I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 159

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 159

 

I sat on a throne I had built myself, not one that someone else had given me.

 

However, this world was far too barren and desolate. It was full of miserable and terrible things. It was no longer the beautiful world it once was.

 

How could I love such a world?

 

I spent time in regret and hatred. Much time passed. Then an amazing scene appeared before my eyes.

 

Little by little, bit by bit.

 

The world was changing.

 

When the rainwater the Goddess had thrown down like charity finally stopped, trees began to grow using my blood and flesh as nourishment. The grotesque creatures formed from my flesh and bone fragments gradually began to take shape. The world was slowly becoming more beautiful.

 

Enough to remind me of that beautiful world from before the Goddess destroyed it.

 

Of course, it wasn’t perfect.

 

Only the outward appearance seemed decent. The world viewed through the King’s eyes still couldn’t hide its hideousness. The Demons had beautiful appearances, but they didn’t possess the kindness to offer food even to beggars. They were utterly selfish and vicious.

 

But what of it? What of it that they could at least evoke memories of the past?

 

“Be generous.”

 

I commanded them as their king.

 

“Keep your promises.”

 

Whatever their inner nature, at least outwardly they should resemble that time more.

 

“That shall become your pleasure.”

 

The Demons were full of complaints, but they couldn’t refuse their king’s commands. They carried out my orders thoroughly.

 

They bestowed favors upon the poor.

 

And in return, they took away what was most precious to them.

 

They somehow kept their promises.

 

So they deceived others with cunning words.

 

That became their pleasure.

 

They became a terrible race that found joy in deceiving, stealing from, and causing pain to others. Plants that grew on blood bore poison, and beasts became monsters that devoured even their own kind.

 

Why had it turned out this way?

 

Then I realized.

 

This is a world made from my blood, my flesh. So all of them must resemble me.

 

I am a liar, a traitor, a plunderer and a tyrant. Stealing from others, deceiving them, and causing them pain has been my way of life all along. So isn’t that why such wicked things were created?

 

I loved and hated this terrible hell. I pitied and despised myself.

 

What I was curious about was the King’s power.

 

The King’s power that had blocked the invasion of foreign gods, the power that had even driven away death. What was the true nature of this power that was now mine?

 

-That is Divinity.

 

The Goddess who visited the kingdom again after a long time said.

 

-My child, my beloved child.

 

Though I had spent time in regret, when I actually faced the Goddess, I couldn’t feel anger. All that anger was directed at myself, and so much time had passed that even that had died down.

 

I quietly listened to the Goddess’s words.

 

To the words of the Goddess who had come with answers to what I was curious about.

 

-It is the power of miracles that can do anything.

 

The power of miracles.

 

Indeed, it could only be called miraculous. Wasn’t it the power that saved me when I was being eaten by insects, and saved the starving people?

 

When the people offered themselves as sacrifices, even before I withdrew power from them. This power was holding onto their lives.

 

-Just as I gave you the King’s body, you too can do anything with it.

 

The Goddess said. That what I could do was not just that alone.

 

That what could be done with this power was infinite.

 

Perhaps building a new kingdom through my blood and flesh was also thanks to that.

 

-Is there something you wish to achieve?

 

There was something I wished to achieve.

 

I had built a kingdom with my own hands. But this kingdom was not beautiful. It was beautiful, yet even more ugly than that.

 

“The world before destruction. I want to reclaim my original kingdom.”

 

-It is possible.

 

The Goddess said so.

 

I can turn the world back to before I made the wrong choice.

 

I immediately gathered my power. The Goddess restrained me.

 

-But right now, it’s insufficient.

 

That would be the case. If it were possible with the power I have now, I would have known long ago. This power is amazing, but it’s equally difficult to handle, and the absolute magnitude is also lacking.

 

-Come with me to invade other worlds. Let us wage war.

 

The Goddess looked at me, smiled, and extended her hand.

 

-Just as I did, just as you did. Let us conquer the territories of others and steal their treasures. Let us fatten ourselves with them.

 

She taught me how to handle this power and how to increase its absolute value.

 

Just as the Goddess had done. If I invade other worlds, devour their souls, and steal their thrones. If I steadily expand my territory like that, if I become the king of Gods.

 

She whispered that I could even turn back time itself.

 

I didn’t refuse. I grasped that hand with joy. I could do anything to restore the world that had become hell.

 

-Alde. Following the name of me, Aision, the most beautiful mother God, I shall call you Alderion. King Alderion of the Demon Realm. With this, you are mine.

 

But as time passed, I realized. Seeing the screams of dying Gods, seeing suffering souls, I realized. I remembered the pain I had experienced.

 

Isn’t this also a world?

 

I killed, stole, and trampled. I took pleasure in it. My appearance was no different from the Goddess I had so despised.

 

The anger that had already died out began to burn again. Since all suffering originated from the Goddess, I had a rightful duty to take revenge.

 

The Goddess is mighty. No matter how much wisdom I squeeze out, defeating her is impossible. Cooperating with other Gods would be the only way.

 

But the Goddess is cunning. If I harbor other thoughts, she’ll notice immediately.

 

Before she notices, or even if she does notice, I must ensure she has no time to prepare…

 

“Are you the Demon Lord?”

 

When I came to my senses, the Hero was before my eyes.

 

* * *

 

“From here on, you know the story.”

 

The Demon Lord spoke weakly, slumped over.

 

“If you’re going to become the Goddess’s child like this, then fine. I won’t stop you.”

 

One who had lost everything and also failed. One who had lived a false life. The king who had seemed infinitely great spoke with a powerless voice.

 

Then he chuckled.

 

“Well. Child.”

 

As if what he had said was too funny.

 

“Considering the role I’ve played all this time, I’m nothing more than a hunting dog rather than a child.”

 

I laughed along as well.

 

He had been acting so superior all this time, but in the end, the Demon Lord was no different. He foolishly trusted the Goddess only to get stabbed in the back. What was he so proud of to be sitting there like that?

 

“What will you do? The choice is yours.”

 

At his ridiculous appearance, my mind seemed to return.

 

I recall the moment when I couldn’t handle the excessive divinity and was consumed by it. Memories of when I didn’t seem like myself. The process of thinking as a God rather than a human.

 

What happened to the Demon Lord was probably because of that too.

 

“How ridiculous.”

 

All this time, I was always forced to make choices. They would place unbearable situations right in front of me and make them unavoidable.

 

“But you never strayed from my will, did you? That’s proof the choice was yours.”

 

I didn’t run away, but I didn’t move according to the Demon Lord’s thoughts either.

 

“I won’t become like you.”

 

I’m different from the Demon Lord who was always manipulated by the Goddess.

 

“Be careful. She is…”

 

“You talk too much for no reason. Get lost.”

 

Even though you’ve already been absorbed by me and disappeared.

 

The Demon King vanished just like that. Without leaving a trace, completely consumed. Though the smile he wore at the end did feel different from what I had experienced before. It must have been my imagination.

 

When I opened my eyes, it was a goddess waiting before me.

 

-Did you finish saying your goodbyes?

 

I have no idea how much time passed while conversing with the demon lord within myself and absorbing him.

 

Even if I had the power to freeze time itself, my opponent is a predator that has devoured countless worlds. It probably wouldn’t be greatly affected by it.

 

Even so, she waited with a benevolent smile.

 

-Where would there be a mother who wouldn’t wait when her child is saying final farewells to a friend?

 

Strength drains from my body.

 

The hostility toward the Goddess quickly subsides. But I swatted away her outstretched hand.

 

-Why do you resist? Do you not wish to remain a good child?

 

-I am.

 

The Goddess looks at me with a loving face. Not a trace of anger is contained within. I worried that her face might contort with displeasure.

 

Even so, I spoke with strength in my voice.

 

-Not your child.

 

The Goddess established clear laws in this world. She is a god, and I am human. Anyone would rightfully be called her child.

 

I refute that law, the law carved into the world.

 

-You are a foreign god. Not the god of this world.

 

The law wavers.

 

She is a god. Surely in some world she was the mother of all things. But this world is not hers. I, who was born in this world, cannot be called her descendant.

 

-Is that all? Did you think you could shatter my Divine Authority by revealing a contradiction? I am mighty, and you are….

 

-I remember my mother’s face.

 

The Goddess’s words were cut off. Her eyes narrowed as if trying to discern the truth of my words.

 

But my words are truth.

 

By absorbing the Demon Lord’s soul, I was reborn as a complete being. I became able to see even the smallest memories carved into souls. I became able to connect all memories carved into countless souls and see the flow as one.

 

Naturally, I didn’t miss even the very first moment I was born.

 

-I was born as a human, as a human’s child.

 

The first light I encountered, cold air, touch. And screams and crying.

 

In a cold research room, the final mercy the researchers showed to a test subject scheduled for disposal. A brief time allowing her to hold the child she had given birth to.

 

The face I couldn’t see because I couldn’t open my eyes, I supplement with the researcher’s memory. I recall the haggard face and trembling hands, the contorted expression. Her mouth opens.

 

“…Survive.”

 

The words that made me obsessed with survival. What followed after.

 

“Live, and be happy.”

 

A voice filled with worry and tears.

 

-If I am human, then you cannot be my mother.

 

The law crumbled.

 

The world’s law that the Goddess had forced crumbled. My mind cleared, and the blind trust toward the Goddess disappeared. My divinity, which had been degraded to human level, regained its complete place once more.

 

The Goddess wore a bewildered expression, as if she hadn’t thought her Divine Authority could be broken.

 

It was exhilarating.

 

Thinking that there wasn’t a proper reason for this, it might be the Demon Lord’s final emotion.

 

Feeling that brief emotion completely scatter, I opened my mouth.

 

-Demon Lord.

 

If you spoke only truth to me, then I too must keep my promise with you.

 

I proclaimed to the world for the sake of the already dead god.

 

“I will become your Hero.”

 

I will become a Hero and destroy the foreign god.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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