Ch.116Devil – 1

The World Eater, now facing its true scabbard, continuously emitted ominous waves filled with sinister tones.

A trembling sensation full of ecstasy transmitted through the handle. I gripped it tightly with both hands as Serena would, but perhaps because I wasn’t Serena, the vibrations showed no signs of diminishing.

Serena, who had been watching me with worried eyes, carefully opened her mouth.

“My lord, if you would permit me, I shall do it in your stead. This is too dangerous.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I won’t die. It’s just excited because it’s regaining its original form after so long.”

“But my lord…”

“Serena, who do you think brought these things here?”

It was indeed Charlotte who built the magic tower to gather these unruly weapons in one place. However, it was clearly I who brought the weapons to be stored inside.

More precisely, Charlotte had offered to build a separate magic tower after seeing the weapons I had collected.

“I’m the one who collected these things and stashed them in the basement. Don’t worry too much; I’ve already experienced what happens when you grab such demonic swords.”

“If you say so, my lord, I shall obey.”

Serena seemed somewhat convinced as she stepped back a few paces. In truth, even if she hadn’t been convinced, she would have quietly obeyed if I had ordered her to stay put.

I grabbed the World Eater’s scabbard, which was now half-floating in the air, with my other hand. When I tilted the groove carved into the scabbard toward the blade’s tip, a slight attraction formed between the two.

It felt like my arms were being pulled toward the sword and scabbard rather than me joining them together.

With a click, the blade completely disappeared. The vibrations stopped abruptly. Silence filled the cramped room.

Serena instinctively moved to draw her sword but then hesitated as she realized her empty waist. She must have detected the ominous energy rising from the World Eater.

Suddenly, a stinging sensation was felt in the palm of my right hand holding the sword. It was a signal that this demonic sword was trying to devour my right arm.

Something resembling red vines pierced through my palm and protruded out the back of my hand.

The red vines that emerged from the back of my hand split into four smaller tendrils from the center, and each small tendril pierced through my hand in various directions, firmly entangling my hand with the sword.

After completely fixing my hand to the handle in this manner, the vines now burrowed into my forearm. The target was probably my entire right arm, or even my whole body.

Of course, they couldn’t penetrate my ultra-regeneration ability. As my body restored itself, the vines piercing my forearm and the back of my hand were violently ejected outward.

The vines pushed out into the air flailed aimlessly for a moment, as if having lost their way, before withering and disappearing.

The red gems embedded in the World Eater began to glow. The entire sword shone with a reddish light, dyeing the basement crimson.

An ominous vortex swirled around the sword. All the airflow generated in the basement concentrated in one place.

The vortex had already become clear enough to be visible to the naked eye.

Serena frowned as she observed the airflow taking on a bizarre appearance, mixed with the red light emanating from the gems.

If she could have her way, she would probably separate that thing from me immediately. But since I had assured her I was fine, she couldn’t bring herself to intervene.

From within the swirling vortex came a voice that sounded like metal being scraped.

It was a voice completely devoid of any pitch variation.

“So it was you.”

“What’s with the ‘So it was you’ right off the bat? If anyone should have complaints, it’s me. Did you already forget trying to steal my arm right after I finally reunited you with your real scabbard?”

“Are you not the one who made me like this? How ironic.”

“I don’t think ‘ironic’ is the right word here. My knowledge says otherwise. I clearly told you back then that I didn’t care if you took my soul or whatever, just try to kill me once. You failed at that, and you couldn’t prevent being forcibly separated by someone like me in that state. So isn’t this predicament entirely your own karma?”

The entity let out a flat hum as I mentioned how it had ended up in this state. It was because everything I said was absolutely correct.

Beside me, Serena was staring at the vortex surrounding the World Eater with dead eyes. She seemed quite disturbed by how it had just pierced my arm with those strange vines.

“My lord, is this the true form of the World Eater you mentioned?”

“No, not yet. This is just barely enough to allow it to converse with humans. For it to fully manifest, it needs quite a lot of sacrifices. But it just tried to use me as a sacrifice and failed, right? That’s why it’s in this state. But honestly, even if it did manifest through sacrifices, it wouldn’t be much. It’s just a complete fraud and liar.”

At my words, the voice within the vortex grew fiercer. Though still completely flat in pitch, it dropped to an even lower tone.

“Insolent. Show some respect.”

Respect, my ass. I fired back without backing down.

“I’m not in a position where I need to show you respect. I’ve lived quite long too, though perhaps not as long as you. And one more thing: I offered you everything, begging you to kill me, but you failed at every attempt and ended up stashed away in a basement. And now what? Show respect? Are all demons so completely devoid of conscience?”

“I clearly advised that I would try different methods.”

“Yes, and I heard that advice about ten times. If you tried ten times and failed ten times, then the problem lies with you.”

“There are still many methods left.”

“There might be many methods left, but none of them are effective. Do you know how much human blood and flesh you’ve consumed under the pretext of killing me? You must be so damn happy. You have a sucker who brings sacrifices on his own as long as you pretend to try. If you’re just going to do useless things like extracting souls again, I won’t even bother trying.”

I loosened my grip on the World Eater, and it fell to the basement floor with a clang. The vortex still remained at about our eye level.

Normally, one wouldn’t be able to let go of the World Eater until their arm was completely consumed or they died, but I was an exception.

My arm had been about to be consumed but was forcibly released due to my ultra-regeneration ability.

“There are many methods available. I will tell you when you prepare sacrifices.”

“I just told you. Available methods and effective methods are completely different. Why did I tear you in half and stash you here in the first place? I put you here as collateral so you could think of a way to completely kill me. Not tearing my body apart or pulling out my organs or such. Or has your intelligence also been reduced because of your torn half?”

“Do not be insolent. I told you to show resp—”

The words coming from within the vortex were cut off there. It was because Serena had picked up the fallen World Eater with a murderous aura.

Gripping the handle of the World Eater with both hands, Serena began pouring an enormous amount of mana into it. The vortex fluctuated wildly due to the influx of massive mana.

“It is you who should show respect. How dare you act this way toward my lord?”

“…”

At that fierce warning, the demon fell silent. Serena’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and she grasped the scabbard and handle with separate hands.

Then she began pulling them in opposite directions.

The light bursting from the red gems intensified. The ominous energy that had been gathering like a vortex scattered its momentum as if screaming.

The separation process didn’t seem easy even for Serena; her hands gripping the scabbard and handle trembled slightly.

As if blood wasn’t flowing properly, her already pale fingers turned even whiter. The trembling soon spread to her entire arms.

Before long, the blade began to gradually emerge.

‘She’s actually doing it.’

And there I was, watching Serena trying to forcibly separate the World Eater, inwardly expressing admiration.

While what Serena was doing might appear to be simply drawing a sword, considering that the demon inside was resisting separation with all its might, it was an incredibly absurd feat.

Even though the bond was incomplete due to its recent formation, she was literally tearing a partially manifested demon into two pieces using only her physical strength.

In other words, it was similar to priests purifying demons.

If priests had succeeded in purifying a demon according to orthodox methods, the World Eater would have separated into sword and scabbard on its own.

But what Serena was doing was the opposite. Instead of purifying the demon to separate the sword and scabbard, she was separating the sword and scabbard to purify the demon.

It was something that would horrify other priests if they heard about it.

‘Christine could probably do this too.’

In terms of physical ability, Christine, who nearly matched Serena who used mana, could likely accomplish this without much difficulty.

No, regardless of possibility, the demon would probably scream and be ejected from the World Eater just by her approaching it.

If Christine deliberately emitted her holy power, she might even be able to purify the World Eater itself.

While I was lost in these idle thoughts, Serena had finally managed to draw the World Eater halfway out of its scabbard.

The World Eater kept screaming, making sounds like metal scraping against metal. The intensity of the vortex surrounding the blade gradually weakened.

Serena took a deep breath and, with a final effort, applied more force. Unable to withstand the pulling force from both sides any longer, the World Eater separated with a final metallic screech.

The light from the red gems dimmed and returned to their original color. The ominous vortex that had been swirling violently disappeared pathetically.

Serena, who had achieved the absurd feat of physically purifying a demon, exhaled the breath she had been holding.

She held the World Eater’s scabbard in her left hand and the sword in her right.

Her breathing was remarkably calm, as if she hadn’t just succeeded in such an impossible purification.

Serena knelt before me on one knee. She bowed her head deeply and, supporting the lower part of the World Eater with both hands, presented it to me.

“Though I know you told me not to interfere, I could not tolerate the disrespect it showed toward you, my lord. I will accept any punishment for ignoring your words and acting on my own.”

The World Eater resting on Serena’s hands was trembling slightly, perhaps due to being forcibly ejected from reality.

‘That’s what you get for needlessly asserting your pride.’

Right beside it was the being who had carried it around for nearly ten years, dominating it with sheer force, watching me with wide eyes.

I gently stroked Serena’s head to indicate that she shouldn’t worry, then took the World Eater back. As I held it, Serena offered me the scabbard as well.

When I received it and rejoined the two, the gems glowed and the vortex quietly swirled again.

It seemed more subdued than when it first appeared. After confirming that the vortex had regained its previous form, I spoke.

“You just experienced it firsthand, didn’t you? Don’t even think about using half-baked methods. Serena is far stronger than you.”

“Understood.”

This time, a docile answer came back. The physical purification seemed to have been quite effective.

“Good. Now we’re communicating better. You should have been this compliant from the start. Then you wouldn’t have had to experience being forcibly ejected back into the sword.”

“I see.”

“That’s right. Now, since you seem to have gained some sense to listen to me, I’ll ask you again.”

I paused briefly.

“That method you mentioned to kill me—have you found it?”