episode_0026
by fnovelpiaDeep inside the heart. A black space that stretches out to any extent.
Irusia was shouting at the woman in front of her.
-That still won’t work.
“Why!! I’ll do anything. I have to do anything!”
Imaginary space.
Irucia rushes forward recklessly. The woman who was once the Demon Lord puts out one of her index fingers and presses it firmly against Irucia’s forehead. That alone stops her.
-You can’t handle this power. This time, you’re really going to go crazy. Are you okay with that?
The deep and dark magic that is inherent in Irushia. However, Irushia has absolutely no ability to handle it.
When I first met Escaria in the back alley, I would be incomparably ruined compared to when I first awakened Magi. Even if the Demon King in front of me helps me.
“That’s, that’s… You won’t know until you try it… !”
-Haha, can you stop saying stupid things?
“It’s okay, it’s okay! Even if I go crazy, even if I become a monster, it’s okay for someone like me anyway… ”
-Stop it.
One finger pressing against the forehead. The hand spreads out and grabs the head.
With his small hands, he somehow manages to lift Irusia as if he were lifting a large ball with one hand, and then roughly slams her into the floor.
“Kehek, ugh, guhek… !!”
-Don’t ever say that again.
The woman who had always had a relaxed expression on her face was now showing an angry expression for the first time. Her cold yet elegant and beautiful face was distorted to a frightening degree.
In the intense anger, the entire space seemed to tremble. A tingling sensation on the skin and spine. Chills all over the body.
Irusia could only stare blankly at the woman’s face, forgetting the pain of being thrown away. Then, that devilish expression, literally, instantly changed into a bright, beautiful smile.
-Someone like me, someone like me, on my own… Don’t say something like that again!
“Uh, uh… .”
-Because there’s a chance you could eat it. Yeah?
Her eyes, as beautiful and sharp as jewels, looked at Irusia.
My whole body feels frozen. I feel like a tiny insect standing in front of a predator.
This smile, which was completely different from the angry expression he had just shown, felt even scarier. This was a devilish expression in its own right.
-Ah… What should I do?
Actually, there was one way.
If the current Irusia simply takes out her magic energy and gives it to this Demon King, Irusia will go mad and irreversibly. That is a certainty without a doubt.
He has the ability to control the thick, thick desires and emotions without going crazy like the Demon King, but that’s the problem before that. It’s because the process of transmission was necessary.
-You and I become one.
The process of fusion of egos, known as transmission, disappears. You become able to almost completely control the near-infinite magic.
-Because I am the future you.
***
Noctilla had a furious expression. Despite being wrapped in chains of light, she did not give up and struggled wildly to move somehow.
“Fuck, fuck…!!”
It was all an act.
Although she appeared to be pouring out her anger, Noctilla’s mind was cold.
Since it is impossible to release magical energy while bound by the divine magic, he carefully gathers the fragments of the sword he had previously fired and combines them into one.
The executioner Mena was preparing the execution rite, ‘Sweet Death’. She was shedding pure tears necessary for it. With her eyes clouded over, she was looking at Seed clearly.
Cid, who was blocking Noctilla, was also looking at Mena’s eyes without wavering. He was calculating. He was desperately trying to block it. He was drawing the trajectory of the sword.
That’s why neither of them paid any attention to Noctilla.
It was prepared so easily that it seemed as if it could be this easy.
Even if you are an Aura user, if you don’t consciously protect yourself, you will be cut by a normal sword. No matter how strong the shield is, it is meaningless if it is lowered.
So, he desperately stabs this pitch-black sword, which looks like it could break at any moment, into Seed’s defenseless back.
“Why is the method the same?”
Of course, Seed knew.
Because I saw it in my previous life. I was thinking about how to block it. I was picturing the sword’s trajectory in my head. That is, this attack, the last desperate attempt of the demon Escaria.
‘As if I had expected it from the beginning’, he spun around and deflected the magic sword. The sword broke in half and flew far away.
Yeah, it broke cleanly in half.
‘Wait a minute. Something feels strange.’
A sense of discomfort. It was something very minor, but I had a gut feeling that it was something crucial that I couldn’t miss.
It was a handful of magic that had been desperately scraped together. The moment it touched Seed’s aura, it would have shattered and shattered due to the impact.
The reason it wasn’t like that was because I intentionally made the weak parts among them, and strengthened the strength of the other parts to that extent.
Instead of breaking into pieces, break cleanly and end in a neat finish.
There was something completely unexpected about the Cid that Noctilla had seen. She had a feeling that even this surprise attack would be blocked.
“That’s…!”
“Okay, wait!!”
In the sudden turn of events, Master Mena quickly raised his arm and fired a spell into the air.
A blinding halo of light bursts through the air, dancing and spreading out, even tearing apart the clouds.
And the broken half of the pitch-black blade flew leisurely through the air.
Where the tip of the sword is pointed.
***
-Because I am the future you.
Irusia didn’t seem particularly surprised when she heard those words. She may have felt it intuitively. Instead, she had a relieved expression on her face.
In the end, I became the Demon King. It was a strange feeling of emptiness, relief, and heartache.
I’ve always been afraid of the future. What will happen to me in the future? The reason I’m afraid of tomorrow is because I don’t know what will happen. Because somewhere in my heart, I’m unconsciously looking forward to a hopeful future, or at least a decent life.
That’s why the possibility that your life could be ruined is so scary. It’s not something so grand. A sudden illness, an accident, something like that.
The future me who became the monster called Demon King must have killed countless people. I could now see the sea of blood sinking beneath those deep red eyes. This is the worst future.
It was a huge relief.
It was scary because it was so opaque and uncertain. The question of whether I might be some kind of absurd monster never left my mind.
Yeah, it’s a monster.
As clear answers come out, the questions that have been filling my head naturally disappear.
A narrow wooden bridge, barely wide enough for one foot to step on. Looking around, a thousand-foot cliff. The ground is covered with iron spikes. I take each step carefully, but I can’t see the end. My body trembles slightly. I’m so scared that my teeth chatter.
If you’re walking on a thorny path from the beginning, it’s not scary. It’s just so, so painful. You just walk barefoot. Everyone dies someday, and there are moments when that saying is comforting.
“After… ….”
I let out a long breath.
This is the most refreshing feeling I’ve had in a while.
“… Okay. What should I do?”
As Irusia said that, the Demon King held out one finger.
-Before that, there’s one problem.
There is not enough time.
My past self from a dozen years ago and my present self.
Or your future self a dozen years from now and your present self.
Obviously, there are many similarities between them compared to completely unrelated people, but can we really say that they are the same person?
As time passes, we meet many people, see many things, and experience many different things, our personality changes through a cycle of being chipped away and added to.
“To become one, we need time to reduce our differences, right?”
-Yeah.
It would take at least several months for their minds to completely overlap without damaging each other’s personality.
If you can afford to lose just a little bit of your personality, your individuality, your identity, the part of you that defines you, the part that makes you who you are, you can probably reduce it in a matter of weeks.
“Can’t you do it faster?”
Urgent situation. In this situation, it wasn’t impossible to synchronize the two’s consciousness.
But, if you ask me how it feels.
For example, if the process of fusing two people’s minds was like a puzzle, it would be like forcing pieces that don’t fit into a hole that doesn’t fit.
After forcing the puzzle in, I used scissors to cut off the remaining parts on the outside.
-There’s no way a picture of a puzzle made like that could be correct.
Even so, well, the overall color scheme will be similar. Depending on how you match them, you might not be able to tell the difference from a distance.
It is possible that people who are not close to you may not notice the change. At least, it is better than Irusia going crazy over magic, so there may be some positive elements to think about.
“… It doesn’t matter.”
Irusia spoke calmly and expressionlessly.
The reason I have such a determined and determined expression is, paradoxically, because I am so anxious that I can’t stand it.
Because I just let it all go. There is no such thing as a good wooden bridge in the first place, so I have no choice but to walk the thorny path that is given to me.
But it’s not like I accidentally or unintentionally fell off the bridge. It’s just that I took the steps on my own. Even if my feet were pierced by iron skewers and my bones rattled, it was a pain I chose.
The Demon King stared blankly at Irushia and opened his mouth.
-You don’t like it?
“Huh?”
– I told you not to say things like that, didn’t I? I thought about it, but I don’t like this either. Yeah.
“Why?! I don’t have time for this!”
-If you keep doing this recklessly, you will disappear as a person. That’s why I’m going to kill you.
“…Still!”
The two glared at each other. Irusia, too, was now able to look straight at the Demon King in front of her.
That too for a moment.
-Oh, wait a minute, it looks like things are a bit more organized over there too?
I could vaguely see the figure of Professor Mena subduing Noctilla.
The fact that the situation outside has been recognized also means that Irusia, who had been unconscious, is starting to regain consciousness little by little.
– Now that that’s out of the way, calm down for now. … See you next time?
Irushia’s consciousness drifts away from the imaginary space. Gradually, the black space before her eyes and the figure of the Demon King waving his hand become blurred.
however.
-Huh?
Huh?
A black blade that pierced through the Demon King’s stomach.
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