Chapter 89
Chapter 89
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Restoration
-----------------------------------------------------------------
●
“But... what the hell is this?”
Those were the first words out of Elnor’s mouth after she finally came back to her senses after quite some time.
Her cheeks were still flushed, but compared to before, she had regained a lot more composure as she glanced around.
The entire surroundings remained frozen. The world painted gray showed no sign of time flowing again.
“It feels like... something ‘connected’ to me.”
Elnor said that as she raised her hand and lightly touched the clumps of gray energy blanketing the area.
“Do you happen to know what this is, Dawood?”
Elnor clenched and unclenched her fist, manipulating the gray energy this way and that.
“...Who knows.”
I gave a vague response.
“Something tells me we shouldn’t dig too deep into it.”
“...? Dig too deep?”
“That’s just the feeling I get, Elnor. Promise me you won’t try to find out exactly what this is.”
“If you say so... I won’t. It doesn’t feel like it’s harming me right now anyway.”
It was a pushy promise, but Elnor tilted her head and accepted it readily enough.
She probably had no idea that the mysterious power dwelling within her was a ‘demon.’
‘...Demons are top-secret by their very existence.’
There’d be very, very few people who knew the mechanics of demon fragments and their vessels right now.
Probably just the tiny handful who knew about my ‘constitution’ that demons unconditionally adore, and at most...
[The Inquisition?]
Yeah. Them.
A wry smile came naturally at Kallivan’s voice from inside the amulet. The chill in his tone was intense.
He must harbor tremendous resentment toward that group.
If they’d been even a little more... ‘normal,’ he and his fellow Guardians might have survived the Night Incident.
‘Anyway.’
Telling a demon vessel about their own nature was the worst possible move right now.
That’s why I hadn’t been honest with them up to now.
‘...It twists the main scenario.’
The reactions from people who learn they’re a ‘vessel’ are always a sight to behold.
Realizing you harbor humanity’s enemy inside you isn’t exactly great for your mental health.
Considering that a demon vessel goes berserk based on their mental state, that kind of action is nothing short of suicide.
Not to mention that every single vessel hosting these demons plays a massive role in the scenario.
The Blue Demon in Riru is key to this chapter’s highlight, the ‘duel,’ and the White Demon in Yuria will likely shine in Chapter 6’s ‘Holy Empire Invasion.’
If they found out and derailed those scenarios entirely, it’d be a disaster for me.
And for the Gray Demon, the core axis running through the entire game, there’s no need to spell out exactly what it is to Elnor.
She’ll find out soon enough anyway. Chapter 5 of the scenario centers on the third fragment entering her, and by then, she won’t be able to ignore what’s inside her.
Until then, it’s best if I just stay quiet.
“...I think I could get used to this pretty quickly.”
While those thoughts raced through my mind, Elnor was manipulating the gray demonic energy around her, drawing complex shapes in the air.
It looked like she’d been training with it for ages.
[System Message]
[ Target ‘Elnor’s hidden stat has been unlocked! ]
[ From now on, the target can wield ‘Gray Demonic Energy’! ]
...That makes sense.
She’d met the conditions for it.
After consuming two fragments and rampaging once, it was only natural for the demon’s power to unlock to some degree.
‘Good for her, I guess?’
Honestly, there’s a high chance she’ll explode like this again if things go even slightly wrong with other demons in the future, but even so, Elnor is one of my strongest allies.
Especially if she can wield the Gray Demon’s energy too.
“So, can you do something with it?”
It’d be good to test that power out.
I made the request to Elnor, who was still toying with the gray energy.
“Do something?”
“...Like clean this up somehow.”
I said that and looked around.
The Colosseum of Strife had been completely bisected and wrecked by Elnor’s rampage.
‘...This is a major Chapter 3 location, no matter how you slice it.’
No way to progress the scenario like this.
It really hit me just how insane what she’d done was.
Turning one of the continent’s most famous buildings into this in mere seconds.
“...Clean up, huh.”
Elnor tilted her head at my words.
“I’ll... give it a try. I’ve got a feeling it’ll work.”
Then, Elnor slowly closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and moved the demonic energy.
And at that moment.
The world ‘rewound.’
“...!”
Holy shit.
My jaw dropped.
Back during the Purifier boss fight, when I manifested a Gray Demon fragment, it had ‘rewound time’ to repair my punctured chest. Like rewinding a video.
What was happening now was exactly the same.
Except the scale: not just one spot, but everything in sight was rewinding.
The dome split in half rejoined. People who’d been flung from the building into the sea by the shockwave flew back upward against gravity into the structure. Explosions bursting everywhere, debris and fixtures raining down—all of it.
Elnor’s body and mine floated lightly, repositioning to just before the destruction.
Me standing before Tatiana, making my request. Elnor near the crowd watching it unfold.
The Colosseum of Strife restored spotless, as if none of it had ever happened, in less than thirty seconds.
As my mind flooded with the question of whether one person should wield such power.
A window popped up before my eyes.
[System Message]
[ Target ‘Elnor’ has used ‘Gray Demonic Energy’! ]
[ Fusion rate of the second fragment rises sharply! ]
...What?
I frantically activated Probe on Elnor.
[ Using ‘Probe.’ ]
[ Loading target’s information. ]
[ 24-hour reuse cooldown applies to the same target. ]
[Character Info]
[ Elnor Erinarije la Tristan ]
[ Trait: Vessel – Gray Devil ]
[Status Info]
[ Standard ]
Strength: S+
Agility: S+
Durability: S+
Luck: C
Authority: A+
[ Supernatural ]
Mana: B
Spell Power: F
Divinity: F
Gray Demonic Energy: EX
[Misc.]
- Currently fused ‘Demon Fragments’: 2
- Stage 2 Fusion Progress: 55%
- Corruption Progress: 0%
“Elnor, stop, stop!”
“...Hm?”
At my desperate yell, Elnor finally opened her eyes. She looked around, confused by our changed positions, searching for me.
“...Just one more promise, Elnor.”
The moment our eyes met, I blurted it out urgently.
“What?”
“Never, ever use this power again. Promise me. Not even if you die.”
“...”
Her face said, *You just told me to use it, what now?* But for me, this was deadly serious.
I’d never seen this ability in the original game, so I hadn’t imagined it came with effects like this.
“You’re asking for a lot of promises today.”
Elnor sighed in response.
“...I know it might be unpleasant—”
“Not really. If anything, it feels good that you and I share so many secrets.”
“...”
Glad she’s listening.
“Then... I’ll dispel all this energy for now.”
Elnor sighed and spoke.
“Time should start flowing again from that point. I’ve never tried it, but that’s the feeling I get.”
“...Got it. I’ll figure out how to keep everyone here quiet about what just happened.”
Even so, if word got out that one human wielded this much power, the fallout would be unimaginable.
So we had to prevent that as much as possible—
“...No need for that, it seems.”
“Huh?”
“...?”
“I’ll dispel the energy first. You’ll see.”
With that, Elnor snapped her fingers.
The gray energy vanished entirely.
And the world’s time began to flow again.
“...”
“...”
But.
There was no chaos or pandemonium like I’d expected anywhere.
It was quiet.
Everyone’s faces were calm. As if the building splitting in half had never happened at all.
“...Why’s that guy just standing there?”
“Hey, didn’t the High Priestess ask you something? Speak up!”
As I stood there dazed, an angry shout came from the crowd.
“...Everyone, you all okay?”
“...? What’s this guy saying?”
“Nothing to not be okay about...?”
I called out to them in a slightly spaced-out voice, and that’s the response I got.
Then it hit me.
By rewinding time, Elnor had made everyone here ‘lose their memories’ of what happened.
As if it had never occurred.
[...That’s an absurd power.]
Kallivan groaned from inside the amulet.
[The timeline itself feels twisted. Except for those resistant to demonic energy, no one even knows what happened.]
...Yeah.
The Gray Devil’s power only briefly appeared in the final boss fight in the original game, so I hadn’t realized it had effects this extreme.
‘But...’
Not everyone was affected.
I checked everyone making confused faces around us.
Tatiana. Riru.
And.
‘...Eliya?’
Why’s she in the mix?
She’s not a demon vessel, nor a worshiper like Tatiana?
No basis at all for her having that kind of ability like those two?
“...”
I can look into that later.
For now, let’s just smoothly get past this situation.
That’s the best move.
“High Priestess. Then, my request.”
“...”
I spoke to the dazed Tatiana.
As if nothing had happened.
“The right for Riru to enter clan territory with—”
As I continued, Kallivan spoke from the amulet again.
[But let me ask one thing.]
Ask what?
[She can wield this insane power, so why’d you desperately stop her from using it earlier?]
Oh, that?
Because using it too often brings ‘side effects’ far worse than any benefits.
[...What?]
No, really.
‘If the second fragment’s fusion rate rises this fast...!’
The higher the fusion rate, the more the fragment amplifies Elnor’s dark side.
Her corruption level could skyrocket unpredictably.
After seeing what one rampage did, we have to avoid that at all costs.
“...”
And right now, we’d patched it with a temporary shock treatment.
But if she rampaged once more next time.
‘I’d really have to marry her or something...!’
In my view, if Elnor rampages again, the only ‘means’ to suppress it would be that.
Being caught by her, spending a honeymoon in some unimaginable future.
[...So, to sum up.]
Kallivan’s voice came with a chuckle from the amulet.
[The more she uses that power, the higher the marriage odds, so you told her not to?]
“...”
[You know what I’d say to that, right?]
Yeah, I know I’m trash.
Honestly, after all this, stubbornly refusing marriage feels off, but that’s one line I can’t cross.
Especially with the other demons; narrowing my survival options to that spells certain death...!
[Dunno. Don’t wanna discourage your efforts.]
Kallivan continued indifferently.
[But dodging her like that? It’ll blow up eventually.]
“...”
[You getting hooked by that girl feels like a done deal. Just a matter of when.]
“...”
[Could be pretty soon.]
Please.
Just stay quiet.
●
“...Yuria?”
Lucien looked down at Yuria, who was lying with her head in her lap, with a puzzled voice.
Normally, this was the time Yuria would quietly soak in her warmth until she dozed off in her arms.
It had been their routine ever since the blessing ritual to delay the Disconnector’s curse. Even now that they shared a room after coming to the Colosseum of Strife.
But right now.
Yuria’s ‘aura’ was a bit off.
“...Sister, didn’t you feel that just now?”
Yuria opened her eyes, not sleepy like usual, but narrowed slightly.
“...Feel what?”
“Something rewound. Just now.”
“...?”
What was she talking about?
Rewound? What?
As she thought that.
Someone knocked on their door.
Lucien’s face soured instantly.
“...Who is it? We don’t have any appointments.”
Even in a foreign land, she was a saint treated as an honored guest by the Holy Empire. People didn’t just show up unannounced like this.
But the voice from beyond the door ignored her and spoke.
“You felt it too, didn’t you?”
A woman’s voice. Soft and polite.
At those words.
Yuria flinched.
No specific target named, but she clearly sensed it was aimed at her.
“...I asked who—”
Lucien hardened her expression and started to demand, but a sentence flew back, completely opposite in tone from before.
“You shut your mouth. I don’t recall permitting some lowly beast to speak.”
It was sincere contempt.
As if even conversing with Lucien made her want to vomit.
“...”
Lucien gaped in shock.
What the hell? This psycho?
“L-lowly beast?! Who the hell are you...!”
“I’m here for you, Yuria Grayhauncher.”
Ignoring Lucien’s protest entirely, the woman spoke softly again.
“I’m Painol Lifek. Court Mage affiliated with the Inquisition.”
“...”
As Yuria stared expressionlessly beyond the door.
“...I have something urgent to discuss.”
The words continued.
Without a doubt.
“About a man named Dawood Campbell.”
A venomous sentence.
●