Ch.98Will You Marry Me or Would You Rather Die? (3)

Avangka’s corpse, with bones, flesh, and limbs completely torn apart, was falling endlessly into the darkness, silently laughing.

And then.

Thud.

Under the blood-red sky, the place where the fragments of the corpse fell was no longer the world of humans.

Corpses were piled like mountains everywhere, and even the air was filled with the stench of rotting blood—a forbidden realm.

This was the Other World.

A space where only the laws of monsters existed, not humans.

“Reverse summoning to the Other World… It seems the Death Monster quite likes you, Councilor Blamashu.”

“…Why… why won’t you die? I made a contract with…”

Blamashu muttered.

“The most powerful being!”

Before her eyes, Avangka’s head, the only part remaining, nodded with that familiar smile, rolling slightly.

But.

“This is… ah.”

Her trembling pupils became calm again.

The woman who had been shaking with rage and fear just moments ago now whispered softly.

“That Death Monster, so diligent indeed. Nothing better for regulating emotions…”

It wasn’t mere comfort.

Anxiety, anger, fear.

The emotions that had been swirling violently just moments ago became quiet, as if dead.

If the concept of ‘death’ affected not only the body but also the mind, what she was feeling now was a death sentence for her emotions.

Her anxiety had died, her anger had stopped breathing, and her fear had been buried.

Thanks to that, she could smile calmly again.

“Hmph. No matter what, what can just a head do?”

Thump!

Blamashu leaped with all her might and stomped directly on Avangka’s head.

Crash!

Blood and bone fragments splattered everywhere, soaking the ground.

Crushed to the head, she could no longer even be called an “existence.”

“This is the end, Councilor Avangka. Now truly never again…”

But.

“Ow ow ow…”

“…What?”

A voice breaking the silence over the blood-soaked earth.

Suddenly, something wriggling as if alive in the pool of blood caught her eye.

Burnt flesh, scattered finger bones, broken ribs, and torn skin… they began to wriggle on their own, crawling, pulling each other together.

Flop.

The suit fabric stuck to the ground, wrapping around the burnt muscles, taking shape.

Nerve bundles sprouted over severed leg bones, broken collarbones found their places, and even brain matter writhed hotly.

And at the center, a face that opened its eyes again with a smile on its lips.

“Stomping on my head like that… We’ve been colleagues for years, haven’t we? How heartless of you, Councilor Blamashu.”

She flicked her fingers, dusting off her suit sleeve.

Adjusting her high heels with a “click,” she straightened her suit while still covered in blood, completing her silhouette.

She should have clearly died, clearly been crushed, clearly been annihilated.

Yet she was alive again.

The name of the woman who had returned through death was:

“Councilor Avangka, making her reappearance~”

That smile was no longer human.

Blamashu’s eyes wavered.

“You were already dead…! Your head exploded, surely…”

“…I suppose so.”

“Kuk…”

But even that confusion soon washed away like “death” by the monster.

She nodded calmly once more.

“Fine. Now I understand. Avangka, you also made a contract with a monster. A rather powerful one at that.”

Avangka didn’t answer.

Instead, she shrugged ambiguously.

That silent gesture was a provocation to Blamashu.

“…Insolent woman.”

Whoosh!

This time, black flames rose from Blamashu’s fingertips.

“Fine, this time I’ll just burn you.”

Black flames engulfed Avangka’s body.

Her form distorted hideously and began turning to ash.

“This is ‘cremation.'”

Blamashu muttered through gritted teeth.

“Drowning, perishing, falling, suffocation, natural death… whatever works, but this time I’ll erase every last cell.”

Rustle.

Through the burning flames, a “lump of meat” with barely recognizable form tumbled down beneath the pile of corpses.

“This time she’s really… dead, right?”

Blamashu narrowed her eyes, glaring at the remaining flames.

At that moment.

“Ah hot, hot!”

“…What?”

A voice from behind.

“Progressive Party’s Councilor Avangka, serving humanity, makes her return~”

Blamashu turned with a start.

Again.

The corpse that had been burning just moments ago was standing there as Avangka, with an immaculate face, as if it had all been a lie.

“How did you… how…”

“That corpse? It was a fake~ As a politician, I need to keep at least a dozen bodies prepared, you know?”

“You bitch!”

Cold sweat ran down her face.

Blamashu gritted her teeth and borrowed the monster’s power again.

“Fine, then this time it’s ‘water’!”

Splash!

The space around Avangka instantly filled with water.

Without even a chance to breathe, a massive pressure of water swallowed her.

“Drowning.”

Blamashu muttered.

“This is the inhumane method you so love. Water torture… ending in death.”

Avangka struggled, gurgling, unable to open her mouth.

Her body floated, her eyes rolled back, and the last bubble of air rose.

Now, surely she’s really dead?

Blamashu slowly lowered her hand.

Pop.

When even that bubble burst, there was no sign of life in Avangka’s eyes.

Her body floated to the center of the water, and there was no movement as her hair and clothes drifted in the current.

Her skin turned pale, and her limbs spread lifelessly.

This time, truly, she was dead.

Having contracted with the Death Monster, Blamashu could clearly sense the remnants of death permeating Avangka’s body.

It wasn’t mere speculation.

The aura of death cannot be deceived.

That’s why this time she was certain.

She had to believe she had truly ended it.

Yet the deeper that certainty grew, the more worry began to bloom.

Because.

“My, you really kill so frighteningly~?”

“Tch!”

Every time until now, at moments like this, that crazy woman who had mocked her by coming back to life was once again speaking to her with a smile.

Explosive death.

Death by explosion that shatters all flesh in an instant.

Freezing death.

Death by cold that freezes even the soul as every drop of blood solidifies.

Electrocution.

Death by current that burns the nerves from the inside out.

“Kuhak?!”

Starvation.

Death by hunger that slowly fades with an empty stomach.

Death by overwork.

Death by fatigue where the body exceeds its limits and self-destructs.

Death by shock.

Death where mind and heart shut down simultaneously.

“Guek!!”

Crushing death.

Death by suffocation, pressed into nothingness without leaving a form.

Death by disease.

Death by illness that rots from within.

Death by falling.

Death by impact, shattering into pieces at the bottom of an endless cliff.

Those countless deaths had been inflicted on her, precisely by Blamashu’s hand.

And yet…

“Hmm~ Just wondering, Councilor Blamashu? While we’re here… does time outside flow the same way?”

“…Huff. This isn’t a space you should know about. In this crevice ruled by death, even the world holds its breath.”

“Aha! Just as I thought. Well, we’ve been here for years already… come to think of it, neither of us has aged at all!”

At her innocent tone, Blamashu’s hand trembled slightly.

Dozens, hundreds, no… it felt like she had killed her thousands of times.

How many days, no… how many years had passed like this?

“Today marks the 1,076th day…”

“Oh, exactly 3 years! We should light a candle for such an anniversary~.”

Avangka’s face remained as bright as ever.

“Say, Councilor Blamashu. Come to think of it, aren’t you tired after repeating so many deaths for so long?”

“Having contracted with the Death Monster, my death belongs not to me but to ‘Death’ alone. Do you think side effects like fatigue would appear to someone like me?”

Crash!

At that moment, a high-speed train suddenly rushed from the void.

It hit Avangka head-on while she was mid-question.

A compressed collision of death, twisting the timeline.

Blood splattered with the sound of explosion, and flesh spread like a rag on the spot.

But this was already a familiar scene.

The remains that had been scattered like meat chunks began to gather again, assembling into the form of a ‘person.’

“Why… why won’t you die?”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me! What kind of monster did you contract with that lets you not die, not age, and survive even flames that leave no ash?!”

“Ahaha… That tone. You’ve quite adapted to anxiety control now, haven’t you?”

At those words, Blamashu’s pupils trembled slightly.

The Death Monster didn’t just share power.

For the contract to be maintained, all emotions related to death—anxiety, fear, worry—had to be regulated completely.

The Death Monster consumed those emotions, and in return, granted immunity from physical death.

But without ‘anxiety,’ humans become true monsters.

Blamashu felt herself becoming something other than human.

Three years of continuously using the power of death.

Finally, her body had begun to melt first.

“Wh-what? My body… it’s flowing…?”

Her skin flowed like water, and flesh and muscle dripped to the floor like liquid.

Thick pus oozed from where her heart had been, and her spine was collapsing as if decomposing.

“The Death Monster, could it have grown tired of me?”

Avangka shrugged regretfully and said:

“Sigh. Bad creature. Even though you’re its contractor, abandoning you after just three years is too harsh~!”

“No… I gave everything! My daughter, my party, my name! I gave everything to join hands with it… why? Why couldn’t I kill even one?”

But then.

“Kugh!”

“Whoa?!”

Blamashu, who had approached silently, grabbed Avangka by the collar with her last remaining muscle and mental strength.

And from that hand, she gathered the power of death and forcibly injected it deep into her body.

With the determination to die together.

Murder-suicide.

“This must be the death you hate!”

Yet still.

“I’m sorry, but~ I’m getting a bit tired of this too, Councilor Blamashu~.”

“Wh-what…?”

She no longer even received the power of death.

As if even the subject of the contract had turned away, Avangka had become a being that now ignored even death itself.

“Ah, if you’re going to die anyway, please don’t melt so messily! It’s easier for me to reassemble you by parts if you melt quietly~?”

And so, until the very end, looking at the woman who didn’t even consider her an ‘enemy,’ Blamashu, just before bursting apart, simply wondered:

“Why… could I never… kill you…?”

“……”

Just before her eyeballs melted away.

Avangka plucked out her eyeball, held it in her hand, and gave her final answer.

“Because your power is merely borrowed power, after all.”