episode_0045

“Eugene, go.”

Aria slowly turned her gaze towards me.

“The detection spell points to a wall inside the prison over there. There must be a passage leading to a secret room there.”

I will open the way.

Her purple eyes, as she spoke, showed a strong will.

“I’ll take care of that unlucky spirit. You don’t need to be tied up here for no reason.”

“… Are you okay?”

“It’s okay, just trust me this once and leave it to me.”

I watched them silently, their fighting spirit burning.

I was worried about whether I could leave her alone.

Even in this urgent situation, if you fight back, it won’t be a worry anymore.

So, there was something else I had to say to her now.

“Please.”

“… Yeah!!”

I turned my gaze away from her, who nodded vigorously with an expression that seemed somewhat pleased at being trusted, and then ran away.

At that moment, Aria used gravity magic to open up the water-logged path leading inside the prison, just as she had when she first arrived here.

[Do you think I’ll just let it go!?]

Immediately after, Aqua, the upper spirit of water, tried to stop me.

“Chains of Heaven.”

At the same time that a huge flow of mana was felt from behind, countless holes appeared on all sides of Aqua.

Chorus-!! Chorus-!! Chorus-!! Chorus-!! Chorus-!!

Before he could react, a golden chain made of magical letters protruded from between the open hole, completely blocking his movements.

It was incredible how much chain one person could have created, but it was also amazing how he had complete control over it all.

But, regardless of my admiration, I passed through the gap and headed towards the passageway, and towards Aqua, who was struggling even harder.

“You said you’d make me grilled fish, right?”

Aria, who had just finished another magical spell, fired it at the mermaid spirit who was resisting in real time.

Crackle crackle-!!

A purple bolt of lightning shot through the water, followed by a crack of thunder a beat later.

[Gyaaah-!!]

Aqua, a water spirit who was hit directly by an attack with opposing attributes, screamed and trembled like a fish that had been electrocuted.

Meanwhile, I was able to reach the wall inside the prison that Aria had detected.

Don’t waste time wondering what to do.

“Ugh!”

With a short cry, he extended his fist and slammed it against the wall.

clattering!

The well-constructed camouflage wall simply collapsed, revealing a staircase leading down beyond it.

[Ugh!! How dare you let that kid go!]

Aqua desperately shoots water towards me, even while wrapped in golden chains and unable to come to her senses after being struck by purple lightning.

“… … .”

Even in the midst of being tainted by darkness, he felt bitter at the sight of her caring for Julian in her own way, and quickly drew out Ignis’ longsword and swung it.

The ash-gray aura wrapped around the red longsword flew through the water, grazing the neck, the only part of the body not wrapped in chains.

[ah.]

Aqua’s neck rose into the water along with the last words she spat out.

One, even if his neck is cut off, he will quickly regenerate like other higher spirits have done so far… but Aria will remain here.

I intended to follow her words to trust me.

Suddenly, I was alone, unlike when I first came, so I quickly went down the stairs.

***

At the end of the stairs leading down, there was a rusty iron door standing alone.

‘Is this the entrance to the secret room where Julian is, as Ignis said?’

There was no reason to hesitate after coming this far, so I reached out and pushed the iron gate, but… for some reason, it didn’t budge at all.

“Tsk.”

It seemed as if some dark spirit or something had been doing something to the iron gate to devour Julian.

‘You’re going to try to stop me by using such a ridiculous trick?’

I don’t know how much I’m being looked down on.

I took up a stance, holding Ignis’ red longsword at my waist.

‘Eberhart style greatsword technique.’

Here, I once again demonstrate a technique I often used when I held a sword in my hand.

‘snowstorm.’

After making sure not to waste a single inch of movement, he swings his sword without stopping.

Before the remnants of mana engraved with a single swing could even disappear, an ashen brand was once again imprinted in that spot.

Tsk tsk tsk-!!

Soon, the iron door, which had seemed sturdy enough to keep anyone out, cracked as if it might collapse at any moment.

As soon as he noticed the change, he extended his fist that was holding the sword handle forward and struck the center of the iron door.

BANG-!!

There was a loud noise all around, and the iron gate collapsed, shattering into pieces with spiderweb-like cracks like puzzle pieces.

The sight that greeted me as I finally entered the secret room after stepping on the debris was something that did not fit the expression “secret room.”

Rather, it is something that is located at the end of a long red carpet stretched out on the floor and has a space that resembles a wedding hall.

“What is that?”

I came face to face with an unidentifiable black gourd that pulsed ominously, as if it were alive.

My whole body’s senses told me that it was something very close to negativity.

‘… Surely, Julian isn’t in there?’

That moment when, given the circumstances, I had no choice but to think of the worst case scenario I didn’t even want to imagine.

Damn!

As if responding to my premonition, a small solid line appeared on the top of the black goch.

Wow-!!

From there, the fragments that had been covering the worm began to fall off one by one, like an eggshell peeling off.

[… … .]

There was a being that broke through the top of the cocoon by itself, like a butterfly sprouting wings from a chrysalis.

Swish… .

That being that lightly landed on the ground, covering only its vital parts with one of the two pairs of wings on its back.

I reached out to the pieces of the shards of the gochi scattered around the landing site.

Then the pieces floated up and clung to the being, soon forming a black dress.

In the meantime, I didn’t take any action.

… No, it would be more correct to say that I couldn’t do it.

A being that suddenly appeared out of nowhere inside Kochi where Julian was expected to be.

Brown hair that was long enough to touch the ground, a body with distinct curves, thin arms and legs, and slender fingers.

The being, wearing a dress that clearly revealed the outline of her body, clearly displayed feminine features.

But the reason I was lost in thought was not because I was fascinated by such a feminine symbol.

“Julie… Huh?”

Because in that being with such feminine features, I saw the face of a friend I had always thought of as a man.

To be exact, her face was thinner than her original face, and she had a beauty that was undoubtedly that of a woman, but it was recognizable.

At that moment, I could only stand there dumbfounded, feeling as if the relationship we had built and the common sense I had was crumbling away.

[I’m sorry for bothering you unnecessarily… I ended up getting annoyed earlier than planned.]

Julian… no, something that had taken over his body grumbled.

[Okay, that’s fine. Since I’ve already succeeded in the fairy tale, I can just slowly proceed with the rest that I couldn’t achieve.]

Of course, before that… .

Julian turned his golden eyes toward me and smiled eerily.

[You have to die here.]

The saboteur, Eugene Eberhart.

A black ray of light extended from Julian’s finger as he pointed at me.

Pfft-!!

What stopped me was something close to instinct. Even in my daze, my senses, trained through combat, reacted to danger and moved my body.

The moment I quickly turned my head back, a long black ray of light passed through the exact spot where my forehead was.

Kwakang-!!

The attack, which had advanced without hitting its target, eventually reached the wall of the ceremony hall and disappeared with a large explosion.

One, thanks to that, I was able to come to my senses and fixed my collapsed posture and glared at Julian… no, at the guy who had swallowed his body.

“Are you the dark spirit?”

[What, you already knew about me? How boring. And now, on top of that, you’re also the owner of this body!]

“… Stop talking nonsense, what did you do with Julian?”

The guy chuckled at the question and then tapped the chest area of her dress.

[It’s still in here. If the contractor dies, the spirit is completely useless.]

I didn’t know he would answer so obediently, so I opened my eyes and he smiled slyly instead.

[What difference would it make if I knew that? This child is dreaming a happy dream inside of me that I never want to wake up from.]

and.

[You can’t kill me. This body, which has become one with the spirit, has become virtually immortal in the spirit world.]

That means you can’t do anything.

“I can’t do anything…?”

[Yeah! So…!!]

Before he could even finish his rambling, I ran up to him and punched him in the stomach with my fist.

Phew-!!

A back that curves like a shrimp, revealing the cleavage of the dress.

[Keuk-!?]

The guy naturally got down on his knees and hugged his stomach with both arms.

He looked up at me with a look of disbelief, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

[You, you…!! What, what is this!?]

“Julian is dreaming a dream inside you that he can’t wake up from, and his body is merging with you, the spirit, and he won’t die in this world?”

That’s great, thanks for the info.

“From now on, I will hit you.”

[……uh?]

“I’ll beat you without mercy. I’ll beat you even if you cry and beg. Until you give up on your own and free Julian.”

[If he does something like that, the child who owns this body will not be safe either…!!]

“What kind of nonsense is that? Didn’t you say it yourself?”

Julian is so deep in his dream that he doesn’t even know how reality works, and your body is virtually immortal in this world.

“So I can hit you without any worries.”

[Oh, crazy… No matter what, it’s like that!]

“You won’t die like you thought anyway… What’s the problem?”

Now, the completion of a world where no one gets hurt.