We had broken the crystal and thus ended the [War].
Immediately after, I was being Transferred.
Which is it going to be? Am I being returned or am I being summoned?
◇
I slowly opened my eyes.
I found myself sitting at a round table.
It didn"t seem like I was in the [Pig] Demon Lord"s dungeon anymore, to say the least.
"I know this place. I"ve been here before…"
It was the same place I was brought to after my [War] against three Demon Lords.
Suddenly, at what seemed to be the designated head of the round table, a light shined brightly and then formed the outline of a person. After a while, the light faded and revealed calm-looking old man.
The Creator had no fixed form, merely taking on the form of whatever the observer imagined the former would have. In my case, he was like this, an old man.
"[Creation] Demon Lord Procell, you"ve entertained me today as well. I haven"t seen a child of the celestial bodies as strong or as brilliant as you. Why, instead of being a child of celestial bodies, you might have ascended into being one yourself."
The Creator, who had a coa.r.s.e voice and a good mood, praised me so.
Even if I asked him what he meant by me ascending into being one of the celestial bodies, he might just dodge the question. If anything, to see how I would react might just be why he mentioned it and made it sound important. He was the kind of individual to enjoy such things, after all.
So, I decided to just ignore it.
"It"s an honor to have entertained you. Is it safe to a.s.sume that the reason why I"ve been summoned here is to receive your kind words?"
I chose to be respectful. This was the being that made me, after all.
"Indeed, but it would be stingy of me to give you just that. So, like all children of the celestial bodies that have managed to entertain me, I would be giving you a reward. But before that, it seems you still haven"t used the reward I"ve given you before. That saddens me, you know."
The Creator was talking about the reward he gave me when I won against three Demon Lords.
Actually, because of the advice I got from Marcho, I had been doing the best I could to avoid using the reward that he gave me. According to her and my own experience thus far, the Creator was someone that enjoyed the suffering of us Demon Lords.
A power given by him was fascinating and powerful, but at the same time, it always came with some kind of trap.
If the reward was purely detrimental, us Demon Lords would resent him more than we have and be plunged into pure agony, which apparently was something the Creator didn"t find entertaining.
So, the system in place was one where we could potentially avoid the trap in the reward so long as we made correct judgements. If we make the tiniest of mistakes though, we would suffer for it deeply, maybe for the rest of our lives even.
And yet, even knowing that, I had used [Rebirth] two times. For I had not, I would have lost Duke and Marcho. I would rather suffer the cost for the rest of my life than lose them.
Fortunately, I haven"t been put in any dire situation where using the other reward I received was necessary.
"I just want to avoid overreliance on the Creator"s powers. Instead, I want to win using my own strength as much as possible."
It wasn"t like I could say I don"t want to use your so-called reward as much as possible because it has a built-in landmine, now could I?
"How admirable. Sadly, it"s also boring. So, how about this to give you a reason to use [Rank Up]: if you don"t use it within two months, starting now, something unpleasant would happen."
The Creator said such an unreasonable thing. Worse yet, he didn"t specify what he meant by something unpleasant.
[Rank Up] was the aforementioned reward I got from my [War] against three Demon Lords.
Just as its name would imply, one of the effects of this ability was to increase a monster"s rank by one. That much was plenty strong enough, but it also had the effects of healing the target monster"s wounds and restoring the monster"s magic power.
Because of that, I had decided to reserve it for when one of my monsters was on the verge of death. In those situations, on top of being restored to perfect condition, they would also grow stronger, allowing them to challenge in better terms a previously unbeatable enemy.
It was an ability worthy of being called a trump card. However, that only made me even more vigilant against the trap it had.
"Understood. I"ll use it within two months."
I didn"t want to use it, but the threat of not using it gave me little choice.
The next question then was on whom to use it. I was curious what would happen when used on an S rank monster, but I had no desire to use it on Kuina and the others. They were my precious daughters and I was not willing to put them at risk.
"Umu, prudent choice. Now, to congratulate you this time, I"m giving you a new reward."
One of the Creator"s fingertips shined with a light. That light then slowly floated toward me until it hit my forehead.
Like that, I received a new ability. At a glance, it seemed very useful, but…
"Thank you very much."
"Umu, I"m glad you liked it. Just make sure you don"t sit on this one. I haven"t imposed a time limit on it, but if you take too long again, I will."
"Yes. I"ll make use of it as soon as an opportunity presents itself."
It seemed very useful, but like all of the Creator"s rewards, I first had to think hard on it.
Until now, I had the luxury to not use the rewards. For that reason, I had an inclination to acquire as much of them as I could, saving them up in case of a rainy day. There were the traps to be mindful about, sure, but knowing I had insurance made me feel better.
However, now that I was forced to use them, it might be necessary to win in such a way that it didn"t entertain the Creator.
"Then, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell, who shines noticeably brighter than the other new children of the celestial bodies, you may now return. I expect you to shine brighter still."
My body was then overcome with the floating sensation of [Transfer].
In a sense, this meeting with the Creator has tired me out more than the [War].
I just want to return to Avalon and rest already.
◇
The [Transfer] was over and I found myself on a plain.
This was where the [Pig] Demon Lord"s dungeon would have been if his crystal was still intact.
Upon seeing me, my subordinates gathered around me.
"I"m sorry to have kept everyone waiting. Let"s go back to Avalon, shall we?"
"Welcome back, Oto-san. When we get home, let"s have a party!"
"Mhm. The golems will help in the preparations."
"Count me in too! After resting under the golden apple tree, I"ve recovered greatly!"
My [Monsters of the Covenant]—Kuina, Rorono, and Aura—were the among the firsts to rush to me.
Aura had returned to Avalon in the middle of the [War], but had been Transferred back to the place she was in before the [War] started which was here.
"A party, huh? Not a bad idea. Yeah, sure, let"s hold a victory celebration party."
"Yay! Today"s gonna be feast too!"
The [War] this time had been so abrupt that the thought of such things hadn"t crossed my mind.
But since we have been holding a celebration party after each win to the point that it have become a sort of tradition, not having one this time would make everyone feel rather disappointed.
"Alright, let"s go grand this time. Ruhe, can you hear me? Go back ahead of us via the Abyss Howls and then cooperate with the ones in Avalon to prepare for the party."
A nearby puddle of water rippled, and in the next moment, a blue-haired, beautiful girl appeared.
She was Ruhe the R"lyeh Diva.
"Eeeeeeh, I"ve already worked so hard though. And now, you"re giving me even more work. You"re really a slave driver, patron."
"…I guess I should mention that sky"s the limit for the budget on this party. I"ve also been thinking of leaving you in charge of choosing which drinks to serve."
Ruhe"s face then made a 180 turnaround from being displeased to being exuberant.
The bait worked.
"Yes, beloved patron, I"d love return to Avalon right away! Everyone, come on, hurry. Gufufufufu, I wonder which ones I should pick. There"s the vintage wine I"ve always wanted to drink, there"s also that, and that… Oh, there"s also those high-cla.s.s brandies and whiskeys making the rounds in Avalon lately. I"ve always wanted to drink them, but they were just too expensive to buy with my own money. Oh, oh, oh, good drinks need good snacks! I have to be careful in selecting each item. So much to do!"
With a suspicious-looking smile, Ruhe returned to Avalon together with some Abyss Howls.
By leaving that task to her, I could expect the finest of drinks and snacks to be served in party. There were a lot of things to be said about her, but her palate and aesthetic sense were not among them.
Moreover, Duke was there in Avalon to a.s.sist.
"Alright, time to go home. Everyone, enter the containers!!"
My monsters all began to move.
While lining up, they were pondering on the aftereffects of the [War], being excited for the party, and generally just laughing with each other.
When I looked at them, a warm feeling spread within me.
"I"m so glad we won again. Otherwise… I would have lost them all."
Looking at the flatland that used be the [Pig] Demon Lord"s dungeon, I felt pain in my chest.
Once a Demon Lord"s crystal was broken, their dungeon as well as their monsters would all vanish.
Not the city that was gradually getting closer to being my ideal city, not my important monsters who laughed with me, no, none of them would remain should it come to that.
That realization hit me once again.
And so, I renewed my vow to never lose. To that end, I needed to grow stronger.
Which reminded me that when I broke the [Pig] Demon Lord"s crystal, I obtained the ability to use his [Pig] skill, as well as the ability to select his [Pig] medal as the medal to produce for a given month.
Being able produce another kind of A rank medal meant a lot to me and my [Creation] medal.
His [Pig] skill was extremely useful as well. I didn"t care for its function to gain control over female monsters via violating them, but its function to strengthen my body was very welcome. After all, if a Demon Lord dies, it was all over.
While I was on it, I remembered that I had obtained three other Demon Lords" skills from breaking the respective Demon Lord"s crystals.
[Steel]: Allows the user to summon and to freely shape steel. Such things as weapon generation is also possible.
The power to make steel weapons was extremely irrelevant to me. I had no need to make weapons made from inferior materials.
[Viscosity]: Freely produce mucus. Also allows the user to harden mucus.
Other than having shock absorption and magic resistant properties, this mucus could also be used in place of antifreeze and fire-spread-inhibiting materials. It"s a surprisingly useful ability that could even help in the healing of wounds. If made to harden, it can be as tough as steel and thus be used as a weapon. All that being said, I haven"t found the chance to make use of this ability.
[Evil]: Can impregnate females. The strength of the born monster is relative to the mother"s strength. The burden the skill places on the mother is severe.
…how the h.e.l.l am I to use this? Using this on my girls is out of the question. I didn"t want to use it on other Demon Lords" monsters either. And since I was aiming to coexist with human beings, I didn"t want to use it on them too. This one would be locked away for the rest of my life, unused.
With the arrival of the [Pig] skill, I finally gained something I could use.
After reviewing all of the skills though, I realized once again just how absurd my [Creation] was.
"Oto-san! We"re ready to leave!"
Kuina beckoned to me.
It"s time to go, huh? Better not keep them waiting.
While I thought that, I once again promised to myself that I would never lose, that I would never part with my city or my monsters.
I would get so strong that this would be the last time we would have such a close fight.
Now, time to go home. Back to Avalon.
TL note:
I changed Children of the Planet to Children of the Celestial Bodies, as Planet might imply the world they"re living in. Aura"s skill will also change. Yes, I might be thinking too much into it, just like what the Creator wants.