BONUS. Bathin and Vepar
Without a doubt, my body should have already vanished. I had unleashed an attack far beyond anything I could withstand, and Asmodeus had released his control over me.
The place I found myself in was darkness — a blackness so complete that not even an inch ahead could be seen.
...I had been born a demon, yet I had never once lived like one.
I rooted out cruelty among my servants, and to protect them I gritted my teeth and refused to bend, even before the offers of the Four Perils. By my strength alone, I had climbed to the eighteenth seat of the hierarchy.
Some called me indecisive. Some mocked me as a weakling.
But she was different.
"My, you're handsome, aren't you?"
With that bright smile, she was one of the precious few demons who ever attended the gatherings I hosted. The others wore expressions of barely concealed disgust, obeying the commands of the eighteenth-ranked out of obligation alone... but she was the only light who ever sought me out and smiled at me, warmly and without pretense.
Drawn to her by something I could not name, I spent my time with her.
We lost track of the hours, living out again and again the ideal relationship I had only ever imagined. And because I feared shattering that fragile happiness, I could never bring myself to approach her — but she approached me.
"Why haven't you confessed to me?"
"I... that is..."
"Did you think I wouldn't welcome it, even if you had someone else?"
In that moment, I finally understood. I wanted to possess her.
Thank the heavens I was a demon. If I had been human, my desire to own her — to crush her freedom itself — would surely have branded me a criminal.
So I told her the truth.
"If this relationship continues... I fear I will do you a great harm. I'm terrified of it. I don't think I can keep this going..."
She answered slowly, thoughtfully.
"What kind of harm?"
She had every right to know the truth. She had shown me affection, and I had no reason to deceive her. So even if she recoiled in disgust, even if she drew her sword and drove it through my chest, I would let her — gladly.
But her reaction was not what I expected.
"Huh? We're a perfect match, then?! I've been thinking the exact same thing!"
Beaming from ear to ear, she said it so easily. Of course I could not simply let that pass. I gathered her into my arms.
"You'll stay by my side for the rest of your life. Understood?"
"Naturally!"
And so, for day after day after day, I believed that peace would last forever.
But reality was cruel.
"Ooh, she's pretty, this one."
"Let go."
With a single stroke of my sword, I killed the demon whose hand was coiled around Vepar's wrist. But his overwhelming legions and Asmodeus's formidable strength were more than enough to bring me to my knees.
And so, before my very eyes, my light was stolen from me.
Still, I did everything in my power to win her back — assassination, raids, pleading, requests for aid. I tried every method there was, and every one of them ended in failure.
In the end, it was Asmodeus who came to me first, promising her safety and fair treatment if I would only kneel and join him. And like a fool, I believed him. I obeyed.
In the end, I was nothing more than a stupid demon — too foolish to protect even his own light, dying for nothing.
"Vepar... I'm sorry."
Don't forgive me.
If I am ever born again, please — let her be happy. Even in this horrifying agony, she carved those wounds into her own body... just so she could remember me.
How could I ever forget them?
If there is a next life, let me see her just one more ti—
"Bathin!"
My mind must have shattered. I was seeing something that could not be real...
"Ve... Vepar?"
"Are you telling me you don't want to see me right now? Don't you dare say that! How do you think I endured that unspeakable time — for you and you alone?!"
"Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to die...?! The mere touch of their fingers on my skin made me retch...!"
"And still — you're going to abandon me?"
Tears came. I could not stop them.
Please. If this is my hell, then pull me out of it... I don't care what suffering it costs me...
It was Vepar, standing before me, who put an end to that spiral of thought.
"Look at me properly, Bathin! The woman standing before you is yours! I am the fortieth seat of the hierarchy — Vepar!"
"It's... really you... isn't it. It's you."
"Honestly, we're apart a little while and you turn into a fountain of tears..."
"I'm sorry...! Vepar...! I was weak... I was too weak...!"
Before the black passage, we talked — pouring out every word we had never had the chance to say. On and on, without end, our hands never letting go.
Carved into her collarbone were the letters BATHIN — scrawled there by her own hand.
I traced those letters once with my eyes... and Vepar wrapped me in her arms.
"Thank you. For doing your very best... for my sake. Now, let's go. It's time for us to part, I suppose... I want to see you longer. I don't want to say goodbye..."
"Vepar..."
And then, a miracle descended upon us.
"So this is where you were. My children — the ones who should have been born human."
"Who... who are you...?"
Vepar must have been frightened by the figure that appeared without warning; she was trembling, head to toe. One failure is all it takes to lose everything. I swept her up at once and locked her inside my embrace.
"Stay back."
"There is little time. Choose. Follow me and see your unfinished love brought to its completion — or lose your memories and end this life once more with the same tragic love."
"...I cannot trust you. And yet... the same aura radiates from you as the one to whom I entrusted my final act of vengeance."
"..."
"So I will follow you. If I took a life before I died, then I must pay the price that is owed. But promise me — promise me that this woman, at least, will be treated justly."
At my words, the dragon shifted its form, and a young woman stood before us.
"...It was my mistake that made you what you are. I am worshipped as the creator-god who guards this continent... and yet all I ever seem to do is blunder, a foolish god through and through."
"Do not fear your sins. No one died. The child I sent barely managed to save them all in time."
"So I will offer you a choice. First: be born again as humans and live in peace. But every memory you carry will be erased."
"Second: keep those memories whole, and watch over my child at their side."
"What?"
"That's impossible... that can actually be done?"
She must have read the disbelief written across my face, for the woman answered.
"It can. Become my servants. You lived as demons yet committed no evil — this is the reward I grant to you."
It was Vepar who broke through my hesitation.
"Yes. If it means getting revenge on those bastards and staying by Bathin's side...! Then I will gladly become your servant."
"Good. Then it is settled. Your lover has chosen to become my servant. And you?"
She would become the goddess's servant — and with her, I was being given the chance to walk through this world at her side. There was no reason left to refuse.
"Yes. I will become your servant as well."
"Good. From this moment, your name is no longer Bathin but Terasti. And yours is no longer Vepar, but Luminens."
"Yes!"
"Yes."
"Close your eyes and rest a little while. You will wake again soon — and you will meet."
She snapped her fingers, and we were carried away to some place above the clouds. As the duty we were meant to fulfill settled into our minds, a tremendous drowsiness began to wash over us.
"Terasti is... rather a mouthful. I'll call you Tera. Tera... see you later. Sleep well, my 'Bathin.'"
"Then Luminens is too long for me as well. I'll call you Lumi. Until we meet again... and next time, I will protect you. For certain. My 'Vepar.'"
And so, on that far-off day when we would meet the Successor, we fell asleep calling each other by our new names.
Praying — hoping — that we might see one another, just one more time.