Chapter 161: The Second Grand War of Saints and Demons (3)

Silver hair fluttering in the wind and skin as white as jade.

Her sparkling red eyes were like the sun.

The Fourth Creation, Arahel, possessed an appearance that perfectly resembled an angel from one’s imagination.

If only her wings were not black.

And if only her personality were not so terribly twisted.

She was far from the noble and pure image an angel should have.

“It is a fake.”

I looked at Arahel through the Eye of Laplace.

Though I had encountered her earlier than expected, she was nothing more than a fake—an illusion.

However, whether she was real or fake, the fact remained that she was extremely dangerous, so I raised Bad Bond.

The moment the blade of Bad Bond was positioned in the center of my vision.

「 It has been a very long time. 」

A beautiful voice that sounded like jade beads rolling tickled my ears.

A faint breath felt as if it were right next to me, and a strange fragrance made my body stiffen at the same time.

“Saint!”

The Knights, who had been on standby, moved like lightning.

I raised my hand to stop them.

Even though it was a fake, this meeting with Arahel was a situation I had been waiting for.

「 Haaah… 」

Arahel blew her breath against my ear.

*Sniff, sniff.*

She even put her face to my neck and twitched her nose.

After standing there for a long while, she finally stepped back a few paces.

「 I can smell the scent of Eodom. 」

「 This is the scent of my eldest brother… 」

She smiled brightly while resting both hands on her cheeks.

「 Are you finally trying to understand us? 」

「 Ah, what should I do? I, Arahel, am so happy! 」

「 A father who works hard for his children… Out of sincerity, I will not kill you. I will only cut off your limbs and sear you a little with my second brother’s flames. That should be enough payment for all this time. 」

I shook my head to avoid her voice, which was flushed with ecstasy.

I wondered who gave her permission to talk about cutting limbs and searing.

Her twisted affection was no longer even shocking to me.

“A day may come when you understand me, but the day will never come when I understand your evil.”

When I said that, Arahel, who had been chirping like a bird, stopped abruptly.

*Whoosh.*

The warm spring breeze vanished from her face.

In its place, a bitter winter wind took hold.

「 Why? 」

Large snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

The snow that had been falling gently suddenly turned into a swirling blizzard.

However, since all of it was an ‘illusion’ visible only to me, those who were struggling with the Undead did not waver.

「 Why will you not understand us? 」

I had already stated the reason countless times until I was sick of it.

But I could say it hundreds of more times in the future.

“If you had been good, I might have felt pity for you.”

There is no grave without a story, and there is no sinner without an excuse.

No matter how sorrowful the stories of the Demon Realm’s creations were, the fact that countless lives had died by their hands remained unchanged.

「 You conceived us as kings! 」

「 You defined us as evil from the moment of our birth! 」

「 And yet you expected us to follow your ‘Good’! 」

Her graceful, beautiful voice turned into a sharp blade.

The mounds of snow covering me pierced my skin like awls.

Blood flowed.

However, all of it was merely an illusion.

“Yes. You are right. I am the culprit.”

I spoke with my body drenched in fake blood.

“That is why I intend to set it right.”

To make what is wicked no longer wicked.

Since nothing in the world is unnecessary.

I will balance the world so that what should exist is not ignored.

Understanding can come after they and I, ‘Hor’, have been assigned our respective values.

My vision, filled with the blizzard, gradually blurred.

I felt something wriggling inside my head.

The ‘Parasite’ Arahel had planted when she blew her breath into my ear had activated its ability.

「 You must see it for yourself. 」

「 How much we suffered. 」

「 How much we craved affection. 」

The resentful voice faded into the distance.

***

The Timepiece changed rapidly.

The pure white snow that had been falling violently turned black and red.

Soon, the world spread out before me became the Demon Realm.

— Uuuuuh…!

The sound of someone crying from far away made even the red sky shed tears.

I clutched my head at the resentment and sorrow contained within it.

*Poi.*

Arahel’s ability is close to illusion magic.

To be precise, she uses parasites that burrow into the opponent’s brain and show them things for what feels like an eternity.

With her original power, she could scatter thousands of parasites with a single gesture, a terrifying power truly befitting the title of Grand Army commander.

‘I have granted plenty of Mana to the Knights and Wizards, so they will not be swayed by a mere fake.’

I stood still and looked around at the landscape of the Demon Realm.

The illusions she showed were mostly lies.

However, the world reflected in my eyes now was not entirely false.

This was… clearly ‘something that had been the truth.’

I stood in silence for a moment before moving my feet.

— Uuuu…!

A familiar cry caught my attention.

The further I walked, the more negative emotions overflowed.

The Fragments of the Demon King that had coiled inside my body began to riot slowly.

— Kill! Kill him…!

I could not tell if the voice ringing in my skull was from the illusion or the cry of the rebellious fragments.

I simply walked.

With every step, the crimson sky moved rapidly.

From that, I noticed that the time period of this illusion was changing moment by moment.

It seemed Arahel wanted to show me as much as possible.

Since I also wanted to see how they had been living, I did not resist the flow.

After all, this was exactly why I had looked forward to meeting Arahel in the first place.

— Father.

— Fa-ther.

In the middle of a deep, giant pit, it sat huddled.

The Demon King before he became king.

The bastard sat slumped in that pit, unable to get up.

Yes.

I admit it.

Seeing the scene I had only imagined with my own eyes made my heart ache.

That thought grew even stronger as I left the Demon King behind to meet the other creations.

I saw the second creation, who had eventually lost the ability to speak from crying so much.

I saw Arahel and Mamon, who were spitting out resentment and screams.

They could not see me even though I was right in front of them, the one they longed for so much, so they simply cried for hundreds of years.

If only I had felt a little more affection for them.

If only I had been a little more indifferent even after seeing their flesh and bone melt away.

If I had been even slightly pleased by this excessive obsession, would this relationship have changed even a little?

Useless assumptions sprouted one after another.

What was the use of thinking about it now?

I neglected them under the pretext of doing it for their sake and overlooked their obsession.

And after a long wait, they, having lost their reason, invaded the innocent world.

My footsteps, treading on the pitch-black, dead earth, were soon staggering.

My mind was cracking under the continuous screams that felt as vivid as reality.

But I did not purposely call upon the Light.

It was still bearable.

As I walked and walked, a cliff appeared before me.

In the middle of the blood-red sea stretching beyond the cliff, I faced a towering giant.

「 Krr-aaaaah… 」

The third creation, Kalgos.

He was crying as well, just like the others.

Large drops of blood-tears hanging from his chin eventually fell, becoming the red seawater.

*Skreeeech—!*

Whenever that happened, the Plague Monsters born from the blood-tears would shriek.

The sight of it made them look like children comforting their father.

“…His body is larger than a mountain, yet he cries quite a lot.”

I watched him from a distance before turning my head.

At that moment, the giant’s voice reached my ears.

「 Why do you only wander through this place? 」

「 If you continue like this, your mind will eventually be ruined. 」

I straightened my head.

My eyes met those of the Red Plague Giant.

Thousands of years ago, when he had lost his father, Kalgos would not have looked directly here and talked to himself like that.

In other words, the giant before my eyes was undoubtedly the one I knew from the Bad Bond.

“Kalgos. To think you would follow me in here.”

He was still one of the creations, it seemed. It appeared he was capable of squeezing his soul into Arahel’s illusion.

I thought as much as I looked at him.

He had asked why I was wandering instead of thinking about escaping.

“The Demon Realm without me… I wanted to see what it was like. I could not miss an opportunity like this.”

It was difficult to speak.

My vision was constantly flickering, my head was spinning, and it was becoming increasingly burdensome to hold onto a mind being eaten away by Eodom.

「 Hmph. 」

The way Kalgos looked at me was as if he were looking at a madman.

「 Why are you so relaxed? 」

「 It seems you do not even realize your own condition. 」

No.

I knew very well.

Would I be doing this without any plan?

Instead of answering, I tilted my head to the side.

We were in a relationship where we bared our teeth at each other, enough to warrant the name ‘Bad Bond’.

Yet, for some reason, it felt like this big fellow was worrying about me.

*Snicker.*

A laugh escaped me.

The idea of him worrying about me was absurd, even to me.

「 Excluding the King and myself, the rest of my siblings probably do not know. 」

「 How much power you have lost. 」

「 That noble, solitary figure from before has vanished without a trace. 」

The giant, with half his body submerged in the sea, spoke to himself.

*Splash—!*

Every time he took a step toward me, the red, sticky waves opened their maws wide.

「 It is a bitter thing. 」

「 You have fallen so far that even your children cannot dare to imagine it. 」

「 Looking at your state, it seems you cannot even escape this place because of the Eodom you harbor within yourself. 」

My head was already throbbing, so I did not offer any retort.

I had long since become immune to him grating on my nerves.

However, I was curious about one thing.

“So what? If you thought I would be trapped here forever, you should have just watched from the outside. Why did you crawl in here? Is there something for you to scavenge?”

Arahel’s ability was vicious.

Because it was a parasite that ate away at the mind, it manifested an eternal illusion at the cost of the host’s life force.

It was truly a hellish illusion that repeated endlessly even after death.

That meant Kalgos, who had intruded on his own, would not be able to leave this place unless I did.

“You said I have fallen. But are you any different? You are a sinner who lost your precious body and became subordinate to a sword.”

He might have managed to get in, but that did not mean he was granted the freedom to leave.

It is always easy to fall into something, but distant and difficult to escape it.

In other words, his future depended on whether I escaped this place or not.

“…”

The giant’s bulging eyes were calmer than ever.

I thought we might have a shouting match, but he simply stared at me.

「 My siblings are waiting. 」

「 They are looking forward to the meeting with you, finally facing you after thousands of years. 」

It was ridiculous.

Since when did he care so much about his siblings’ feelings?

It sounded like an excuse.

「 Therefore, you must not turn back in a place like this. 」

「 Whether you satisfy the expectations of my pitiful siblings, 」

「 Or whether you bring them despair once again with a cold attitude, 」

「 You must reach a conclusion in front of my siblings. 」

The fellow continued speaking as if making an excuse.

To my ears, it sounded like he was telling me a way to break through this darkness.

Of course, I already had a method in mind.

I was simply intrigued by Kalgos’s attitude.

Even he probably did not truly believe I would be trapped here.

Then why was he speaking as if he were helping me because he had no other choice?

Instead of answering, I only tilted my chin up.

Then Kalgos reached out his hand.

The blood flowing down his forearm was like a waterfall.

「 The Fragments of the King that interfere with your use of Light. 」

「 Leave them to me. 」

「 Facing my siblings while harboring an Eodom that does not fit your body is nothing more than an act of deception against us. 」

His tone was too simple for it to be seen as a desire to reclaim the power he had lost.

Also, his demeanor was quite serious for it to be an attitude born from a desire to torment me.

「 If you are uneasy about me regaining my strength, you can simply pass the Light to the Hero from the Bad Bond. 」

「 At the very least, it will be less dangerous than having Light and Eodom coexist in your body. 」

Even when looking at Kalgos through the Eye of Laplace, I could see no shallow intentions in his words.

He was sincerely offering a way to break my restrictions and overcome this situation more easily.

Was it because he had lost the power he once possessed?

The plague giant, who had been so hideous, now looked like a human who happened to have a large body.

Entrusting the Eodom to Kalgos.

It was not that I had never thought about it.

If I were to return the darkness Kalgos harbored at the very last moment…

Though the ending would be the same, the process would be a bit easier.

I had simply judged it to be impossible and had accumulated Eodom in my body instead.

To think he would be the first to suggest it.

I narrowed my eyes.

Kalgos was the type who did not do useless things.

The original creations I had made were exceptionally cruel and selfish, far too much so for him to do something solely for the benefit of someone else.

“What do you gain from this?”

The fellow brought his head close.

「 An ending for my siblings and me that is not hollow. 」

「 An ending for you that is not hollow. 」

「 I wish to see that. 」

And then.

「 The Power of Chaos that you intend to experiment with using your own body. 」

「 Since it is a power that cannot be mixed from the beginning, you might explode and die if you are not careful. 」

「 It would be a hundred times better to use me than such a weak body. 」

What.

So you already knew about my secret card.

I looked down at the finger he offered and took off my left glove.

“Do not even dream of betrayal. I will give Albert more Light than this Eodom.”

When I said that, the fellow burst into laughter.

A roar, closer to thunder, echoed loudly overhead.

「 Please, do not trust me. 」

「 Since even I cannot guarantee what will happen once I regain my strength. 」

That will not happen.

*Thump.*

I placed my left hand on that large, red finger.

The Eodom and the Fragments of the Demon King that had been eating away at me from the inside flowed into him.

At the same time, the Light exploded, and the world Arahel had drawn shattered into pieces.