I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 161

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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 161

 

I point the Holy Sword toward the Goddess.

 

-Young god, false Hero.

 

The Goddess looked at me with what seemed like contempt.

 

-I am the Goddess. The arbiter of laws. It is admirable that you deceived the world to wield the Holy Sword… but falsehoods can simply be corrected.

 

The laws of the world that flowed around me slow down with a single gesture from the Goddess. The fate that protected me weakens.

 

The Deception is dispelled.

 

The lies I had woven are exposed, and truth reclaims its place.

 

The immense Holy Power emanating from the Holy Sword burns hot enough to scorch my hands, and strength drains from my enhanced body.

 

-Moreover, just because you say so does not make me the Demon Lord.

 

Sacred energy bursts forth from the Goddess.

 

Souls, the entire world, fate itself praises her beauty.

 

-A Demon Lord is…

 

“King of demons. False ruler. Master of the Demon Realm and source of all evil.”

 

All things that had been praising the Goddess turn hostile toward me.

 

I can feel the world’s will questioning how someone like me dares to interrupt a god’s words and run my mouth.

 

That’s why I smiled.

 

“The Demon Realm, Middle Realm, and Heavenly Realm. The three realms that should originally be separate are now merged into one.”

 

I withdrew the darkness that had been enveloping the risen Demon Realm.

 

Hostility and resentment toward the Goddess spread outward. That small land was formed from the Demon Lord’s blood and flesh, so the accumulated grudges of countless ages had not disappeared even now that the Demon Lord was gone.

 

And.

 

“If you claim to be the master of the world, then the Demon Realm is also yours.”

 

The moment I declared it, sovereignty over the Demon Realm passed to the Goddess.

 

It’s a gamble.

 

With this, the power the Goddess possesses and the influence she can wield has greatly increased. It’s like walking a tightrope. The moment the Goddess becomes strong enough to dispose of me instantly, everything ends.

 

I must finish the work before that happens.

 

“Invader of worlds. Foreign god who has destroyed countless worlds. Master who gave birth to the Demon Lord.”

 

I deployed Deception.

 

“You are the master of the Demon Realm and the source of evil. You are truly the Demon Lord.”

 

Normally, this would be complete nonsense. The difference between the Goddess and me is that stark.

 

But it works.

 

“I was curious.”

 

Divine Authority is power manifested based on Divinity, the force that best reveals a god’s nature.

 

Then why did the Demon Lord, the pinnacle of all Dark Magic and king of evil things, possess the Divine Authority of Deception? Could his past as a mere liar have been significant enough to influence his divine nature?

 

During the brief time confronting the Goddess, I reflected on the Demon Lord’s life multiple times and realized.

 

The hunter who took in the liar Alde believed he would stay with him. Because that’s what he wanted.

 

Emma, that pitiful woman, believed Alde would surely return alive. Because that’s what she wanted.

 

The Lord of Medei, knowing Alde wasn’t his nephew, gradually opened his heart. Because he wanted him to truly be his long-lost sister’s child.

 

Deception isn’t simply about deceiving others. It’s about making people believe what they want to believe. It’s about deceiving the world in that way, and ultimately deceiving even oneself.

 

Why didn’t Alde’s lies work on the King? Of course. It wasn’t because of insufficient information and preparation, nor because Alde’s acting was terrible, nor because the King’s power saw through the lies.

 

It was because the King didn’t want it.

 

Conversely, if the King had wanted it, Alde would have had the ability to make his lies reality regardless of everything else.

 

That’s why it works.

 

Deception isn’t simple lying. It’s appealing with everything on the line.

 

If my appeal works, if the other party wants it, it’s a power that can make lies into truth regardless of any difference in status.

 

The reason the Demon Lord’s Deception was powerful is simple.

 

Because his resentment, hatred, and persuasive power cultivated over infinite time were deep. Deep enough to stain the world, to devour everything.

 

I don’t have that much time. While I’m not without hatred toward the Goddess, it can’t compare to the Demon Lord’s.

 

However, what about the Goddess?

 

-Ha, haha…!

 

What about the Goddess who is endlessly greedy enough to extend her hand to the Demon Lord who hates himself most?

 

What I’m deceiving is not the world, but the Goddess.

 

Could she deny that the territory of one she so vigilantly guarded is her own?

 

-Yes. I am the master of the world, the benevolent mother. Even that ugly and filthy land!

 

Why did the Goddess defeat the Demon Lord?

 

It was because she was so wary of the Demon Lord. She feared his growth and was jealous of him.

 

Therefore.

 

-I declare it to be mine.

 

The Goddess had no choice but to say so with joyful laughter.

 

Just as she had hoped for the liar to ascend the throne, she desperately wished for it. What I’m doing now is no different from the Goddess extending her hand to the liar who had suffered eternally.

 

“Then, you are the Demon Lord.”

 

The flow of fate began to move around me once again.

 

The moment I designated the Demon Lord and the Goddess acknowledged it. The blade of the law she established turned to target her.

 

However.

 

-So what of it?

 

The Goddess who chose to become the Demon Lord herself looked at me with a smile. Perhaps because changes had occurred in her own divinity, benevolence could no longer be found in her smile.

 

A ferocious, vicious smile. A savage smile that seemed like it would stop one’s heart just by looking at it was directed at me.

 

-Don’t you know?

 

She points at me with her sharpened fingertips.

 

-Through seven trials, one gains the qualification to wield the power of the Holy Sword. Then through seven more trials, one is completed as a Hero.

 

The power contained in the Holy Sword was infinitely weak, unable to withstand her gesture.

 

My body was sent flying.

 

Endlessly, endlessly. Past the collapsed continent, to a pit in the Demon Realm that had become ruins.

 

-You’ve only passed seven trials, haven’t you?

 

The pit closes like a monster’s mouth, trying to swallow me. To the Goddess who manipulates the laws, is everything in the world a weapon she can easily handle?

 

The world attacks me according to its master’s will. Tremendous pressure crushes down on me. I cannot possibly endure it with physical strength alone.

 

I wrap myself in divinity that spreads like wings and layer magic upon magic to block that attack.

 

“…No.”

 

The qualification to wield the Holy Sword is complete, so now I must handle what comes after.

 

It’s simple.

 

“If the first seven signify qualification, then the latter seven determine the type and magnitude of power.”

 

If it were a Hero moving according to the Goddess’s command, it would surely be filled with Holy Power, but.

 

“I found the Eternal Ice and made it submit to me.”

 

The ice extending from my back feels as if it’s looking at me while letting out a ghostly wail.

 

“I made the World Tree’s branch grow from my body.”

 

The wings made of tree branches feel as if they’re swaying in an unfelt breeze.

 

“I harbored a Dragon Heart.”

 

From the reptilian-like wings, I feel the roar of an ancient dragon.

 

“Not only did I wrap myself in a Great Demon’s darkness.”

 

From the endless darkness, I feel terrible killing intent.

 

“I also obtained the Essence of Hellfire and Spirit’s Tears.”

 

I feel hot flames and gentle waves.

 

-You make the six divinities your trials? That is wise.

 

The Goddess leaned her head forward as if interested.

 

Nausea rises at her grotesquely changing face. Blood flows from my ears at the sound of her leaking laughter.

 

-But there are not six trials. If you made divinity your trials, the remaining one must also touch upon divinity.

 

“I have accomplished them all.”

 

I make the Demon Lord’s soul I absorbed the final one.

 

Deception.

 

This time, what I’m deceiving is not the Goddess. I command the Demon Realm itself, this very world that harbors tremendous killing intent toward the Goddess.

 

“The Hero completed to defeat that Demon Lord is none other than me.”

 

The ground made of the old Demon Lord’s blood and flesh willingly lent me its power.

 

The once beautiful, utterly desolate continent instantly transformed into light. It was absorbed into me using the Holy Sword as a conduit. Endless power filled every part of my body. Massive mana, aura, magic power, holy power… It further transformed into divinity.

 

I realized anew just how incredible a magic the Hero ritual was.

 

It was a secret art that melted all the components of the world and created concentrated divinity. It was a recycling method for useless worlds that only the Goddess, an infinite invader of worlds, could devise.

 

Gathering the power that felt like it would burst, I swung my sword.

 

Had the world been split?

 

So much so that the slash attack the Hero had shown, the one that cut through the dragon, could be called trivial. An attack that crossed the entire world stretched out.

 

Its power couldn’t be weak.

 

What I had absorbed were the souls of most of the continent.

 

Among them were those of knights who had wielded swords their entire lives, those of seasoned mercenaries, and even those who had been Heroes.

 

It was a single strike that gathered all their experiences. Even the Goddess couldn’t remain unharmed in this situation.

 

To prevent even a little destruction of the world, I couldn’t drag out the battle. To defeat the Demon Lord, the entire world might disappear.

 

I opened my eyes wide and examined the impact my sword strike had brought.

 

At the end of the sword strike that stretched endlessly, making the Dragon’s Breath and the Spirit King’s rage seem laughable, was the Goddess.

 

The Goddess’s body, split vertically, collapsed.

 

‘Is it over?’

 

The moment I thought that, tension rose endlessly.

 

She was the Goddess. A plunderer of countless worlds. She couldn’t be so easy to deal with that she’d fall to just one attack like this.

 

-You have good instincts.

 

I heard the Goddess’s voice from behind me.

 

My frozen body wouldn’t move. The Goddess, as if mocking me, traced my skin with her fingertips.

 

-That is the Holy Sword. It is mine.

 

Her whisper lingered by my ear.

 

-What meaning would it have if it weren’t wielded by my Hero?

 

The hand gripping the Holy Sword trembled violently. The blade that had been facing forward turned toward my neck.

 

-You are quite useful.

 

The sword tip slowly approached me.

 

-But you don’t measure up to Alde.

 

No matter how hard I tried to push it away, nothing changed. Little by little, little by little. It approached to pierce my neck.

 

-The false accusation that I am the Demon Lord, yes. I’ll acknowledge it. Even this filthy world is mine.

 

Mockery pierced my ears. Sharp nails wounded my skin.

 

-Your claim that you are the Hero, yes. I’ll acknowledge that too. I am the master of the entire world, the benevolent Goddess.

 

My arms trembled violently. Death drew near.

 

What the Demon Lord had tried to create with the six divinities was the Holy Sword. The Hero’s sword.

 

Since the Holy Sword symbolizes the Hero. Could a Hero without a Holy Sword truly be called a Hero?

 

Perhaps Johnny’s unstable power wasn’t only due to skipping a few trials.

 

Because he had inherited the First Hero’s Holy Sword. Because it wasn’t his own sword, he might not have been able to become a complete Hero.

 

If that was the case.

 

I contained the divinity I had been releasing behind me within my body. My soul and body became unstable as if they would burst, but it didn’t matter.

 

I released the hand that had been gripping the Holy Sword and instead held those things in my hand.

 

The speed at which the sword tip approached me gradually increased.

 

I grasped the blade with my hand that contained the six divinities, swollen as if it would burst.

 

Blood burst forth.

 

But the six different divinities circulated among themselves, and finally.

 

Broke the blade.

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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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