2 Years later...

It's the final stretch. Just next year, after Alis turns thirteen — she will be entering Evelias Magic Institute and the plot of the game will begin officially. I've had over 12 years to prepare now for the beginning of the games main story, as well as prepare to prevent any events that connect to my death after the games main story begins, so you would think that I would be confident - right?

Well... Not quite. Even with 12 Years of preparation for the main story to begin, as well as all the precautions I have taken to prevent the ending - such as taking and claiming the Sacred Blade as mine and then even trying to guide the protagonist onto a different path from which they were going to walk when the main story of the game began, I was still extremely nervous and skeptical whether or not my preparations were actually enough. After all, you never know what may happen...

Maybe a sudden oversight on my side can cause the story to escalate and lead to my death, or even just the Gods interfere to try and set the story back onto the right path.... If that's even possible.

Point is — I was paranoid, despite the 12 years now that I have had to prepare for the main story to begin. After all, the final act of the game was... Well, technically 5 years away as of now, however the moment the main story starts, there will only 4 years remain for me to try and prevent the final act from turning out the way it did in the game and in case I fail to prevent it, prepare myself to face the protagonist and kill them in a fight.

I know, I know — How could I just come up with a backup plan that involved killing the protagonist should I fail to prevent the Final Act of going out the way it did in the game?

Am I not being all friendly with the protagonist right now as they're growing up? Well, yeah, but you have to consider this — It's either I kill them, should the need come up, and humanity loses the only individual worthy of the Sacred Blade of Hope.

Or I get killed and a massive calamity is launched throughout the world to wreak havoc upon it, simply because my power was released into the world. With that context —

What other choice do I have should the final act play out the same as it does in the game? I don't exactly want to let this world plunge into chaos just because I died....

Well... Whatever. For now — I should focus on continuing to search answers for a question that has been bugging me for a while.

I was inside the Demon Castles library, looking through the books in here using my magic to quickly move them around via levitation. Each book I was looking through was mainly ones focused on theories of magic, history and even the theories of how the world came to be. All books that the Demon Army had stolen either from Inara after it got invaded or were personally written by the most genius mind in the Demon Castle — right after the Demon King of course.

The most genius mind in the Demon Castle was actually also one of the 7 closest subordinates that the demon king has — her name is Kaila and her title within the ranks of the demon is 'The Strategic Hive mind'. She was weak when it came to physical power, however her magical abilities were extraordinary.

During the game, it was a nightmare to dodge all her magic attacks as they were basically random and unpredictable — which didn't make her the hardest persay, but definitely made her one of the most difficult bosses to take down in the game.

As I was flipping through the different books, I kept moving through the library, with books just flying behind me and all over the place as I kept on searching and searching for a book that could possibly give me an answer to my burning question. Just — one burning question.

How is any of this even possible?

I know, dumb to ask that 12 years after I got transported into the body of a tyrant with in a world which had a fantasy setting — but it was a question I had been clinging onto. It is also one of the main reasons I had been spending most of my time at the Demon Castle inside the library. Well, that and the fact that I was researching and creating new spells in the library, but that's besides the point. What's important is that this library had a bright and basically clear detailed record of this worlds entire history and all of its functions, which meant that it would be the best place to search for an answer to a... Well — strange question such as the one I had in the back of my mind this entire time while living in this world for the past 12 years.

I continued to shoot books through the air — taking one to read while I shot the next back to its place on the bookshelves. Eventually, I had sat down at a table inside the library, going through books as fast as possible, even opening and skimming through multiple books at once. Via this method, I was practically flying through the books that contained this worlds history and theories, until eventually I had basically looked through all of them.

Well, not quite — there were still quite a significant number of them through which I hadn't looked through, but I was getting tired from reading and skimming through books by now.

.....I should probably go out and continue training away to get a better grip over my power. Yes, I had been getting used to the power I possessed for 12 years now, but even then — I wouldn't consider myself the greatest at controlling said power. I was still lacking when it came to using it to its maximum potential while having full control over it.

....Yes — there was an accident.

I wish to not talk about it.

I stretched out lightly, before swiping my left arm across the air and causing all the floating books around me to fly back to where I had taken them from. Afterwards, I exhaled, crossing my arms and getting up from the chair I was sitting in, before beginning to walk across the library back to the exit. It was probably about time I got back to my other duties as a Demon King — I don't want an earful from Emily again.

I could trash on the games characters and stories for hours if I wanted to, but I had to give it to Emily - She has guts. She is the only character during the game that is on the Demon Kings side and yet is still capable of conversing with him like an equal, not a servant that she is.

As I walked over to the exist and was just about to leave, a sudden whisper caught my attention. I couldn't quite hear what it had said since I wasn't really paying attention, but it had definitely sounded like it came from somewhere in this room... I believe so anyway. I looked around the Library in confusion and slightly alarmed by the sudden whisper I heard — however the library was just as empty as it had been while I was here the whole time reading books, with not a single other individual in sight. But that was the thing — in sight, I couldn't see anyone... But in this world, sight isn't always that trustable.

So, time for a little investigation magic.

I lifted up my right hand, before snapping my fingers. In an instant, my vision changed from normal to one that was designed to pick up magic traces specifically and ignore everything else around. Basically, it would be like seeing only fire and ignoring everything else or something.

I began looking around with this magic vision, seeing every object that didn't give off any magic as this darkened figure with a dark maroon tint to it. However, I did not find anything that gave off magic at first — it was all samey.

That is until, I spotted a certain.... Dark and powerful aura, coming from the second 'floor' of the library. Curious, I raised an 'eyebrow' and tilted my head to the side for a second, before walking over to the staircase leading up to the second floor and ascending it up.

Once up there, I could see more clearly what was the thing that was giving off such a dark and powerful aura. It seemed to be.... A small chest of sorts, stationed in the corner of the second floor, next to a bookshelf of books that were all about stories and children fairytales, and what not. Walking over to it slowly, I took careful steps towards the chest, keeping my guard fully up and prepared to draw out the Demonic Blade of Despair at any point, should I need to do so.

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I know loot was randomly placed around the place during the game to allow the player to gain new items and even money via exploration, but I don't remember there being chests that gave off such an aura.... And even more so, I don't remember there being any loot chests in the library during the game. So I was genuinely confused as to what this chest in the corner was all about.

As I approached it, I began to feel an impact from its powerful aura. It felt like a weight was beginning to be applied to my shoulders and started to push me down to the ground. Any normal individual would be down on their knees — perhaps even passed out by now, however, thankfully as the Demon King of Sins, I was virtually invincible to these kind of auras.

Yes, I still felt the weight pushing me down, but it wasn't going to force me down onto my knees or cause me to pass out suddenly.

Once I was at the chest, I kneeled down lightly, before reaching out towards the chest slowly, sudden flashes of a tragic event flashing before my eyes and causing a minor headache.

'The hell...'

I thought, before grabbing a hold of the chest and pulling it out infront of me. The chest looked old, it was made from what looked like black wood or something and had this rusty... Really dark metal used as it's frame. On top of everything, it also had these strange carvings in the wood that the chest was made from with one giant round metal plate being nailed onto the top of the chest, with a symbol carved into the metal plate.

Now, I did not recognise the symbol at first, due to the rust covering it — however, after giving the plate a little scratch and rubbing off the rust with a cleaning magic spell, I immediately recognised the symbol in the plate. A crown, with two horns going from its bottom and leaning up towards the top, with a letter like symbol in the middle, which meant 'Order'. This chest... It bared the mark and symbol of the Demon King of Agony, Nilove Traviosa.

Yes — you heard me right, Demon King of Agony. You see, an aspect I forgot to mention which was in the games lore and you could only learn if you had spent over 7000 or something yen on the deluxe package, was that Avis Virtiosa... Wasn't the only Demon King that has existed.

Avis Virtiosa is the most powerful that has existed and the one who was literally invincible, however there were once multiple Demon Kings, just like there are multiple Gods. Demon King of Agony, Nilove Traviosa was one of these Demon Kings who was killed by the Gods as 'an example' to all the other Demon Kings, since they were going against the Gods.

He was a powerful Demon King, however mainly excelled in the ways of torment and anguish, most of the time giving his enemies a slow and painful death or just not even killing them and simply tormenting them for the rest of all eternity — Thus his title as the Demon King of Agony. But... He and all the other Demon Kings apart for Avis was killed off many, many, many years before the games main story — before the Demon King of Sins legend even. And all of his and the other Demon King items were either taken by the Gods and destroyed or claimed by Avis Virtiosa, who either locked them up in a vault for safe keeping or repurposed them to aid him in any way that the item could. Which is why I am confused as to why this chest in the corner of the library, which was never here in the game to begin with, has the symbol of the Demon King of Agony. Was this chest..... Also an item that Avis claimed? But — that can't be the case, as Avis would have either opened it and used it for himself or just locked it up in the vault alongside with the other items that he had claimed from the other Demon Kings.

I examined the mysterious and dark chest a bit closer, examining its structure as well as searching for any other symbols I could find on it, however I didn't find anything else of interest. What I did however find, is that this chest wasn't locked via a normal lock that required a key — you know, something you would expect to be the main way to lock things in a fantasy world.

No — this chest wasn't even locked with magic, which would be the next most common thing and which made sense given the scenario.

This chest... It was locked via a code. A 4 digit code, to be more specific. That was something I had never seen in this world before — neither when I played it as a game nor while living here for the last 12 years. So, understandably, I was confused as to what this chests deal was — it came out of seemingly nowhere, has a lock which in this world shouldn't even be a thing AND it has a powerful and dark aura coming from it, while also having the symbol of the Demon King of Agony on it....

Yeah, if this wasn't the biggest red flag I have seen my whole life, then I don't know what is.

However, despite the alarmed state I was in, I still couldn't help but wonder what was inside the chest and whether or not I could somehow get it open. I mean, I could - If I knew the code to it, however since I don't.... I should find a different way to open it. After all, there is no way it has a code for a lock AND is magically locked as well — right?

I placed my right hand onto the chests top, before lighting beginning to cast a lock breaking spell onto the chest — however, nothing happened. Instead of working, my spell was instead shattered and nullified, cancelling its effects. So... Not only was the chest locked with a code, but it was magically locked with a seal as well...

Great. So it will be a challenge to get this thing open.

...Alright - sure.

I like myself a good challenge, especially if it's some what like a puzzle.

I attempted to pick up the chest in order to carry it out of the room and back to my bedroom in order to continue trying to get it open, however, to my shock — the chests didn't budge at all. It was like it had suddenly been nailed into the ground or something, thus preventing it from moving an inch. Confused but also not really motivated enough to try and break the floor boards of the second floor to the library, I simply decided to continue my attempts of getting the chest open here and now, while I was still inside the library.

Y'know, I found it here — may as well open it in here as well.

And so, over the course of the next 3 hours, I tried everything I could think of. I tried every spell I could think of — I tried literally every curse I could think of, however, absolutely none of it opened or even budged the chest.

Whoever had made this thing REALLY didn't want anyone opening it, that much was clear... However, I then had a brainwave. I've been trying demon and other spells to break the magic on it, however, since it's a chest bearing the symbol of a deceased Demon King, none of those spells worked. However... Since it was a chest bearing a mark of a Demon King... Perhaps I could use a spell that the Demon King of Agony had created to try and breaking the spell on the chest. Could that possibly work—?

I mean- it was worth a try at the very least.

So I stood up and walked to the guard rail of the librarys second floor, before reaching out my left hand and swiping it towards myself. In an instant, a book from a faraway bookshelf flew out and towards me — right into my left hand. I quickly opened it and began to flip through the pages, searching for the specific spell I had in my mind. The Demon King of Agony was known for his tormenting spells and tactics of torture, however, there was another thing he had created while alive. It was, albeit, a simple spell at its core — however, a shockingly effective one. I flipped through the book, before stopping on the page I was searching for. I had found it — a spell created by the Demon King of Agony that could create powerful seals.

It was called - 'Diabolus Ensealment'.

After reading through on how the spell was done, I closed the book, before walking back up to the chest and lifting my right hand out towards it, sharpening my gaze onto it immediately afterwards. Then, four separate crimson red rings composed of magic circles appeared around me, spinning around me as I began to cast.

"Break apart — Diabolus Ensealment."

I stated, before a small crimson red magic circle appeared in my right hands palm. Immediately afterwards, the chest began glowing a crimson red colour, before this shield like exoskeleton appeared around it and immediately shattered into bits, leaving the chest with a faint red glow.

So I was right — it was an item inlaid with a spell made by the Demon King of Agony, Nilove Traviosa. But... Only we the demon kings are capable of using these spells, since only we know about them. Which begs the question — what exactly was this chest all about? Was it actually an item left behind Nilove? Well, who knows. However, it was about time I saw what was inside it.

Placing the book to the side, I kneeled down to the chest, before lightly placing my hands onto its top and then, casting a light lock breaking spell. Thankfully, with the Ensealment spell now gone, my lock breaking spell was successful, and the cheat jumped open. I exhaled, before slowly opening the chest up, sudden flashes of the same tragic scene flashing before my eyes, with all this fucked up things to compliment it all. Then, as soon as I flipped the chest open, I felt sudden headache, before falling to the ground and passing out on the spot in an instant — whispers filling my mind.

• Next Time •

[ (13.) Ancient Bygone History. ]