Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: The Demon's Name
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"Priest Danele has passed away," Saf said.
The reminder of something he had forgotten made Jade's heart sink.
"Let's talk about that later. I'm still overwhelmed just by the fact that the two of us made it here safely."
Jade stroked Saf's head. A faint light was emanating from her white horns.
"Is this something that happens often?"
"It's the first time. I have no idea what's going on."
"Alright, stay here for a bit. I need to deal with that first."
Jade stood up and turned back to Ruby. Kap was still bound by Ruby's chains, unable to move an inch.
"Don't come too close. It'll try to take over your body."
Ruby reached out a hand toward Jade in warning.
Jade nodded slightly and stood in place, speaking loudly.
"Who are you? Tell me your name."
"Demons never reveal their own names!"
Kap shouted loudly and writhed once more, but he couldn't break free of the chains.
'No matter how powerful the demon, it can't break chains made of umpaluton, the metal of angels.'
Jade recalled that fact to reassure himself.
Ruby tightened the chains further and threatened.
"If you don't talk, I'll make you regret it?"
"Is that supposed to be a threat, little one?"
Kap sneered at Ruby even as blood poured from his nose.
"You might be able to suppress me, but you can't kill me. You claim to be an angel? Then go ahead and erase a demon like me! You can't. Which means you're no angel."
Kap then addressed Jade.
"I know your extermination magic is terrifying to us demons, but without my name, you can't do a thing. You could inflict pain on this body, or tear it to shreds. But that's it. I'd just hide back in the darkness and find the next victim. You couldn't..."
Ruby punched Kap in the face.
His head exploded grotesquely, blood and chunks spraying everywhere.
"Ruby!"
Jade said in shock.
"It's a lie."
Ruby shook the blood from her hand and continued.
"If it could abandon the body, why cling to it so desperately? It's stuck here because it has a problem without one."
Jade turned to check on Saf, who had witnessed the gruesome scene.
Saf looked unfazed. With her naturally expressionless face, it was hard to tell how she really felt.
"Alright, I get that, but did you have to go that far?"
"So what? It's a demon. The original owner of that body is already dead."
"Even so, I don't want you getting used to the sensation of killing."
Jade gestured with his chin toward the black smoke rising from Kap's corpse.
"And it doesn't seem to be lying."
The black smoke didn't dissipate in the wind; instead, it took shape and spoke.
"That's right. I can move freely in this form without a body."
"You said you couldn't move under sunlight?"
"That's true. But there's no sunlight right now, is there?"
Kap's body, emptied of the evil spirit, soon withered into a dried-up husk.
Ruby unbound the chains from Kap and said.
"So that's why you stuck to Pendail's body even after knowing I could track his scent?"
"Exactly. I was just in a hurry to get to a place with plenty of prey... plenty of bodies to possess. It had nothing to do with fearing you."
The evil spirit cackled and continued.
"You must have felt victorious after trapping me in a human body. What now?"
"I can't kill you, but..."
Ruby approached the evil spirit and grabbed the black smoke with her bare hand.
"I didn't say I couldn't catch you."
The black smoke in Ruby's hand let out a bizarre screeching sound like "Kiiiiiiik." Ruby tore it apart like paper. But it quickly reformed.
The black smoke just chuckled lowly.
"Try that forever. See if I die."
Ruby growled at Jade.
"It's as this thing says. I can beat it up or hold it like this, but I can't kill it. You have to do it!"
Jade recited the passage for exterminating evil spirit demons and brought his glowing hand close. But only a chilling cold stimulated his palm; he couldn't erase it.
"No good. I can't kill it without the name either."
"So what do we do? Keep holding it like this?"
"Can't we seal it somewhere? Like those genie bottles in old stories."
"Those bottles aren't some clay teapot. We can't find magic tools like that in this desert. And I don't want to keep holding it! It feels like I'm gripping a handful of shit."
The black smoke flared up.
"What did you say? How dare you..."
Ruby tore it to shreds again, silencing it. She still couldn't destroy it, but at least it couldn't speak.
Jade shook his head as he watched.
"I came expecting something like this, but until we learn its name, there's nothing I can do..."
Then Saf, who had been watching from behind, spoke.
"Beishuper."
Ruby and Jade turned around, wondering what that was.
Saf said calmly.
"That's the evil spirit's name."
The black smoke mass wriggling in Ruby's hand froze for a moment.
"Ruby, hold it tight!"
Jade warned Ruby and asked Saf.
"Saf, what was that? You can see the demon's name?"
Saf spoke as if making an excuse.
"...Yes."
As Jade stood speechless, Ruby urged him on.
"Is that demon's name in the Extermination Tome? Bay-shu, what?"
"Beishuper."
Jade murmured the name Saf had given. He already knew exactly which page and line it was on in his head.
"Seeing a demon's name? How is that possible?"
Jade asked.
"I don't know how. It didn't show when it first appeared as Pendail, or when it was in Kap's body. But every time the black smoke moved between bodies, the name appeared. Now it's just visible."
Saf said.
"Since when could you do that?"
As Jade asked again, the black smoke interrupted with a scream.
"Since when have you known? I'll tell you! From the very beginning. Since the dawn of time, this one has known the names of every demon in the world! This traitor! Why side with humans? Insane. Insane...!"
"Shut up!"
Ruby squeezed the black smoke with both hands and said.
"So damn noisy. Jade, hurry up and erase it. You know how it feels to hold a wriggling long turd?"
Jade opened the book. The pages flipped on their own, stopping at the passage for Beishuper. The extermination passage for Beishuper was longer than for lesser demons.
Jade read it silently to himself calmly, then extended his hand toward the black smoke Ruby held.
White light emanated from Jade's hand. The black smoke, terrified, screamed in a horrifying wail.
Jade asked softly, ignoring whether it screamed or not.
"Why were you trapped in the same cave as Ruby?"
"Threatening me with the light of extermination? In your dreams. Only humans break under pain and spill the truth!"
Exposed to the extermination light, the black smoke began melting like liquid in Ruby's hand.
Jade shouted.
"Tell me! Why did Baifel trap you with Ruby?"
"You think I'll answer? I, Beishuper, will dream of revenge from hell. Your soul will burn eternally in hellfire."
Ruby urged him on with eyes full of disgust.
"Stop dragging it out and just erase it!"
Jade hesitated until the end, then pressed the extermination light against the black evil spirit. Beishuper burned white, shrieking in a high-pitched tone that pierced Jade's eardrums.
"See you in hell, Jade!"
Jade stared at the burning evil spirit without flinching and said.
"Even if I go to hell, you won't meet me. You're not dying—you're being erased."
Moments later, Beishuper's screams stopped as if by magic.
Black liquid laced with white flames dripped onto the ground. Even where it fell, the flames continued burning the evil spirit.
Ruby shook her hand vigorously, though nothing remained.
"Ugh, at the end it felt like I was holding loose shit. Huh? Why are you like that?"
Jade collapsed, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay, Priest?"
Saf had come over to Jade and asked.
"It's the moment when all the unease I've felt every time I've erased demons is confirmed. Even erasing nameless lesser demons was shocking. Erasing a named one like this hurts much more."
"Where exactly does it hurt? If you tell me, I might be able to heal it."
Saf said.
"Well, it's hard to pinpoint exactly... Huh?"
Jade noticed the white flames burning Beishuper's last remnants turning black.
Ruby saw it too and stepped in front of Saf and Jade.
"This isn't about to come back to life, is it?"
At that moment, a black pillar of fire erupted from the spot with a whoosh. A sharp sound like a thousand people whistling at once echoed.
The swirling black flames gradually shrank, transforming into an egg-shaped board about five handspans long and three wide. Its edges burned with flames, and it floated in the air.
"It looks like a mirror."
Jade said, seeing the three of them reflected on its black surface.
"It's a mirror. A space mirror."
Ruby said as she approached it.
Jade gripped the Extermination Tome just in case and asked.
"Space mirror?"
"A magic tool that lets you talk face-to-face with someone far away. A rare item only a few mages have."
The mirror surface, which had reflected Ruby standing in front, Jade sitting behind her, and Saf standing expressionlessly with a hand on Jade's shoulder, grew blurry. Soon, a different image began forming on the mirror face.
"Isn't this dangerous?"
Jade asked, tense.
"It's a mirror, I said. Just an illusion. No one on the other side can attack us."
Ruby focused on the mirror with hands on her hips.
Finally, a shape formed in the mirror. But it was blurry, visible only as a shadow. It could have been human or something else.
The shadow in the mirror spoke.
"The space mirror opening means Beishuper is dead."
Even though Jade was prepared, hearing the voice made him tense up.
"Who killed it?"
Strangely, the voice sounded crystal clear, as if whispered directly into his ear.
Ruby stepped closer to the mirror and said.
"I did. Who are you?"
Ruby blocked the mirror, so Jade couldn't see the entity inside.
'She's hiding me.'
The entity in the mirror said.
"So it's the little brat trapped in the temple. I figured if Beishuper died, it was probably you nine times out of ten."
"You know me?"
"Of course. The little villain who toyed with the angels' army."
"How do you know that?"
Ruby asked.
The shadow in the mirror answered.
"I am Baifel."
♦
The moment the black form spoke its name, Jade, Saf, and Ruby all fell silent.
"If you killed Beishuper, that means you messed with my temple."
The black form spoke first.
"What a joke. That was originally my house."
Ruby shot back strongly.
"Your house? You want to call the space you were trapped in a house? And it's called Baifel's Temple from the name alone. It was built for me, so if we must distinguish, it's my house."
Unlike the other demons Jade had met, Baifel's voice didn't sound vicious or evil. It was rather polite, like a refined noble, with a pleasant tone.
"It's my call! By the way, your voice is so weird. Holding Beishuper bare-handed felt like gripping shit, but your voice feels like shit water pouring into my earhole."
Ruby apparently didn't share Jade's thoughts.
"My apologies. But it's the only voice I can make."
"Anyway, you lied."
"I did?"
"If you're really Baifel, there's no way you'd just give up your name so easily!"
"You mean the Extermination Tome?"
The form in the mirror chuckled lowly and said.
"It's magic that only lesser demons fear."
"So you're a higher one?"
"If I must say, yes, quite high. In power, brains, magic, rank—any measure."
"This flowery thing is 'must say' bragging so hard?"
Ruby crossed her arms and glared at the mirror.
Unable to hold back, Jade stepped forward and asked.
"Then why did you lock Beishuper in your temple and have it impersonate Baifel?"
Ruby sneered.
"You won't get a straight answer from scum like that."
The black form chuckled lowly and said.
"Angels are the ones skilled at lies. Demons aren't used to lying. Sure, we lie a lot, but it's obvious lies that everyone sees through. Even humans catch them. But angels' lies are so sophisticated you might not even realize they're lies. For example, about God's words, or the oracles given to the prophets of your Kaitelic faith."
"Priest!"
Saf suddenly shouted.
Jade startled and turned around.
Saf's face was still expressionless. But her emotions poured out through her body—she was trembling, fists clenched tight.
"I don't know what that is, but we shouldn't listen anymore."
Jade nodded.
'Saf doesn't want to hear blasphemy. Fair enough. Nothing good comes from long chats with demons.'
Jade barked at the black form.
"Then tell the truth or your clumsy lie, Baifel. Why did you trap Beishuper in the temple?"
"To know when someone would free that little one."
The black form answered straightforwardly.
Jade immediately asked.
"Beishuper didn't try to report to anyone even when I entered the temple. How would you find out?"
The black form made a shrugging gesture and replied.
"I cast a spell so the 'mirror' activates automatically when Beishuper dies. Whether the little one kills Beishuper or the one freeing the little one does. But..."
The black form peered over Jade's shoulder as if looking past it and asked.
"...that's not inside the temple. It's outside the Red Desert, isn't it?"
"Yes. Why do you want to know when it's freed?"
Jade quickly asked another question to seize the initiative.
The black form laughed like an old grandfather.
"Why do you think? Rather, I should ask. Why did you free that boy? What for?"
"I asked first."
"Your answer is mine."
Jade frowned.
'No way. How could it know that!'
The black form seemed to read Jade's mind and asked.
"You're after the Holy Grail, right?"
Jade was speechless.
"Now do you understand why I used Beishuper as bait? The moment the little one is freed is when I start my work."
Ruby thrust her fist toward the mirror and said.
"Hey, where are you? I'll come smash you right now!"
"A place you can't reach."
"There's nowhere I can't go! I've been to the angels' lands, the dwarves' lands, from one end of the world to the other!"
"Not hell."
"I don't go there!"
"See?"
"You pissy little flower! Argh!"
Ruby stomped the ground in frustration.
"No need to rush, little one. If you go Grail-hunting with that human there, we'll meet naturally. I don't know 'when'—could be ten years from now, or tomorrow. Or 'where'—where you'll be in ten years, or tomorrow."
"Shut up! If you want to stop me from finding the Grail or whatever seed it is, just come here and kill me now!"
"For me to come personally just to kill the likes of you? Even demons have ranks."
"Then send hell's army! To scratch me, you'd need about a thousand. Of course, I'll beat them petal by petal, mash them into pulp, roll them into meat dumplings, and stuff them up your nose. If you don't want the pain, stretch your nostrils in advance."
The black form laughed loudly as if hearing a great joke and said.
"Hell's army is already in your world. You must have met demons in the Red Desert, right?"
"Plenty of flowery ones!"
"Good. Keep mashing them up from now on. I'll be digging into noses as you say."
"You, I'm gonna make that seed sprout..."
As Ruby got worked up, Jade stepped in and said.
"I have to ask one thing. Why does a demon want the Holy Grail?"
"I'll throw the question back. Why does a human want the Holy Grail?"
Jade was at a loss for words again.
The black form faded, and the black mirror grew transparent.
"I am an ancient being who lived from times when humans didn't even know iron. Even the hell lords you know are just temporary usurpers of the throne I abandoned. Do you think you humans could understand why one like me wants the Grail?"
The black mirror vanished, leaving only a faint echo.
"See you in the Eastern Lands. If you can even make it there."