Demon Kings Decent

"no, no, no, no, no, NO!" Astrid yelled on the ground, he was crying so much that a puddle of tears were infront of his face. He had just entered an SSS+ rank dungeon, the hardest dungeons in the universe, such things even gods in this world couldn't defeat, how could he.

"SHIT!" Astrid yelled, waiting for his death.

"Hello!" someone said behind him.

"SCREAEEAERARAEAE!" Astrid screamed in fear as he ran away from the being.

"Calm down! I'm not going to hurt you!" the being said as he ran up to Astrid and stopped him right in his tracks.

"SCREEAEAEEAEAEEAEEAE" Astrid continued to yell.

"Its ok! You will die and become the vessel for the new Demon King! That is all!"

"SCREEAEAEEAEAEEAEEAE"

[What!]

"Oh, so this is your system, you will die as well, but it will be for a good cause! Don't worry!"

[SCREEAEAEEAEAEEAEEAE]

"DON'T SCREAM!" the voice yelled shooting both Astrid and his system up, when both of their minds were clear, they could properly see the voice.

It was a woman. She pale white, she had white hair, and blood red eyes. With her crimson horns protruding out of her head and the skin tight dress emitting a seductive oder, she was a feast waiting for anyone who looked at her, or were they the feast?

"I am Scarlet, the one and only lover of the demon king! You are going to be his vessel, making you, my new lover..." she said with a seductive grin, lifting up Astrids head with her slender fingers.

"All you have to do... is die!" she said as she pushed him into a room.

"STOP THE CA-" Astrid yelled as he got shoved into the room, it was a throne room, filled with riches one could not even think of having!

The hall was giant, crimson red and gold rims. Stone statues with various weapons. Treasures with unprecedented value. Truly fit for a king.

[Golden Toilet Paper]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Effect (Active): Everytime you wipe your ass, +1000 to all stats for 10 min]

[Description: This will solve the COVID crisis]

--

[Lucky Pen]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Effect (Passive): This pen is lucky]

[Description: Cheating on a test be like...]

--

[Plastic Cup]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Effect (Passive): Contains DA HOLY WOTA]

[Description: I AM FEELING THE HOLY SPIRIT!]

--

"Who, is this being!" Astrid whispered as he admired all of the items.

"Hi!" Someone whispered behind him.

"SCREEAEAEEAEAEEAEEAE"

"SHUT UP!" the being yelled in fury, his echoing voice in the halls released an oppressive force, shutting up Astrid.

"I am the Demon King, Vilotis! You can call me Vil!" Vil said as he stared deep into Astrid's eyes. His skin was pale white and his hair was black with the tips of his hair being red. he wore plain cloths, a red t shirt and black baggy pants. With his well defined body and his devilish grin, many women would run up and kiss him without their control!

"You are my vessel! Many years I have waited to be set free, and now is my time!" Vil yelled in a maniacal way.

"Why me?" Astrid asked

"You! You dare speak without my permission! Well, since you are my vessel, I'll let this slide, I haven't picked you, the dungeon picks the vessel, you have all the requirements, so here you are!"

"What happens when I become your vessel?"

"You will become my body and I will use you to rule this world, the next, and then universes, then many more!"

"I-I want to live by myself! I don't want this power!" Astrid yelled, rejecting Vil.

"We shall see if you are destined for it, we will fight!" he said as he suddenly started to cast magic.

"I-I can't defeat you!"

"I know this, that is why I shall buff you myself, this way we can battle on an even playing field." Vil said as he cast his magic.

[You have received "Minor Demon Kings Blessing"]

[+1,000,000,000 to all stats]

"..."

"Sorry, this is my most weak blessing after all, I can increase it!" Vil said as he cast more magic.

[You have received "Supreme Demon Kings Blessing"]

[+1,000,000,000,000,000 to all stats]

"..."

"I will set a timer for 10 minutes! If you are able to defeat me, you will be able to live! If not, you will become my vessel! Ok let's fight!" Vil yelled as he went straight for the kill.

He didn't even have enough time to get surprised.

Vil suddenly began his attack. A large, tightly-clenched fist came flying at him like a flash of light.

The attack was coming from too close a distance and its speed was also too fast to evade cleanly – that's what his brain had told him.

Astrid urgently raised his arms to block the attack. It was not an incorrect decision to make, but that didn't mean it was the correct one, either.

SLAM-!!

The power behind that punch was so incredulous that both his legs momentarily became airborne as he flew to the wall on the far side before ungainly crashing into it.

Crack-!!

The debris from the broken wall tumbled down to the floor.

'…Keu-heuk.'

Astrid swallowed back the pained moan. From that unexpected attack, he ended up receiving an unexpectedly large amount of damage. Unfortunately, Vil had already arrived in front of Astrid's nose, evidently not keen on giving him any time to reorganise himself.

Boom!!

Astrid tilted his head to the side and evaded the fist of the Vil. It left a massive hole on the wall behind him, instead.

That was just the beginning.

Suddenly, eight arms grew from Vil's sides.

Astrid's back was up against the wall. Vil blocked off his route of retreat and then, its eight fists ruthlessly rained down on him.

Attacks poured down without a single break in between, each punch powerful enough to kill a high-ranking Hunter in a single hit.

Tudududududududu-!!

As time wore on, though – the eyes of Vil were growing wider and wider, instead.

'He's… blocking my punches? My blessing are impressive, but they only boost the wielder depending on their soul power, he must have an impeccable soul, perfect for my vessel!'

The bombardment of attacks from eight separate arms was being blocked, deflected, or was redirected by just two arms. His movements were so fast that he simply looked like a collection of afterimages now.

Vil was inwardly impressed by this display.

'Isn't this amusing.'

To think, it'd start enjoying a fight against a human like this. Vil had never once thought that a mere human could ever be an even match in its long, long life.

The moment its thoughts reached there, a light suddenly flashed in its vision. No, it wasn't actually light.

It was a punch the human threw at him.

Boom-!!

Astrid jumped up and threw a punch. It hit the face of Vil, resulting in it being unceremoniously deposited on to the ground and rolling away in the dirt. It still stood right back up again, though.

There were minute cracks developing on its still-smiling face.

"Hahah!"

How long had it been since it felt this joyous?

Vil was so excited that it began to shudder in regret from the shortness of the remaining time.

"Fuu-woo…."

Astrid managed to land a good-looking hit on the angel statue, but he didn't bother to celebrate his feat. He instead spat out heavy, laboured breaths.

'He is strong.'

Indeed, his opponent was way stronger than any enemy he had faced so far.

This 'thing' introduced itself as the Demon King after all.

The questions of why it created the chose him, why was he locked up here, and just what was going on with this world – the questions he wanted to ask so badly were already forming a small mountain in his head.

'If I want to ask them….'

He needed to prioritise bringing that thing down first. Astrid clenched his fists tightly. It was then.

He felt a warm, sticky liquid sliding down his face. It was his blood.

It was trickling out from a tear on his forehead.

'I guess I didn't dodge everything, huh.'

He thought that he perfectly countered all those attacks, but it seemed that one or two did get through to him. What bad luck it was, his blood seeping into his eye and interfering with his vision.

On the other hand, the enemy was completely fine. It'd be very hard to describe this situation as a good one for him, even if he were to exaggerate somewhat.

'Fighting up close puts me in a disadvantage.'

That was a rather obvious assessment to make. The enemy's physique was several times larger than his, and it also enjoyed the benefit of having six more arms, too.

Realistically speaking, it was nigh impossible to evade or defend against speedy attacks coming in from all sorts of angles. The wound on his forehead attested to that fact.

'In that case.'

It was time to change the look of this battle just a tiny bit.

The moment he made up his mind as thus, the Vil flew in like an arrow and swung its big fist at him.

Ka-ka-boom!!

The punch sliced open the air and crashed into the wall. It collapsed into countless pieces of rubble. The angel statue tilted its head to the side.

Astrid had taken some distance away from his enemy even before the statue had the chance to consciously realise it.

'I certainly am a match for it in terms of speed.'

So, if he maintained this distance and damaged it from afar….

Astrid immediately activated 'Water Crushing Flow' towards the angel statue as it turned around to face him.

Pow!!

The powerful attack pressing down from the sky to the ground!

The technique used to swat the king of humiliation, The Void Toad, off the air swooped down on Vil's head. However….

'….?'

Astrid did a quick double take.

The skill that managed to tilt the torso of Vil only managed to tilt the head of the him ever so slightly. He couldn't be sure, but the opponent seemed to have activated a skill of its own to defend itself. There was no other explanation he could think of other than that one.

'What could it be?'

His confused state couldn't be maintained for long.

]"How amusing. So very amusing.]"

From some time ago, Vil's low voice and the System's mechanical female-like voice were overlapping in his ears. That unnatural combination was really getting on his nerves a bit.

["This is so very amusing.["

Vil extended all of its eight arms out, and the weapons previously held by the stone statues began vibrating on the ground.

'Isn't that….?'

Astrid's eyes widened greatly.

The weapons of the stone statues soon rose up in the air and flew towards the angel. Eight different weapons were now tightly grasped in Vil's eight hands all at once.

'Thats a telepathic ability!.'

Such abilities were incredibly rare and 1 in 1,000,000 people usually had it, if one was born with this ability, they would immediately be put and a noble and make their family one of the most powerful families in the world.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vil had all of the abilities in the world and this just so happens to be one. Its power seemed to be advanced as he had been locked up in here forever, but whatever the case may have been, he now knew what Vil used to counter the attack earlier on.

Indeed, this thing was not an ordinary opponent at all.

Tick.

Abruptly, Astrid's gaze shifted up.

[Remaining time: 06:45]

And now, he only had roughly seven minutes left.

'I need to finish this quickly.'

He learned that long distance attacks weren't going to work. Astrid revised his plan once more and summoned 'Death's Paragon' again.

'Fighting against eight weapons with a single shortsword, is it? Wait! That's Death's Paragon!'

Ba-thump, ba-thump!!

The more he was pushed to the corner in a fight, the faster his heart beat.

Taht.

Vil jumped up high as if it wanted to touch the ceiling, before landing back down in front of Astrid.

Craaack!!

The stone tiles on the floor couldn't endure against the falling statue's momentum and spat out bits of debris as it shattered into countless pieces.

Astrid pointed forward with his dagger as he felt the small pebbles pelting him on his ankles.

'I can do this.'

He definitely could do this. Astrid stared into the Vil's eyes and calmly drew his breaths in. Immediately, he felt a chill brush run down his back. Sure enough, eight disparate weapons, such as a sword, a spear, a blade, an axe, a war hammer, etc., flew at his way as if they all possessed individual wills.

Fuu….

Astrid spat out heavy, white-hot breaths, his brows shooting up high.

Under the glare of the interior that was neither too bright nor too dark, the light in Astrid's eyes left behind long shimmering trails that chased after his movements.

Kwagagwahk-!! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-gwa-gwahk!!

Would blocking countless flying bullets with bullets fired from an opposing gun create a cacophony of noise similar to this?

The deafening roars continued on unabated as Astrid and Vil exchanged innumerable attacks and counterattacks in an instant.

Within the world slowed down to a crawl, only these two writhed and struggled mightily as if to rebel against the flow of time itself.

There was no one superior or inferior; just an evenly-matched battle of blades where only one would emerge as the victor. Even then….

'I can feel it.'

Astrid's shoulder moved ever so slightly. The sword wielded by Vil brushed past his shoulder with a gap that couldn't be detected by the naked eyes.

He stopped caring about his other eye that couldn't be used anymore. His sensory perception that had exceeded the extreme limits and stepped into a whole new realm helped him to read the trajectories of every weapon his enemy held.

He began dodging every attack the angel statue threw at him by truly paper-thin margins and accurately landed his counters one by one.

More and more wounds appeared on the statue. Vil's speed remained constant, yet Astrid was getting faster and faster.

Naturally, Vil was deeply astonished by this.

"…..!!"

If it was only for the purpose of a test, there was no reason to go this far. However, this human had managed to draw out its full power.

Indeed, just as the term implied – it had to fight with everything it had.

Vil's puzzled, suspicious eyes began peering deeper into Astrid now. And then, it realised the reason for this.

'It's only by a little, but… it's mixed in there.'

Flinch.

The shoulders of Vil trembled in shock. Was that the reason why he could freely wield the immense power so naturally like this?

However, that was also another thing this 'creature' wished for from the beginning, anyway.

Just as the look of elation formed on Vil's face, a cleanly sliced off arm flew up into the air. Vil's head was raised up to look at it.

The arm let go of a weapon as it flew away…. it was Vil's right arm.

]"Kuuuwaaahhk!! How dare a measly human!"]

The colour of Vil's eyes reddened in an instant. Its true nature woke up and it forgot its true purpose, its duty, for being here.

[You dare!!]

It cried out in anger, and the fallen, destroyed stone statues all stood right back up.

BOOM!

Astrid could sense many new enemies being reanimated, but he didn't fall into a panic and simply pounced on Vil statue again.

Clang!!

The four arms of the angel were used to block a single shortsword, yet it was shoved far, far back from the impact force.

Agility, Perception, Strength, and even Stamina – all of Astrid's Stats had far exceeded the expectation of Vil.

[Kuwahk!!]

Vil roared out like a wild beast, and the reanimated stone statues pounced on Astrid. And so, the fight between every single thing within this temple and the lone human commenced.

Tick.

[03:02]

Even in the midst of all this chaos, the timer was still resolutely ticking down to zero.

Astrid's shortsword sliced away yet another of the Vil's arms. This time, it was one of the six created out of its wings.

[Kuwaaahhk!!]

Unfortunately, the resistance of the reanimated stone statues was nothing to scoff at.

There were far too many of them surrounding him now and it became too much of a task to dodge every single attack coming his way. He focused on attacking the angel statue and dodged only those attacks that might critically injure him while ignoring the rest.

His HP and Stamina were cut down in double time.

Stab!

A stone statue slammed down with its shield on his left shoulder.

'Keuk!'

Astrid diverted his attention towards this particular statue.

It was preparing to strike for the second time with its shield. Astrid's expression crumpled into something unsightly.

Only then did Astrid move slightly away from Vil; using the elbow of his left arm not holding a weapon, he stomped the head of the offending statue.

CRACK!

The elbow drop containing magic energy ensured that the statue's head exploded into tiny bits and pieces.

In the meantime, other statues quickly surrounded him and tried to jump on top of him. However, Astrid simply activated his skill and pushed them all away.

'Water Crushing Flow!'

BOOM!!

A group of stone statues were flung away as if they were thrown off from the centre of an explosion.

"Pant, pant…."

Unfortunately, even before Astrid had time to catch his breath, the Vil threw his massive fist down on his head. He lightly leapt to his side and avoided it.

Vuuwuong-!!

The gigantic fist only managed to sweep away dozens of stone statues from Astrid's vicinity. He ran in a wide arc to lose the stone statues mindlessly trying to jump on him and approached Vil again.

And Vil greeted him with a deeply crumpled expression. That was the expression of pure rage.

Soon, blood and sweat evaporated from the sheer heat generated and red mist rose up from Astrid's shoulders.

The stone statues were forced back, and the arms of Vil busily moved about. And in the middle of it all stood Astrid.

[Kuwaaahhk!!]

Another one of Vil's arms flew off, and Astrid's shortsword found itself pressed tightly against Vil's neck.

Astrid calmly strengthened the arm pressing the blade to Vil's neck to cut it off in one go.

At that moment, Vil announced its surrender.

[I lost.]

Simultaneously, the stone statues all froze up and stopped moving.

[Your test has ended.]

Tick.

Like a lie, the timer ceaselessly ticking down also froze up along with the angel's words announcing the end of everything.

[Remaining time: 0:14]

Red hot steam was rising up in a fine mist from Astrid's entire body.

Only after confirming that the timer had stopped for real, he lowered his head. His glare was locked onto the angel statue.

"I have a question."

[You can ask anything. I shall answer if it's within my knowledge.]

Rather unexpectedly, the now-expressionless Vil agreed to his demand without offering any resistance.

'…..'

Astrid didn't say anything and thought to himself.

When he asked the demon 'Why me', the thing mocked him for asking the wrong question.

However, his confusion got more confounded after he heard the identity of this 'thing' from its own mouth, and now, he had more questions than ever before burning a hole in his head.

That was why Astrid decided to ask something that would benefit him the most.

"Who am I?"