Ch.77Chapter 77. Plan vs. Improvisation

-CRASH!

A succession of light beams crashed into the slum area.

Like meteors, they flew in and created magical explosions upon impact that were powerful enough to cause fatal injuries if they hit someone directly.

‘It’s not just magical explosions. These are attacks with actual mass, amplified by gravity.’

To precisely target enemies with attacks that weren’t aimed directly at them but would reach their destination in minutes…

Even someone with no knowledge of strategy would understand how absurd such a feat would be.

‘But even more troublesome than the meteors is the coordination of traps. They’re not directly controlled remotely but activate on a time delay, making it difficult to predict when they’ll trigger.’

Of course, she could sense the magical energy of hidden traps and locate them by feeling alone, but if she only focused on those positions, she would eventually be hit by a meteor falling on her head.

A strategy that didn’t rely on immediate attacks but on time-delayed assaults that could strike at any moment…

Was it really possible for someone to accurately land time-delayed attacks while completely understanding an opponent’s movements during their first encounter?

“Are you a prophet?”

The conclusion to her speculation came when she had been pushed back to the plaza.

Merilyn began comparing the person before her with the so-called prophets she had encountered before.

“Yes, that’s right… I am an astrologer who reads the movements of stars to see the future.”

As someone focused on prophecy, the power itself wasn’t threatening.

Her lifespan appeared normal, so her capabilities shouldn’t exceed the limits of a human who had lived for only a few decades.

However, what made her dangerous wasn’t her power but her unpredictability. In fact, Merilyn herself had been pushed back this far without launching any meaningful counterattack.

“That’s why I foresaw your arrival here and came to remove you from his side.”

Though preparation might be necessary, once ready, she could persistently push even overwhelmingly strong enemies.

Such preparation went beyond setting traps before arriving here—it continued enthusiastically even during this confrontation.

“Did you come all the way here to prevent the future you read, where you would lose your partner?”

The magical energy emanating from the crystal ball in her hand…

It must be because she was creating meteors in the atmosphere with her unique magic even while they conversed.

“The mad jester, Mephisto Rage.”

While contemplating how to respond, her identity was spoken from the lips of the woman staring at her.

She was surprised momentarily, but the shock quickly subsided.

No matter how skilled at disguise, her opponent was a prophet.

To read the future, one must be able to read the past that forms its foundation, so identifying a disguised person’s true identity would be easy.

“I feel sorry for you.”

But the words that followed were completely unexpected.

The pitying expression on her face showed that her current statement wasn’t mere pretense.

“You feel sympathy for me?”

“Yes, although you’re a member of the Demon Lord’s army that has invaded and destroyed countless dimensions… your purpose wasn’t destruction or plunder, but solely to entertain your master.”

The concept of crime was created by humans to protect society, but what use was there in insisting on human rules in a collapsing world?

If one must judge, they should first consider whether the subject poses a threat to oneself.

In that sense, the being before her could be declared “harmless” to humanity, at least as long as she didn’t interfere with her.

“If, by any chance, he had chosen you.”

That’s why Irie couldn’t help but pity her.

She could respect the feeling of cherishing someone who remained in her memories after living an infinitely long time in emptiness.

“Even if you couldn’t give him up, you might have accepted his choice of you. After all, since coming to this world, he has been starved for human connection and tends to respond sensitively to goodwill directed at him.”

Even if a man she wanted as her partner had feelings for this woman, she might have acknowledged it in her heart despite her objections.

If that meeting had been pure, simply as a man and woman.

“But after meeting you directly, I now understand. You really shouldn’t be by his side.”

“Ahaha~ You’re quite greedy, aren’t you? If you know what happened between him and me, you surely must have read that he still has lingering feelings for me…”

“You were planning to die with Hyoseong, weren’t you?”

-Silence.

The mad demon closed her mouth at these words.

Even as silence fell between them, the magical resonance in the sky grew stronger, but Merilyn remained focused on their conversation.

“Well, I can’t say for certain. Coincidentally, I’m in a state where I can’t gauge how I’ll act myself.”

“Now, that’s not even…”

“Demons are beings faithful to desire. Once we get what we want, we simply do as we please afterward.”

True to her words, even she didn’t know what would happen next.

She could only vaguely guess that if this woman hadn’t intervened, she would have shared as much carnal pleasure with him as possible, regardless of what followed.

“Even if acting as you please leads to destruction, can you accept that?”

“Whatever the result, at least the end will be happy.”

Even if the extreme choice the woman mentioned was made, her magical energy had the effect of numbing the reason of those entranced by it.

The pleasure derived from it was more stimulating and addictive than any drug.

An end met while immersed in such pleasure couldn’t possibly be unhappy.

“Wouldn’t that be better? In a world that’s about to end anyway, no matter how desperately we try to live, both demons and humans will equally live in despair.”

A final moment steeped in pleasure rather than false hope…

Some might consider this the ideal way to live in a world facing destruction.

Indeed, if the Empire hadn’t developed the technology to mass-produce Heroes as saviors, most people would have lived only dreaming of a peaceful death, so filled with despair was this world.

“…I’ve heard enough.”

But she was the last heir of the Haven family.

She, who had a mission to protect the future from destruction, could never agree with such absurd opinions.

“I really must eliminate you here.”

The man who she hoped would fulfill that mission…

She couldn’t let him fall victim to this demon’s schemes.

“…You speak quite confidently.”

And the demon equally despised her opponent.

Someone capable of perfect prophecies that could drive her back must have foreseen the mortality of this world.

It wasn’t difficult to predict that someone facing such a future who became obsessed with a mere human intended to transfer that responsibility.

“Even though I’m the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord’s army, I still have enough power to protect myself…”

Yes, the person before her was surely trying to push him onto a thorny path.

That was a purpose that could never coexist with her own.

Encouraging people to live by emphasizing impossible hope was an action considered sinful by a demon who had lived her entire life in the false hope that her master would return.

“…I’m sorry, but you’ve already fallen into my trap.”

So for his sake, she needed to eliminate this woman first and think afterward.

As she was about to charge with that thought, her expression hardened at the sensation beneath her feet.

-CRACK! CRACK!!!

Sharp crystal formations shot up from the ground, leaving no room to step.

She tried to dodge the attack by moving her body, but it was impossible to avoid everything.

Her clothes and skin were torn.

The trap, which took several hours to set up after arriving here, had successfully reached even a being who had ascended to the rank of Transcendent.

‘Don’t let your guard down, Irie. Even if the opponent claims to be the weakest, they’re still a top executive of the Demon Lord’s army. We need to end this quickly!’

That momentary gap was the necessary condition for delivering the finishing blow.

-CRASH, BOOM!

Meteor showers broke through the atmosphere and struck the crystal forest that had sprouted in the plaza. The crystal fragments scattered in all directions, expanding the magic contained within and causing chain explosions.

Though each explosion might be weak individually, they were enough to create reflexive caution in her opponent.

‘Even if you can change the future on a whim, those whims will move in limited directions when you sense a threat to your life.’

Yes, what was needed wasn’t just reliance on prophecy, but a plan that could minimize variables trying to escape the prophecy.

Even if attacks didn’t hit directly, as long as they drove the target to a designated position, the next step was to guide the opponent to move according to her will.

While appearing to bombard indiscriminately, she focused on the outskirts rather than the entire area.

Gradually narrowing the escape routes with falling meteors, she would deliver the finishing blow to the instinctively found safe position.

-CRASH!

When the decisive meteor with tremendous power struck that position…

Amid the storm of crystal fragments and dust scattered in all directions, Irie’s expression crumpled as she watched the scene.

‘I hoped to end it with this…’

-Step, step.

Quiet footsteps.

Proving it wasn’t an illusion, her opponent parted the dust with a relaxed smile and began closing the distance between them.

As if to show that despite being caught in the impact, she had sustained no serious injuries and could still move her body.

“Fufu, I was lucky. I avoided a direct hit.”

Lucky? That’s nonsense.

The bombardment was designed to narrow the encirclement and control the opponent’s movements, guiding them to a position where a powerful strike would hit.

Minimizing that damage meant she had “directly taken the attack with her body” and escaped the area beforehand.

If one wanted to protect themselves, they would naturally avoid attacks that felt threatening, yet she showed the wit to take it head-on.

Could it be that despite living eternally in the void, even that experience wasn’t meaningless?

-CRACK!

But she had anticipated the possibility of her first trap being broken and had designed time-delayed traps to activate in the direction she expected the opponent to come.

A surprise attack while the opponent was distracted by avoiding bombardment would be enough to deliver a decisive blow to someone with low defense.

“What’s wrong?”

That attack missed by just one step.

Just one step to the side was all it took to make it miss.

“Wh-what…”

“My, why are you so surprised? I simply moved this way because I wanted to, could it be that your precious prophecy couldn’t predict this far?”

-BOOM!!

Immediately after, a meteor crashed behind her.

But this time there wasn’t even a dodging motion.

She just slightly increased her walking speed, and even that was done “abruptly” without any prior indication.

“Well, the future is ultimately based on the past.”

Even afterward, the mad demon swayed as she moved, casually passing through the traps she had set and closing the distance.

Her movements were extremely irregular, and her face didn’t even show confidence in having thwarted the opponent’s predictions.

Just as her mood dictated.

True to her species that is faithful to desire, she simply smiled leisurely as if moving according to her heart’s desire.

“Which means that even your precious prophecy is based on information accumulated in the past… If you had predicted everything from the beginning, you could have killed me instantly without wasting time, but the fact that you used such a cumbersome strategy proves that your prophecy isn’t perfect.”

-RUMBLE, BOOM!

Still gracefully dancing through the chaotic scene, she had somehow taken out an instrument and was preparing to perform a concert aimed at her.

“But what can I do? When I truly get serious about something, I don’t even know how I’ll move myself.”

The sight was nothing short of astonishing to Irie.

No matter how much a Transcendent’s whims could change the future, whims weren’t something that could be intentionally created.

Even if one defined their own actions as whims, if they were “intentional,” the destructive god observing this planet would include even that in the category of predictions and derive an accurate future.

Even if whims occurred, their precursors could be confirmed if nearby, so if confronted directly, it should be possible to read those movements.

‘But that only applies to ordinary Transcendents… It doesn’t apply at all to this demon.’

Yes, the opponent was a demon rooted in madness.

Madness means not being aware of one’s own actions, so if one deliberately immerses themselves in it, all actions become spontaneous.

Whims that don’t stop at once but continue consecutively, with an explosive nature that could occur anywhere, anytime…

A being that could be called the “natural enemy” of a prophet who includes even one or two whims in the scope of their plan.

“Well, it seems you’ve shown all the prepared show, now it’s my turn to perform.”

-CRACKLE!

“A requiem should be sufficient as the theme song for you!”

Strings roughly plucked by fingers.

The sound waves created from that terrible noise were amplified with magical energy and began to shoot forward.

-BOOM!!! BOOM!!!!

Consecutive explosions of sound waves.

As the attacks shot in all directions and crumbled the abandoned houses they hit, Irie’s body was caught in the storm and tumbled into the collapsed ruins.

‘I avoided a direct hit, but this has rendered all my plans meaningless.’

Her body ached, but she couldn’t stop. First, she needed to hide in the dust and increase the distance between them.

At least now she knew there was no answer in a frontal confrontation, so she needed to hide somewhere safe and revise her strategy.

“Kuhak!!”

But the opponent had no intention of giving her such leisure.

The demon, who had instinctively stepped into the place she was trying to escape to, was preparing to lift her body by ruthlessly grabbing the prophet’s neck with her hand.

“Pfft, hahahahaha~!”

Without even a hint of seriousness.

With a smile befitting her title as the mad demon.

“Peek-a-boo~♡”

Feeling a chill run down her spine at that smile.

-CRASH!!

Before she could respond, her body was mercilessly thrown against the wall of the ruins with full force.