Ch.319The Final Blow NPC. (4)

“Um, Spirit King? That person?!”

“Y-yes. I met him with Jack and the Spirit Master, but why is he here…”

[Hmm, that’s… Ah, wait a moment.]

The Elder and I were surprised and asked why he was here. The Spirit King, who was about to answer immediately, suddenly raised his hand and turned around. Huh, could it be?!

-KUWAAGAGAK!!!

[KEEEEEEEEC!!!!!!]

[Tch. It wasn’t the main body.]

The massive maw that once had flesh attached to it, now reduced to just teeth and gums, screams like a monster and rushes toward the Spirit King. The Spirit King is large himself, but the maw is much bigger. If he gets eaten like that, we’re really done for!!!

[Get lost, fake. If you want to eat me, at least bring your main body.]

– KWADDDDDUK!!!

[⎯⎯⎯?!!!!]

“”Huh?!””

The maw that had rushed right up to his face suddenly stops in place, and under tremendous pressure, it’s forcibly compressed and gradually crushed. The creature continues to scream and struggle, but the more it struggles, the more its teeth and gums are torn away, disappearing without a trace as if devoured by its own power. Just a few seconds later.

-PUSHIT!

[What a shame, it seems you had already worn it down quite a bit. It appears it was prepared to escape.]

After completely squeezing and bursting even the last drop of black blood, the Spirit King shrugs his shoulders and turns back to us. Ha, haha? Getting help from the Spirit King? What in the world is happening? But wait, does that mean the creature escaped?

[Hmm. I lost one. But I might not miss what’s over there.]

-PUHWAAAH!!

“KYAAAAH?!! W-wait!! What the heck?!!!”

“Uh, um? That, that’s not it?!!”

Before I can even grasp what’s happening, the Spirit King pulls his hand, creating a massive whirlwind, and Luxuria, covered in dirt as if she had been buried in the ground, rises into the air screaming for help. Ah!! From the Spirit King’s perspective, she must look like just another Deadly Sin?!!

[Hmm, not it, you say? But that’s clearly a demon?]

“What are you doing to our master! You damn spirit…!!”

[Hmm?]

“W-wait…!!!”

-KWAAANG!!

[Kuh?!]

“Oh my?!!”

On top of that, seeing Luxuria almost crying and begging for help, the high-ranking demon of Lust, Papia, makes a face that could kill and blasts magical energy right into the Spirit King’s face!!

[Such a vile demon, another one was hiding?!]

“Bullshit!! You attacked first and blew away our master!!!”

“I’m dizzy!! Help me!!! I’m flying awaaaaay!!! UGYAAAAAAAK?!!!”

“Eek!! Elder!!!”

“I got it. I’ll shoot you up, get on!”

Luxuria, who really can’t control her body, starts plummeting head-first from quite a height. I jump toward her, and the Elder creates a wind platform to launch me. Oh my!! Instead of attacking the Spirit King, catch her, you idiot!!!

-WARAK!!

“Ugh!! I thought I was going to dieeee…!!!”

“Yes, yes. Here, take some energy, kiss.”

-FLUTTER!!

“Haa, I’m alive…”

She’s completely exhausted from the exertion, being caught in the Spirit King’s attack, and finally being ambushed. I lightly press my lips against hers, and once she’s replenished her magical energy, she spreads her wings and grabs me, slowly descending. Seriously, if Luxuria, who isn’t even an enemy, had died at the hands of the Spirit King, what would I have told Jack? It’s horrifying just to imagine. And then.

-KWAANG!!!

-PUEOEOENG!!!

“What’s with that spirit?! Does he just attack demons on sight?!!”

“That’s because they’re demons. Plus, the Spirit King and his family were greatly harmed by demons, so he’s especially like that.”

“Oh, really? Then I guess it can’t be helped. But do spirits have families?”

“…Yes, they do.”

After separating from Luxuria, who accepted the explanation more easily than expected, I grimace at the sight of the Spirit King now engaged in battle with the high-ranking demon who follows Luxuria. The Green Stone Elder also looks bewildered, alternating his gaze between me and the Spirit King. Well, you’re meeting him for the first time today, right?

-SEUP.

“Spirit King!!! Jack will be angry if you kill that demon!!!”

“Papia!! If you don’t stop right now, I’ll control your energy supply forever!!!”

[What?! KUHAK!!!]

“Whaaaat?!! KUHEK!!!”

The two of them, who had been throwing fireballs and magical energy at each other, heard our voices and were late to defend themselves, falling backward.

*

[KUAAAA…!!!]

On the outskirts of the Imperial capital, a black puppet was clutching its face and letting out painful groans.

[D-damn it! What the hell is this crazy fire!! To burn me from within through my split body!!]

Holy water, and the explosion of high-purity holy power mixed with demonic energy that Luxuria had carried on her body. Because of that, it suffered the humiliation of vomiting most of what it had absorbed with its power in the human world, and on top of that, the final surprise attack burned its split body to the point where it couldn’t control it. And finally, it was crushed.

With this, it lost all the souls and bodies of the Imperial soldiers it had devoured in the Empire, as well as the souls and bodies of the Ponia soldiers it had been able to eat during the battle. Even the holy power it had barely managed to adapt to was completely nullified.

[Damn it!! I should have at least recovered the holy power!! Ugh… it’s hot. Damn it!!]

An enormous loss. It had already grown stronger than Pride and Sloth, but due to what it lost this time, it’s back to square one. No, it’s even worse than when it started. To move cautiously, it had spread split bodies throughout the Empire, making the main body much weaker than when it was first summoned.

[…Damn, at this rate, I’ll have to recall some split bodies? Yes, it’s still okay. I still have quite a few human souls I’ve eaten in this Empire. I’ll prepare again based on that. I should also send another split body to that Church guy I contracted with? Since Luxuria helped Ponia, I’ll instruct him to spread rumors that they’ve joined hands with demons. That bitch. She’s a demon herself, yet she takes the humans’ side…!!!]

It almost died in that tremendous holy explosion, and that wretched Lust somehow recovered her magical energy, restored her body, and continued to interfere. It had been pleased at the chance to devour her after learning of her betrayal, but what was with that Luxuria? She was on a completely different level from the idiot it had seen in the demon realm. Especially, the Luxuria who resisted it until just before the holy power explosion was clearly “Lust yet not Lust.” Her strength and demonic energy were almost at Sloth’s level.

[…Damn, I’ve lost too much and there’s too much I don’t know!! This magic that burned my power right away. No, this power different from magic is. Ugh, damn it!! I should have eaten at least a bite before my split body burned…!!!]

Beastmen with unknown tremendous strength, and elves and the Deadly Sin Luxuria. Moreover, even the Church’s Saint, who should have been on its side, was somehow trying to kill it with all her might. It knew humans were not a race unified under a single will, but such forces should have been mentioned, controlled, or eliminated beforehand. Greed, feeling irritation and anger it usually didn’t experience, vowed to swallow the Church first when it recovered to get used to holy power, and began to burrow into the ground again despite the unrelenting pain. First, it needed to gather its split bodies to recover…

“Oh? Interesting. Why do I sense familiar spirit magic from a mere low-level demon like you?”

[!!]

For a moment, it thought blood was raining down.

[…Are you going to eat me?]

“Hahah. How amusing. They say this is the fourth demon that looks exactly like you. And the first question is always the same. Like a child who thinks they won’t be caught ‘pretending to be stupid.'”

-WHIK.

It didn’t feel anything, and before it knew it, a red-haired human woman who had approached waved her staff lightly toward it. Since she was flying, it understood she must be quite an accomplished magician among humans. It was prepared to immediately devour any attack with its power. But then.

-PLOP! THUD!!

[?!]

“The first one was dissected to analyze your abilities, so there are only two left. How about it? Are those demon faces unfamiliar to you?”

It wasn’t an attack at all, but an act of making something fall from the void. And what appeared before its eyes was a split body that looked exactly like itself, with only the black head remaining.

[How did you…]

“When, how. There’s no way I wouldn’t have known, I need to inform the main body. Why can’t I eat? And so on—these are all words ‘you’ have already uttered before. How foolish. Even if you create avatars, you don’t share consciousness constantly, so you should have checked frequently.”

She dissected one to analyze its abilities. As if to prove this wasn’t a lie, the red-haired magician who knew about its abilities and that its split bodies weren’t constantly connected to it, brightened her violet eyes that seemed to be looking at the night sky even in broad daylight, and raised the corners of her mouth. That’s dangerous.

-GULP.

“You do everything exactly the same.”

-KWANG!!!

[?!!]

It immediately opened its maw to the ground to move, but its body was pushed back as if hitting a wall. No, this couldn’t be. One of its powers was to move freely through connected maws. There shouldn’t be anyone who could block that…!!!

“It creates passages within itself to move. When I heard about it from that mountain keeper, I thought it was quite a troublesome ability, but after dissecting it, I found it was just a degraded teleportation. It’s merely an inferior spatial connection compared to magic circle-based movement. Well, it’s natural since demons wouldn’t understand magic anyway.”

-KWAGAGAGAGAK!!

[KIEEEEEK?!!!]

Its power is the same as magic used by humans?! That’s absurd!! This is a power formed by a demon’s magical energy, granted only to immortal beings like demons, to the Deadly Sins…!!

-PAT.

“I had completely mastered spatial movement by the time I was thirty. How could I, with my eyes wide open, miss someone using magic inferior to that?”

[You, what are you?!!! Magic?! No!! My power isn’t magic…?!! Let go!! Let me gooooo!!!]

As if to show off, the human woman who had pulled me out of the maw appeared before me in an instant. This, this is impossible!!! A human!! Copying my power..?!!

“Our apprentice keeps not coming home and causing trouble, so I have to resolve it. Well, it’s obvious you’ve taken a big hit from the Spirit King and are greatly depleted? Kuku, she said we’d meet soon. Is this a signpost? She’s certainly diligent.”

[What nonsense!!! Let go!! Release me!!! I am!! I am the Deadly Sin of Greed!! The strongest who will devour this entire world…!!!]

As I kept using my power to devour space, unable to move and fixed in midair while watching the woman slowly reaching out her hand, for some reason the space wouldn’t be eaten by my power. As if something invisible had completely blocked it…!!!

“Now, say hello. This is the high-ranking wind spirit who has captured your space. This is the high-ranking fire spirit who will burn your inferior space. Well, it seems to be burning already, so we just need to intensify that fire. And I am the Headmaster of Neity who will use all mixed attributes to cast magic you cannot devour.”

[S-stop it!!! I, I can’t end in a place like this!! My desire!! I’ll eat you toooooo!!!!]

My thoughts are twisted. I don’t know where or how things went wrong to end up like this. I just want to eat, to fill my emptied insides. And to tear apart anything that interferes. I continued to scream and use my power as if venting those desires. But what I got in return was.

-CRACK.

“There, there. You really are just a maw that eats. Those without ability shouldn’t carelessly be greedy or claim to be the strongest.”

[⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯?!!!!?!!!]

My vision shatters, and something beyond the pain of burning earlier tears through my body with agony. No, I thought I screamed.

“Hey, slave. Confirm if this is the main body.”

“Yes!! Master!!!”

“Tsk. I told you to call me Headmaster.”

“Yeeees! Headmaster!!”

A low-ranking demon with pink hair, clearly belonging to Lust’s hierarchy and looking submissive to humans, catches my torn-off head, and in that moment, I understand that I am dead.