On the Demon God

"So, um… about the Demon God, I'd like to ask again, but… what is it exactly? I get that it's the final evolution form of Ursula, of a Demon Lord, but… is there some other Demon God out there as an enemy, separate from Garumon evolutions?"

"… Now that you mention it, I never did explain that, did I?

"And yet, deciding on the spot to bring Griera into your party… that's so like you, Naoto-san."

Lyuka laughed.

"Do you think it was rash?"

"No. Whatever the explanation, you'd already made up your mind in your heart to take Griera into the party.

"I think it's an expression of your courage, Naoto-san."

Lyuka explained plenty to me, but as a rule, unless I asked, she held back the extra details.

Or, when there was information she felt I shouldn't know yet, she'd deliberately keep it from me.

I placed my full trust in Lyuka's judgment, so when she said something like that, I didn't press her on it.

By "trusting" her, I meant that even if a crisis befell us later because Lyuka had kept something secret, I wouldn't blame her one bit. I'd told her so openly, and let her act as she saw fit.

Surprises and crises included, it was all part of the fun for me.

If everything that was going to happen from here on were laid out in advance, and I just acted on what I was told, it wouldn't be any fun at all.

Like having someone spoil all the upcoming scares for you when you're trying to enjoy a horror movie.

What Lyuka was trying to do for me was a very hard thing.

If she really were a pawn of the System, it would be no trouble at all.

But, she loved me.

If she thought I was in danger, she'd want to tell me everything.

And if a real crisis came, could she live with no regrets? She'd surely feel guilt over it too.

Even so, hardship and pain and all, because that's what I wished for, Lyuka was doing her best for me.

I needed to raise my own level of knowledge so Lyuka wouldn't have to put herself through that kind of trouble.

As for the Demon God, since I was bringing Griera, who was being targeted by one, into the party, it had become necessary knowledge.

Lyuka seemed to have judged it the same way.

"… However, if you want to ask about the Demon God, you'd best ask Ursula."

On Lyuka's recommendation, I went to meet Ursula.

When I said I wanted to meet, she made time for me so easily that I half wondered if she was canceling all her plans for it.

"Thou wishest to know of the Demon God… very well."

And so, Ursula generously explained about the Demon God for me.

"The monster territory, said to be twenty times the size of human territory.

"Demon Gods are the seventy-two chieftains who are said to rule the monster territory.

"… Mind, the monster territory is vast. Whether the Demon Gods are truly its apex, or whether something stands above them… such things, we know not.

"But that the Demon Gods are the apex of the monsters as we humans know them, that is beyond doubt.

"They possess the power to command monsters as well, but above all, the Demon Gods themselves wield utterly tremendous power.

"Overwhelming, transcendent power. The mightiest of beings. That is what a Demon God is.

"And the Demon Gods are a concrete threat to us humans.

"For these Demon Gods lead their subordinate monsters and demons, and at irregular intervals, they assault human territory.

"It's no exaggeration to say the S-Class Masters were organized to oppose the threat of these attacking Demon Gods."

"Assault… meaning?"

"As stated. They destroy the walls of human territory, invade it, and slaughter humans en masse.

"Left unchecked, every last human would be massacred."

Lyuka added the supplementary detail.

… Whoa. So they really were beings on the level of natural disasters.

"In particular, the very first Demon God to appear, the Primordial Demon God, was overwhelmingly powerful.

"After it appeared around year 10 of recorded history, the human side could do nothing, and was simply ravaged one-sidedly.

"By one account, a million people died. Perhaps even more.

"It took 140 years before that first Demon God was finally defeated."

"…140 years!"

I was shocked. So that one opening boss had run the show for that long.

"… My apologies."

Lyuka stepped back and yielded to Ursula.

"…'Tis fine. This is a matter where it's better that I explain, yet a part that's difficult for me to speak of…

"It helps, Lyuka. Continue the explanation as thou wert."

…? What was that about? I'd probably get it if I kept listening.

"Understood."

Lyuka took over the explanation.

"After the first Demon God was defeated, humanity reclaimed peace… or so it seemed, but soon enough the next Demon God appeared. Two of them, no less.

"The figure of seventy-two Demon Gods in total is said to be something the Demon Gods themselves declared around that time.

"… However, after the Primordial Demon God was defeated, perhaps because humanity had built up the strength to defeat Demon Gods, or perhaps because no other Demon God was as strong as the Primordial one.

"After that, the Demon Gods that appeared didn't cause damage as catastrophic as the Primordial Demon God's, and they came to be defeated one at a time, roughly once every ten years.

"Even so, the era when a Demon God's attack meant the deaths of several S-Class Masters lasted a long time…

"But over the course of three hundred years, the human side has grown vastly stronger as well.

"The fact that the prophecy princess Himika, a Garumon, foresees Demon God attacks, letting us wait in fully prepared formation, is also a major factor.

"These days, even when a Demon God attacks, S-Class Masters rarely die.

"… About one every four years, perhaps."

"No, that's still a lot of dying!"

For twenty-four people living ordinary lives, having that drop to twenty-three after four years is not exactly common.

"The basic tactic for fighting a Demon God used to be lining up multiple S-Class Masters to fight in succession and hold it back, but Masters who could face one alone and drive it off, and even Masters who could defeat a Demon God solo, began to appear.

"In particular, the current top four S-Class Masters all hold records of defeating a Demon God solo.

"And rather than just defeating a Demon God, if you can capture it alive, you can obtain a Demon God of formidable power as your own.

"S-Class number 1 Satoru and S-Class number 2 Aqueria have obtained mighty Demon Gods that way.

"Number 3 Sairas and number 4 Leonhardt are said to have killed their Demon Gods and missed the chance to make them companions… or so the story goes. Whether that's actually true, I can't say.

"Sairas in particular is rather secretive. It wouldn't surprise me if he had one quietly stashed away.

"… In that sense, for the elite of the top S-Class ranks, encountering a Demon God can even be called a chance to obtain a powerful Garumon.

"For lower-ranked S-Class Masters, however, it's still an opponent you have to be prepared to die against.

"And for an A-Class Master, you'd be entirely right to think of it as a being whose appearance means certain death.

"They say Griera was beaten without a chance back when she was A-Class, but that's only natural.

"For an A-Class Master who encounters a Demon God, simply being alive afterward is fortunate.

"Naoto-san, please be very wary of encountering a Demon God yourself.

"That said, if you're aiming for the top of the S-Class… eventually, it'll become a wall you must clear. By all means, let's aim for it."

That was Lyuka's explanation.

"… A Demon God, huh… Thanks, Lyuka.

"… But, why Ursula?"

"… That'd be because kin of mine appear among the figures we just spoke of, and to speak of them myself would be a discourtesy, she likely thought.

"… The Primordial Demon God we just brought up, the one who inflicted the greatest damage on humanity.

"Her name was Tiari Belzebute. My grandmother, as it's understood…

"Or perhaps a previous life, or one before that.

"After Tiari Belzebute was defeated… slain… a single infant was born in human territory.

"That child, who possessed the power of a Demon Lord from the moment she was born, was named Esta Belzebute. She is my mother.

"When a Demon God is killed, it becomes a Demon Lord with weakened power and is reborn as a human.

"Demon Lords reborn into human territory like that aren't limited to me alone.

"It's said that once a Demon Lord grows enough, they may regain the power of a Demon God once more… but so far, no Demon Lord has yet ascended to Demon God.

"The only ones who hold a Demon God as a companion are those who subjugated a powerful Demon God and kept it alive."

"Heeh… I see."

Well, sure. Talking about how Ursula's grandmother was once a fearsome figure with Ursula not around would be in poor taste.

After all, technically speaking, those are her evil deeds.

"No matter how much evil a Demon God committed, once they died and were reborn, it has nothing to do with them anymore… that's how it's understood.

"But the human heart cannot separate things so easily.

"Even now, among those whose kin were killed by Tiari Belzebute, there are surely some who hold a grudge against me.

"To take me as your own means swallowing all of those grudges along with me. Bear that in mind."

Ursula gave me that warning.

"Even if someone tells me 'your companion killed my parent in a past life'… well, in that case I can only say, take your complaints to that past life.

"Anyway, understood."

I answered easily. There really wasn't any other way to answer.

"Tiari Belzebute is called the Primordial and Strongest Demon God.

"In all the history of this world, no being has left as deep a mark as Tiari Belzebute. The other Demon Gods, and the Great Magical Beast Titan as well, brought tremendous damage too, but none reach Tiari Belzebute's level."

"Hmph, in the end it's but past glory… For now, that is. I, of course, intend to become a Demon God. 'Tis the surest path to becoming the strongest Garumon.

"… I shall be borrowing thy strength, Naoto."

"Yeah. Of course."

I asked about Ursula's past.

"Ursula, Lyuka. Did you know about Naia Vapula?"

"I retain no memories whatsoever from my ancestors who were Demon Gods. As for what Demon Gods exist, I know nothing at all."

"I do not know either. The name 'Demon God Naia Vapula' is one I'm hearing for the first time.

"The only Demon God currently attacking this world is Demon God Agares.

"The other one, Demon God Astaroth, was defeated last year by S-Class number 3 Sairas, and the next Demon God has yet to appear.

"Among the sixteen Demon Gods defeated up to now, the name Naia Vapula isn't there.

"No Demon God has appeared yet this year either… but the fact that Griera was attacked by a Demon God a full eight years ago means it likely wasn't the next Demon God scheduled to appear."

"One of the seventy-two Demon Gods said to dwell in monster territory… that'd be it, I'd wager.

"What runs through their minds when they assault human territory, we know not, but rather than all of them rushing in at once, they take turns striking in small numbers, and end up picked off individually. They commit that folly without fail.

"It may be that a Demon God whose turn it wasn't to attack human territory happened to encounter a human, and thought to make a bit of trouble of it."

"That may be so. It's not a case I've heard of often. Griera may be the first."

So it was that Ursula and Lyuka explained the Demon Gods to me.

… Well, in any case, I came to understand that Demon Gods really were terrifying beings, on a level where you had to be prepared to die if you met one.

"So the reason there's a turn limit on battles in monster territory is because of the possibility of being attacked by a Demon God."

"That's correct. Even with a five-turn limit, sometimes a Demon God's power stretches it to six or eight turns…

"… But if you can withstand even that, the System grants you ten minutes of invincibility, during which escape is possible.

"Conversely, if your party is wiped out, the Demon God is granted a ten-minute period of ravaging.

"In that case, even virgin protection doesn't function, no resistance is allowed, and whether to keep you alive or kill you is entirely up to the opponent.

"Once the ten-minute ravaging period ends, if another Master is accompanying you, the Demon God can be challenged again. That's all.

"If you were acting alone, the ravaging continues afterward as well. There's no chance of being saved.

"… Normally, you'd undoubtedly die. Just being alive made Griera extremely fortunate."

To rescue Griera from the Demon God's clutches… fitting phrase, that. To pull her free of those clutches, I would someday have to defeat the Demon God.

For that, too… I needed to grow even stronger.

I steeled my resolve once more.

"… By the way, are there guys who deliberately wipe out so they can rape a virgin Garumon?"

"In Garumon Battles between humans, the ten-minute ravaging period doesn't occur. It's only against monsters.

"Monsters being controlled by a Monster Tamer count as humans…

"Exploiting this would be hard.

"To believe that after the monster wins, it would only rape the opponent without devouring her, and even let her live and go free afterward…

"Any such happy-go-lucky person, if they did exist, would die quickly, so the answer ends up being 'no, there aren't any.'"

We talked through that little aside as well.