Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Unexpected Reunions (2)
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"Eh...?"
Again...?
That was the only thought that came to mind.
Just who would orchestrate something like this? Following Luke around, she’d seen so many demonic humans and demons that she’d grown used to it.
A dark space where nothing was visible.
She stood there all alone.
She looked around, but of course, no one was there.
"Mr. Luke? Ms. Luna?"
Naturally, there was no reply.
Yui had been locked in a room without a single ray of light before coming outside, so she didn't feel scared even in this darkness.
But if something like this happened, Luke would be the first one to step up...
There was no particular message this time, so what was going on?
W-what if she was going to die here?!
Originally, she was fated to die.
She hadn't given it much thought until now, but according to what Luke had told her, it wouldn't be strange if she died at any moment.
"Eek! Mr. Luke! Ms. Luna! Help me...!"
[Fufu. We finally meet.]
"Hieeeek...!"
[W-Wait...!]
A voice came from behind, but the frightened Yui covered her ears and bolted.
Hearing nothing, Yui ran blindly, but there was no escape.
Instead, it felt like she was running in place, with only endless darkness stretching on.
Even so, the voice from behind continued.
[Stop! Just stop for a moment...!!]
Someone's shout barely reached Yui's ears.
Only after hearing it did Yui stop walking.
She turned to see who was calling her so desperately.
[Hoo... I don't know who you take after to be such a coward.]
Standing there was someone who looked exactly like her... but with red eyes, just like herself after feeding on blood.
And from the way she spoke, this person was the other personality Luke had mentioned.
It was definitely that idiot they called the Queen.
"Ahh!! You!!"
[W-What is it all of a sudden?!]
Seething with rage.
Yui, radiating fury, marched toward the Queen.
And then.
-Grab!
[W-What are you doing?! Let go of me this instant!]
She grabbed the Queen's hair with both hands and shook her violently.
"Because of you!!"
[What is because of me!? Let go!]
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been locked in that room, and I wouldn't have had to die! It's all your fault!!"
The reason she was locked in a corner for decades without seeing the light, the reason she was forced to drink human blood she didn't want, the reason she was fated to die despite having done nothing.
"It's all because of you!!"
Yui shook her arms wildly.
Each time, her long hair flew about chaotically.
As flustered as she was, the Queen wasn't one to just take it.
[Eek...! How is that my fault!? Do you have any idea how thirsty I was because you wouldn't feed!]
"I don't care! There's so much delicious food, why would you eat something like that!"
-Thwack, thwack!
They let go of each other's hair and started flailing their arms.
Their fighting style resembled elementary schoolers swinging their arms wildly.
"It's all your fault!"
[How is that my fault!]
The childish fight continued.
Naturally, the one to tire out first wasn't the Queen with her infinite stamina, but Yui.
"Pant... pant..."
[Hmph! I am victorious!]
"Eek...! It's not over! Let's do best two out of three! The person who wins twice is the final winner!"
[I shall accept your challenge. What shall be the next contest?]
Yui extended her arm with a confident expression.
At the end of it was a cute little fist.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
***
A magnificent mansion, so grand that not just anyone could enter.
Before its main gate stood a lone female student with long, two-toned hair.
"..."
Though the mansion was endlessly familiar to her, she couldn't bring herself to welcome the sight.
The reason was the mansion itself.
It was the mansion from her memories, from a past she now wanted to forget—a time of innocence before anything had happened.
The reason she found the mansion unwelcome was because it was the mansion of the past, not the present.
Her father had built a new mansion after her mother passed away.
In other words, the mansion before her was the one from before her mother died.
"How malicious..."
Right after the one-on-one matches ended, she had been taking an unnecessary rest in the waiting room.
But then, in an instant, as if waking from sleep, the situation had changed, and this scene unfolded before her eyes.
She didn't know the full details, but considering the recent incidents at the academy, there was only one being who possessed such a malicious ability.
'What should I do.'
Should she wait here until this was all over, or should she go inside and try something?
While she was contemplating.
-Creeak...
"...!"
The mansion's main gate opened on its own.
It was as if it were luring her inside.
She didn't know who was inside, but the fact that the gate opened meant they knew she was here.
Left with no other choice, Liche headed for the gate.
Stepping inside, she saw flowerbeds lining the mansion walls.
Flowers of all colors peeked out from the beds, and the sight sent Liche drifting into her memories.
In the past, when her mother was alive, she would always bring her to these flowerbeds.
Joy, sorrow, pain, and anger.
These were the very same flowerbeds where she had shared everything with her mother.
Lost in the fragments of her resurfaced memories, she unconsciously touched a flower.
Without even considering if it might be a trap. Fortunately, there was no trap.
As she remained lost in her memories, forgetting where she was.
-Creeak...
This time, the mansion door opened.
Through the open door, she could see the red-carpeted hall and the stairs she used to run up and down.
As if possessed, Liche stepped inside the mansion.
The interior was familiar, but one question had been nagging her since she arrived: the lack of presence.
The hall, usually bustling with servants, was completely empty, without a shadow of a person in sight.
"Isn't it amazing?"
It was then.
At the top of the stairs stood a man in a white uniform, his hands behind his back, looking on with fascination.
He had yellow, swept-up hair and wore a white smiling mask.
"I'm a demon myself, but I always find it fascinating to see the techniques of other demons."
"...Hex."
-Clench!
Recognizing the owner of the voice, she clenched her fist.
So tightly that it seemed the veins on her slender hand would not just pop, but burst.
"That's right! It is I, your one and only jester, Hex! Hahaha!"
He spread his arms and laughed.
Crossing his legs and placing one arm over his stomach, he bowed deeply and politely, as if to an audience after a performance.
The demon she had been searching for, the one who deserved to be torn to shreds, stood before her.
The barrier Liche was currently trapped in was one where you fought another version of yourself—what one would call your inner self.
Normally, someone who looked exactly like Liche should have appeared, but Hex, sealed within her, had used another demon's ability to manifest himself.
With his clown-like appearance meant to make people laugh, he was specialized not in amusing others, but in mocking and provoking them.
The proof was that he had forcibly dragged out the memories and places Liche wanted to forget.
'No need for talk.'
He wasn't someone worth speaking to. She hadn't been looking for him to ask questions, but to kill him.
Unlike before, she had grown much stronger through her training with Luke.
This was doable. With that judgment, Liche immediately unleashed a barrage.
-BOOOOOM!!
Before, she would have simply shot fire, but heeding Luke's words about her poor imagination, she added a little twist.
Shattered marble fragments scattered everywhere.
After the smoke cleared, Hex was no longer there.
'Did I get him...?'
"You weren't like this in the old days. You've become quite hot-headed while I wasn't looking, haven't you?"
"...!"
The next time his voice was heard, it was from right behind her.
Startled, Liche swung her arm back, but he caught her hand and deflected it with a fluid movement, as if dancing.
"Your late mother might be saddened to see this from heaven."
"Shut up...!"
"How disappointing. It's our first reunion in a while. Can't we at least have a conversation?"
"I said shut up!"
Sworn enemies.
What kind of conversation could they possibly need to have?
Even knowing he was just toying with her, she had no way to shut his mouth.
She just kept shooting fire at him.
A technique she'd always known, but one that had grown stronger after her training.
At first, he simply dodged the flames.
But Hex, who had only been dodging, began to neutralize her magic with his fists.
Unlike his jester-like demeanor, he was a master of close-quarters combat.
"It's been quite a long time since I was sealed, yet you haven't grown at all."
She knew this level of attack wouldn't work.
That's why she had trained, after all.
Liche conjured a small flame in her hand.
The flame that flickered to life this time was different from before; it was white.
"That might... actually hurt a little."
"That's what it's for."
She was satisfied, as it was the first time he'd shown a real reaction.
Liche launched the small, white orb.
When she first created it, it was so slow she wondered who would ever get hit by it.
But she had improved and compensated for its weaknesses, making it fly faster.
The fireball, faster than before, flew toward Hex.
However, Hex dodged her fireball with the same ridiculous movements as before.
Then he said sarcastically.
"It's fast, but it's not like I don't have eyes. There are far faster attacks in the world. Who would get hit by something like that?"
Honestly, the technique she was using had many flaws.
She couldn't create a large number of fireballs to block his path, nor was it fast enough to be invisible.
Therefore, she had devised a way to both block his path and attack with a single fireball.
"..."
"Why so quiet? Is it because your trump card had no effect? Aww, surely not—Gyaaaah!!"
Hex, caught off guard, had one of his arms blown off.
The fireball, which he thought had already missed, had changed its trajectory and taken his arm.
Liche had practiced controlling a single fireball at will.
"Hahaha... You really got me good there."
Despite the serious injury of losing an arm, he spoke as if it were nothing.
Immediately after, with squelching, cracking, and sticky, skin-crawling sounds, a new arm sprouted from the charred stump.
Frowning at the grotesque sight, something a human could never do, Liche threw another fireball just like before, but this time Hex was not careless.
He swiftly dodged the fireball and moved behind Liche.
"Whose naughty little hand is this, shooting fire at people?"
And he grabbed Liche's outstretched arm, twisting it behind her back.
"Kkgh... Aaaah...!"
A sickening sound came from her arm, but for now, it was only pain.
If he truly decided to apply force, her bone would snap.
Even after trying so hard, in the end, she couldn't win, just as Luke had said.
She'd been so stubborn and even received help.
But when faced with reality, she was powerless.
"Ugh... Someday, I'll kill you."
"Haha. How scary~ But did you really think you could get out of here alive?"
Hex applied a little pressure, as if curling his fingers inward, and with a sickening crack, Liche's arm broke.
"Kyaaah!!"
"Ah! Shall I tell you a fun fact? My main body is still sealed inside you, so even if you kill me here, I won't actually die."
He mocked her.
Just like in the old days, and now too.
Faced with such taunts, not even provocations.
She still couldn't do anything. Was there a way? Just as she was wondering.
"Hey, if you twist a broken arm back the other way, won't it be fine again?"
[Oh. Dude, are you a genius?]
"...?"
"...?"
The owner of the voice wasn't Hex, who stood before her.
And it certainly wasn't her, who was facing off against Hex.
Liche wasn't the only one bewildered by the absurd situation.
Even Hex, who had maintained a constant smile until just a moment ago, seemed flustered behind his mask.
Liche and Hex turned their gazes toward the voice and discovered a man with black hair and red eyes squatting on the stairs.
A first for Hex, but for Liche, a person more familiar than anyone else.
"Ah, don't mind us. Just keep doing what you were doing."
It was Luke.
As Liche and Hex's eyes fell on him, Luke spoke playfully.
With snacks in his hand.
She had no idea how on earth he had gotten in here.
But...
Why are there two of him...?