Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Deus Ex Machina
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“...”
“...”
No matter the time or place, putting these two together always seems to create a suffocating silence.
Feynol thought that as she silently watched Sullivan and Elnor glaring at each other in turns.
They had gathered because there was necessary business, but this level of tension was still hard to get used to.
Of course, even so, she was a genius mage counted among the best on the continent. In this restless atmosphere, she would somehow finish what she was asked to do.
“...Preparations are complete.”
Feynol said that as she stepped back from the barrier she had drawn.
In its center lay Yuria, eyes closed, in a dazed state.
Since losing consciousness along with Dawood after the first trial, she hadn't opened her eyes even once.
Sullivan silently examined her, then turned his head toward Elnor standing behind him.
“...As I explained before, what you need to do is simple. If you're ready, just step onto the teleportation circle in the center of this barrier.”
“I understand that easy to comprehend doesn't mean easy to accomplish, Prime Minister.”
Sullivan gave a wry smile at Elnor's flat response.
She was certainly right.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have even mentioned the risk to her life from the start when calling her here.
“Have you fully understood the risks I explained previously, Duchess Tristan?”
“No.”
“...”
Sullivan clamped his mouth shut at her bold reply.
“To be honest, Prime Minister, I let half of what you told me go in one ear and out the other. It was all too far-fetched.”
“...”
“There are only a few things I really need to know anyway.”
Elnor continued with a sigh.
“Dawood is in danger, it's a life-risking ordeal, but my help is still needed. Isn't that enough?”
“...”
She was right, but there were parts that needed to be drilled in properly.
“...Don't take it lightly, Duchess Tristan.”
Sullivan continued with a sigh.
“This is a mental world constructed by the White Devil. A place where mortals of the material realm wouldn't even dream of approaching. Inside there, the White Devil wields power no different from a god.”
Indeed, that's correct.
Feynol gave a wry smile inwardly as she agreed.
The White Devil was the most powerful among all devils in the 'mind' domain.
Its signature power was dominating others' minds, after all.
And what they were asking Elnor to do now was to 'forcibly shove' this woman into that space to retrieve Dawood.
A plan no sane person would even conceive, but it worked because both the woman asking and the one agreeing were out of their minds.
“...That's why we're asking you—because if it's you, carrying one of the most powerful kings of Pandemonium, you have a very high chance of holding your own in there. No other vessel, not even devil-level ones, would do.”
Elnor's expression soured slightly at those words.
Devil. King of Pandemonium.
The mysterious incantation sorcerer before, and now Prime Minister Sullivan.
They kept insisting something like that dwelled within her body.
And that her mother was involved too.
And.
As far as Elnor knew.
There was only one person who knew the truth behind all these stories.
A human entangled in every related event.
‘...Grand Duke Tristan.’
Gideon Gailsterd la Tristan.
Her father.
Next time they met.
She would definitely find out what all this pointed to.
As she mulled over that thought with her mouth shut, a sentence flew in front of her eyes again.
“Anyway, you need to steel yourself. Even if it's the same devil, jurisdictions differ, so even you aren't guaranteed safety—”
As Sullivan tried to continue, Yuria's body suddenly twitched.
It was a violently intense movement compared to her previous stillness, making everyone there flinch and look.
Then.
-!
-!!
As if that motion wasn't for nothing, the barrier Feynol had set up began shaking wildly.
To the point where bewilderment appeared on the faces of all three in the room.
“...Feynol. This is?”
At the Prime Minister's question, Feynol hurriedly checked the barrier.
Then she replied in a grave voice.
“...Something big is happening inside.”
“What do you mean, something big?”
“I don't know what exactly, but the creator of this mental world is extremely angry. If this continues...”
Feynol trailed off.
With an air that she couldn't bring herself to say the next words.
“...The mental world will twist completely. Dawood Campbell's soul could be destroyed forever.”
“...!”
Sullivan and Elnor's eyes widened simultaneously.
“...Then I have to go in right now.”
At Elnor's words, Feynol urgently added.
“Please wait a moment, Duchess Tristan. It's still too unstable to enter right now. Entering in this state will definitely kill you! I'll calm the barrier as quickly as possible, so—”
“Won't the chances of Dawood getting hurt go up even more while you're calming the barrier?”
“...That's true, but it's still better than you definitely dying right away!”
Feynol spoke urgently, but.
Elnor just shrugged casually and replied calmly.
“Then I'll bet on me dying instead.”
“...Pardon?”
“That's better than the chances of that man dying going up.”
With those words.
Elnor leaped straight into the wildly churning barrier.
“...”
“...”
That crazy bitch.
Sullivan and Feynol thought the same thing simultaneously.
●
!!!!!! Warning !!!!!!
[You have broken the ‘role’!]
[Penalty applied!]
[Probability of escaping the mental space drastically reduced!]
As those messages popped up before my eyes, screams poured in from all directions.
“Your Holiness! Your Holiness—!”
“Call the physician! Activate the security system too!”
The Pontiff's head rolled across the floor with a thud, and pandemonium unfolded around with all sorts of screams.
Armed personnel from the entire mansion, all kinds of attack spells, blessings, homunculi that turned hostile...
And so on. And so on.
Too many to even tell what was what.
I knew the whole mansion had turned against me, like enemies.
“...Butler... sir...?”
Yuria's voice came, her face blank as she stared at me.
“Look, miss.”
I turned my head that way and smiled brightly.
“Do you know what's far more hellish than being left alone in the world?”
“...Pardon?”
“Being surrounded by people who make you feel alone.”
“...”
Yuria's eyes widened.
“So.”
I chuckled and continued.
“...I'll clear away those obstacles for you from now on.”
Truth be told, I hadn't planned to go this far.
Personally, everything in here rubbed me the wrong way.
The young Yuria, the environment that kept her caged like livestock, the attitudes of these people who seemed to despise her despite that.
All of it.
Every bit.
Reminded me of my ‘old days.’
“...”
I took a deep breath and gripped the Severer.
Thanks to the copied trait, the burden on my body felt less than expected.
Something about preventing the tragedy that would befall Yuria.
My solution was simple.
Before she dies, I just kill them all first.
“You won't die easily, you damned heretic!”
“Surround them all! We need to capture alive!”
Capture alive didn't mean mercy—it meant subdue to kill as painfully as possible.
[System Message]
[ Crisis situation detected. ]
[ Judged as direct threat to life. ]
[ Skill: Desperate Situation applied at EX rank. ]
[System Message]
[ ‘Tristan-style Swordsmanship’ trait applied. ]
[ Sword proficiency and power increased! ]
[System Message]
[ ‘Curse of Severance’ currently applied! ]
No soul linker meant no mana replenishment, so no divine skills.
But with the skills built into me now, few even among top powerhouses could beat me in pure close combat.
Especially with the Curse of Severance that could behead even the Pontiff in an instant.
-!
One swing.
The mansion's section was sliced clean off in an arc.
Everyone within range swept up and turned to chunks of meat.
Swinging a sword once to reshape the landscape should normally require Elnor-level specs, but with Severer + Desperate Situation + Tristan-style Swordsmanship in triple combo, I could mimic it somewhat.
“Mon, monster...!”
“What the hell is that...!”
Screams and cries like that kept coming from around me, but.
Instead of responding, I sliced through the humans around me like chopping meat.
Blood fountains sprayed, body parts flew everywhere—it made my stomach churn a bit, but honestly, no real emotion.
If it were the real world, maybe, but this is a mental world.
Fundamentally just illusions created by the White Devil.
However.
Clearly, someone who hated that very much existed.
!!! Warning !!!
[ Return to ‘role’ immediately! ]
[ Return to ‘role’ immediately! ]
[ Return to ‘role’ immediately! ]
[ Return to ‘role’ immedi- ]
The red windows grew larger before my eyes.
Almost like they were screaming at me.
But I ignored them and kept slashing.
Kept cutting. Kept killing. Kept spraying blood around.
And then.
< System Messa-
A message window tried to appear.
[Darling, what are you doing right now?]
But it was ‘intercepted’ by something.
Then.
Everything, including me, paused.
As if a transcendent being had intervened.
“...”
I sighed inwardly.
Normally, only the Gray Devil could pull this off, but at least inside a ‘world it created,’ one other could do something similar.
[I told you to stick to the role, didn't I?]
With those words.
A ‘devil’ emitting blinding white burst through tearing space.
The White Devil in Yuria's form.
“...”
Yeah.
I was waiting for you.
I knew you'd come if I caused this much chaos.
Its eyes gleamed coldly. Even meeting that gaze made my heart sink, but it approached me.
Grabbed my chin, lifted it, forced me to look into its eyes.
[I’ll allow you to speak, so tell me. Why did you ignore the warnings?]
At that, my actions loosened slightly.
Barely enough to move my mouth, but I forced out words.
“It's frustrating.”
[...What?]
“From the start, why put this ‘role’ restriction on me?”
At my words, the White Devil's face twitched.
“It's weird. If you wanted me to stop what happens to Yuria, there was no need for such constraints. Limits on movement, doesn't even fit.”
[...]
“Why force that on me specifically?”
I didn't know exactly what it was aiming for.
Its feelings for Yuria were genuine. Creating this mental world and ‘altering’ her past to give her some positive effect was clear.
But.
About this role thing.
“Don't you have some other agenda?”
Otherwise.
No need to attach that to me.
Only one function you could expect from it.
Naturally ‘fix’ me into the world the White Devil created.
Let it swing me around to its taste.
Giving the most obsessive, restraining devil among all a ‘pretext’ like that—who knows how it might backfire later.
[...]
The White Devil's face kept twitching.
[...I.]
After a long silence, it finally spoke.
Grinding its teeth.
[I just wanted to change you.]
“Change me how.”
[...The future you'd face. The past of the vessel I inhabit.]
“...What are you talking about?”
[...]
It fell silent again.
Much longer than before.
Finally, it squeezed its eyes shut and shook its head.
Like shaking off unwanted memories.
[...Shut up. Anyway, you broke the constraints I set.]
The White Devil raised its hand toward me.
[That means I can revoke ownership of your soul. That wouldn't... violate the ‘agreement’ either.]
“...”
...Agreement?
Another incomprehensible word.
But the mood suggested no time for explanations.
White demonic energy gathered in its hand.
[...The method differed from planned, but.]
I heard it mutter quietly.
[This time, we can finally be together for—]
But before the sentence finished.
-!
-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Space.
Warped, twisted, shattered.
Swept away all at once.
Only pitch-black void like the abyss I saw when first entering remained around.
As if the mental world was smashed to pieces by someone's ‘arrival.’
[Wha...!]
A cry of alarm leaked from the White Devil.
In a mental world based on psyche, its dominion should be absolute.
It should be, yet.
What being could tear through and enter so casually.
Terrified, it turned back.
“You.”
There.
Was a familiar face.
[“What are you trying to do to Dawood right now?”]
With those words.
Gray energy exploded outward in all directions.
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