The Primordial True Ancestor, Nihilus Karmashia 5

With a powerful impact, Alice felt like she was flying.

Like she was flying, inrehu.

And the moment she collided with the ground, hundreds of blood tendrils shot up from the earth, forcing her to spin in the air and take flight once more.

Thanks to regaining the Demon King’s body, she could use levitation spells without needing to manipulate magnetic fields, so flying itself wasn’t a problem.

However, the problem lay elsewhere.

“Fuck!”

As she spat out the curse, the blood tendrils suddenly multiplied in the air, turning into a massive tidal wave. The wave soon transformed into the gaping maw of an ogre, engulfing Alice.

【Fucking hell, human, seriously!!!!】

“Did you think I wanted this to happen!”

【Even if you didn’t, who told you to say something like that!】

“Ah, sorry!”

【Fucking behind you!!!!】

“Kyak!”

Before she could react, a drop of blood solidified into a jewel-like thorn, piercing her chest.

She couldn’t let this go unchecked.

She had to immediately burn and cauterize the wound.

“Kyaaaak! Disinfecting the wound hurts more than getting attacked!”

【You brought this on yourself, so endure it!】

“Ugeak…!”

Every attack infused with the True Ancestor’s virus began to proliferate cells from the moment the wound was inflicted, rapidly consuming the body.

Even a scratch on the cheek would cause the True Ancestor’s Blood and virus to multiply inside, and before she knew it, solidified blood crystals would burst out of her head like antlers.

So, Alice was simultaneously intercepting the blood droplets rushing at her, freezing the blood-red tidal wave that had opened its maw like an ogre with self-destructive freezing spells, and cauterizing her body with disinfecting flame spells.

“Ahahahaha, my lovely dear~! Is that all the sincerity you have when confessing to me?”

“No, that’s not it! I thought it would end quietly without a fight…!”

“To think you’d try to end it quietly after receiving such a lovely confession. Don’t lie!”

“You fucking bitch, seriously!”

In truth, this was happening because of the True Ancestor’s culture(?).

Emotions like love are rare among True Ancestors.

They might exist, but they’re usually closer to one-sided exploitation and possessiveness.

So, if True Ancestors were to ‘love’ each other, they would definitely fight.

‘I love you, so become mine.’

But since every True Ancestor was self-righteous and self-centered, they would naturally resist hearing such words.

In other words, to a True Ancestor, a confession is an attack.

A confession attack is a declaration that they will attack you.

It naturally leads to a battle where they tear at each other, which becomes a valuable spectacle for other True Ancestors.

Because of this culture, Nihilus largely perceived Alice’s confession(?) as an attack against herself.

Of course, Nihilus wasn’t stupid.

She knew that to humans, a confession was a declaration to be together, an expression of wanting to find a partner.

But Nihilus also thought this.

‘If she confessed to me, she must have the qualifications for it, right?’

From the moment she first saw Alice, Nihilus felt a liking for her, but she couldn’t grasp the nature of that liking itself.

Alice, who somehow resembled the Demon King who had summoned her, and gave off a similar feeling.

The blood dwelling in Alice’s body was liquid metal, and her flesh had been reassembled in hell, so Nihilus had no way of knowing that Alice was the human demon king who had invited her to this world.

But even if she knew, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Nihilus probably would have done this even if she knew Alice was the human demon king herself.

-Clang!

“Oh, scary.”

Nihilus was manipulating the massive wave of blood that was engulfing Alice with one hand, and with the other, she was dealing with Oriana, who was unleashing thousands of sword strikes per second.

In truth, Nihilus had originally intended to only play with Alice, but Oriana, enraged by Nihilus’s words about taking Alice as her wife, drew her sword and declared her participation.

Nihilus didn’t particularly refuse.

Oriana would have attacked regardless of Nihilus’s intentions, and from Nihilus’s perspective, there was nothing wrong with having Oriana along with Alice.

Even if she was inferior to Alice, that pitiful hero was worth playing with.

-Thud!

“Hmm. That hurts.”

Oriana’s sword strikes were definitely threatening.

It was the hero’s sword, after all.

Since it was the hero’s sword that could dig into and sever the root of anything, even a True Ancestor would surely die if cut by it.

However, the current Nihilus Karmashia was no ordinary True Ancestor.

Primordial True Ancestor.

Primordial Calamity.

That alone made her a powerful calamity, but the current Nihilus had devoured all of her retinue.

Perhaps Nihilus’s current power was stronger than any calamity that had appeared so far, a world-class calamity capable of dyeing the entire Ark in blood in an instant.

“It’s troubling if a mosquito is coveting our Alice, you know?”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding. Alice is the one who confessed.”

“….”

-Crack!

The air began to crack, as if Oriana’s mood had soured.

The sword strikes wielded by the hero’s sword became even more chaotic, tearing through space itself and shredding the True Ancestor’s blood and flesh.

But Nihilus’s body wasn’t being cut.

Or rather, the moment it was cut, it would immediately regenerate, following the sword strike.

“Oh, that was amazing just now. The lives of two of my retinue just died.”

“Shut up!”

“Why are you only getting angry even when I’m giving you compliments?”

Once again, the hero’s sword was blocked by the blood armor that had solidified like crystal.

Oriana’s sword was sharp and fierce, but unfortunately, Nihilus had killed and absorbed countless members of her retinue, so she wouldn’t die from being cut a few times.

But even so, Nihilus thought calmly.

Oriana was more threatening and stronger than she had expected, but she still had many lives left.

But Alice was neither as threatening nor as special as she had expected.

‘She’s weaker than I thought.’

Nihilus had felt a great sense of specialness towards Alice in the simulation training grounds of the barrier facility.

Even though it was a clone, the feeling she had felt then wasn’t a lie.

But the current Alice was… how should she put it? Less than she had expected.

She wasn’t feeling the specialness she had anticipated.

Well, there was no reason to think too deeply about it.

‘If she satisfies me, we’ll really become husband and wife… if not, I’ll have to go with the original plan.’

The original plan.

To abandon her ego and reason, essentially committing personality suicide, and declaring that she would return to being a primordial mass of energy.

In truth, Nihilus had no lingering attachments to life.

It was disgusting and tiresome, and she had no compass or sail to keep her in reality.

If Alice could be that key, she wouldn’t ask for anything more, but as it stood, she was disappointed.

“Alice, is that all you’ve got?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you asking if I’m scared right now!?”

Alice made a face full of anger, then blocked the tidal wave rushing at her with defensive spells and began to draw a massive magic circle in the air.

【Octa Casting】

【Meteoropolis】

【Abyssal Blaze】

【Chaos Storm】

【Dark Nova】

【Earth Shatter】

【Divine Requiem】

【Apocalypse Vision】

【Frozen Cataclysm】

The time it took to draw the magic circle was less than a second.

It was the first time she had executed grand magic since becoming this body, but the mana consumed was minimal, and it didn’t burden her body.

Yes, she could do it now.

A chaotic storm that instantly filled the space arose, and from it, an energy storm mixed with lightning, fire, ice, and poison filled the vast space.

“Disappointing.”

But it couldn’t reach Nihilus.

Dropping meteors, freezing space, and turning mana into flames to explode?

It was powerful and great magic, that was true.

It was also true that it was a versatile destructive magic that could cover everything from a single target to a vast area.

But someone in the Ark could also use this kind of magic.

If Nihilus would die from such magic, the Ark wouldn’t have ‘contracted’ with her, but would have annihilated her.

-Flick.

Blocking Oriana’s sword with one hand, Nihilus flicked her finger with the other, and the blood droplets surrounding Nihilus scattered in all directions.

A single blood droplet faced a meteor.

The blood droplet that had dug into the meteor proliferated and shattered the meteor into pieces, and the storm containing the cold was trapped in a barrier created by a single blood droplet.

The attack that had transformed pure mana into flames had its mana, which would have been the fuel, eaten and absorbed by the blood droplet.

With just the fountain of blood that had burst out like mist around her, the eight grand magics that Alice had cast were instantly dispelled.

The lord’s chamber of the Dunhill family, which had been like a vast plain, was in complete disarray due to the flashy explosions and flames, but Nihilus, the True Ancestor, was completely unharmed.

“Alice, at this rate, I’ll have no choice but to declare a divorce as soon as we declare our marriage, you know? For the record, I’ll stamp the divorce papers with your soul.”

How scary.

She’ll kill me if I don’t marry her.

But Alice was fine with it.

Even though she was flustered by the sudden situation, she didn’t think she would lose at all.

“Theresa.”

【Yes.】

“Are you ready?”

【Anytime.】

Pretending to be hit and using flashy grand magic was all to divert attention.

Thanks to that, the lord’s chamber, which had been like a vast plain, was now filled with blood mist and mana storms, obscuring the view.

‘I was thinking of using Fusion on Nihilus… but it seems impossible with this body. And Fusion is about completely taking everything from the other person. I can’t kill her after going through the trouble of proposing.’

If she couldn’t kill her, she had to subdue Nihilus to a satisfying extent, but subduing someone was basically only possible if you were overwhelmingly stronger than them.

And Nihilus had become the strongest, most terrible calamity.

Even the hero’s sword couldn’t sever her root, and only the lives of the retinue that Nihilus had absorbed were being chipped away like a stack.

At some point, she had even adapted to Oriana’s sword strikes, casually blocking the hero’s sword by casually flicking her fingernails.

So, Alice chose a different method.

It would be foolish to crash head-on with the current forces she had.

【Code Liberation Initiated】

Code Liberation.

The additional liberation and delegated calculation of the abilities granted to all Overseers of the Ark.

But its true nature was to connect with the [Human Demon King] enshrined in the Ark Central Administration, receive new powers and abilities, and pass all calculations and mana burdens onto the [Human Demon King].

Alice decided to use Code Liberation, which she had never used once since becoming an Overseer.

Not to regain her abilities.

‘I’m regaining my body…!’

What she had imitated in hell was only the shell and the genes.

She would regain her real body through the connection from Code Liberation.

-Crackle!

The moment of Fusion happened in an instant.

Through Code Liberation, Alice was connected to the Human Demon King, and because her soul was intact, the Human Demon King reacted immediately.

“Ah.”

Alice let out a small exclamation.

In fact, she could have regained it at any time.

From the moment they were connected by code, at any time.

The reason she was regaining it now?

She just needed a little mental preparation.

And above all, it had been slightly postponed due to Alice’s opinion that awakenings should be romantic.

Theresa had seen that and replied, ‘Here we go again.’ But Alice still couldn’t give up on romance and dreams.

Awakening at the moment of a dangerous battle, with the crisis!

【Welcome back.】

Metal cells turned into organic cells.

Softer skin.

Warm warmth.

A pounding heart.

Now she might die if her head was pierced or her heart was blown up.

It was pulsating like this, breathing so warmly…

But she wasn’t afraid.

Because she had regained it.

【Welcome back. Human Demon King.】

“Alice!?”

“…?!”

Nihilus, feeling the change in the air, rose from her seat.

Oriana, who had been attacking Nihilus with fierce momentum, also stopped moving without realizing it and turned her eyes in the direction where Alice was.

The storm of mana and the blood-red mist were mixed together, making it difficult to see.

But beyond that, there was Alice with a familiar face.

No, it was someone who was whole and complete, who had regained both her body and soul.

There was the Human Demon King.

“Al, ice? How on earth….”

“Hello, Oriana?”

Hello.

At those words, Oriana’s face hardened for a moment and was filled with guilt.

It was the Human Demon King she had stabbed.

That long silver hair too.

Those sparkling eyes too.

That lovely smile too.

That always playful and relaxed demeanor too.

It was her.

Her complete self.

My Demon King who has completely returned….

“Let’s catch up later, I have someone to play with now. Please wait a little longer.”

Still, I’m glad to see you again.

And with a bizarre sound of space tearing, something wavered in the air.

-Bang!

Nihilus felt intense pain in her abdomen and flew away.

“…I, couldn’t, react…?”

Nihilus covered her stomach with a surprised look.

It hurt.

The True Ancestor, who nullified almost all physical attacks, was feeling intense pain.

“Ah, ahah, hahaha, hahahaha…!”

Alice chuckled and flipped her hair back.

She couldn’t even call her Beep-boop anymore.

She had completely regained it.

Not metal cells, but organic cells.

Flesh, blood, the Human Demon King.

Her regained body.

It was quite welcome.

“Hey, Nihilus. Don’t play tricks.”

At Alice’s gesture, the True Ancestor’s blood that had been crawling in the air all sank to the floor.

The True Ancestor’s blood, which had been creating the mouths of ogres, thorns, tidal waves, and crystals, was now following Alice’s orders, not the True Ancestor’s.

“…Ha.”

Nihilus’s lips curled up as the blood followed Alice’s orders instead of her own.

Special.

She had become special.

That feeling she had when they first met.

No, it was you.

Yes, yes!

Yes, it was you!

“No, more than that, more, more, more, special! I’m getting even more excited!”

“Is that so? That’s good.”

The Demon King who summoned me!

Nihilus laughed maniacally inside and stood up.

Alice smiled and flicked her finger.

“Don’t play tricks, how about we have a conversation with our bodies?”

“…Heh.”

Nihilus smiled and replied.

“As you wish!”

-Bang!

Once again, the air wavered, and the figures of the two disappeared simultaneously.

-Kwaaaang!

-Crack!

-Kwajik!

Alice and Nihilus were repeatedly colliding at speeds that broke the sound barrier.

Alice and Nihilus’s movements were almost simultaneous.

In the blink of an eye, they broke the sound barrier, tearing through the surrounding air.

At the moment of impact, a massive shockwave spread out from the air, and someone’s blood and flesh fell away.

The instantaneous aftermath created the illusion that the sky had been torn apart.

In the first collision, Alice pulled out the Holy Sword, Demonic Sword Mantis Blade, which she hadn’t used for a while, from under her skin, and Nihilus pulled out fingernails that had crystallized blood.

The battle unfolded with dozens of exchanges in an instant.

As the two bodies cut through the air, the molecules couldn’t keep up with their speed and were pushed back. The red aura caused by air friction repeatedly surged and disappeared in the air.

And from the second collision onwards, the air was torn apart and a roar spread, and the shockwave shook everything in the vast lord’s chamber.

The movements, which were invisible to ordinary senses, were only vaguely visible to Oriana’s eyes as multiple layers of afterimages.

The two fought as they traversed the sky, as if dancing in a storm.

They changed direction in an instant, dodged each other’s attacks, pulled each other in reverse, and the shockwaves created in the process caused large and small whirlwinds, and sometimes something like lightning struck the air.

Their shared space seemed as though physical space itself was warped.

The most primal form of combat involved colliding bodies directly, without mana or anything else. Yet, this primitive and primal struggle generated kinetic energy that formed an electric field in the air, causing flashes and lightning to strike.

In the vision of both Nihilus and Alice, everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Predicting each other’s movements was meaningless.

Their speed had already surpassed physical limitations.

Sonic booms erupted in the air as they used the shockwaves to propel themselves at tremendous speeds, bouncing off each other repeatedly.

The sound of space rupturing echoed countless times.

In the end, only Alice remained.

The human demon king.

Having fully reclaimed her body, the human demon king brushed back her pure white silver hair and smiled leisurely. Distorted currents of air swirled around her like flowing waves, and the noise that had been rupturing the surroundings until just now had subsided.

Her breathing was a little rough, but everything around Alice was returning to stillness.

“Would it be alright to confess at this point?”

“….”

Nihilus lay on the ground.

Her arms and hands were mangled and crushed, a rather miserable state, but such injuries were nothing to a True Ancestor.

“As you wish….”

Nihilus smiled, blood trickling from her nose.

Alice smiled back.

“Ah, I’m the husband, by the way.”

“…How unfortunate.”