"Well well! Brand-new Demon King girl
Someone, please roast her for me.
My phone said nothing.
Gyurigyuri quietly looked away.
I'll just pretend I didn't see that.
"Huh? Did I mess up?"
Yep. Major blooper.
Oh man, this is bad. This is really, really bad.
The Demon King turned out way more pathetic than expected—how exactly do you plan to take responsibility for that?
Me?
No, no, no. This has absolutely nothing to do with me. I'm innocent.
"So, what are you going to do about that?"
Don't ask me, Gyurigyu-san.
And D, say something.
"Huh? How come? I feel like I'm getting incredibly rude treatment just for showing up, you know?"
Dead silence.
"Forget it. Stop talking. The mere fact that you're speaking makes something inside me cry out in despair."
"Isn't that harsh!?"
"You're the one who's harsh!"
Gyurigyuri collapsed to her knees in utter defeat, slumping to the ground in the classic orz pose.
Wait—is she actually crying?
Well, I mean, if an old friend turned into something this disappointing… yeah.
I can kind of understand the feeling.
While I was nodding to myself in agreement, the revived Gyurigyuri grabbed me by the head.
Oww, that hurts, that hurts!?
"If you trace this back to the root, this was all your doing, wasn't it? How do you plan to take responsibility?"
I give, I give!
What do you mean, responsibility!? There's nothing I can do about it!
"Hey, aren't you basically denying my entire existence just now?"
"That's not it at all. I was simply a bit thrown by how spectacularly disappointing you turned out."
"I'd appreciate it if you could sugarcoat things a little, you know?"
"What I just said was the sugarcoated version."
"Isn't that harsh!?"
She tossed me aside like I was nothing.
Gugh!
I scraped my face hard against the ground.
That stings.
Ah, no auto-recovery anymore, so I need to heal manually.
"So? What did you come here for?"
"Well, I was thinking about making up with the little spider over there."
Huh?
Oh right, last time we met she brought up something about fighting together.
Ah, that must be from the memories of when she was the Queen in the Great Ello Dungeon. Back then, the divine transformation kicked in, so the conversation with the Demon King ended halfway through.
Huh?
Come to think of it, why is the Demon King even here? The Great Ello Dungeon should've been pretty far from this underground facility.
Did she learn teleportation or something?
Oh, I'm also curious what happened to the Queen's body after all that.
"Ah. Even though we were technically half the same thing, seeing the real deal face to face like this… I have no idea what she's thinking."
How rude. I am constantly engaged in all manner of complex contemplation, you know.
*"Spider's Thought Number One: Why is the Demon King here?"* Hey!?
D, you really can't read my thoughts, right!?
Could it be that you actually can!?
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
*"From the spider's perspective, the last time they spoke was during the conversation in her Queen form at the Great Ello Dungeon. So she finds it puzzling that upon waking, the Demon King has appeared all the way out here."* "Huh? Oh, you just woke up, didn't you."
"Yeah. Just a little while ago."
"Little Spider, the last time I talked to the Queen in the Great Ello Dungeon was 47 days ago, you know?"
What did she say!?
Seriously!? So the divine transformation took that long?
Yep. Can't even compare it to a regular Evolution.
"By the way, this is the first time I've had a proper conversation with you like this. Nice to meet you, Lady D. My name is Ariel, and I currently serve as the Demon King."
*"Nice to meet you. Though whether there will be a second time, I can't say."* Hmm?
The Demon King and D had never met before?
*"Thought Number Two: What happened to the Queen's body? Thought Number Three: Was this D's first time meeting the Demon King?"* Yep.
You can definitely read my thoughts, can't you?
"Well, the Queen is still technically alive after that. But she's basically an empty husk without a soul, so 'alive' is generous. If you stuffed a replacement soul in there, she could probably still be of use."
Hmm. I was sure she'd be dead, but she's still alive.
"I'm the only one on this planet who has ever met D. Even
*"For reference, at the time, he was trembling like a newborn fawn."* Gyurigyuri grimaced.
So it's actually true.
"For a minor god like myself, opportunities to meet with a supreme deity like you are quite rare."
Wait—D is actually a seriously important god? I always thought she was just some lunatic crazy god with a few screws loose.
*"Divine Punishment."* Gwah!?
Guooooooh!
I don't know what she did to me, but I definitely took massive damage.
It freaking hurts.
If someone asked me where it hurts, I couldn't even tell—but something hurts like crazy.
What is this?
So this is what a god's attack feels like.
Oh, terrifying.
"Why is this girl suddenly rolling around on the ground?"
*"Because she's a lunatic with a few screws loose. There's nothing to be done about it."* Hey!
And why are you making that agreeing face, you pathetic Demon King?
"Talk about going nowhere."
"Yeah. I'd like to get to some serious discussion soon, but Little Spider—would you be willing to make up with me?"
No, no.
If possible, that's perfectly fine with me.
Originally, the only reason I picked a fight with the Demon King was because I was worried she might eventually use her Subordinate Domination Skill to control me.
I had Evil Nullification, but it still affected my mental state to some degree.
Now that I've undergone the divine transformation and our souls are completely unlinked—and I've surpassed her in power too—I have no intention of forcing a conflict.
And so, I nod my head in affirmation.
"So that's a yes. Then, how about taking things one step further—would you be willing to fight alongside me?"
Ah.
She did say something like that during the conversation with the Queen.
Yeah.
That, I shake my head at.