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I went around erasing them one by one, making sure none escaped, and before I knew it, quite a bit of time had passed. What really delayed me, though, was stumbling across a cage that held a spirit inside. Sent into this world to help regulate it, yet captured by humans and forced to endlessly provide its power, such a pitiful existence. And it wasn’t just for a few hundred years. The spirit had been trapped for far longer, weakened to the point of fragility.

I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but perhaps because of who I was in my original world, I couldn’t just leave it there. Maybe, even as I resigned myself to being the Demon Lord, freeing it was my way of proving to myself that deep down, I still existed beneath all that.

The real problem was the cage. If it had been something crafted only within this world, I could have erased it with my greatsword and been done. But the cage had been built using technology from another world, drawing on the Mana of beings not native to this one. I could have broken it by force, sure, but doing so might have destroyed the spirit along with it.

The one person who might have known the details, the king, I had already killed. So while laying waste to his kingdom, I searched for a way to release the spirit. I never found one. In the end, I concentrated, grinding away at the cage bit by bit until I could finally free it. It worked, but it took much longer than I expected.

I couldn’t just abandon the weakened spirit afterward, so I decided to bring it along until I found a way to restore its strength. Where I was headed next, a terrifyingly powerful enemy awaited, but even so, the spirit would be safer at my side than left behind.

◇◇◇

I was headed toward a place where this world’s power was highly concentrated.
If such power were housed in a single person, then that being could no longer be called human. Left alone, it could cause me problems later, and besides, the kingdom harboring it, Nigel, had caught my interest.

Unlike Caeruleus, the kingdom that summoned me, Nigel stood on the side of defending the world. In this world’s eyes, they revered Zygos, the role I had been forced into as the so-called Demon Lord. And now, following my will, or rather the world’s will through me, they had embraced killing as righteous. Facing such a foe, I figured I might as well go.

The main reason was that this power might become an obstacle, and since I was certain I couldn’t lose, it was better to deal with it early. If word of me spread and they fled, that would just be bothersome.

The disturbance was a long distance away, but if I ignored everything else along the way, I could reach it within a few days. Until I got close, I decided to go full speed, without worrying about conserving strength.

◇◇◇

On my way to Nigel, I passed through what used to be a kingdom, or something that only claimed to be one. Its castle had no king. His severed head had been put on display where the people could see it. Whether the king himself had committed some atrocity, or whether the people had simply turned violent, I neither knew nor cared.

What caught my eye was an anomaly of this world: people who shouldn’t belong here. A pair of boys summoned here before me, no doubt. I didn’t know their status, but they didn’t seem particularly strong. Even if they interfered with my plans, they wouldn’t pose much of a problem, so I left them alone.

Closer to Nigel, I found people clashing.

(So this is human warfare.)

In my original world, it was said such conflicts had once happened, but with the rise of monsters, there was no longer room for humans to fight each other.

There were still disputes, of course, and plenty of schemes and ambitions, but we had to defeat the Demon Lord of that world and move toward peace.

(I suppose I’ll never get to see that now.)

The ground here was soaked in a dark, sickly red, the air heavy with the stench of blood. And yet, perhaps because I had become Zygos, I didn’t feel much revulsion. Ignoring the humans as they slaughtered each other, I pressed on toward my destination.

◇◇◇

When I arrived, about twenty corpses lay scattered about. Four people remained alive. Or rather, if I categorized them as Zygos would, there were two, plus one, plus one. Two were natives of this world. One was from another. And then there was one more. It wielded this world’s tremendous power, yet I couldn’t really call it a being of this world.

In appearance, two were women, one a man, and the last, something like a girl with pointed ears. The most harmless-looking one was, paradoxically, the most dangerous. An amusing irony. Just who was this girl? Even Zygos’ knowledge held no answer.

As I pondered, the boy, no, more like the young man, shouted and charged in my direction. Apparently, he hadn’t even realized who I was. And given that work was work, I just thrust my greatsword into him. His expression was one of utter confusion, glancing back and forth between his wound and my face.

It seemed that when the greatsword struck beings from another world, it erased only the parts tied to this one. Useful knowledge, though it would rarely come in handy.

I pulled the blade free and turned toward the most dangerous presence, the girl. Despite facing me and my weapon, she greeted me with a gentle, almost kindly smile.

“I’m Finis. I’m 0 years old. I don’t quite remember, but I should soon be turning one. My occupation is a Demigod. It’s nice to meet you, hero-hater Demon Lord. Or should I call you Zygos?”
“Call me whatever you want. I’m just a poor prisoner. Even now, I’m overwhelmed with the urge to kill people from this world. I wasn’t always like this, though.”
“I was also revived by God just to run errands, so I guess we’re kind of in the same boat. Though I’m not as tightly bound as you are.”

Her cheerful, almost playful tone didn’t match the blood-soaked battlefield, but her introduction told me enough. She was an agent sent by this world’s God. As she herself said, a being close to divinity. To us, well, to this world, she was neither enemy nor ally, but something that provoked irritation all the same.

Her sudden shift in tone had surprised me, but perhaps she, too, had been altered in some way, just as I had been remade into Zygos. Strangely, she even carried the same faint air as the boy I had just impaled. In any case, I couldn’t leave such a power unchecked. I wanted to fight her, but she seemed more interested in talking for now.

Without so much as raising her guard, she spoke like an innocent girl making conversation.

“By the way, would you be willing to hand over that spirit you have with you?
In exchange, I, or rather, God, will grant you one wish. Though there are apparently some things he can’t grant.”

I could tell she wasn’t lying. Still, Zygos wasn’t pleased with the deal. To us, this world’s God was like a parent who had abandoned their child at birth. Even if they offered to grant me a wish now, what good would it do?

“It’s a tempting offer, honestly. But the Demon Lord part of me isn’t reacting too well to it.”
“Figures… But as a former hero, don’t you have any desire to return to your original world?”
“Is that possible?”
“What do you say, God? Is it possible?”

One reason this world was headed toward destruction was that spirits had been imprisoned and exploited. But the more direct cause was the so-called hero summoning, which dragged people here from other worlds. Surely the god wouldn’t allow undoing that?

“Apparently, it’s doable.” She said brightly.

Possible? Then I couldn’t just refuse. I had no intention of abandoning my mission as Zygos, but as someone kidnapped, I certainly wasn’t going to die in this world. So I convinced myself (and Zygos), and sent the spirit drifting toward her. At the same time, I voiced my wish, “Then once everything is over, would you be able to return me to my old world with all memories of this one erased?”

It might have been selfish, but after being dragged into all this, I couldn’t accept less. I couldn’t imagine living happily in my world again while carrying the memories of destroying kingdoms, slaughtering countless people, and worse, feeling satisfaction in it.

“Apparently, it can be done.”

So I didn’t have to worry about it. The request was accepted without hesitation. Apparently, this world’s god was more generous than I thought. Or perhaps it was simply because the wish came through this girl. I had been eager to fight her, to strike her down, but now that I owed her this favor, it would be harder.

“So it’s settled. That promise will be kept in return for the spirit, right?”
“That’s right. It will be kept even if you decide to kill me the moment I hand over the spirit.”
“Now that’s good to hear.”

The one who called himself the God of this world truly was generous. I couldn’t help but smile. The light of the spirit faded from the girl’s hand. By now, I was itching to fight her, but I couldn’t really figure out how to get her to want to fight me.