“There’s no response from the Katsuura Command Center!”
“According to local reports everything in a 4 kilometer radius has been vaporized. The status of the defense forces is unknown!”
“Sis! Come in, sis!”
“The cause of the destruction is unknown. It may be an enemy weapon.”
The channels were full of different messages going back and forth. But there was only one thing he cared about.
“So the eldest daughter of the Hattori, the commander of the guards, is dead?” Akuto asked Morlock in a low, but surprisingly calm voice.
“H-How should I know...” Morlock was trying his best to do a mocking laugh, and failing utterly. His voice was breaking.
“I’m asking for your opinion. Do you think she’s alive? Or do you think she’s dead?” Akuto repeated himself.
“W-What do you care? Of course she’s dead! That thing burnt a whole city to ash. If anybody was alive, they’d have contacted someone by now.” Morlock said, unsure of why he was being asked this.
“So you think if she was there, she’s dead, then. So, what did you think about that?”
“W-Why are you asking me this? It’s got nothing to do with me. I didn’t do it. As far as I know, that’s a manifestation of the Faceless Power. I’m sure you’ve heard what that thing is. If it happened, it means the people of the Republic wanted it to happen. So it’s not my fault.”
Akuto was calm, but Morlock was starting to lose it. Akuto asked another question.
“I asked what you thought. Don’t worry about whether or not it’s your fault. You weren’t thinking about anything, is what you’re telling me. You really weren’t thinking about anything at all.”
“H-Have you gone crazy? So what? Nobody thinks about it. What do I think about a bunch of people dying? Who even cares?”
“No, I just wanted to ask the question. For some reason, I’ve got this thing about not killing people. No, what I don’t like is doing anything that affects others. You can call it cowardice if you like. I don’t care. But it means no matter how mad I am, I don’t feel like killing anyone.”
Akuto’s voice was completely calm. Either Morlock decided he knew what was coming next, or he simply couldn’t take the tension anymore, because he uncrossed his arms (he’d been crossing them to look tough) and readied himself for battle.
“Enough talk! You’re telling me you want to fight, right?”
Akuto silently shook his head.
“A fight? Maybe the old me would’ve felt that way. Don’t you get it? I’m trying to come up with a good enough reason to slaughter you.”
When he finished speaking, all the air around him changed. In the next moment, his face transformed into something different, something filled with madness and terror like no one had ever seen.
Afterword
Thanks for buying the book!
It’s me, Shoutarou Mizuki.
This is the start of a new arc, with more than one part. I haven’t really decided what happens yet, but I can tell you that the next book is a continuation of the one you’re reading now. Personally, I’m hoping there’s several more to come... Look forward and find out what happens!
If you’re coming in from the anime, reading volume 10 should get you up to speed. If you want to read what happens after the anime, you can get volume 6, and read from there. The last volumes of the DVD and blu-ray are also available for purchase, so you can buy them and see the whole thing too.
Now, as for what I’m doing these days, I’m sitting on my ass watching satellite TV. I love watching obscure sports, but what I’m really enjoying now is old idol movies. Stuff starting Momoko Kikuchi and the Onyanko Club. All of them have this strange kind of charm that just makes you feel confused just watching it.
It’s not what you usually hear, which is that the idols are bad, but they’ve got this “We can do whatever we want as long as we put an idol onscreen” thing going which makes them go far beyond your typical movie. It’s probably not a good idea to take any tips from them, but they do get my creative juices flowing...
Lastly, thank you to everyone who helped with this project, and of course, the readers. The anime and the manga are pretty much over, but I’ll be at this for a while more, and I hope you’ll stay with me.
There’s lots more fun to come!
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Copyright
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 11
by Shoutarou Mizuki
Translated by Adam Lensenmayer
Edited by Christopher Foxx
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 Shoutarou Mizuki
Illustrations Copyright © 2010 Souichi Itou
Cover illustration by Souichi Itou
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2010 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2019 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: June 2019
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 11 Page 13