapons could already withstand their power well enough, and the wasted loss of power was not that great to begin with.
But if the user was a living natural disaster, the meaning of that ability changed completely.
There were only a handful of armaments, even in the otherworld, that could endure the power of a natural disaster to the utmost limit.
For someone like him, who possessed overwhelming martial power, there was no weapon more fitting.
Fwoooosh...
Soon, crimson magic power gathered along the blade of [World] as well.
"He's here."
He could feel it instinctively.
Beyond that massive door connected to the training ground, the one bearing a [Hero's Egg] had arrived.
Rumble...
A moment later, the doors of the training ground opened, and a demon appeared.
Ash-gray hair fluttering in the air, and blue eyes shimmering faintly with magic power.
Though he possessed an inhuman beauty, the demon also carried an atmosphere that somehow felt human. The moment he stepped into the training ground, he summoned a pitch-black longsword into one hand.
It was his symbolic beloved blade, [Black Heaven, Nether's End].
"Finished resting?"
At Guy's question, spoken as he stared at him in silence, Adelio gave a short reply.
"Yes."
He was fully prepared to be tested.
"Good. You already know the rules of this spar, so there's no need to waste time."
Like the monster he was, one who delighted in battle, Guy drew a savage smile across his lips and raised [World] high into the air.
Wooooong!!
At the same time, Velzard, Rain, and Misery generated dozens of barriers and sealed off the entire training ground.
Those barriers, shining in shades of blue, blended with the aurora that always hung above the frozen continent, making the space look as though it had been compressed in on itself.
"...Then shall we begin?"
With those words as the signal, crimson and ash-gray stained the inside of the barrier with their magic power.
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