(Art by Kureta) The story centers around Demon Lord Veltol, defeated at the beginning of the story by the hero Gram. After he is defeated, he swears to come back one day and sure enough he keeps his promise. Only, Veltol was asleep while a huge catastrophe his his world. The fantasy world he once knew merged with a world called Earth, and his area merged into a city named Tokyo, specifically Shinjuku. After this merge, Earthlings used magic and fused it with their technology, creating a world with a blend of fantasy and science-fiction.
This is honestly unlike any other light novel I’d read. Most that use magic use it as a computer system or programming, but this one goes a step further to make a unique system of ancient magic with more sophisticated techniques managed by computers on top of it.
The demon lord’s one faithful assistant is Machina, who remained vigilant in protecting his tomb for five hundred years. Likewise, she has her own apartment and allows Veltol to crash at her place. Machina is an interesting character, who serves as an almost moral backbone to the story. She’s fairly strong herself, having been one of the immortals who served Veltol, but now she finds herself in a world with magic processed by computer technology.
Veltol initially finds himself to be rather weak. Like other beings like him, almost god-like, he is powered by negative emotions towards himself. In this bizarre future, barely anyone knows he’s real let alone has negative emotions towards him. It isn’t long before he figures out how to get attention and money at the same time… by becoming a video game streamer. He grows quickly, amassing a decent following for playing a knock-off of Dark Souls. Using his own name for this provides him enough recognition that he’s able to gain back a portion of his power.
There’s also a few mysteries and antagonists in the story. It progresses well and has a good blend of setting and characters. There is some hacking and unique ideas that Veltol comes up with to circumvent some of his weaknesses, but ultimately he turns into the over powered demon lord that most light novels have in them. The one big difference is his change at the very end (without spoiling anything).
Ultimately, this is an interesting story with some real stakes, great plot, and fantastic characters. The setting sells it, with a magical kind of cyberpunk, but the idea of a demon lord in a futuristic setting is a fun one. I highly recommend it!
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Frank Ormond 