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CHAPTER 276 – ‘THE GRAND THEATRE OF MAD ELEGANCE AND COUNTLESS SINS ~ FINALE ~

 

—Zoa’s Perspective—

The instant black lightning shattered the theater’s ceiling and detonated upon the stage, the smoke cleared to reveal him transformed.

The two horns sprouting from his forehead had twisted, thickened, and grown longer. Around his left eye, a jagged mark in the shape of lightning had been scorched black into his flesh.

But above all, the aura enveloping his body was something wholly other—so strong it made one doubt he was even the same being as before. It carried with it a gentleness akin to mercy, and yet at the same time an opposing cold ruthlessness.

(Even though I provoked him deliberately… for such a dramatic metamorphosis to occur… Could it be—?)

A smile slipped from my lips unbidden.

「As I thought—you truly bear the blood of the Doumeki.」

When I had appraised him earlier, I’d seen that his race was not human but Oni-kin. From that moment, I had suspected the possibility wasn’t zero.

But witnessing it now with my own eyes… the sheer alien nature of it made my very soul tremble.

This dungeon, ‘The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins’, as its name declares, manifests every sin.

Those who had come here before had all reacted differently, but in broad strokes their responses fell into categories: apology, confession, remorse, escape, shifting the blame, abandoning thought. Some had even acknowledged their sins outright and begged for punishment.

…But never once had anyone chosen to stand as the one who judges sin. To go further still, to evolve into a race that bears the name of the Great King Enma—the Chief Judge of Hell itself—was far beyond imagination.

「He really is the son of those two… isn’t he?」

I cut off that train of thought as unworthy.

The blood of the Doumeki may well have played its part in such an unusual evolution. Yet this performance, this choice, belongs to none other than the identity of Doumeki Aun.

Thus, from here on, this is an ending only he could bring forth—and also the prologue to the next chapter about to begin.

(Even so, to think that even my skill cannot fully appraise him…)

 

≪Status≫

【Name】Doumeki Aun
【Race】Enma Ruler
【Titles】

Master of the Labyrinth III

Lightning Emperor

?????

 

Before his evolution, I could see his stats and skills. But ever since, they had become wholly obscured—even the numerical values of his attributes were completely hidden.

The title Master of the Labyrinth, I understood, for I too am a Dungeon Master. But Master of the Labyrinth ‘III’… Impossible though it seems, could it be he has already subsumed three dungeons? If so, what unfathomable vessel of a man must he be…

And then, there was that confounding title: ??????.

Something within him had changed upon evolving, something the very planet itself had acknowledged. That much I could tell—but the details were a total mystery.

I could speculate, yes, but without certainty it would only be baseless conjecture.

No—the more pressing matter was how much strength this evolution had truly granted him.

「Then, let us bring down the curtain. Come—『The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins Final Act』. Let the end of this play… begin!!」

「…Fine. I’ll play along with your little script. But don’t think for a second I won’t smash it all to pieces.」

Exhaling a long, deep breath, Aun’s eyes blazed with lightning.

「Curtain call, huh…? Then I’ll make it one hell of a flashy climax.」

A heartbeat later, thunder devoured the theater.

Black lightning—like something conjured straight from the abyss of Hell—wreathed his body. His surging fury fused with magic, rampaging as though it had taken form.

Every enemy that entered his vision was branded as a ‘target to be judged’. It was arrogant, egocentric, and yet carried with it an echo of something like divine compassion.

「Take this…!」

He swung down the lightning blade in his right hand.

Not a spell, but a simple blade of condensed mana—yet each strike ripped the dungeon’s very space apart. The shadow wraiths, each of them equivalent to S-rank monsters, were annihilated the instant they touched its edge, vaporized without resistance.

His mad blade tore through phantasmal chains, shattered shackles, and even split the very stage itself—but curiously, not a single strike so much as grazed his companions.

「Ahh… magnificent. Truly magnificent. Yes, this is what I wished to see!」

I almost clapped with pure delight.

His strength was leagues beyond when he first stepped into this dungeon. His destructive power had broken past the bounds of ‘nullified attacks’—a raging passion that sought to devour everything.

「And yet… it is a pity. With this, I cannot yet bring him to the Demon Continent.」

For he did not yet control this violent might.

But for now, in this Final Act, my purpose was only to make him aware of that truth.

「You… Why are you acting like you’ve still got room to spare?」

Until then he had fought the shadows with bare hands and his lightning blade. But now, as he turned his killing intent upon me, he gripped the hilt of the long sword at his waist and drew it in a flash.

The very floor—reinforced with dungeon mana—burst apart under his step as he unsheathed.

But that sword stroke—he had shown it once before, before his evolution.

Even if his speed, strength, and magic had grown explosively, whether he could control them was another matter entirely.

And above all, this was my domain—The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins.

「I’m afraid, I still have leeway.」

I pinched the edge of his unsheathed blade between three fingers, halting it. Though arcs of lightning coursed through my body, twisting my face, I could not allow my composure to break.

If I denied his thirst for power here, if I cut him off, his growth would end.

Should he one day command the full might of the Enma Ruler, then yes—his blade could reach my throat.

…But that day is not today.

「No… way…」

「I told you, didn’t I? This is The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins, Final Act. So let us drop the curtain on this chapter. From here onward… not battle, but dialogue.」

「…Dialogue? I’ve got nothing to talk with y—」

「Oh, but you do. The subject: your birth. Your parents. …You do wish to know, don’t you?」

This stage had gone beyond my initial predictions. But even so, I had achieved ninety percent of my purpose.