DD 203 Ch 30

Chapter 30

I glanced beyond the boss doors to see what lay inside, only for the interior of the room to look nothing like the floor we had just been through.

Where the landscape behind me was all unrefined volcanic rocks and lava flows the boss room had pillars of obsidian that had been intricately carved and hung with gold, painted with a variety of red dyes. A giant mural of a majestically large demon adorned one wall. At the far end of the room, through the columns, lay a handsome man wearing nothing but a loincloth, smirking amongst a pile of pillows. 

I clenched my jaw to prevent it from dropping. The man lounging amongst the pillows was one I recognized all too well. I didn't need my CID to tell me who this boss was; I would recognize Demon Lord Snu Snu anywhere.

The seal on my pelvis grew burning hot as the Demon Lord sealed inside me fought against his restraints, pushing hard. I wavered on my feet, feeling him creep into my mind. 

"Ken?" Des asked, turning to see me swaying on my feet, my vision dimming. I held onto her for dear life. 

"The seal. I think it's breaking," I managed, before I was pulled into a different space. 

The room wasn't dissimilar to the boss room we were in now, only instead of a lush pile of pillows. Demon Lord Snu Snu stood amidst a pentagram and his shelves of smut. He was currently fighting to break the burning chains on his wrists. 

"What are you doing?" I shouted, drawing my weapons and activating [Dark Blades] on them as a force of habit. Wherever I was, I was able to call upon the same items and abilities that I had in the real world. 

Demon Lord Snu Snu looked up and smiled at me. "The time has finally come," he said. "I've been here conserving my strength, but now..." His smile grew even wider. "Now is the perfect opportunity for me to escape." 

He pulled at the chains harder and I saw one of the glowing links crack under the strain he was putting on them. 

"Not just yet," I cautioned him and stepped to the edge of his pentagram, hesitating to enter it as in the past he had overpowered me. However, I likely now had the strength to fight him and I stepped more confidently into the pentagram. I was now at the same level as when he’d been sealed.

It was clear that if I allowed Demon Lord Snu Snu to continue his actions, he would break free of the seal. Understanding the risk, I rushed into the pentagram, blades drawn, and attacked him. The Demon Lord used the chains that bound him to block and tangle my initial strikes. 

"My dear Ken," he twisted one of my blades in the chains and spun around to prevent me from hitting him with my other sword. "I have been watching you fight this entire time. If anyone is an expert on Ken Nagato's fighting style, it should be me." 

He smirked and snapped his fingers over the point where my blade was tangled in his chains. A magical fist of fire punched me in the chest and threw me back before he pulled my sword out from where it had been left in the chains and used it to hack at the weakened link. 

"No, Ken. You're already far too late. My plan is already in motion and you have fallen into my trap." He grinned, a smile spreading across his unfortunately handsome face. "I understand what I am. I understand what you are and what's become of everything," he said. 

"Did you know that once I was third in line to becoming the King of Hell?" He asked.

I came at him again with my remaining sword, forcing him to stop hacking at the links of his chain and block me. 

Unfortunately, Demon Lord Snu Snu was apparently not half bad with a sword, matching me with the same technique that I used. The Demon Lord's eyes were alight with fire as he used my own form against me. 

"Ken, if I am to reclaim my rightful place as a Demon Lord and ascend to the King of Hell, I understand that I cannot be content being sealed within your body. The Prince would have been a more suitable host." Snu Snu smirked at the frown of confusion on my face. 

My blades clashed with him again and he lifted the weakened link. Using it as a shield, I paused my attack only for Demon Lord Snu Snu to twist and come at me with a high stroke that I was forced to dodge, sliding out of the way. Even then, I nearly had my nose cut off. 

"How would you have gotten the Prince?" I growled. 

"Of course, through you. I needed you in this boss room with him," Demon Lord Snu Snu waved the sword around in his hand. "But no, no matter how much I pushed on your psyche to give the Prince a break, that stupid idiot had to go and try and attack you." 

"Wait a second. Pushed on my psyche?" 

Demon Lord Snu Snu gave a helpless shrug and hissed through his teeth. "What can I say? I needed you not to kill him. It's kind of incredible the flimsy excuses that humans can make. And I would have much preferred Prince Albar's body, the resources I could have had at my disposal.” He let out a long suffering sigh. “But yours will have to do." 

With that, Snu Snu struck the broken link again, my sword nearly burning up, red-hot, as he charged up some sort of ability. 

"Wait.” I shouted, wanting to keep him talking.

He ignored me. “You know, it's a shame, that thing out in the boss room. It looks like me, but it cannot be me, for I am the only Demon Lord Snu Snu." The sword came down again in a flash of red power.

I shielded my eyes only to hear chains getting the floor.

He managed to break the link, pulling his arm free of the chains that had once bound him to my seal. He began to shift, as I had seen him do once when I sealed him in the past. Rather than the athletic, humanoid form that wore nothing but a loincloth, he transformed into a massive demon that towered overhead. 

I suddenly realized why the mural in the room had looked so familiar. It was of that demonic form.

As Demon Lord Snu Snu shifted, his arms strained against the final chain on his other wrist. He pulled hard enough to make his biceps swell, his entire form rippling with muscle, as the last chain broke. 

I went at him with my sword, trying to keep him from escaping. However, I could already feel the tenuous hold that the seal had on him was gone.

As Demon Lord Snu Snu broke the final chain, I woke up, my consciousness returning to the real world rather than the one in my mind where Snu Snu had been chained.

I screamed as a red light bubbled up from my crotch, exploding in a beam that ripped apart my pants and bathed the entire room in an ominous red light. The seal on Demon Lord Snu Snu broke, and he escaped my body.

Something shot out of me followed by a massive flurry of paper. Hundreds of smut magazines sprayed up against the ceiling and started falling.

Des was next to me, her eyes wide with panic. 

"Ken!" she screamed. 

I gritted my teeth. The departure of Demon Lord Snu Snu from my body was far from comfortable.

The room continued to fill with the same red light as the beam turned and arched towards the boss on the other end of the room. Demon Lord Snu Snu, who was once a simple boss, was knocked aside, his pillows exploding in fire.

He stood back up with a cruel smile on his face and ran his fingers through his hair amid the fluttering of magazines. 

"Perhaps we should get out of here," Charlotte suggested, turning to me. 

However, before I could even respond, the boss raised his hand. Glowing chains, as if they had just been pulled from the infernal depths of hell, wrapped around the boss door, sealing it shut.

"Oh, Charlotte. Poor, sweet, cute Charlotte," Snu Snu shook his head. "You won't be treating me as an evil person. You won't be treating me as any normal boss." 

Another wave of his hand made chains erupt around the stairs down to the next safe zone, sealing off that exit as well. 

"You see, Ken here understands. Isn't that right, Ken?" He flashed me a smile. "I have watched how you reset bosses and try them many times in order to win. However, I will not be giving you that option." He held his arms out wide. “The rules will be a little different.”

Charlotte gulped and Bun-bun started chittering angrily.

Demon Lord Snu Snu shot her a charming smile as if to calm her. "Instead, I will be taking Ken's body and then I will be doing what he should have done this whole time. I will turn your entire college into a drooling harem of ladies for me to enjoy at my pleasure and use to level my new body’s stats." 

Des cast me a glance out of the side of her eye. "The demon sealed inside of you wouldn't happen to be," she checked her CID, scanning the one in front of us, "Demon Lord..." She snorted and held a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Demon Lord Snu Snu," she managed to get the words out. 

I glared at Des. "Now is not the time. Be serious."

“Snu Snu!” Felin couldn’t help herself and started sputtering as she covered her mouth.

“Not you too!” I grumbled, getting to my feet. I tapped on my CID several times to change into a pair of pants that didn't have the front blown out. My two swords appeared in my hands next.

“What’s wrong with my majestic name?!” The boss roared, making the room shake and reminding us all that we were in some very real danger at the moment.

“It should be forgotten.” I said, glaring at the ladies.

"I think what's important, Des, is that we kill this boss as quickly as we can," Felin frowned at the boss ahead of us, doing a complete one-eighty. 

"He is quite charming, is he not?" Charlotte asked, only for Bun-bun to chop her on top of the head. 

"Des said that Ken always had an incubus sealed inside of him. Don't let the boss charm you. Keep your head on your shoulders and remember that you would like Ken in charge of Ken's body and not some stupid Demon Lord that doesn't know how to wear a proper pair of pants. Also, can you really respect someone named Snu Snu?" Fayeth stifled a giggle as she glanced in my direction.

I held my hands up. "This is exactly why I never told any of you the Demon Lord's name. He's threatening to take my body and all you can do is laugh at his name." 

"It's pretty funny," Des smirked, her eyes pinching down as she got serious. "But don't worry, Ken. We aren't about to lose you." She drew a grimoire from her CID. The old leather-bound book was worn on the corners. "And once we've defeated him, this time we will seal him properly." 

At that comment, Demon Lord Snu Snu drew his hand through the air as if he was grasping the pink magic that settled in it before it exploded from his hands. Four large hearts tried to overtake the ladies of my party.

However, all four of them held up their hands and used [Absorb] to stop the hit.

Des in turn launched her own charm. Demon Lord Snu Snu chose to not fight the charm. He let it hit him, his eyes forming hearts. 

"Don't worry, dear Desmonda. I will make you my queen after I take Ken's body." Despite the sudden charm effect on him, the Demon Lord didn't seem to change his actions in the slightest. "Now that we're all done with the performative magics, let's get down to it. Finally, a bit of excitement." 

He wove his hand in the air, beginning to cast a larger, more sinister spell. Fayeth rushed in, sweeping with her glaive and striking the boss.

Snu Snu took the hit without flinching before he blasted out waves of fire that chased after each of us. It seemed he really was a boss.

Felin jumped to the side, trying to dodge hers, only for it to snake around and continue after her. 

I hadn't used Absorb because he hadn't targeted me with the charm, letting me use it for the fire instead. I appeared behind the boss and struck with my swords in a quick staccato, beginning to build up stacks of [Liminal speed]. I needed to become as fast as I could, and I needed to end this boss immediately.

Demon Lord Snu Snu glanced at me over his shoulder and gave a hearty chuckle, not seeming to care one bit as his health was chipped away.

Though, given the secondary form he used inside my soul, I could only assume he would have a second phase in this fight, even if the entity controlling the boss's body was a more aware Demon Lord Snu Snu. It seemed he couldn't just transition to the second phase without losing health. 

He smacked Vaeth aside and turned to swing at me, his hand transforming into familiar metamorphosis claws as he tried to take a chunk out of me. 

"You're supposed to be attacking her," I said. There was no way I’d done enough damage to pull agro.

Snu Snu grinned. "I have to follow some rules it seems, but not all of them." Ignoring the tank of our party, he came at me in a wild flurry of slashes that forced me to block and dodge. 

"More than just attack. Remember, Ken, I have seen everything and I know I can't let you build up those stacks." Demon Lord Snu Snu continued to doggedly pursue me, attacking with his demonic claws. 

However, I wasn't the only one dealing damage.

Des poured magic out of her hands, throwing spell after spell angrily at the Demon Lord. Meanwhile, Felin took a more offensive approach. She summoned ice and lightning at the tip of her spear and hurled them at the boss, even going as far as to get in close, jabbing with her spear when she wasn't busy throwing spells. The Nekorian Shaman had a wide range of abilities and was showing them off as her spear flashed over Snu Snu's back. 

Fayeth had chosen to not summon her shield and instead wielded her glaive with two hands, slashing at the boss with all the strength that her small frame could muster, which was a surprising amount.

Still, while being forced to dodge and block, I was able to get in a few swings. A nice small trickle of purple lightning sparked to the back of my hands. 

Demon Lord Snu Snu jumped away from all of us a moment later to land in front of the mural that depicted his larger form. Infernal magics bled out of the wall and into his body as he began to swell and transform into his larger demonic form. Demon Lord Snu Snu roared as his body expanded and explosions of pink magic rippled off of him and kept us away. His transformation finished and without being chained into the pentagram, I saw just how large he could actually be. 

The Demon Lord stood at least 40 feet tall and came at me far faster than I expected his large frame to move. A pitch black fist smashed into the space where I had just been.

Having narrowly escaped the demon's attack, Fayeth was swearing up a storm. As she attacked the boss, she sprayed agitating spores over him, yet he refused to attack the tank. 

"Where are you going, Ken?" The demon lord's voice was deep as it boomed. He pursued me again, smashing through several of the pillars and taking a fragment of one of them to use as a large weapon.

I threw my body to the side, rolling out of the way as he smashed the pillar against the ground.

The whole thing exploded into obsidian shards that cut into my back. As I came to my feet, he came at me again. This time, the boss summoned dozens of chains that snaked out of the ground, threatening to pin me down. 

"Quit running. All I want is your life," he taunted. The chains stretched across the room, trying to capture me. Demon Lord Snu Snu thundered along the obsidian floor, attempting to cut me off. "I'll even let you watch, like you did to me."

I slashed at his ankle several times, preventing my stacks from falling off, but I was forced to escape once again as the chains exploded from the ground and he tried to tether me. At this point, I was barely able to do any damage and was reliant on my four ladies as they continued to do their best while I avoided getting squished or chained by the demonic lord who was insistent on catching me. 

Demon Lord Snu Snu could see his problem and stopped pursuing me for a moment before throwing out enough pink hearts to blanket the room.

All of them quickly absorbed the spell, only for him to throw another wave seconds later. These ones were not absorbed and instead, I saw all of them stiffen, hearts beginning to glow in their eyes. 

"You see how easy that was, Ken?" Demon Lord Snu Snu roared. "That's what you could have been doing to all of the ladies in your college and even the ladies of the other colleges. If you had done something like this to that Basma of Royal College, then you could have prevented her college’s betrayal by controlling her." 

The demon held his arms out magnanimously as if he had already won.

I ignored his antics and struck at his ankles. "If you think the answer is to simply control other people, I think you and I have some fundamental moral differences that make your advice incompatible," I retorted. 

The demon lord snorted. "Oh, don't get sappy on me and talk about something as stupid as love," the Demon Lord replied. "Something like that can't even compete with my Greater Charm." 

He waved his hands over at my ladies, only for Des to blast him in the face and Fayeth to rejoin me in attacking him. The demon lord did a double take.

There was one still under the effect of his charm, Bun Bun. The rabbit latched onto his leg and began to hump him. 

"Get off, you infernal creature!" Demon Lord Snu Snu's giant frame stopped and tried to shake the little rabbit off.

I took that opportunity to renew my attack, launching every ability in my spellbook one after the other, trying to deal damage to the rather large boss. 

Even Felin managed to shake off the charm ability, though she was last amongst my ladies, and renewed her attack on Demon Lord Snu Snu. 

"This is preposterous!" he exclaimed. He smacked Bun Bun off of him, only for the rabbit to evade his next attack and try to latch onto his ankle once again. 

"No, Demon Lord Snu Snu.” Des chuckled using the name. "What's preposterous is that you think you have even an ounce of Ken's charm." 

She blasted a green meteor down on the large demon and I couldn't help but smile that my ladies had managed to break free of his charm ability. And his distraction had allowed me to build up stacks of liminal speed. Not giving a moment for him to break that advantage, I started doing significantly increased damage to the boss.