Even Holly was visibly shaken, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Foolish…! How can a demon who was supposed to have been obliterated... be resurrected…!"
Maris, standing by my side, glared at Geranium as if to shield me.
Even Maris seemed puzzled by the presence of Geranium, who was supposed to have been annihilated.
Originally, I never saw Geranium, who had become a demon, vanish.
No, to begin with, I hadn't even witnessed the moment when Geranium, still human, died and transformed into a demon.
"Holly. Maris. The hero and the Demon King you two chose this time were the worst in history. Even in the battle between the previous hero and Demon King, you forgot your original roles, and by hastily causing the Demon King's disappearance, you allowed humanity to develop a dangerously advanced civilization. You have been deemed... malfunctioning."
Geranium was muttering something incomprehensible.
What? What is he talking about?
A malfunction in Holly and Maris?
While I was too disturbed by Shion's severe injuries to move, Holly possessed the blood-soaked Shion, forcibly moved her body, and rushed to my side.
"Holly! Shion's body is...!"
"It's alright. With the full power of the Holy Sword focused on healing, she'll fully recover in a few minutes."
A few minutes...
Against Geranium, who could move at literally imperceptible speeds with the Time Sword, all abilities had to be diverted to recovery.
That means,
"Focus on healing. Protect Shion at all costs."
"Yes! Of course."
"Maris! Lend me your strength! We're going to kill Geranium!"
It's just a matter of me fighting Geranium.
The only one I can't beat now is Shion.
There's no problem.
"…"
However, Maris, crucially, said nothing.
"Maris! What's wrong! Lend me your strength now! Geranium is also a threat to the Demon King..."
"…You… can't possibly…"
Maris, for some reason, turned pale as never before, staring at Geranium.
"That's right, Maris. You both have failed. Both of you will be completely erased and reset."
"What!? What are you saying, Geranium!"
"…Don't say it like that, Crow. It's not all me…"
"…?"
"Not all me?"
At that moment, something flew out of Geranium's body.
"…!"
I know this scene all too well.
Better than anyone.
When Holly, possessing Shion, leaped out of her body.
When Maris or Holly, possessing me, leaped out of my body.
Having grown all too familiar with the sight, I witnessed the moment a spirit burst forth from a living, corporeal form.
In essence, something had possessed Geranium, and now it was leaving the body.
Following Holly and Maris, a third spirit appeared.
"Mother..."
Maris's words revealed the spirit's identity to me.
It was the mother of Holly and Maris, the sisters.
The mother of the spirits residing in the Sword of Holy Light and the Sword of Darkness.
She was the progenitor of all divine swords, the creator of the beings known as the hero and the demon lord.
To someone like me, she was nothing short of divine.
The creator of the world where the hero and the demon lord battle, a "God" had appeared before me...! Chapter 7: Her Name is the Great Demon Lord
"...So you're the one who created the hero and the demon lord..."
I decided to address the blonde spirit beside Geranium.
Contrary to what one might expect, or rather, as it should be expected, she wasn't wearing the revealing armor like Holly or Maris, but a rather ordinary dress.
However, her facial features resembled Holly's and Maris's.
Or rather, she bore a striking resemblance to an older vershion of Shion.
"So, you're the one who turned Geranium into a demon. You're watching me to see if I'll fulfill the role of the demon lord."
"Don't you dare speak to me with that tone, you brat. Was it you who drove both of my daughters mad?"
When she's angry, her language gets incredibly foul, just like her daughters.
"Why is it my fault?"
"Do you think spirits can hardly communicate with most humans for no reason? Spirits are pure, easily tainted by filthy humans. That's why the hero is pure, and the demon lord immediately goes mad. And yet, despite being the demon lord, why aren't you insane from being with Holly and possessed by Maris, kid? What the hell are you?"
"…Easily tainted…?"
Wait. So, me being around Holly and Maris had a bad influence on them?
"Your laziness infected them, and that's why neither wanted to fight. They were supposed to be diligent."
Ah, my mistake.
My tendency to slack off seems to have put an end to the eternal battle between the hero and the demon lord.
So, Holly's "I'm tired of saving the world" and Maris's "I'm tired of killing humans" were influenced by my lazy attitude...
"Crow. She is Kris, the mother of Holly and Maris. As you guessed, she's the one who turned me into a demon. The original role of a demon isn't to assist the demon lord; it's to act as a substitute for a demon lord or hero who fails to fulfill their role."
Geranium crossed his arms, answering my question.
"If the hero fails to defeat the demon lord, the demon steps in to kill the demon lord. If the demon lord refrains from harming humans, the demon instead takes on the task of killing humans. That's the role of a demon."
"In other words, if the demon lord is the final boss, then the demon is the secret final boss. My combat power when possessed is greater than both the demon lord and the hero."
"But I haven't underestimated you. I actually planned to kill you first and save the hero for later, but my plans got messed up. Well, it's good the hero didn't die from that single strike."
Geranium flashed a fierce smile.
"I can't even bear to imagine you, losing Shion and consumed with rage. I don't think I could win against you if you put everything into revenge. But then again, if you were to die, Shion wouldn't be able to do anything, would he?"
"So, you're sentenced to death, Crow. Don't think for a second that the final boss can beat the secret final boss. I'll make sure to kill you."
This is bad.
I have no idea what she's talking about, even more so than with Holly and Maris.
What's all this about final bosses and secret final bosses?
This woman gave birth to the hero and the demon lord?
"...Why do this...?"
"Huh?"
"Why use the hero and the demon lord to thin out the human population? Did you think that as human numbers grew, civilization would advance and then destroy itself?"
"I didn't think it would; it did."
Kris muttered disinterestedly, blandly.
"People like you were born in droves. People who would do anything to survive, brainwashing those around them, leading masses of humans, fighting, and continuing to fight—men like you."
"...?"
"People under such influence continued to develop various weapons. They kept doing so until the world humans lived in was destroyed. I decided to use the divine swords, weapons of mass destruction, to create a role for thinning out humans and a role for cleanup."
"So, the demon lord is for thinning out, and the hero is for cleanup."
Just as I had guessed.
But what does she mean by "destroyed"?
"Using shelters to survive and research facilities that remained intact, I relocated humans to an untouched continent. I did this to prevent the human population from growing too large again. If it got too large, civilization would reach a level where it could destroy the world again."
"...Eh? What a boring reason."
"What!? Boring? What do you mean, boring?!"
"I was expecting some shocking truth to be revealed, but finding out the battle between the hero and the demon lord was rigged all along is just so dull."
"Are you an idiot? There's no way the hero and the demon lord actually exist."
"Wow. The mother herself is saying that?"
The hero, striving to save the world...
The hero, striving to save the world. The demon lord, intent on destroying it. Yet, both were created by the same being.
Meaning, there really isn't anyone out to save or destroy the world.
What does "save" or "destroy" even mean? Why save or destroy anything at all?