Ch.9897. Proof (7)

# 97. Proof (7)

Fenex was taken in by Bael, the strongest demon, and spent 150 years under him—a time that seemed both long and short in some ways.

During that time, Fenex grew at an incredible pace with Bael’s support.

Up to this point, everything was fine.

But the problem lay elsewhere.

It was that Bael thought of Fenex as nothing more than a “toy.”

Fenex trusted him.

He believed and followed Bael’s words, taking pride in having the strongest demon as his adoptive father and striving to earn his recognition.

However, from Bael’s perspective, this entire process was merely “one of his toys desperately seeking attention.”

In the end, from beginning to end, Bael only thought of Fenex as a toy—a plaything to briefly entertain his long, long life.

Bael first learned of the demon called Fenex when he headed to the border to stop a human attack.

Fenex was being chased by some human, and Bael was watching the scene from very far away.

‘It’s just like seeing my past self…’

Bael considered Fenex similar to himself in that they both lost someone precious because of humans, and at the same time…

‘This could be fun.’

He thought Fenex could become excellent entertainment for him.

He could have saved that dark elf, but he didn’t.

He deliberately chose not to because he wanted to see Fenex’s despair at losing someone precious, just as he himself had experienced.

Then he appeared before Fenex, who was about to take his own life.

‘Unlike me, he seems physically weak.’

Bael thoroughly enjoyed the voice of despair that Fenex uttered at that moment.

That’s why he chose to keep Fenex by his side and actually taught him quite a lot.

After all, Fenex needed to be aware that he was growing stronger.

‘What an amusing little one.’

Bael found it interesting to watch him diligently and fiercely sharpening his blade of revenge over those long years.

However, he didn’t particularly want that revenge to succeed.

Perhaps it was because he himself hadn’t been able to achieve his own revenge, but if it were Bael, he would have thought:

‘Isn’t it more fun that way?’

Bael wanted to see Fenex’s face filled with despair after failing his revenge.

That’s why he somewhat hastily appointed Fenex as an executor, despite him not having the skills for it at all.

Then he gave a mission to the newly appointed executor.

“As the leader of a special unit, infiltrate the enemy imperial palace and kill the empress or the emperor’s children while our main force keeps the emperor occupied.”

Bael gave this mission knowing full well that Fenex would never be able to accomplish it, and Fenex, who wanted revenge against humans, accepted the mission.

Of course, Fenex had no choice in the matter.

‘I wonder what kind of face he’ll show me this time?’

Fenex had no idea that Bael was thinking this way, and was only focused on getting revenge against humans and earning Bael’s recognition.

However, Fenex was currently being blocked by someone named Albert who had appeared out of nowhere, unable to even leave the vicinity of the clock tower, let alone reach the imperial palace.

Bael was observing this scene in real-time through a magical tool he had requested from Lilith.

“Quite bold.”

Bael found it interesting to watch Albert’s judgment in using his own body as bait to bind his opponent.

Of course, for Bael, the sight of his toy dying gloriously was his primary interest.

***

Just like me earlier, bright red blood was gushing from Fenex’s chest, and he was trying his best to stop the bleeding.

If he reinforced his body with magic power, the blood would stop flowing thanks to that magic, but Fenex wasn’t choosing that method.

“You look pathetic. How does it feel to be dying at the hands of humans you looked down on?”

“It’s certainly not a pleasant feeling…”

Seeing his resigned appearance somehow made my heart ache.

Death is always a sad affair, and it felt like I would have met the same end if I hadn’t had that skill.

A lonely death faced without dreams or hope.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

‘Looking at this, I guess I’m somewhat fortunate…’

Seeing someone else’s misfortune made me romanticize my own past a little.

As if to say, ‘At least I had some hope…’

Still, this was clearly wartime, and I needed to finish this immediately.

“Kill me quickly, don’t waste time.”

“If you had tried to kill me from the beginning instead of wasting time, you might have had a chance…”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Fenex continued with a deadly serious expression.

“I was destined to die here anyway. Even if I had killed you, I would have died at the hands of the emperor who would arrive soon. I couldn’t use the portal again. I was already dead from the moment I accepted that mission.”

Fenex spoke as if he had known this would happen.

Looking at my expression, he smiled faintly and said:

“Sometimes there are situations where you have no choice but to act even when you know the outcome, just like back then… But back then, Father stopped me.”

It seemed he called Bael his father.

Fenex was still using the title “father” for the person who could be considered responsible for his death.

“But I shouldn’t have been stopped then… What would you have done if you were me?”

He was clearly talking about when he first met Bael, when he resolved to seek revenge.

If it had been me…

“I would have pushed through, of course. I would have gone to save them even if it meant my death.”

“Indeed… that would have been the right choice…”

After saying this, Fenex turned his gaze somewhere else.

Then he murmured quietly:

“You’ll end up just like me, for sure.”

After saying that, he looked at Reina who was standing blankly nearby and said:

“What are you staring at? Kill me quickly.”

Unlike the quite composed Fenex, Reina was hesitating a bit.

Even earlier when facing ordinary soldiers, Reina had hesitated to kill.

I gave an order to Reina for the first time:

“Kill him quickly.”

“…”

Reina hesitated for a moment, then finally pointed her sword at Fenex.

And then…

-Slash!-

Fenex’s head was severed with a single stroke, and the severed head fell to the ground, rolling until it stopped in front of Reina.

Reina faced that bloody and dark scene head-on, taking it all in.

I patted Reina’s back as she struggled.

“I’m… fine… you don’t need to worry about me… thanks.”

“That’s good then.”

Despite her words, Reina’s hands were trembling.

It would certainly be difficult mental anguish for someone as young as 17 to endure.

However, Reina was facing that pain head-on and was bearing it quite well.

After looking away from there, Reina asked me as I picked up Fenex’s sword:

“Can I… become like you?”

“This isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

“It may not be good, but it’s necessary. At least for me.”

It was certainly a necessary virtue for a warrior going into battle.

“It’ll be really difficult, but you can definitely do it.”

The situation Reina was experiencing now was something both I and she had gone through, and just as we did, Reina would also manage well.

“Let’s go back now, it’s not over yet.”

This battle hasn’t ended yet, and even now our party members would be getting wounded while wounding enemies.

Reina and I joined that battlefield, albeit belatedly, and were doing our best to finish this battle together with them.

Certainly, with the leader Fenex gone, his soldiers began to lose their strength, and gradually our side was gaining the upper hand.

“Just a little more effort.”

As a result of squeezing out every last bit of strength, we were able to reduce the number of those soldiers to double digits.

But now we were at our limit too.

Not only our physical strength but also our vitality and magic power were bottoming out.

Even in such a situation, the enemy attacks continued.

-Boom! Crack! Bang!-

The attacks from the remaining forces were quite powerful, and many attacks were effective.

I was relatively fine thanks to [Life in Death] that had activated earlier, but I couldn’t do it alone.

Even though they were just low-ranking members of the Demon King’s army, demons were still demons, and each one had considerable destructive power.

After being hit by attacks using the Abyss once or twice, they stopped falling for it.

‘They dodge well…’

Even when I released the Abyss, they used their overflowing magic power to spam [Haste] and dodge, and they wouldn’t engage in close combat, so we kept getting pushed back.

In the midst of this, something appeared with a light wind sound, cutting through the air and flying right in front of me, then lodging precisely in the head of a soldier in front of me.

-Whoosh! Thud!!-

I only noticed it when it came very close, and she didn’t seem to have detected it at all.

Our party members, including myself, were curious about the identity of that sudden arrow, and the same was true for the enemy.

While we were blankly staring at that arrow, someone rose up, and simultaneously, an enormous barrage of arrows rained down on those soldiers.

-Thud! Thud!-

Though countless arrows poured down, each shot was powerful enough to instantly kill those soldiers, and there was only one person in the Empire who could boast such archery skills.

‘They arrived later than I expected…’

Still, I was glad that reinforcements had arrived at the right time.