Ch.331331. Kidnapping (5)

Elia Krisanax considered herself a person who simply followed common sense.

She wasn’t particularly suspicious by nature, but she also wasn’t naive enough to believe everything she heard.

So…

“I don’t believe you.”

Just as she had said.

She couldn’t simply accept and listen to someone claiming to be her “future self.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Of course, judging by the appearance of the woman who shrugged while saying that, there was some credibility to her claim.

If she grew her hair out and aged a few years, wouldn’t she look exactly like that?

But that was too flimsy a basis.

There were countless ways to disguise one’s appearance. This was most likely—

“When you were young. Was it five years old? You received a dollhouse as a birthday present.”

“…”

Elia’s expression stiffened slightly at the woman’s sudden statement.

This was clearly highly personal information.

Something no one except her closest relatives would know.

And what followed explored that fact even more deeply.

“And you wanted to feel like a giant, so you stuck your face in it?”

“…”

“No matter how hard you tried to pull it out, it wouldn’t come off, so you rolled around on the floor.”

“…”

“In the end, you cried and begged your brother to help you get it out.”

A crimson blush spread across Elia’s face at frightening speed.

Her breathing seemed to quicken. An undeniable sense of shame rose from the depths of her heart…!

“…How do you know that?”

The answer to her question was even more merciless.

“Diary.”

“…What?”

“The one you wrote when you were seven.”

“…Look, you don’t have to say that out loud—”

“On the first page, you wrote about your ideal type. A dependable prince on a white horse who you could lean on and who would always look only at you.”

“…”

“Ah, what was it again? Right. A prince riding a unicorn, wearing a cape, who would make a grand proposal while waving a bouquet of roses as everyone in the audience applauded. Wasn’t that your dream? Didn’t you spend all night drawing concept sketches?”

Elia’s body began to tremble.

“There was more. The top 10 romantic conversations you wanted to have with the prince. The first one was definitely… ‘Please forget me, Prince.’ ‘What does that mean?’ ‘I wish you would stop liking me.’ ‘How do I do that?’…”

“…T-that was when I was young…! You don’t have to talk about that anymore…!”

“Ah. Childhood stories. Right. So are you living a more dignified life now?”

“…”

“If my memory serves me correctly, around this time you’d be having serious fantasies about our Darwood Campbell every night, getting your sheets wet enough to—”

“Stop-!!”

Elia screamed, barely able to keep her composure despite the unidentified person standing before her. Her voice was almost tearful.

“Well? Do you believe me now?”

Rather than believing or not, she was filled with the desire to beat this person to death for knowing such facts.

Good heavens. How could someone use such a devastating technique? How could such a wicked opponent still exist…!

“Actually, it doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not. I came to you now because there’s something I want to show you.”

“…What?”

“You lost your first family to demons too, didn’t you?”

Elia froze at the woman’s sudden statement.

Perhaps it was because the words struck deep into her core, but more than that.

It was because something was being played out before her eyes along with those words.

Images flashed by.

Memories from the first Night Raid.

A burning village. A collapsing house.

The corpses of her father and mother.

Elia gritted her teeth as if she might break.

It was an unforgettable sight. Even now, it would emerge from her nightmares just when she thought she might forget.

“You seem to be getting along quite well with the person who created this situation, now.”

“…”

Elia remained silent at the sarcastic remark.

“I…”

She was someone who trusted her own judgment.

From her time with Faynol Leiphec, she had observed that he wasn’t that kind of person.

No matter how she looked at him, he didn’t seem like someone who would willingly involve innocent people in bad situations.

“…It was the followers of that demon who killed my mother and father. Not the demon himself.”

“Ah, yes, yes. How noble of you. It’s admirable that you can make such an objective judgment even toward your parents’ killer. As you say, there probably isn’t a single malicious person among the Demonic Vessels. I know that too. But.”

And with those words.

“You might lose the ‘second’ family you’ll create later to them as well.”

Another image appeared.

“…”

They were faces she didn’t recognize.

Images of children who somehow resembled her flashed before her eyes.

She could feel what the person showing her these images felt when looking at these children.

It was as if these children contained her entire world.

Precious children. My children.

My family, for whom I would do anything to protect. My second family.

Therefore.

The sight of those children “dying” was like a curse that stuck to the back of Elia’s retina.

“Tell me, Elia. You should know well. You’ve seen it once before.”

They are crushed.

By the rampaging demonic energy, one by one, without form. Mashed like pulp.

Without knowing the intermediate process, or even who these children were.

Somehow.

Somehow, just by watching.

It felt like someone was slashing her lungs with a knife.

There was no physical pain. But this pain seemed to be engraved on her soul.

“How would you feel if you saw your family die before your eyes?”

She didn’t know who the other person was.

She didn’t know why they were showing her these things, or who these people were.

But she could clearly provide an answer to this question.

If what she was feeling now.

If this vivid emotion was what the other person had also felt.

She would surely give the same answer.

“-Rather.”

Blood mixed with the transparent liquid flowing down from her mouth, which she had clenched so hard.

It was tears that had fallen.

“Rather, I would die instead.”

“Right?”

The person who had introduced themselves as the Luminary calmly responded to her words.

Anger, longing, hatred, regret, remorse that cut to the bone.

If all these emotions were bundled together and weathered in the flow of time, they would approximate the feelings mixed in that sentence.

“This is the future you will experience if you don’t stop now.”

“…”

“Listen well, Elia Krisanax. You are steadily marching toward destruction right now. Damn hero. Know that one thing for certain.”

“…”

“That’s all I wanted to tell you.”

With those final words, the other person turned around abruptly.

The last thing that fell before their figure disappeared was a frosty sneer.

“If you want to help, hurry up and go. Your ‘friends’ must be in quite a difficult situation by now.”

Unable to respond to those words.

Elia could only watch as the other person walked away.

●

“…Hmm…”

I sigh with a troubled expression.

“Doppelgangers, you say.”

[That’s what it looks like.]

Since I can’t move, I had this person thoroughly search the surroundings.

And the answer that came back was that all the scattered Demonic Vessels were facing doppelgangers that looked exactly like themselves.

They’re all engaged in battle, but apparently the quality of these doppelgangers is extraordinary.

[They have the same abilities, demonic energy, and even the exact same equipment. I have no idea how they managed it.]

“That’s… serious. You mean their combat power is completely identical?”

[That’s right. Unless they have some absurd means of rapidly getting stronger during the fight, they could potentially fight forever, couldn’t they?]

And if their skills are completely identical, casualties are almost guaranteed.

‘…A reconnaissance mission, he said.’

What a vicious trap he’s set up.

I narrow my eyes at that thought.

“…”

I let out a deep sigh.

If they’re going to be that vicious, I have no choice but to use extreme measures.

“Actually, I do have a way to get stronger immediately.”

[Don’t do it.]

“…Excuse me?”

[If you have such a method but are hesitating this much, it must be something extremely bizarre. Shouldn’t I try to stop you in that case?]

“…”

As expected of someone who’s been with me for a long time.

He clearly understood my tendencies as well as he knew the palm of his hand…

“Calivan.”

[What.]

“But right now, we don’t have any other options.”

[…]

And true to form, he had enough understanding to sigh and give up when I said something like this.

[…Fine, do it. Go ahead. It’s not like you’d listen if I tried to stop you. So what are you going to do?]

“You know.”

[Just say it quickly. Don’t be so frustrating.]

“Should I try dying for once after a long time?”

[…]