Riser

25-286

Added 2025-09-27 21:19:31 +0000 UTC

EP.286. [The Advent of the Demon King]1

“The Demon King blessed by the Demon God is descending.”

A man with red eyes, black hair, and grand horns stared wide-eyed at the stormy black sky. This was the sky above the perpetual snow mountains, and the man was Mephist, the leader of the declining demon tribe. Mephist hailed from the prestigious Bellator family, one of the deepest-rooted noble houses among the demons, and had long worked to unite the scattered demons across Iskandar’s snow mountains. His greatest lifelong wish was to establish a supreme Demon King for the tribe a mission passed down as a family legacy.

“The prophecy is coming true.”

After years of effort, Mephist finally received a revelation: a Demon King blessed by the Demon God would soon be born, restoring the glory of the demon tribe. At this very moment, Mephist Bellator, who had longed for the Demon King, sensed his lord’s advent had begun.

‘The vessel of the Demon King…?’

Elsewhere, Mina was being drawn in. As she began to hear an unknown voice, she was entranced by it. The words “the vessel of the Demon King” echoed in her mind and heart, awakening a memory she had long forgotten she had heard those words before, long ago.

Flames roared and soared. In a remote Mohican village in the harsh Enklema desert canyon, fire raged, and the stone buildings unique to the Mohicans were trampled and destroyed. The last refuge of the Mohicans was being devastated by none other than

“ Kroooooooh! Uwooooooh!!!”

a dragon.

Flash!!!

A black dragon, tinged with purple light, appeared in Enklema, a creature said to be born when saturated with demonic energy. This black dragon, about 1.5 times larger than a drake, spread its massive wings and unleashed hellish flames.

“ Aaaah!”

“ Uwaaah!!”

The village burned endlessly under the black dragon’s rampage, and the few remaining Mohicans screamed in agony. Though shunned by other barbarian tribes for their demon blood, the Mohicans now faced extinction at the hands of a dragon filled with demonic energy.

‘My home is burning…’

It was a scene of utter horror, witnessed by a young barbarian girl Mina. She had gone to fetch water at a nearby oasis and, upon seeing black smoke rising from her village, rushed back. She saw the dragon’s attack and, without time to process, ran into the flames to save her family and friends. But the dragon’s fire was unlike ordinary flames; it melted living bodies instantly. Mina saw her loved ones burning and, overwhelmed, fled and collapsed from lack of oxygen, watching her village burn as she lay on the ground.

Boom!!!

Suddenly, a tremendous impact and vibration shook the earth where Mina lay.

“Grrrrrrrr…!”

The black dragon landed. Having turned the village into hell and burned everyone, it now stood before the helpless Mina.

‘Uncle… Auntie… I’ll be with you soon…’

Mina accepted her impending death. The dragon had no reason to spare her, and she had no will to live. Her family in the last Mohican village were not blood relatives; she had been raised by other Mohicans after losing her memory. Yet she was grateful they had welcomed her as their own. She grew up quickly and worked hard, but all her efforts were futile against such overwhelming disaster. So she began to accept her death.

[Hmm… I wondered what brought me here, but now I see.]

But the black dragon had no intention of killing the small, dying girl before it. As if solving a great inner mystery, it gazed at Mina and muttered to itself.

“.....”

Mina, exhausted, could barely react.

To her, the dragon said:

[The vessel of the Demon King is here. After a thousand years, the vessel finally appears!]

‘The vessel of the Demon King…?’

Even as her consciousness faded, Mina’s attention was caught.

[Heheheh… Even beings like me, transcendent as we are, must follow the great causality of the world… But I don’t mind. It’s meaningful to be the catalyst for the Demon King’s descent after a thousand years…]

Sssssss…

The dragon gently coiled its long tail around Mina, expressing a strange intimacy.

[All your trials all of it was to become the Demon King. Remember this deeply… And as the vessel, I’ll give you a gift…]

Flash!

The black dragon brought its enormous head close to Mina’s dim eyes, its gaze flashing as if to perform some ritual.

Sssssss…

A dark purple energy shield enveloped Mina’s body.

Gwooooo…!

The shield swirled like a vortex and was absorbed into her body.

[Girl… wherever you go, however you grow, when the time comes for the Demon God’s flower to bloom, the Demon God will find you by the mark I now place upon you…]

The dragon marked Mina, binding her to her fate as the Demon King’s vessel.

[It’s a fate too heavy to bear forget it for now… But you cannot escape it. Eventually, you will walk your path…]

Flash!!!

The black dragon spread its massive wings.

‘I remember now… It wasn’t a drake, it was a dragon… It called me the vessel of the Demon King…’

With Antoine’s shattering of the goddess’s crest, the last brake on the descent of the Demon King blessed by the Demon God was released. Twenty years earlier, the black dragon saved dying Mina, planted the Demon God’s flower within her, and the transcendent Demon God, residing in another dimension, found Mina as the vessel. The voice whispering in Mina’s mind was the Demon God itself.

As the mark awakened and the Demon God linked to her, Mina, as if entranced, entered a pure white mental space, and the memories of her fated encounter returned.

‘I summoned it… The disaster that destroyed the last Mohican village…’

The Demon God’s mark, placed by the black dragon, saved Mina’s life and sealed and distorted her memories to protect her until she was ready. It made her believe a drake destroyed her village, not the dragon she summoned. This was to shield her from the unbearable truth that her loved ones died because of her.

[Yes… that chaos is the nourishment for a Demon King… The vessel is now full and blooming…]

But now, things were different. As an adult, Mina was no longer so weak as to die from overwhelming sorrow. Years of wandering had made her resilient. As ancient priestess Anastasia said, demonic energy is rooted in negative thoughts and spirit. Now that the Demon King blessed by the Demon God was being created, there was no reason to keep her memories sealed. Mina would not take her own life.

‘I… because of me… everyone around me…’

Buuuuuum… Buuuuum… Buuuuuum…!

With the Demon God’s whispers, Mina’s body began to rise.

Flash!

Her eyes opened wide, glowing with an intense dark purple light.

Shyaaaaaaa!!!!

A colossal beam of dark purple light enveloped Mina, just as Jeanne and Margaret saw.

Whoooooooo!!! Whoooooooo!!

It was more than a pillar of light. Inside was an unimaginable energy, sucking in space like a black hole and devastating the surroundings.

[After a thousand years… the Demon King blessed by the Demon God is chosen… The vessel is you, Mina. You will be the Demon King…]

The advent of the Demon King had begun.

Fwaaaaaa…!