Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Devil's Bargain
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Pffft.
Sein's sword plunged into Vallak's shoulder.
"Big brother!"
"Oppa!"
The orphanage children wailed.
"...Vallak!"
The old woman, Grofa, stared at Vallak and Sein in shock as well.
Everyone must have been stunned to see the ever-reliable Vallak taken down so easily.
"A weakling chasing romance is just a fucking idiot."
Sein's voice echoed.
Vallak gripped the sword embedded in his shoulder with his hand.
His eyes bulged wide.
The eyes Vallak fixed on Sein.
But.
"Well, well."
Vallak made no move.
"Because I lack the strength...."
A strained voice leaked from Vallak.
"Because I lack the strength!"
A voice swallowing bitterness that could melt the tip of his tongue.
"But you... you're different."
Vallak's gaze toward Sein burned fiercely.
"What do you see in me?"
Sein replied.
"I've seen it for a while now. Guys like you are the strongest ones."
He'd thought him a bear.
'Not a fox, but a bear with a sharp mind.'
From the moment he received Grofa's assassination request.
From the moment he sensed the fate of taking on the most renowned request himself.
"You can do it."
He must have pondered and pondered.
A way to break through this situation.
And he found it.
"Sein Demorus!"
Vallak called out Sein's name for the first time.
"Help me!"
"Look at you, begging."
Shluuuurk!
The sword that had burrowed into Vallak's shoulder slid sideways and pulled free.
A fountain of blood sprayed out.
"You think I'm your mom? Why the fuck are you whining to me?"
Sein's sword moved again.
This time, not toward the shoulder, but the solar plexus.
The blade tip advanced precisely for the vital point.
Crunch.
Vallak seized it.
Drip, drip.
Blood trickled from his fingertips.
"I asked if you'd discard the name Demorus. I will."
It meant withdrawing from the candidate competition.
"You think you can't beat me?"
"No."
From Vallak's body.
Ruuuumble!
Crimson-black lightning seemed to surge.
Until now, Sein had never properly witnessed Vallak's blessing.
He'd only seen it to the extent of assuming it was some form of physical enhancement.
"I'll give myself to you."
Pupils dyed red.
Hair standing on end.
Vallak's form.
"Take me, and save me. Sein Demorus."
It resembled a devil.
'Demonization.'
Even in the Sanctuary, it was an extremely rare skill.
Due to the lore that demons had nearly been exterminated in the ancient God-Demon War, and devils were beings distinct even from those demons.
"What makes you think I'd trust you?"
Even as his eyes gleamed with greed, Sein whispered to Vallak.
"If I become your master, kill Grofa, and burn down the orphanage?"
He already had more than enough pieces under his long-term control.
What he needed was merchandise worth investing in.
"I'd have to accept it. It would mean my choice was wrong."
"Handle what's in front of you first? There's no other way to plan for the future anyway...."
Sein muttered like he was tallying an abacus.
And then.
"One more thing left."
The moment Sein's gaze shifted.
Boooom!
An explosion roared from Vallak's crimson body.
"I need to check if you're useful."
Behind Vallak.
A sword tip tearing at his eardrums.
Sein's voice flowed along that blade tip.
"You'll have to show me everything you've got."
Vallak in the form of a devil.
But Vallak thought.
"Come at me."
That Sein was the true devil.
*
*
*
Physical abilities amplified as if he were of the Shadow Race.
Explosive mana.
Fwoosh!
A red afterimage lingered where the greatsword passed.
'Still at a beginner stage.'
Sein leisurely dodged Vallak's attacks while observing.
That red mana was the flames of sin.
A special power distinct from demonic energy.
Whoooosh!
Demonization transformed the caster's physical abilities to surpass those of humans, reaching a devil's level, while also granting access to the devil's unique ability: sin.
And sin.
Slice.
Specialized in debuffs.
At the beginner stage, direct contact was required to inflict the debuff.
But as proficiency rose and demonization advanced further.
'Even without touching.'
At close range, it could weaken foes in combat, and advancing even more.
'Domain.'
It could apply special debuffs to everything within one's domain.
A pretty good ability. A tricky one.
Pfft.
To the point where Sein's wounds gradually accumulated over time.
'Definitely....'
The scales were tipping in Vallak's favor.
'I need to acquire him.'
The raw gem that was Vallak shone brightly.
If.
"Is that all you've got?"
He couldn't have him, he'd smash him to pieces.
"Graaaaaah!"
Vallak drew on demonization's power as his reason eroded.
But it merely boosted his physical abilities a bit.
No dramatic change beyond that.
"If that's all, I'll help you out."
Sein put distance between him and Vallak.
"Show you what real power you possess."
That instant.
"......!"
Vallak's body twitched and froze.
"Getting the sense now?"
Sein spoke with a curled lip.
And in his grasp.
"Hiiiieeeek-!"
One of the orphanage children was caught.
"Se...in... what are...you...."
Vallak had offered himself to Sein.
This was a test to protect the orphanage, he'd said.
But what Sein was doing now was destroying the orphanage.
"If you don't prove your worth, why would I protect the orphanage?"
"Se...in.... Se...in...!"
Vallak couldn't move easily with the hostage.
Yet his eyes burned an even deeper red.
Crackle!
The crimson lightning bursting from his body grew fiercer.
Soon.
"So show me good. Next are two of them."
Crack.
The moment Sein snapped the little child's neck.
Vallak's lightning, until now mere sparks.
Ruuuuuumble-!
Exploded upward.
In that instant, time seemed to slow.
Yet within it.
Whoooosh-!
Vallak's greatsword alone kept its pace—no, accelerated—swinging toward Sein.
This was it.
BOOOOM!
The potential to break from the beginner stage.
Vallak possessed it and demonstrated it.
'Magic beast material.'
The two clashing swords.
On Sein's longsword.
Crack!
Cracks began to form.
"Raaaaaaaagh! Dieee!"
Vallak's beastly roar, his lightning, his eyes deepened further.
Shatter-!
Sein's sword exploded.
"Yes, now that's more like it."
The greatsword bore down to crush Sein's skull.
Seeing it, Sein smiled.
And in his right hand.
"Pass."
Bastion was gripped.
Vroooom!
*
*
*
Step, step.
On the road to Tanba's lord's castle.
Step, step.
Heavy footsteps echoed.
No one would leave alone a man wandering this dark city at this hour.
Step, step.
They merely watched quietly and gave way; no one approached him.
And rightly so—the man was covered in blood.
Drag, drag, drag.
In each hand, he dragged two corpses like sacks of trash.
Finally, the man arrived at the lord's castle entrance.
Gulp.
The guards swallowed hard at the eerie atmosphere, but only for a moment.
"Wh-who are you?"
Imagining the horrors if they failed their duty, he barely squeezed out the words.
"Open the gate."
The voice that responded sounded young.
"Who...."
"I'm here to see your lord. Open the gate."
Bathed in moonlight.
Through the gray mist emerged white hair and crimson eyes.
"D-Demorus!"
It was Sein.
"Open the gate-!"
The guards shouted as they flung open the sturdy lord's castle gates.
As if it were the most natural thing.
Drag, drag, drag.
Sein dragged the two corpses inside.
Soldiers who noticed the commotion rushed out and surrounded Sein, but none dared approach easily.
"Stand down-!"
Then Farca appeared, yelling at the soldiers.
"A guest has brought a gift—how dare you interfere?"
Truly befitting the longtime steward of the ruling lord.
He grasped the situation upon seeing Sein's state.
And what was in Sein's hands.
"Already finished?"
"Can't you tell?"
"The lord is...."
Farca started to say Sur had retired for the night.
But given the gravity of the matter and the guest.
"He's waiting. Let's go together."
The commotion among the soldiers must have reached the lord, Sur.
A shrewd lord would have guessed what happened.
Sein entered with the two corpses, escorted by Farca and the lord's soldiers.
"You lot, withdraw."
At Farca's words, the soldiers and knights stepped back.
"Your wounds look severe. You should receive treatment first...."
"Not my blood."
"Oh."
Farca nodded.
"Then....?"
There was too much for two people's worth, so he asked.
"Some greenhorns whose blood hadn't even dried yet were barking, so I tore them apart."
"Oh! Is that so?"
Since Sur and Farca had been irked by the orphanage's very existence, they were grateful Sein had handled the dirty work.
'As expected of Demorus.'
But chills ran down his spine even so.
A ruthless heart that could erase even a child if it hindered the mission.
If this one became an enemy.
If he ever took their assassination request someday.
Drip.
Farca felt like his pant leg might soak from the horrifying imagination.
They finally arrived.
"What brings you at this late hour?"
To Sur's office.
Sur was awake, greeting Sein and Farca.
As if already informed, he showed no surprise at Sein or what he carried.
Thud.
Sein tossed what he'd been holding before Sur's eyes.
"Indeed, that's Grofa—the stinking hag."
The assassination target.
And.
Heh.
A smile split across Sur's face.
"Isn't this Vallak Demorus?"