Chapter 195

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“?”

Belial blinked her cherry-blossom-colored eyes in confusion.

She couldn’t understand the situation.

Her judgment couldn’t keep up with reality.

The Chosen One was breaking through the horde of created monsters.

Delighted by Eugene’s fierce assault, she rose from the chair woven from tree branches.

Finally, the time had come to recreate that day.

Filled with joy, she prepared to act after a long wait.

“?…??… ???… ?… ????”

And then, like a fool, she collapsed.

Thud.

She fell flat on her backside.

Why? 

Belial wore a bewildered expression. 

Her body was in perfect condition. Although the vessel was collapsing, it was nothing serious. 

With Lucia’s Super Regeneration, it would heal in the blink of an eye. 

The vessel would restore itself, after being broken by the devil god’s power.

There was clearly no problem. None. 

That’s why it made even less sense. Why couldn’t she put any strength into her legs?

Was Super Regeneration not working? No. It was working perfectly. 

The collapse of the vessel was quickly being repaired. So what was the problem? 

Had some kind of attack hit her? No, that couldn’t be. 

If that were the case, she would have noticed and wouldn’t collapsed so pathetically. 

Then what was it? Could something have gone wrong during the synchronization process with the vessel?

She didn’t know the reason, but she couldn’t just stay sitting there. Eugene was approaching. 

The moment of the long-awaited battle had finally arrived, and she couldn’t let it go to waste like this. 

Belial brushed off the dust with her hand and tried to stand up.

“Ah? Eh? Huh? Haa? Ah?”

No, she tried to stand up.

The moment she placed her hand on the ground and pushed herself up—

A spark shot up her spine, and her body arched like a bow. 

Her head tilted back uncontrollably. 

Belial let out incoherent moans—kek, ek, ak—as her shoulders trembled. 

Saliva dripped from her slightly parted pink lips, but Belial didn’t care. She didn’t have the luxury to.

The collapse of the vessel wasn’t over yet. 

As she used her powers, the vessel, which had reached its limit, was breaking down. 

She needed to stop using her abilities and let the vessel rest. 

Otherwise, the collapse would continue. That’s why she had chosen Lucia as the vessel in the first place. 

Super-Regeneration. 

She had planned to use Lucia’s ability to prevent the vessel’s collapse.

Belial’s—no, Lucia’s—insides were being torn apart.

Her organs were crushed, her bones shattered.

Her blood vessels burst, and her muscles snapped.

Her nerves overheated, and her tendons slipped out of place.

“Ha? Ah? Haa? Heh? Hehe? Ek~♡? Ha~♡? Uh-heh~♡“

Tears welled up in her cherry-blossom-colored eyes.

Belial’s lips parted slightly as she trembled like she was cold.

Her face, stained with confusion, was flushed like a peach blossom.

“Wh-what, whaa, haa~♡?”

It was an unknown sensation she was experiencing for the first time.

Belial, a devil god who had lived since ancient times.

In all that endless time, she had never experienced such a stimulus.

“Wh-what, whaa, h-huh?”

Belial screamed as if in agony. 

Her body was hot. Too hot. 

Her heart pounded as if it was malfunctioning. 

Her breath carried a sweet, cloying scent. 

It hurts.

It was the same pain she had always endured, something that shouldn’t have been a problem for her. 

But now, the situation is different. It hurts. It hurts so much. And it was strange. It hurts, it definitely hurts…

‘Why… does it feel good…?’

It hurts, so why does it feel good?

Hot tears streamed down her reddened cheeks.

They flowed and flowed, clinging to the edge of the Green Wolf Mask.

She gripped her shoulders with both hands.

Pressing her chest with her forearms, she desperately tried to steady her breathing.

She struggled to stop the trembling, but there was no sign of it subsiding.

Her waist twitched, and a heat pooled in her lower abdomen.

It felt like her blood was flowing backward.

The vessel, eroded by the devil god’s power, was collapsing.

Each time, Belial let out a silent scream.

Why? How? This had never happened before.

It was just the pain of the vessel collapsing.

The sensation of pain shouldn’t have been a big deal…

“Ah, faaa…?”

Thud.

Belial felt as if her heart had dropped.

She didn’t know what it was, but she felt a sense of crisis that she couldn’t stay like this.

People feel fear in the face of the unknown. They fear what they don’t understand. That’s how Belial felt now. Overwhelmed by the torrent of unfamiliar sensations, she felt fear.

She had wanted fear, but not this kind of fear.

The clash of weapons, the desperate struggle for life in battle.

That was the fear she had wanted, not this inexplicable terror.

If she didn’t want it, she just had to shake it off.

To overcome the fear of the unknown, she had to make it no longer unknown.

Belial racked her buzzing brain to make sense of this strange situation. 

Her thoughts kept cutting off as her vessel collapsed and regenerated, and her vision turned white like a blank sheet of paper. 

But after desperately pondering, she arrived at a plausible answer.

“…I see.”

Trembling, Belial bit her lip hard.

“Lucia, this is your doing.”

Are you still resisting?

To keep me from taking over your body?

Or to stop me from fighting Eugene?

I don’t know what trick you’re pulling, but I won’t let you have your way.

This body is mine now.

You’ll soon become ‘Belial’ too.

It’s time you realized that resistance is futile.

You should have just accepted the end of your human life, lost in the memories of the past.

“Once this fight is over…”

I’ll absorb you completely.

So you can’t resist like this anymore.

The monsters, which had been fast, sturdy, and fierce, were now noticeably weaker.

Once the monsters stopped increasing, they became significantly weaker.

Belial’s support had been cut off.

The sneak attacks Belial had been launching to exploit Eugene’s openings had also stopped at some point, and the poison seeping into the air had quieted down.

Eugene had been on high alert, thinking it might be a trap to lure him into letting his guard down, but Danger Sense remained silent.

At the very least, Arin’s supernatural ability had judged that there was no immediate danger to Eugene.

“…What’s your plan?”

Eugene spoke as he swallowed the blood pooling in his mouth.

The thick clot of blood slid down his throat.

His injuries had already been healed by super regeneration.

His physical condition was almost perfect, as if the intense battle from moments ago had been a lie.

“A p-plan… haha, a plan…?”

Belial spoke in a flat voice.

Her tone was relaxed, as if she had everything under control, but the end of her words trembled slightly.

“It’s nothing. I just… decided that… these kinds of games… are meaningless now.”

“…”

There’s something.

Eugene’s intuition was telling him.

The intuition of a high-ranking supernatural wasn’t limited to the five senses.

The intuition of someone approaching divinity was a sixth sense, a spiritual insight transcending physical limits.

While it couldn’t compare to the near-future foresight of a captain-level supernatural, Eugene’s intuition was still razor-sharp.

‘Her voice… it shook.’

She was trying to hide it, but there were subtle signs.

If you looked closely, her shoulders were trembling slightly.

She was hunched over as if trying to endure the cold.

Her legs occasionally bent inward at the knees.

If you paid attention, her breathing was also uneven.

Haa… Haa…

She exhaled a hot breath.

‘Is she tired?’

Creating a forest of that scale.

Mass-producing that many monsters.

If she was exhausted, it wouldn’t be strange…

‘No way.’

Eugene firmly denied it.

If Belial was on the same level as Astaroth, then, as she had said, everything up until now had just been a game.

Eugene had already realized that devils couldn’t be judged by common sense.

‘Then why…?’

Why does she look like she’s in so much pain?

She’s clutching her chest as if enduring something.

The anxiety in her faint breathing.

It was supposed to be Eugene who was struggling with anxiety, not her.

‘Wait, enduring…?’

Eugene’s eyes widened as the thought crossed his mind.

It was a metaphorical expression, but it didn’t seem like it would remain just a metaphor.

What if.

Just what if.

If his current thoughts were correct.

If this was the answer.

If that was the case.

If it wasn’t a misunderstanding, but the truth.

“Lucia, is that you?”

Belial flinched. She seemed to realize her mistake too late, clenching her fists, but there was no way to undo what had already been done.

“You’re resisting, aren’t you?”

A faint smile formed on Eugene’s face.

From the moment he had lost Lucia right before his eyes, he hadn’t been able to smile properly.

Forced smiles. Hollow laughs. Sneers.

Not those kinds of smiles, but a smile filled with joy.

“Yeah, I forgot for a moment. What kind of person you are.”

Someone far greater and braver than me.

There’s no way she would let her body be taken so easily.

There’s no way she would stand by and let a devil commit atrocities with her body.

She’s resisting.

She’s interfering.

If that’s the case, then everything makes sense.

Why Belial suddenly stop creating monsters.

Why the monsters’ enhancements were cut off.

Why the sneak attacks stopped.

Even why she’s struggling so much.

“Ha, haha.”

Eugene let out a dry laugh without realizing it.

“You’re really amazing.”

I thought I already knew, but I was underestimating you.

Eugene reflected on the supernatural abilities resonating within him.

Pyrokinesis, inherited from Yui. Acceleration from Leo. Danger Sense from Arin. Heat Ray from Alice. Hardening from Frey.

And Super Regeneration from Lucia.

“…Just wait a little longer.”

I’m not fighting alone.

Everyone is pushing me forward.

They’re guiding me, sharing their strength with me.

Lucia has been with me all along.

Flames flickered on the blade of his sword.

Golden light rippled like a blooming flower.

Eugene took a step forward.

A quiet ripple stirred up a whirlwind.

“I’ll set you free now.”

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Since Lucia’s body is the one doing it, it is technically Lucia’s doing.

Though, the ‘mind’ is still asleep while looking at past memories.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
WAHAHAHAHA 

Oh god, that’s the best misunderstanding that can happen…