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My consciousness grew clearer, and could tell that I was once again imprisoned inside a mirror.

Most of my memories of when Ofaro appeared here and accepted his challenge are gone.

Yugura Nariya is in front of me.

A number of sentences flowed in my mind while I was looking at him. This is the memory bookmarking technique that Wolfe used in the simulated world, huh.

The flow of time in the simulated world is different from the real world. If you try to bring the memories of that world into the real world, the burden would be extreme.

That’s why you can’t bring out the knowledge and experiences you gain from the simulated world.

However, there are ways to bring them out as information in a simple manner.

What Wolfe did was to add simple information in the holidays of the simulated world.

I must have remembered this and brought back the memories of the simulated world in a similar fashion.

“Looks like you managed to bring back a certain degree of memories. That’s quite the limited method, but you certainly can bring the bare minimum information in that way.” (Yugura)

“Having information suddenly pop up in my head is still pretty rough though.”

“Your power was equal to that of Ofaro at that time. But you excelled in how to deal with the simulated world since you made contact with Gold. That must have been the cause for your victory.” (Yugura)

“You could say that.”

There would be no issues with the mental burden if it is in the simulated world where you can limit the memories retrieved. The me at that time must have judged this and taken action.

The usual me would be aware of it, but it feels completely like someone else when it gets to this point.

I, who was given power by Yugura Nariya, was given a few minutes to learn how to control my power.

What was done there wasn’t a check to practice the equal power of Ofaro, but to test out the alteration of space.

Yugura Nariya made the simulated world under the selfishness of Ofaro. It seems like the making was sloppy for someone who can alter the laws of the world.

That’s why I altered that space first and recreated something similar to the Ruling of Gold.

What I needed was a method to extend the sensation of time in the warp of time.

It may be difficult to create a world from zero, but I thought that it wouldn’t be as difficult to tinker with it.

I had him prepare somewhere to sit since I was going to concentrate, acted as if I was meditating, tinkered with the simulated world, and extended the flow of time in my surroundings to the very limit.

The result was that I got several days of preparation time.

After that, I showed equal power to my heart’s content, and succeeded in stopping the aim of Ofaro and defeating him.

I can create a desired way to win if I take several days forming a plan and it is only an opponent with the same amount of power as me.

“I personally could only make a wry smile at your fake bravado though.” (Yugura)

“Sounds like it was pretty rough. Scary, scary.”

This is obvious, but the load of the time axis warp on my mind was quite the thing. There was no damage to the body, but the inside was apparently suffering from maintaining it.

My personal advice was: ‘Your heart would break, so make sure not to copy it. We don’t have the aptitude to be a demon’.

I did something reckless even if I wasn’t bringing it back.

“Even though you got the power. What a waste.” (Yugura)

“…Not really.”

“You returned the power since you didn’t want me to move, but that in my eyes was negligible power. You can’t get out of this place anyways, so there was no point in this battle at all. You should have just taken what you could, considering what will happen after everything is over.” (Yugura)

“It is true that I would be able to do a lot more things, but I wouldn’t get any sense of achievement from that. It would only feel empty. On the contrary, I might end up hungering for more power. That was the case for you, right?”

“…Right. I barely feel anything towards the things that I can do now.” (Yugura)

“It is still on the good side since you have something to aim for despite that, but I simply want to live safely.  There will be nothing awaiting me once living safely doesn’t bring about any meaning.”

But the fight with Ofaro wasn’t pointless at all.

The power to alter the laws of the world from Yugura Nariya was certainly beneficial for me.

I believe I will be able to reach the development I want at the end with the flow of things that I am seeing right now, but there is the risk of losing a lot of things in the process.

The power of demons that surpasses imagination, the denseness of the Black Demon Lord’s military force that can respawn over and over; I wasn’t thinking it would be possible to come out of all this unscathed from the very beginning.

Even when I am aware of this, I always feel a weight on my heart.

But I managed to see the developments of the future in more detail after the fight with Ofaro.

This is a point of view that only I know as someone with a perspective in both the human side and Black Demon Lord side.

“You don’t have enough desire for improvement. But a part of me thinks that’s good, too. It really is sad…to not have anyone standing near you when you look back.” (Yugura)

“At least treasure the remaining humanity you have, Yugura Nariya. You lost your ‘qualification’ as a price for becoming a Demon Lord, so this world is the only thing left for you, right?”

“…What, so you comprehended that.” (Yugura)

“Yeah. That’s pretty much the only thing you could pay aside from your name.”

Yugura Nariya became the White Demon Lord, but he didn’t lose his own name. The other Demon Lords lost their names as their price, but he paid something else.

That must have been his show of determination and left over humanity.

There’s still hope when he still has humanity.

“By the way, why do you call me by my full name?” (Yugura)

“…The reason is because for me…you are just a person from history. You are not trying to live in this era after all.”

I unconsciously didn’t see him as a person living in the same era. That’s the result of me analyzing myself just now.

This person left a lot of things in this era, but isn’t in this era.

The era Yugura Nariya is living in is…the time when the Black Demon Lord was still a person.

“Right. By the way, you thought of that reason just now, didn’t you?” (Yugura)

“I thought about it after you asked me. It is not like I have any resistance in calling you Yugura, you know.”

“You can call me Nariya with affection.” (Yugura)

“You only want one person to call you like that though. You would only feel sad.”

“No doubt about it… You…are feeling a bit better now?” (Yugura)

“Kinda. I did get to blow off some steam with Ofaro.”

I blew off some steam and saw hope. Of course I would feel better.

I am sure you will be able to bring about a better future than the one I drew. Counting on you, Ekdoik.

◇◇

A decent amount of time passed by after the surgery of Ekdoik.

It is progressing well. Green is doing this seriously, so I don’t think the body will be failing though.

“Ekdoik-san…”

Ekdoik has been made to sleep in the device that Green prepared, and is receiving the power of Prosperity.

Blue and Purple are at both sides respectively and are pouring mana into him to form a new body.

This sight would probably look abnormal to a resident of this world. It probably would be vexing for Melia who loves Ekdoik.

“How are ya feeling, Green?” (Gold)

“There’s no issues with the body. He should be able to fulfill the conditions after being reformed for 2,000 times more.” (Green)

“2,000 times… Well, it makes sense. I don’t think one bit that ya will be failing. The issue would be the heart of Ekdoik.” (Gold)

The mind of Ekdoik is currently inside the simulated world of this one.

Ya normally completely sever the link between the body and mind when sending them to the simulated world. If ya don’t, the warp of time will prove to be a heavy load on both the body and mind.

But it is different right now.

Ekdoik is currently feeling the sensation of his body being remade over and over inside the simulated world while having his heart drained by a massive amount of time.

The bare minimum condition to awaken as a demon is for the body to get used to the mana of the Demon Lord.

Green is using Prosperity in the real world to do this at a speed that’s abnormal.

Blue and Purple used both of their manas to recreate the cells in his body over and over, and reproduced what would be centuries of time.

Of course, that alone won’t make Ekdoik reach the awakened state. The mind wouldn’t be able to keep up with the change of the body and his heart would break.

That’s where ya link the mind with the body, sent him to the simulated world, and slowed the flow of time on the mind to the very limit.

Right now Ekdoik is replicating the sensation that the demons have experienced, and continues living in the flow of time.

“He has the aptitude. But there’s only 3 from the subordinates of Black that have succeeded. There’s no assurance anywhere. We can only believe in him.” (Green)

The biggest obstacle is whether Ekdoik himself can endure the flow of centuries.

There were many lunatics within the subordinates of Black. Even so, only 3 of them managed to endure the passing of time.

We have resurrected as Demon Lords by offering our names. That’s why we have been made to endure the flow of time.

But the demons still have their human heart.

You need to keep inhuman emotions in order to maintain your self in the face of centuries.

Ekdoik has to find that inside of himself before his mind is crushed by the time. If he can’t, he won’t be returning to the real world.

“Couldn’t ya give, ya know..more advice that would be useful for him?” (Gold)

“That was the best choice. The unnecessary words of others will eventually be washed away by time. Only a few words can be etched into your heart at most.” (Green)

Green gave brief advice to Ekdoik before sending him to the simulated world.

— “Don’t change. I am sure that guy would have told you only this.” (Green)

Ekdoik was sent to the simulated world without understanding the meaning of those words.

What’s this about not changing when he has to reach the same realm as the demons that have awakened in order to defeat them…?

“…”

The air in the room is heavy.

Blue and Melia can’t do anything aside from praying for the return of Ekodik after all.

We have explained the situation to Melia, too.

Ekdoik will lose his heart if he fails and, even if he succeeds, it would be him after centuries.

“…The woman there. Come here.” (Green)

“M-Me?!”

“Give me your mana. I will use it as a material to recreate the body of Ekdoik. I was thinking the mana of those two wasn’t enough anyways.” (Green)

“I-I don’t mind, but…”

Melia hesitantly walked to where Green was.

He looks like the foolish king of a certain place, but that pressure alone is on a whole level of its own even within the Demon Lords.

“Put your feelings into the mana.” (Green)

“Feelings…?” (Melia)

“Emotions can go into the mana. It is the same logic as the monsters taking form through the emotions of the Demon Lords. It has more meaning than just praying.” (Green)

“Is it okay…for me to put my feelings?” (Melia)

“It would be another story for Purple, but Blue has been sending emotions in her mana to an unpleasant degree. One more in the noise won’t cause any issues. Quite the opposite, if you don’t mix some other things in there, it feels as if it is whispering to me, and I might end up getting a heartache.” (Green)

“Wa?!” (Blue)

Everyone’s gazes gathered on Blue, including Melia.

Just what has she been thinking while sending the mana of Ekdoik? Looks like Green has been able to see it all.

She is so beet red, I can somewhat imagine what she has been whispering.

“Come on, Blue Demon Lord! What are you whispering to My King?!” (Niru)

“It is not towards him! It is towards Ekdoik! Ekdoik! Don’t misunderstand too!” (Blue)

“Silence. I understand even without telling me that you wouldn’t send such feelings like those of an unripe fruit towards me. But how about being a bit more eloquent if you are going to put your feelings into it? Repeating the same thing over and over. Quickly wa—” (Green)

“Waah! Waah! Waah!!” (Blue)

Aah…this one also wants to do such bitter-sweet stuff. But I probably wouldn’t be able to. I do feel like it is a bit rough to become such a maiden because of my age.

It is not like Green did it with ill intent.

He probably told Blue this now since she would be dealt even more damage the longer it got…probably.

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