Lernist, the youngest son of House Krenon, stared openmouthed at the bizarre scene that had suddenly unfolded in the middle of the masquerade.
‘What the hell is this lunatic talking about? There’s a demon among us?’
Some servant stood on the terrace.
He wasn’t the host who was supposed to appear and officially begin the banquet.
Yet the words that came from the servant’s mouth silenced everyone present.
‘There’s no way he doesn’t know that joking about demons will get him dragged before the Inquisition and executed. Has he lost his mind?’
While everyone stood there dumbfounded by the servant’s insane declaration, he opened his mouth again.
“Today, every one of you will be born anew. In a world where strength is power, you will possess strength beyond anyone else. So forget all the misfortunes you’ve suffered until now. Every last one of them was the work of a ‘demon,’ after all.”
‘Oh, that’s what this is…’
Lernist finally realized it was all an act.
It was absurd, but he had to admit it had seized everyone’s attention.
That realization allowed him to relax a little.
‘Do they have any idea what I went through to get here? I barely made it after spending years kissing noble asses and cleaning up their filth.’
Looking back on everything he had done only made him sigh.
‘My only crime was being born the youngest. Damn it.’
Because he was the youngest son, he had no influence whatsoever within his family.
It wasn’t as though he had any talent with the sword, nor could he use magic.
‘But that ends today.’
Lernist looked at the servant standing on the terrace.
By the end of tonight’s banquet, a brilliant future would be waiting for him.
The servant continued his speech.
“My name is ‘Berith.’ I am the youngest servant of this mansion, and I have been entrusted with announcing the beginning of tonight’s banquet.”
The nobles applauded Berith’s introduction.
Lernist also clapped lightly, but frustration churned inside him.
‘When are they bringing out the Mana Awakening Potions?’
“You must be wondering, ‘When are they bringing out the Mana Awakening Potions?’”
Lernist flinched at those words.
Berith continued.
“Of course, they have already been prepared.”
At that exact moment, the doors to the hall opened, and servants entered carrying trays laden with items.
There were well over a hundred potions, each radiating a brilliant, shimmering aura.
None of them had ever seen anything so extraordinary in their lives. Anyone could tell at a glance that they were Mana Awakening Potions.
‘They’re here!’
Lernist’s blood raced with excitement.
This was it. This was exactly what he had stained his hands with blood for, what he had endured the lingering stench of poison and committed countless underhanded schemes to obtain.
The servants handed one potion to each noble.
Soon, Lernist also found himself holding a bottle.
Just as he thought his lifelong desire was finally about to be fulfilled, the servant’s voice rang out again.
“These potions were obtained through a ‘somewhat complicated process,’ so everyone must drink theirs here.”
“Are we not allowed to take them with us?”
“If you do not drink yours here, we will have no choice but to reclaim it. Therefore, I ask that every one of you finish your potion.”
Not a single noble failed to understand that the ‘somewhat complicated process’ Berith had mentioned referred to illegal channels.
The very process of manufacturing a ‘Mana Awakening Potion’ required grinding down vast numbers of Demonkin and humans.
And it could only be created through the secret techniques of a demonic cult.
Naturally, everyone accepted the restriction without complaint.
‘It’s not like I’ll ever get another chance to drink one.’
Once everyone had received a potion, Berith spoke again.
“Everyone, please raise your bottles.”
At some point, Berith had acquired a glass of wine. He raised it high.
Following his example, all the nobles lifted their potion bottles.
“Then let us pray that each of you will seize greater power and enjoy a better tomorrow.”
Berith drank his wine, and the nobles followed suit, swallowing their potions.
Something foul and unpleasant slid down Lernist’s throat, but he forced himself to endure it.
‘Compared to everything I’ve already done, this is nothing.’
Some of the nobles were tense, and others appeared suspicious of the potion, but in the end, every one of them drank.
Everyone around them was drinking it, so surely nothing could go wrong.
The room remained quieter than Lernist had expected.
‘So what happens now?’
Once everyone had finished drinking and the servants had collected the empty bottles, the crowd turned toward Berith.
Receiving their questioning gazes, Berith spoke.
“What is it? Were you expecting light to burst from your bodies as your magic awakened?”
A few nobles frowned at Berith’s remark.
They understood it was a joke, but that wasn’t what they wanted to hear.
As though he knew exactly what they were thinking, Berith continued.
“There is no need to worry. The change will occur slowly, so subtly that you may not even notice it at first. Ah, but there are a few precautions I should explain. Everyone, please pay attention.”
As he spoke, Berith raised the empty wineglass in his hand.
The nobles focused on it, curious about what he intended to do.
Then he released it.
The glass suspended in midair slowly surrendered itself to a new force.
The nobles’ gazes descended with the glass as it steadily fell.
At first it moved slowly, then faster, flying down from the second-floor terrace toward the floor of the first-floor hall.
Was he trying to perform some kind of magic trick?
Why had he dropped the glass?
Countless thoughts passed through the nobles’ minds as they watched the glass meet its inevitable end.
Among them were a few, including Lernist, who noticed a subtle change.
‘Wait. Has time always moved this slowly?’
The instant that question entered his mind, the glass struck the floor of the first-floor hall and shattered.
KAAAAAANG-!!!
The nobles’ eardrums screamed.
“Aaaaaaagh!!”
“Aaaaaaaaaah!!!”
Every single person clapped their hands over their ears.
The explosive sound suddenly reverberating through their skulls was so overwhelming that they felt as though they were losing their minds.
“Ugh… Wh-What the hell…!!”
Lernist was no exception.
The sound of the glass breaking had been unnaturally loud and piercing.
It was more violent than a bolt of lightning striking directly before his eyes.
Amid the screams, Berith’s voice reached them with unnatural clarity.
“There is nothing strange about this. You are simply undergoing a change. Your bodies are still adapting to it. So please, focus.”
Snap-!
After finishing his sentence, Berith snapped his fingers.
That sound was also unnaturally loud, but compared to the shattering glass, it was almost gentle.
The nobles stopped screaming and looked at Berith.
Some glared at him in anger, while others stared in confusion, but everyone waited for him to speak.
A moment later, he opened his mouth.
“I am not trying to harm you. I am merely helping you adjust to the changes in your bodies. There is no need to glare at me as though you intend to kill me.”
“Wh-What are you talking about?! If this is how you intend to treat us, I am leaving immediately! I will lodge a formal complaint against…!”
“Ah, anyone who wishes to leave is free to do so. There are many doors available, so please choose whichever one you prefer. Ah, but now that I think about it.”
Berith looked around at the walls of the hall.
“Which doors are we talking about?”
At his words, several nobles glanced around.
After searching their surroundings, a few of them noticed something strange.
Berith spoke the answer for them.
“That’s right. There aren’t any doors.”
Lernist immediately turned toward the entrance he had used.
There was nothing there but a solid wall.
“The doors you entered through are gone. The same is true of the windows. I have no idea how you managed to enter, but the important thing is that there are no doors or windows in sight now.”
Having finished speaking, Berith snapped his fingers.
“In other words, there is no way out.”
Everyone held their breath.
They clearly remembered coming through those doors.
They had watched the servants open them to carry in the potions, then leave again after collecting the empty bottles.
And now the doors had vanished?
Berith continued speaking.
“Do you remember the first thing I told you? I said there was a demon among us. Since we are already discussing the matter, why don’t I tell you a little more about demons?”
Berith cleared his throat and continued.
“Demons are capable of all sorts of things. Twisting your entrails into knots or squeezing your windpipes shut would be quite easy, for example.”
At that moment, Lernist felt something wrong inside his stomach.
Something was twisting within his body, and he realized with horror that it was his own intestines.
The other nobles experienced the same thing.
“Uuurgh…!”
“Ghk…!”
As the nobles clutched their stomachs and throats in agony, Berith slowly walked toward the side of the terrace.
He stepped onto the staircase leading to the first floor and continued speaking.
Only now, his manner of speaking was completely different.
“Soon, you won’t have eyes or noses. Your souls will disappear too. Your worthless bodies will be tossed to the dogs, and it’ll be as though none of you ever existed in the first place.”
Strangely, they could hear something else layered beneath his voice.
It was unmistakably the voice of a demon.
“A-A demon!”
Terrified, Lernist screamed without even realizing it.
Berith reached the first floor at that exact moment. Hearing the scream, he began walking toward Lernist.
“Oh, looks like one of you caught on quickly. I was starting to worry there might still be some brain-dead bastards who didn’t understand.”
As Berith approached the crowd, everyone recoiled in terror and scrambled away from him.
Only Lernist remained where he was. His legs had lost all strength, leaving him with no choice but to watch Berith approach.
“So what are you going to do now that you know I’m a demon? What the hell can you accomplish with that pathetic body of yours?! I’m asking what you can do besides piss yourself and tremble in fear!!”
Berith stopped directly in front of Lernist.
Lernist collapsed onto the floor and looked up at him, barely managing to whimper through his tears.
“Wh-What do you want…?”
“What do I want?”
Berith roughly seized Lernist by the throat and lifted him into the air.
“Do you honestly think I could want anything from trash like you? Do you dare believe that someone like you is capable of bargaining with me?”
His survival instincts rang every alarm they had as terror and suffocation closed in around him, but for some reason, Lernist’s body refused to move.
Berith smiled wickedly.
“I don’t need anything from you bastards except for you to become my prey! Right here, inside my stomach! All you have to do is become a part of me and spend eternity screaming in agony!!”
“S-Stop…”
Berith drew back his free hand, gathering strength as he took his stance.
Lernist realized what he was about to do.
That hand was going to punch straight through his stomach.
He had to run.
He tried to scream, but no sound came out.
“You bastards will scream when I tell you to scream!”
Berith thrust his raised hand forward with terrifying speed.
“And you’ll fucking die when I tell you to die!!!”
His hand plunged straight through Lernist’s stomach.
Just before his consciousness vanished, Lernist heard the sound of a wall breaking somewhere nearby, but he no longer cared.
The last thing he saw was Berith snapping his fingers.
Then his consciousness went black.
***
“Aaaaaaaah-!!”
“It’s a demon-!!!”
The nobles fled in utter panic.
At that exact moment, the doors to the hall exploded into pieces.
Everyone who noticed the newly revealed exit rushed through it.
“The door! The door is open!!”
‘Looks like Lola did her job.’
Ex had given Lola only one task.
‘When I give you the signal, destroy the banquet hall doors. The signal will be three snaps of my fingers.’
He had told her to escape immediately afterward using a teleportation magic device.
After all, this would be the most dangerous moment.
“Berithhhh-!!!”
Andras’s furious roar erupted behind him.
Her reaction was only natural.
Ex had just thoroughly ruined Andras’s plan.
‘That Mandrake Potion works like a charm.’
It was a drug that caused powerful hallucinations and made the user extraordinarily sensitive to external stimuli.
Thanks to that potion, Ex had deceived every noble’s senses.
The instant the glass shattered, their hypersensitive senses were thrown into confusion.
It had rendered them incapable of accurately understanding what was happening around them.
After that, all he needed to do was guide their hallucinations.
They had simply been devoured by their own imaginations.
Ex had doubted whether it would work, but he’d had no other choice.
Still, he hadn’t been reckless enough to stake his life on something completely uncertain.
『[Deceive the Nobles’ Senses] Required Points: 50,000』
‘I spent way too many points…’
His one hundred thousand points had been cut in half in an instant.
Ex looked down at the noble he was holding.
The man had fainted in disgrace, foaming at the mouth.
Ex had struck him properly in the abdomen, so he would probably be shitting blood the next morning.
Leaving him there felt a little too cruel, so Ex slung the man over his shoulder.
Before going anywhere, Ex searched the noble’s pockets.
‘He should have at least one on him… Ah, is this it?’
Ex pulled something from the noble’s pocket.
It was a Mana Crystal engraved with magic. Judging by the structure of the formula, it was a teleportation magic device similar to the one he had given Lola.
‘Just as I expected. Now I have an escape route.’
Ex casually blended into the crowd of panic-stricken nobles.
After escaping the banquet hall, the nobles were fleeing the mansion by whatever means they had available.
Some escaped with teleportation magic devices.
Others used the gates installed throughout the mansion.
Ex tossed the noble over his shoulder to a man who happened to be passing by.
They could handle the rest among themselves.
‘First, I need to check on Lola.’
The mansion was surrounded by mana-blocking devices.
He had to get outside before he could contact her with his Mana Phone.
Ex hurriedly searched for an exit.
“Berith-! I’ll kill you-!!”
Behind him, Andras released another furious roar.
Her eyes were bloodshot as she unleashed attacks in every direction, searching for Ex.
Most of the nobles had already escaped, so only a handful of people were struck by her blind attacks.
‘Search all you want. By the time you find me, it’ll already be too late.’
Ex had already changed his face with the Disguise Mask.
He had also taken the outer robe from the noble he had carried earlier, making it difficult to identify him by his appearance.
‘Whew. I can finally breathe again.’
Ex strolled out of the mansion without incident.
He returned to the place where he had knocked out the new servant, changed his clothes again, and contacted Lola through his Mana Phone.
She answered almost immediately.
“My lady, it’s me. Are you safe?”
「I escaped ages ago! Where are you?」
“I’ll be escaping shortly as well. Nothing happened to you, did it?”
「Something did happen, but it wasn’t a big deal!」
“Pardon? Well, anyway… I’m glad you’re all right.”
「Get over here right now! I’ll introduce you to the new friend I made!」
With that, Lola abruptly ended the call.
Ex had no idea why she was suddenly talking about a new friend, but now that he knew she was safe, all that remained was to escape.
‘That took forever. This whole damn mansion scenario was a nightmare.’
Ex took out the stolen teleportation magic device.
There was no reason to delay, so he activated it immediately.
Once the light of the formula began to flash, the teleportation spell would carry him somewhere safe.
“Berithhhhhh-!!!”
At that moment, someone appeared, raging directly at Ex.
It was Andras.
The sight of her face twisted with rage made fear surge through him instinctively.
‘How did she know I was here…?!’
Still, there was plenty of distance between them.
Andras wasn’t a combatant, so she shouldn’t have any way to close the distance and attack him in time.
But Ex was wrong.
“Flauros-! Kill him-!!”
A crimson light shot out from behind Andras, carving a line through the air.
The light hurtled toward him with lethal speed.
‘Right, I forgot that bastard was here…!’
That light would sever Ex’s neck before the teleportation spell could activate.
Trusting that instinct, Ex drew the sword he had brought and raised it defensively.
However.
“You think that worthless scrap of metal!!”
The wicked sword of flame split Ex’s blade apart.
“Could ever stop me-!!”
It continued onward, tearing brutally across Ex’s upper body.
“Until the very moment this world is destroyed!”
‘Unending Punishment’ ignited within the vicious wound.
“Writhe in agony for all eternity-!!”
The teleportation spell activated.
***
‘Yeah, I’m dead.’
Ex had been teleported into the middle of a mountain.
Lying on the ground and staring at the sky, he examined his condition.
He didn’t have the strength to move.
‘The wound is too deep.’
Even the stupidest person alive would understand that they were about to die if half their body had been split open.
‘And it hurts like hell.’
Fire burned inside the gaping wound instead of blood.
The pain was so intense that it felt as though the flames were scorching Ex’s brain.
He remained lying there only because he lacked even the strength to scream.
‘I guess it really was impossible for some worthless extra to rewrite the scenario.’
As a final resort, Ex checked the Setting Edit function.
『[Survival] Required Points: Impossible』
‘Ah.’
It was impossible.
The omnipotent status window capable of rewriting this world had just declared to Ex, ‘You’re dead.’
‘Seriously, you piece-of-shit status window…’
Ex’s consciousness steadily faded.
His life didn’t flash before his eyes.
His eyelids simply closed, and his breathing gradually weakened.
His heart slowed as well, until it finally stopped.
Ex was completely dead.
***
『Notification! The conditions for Race Change have been fulfilled.』
『Notification! The current target is deceased.』
『Notification! A contradiction has occurred during the application of the setting.』
『Emergency measures will now begin.』
***
Ex opened his eyes.
“…Resurrection?”
Instead of an answer, the status window appeared.
『Notification! Your race has changed.
Previous: Human -] Current: Demon
Your stats have changed according to your new race.』
He had thought he was dead, but he hadn’t remained dead.
When he opened his eyes, he had become a demon.
It didn’t take him long to understand what had happened.
“Don’t tell me…”
Ex searched inside his clothes and pulled out whatever his hand touched.
It was the bottle containing the ‘Demonization Accelerator.’
The side of the bottle was broken.
“When I was attacked earlier…”
That part didn’t matter.
The problem was that the bottle was completely empty.
“Ah.”
It was a setting-breaking item capable of turning someone into a demon with a single sip.
And he had absorbed nearly 1 liter of it.
“I’m fucked.”
–TL Notes–
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