Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Hell - 3
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To demons, humans were nothing more than playthings to soothe their boredom and components used to bolster their own power—nothing more, nothing less.
The more viciously they tortured the humans dragged into hell, the stronger they grew, and with greater power came a natural rise in status within hell itself.
Once the flesh perished after such brutal torment, the remaining soul was eternally enslaved to the demon, forever screaming in agony and fueling its strength anew. It was only natural, then, that demons viewed humans this way.
It should have been that way.
Until the moment those two—a man and a woman—burst into hell out of nowhere and began massacring demons.
When the demons first spotted the two humans strolling leisurely through hell, they naturally charged in with gleeful anticipation. But it didn't take long for them to realize it was all bravado.
Hundreds of demons in their legion were permanently erased by the black-haired woman wielding a holy sword, their corpses piling up into small hills. The demons couldn't even graze the hem of her garment.
Even with a holy sword, this was hell itself—the demons' home turf. They figured that if they unleashed their full power, victory was assured. Reality proved otherwise.
The demons who had piled their own dead into hills eventually shifted targets. They aimed for the relatively easier mark: the black-haired man standing beside the woman with the holy sword.
Compared to the woman who obliterated every demon in sight, the man merely finished off the few that survived and twitched. He did seem easier prey.
But the demons that lunged at him met the same permanent end.
The weapon in the man's hand was no holy sword, yet it radiated holy power rivaling one. By the time the first demon realized this, it was too late.
He wasn't quite as overwhelmingly dominant as the black-haired woman with the holy sword, but dozens of demons perished to sacred might by the slimmest margins, their attacks falling short.
Either way, both were horrifying existences they couldn't defeat with their own power. The demons turned tail, fleeing past the hills of corpses.
They sought aid from one of the Demon King's closest aides, a high-ranking demon who ruled this entire region.
Of course, it didn't take long for the fleeing demons to regret that choice.
"Does Your Majesty know this saying?"
"What sayest thou?"
"They say the root of suffering lies in the head. Destroy it, and one can ensure no more pain is felt."
"Thy words ring true indeed. I shall praise thee personally."
At my lame joke, Cecilia offered faint praise before stomping on the head of a demon impaled on her holy sword, the one shrieking "Kieeeek!" She crushed it beneath her heel.
With a crunch, its contents splattered out. The dark crimson blood, thick and viscous, seeped into the parched earth.
Even after cleaving through countless demons, Cecilia's clothes remained pristine. Upon closer inspection, it was the holy sword's power at work—any demonic residue touching her body evaporated into the air on contact.
I glanced down at my pitch-black uniform, stained with dark crimson blood in places, and resigned myself. No helping it. That's the holy sword for you.
"Yet thy words have one flaw."
"What might that be, Your Majesty?"
"What reason have we to send these vile creatures to oblivion without suffering?"
We bantered idly like this as we pressed onward. In our path loomed a massive demon that had clashed with Cecilia, gotten utterly demolished, and fled.
One of the bosses from the Demons' Sanctuary DLC: the Four-Pairs-Wings Demon. As a DLC boss, it was far tougher than most base-game bosses, but the matchup was all wrong.
After I'd relayed all its attack patterns to her, Cecilia hadn't allowed a single strike, crushing it head-on. It had been beaten so thoroughly it was pitiful to watch.
On the verge of death, the Four-Pairs-Wings Demon had bolted, only to take a sword-qi-like strike to the back and plummet to the ground soon after.
That was why we could stroll through hell so casually.
"......"
And trailing behind us, Margarita watched our carefree demeanor the whole time.
Margarita stared back and forth between the demons fleeing in terror and us two, who showed no emotion despite the slaughter, her face blank with bewilderment.
Then, cautiously, she spoke up.
"Um... you're not from the Holy Kingdom, are you?"
"Does the Holy Kingdom address the Pope as 'Your Majesty'? So much time has passed that even if thou hast forgotten all knowledge of the human world, I shall specially forgive thee."
"N-No! That's not what I—"
Margarita, who had questioned me only to receive Cecilia's menacing glare, flinched and trembled. The memory of that holy sword at her throat earlier must have lingered vividly.
Her speech and mannerisms aside, Cecilia was in an exceptionally good mood right now. She'd overlook most things.
"We hail from the Aeternum Empire. As I mentioned earlier, this one is our current Emperor."
I answered in Cecilia's stead. Margarita glanced warily her way.
"I know that. I heard it too. But it's just... hard to believe. An imperial wielding a holy sword? And that weapon you're holding? I used to be a holy knight, you know. I can tell how much holy power a weapon holds."
*Not anymore,* she added softly.
"Honestly, I never imagined the Emperor of the Empire using a holy sword. How in the world—"
"Curiosity killed the cat, Margarita."
Cecilia's signature imperious gaze turned on her. Just those words, but Margarita grasped the implication instantly and clamped her mouth shut.
I could understand her sharp reaction. She'd had to use a holy sword to slay family members corrupted by demons with her own hands.
Answering why the Emperor wielded a holy sword would inevitably dredge up those memories, so a prickly response was only natural.
"Delta. Thou art no different. A knight's duty is to attend his Emperor at his side. Why linger elsewhere?"
"My apologies, Your Majesty."
I'd been walking a bit apart from Cecilia, but at her words, I closed the distance.
"Closer."
I drew nearer still.
"Closer."
Even closer.
"Closer."
So close our arms would brush with the slightest movement.
"That will do."
Only then did Cecilia nod in satisfaction. "Attending at her side" didn't begin to cover this proximity. Our forearms grazed with every step.
From behind, I felt Margarita's piercing stare stabbing at me. We'd claimed Emperor and knight of the Empire, yet our behavior was worlds apart from that dynamic. No wonder she was baffled.
After that, there was no more conversation to be had, and with no demons bold enough to charge us anymore, all was quiet. The path ahead was smooth as a result.
How much time passed? Soon, we spotted the Four-Pairs-Wings Demon slumped on the ground, gasping for breath as blood poured from its severed limbs.
"Over there..."
"Hast thou more to say?"
Cecilia's voice carried a hint of irritation as Margarita spoke up again just as she moved toward it.
Margarita flinched reflexively but steeled her expression, as if this was something she had to ask.
"You two... are you... lovers?"
"......"
The question was utterly unexpected, but Cecilia offered no denial.
She simply stared silently at Margarita with her usual impassive, imperious face.
Cecilia stood expressionless for a long moment, until Margarita was on the verge of trembling and stammering. Only then did her features shift subtly as she spoke.
"For what reason dost thou think so?"
"Uh... your hair color matches, your clothes match, even your weapons have a similar vibe...? I thought maybe you coordinated or something."
Thinking about it, she had a point. I mentally compared our appearances.
Both with pitch-black hair, clad in pitch-black uniforms, wielding swords radiating holy power. It was enough to spark the illusion of deliberate matching.
And though nominally lord and knight, our actions felt anything but.
Cecilia stared at Margarita for a while with an inscrutable expression, then abruptly turned her head away.
"Think what thou wilt. I have not the leisure to react to every such misconception."
*She's not denying it.*
Given Cecilia's personality, I'd expected something like, "We are not lovers; he belongs to me." It was surprising in more ways than one.
Her golden pupils turned back to me. I hurried to her side. Cecilia's expression remained unchanged—impenetrable as ever.
We soon reached the Four-Pairs-Wings Demon sprawled on the ground, heaving. It thrashed desperately to escape us.
"Thou saidst thou needed this one's eyes?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Indeed."
"Fortuitous timing. I was nigh unto retching from its filthy gaze raking over my form."
To activate the device, we needed two drop items from DLC bosses and two field-loot items. One of those drops was this demon's eye.
At first, I figured killing it would make its body dissolve like with the human butcher in the tutorial, leaving the item behind. But to be safe, we'd extract it first.
At the mention of gouging its eye, the demon flapped its wings frantically, but with over 90% torn away, flight was impossible.
Cecilia gestured coolly with her chin.
"What dost thou wait for? Begin."
"Huh? Oh, right."
Margarita fumbled for a moment, nodded, drew her sword, and approached the Four-Pairs-Wings Demon. Without the slightest hesitation, she plunged the blade into its eye socket.
The demon shrieked shrilly, writhing. That was all it could do anyway.
"Delta."
I'd been staring at the bikini-clad beauty diligently extracting the eye when a voice called from right beside me. Cecilia.
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
"What thinkest thou of what that one said?"
"......Pardon?"
"Must thou make thy liege repeat herself twice? 'Tis a vile habit. I asked what thou thinkest of that one's claim that we are lovers."