Ch.263Chapter 263: Plunder (3)

#

I was so shocked by what appeared before my eyes that my thoughts froze.

Despite the proper course of action being to deliver a follow-up strike to my opponent whose bare face was now exposed after I had swung my sword with all my might.

My body, paralyzed along with my stunned mind, forgot even to swing the sword.

“…”

Unable to utter a word, I focused solely on analyzing the information entering my brain.

As I stared at Imperfectio, whose appearance still left me with the same shock I felt when we first met.

Golden hair that had lost some of its luster but still shone enough to stand out in the dark night sky.

Blue eyes that, despite being clouded with a murky energy, had not lost their inherent color.

This was the appearance of Imperfectio, whose bare face was revealed after I had shattered the helmet with my all-out strike.

That appearance was so similar to my precious person who now lay sprawled on the cold wasteland floor, temporarily unconscious.

I was so surprised that I involuntarily drew in a sharp breath.

I had swung my dragon sword imbued with battle energy gathered to its fullest.

After breaking my opponent’s helmet, there was still enough battle energy dwelling in my body and sword to deliver another strike.

But the fighting spirit that had been roaring and seething instantly subsided as my mind fell into confusion upon seeing Imperfectio’s bare face.

This shouldn’t be happening. No matter how much the opponent before me resembles Shizu, they couldn’t possibly be real.

I shouldn’t let my heart waver like this.

I tried to steel my resolve, gripping the dragon sword tightly in my hand, but as if betraying my determination…

Whoosh-!!

The bone-chilling cold that penetrated my well-trained body—which normally wouldn’t even feel considerable cold—didn’t even give me a chance to aim my body.

Separate from my paralyzed thought process, this phenomenon occurred because I couldn’t properly control the battle energy that would have helped me resist the cold and poison flowing through this land like blood.

…Even so, I hadn’t taken any hit that would cause problems with my battle energy control, so what kind of sorcery was this?

As I was bewildered, unable to even find the cause of this sudden anomaly in my body, I heard:

“Finally…”

Imperfectio’s voice reached my ears, speaking for the first time since the helmet had shattered.

The unmodified, vivid voice was eerily identical to that of the person so precious to me.

But unlike Shizu, who always offered me nothing but brightness…

“The paralyzing poison… that Father… nim prepared… finally, it’s working.”

Imperfectio’s voice, subtly revealing that something had been done to me, was filled with nothing but gloom.

Paralyzing poison? When did they use that on me?

No matter how much I thought about it, I had no recollection of being subjected to any kind of poison.

Since gaining my hyper-regeneration ability, I had instantly regenerated from various fatal wounds the moment they were inflicted.

And my body had withstood even the murky energy of the demon realm that was too foul to be described merely as poison, yet now I couldn’t muster any strength.

“It won’t endanger your life, so just lie there quietly.”

I could clearly tell that the paralyzing poison she mentioned wasn’t a lie, given that she was confident I couldn’t get up.

But this wasn’t a situation where I could just quietly let my body be neutralized by the paralyzing poison.

My family was collapsed over there.

My friend was collapsed over there.

My precious person was collapsed over there…

How could I possibly close my eyes and fall like this?!

“Uaaaah!!”

I tried to resist the poison that was trying to consume my body by neutralizing it with battle energy squeezed out while letting out a roar-like shout.

“I’m sorry.”

My desperate resistance, along with Imperfectio’s apology, couldn’t stop her from exploiting the gap created by my dulled senses.

Thud-!!

As her hand struck my crown, my consciousness faded along with the dull sound.

“I’m truly sorry… for hitting you.”

Imperfectio’s apology as she looked at me was the last thing I heard before my fading consciousness completely shut down.

#

Adorator witnessed it.

Her lord, who had been sitting on the throne with a calm expression gazing into the distance, suddenly had his eyes fill with immense delight.

“It worked!!”

He jumped up from his seat, clenching both fists.

“…Ahem.”

Perhaps feeling embarrassed by his sudden action, he quickly unclenched his hands and cleared his throat repeatedly before sitting back on the throne to regain his composure.

“…”

However, judging by the slight flush that appeared on her lord’s face despite his attempt at an expressionless facade,

It was clear that if left unchecked, the emotion of embarrassment would bloom uncontrollably on her lord’s face.

“Something good must have happened, I see.”

Adorator tried to ease her lord Desire’s embarrassment with a voice of calm that came from years of experience serving him.

Honestly, seeing her lord embarrassed wasn’t such a bad thing for her, who hadn’t been able to receive her lord for many years… it was rather pleasant.

But Adorator knew well that her lord would remain dazed in that state of embarrassment for a long time, unlike his usual dignified appearance, so it was an unavoidable choice.

It was certain that Pale Sanguin and others who had failed in this expedition would soon visit this hall to apologize to the lord who had awakened from his long sleep.

It was only right to minimize the unnecessary time that would be spent dealing with them if the lord remained dazed.

Fortunately, her effort to ease her lord’s embarrassment wasn’t in vain.

“…I got excited in an unbecoming way after witnessing something enjoyable for the first time in a long while.”

Desire’s voice, having instantly calmed from the previous elation, conveyed what could be called hopeful impressions of what he had seen and felt.

“Would you like to see?”

He showed consideration for Adorator, who had served him without complaint during what might have seemed like boring hours since taking this seat.

Adorator’s waist bowed very respectfully at Desire’s gentle offer.

“It would be my honor.”

It was only natural that her words contained more respect and courtesy than her bowed waist.

“Heh.”

Satisfied with Adorator’s response, Desire let out a faint laugh.

Snap-!

He made a crisp sound by crossing his thumb and middle finger of his left hand.

The little light that existed in the dark hall concentrated in one place.

Ziiing-!!

With a suitably clamorous sound, it illuminated the human realm, quite distant from this obsidian palace.

For reasons unknown, they briefly focused on the scene of heavy rain—rarer than white snow—falling on the freezing wasteland that was always coveted.

“…That is.”

Adorator began to visibly panic upon seeing something anomalous in the distant scene shown by her lord.

“The arrangement I prepared by asking my friend for this moment has played a great role today.”

Behind Adorator’s back, Desire, seated on the throne, was expressing satisfaction and delight.

What exactly had Adorator seen to be so visibly shocked?

“Ahahaha. This will be the most pleasant night I’ve had since awakening from my sleep.”

And why was Desire expressing such uncontainable joy with his whole body?

It might be pointless to explain, but this difference arose from the contrasting emotions they felt upon seeing the same scene.

First, we should understand what was in the distant scene that Desire had illuminated.

In the wasteland where cold winter rain was falling, the descendants of heroes who had been tormenting the demon realm beings including Adorator were sprawled out.

In the center of where they had fallen stood someone of unknown identity wearing pitch-black armor, standing proudly in a manner that could be considered arrogant.

Judging by the absence of blood on the wasteland floor, the fallen ones weren’t dead, which made it somewhat less than the utterly gratifying situation for the demon realm beings.

But even this was enough to justify the intense reactions from the two people in the hall.

Though in different directions, the reactions of the two in the hall were intense in themselves.

Adorator was shocked.

For her, who had woken from her long sleep before her lord and had waged endless wars every winter to expand her lord’s territory without much success,

The appearance of a being who could subdue the descendants of heroes as easily as twisting a child’s arm was shocking beyond measure.

Who could that be? Who could so easily subdue the powerful human heroes and stand there with such a composed posture?

Due to the angle of the image, only the back view was visible, with faintly shimmering golden hair emphasized against the dark night sky, and Adorator’s mind was filled with thoughts about who this opponent might be.

“Heh.”

And Desire, watching Adorator’s back from the throne, let out a light laugh and said in a voice that didn’t hide his joy:

“You probably can’t tell from just this view, so I’ll change the perspective.”

As he spoke these words to ease Adorator’s struggle to identify the mysterious figure from the back view,

The image that had been showing the back of the mysterious figure smoothly shifted to show the front.

And as Adorator observed the proper appearance of the being revealed in the image, her eyes grew uncontrollably wide.

“W-What?! Ah, please forgive my rudeness.”

She immediately apologized to her lord for her inability to control her emotions after letting out a near-scream of surprise.

“It’s not unreasonable to be surprised.”

Desire magnanimously accepted his subordinate’s apology.

And for good reason—the fully revealed appearance of the being was eerily identical to one of the heroes who was temporarily unconscious on the cold wasteland floor.

How could one maintain a forced calmness in such a situation?

“I too had a reaction similar to your surprise when I first saw that child, whom my friend brought for us to use for our last remaining chance.”

“What on earth is that thing?”

Adorator, faced with a sight she couldn’t comprehend no matter how hard she tried, attempted to understand what it was through the words of her omnipotent and omniscient lord.

“Hehehe…”

A faint laugh escaped from Desire’s lips upon hearing Adorator’s earnest request.

“How should I put it…”

He briefly pondered how to define what Adorator had referred to as “that thing.”

But the contemplation didn’t last long.

“Let us call it this.”

Desire, who had been resting his chin on his left hand on the armrest of the throne, slightly raised his left hand and said:

“That is a delicious ‘bait’ that will play a major role in bringing here the being necessary to fulfill my long-cherished wish.”

Bait. It might have seemed like a highly inappropriate term for someone who had just demonstrated such overwhelming military achievements.

“I see.”

From the lips of Adorator, who would willingly follow even an order to die if it came from her lord, came a calm acceptance of such an expression uttered by Desire.

“Indeed… It appears impressive on the surface, but it seems we cannot use it for long.”

She subtly revealed her own understanding of why her lord would call it bait.

“Seeing that you noticed that even from just the visible appearance, you must have put in a lot of effort.”

Desire, satisfied with her attitude of understanding what he meant to say, now had a look that anticipated the climax that was about to unfold there.

It was an expectation of how the bait would use the victor’s right after perfectly neutralizing the resistance of the hero—the vessel that could fully contain Desire’s divinity, which he greatly coveted—who had continued to resist against the bait until the very end, after the bait had already subdued three others.

I hope it makes the choice that leads to the best result I desire.

Desire’s eyes, projecting his expectations and wishes toward the bait, held a gleaming quality that couldn’t be fully captured by the word “desire.”

But even while projecting such desire, Desire knew.

That the being he called bait probably wouldn’t resolve things as he wished.

That bait, which had appeared in this era even in such a form,

Was the embodiment of free will that Desire himself idealized.

And paradoxically, it was the existence most likely to rebel against him.

Yes, just like the “vessel” that always knelt and submitted to him except in exceptional cases like now,

Yet struggled to strike at him whenever there was an opportunity.

“Well… we’ll have to wait and see.”

Adorator’s gaze, which had been focused on the screen, turned to him at his muttered words, but Desire paid no attention to her gaze and remained alert to what would unfold next.