Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Kretos started his journey to the east. This time he didn't take his time to head there and went full speed. Usually, he would slowly head to his destination and kill some monsters on the way. Yet on this occasion, he did none of that and quickly headed to the Eastern lands. 

As he neared the border of the eastern lands he saw two four-meter tall Onis. These were the brothers that protected the border between the Eastern and Northern lands. Kretos would've wanted to face these famous Oni brothers in battle but he was in a hurry. 

Kretos used [Shadow Walk] another technique from his clan which allows him to walk between the shadows of others. After he got past the two Onis Kretos once again dashed forward towards the tree Jubokko. 

As he got near he saw not only the gigantic tree Jubokko but a giant fox as well. The Golden Fox whose eyes were looking straight at him was obviously the Demon lord Tsukiko. Kretos sped up even more and eventually reached the tree. 

When Kretos stood in front of the demon lord he found Tsukiko's mana fluctuation to be quite weird. There was something off about it. 

"Slayer of Demon Lords, Kretos of the Shadow Clan. What brings you to my abode? Are you here to kill me as well?"

Even though Tsukiko's voice sounded calm on the outside, but there were little cracks in her tone. The truth was Tsukiko was a little bit afraid of Kretos. Unlike the other demon lords, she had fought only a few times, even fewer than Darius. She was also the youngest of the demon lords and didn't really like fighting. 

So when news came that Kretos had defeated Jiro, Tsukiko was both happy and anxious. She was happy because Jiro was dead, but she was anxious there were only two demon lords left. What if Kretos decided to fight her first. Will he be willing to allow her to live? Was there any possible way that they don't need to fight?

As she was panicking at what to do, Tsukiko heard the news that Kretos was protecting the Northern Mountain range for some reason. At first, Tsukiko was worried that Kretos would leave immediately after protecting it for a few days, but when he stayed there for a couple of months she felt relieved. She hoped with all her heart that Kretos would simply stay there forever. Yet such a simple wish couldn't be fulfilled. Now standing before her was the very person she never wanted to meet. 

Tsukiko wanted to flee as fast as she could, but she didn't want to show her back to Kretos who she felt could easily slice her apart. So instead she tried to intimidate him with her illusion. But unlike all the others that saw her for the first time, Kretos didn't look impressed. 

...

Kretos was assessing the demon lord Tsukiko when he finally noticed what was weird about her. He could now finally understand why her mana fluctuation was off. 

"Demonic Fox Tsukiko, show me your true form." 

When Tsukiko heard what Kretos said she almost yelped in fear. This was the first time anyone has questioned her illusion. Even Darius was fooled by this illusion once. Tsukiko started feeling even more anxious but she stood her ground and remained calm on the outside. 

"What do you mean by-" Before Tsukiko could finish what she was going to say, Kretos had summoned a spear from his shadow and threw it at the gigantic demon fox. The spear went through the illusion and hit the tree Jubokko.

The power in that strike was able to shake the oldest tree in the demon lands. When Tsukiko saw what happened she started feeling light-headed. If that were to hit her, she would've been gravely injured. The worse part was she didn't even see it coming and was unable to react to it at all. 

"Don't play these tricks with me. I did not come here to fight, I came here to talk." Kretos spoke while readying another spear. 

Seeing another spear come out of Kretos's shadow, Tsukiko dispelled her illusion and showed her human form to Kretos. 

'Not here to fight but talk? You're pretty much threatening me!' Tsukiko sighed as she appeared before Kretos. She approached Kretos with a dignified countenance. Even though she was indeed a little bit scared of Kretos, she was still a demon lord.

"What do you wish to talk about?"

"I want you to help me with something. If you don't comply I will make you comply by force." Kretos gripped the spear he was holding tighter than before. He even started emitting bloodlust which slightly unnerved Tsukiko.

'So he needs something from me.' When Tsukiko understood this point she felt a bit more confident. 

"Is this how you ask for favors? If I don't comply how would you force me to do what you want, by beating me up? I might not like to fight, but I am still a demon lord. Also, if you use force to make me comply, the more I won't listen to your request."

Kretos gritted his teeth, he knew what the demon lord was saying was right, but he had never asked anyone for a favor before. In fact, he never thought that he would ever be asking anyone for a favor. So he found it difficult to do so, but when he remembered Leila sleeping in that ice coffin, Kretos sucked it up and knelt on the ground. 

"Demonic fox Tsukiko, please help me." 

Tsukiko was rather surprised by what was happening before her. All the imaginary scenarios she thought of on what Kretos would do, never did she imagine this would happen. The most she could imagine was Kretos killing her outright, or telling her to become his woman, or even asking her to kill herself, but him kneeling in front of her was beyond anything she could imagine. 

When she saw Kretos acting all subservient she wanted to play around a bit more. Even in such a situation, her inner prankster was poking out. Yet as she was about to speak, Kretos started emitting something dangerous. It was obvious that he was holding back as he knelt in front of Tsukiko. 

Feeling the intensity of his aura, Tsukiko awkwardly smiled and no longer thought of pranking Kretos. 'It was rumored that Kretos was a calm and cool kind of guy, but I guess those rumors were false. This person is really high strung.' 

"Fine, tell me what is you need, if I can help you I will. But of course, I need something in exchange for my help."

Kretos stopped kneeling and stood up. He looked at Tsukiko for a second and nodded his head. 

"Alright, what do you want in exchange?" 

"I want you to promise not to harm me and my territory." 

"I promise I will not harm you nor shall I harm your territory," Kretos answered without any hesitation. Tsukiko was momentarily stunned but then nodded her head. 

"Very well, I shall trust your word." 

After confirming that they had made a deal, Kretos started to explain what had happened to Leila. When Tsukiko heard the whole story she was once again surprised. It would seem that some of the rumors going on about Kretos were truly false. How is this a man that only thinks of battle? He was clearly here worried about his friend or maybe lover. 

"I can't tell if I'm able to save her or not if I don't see her. So let's head there now." Tsukiko snapped her fingers and a magic circle appeared under her feet. She had been playing pranks on all the other demon lords a lot of times, so she had set up a teleportation spot near each of the other demon lords lairs, all except Darius's lair. That guy changed residences so much there was no point in setting up a teleportation spot. 

After activating the spell, in the blink of an eye, Tsukiko and Kretos appeared on top of the Northern Mountain range. The bodies of the dead Tengus and Harpies were no longer there as Kretos cleaned them up. In their place, Kretos set up a garden of flowers on top of the snowy mountain. He had placed numerous talismans and spells to make the flowers survive for a very long time. 

Tsukiko was surprised at what she saw on top of the cold mountain where the Overlord of the sky used to reside. The mountain top that had nothing but boulders was now filled with flowers. There in the middle of the garden of flowers was a werewolf girl encased in ice. It was like Tsukiko had entered one of those fairy tales that humans like to write and sing about. 

Tsukiko approached the ice coffin and placed her hands on it. After scanning the body inside the ice, Tsukiko came to a conclusion. Tsukiko looked at the hopeful expression on Kretos's face and frowned. She didn't want to say it but she needed to. 

"Kretos, the wounds on this werewolf are too severe to heal even for me. There is no spell that I know of that could save her. The moment she is released from this ice coffin, she would only last a few minutes before she dies... I'm sorry..."

When Kretos heard Tsukiko's diagnosis the hopeful expression on his face faded and he lowered his head making an unknown expression. 

"I see... Then can I change my favor? Can you erase my memories of her." 

"I can indeed do that, but... Are you sure?" 

Kretos looked at the sleeping Leila encased in ice and felt something stabbing at his heart. If he wasn't going to be able to save her, and if this emotion gets in the way of his fighting, then... 

"Yes, I'm sure."