Ren Miyaoji
Ren Miyaoji
After leaving Weeb, the Demon Lord entered a dilapidated chapel that stood in an empty section of town, away from any people; the perfect location for an advisor summoning. The interior had been destroyed by the Invasion, vivid scorch marks left on the walls and ceiling. Perhaps the townspeople were hesitant to tear down a chapel despite the damage.
Finally, the day has come... I wonder how Ren will react.
Ren Miyaoji was a girl whom the Demon Lord would have described as his best advisor. During the over a decade of the game’s existence, he had devoted blind love to this character. Everything from her creation and backstory to her skill set and stats were a product of overt favoritism. She had it all: looks, status, brains, strength... All without having to earn any of it.
Pretty crazy character I made... The Demon Lord reminisced about the past and Ren’s characterization. The girl, despite her icy disposition, was kinder than any other character. Her birth came with a bizarre destiny, resulting in her being placed in the Upper House, a facility reserved for noble-born children under unfortunate circumstances. For Ren, this felt like nothing short of abandonment.
The Miyaoji house at the time had no heir. The pressure slowly drove the lady of the house into hysterics. Meanwhile, Ren was conceived between the lord of the house and one of his concubines. His wife went mad with rage, attempting to kill the concubine and the unborn Ren. The lord managed to secure his concubine and unborn child in a distant location where his wife could not reach them.
The child was born shortly thereafter and placed into the Empire-run Upper House for her own safety. Despite being born into an imperial bloodline, her existence was wiped from all records. This tragic backstory had aided in garnering Ren’s popularity among the players.
It’s straight from a soap opera, now that I think about it... It was too much, the Demon Lord grumbled, but Ren’s tribulations were far from over.
Lady Miyaoji had continued to hunt down Ren’s mother, finally capturing her and strangling her to death; the only person who knew Ren’s true identity and the only person who ever loved her had been taken from her.
Her graduation from the Upper House was not attended by any members of the Miyaoji family, but a strange man in a long, black coat had come to see her. Hakuto Kunai had recognized Ren’s exceptional talent and come to recruit her.
In exchange, in a voice as cold as ice, Ren asked for him to kill Lady Miyaoji.
Kunai simply nodded and granted her wish. With her contract signed in blood, she joined the department of Citizen Happiness Management. After her existence had been wiped from all records, she stepped out into the limelight. Ren might have considered that day her true birthday. The duality of Ren being a player’s worst nightmare and a tragic heroine had earned her undisputed popularity.
“The last one I saw was you, that day...” The Demon Lord closed his eyes in reminiscence.
With the uprising of popular social media networks, numerous independently run websites had been swallowed up by a flood. Of course, Akira Ono’s world was no exception. Akira had sworn an oath to Ren that he would rise again, but it would take years for him to accomplish this.
I finally get to see you again... Whenever the Demon Lord summoned an advisor, he was always met with a dose of nervousness and a powerful sense of elation. Today, however, he was overcome with only excitement. For fifteen years, Akira Ono had devoted himself to her, which was longer than many even provided love for their spouse or family.
Ren spent more time at Kunai’s side than anyone else... I have to be careful. She was Kunai’s secretary and bodyguard, never leaving his side. She alone had spent much more time with Kunai than any other advisor. Any small discrepancy could give him away. I want to at least get along with Ren. No, I have to make it happen... His relationship with Ren could very well decide the future of his endeavors in this world.
With determination, the Demon Lord brought up the admin screen. It now illuminated her name; the sight alone made the Demon Lord’s heart skip a beat. Steadying himself, he searched his surroundings for any signs of life before finally commencing the summoning.
“Ren, come hither to my presence...!”
The familiar pillars of white and black materialized before the Demon Lord. When they converged, a familiar girl was left standing there: utter perfection. Everything down to each individual strand of her hair shone with a remarkable glow. Her small but dignified stature prevented most from even approaching her, her ice-cold expression betraying the allure of her traditional Japanese beauty.
She was far too special to Akira Ono. Straightening his back more than necessary, the Demon Lord called to Ren with vigor. “Thank you for coming, Ren.”
“You’ve summoned me, Master...? What?”
“Wh-What’s wrong...?” The Demon Lord was quickly dismayed at Ren’s reaction. While she was grateful towards Kunai, she never felt any affection for him. In fact, she felt strong revulsion towards the cruelty he wrought upon the world of the Empire through his Game. Considering that fact, the Demon Lord feared if he had made a misstep in meeting Ren one-on-one. “I understand, Ren. We are no longer in our original world, rather—”
“I finally get to meet you...my true master.”
The Demon Lord froze for a moment before the realization of what her comment meant struck him. He felt his mind go blank. “Y-You must be confused. Let me explain things one at a—”
“I’ve wanted to meet you for so long...Akira Ono.”
No, no, no, no, no! His own name tightly bound the Demon Lord in place. Even after making it through all sorts of impossible situations with his guts, bluffing, and con artist manipulation tactics, he had never expected this. Calm down... Panic and I’ll only drown faster... Above all else, the Demon Lord never gave up. He deliberately took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
“I know this is sudden, Ren. Have you forgotten my name?”
“I have not forgotten. How could I...ever forget?”
The Demon Lord was dizzied by her icy look, and her dark eyes seemed to see right through him. Simply standing opposite from her made him feel overwhelmed by her exquisite grace, which existed where he could never reach... The air was heavy. Her every word rang with sophistication that seemed to straighten his back and awaken the slumbering cells in his body.
“I won’t repeat myself. My name is Kuna—”
“You speak of another person, with another name. You are my true master.”
“Snap out of it, Ren... We don’t have all day.”
“An existence I have felt from the moment I was born... A great love that envelops everything that I am, a magnificent entity filled with compassion for my entire existence... Everything I speak of, I feel it coursing from every fiber of your being.”
Her all-piercing gaze made the Demon Lord avert his eyes from hers; he couldn’t bear to meet them. For whatever reason, Ren was undeniably convinced that Akira Ono stood before her.
“I have changed my name once. You know why.” The Demon Lord slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, brazenly dropping ash onto the chapel floor.
In fact, he had originally given the Demon Lord of the Empire his own name. He only renamed the character once he began running the game on a global scale. After it grew beyond the scope of a simple hobby, he had made the perfectly normal realization that he shouldn’t have the final boss share his full name. This was the case in the real world, and it was easy to invent an excuse for this in the world of the Empire. It would not have been strange for someone as hated as Hakuto Kunai to change his name or even his face; terrorists around the world and all of the players were constantly hunting him down.
“When the first name disappeared, I could no longer sense the great being, and the wonderful love I had always felt by my side had gone beyond the distant sky... But you’ve come back to me.” Ren approached the Demon Lord, step by step.
He exhaled once more, his mind racing to find the right next move. Ren seemed adamant not to accept any excuse, convinced without a shred of doubt that he was Akira Ono.
“What do you... How much do you know?” The Demon Lord braced himself and finally met Ren’s eyes. He let out another long puff of smoke as he dusted off a half-crumbled pew and sat on it. His question was an admission of Ren’s claim as well as a gambit.
“I don’t understand anything... Except that your love was my only reason to live through all of the hardships in my life.” Ren had been gifted with skills beyond belief, but her upbringing was tragic.
Although her backstory served as the foundation of what made her character unique and complete, there was no denying that Akira was the one who had invented and then made Ren experience those tribulations. All artists would have done the same, of course, but now his creations stood before him with their own free wills.
“What if I told you that I created all of those hardships in your life?” The Demon Lord’s question was sneaky, in the sense that Ren could have taken this as Kunai speaking, since he was so intertwined with her being, having recruited her to a world of cruelty she never wanted to be a part of. However, in the truer sense, he had created not just her story, but the only world she had ever known. For better or worse, he was the cause of it all, and the Demon Lord had spoken as much with a certain degree of conviction.
Still, Ren’s expression remained unchanged. “You...are my everything.” At last, she was close enough for the Demon Lord to reach out and touch her. This should have been a terrifying realization, but he was overwhelmed with a bizarre sense of relief. The very fact that Ren was physically near him gave him an irrefutable sense of omnipotence.
Before he was completely drowned in the comforting sensation, the Demon Lord closed his eyes tight and forced his mouth open.
“That’s...a conversation for another day. There are plenty of things about this world I need to explain to you.” He went on to tell her how he came to this world and what had happened since then, speaking in a manner much less grandiose than before. This time, he never met Ren’s eyes or spoke with any real conviction. Ren simply listened without showing any reaction. Time passed in the old chapel, where only the Demon Lord’s voice and the faint sounds of the outside world could be heard.
What would a bystander make of a man clad in all black conversing with a graceful girl in a black, sailor-style uniform? The Demon Lord had recounted the same tale, which he could now recite without preparation or pause... But it omitted an important truth: the existence of Akira Ono.
“You’ve faced many challenges, Master. But please don’t trouble yourself anymore. From this point on, I will be your shield and your sword.”
The Demon Lord grunted in acknowledgment. Appearing in another world should have warranted a reaction worthy of a literally world-changing event, but Ren seemed completely unbothered. She reverted the subject of their conversation to the previous one. “Why are you pretending to be him, Master? Do the others simply not know your name? Perhaps you are hiding your identity because you feel some suspicion towards the other members...”
“W-Wait... Stop, Ren.” The Demon Lord wanted to shut down at the onslaught of these questions, but his brain continued to work for once. He presumed that, after receiving his devotion for fifteen years, Ren had become something more than the other advisors. Even to him, Ren had always been special. She was the heroine and face of the Game, an impenetrable being; even her record was unmatched—the MMO had shut down before Ren had suffered a single loss. Even on that fateful night in 2016 when the Sleepless Castle fell, Ren stood fighting until the end.
Ren rapidly continued with her same expression, as if she were speaking to herself, “There are some members of the party whom I wouldn’t trust, even those who are downright dangerous, in fact. I think you’re right to be cautious, Master.”
The Demon Lord immediately knew who Ren was talking about. Yu was acting peacefully now, but she was extremely dangerous by nature. He didn’t even want to imagine facing off against Tahara’s brain. That being said, he couldn’t afford for Ren and Yu (whose relationship was already strained back in the Empire) to deteriorate further, lest his entire team crumble to the ground.
“The advisors serve me well; no one bears any ill intentions towards me.”
“That’s because...you are our true master.”
The Demon Lord finally looked up at this, beholding Ren’s perfect face with eyes that seemed to swallow the world. She looked beautiful down to every eyelash, and it finally hit the Demon Lord that the creation of such a being was an unforgivable sin.
“There may come a time when I tell you many more things... But we will not speak of this until then. Not a word to the others.”
Ren remained silent for some time, driving the Demon Lord mad. Finally, she slowly spoke. “Understood... But when we’re alone, I will call you by your real name.”
“What?”
Ren continued, “And the others might already suspect something. Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that all of the party members are following you without question for so long. His method is an oppressive rule through fear and violence, the complete opposite of what you are trying to accomplish here, Master.”
The Demon Lord snubbed out his cigarette only to immediately light another; he was going overboard. He began to sense that, since Ren had spent more time with Kunai than anyone else, her knowledge on these things was closer to his own. “I was going to bring you back to the village for introductions,” he said, “but I’ll take you up north straight away. There’s more I want to show you about this world.”
“Venturing outside with you, Master...is a dream come true.” The advisors spent their lives in the Sleepless Castle for the most part, and they were rarely permitted to leave the premises.
“We’re not going on a field trip...”
Ren, who rarely changed her expression, wore a smile. The subtle change knocked the wind out of the Demon Lord’s sails. He cleared his throat and stood to escape the sensation.
Ren pursued; she held out her arms and spoke. “Here... Welcome home, Master.”
“E-Erm...” The Demon Lord slowly approached as if was being physically drawn in. When he was close enough, Ren gently wrapped her arms around his waist. Her shoulders twitched, nearly imperceptibly, before she closed her eyes in relief.
“I knew you would return to me one day...” she said, clearly directed at Akira.
What am I going to do...?! Completely lost, he simply gazed up at the ceiling of the chapel and scratched his head.
Ren Miyaoji
Race: Human — Age: 16
Weapon Ningen Mukotsu
A dreadful spear that pierces all. Its blade renders all armor useless. Facing Ren spells certain death. Numerous effects attached. Infinite durability.
Armor Dance of the Cherry Blossom
It closely resembles a sailor-style school uniform but boasts an extremely high defense. Its form changes in battle. Infinite durability.
Item World Queller
A national treasure bestowed upon the Miyaoji family by the imperial family. Protects the wearer from all curses and unworldly threats. It was given to Ren by her father, whom she hated, so she’d always wanted to destroy the item. In this world, its effects are incredibly amplified. The item rejects any wearer who does not belong to the Miyaoji family and provides no protections to said wearer.
Level: 1 — HP: 20000/20000 — Stamina: 600/600 — Attack: 88 (+50+x) — Defense: 94 (+50) — Dexterity: 83 — Magic: 0 — Magic Defense: Off the Charts (Endless Nine)
Equipped Skills: First: Flicker Second: Point Break Third: Outcry
Combat Skills: Fake Out, Intimidate, Lock-On, One-Shot Kill, Go Easy, Devotion, Ruler, Hammer Smash, High-and-Mighty, Hunter, Demon Spawn, Avenger, Critical Striker, Strategist, Mind’s Eye, Overlord, Obliterate, Equal to None, Limit Breaker, Second to None, Break Through
Survival Skills: Worship, Emotion Control, Deadpan, Bandage, Seamstress, Taste Test, Neutralize Poison, Recover, Fighting Spirit, Charm, Integrity, Breaker of Evil, Cooking, Medicine, Resistance, Meditate, Drum Up Courage
Duel Skills: Gotta Kill Them All, Thousand Blooms, One-Person Army, Sky Ruler
Special Abilities: Dictator of Law, Assault Queller, etc.