Evolution
Evolution
Two of the three conditions required to activate the Heretic Array had been fulfilled without issue.
The ritual drawn with the blood of a demon, a living sacrifice. Now, with only mana infused, Kazan’s Ring would fall into abomination.
“Begin.”
Illea nodded and approached the Heretic Array. As she opened her palm, a blue glow flowed out and seeped into the ritual.
The grotesque scribbles reacted to the mana and burned black.
Sensing her fate, Betra began shaking her head desperately. She shook so violently that the gag slipped off.
Illea looked at the Old Hag Spirit with an expressionless face.
“You should have done at least this much properly.”
“M-My apologies.”
Betra clung to the hem of Illea’s skirt.
“W-Why are you doing this to me! Stop it! Please!”
“If you struggle, it might hurt. I’ll send you off without pain, so let go.”
There was no emotion in Illea’s expression. No resentment, no anger, not a shred of pity. She looked like a bureaucrat performing an assigned duty.
“I was wrong! I won’t ever crawl back up again! I mean it! Please forgive me just this once!”
“Don’t apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong to me, Mother.”
At Illea’s soulless attitude, Betra was aghast.
“T-Then why are you doing this to me?”
“Because Johan pointed you out. That’s all.”
“What are you even saying……”
“Still, you don’t feel wronged, do you?”
Betra screamed like a madwoman.
“I am wrong! Why do I have to go through this!”
“Ambiguous evil tends to leave behind grudges. Even if not now, eventually the sins you’ve accumulated would have stabbed you. There were many among the public girls sharpening their knives.”
“It was all because the Baron ordered it. You know that, don’t you? It’s not my fault!”
“There’s no need to make excuses to me. I’m not blaming you, Mother. I’m just giving you some advice.”
Illea added with a gentle smile.
“In your next life, become a thorough villain. So that no one can harbor revenge, so that you aren’t swallowed by a greater evil. Understood?”
There was no time to answer. The Heretic Array, having consumed the mana, began vomiting black hands one by one.
“W-What is this! Go away! I said go away!”
Black demonic hands clung all over Betra’s body.
“Ah, aaaaah! Don’t touch me! I said don’t touch me!”
She struggled wildly, but she couldn’t resist. Her entire body was swallowed by the eerie touch and was dragged into the Heretic Array.
“No! Stop!”
Her body slowly sank.
She was being consumed as a sacrifice.
“Farewell, Mother.”
With a final, desperate scream, Betra disappeared.
Having devoured the sacrifice, the Heretic Array spewed black smoke. The ominous miasma wrapped around the holy relic placed at the center of the ritual.
Kazan’s Ring began to tremble violently.
It was falling into abomination.
The blue jewel embedded in the ring turned purple, and a glint passed through Johan’s eyes.
“Johan, does it feel good?”
The imp was convulsing. Giggling, then despairing, then drowning in pleasure, then despairing again.
He was resisting extreme ecstasy.
‘……Shit.’
Johan dragged his long claw across his chest. Black blood spurted out.
The Old Hag Spirit, who had been dancing wildly, let out a mad laugh.
“Imp, enjoy it! Such screams are rare, you know!”
The screams Betra left behind were the finest nourishment for a demon.
“Come, savor it to your heart’s content!”
Johan did not respond and continued to self-harm. If he surrendered himself to this excitement, it felt like he would truly become irreversibly lost. He might lose his identity.
“Why are you in pain? Johan, you’re a demon. Don’t resist, just accept it. It will be much easier.”
Because of the mental confusion, Illea’s words didn’t even register.
She approached Johan with a puzzled expression.
“Johan?”
Just as she was about to reach out to the convulsing imp, a sharp frictional sound followed.
Slap!
“……Don’t touch me.”
Johan slapped away Illea’s hand.
She flinched and looked at the back of her hand.
The white skin was slightly reddened.
The Old Hag Spirit furrowed its brows deeply.
“You’re ruining the mood. Why are you so sensitive?”
Johan glared at the Old Hag Spirit. His already red eyes were now bloodshot even deeper.
“E-Even if you glare like that, what will you do?”
The moment the Old Hag Spirit finished speaking, Johan’s heart thumped violently.
The imp’s entire body twisted like a rotting tree. Every joint popped out of place with a dull sound. The red tattoos covering his entire body flared vividly.
The grotesquely bent body was transforming into a new shape.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Bones sprouted from his shoulder blades. Black skin grew over the white frame. Like an unfinished livestock carcass, the surface was torn in places. From the ragged surface, black gloss dripped.
Wings. They were so large that they completely covered Johan’s body.
The Old Hag Spirit could not hide its shock.
“Imp, you—!”
“It’s hard to call him an imp now, isn’t it?”
As Illea said, there was no longer any sign of a fledgling demon in Johan. Like an insect that had shed its skin, the before-and-after difference was stark.
He had grown to a height similar to Illea, with lean muscles embedded all over his black body, horns now as long as an adult man’s middle finger, and wings covering his body.
He had shed his imp form and been reborn as a sub-adult demon.
As the evolution ended, the surging malice subsided a little.
Johan took a deep breath and carefully examined his body.
‘Just as the novel’s settings described, I’ve definitely grown. For now, it should be enough to protect myself.’
Miasma boiled from his heart, and his skin was as hard as a carapace. Evenly distributed muscles provided both strength and balance.
If there was a problem, there was only one.
His human form. Had the Johan of the day also escaped infancy?
It was uncertain whether a demon’s growth would apply to his human form.
‘I can’t keep living as a newborn.’
If he did, it would disrupt his plans.
He had to escape being a baby somehow. Simply eating and sleeping well was not enough. With honest methods, he could never catch up to the apocalypse.
The human Johan also needed a means to grow rapidly.
“What are you thinking about?”
Illea’s voice broke his thoughts. She approached Johan holding the corrupted holy relic in her hand.
“Nothing much. More importantly, the Ring of Kazan?”
“Here.”
When she opened her palm, the abomination revealed itself. A ring holding a purple jewel. It had once been a relic that protected against miasma, but the moment it fell, it gained the ability to resist divinity.
‘I can now descend into the underground comfortably.’
The holiness that filled the forbidden archives would no longer threaten Johan.
“You look pleased. You were quite sensitive just a moment ago.”
The back of Illea’s hand, as she handed over the ring, was slightly swollen.
“That must have hurt.”
“If you’re sorry, at least put some ointment on it.”
“Use magic. What else will you save it for?”
“You’re so cold.”
Illea smiled brightly as she slipped the ring onto Johan’s ring finger.
The size, which was a little loose, adjusted automatically. The snug fit felt pleasantly satisfying.
He was content.
“I may be cold, but I keep my promises. Within a few days, I will break the contract with Gaf.”
“Good. On another note, what about yesterday’s proposal?”
Johan had promised to give Illea the Key to the Abyss as the price for a new deal.
He pulled open the storage drawer of the round table.
The Key to the Abyss, the map, and the canyon log written by adventurers 500 years ago appeared.
“Take it.”
Illea let out a small exclamation.
“What do you want from me in return?”
“The sap from the stump of the World Tree.”
At the same time, a subtle ripple passed over her expression. Her blue pupils flickered with interest.
“The sap of the World Tree, huh. It would be of little use to a demon like Johan. It would be a different story if Lord Raguel drank it.”
The sap was an elixir for fairies and humans.
“Or it would be quite effective if the baby your father brought were to use it.”
Illea was smiling innocently as she said this.
‘Is she testing me?’
She still didn’t know that Johan was a half-demon. She might have guessed something based on the timing of the baby and the imp’s appearance, but it would remain mere speculation.
Moreover, no half-demon could cross between demon and human, so Illea’s inference could only end as a hypothesis.
There were no samples to draw a conclusion.
“If you’re curious, ask me directly. Don’t test me unnecessarily.”
It was something she would learn soon anyway, so he had no intention of hiding it.
Illea shook her head.
“I like mysteries. The process of finding the answer is fun. It wouldn’t be any fun to just hear the answer.”
Witches were a race that loved the unknown. Since curiosity was the driving force of their lives, Johan’s existence was a grand amusement for her.
For now, she wanted to leave it as a mystery.
Johan shrugged.
“Do as you please, but let’s get to the point. So, can you get the sap?”
“Of course. Since you’re giving me the Key to the Abyss.”
Without the key, the Abyss Gate would not open. Illea had to stop by the first sector of the Abyss, and the World Tree was located along her route.
There was no reason for her to refuse Johan’s proposal.
“Good. The full moon is in three days, so you should leave tomorrow.”
The Abyss Gate only opened on a full moon. Normally, it remained firmly closed, opening and closing in a cycle every fifteen days.
Once inside the Abyss, she wouldn’t be able to leave for two weeks.
Considering the distance from the lord’s castle to the Abyss, Johan would have to wait for Illea’s return for about three weeks.
Even this felt like a waste of time, and he didn’t want to create a situation where it was delayed any further.
“You seem to be in quite a hurry.”
“Something like that. Can you leave immediately?”
“I’ll take care of Betra’s matter and leave right away. It would be strange if both mother and daughter disappeared without a letter.”
“Do so. I will see you in three weeks.”
“Take care while I’m gone. As you know, Johan, you are my heart.”
According to the contract, the moment Johan died, Illea would die too.
“Don’t worry about me. Just think about returning safely.”
Illea nodded lightly.
“Then, I’ll be off.”
As she left, darkness returned to the library.
Johan closed his eyes for a moment. In the pitch-black vision, red letters lined up.
Most were grotesque words.
He could only interpret a few.
Contracts with demons and incubus. Those were powers he had held from the start, and with this growth, another power had awakened.
Soulkill. A power that annihilated the target’s soul, turning the victim into a puppet devoid of personality.
It was distinctly different from mental domination abilities. Abilities like brainwashing could often be undone by the intervention of a third party, but a personality turned into a puppet with its soul annihilated could not be restored by any relic or high priest’s power.
It was the perfect superior version of all mental-type abilities.
If there was something that bothered him, it was the fact that this was a power that had not appeared in the original work.
However, the method of use was imprinted into his instincts.
Johan opened his eyes.
Raguel, trembling, came into view.
Even his soul was quivering like an aspen.
‘I can see souls.’
It was a side effect of Soulkill.
Johan approached the fear-stricken soul.
The scene of the human sacrifice must have driven him into fear.
“I told you to wait on the stairs, yet you had to crawl down here to show your disgrace.”
“W-We’re going to hell.”
“Of course. I’m a demon, and you’re a contractor. Weren’t you prepared for that?”
“I know, but this is……”
“It’s not excessive at all. I might even kill God and destroy hell, for all you know.”
“Y-Johan!”
“Don’t be afraid. Fear and regret can’t change your fate. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the present life instead? Rather than spending time trembling.”
Raguel wore a powerless expression.
“How are we supposed to enjoy anything in this situation?”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“A ride?”
Johan spread his massive wings wide. Then he grabbed the boy’s clothes.
“I’ll show you.”
The demon took flight.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The boy’s scream echoed loudly in the library.
It wasn’t the reaction Johan had expected, but it wasn’t bad.
The cries were sublimating into another delicacy.
Like it or not, he would have to grow quickly.
To survive in this damned world, there was no other choice.
“Raguel, cry. You’re my lunchbox.”