Ch.21370. Cursed Causality (2)

“You bitch. When someone calls you, you should respond. Have you lost your mind?!”

Darkness, shadows, writhe and squirm.

“I didn’t call for you.”

“Then who? That idiot over there?”

“…Excuse me, but are you really him?”

“What wordplay is this? Him? What’s that supposed to be? Something to eat? Or what? Something to crush?”

“……”

From behind us, a cold fury could be felt in response to this rudeness.

Knowing our opponent was no ordinary being, everyone present was mentally preparing themselves to step in at any moment.

The aura was so fierce that one could easily feel intimidated if not careful.

…If even I felt this way, the others must be feeling several times more pressure.

Still keeping my gaze fixed on him,

I asked first.

“What business do you have here?”

“I don’t really have anything to do with you all, just dropped by for fun.”

“……”

A lie.

In an instant, Kariel considered several possibilities and deduced one hypothesis.

“That might have been part of your intention, but that wasn’t it. Your target was… the Queen, wasn’t it? That would draw attention and sow discord? Then you unexpectedly discovered me?”

“What nonsense are you spouting so elaborately? Does talking like that make you feel smart?”

“And you immediately adapt to me as a variable. But originally, your plan was to throw yourself out as bait. Not seeming like bait, but in reality, the most effective bait.”

And those words seemed to instill a plausible conviction in both the Queen and that dark presence.

After all, we knew who this person was.

Though it should be an impossible reality, accept what has happened.

There is absolutely nothing in this world that cannot happen.

“Should I take comfort in the fact that you’re not completely thick-headed? Or should I vomit in disgust?”

“Is the Demon King at the World Tree?”

“How would I know?”

Massive flames rise from his body.

“If you want to find out, go see for yourself now. In exchange, I’ll incinerate everything here for my amusement.”

“……”

I never anticipated something like this.

I was taught to always assume the worst, but… isn’t this a bit excessive?

“What should I call you?”

“I am me, you idiot. Or what? You want to use the name Kariel? You want to put on airs, you pathetic outcast?”

From the beginning, across all worlds.

“That name has always been mine in any world, you know? Is it difficult to say? Uncomfortable? Another name? Use whatever you want, you filthy outcast. You idiot who was mistreated, ignored, and beaten by those you should have ruled. Thinking about that, you bastard, makes me want to tear you into a thousand pieces right now.”

From the start, bearing my name.

“How can you be in such a pathetic state? Why do you even live? Without killing yourself? That courage is admirable. Despite such a miserable life, you still breathe. That’s the one thing I can admire. If it were me, I would have stuck a knife in my throat long ago.”

“……”

For some reason,

The golden girl sitting beside me, the Demon King, placed her arm on my shoulder and laughed out loud.

-Wooow~! So this is how it turns out? What a spectacle.

Well, whatever.

So, Kariel. What are you going to do now?

-Can you handle that?

“…Haa.”

I sighed involuntarily at the Demon King’s irritating attitude.

Then, advancing toward him, I formed a pitch-black sword in my right hand.

“Ah, using that garbage again.”

The figure spewing black flames openly showed his disgust.

Regardless,

I had something to say as well.

“Tyrant. Dark ruler. Slaughterer. Trash. Vermin. Which do you prefer?”

“How about Divine Ruler or Emperor? Are you trying to completely deny the objective achievements and accomplishments I’ve engraved in history? Haven’t you figured out your place yet?”

“In our world, those things never happened and never will, so the conclusion is that it’s your delusion. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Being extremely generous. Fine, hand over that disgusting, wretched body of yours. Then I’ll show you more than you expect.”

“That’s what I call unnecessary meddling, you deranged fool.”

Cutting through the whip-like black flames coming toward me,

I pointed my sword again.

“Sure, sure. I didn’t expect anything anyway, idiot.”

With a frivolous yet dignified laugh,

He spread and surrounded himself with flames of unprecedented intensity, like a massive wall,

And walked toward me.

As he moved, the dark barrier undulated.

“I’d refuse an outcast like you even on my side, so don’t get excited. I wouldn’t take you even if offered now.”

====

“!!!!”

Blood gushes out like a flood.

Between the black gauntlets.

Even through the tiny gaps of the hand covering her mouth, crimson blood flows and drips down.

“…Lutetia.”

And Delica supported her as she struggled.

“This is clearly a reckless move.”

The pale man, Cain, scans the surroundings while looking down at the two.

“But we couldn’t ignore his opinion either.”

Indeed.

Most of what he says makes sense.

A terrifying entity if made an enemy.

But even as an ally, was he friendly to us? No, he wasn’t.

Cain added:

“While the demon realm is in chaos, it was his capability that brought order to it.”

Most had lost not just their will to resist but their sanity as well, becoming rampaging beasts…

But not a few remained unaffected.

And they issued a general mobilization order to eliminate Lutetia, who had established the cursed law of reason, to kill her.

Literally, the entire demon realm united with the sole purpose of killing Lutetia, the new Demon King.

The one who crushed that was him.

The only corps commander in Lutetia’s Demon King’s army.

Gynaikothoinas.

His identity is unknown.

Even his appearance was hard to discern.

His temperament is eccentric and violent, but in battle and war, he always gains the upper hand and ultimately achieves victory.

…He could be considered the epitome of a necessary evil.

“But this time is different.”

Delica said quietly.

“I have a bad feeling. The response seems too quick.”

“…Are you saying he anticipated our arrival?”

“I don’t know. That… we’ll see as we observe more.”

Kruk!

Lutetia, spitting blood foam, forcibly stood up with Delica’s support.

Despite the World Tree being right in front of them, they had suffered terribly due to the elves blocking their way.

In a situation where her body wasn’t even fully recovered,

If there had been any chance to recover, she wouldn’t have pushed herself like this.

Delica inadvertently glanced at the pierced area of Lutetia’s armor.

‘It’s neither poison nor a fatal wound… but it shows no signs of healing.’

Someone of Lutetia’s caliber should have been able to regenerate even if her body was completely shattered.

Yet this particular wound wouldn’t heal.

As if she had become as fragile as a human.

“By the way, seeing this scale… it doesn’t seem like planting a branch would be enough to demonize it.”

To Cain’s disgusted comment, Delica dismissed it as if telling him not to worry.

“That’s something to worry about after we try. What’s the point of getting discouraged when we’ve already started?”

Click!

Finally standing on her own two feet, the current Demon King, Lutetia, controls her intense breathing and hastens her steps.

Delica and Cain were about to follow them, but.

“Already back on your feet after just catching your breath?”

A large reinforcement of enemies emerged from the forest, surging toward them.

“Cain.”

“…No choice.”

He turned around, cracking his fingers, as if to greet those creatures.

“I won’t last long.”

“……”

Delica followed Lutetia without a word.

“What a wretched and arduous life.”

Literally.

A cursed causality.

From his shadow, along with ram-headed monstrosities, various bizarre beast-headed creatures and monsters emerged in large numbers.

Dozens of heavily and lightly armored elves hurled themselves fearlessly toward the demons and monsters pouring out.

But before that, a rain of arrows and pale spirits stirred the battle lines.

Half of the demons and monsters summoned by Cain were instantly swept away, crushed, and sliced.

“Impressive indeed.”

With a smirk on his expressionless face,

He pulled out even more demons than before at once.

By now, his eyes and skin were turning pitch black.

====

“Not in your right mind, are you?”

After clashing a few times, Kariel grasped the nature of his opponent.

“Did you only fight when you were at your best then?”

“No, not really.”

The black flames were highly threatening, but

For the current Kariel, they weren’t lethal enough to determine life or death.

Above all.

‘Ennea.’

Though I had never learned or understood the eighth movement of the seven movements,

Instinctively, I realized that this, Dominatur Abnodo, though merely a breathing technique, was indeed the 9th movement of everything I had mastered.

Not just Grandeus.

Before and after that.

‘It’ was a methodology, a principle about the way.

None of this had ever been completed, not even for a moment.

One of my trump cards, Dominatur Peccata, is technically the 11th.

The Dark Star, Black Light Star, if you think about it, is the 10th.

And the eighth is none other than

Dominatur itself.

Control and mastery of mind and body.

This one, which focuses thoroughly on psychology and mind.

From countless branching futures, a defensive formula for the mind and consciousness to never lose or misplace oneself or one’s identity.

It didn’t seem so, but in the end, everything connects as one.

“This is maddening!”

The black flames are sucked into my pitch-black sword, transforming into dark light that devours all of his flames.

The pitch-black light, the dark light and shadow, darkness itself, persistently consumes his violent flames.

“Just doing trashy things.”

But why?

Despite having his trump card blocked, he didn’t seem perturbed.

‘Has he experienced this before?’

Recognizing me and immediately recognizing the pitch-black sword I use… such a conjecture seemed plausible.

If so, is he trying to hold me here to buy time?

“……”

Though I know this, there’s nothing I can do right now.

Since I had anticipated trouble and informed the Queen beforehand, preparations would certainly be made.

But… is that really all there is to it?

How does one destroy future predictions and forecasts?

…By unleashing overwhelming power and destructive force that cannot be stopped even when known.

And there’s another method that leads to similar results, though different.

Namely, making it impossible to respond even when known.

What would happen if I left this place now?

“Why didn’t you tell the Queen to run away? Then you wouldn’t have to be stuck here?”

As if reading my thoughts at this very moment, he stabs at me verbally.

“……”

Indeed, what he fears isn’t power itself, but the strategies and schemes hidden behind that power.

Of course, his true form’s power would be no ordinary thing.

But right now, I had the upper hand.

“Your body moves to respond to situations before you even think about it. You intervene in future events not with consciousness but with unconsciousness? That’s a completely unfair ability, isn’t it?”

“……”

Even the fact that I can glimpse the future, predict the optimal possibility from it, and grasp it.

That tone of voice, as if he roughly understands it…

Still, he probably doesn’t know the essence yet.

This is purely a result-oriented outcome.

But.

…For him, even that probably doesn’t matter much.

If he were a being bound by fate or the future,

He would never be able to escape my design.

However, that being is not such an existence.

That’s why he was also very fatal to me.

His fire whip splits into dozens of strands, lashing in all directions.

Using an application of the Dark Star, I twist its path, absorb it, and forcibly suppress the spreading damage.

“This bastard is no fun.”

Emitting pitch-black mist from his entire body, he expresses his irritation even amid his intense movements.

“Right. So that’s how you want to play it?”

As his powers continued to be neutralized and nullified in this way,

Suddenly, he charged at me.

‘What?’

The flames that had been widely spread condensed within him.

They quickly took the form of an elongated spear.

‘A meaningless act…’

In a situation where fire doesn’t work, what’s the point of wielding that as a weapon?

…But if he’s not a fool, there must be a reason.

As I parried the spear in anticipation,

It was deflected.

Instead of scattering or being neutralized, it felt like striking solid metal, with a heavy weight behind it.

“What…”

“You’ve handled this before, haven’t you?”

As I parried the spear and counterattacked with a reversed Vetita in a left-right reversal, not quite an offensive,

This time, before even being hit by the spear, I felt a strong repulsive force from the pitch-black sword.

‘A sword?’

“Confused, aren’t you?”

A spear of fire in his left hand.

And a translucent sword in his right.

“What? First time seeing someone use a spear and sword together?!”

With a spear and sword woven from fierce flames as dark as pitch-black, just like his true form, he charged at me shouting:

“Oh, and this is…”

I deflected the thrusting spear, then used Fortes to parry the sword that came slashing at my abdomen, and as I pushed forward…

Suddenly, black chains burst from his entire body.

“Would you understand if I called it Alodai?”

As if the powerlessness he had shown until now was a lie or an act,

The encirclement of chains, covering all directions except the ground, instantly enveloped and pressed down on my entire body like a net.

My vision was submerged, and the world was instantly

Buried in ominous pitch-black flames.