Reversal (2)

There was no particular reason to inform Alevian or Ceres of this fact.

So Yona didn’t tell either Alevian or Ceres.

The reason was simple.

Because that would bring them much greater frustration.

The two of them had been moving for quite a long time with the sole purpose of resurrecting the False Celestial Deity to prevent the destruction of the demon realm.

Both Ceres, who tried to resurrect the False Celestial Deity in a way Yona could never accept,

And Alevian, who tried to resurrect the False Celestial Deity in a somewhat more understandable way.

When these two finally manage to resurrect the False Celestial Deity, if the False Celestial Deity then says they have no intention of supporting the demon realm.

‘How interesting their faces would be.’

It’s amusing just to think about it.

“So Ceres, I don’t intend to kill you here and now. What you did to me, and—”

What she did to Alec.

Come to think of it, it might have been Ceres’s plot that made Alec suffer such harsh ordeals in the church territory.

There’s no immediate evidence, but Ceres was present there too.

For Ceres, it’s understandable to think that what happened there was also her doing.

“To repay everything, including what you did to Alec, killing you here would be… too easy for you.”

“…You chose it too. I suggested, and you accepted…!”

“Ah, right. That’s true. You made the proposal, and I accepted. You clearly warned me, and I apostatized. Of my own will. But your mistake was… yes, Ceres.”

Yona slowly lifted Ceres’s chin.

Ceres, still alive and defiant, glared at Yona with a light of contempt in her eyes.

“You put Alec’s life on the scale. You shouldn’t have done that. It’s absurd to insist that it was a suggestion when you used Alec’s life as bait. Do you really think that was a fair suggestion?”

“…If, if you kill me, you’ll turn the entire Kapatia Empire against you.”

The Kapatia Empire of all humans.

And the main port of that Kapatia Empire, Port Kapatia.

Before being an elder of the Celestine Church, the regent of that Port Kapatia — Ceres Alkamine.

“I’m the regent of Port Kapatia. You’re going to kill me…? You’ll become an enemy of Kapatia after being an enemy of the Celestine Church…!”

“You have a talent for saying you don’t want to die in various roundabout ways.”

Yona patted Ceres’s cheek lightly.

She couldn’t say how long she had waited for a day like this.

Even when she heard that Ceres was coming here, Yona hadn’t been waiting without any thoughts.

Fighting her was bound to happen, and it was something that had to happen at least once, if not now.

As long as Ceres doesn’t give up her goal,

And as long as Yona doesn’t forget her grudge.

The term ‘mortal enemy’ is exactly what describes these two.

“Your end has already been decided. Decided by me, not you. So don’t try to avoid it.”

Demonic energy flowed from Yona’s hand.

The dark red demonic energy gradually formed a shape as it clustered together in her grasp, and it eventually took the form of a long, sharp-tipped demonic nail.

“Seeing that you’re still trying to spout such nonsense to me, it seems you still have some strength left. Alevian, hold her tight.”

Yona, grasping a demonic nail in each hand, nodded to Alevian.

At this, Alevian shuddered and went behind Ceres, firmly grasping her shoulders, and Yona raised the demonic nails, saying,

“When I saw Alec’s state back then, I realized something too. Alec said this hurt a lot. So you should experience it too. You won’t die, so don’t worry.”

• Squelch!

  The sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking.

  The sound of cartilage sacs bursting and joints twisting.

  The demonic nail pierced into Ceres’s knee.

  Thoroughly destroying and damaging the joint, the demonic nail dug deep into Ceres’s knee.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh—————!!!!!”

  Ceres’s scream, which she finally couldn’t hold back, echoed in the room.

“Wh-what do you intend to do?”

Leaving Ceres, who had finally fainted from the tremendous pain, lying there, Yona left the room.

Alevian, who left the room with her, hurriedly followed behind Yona and asked her, but Yona just silently walked up the stairs without answering.

If she could have her way, she wanted to drag Ceres to the Celestine Church and throw her in front of the Pope.

She wanted to shout at the top of her lungs, asking if they weren’t the fools who had been played by the demon realm’s divine official, if they thought the human realm would be fine if the demon realm collapsed.

But it’s unreasonable to drag Ceres all the way there, and in fact, even if she showed her there, without any evidence— and even if there was evidence, there’s no guarantee they would believe it.

Most of the clergy Yona had encountered so far, those she had met in Evian, were people who could be called clergy. But those she encountered when she went to the church territory beyond that—

‘They’re not much different from that idiot Hero.’

In one word, fanatics.

Nothing more, nothing less than fanatics.

Blindly following without even knowing that the Celestial Deity is such a foolish, stupid, man-obsessed goddess…

‘…Man-obsessed? What’s this…?’

Some incomprehensible, inexplicable words mixed in, but anyway.

Because they were that kind of people, it didn’t seem like they would be convinced even if she brought Ceres alive.

For now, she kept her alive.

Although she wanted to kill her right away, if she did that, Yona wouldn’t feel satisfied.

The prey is in her hands.

Now it was time to think about how to cook it.

“I’m going back to my room for now. Alevian, let me know if anything happens.”

“Ah, understood, Saintess.”

Leaving Alevian, who bowed his head, behind, Yona returned to her room.

As soon as she returned to her room, Yona rummaged through her sling bag.

This was something she always carried with her.

No matter where she went, she always made sure to bring her sling bag, and she kept things she considered valuable in this sling bag.

Even now, what Yona’s hand grasped as she searched the sling bag placed on the table were three glass shards.

Holding these glass shards in her hand, Yona sat in a chair and began to examine them.

‘Gather the rest of this… is what it says.’

Yona was sitting in her room, fiddling with the glass shards.

She didn’t know what they were, but these black glass shards were always there when Yona purified demonic energy.

She had collected three so far, and when she tried putting them together one by one as the False Celestial Deity said, they formed a shape like fragments of a bead.

Yona was thinking the same as Alevian.

She knows well that the False Celestial Deity already exists. Above all, it’s residing in her, and it’s still chattering in her head, so it definitely exists. But she can’t keep it in Yona’s body like this forever, so she needs to find a way for it to get out somehow, and for that, she said the completion of this glass bead is necessary.

‘To gather all of this, do I have to find all the Grand Dukes in the end?’

When beings from the demon realm are nearby, strange things happen in the human realm.

It happened in the catacomb, in James’s village, and in Lizard Den.

If there’s a high possibility, it would be searching around places where Grand Dukes are,

But it’s quite inconvenient to drag Ceres around for that.

‘Maybe it would be best to just kill her outright…’

I’ve changed a lot too — Yona thought.

She didn’t hesitate at all when it came to killing monsters.

She was originally an adventurer, and adventurers make money by doing that, so it’s natural.

But the fact that she doesn’t hesitate to kill people either was a matter that needed some consideration.

There’s a clear difference between killing monsters and killing people, and is it right to mention both so casually like this?

‘She’s an enemy because she harmed me and Alec. And killing enemies isn’t bad.’

Even as she tried to rationalize it, a sticky darkness remained in a corner of her heart.

It was as if the weird healer from the Evian Adventurers’ Guild, which she could no longer return to, was saying that this wasn’t right.

‘It can’t be helped. It just can’t be helped.’

*

No sound could be heard from the now empty room.

Although various sounds could be heard from the guesthouse, this room where Ceres was imprisoned seemed completely cut off from the outside, with no sounds coming in.

Only the rough sound of Ceres’s breath flowing from her mouth.

‘What a mess I’ve become…’

The lack of information gathered by Alevian had such a big impact.

Ceres only now realized how complacent she had been.

Yona, whom she had looked down upon, whom she thought was just a piece on the gambling board she had created — and the bald one.

Ceres couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the fact that she had ended up in this state because of those two.

‘I need to move faster. There’s no choice… but to take action.’

Ceres closed her eyes.

With the restraints holding her entire body thoroughly blocking the flow of magic, and all the tendons in her hands and feet cut, there was nothing she could do directly.

‘It would have been better if you had killed me, Yona. I’ll show you… that ambiguous mercy can become poison instead.’

With her eyes closed, Ceres concentrated her mind and drew a pentagram in her head.

A seal of summoning that requires neither magic nor demonic energy.

The shape of that seal was gradually revealing itself.

Her concentration was broken several times due to the tingling pain in her hands and feet.

Finally, she succeeded in drawing the pentagram, and at last, her call was transmitted to the strongest and most vicious opponent she could trust.