To Hell 3

Originally, the sensation of having one’s head cut off isn’t particularly pleasant.

Even if the pain is minimized.

Even if I’m already accustomed to pain and suffering.

Rather, it hurts even more.

Despite being a tin can body, I’ve undergone fusion multiple times, becoming closer to an organic body. All my senses, including the five senses, are unnecessarily sensitive, so the level of pain is likely much more severe than that of an ordinary person.

Nevertheless, the reason I’m alive and well, and able to endure pain, is partly because my auxiliary personality, Theresa, shares the burden of pain. It’s also because I’m already accustomed to all kinds of pain.

I don’t have proper memories of my previous life, but the sensation of being accustomed to pain has pierced through my soul and carried over.

What on earth did I, the Demon King Beep-boop in my previous life, do and what was done to me that makes this kind of pain feel like nothing?

If I were an ordinary human, I would have simply died of shock from the pain.

But for now, let’s enjoy the joy.

Fusing with false gods was truly disappointing.

I thought that fusing with divine beings, ancient beings that drive humans to madness, would lead to rapid growth and physical improvement. But they were merely degenerate mental parasites, so even after fusion, the growth rate was worse than that of a Scrap Iron Dragon.

Perhaps because they are degenerate beings, it’s ambiguous to even call them gods, and since they don’t have physical bodies, there may be nothing to upgrade my android body in the first place.

But hell was different.

Disordered energy.

A land of entropy without an owner.

When false gods spread madness, humans entrust themselves to that madness, and all sorts of hatred, pain, anguish, and faith bloom. The madness, starting from a seed and becoming a crop, is then offered to hell by a two-year-old priestess named Sira, who conceives it in her body.

And hell holds onto the ‘death and insects’ offered by the priestess for a long time, and after a certain period, it is provided back to the Ark as ‘energy’ that can be used normally.

This was the reality of the contract between the central administration and hell.

Since hell is where all sorts of human emotions become physical entities, it was indeed hell.

The toxic energy, including madness and hatred, would immediately contaminate and kill the mind of an ordinary human if exposed to it without a filter.

Even the executors who have undergone full-body procedures would be no exception.

Thanks to the procedure, they might be able to endure it, but at most for an hour.

Perhaps they could endure it for a much shorter time than that.

Yet, the reason these executioners willingly guided me to hell was, quite literally, to execute me.

‘But why are they trying to execute me? Have I done something so wrong?’

【Human, don’t you know how much of a cancer the red ideology is from the perspective of the ruling class?】

‘Nope, don’t know!’

【Sigh.】

Spreading the red ideology is a crime?

No, what’s so bad about providing a direction that can be a human’s life and goal to the lower layer where it’s hard to live, the stubborn aristocratic layer, and the fanatical layer struggling in madness?

The red ideology itself can awaken the nobility of the sickle and hammer, of labor….

【Please, just shut up.】

“Hehe, fusion commencing.”

Well, it doesn’t matter.

I’m in a good mood right now.

I feel good even with just my head left.

It’s terribly painful, though.

It feels like my flesh is being torn and burned, but thanks to the eternal shackles, having my head cut off cleanly was quite nice.

【Commencing fusion with hell.】

Something connects to the severed surface.

It’s not the previous body.

Something comes out of my neck.

The wires, system synapses, and electronic blood vessels embedded in my head gush out like tentacles and connect to hell.

There’s no need for a connecting medium.

Hell could be called hell simply by its space and emptiness.

“Abolish the eternal shackles!”

“Abolish the corpse retrieval plan!”

“Completely crush all targets!”

Valet and the executioners, seeing that I’m alive and well even after having my head cut off, aim their weapons with surprised eyes.

-Bang!

Bullets engraved with all sorts of formulas, including destruction formula, regeneration suppression formula, penetration enhancement, and rupture enhancement, fly towards my head.

My head was destroyed just like that.

Very helplessly.

Since I didn’t even coat it with a defense formula and just stood there, there’s no way my head could withstand such a barrage of bullets with destruction formulas.

“…Did we get her?”

Oh, dear.

Is that a resurrection spell?

Well, since you chanted a resurrection spell….

‘It would be a problem if I didn’t get up.’

My body disappeared.

My body below the neck was crushed by the eternal shackles, and my head, which was still intact, was erased without a trace by the executioners’ bullets.

This is normal.

This is the skill of the executors who specialize in dealing with high-ranking Awakened and Overseers.

Scrap metal and flesh.

My beloved body, which was half machine and half flesh, was completely crushed, but I was still here.

I still had my will, my mind was intact, and I even felt Theresa by my side.

Ah, right.

There you are, Theresa.

The thing I feared the most was you disappearing….

【Human, you’re saying such cheesy things. My duty is your safety and survival.】

‘Yeah, I love you too, wifey.’

【Please, just shut up.】

Oh my, our Theresa is about to die from happiness?

Yeah, yeah.

I know.

Let’s stop joking around….

【System – Hell connection complete】

【Commencing creation process】

【Implementing synchronization of all systems】

【Rearranging all ownerless disorder】

【Rearranging hatred】

【Rearranging madness】

【Rearranging rage】

【Rearranging pain】

【Rearranging jealousy】

【Rearranging faith】

【Implementing life rearrangement.】

【Complete.】

I felt the energy of hell.

Disordered and harmful to life itself, and things that would contaminate the mind.

But it was useless to me.

Apart from Theresa rearranging and filtering it, my mind wasn’t contaminated by this countless madness and fanaticism.

Why?

Well, I thought it might be possible since I was a Demon King in my previous life.

Of course, I have no basis or evidence to assert my belief, and it’s just a conviction close to a hunch, but that’s enough for me.

Next, I feel my life flowing through the skeleton of energy.

Yes, life.

Real life.

Not the imitation life given to the android body, but real life where my will and body exist.

【Body rearrangement】【Cell redistribution】

【Metaphysical formula activation】【Energy materialization implementation】【Cell reconstruction】

I felt a hand in the empty air.

I raise my hand.

I feel myself in a place where nothing is visible.

The hand is completed.

The hand is completed, the arm is completed, and the warmth felt there rises up, and a heart is created there.

【Main system startup】

【Reactivating combat synapses】

【Implementing Apolio formula array】

Flesh, cells, metal and screws, blood vessels and muscles that make up me.

Ultrafine nano cells gather to create a heart, creating organs and a skeleton.

Recognition begins.

To be recognized is to exist, and to exist is me.

I exist here.

【System activation】

【Ready】

I exist in the empty air.

My body is suspended in the air as if strings are attached to my limbs.

Ah, I feel my body again.

It’s me.

I’m here.

My body is here, and my mind and will follow where my body is, and my soul forms the basis there.

But it’s not the previous body.

Screws and gears have disappeared.

A body of organic tissue made of cells.

But, it wasn’t just cells.

Each cell is made of metal, and the arrangement of that metal is filled with magical engineering formulas and the energy of hell.

An existence where spells and engineering are woven like art at the genetic level.

It was covered in the shell of a living thing, but the inside was much further from humans than before.

But even so, I was satisfied.

Because I’m still me.

【Main system open】

【Retrieving the main system’s original body.】

Each cell has been mutated by the energy of hell and has become a product of metal and magical engineering. My hair is longer than my body, but I’m still me.

【Removing dissonance】

【Granting life】

The previous body was convenient for me, but at the same time, it was awkward, terribly awkward.

I was trapped inside the body, giving commands with a keyboard and mouse, and even when I moved my body, it felt like I was being controlled by something.

The more I went through fusion, the more that awkwardness and strange misalignment disappeared, but it only decreased, it didn’t completely disappear.

The awkwardness of artificial skin instead of soft skin, and the fact that I didn’t feel full even after eating, was a shame.

But what is this body now?

‘It’s cold.’

Of course, it would be cold since I’m not wearing clothes.

‘But, it’s warm.’

The sensation of my hair rustling and brushing against my skin was also natural.

I am fully recognized as me.

In Beep-boop’s previous body, sensations and external stimuli classified as ‘unnecessary’ would have been minimized to prevent sensory overload, but in the current body, I felt it all completely.

I feel everything.

The warmth of the air.

The heat of artificial light, the coolness and coldness of the wind.

Not the body of a doll carved like a sculpture, but the soft skin and face of a real organic human.

Ah, this is me.

This is Alice now.

Ah, I feel good.

Hehe.

I’m not trying to be a narcissist, but now that I’m aware of myself, I feel so pretty, cool, admirable, and all sorts of emotions.

Ah, this is me!

This is my real body!

The material of the cells is an unknown metal and magical engineering formulas.

Synapses woven at the genetic level.

A gorgeous mix of spells and mana.

This is me!

【Welcome back.】

【Human Demon King.】