Prologue: Reincarnation of the Demon Clan: Candidate for the Demon King
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Inside a dark and damp cave, the young child squatting in the corner stared at the bonfire in front of him, which made crackling sounds from time to time, but his eyes were filled with a feeling of hopelessness.
If you were to ask what it feels like to be reincarnated as a beast, the current little boy—Ash—was probably feeling the same way, right?
And in this strange world, there was also a terrifying race.
They had no kinship relationship between parents and children, and were generally like wild beasts after birth... No, except for a very small number, wild beasts usually raised their cubs, but this race had no behavior of raising cubs at all.
This growth pattern and social structure left them without much emotion and empathy, with only a few individuals showing mutual assistance and social tendencies.
They did not survive by eating people, but they would kill from time to time. However, they had no motive for this—it was just a subconscious behavior. If they disliked their weaker fellows, they would ruthlessly ravage them. Their racial identity was so weak that their weak sociality was only maintained by the strongest individuals.
They didn't hold hatred or disgust towards humans themselves... which made their reason for killing humans seem very strange, as if some "god" had created a murderous race.
To human beings, this incredible race was undoubtedly the worst and most brutal race, and that was the demon race.
What made the child even more unfortunate was that he was a demon! A rare hidden horn demon—meaning a demon without horns.
Being born into this barbaric race with such a great disadvantage made him deeply understand from the moment he was born that weakness is the greatest original sin.
If they encountered an adult demon who disliked them, they could be killed without much effort. Because of this, they needed to be self-reliant at only three years old.
That's right, they.
"Ash, what are you thinking about?" The pink-haired girl with two pairs of small horns on her forehead leaned against him, hugging her slender knees. She broke a twig in two and threw it into the fire. Noticing he was in a daze, she frowned: "It should be your turn to cook today, right? Hurry up and get started."
"I'm not saying anything bad about you," Ash sighed, trying to better adapt to this world and not seem out of place. He reached out and pressed his hand on her head, speaking seriously: "Aura, you shouldn't call me by my name. You should call me 'brother,' right?"
"Brother? What is that?" The little girl, Aura, stared at him with puzzled eyes.
Exhausted, Ash was too lazy to argue. "Ha... Never mind, hurry up and cook."
"No, it's your turn to cook."
"Stop talking nonsense. I'm stronger now, so you cook for me!"
Aura was silent for a moment but eventually stood up and walked toward the bottles and jars beside the cave, as well as the half-wolf carcass meant for dinner. Muttering, she said, "Ash said he'd take care of me, but in the end, I still have to work for him."
Ash clearly heard Aura's words but chose to pretend he hadn't. Instead, he silently closed his eyes to meditate and practice magic.
That's right, magic.
Thanks to the inherited memories of the demon clan, he understood written language from birth, and even the methods of practicing magic and his own name were ingrained in him like instincts.
It is precisely because of this that the demons, who can speak and walk even without parents at birth, do not die in droves… although the mortality rate in childhood is still extremely high.
But magic still needs to be learned anyway. It is the pride of the demons and the foundation of their survival—it is part of their genetic instinct. This gave Ash a deep-rooted enthusiasm for it, and he would unconsciously study magic whenever he had free time.
Just like other demons would choose a project to study diligently, he also had his own goal—gravity magic.
Even though he had spent three years as a child, eating raw meat and drinking blood like a primitive man, and these childhood memories were unbearable to recall, now… he had no choice at all.
At least today, he had managed to obtain a small fire source from a nearby forest, where a fire had accidentally broken out, so for the time being, he didn't have to eat raw meat.
…
When night fell and all was silent, the two of them sat together at the entrance of the cave, leaning against each other.
Before them stretched the boundless starry sky, and a spectacular meteor shower unfolded overhead.
The stars streaked across the sky, leaving behind brilliant trails, so beautiful that Ash trembled. For the first time, he felt fortunate to have been born in the mountains.
"It's really beautiful."
"Is it beautiful? I don't quite understand." Aura, still wiping her hands with weeds, seemed less impressed than Ash.
"So, you're still just a child."
"We're the same age, right?"
"I meant mentally."
"How much do you eat?"
"…Can we change the subject?" Ash sighed, not wanting to continue the conversation. But Aura looked at him seriously and said, "That's great, Ash. Actually, I want to eat beef tomorrow. The bull head meat I picked up last time was really delicious!"
"Don't waste the wolf I found the day before yesterday. Besides, where do you expect me to find beef?"
"I believe Ash will figure it out." Seeing Ash's lack of enthusiasm, Aura encouraged him instead.
But her tone was so flat, so indifferent, that Ash couldn't muster any pride in it. Nodding tiredly, he said, "Yes, yes, I'll try my best, but for now, let me at least finish watching the shooting stars."
"That wolf is already starting to stink, and it tastes awful."
"Don't be picky about food."
"Ash is so long-winded."
"That's my line."
While half-heartedly responding to Aura, Ash gazed at the increasingly dense meteors in the sky. He remembered hearing somewhere that making wishes on shooting stars was supposed to be very effective, so he unconsciously made a wish to the stars.
"…When I grow up, I definitely don't want to watch shooting stars with Aura anymore."
Just as he silently made this vow, a series of words suddenly appeared in his sight—words he didn't recognize but somehow understood.
[The chosen candidate for the Demon King, Ash, accept the gift from the ancient Demon God, become the king of the demons, sacrifice the world to become a new god, kill the goddess, and start a new reincarnation on this planet!]
This sudden message left Ash confused. According to his inherited memories, there should only be the legendary goddess of creation. When had a demon god appeared? And why did he sound like such a lunatic? Sacrificing the world?