Ch.126Black Blood Devil

I froze, and so did Serena, at this completely unexpected turn of events.

While Serena seemed to feel stronger wariness and hostility toward the demon’s head that had suddenly begun acting strangely, I felt more bewildered.

I had faced this demon more than ten times before, but this was the first time it had ever behaved like this.

Not only that, but even in ancient manuscripts compiled from testimonies of people claiming to have encountered demons, there was no mention of demons about to be destroyed suddenly floating in mid-air and spouting nonsense like “accept it” without any context.

“Accept it.”

The demon’s head spoke again. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that a voice flowed from somewhere inside its mouth.

After all, one wouldn’t describe it as speaking when a voice emerges from a mouth torn wide open without the slightest movement.

Serena, who had drawn Wind Shear and stood blocking my way, looked ready to swing her sword and slice the demon’s head to pieces at any moment.

It was a natural reaction, considering that the aura this demon emitted was unsettling enough to give even me an eerie feeling, despite my only notable trait being an annoyingly tenacious life force that refused to end no matter what.

Serena, with her far superior intuition, must be experiencing that much more intense emotional turmoil.

The fact that Serena, who wouldn’t bat an eye even when facing an archdemon, was now on high alert spoke volumes about the danger posed by that severed head.

The demon’s goat-like eyes grew so large they seemed to bulge outward, as if pushing against the eyelids. I thought they might burst at any moment.

What made it even more grotesque was that despite this, its vertically slit pupils remained fixed on me without the slightest deviation.

“Could you step aside for a moment, Serena?”

“My lord, however…”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m not the kind of human who would die from something like that, right? It clearly has something to say to me, so I should step up. I’m curious what it wants to say that’s worth transforming into such a state.”

When my response was more positive than expected, I gently placed my hands on Serena’s shoulders and softly pushed her aside.

Serena yielded to my gesture, but her sapphire eyes were filled with concern as she looked at me. I patted her head a couple of times to reassure her.

I had hesitated momentarily due to some instinctive unease, but there was no real reason for me to avoid it.

If this situation involved an entity powerful enough to make even Serena wary, then from my perspective, it was something I should welcome with open arms.

Instead of that useless, contract-obsessed demon who provided absolutely no help, something that might genuinely be able to kill me had manifested.

“Accept it.”

The demon made its third entreaty. An invitation without me knowing what I was supposed to accept.

“Accept what?”

“The One who is coming.”

“The One?”

“Yes.”

The demon’s head remained frozen as if time had stopped, except for its eyeballs that were swollen to the point of nearly popping out, but its voice directed at me came through clearly.

Whether its eyes burst or not wasn’t my concern, but the expression the demon had just used bothered me.

“The One”? If this creature, who had introduced itself as a high-ranking archdemon during our first meeting, was using honorifics, did that mean whatever was inhabiting its head now was some kind of Demon King?

Demon King was a position whose very existence was uncertain to begin with. Even when I asked this demon about it, I only got ambiguous answers. Or it would just clam up entirely.

“And what happens if I accept?”

“You will gain eternal life.”

“What absolute bullshit.”

The curse reflexively flew out of my mouth upon hearing those words. It came out so fast you’d believe it bypassed my brain and went straight from my throat.

At first, I wondered what I had just heard, and then a wave of incredulity washed over me.

Of all things, you’re offering eternal life to me?

“I don’t know who or what is controlling that severed head right now, but I’ll say this just once, so listen carefully.”

If whoever was inside that demon mentioned eternal life to mock me, I wanted to let them know they had succeeded brilliantly.

“Eternal life means absolutely nothing to me. I don’t know why you’re offering me a damned life where I can’t even die by my own will as some kind of exchange condition, but if you mention that word in front of me one more time, I’ll tear that precious mouth of yours apart. Understood? If you thought I would be tempted by the word ‘eternal life’ like other humans and blindly accept without understanding the situation, you’ve seriously misjudged me.”

“It has meaning. It is the natural order and providence.”

“Do demons spout nonsense these days too? I have many talents, but understanding animal language isn’t one of them, unfortunately. Anyone would recognize that as nonsense, and I’m sorry I can’t interpret it.”

“You know nothing. Accept The One. You can gain eternal life.”

“You keep spouting this nonsense—”

“The One has regained all power.”

The demon’s eyeballs, which had grown to the brink of explosion, instantly returned to their original size. So small they were barely visible, buried among the vine-like tendrils.

I couldn’t even follow what had happened. I only realized that somehow the demon was standing there, restored to its original form.

“This is The One’s final mercy and salvation.”

Flesh began to boil up from the severed neck, gradually taking the shape of a demon.

A torso wrapped in red vine-like tendrils appeared, arms and legs grew from that torso, and newly sprouted wings spread wide behind its back.

The vines in the demon’s right hand intertwined and grew larger, soon taking the form of a sword with a red jewel embedded in its hilt.

It was World Eater, which had been thrust into the ground when Serena cut off the demon’s wrist. I turned my head. The spot where World Eater had been embedded was now empty.

“Accept it.”

Black blood flowed from between the vine tendrils wrapping the demon’s body.

As the black blood spread, the air instantly began to decay. The sand particles around the demon turned black.

“…Black blood?”

“My lord, please step back. I will handle this.”

Having no reason to hold Serena back anymore, I obediently retreated behind her. My mind couldn’t keep up with what was unfolding before my eyes.

Why was the demon suddenly repeating “accept it,” who was this “One” the demon spoke of, how did the demon’s body regenerate, and why was the demon, which had been bleeding red blood until recently, suddenly bleeding black?

One thing was clear: an entity superior to this demon had intervened. There was no other explanation for such an occurrence.

No matter how much of an archdemon it claimed to be, this was a creature that had been thoroughly beaten by Serena in the rain and ultimately had its neck severed and presented to me.

If it had possessed such power, it would have revealed it from the beginning rather than hiding it until this situation unfolded.

The question was, who exactly was this superior entity?

A being capable of instinctively putting Serena on guard, resurrecting a dying demon to become much stronger than before, and changing red blood to black—I had never heard of such an entity.

If such a being existed, I would have sought them out long ago to beg for death. After all, my plan to personally raise someone capable of killing me was a last resort after trying virtually every other method.

And most importantly, there was something else.

The black blood now flowing from the demon’s body kept bothering me. As far as I knew, there was only one individual associated with black blood.

‘No way. That’s impossible.’

I shook my head vigorously to erase that possibility. While it would be the worst-case scenario if it happened, it was also an impossibility.

It couldn’t be that. Absolutely not.

It was impossible.

I had stabbed the heart with my own hands, confirmed the complete cessation of breathing, and watched with my own eyes as the body completely dissolved, leaving only a handful of black blood that also disappeared.

So, it absolutely could not be.

“My lord, what would you like me to do?”

Serena had surrounded herself with mana and was pointing Wind Shear at the demon, fully prepared to spring into action at any moment.

During our previous fight, I had ordered her not to kill it but just cut off its head because I had questions, so she was probably asking if she should do the same this time.

“Just kill it. I don’t need it anymore. I don’t think there’s anything more to gain by letting it live, and it doesn’t seem like it will answer my questions. If we let it live, it will just keep telling us to accept ‘The One.'”

“Yes, my lord.”

“However.”

Serena, who was about to charge at the demon after infusing Wind Shear with mana, paused at my words.

“Kill it without leaving a single speck behind.”

The demon flapped its wings and soared into the air. Black blood splattered in all directions, transforming the wasteland into a land of death.

Serena’s eyes flashed with deadly intent.

“As you command.”