Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Development - 2
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I held up the Withering Jewel high for all the territory's residents to see.
Unlike the nuclei of the Demon Kings of Greed or Corruption, the Withering Jewel had a proper, documented shape.
Not a single person failed to recognize that cursed gem.
"Huh? The Withering Jewel?"
"Why was that thing inside his stomach...?"
"Didn't Lord Padania definitely destroy that jewel?"
"Wait! That guy's Lord Padania himself!"
"D-Did the hero hide the jewel in his own stomach? For real?"
"That damn bastard. Now I get how he stayed alive for 200 years!"
The hero coveted the Demon King's jewel.
He used its power to live for 200 years.
Such an evil bastard was no longer a hero.
That line of thinking was spreading among the residents.
And its conclusion...
"Padania was one of Kaild's party members, right?"
"Y-Yeah, that's what I heard."
"Lord Kaild. What is the meaning of this?"
"One of your party members is one of the Four Heroes!"
"And he even swallowed a Demon King's jewel. What the hell is going on!"
The party members who had approached Kaild earlier had already slyly backed away.
Kaild stood there with a strangely detached expression, eyes closed.
I didn't like seeing that saintly look on his face.
[Anyway, it looks like it's all over.]
'Yeah. Things went even better than expected.'
[I laid the groundwork so perfectly. He was too focused on your new technique to notice.]
'Right. The poor guy was so busy surveilling us without a clue. Time to let him rest easy.'
[...You're going to kill him?]
Of course.
Impellium's warning to "uphold non-killing" nagged at me, but I couldn't just let a limb of the Demon King walk away unscathed.
That was when it happened.
"You've been toying with me from the start. Maide Mohan."
"That's right."
"You're the one who needs to be devoured."
"What?"
"No. All you residents will be devoured. Everything that happened here today will become as if it never was!"
I realized what he was aiming for.
Maximizing his ability.
He planned to enlarge that black hole that sucked everything in.
Big enough to swallow the entire territory.
My greatest fear.
Before regression, he had done the same, expanding the black hole to block our escape route.
With no way to flee, I'd used "Space Rend" to hide my companions there.
'Not this time!'
For a moment, time seemed to slow.
His fingers moved.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the sludge of Greed.
His thumb and middle finger touched.
I mixed the blood from his sword earlier into the Greed sludge.
And right before he could snap his fingers.
Gulp.
I drank it.
My mind went hazy for an instant.
[You okay? That was the biggest hurdle in this plan.]
'......'
[Relax. You didn't eat shit. You just drank something that tastes like shit.]
Shut up.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, I glared at Consumer.
Snap. Snap.
He kept snapping his fingers with an incomprehensible expression.
Channeling my rage from drinking the sludge, I taunted him.
"What's wrong? Something not working?"
"W-Why isn't my ability activating? Gasp!"
He spotted the liquid of Greed in my hand and understood everything.
"You predicted even this...?"
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to that."
His face drained of color.
Defeat was etched deeply on it.
'Alright. Anyway, it's over.'
Now what?
I couldn't let him live, but should I kill him right here?
Or extract some info on Idria first?
That was when it happened.
"Heh. Hahaha."
"I'm thinking, so shut up."
"Lady Idria. You were right."
"What?"
"The one to block your path was not Bion. Maide Mohan—he is your true adversary."
"......"
"I shattered the lie you created 200 years ago. For this sin..."
Flash.
Madness gleamed in his eyes.
"This sin I shall atone for with death!"
Clang.
In a lightning-fast motion, he grabbed the hero's sword.
And plunged it into his own heart!
"What the—?"
Is he insane?
No.
Consumer had made a cold, calculated decision.
The light faded from his eyes.
At the same time, his body began to change.
A black hole swelled from his abdomen, devouring his entire form.
"The black hole?"
Impossible.
I'd clearly just stolen his ability.
That's when Trail shouted.
[No. It's a different ability from the one you took!]
'What? What the...'
[Look at that.]
Plop.
First, something like a tree branch fell from the black hole.
Then clothes.
An animal corpse.
A person.
The moment I saw the withered human body, I understood everything.
Trail was right.
The ability he used in suicide was different from the one I'd stolen.
I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"He's about to regurgitate everything he's ever devoured! Jenia, Serein!"
It happened simultaneously.
Jenia and Serein deploying their shield spells, and Consumer's "Backflow" exploding.
My companions rushed to my side.
Risel asked.
"Maide! This wasn't in the plan, right?"
"Yeah. Damn it."
I'd thought his final resort was only "sucking in."
Who knew he could spit it all back out?
I checked on Jenia and Serein.
"You two okay?"
They didn't even have the breath to reply.
Grinding teeth was their answer.
Crack. Crack.
Their shields, poured with all their might, were already cracking.
Offense said.
"The area we've shielded is already full. Insane density."
"Yeah. Enough to bury this whole territory and then some."
"He's going to crush us."
"Right. In a few minutes, this territory will be smothered under that filth."
Everyone's faces darkened.
I racked my brain and said.
"Jenia. Serein. Cancel the spells on my signal."
"Guh... th-then the territory gets crushed right away?"
"It's fine. I'll suck up everything he regurgitates."
My party members' faces lit up with realization.
I'd just stolen his black hole ability.
"Maide... can you do it?"
"Yeah. Probably."
I drew my sword.
Truth be told, I'd had my doubts.
Even with the Demon King of Greed's authority, could I wield an ability I had no clue how to activate?
But now I felt it wasn't a delusion.
'Strange sensation. It just draws itself in my mind.'
[Hmm.]
'No need to pull more.'
"Haaah!"
I swung my sword simultaneously.
A solid line like my Space Rend etched into the air.
But it curved into a circle, slowly expanding.
It dwarfed the hole Consumer had made.
'I thought matching the size would be success enough.'
[Does the size and scale depend on the user?]
'Who knows.'
Anyway, I focused the pull solely on Consumer, sparing the residents.
The moment I sensed perfect success, I shouted.
"Now! Drop the shields!"
Jenia and Serein released the spells without a word.
The next instant.
Everything trapped in the narrow spells erupted.
Kabuuum.
It surged outward in all directions at first.
But just before the filth reached the spectator residents.
"Uwaaaah."
"Huh? Huh?"
"It's going back? To Maide!"
"What is that hole?"
"The hero made it. Has to be!"
"Sob sob. We're saved."
During my duel with Consumer, he'd made a black hole too, but it was fingernail-sized—invisible to the residents.
Thanks to that, this ability debuted to the world as purely mine.
I shouted.
"You're the one getting eaten!"
Consumer, now one with the filth, had no mouth left to retort.
But it wailed.
-Oooh.
What's so unfair and sad?
Why pretend to be a hero and aid Idria?
What about the people who believed in you as their hero, pinning all hopes on you?
What about your party members?
"Don't cry. You're no hero worthy of grief."
The massive filth poured into my hole.
He was being absorbed by his own essence, bit by bit.
I watched the end of one of the Four Heroes with relative calm.
That was when it happened.
Brother's voice rang out.
"Bro! Over there!"
I reflexively looked up.
Riiip.
Space tore.
Idria!
Idria descended through the rift in desperate haste.
Descent?
Not just extending a hand like always—she was diving into the filth, violet hair whipping, just like before regression.
[What, what is this?]
'Even without me touching her, she's on the verge of death?'
Indeed, Idria's body was crumbling piece by piece.
Her skin split, black blood dripping.
With a tearing voice, she cried.
"Consumer. Grab my hand."
"That bastard has no hand to grab, Idria!"
"Urk."
I swung at Idria.
She didn't dodge, reaching instead for Consumer's half-vanished filth.
Stab.
My sword pierced her shoulder.
"Uwaaaah!"
Idria's scream.
Yet she didn't even turn to me.
What, you'll really die like this?
[Kill her. Now.]
'...You sure?'
[Sure? What kind of question is that?]
'Your voice sounds off.'
[Nonsense. This is our chance to end the fight. Kill her. Kill and... finish it.]
His words steeled my resolve.
My strike earlier had been too shallow.
This time, I'll shatter your core. Your heart!
I unleashed my technique with full power.
'Cut What You Desire!'
It happened simultaneously.
My sword piercing Idria's heart.
Idria snatching Consumer and tearing space.
"Cough."
Idria's eyes had always been devoid of light, but this time was different.
They weren't dull.
They were dimming.
"Le-Let's go back. Consumer."
Idria clutched something invisible to her chest like a treasure.
Adwin shouted.
"She took Consumer's soul!"
As expected.
Idria's rift closed.
Recalling the sensation at my fingertips, I spoke.
"You're already dead. I definitely broke your core just now."
"Maide..."
Coming here was already a life-or-death gamble with her extreme antagonism to Bion.
And then her core shattered in that state.
Idria was as good as dead.
I said.
"That guy was the one who broke your most precious lie. You still risk everything for him?"
"......"
"The fight ended anticlimactically. Thanks to that, I can retire too."
"You, loved by all, wouldn't understand. How precious these children are to me."
She spat blood as she spoke.
"Children who loved me, when no one remembers or acknowledges me."
"......"
"Bion."
She looked above my head.
"I don't want to die. Save me, Bion."
With that, the space vanished.
Trail said.
[You okay?]
'That's my line to you.'
[You've been saying weird stuff. Why wouldn't I be okay?]
'Your voice is hoarse, I tell you.'
[......]
'Let's wrap this up first.'
I canceled the ability.
Then surveyed the crowd.
The residents still couldn't process the knightly saga that had just unfolded.
I took a deep breath and shouted.
"Everyone! It's over!"
"......"
"No more threats to you all. Rest easy."
The residents rose from where they'd floundered on the ground.
Their faces brimmed with immense joy and ecstasy.
"Wooooooooah!"
"Hero! Hero!"
"The hero saved us."
"Sob. I really thought we were done for."
"That dog Padania!"
"B-By the way, who was that woman at the end?"
Even amid chaos, one resident who kept watching intently asked, so I raised my voice.
"She is the Demon King of Lies and Deceit, Idria herself! This proves Padania was her minion!"
"A-As expected! Damn it."
"One of the Four Heroes working for the Demon King."
"He had the Withering Jewel from the start. How could a hero carry a Demon King's core!"
Uh, um.
Sorry.
I'm carrying three right now.
I stealthily pocketed the jewel and said.
"That's right. Padania was the Demon King's minion. And Kaild, who had him in his party, is the fake hero!"
"......!"
"The first oracle was fabricated by Demon King Idria. The second oracle is the true one. In other words..."
I drew a massive breath.
Then shouted with all my throat.
"I am the true hero!"