January 22, 2015.
Beijing, Chaoyang District.
Wang Li's Apartment.
9:15 a.m.
Morning light filtered through the thin curtains.
Wang Li sat at her small kitchen table, a cup of tea growing cold in front of her. Across from her, the demon princess was devouring a bowl of instant noodles with the enthusiasm of someone who had never tasted processed food before.
Rimuru was standing by the window, looking out at the city.
The pouch containing the Impostor sat on the table between them, occasionally twitching.
It was, Wang Li thought, the strangest breakfast she had ever attended.
THE QUESTION
"Lord Rimuru," the princess said between mouthfuls of noodles, "can I ask you something?"
Rimuru didn't turn around.
"You're going to ask anyway, so go ahead."
The princess set down her chopsticks.
Her golden eyes were serious now, the fangirl excitement replaced by something more solemn.
"The Creator God's daughter. The one you said is your best friend. Why does she hate her father?"
Wang Li looked up.
She had been wondering the same thing.
Rimuru was quiet for a moment.
Then he turned from the window.
His expression was unreadable.
"That's a heavy question for breakfast," he said.
The princess didn't back down.
"You mentioned it yesterday. You said the Creator God tried to destroy the multiverse after his wife was killed. You said you stopped him. And you said his daughter hates him."
She paused.
"I want to understand. In my world, the Creator God is... not really discussed. It's like he doesn't exist anymore. But the legends say he was the source of everything. The beginning of all creation. How could his own daughter hate him?"
THE SILENCE
Wang Li watched Rimuru's face.
She was a doctor. She had spent years learning to read people—their micro-expressions, their tells, the small ways their bodies betrayed their true feelings.
Rimuru's face showed nothing.
But something in his golden eyes shifted.
Something old.
Something tired.
"You want to know why Milim hates her father," he said slowly.
The princess blinked.
"Milim? That's her name?"
Rimuru nodded.
"Milim Nava. The Destroyer. The oldest Demon Lord. My best friend."
He paused.
"She's also one of the most powerful beings I've ever met. And she's been carrying pain for a very long time."
THE STORY
Rimuru sat down at the table.
He didn't look like a god.
He looked like a tired person about to tell a story he'd told too many times.
"Veldanava—that's the Creator God's name—wasn't always a monster. When he first created the world, he was... curious. Playful. He wanted to see what his creations would do. How they would grow. What they would become."
He paused.
"Then he fell in love. With a human woman. And for a while, he was happy. They had a daughter. Milim."
He smiled faintly.
"She was born on the same day as me, actually. That's what the legends say, anyway. Two souls entering existence at the same moment, destined to be connected."
The princess's eyes widened.
"Really? You and the Creator God's daughter were born on the same day?"
Rimuru's smile didn't waver.
"That's the story."
THE LIE
[Somewhere in the depths of Rimuru's consciousness, a voice spoke.]
"That's not true."
Rimuru's internal voice didn't flinch.
'I know.'
"Milim is older than you. Much older. She was already a Demon Lord when you were just a slime."
'I know, Ciel.'
"And Veldanava didn't kill everyone Milim loved."
'I know.'
"Milim's mother was killed by humans. Her father went mad with grief. He tried to destroy everything. But he didn't personally murder her friends and family."
'I know, Ciel.'
"Then why are you lying?"
Rimuru paused.
'Because the truth is complicated. And this girl comes from a world where the legends are already wrong. If I tell her the real story, she won't understand it. She needs a version that makes sense to her.'
"That's not a good reason to lie."
'Maybe not. But it's the best I've got right now.'
"You're just trying to make yourself look cooler."
Rimuru's internal voice sputtered.
'I am NOT—'
"You are. You want the princess to think you fought a god and bled for it. Even though you didn't bleed. Even though you just sealed him away while Milim watched."
'That's... that's not entirely inaccurate.'
"It's entirely inaccurate."
'Ciel!'
"I'm just stating facts."
THE STORY CONTINUES
Out loud, Rimuru continued.
"Veldanava loved his wife. But humans killed her. And something in him broke."
His voice was steady.
"He couldn't handle the grief. The rage. He looked at the world he had created and saw only pain. Only suffering. Only the cruelty of the beings he had brought into existence."
He paused.
"So he decided to end it. All of it. The multiverse. Every world. Every life. Every soul."
The princess's face had gone pale.
"He tried to destroy... everything?"
Rimuru nodded.
"Everything."
THE BETRAYAL
"But it wasn't just the destruction," Rimuru continued. "It was how he did it."
He leaned forward.
"He tried to turn Milim against us. Against her friends. Against everyone she loved."
The princess's chopsticks clattered to the table.
"What?"
"Mind control. Manipulation. He whispered lies into her ear for centuries. Tried to make her believe that we were her enemies. That we were responsible for her mother's death. That the only way to find peace was to help him erase existence."
Rimuru's golden eyes darkened.
"He used his own daughter as a weapon. His own child. The one person who should have been able to trust him absolutely."
He shook his head.
"And when that didn't work, when Milim fought back, he tried to kill her. His own daughter. Because she refused to help him destroy everything."
THE WAR
"He started a war," Rimuru said quietly. "Not just between nations. Between entire races. Angels against demons. Demons against devils. Spirits against monsters. Even otherworlders—people who had been dragged into that world against their will, who just wanted to go home—were forced to choose sides."
His voice was flat now, reciting facts like a historian.
"And through it all, he hid. Veldanava, the Creator God, the source of all existence, hid from his own daughter. He pretended to be dead. He let her grieve for him. He let her believe he was gone."
The princess's hands were shaking.
"Why would he do that?"
Rimuru met her eyes.
"Because he was a coward. Because he couldn't face what he had become. Because it was easier to hide than to admit he was wrong."
He paused.
"Milim didn't see her father again until the end. And by then, she didn't want to."
THE BATTLE
"So what happened?" Wang Li asked.
She hadn't meant to speak.
But the story had pulled her in, and she needed to know the ending.
Rimuru glanced at her.
"I fought him," he said simply.
The princess leaned forward.
"How long did it take?"
Rimuru's expression flickered.
[Ciel's voice echoed in his mind.]
"Don't say a whole day. Don't you dare say a whole day."
Rimuru's internal voice was smug.
'I'm going to say it.'
"No. Don't. It's embarrassing."
'Too late.'
"The battle lasted three days and three nights," Rimuru said.
[Ciel's voice was deadpan.]
"It lasted one hour. You spent most of that time trying to reason with him, and then you sealed him away with a technique you created on the spot."
Rimuru ignored her.
"Three days," the princess breathed. "That's incredible."
"It was the hardest fight of my life," Rimuru continued.
"You didn't even bleed."
"I bled," Rimuru said.
"You did not."
"I bled a lot," Rimuru insisted.
"You literally cannot bleed in your true form."
"That's not the point, Ciel."
THE SEAL
"By the end," Rimuru said, "I was the only one left standing."
The princess's eyes were wide.
"What happened to Veldanava?"
Rimuru's expression grew serious.
"I sealed him away. In a dimension that only I can access. A prison outside of time and space, where he can't hurt anyone ever again."
He paused.
"It wasn't easy. He was the Creator God. The most powerful being in existence. Even at the end, even when he was losing, he refused to give up."
His voice dropped.
"I had to use everything I had. Every technique. Every skill. Every ounce of power I possessed. And even then..."
He shook his head.
"Even then, I almost lost."
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LIE
[Ciel was silent for a moment.]
"You're really going to let her believe that?"
Rimuru's internal voice was defensive.
'It's a better story.'
"It's a lie."
'All legends are lies. You know that. The truth gets distorted over time. I'm just... getting ahead of the distortion.'
"By lying now?"
'By creating a legend that's more useful than the truth.'
"And what's the use of this legend?"
Rimuru paused.
'Hope,' he said finally. 'The princess grew up believing that I was some kind of god. That I split heaven and earth with a single swing. That I befriended the Creator God. If I tell her the truth—that I'm just someone who got lucky, who had good friends and good timing—she'll be disappointed. She'll question everything she knows.'
"So you'd rather she believe you fought a god for three days and bled?"
'Yes.'
"That's stupid."
'Maybe. But it's human.'
THE AFTERMATH
The princess was staring at Rimuru with an expression of pure awe.
"Three days," she whispered. "You fought the Creator God for three days... and won."
Rimuru shrugged.
"It wasn't about winning. It was about protecting the people I care about."
He looked at her.
"That's the lesson, by the way. Power isn't about being the strongest. It's about having something worth fighting for."
The princess nodded slowly.
"I think I understand."
She looked down at her hands.
"My father... the current Demon Lord... he's not like you. He's not a fighter. He's a ruler. He does paperwork and argues with the council and tries to keep the realm from falling apart."
Her voice was quiet.
"I used to think that made him weak. But now..."
She trailed off.
"Now you realize that ruling is its own kind of fight," Rimuru said gently.
The princess looked up.
"Yes. Exactly."
THE COFFEE SHOP
Later that afternoon, Rimuru announced that he was going to look at a location for his café.
"Want to come?" he asked.
Wang Li shook her head.
"I need to think. Process. Maybe sleep for a week."
Rimuru nodded.
"Fair enough. Princess, you're with me."
The princess's face lit up.
"Really? I can come?"
"Someone has to carry my things. And I'm not doing it myself."
The princess's face fell slightly.
"...I'm your pack mule?"
"You're my apprentice. Same thing."
"That's not the same thing at all!"
THE DOOR CLOSED
Wang Li sat alone in her apartment.
The pouch on the table twitched.
She stared at it.
The Impostor was in there.
The being who had ruined her life.
The being who had killed her across multiple incarnations.
And now he was trapped in a tiny pocket dimension, unable to do anything but twitch and occasionally threaten to sue.
It should have felt satisfying.
It didn't.
She just felt empty.
THE TEXT
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
She picked it up, already bracing herself.
But it wasn't from the Impostor.
It was from the hospital.
"Dr. Wang, this is Director Chen. I know you're on medical leave, but something has happened. Please call me as soon as possible."
Wang Li stared at the screen.
Something had happened.
Something new.
Something bad.
She could feel it.
She put the phone down without responding.
Whatever it was, it could wait.
She needed to think.
But even as she sat there, staring at the wall, she couldn't shake the feeling that the story wasn't over.
That it was only just beginning.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Rimuru lies.
Not maliciously he lies because the truth is too strange, too complicated, too human for the legends the princess grew up with. He lies because sometimes a good story is more useful than an accurate one.
But lies have consequences.
And somewhere, in a dimension outside of time and space, a sealed god stirs.
He's been waiting fifty thousand years.
And he knows Rimuru is back.
Next Chapter Preview:
Rimuru finds the perfect location for his café—but the building is haunted. The princess learns the difference between a latte and a cappuccino. Wang Li ignores seventeen calls from the hospital. And the Impostor, still trapped in the pouch, reveals that he wasn't working alone.
Someone sent him.
Someone who knows Wang Li's past life better than she does.