Ch.101Two Faces (1)

*

The day Sylvia and Alice collided.

The two unleashed all their power against each other.

It was a sight witnessed only by the two of them.

Had anyone else seen it, they would surely have been driven mad with fear just from the sight.

The scene was more intense than a mere clash of powers or abilities.

Obsession, jealousy, rage, hatred, and regret.

Emotions that could never be resolved boiled within them, twisting their inner selves far more than their outward appearances, breaking them down severely.

And because they endured by pointing fingers at the opponent before them as the cause, neither could lose nor back down.

Perhaps the two were too similar in nature.

Both possessed strength that far surpassed ordinary humans, both were expected to fulfill their roles as heroes, and both had tasted tremendous failure.

Both even shared the same most precious friend in their lives.

And even the same spouse.

But the decisive difference between them ultimately stemmed from their attitudes toward accepting their situations.

Because of this difference, they could never understand each other.

No, they didn’t even want to understand.

In Sylvia’s eyes, Alice was nothing but a fool, flailing about in futile struggle.

What meaning was there in seeking revenge against the Demon Lord now?

The thought that killing the Demon Lord would bring peace to the world was nothing but a vain hope.

Of course, they might taste momentary peace.

But the peace Alice sought, even at the cost of her own life, would never be the same as what she once knew.

Even if monsters were exterminated and only humans remained, they would just commit foolish acts like war anyway, and avenging the Demon Lord wouldn’t bring Maria and all the dead back to life.

And Ash would never return to Alice.

Conversely, in Alice’s eyes, Sylvia was a coward who had lost all will and collapsed, wanting to forget everything.

She couldn’t understand how someone who had failed to fulfill her duty as a hero and couldn’t protect her many comrades, including Maria, had neither the heart to complete her mission nor the will to avenge her companions.

Even Alice, who hadn’t directly witnessed Maria’s death, trembled with rage hot enough to boil her brain, so how could Sylvia so nonchalantly abandon everything?

After clashing several times, it was clear that Sylvia still possessed overwhelming power.

Yet she chose to forget humanity, her comrades, and even her friends, just to play house as a beloved bride in this forest?

And with Ash, Maria’s brother?

By what right did she claim him—my best friend’s brother, my childhood friend, my fiancé?

The swords and fists that pierced each other’s bodies multiple times burst with pain as heavy as the thick wall of emotions between them.

Despite the fact that they could heal, but not escape the pain, both ignored their suffering to avoid creating even the slightest opening.

They neither gritted their teeth nor squinted their eyes.

There was no room for even a moment’s distraction, as it would be a fatal mistake in this moment.

The fierce exchange of attacks continued without the slightest tilt in balance.

However, it seemed that Alice’s emotions were slightly more intense.

Her artificial heart spewed explosive divine power in response to her emotions, heating itself up, which may have further stimulated Alice’s rage.

At some point, when a fist strong enough to lift her entire body struck her abdomen, Sylvia dropped her sword.

In that moment, Sylvia clearly sensed defeat.

When she saw Alice snatch the dropped sword from midair and swing it with a shout, she even thought she was finally going to die.

However,

Was it because she was too excited, or because handling such vast divine power was too burdensome?

Alice made the fatal mistake of forgetting to channel divine power into the sword.

And a weapon without divine power could not harm Sylvia in any way.

Protection from the Demon Lord’s curse.

This was closer to a curse than a blessing, more like a reality-distorting spell than a sacred miracle.

It wasn’t a power that healed or strengthened her, but rather a force that stubbornly prevented her from being injured under any circumstances.

That day when she first explained her curse to Ash.

Just as the knife she had forcefully stabbed into her own eye had done,

The blade that flew straight toward her neck simply evaporated, leaving only pitch-black ashes.

“Huh?”

In that brief moment of Alice’s confusion.

In that short instant of less than a second.

Sylvia literally pulverized Alice’s body.

Knowing she would recover quickly, Sylvia continuously pounded various parts of her body without rest.

Alice spat out black blood clots from her lips and said:

“Kuk, let’s see how long this lasts, ugh! Whether you give up first, or I surrender… gahk,”

“…”

Sylvia continued to pulverize Alice’s body relentlessly as she spoke:

“Do you know how many times I’ve tried to die?”

“…uh… kueogh”

Alice, with her broken mouth and neck, glared at Sylvia while making strange noises.

Sylvia planted her fist into Alice’s head, crushing it, and asked again:

“Do you know what lengths I’ve gone to in order to die?”

No answer came.

Since she hadn’t asked expecting an answer anyway, Sylvia calmly opened her mouth:

“Look forward to it. You’ll come to fear my imagination.”

Sylvia struck down again and again until Alice turned into something like a thin, red meat porridge.

*

A night when Sylvia sneaked out after confirming Ash was asleep.

With the lingering sensation of lovemaking with Ash still between her legs, Sylvia was humming happily, walking with little skips in her step.

After leaving the lakeside, passing through Milwood Village which had completely burned down with barely any traces left, Sylvia arrived at the riverside filled with memories of Ash. Seemingly unaffected by the cold, she walked straight into the river water with splashing steps.

After wading in until the water reached her waist, she slowly felt around with her feet as if searching for something, then soon dipped her head underwater and pulled out something large and heavy, tossing it onto the shore.

The object landed on the sand with a thud, shaped like a dented metal ball, with red liquid constantly seeping through the crushed and crumpled narrow gaps.

Sylvia leisurely emerged from the water and kicked the metal object to set it upright.

“I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll finish quickly, Alice.”

Sylvia said as she crouched down.

Upon closer inspection, the object was the armor Alice had been wearing.

Armor with the openings for arms, neck, and torso tightly pressed together.

Sylvia forced her hand into the gap that was continuously leaking thin bloody fluid and pried it open with difficulty.

Inside were wriggling dark red flesh masses packed tightly together.

That flesh was Alice.

After being defeated by Sylvia and stuffed into her own armor, she had been repeating the cycle of regenerating her body all day and being pulverized by Sylvia every night.

“What’s this? You haven’t regenerated much today?”

Sylvia wondered aloud.

Clearly until yesterday, when she opened this prison made of armor, it was filled with Alice’s body, recovered but distorted to fit the narrow armor.

Of course, even though she had recovered, her body was compressed into this small steel frame, making her appearance closer to that of a human forcibly broken and molded into a ball rather than a human being.

Naturally, in that state she couldn’t offer much resistance to Sylvia, and Alice could only be pulverized while spitting curses through her distorted jaw.

Yet today, for some reason, Alice remained in the form of the dark red flesh mass that Sylvia had pulverized yesterday.

“Did you finally die?”

Looking closely, she was still weakly wriggling, so it seemed she wasn’t dead.

But clearly something was wrong.

Sylvia gazed at the flesh mass with a faint smile of satisfaction.

That’s when it happened.

From inside the meat, a perfectly intact hand suddenly shot out and lunged at Sylvia.

“Ha,”

A fist striking her chin.

Sylvia snorted and took the punch without even pretending to dodge.

But the feeble hand couldn’t deliver any impact to Sylvia.

She casually grabbed the wrist as if snatching it.

“You’re really amazing. Truly. I’m completely impressed.”

Sylvia said as she broke the wrist.

“So you only regenerated one arm. Since there’s no space if you regenerate your whole body… Ha, you’re really cunning…”

Sylvia slowly stood up and raised her right arm.

“But a punch isn’t thrown with just an arm. You know that, right?”

Arm, shoulder, waist, and the force of pushing firmly against solid ground.

A strong punch exerts great power only when all these conditions are combined.

That’s why Alice’s fist that had touched Sylvia’s chin moments ago was so pathetic.

“Like this.”

Sylvia swung her fist toward Alice’s flesh.

The force was so strong that the ground beneath her feet sank in, once again pulverizing Alice’s arm and flesh mass.

Blood and flesh splattered all over Sylvia’s face and body, but she paid no attention.

No, she could barely contain her smirk each time hot blood splashed on her face.

After pounding Alice’s flesh for a long time, Sylvia covered her breastplate again and pressed the open gaps, crushing them shut.

Sylvia lifted the metal piece, bent like clay by her grip, and said:

“How many times do you think Ash had sex with me today?”

Sylvia said with a blush.

Her expression was like that of a teenage girl shyly boasting about her experience to a friend.

Sylvia felt the flesh masses inside the armor squirm slightly as she spoke:

“I told him to stop so many times, but he wouldn’t listen and kept thrusting, really… I felt so good my waist was about to break and my legs were trembling… I could barely walk…”

Sylvia slowly entered the river water carrying the metal piece.

“I think we’ll do it again today, and tomorrow too. I wonder if I might get pregnant? Of course Ash is careful, but accidents can always happen…”

At the same spot where she had first retrieved Alice.

The same place where she always submerged Alice, Sylvia suddenly dropped her expression and voice, and spoke softly:

“Why don’t you start understanding now? Stop your pathetic tricks. I’m not leaving, you can’t leave, and Ash can’t leave either… No, it would be more accurate to say Ash won’t leave because he loves me.”

“…”

“I told you there’s no place for you, no, this is your place. Existing as flesh inside your precious armor.”

“…”

“Who knows? If Ash says he wants meat, maybe I’ll cut off some of your flesh for him? Since you revive around that unbreakable machine anyway, it doesn’t matter if I use parts of your body like meat, right?”

“…”

As the armor trembled, Sylvia laughed and said:

“I’m joking. How could I feed your filthy body to Ash?”

She slowly submerged the armor underwater.

Air bubbles gushed out through the small gaps in the armor.

“Sleep well, Alice. See you tomorrow.”

Sylvia covered Alice’s armor with sand using her foot, secured it firmly with stones, then slowly lay down in the river water.

She hummed a tune as she waited for the flowing water to wash away the blood and flesh pieces from her body.

.