Chapter 7: Superbia, Part 3: How Appropriate for the Curtain Call

Sloth Skills boast powers that cover a large amount of ground.

(TL: As in usability, not distance)

But at the same time, it’s also said that it’s extremely difficult to acquire the sin.

In the first place, as long as they can fulfill their Sin without fighting, the skills they acquire are barely ever fit for battle.

I fill up my body with power. The fact that Leigie had easily destroyed the Gluttony King only served to raise my power higher.

The legs supporting the large, canopied bed break.

The moment the bed swayed from its lost balance, I let out a rending cry as I thrust forward.

My fist hits Leigie’s head oh so easily. The cracking sound of something breaking rings out.

The impact blows away the pillars supporting the canopy, and Leigie’s body is sent flying like a scrap of paper.

A thunderous sound.

The entire building shakes greatly. As if the Castle of Shadows was crying out.

The extra strength anti-Lize barrier is broken easily, and even the wall itself is destroyed. What’s more, it isn’t just one or two walls.

In the opened hole, I see unobstructed darkness. Around Leigie’s room, there are no other personal rooms.

I fiddle with the remains of the bed with my feet.

My condition is perfect. There is nothing obstructing me from fulfilling my Pride. The power swelling all over my body is the compilation of all of my own research, as well as the accumulated history I spent with my Master.

I take a deep breath, and exhale it.

I cannot give Sloth time.

I kicked the floor. My speed instantly reached its climax.

Speed faster than anyone.

Strength stronger than anyone.

… In order to fly higher than anyone.

Such is Superbia’s Original Sin.

Weapons are unnecessary. My body itself is perfection.

Images stream through my vision at the speed of sound.

It didn’t even take a second for me to reach Leigie who was sprawled out on the floor a ways away.

With my momentum, I kick his head. There’s no resistance. He dodged. No, he disappeared.

The Teleportation Skill possessed by Sloth. A skill that lets him transfer himself anywhere within his own territory.

His presence is behind me. Before I even sensed it, my body moved.

It was a high kick carrying forward all my momentum. The tip of my foot collides with Leigie’s head.

I understand. My thoughts understand. How many years, millennium, megaannum. As a result of my service to him, reading the incomprehensible Lazy King’s movements have become possible to me.

The unreadable theory behind his actions was only known to me.

My physical strength broke the ceiling, and a large hole was opened. Blocks as big as my head start to come down.

My body becomes heavy. It’s a skill to convert a Demon’s Longings to weight, and bind them. A Skill of Sloth.

I already know it. I activate 『Overrule』, and break through it without a problem.

What’s frightening is his tenacity, his vitality.

I should have delivered enough damage that it wasn’t strange if a normal Demon Lord was killed, but the VIT that let him activate a skill without issue is the characteristic of Sloth.

Then I just have to hit him with an even greater power head-on.

“… It hurts…”

A slow voice leaks out of the hole that was opened.

I concentrate my power.

Getting into a long range battle with him is foolish. I pierce the ground with my feet, and concentrate power on my core.

“Here I come.”

With my leap, the barrier breaks, and the floor caves in beneath me.

I load my body with explosive power, and jump through the hole in the ceiling.

What enters my eyes is the form of Leigie buried in a mountain of rubble. He oozes tears, as he holds his head. His injuries have already healed.

Seeing me almost instantly close the distance between us, he directs a surprised expression. As always, killing intent, blood thirst, or anything that could be called fighting spirit is completely absent in him.

“HaaAAAAAAAH!”

“Ku…

Yell. Roar.

Using all the power in my body, I send out a strike.

Leigie’s expression warped for the first time. At the same time, an invisible wall appeared around his body.

A Sloth Skill to erect a defense-raising barrier.

Useless. I already know of that one.

(TL Useless means Muda)

As my fist hits it, without offering any resistance, the barrier shatters like glass.

As long as I’ve Overruled it before, utilizing a barrier is the height of folly.

My heart circulates heat around my body.

Before my fist could touch Leigie’s chin, his figure vanished.

What a troublesome Skill. But a moving Sloth is a contradiction.

His use of that is one of the factors leading to his diminishing Sloth.

“… Did I do something to you?”

There’s no need to ask. There’s no way our conversations will mesh.

I swung my hand upwards at the voice that came from my side.

Leigie used his arm to guard against it.

I hear his bones grate.

Among Sloth Skills, there’s one to completely shut down their already-slow reaction to pain. Leigie’s expression doesn’t seem to look pained anymore.

And even if I do injure him, with Leigie-sama’s vitality, he’ll heal it in an instant.

“Father, please rest already.”

“… Yeah.”

With eyes that conveyed, ‘What the hell is this guy saying,’ he nodded.

He isn’t listening. We cannot communicate.

With this unstable footing, kicking would be difficult. On my clenched fists, I used a body strengthening Skill before throwing it out.

Leigie prepared his arms to take it.

There is no battle theory behind Leigie of Sloth. His attack techniques are laughably simple.

It is… suppression by pure power

A power strong enough to rip apart a normal Demon Lord… a mass of Soul.

In it, ordinary technique held no meaning, and he has no thoughts to utilize such technique.

With every blow, Leigie’s arms let out ominous sounds.

I’m pushing him back.

But there isn’t any anguish on his face, and while I may be able to make him use up power with blows of this level, it isn’t enough to deal a decisive blow.

He’s too hard. But I knew that from the beginning.

The fact that I was pushing back the Lord of Sloth served to strengthen my 『Overrule』 even further. Power flows up from the depths of my body.

And finally, my kick breaks his guard, and Leigie is sent flying through the last layer of ceiling.

A blood-red sky, and the black structure of the Castle of Shadows… the fortress expanded as far as my vision would permit.

Once per day, I take it to look over it from on top of the tower. We’re not as high up as the tower, but the sight from up here isn’t something to be made fun of.

I’ve always felt a sense of resignation at the fact that this spectacle would crumble one day.

The soldiers keeping watch hurriedly came running to me at having the ceiling be penetrated.

“W-what happened, Heard-sama?”

“There is no need for the likes of you to mind it. Return to your post.”

“Y-yes. Understood sir!”

It’s all a trivial talk.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

I leisurely look over the fortress, as I advance towards the falling Leigie.

“Father, don’t you think it’s beautiful?”

“… Yeah.”

Without even taking a glance at his surroundings, the motives behind his answers are something I’ll never understand.

So this is just self-satisfaction.

His suspicious eyes, his black, impure pupils look up at me.

Emotionless eyes. The eyes of a dead fish.

I harden the palm of my hand to create a blade shape with it.

(TL: He’s doing tegatana, , a position usually used to chop. In this instance, he’s using it to pierce)

“Next, I’ll be cutting.”

“… I give up.”

“……”

All of this is something I’ve seen too many times.

That conduct, fooled by his sloppy gesture, dozens of Demon Lords have fallen.

But for me, I, his son, am the only one who understands. This man actually pulls through when the time calls for it.

He needs no fighting spirit or killing intent. Just so that he can slack off further, Leigie uses his power.

Therefore, he hasn’t fled yet. Even though he could have jumped far away with his teleportation by now.

… It’s because he thinks running from me here holds no meaning.

Let it be so.

Thus is what signifies him as the Lord of Sloth

He doesn’t want to fight, but I’m a pain, so he’ll try and crush me.

His impure motives that paint out the Fighting Spirit of most Demons is the proof of his desire.

The contrast between him and what most would think of Sloth is what has made many Demons, Demon Lords fall. I always observed that aspect of him in great detail.

Even now, Leigie’s power is gradually declining. He’s accumulated enormous reserves, so it’s hard to notice, but while his power may seem close to infinite, it is infinite by no means.

If I retreated here, and challenged him again once my condition was perfect once more, I’ll bet I would be able to gain an even greater advantage.

But that choice is impossible. Leaving to gain an advantage?

Why must I draw back for a petty reason like that!?

“… Hm, you have no need to offer me that treatment. There’s no way I would ever lose regardless.”

“… Yeah, you’re the strongest.”

The flaming sun of the Demon World shined on us with its blood red light.

It was a sight that had been there from the moment I was created, and at the same time, it’s a scene Leigie has looked upon for long before that.

Leigie speaks with a troubled voice.

At the same time, masses of power are lowered on me from the sky.

『Sky Right Hand』 and 『Sky Left Hand』.

A telekinetic power that works in tandem with his arms. It’s a worthless skill used to pick up items without having to move, but its explosive power are a threat as they try to crush me.

But the mass of power dispersed. I 『Overruled』 that skill in a time long passed. My preparations are perfect.

Leigie makes an obvious frown.

“… This is a pain.”

“… Hm, I think you just take life too easily, Father.”

It’s likely that in his endlessly long life, this is one of the first times he’s had one of his Skills nullified.

I’m the opposite. Because 『Superbia』 is a nature of pride, I already know most skills. The opponents I fight often try to make countermeasures for me, but I was able to crush them all head-on.

Father has merely lived life without aim. Just how useless of a truth.

In just a step, I made contact with him. I stomp on his head. There is resistance. There is, but he hasn’t been crushed.

I stick my hand into his shoulder.

It’s a dull feeling, as If I was cutting through metal. The level of hardness caused my palm to be the one creaking this time.

A wet and cold sensation. Leigie looked up at me with meaningless eyes, and looking at his shoulder, he raised a short scream.

It’s working. I’m able to pierce his defense.

I remove my hand from the hole in the shoulder, and shake off the blood on my hand before starting a series of consecutive attacks.

Leigie disappears. But my soul hardened through battle made me perceive his next location instantly.

Ten meters behind. That’s a distance I can span almost instantaneously.

As I turn around, I lunge with my hand blade.

It pierces through Leigie’s prepared arms, and fresh blood flies.

Slow. Way too slow.

He can probably follow me with his eyes. But his body that he rarely moves is unable to dodge.

As long as he doesn’t use that teleportation with high energy expenditure.

I nullify the 『Sky Hand』 he sends straight at me.

To still try and use it after coming to this point, does he really have no other offensive skills?

That seems right. A Demon’s Skills have rules. It’s impossible to specialize in both offense and defense at the same time.

And Sloth skills are made to spend time in Sloth. They’re mostly passives, and few can be actively called upon.

Even without a sense of pain, thinking it was bad to take attacks consecutively, Leigie disappears again.

I perceive. A massive power moved to the top of the tower.

On top of the tallest building within the Castle of Shadows.

Sprawled out on top of the conical roof, the eyes of Leigie as he looks down on me are sleepy, meaning he wasn’t leaving a break in his defenses.

The distance is a few hundred meters. But to me, that distance is close to Zero.

The second I was about to jump at him, a strange breaking sound resounded through the fortress.

A brown object stands up.

Much less an expression, its brown head doesn’t even have eyes, nose or mouth.

Its long and narrow body, as well as its long limbs were all made of dirt-like material, and by barely glancing over its body, it’s easy to see it was made to resemble human form.

No matter how vast the Demon World may be, I doubt there exists a Demon with this shape.

A Skill to produce a Doll that grows.

The skill that constitutes the reason Leigie’s title is Slaughterdolls.

『Slaughter Doll』.

I remember myself when I had just been born, and frown.

“… Hm, useless.”

There’s no way a freshly born Doll made by a hard-pressed Leigie would be a match for me.

Even if…

I look over the army of dolls being constructed around me without any emotions or sense of pain.

… their numbers surpass a hundred.

I bring my hand down on the closest Doll, and split it in two.

There was some resistance, but I don’t even need to dodge against things of this level.

I confirm the brown substance left on my hand.

“… Dirt… no, a Doll with sand as the base…”

He probably used the traces of sand that had built up on top of the fortress as the base to create them.

Truly, to be able to birth this much at once is a threat.

But for him to use up his own power for such a useless skill was an option I thought he wouldn’t choose.

Even is this skill was all he had left.

I look up at Father standing high in the heavens.

“… Father, is this supposed to be your final struggle…?”

Having been born first, there’s no way I’ll lose.

If you add on 『Superbia』’s characteristics, then more so.

The clay dolls rushing at me are definitely fast, and their power isn’t weak.

But that’s it. Without any desire, and no experience.

But still, crushing this amount will be a pain.

I close my eyes, and activate a skill.

『Hard Pressure』

A higher class Pride Skill.

It’s a worthless skill to force others to kneel. But it’s a useful one for thinning out the weak.

Unable to stand the pressure, the limitless Dolls fell to the ground.

I step on the nearest Doll’s head, and crush it.

How useless. Or is it that he thought those numbers would be able to defeat me?

“… I’ll be up in a moment, Father.”

I put power into my legs. I circulate my magic. I deliver a strong kick to the stone pavement.

Mighty physical prowess. The pitiful clay dolls prostrated on the ground and everything else on earth is left behind me, and my field of vision instantly ascended.

… In the distant past, I’ve made it so I could fly anywhere.

Even if Father doesn’t lend me a hand.

I grab onto the tower’s pointed tip, to kill my momentum and stuck my feet into the roof tiles.

The sprawled out Leigie comes at me with quick movements I’ve never seen before. But even that is too slow.

By that time, my hand had already pierced father’s left breast… a Demon’s heart, the place where his Soul Core lay.

Leigie’s eyes distort in shock, as he looks at his chest.

“Good night, Father. Please leave the rest to me.”

“… Yeah…”

My hand has definitely crushed his heart.

His Abyss Zone fades.

When I removed my hand, the Lord of Depravity leisurely fell to the ground.

And like dried leaves, he began to fall down to the bottom of the tower.

I Overruled him. But I don’t feel the slightest sense of achievement.

Having fulfilled the final piece of my 『Pride』, my instincts told me I had finally reached Demon Lord Level.

At the very least, for now, let me offer a prayer to the Great Lazy King.

Thus, I will rule over everything, and offer it up to my late Master.

There is nothing more appropriate for the curtain call.