#1190 The Anointed One of Magic 

My name’s Monsmuf. 

Some people call me “Monsieur Monsmuf” out of respect. Sometimes they don’t, though. It depends on their mood. 
You might be wondering why they’d bother with all the honorifics. Well, that’s because I’m something of a big shot in the field of magical research, boasting a solid fifty-year track record. 

My specialty is alchemy magic. 
It’s only natural, seeing as I’m a member of the demon race. 

I’ve poured countless years into advancing and evolving magic. Back when I was a rookie, the war with the humans was at its peak, so making magic more efficient and destructive was an urgent priority. 

My research lab back then was an absolute hive of activity. We spent day and night holed up, developing new magic incantations. 

Incantations are basically prayers offered to the spirits or gods that form the backbone of sorcery.  
Because of that, those prayers need to show proper respect and courtesy to the beings you’re appealing to, while still getting your request across succinctly. 

So, my fellow researchers and I would sit around tinkering with the wording— “No, that won’t fly,” “Hmm, how about this?” —trying to craft a prayer so polished that the spirit or god would feel inclined to lend us their power.  

We had to be super careful with every word. 

Gods, for instance, can be especially finicky.  
Take Demetersephone, the Mother Earth Goddess, who’s the wife of our ancestral demon god and the one we rely on most often. There’s a single word you should never, under any circumstances, include in your incantation to her. 

Her husband, Hades, is a stand-up god compared to the other main deities; he’s only ever cheated once, from what I hear.  
And the name of his one alleged fling was Minthe or something like that. 

So Demetersephone absolutely loses it if she hears anything that sounds like “mint.” Even a phrase like “shiteminto…” (“gonna do this…”) can set her off. 
Every god has their own special set of no-go words like that, passed down to us researchers as cautionary tales when crafting incantations. 

Demetersephone’s actually not that bad, all things considered. On the other hand, Hera, the Queen of the Skies, is a minefield of taboo words.  
Her husband’s had way too many affairs, and if you try to piece together a prayer to borrow her power, you’re bound to stumble on at least one of those triggers.  
The landmines are so numerous that it’s practically an unwritten rule to just give up on making spells that call on Hera at all. 

Not that it matters. She’s the ancestral goddess of the human race that’s clashed with us demons for ages, so odds of her granting us any power are zero. 

Anyway, that’s the kind of hoops you have to jump through when dealing with alchemy magic. It’s unbelievably tricky and requires painstaking caution. 

But recently, I’ve been catching wind of something unsettling. 
Word on the street is that “chantless magic” has become all the rage. 

Incantations, which are crucial to asking the spirits and gods for their power, are supposedly being tossed out.  
That’s like removing the main support beam from a house. What utter nonsense. 

Naturally, I thought it was all a big misunderstanding at first. I’d been cooped up in my beloved Window Research Lab for ages, so I dismissed the rumors at the start. 

But after a few more months of hearing people chatter about chantless magic, I finally got suspicious. That’s when I decided it was time to leave my lab for a full-blown investigation. 
And what I discovered was nothing short of a nightmare. 

Chantless magic really was all the rage. 

They say it’s so popular because you don’t have to recite anything, which makes it super convenient.  

And hey, I get it.  
Back during the war, my team and I spent so much time trying to shorten incantations, streamline them, and activate spells as fast as possible. 
In battle, a few seconds could mean life or death, so of course we worked our tails off to speed up our spells.  

We kept the essential respect for the gods and spirits, but we still tried to slice out any excess phrasing or repetitive bits that slowed us down. All so we could wrap up our chanting faster on the battlefield. 

But now the war’s long over, there’s no urgent need to accelerate the incantations any further. So, why would chantless magic start trending right at this point in time? 

Worried, I tracked down whoever was pushing this whole chantless magic idea.  
Yes, I knew storming over unannounced would be considered rude in normal circumstances, but this is an emergency.  

Removing incantations, our show of respect and courtesy to gods and spirits, is dangerously reckless. Trust me; I’m a professional. 

The brain behind chantless magic turned out to be a surprisingly young guy. 

“What? Did I do something wrong?” he said, all clueless-like, and it ticked me off. 

This kid was single-handedly whipping the entire capital into a frenzy over chantless magic. 
A genius? Maybe, but that just made it worse. 

I tried explaining, point by point, why his idea was dangerous and begged him to help put a stop to it, but... 

“Why should I? Everybody seems to love that they don’t have to chant anymore. Why change something that’s making them happy?” 

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world!  
Open your eyes, young man! 
You have no idea how badly you’re pissing off the spirits and gods! If this continues, the ties that bind them to us could get cut off for good!  
It’s just common sense that gods and spirits don’t take kindly to dealing with jerks. 

I tried one more time to talk sense into him, but that little upstart, Kaito, brushed me off, going, “Huh? Did you say something?” like he couldn’t be bothered. 

And to make it worse, his little posse was right there cheering him on: 

“Kaito, sir… you’re holding your own against the legendary Monsmuf! Not giving an inch!” 
“Monsmuf’s a giant in magical research, right? Being able to stand toe-to-toe with him is exactly what we’d expect from Kaito!” 
“Kaito’s brilliance is at least on par with Monsieur Monsmuf! No, he’s even better, if you ask me!!!” 
“Muh…muh…mushi…muh… what was it again?!” 

They started ganging up on me so bad I couldn’t get a word in edgewise! 

I couldn’t stop it on my own!  
The raging tide of chantless magic was out of my control! 

*** 

I was helpless, feeling like total garbage while time kept marching on.  
Then, out of nowhere, a miracle happened. 

The Demon King himself stepped in and gave that Kaito punk a good talking-to. 

But that thickheaded dope barely flinched, even at the Demon King’s words.  
It wasn’t until a Lifeless King showed up out of nowhere and beat the snot out of him that Kaito finally seemed to realize. 
...A Lifeless King? 

Why is there a Lifeless King in the middle of the city?! 
He’s one of the scariest threats in the entire world!  
An immortal being who used forbidden arts to gain eternal life, pushing his mastery of the craft far beyond what any mortal could hope to achieve! 

I’ve been thinking about undergoing the Lifeless King transformation myself someday, you know! 

Anyway, he’s basically got unparalleled knowledge and magical power. No matter how revered Kaito or I are in our societies, we’re nothing but babies next to a Lifeless King.  
We’re like beasts before we even gain the intelligence to speak. 

I was so grateful he came down on Kaito that I actually ran right up to the Lifeless King in a burst of excitement. 

Sir, it’s an honor to meet you! You’re truly on a whole other level when it comes to wisdom and magic!  

I’m so happy I got to see you in person!  
I’m so excited my hair’s falling out! 

“Hoho, you must be pretty fearless to approach me on your own like this just because you’re moved.” 

R-Right.  
If you encounter a Lifeless King, it usually means your life is over.  

But the thrill of watching him trash Kaito was just too great!  
I was practically exploding with pent-up frustration over how nobody was taking the importance of incantations seriously! 

So, the fact that even the Lifeless King showed up must mean that he was furious about that brat’s chantless magic shenanigans, right?! 

“…Well, let’s just say I had my own reasons. But someone else was even angrier than me. That’s why both I and Lord Saint had to step in, to calm that ‘someone.’” 

Wait, Lord Saint?  
And who on earth is this “great one” so mighty that the Lifeless King and Lord Saint would both be tiptoeing around them…?! 

“It’s the Spirit King.” 

S-Spirit Kiiiiiiiiing?! 

The pinnacle of all spirits—the being who presides over the very foundation of this world’s operation. 

The Spirit King was the one who mobilized the Lifeless King and Lord Saint to punish Kaito?! 
That’s on a scale way beyond anything I ever imagined! 

But, yeah, now that I think about it, that makes sense.  
In all this chantless chaos, the ones who’d be most ticked off are the spirits.  

Spirits rank below gods, but they handle way more day-to-day tasks in upholding the world, so they’re way more involved whenever we use magic.  
For us demons, nearly all our magic is spirit-based. 

That’s why I can’t even begin to guess how badly Kaito has bruised the spirits’ pride.  
Frankly, it wouldn’t be that surprising if that was enough to wipe out all of mankind. 

That’s exactly why I was trying to get Kaito and his flock of idiots to see the light. 

…So, what happened next?  
Thanks to the Lifeless King beating him down, was the Spirit King’s anger appeased? 

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” 

Huh?  
Ask him myself…? 

“The Spirit King has been right over there, this whole time.”