Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Demon King Kidnapping - 2
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Acteon Oscar had 'barely' succeeded in devouring Kaild's personality.
Truth be told, this was outside his expectations.
He was an expert with fifty thousand years of experience in body-snatching.
Kaild, who had only taken one body—Bion's—was no match for him.
And yet, Kaild had resisted Acteon for quite a long time.
'Even thinking back on it now, that guy was tenacious. Where the hell did Kaild come from?'
He pondered for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Eye of Omniscience. Why don't you tell me a bit."
A screen window popped up.
[I refuse.]
"Again with this."
[You are a hero who betrayed the world's expectations and fell into depravity. Honestly, I don't even want to talk to you anymore.]
"I am the hero chosen by the world. That's why the world gifted me this special chamber, right?"
Acteon fiddled with his ear once.
"Whether I was playing hero or god in this special chamber, you happily made full use of me. You had me pour all my efforts into those utterly foolish humans."
[I didn't force you. I merely helped wholeheartedly whenever you needed advice.]
"......"
[Don't blame your own change of heart on me.]
"You shouldn't have given me the world as a gift. No, even before that—you shouldn't have made me a hero in the first place."
[......You've changed so much. Acteon.]
The screen window added one more line, as if hesitating.
[Maide has never said anything like that.]
"Yeah. Well said. So what the hell is Maide?"
<.......>
"I know he's the original owner of the world outside this special chamber. He must have played hero somewhere long ago over the ages."
<.......>
"But that's not all, is it? That guy has secrets I don't know. It's been a while—I'm making a formal request. Show me Maide's secrets."
Naturally, the screen window refused.
Tap.
It vanished without leaving a single word.
Acteon let out a sigh.
"You're resenting me."
Who was the one who deserved resentment?
His lips twisted.
It was then.
[Kaild. Can you hear my voice?]
"......?"
[Kaild Wake. Answer me.]
Maide's voice!
Acteon shot up from his seat.
He whipped his head around, scanning the surroundings.
Of course, no one was there.
'I locked the special chamber door myself from the start. This is... communication through souls!'
Come to think of it, when he had infiltrated to rescue Idria before, the guy had clearly communicated with Idria behind his back to devise a plan.
He was doing something similar now.
The difference was that the one he was talking to was Kaild.
'Trying to talk to the personality I devoured?'
Acteon burst into derisive laughter.
Kaild's mind was already dead.
His soul might still be clinging to this body, but that wouldn't last much longer.
Foolish.
Acteon opened his mouth to mock Maide.
It was then.
[Gasp. Wh-who are you? Where is this?]
Acteon was so startled his heart nearly leaped out of his mouth.
'No way. This can't be!'
How could this happen.
Maide's voice rang out again.
[I believed in you. Kaild.]
Nawa and Adwin were in the underworld.
Adwin had now grown quite adept at locating Kaild's bubble world.
He placed his hand on it.
"This is pretty bizarre. So in the underworld, devouring a personality and mind is expressed like this."
"What do you mean?"
"The bubble I'm touching now is Kaild's world, but it's being invaded by Acteon's world."
"Like with Serein and Firensha?"
"No. That was two bubbles stuck right together—this is an invasion."
I was about to ask again but decided against it.
Just like I couldn't understand Neril's magic lectures or Risel's explanations about spirits at all, Adwin's necromancy was a realm far too profound for me to grasp.
Everyone has their own field of expertise, after all.
"So, the conclusion?"
"If we talk to Kaild, Acteon will notice too. Is that okay?"
"Urgh. Not ideal. I wanted to keep Acteon in the dark if possible."
"Sorry. It's just not feasible, even now with fame over 3.2 million."
I decided not to worry about it.
A dimwit like Kaild probably wouldn't have fooled Acteon for long anyway.
If it was going to be found out eventually, it didn't matter if it was from the start.
"Got it. Connect me."
"Yes. One moment... There, go ahead."
I spoke to Kaild through my soul.
[Kaild. Can you hear my voice?]
No response.
[Kaild Wake. Answer me.]
Still nothing.
So it didn't work after all.
Just as I was about to give up in despair.
[Gasp. Wh-who are you? Where is this?]
Kaild's voice echoed through my soul!
I nearly let out a cheer.
But instead of something so undignified, I sincerely praised him.
[I believed in you. Kaild.]
[M-Maide? Is that you, Maide?]
[Yeah. Quick explanation. You got devoured by Acteon. You remember up to that, right?]
[......Damn it.]
[It's fine. You can do it.]
For real.
You have to pull this off somehow right now.
I continued slowly.
[Put Acteon back under the surface.]
It was then.
Acteon's voice rang out.
[Cut the bullshit, Maide.]
[Oh, you're there?]
[You've come up with a brilliant idea. I don't know how Kaild's still holding on, but the surface of consciousness is mine. He can never turn this around.]
Is that really true?
My intuition said no.
Let's think step by step.
My screen window.
I still don't know its exact nature, but it's undoubtedly something beyond cognition.
'And the screen window introduced itself as Bion.'
Trail's original name was Bion Kunze.
Just the matching name alone proves Trail had the screen window's full support.
It was Trail who wielded the Eye of Omniscience, not me.
And who took Trail's body?
This idiot Kaild.
Pushing the deduction boldly: Kaild must have pushed out the world's laws.
In other words...
[I've been underestimating you a lot until now—sorry about that. I sincerely apologize.]
[What?]
[You have potential. Not sarcasm. I'm serious.]
[......]
[You can definitely take back your body from Acteon. Hang in there—I'm rooting for you.]
Kaild fell silent.
I wet my lips and praised him more.
[You know how tense I was the first time I saw you? Honestly, you felt like an insurmountable wall.]
[Ha. Don't gild the lily like that—it doesn't suit you.]
[It's true. No matter what anyone says, you're my rival. Not that interloper Acteon.]
[......]
[Take back your body. If you get fully devoured by Acteon like this, your dream of becoming a hero is gone forever.]
It was then.
Adwin spoke up.
"Brother. Look over there."
I finally took in Kaild's bubble world at a glance.
'Ah. So that's what she meant by invasion.'
Kaild's bubble was half black, half blue.
The black was steadily expanding.
Kaild's personality was pushing out Acteon's.
Sure enough, Acteon's voice came, shrill and tearing.
[Th-this is impossible!]
"Impressive. Honestly, even after hearing your plan, brother, I doubted it would work."
"Our conversation isn't getting through to Kaild or Acteon, right?"
"Yes. I've handled that."
"Good. I thought my tongue would blister from hyping up that Kaild bastard."
I really wondered if I had to go this far.
Adwin chuckled.
I eyed the color ratio of the bubble and muttered.
"He's still struggling, looks like."
"Yes. Acteon's pushing back again."
"Time to cheer again. Connect me."
"Sigh. Yes."
I soon shouted through my soul.
[Kaild. Hang in there—you can do it!]
[Urgh. Sh-shut up. I don't want your damn cheering.]
[Think back to when you took Bion's body. How'd you do it?]
[That was my body from the start!]
[Ah. Sorry. Right, it was.]
[......]
[Anyway, you were young and inexperienced back then. And yet you pushed out Bion of all people. Beating Acteon now, when you're so much more grown, should be a piece of cake.]
I cheered with all my might.
Whether thanks to my cheering or Kaild's survival instinct kicking in, I don't know... but the tide slowly began turning in Kaild's favor.
[Eek. Kaild, give up. Give up!]
[Shut up. This is my body. Mine.]
[You bastard!]
How much time passed like that.
Their invisible tug-of-war suddenly tipped to one side.
Acteon stopped calling for Kaild.
Instead, he called my name.
[It's pointless, Maide.]
[What is?]
[You can savor victory this era, and only this era.]
Instead of replying, I checked the bubble again.
The black now covered nearly the entire thing.
[I don't care if it's not this era. Doesn't matter if it's not Velosian or Idria. As long as humans exist, the Demon King will descend again.]
[......]
[After you die, I'll join forces with that new Demon King and wipe out humanity again.]
I chuckled.
[Hey. Aren't you tired?]
[What are you talking about?]
[Hating humanity so single-mindedly. Aren't you tired?]
[......]
[You received the world's gift and became the god of this special chamber, right? If I were in your shoes, I'd just watch from the sidelines and retire.]
I knew there was no need to bandy words with Acteon at length.
But for some reason, I wanted to say this.
[Just intervene a little when things look dicey. That's probably all I'd do. Though I have no memory of it, I must have managed the 'Maide world' that way.]
[......]
[You poured too much passion into it. When no matter how hard you tried, it never went right—that's what twisted you. If you'd handled the world like a post-retirement hobby like I did, it would've been better.]
[What nonsense.]
[Fine. I've talked too much crap.]
That said, I felt a bit puzzled.
'Does this guy not know? My plan.'
If he knew my plan, he wouldn't say crap like 'After you die, I'll join forces with that new Demon King and wipe out humanity again.'
There'd be no next time for him.
'Hmm. Does he not have the Eye of Omniscience?'
That couldn't be.
After all, Acteon had been a hero too.
Looks like the Eye of Omniscience attached to him was being seriously uncooperative.
Well, no surprise—it wouldn't cooperate with humanity's enemy incarnate.
That put my mind at ease.
The moment I thought that.
[Get out of my body! Acteon.]
Kaild let out a shout like a scream.
And the bubble turned completely black.
I gave Adwin a look.
"Let's head back."
"Yes, it went better than expected—relieved."
"Yeah. Kaild really came through."
"Who'd have thought we'd end up praising him like this..."
We followed the bell toll Neril rang.
Before long, we left the underworld and returned to reality.
A red special chamber door stood before us.
Neril asked.
"How'd it go?"
"For now, I got Kaild back in control of his body. From here on... we'll see for ourselves."
"Right, go ahead."
Neril turned away.
I gripped the special chamber door handle and took a light deep breath.
And.
Click.
The door opened all too easily.
Trail marveled.
[Wow. Things worked out this smoothly. How'd you come up with this?]
'There was that one moment when Bartore's personality surfaced, right?'
[Oh? You mean that time.]
'Yeah. Acteon was under all sorts of laws—folding, burning, melting, you name it. But the instant he reverted to Bartore, it all stopped like a lie.'
[The world recognized him as Bartore in that instant and halted the laws.]
Exactly.
Likewise, Kaild's personality had now surfaced.
In other words, the world recognized Acteon as Kaild.
At least in this moment, Acteon didn't exist.
No wonder the special chamber door, locked with fame, had opened.
As I stepped inside, a very welcome face greeted me.
"Heh, Maide."
You really came through. Kaild.
You're no longer needed now.