The Last Memory (5)
The Last Memory (5)
Thud.
Yekaterina collapsed.
She was not dead yet. The witch's tenacious life force had not yet permitted death.
The time Yekaterina had spent frozen was only an instant, but to her, it had felt like an eternity.
'A m-monster...'
She could not compete.
Olivia had reached the rank of Archmage a mere four years ago. A short time, barely enough to adapt to a new stage. Yekaterina, on the other hand, was a high-ranking witch who had long since harvested the demonic energy of a Great Demon.
Though only a fraction of power had been granted to Yekaterina, she had believed even that fraction could easily deal with a single Archmage.
Because she had experience defeating Tower Lord-class white mages before.
Where was the witch who didn't know she was at a disadvantage fighting white mages?
Of course, those white mages had not been Archmages. But there had been many of them.
Three in total.
Each one had been a mage hailed as the future of the White Tower.
But the overwhelming demonic energy granted by Belphegor had been so immense it crushed elemental compatibility and numerical disparity alike.
But...
"Hey."
Yekaterina flinched violently. For the first time in her life, she was feeling true fear.
Not even when she had met the Great Demon Belphegor had it been this bad.
They were on different levels.
'H-How can a human...'
Yekaterina could not bring herself to make eye contact.
She was a killer herself, so she knew. The gaze of a murderer who had killed one or two people, and the gaze of a slaughterer who had killed tens or hundreds, were different.
Unbelievable as it was, Olivia's eyes were colder than those of a Great Demon.
Incomparably so.
Gulp.
She was afraid.
More than the fact that death was staring her in the face, she feared that the order she had believed to be omniscient was not even aware of the existence of such a monster.
"Hey."
"...Yes."
"If the word 'hey' leaves my mouth one more time, you're dead."
"I-I understand."
Olivia spoke with a flick of her finger.
"Hand over the artifact while I'm asking nicely. I'm counting to five. Five, four, three..."
"I-It's not something I can just pull out so easily..."
"Two, one..."
"H-Here it is!"
Yekaterina thrust her hand into the darkness and pulled out a sphere bearing a red pentagram.
Drip.
A black liquid oozed from the fist-sized sphere, dripping intermittently.
"Hmm."
Olivia extended her hand. She turned the sphere this way and that, verifying it was indeed the item she sought.
"If only you'd been this cooperative from the start."
Olivia's lips curled up.
[Eye of Belphegor]
- An eye created by offering the souls of a thousand people as sacrifice. It can summon the Great Demon Belphegor.
- Time Until Summoning: 15 hours
- Summoning time can be adjusted by infusing demonic energy.
In fifteen hours, it would be two o'clock the next afternoon.
That was still before the Olivia of the Genocide Run had awakened.
Which meant...
'I'll have to push the summoning back by about a day.'
Truly regrettable, but she had decided to hand over the 20 Favorability to the Genocide Run.
Frankly, a Favorability of around 68 was already far more than she had expected to receive. At the very least, at this level, Kiel would not try to attack her on sight.
Still, a waste was a waste.
'Can't I just close my eyes and take it myself? No? Probably not.'
If only she could grab just 20 more Favorability, life would truly become comfortable!
Partnering up with Kiel, she might just be able to take down three or four regressors!
Olivia clicked her tongue.
That was poison.
If she took it, it would backfire.
"..."
Wait, wasn't blowfish poison too, if you thought about it? If you prepared it right, it was fucking delicious...
Shiver-shiver-shiver.
Olivia stopped her thoughts and looked down. At her feet, Yekaterina was trembling in the grip of terror.
Olivia's expression turned cold again.
She felt no sympathy.
Rather, anger bubbled up. The first properly felt anger since she had fallen into this world.
A witch was exactly that kind of existence.
'...Should I kill her.'
Killing someone in a dream was not considered murder. It was only fiction. Would the same not apply inside a memory?
'Detain for now.'
There was something she had to do first.
Plop.
The sphere fell before Yekaterina's eyes.
"Change it."
"T-To what, precisely?"
"The time Belphegor is summoned. Push it to the day after tomorrow."
A brief flicker of blankness crossed Yekaterina's expression. Then, realizing her place, she hastily reached for the sphere.
"...I-I understand."
What kind of mage left an artifact that summoned a demon untouched instead of destroying it?
She wanted to ask why only push it back a day, but her instincts shut her mouth. Those eyes were the eyes of someone debating whether to kill.
"W-What time, the day after tomorrow?"
"Two o'clock."
Yekaterina could not comprehend what Olivia was thinking. But one thing was certain: Olivia's thinking far exceeded the bounds of common sense.
In other words, she was a mad bitch.
Grind, grind, grind.
The sound of demonic energy writhing came from the sphere.
"I-It's done!"
Yekaterina's hands, held out politely, trembled like aspen leaves.
[Eye of Belphegor]
An eye created by offering the souls of a thousand people as sacrifice. It can summon the Great Demon Belphegor.
- Time Until Summoning: 39 hours
- Summoning time can be adjusted by infusing demonic energy.
Picking up the artifact, Olivia nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Well done."
"T-Then!"
Yekaterina looked up at Olivia.
"You'll spare..."
...
Her lips would not move. The next moment, her vision slowly toppled over.
'...Huh?'
The ground drew closer. Her forehead hurt. Her vision spun round and round. Yekaterina rolled a few more times until she stopped.
Only her head.
At the edge of Yekaterina's vision, she saw her own body collapsed and headless. No black blood surged forth. It had frozen before it could burst out.
'...Huh?'
Even in that moment, Yekaterina could not accept reality. Her eyes slowly rose, following a gaze she felt from somewhere.
Olivia, having merely turned her head, looked down at her with cold eyes. Even as her consciousness faded, Yekaterina could not tear her gaze from those pale, coldly gleaming eyes.
That was where Yekaterina's memory ended.
*****
After felling Yekaterina, Olivia immediately moved to a deserted park.
It was to bury the 'Eye of Belphegor'.
If she had it her way, she would have buried it deep in some secluded mountain to minimize damage, but then Belphegor would not be summoned.
As stated before, the reason a mere artifact like this could summon Belphegor was that this place was the academy, immaculate and free of even a single wraith.
What about Yekaterina's wraith?
When a witch dies, her soul belongs to the demon she contracted with. Yekaterina would have long since been dragged to the Demon World, so there was no need to worry.
'I've never seen anything like this in all my life.'
She had taken out Yekaterina before Belphegor was summoned before, but back then, she had smashed the Eye of Belphegor immediately.
'Well, who'd be crazy enough to pull this kind of stunt? It's a goddamn waste of time.'
The miserable part was that she had to do this waste of time to survive.
Olivia buried the Eye of Belphegor deep where no one would find it, then set alarm magic to detect anyone approaching before she could finally relax.
"Mm!"
Olivia wore a satisfied expression.
No presence was felt nearby. Of course, curfew had long since passed, and wandering the park at this hour was what would be strange.
Anyway, she had done everything she could, so she would just head back...
-Whooo.
Abruptly, Olivia spun around.
Thick demonic energy seeped from the ground. Precisely from where the Eye of Belphegor had been buried.
-Whooooo.
The surrounding soil turned into murky, blackish sludge. The blades of grass crumbled in an instant, and the trees withered and twisted to death.
The surroundings were dyed in dense darkness. It was black beyond compare to Yekaterina's.
Snatch!
In an instant, the Eye of Belphegor shot up through the earth. The eye quivered in midair, then with a grating noise that made one's skin crawl just to hear, it split wide open.
Shwaaaa!
The eye absorbed all the surrounding darkness. The darkness grew ever more colossal. Olivia watched the scene with a stunned expression.
-@%&@%@...
The 'darkness' spoke.
-You wretch. You have gone and killed my contractor.
It was no longer just an artifact.
[Great Demon Belphegor]
- Level: 90
-Title: Master of the Western Demon World, Ruler of Wraiths.
It was a demon itself.
-Repay that sin with your life.
Belphegor snarled.
At the same time, a message window floated before Olivia's eyes.
[Unstorable Item - HIDDEN]
-Activation condition: After defeating Yekaterina, leave the 'Eye of Belphegor' unattended for 30 minutes or more.
-Reward: Identical to the 'Slay the Demon' quest.
"...What the fuck."
That was some absolute bullshit.