Ch.317The Final Blow NPC. (2)

“M-Master. What a fool…”

The high-ranking demon, who had seen Luxuria fill her body with holy power and detonate herself along with demonic energy to make Greed vomit and sustain serious injuries, shook himself free from my arm and began crawling desperately toward her. Huh? If he’d just asked me to take him there, I would have dropped him off.

-Swish.

“You’re only a few steps away. Why crawl by yourself?”

“Master…”

“He’s not listening.”

I picked up the high-ranking demon with my tail again and dropped him next to Luxuria. He immediately reached out to her, gently caressing her face. Hmm, what’s he trying to do?

“…Filling her body with holy power. For a human, it would be like filling yourself with deadly poison. Plus, there are traces that she emptied her demonic energy in the process. This could take years to heal naturally… No, she might even die like this.”

“Huh? But I said I could give her my life force and she’d be fine.”

“So my demonic energy… Wait, what? You’re saying your life force alone would be enough? Are you underestimating the Seven Deadly Sins?”

Seeing the high-ranking demon direct an almost hostile gaze at me while coughing up blood, I could tell he genuinely cared about Luxuria. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for thinking that way. Even Luxuria herself probably didn’t know until she received my life force.

I nudged the crawling, hostile demon aside with my tail, laid the Elder and Rize down beside him, then pulled Luxuria’s face toward mine. Hmm, such a pretty face. Should I heal her all at once?

“Mmm—♡”

“…Huh?”

I pressed my lips against her battered ones, moistening her dry, twisted lips with my saliva, slowly parting them and pushing my tongue inside. Who would have thought I’d end up kissing Luxuria more than Jack? I’ll have to talk to Jack later about increasing our kiss count.

As I slowly rolled my tongue inside her mouth to make it easier for her to absorb my life force, Luxuria’s previously unresponsive tongue began to move, desperately licking mine. She started swallowing the saliva I was feeding her, little by little. When she tried to grab me with her blown-off arm, I caught it with my tail. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere, so take as much as you need. After some time passed…

“Puha… Haa, haa. Are you… are you really okay…?”

“Ha. You nearly died, yet you immediately worry about me? You’re really not acting like a demon, are you?”

After an even deeper and longer kiss than before, Luxuria’s blown-off arms, wings, and battered face had all recovered, and now she was worrying about me instead. Hmm, but what actually happened to my life force?

“…Has our Master fallen in love with a female? This confirms she’ll remain a virgin for life.”

“Huh? What? Why is he still here? More importantly, you’re not dead?”

“So you really were planning to let us all die. I’ve served and followed you for quite some time. Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh? *cough*”

The high-ranking demon, who had been staring curiously at the recovered Luxuria, smirked while coughing up blood. Hmm, he seems like a demon who genuinely follows Luxuria. Maybe she’s being too harsh on him.

“Hmph. You think he truly serves me? He’s been by my side the longest and absorbed the most demonic energy from me. If I die, he’ll become the next Lust, right?”

“Yes. That’s my goal.”

“…For someone with that goal, you seemed awfully worried when Luxuria was dying. And you even made a contract with me to be by your side…”

“Beast, stop talking nonsense. And if you have energy to chat, you should run away. Greed is still alive.”

Both Luxuria and I turned our gaze to where the demon was pointing—the mass of flesh still vomiting what it had devoured. Hmm, what about the previous Luxuria? What should we do now? Would it die if I stabbed it now? But it’s still vomiting people. Maybe it’s too early to kill it?

“She’s completely spent. Even after receiving your life force, she can’t open her eyes, so she won’t be getting up for a while. Originally, it was my body that received Rize’s holy power, but she used her core to absorb it. So that foolish mother bore the brunt of the burden.”

“Mother? Previous generation? What are you talking about, Master…”

“So now we really have to defeat that thing ourselves?”

I’ve rested quite a bit, and Luxuria has opened her eyes after receiving my life force. Miho, Rize, and the Elder show no signs of waking, but we can hide them here and go.

“Do you need life force too? Want a kiss?”

“Wait!! He doesn’t need to be healed…!!”

“…You’re healing me? Earlier you told me not to drain your life force.”

“I need someone, or rather, a demon to protect my companions here. The demons who were with us earlier…”

“Some escaped immediately, and those who received the Master’s orders were consumed by his power before they could emerge. The mid-ranks were wiped out, and the high-ranks… I’m not sure, though some seem to have survived. But considering I was partially drained while emerging, none would be in good shape.”

“I see, then…”

I don’t know how my lips became so busy, but I need all the strength I can get. Even if not for fighting, I need someone to protect Miho and the others.

I immediately pulled the high-ranking demon’s face toward mine, but Luxuria started pulling my tail, telling me to stop. Hey, stop that, it hurts.

“No!! It’s bad enough that other demons escaped, but why add another high-ranking demon?! He’s second only to me in Lust’s hierarchy!!”

“It’s fine. This demon seems similar to you, or rather, more mature and decent.”

“Being called ‘decent’ as a demon is the worst insul—?!”

Ignoring the two’s useless chatter, I pressed my lips against his to let him drain my life force. See, I’m completely fine when my life force is drained. Look, he’s fully recovered now.

“…What is this? A life force tank? An ocean of life force…? I could have drained enough life force to dry up and kill about 50 people at once, yet you’re completely fine?”

“Seriously, why did you heal him…”

“Anyway, these are your Master’s companions. You’ll protect them, right?”

“…Fine. Since you saved me, I’ll do that much. Besides, I was planning to seduce that elf if I survived anyway.”

“…What?”

Elf? The Elder? He wants to seduce Elder Green Stone? Wait, that woman next to him, Rize is already…

“What does it matter? The Master who directly drained holy power is our Master of Desire, while the elf merely has a saint by his side. No, that makes it even more exciting. Desiring another saint’s man. Bride kidnapping. Isn’t that the essence of Lust?”

“Sigh, Chikuyo. This is your fault.”

“…Did I really make a mistake?”

“More importantly. Shouldn’t you be concerned about that?”

Looking in the direction the recovered high-ranking demon pointed, I saw Greed’s mouth, with its upper body blown away, stop vomiting and slowly begin to move. Hmm, has it finished throwing up? With that much holy power explosion, can it not recover? Well then…

“Luxuria. We need to push it back. If it devours the humans it vomited again or if they get caught up in this, they’ll all die.”

“Tch, Papia. If you touch that elf while we’re gone, I’ll kill you, got it?”

“Yes, yes. I have no interest in taking advantage of the sleeping. Go ahead.”

Leaving behind the demon whose words were hard to trust, Luxuria and I approached the creature. Though its size was halved due to its upper mouth being blown away, it was still larger than what we faced in the realm of authority.

“What do you think? Will it still try to devour everything even without a mouth?”

“Our physical bodies don’t matter much to our authorities. Well, that holy explosion, especially since it detonated from inside, must have done some damage. First, I’ll…”

-KABOOM!!

“Take this!!!”

Perhaps to push it back? Luxuria created a sphere of demonic energy about the size of Greed’s mouth and hurled it with all her might, causing a pitch-black explosion. An explosion that would have collapsed the outer walls had they still been intact. If it can no longer devour, it must have taken considerable damage…

[LUXURIAAAA!!!!]

“Oh dear. I just made it angry.”

“…Should we move the people instead?”

“No. It worked properly.”

-RUMBLE…!!!

The mouth that appeared, waving short fleshy tendrils through Luxuria’s explosion, was blackened as she had said, apparently unable to swallow the blast. Then…

“Phantom Blade. Phantom Strike…!!”

-SLASH!!! STAB!!!

Testing it out, I thrust a few blades into it, and finally, I could turn its body into a pincushion. However.

“That creature is smart. Could it be faking?”

“It’s possible. But…”

[GRAAAAH!! MUST EAT!! EVERYTHING!!! HOW DARE I SPIT THINGS OUT!!! HOW DARE SOMETHING BE TAKEN FROM ME!!! IMPOSSIBLE!!!!]

“That’s not it. That’s its desire, its instinct running wild. For Greed, who devours everything, to spit something out would be like me falling asleep next to Jack naked in bed without touching him.”

“Wow. I didn’t want to understand that.”

But I did understand. Thanks to Miho and Luxuria’s joint attack, it was depleted and couldn’t properly recover, so it was raging with its upper body blown away.

“That means it’s a battle of endurance now.”

-SHING!!

“There’s only one main body. That creature we saw earlier is somewhere inside. We just need to find it, pull it out, and tear it apart!!!”

-KABOOM!!!

As I drew my sword and dashed forward, Luxuria rose into the air ahead of me and began bombarding it. I circled around her attack range and aimed for the creature’s lower body.

“[Phantom Blade. Focus]!!”

My usual four-strike combo that targets an enemy’s back, head, and legs. But this opponent isn’t even human-sized. So I concentrated all strikes to pierce the same spot!!!

“Just die already!!!”

-STAB!!!!

I won’t waste the opportunity my sister created!!!