I Reincarnated as a Demon King,I Will Kill Everything

The Cathedral of Crowmere stood gutted by frost, shadow, and blood. Its once-proud bells were mute, its moon goddess statue fractured from crown to ankle. Smoke curled where holy oil had burned, mixing with the metallic stench of blood and the sulfur of demonic rifts.

I stood at the center of the ruin, my gauntlet — Noa Genesis — pulsing with a rainbow-black glow. The weight of the Silent Crown pressed outward from me, my Domain anchoring itself into every crack of stone and every whisper of soul still lingering in the air.

Noa hummed in my gauntlet, its voice flat but resonant.

"Domain drift minimal. Silent Crown stable at eighty percent. Recommend consolidation while anchor rhythms remain favorable, My Lord."

I lowered my gaze to Roger, the elven general, shackled by the very oath he once carried proudly. His body trembled, blood soaking his armor, yet his eyes still clung to a stubborn flame. He knelt because I forced him to — because the chains of his own vow now obeyed me.

"Your sword swore to light," I told him. "Now it serves silence."

He spat blood onto my robes. "Kill me."

I tilted my head, a smile curling. "No."

I turned to the shadow lingering at the edge of the gate. "Nysha."

She slipped down like ink poured from the statue, her stiletto still dripping a single red thread. She knelt, her shadowy fingers stitching through Roger's broken oath, tying it tighter into itself.

"Oath bond secured, My Lord," she whispered. "If he raises his blade again, it will cut his own flesh."

Roger laughed, half-choked. "Then I'll cut."

"Good," I said. "Bleed for me instead."

Behind me, my demons regrouped. Their voices came one by one, tired but fierce.

Selena stepped forward first, her halberd dripping with shards of frozen blood. Her skin was pale with frost, but her eyes burned with a savage glint. "Cold holds, My Lord. The rest of their line is scattered. Shall I hunt them down?"

"Let them crawl," I replied. "Terror lasts longer than corpses."

Nana slammed her shield into the stone floor, sparks leaping. Blood streaked her armor, her breathing ragged but steady. "Line locked, My Lord. Those who dare still think they're breathing. They won't for long."

Malrik's claws dug into the stones, the ground beneath him still trembling with the aftershock of his last rift. "Traps bite, My Lord. I can leave them snares to remind them we came."

Clarissa emerged next, wiping her lips. Her crimson aura lingered faintly as she sealed the wounds of lesser demons with cold blood. "Our numbers bleed, My Lord, but their heat is gone. Ours burns steadier."

Rena approached last, her armor slick with ichor and holy fire marks. Her twin blades pulsed faintly with chaos energy. She bowed her head slightly, voice low. "The perimeter holds, My Lord. Nothing enters without my cut."

I looked over them all, my broken yet unyielding army. Barely a hundred demons left, yet their eyes gleamed brighter than the two thousand corpses littering the Cathedral's grounds.

Noa pulsed again in my gauntlet. "Elixir timers: Rena exhausted. Selena — six minutes past limit. Nana — seven. Recommend rest phase, My Lord."

"Rest?" I scoffed softly. "Silence does not rest."

The air shifted. A ripple moved through the Cathedral, heavy as the toll of a bell that had already been shattered. I felt the eyes long before I heard the steps. From the shadow of the broken nave, a figure walked forward.

Kravius.

His silver hair was slicked back, his sword sheathed at his side. He did not wear armor, only the robes of a wanderer, but every step carried the weight of a killer. The last time I saw him was in chains — when he spat on me, mocked me, and drove his blade through my chest. The Sword Hero. My executioner.

Rena tensed instantly, blades humming with chaos. "Stand back, My Lord. He reeks of oath and betrayal."

"Hold," I said, raising one hand. "He is mine."

Kravius stopped a few paces away, moonlight catching his eyes. They were gray, cold, unreadable — the same eyes that had watched me die once before.

"Well," he said, voice calm. "The dead king breathes."

"Not breath," I answered. "Silence."

He chuckled once, bitter. "You wear it well. The crown. The gauntlet. The ruin." His gaze swept the battlefield, the corpses, the broken statue of the goddess. "Do you call this victory?"

I spread my arms. "What else would you call it?"

"Desperation," he said simply. "You think this makes you strong. But all I see is the same man who begged for loyalty in the dungeon and was abandoned. You are still that man, Neil. You've only traded chains of iron for chains of shadow."

The words cut — not because they were true, but because he wanted them to be. I stepped closer, the ground groaning under the weight of my Domain.

"You remember the dungeon," I said. "You remember your laughter when you carved my flesh. You remember the way you left me to die like an animal." My gauntlet pulsed, Noa humming low. "Now, you stand on my soil. My Domain. And you dare speak of chains?"

He didn't flinch. "Better chains of gods than chains of silence."

"Gods?" I spat, my aura cracking the stone at my feet. "Those cowards watch from above while we bleed below. I will kill them, Kravius. And if you stand in my way, I will kill you again and again until even your soul forgets its name."

My demons stirred at my words, their voices uniting like a dark hymn.

"My Lord's will is absolute," Selena hissed, her halberd gleaming.

"My Lord leads, we follow," Nana growled, shield raised.

"My Lord's silence is weight," Malrik whispered from the cracks.

"My Lord's blood is oath," Clarissa murmured, lips stained red.

"My Lord's blade is vengeance," Rena said firmly, stepping to my side.

Nysha's shadow smile curled. "My Lord's shadow devours all."

Noa's voice joined them, steady and flat. "Synchronization complete. King's Domain locked. You are silence embodied, My Lord."

Kravius stared at them all, then back at me. His jaw tightened, his hand brushing the hilt of his sword. "Then so be it. If you are silence, I will be the last sound."

The air trembled. His aura rose, silver light mixing with the broken fragments of the moon.

I raised my gauntlet. "Come then, Kravius. Let us finish what you started in chains."