The moment Emperor Drakan appeared, the situation was brought under control with remarkable speed.
The Gremory clones that had appeared in the grand hall were wiped out by Roxwell and the knights working together, without any major casualties.
As for the Hellgate, Leon and the others had desperately held the line until Milia arrived, allowing them to successfully subdue Andras.
Every Doomsday Scenario threatening the Empire had come to an end.
All that remained was dealing with the aftermath.
And two days later, inside Ex's private prison.
“Just like you said, Rosaria tried to sacrifice herself.”
Ex was currently hearing about what had happened at the Hellgate.
The story came from Circe, who had come to visit him from the other side of the bars.
“…Did Rosaria end up dying?”
“No! Do you seriously think I'd be crazy enough to just let that happen?”
Circe began explaining what had happened.
“Things kept getting worse, and the Hellgate was about to open. That's when Rosaria suddenly made up her mind and charged in. She dodged every bit of demonic magic coming at her, too. Then she finally reached the corrupted relic.”
Circe repeated Rosaria's words exactly as she'd heard them.
“Somehow, I always had a feeling it'd end this way.”
“I thought maybe things would be different this time, since I got lucky enough to reincarnate.”
“I was happy to meet all of you again in this life. I really was.”
“But I guess all good things have to come to an end eventually.”
“So I'm not going to let anyone else die.”
“One death is enough.”
“I'm sorry. And thank you.”
They were exactly the same words she'd spoken in the original story.
Except for that final, ‘And thank you.’
“And then she was going to grab it and twist it apart.”
Up to that point, everything had gone exactly as it had in the original story.
Circe continued, explaining what had changed afterward.
“Right. But then the imperial treasure we got thanks to you, the ‘Heaven-Defying Gloves,’ activated and threw Rosaria backward. It twisted her doomed fate just once.”
Even Ex hadn't known an item like that existed.
Leaving things to Circe, the Reincarnated Sage, really had been the right call.
But Circe's expression looked complicated.
“The problem is, the Heaven-Defying Gloves broke because of it, and now I'm in serious trouble. It was an imperial treasure… and I broke something I only borrowed.”
“Mm, I'm sure it'll be fine. Do you really think His Highness the Imperial Prince would make a big deal over one little item? He'll probably nag you a little and leave it at that.”
“…Strangely enough, he really did let me off easy, just like you said. All that talk about him being a tyrant is seriously unfair.”
In fact, Darius hadn't held Circe responsible for destroying the Heaven-Defying Gloves.
That was because he knew Circe was the Sage Aerial.
‘Though he did threaten me and say I'd be the one paying for it…’
Whenever something was easy to dump on Ex, the imperial family never missed the opportunity.
“Anyway… after that, Lady Milia and the imperial forces arrived and started driving the demons back hard. We were literally a step away from the Hellgate opening, but Leon and Frey barely managed to purify the relic. It got half-destroyed in the process… but whatever. Frey's the original owner, so I'm sure she'll figure something out.”
“What happened to Andras? I warned everyone not to kill her under any circumstances since Lady Beatrice's soul is still alive.”
“Thankfully, Lady Milia subdued Andras. They took her away for purification afterward. They should be moving Imperial Princess Beatrice's soul back into her original body soon.”
“A happy ending, then.”
“…”
Circe fell silent for a moment.
She glanced at Ex's face several times before finally opening her mouth with some hesitation.
“…Thanks. We saved Rosaria because of you. You were the one who told me I needed to rejoin the Hero Party. And we only got the Heaven-Defying Gloves because of you, too.”
“It was nothing. Trading one ridiculously expensive pair of gloves for the life of a reincarnated hero sounds like a bargain to me.”
“You've really got some nerve saying that. I'm still trying to process all this.”
Then she went quiet again.
Circe lifted her head once.
Then looked back down at the floor.
She fidgeted like someone working up the courage to say something that might cause a disaster the moment it left her mouth.
Watching her struggle eventually became too frustrating for Ex.
“Is something wrong?”
“…I actually wanted to know what you think.”
“About what?”
“Do you think I should go back to the Hero Party?”
Ex noticed the subtle nuance in her voice.
It wasn't reluctance.
The question came from a sense of responsibility.
Understanding what Circe was worried about, Ex replied.
“You're worried about the others dying, aren't you?”
“Yeah. You told me that once the end starts closing in, we'll die one after another. We saved Rosaria this time, but we might not be able to save the next person. If I wait until something happens and only then rush over, I could already be too late. If I'd missed the Hero Party this time…”
Rosaria would have died.
Circe didn't bother saying the rest aloud.
Ex remained silent for a little while before answering.
“Going back would probably be the safest choice.”
Circe's hand twitched at his answer.
“Canon has already been distorted pretty badly. There aren't any immediate threats left in the Empire, but… as you already know…”
“…The Demon King was resurrected. And the Goddess lost her Godhood.”
That information had already been relayed to Darius.
Because of it, Emperor Drakan had convened a full council.
Count Lemercier had immediately returned to his territory with his mage corps to reinforce the border.
Lola had also followed Count Lemercier to the Meltran Barony to hold Elia's funeral.
“But you don't have to decide right away. You can watch how things develop first. The Demon King may not have fully resurrected, considering how quiet everything still is.”
According to the latest reports, there had been no significant movement from the Demon Realm over the past two days.
“…Hmm, really?”
Circe made a faint little hum that sounded strangely pleased.
“More importantly, if we want to stay flexible, we need to keep exchanging information. There's no reason for you to chain yourself to the party at this point.”
“That's true.”
“By the way…”
Ex muttered as he gathered divine power in both hands.
“…I still don't understand why I can use divine power after the Goddess lost her Godhood. I honestly have no idea.”
“The other clergy can still use theirs too. Frey included.”
“What explanation did they come up with for the Goddess's star exploding?”
“They said the Goddess used an enormous miracle right before the Demon King's resurrection. That should keep people from panicking for a while.”
“And how has the Theocracy reacted?”
“They haven't.”
Circe's face hardened.
“To a creepy degree.”
That was the problem.
The Goddess's star had exploded.
The Demon King had descended.
And yet the Theocracy hadn't made a single move.
“…You said the next disaster happens in the Theocracy, right?”
“Yes. This time… Frey dies.”
“…”
Frey would fall into a demon's trap and be offered as the vessel of the Evil God.
Right before the Evil God descended into her body, Leon would cut her down.
And during that process, faith in Deuslute would collapse.
That collapse of faith was supposed to eventually lead to the Demon King's resurrection.
Of course, the Demon King had already been resurrected now.
Circe finally couldn't take it anymore and let out a long, exhausted sigh.
“Haa… If knowing all this was just going to give me more things to worry about, maybe I should never have listened to you. What am I even supposed to do from now on…?”
“I warned you very clearly. You're the one who voluntarily walked into this hell, Miss Circe.”
“I know… Can't we just tell the others? It's annoying being the only one stuck worrying about all this. I can just say I vaguely saw the future or something.”
“No. We can't. There's no telling what might happen.”
Ex sighed as he remembered the systems that had been noisily bombarding him with alerts the day before.
There were still some things he hadn't properly checked.
And of all things, he'd run short on Editing Points.
Circe slumped in her seat and kept letting out one heavy sigh after another.
“But I'm still the most worried about the Demon King…”
“You've fought the Demon King before, haven't you? I don't know much about the Hero Party's previous lives, so I wanted to ask. Is he someone we could actually talk to? In the future I saw, he just attacks immediately.”
“That's accurate. You can't reason with him. He's the kind of monster who treats destroying the world like it's his destiny. Like it's the one thing he was born to do.”
The Demon King was the kind of absolute evil that had become surprisingly rare these days.
And when it came to the Demon King's Doomsday Scenario, not a single part of it had been touched by Ex.
Elysia had created everything about the Demon King herself.
She had fought tooth and nail against every single request for revisions, with a level of seriousness bordering on obsession.
“We need some sort of countermeasure, but I don't even know what we're supposed to prepare.”
“Neither do I. For now, I need to get my old strength back.”
Circe narrowed her eyes at Ex through the bars and spoke with an irritated, almost spiteful tone.
“So when are you getting out? You dumped all the cleanup on everyone else, and now you're shamelessly relaxing in here all by yourself?”
“I am technically imprisoned.”
“This looks like a prison to you…?”
Circe pointed behind Ex.
What waited there was a room luxurious enough to rival an imperial bedroom.
There was a spacious bed, elegant antique furniture, barred windows that nevertheless let in plenty of sunlight, and all kinds of expensive liquor and food.
Ex wasn't even wearing handcuffs.
He was dressed in silk, casually sitting in a chair with a book in his hands.
The bars were the only prison-like thing about the place.
Anyone looking at it objectively would have called this a private retreat.
‘Didn't they say this place was originally reserved for imprisoned members of the imperial family?’
And now Ex was being held there.
If he'd gotten his way, he would have gone with Lola to attend Elia's funeral.
Unfortunately, the bizarre combination of being both a demon and a Hero had resulted in his imprisonment here.
Thankfully, they'd promised to let him leave briefly once all the funeral preparations were finished.
“What can I do? This is all supposedly for my protection…”
First, Emperor Drakan had issued an absolute order forbidding anyone from revealing that Ex was a demon.
The fact that Ex had become a Hero wasn't particularly problematic.
Everyone already believed Ex was a Hero.
A lie had simply become the truth.
Still, they needed time to spread the appropriate rumors and get the situation under control.
That was why Emperor Drakan had brought Ex to prison under the pretext of verifying both his qualifications as a Hero and the authenticity of his claim.
Ever since then, Emperor Drakan had been handling everything as flexibly as possible.
In practice, it was little more than protective custody.
“Besides, look behind you.”
Beyond the prison bars, in the visitation room behind Circe, two men with murderous expressions stood holding vicious-looking weapons.
Goooooo-
Saaaaaaa-
Their eyes alone looked intense enough to tear a man apart.
“The gentleman on the right is from the Imperial Administrative Office. The one on the left is from the Imperial Treasury. They're both waiting for a chance to assassinate me. The second you leave, they'll start beating on these bars.”
“Assassinate you…?”
“So I'm afraid leaving right away isn't an option.”
“What the hell did you do?”
“All I did was save the Empire…”
A great number of Imperial Administrative Office and Treasury employees had merely been worked half to death in the process.
Apparently, the staff responsible for managing the imperial treasury were also in the middle of writing hundreds of incident reports because of all the treasures that had suddenly been requisitioned, not to mention the destruction of the Heaven-Defying Gloves.
In other words, Ex had one more potential assassin waiting to join the line.
This was Darius's fault for refusing to cover for him.
Circe, unaware of any of that, simply found Ex irritating.
“Anyway… the Academy's closed for a long time, so I guess you'll be fine as long as you're out before classes start again. You said the incident in the Theocracy is still a long way off, right?”
“Yes. Originally, it happens around the end of our first year, shortly before winter break. Something goes wrong during the Holy Sword Ritual, which Leon absolutely has to participate in. It's an annual Academy event, so all the first-year students go to the Theocracy. That's when the demons there make their move.”
“We haven't even reached summer break yet. So yeah, that's a long way off.”
Circe groaned as she rose from her seat.
“Fine. If I hear anything else, I'll come visit again.”
“Please give my regards to Lady Lola.”
Circe opened the visitation room door and stepped outside.
BANG-BANG-BOOM-CRASH-CRASH-BANG-!!
“You bastard, get out here!! I'm going to kill you!!”
“My wife left home because of you, you son of a bitch!!”
The furious pounding against the bars rang out behind her.
All Circe could do was pray for Ex's soul.
* * *
Ex ignored whoever happened to be pounding on his bars and focused instead on one unresolved question.
‘What happened to Berith?’
Living up to his title as the Demon of Lies, Berith hid information about himself with absolute thoroughness, making it difficult even for Darius to track him.
He was capable of escaping even Deuslute's genuine divine restraint, so finding him probably wouldn't have meant much anyway.
Capturing him would be another matter entirely.
To understand what had happened to Berith, one had to go back two days.
* * *
After Deuslute's loss of Godhood was confirmed.
Berith leisurely walked away from the Tournament arena.
The entertainment he'd gone to such lengths to prepare had been ruined.
But he had discovered a new path for fate to follow.
‘He'll go to the Theocracy. I'll have to lay the groundwork there first.’
He still had no intention of giving up on driving Ex into despair.
If anything, the Demon King's resurrection and the exposure of Berith's own existence meant it was finally time to start setting more elaborate traps.
Simply imagining what kind of trap he should prepare made an excitement he hadn't felt in centuries begin crawling through him.
For the first time in an incomprehensibly long existence, Berith could feel a sense of purpose again.
STAB-!
At least, he would have.
Had a dagger not suddenly plunged into his back.
Berith merely let out an indifferent sigh and muttered.
“Gremory, my little sister. You've always loved making entrances like this. Aren't you tired of it by now?”
There was no need to turn around.
She was an utterly incompetent, verminous creature.
“…No, this one's actually kind of fun.”
It was Gremory.
STAB-!
The dagger sank even deeper.
She had definitely stabbed him.
Feeling the blade drive in, Gremory smiled.
“I knew you'd let me stab you again. You must've noticed me ages ago anyway. This is basically our way of saying hello, isn't it?”
“Yes, and your point is…”
Berith's expression suddenly hardened.
This was no ordinary dagger.
His eyes sharpened as he glanced behind him.
“…Arachne's Fang.”
“You finally noticed? Too bad. I've already stabbed you.”
STAAAAAB-!!
The dagger drove deeper still.
Deep enough to nearly reach his heart.
“One stab is all it takes. Your existence will slowly harden from here on out, Brother, until you're nothing more than a statue forever. Don't worry, though. I'll put you in a nice corner of my garden and take care of you every single day.”
“…What a shame.”
“What? Are you seriously trying to act like my big brother now? We're not even real family, so what the hell are you…”
“No.”
At that moment, Berith's Demonic Eyes lit up.
“That's not what I meant.”
His lips curled faintly.
“I meant it's a shame for you.”
The Demonic Eyes of Truth and Falsehood exposed lies and revealed truth.
The instant those eyes shone, the truth and falsehood of the phenomenon were reversed.
“…Huh?”
Gremory, who had been utterly certain of her victory, looked down at her own stomach.
“…Haha. What the hell is this?”
Berith wasn't the one stabbed by Arachne's Fang.
The dagger was buried in Gremory's abdomen.
Berith leaned closer and whispered softly into Gremory's ear.
“Did you really think I wouldn't anticipate this from the moment you went to the Theocracy? Why do you think I sent you there? Did you honestly believe I sent you off to rest and recuperate?”
“Ah, uh-”
“I've watched how you and the Archdemons think for hundreds of years. The same tedious, predictable behavior, over and over again. If you'd ever stopped to wonder why I refused to participate in your grand plan, perhaps this wouldn't have happened. What a pity.”
SHLK-!
Berith yanked Arachne's Fang free.
Gremory's entire body had already stiffened. Unable to move, she toppled backward.
Despair filled her eyes.
Berith looked down at her and flicked the blood from the dagger.
“Arachne's Fang was a tool I needed as well. It is unfortunate that I had to seal my little sister away forever to obtain it, but there was no other choice. You simply don't interest me anymore.”
“Ah— Ah-”
“Don't worry. Once the humans discover you, you'll still be able to watch them live their lives. From a cold underground prison, where you'll remain sealed for eternity. If you're lucky, perhaps the Empire will fall someday and you'll finally escape that dungeon.”
Berith turned away and spoke in a completely emotionless voice.
“Though demons don't have anything so convenient as luck.”
With that, he prepared to abandon Gremory and leave.
Gremory wanted to scream.
She couldn't.
Her very existence had hardened.
Only her consciousness could still move.
‘Someone help me… Please… I'm begging you…’
And at the very moment that wicked demon found herself praying for salvation.
“…What's this?”
Someone appeared in Berith's path.
It was a demon even Berith had never seen before.
And not merely a demon, but one who had descended into the Human Realm.
She had short violet hair so dark it was nearly black, along with a subdued, heavy gaze.
Her presence itself felt like a shadow.
“Hmm-hm, hm, hm, hmm-hm.”
The demon hummed to herself with her hands clasped behind her back.
One of those hidden hands was gently caressing the ring on her right hand.
And her violet eyes were unmistakably fixed on Berith.
‘I've never seen her before.’
More than anything else, Berith was wary of the unknown.
If he possessed information, he could prepare.
If he didn't, he couldn't.
A blade emerging from the unknown was sharper than any other.
‘…Her rank is low. Some sort of combat-type demon specialized in assassination?’
Whatever she was, he only needed to wait until she attacked and exploit the opening to stab her with Arachne's Fang.
The entire reason he'd used Gremory to obtain this weapon was so he could eliminate demons who might interfere with him.
The violet-eyed demon finished humming and opened her mouth.
“My Lord's…”
At that exact moment, a black blade flew at him from behind.
“Fucking parasite.”
“…!”
It wasn't attacking one of the illusions he had shown her.
The blade had targeted his true body.
Berith immediately rolled forward and spun around.
“If you get in my Lord's way, you die.”
The violet-eyed demon was already there.
Two daggers formed from shadow filled her hands as she lunged straight for his throat.
From that single attack, Berith understood the nature of her ability.
‘The same type…?! A detection ability…?!’
Berith's raw combat ability was unimpressive.
His physical capabilities weren't much better than those of a low-ranking demon.
Which meant an opponent who couldn't be deceived was the absolute worst possible matchup for him.
And none of his abilities worked on her.
‘This is absurd…!’
It shouldn't have been possible.
Even if their abilities belonged to similar categories, this made no sense.
The opponent before him was an unknown low-ranking demon.
Berith was the 28th-ranked demon, a high-ranking demon who possessed an overwhelming level of existence.
The difference in rank between them wasn't something that could simply be brushed aside.
The rank of Berith's abilities had reached its absolute limit.
No mediocre ability should have been capable of seeing through them.
‘My Lord's parasite…?’
But those words gave Berith a clue.
“You… Ex gave you a name…!!!”
Then it was possible.
If this demon had come into contact with Ex's soul, it made sense.
Berith had used an underhanded method to touch Ex's soul.
A normal Descent had been impossible for him from the beginning.
He'd been forced to use a method that twisted the natural laws of the world.
But this opponent had formed a legitimate contract with Ex's soul.
In other words, she shared a level of existence similar to Berith's.
Of course his abilities were being ignored.
‘Does she have any idea what consequences that will bring…?!’
Berith had never anticipated something like this.
SHNK-!!
“Ugh…!”
Without warning, Berith's own shadow shot upward like a blade and severed the right hand of his true body.
Arachne's Fang, the weapon made to kill even Archdemons, slipped from his grasp.
‘None of my illusions work on her…! I need the weapon first…!’
He hurriedly reached for it with his remaining hand.
But…
“Die now, you fucking parasite.”
She reached Arachne's Fang first.
Then she immediately drove the Fang toward Berith's heart.
It was a perfectly smooth sequence of movements, as though she'd planned the entire exchange from the very beginning.
“Damn it…!”
He had no choice.
Berith activated the False-Aspect Prison.
The price would be steep, but survival came first.
His fingers snapped before the dagger could reach him.
Snap-!!
At that instant, Berith vanished from Bella's sight.
He had escaped during the fleeting instant in which he was sealed inside the False-Aspect Prison.
Bella clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“…He got away. The first ambush is always the best chance.”
Still, she had forced Berith to use an ability that consumed part of his rank.
That parasite wouldn't be able to interfere with her Lord for some time.
‘Doesn't matter. I memorized the trace of his presence.’
She could feel Berith's escape route in real time.
Now she could track him down and ambush him whenever she wanted.
He was a criminal who had tried to kill her Lord.
He had to die.
‘I bet Lord will praise me if I bring him Berith's head.’
And she'd even obtained a new weapon.
An excellent haul.
She hadn't been able to increase her strength for a while because she couldn't find any descended demons to consume.
Now such a useful weapon had fallen straight into her hands.
“Hmm-hm, hm, hm, hmm-hm.”
She felt so good that she couldn't help humming.
With her hands clasped behind her back, she carefully stroked the ring her Lord had given her.
She was just thinking about slipping into the shadows and secretly watching over her Lord when…
“Ah— Ah-”
Something in the distance was desperately trying to make a sound.
It was a demon whose existence had been hardened by Arachne's Fang.
Bella walked over and looked down to inspect her.
“You got hit by Arachne's Fang. Poor thing.”
“Ah— Ah-”
“You want me to free you? I don't really know how to do that.”
“Ah— Ah-”
“But now that I'm looking at you… You're…”
Bella slowly licked her lips.
“A descended demon. And you've got a pretty high rank, too…”
“…Ah.”
“You look delicious.”
GRAAAAAA-
The shadow beneath Gremory opened its mouth.
“You see, my Lord is way too nice for a demon. He keeps sticking his neck into dangerous places. So as his one and only subordinate, it's my job to take care of him. And if I'm going to do that, I need a whole lot more power.”
“Ah-! Ah-!! Ah-!!!!!!”
“What can I do? Isn't this the law of the strong devouring the weak that you demons are always talking about?”
“AH-!!!!!!!!!!”
CRUNCH-!!!!
The moment the shadow's jaws snapped shut, Gremory disappeared.
Inside that shadow, Gremory was torn apart and devoured.
Slowly.
Alive.
Exactly the way Gremory herself had always devoured others.
And now she would remain inside Bella forever.
“Kh… That's good…! I can hold on… I can still take more…!”
Bella savored the intoxicating rush of power filling her body.
She had also gained Gremory's mimicry ability.
Now she could devour humans near her Lord and imitate them.
‘Not right now, though. Lord would hate that.’
This was already her second act of Kin Devouring.
This time, her prey had been Gremory, the 56th-ranked ‘Demon of Mimicry.’
Flecks of madness had begun staining Bella's two violet eyes.
Bella paid them no attention.
“Hmm-hm, hm, hm, hmm-hm.”
As always, she hummed.
Her hands rested behind her back.
Her fingers gently stroked the ring Ex had given her as she walked off somewhere unknown.
Once Kin Devouring begins, it never truly ends.
That is why demons consider Kin Devouring taboo.
Of all the demons who had ever committed Kin Devouring, only one had managed to retain their sanity.
And that demon was not Bella.
The madness only continued to grow.
–TL Notes–
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