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With ‘Soul Destruction Fighting Technique’ activated and his soul materialized through ‘Embodiment’ and wrapped around him, Vandalieu was in a grotesque form.
“Talking to your own fragments… so, you think you have already won. YOU DAMNED MIDGET! DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME!” Birkyne screamed furiously as he severed his own bound limbs.
Using the no-attribute spell ‘Strengthen Physical Ability’ deliberately in an unbalanced way, he snapped his own bones and muscle fibers, forcefully tearing them so that he could escape.
This would be a suicidal act for ordinary living creatures, but Birkyne was a Pure-breed Vampire. As he took to the sky with only his torso remaining, he was already growing back new limbs.
Vandalieu attempted to chase after Birkyne, but he stopped as he noticed Birkyne’s severed limbs escape their bindings and fly towards him like arrows.
“The ‘Long-distance Control’ Skill, huh,” he murmured.
Not particularly shaken by this, he repelled Birkyne’s limbs. ‘Death Bullets’ and ‘Throwing’ destroyed Birkyne’s arms, while the Demon King’s jointed legs emerged from his back to destroy the legs.
He tried to chase after Birkyne once more, but at that moment, his body became immobile.
Birkyne was delighted to see this. You fool! I hid the Demon King’s shadow inside my fist!
He was capable of using ‘Long-Distance Control’ to manipulate the Demon King’s fragment. Even if spells and Demon King’s fragments broke his flesh and bone into pieces, the shadows did not disappear.
The shape of the shadow hidden within his fist had changed shape and bound Vandalieu once more. Using this opportunity, Birkyne tried to get some more distance from Vandalieu.
But Vandalieu’s glowing, blue-white spirit form appeared right before his eyes, causing him to take back his internal words.
“I just noticed, but it seems that you can only bind physically existing objects… things that cast shadows,” said Vandalieu, who had used ‘Out-of-body Experience’ just in case.
Birkyne groaned as he took Vandalieu’s kick directly in the face, and he flew spectacularly across the sky once more. Even his shadows were unable to stop Vandalieu’s foot, on which he had used ‘Embodiment’ just before the attack landed and destroyed Birkyne’s attractive, young-nobleman-like appearance in an instant.
B-but I have gained some distance! Birkyne told himself.
Vandalieu’s physical body was still bound by the shadow. Birkyne used the momentum he had gained by being sent flying away, activated the ‘High-speed Flight’ Skill and successfully moved away from where Vandalieu was.
Once Vandalieu was out of sight, he used his newly-regenerated hand to reach for the Item Box in his pocket and gulped down the bottle of virgin blood inside.
His jaws and collapsed cheekbones immediately regenerated, and his broken neck cracked loudly as it returned to an ordinary angle on his shoulders.
Pure-breed Vampires had a phenomenal amount of Vitality… what would be known as HP in video games on Earth. It was more effective for them to drink blood than Potions in order to heal from injury.
“I’ve healed back to normal, but fighting is unwise… But still, this is…!”
Birkyne had never intended to fight Vandalieu. At the very least, he hadn’t even considered trying to defeat him here.
But now that he was actually facing Vandalieu, he was overwhelmed with anger, frustration and bitterness towards him, for not doing things as he had planned and putting him in this predicament.
This fury stopped Birkyne from choosing the option of surrendering, even though the situation was as bad as it could possibly be, with no hope of victory and the chance of escaping hanging by a thread as thin as a spider’s silk.
He did think that it would be better to beg for his life and lick Vandalieu’s shoes, and even if refused, being killed and turned into an Undead would be better than having his soul destroyed and being wiped from existence forever.
But Birkyne, completely dominated by his emotions of rage towards Vandalieu, could not do that. This was different from his usual temper. He felt a primitive despair and refusal towards the idea of yielding to Vandalieu, and was driven by his anger.
“That’s right. I will not yield to him. I am someone who can wield a fragment of the Demon King with my sanity intact! I can do it; I am no different from him!” he told himself.
His fury faded, and self-confidence rose within him. Spurred on by this confidence, he activated the Demon King’s shadow, which wrapped itself around him.
“… I did it! I did it! I have accomplished the same thing as him! I will not be defeated by him!”
He took control over his own body with the Demon King’s shadow, amplifying his physical strength. Looking like he was dressed completely in black, he laughed loudly at the sense of invincibility that dominated his entire body.
There was no more need to run or avoid battle. He needed to go back, kill Vandalieu and take the fragments that he possessed!
“It’s laughable that even your misunderstandings have come this far, Guduranis,” said a familiar voice.
Birkyne stopped in mid-air and turned around.
“Well, if it isn’t Eleanora. To think that you had come to this city as well… It seems that Vandalieu has disciplined you quite well,” he said, recognizing his former servant. “You call me the Demon King? That is quite the compliment for me when I’m covered in the Demon King’s shadow.”
Eleanora continued smiling coldly at her former master.
Bellmond and Isla arrived on the scene as well.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the last of the Five Dogs. It seems that Vandalieu had better qualities for being a Tamer than me or Ternecia. You are all very well-tamed,” said Birkyne with a tone of contempt.
“… He’s just suddenly started praising Van-sama,” said Eleanora, looking at Birkyne.
“Yes, and saying obvious things that anyone would agree with…” said Isla.
“It seems that he is not sane after all,” said Bellmond.
Though Birkyne had been speaking sarcastically, it seemed to not have sounded that way to Eleanora and the others… even though all of the people like Eleanora that Birkyne had betrayed so far had lost their composure and insisted that they were no longer Birkyne’s pets.
But it was Birkyne who lost his composure this time.
“Y-you wretches!” he screamed in fury.
With his claws covered in the Demon King’s shadow, he leapt at Eleanora.
Because of the Demon King’s shadow, his movements were faster than before and so efficient that it was difficult to believe that he was enraged. Perhaps this was to be expected of a master of the ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ Skill.
Eleanora barely managed to raise her sword in time, still inside its scabbard.
Wait, she has raised her sword still inside its scabbard? Birkyne thought, noticing something strange about Eleanora’s behavior.
But before he could do anything, Eleanora opened her mouth.
“Transform!”
In the next moment, the scabbard that looked as if it were over-decorated began squirming like a living creature, equipping itself onto Eleanora’s body. Feeling a sense of danger at this change, Birkyne swung his claws towards her neck.
“As I thought, you’re not as scary to me as you were in the past,” said Eleanora, deflecting his claws with her sword.
With her body covered in the liquid Dark Copper armor that was both hard and flexible, she launched her offense against the astonished Birkyne.
“‘Super Acceleration!’”
Accelerating time for herself with time-attribute magic, she unleashed martial skills one after another. Birkyne blocked most of them and engaged in what appeared at first glance to be an even battle.
Impossible! Even with all of that Dhampir’s training, even with these Magic Items that I’ve never seen before, Eleanora, a Noble-born Vampire… my ‘daughter’ that has received my blood, why is she able to keep up with me despite my new evolution?!
Birkyne’s strength and speed had increased dramatically after he covered himself in the Demon King’s shadow. Despite that, Eleanora, a little girl who became a Vampire less than a hundred years ago, was fighting evenly against him.
This was too bizarre, even considering her being strengthened by Vandalieu’s guidance.
Meanwhile, Eleanora was feeling strange. In the past, Birkyne had been fearsome to her, to the point that she feared nothing as long as she could keep him happy.
Indeed, Birkyne was a being from another dimension compared to the Eleanora of the past. She wouldn’t have stood a chance in a fight against him, and even escaping from him would be difficult.
But what about now? She was exchanging blows equally against him, wasn’t she? On top of that, all of his confidants had been separated from him and crushed one by one. Birkyne was isolated and helpless, like a rat in a cage.
She was not fighting him carelessly or underestimating him. But what she felt towards him was certainly far from fear.
It was a trivial emotion compared to the heart-numbing sensation that she felt towards Vandalieu.
“As I thought, you are nothing compared to Van-sama!” Eleanora declared.
Birkyne’s claws, unable to deflect the next blow from her sword, were severed. Her blade cut deeply into his chest.
Birkyne screamed in pain. “How dare you…! Don’t get so full of yourself just because you’ve been given some good tools!”
He fell to his knees clutching his wounded chest, and Eleanora swung her sword down at the back of his defenseless head.
But the Demon King’s shadow wrapped around Birkyne’s body extended like tentacles and attempted to latch onto her, forcing her to retreat with a click of her tongue in frustration.
“I know everything! That’s technology from another world, isn’t it?!” Birkyne shouted. “I spoke with Hillwillow and Solder; there are warriors in other worlds that transform into special forms! Li –”
“Silence, you fiend!” said Isla, throwing a chain over Birkyne that bound him tightly.
“We won’t let you say any more!” shouted Bellmond, slicing his torso and limbs with her threads.
“Wait! The plan was for me to stir him up, wasn’t it?!” said Eleanora, hastily resisting their interference.
But the two of them showed no signs of guilt.
“Even if he is cornered, he is someone who ruled over the darkness of human societies. We needed to avoid being called magical girls by such a person at all costs,” said Bellmond, fearing that this would cause the acquisition of magical-girl-related Titles or the appearance of magical-girl-related Jobs.
“Exactly. But to think that the champions who were summoned from a different world than Vandalieu-sama would know of magical girls… Are magical girls beings that transcend boundaries between worlds?” Isla wondered, shuddering.
It seemed that Birkyne had been referring to transforming heroes that were not magical girls, but… due to bad timing, they hadn’t noticed this.
TLN: Birkyne was likely referring to a series called Liveman, which is what the Power Rangers are based on.
Isla and Bellmond had both also activated their transformation equipment that had been created by Vandalieu and Tarea together. Bellmond was wearing a chic body-suit with butler-like decorations, while Isla was wearing armor and branching chains that were wrapped around her like bondage gear.
As Vandalieu had said before, their appearances, including Eleanora’s, were not magical-girl-like. But they may have resembled the transforming heroes and villainesses of Earth’s fictional works.
“Y-you… messing… around!” Birkyne groaned, glaring at the three of them.
His body, having been sliced into pieces, was being forcefully held together by the Demon King’s shadow. But Isla’s chains and Bellmond’s threads were already separate from their bodies, so he couldn’t use them to counterattack with the Demon King’s shadow.
What is this?! My wounds… They are taking too long to regenerate! Birkyne thought, frustrated by the fact that his sliced torso and limbs still hadn’t joined back together.
Until a few moments ago, he had been able to regenerate his severed limbs in a flash, but now, his bones were only just beginning to join back together.
Normally, someone’s severed limbs and sliced torso beginning to join back together within seconds would be considered an extraordinary regenerative ability. But it was unthinkable for Birkyne.
“What did… you do to… my body?!” he demanded, thinking that it was the doing of his foes.
Eleanora turned back to her former master and Vampire ‘parent.’
“Leaving the matter of magical girls aside… it seems that you’ve reached your limit. Even though we’re deliberately showing you an opening, you’re not even trying to escape, let alone attack,” she said.
“Indeed. Vandalieu-sama overestimated you, Guduranis,” said Isla.
Eleanora and the others hadn’t done anything to disrupt Birkyne’s regenerative ability. All they had done was use their equipment to transform and power themselves up, then attack him.
“What?! That’s, me, myself, I, have reached my limit?! You’re saying that this is it?!” Birkyne shouted. “That’s impossible –”
At that moment, the voice of Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, echoed in Birkyne’s mind. His senses left his body, and time began to stretch.
“That’s right. You are finished, Birkyne – No, the being that has fooled himself into thinking that he is Birkyne!” the voice said.
Hihiryushukaka-sama?! W-wait, I can explain… I am your loyal servant! I have no intention to betray you whatsoever!
In response to the voice of the god he worshiped, Birkyne split his mind in two. On the surface, he submitted to Hihiryushukaka, and deeper within, he deliberated to think of a way to fool the evil god to not incur his wrath and use his power to find a way out of this situation.
Hihiryushukaka had ordered Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires to destroy Vandalieu, and if he learned that Birkyne intended to form a pact of nonaggression with Vandalieu instead, Birkyne would receive divine punishment. That was why Birkyne had recently been doing his best not to peer into Hihiryushukaka’s thoughts.
He did not think that his plan would be revealed to Hihiryushukaka from the thoughts of Mortor and his other subordinates. He knew that the structure of the minds of evil gods differed too much from that of mortals, and so it would be difficult for Hihiryushukaka to read and understand the thoughts of mortals such as his subordinates.
The only ones whose thoughts Hihiryushukaka could read were those who exceeded the limits of mortals and approached divinity, such as Elder Dragons, Colossi, other evil gods and Pure-breed Vampires. That was why Birkyne had thought that his intentions would not be discovered, but…
“Your cunning is desirable to me. It is uninteresting to simply gaze upon those who have nothing but loyalty. To put it simply, those who plan this and that are more interesting,” Hihiryushukaka said. “This plan of yours came quite close to succeeding. Especially when you tried to manipulate his brain. If you had succeeded, I would have interfered and stirred his brain from the inside…”
Birkyne’s plans had not been discovered. Hihiryushukaka had known everything from the very beginning, and watched and waited in order to make use of Birkyne’s plan for himself – long before Birkyne bound Vandalieu with his shadow.
Th-then please, grant me your aid! At this rate, I will be defeated and you will no longer have any servants who can stand against Vandalieu!
There were still many Vampires in the faction that worshiped Hihiryushukaka. But many of them were either Subordinate Vampires or Noble-born Vampires of Baron Rank or less. A pitiful gathering of a hundred such weak Vampires would be no enemy for Vandalieu.
Without Ternecia and Gubamon and no outstanding Noble-born Vampires, Hihiryushukaka could not afford to lose Birkyne if he wanted to kill Vandalieu.
I am not finished yet! With your aid, I will turn this battle around before your eyes! Birkyne insisted.
But Hihiryushukaka laughed in amusement. “No, I have already said that you are finished. Have you not noticed yet? Your Mana and your body have already reached their limits. It seems that it was the wrong move to imitate Vandalieu by wrapping the Demon King’s shadow around your body and forcibly exceed the limits of your body and mind.”
Indeed, Birkyne had less than 30% of his Mana left. To properly imitate Vandalieu, he would certainly need the Soul Destruction Fighting Technique’ Skill and the Demon King’s fragments, but most importantly, he would need the vast amount of Mana that Vandalieu possessed. Despite that, Birkyne had attempted to imitate him without any prior practice.
It was only natural for him to not know how to control his Mana properly and waste a lot of it in the process.
That’s why I need your power – Birkyne began.
“I have already told you that it is impossible. I am not an omnipotent, limitless god!” Hihiryushukaka said with a laugh. “In addition, your body… and your mind, will not be able to withstand it. Even if I forcibly revived your spent body, it would begin collapsing again immediately! Give up on Birkyne’s body, Guduranis!”
What are you talking about?! I am not Guduranis, I am Birkyne, a Pure-breed Vampire!
Hihiryushukaka began laughing uncontrollably. “You say such amusing things! Your ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ is Level 10! Your soul has been encroached upon by the fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul to the furthest extent possible. Let me ask you this: Who are you, then?!”
Birkyne felt an impact that felt like a hard blow hitting his head. This impact shook him more than Vandalieu’s roundhouse kick or Eleanora’s slashing attacks.
“Had you fooled yourself into thinking that you had kept your sanity?” Hihiryushukaka continued. “Your hysterical behavior, when did it begin? Did you not realize that it was the Pure-breed Vampire’s body rejecting the Demon King’s mind, Guduranis? No, you are the Demon King’s shadow… a mere image of the Demon King Guduranis! Nothing more than a shadow of him.”
Birkyne’s true identity was a shadow of the personality of the Demon King Guduranis. To put it into human psychological terms, it was what could be referred to as a persona.
But naturally, the structure of the Demon King’s mind differed greatly to that of a mortal. In addition, the Demon King’s shadow was a hollow thing to Guduranis, void of memories, knowledge and emotion.
It had eroded Birkyne’s mind and taken over him, but it would have been unable to sustain itself that way, so it had fooled itself into thinking that it was Birkyne. That was what Birkyne was.
That was why he felt anger and rage towards Vandalieu. He felt a primitive sense of rejection towards the one who had stolen the fragments that should have been his.
“All along, I was a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis?!” Birkyne screamed out loud, his mind returning to reality.
Time began flowing as normal.
“… So, you really hadn’t noticed. Van-sama said that you didn’t seem unaware, so I was still half-in doubt,” said Eleanora.
She had not heard the conversation between Hihiryushukaka and Birkyne’s mind. But she had a good idea of the situation from Birkyne’s last, screamed words.
From the moment that Birkyne had proudly declared that he remained sane despite his ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ reaching its maximum, Vandalieu had suspected that his mind had been taken over by the Demon King.
Through telepathic communication, he had asked Gufadgarn, who had known Guduranis personally, and asked about how he behaved. Using this knowledge, he had lured Birkyne into this Dungeon.
“The Demon King Guduranis was calm and had a tactician aspect to him. At the same time, he had tremendous belief in his own power and was short-tempered, feeling a fierce anger towards those who disobeyed him and things that did not go as he desired. Thus, he will certainly chase after us if we embarrass him in front of his subordinates and take the hostages away,” Gufadgarn had advised.
And thus, Vandalieu had followed her advice to the letter.
“You are lying! That cannot possibly be true! I am the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne! One of the three who has ruled the Vampire faction worshiping an evil god for over a hundred thousand years! Isn’t that right?! Tell me I’m right!” Birkyne shrieked, his eyes open wide, with no care for the fact that his sliced limbs and torso were becoming misaligned.
From the perspective of Eleanora and the others, it was merely a matter of Birkyne’s true identity being revealed, but to him, it was a shocking truth that instantly obliterated the pillars upon which his mind stood, a complete denial of his self.
And as a result, his mind had become distorted, and he didn’t possess the strength to prevent it from collapsing.
“That is why it is easy to take over you,” a voice said.
Without warning, Birkyne’s body twisted.
From Birkyne’s mouth came a scream of agony and, at the same time, Hihiryushukaka’s loud laughter.
“The past hundred thousand years have been very pleasant!” Hihiryushukaka said gleefully. “It was very pleasant, forcing the obedience of a part of the soul of the Demon King Guduranis whom I once served, and toying with it!”
Eleanora and the others made a move, realizing that Hihiryushukaka was attempting to use Birkyne’s body as a vessel as had once been done by Ravovifard, the evil god of release.
“‘Delay!’” Eleanora yelled, casting a time-attribute spell that slowed time around Birkyne’s body.
“Now, Danna-sama!” shouted Bellmond, binding Birkyne once more with her threads.
“Fire,” said Vandalieu, who had been watching the scene unfold the entire time.
He took aim and fired with ‘Demon King Artillery Technique.’
Although he had not realized this until Hihiryushukaka attempted to use Birkyne’s body as a vessel, it was possible that it was concealing some power as the Demon King Guduranis.
In order to draw this out, he had made Eleanora, who would stimulate his nerves the most, as well as Bellmond and Isla, to taunt him. And in the meantime, he had made preparations to fire his attack.
The Demon King’s horns were fired from the barrels made of the Demon King’s coagulated blood protruding from both of Vandalieu’s arms. They struck the immobile Birkyne accurately in the head and chest.
Small holes appeared in Birkyne’s forehead and sternum, sending bone, spinal fluid, flesh and blood spraying out from his back.
But Hihiryushukaka’s laughter did not stop. “You were not showing yourself, so I knew this was what would happen!” he cackled.
It seemed that he had already created a spare brain and heart inside Birkyne’s body.
When gods became physical incarnations, their bodies underwent change. They gained weaknesses in the brain and heart, which they did not possess when they existed only in the mind. Hihiryushukaka had been wary of these weaknesses being targeted.
But even with the surprise attack failing, Eleanora and Bellmond didn’t undo their restraints.
“Then let’s try again,” Vandalieu muttered.
The walls of the building next to the ones that Vandalieu had been hiding behind opened, and a large cannon barrel appeared from inside.
“Large Cannon-type Demon King Familiar, aim set.”
“Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar, loaded.”
Hihiryushukaka was shocked by the appearance of the large cannon barrel that he hadn’t seen anywhere in the memories of Birkyne and the other Vampires, but he maintained his composure and hastily tried to run away.
But as his transformation wasn’t yet complete, and his body was bound by Eleanora’s spell and Bellmond’s threads, he couldn’t move.
“Fire,” Vandalieu said once more.
With a thunderous noise, the Large Cannon-type Demon King Familiar fired the Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar, which had been created with one of the Demon King’s tumors as the base.
At the same time, Isla grabbed Eleanora and Bellmond, and used the ‘High-speed Flight’ Skill to get some distance from Hihiryushukaka.
Hihiryushukaka forcibly gained control over his new body with his Mana and muscular strength and screamed as he tried to descend towards the ground in order to escape, but the Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar followed his movement and collided directly.
“‘Flame Prison Death,’” Vandalieu murmured.
The resulting explosion and shockwave were enough to shake the entire Dungeon floor that was based on the city. The Demon king’s fat, packed inside the Demon King’s tumor in place of gunpowder, ignited to create a pillar of flame that formed a flaming prison.
“Vandalieu-sama… If you were to use this in the real city, half of it would be destroyed,” Isla said as she returned to Vandalieu’s side with Eleanora and Bellmond under her arms.
As this was just a Dungeon that was a replica of the city, the buildings and walls merely became sooty and dusty after being engulfed in the flames, but the real city’s buildings would have likely suffered tremendous damage.
Eleanora briefly thanked Isla and looked at the burning pillar of flame with a stiff expression. “More importantly, didn’t Miles, Saria and the others get caught up in it? They were supposed to be chasing and disposing of Birkyne’s confidants,” she said.
“There is no need to worry, Eleanora. Everyone except for myself, Chipuras and Berkert have returned to the fake orphanage,” Daroak assured her.
“And the fake orphanage should be protected from the shockwave by Melissa’s ‘Aegis,’” said Vandalieu.
The reincarnated Chaos Elf Melissa’s role was to remain hidden and use ‘Aegis’ from inside the orphanage building that was made from the Dungeon’s walls.
Normally, she would have joined the battle as well, but… since Birkyne had taken the orphanage’s people hostage, she was on standby together with Gufadgarn.
“I’ve made her play an unfavorable role, so I need to make sure she has a chance to fight on the frontline next time,” said Vandalieu.
“Van-sama, I think she’s happy with this. She doesn’t seem to like battle much,” said Eleanora.
“Is that so?” said Vandalieu. “… It looks like we’re not done.”
A humanoid silhouette leapt out from the blazing flames.
A mysterious, viscous fluid dripped from what was left of Birkyne.
It laughed. “Did you think it was over? It seems that you are more skillful at toying with Guduranis than I am.”
The Pure-breed Vampire’s body, which had been cut to pieces, was now being held together by shadows and tentacles of various sizes. It certainly did not look like an ordinary living organism.
“… So, it was you who stole the Demon King’s tentacles from Merrebeveil,” said Vandalieu.
“Stole?” Hihiryushukaka repeated. “I took that burden from her.”
He was speaking through Birkyne’s mouth, whose face above the nose seemed to have been blown away by the explosion.
Though the Demon King’s fragments were weapons, at the same time, they were dangerous objects… but this point was no longer valid when considering that Merrebeveil, the evil god of slime and tentacles, was the evil god best-suited for the Demon King’s tentacles.
“Then I’ll take the burden from you now,” said Vandalieu.
“That is a declaration… I don’t know how many foes you have defeated before. But don’t think that I am the same as them!” Hihiryushukaka screamed.
At the same time, the killing intent emanating from him increased drastically. Though he was another incarnation of an evil god, he was on a different level from Ravovifard, the evil god of release.
Hihiryushukaka and Ravovifard had been more or less equally powerful as gods, but the quality of the body used as the vessel was markedly different. Ravovifard had altered Bugitas over a short period of time, but Hihiryushukaka had surreptitiously altered Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires for over a hundred thousand years so that even they themselves wouldn’t notice, in order to use them as vessels one day.
And unlike Ravovifard, who had not sent his entire soul into Bugitas, Hihiryushukaka had sent his entire soul into Birkyne’s body.
That alone caused a big difference, and more importantly, the Demon King’s fragments he possessed were different.
“Though it is a false image, I possess a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul and one of his physical fragments! It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am the new Demon King!” Hihiryushukaka roared, an extraordinarily sinister aura radiating from his entire body.
As he was now, it would not be impossible for him to face the entirety of the Five-colored Blades head-on or fight on even terms against Vandalieu.
But naturally, Vandalieu and even his companions remained unshaken.
Because they had her.
“Now then, shall we recreate the battle that took place in the age of the gods, Hihiryushukaka?” a voice said.
Hihiryushukaka froze as he saw someone who appeared to be a Dark Elf wearing a leotard and a skirt with strange ribbon-like decorations… Darcia.
“Y-you… Vida! You detestable goddess! Very well, I shall toy with you in front of Vandalieu, whose mother you have become incarnated within, and make you a sacrifice to myself!” Hihiryushukaka shouted.
Darcia had already used ‘Goddess Descent,’ and Hihiryushukaka was shaken, knowing that she was Vida’s incarnation.
“I say that, but we never fought each other directly… ‘Maximum Physical Ability Strengthening,’ ‘Life God Beast Summon!’” she cried, raising her staff to increase her physical ability to its absolute limit and create a divine beast made of life energy.
“‘Super Rapid Reaction!’ ‘Steel Form!’” Hihiryushukaka roared, activating ‘Armor Technique’ martial skills from his vessel Birkyne’s memories. “‘Screwing Overarm Swing!’”
Curling his tentacles together in place of fingers, he unleashed an overarm swing.
“‘Parry,’ ‘Fine Slice!’”
Darcia deflected and avoided the bundle of tentacles, and at the same time, she used a ‘Souryu Dagger Technique’ martial skill using the daggers she had made with her own Orichalcum bones through the ‘Chaos’ Skill. Attacking together with the divine beast she had created, she sliced Hihiryushukaka’s tentacles to pieces in an instant.
“Impossible! I expected life-attribute magic, but why can you use combat skills as well?!” Hihiryushukaka shouted in astonishment, but at the same time, he made a move to restrain Darcia using the Demon King’s shadow that he had hidden within his tentacles.
But Vandalieu stopped him.
“‘Evil Radiance.’”
His light-attribute dead spirit magic erased the Demon King’s shadow.
The divine beast’s fangs and claws tore into Hihiryushukaka’s body, and Darcia fired an arrow from the short bow she had been carrying on her back that pierced his chest.
“Impossible!” Hihiryushukaka shrieked again. “Vida has merely descended, while I have become a physical incarnation! I should be superior in power here! Why am I being overwhelmed?!”
Indeed, he had become a physical incarnation on Lambda and was able to wield his power as a god freely, and he should have been more powerful than Darcia, upon whom a mere part of the goddess has descended upon.
Hihiryushukaka had even reserved his power for a hundred thousand years, becoming even more powerful than he had been when he served the Demon King. He even had the Demon King’s fragments, which were weapons that he had not possessed back then.
There was no way that he should have been inferior to an incarnation of Vida, the goddess of life and love, who was unconnected in any way to combat.
“WHY, VIDA?!” Hihiryushukaka screamed.
“The reason is… something that you can’t understand, seeing as you’re not even saying my name!” said Darcia.
Hihiryushukaka should have known Darcia’s name, as he had read the memories of the Pure-breed Vampires and taken over Birkyne’s mind. Despite that, he did not call her by her name.
Darcia transformed her arms into wings and leapt at Hihiryushukaka, attacking him with her legs that she had transformed into talons.
“‘Flying Legs!’ ‘Dragon’s Tail!’”
Hihiryushukaka was torn up by the talons created from Darcia’s Orichalcum skeleton and struck down to the ground by the scaled tail that she had produced in an instant.
A part of Vida had descended upon Darcia, turning her into an incarnation of Vida. But naturally, she was Darcia at her core. She fought with Vida’s support, using her own experience and Skills. She was capable of engaging in direct combat that Vida herself was not proficient at, and had no problems with using her own transformed body as a weapon.
Meanwhile, Hihiryushukaka had become incarnated in Birkyne’s flesh. That was why he had taken over Birkyne’s memories and could use martial skills that he would not have been able to use otherwise.
But at the core, he was merely Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life. As a god who focused on nothing but playing and toying with others’ lives, the concept of training, learning combat techniques and improving one’s ability to fight did not exist in his mind.
This was evident in the difference in strength between him and Darcia that he had not expected. He had gained powerful weapons in the Demon King’s fragments, but at the same time, he was now unable to use any magic other than no-attribute magic.
This only made the difference in strength more striking.
But if I stop using the Demon King’s fragments now, Birkyne’s damaged body that has already passed its limit will fall apart! I need to get some distance for now and regenerate this body with my power –
“You don’t have time to be having a nice nap like this!” Isla’s voice shouted from overhead.
“What?!”
Before Hihiryushukaka could get off the ground, Isla’s chains rapidly wrapped themselves around him and threw him into the air once more.
“I don’t know where his weak point is anymore, but –” Bellmond began.
“We just need to tear him to pieces until he stops regenerating!” said Eleanora.
Bellmond’s threads and Eleanora’s sword laid into Hihiryushukaka’s airborne body. The Demon King’s tentacles and a part of Birkyne’s body were severed.
“Yes, this is it! This is it!” Eleanora shouted, the color of her eyes changing as she stared at the blade of her sword.
Having destroyed what remained of Birkyne’s head, she seemed to have grasped and awakened to something.
He screamed, unable to speak clearly now that Birkyne’s head had been destroyed. This was exactly like Birkyne’s own hysterical behavior. But this was interrupted by a heavier, thicker, more sinister voice.
“CURSE YOU! YOU UNFAITHFUL FOOLS WHO WORSHIPED ME AND YET DISHONORABLY SIDED WITH THE GODDESS AND THE BRAT!”
“Second cannon artillery to fourth cannon artillery, Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars, loaded,” said Vandalieu.
Hearing Vandalieu’s voice, Hihiryushukaka came back to his senses and looked around himself while still mid-air to see three more cannons like the one that had fired at him earlier, all in different buildings.
“W-wait! I surrender, I yield to you!” Hihiryushukaka shouted hastily. “So –”
“I can’t trust an evil god who tried to toy with my mother and called my companions ‘unfaithful fools.’ ‘Evil Light Cannonballs,’ fire,” said Vandalieu.
The Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars, enchanted by the light-attribute Ghosts’ dead spirit magic, were fired with a thunderous noise.
Berkert laughed maniacally. “We’ll turn you into Swiss cheese!”
“With our lord’s Mana flowing into me, my light is striking down a god!” said Daroak.
“Evil god of joyful life, be burned by your former servants!” shouted Chipuras.
Hihiryushukaka vanished among the bright light that resembled a second sun.
- Name: Chipuras
- Rank: 6
- Race: Evil Bright Ghost
- Level: 0
- Title: The Eclipse Emperor’s Fine Dog
- Passive skills:
- Spirit Form: Level 5
- Mental Corruption: Level 5
- Light-Attribute Immunity
- Light Form Manipulation: Level 5
- Mana Enlargement: Level 1
- Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 10
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Guidance: Level 3
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Demon King’s Light: Level 3
- Materialization: Level 3
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Creator: Level 5
- Active skills:
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 3
- Water-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- Mana Control: Level 10
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 7
- High-speed Flight: Level 6
- Surpass Limits: Level 10
- Projectile Fire: Level 4
- Light-Attribute Magic: Level 1
- Long-distance Control: Level 4
- Unique skills:
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Name: Daroak
- Rank: 6
- Race: Evil Bright Ghost
- Level: 0
- Title: Fighting Dog
- Passive skills:
- Spirit Form: Level 5
- Mental Corruption: Level 8
- Light-Attribute Immunity
- Light Form Manipulation: Level 3
- Mana Enlargement: Level 1
- Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 10
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Guidance: Level 4
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Demon King’s Light: Level 3
- Materialization: Level 3
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Creator: Level 5
- Active skills:
- Combat Slaughter Swordsmanship: Level 1
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 10
- Archery: Level 3
- Transcend Limits: Level 1
- Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 7
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 1
- Mana Control: Level 5
- Projectile Fire: Level 4
- Light-Attribute Magic: Level 3
- Unique skills:
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Name: Berkert
- Rank: 6
- Race: Evil Bright Ghost
- Level: 0
- Title: Mad Dog
- Passive skills:
- Spirit Form: Level 5
- Mental Corruption: Level 10
- Light-Attribute Immunity
- Light Form Manipulation: Level 7
- Mana Enlargement: Level 2
- Murder Healing: Level 10
- Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 10
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Guidance: Level 4
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Demon King’s Light: Level 3
- Materialization: Level 1
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Creator: Level 5
- Active skills:
- High-speed Flight: Level 7
- Projectile Fire: Level 6
- Surpass Limits: Level 10
- Light-Attribute Magic: Level 1
- Mana Control: Level 1
- Long-distance Control: Level 7
- Unique skills:
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano): Evil Bright Ghost
As the name suggests, these are spirits of evil light. Master made Chipuras and the other Wisps increase their Ranks, causing them to go from Ghosts to Light Ghosts to Shining Light Ghosts, and they became Bright Ghosts after defeating Birkyne’s confidants. After that, the Ghosts experienced battle against Hihiryushukaka.
Naturally, Light Ghosts and their further variants are new races of monsters.
Chipuras has regained most of his memories from when he was alive, but Daroak has significant damage in his memories and knowledge, and Berkert seems to be an almost entirely different person.
That is why Chipuras has the ability to use water-attribute magic as well as any expert, and Daroak possesses advanced Skills such as an advanced Swordsmanship Skill, but Berkert has neither.
But perhaps because he has lost his sanity, he is more proficient in manipulating his own spirit form. His ‘Projectile Fire’ and ‘Long-distance Control’ Skills are at a high Level, allowing him to fire parts of his own body and control them after they are fired.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Winter
It was nice to see that Eleanora got some additional closure, when she faced her former boogie man, and overcame him without problems.
Lawless
A little late to be asking but why is Alda raising Bellwoods successor instead of his own? I mean a vessel for himself would be the most logical choice right?
Winter
Alda is deeply obsessed with Bellwood and thinks that if he can get him back everything will be fine. While he’s nurturing an successor for Bellwood in name, one of his biggest goals with that is that he wants that successor to free Bellwood from some kind of cage, prison or dungeon, where he got restrained from his fight with the evil god of sinful chains.
Also I’m pretty sure that Alda went insane at some point during the war, and now lives in some kind of delusion that everything will be like before the Demon King invaded, if he can just restore “order” to the world, and remove everything “impure” that doesn’t belong to the world aka. Vida’s races and otherworldly culture and technology.
Ronin
You know I have been thinking this for a while but, it felt like Alda may have been brainwashed by Bellwood’s guidance or something. I mean he praises Bellwood to no end and always feels like he thinks “if Bellwood was here he’d know what to do” or something.
pandaman
I think there’s two main reasons A Alda as we’ve seen is completely obsessed by Bellwood as Tibet’s have said. Along with this B Bellwood I would imagine has more ties to combat and thus would technically be stronger than Alda due to Bellwoods many achievements in history. This is further supported by the fact that warriors as a whole don’t pray to Alda before going into battle and only do so afterwards as thanks due tot he fact Alda isn’t a combat god and instead focused on Law and order which normally speaking doesn’t have anything to do actual combat. Essentially he’s like an all powerful corrupt judge
Vitor
“Exactly. But to think that the champions who were summoned from a different world than Vandalieu-sama would know of magical girls… Are magical girls beings that transcend boundaries between worlds?” Isla wondered, shuddering.
Vampires are fearsome beings that turn their victims in new Vampires, and Humans fear them… wait, I got it wrong, sorry:
Magical Girls are fearsome beings that turn their victims in new Magical Girls, and Vampires fear them.
JKingSniper
lol Hihiryushukaka
overestimated himself too much
Also nice demon king takeover
Drackormort
I was just finishing reading the battle against Hihiryushukaka, and as I read how it vanished away, Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine ended, which I hadn’t even realized was playing, so technically in my mind I turned the battle in anime with Guns N’ Roses soundtrack
unwanted child
“That is a declaration… I don’t know how many foes you have defeated before. But don’t think that I am the same as them!”
he was in fact the same as them
hungsayori
“Hihiryushukaka froze as he saw someone who appeared to be a Dark Elf wearing a leotard and a skirt with strange ribbon-like decorations… Darcia.”
Darcia in a leotard.. For the love of all that is holy, may the goddess forgive me for my impure thoughts.
Zauberbiest
shall we create a few new races with Darcia ? ;p ;p
unwanted child
DONT LEWD THE MAMA GODDESS!!!
Zenden1st
always has been lewd
Harmoniclunaris
Considering throughout the fight, Van really did release his inner Okuu or Utsuho Reiuji from Touhou. Cemented with the fact he made an artificial sun!
Blue
Was chapter 223 posted on accident? I just read it but now it’s gone
Edit: It’s up now 🙂
Blue
Also, made an account to say thank you for the awesome translation 🙂
Renrobt
To everyone saying Hihi should have just left Birknye/Gufadgarn and not descend:
It goes against its very nature to do so. They are the evil god that revels in manipulating and inflicting suffering on all that is under, as well as plotting and overthrowing those above.
In this circumstance we have the soul of the DK that once ruled over them but now begging them for power. And they even get the chance to forcibly take over. I would assume that while killing or at least torturing it’s subjects is not that hard, likely unless they are weakened, physically and mentally, it is difficult to take over unless actually summoned (like in the Orc’s case). Also this is a pawn that was nurtured and manipulated for little over 100.000 years. There is no more perfect vessel for them and likely there never will be, with the added bonus that they can rub it in their metaphorical face that he was never in charge and nothing he would have done would have changed the eventual outcome.
Furthermore here is Van. The ultimate god killer. Something even the pantheon of gods that rule the literal universe view as a existential threat. What better target is there to take down by any underhanded means one can muster? We didn’t get to see it but supposedly in this descended form their power is great enough to fight on par with Van meaning that Van’s OP army of unique everything would just be fodder against it. That leaves only leaves Van to fight them by default. Imagine the terror it would induce among everyone if Van would get seriously injured. It is the very thing the god lives for. They didn’t know about Darcia being an incarnation of Vida so of course that caught them of guard, but that is not the point. And they could even surrender and grovel at the feet of Van so that they can overthrow him at a later date if that is necessary.
Of course this didn’t exactly play out as planned but let’s not forget that this should be taken from the point of view of an arrogant god that even without a physical body was able to kill, torture, terrorize those under it or close to them. The plan to terrorize Van and his subordinates failed due to Darcia and the plan of surrender failed due to Van’s caution and probably danger sense telling him about hostile intent that they likely harbored.
mickeyduck
when my now-blessed eyes came across your shortened version of hihiryushukaka i instantly thought of michael jackson, heehee
__
Thanks for the chapter. Thanks for the chapter😁❤️
Kuro-san
Thanks for the chapter!
If the death-attribute can destroy souls, can the life-attribute create them?
My guess would be yes, and it would be something like “It is possible to colet energy to create a pseudo-soul (Basic form of spirit, possibly) that can be reincarnated repeatedly until it evolves into a real soul.”
Does anyone have any guesses?
Jonathan Hurd
It is an interesting question to ask where the souls come from. We know Rodcorte mostly just keeps running souls through his system. After they die he wipes them clean and sends them out again. So he doesn’t seem to be creating souls as much as he is recycling them.
What I find interesting though is the question then stands where did the souls Rodcorte recycles originally come from. It was stated he had plugged his system into Lambda even before the original God’s were born. It seems he gave a basic outline on humans and they followed that, but the question of how souls were made stands.
If we consider each of the first three races were made by two of the great God’s. It might be that souls were created by the God’s separating some of their soul and making an offshoot. I would theorize that maybe part of what Rodcorte does when he wipes the souls clean is he takes the accumulated energy and experience and makes a new soul to help fill the system. This could explain how Rodcortes system expanded so far.
For the question could Vida make souls I think the answer comes down as yes she can, but it is a much more difficult thing to remake a specific soul. If they had the fragments left and put together Vidas power as well as Rinklents magic knowledge then I think they might of been able to pull something off. However since Rodcorte took all the remaining shards and Rinklent fell asleep the options were limited.
OokamiNoO
It is not the death-attribute that can destroy souls. It is the fact that Van can manipulate his own soul and connect it with others, this not only permits him to do the pseudo reincarnations with Quinn and Pauvina but also destroy them.
bk3k
Guys in the next chapter [spoiler] hahahahaha you get nothing.[/spoiler]
Thanks for the translation. It is so much nicer to read.
InfernoHomura
Lol what a dumbass, sending not a part but his entire soul on the vessel, like you’ve gotta have a negative IQ to not realise that that was a stupid move
ShadowKen
Well, It was an all or nothing gamble for Hihiryushukaka – if you recall Ravovifard’s case, he became a total cripple after having just a part of himself destroyed in the Bugitas fight, after which the remainder of his being was easily gathered and devoured. Maybe Hihiryushukaka might avoid being retrieved due to being outside the barrier, but he’d still be quite vulnerable.
Metazoxan
Well the correct choice would have been to just leave Brykne for dead.
Sure he spend tens of thousands of years preparing his followers as potential vessels but in this case he should have just cut his losses and stayed in hiding. It’s doubtful Van would have especially tried to hunt him down as Hihiryushukaka had never done anything to him directly before this point and Van has been shown to be the type to not entirely hold someone responsible for their follower’s actions. Although he might want to have a word with them, he won’t take their lives for something they never did.
So he really screwed himself not only when he chose to descend but when he chose to fight instead of immediate surrender. Since Van had no direct grudge against him he likely would have accepted it and simply put him under temporary seal due to lack of trust.
Jonathan Hurd
While surrender was definitely the smart answer I don’t think pride would allow him to do that. A big part of it as well is that giving up Birknye would mean losing his favorite toy to someone else. I will say I think this was the only possible conclusion. Someone who could stand to lay low and cut his losses wouldn’t of backed himself into such a corner in the first place.
serapheid
Feels great that we finally see one of Van’s objectives completed. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a twist where Murakami finally makes his move.
no1
I guess it would be draining to face another enemy after beating Birkyne, but considering how Van suffered no losses during his battle, except his expended mana, it should be something that he can do if Murakami were to show up
Metazoxan
The expended mana would be irrelevant anyway since he’ll eat a soul that has an ancient vampire, an evil got, and a sliver of demon king soul on top. That should replenish his mana just fine or at least put back a good portion of it.
Even if that weren’t the case he’s getting two new fragments. One of which has good synergy with his group binding skill that manifests through his shadow and his mental encroachment skill.
Really the shadow is the fragment he’s probably most compatible with since he got the blood.
Lord Rin
I’m pretty sure they never said the abilities Death Scythe and Gungnir were salvaged and given to Murakami.
Lord Rin
I see. Well since their owners’ souls were broken, the skills probably wouldn’t work as well as before if at all. And I’m sure Rodcorte would fuck everything up more with his innate bungling when trying to give the skills to Murakami’s group.
Jonathan Hurd
They might not have both been given to Murkami one could of been given to one of his helpers. I think Murakami would have the massive advantage of actually having learned something of the system of Lambda and using it. Rather than going off half cocked like Gungnir. He also understands his opponent much better than Death Scthye ever did.
Still I have no clue how he plans to strike a fatal blow on someone like Van. Especially considering how little time they have had on Lamda and how few jobs they have. Van has literally had his head cut off at one point and been completely fine. I’m not sure he really has a weakspot to exploit.
Jonathan Hurd
I would say there is an important part to how Gungnir and Death Scythes souls were broken. Gungnir he knocked cracks in it and let it break apart. So there should of been plenty of pieces left. While with Death Scthye, his was eaten away at until it was dealt one final big blow.
Neither case did Van completely obliterate them in a similar fashion to how he killed people like Ternecia and Gubamon or of course Yupeon’s spirit clone. I think the blow most likely completely collapsed their personalities, but probably left some of their ability intact.
Jonathan Hurd
Their souls were broken very sloppily. It did destroy their personalities, but as Rodcorte said the fragments even have a little of that left. The cheat ability that Rodcorte put in should still be there. Escorted could give it a little boost if need be as well.
no1
I vaguely remember this part. I had no idea Rodcorte was referring to the soul fragments of Death Scythe and Gungnir. Good to finally know
Jonathan Hurd
Personally I’m still in hypothesis mode since I haven’t read ahead. It does seem like the most likely answer though considering, Rodcorte stated Murakami couldn’t handle the dks soul and he used those fragments on Edgar.
Roddy is obsessed with the idea that his cheat skills will win the day. Add in that Gungnir and Death Scythe were two of the strongest combat abilities. There is no way he wouldn’t try to reuse them.
Kazza
The comments have returned! Hallelujah!
OK, great chapter. I think Hihiryu went down a little too easy, but honestly, that’s Van’s fighting style in a nutshell. Countermeasures on countermeasures on countermeasures on an UNO reverse card printed on the back of a Yu-Gi-Oh Trap Card. (I honestly never played Yu-Gi-Oh, is there an ultimate trolling trap card?)
That said, I am disappointed that the city trap was made on such short notice and on the fly. One of my favorite aspects of Van is that he takes such extreme steps to ensure victory, that his inventive ways of defeating his enemies can sometimes even surprise us, the readers. But in this case, he just goes:
“Hmm, he’s got level 10 encroachment? Yo, Gufadgarn… Yeah-huh, I think he’s Gudurandis. Gotcha. OK, I’m going to need you to set up a fake city in the next 5 minutes. Thanks!”
Like, there’s no real discussion or debate… It’s like he had this small suspicion, got told a hypothetical answer, then started forming a new plan based around that when he didn’t even really have proof. It’s just a bit too rash for me, especially since we don’t know what his plan was for Birkyne alone.
The fact that all his followers were ready and waiting in the city to fight seems to imply he wanted to bring it into the fake city from the start (a wise choice, as even just Pure-Breed Birkyne is a danger to the surrounding area), but then he apparently reformed his entire plan once he found out about the Shadow? Or did he only reform the bait to get him in? I don’t even think he needed bait, because Gufadgarn trapped Birkyne with him none the wiser, so teleportation was out…
Honestly, I don’t like the shadow twist. It didn’t really have any foreshadowing except in the immediate preceeding chapters, clashes with a lot of the established rules for the fragments (not contradicting, to be fair), and seems to just be an excuse for Hihiryushukaka to break Birkyne’s mind in order to take over (when the same result could be accomplished in several other ways). The end result is just an illusion of higher stakes, because in reality Van wasn’t negatively affected by the shadow and seemed to continue the plan that was already in motion and even beat Hihiryushukaka with the methods he was already using despite not planning for him…
Maybe that’s just me, but that’s a worthless twist. A big Ol’ blemish on an otherwise fun chapter.
Anyways, let me know what you think yourselves. I’m honestly curious if anyone feels the same.
Also, I love the line:
“Though it is a false image, I possess a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul and one of his physical fragments! It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am the new Demon King!”
I don’t know particularly why, but I just picture Hihiryushukaka as a new Dark Souls player, and he comes across Artorias’s Wolf Ring in freaking Darkroot and is like:
“Though it only increases my poise by 40 points, I now have a relic of the legendary Artorias the Abysswalker! Now, it would not be an exaggeration to say I’m now the new Wolf Knight, and am going to now go to Oolacile to beat the shit out of actual Artorias because he’s got a broken arm and a missing shield! It’ll be completely eas- Oh my Me, how is he somersaulting like that! OH SHIT! OH FUCK! SOMEONE HEEEEEEELP!!!”
…Maybe the quarantine’s left me with too much free time to play Soulsborne…
VEreality
The dungeon was there since Van got a house in this city and they were expecting Birkyne or someone to try something all along. Also, Gufadgarn was beside Van for a long time now. He could had asked about Guduranis anytime. As you said: countermesures. Van cannot afford to leave things be or relie on luck
Lord Rin
The city was probably made a month ago. The main reason Van was even in Morksi was because he wanted to flush out his enemies by using himself as bait. It’s not just Birkyne that he was expecting to fight. There’s also Murakami’s group and possibly Heinz’ group if they recovered quickly. There’s also Fitun and his puppet Hajime though Van isn’t specifically aware of them but he’s probably on guard against other reincarnators and gods from Alda’s faction. If Van was hoping to draw out multiple enemies then it would be safe to assume that they would fight in the city where damages could be inflicted to it so it would be smart to build a dungeon to be the battlefield and all that needs to happen is for Gufadgarn to make something into an entrance that leads to the dungeon. Here she made the hole Van created in the orphanage lead to the dungeon. At the same time the dungeon city was never going to be used for living so it doesn’t need to be good quality. It only needs to fool the enemy into thinking it is the city.
As for the fight, he had been preparing for a while. He probably had countermeasures in place for the worst case scenario of all his enemies showing up at the same time and he just didn’t need to end up using them. Finding out about the DK’s Shadow and that Birkyne was actually taken over by Guduranis weren’t major problems because Van had already planned for unexpected situations and he’s also strong enough that he can deal with anything that might get too out of hand. He only needed to make some minor adjustments to keep everything on track.
MBA
I mentioned it in the Discord Channel, but just in case, some corrections.
The reference is from (Kamen) Rider. The “Transform” Keyword used by Eleonora is the same “HENSHIN” used by Riders, hence the reference. The Katakana started with RAI, not from Raibuman (Which is a random sentai franchise), but from Raidaa (which is a whole tokusatsu category)
Souryu Dagger Technique was previous translated as Hearth-Style Dagger Technique (or something like that, check Darcia’s latest status)
Negakz
That makes so much more sense
Negakz
I’m surprised Birkyne referenced Liveman instead of Jetman since he’s similar to Radiguet.
Paps
Thanks for the chapter. I hope Van can get the (former)DK soul. This God really instead of just sending a part of him, so he can run he went all in?? He is crazier that I though.
Shazam55
Thnx for the chapter ♥️
SuicidalSkeletin
Yoshi sama we love you <3
Willv97
Eleanoras eyes changed colour after killing someone she was once close to and still somewhat regarded as an important figure in her life???
She just unlocked sharingan, calling it now.
SuicidalSkeletin
yasssss
Valeth
As amusing as that may be, or some reference to it is possible. I believe she just Awakened her Sword Technique, as she has been at 10 for awhile. A couple of chapters ago she said she felt close, she was just lacking something.
Willv97
I’m just saying my dude, that stuffs probably even possible with some time magic jiggery pokery
Jonathan Hurd
All of those things then combined to give her Sharigen! Lol. To be fair considering how giant frogs have been referenced I wouldn’t put it past the author. Her charming demon eyes also seem the closest to illusions out of all the Evil Eyes Van has thus far.
On a more serious note. You’re probably right that she has finally unlocked her own advanced fighting skill.
Lord Rin
So basically the DK’s Shadow is a bad copy of all of Guduranis’ worst traits but without the intelligence and strength that balanced it out in the real Guduranis.
Anyways man Hihi-chan is even dumber than Birkyne. He knows Van can break souls and yet he thought it would be a good idea to completely descend his soul into Birkyne’s body. That just cuts off his escape route. Ravovifard didn’t shove all of his soul into Bugitas which is why he had been able to escape from Van with only serious injuries to his soul instead of it being completely broken not that it helped since all the other gods ganged-up on him shortly afterwards and seal him before Van ate the rest of his soul. Also since Van can add the effects of Soul Break and Soul Devour to any of his attacks there was absolutely no point in Hihi-chan creating a spare brain and heart for Birkyne’s body. It was only luck that Van had enough leeway in the fight for him to decide not to add those effects to his attacks so his subordinates could fight and get stronger.
It was kinda funny how Isla, Eleanora and Bellmond were scared that Birkyne would end up giving them Magical Girl titles. Though Birkyne was gonna call them basically Power Rangers and I wonder if they’ll get a Super Sentai/Tokusatsu/Liveman/Kamen Rider/Power Ranger title because of it. It’d be even funnier if all of their own talk about not wanting a Magical Girl title ends up being the cause of them getting a Magical Girl title. Well at least it looks like Eleanora finally awakened her swordsmanship into a superior skill like she had wanted.
Wow Darcia is pretty OP. She can control her Orichalcum skeleton and turn it into weapons like daggers and talons. Also I remember back when she had just gotten into the Root of Life and she was training in Vida’s Divine Realm, that a bunch of people showed up to try to teach her things like a harpy saying she’d teach her how to fight while using her talons during flight and Godwin’s grandmother saying she’d teach her how to fight with a tail. Darcia was concerned if her body would then grow wings, talons or a tail. Here we see her using her Chaos skill to turn her arms into wings and grow talons and a tail.
And now Birkyne and Hihi-chan are dead. Finally. Well even if Hihi-chan isn’t quite dead yet, I doubt he’ll survive past the next chapter. Afterwards Van can get the DK’s Shadow and Tentacles. The Shadow shouldn’t be much of a problem since it’s nothing more than a persona of Guduranis that Van can just destroy or eat.
VEreality
The shadow is not a cheap copy. The shadow is a perfect copy of his PERSONALITY. The fact that Guduranis had a shitty personality to begin with is not Birkyne’s fault really(now I realized that we never seen what Birkyne’s personality is like huh)
As for Hihi-chan…. well he only knows what Tarnecia, Gubamon and G. Birkyne knew about Van. From the way they died we can agree that they knew nothing most of the time and some shallow information in their most genius moments.
Lord Rin
No he is not a perfect copy. He’s not even a complete copy of his personality. At one point they mention a few of Guduranis’ essential soul fragments and one of them was Guduranis’ emotions. You can’t really have a personality without emotions. The DK’s Shadow is as the narration said, just a persona. It’s very existence is an anomaly that was compared to a miracle and just a tiny piece of Guduranis’ soul. It’s nothing more than an amnesiac fragment who is acting how it THINKS Birkyne would act without really being either Birkyne or Guduranis save for Guduranis’ rage issues.
VEreality
Van was able to predict what he will do by listening to what Gufadgarn said about Guduranis. This fragment thinks and acts like Guduranis would in this situation. It does think that it’s Birkyne, yes. And it has his memories. However it has Guduranis’ bad habit of lashing out when angered and that is from the DKF. It’s Guduranis but with someone else’s memories. This is why they refused to address to him as anything else but Guduranis during this chapter. This could also be backed by the fact that the other vampires were shocked to hear what he and the other two did while they were asleep. They didn’t remember Birkyne like this. This is because the fragment kept on changing him from the inside until he became someone else entirly. I am not saying Birkyne is a good guy. It’s just that he was washed away and replaced by Guduranis during a process that lasted around a hundred thousand years.
Metazoxan
I think the way to think about it, and the author’s intent, is this.
it is LITTERALLY the DK’s shadow so think about what that means. A shadow follows your actions and behavior to the letter. It doesn’t have your memories, thoughts, or feelings. But it mirrors your actions.
The DK’s shadow is the same in that in mirror’s the DK’s actions even though he lacks the feelings and memories. And it’s why It had to take the vampire’s thoughts and feelings in order to function.
So it’s not that it’s a bad copy holding only the DK’s worst traits. It’s that it’s a hollow copy that mirror’s his habits but without the context of memories and thoughts to go with it. That’s why he resisted Van even though all he wanted was to surrender even if he had to become undead. The real DK would never submit to van and so he resisted Van on reflex.
That is why Van was able to manipulate him because he was able to exploit the DK’s habits and reflexive behavior that he did without even thinking. These were mirrored by the shadow even when it thought it was a vampire.
Apokryphos
Daroak: With my lord’s light, I strike down a god!
Chipuras: Be burned by your former servants, evil god!
Berkert: I’lL TuRn You iNto SWISS CHEESE (btw, is there swiss cheese in that world?)
VEreality
It seems there is. This flew over my head until you pointed it
Vaccaria
If I’m not wrong cheese is one of the things that Van try to re-create in Talosheim so maybe he managed to create Swiss cheese?
Alex-dono
imagine calling a child a midget
Apokryphos
The reaction of the esper girl sums up the reaction of the child.
WizziBot
Sassy lost child
havok038
I’m going to be honest, I’m eager to see what Alda and his group think of Hihiryushukaka’s defeat. Since Van did something they couldn’t for the last hundred thousand years in no more than a few years of his adolescence. But given their blocky personalities, even if the wiser of his subordinates suggest otherwise, he’s still going to treat Van like a greater threat.
I honestly thought that Hihiryushukaka would be smarter after the death of two of his subordinate pure-breeds but frankly its justified that he overestimated his own Guduranis’ fragment and underestimated Van’s. Hence, affording him a Disney-esque death.
My gosh, I must have the persona of the evil god of joyful life that all i want to see is Heinz and Alda suffer and struggle. Forgive me, Vida-sama!
kazamakj
Could they even see the battle? I thought the Alda group could only see battles through the eyes of their believers and Hihiryushukaka is far away from a believer.
Ltshrek
They won’t,but they would feel it if hihi-chan’s aura or some shit suddenly disappeared completely
Superboy8338
So is the evil god actually dead or just returned to the astral plane?
Lord Rin
Super dead. Unlike Ravovifard who only placed part of his soul into Bugitas, this idiot entirely descended on Birkyne so he can’t escape like Ravovifard was briefly able to right before the other gods ganged-up on him and sealed him.
Metazoxan
IT’s really a case of wrong place wrong time. Decending fully WOULD have been a smart move if he had a proper escape plan because it made him stronger. Putting in only a part of him would just leave him weakened prey like good old Ravioli :P.
But unlike with the Orc Van was WELL within the advantage and Birkyne had no possibility to escape. Even the power of an evil god meant little as there were multiple beaings that either held his weaknesses or were equal to him.
It was stated he could Rival van at least in a certain sense. But Van was far from alone and was in a dungeon effectively under his control.
Superboy8338
Looks like the vampires are no longer a threat, for now.
VEreality
I couldn’t say anything last chapter *cry because of it*, but this time non shall silence me. I have to praise how awesome the last two chapter were.
Why the last one was awesome:
We got to see how much did Van’s ‘pets’ grew. Both in strenght and quite literally in Pete’s case. To bad Birkyne didn’t have Saitama on his side.
Miles is now the living proof that werewolves are now(to some extends) a thing in this story. Still waiting to see where all of this is going.
We have a clear depiction of the difference between Van’s followers and normal people that are on the same level.
Why this chapter is awesome:
This plot twist about Birkyne is well done. We now know exactly what Guduranis was like in terms of personality.
We are once again reminded just how much of a big deal is the fact that Van is able to control the DKFs. In a perfect way I might add. The fact that one such fragment was able to ERASE someone and take his place like a doppelganger without even knowing that it did this is somehow scarier than what we’ve seen so far.
The possibilities with the new DK fragments are endless. You guys have a lot of ideas regarding the shadow, but with the tentacles he will be able to strengten close range and hand to hand abilities a lot. He can use them like muscles for his grotesque demon form. It’s up to Van’s imagination.
Thank you Yoshi-sama! You are awesome!
ShadowKen
Maybe Van will use the tentacles to approximate a male Scylla. Wonder how Privel and Orbia would react.
VEreality
They will get …. wet *finger guns* eyyyyyyy
Phantom Knight
Thanks for the chapter!!!! Lol. Hihiryushuka really didn’t think things all the way through. He should have encouraged Birkyne to get out or help him escape in the beginning of he was going to help. However, he thought it was the best choice to do so after all other comrades were dead, and he decided to fight against someone who had destroyed the souls of multiple gods……talk about hubris in its finest.
On the bright side, Elenora seems to have finally awakened her [Sword Technique] into a superior skill. The way she reacted and looked at her sword during her battle was so obvious. Lol. Ironic though, she finally evolves the skill by beheading the remains of the head of her vampire patent, but I guess this is one way to completely severe ties with one’s heritage.
Now, we just have to wait for an update of the status for Elenora, Bellmond, and Isla. We will be able to see what kind of swordsmanship she has attained and what it specializes in at that time. Personally, I am rooting for a sword style that combines the Life-attributed Mana and Time-attributed Mana, but at the same, I wouldn’t be surprised for a style based on Life-attribute Magic only, Time-attribute Magic only, or the [Magic Combat Technique] skill either.
At the least, we know that her jobs so far are geared towards a princess Knight or gladiator route. Thus, her swordsmanship will likely evolve in that direction. We just don’t know how yet.
As for Vandalieu-sama, I never thought he could create remote controlled Demon King familiar type cannons as part of his [Demon King Artillery Technique] skill. I keep thinking not much change from before the [¥] evolved (except for getting stronger and allowing Van-sama to possibly shoot for anywhere on his body), but I am repeatedly proven wrong over and over again. Lol. He even used the [Demon King’s Tumor] as the ammo instead of the [Demon King’s Horn] which allowed him to set up a combo by using a [Dark King Magic] spell.
Heck, he finished everything off with his second use of enchantments from his [Dead Spirit Magic] skill. I really need to keep in mind that all Demon King Fragments can now be transformed into cannons and ammo now. Lol. Not only did he create a very powerful offensive skill that uses materials equal to oricalchum, his skill now has compatibility with both his Dark King Magic and Dead Spirit Magic skills.
I can’t wait to see his new martial techniques in the future. Mmmmm……. Additionally, I can’t help but admit that I am curious in whether anyone else from the fight managed to awaken a new Superior skill. I am especially hoping that Melissa somehow evolved her Aegis into a superior version, and it would be nice if Bellmond could get one of her combat related skills too.
Lucian
Thanks for the chapter!
A part of D.K. soul huh? Nothing less to be expected from Alda and Bellwood,doing a bad job even at sealing their mortal enemy.
Matchu
Personelly id say that its just a part of What they Are as charectors honestly.
I Mean one sounds like a eco terrorist and the other could be called the god of stagnation instead of justice.
SaMu
Thanks for the chapter.
Power up from dead puny god, GET!
Pallington
*inhales*
PERSONA!
sorry, I had to
Phantom Knight
Lol. Someone had to do it. You make your comrades proud. Lol
Apokryphos
That flashed into my mind once i read the word…
Soundwave
And thus ends the pure breed trio of the three who do you guys got curb stomped the hardest? I think Gobuman got curb stomped the hardest (I think I misspelled his name). Out of the things Hihi could’ve done that was one of the dumbest he should’ve done what that other evil god did which was to go to sleep for a millennium or something and wait it out but the problem is by doing this he is vulnerable to attack but idk
Tejing
Tough to say who got curbstomped the hardest. Van got more practiced at doing it as he went along, but they also underestimated him less so they at least put up a bit of a fight. I think Gubamon probably wins that one, despite Van’s slip up with the demon eyes of destruction, just because he half did himself in even before Van showed up.
Nobody2
It’s a hard question. Van got infinitely stronger between each fight. Honestly I’d say Birkyne was probably the easiest fight for Van simply because everyone got so much better by the time it happened and he got to set up a million preferable conditions ahead of time, but in a comparison of curb stompage it just feels like Gubamon got it the hardest.
Hakuro1010a
“I don’t know how many foes you have defeated before. But don’t think that I am the same as them!”
The fact that this was said by a foolish god possessing the body of a delusional shadow who also thought he was on par with our Lord Van and tried to copy him a few minutes earlier adds so many layers of irony that you could use them as defense with Armor Technique. Hihi-kun really didn’t think this through.
And looks like Eleanora got the skill awakening that she wanted (or at least got closer), yay! Needing to cut an evil god’s full incarnation to unlock it would probably be quite the steep requirement for anyone not following Van-sama though…
kfcwenger
Thanks so much 🙂
UnveilingSage
Thanks for the chapter! I’m excited to see what comes next and the power ups Van-sama gains from this DELICIOUS snack called a Hihi bar. Praise be to Vandalieu-sama! Long Live the God of Death!
no1
Great chapter Yoshi, So Hihiryushukaka sent his entire soul into Birkyne. Didn’t think he would do that after Birkyne kept begging him and he kept refusing. Also Birkyne had been controlled by his fragment this whole time and the soul fragment that he had, had fooled itself into thinking it was Birkyne. That is really complicated, but it is glad to see this evil god get what he deserves. Hope to see the aftermath of the battle in the next chapter.
GashBello
Wow! Thank you for that piece of heaven. Spoiler: Finally that god died.
no1
That isn’t a spoiler. This chapter ended with that god being destroyed
Tejing
He might not be dead just yet. ‘Vanished’ could mean he could no longer be seen, rather than that he was actually destroyed. Either way though, it’s clearly over for him, so not really a spoiler.
Triduo
True. He still has control over Guduranis’ shadow, so… If he controls it good enough, he could potentially have hid in the shadow of his own body ?
Paradoxe : That’s thinking he had enough time for it and that his body wasn’t totally destroy by those Light-attribute cannons. -__-
Fair enough…
Tolkien
This Evil God is f###ing stupid … ¯_(ツ)_/¯ he watched Birkyne basically being rape by 10 people and suddenly he has the brilliant idea ” I should try this … just quick ride ” … ¯_(ツ)_/¯ now is time to confront the reincanators
Jonathan Hurd
In his defense losing Birknyes body would mean flushing the last of a hundred thousand years worth of effort and planning down the drain. Now did he stand a chance of winning? Heck no, but I can’t completely blame him for taking the best shot he was ever going to get. Though if he truly wanted to live he probably should of just gone into hiding and started from scratch. I don’t think his ego would have let him do that though.
Triduo
Paradoxe : Taking into account the fact that he thought he could win by controlling Guduranis’ shadow, Vida’s vessel was as martially impotent as her and that he thought Van’s girls and ghosts would let him repair his body without doing anything… Yeah, no way he could accept those truth and choose to escape from a cage named “The Demon King’s city” Dungeon. -__- <Ah, I forgot that they were fighting inside a dungeon created by the evil god of labyrinth who have Space-attribute magic and could probably keep the exit option of the labyrinth unattainable… )
Morgan
Thanks for the chapter!
It seems Hihi-kun was acting out of character in this chapter? Perhaps Guduranis’ soul fragment was encroaching on Hihi-kun whenever he talked to Birkyne. It was certainly encroaching while he was possessing Birkyne’s body.
But Vandalieu doesn’t need to worry about such things. He’ll just eat all 3 souls at the same time. Birkyne’s, Guduranis’ and Hihi-kun’s.
I wonder what ability he’ll get from Hihi-kun and if he’ll get one from Guduranis’ fragment? I’m not sure cause it’s just a fragment but it was also reallly powerful.
Metazoxan
He’ll probably just get complete control of the shadow. All of Shadow DK’s power was within the shadow itself. The soul was just a hollow husk by itself. So once Van eat’s the husk the shadow will just bond to his own soul instead making his soul even more similar to the DK’s but not as it take over he’s just digesting and assimilating the traits into himself.
Jonathan Hurd
I’m not sure Hihi kun will give any abilities. Usually to get one of those from eating they have to be fairly pronounced. I don’t think Van really wants a skill called “mess with people”. He can already basically do that, lol.
For the Shadow. It was such an insignificant part it couldn’t even support its own ego. It had to delude itself into thinking it was Birknye. However I think it will be able to work properly with Van once Van assimilate it. I think Vans shadow will work similar to a spirit clone. Moving with its own will, but of the same mind as Van. It should be interesting to see how far it extends Vans powers.
Tejing
There might be an element of affinity involved in what Van gets when he ‘digests’ souls. If so, Hihi might give quite a lot, because on top of being a very powerful god, his powers are closely aligned with Van’s (creating and commanding undead, etc).
ShadowKen
Alternatively, Hihiryushukaka might only give attribute bonuses, since the things he can do, Van can do better.
Triduo
Birkyne’s soul has passed on a long time ago, Guduranis’ soul is nothing but a personality kept by its shadow… The only soul he could eat would be Hihiryushukaka’s. ^^ <Well… Only if that kind of god has a soul !)
Metazoxan
His soul didn’t pass on it was corrupted by the shadow. Basically the shadow was like a hollow husk of the DK’s soul and it filled itself with Birkyne’s soul. This means he effectively died and became a kind of psudo clone of the DK. But the soul was still there… just altered.
So there would be two souls right now. The DK’s Psudo soul and the evil god’s complete soul.
Lord Rin
I don’t think Van will get anything specific from Hihi-chan. He didn’t get anything from eating Ravovifard and most of the other gods. He’ll just get XP and maybe it’ll be enough to level up or awaken some of his skills along with probably maxing out his current job.
Morgan
Most of them were weak though. though the previous theory of needing an affinity with van for him to inherit a skill seems plausible. it’s probably more like divine protections though. if van’s too strong, he can’t get anything but attribute bonuses and exp
Kiriaru
Thank you!! I loved the fight! Is it really over now though?
Tejing
I’d guess there’ll be a bit more struggling before Hihi is toast.
Jonathan Hurd
Yeah, considering we didn’t get the text ‘you have gained X000 stamina and X000 of other stat’. I don’t think Vans eaten him quite yet. He might be saving the body to allow Melissa to get the final strike and earn some easy exp for her efforts. Be pretty funny way for Hihi to go out. Literally having his life toyed with by Van.
Triduo
But I thought that he could earns XP by eating the souls of his opponent ? O_O
Tejing
Nope, soul eating has nothing to do with XP. He only gains XP when he watches his allies/subordinates kill things. Dead Spirit Magic counts as the ghosts killing it though, so it hasn’t generally been much of handicap lately.
bk3k
Only this fight. Without spoiling, you won’t be disappointed for long. Consider this the appetizer.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter, figured Birkyne was long gone. So anyone that gets the 10 aside from Vand in demon king loses their minds to the fragments. I suppose even gods aren’t immune from it. Does make me wonder how long Edgar will last and if any of his allies will notice. The evil god should have retreated and gone back to hiding in Alda’s shadow until Vand and Alda fought each other.
Jonathan Hurd
The fight with Ravivofard showed that even God’s can get encroached by the DK fragments. Vans a special case because he fuses and becomes one with them rather than them trying to take him over.
I think since Edgar is having the pieces directly mixed into his soul I feel like that would speed up the encroachment process. My guess is the revived Edgar is going to try and grab some fragments of the DK and add them to his own body becoming the second main body. I can’t wait to see Heinzs face if my guess is right and that happens.
Chase Eldredge
Second body sounds about right. As for Heinz reaction, I’m guessing something stupid (maybe not directly blaming Van but something still stupid)
TheTrueDeathGod
He might seek van to fuse with him
Entropy
Depends on how much of the demon king’s soul and persona remains. He might want to get rid of the competition. The more Vand gains, the more demon king loses his original body. Does raise the question of whether the original demon king would be able to regain parts that are inside Vand. I doubt Edgar will be able to get parts, since the body would be incompatible.
Lord Rin
I don’t think so. I think Van would need to die before Guduranis could take back the fragments.
Zing
Edgar is not getting any parts, Edgar is a part.
Entropy
I still wonder about the why Vand was immune to it. Maybe it was because of his high mana or the fact that he could use death mana or a combination. If I had to guess, I would say it was the death mana since the gods have high mana amounts relative to most and I think the original demon king was said to use death magic as well, not sure about that.
Entropy
My apologies, forgot about that. Still makes me wonder if anyone with death mana could pull off the same trick. That reincarnator is researching death magic so he might be able to pull the same trick as would Legion, though I doubt Legion would betray Vand like that. I also wonder if parts of Vand could be stolen by say the original demon king or a rival death mage.
ShadowKen
Probably only if Van gets sealed the same way as Guduranis (body and soul split into many tiny pieces). Vida said that the fragments Van has are fused with his soul and can be called fragments of the Demon King Vandalieu.
bk3k
It isn’t quite the case that they misidentify him. I can’t say too much without pretty serious spoiling. But remember some of the things the fragments have said such as “superior host”.
Entropy
Hmmmm, so if a host comes along that has more death magic than Vand, the parts will abandon ship. I doubt that will happen, but i do wonder if other death mages will have an easier time controlling demon king pieces that are not already in Vand and if those mages would be immune to the corruption. I know currently Vand and maybe Legion are the only death mages with Legion being more of a heroic god to Vand than an actual death mage, but I suspect that when that one reincarnator, whose code name I think is Avalon, dies he will have access to death magic. I also wonder if any of the reincarnators have some kind of clone or stealing ability like rogue did from xmen. I doubt a cheap copy would win but it might give Vand a little trouble.
Zenden1st
i dont think hed have enough mana or mental strength to hold back or fuze the demon fragments, he might get possessed over a span of time like Birkyne
Lord Rin
From what I remember since Van’s soul is so warped combined with him using Mental Encroachment is what convinced the DK fragments that Van is the main body.
Tejing
That’s a common interpretation, but it wasn’t explained in the story. Another very reasonable interpretation is that Van used Mental Encroachment on the fragments.
mexgema
Man, I was not expecting Hihiryushukaka to come into play here. That was pretty stupid. Why the fuck would he do that?? I’m pretty sure that was the stupidest play anyone so far has ever done.
Tejing
I think Gubamon destroying all his own subordinates was probably stupider. Still, the “incarnate and beat them up” plan was pretty awful.
Metazoxan
Yeah… I mean even if he was a god he was taking over a broken body, surrounded by Van and his subordinates, in a dungeon controlled by another evil god.
Even if Darcia didn’t show up to instantly counter him Van still had light magic to counter the shadow and the tentacles weren’t likely to turn the tide.
But in his defense it was established the evil god had been preparing that body to be his host body for tens of thousands of years. So I guess he was too determined to not lose his investment to cut his losses and retreat.
In the end all he did was turn the body into an even tastier meal for Van.
Jonathan Hurd
It definitely felt like a do or die moment for Hihi. Birknye truly was the last strong pawn left. Without him or his confidants the whole organization will collapse. He was also the last host that Hihi had been cultivating for a hundred thousand years.
Another part is remember Van has hidden his cards very well. No one other than his allies has ever seen a DK familiar. To Hihi he must have thought put in his full power and the DK tentacles he could at least use that to run away and gain some distance. As far as Vida goes she is the Goddess of life and love powerful but not a fighter.
Basically he fell to the same pitfall Birknye and all of Vans other enemies have fallen to. They don’t have enough info. Hiruhaku was especially foolish because he overestimated his own power without understanding the situation.
I think the deciding factor for why Hihi descended is because it’s his nature. He couldn’t resist kicking his subordinate when he is down. He wanted to watch ‘Birknye’ fall to despair realizing he was a fake before being overtaken by Hihi. To an Evil God like Hihi I think the sheer ecstasy of that moment would overwhelm any fear he felt from Van.
bk3k
Well there are 3 major factors that make it understandable.
1. That is a body he invested 100K years into, and was a top notch body prior to that. He’s not going to get something like that again.
2. Against most opponents, he + that modified body + 2 DK fragments + a small part of Guduranis’s soul really would be unstoppable.
3. He’s an Evil God who has toyed around with most all major societies and even an aspect of Guduranis for the last 100K years. He’s gotten “a little” full of himself. It would be stranger if he didn’t.
Entropy
Another factor was what he was the god of. Being a god that toys with others’ lives, means he was always in control and tortured those weaker than him. He might as well be the god of bullies. I am guessing that most gods must be what they are and can not be something that goes against their being, for example the god of justice would not be able to break a law. With Vand being a child, he would be unable to retreat. Mind you that ties into your third factor.
Zing
Yeah, it was pretty stupid. But if he is going to commit suicide anyway, might go out with a bang. Why suicide? Because when a god runs out of believers, he will eventually disappear. How many believers is left for Hihiryushukaka? There are the vampires under Birkyne and that’s it, as far as I know. With Birkyne gone, nobody is left to worship Hihiryushukaka.
Lastly, call it divine arrogance and Hihiryushukaka how much of a threat Van is.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Triduo
Paradoxe : He’s a sadistic player who thinks that strong vessels means true strength and that being a god gives you enough power to rule over mortals… Also, he wanted Van’s fragments, didn’t count on Vida’s apparition and literally fused his being onto Birkyne’s body. There was no saving him.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think he could ever have handled Vans fragments. I think he became drunk on his own feeling of superiority after so many years that he couldn’t imagine his own defeat. To bad for him Van is a careful planner and put together contingency plans for any situation.
Triduo
I have Flashbacks on Talosheim’s defensive battle. ( OuO) It was a good day for a picnic… Oh, and to destroy a nation who thought that they could handle Van’s OP-ness, but that’s details.
Tejing
Oooh, the demon king’s tentacles. I was wondering when those would turn up. They’re perfect for Van, especially with the ‘Tentacle King’ title. Also, that cannon move of Van’s is an excellent addition to his repertoire.
It was very cool to see Eleanora hold her own against Birkyne; this confrontation definitely wouldn’t have been complete without it.
Hihi, I expected more from you than “incarnate and beat them up”… Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped that he’s like that, since he normally only interacts with those he can toy with… in other words those too weak to be a threat to him at all.
My earlier suspicions about Birkyne were dead on! Love it when I get it right like that!
Skarbrand
Forget the tentacles, I want to see the Demon King’s Muscles.
VEreality
Dude, think it like this: he could try to wrap his body with the tentacles and use them like muscles. Like Muscular from BNHA/MHA.
Lord Rin
Van would short circuit out of joy if he got a fragment like that.
Chase Eldredge
Given Vans luck if he does find DK muscles it almost certainly wouldn’t workout (no pun intended) the way he’d want it too. Also if he could make himself super buff all the time he’d NEVER turn it off, even if he were in public, which would cause issues. Though him trying to claim he just had an early very aggressive puberty would be kinda funny.
Lord Rin
I could see Van going “SIDE CHESTO!” and doing Jojo poses if the fragment worked how he wants it to regardless of if he’s in public or not.
Jonathan Hurd
Nothing feels better than an accurate guess, ;D. I gotta admit I didn’t think Hihi would descend like this but kind of glad he did. Allows Van to put to rest the entire evil vampire organization for good now.
I am looking forward to Privels reaction to Vans Do Tentacles, lol. I think they are going to also be used for some very interesting DK familiars as well, lol.
Triduo
The god who toyed with a puppet whose identity was but a shadow of its former self…
Was humiliated by the teamwork of the holy mother receiving the power of her goddess, broken by those he thought as pawns and destroyed by the power of the God of Death and Retribution…
Noctyrannus : Now that’s how you slay evil gods ! ^^b
Dimhélios : But still… Van’s mother became quite strong at using her body’s properties and transformations… I fear that she’ll earn the Title : “Vida’s holy monstrous vessel”… O_O’ Mothers are scary…
Noctyrannus : Amen to that truth… O_O’
Tejing
Yeah, we’re starting to see just how powerful the Chaos + Orichalcum Skeleton combo is. Good to know Darcia will never be without a weapon!
Sebas Tian
Hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Now that comments work again will remind you all, no spoilers are allowed in the comments section.
Tolkien
why your name is orange(?) and mine is green? … ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Nobody2
Sebas is one of the editors I believe.
SuicidalSkeletin
because he’s Sebas Tian, you insolent human. PEASANT.
madstack
Because oranges are full of vitamin C, and nowadays everyone packs themselves full of vitamin C. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Lord Rin
Mortal minds are not fit to comprehend the reason.
serapheid
It’s great to be able to comment again. I couldn’t find my old posts from when disqus was used, so it’s a bit sad.
Nobody2
At least a few of the old disquis comment sections still exist hidden somewhere on the internet. I know this cause once in a blue moon one of my comments from one will get liked
Nobody2
Amazing chapter.
BLK
Hello comments, I missed you <3
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD, AND THE ONE WHO DEFEATS HERETICAL EVIL GODS! BEHOLD HIS GLORIOUS VICTORIES AND DISPLAYS OF POWER AND STRATEGY, AND WATCH AS HE DECIMATES ALL IN HIS PATH! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
So was the true enemy of this fight Birkyne, Hihiryushukaka, or Guduranis? That is the real question.
Nobody2
Whoever Birkyne was he died a long time ago. His entire personality was just gurandis believing he was Birkyne with a bit of hysterical blood rages do to rejection thrown in
Entropy
So any time Birkyne went on murderous rampages, it was due to the mind and body being incompatible. That could be why the other pure bloods thought he was behaving like himself. Makes me wonder if Vand will be taken over by the shadow or if the shadow will be swallowed by Vand. Maybe if the shadow kills someone, Vand could make spectors or phantoms out of the ghosts.
UnveilingSage
No mere Shadow will ever triumph over the Abyss. It just isn’t possible
ctsf
If no one else is getting Seong Jin-Woo vibes here, I’m concerned
UnveilingSage
Solo Leveling protagonist
Metazoxan
Exactly. The other fragments were driven by pure instinct. It was why normally they couldn’t be controlled because like a PC that is password protected they only accepted Guduranis’s commands. Van changed this because his death attribute Mana was essentially the password so all he had to do was hack in and over write Guduranis’s username with his own making him the true owner.
But the shadow is different. As it was like a hollowed out soul it lacked the insinct of other fragments and was more like the hollow remnant of the DK itself that wanted to draw the other fragments to it. But because it’s memories were among the things god it forgot this and relied on it’s host memories for identity instead.
But since Van can eat souls he can just eat the hollow soul entirely and bind the shadow as part of his own soul instead so unlike Birkyne who essentially became the shadow Van will make the shadow become him.
and yeah considering his group binding manifests through his shadow it’s likely the DK shadow will have good compatibility with it.
Another idea I had though was what if Van uses his ability to split off pieces of himself to leave pieces of his shadow in his subordinates? This might allow them to function like Psudo-DK familiars and share all EXP with his automatically as well as countless other benifits. It might even allow him to imitate the “divine spirit decent” skill to power up his subordinates for a short time.
Triduo
Guduranis’ shadow was the sub-boss while Hihiryushukaka was the arc’s boss. OuO
Tejing
Nah, the arc isn’t over. Hihi was relegated to being a mid-boss.
Triduo
Midnight : Nah, he’s nothing more than a side-dish ! ^^
Chase Eldredge
The whole thing was basically “This isn’t even my final form” just replace “my final form” with “the deepest hole I can dig for myself” for more accuracy
Metazoxan
It was the shadow and then Hihiryushukaka.
As this chapter mentioned the shadow was never truely Guduranis himself but just a hollow shadow of him. Like a shadow it mimicked his movements and behavior but it was never truly him.
The thing to keep in mind is other fragments of the demon king possess no soul. They possess mere instinct to return to the main body. This is why Van could encrouch upon and take them over until the fragments saw him as the main body. Think of it like over-writing the user ID of the DK with his own.
But the shadow had a hollow consciousness. It has no power or memories of the real DK but as a shadow it was imprinted with him behavior. So the Shadow stole Birkyne as it took over his soul until there was no longer a difference between the two. The result was a being that was essentially an INCARNATION (not reincarnation there is a difference) of the DK that had Birkyne memories. But because it ONLY had Birkyne memories it thought it was Birkyne but it’s soul and core behavior was that of Guduranis. Which is why his behavior was erratic.
But then at the end the evil god took over the body and as he was a true evil god his soul and power was greater than that of the mere hollow shell of the former DK filled with a mere vampire’s memories. So the shadow DK was devoured and replaced by Hihiryushukaka who could now wield the shadow and tentacles freely. Which he could do because by eating the shadow he gained part of the DK’s soul and could make them part of his own body like van. He wasn’t taken over like Birkyne because as an evil god he was strong enough to win and devour rather than being devoured.
serapheid
Good to see you again Doom-sama, I missed seeing your sacred messages for the longest time now. It keeps getting buried nowadays.
Black Diablo
Preach Doom Sama so everyone knows Van Sama’s awesomeness
Ramtin
Thnx for the chappie, that cliff tho. i wanted to see the new frags get added.
2077
Test comment
Tolkien
hey Master where are you from??? cuz here is still 26 april … ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
UnveilingSage
Test reply 😛