Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Their Circumstances: Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances [Saw the Devil 3]
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# 47
6. Hell Is Just Beginning. (3)
#6 Their Circumstances: Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances [Subtitle: Saw the Devil 3]
The silver devil, who had been staring at her own right hand and me in fascination, grinned as if she found it amusing and raised her left hand.
“Big sis! Block this too!”
Boom!
“Hnngh?!”
As expected of a devil! This thing is definitely a devil!
A groan escaped my tightly clenched lips from the excruciating pain that pierced right through the shield.
It’s impossible. There’s no way a human could block that kind of agony!
-Go for it, Aris!
The goddess cheered me on, but it was already too late.
My legs had already given out, and I was barely holding back the groans from the pain still climbing up from the shield.
On top of that, my hands gripping my only hope—the shield—had reached their limit.
They trembled uncontrollably, on the verge of dropping it at any moment.
Dodging the second strike in this state?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Which meant my fate was sealed: I’d take a direct hit from that silver creature.
‘No way! Absolutely not!’
I blocked it with the divine shield, and it still hurt this much. What if I took it head-on?
Terrifying. So utterly terrifying.
Born into the Mugah family, I’d overcome countless trials to live up to the prestige of the Absolute Ten Families, never once feeling fear.
Yet I never imagined I’d feel it here at the academy!
‘There’s only one way!’
But I still had a method left.
An advanced summoning technique that only god-tier summoners could use—one that only I, out of the five first-year god-tier summoners, could pull off!
-Goddess, grant your contractor strong spirit and body.
I began chanting the spell I’d learned from Professor Niserwin. He was the culprit behind this nightmare, but he was one of the continent’s acknowledged top summoners.
-W-Wait! You can’t use that!
The goddess started screaming, but I had no choice.
-Your wisdom and your power.
-N-No! Stop! Possession will shock me too!
Possession Technique.
A forbidden art that draws a god’s soul into a human body.
Because their power was too immense to manifest fully in this world, it was the most complete way for a contracted summoner to wield a god’s might.
It summoned the god’s soul itself into the summoner’s body, letting the god take direct control.
-Our souls are one. Let your soul dwell in this flesh, lend your strength to my frail form!
-You idiot! You absolute idiot!
Sorry, Goddess! But I have to survive too!
“You naughty girl, so naughty!”
Her whining voice came from my mouth.
Possession complete.
“Huh? The pretty big sis got possessed by a hand-crushing sis? One hit, two pains?”
But the devil noticed immediately.
And with a god descending to earth, why did she look so thrilled?!
-Dodge! Dodge no matter what!
“That’s the plan!”
As she spoke, the goddess dodged the incoming fist.
True to her title as the Goddess of War, she expertly wielded a spear in one hand and the shield in the other, shouting.
“Turn to stone, Aegis!”
The goddess deftly activated the shield’s curse!
Right—I might not know how to use it properly, but she could wield the shield’s power more fully!
If I played this right, I could even petrify that devil! As expected of the goddess! The goddess is the best! Go, goddess!
“Huh? So sparkly, it hurts my eyes!”
“What?!”
But it had no effect on the silver devil. No—it handed her a chance to counterattack.
“As I thought, some curse god from another world!”
“Huh? What nonsense. I’m the one and only goddess of this world, Arcadia!”
“Never heard of a goddess by that name!”
“Of course not, I made up the name myself!”
Her short arm sliced through the air.
Self-proclaimed goddess, but no matter how you looked at it, a devil swinging her hand.
Her fist looked cute, but my instincts screamed.
One graze from that light strike, and it’s over!
“Huh? Dodging pretty well, huh? Then dodge this too.”
But was our struggling getting on her nerves?
The devil stretched out her short arm toward the goddess—toward my body—and yelled.
“Take this, Tentaclecardia Attack!”
“W-What?! Wait, that’s so gross! You’re a goddess! Can a goddess do something this creepy?!”
“Huh, look at this silver glow! The self-luminescence! Beautiful, right? So it’s fine! If it’s pretty, it’s good!”
“Pretty my foot, what’s pretty about thaaat!”
A wriggling mass of silver tentacles approached!
Dozens of tentacles lunged for my head, shoulders, back, and thighs.
-Dodge! Dodge no matter what!
In this truly perilous moment, as I cried out, the goddess replied in a serious tone.
“Aris… release the possession.”
-G-Goddess?!
Even as I panicked, she shouted in a serious—no, soon tearful—voice.
“D-Do it alone! I’ve been hit before! I know how much it hurts! It’s scary! No way! And it’s gross! So release it!”
-W-We’re soul-bound partners! Come on, hang in there!
“No! It was a scam contract! We contracted because of that thing! So release it quick!”
She was practically throwing a tantrum, so I started throwing one back.
-No! If you don’t wanna get hit, dodge! You’re the Goddess of War! Goddess of Wisdom! Show some divine dignity!
“Even a god can’t handle that!”
The silver tentacles closed in, leaving less and less room to evade.
The other students tried to help but got knocked out in one hit.
Sneak attacks? One hit, out. Escape attempts? Out.
In the end, no one could help.
-I-Is this… the end?
“N-No! Aris! Release it quick! I’ll be really good from now on. Okay? So please!”
-N-No! It’s pointless if we die!
I screamed at her with soul-shaking force toward an unseen future, but the goddess was cold.
“She won’t kill anyone! She doesn’t kill! I guarantee it! So please! Please release it, I’m really suffering now!”
But as her cry ended, a silver tentacle appeared before my eyes.
‘The end…?’
Was my fate to get tentacled, roll my eyes back, drool, and groan in agony?
Why did summoners and summons only bring me humiliation?
What did I do wrong to them in my past life?
Even if I did something wrong before, wasn’t this level of torment too much?
“But…”
Just as I lamented my plight, my savior appeared.
-P-President?
Her body covered in wounds.
On the verge of collapse at any moment.
Yet the figure who blocked the silver tentacles with her arm and stood before me looked cooler than anyone in that instant.
“Huh? The student council president?”
“T-This is our chance! Run while you can!”
Seeing the tentacle bounce off, the goddess’s eyes lit up with escape plans.
-But with the president, maybe we can hold them off!
I thought differently.
“Argh! I said it’s not something you block!”
-But the president’s ranged attacks could still hurt her!
The president was loved by so many spirits, called a spirit legion.
Even by sheer contract numbers, she was said to go down in history.
That’s why!
-This is our only shot to turn the tide.
“Argh! Then release it and you fight, Aris!”
I took back control from the now-motivationless goddess.
The devil was focused on the president.
The chance was still there! I reverse-summoned even Aegis and bet everything on a single spear!
“President, just keep her pinned! The finisher’s mine… Huh?”
“Hee hee.”
But the president who approached gave no reply.
No, she couldn’t.
“She’s… passed out standing?”
“Sis, didn’t I tell you? I give pain when I hit, and you get pain when you hit me?”
“Oh…”
Right.
Earlier, the student council president had swatted away this devil’s tentacle to save me. With her bare arm, no protection.
“Normally you’d feel pain, but when the body’s pain hits its limit, you pass out. And the president was already at her limit!”
That’s right. To take down Professor Maroon, the president had thrown her whole body into it.
To pierce through an top-tier earth spirit excelling in defense, she’d gathered the power of upper spirits from all four elements to the max and rammed in.
It was a miracle she could even move.
“Our president was done the moment she got here.”
“B-But why…”
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine, and something tapped my back.
A very light tap, but pain began stimulating every nerve in my body.
“Huh? Why act all serious watching the president?”
“Hiiik!”
-See, Aris? I told you to run.
Maybe numb to the pain now, the goddess spoke calmly, but I couldn’t focus.
“Hnngh? Ugh?!”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Something kept tapping my shoulder. Very lightly, delicately.
But even that tiny tap sent pain racing up my neck and out my mouth.
“U-Ugh…”
I knew what it was. Terrifying as it was.
Even with the devil right in front of me! My head turned automatically to see what was tapping me.
“Hiiik!”
And there, dozens of silver tentacles on the floor.
As I whipped my head back, the silver devil grinned and said.
“Why stay serious when the president passed out? Obviously… to catch the escaping sis!”
Right. I’d been tricked.
No, I misjudged. Challenging this silver devil was the mistake that led here! Still, still!
“N-Nooo!”
“Sis, cry pretty for me!”
“Hah? N-No! S-Stop!”
“Hee hee hee, I’ll make you even less you!”
And so, I was ravaged by the silver tentacles, enduring an utterly humiliating experience I’d never forget for the rest of my life.
And in the end.
For the first time in my life—most shamefully as a lady of the Retia family—I resorted to my final measure.
***
In my past life, I didn’t pirate much, so I tried to respect copyrights this time around.
“Hello?”
“Skip the greetings.”
Damn these bastards.
How old are you to go tattling to mommy and daddy?