Chapter 356

R&e;​ađ on‌ Ḱaｔ​R​&e;adîｎǵCаfｅ

“You guys are really incompetent.”

A dark, gloomy secret chamber.

The only passage connecting it to the outside world was an old, firmly shut door.

The only furnishing inside was a round table that looked like it would corrode at any moment.

In the bleak secret chamber, a voice filled with contempt echoed, transcending mere desolation.

“I told you everything—what would happen in the future, the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, the optimal strategies… and this is all you can do? How can you fail even once?”

With scorn. With disdain. With contempt. The girl spoke with a sneer. Yet, her expression remained blank. Her face, like dough kneaded from ashes, was devoid of warmth. She sat perched on the round table, dangling her legs and casting sidelong glances. Shadows flickered beyond the wavering candlelight.

“Isn’t that right, Noble Prince?”

“…”

“You always fall silent when things get tough. That’s a really bad habit of yours.”

The man in the Blue Rakshasa mask silently stared at the girl. The only place permitted to Agares, who was ostracized from the axis of time. 

Only those Agares allowed could enter and exit this place. A Devil God. Or an equal collaborator with a Devil God. The girl belonged to the latter category.

“How will you lose this time? If you’re going to lose anyway, make it a spectacular defeat. So I can at least laugh while watching your failure.”

Her tone seemed critical at first glance, but the reality was slightly different. The girl blamed no one. She had never expected anything from the start, so there was no room for disappointment. 

The initial hope had been whittled down so much that only a trace smaller than a grain of sand remained. The girl crossed her legs and brushed a strand of hair obscuring her vision behind her ear. 

Despite the considerable time since it had been cared for, her hair was still lustrous.

“You sealed Yoo-seong and killed Eugene’s body. The start is good. Yes, very good. Now, if you just massacre humans moderately and open the rift to invade, Eugene will revive and appear at just the right time. You’ll struggle and then get your head chopped off. And time will rewind again, right? It’s so predictable. Boring. No fun.”

That was always the problem. Eugene. The Chosen One. Yoo-seong, who was already just a toothless tiger, was not a significant threat. Whether sealing him or confronting and breaking him head-on, the Devil God side had plenty of ways to deal with him.

But not Eugene. Strength aside, he was protected by fate. Causality guarded him. He had already determined the ending of ‘victory’, and the process followed. So no matter how hard the Devil Gods tried, they could not reverse the ending. 

Even if they killed him before he grew, sealed him to prevent his growth, or even induced him to grow in the wrong direction, he always achieved victory in the end. It was absurd.

“Causality… damn causality… Ugh, is it my fault after all? Was I the incompetent one, really?”

The girl broke her icy expression and smiled faintly. It was a smile devoid of sincerity.

“I’m fixing causality, so the outcome doesn’t change. Hey, Agares. Won’t you kill me?”

“…I have no desire to waste my power on meaningless things. I refuse. Kill yourself if you want.”

“You’re so mean~ You know I’m immortal, right?”

The Blessed Saintess.

The girl loved by the Four Seasons.

Immortality was one of the many blessings the girl had received from God.

A blessing now twisted into a curse.

It was the reason the girl lived, even though she cursed her own life.

“The Four Seasons… Haa, those bastards are the problem after all.”

‘Lucia’ frowned. She felt unpleasant even mentioning them. Those she had once sincerely worshipped were now nothing more than bitter enemies. 

She wanted to kill them herself if she could. Just like they had done to the ‘Ancient One’, tear them into 72 pieces and scatter them outside the world. 

Oh, would that create other Devil Gods? How ridiculous.

“Noble Prince. Please. Kill the Four Seasons for me. You can do it, right~?”

“Stop talking nonsense and stay quiet. You’re a nuisance.”

“Shall I give you a prediction? Your attempt will fail. Ahaha, how do I know? Because I’ve seen it countless times!”

Using the uniqueness of the Needle that fixed fate, she would retain her memories even after regression. That was the method Agares had always tried since ‘Lucia’ started cooperating with the Devil Gods. Of course, he had never succeeded even once. There had never been any meaningful results.

“In the first place, what can you do with some memories left behind?”

Even if you were to inherit memories into the next iteration now, nothing would change.

‘Lucia’ was certain of that, and it was not prejudice but fact. Hadn’t they repeated failure in the four-digit range even with ‘Lucia’, who remembered everything, cooperating? 

Whether you have memories or not doesn’t help much in changing the result.

“It may be meaningless.”

Agares readily admitted. He had heard everything worth hearing through ‘Lucia’s’ mouth. With the cooperation of the Blessed Saintess, information was passed on to the next iteration. 

Agares had tried everything he could. Based on the information and experience from previous iterations, he devised various schemes, and they were thwarted in various ways. The fact that this told only one thing. 

Whether you have memories or not only changes the process. The ending remained the same.

“However, there is meaning.”

“Heeh? What does that mean? I’m curious. Would you tell me~?”

“I will prove that the fate fixed by the Four Seasons is not absolute, so there is meaning even in meaninglessness.”

The fact that the Devil Gods’ memories are erased each time time rewinds is also fate fixed by causality. The first and last time the Four Seasons directly intervened to erase the memories of the Devil Gods was when the regression began. They created the result that the memories of the Devil Gods would disappear when time rewinds, and fixed it as is.

“If it’s not absolute, there is a way to exploit it.”

“What if it’s absolute?”

“Then we’ll have to find another way.”

“Do you have anything in mind? It seems like you’ve tried everything you can~?”

“I do. But I won’t tell you.”

“Whyyy~?”

‘Lucia’ tilted her head. 

Are you being wary now? Well, maybe. She was cooperating with a Devil God, but she was human. A saintess who had been loved by the Four Seasons. The information she learned might flow directly to the Four Seasons. 

Nodding in understanding on her own, Agares spoke without even looking at ‘Lucia’.

“In your terms, it’s a surprise.”

“?”

“Isn’t it boring to know everything? Omniscience is a curse, not a blessing.”

“…”

“There should be something you don’t know for life to be fun, right? Isn’t that so, ‘Lucia’?”

“…Ehehe, what’s that about? But that’s true. There should be something you don’t know.”

‘Lucia’s’ eyes curved beautifully as she looked at Agares with a slightly surprised expression. It was the first genuine emotion she had shown, after only revealing fabricated emotions all along.

In fact, she could have deduced it if she wanted to. She had grasped enough about the Devil God Agares. It wasn’t that difficult to infer his way of thinking. She could predict any method he might try. But ‘Lucia’ decided not to. As he said, omniscience was a curse, not a blessing.

“I don’t know what it is, but I hope that method has meaning.”

‘Lucia’ reached out and placed her hand on the Blue Rakshasa mask.

She tapped the Rakshasa’s nose and grinned.

“Please, destroy the world. Incompetent Rakshasa.”

Then the Rakshasa replied.

“I’ll try, Cursed Saintess.”

◈

“Cough, ack, cough, puke…!”

Consciousness surfaced with a cough.

The blood vomited onto the floor quickly dried up.

A sizzling sound assaulted the ears, and an unpleasant smell stung the nose.

Her hands flailed, trembling.

She belatedly realized she was lying face down.

She tried to get up, but it didn’t work as she intended.

‘When did I pass out…?’

She forcibly pushed away the memories of the past that filled her mind. It felt like she had a strange dream, but this was no time to worry about that. She had been fighting the Fire Giant. 

That was the last memory she had before losing consciousness. How long had she been passed out? What about Surtr? She had bound him with the Great Tree, but it wouldn’t last long.

There was no time to waste. Every minute, every second was precious. She had to hold Surtr back. She wanted to subjugate him if possible, but as someone who couldn’t fully exert the power of a Devil God, it was too much for her. 

The limit was to bind him to prevent the damage from spreading. The compatibility was bad. When Belial’s ability to create life was restricted, Surtr was elevated from a slightly annoying enemy to a formidable foe.

All I can create is limited to monsters. Monsters are impossible. I can’t create monsters. My body rejects it… No, it’s not just rejecting it, it’s like the function to create monsters has been blocked. Isn’t it a little strange that it’s this impossible?

Surtr was fire. Literally fire. Living, moving fire. Fire that burned everything. So whatever she created, it burned away. Even if she attacked, the attack itself burned away, so it didn’t hit. By the time it reached Surtr, it was almost burned away, and what little was left was blocked by Surtr’s tough outer skin.

‘…But if it turns into a war of attrition, I’ll be overwhelmingly at a disadvantage.’

It wasn’t like she was just planning to maintain the status quo. Whatever the case, her output was superior. Still, she was human. Belial was a Devil God. And she was wielding that Devil God’s power. Her total power and output were far superior to Surtr, a demonic beast. That’s why Surtr couldn’t escape her restraints.

Even if subjugation was difficult, it would be foolish to rely solely on support that might never come. A powerful strike. She would unleash an all-out blow. If all attacks burned away, she just had to attack with a scale that couldn’t be burned. Simple, right? Even if it was hard to knock him down, injuring him would give her more leeway.

She was preparing while continuously creating Great Trees to stop Surtr. Creating Great Trees separately from the binding. This time, more carefully. Imparting resistance to heat, and including the function to absorb moisture from the atmosphere and the ground. Adding Belial’s specialty, exploiting compatibility. Adding these special functions required concentration. She couldn’t spam them recklessly.

Surtr was almost invincible against attacks from the outside. The durability of his transcendental outer skin and the flames covering his entire body gave Surtr absolute defense. So she tried to infiltrate inside… But there was no more room to do so. Whether he had noticed her intention or judged that there was no need, he showed no sign of using his breath.

In the end, it was a head-on battle. Even if she had prepared specially, it was uncertain how effective it would be, but it was a blow filled with the Devil God’s sincerity. No matter how great he was, it was clear that it would inflict considerable damage on Surtr, who was ultimately just a demonic beast.

‘The preparation is complete. Now I just have to make my move.’

How long are you going to lie down? Get up. Surtr is bound. He’s a huge, unmoving target. If you shoot, you’re guaranteed to hit.

…It’s strange. Why can’t I get up?

She groped the floor, flailing her hands. It didn’t work well. Her body was strange. Something wasn’t moving as she wanted it to. She blinked her blurry eyes and forced herself to focus. Then she could see her body more clearly. She had no hands.

“Eh?”

Her right arm was gone.

Looking again, her left arm was also gone.

The places where her arms should have been were empty.

Ah, they exploded. Unable to withstand the power of the Devil God…

It’s okay. I can regenerate. With my super regeneration, arms are…

“Hi-Hick?!”

Her whole body trembled. It wasn’t recovering. Instead of recovering, a terrible pain erupted. Sizzling and burning. The severed surface of her arm was forcibly sealed by the heat. It was a pain that made her eyes roll back. 

It felt like her whole body was being branded with a scorching hot iron. Her back convulsed uncontrollably. It felt like her spine was broken. Blood, saliva, and silent screams mixed together.

[How pathetic]

A booming voice awakened her, who was increasingly consumed by pain. It warned her that this was no time to be enjoying herself. She belatedly realized. Where she was lying.

A huge eye looked down on her.

A pupil larger than herself stared at her.

An intensely burning gaze pierced her.

On the palm of Surtr’s hand.

She was lying there.

With both arms gone, and even her legs melting away.

[Self-destruction. Is there any other end that suits the word unsightly so well?]

Super regeneration wasn’t working. No, it was working, but it was burning at the same time as it regenerated. It was Surtr’s doing. This guy’s fire was steadily burning her severed surface. Her lips twisted in pain. She barely held back, thinking that this was not the time, but honestly, it was too much. She breathed heavily and bit her lip.

If she tried to use her power here, he would crush her to death as soon as he sensed it, right? The method was simple. Just clenching his fist would crush her on his palm. The regeneration of her limbs was almost non-existent… 

Ah, she was screwed. She had been checkmated while unconscious due to mental corruption.

It was over.

Ah, it’s over…

…This can’t be happening.

As a saintess, she had to protect people…

Thinking that she was now going to die miserably at the hands of a demonic beast who hated her…

“Heh, eh…”

Why was she laughing?

Well, I shouldn’t say this to myself.

You hopeless perverted masochist.

Couldn’t you please consider the time and place?

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
They(you all) said it’s(self harm) not allowed.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
If you want to self-harm, at least make it less obvious, for example, poking the skin yet ignoring the veins so blood wouldn’t come out! 

That way, It’d somewhat hurt but still be spotless and not messy. How nice is that?

Ah, but you’ll get used to the pain quickly though…