The Old and Ragged Demon King

Too many years had passed to remember how long it had been. How long she had waited. She had not meant to, but with so many passing night skies, the woman knew the position of each and every star. In each and every country. Ah... they weren't called countries now. There was, after all, only one left. Previously she thought she hadn't tried hard enough. That they would recover.

Neither was the case. Everything was the same as before, the same as yesterday. Yesterday... one day. To her, it may as well have been the same as a year. A decade. A century. Each day, she felt like she was waiting an impossibly long time. And, each day, for an impossibly long time, nothing had happened. But she waited.

Today, she waited on a hill of men. Although the woman waited for one, she found that more often than not it was an army that came after her. ... Quantity was no substitute for quality. They never learned. But, then again, she could see how her legend was something no single person could hope to match. ... She knew she wasn't that strong. That someday, someone stronger would come along. But... today was not that day.


She stared up into the twilight sky. Only a few stars twinkled, but she knew where and when each one would emerge. This living statue had long since learned anything worth learning, and then some. Some days ago... Some centuries... a few stars past, there had been one. One she had thought... had believed...

The Demon King sat on a mound of bodies. Soon, her monsters would be here to clean up. Soon... Forever... she no longer recognized those terms as different. Each moment was an eternity, for an eternity. The Demon King had believed it was over, at that time. A group of seven... they had cleaved through her empire, through her false Demon King protege. With ease. She had been disappointed at first. But...

First an old... acquaintance had revealed himself as an axe wielded by a girl. At first, he mentioned his identity, and the Demon King knew not of it. But... when the word 'Berserker' came out. ... It was perhaps the first time she had cried since becoming Demon King. That acquaintance. She couldn't call a friend or an enemy. But he held the promise... that he would end her. ... He could not.

But... she had fun. Fighting him with her sword, Abbadon... It was... an experience. She would have finally let herself die then and there, if not for his words. "Is this what you've waited for, all this time?" ... No. It was then the Demon King revealed her true power, and what seemed like her downfall was only a cruel joke.

But... the Hero, the one wielding that Axe... she too had played that joke. It was... real. The fight they had. The connection. Her willpower... it would easily change the world. The power she wielded came at the cost of her life. She put her life on the line, the belief everyone had. That Hero... she had matched this Demon Lord blow for blow.

But... she made one mistake. And the Demon King had been determined to fight at full strength. Experience. The Hero did not have enough experience. She blathered on that she couldn't save the world. That, the Demon King, the embodiment of all evil, was the only one who could do that. So if, even if she had lost the battle, if she could in the end save the Demon King...


A second passed. The demon king was now resting on corpses of monster and man alike. Stars were no longer in the sky, but she could still see them... She would not mind if the Hero she waited for was a monster. If it was one driven by greed or envy. If it could change the world... If it could end her ever-lasting vigil. ... That hero. She had been wrong. She could not have been more wrong. If the Demon King was the one who could save the world. ... If that was the case, what had been the point of all the time that had passed?