"I am the King of Demons, the absolute and peerless existence… I alone stand at the apex of all creation. You puppets fashioned by the gods—do you still not comprehend? He whom you once worshipped has been buried by me in eternal darkness. O foolish ones, there is no path to survival save for bowing before me. My name is Asem. King of All, Weaver of Heaven and Earth. Come then. Let me carve my name into your corpses for all eternity."
"Heyyyyyyy! Are you serious?! You're literally doing Dragon Quest right now! That's a total final boss monologue!"
Asem broke character immediately, grinning. "You caught that? It's from VII."
"I didn't ask! And yeah, I recognized it!"
"Man, I've always wanted to say those lines at least once. Ah-ha-ha-ha!"
"God, he's so annoying. He's so annoying. Hey, can I just punch you? Just once? I'll give you three hundred yen, just let me deck you!"
"No thanks."
He really was infuriating. I wanted to hit him. Forget the fate of the world—I wanted to punch him on a purely personal level.
Why did he have to shatter the tension like that? This was supposed to be a poignant reunion, and he just trashed the mood. Or rather… for him, this was normal.
I let out a long, weary sigh and shifted my focus to what Asem was wearing.
Robes of pure darkness. The design was simple with minimal ornamentation, yet it radiated an overwhelming sense of dread and majesty. This was the battle garb of the successive Demon Kings of Ast-Arde—the same attire Sirius wore whenever he went to war. Even during our final battle.
Asem smiled, reading my thoughts.
"Nostalgic, isn't it? This outfit, this place…"
"Yeah. So nostalgic it actually feels wrong."
"Don't be like that. I put a lot of effort into this. This room took the most work to build, you know?"
"I can believe it. You've recreated it with terrifying precision."
I looked around. No matter how I sliced it, this was the exact place where Sirius and I had exchanged our final blows. The stone walls, the floor, the massive pillars lining the vast hall, and the altar at the far end. Everything had been perfectly replicated.
Back then, we fought for the future of Ast-Arde. In the end, things had played out according to Sirius's calculations, leading to peace between humans and demons… but at a heavy cost.
"Asem. Do you actually intend to be a Demon King? You of all people should understand the weight of those robes."
Asem gave a wry smile. "Vals and the others asked me the same thing. These clothes represent my resolve. Sirius wasn't the last Demon King. I'm taking over that role."
"He didn't want Miwa to have to become the Demon King. He tried to end the very existence of the 'Demon King' by taking all the past grudges and accumulated karma onto himself. You understand that, and you're still doing this?"
"Exactly."
His reply was short and blunt. He had donned the mantle while fully aware of Sirius's sacrifice. Though he still had that air of a playful trickster, his words carried a new, heavy gravity. Something was burning quietly in the depths of his eyes.
He seemed the same, yet he was entirely different.
"What's driving you?" I asked. "Your goal isn't just to destroy the world. I know that much. You're seeking change—you're just choosing the most forceful way possible to get it."
Instead of answering, Asem countered with a question of his own. "Do you remember what I told you before?"
"Which part? You say so much crap I can't narrow it down."
"What I was saying right before you collapsed. Though, our conversation was cut short by the Trihexa's revival."
That jogged my memory. Right, things had gone to hell the moment the Trihexa woke up, and I'd passed out immediately after. Back then, Asem had said…
"…Something about how there are already two different worlds—ours and Ast-Arde."
Asem nodded. "Right. Your world… let's call it 'Code D.' A fitting name, since Great Red—the D×D—protects its dimensions. Then there is Ast-Arde. Two worlds with completely different foundations. Up until now, you've only focused on Ast-Arde, but didn't you ever wonder? Didn't you ever doubt? Possibilities aren't limited to just one or two. They are infinite."
"Wait… You can't mean…!"
My mind finally caught up. Looking back, Asem was right. Possibilities were infinite. Why had we never considered that there might be more? Had we assumed it was impossible? Or had we simply been too distracted by the existence of Ast-Arde?
Amidst my racing thoughts, Asem gave a meaningful smirk.
"There are other worlds out there. By my estimate, there are at least five—including this one and Ast-Arde."
"What…?!"
The revelation hit me like a physical blow. Five worlds? If he included ours and Ast-Arde, that meant there were three other entirely different worlds out there.
"Is that even possible? I mean… five? That's way more than I expected."
"Heh, you look surprised. Five is just the minimum number I've been able to observe. The possibility that even more exist is very high."
You've got to be kidding me… Are parallel worlds really that common? I remember as a kid talking about how "If we exist on Earth, aliens must exist too," but this was on a whole other level. This wasn't just about space being big—it was about the dimensions themselves.
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