Ch.212212. Conquest (2)

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“Get away-!!”

A voice filled with anger echoes loudly.

The Red Demon’s blazing gaze flies toward me and pierces through.

“You…”

Like a growl.

Like a wounded beast roaring.

“What do you know about me…!”

I do know.

Just what’s written in the setting book, but still.

[…She seems extremely angry?]

‘For good reason.’

From her perspective, some stranger appeared out of nowhere, stole a kiss, and then started saying weird things about making her happy.

‘Isn’t it fascinating, Calivan?’

[What is?]

‘That demons, creatures like these, have emotions so close to humans.’

It’s something I once mentioned to Authority as well.

These demons.

They truly resemble humans more than one might expect.

Which means what I’m about to do will definitely work.

“…I’m tired of dealing with you.”

As those thoughts cross my mind, the imaginary world begins to change dramatically.

“Just crumble and die. You worthless human insect…”

The environment around me begins to writhe, as if trying to surround and devour me.

But.

< System Message >

[ ‘Fallen Sky Seal’ responds to the demon’s presence! ]

[ The opponent’s energy is hostile. The inherent energies automatically resist! ]

Contrary to her intentions, there isn’t much change in my condition.

Instead, the seal on my chest glows. The murky light flowing from it blocks all the red light flying toward me from the surroundings.

Seeing this, the Red Demon’s eyes widened slightly.

“…It’s the Grey one.”

Then, she gritted her teeth.

“Planting a seal in a human. What was he thinking?”

“Who knows.”

I sigh as I respond.

No, honestly, I don’t know either.

This seal is powerful enough to change my ‘race value’ and seems to have all sorts of functions attached to it.

I get the feeling that there’s some… important ‘function’ hidden beyond my understanding.

Like groundwork laid for some crucial situation that will come in the future.

‘…Anyway.’

But what’s important in the current situation is:

“What’s certain is that I’m not going to die as easily as you think.”

I’m not crazy enough to jump into a demon’s path completely defenseless.

This seal has consumed the demonic energy of the White Demon, Grey Demon, Violet Demon, and Blue Demon. Even if I directly face a demon in the imaginary world, it should buy me enough time to resist, at least briefly.

“…So, shall we have a short talk?”

“…”

To the Red Demon who silently glares at me, I continue speaking calmly.

Her demeanor suggests I can talk freely while the seal’s power lasts. She thinks she can kill me afterward anyway.

[…You think you can defeat a demon with just that?]

‘Who said anything about defeating?’

I answer with a slight smile.

From the beginning, I came here to talk.

Not to fight.

“…Talk all you want.”

The Red Demon crossed her arms, her eyes gleaming.

Her red irises flickered ominously.

“When that duration ends, I’ll tear your soul apart and kill you, then proceed with everything as planned. Those weaklings outside can’t even stop—”

“By burning the entire world to make Faynol alone?”

“…”

The Red Demon frowned and closed her mouth.

What I said struck at the core of what she was trying to do.

The first thing she would do after retrieving the demon’s main body from the void zone is exactly as I said—reduce the world to ashes.

The reason?

“…Being alone is better than getting hurt.”

So that no one, ‘like before,’

Could hurt Faynol again.

She wants to erase the very possibility.

The small village where she first encountered enemies.

The Demonic Spire where she faced enemies the second time.

Either way, those must remain as traumatic memories for Faynol.

If I recall the game knowledge correctly, what Faynol experienced there…

Was undoubtedly terrible enough to make this one argue that ‘it’s better to burn everything down preemptively than to get hurt.’

The reason I couldn’t treat her harshly from the moment I saw her is because I know about that past.

But still.

“I’m going to stop you.”

“…”

“Because she needs to know that the world can be a wonderful place too. When I say I’ll ‘make her happy,’ that includes this as well.”

That’s just how the world is.

If you can experience terrible things, you should also know that wonderful things can happen too.

Just as I learned from someone in the past.

“…This is absurd.”

The Red Demon swept back her hair as she responded.

“How much do you understand about the pain Faynol went through, how much she crawled through the mud—”

“I.”

I cut off her words with a calm voice.

“I was abandoned at birth and found in a trash can with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck.”

“…”

“That’s my first memory. I know pretty well what it means for life to be shitty.”

From now on,

I’m going to persuade her.

Just defeating the Red Demon wouldn’t be meaningful. I need to show her what ‘happiness’ truly means for it to matter.

For that, her heart needs to open first.

So.

“…Just a little, just for a very brief moment.”

To her alone, I think it would be okay to ‘show.’

“Would you listen to an old story of mine?”

The story of my past.

●

If someone has risen to the position of Archbishop within the Holy Empire, it’s certain that Archbishop Luminol is a person who has been through all sorts of trials.

And as such a person, he can say with certainty:

Darwood Campbell is the most pitiful man in the world.

“No, I’m telling you I’m the 91st!”

“Only in your dreams.”

A blue-haired woman wielding gauntlets and a woman holding daggers in both hands exchange such dialogue.

Even while having this conversation, Pandemonium creatures around them were falling like autumn leaves, swept away by these two.

“…You two actually get along quite well, don’t you?”

And the Tristan Duchess who adds such a comment, along with the black-haired girl beside her, are no less formidable.

Though they use different sword techniques, the power emanating from their blades clearly shows they’ve both reached the level of masters.

“…Please refrain from saying such things even as a joke, Senior Elnore.”

“I agree wholeheartedly!”

And with these four working together in battle, even while engaging in such trivial conversation, mountains of corpses were piling up around them.

It wasn’t even a battle. They were simply crushing their opponents as if it were child’s play.

“Um, Father.”

“What is it, Lana?”

“…I came to help after hearing about this potentially world-ending crisis.”

Lana Ray Delvium scratched her head with a perplexed expression.

“But do you really need us for this?”

“…”

Archbishop Luminol simply stroked his chin silently instead of answering.

Although no serious creatures except Hell Guard had been released yet, it was still a catastrophic situation as Lana pointed out.

The dimensional gate to Pandemonium opening—just hearing about it would drive some people insane.

And yet.

These women were suppressing it with such ease.

‘…I even feel sympathy.’

He couldn’t help but think this, even though the opponent was a man who had done terrible things to his daughter.

From what he heard, all these women were competing over this man named Darwood.

Living a life surrounded by such people, walking on eggshells and balancing relationships—it was certainly a terrifying prospect that Luminol couldn’t even imagine.

“…Don’t let your guard down too much, child.”

But that aside.

Luminol said this while turning his gaze toward the Red Demon’s vessel inside the pillar of fire.

The problem was over there.

Since Darwood made contact with it, the vessel had been floating in the air, curled up and motionless.

Looking closely at its eyes, they seemed unfocused, as if it had lost consciousness.

At first glance, it might appear subdued, but the dimensional gates showed no signs of closing, and the pillar of fire wasn’t diminishing.

If left like this.

It would undoubtedly damage the barrier spread by the Lightbearer.

“Candidate Hero, are you ready?”

“Not yet!”

Eliya responded irritably, gripping the holy sword with both hands.

She wasn’t simply holding it but seemed to be struggling to ‘connect’ with the holy sword, manipulating mana around it.

“Don’t talk to me! The teacher said I need to somehow ‘resonate’ with the holy sword…!”

“…I apologize for that. But I don’t think that’s going to happen easily.”

The power within the holy sword comes from the angels of the Otherworld.

It can’t possibly be awakened just by manipulating mana like that.

“Then give me a hint at least!”

“…You’re actually the first human to hold the holy sword without dying but also without the radiance appearing. It’s hard to help. If the radiance had appeared even once, I could at least guess the clue…”

At those words, Eliya paused and looked at Archbishop Luminol.

“…Earlier.”

Then, she hesitantly began to speak.

As if it was extremely difficult to say.

“Um, you know. When I thought about the teacher, I think the sword glowed a little.”

Archbishop Luminol’s eyes widened.

“…Then start from there. Thinking about that man, how? In what way did you think of him that made the radiance appear?”

“…”

With a slight blush rising to her face, Eliya took a deep breath.

Then, with her eyes tightly shut, she spoke in a faltering, almost inaudible voice.

“…When I realized that the teacher is, um, an incredibly precious person to me… the sword glowed…”

“Oh!”

Suddenly.

Lana exclaimed.

“…Didn’t it just glow?”

At Lana’s words, Eliya opened her eyes and stared at the holy sword.

“…What?”

“When you just said that, I saw it glow slightly.”

“…”

Eliya looked the holy sword up and down with disbelief.

It glowed?

This?

Just because I said that?

“Why don’t you try once more?”

“…What?”

Eliya responded with an incredulous voice to Lana’s suggestion, but Lana tilted her head and replied with a puzzled tone.

“No, when you showed that schoolgirl-in-love reaction about Darwood, didn’t the sword respond? Why not continue in that direction?”

“Are you… joking…?!”

Eliya trembled as she said this, but Archbishop Luminol urgently interjected.

“No, I think that’s right. I stake my name as Archbishop on it—that light just now was definitely the holy sword’s radiance!”

“…”

“Try going in that direction. Hurry!”

At his serious expression without a trace of playfulness, Eliya’s face rapidly flushed red.

“Ugh… uugh…”

“Eliya, you can do it! But you need to do it now!”

Under continued urging, Eliya trembled with shame but managed to open her mouth.

“To… to me… the teacher is… very, um, wonderful and…”

The holy sword emitted a slight glow.

But it was barely perceptible.

“Oh, it’s glowing but not enough! Try expressing yourself more explicitly!”

“He’s… ha-handsome… and, and sometimes when he smiles at me, my heart pounds uncontrollably…”

The light flickered again.

But it was still far from being bright enough.

“More! Use stronger words!”

“M-more than this…?!”

“Yes! How much do you like Darwood?!”

At Lana’s shout, Eliya’s eyes began to spin wildly.

“H-how much… um,”

“Are you in love with him?!”

The speed at which her eyes spun increased.

“Y-yes…! I, I love him!”

As soon as she uttered those words, the holy sword glowed slightly again.

Confirming the effect, Lana let out another exclamation. The subsequent questions became even more aggressive.

“If you love him, you must have dreamed of marriage! How many children would you like?!”

“Uh, uhh…? Ch-children?! Th-three seems appropriate?”

“What gender for your first child?!”

“Ah… aaah… The, the first one would be a daughter!”

“Where would you like to go for your honeymoon? Beach? Hot springs? Resort?”

“…H-hot springs!”

“Why? Be honest!”

“The teacher’s body is surprisingly good! I, I want to see it again!”

The questions became increasingly aggressive, and Eliya’s responses, delivered while her eyes spun wildly as she barely held onto her sanity, grew more and more explicit.

“…”

“…”

Gradually, people around them began to give looks that seemed to ask what they were doing.

Even Archbishop Luminol, who had suggested trying this approach, was narrowing his eyes at the two.

However, since the radiance flowing from the holy sword was actually growing stronger with each explicit statement from Eliya, no one could interrupt them.

After this exchange continued for some time:

“Finally, what do you wish Darwood would do to you?!”

“Honestly, I wish he would just take me–!!!!”

And it seems their efforts weren’t in vain.

Along with Eliya’s tearful, almost screaming confession, a bright light burst from the holy sword. The light twisted chaotically around, creating complex patterns.

And seeing this, Luminol’s eyes widened.

“The Lightbearer’s radiance…!”

The pinnacle of all angels.

The symbol of the Lightbearer was being drawn above the holy sword.

“Father, it’s working!”

“…Indeed it is. But among all the heroes in history, none has ever drawn the Lightbearer’s radiance from the holy sword…!”

Next to Archbishop Luminol, who was speaking as if he had made the discovery of the century:

“…I… want to die…”

Eliya’s quiet, sobbing voice spread solemnly around them.

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