Chapter 86: Bellona’s Class

“Lycoris~ Are you awake? It’s time to start today’s first lesson!”

I opened my eyes to Lady Bellona’s sweet voice.

My eyes felt heavy, as I hadn’t slept well due to yesterday’s shock.

I felt like I had a strange dream, but I couldn’t remember it.

“Yes, I’m awake…”

Lady Bellona was wearing a magnificent black dress.

She was a vision of coexisting beauty and danger.

Her appearance strangely overlapped with the image of my Master when she transformed into the silver-haired woman.

Miel was perched by the window, her wings trembling.

The color of her wings seemed a little darker than usual.

Her once brilliant blue wings were now closer to indigo.

Her stay in the demon realm was clearly having a negative effect on her.

I felt the terror of yesterday threatening to wash over me again, but I tried my best to remain calm.

“Now, today we’ll learn the basics. It’s the first step, which I call ‘The Choice of Subject’.”

Lady Bellona guided me to another room in the temple.

There, various liquids in bottles and tools were neatly arranged.

“Art begins with selecting the right materials. In our case, those materials are men. You must cultivate the eye to judge which man will become the most beautiful work of art.”

‘Why on earth does it have to be men…’

“Lady Bellona, why only men…?”

I mustered the courage to ask.

Lady Bellona’s expression darkened for a moment before she returned to her usual elegant smile.

“Ah, that… alright, since you’ve decided to become my disciple, I’ll tell you. It’s a story from my time in the celestial realm. A certain male god tried to seduce me, the goddess of beauty, but also the goddess of chastity. He sought to defile my divinity.”

Rage seeped into Lady Bellona’s voice.

“At the council of the gods, he made a bet right in front of me. He wagered that he could have me. All the other male gods cheered him on. As if I were… some kind of war trophy.”

Lady Bellona’s hands began to tremble.

“So that night, when he snuck into my temple… I created my first ‘masterpiece’. And I was captivated by its beauty. If only all men could make such an expression… that’s what I thought.”

A cold laugh echoed through the room.

“Then I was condemned by the other gods and eventually cast out, ending up here in the demon realm. But I have no regrets. Here, I can fully express my art.”

A chill ran down my spine as I listened to her story.

But at the same time, I began to question the hypocrisy of the celestial realm.

Lord Michael also hid his true nature as the God of Blood and Slaughter.

Everyone in the human realm just thought of him as a god of light…

‘Are all the gods of the celestial realm wearing masks?’

“Anyway, let’s begin today’s lesson~”

As Lady Bellona gestured, a section of the floor began to move.

It split open as if the floor was opening, and a giant cage rose from below.

“Here, below, are my materials. This is my precious collection, gathered over many long years.”

A dozen men were trapped inside the cage.

They were all in good nutritional condition, with firm muscles and vibrant energy.

They were like perfectly managed farm animals.

Lady Bellona smiled.

“These are humans I brought here more than five thousand years ago, before we were cut off from the human realm. I’ve placed a spell of agelessness on them. I only use them when a truly great inspiration strikes, so I’ve cherished them greatly.”

‘Five thousand years…’

Lord Michael had said he fought against the evil gods and a god from another world five thousand years ago.

‘Have these people been trapped here even longer than that?’

The men huddled in a corner of the cage.

Their eyes were filled with terror.

Some of them were sobbing, while others just sat there, dazed.

“From among these, choose the man you think will become the most beautiful work of art.”

At Lady Bellona’s words, I stared at the cage.

The situation was utterly horrifying, yet I felt a strange sense of fascination.

In their terrified expressions, I perceived an odd kind of beauty.

The Crimson Bind began to tremble in my hand again.

The red mist thickened.

It was as if this sword… was getting excited.

‘What am I thinking? This is horrible!’

‘To feel beauty in this…’

‘This isn’t my thought.’

‘Is it the influence of the Crimson Bind?’

‘Or is the demon realm itself changing me?’

Flutter, flutter!

Miel suddenly flew in front of me, flapping her wings furiously.

She kept moving as if trying to scatter the sword’s mist with her wings.

Then she flew close to my ear and tapped my cheek with her tiny foot.

‘Thank you, Miel…’

But Lady Bellona placed a hand on my shoulder, as if urging me to choose.

As I looked back into the cage, one man caught my eye.

He had black hair and a sharp jawline.

His eyes held a different emotion from the others.

Not fear, but defiance and anger.

“That man… the one with the black hair.”

My finger pointed at him of its own accord.

“Oh, you have a good eye. That man is a material I’ve specially saved. He was once a follower of mine, but he tried to profane my sanctity. Today seems like the perfect day to use him.”

Lady Bellona raised her hand, and the cage opened.

An unseen force dragged the man out of the cage.

“No! Please! I’m innocent! I never meant to insult you!”

The man screamed, but Lady Bellona simply maintained her calm smile.

‘This is wrong…’

‘This is so wrong…’

‘But what can I do?’

“The first step is to prepare the material. The blood must be kept as fresh as possible.”

Lady Bellona laid the man on a table.

His arms and legs were bound by a magical force.

Miel flew around me, flapping her wings anxiously.

“Now, Lycoris. Shall we begin?”

Lady Bellona handed me a silver scalpel.

My hand trembled so much I could barely take it, but I knew I had to.

‘How can I do this?’

‘Do I really have to turn this person into a ‘masterpiece’ like the others?’

‘But if I refuse, I’ll be in danger too…’

Flap!

Miel suddenly struck my hand, making me drop the scalpel.

It clattered to the floor with a sharp clang.

“Oh my, you must be careful. It’s alright, it’s your first time.”

Lady Bellona simply smiled, picked up the scalpel, and handed it back.

“The first thing to do is to carefully incise the skin. You must be careful not to damage the muscles and ligaments.”

Lady Bellona took my hand and placed the scalpel on the man’s chest.

His scream echoed throughout the temple.

The sound was so loud it hurt my ears.

“If you incise with this precise pressure, the blood flows out artistically. Feel the beauty of its flow.”

As the scalpel cut through the man’s skin, red blood trickled out.

Astonishingly, the blood seemed to dance as it flowed down his body.

Like a red river, revealing the white flesh beneath.

I wanted to close my eyes, but strangely, I couldn’t look away.

It was as if there was something artistic in that red flow.

“Now, shall we expose the muscle layer? This is a very delicate task.”

Lady Bellona pushed the scalpel deeper.

The man could no longer scream, only letting out groans.

“I won’t kill him. The longer he is kept alive, the more vibrant the work becomes.”

A chill ran down my spine at Lady Bellona’s words.

But at the same time, a strange curiosity bloomed within me.

‘Is this what Lady Bellona calls the ‘Aesthetics of Murder’?’

‘The art of extending the process of death as long as possible, to make that moment eternal?’

For a moment, I recalled the scene where Lord Michael dealt with the demons.

Lord Michael had annihilated the demon in an instant with a single golden orb.

It was a quick, painless death.

My Master was the same.

When my Master froze the humans, it was instantaneous.

They didn’t have time to suffer; they simply became ice sculptures.

This was different.

This was inflicting prolonged agony.

It was as if there were two of me inside my body.

One part of me found all of this horrifying, and the other…
was strangely fascinated.

Miel approached me again, striking my hair hard with her wings.

‘Ouch!’

‘Why?’

Miel’s gaze was fixed on my hand.

Only then did I realize.

At some point, I had been holding the scalpel, and I was pressing it against the man’s arm.

‘When did I…?’

Startled, I dropped the scalpel.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright, everyone is like that at first. You can learn slowly.”

Lady Bellona smiled, picked up the scalpel, and continued her work.

“Look at the pattern of the flowing blood. See how beautiful its form is.”

Lady Bellona’s voice whispered in my ear.

In that moment, it truly seemed as if I could see beauty in the flow of blood.

The patterns drawn by the red lines, the texture of flesh and muscle, and even the expression on the face contorted in pain…

“I see it… I’m starting to see it a little…”

The words escaped my lips on their own.

Flutter, flutter!

Miel flew frantically around me, constantly signaling me to snap out of it.

Thanks to her, I managed not to get completely lost.

‘Ah…’

‘Please, get a grip…’

“Master… I have to get out of here and go back to Master soon…”

I muttered under my breath.

Bellona didn’t seem to have heard me.

The first lesson of the day proceeded like that.

I finally witnessed the moment the man breathed his last.

At that instant, Lady Bellona used a special magic to preserve the corpse.

“Perfect. Now this work of art will be maintained forever. The peak of agony and the moment of death, so beautifully expressed.”

The man’s body was now eternally trapped in its final moment of death.

An expression mixed with pain and release was forever etched onto his face.

Bizarrely, I was beginning to understand Lady Bellona’s words.

This wasn’t simple murder, but a kind of…
artistic endeavor.

A unique aesthetic, different from any other art, that preserved the moment of pain and death for eternity.

But at the same time, a warning bell sounded deep inside me.

This isn’t me.

This isn’t who I want to become.

‘Master… Lord Michael… I’m becoming strange. What should I do…’

When I returned to my room and lay on the bed, Miel sat beside me.

Her wings were now almost entirely indigo.

The longer she stayed in the demon realm, the more she changed as well.

“Miel… what’s happening to me?”

Miel looked at me with sad eyes.

She plucked a strand of my hair and formed words with it.

[Lady Solaris’s sun is almost losing its light. We must leave soon.]

“I know… but I don’t know how to escape…”

My reflection in the room’s mirror looked unfamiliar.

The red at the tips of my hair had spread, now tinting almost half of it.

My eyes seemed redder too.

I was changing.

And the scariest part was…that I was starting to enjoy the change a little.

“Would Master and Lord Michael be disappointed if they saw me…?”

The thought pained my heart.

But at the same time, another thought surfaced.

“Or… would they like this side of me too…?”

…

[You have acquired the trait: Bellona’s Favorite Disciple.]

[Bellona’s Favorite Disciple]

– You are the favorite disciple of Bellona, the Evil God of Beauty.

[You have acquired the trait: Art of Death.]

[Art of Death]

– You have come to understand the beauty of death. You will acquire a certain amount of demonic power whenever a death is detected nearby.