Chapter 249: Jealousy (19)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 249: Jealousy (19)
Let’s take a moment to talk about Belphegor, the Demon King of Sloth.
She was the weakest of the seven monarchs ruling the Demon Realm, a pathetic excuse for a Demon King whose reputation had hit rock bottom after a string of recent, humiliating defeats.
Furthermore, while it wasn’t out of a sense of loyalty to Lucifer, she was the unlucky Demon King who had lost her body to Leviathan—who had seized Authority—simply because she had spent too much time agonizing over her choices.
And though she didn’t know it herself, in the 1st Timeline, she was a Demon King with a record of losing to a human; she had gone on a rampage after her project failed, only to be taken down by Lilac when he was still just a first-year.
If you asked anyone for their impression of her now, they would undoubtedly call her the icon of defeat.
However, even with all that considered, Belphegor was still a Demon King.
Being the weakest in the Demon Realm meant that, excluding the other six Demon Kings, there was no one else who could defeat her. It also meant that, despite her flaws, she possessed enough power to kill the original protagonist even in an incomplete state.
That was the reality.
She was one of the absolute powerhouses, and naturally, she had kept a trump card up her sleeve to preserve her life.
Just before her main body was stolen, Belphegor succeeded in separating her consciousness and transplanting it into a clone that possessed almost no mana. Using a faint trace of demonic energy, she managed to flee to the surface.
Having survived the worst crisis, all she had to do now was find a way to recover her strength.
As always, she would overcome this ordeal!
Well, if there was a problem, it was that she had escaped with so little demonic energy that her clone was already beginning to disintegrate, and her consciousness was fading.
Is this the end?
The Demon King of Sloth forced her body to move, even as she began to look like some mascot character from a manga, but she couldn’t deny that she was reaching her limit.
The clone was too weak to maintain her status, and without demonic energy, even that form was difficult to sustain.
She wondered if a human contractor might help, but honestly, it seemed impossible.
She was so low on demonic energy that the moment she formed a contract, she would need to receive negative emotions or mana just to endure.
There was no way a human existed who was familiar enough with demonic energy to contract with a Demon King, while simultaneously possessing enough mana or negative emotions to anchor her fading existence.
Just as she thought all was lost…
Heavenly luck struck both Belphegor and a girl she didn’t know well—Kim Ga-eul.
She discovered people who had lost their reason to demonic energy, moving toward a certain location like zombies.
Belphegor’s intuition screamed.
She had to follow them.
* * *
And now, the situation returns to the present.
To put it simply, Belphegor’s decision to trust her intuition was the perfect choice.
Before her eyes was an incomplete vessel, one familiar enough with demonic energy to handle the status of a Demon King.
Furthermore, that vessel contained enough mana—though lacking compared to her days as a Demon King—to at least begin her recovery.
Indeed.
She had found none other than Kim Ga-eul.
Even in this state, seducing a single human is child’s play! Or so she thought, but a problem arose.
Contrary to her appearance, this girl was strangely hostile toward demons and incredibly suspicious.
— “It’s dangerous right now, so can’t you just let it slide and agree?!”
“If someone suddenly offers a contract to help in such a dangerous moment, I might make the wrong choice out of desperation. Besides, ‘Demon King Girl’ is a terrible name!”
It was a sound argument. Everything she said was perfectly logical.
But how many lunatics would act like this when their guards and even they themselves were about to die?
What is this? Does she have a hidden trump card? Or is she just a delusional patient who thinks she can’t die?
* * *
Naturally, it was neither.
Most people mistook her essence because of her airheaded appearance, but Kim Ga-eul had always been this way.
She was the type to observe the expressions and moods of those around her, piece together information, and then gamble on the most likely outcome.
A prime example was when she was captured by Jin Gyeong-tae in the past; after calculating the possibilities, she was the first to step forward as a sacrifice.
In truth, it wasn’t that special.
Anyone with ambition or greed takes these kinds of gambles, even if not on a daily basis.
However, the story changes when the risk of losing the gamble is one’s own life.
Only a madman who doesn’t value their life, or an even greater madman who believes there is something more important than life, can place their one and only precious life on the scales to gamble on a possibility.
The girl, who had been captivated by the sight of the boy who saved her in her childhood shining at the cost of his own life…
She harbored a slightly twisted admiration in her heart, longing for it without even realizing it herself.
It was a delusion.
For most humans, attempting something similar would be a foolish act where they would meet their end while regretting why gambling is dangerous.
In fact, she too was originally destined to have failed her gamble and died long ago.
However, Kim Ga-eul, who survived because fate was twisted, continued to gamble. And now, with the greatest luck of her life circulating, her gamble finally succeeded and saw the light of day.
Limited time leads to mistakes in judgment.
That goes double when a life is on the line.
This applied to Kim Ga-eul, but it also applied to Belphegor, who was on the verge of vanishing.
The Demon King grew anxious and began to relax the terms of the contract.
Before she knew it, the contract where she was the superior party had flipped, making her the subordinate. She couldn’t even harm the girl anymore, but the Demon King was desperate.
Not only could she not harm the people around her, but she also couldn’t perform any action the girl didn’t want, nor could she restrict her movements.
On top of that, Kim Ga-eul only smiled brightly at the Demon King’s voice after forcing her to swear upon her very existence that she could not forcibly terminate the contract even if her power fully recovered.
“Fine, I’ll give this ‘Demon King Girl’ thing a shot!”
At the moment when the guards were on the brink of death but no one had died yet, the mascot-like Demon King dwelled within Kim Ga-eul’s body.
The Demon King was able to prolong her existence by manipulating the mana within the girl’s body.
And then, at the worst possible timing, the thing that was once a friend grabbed Kim Ga-eul.
“…Don’t touch her. You filth.”
A swirling storm of mana blew it away with ease.
“Fine, I did it for you this once since you might make a mistake fighting directly for the first time. From now on, you do it yourself.”
“Huh?! Suddenly?! You’re not going to keep fighting for me?”
“Moving your body directly is extremely taxing because of the contract.”
“Ah, I see.”
To the fallen guards, it looked like Kim Ga-eul was talking to herself, but they immediately realized she had become something different from the frail girl lying in the hospital room.
A horn made of mana grew from one side of her head. In place of her hospital gown, her body was clad in a tight black leotard, topped with a cloak adorned with fluffy fur that didn’t match the weather at all.
The girl, who had been suffering from mana, now manipulated it with natural ease, creating a black whip as she murmured softly.
“…The fashion sense is a bit lacking, isn’t it?”
“I’ll tell you now, half of this was my idea, but the other half was created based on your own image of a Demon King.”
“Wait, really?!”
“…Anyway, the contract has been successfully formed. According to the contract, I will manipulate mana in the way you imagine to the best of my ability. Other than that, I’ll provide simple movement assistance and advice. Also, if your life is in enough danger to be critical, I can temporarily take over your body for self-preservation.”
“Okay!”
“Now, show those lowly things. Show them what kind of being you have become.”
Experiencing mana moving exactly as she imagined was a wondrous sensation, and the power felt through the whip made of mana was immense.
As she swung the whip, Kim Ga-eul was certain.
Truly. Really. Finally, the era of Kim Ga-eul had arrived.
The mana whip, moving as freely as a serpent, lashed across the abdomen of the thing that was once her friend, draining its mana.
* * *
The moment my neck was grabbed, I stacked my reinforcements even further and escaped.
If my neck snaps, I die.
No, with the Coin’s cooldown finished, I wouldn’t truly die, but if I did, everyone would worry, and it would be another instance of overexerting myself.
On top of the reinforcements I had already used, stacking them seven times over even for a moment brought a wave of fatigue.
“…What? You could still get stronger? Just how far does your strength go?”
“Shut up.”
“Ah, right. You have no intention of giving information to the enemy, do you? I’m starting to get a bit angry myself. Thanks to you, I couldn’t finish off Lucifer.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, moron.”
“…What?”
Yes, please, I’m begging you. This is a dangerous moment, so just stay quiet and shut up.
— Why? What’s so dangerous? Don’t be like that; just use all your remaining life force and kill her. The situation is different from last time, isn’t it? You can come back to life this time, so why not just self-destruct?
It had been quiet lately, but now that I was alone, it was starting this crap again.
— She hurt Ga-eul, didn’t she? Don’t forgive her. You’re going to save Ga-eul, right? Don’t hesitate.
I’ll handle it myself, so please just shut up.
— Are you afraid of betraying expectations? Everyone believes in you? Where is this ‘everyone’? No one is watching, so what does it matter? As long as you don’t get caught.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
“Ugh…?!”
In addition to whipping the vortexes she created in the air, she now began to chase me with awls made of mana.
— It’s annoying, isn’t it? You wonder what the point of a promise is. No one has ever kept their promises to you, so why are you so foolishly trying to keep yours?
Yes, everyone who said they would stay by my side left.
— What if you lose here? Lilac will die fighting a Demon King again. This opponent is much stronger than before, so he might die in vain. What about your precious people? You know very well she isn’t just targeting you, right?
There it was again, that familiar chill.
This was my mental illness, my delusion, the thing that shackled me no matter how much I tried to shake it off.
In truth, what it said was partially correct.
Everyone was far away, so if I died and came back, how would they know?
Even if I blew myself up by stacking reinforcements, I might be able to recover now that the Coin’s cooldown was over.
— Then…
Even so, I won’t choose that path.
— …And why is that? To atone for your guilt? Have you developed a hobby for enjoying pain? Or do you just want to give up on everything now?
No, that’s not it. Not at all.
I’m greedy, so I thought if I wanted something, I wouldn’t want to let it go. I tried to let go, but it was already in my arms.
I’ve come to want it. I’ve come to not want to let go. I’ve started to think that I want to work hard, be trusted, live up to that trust, and return it in kind.
So, I can’t use those methods anymore.
Instead of stacking more reinforcements, I raised my sword and swung it at the Demon King.
— Even if you die as a result?
No, I won’t die.
— Even if you might lose someone precious to you?
No, I will never let that happen.
— What can you do against a Demon King who has regained her power?
She can’t use any big techniques because she’s wary of what just happened. So, I’ll focus as much as possible and buy time.
— Time? What can you do by just buying time? Do you seriously think someone is coming to help you?
The blooming petals were crushed one by one by the vortexes, and the wounds on my body increased.
— How pathetic. What is a mere promise? They would prefer you survive even if you’re hurt. It’s better than dying, isn’t it?
I believe.
— You’ll be betrayed.
I believe they will answer.
— No, no answer will come.
They won’t be late.
— No, they will be late. You’ll be a cold corpse by the time they arrive.
Finally, all the petals fell, and a vortex pierced my arm.
A wall made of mana protected me, and the Will of the Saint, borrowing energy from nature, healed my wounds on its own, but…
The wall was precarious, and the healing was far too slow.
— Burn your life force. Defeat the Demon King. Or use your new power to drain everything around you. Recover. Ask the demon to lend you strength.
I told you to shut up.
— You…
I…
— …must sacrifice yourself.
I am never, ever going to do that damn self-harm again.
[Is that so?]
Just before the mana shield shattered and despair brushed past me, a voice suddenly rang out, and a flash of redness blocked the despair coming for me.
A woman with incredibly red hair and a red butler’s uniform.
There stood the Redness that governed life, appearing like a brilliant flame yet thicker than blood.
[She used a ‘request.’ To respond to that…]
The Red Butler took her stance and declared with absolute confidence.
[I have come to save you.]
I couldn’t help but be bewildered by the appearance of reinforcements that were quite different from what I had been waiting for.