Calamity – 禍 (3)

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Pluto was a demon with a wide circle of acquaintances.

Demons, as a race, basically live by preaching egoism and individualism, so they either live alone or increase their power by commanding subordinates… but Pluto met so many demons that she was called an oddball.

Gaolise, Fordil Cordil, Behemoth, Asmodeus… Some were demons she only met once, and others were close enough to brag about their possessions. In particular, she even showed Gaolise a living doll made using a hornless demon.

Most of these encounters were mixed with coincidence, but it was too wide a circle to simply dismiss them as coincidences.

It was so complicated that one might think she was deliberately gathering information, and in fact, she was.

She listened to the meaningless grumbles of demons, filtering out only the important things. In fleeting encounters lasting only a few minutes, she grasped their habitats, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes, converting them all into information.

Gaolise had stopped contacting her at some point… but she didn’t really care. The ice palace had melted away, and Gaolise’s Mana could no longer be felt. Well, she had stirred up so much trouble that she would have been subjugated immediately. She was probably already dead. Pluto had no interest in the dead.

Yes, she had no interest in the dead.

The reason she was so obsessed with information was due to a very, very trivial reason.

• Sureuk.

Pluto narrowed her eyes and picked up a needle. A thin, fine silver needle… through the tiny hole was threaded a golden thread.

Pluto pondered, caressing the lips of the woman before her.

,’Would it be better to untie her mouth than sew it shut? Will you tell me if I pull out the thread?”,

,’Eubeub…! Eubeueup…!!!”,

As the first thread was pulled out, the remaining threads also loosened. Pluto carefully pulled out the threads, taking care not to damage the doll’s lips.

,’――!!”,

The extremely fine thread became a blade in itself. As the threads embedded in her lips came out one after another, the pain of tearing flesh was felt. The golden thread, stained red with blood, eventually turned the woman’s lips into rags.

,’Aaaaaaagh――!!!”,

She turned her head, not even noticing the ear-splitting scream as she was used to it. Pluto looked displeased at the thread that had lost its original color.

,’Tsk. I’ve used it for a long time.,’

It was a thread that had been sewn and unsewn dozens of times. It was time to replace it.

,’So, which do you like better, sewn up or left as is?”,

,’Crazy, bitch… that’s the ninth time you’ve said that…”,

,’Wait, it looks better sewn up again.,’

Also, it was the ninth time the woman had screamed her last.

,’Wait, wait―!!! If you kill me, the others will―”,

,’It’s okay~ It’s already famous that you’re going around ambushing paladins… Even if you die, no one will care~? You shouldn’t have messed with the paladins~ I only catch and kill those who deserve to die~”

Pluto took out a new thread and chuckled, sewing up the lips of the woman who was tied up and unable to move.

She had already extracted all the information.

And… the information that demons could spew out was mostly useless. If she had told her where she was sensitive or what kind of restraints she preferred, she could at least have let her speak.

,’Eueum! Sewn up is better after all!”,

,’Eubeuep…!”,

,’Now, just choose how you want to be sculpted. I’ll show you ‘samples’, so if you see something you like, blink your eyes three times in a row~”

Pluto looked at the demon before her-the demon of charm and dreams, Asmodeus-with a satisfied look.

,’I’m glad I found you just when I went looking. It’s rare to find a tall demon like you. They’re all short and just have big breasts…. It’s rare to find a well-proportioned demon like you.,’

Pluto.

Her hobby was to taxidermize her fellow demons into dolls.

She taxidermized even their beautiful appearances and souls, inflicting endless torture. Even if she removed their hearts and cut off their heads, their consciousness remained intact. It was thanks to Pluto’s unique ability to claim their burning souls as her own.

Pluto, who had taxidermized their souls, repeated the torture until the souls disappeared. The tortured souls were whittled away, worn down, and disappeared――eventually becoming living but dead dolls.

Pluto liked that.

Alive but dead.

Just creating that contradictory existence made her feel like she was rebelling against God. It was a truly petty rebellion.

That was the same even for demons, who were not human. Demons were also God’s creations, after all.

And it was more fun to torture arrogant demons than weak humans. Their high noses gradually broke down… and in the end, they couldn’t even speak properly and just drooled… how could she not like it?

,’Alright, alright. Here are some samples, so choose as you please.,’

Pluto showed Asmodeus ‘samples’ with a beaming smile.

,’This is a doll that died from having its organs eaten by crows, this is a doll that died from having its face sculpted into thirty pieces, this is…”

The ‘samples’ that Pluto showed were her other victims. However, unlike the intact appearance of the ‘samples’, the explanations she gave were terribly gruesome.

Pluto realized and explained.

,’Ah, it’s okay. I don’t mean you’ll actually die. You won’t die without my permission anyway.,’

The causes of death she mentioned were the ‘final tortures’ that the dolls couldn’t withstand. It meant that they had been tortured over and over again until they eventually became empty shells.

Even if their entire bodies were crushed into lumps of flesh, even if their faces were split into dozens of pieces, their consciousness remained intact…. For Pluto, sewing up the torn and fragmented bodies of the dolls and seeing their reactions afterward was the best entertainment.

,’Eubeuep…! Eubeueueup…!!”,

,’Let’s stop with the chatter… which one do you like?”,

Asmodeus was horrified by Pluto, who was handing out samples with an innocent face.

She shouldn’t have gone into the paladin’s dream to have sex. Who would have known that she would be caught the moment she tried to squeeze him dry? She barely managed to escape… but unfortunately, she ran into Pluto, who was passing by. She had known her for a while, so she asked for help, but this was the result.

Thinking about it, this bitch. She was deliberately there. She heard that she was having sex with a paladin and sneaked in to wait for an opportunity. There was no other explanation.

―Bbeumjjeok.

,’You like this one? The one that gets ground in a millstone?”,

Then, Pluto, who was showing the samples, smiled brightly and nodded.

Asmodeus blankly wondered what that meant, then realized that she had reflexively blinked her eyes.

,’Eubeuep! Eubeueueueup!!!!”,

,’Turning into minced meat… you have a unique taste….,’

Deolkeong, deolkeong. Asmodeus struggled, convulsing. Her eyes were bloodshot with tears and blood. But the demon, whose horns had been cut off, could not resist in any way.

,’It was all for nothing that I sewed up your lips… Heueum. But it’s okay! I’ll get ready quickly!”,

Pluto grumbled and raised her hand.

Taxidermizing a life into a doll takes a very long time. At least a month, and at most years. That meant that there were many people with strong minds, and that the pleasure of breaking them was also high.

Around this time.

Pluto became very busy.

,’I have to collect human souls too… and listen to Kud’s story…”

Pluto was a black magician. A sorcerer hated by the Holy See. There was no way she could use techniques that touched souls so easily.

She needed ‘materials’.

Just as mages used all sorts of things as materials, black magicians also needed a kind of material.

Among them, the material that Pluto enjoyed using the most was, of course, human souls. She used souls as a price to alchemize the human body. It had the disadvantage of requiring a lot of souls, but it was perfect for restoring a body that had been damaged by torture.

In other words, it wasn’t magic. It was literally evil sorcery. A technique that deviated from the right path.

,’Wait… I’ll put you in soon.,’

,’Eukkeuheueueup!!!!!!”,

Even a wounded and weakened demon was helpless for a reason.

Because they didn’t know how to deal with it.

It might have been a single mistake, but if they were injured, it was a different story.

Pluto prepared to put Asmodeus in the millstone. Tied to a restraint, in a giant millstone that was no different from a giant grinder.

• Deolkeong.

As the upper and lower stones separated, Asmodeus’s eyes trembled violently. Her fate was to be crushed between those giant stones and ground into pieces of meat. She turned her bloodshot eyes to Pluto, but she still only gave a weary smile and moved the restraints.

,’Eueheup! Eueheueueup!!!!”,

Crazy bitch.

This bitch was crazy.

‘You fucking, fucking goddamn mutt――’

Asmodeus, who was stuck between the flat stones like a hamburger patty, trembled as she cursed inwardly.

Soon, Pluto, who had climbed onto the giant millstone, carefully grabbed the handle. The handle was also giant, befitting the size. Pluto’s small frame could barely turn it by hugging it.

,’I’ll start now~”

And.

As Pluto made a strange moan and pushed the handle.

,’Eubeueueueueup――!!!!”,

• Kung.

A stone weighing several tons fell on Asmodeus’s body, which was tied to the restraint.

,’Eueum~ It’s still good~”

The bitter smell of blood, the sound of bones and flesh being crushed in real time. Pluto grinned and began to turn the handle.

,’You’re still intact, right~? I’ll turn it~”

But she knew that she was still intact.

Soul taxidermy was a technique that allowed one to maintain their mind no matter what happened to their body. In other words, the subject of consciousness and ego was freed from the ‘brain’. If even a piece of the body remained, it could replace the brain. Even if the body was turned to powder, they would have to feel the pain of each and every grain with all their senses, clearly and without a second of waste.

,’Kkeueueung~”

Deureureureuk… As Pluto exerted her strength, the millstone turned.

Kkadeuk, Kwajik. Kudeudeuk… Flesh and bones were torn to shreds, and pieces of brain and flesh were mixed together until it was impossible to tell what was what.

,’Can you hear me~? You won’t be able to answer even if you can hear me, but I’ll tell you anyway since you can hear me~”

After grinding for about thirty more minutes, she stared into the air and muttered.

,’I’m going out for a while, so stay like that~”

Pluto glanced at Asmodeus’s arm, which was sticking out from between the millstones. The entire body except for the left arm had been ground into meat scraps by the millstone. If she opened the millstone, the stuck pieces of meat would crack and split.

She was satisfied.

,’Hua~”

She wiped away the flowing sweat and let go of the handle. Torturing was good, but it was still tiring. Pluto turned away from the millstone, thinking about her future plans.

―Ttak!

As she snapped her fingers, her body was engulfed in black flames. The flames that wrapped around her body transformed Pluto’s body after a few seconds.

The childlike body disappeared, and a tall, slender figure appeared. Red hair that reached down to her calves, a thin wasp waist. Sharp eyes and a sharp nose. A commanding older sister’s appearance. It was the ideal image that Pluto dreamed of.

Black flames rose from her clothes and body, adding to her demonic appearance. The humans who were frightened gave her the name Kalpa Fire. A fire that destroys the world, what a wonderful name.

She left the hideout and muttered.

,’I heard that the agent has arrived~… I have some friends~?”

Information she had heard while disguised as a human and living among the northerners. She would probably arrive in the North sometime today or tomorrow.

‘This time, you’re planning to subjugate me on purpose~’

Pluto smiled leisurely, then trembled with anxiety, and soon gave a reckless laugh, thinking that nothing would happen.

‘This time might be dangerous~’

Had she stirred up too much trouble?

It would have been better to avoid killings that would attract the attention of humans… but she needed souls so much these days.

To be honest, the agent named Pavin, who kept interfering with her… wasn’t that threatening. Even if she was injured, she was still capable of hunting down other demons. Pluto was definitely not weak, despite her gentle personality.

By using human souls as a medium, she could do things that she couldn’t do with ordinary Mana.

Curses.

Evil sorcery of a completely different system from magic or Mana.

She could use over twelve hundred curses. She couldn’t use them all at the same time, but even if she only gathered the threatening curses, there were over two hundred.

‘But if that doesn’t work….’

Should I try surrendering?

I don’t think the agents will fall for it, but just in case~ She moved quickly, thinking trivial thoughts.

‘They can’t find me if I run away anyway~’

Well, she wasn’t too worried.

She was a demon after all.