Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 495: Death of a God (7)
Previously on Trash of the Count's Family...
Perhaps everything in the world came down to timing.
There were a few things Cale had failed to grasp.
First, with the final purification ritual ahead of them, the demons of that city had woken before dawn.
Of course, in other cities before this one, Cale had chosen to rest once night fell and postpone the purification ritual to the next morning.
Click.
Click.
Early morning.
No matter how quickly Cale moved, over the past few days, his pattern of action had become known. Based on that, predicting the Savior’s movements was easy.
For the sake of the Savior, who disliked disorder, everyone opened only the windows of their own homes and sent a brief prayer or wish toward the quarantine center.
“Please, may the final purification proceed safely to the end—”
“May everything the Savior does be carried out as he intends—”
They woke their sleeping children.
“Let us pray for the Savior and the infected, even from afar.”
Those who worked at night did not sleep either.
“Whew. Let’s just hold out until the purification ritual and sleep afterward.”
Everyone waited for the moment of the purification ritual the Savior would perform.
And they prayed.
For it to end safely.
And second.
Just as Cale knew this was the final purification—
“This is the last one.”
“I never imagined the calamity that tormented us for weeks would be resolved so easily in just a few days.”
“Easily? Does this look easy to you?”
“...My apologies.”
Everyone in the Demon World also knew this morning would be the last.
“...Yes. We must not take the Savior’s sacrifice lightly. So let us offer prayers for his final purification. And let us convey our gratitude.”
“Yes.”
The demons in the regions the Savior had passed through offered prayers commemorating the end, or spoke words of gratitude to him even though he could not hear them.
The demons in other regions, too, waited for the beginning of a morning when fear and anxiety would now disappear. They also waited for the Savior’s story.
Third and last.
And it had been a truly long time since the Demon World had seen such a hopeful, beautiful story.
This was the first news in several decades that everyone could wait for with smiles.
The war between the previous Demon King and the current Demon King.
The Demon World’s state, which had shown no particular change afterward.
The situation that made it seem as though they were falling behind the heavenly realm.
There had been no news of the Demon World that could bring joy to demons.
But the Savior’s story had given them hope and joy for the first time in ages.
In other words, to put it simply, everyone was waiting for Cale’s final purification and his story while praising him.
“Mm.”
Cale looked around the quarantine center.
Only the bare minimum of people were present.
Satisfactory.
Cale smiled in satisfaction and immediately began the purification ritual.
Of course, before starting, Cale checked the badge, which had almost become a full moon, but had barely stopped short of it.
Yeah. I’m finishing this and running.
Cale, who wanted no worship from demons, immediately began the final purification.
It’s normal.
There was nothing special just because this was the last one.
It was ordinary, just like before.
Gray mist rose.
Gray particles floated upward.
They surrounded Cale and the quarantine center like a galaxy.
Plip. Plip.
The infected people’s corruption was purified.
Plip. Plip.
And the tiny thread-snake water dragon once again ate those droplets until its belly was about to burst.
“...Finally—”
Yes. It was finally over.
Cale expressed his feelings aloud before he realized it. But he did not care that others saw him like this.
“Ahh—Mother!”
“Our daughter, are you awake? It’s Dad, Dad!”
“Brother!”
Because the people waiting for the infected to be purified were noisy with cheers and tears of joy.
-Human, are we running right away?
At Raon’s voice, Cale looked toward his group. Ron nodded.
Everyone had finished preparing to go to Midi. Even Clopeh Sekka was actively in favor of quietly retreating.
“Sir Cale.”
Strategist Ed, the person in charge on the Demon King’s side, approached.
A smile rested on his lips as well. This was the first time Cale had seen him like that.
“You have worked hard.”
“Well. Yes.”
He had worked hard.
Cale acknowledged it and began to move.
“Sir Cale?”
Strategist Ed found Cale’s hurried pace strange despite the purification being over. Since the purification was finished now, could he not enjoy some leisure?
“Are you leaving immediately?”
Strategist Ed found Cale’s behavior strange, but he moved closer to Cale, who seemed oddly rushed, and spoke to him.
“We have informed the entire Demon World that the final purification ritual has ended.”
“......!”
Cale suddenly stopped walking.
He stared at the strategist with startled eyes.
At that gaze, the strategist spoke in a joyful voice.
Through magic communication, the Demon King’s castle had just informed every region that the final purification ritual had ended, and that the Demon World was now safe.
The sooner joyful news was shared, the better. Everyone’s anxiety would disappear.
“Thank you, Sir Cale. Today, the Demon World will greet a peaceful morning. All demons feel grateful to you—”
Strategist Ed stopped short.
“Mm?”
He stared at Cale’s chest.
Cale looked down at his own chest too.
“...Sir Cale, the badge is vibrating. Quite... violently—”
Rattle rattle rattle.
The badge was trembling hard.
Cale’s pupils shook.
“...It’s full......”
The full moon had filled.
The badge had become a full moon and was now vibrating with a very loud rattle.
A chill crept over the back of Cale’s neck.
“Damn it!”
Cale swore before he realized it.
He could not care less whether the people around him were shocked by this sight from the Savior.
Woooooo—woooo—
The badge, which had been vibrating violently like a mad thing, now began to let out a cry.
At that moment.
The news that purification was over had spread across the entire Demon World.
It was early morning, just as the sun was rising.
Just as everyone was about to burst into joy at the news they had been waiting for—
-Ah, ahhh—
Cale heard the voice from the badge, the voice of Jenust, who hated being called the demon god.
-Everyone is praising him! The entire Demon World is watching this place!
-Ah, ahhh, I can hear it. I can hear it! This praise! This respect! This worship! Ahhhh, this is true praise, of a quality entirely different from praise heard merely because one is a god!
This was ruined.
Cale’s pupils were still shaking.
Seeing him like that, Strategist Ed carefully spoke without realizing it.
“Sir Cale, what is—”
At that, Cale snapped and burst out shouting.
“No, why would you immediately inform the whole Demon World that the final purification was over? Don’t you care about communication costs?”
“Pardon?”
“When you saw me handling things quietly, you should have read the room! Why are you always so bad at your job?”
“Pardon? I-I am bad at my j-job?”
Strategist Ed, who had now truly acknowledged Cale and had been doing his utmost to support his schedule, looked wronged.
“!”
But soon, he quickly jerked his head upward.
The sky—
“Huh?”
The morning was disappearing.
The sky was turning gray.
“!”
At that moment, faint gray smoke poured out from Cale and wrapped around him.
-Ah, this has style! It has style!
The morning sun was veiled in gray. The gray gathered together and began turning black.
It seemed as though night had returned.
But it was different from night.
Because there were no stars and no moon.
“Ah—”
Strategist Ed unconsciously stepped back a few paces.
There were no stars and no moon.
But brilliant gray light poured out from Cale.
That light shot up into the sky.
A suddenly created night.
“......”
“......”
The demons of the city were not surprised.
Because they could see the place where the night had begun.
The demons who had opened their windows and been praying all gaped or stared blankly at the night that had begun from the quarantine center.
The beginning of night was unmistakably gray.
But that night spread outward at tremendous speed, endlessly and endlessly.
Beyond the city, to another region, and then another—
-Ah, praise, respect, worship heard from every corner of the Demon World—!
Cale had thought it would only happen near this city.
-Ah, I hear it! I shall go everywhere I hear it!
The night that arrived, turning from gray to black, was spreading without end.
-This has style! It has style!
God-Slayer.
Jenust, the strongest being in the Demon World, the one whose existence had made the divine realm and the heavenly realm give him the name of god.
This power left behind by the last remnant of his soul was far greater than Cale had expected.
-O one with the talent to eat gods!
Jenust’s remaining mission had something he absolutely wanted to show his successor.
-I shall show you power that stands against gods!
-Successor! And all demons!
-Behold! This will happen only once!
The voice that only Cale could hear shouted.
-This is the power from my prime!
-This is the power of one who stood against gods!
The Demon World’s morning disappeared.
The sky of the Demon World turned from gray to black, and then into night.
“......”
“......”
Everyone trembled as they looked up at the sky.
Even the Demon King could not move as he looked at this manufactured night.
-Eat it!
-Eat gods with your talent!
-Just as I ate the sky!
The sky had turned black.
A pillar of light reached that sky.
And a gray full moon rose.
The gray pillar of light that had begun from Cale kept soaring and soaring without end.
The size of that pillar of light made countless people move away from Cale.
A gigantic pillar of light.
The gray pillar of light soon created an enormous gray full moon.
“......”
“Ah, ahhh—”
The demons watching from near the quarantine center and from the city could not say a word at that sight.
They could only collapse to the ground or let out gasps.
“......”
Even Cale had no choice but to stare blankly at the sky this time.
He handled earth, fire, water, wind, and wood.
But he could not use a power that affected a single world.
The voice of the Water that Devours the Sky reached him.
-Holy shit. That’s insane.
Unlike her rough words, her voice was trembling. That was clearly awe.
-.......
The gluttonous priestess said nothing. However, Cale could feel that she too was greatly shaken by this sight.
“...Demon god... you lunatic.”
Cale truly thought so. This bastard was insane.
Why?
-Did you see my power?
-Praise me! Successor, true style is this!
Was this really the time to say that sort of thing after creating such an insane sight?
God-Slayer Jenust, this bastard was definitely insane.
-I am God-Slayer. I am God-Slayer, successor.
Yes. You God-Slayer lunatic!
-Yes. The moment of succession has come.
Ah.
Cale squeezed his eyes shut.
So it was dark.
-Successor.
But in reality, the brilliant gray full moon was floating in the sky, shining down on Cale.
-I shall give you five chances.
The night that had suddenly arrived. The sole gray light.
When everyone’s gaze turned toward Cale, wrapped in that gray light, or toward the full moon, or toward the black sky—
-These chances are a power that amplifies.
Crack.
The gray full moon began to split.
-You may use a power strengthened fivefold, five times.
-There are no side effects. It is a power meant only to help you.
CRRRAACK—
Soon, the full moon shattered into pieces.
But the sight was not cruel.
-However, successor, know this before you walk this path of killing gods.
Like a silent explosion, the shattered gray full moon divided into countless pieces.
-Once you eat a god, regardless of this power, the instinct of ‘predation’ will awaken in you.
Those pieces began crossing the sky.
Across the Demon World.
Across the Demon World’s sky.
-That is a blessing, or a curse.
“Ah.”
“Ah, the night—”
As the gray moon fragments crossed the sky, night disappeared along their path. No, it was eaten.
Countless moon fragments.
It looked like a meteor shower.
A gray meteor shower passing through place after place.
In the places it passed, night vanished, and morning began to reappear.
-Hunter. You must never lose reason and run wild.
And that gray meteor shower headed toward one place.
Toward Cale, who was listening to the voice of the demon god, or rather, God-Slayer Jenust.
-When he loses cold reason, a hunter becomes only another beast.
The moon fragments that had eaten the night poured down toward Cale, who was wrapped in the pillar of light.
As everyone watched the sight with bated breath—
-And a beast will ultimately become prey for another hunter.
Jenust’s cold voice drove itself into Cale’s mind.
-You.
-Do not become a beast like me.
-Human.
-Do not lose the reason you hold as a human.
That voice held an earnest wish.
-Only after the hunt is finally over will you be able to return to being human.
Hunter, do not become a beast.
Do not lose yourself, and return to being human.
Do not lose reason.
Cale raised his head.
“What obvious nonsense.”
Hunter, beast, predation.
None of it mattered to Cale.
I’m going to be a slacker.
For reference, he would be a human slacker.
That was why Cale looked up at the sky with a frown.
“And it’s a stingy power I can only use five times.”
It was not a permanent enhancement.
Come to think of it, the demon god had definitely said it was “a kind of enhancer.” Hearing this, that had not been wrong.
His grumbling voice was completely buried beneath the falling moon fragments and the vibration of the pillar of light.
To others, all they could see was Cale muttering something toward the sky.
“Ah, how annoying.”
The moment Cale spoke as though resigned—
PAAAAAT—!
The gray meteor shower poured down toward Cale.
Raon said it was the first time in his life he had seen such a beautiful sight.
Cale felt the same.
That was why Cale squeezed his eyes shut.
“This is ruined.”
This was truly the descent of the demon god.
No, the descent of the demon god’s successor.
“I’m losing my mind.”
And so Cale officially showed the entire Demon World a miraculous sight as the demon god’s successor.
*****
The next day, two messages were delivered to Cale as he tried to flee in a rush.
One was a certificate.
“...Grand Duke?”
It said they would grant him the title of Grand Duke of the Demon World.
“...You want me to be Grand Duke of the Demon World?”
<In times of emergency, you shall possess authority to rule the Demon World in place of the Demon King.>
<As a special clause, you may also concurrently hold the office of Pope.>
Seeing what was written below made his mind grow faint.
And the other was—
<I found King Zed’s location. I’ll write it below.>
<But is there somewhere I can descend, no, run away to?>
<Otherwise, I think I’ll die soon.>
It was finally a message from the God of Death.
“Descend? Run away?”
Ha!
Cale’s brow furrowed sharply.
<Heeng. Save me.>
Heeng?
“Has he lost his mind?”
These gods were no help at all.
