The Demon King Who Was Supposed to Lose Ended Up Defeating the Targets, and Now the Heroine Has Been Sent as a Sacrifice - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: The Demon King Supposed to Lose, What He Can Offer

Elsia dragged the unconscious prince back to camp.

The elves had already been subdued, and preparations were in place to transport the captives to the capital. Meanwhile, the demons of Elsia’s army began celebrating with a feast.

Apparently, more elves had resisted than expected, and those unfortunate enough to do so became literal snacks for the demons.

A few days later, after returning to what was once the royal capital, Elsia called out to me.

“Lord Diablo, could you accompany me for a bit?”

Elsia was carrying a large bag and seemed unusually excited.

But I could tell—this was her “revenge” look. 

She was definitely planning something.

“Uh, sure. Where are we going?”

“Just down to the castle’s underground.”

When we reached the castle’s underground chamber, we found the prince chained up, his hands and feet bound.

He hadn’t been given proper food or water, but he didn’t appear to have been tortured, nor did he have any visible injuries.

Elsia approached the prince, smiling sweetly—like an angel.

“How are you feeling, Prince Julius?”

“…E-Elsia…”

“Don’t call me so casually.”

The prince weakly called out her name.

In the next instant, without losing her smile, Elsia delivered a heavy blow to his stomach.

“Agh!”

“Fufu, sorry. I couldn’t help myself; you just made me so angry.”

“Y-You…”

“?”

“You’ve been brainwashed by that Demon King over there… Please, snap out of it and come to your senses.”

Huh? Why does he think I brainwashed her?

Before I could react, Elsia, still smiling, delivered another heavy punch.

“Gah!”

“You don’t need to speak anymore. If you had even offered an apology, I might have gone a little easier on you. But now, I’ll proceed as planned since you’ve irritated me.”

“W-What are you…?”

Elsia undid the prince’s restraints and tossed the large bag she had been carrying in front of him.

“W-What is this…?”

“Go ahead, take a look inside.”

Too exhausted to attempt escaping, the prince did as he was told and looked inside the bag.

Curious, I took a quick peek as well.

I froze, and the prince let out a pitiful scream, almost losing his mind.

“Ahhh!!”

“Oh my, that’s not very nice. This is a heartfelt reunion, after all?”

“W-What do you mean by that!?”

Inside the bag were numerous bones, including skulls.

Having seen Elsia’s undead creations a few times before, I was unfazed, but it was still a shocking sight.

But what did she mean by a “heartfelt reunion”?

“Those bones belong to your father, Prince Julius.”

“…What?”

“The king’s funeral must have taken quite some time. Since his remains were so carefully preserved, I decided to put them to use.”

“W-What are you…?”

“Let’s play a game, Prince Julius! If you win, I’ll release you without doing anything else to you.”

Elsia grinned wickedly.

“A game?”

“Yes, a puzzle game. If you can reassemble your father’s scattered bones correctly, you win. But if you run out of time, I win.”

With a snap of her fingers, Elsia’s undead servants brought something into the underground chamber—several coffins.

The sound of banging from inside the coffins made me flinch.

“Inside these coffins are the undead, made from the people of the capital you abandoned. When they break out, they’ll start eating you piece by piece.”

“!?“

“Don’t worry. If you finish the skeleton puzzle before they get to you, you’ll be safe. Do you accept the challenge? Not that I’m giving you a choice.”

“…I-I accept. If I win, you’ll really let me go?”

“Of course! I always keep my promises!”

Elsia smiled sweetly.

By now, I’d started to understand the way Elsia thinks.

She was definitely planning something else.

Something quite nasty.

It seemed like she never intended for the prince to win in the first place.

“This goes here, and… like this…”

The prince was steadily working on the skeleton puzzle, carefully piecing together his father’s remains.

Given the life-threatening stakes, he seemed intensely focused.

But then, the prince suddenly stopped, realizing something.

“The bones… some are missing!”

“Oh my, it seems so, doesn’t it?”

The king’s skeleton puzzle was clearly missing several crucial pieces.

The right arm and left leg were entirely absent.

It was impossible to complete the puzzle this way.

The prince protested to Elsia.

“T-This isn’t fair! I never had a chance to win from the start!”

“Did you really think I’d let you win so easily? But, since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you a special item. Here you go.”

“W-What is this?”

“It’s just a knife.”

Elsia tossed the prince a simple, ordinary knife.

However, the blade was chipped and dull—it wouldn’t be able to cut much of anything.

“W-What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? If your puzzle is missing pieces, you’ll need to find replacements, won’t you?”

“!?”

Elsia is truly terrifying when she’s angry.

It seemed that her intention was for the prince to use that dull knife to cut off his own limbs and use them to complete the missing pieces of the puzzle.

The prince pathetically screamed and protested, but Elsia paid him no attention.

She simply smiled quietly, waiting for the prince to take the knife to his own body.

Despair.

The prince finally realized that Elsia never intended for him to win and descended into madness.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

“Oh, how unfortunate. I didn’t give you that knife to attack me with, you know?”

With a simple kick, Elsia sent the prince flying as he wildly swung the knife.

“Come on, hurry up, or the angry spirits of the capital’s people, back from hell, will break free from their coffins.”

“Ah!”

“Oh, that face! Such a wonderful expression!”

Elsia laughed gleefully, and at last, the undead burst out of the coffins.

They swarmed the prince, devouring his body from the edges.

“Aaaaaaaahhhh!!! It hurts!! Stop! Don’t eat me!! I’m… I’m—”

“Fufu, game over. But don’t worry, I won’t let you die. I’ll heal you.”

“…What?”

Elsia used magic to instantly heal the prince’s wounds, and he was devoured all over again, starting from the beginning.

It didn’t just happen once.

It seemed that whenever the prince lost a significant portion of his body, he was automatically healed, only to be eaten again.

It was brutal.

“E-Elsia, p-please… stop—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll cast a mental protection spell that my master taught me, so you won’t lose your mind.”

…Brutal. But…

“…Elsia, are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

When I spoke to her, Elsia answered without looking at me. Her voice trembled slightly.

Was she overwhelmed with emotion after completing her revenge, or was it something else?

I couldn’t tell, but she quietly asked me a question.

“Lord Diablo, how much would you be willing to sacrifice for my sake?”

It seemed like a genuine question, born from watching the prince, who couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice his limbs to survive.

But I instinctively knew that I couldn’t afford to give the wrong answer here.

“…Well…”

I decided to show her just how far I was willing to go. Ignoring the pain, I reached into my chest and pulled out my heart.

“!?“

“At the very least, I can offer you my heart. Haha, amazing, isn’t it? With a high enough level, I could probably keep going like this for half a day.”

“W-What are you doing!?”

“What else could I offer you, Elsia? Sorry, without my heart, I can’t really think straight… the blood’s not getting to my head…”

Before I lost consciousness, Elsia quickly used magic to heal me.

As she treated me, I noticed tears welling up in her eyes.

“I only asked a question! Who actually tries to do something so foolish!?”

“S-Sorry…”

“…You really are an idiot… You have so many people who love you—Mom, master, even Misha, and many others.”

Elsia’s cheeks turned red.

“How do you expect me to love you any more than I already do?”

“…Sorry.”

I might have gone a bit too far.

As I was restored to full health, Elsia noticed something else—my demonic sword had grown.

“…Lord Diablo…”

“Uh, well, it’s just… the near-death experience must’ve triggered some kind of reproductive instinct…”

“Fufu ♡ You really are impossible, aren’t you? ♡”

“…Is it okay?”

“Not the usual way. There’s a baby, after all; we don’t want to surprise them. Today, only from behind, okay?”

Right in front of the still-alive-but-being-eaten Julius, I embraced Elsia.

I wanted to make it clear—to show him that this woman was mine, both body and soul. I made love to her with everything I had.

―――――――――――――――――――――

Afterword: Just a little side story

Author: “You’ve got your cool moments, don’t you?”

E: “Lord Diablo is always cool!!”

D: “…///”

Author: “Oh, by the way, the next chapter is the final one.”

D & E: “!?”

If you thought, “Serves him right!!” “That was pretty cool!” or “Wait, next chapter is the final one, seriously?” then please leave a comment, bookmark, rate, or write a review!