episode_0021

Panting

“Haa haa…!”

Versed, who had just woken up, breathed heavily.

He brought his hand to his chest.

The sensation of a sword piercing his heart.

The fading consciousness and the sensation of death strongly lingered in his mind.

“Ugh….”

Versed retched as he gripped the bed.

The experience of living as Versed in his dreams for several months.

Before he knew it, Versed had become one with the Versed in his dreams.

He thought like him and acted like him.

As if he were retrieving another memory of his own.

“What was that?”

It wasn’t a dream related to Claudia.

Nor was it even more so related to Sophia or Artoria.

“It was about the Empire.”

The imperial knight who killed Versed in his dream.

But the armor and decorations of those knights did not seem to belong to the current empire.

As if…

“As if it were from a different dimension.”

Perhaps Versed thought that the dream he had dreamed might not have taken place in this dimension.

If that’s the case, the dream Sofia and Claudia talked about may not have been from a previous episode.

It could be experiencing and mistaking events that took place in another dimension as his own dream.

“He was like a demon general…”

As far as Versed knew, there had never been a being like a demon general from [Eclipse].

That’s why the story Sofia told felt even more unfamiliar.

“I thought that if I dreamed this time, new clues would emerge, bringing me closer to the truth.”

Instead, I fell deeper into the labyrinth.

“Bell….”

Emotions deeply ingrained in Versed’s memories about Bell.

Due to the aftermath of merging with the Versed in his dreams, Versed suddenly developed affection for a girl named Bell, whose identity he didn’t even know.

“That guy. I hope he’s doing well even after I died. It would be nice if he’s okay.”

Despite being a story from his dream world that seemed completely unrelated to his own world, Versed couldn’t help but worry, perhaps due to having long been emotionally intertwined with the Versed in his dreams.

“More importantly.”

If this dream is not from this dimension but a continuation of another me experiencing something, my past life. Even the events that took place on Earth could be a dream… If I haven’t experienced reincarnation but merely dreamed of another me’s memories?

“You’re the first I’ve seen worrying like that, Vess.” “Lucifer…?” Vess responded to Lucifer’s voice coming from the bracelet.

“Although you always acted as if everything went according to plan. It seems that even for you, things don’t always go as intended, right?”

The bracelet… Yes. Lucifer in this bracelet was also a figure I encountered in the dream. It seems strange to say it was an event from another dimension when this bracelet’s appearance is in this dimension.

“…Hey, answer me!” When Vess remained silent and just stared at the bracelet, Lucifer raised his voice.

“Lucifer.” “That’s right!” “Were you really that lonely?” “…What?” “The great demon seeking attention out of loneliness. The dignity of the great demon has fallen.”

“Oh, no!” Lucifer let out a slightly hurt sound.

“Tsk.” “Don’t mock me!”

Vess chuckled at the unexpectedly cute reaction.

The fact that such a powerful and dangerous demon, capable of leading astronomical numbers of monsters, was sealed here and seeking conversation partners out of loneliness was amusing, which slightly eased Vess’s sullen mood.

“You’re always like that! Even your muttering seemed to be for teasing me!”

“I didn’t particularly think that way.”

Did another me, who was an angel in the dream, enjoy teasing this guy? Looking at this reaction, it seems somewhat understandable.

“Ugh. I’m going to change clothes, so sleep for a bit.” Vess said, wielding his sanctity towards the bracelet.

“Hey! You again! Ugh, stop it! Grr!”

The dark energy briefly leaked from the bracelet and then subsided.

Rustle.

Vervain sat up in bed.

I can’t believe I, who knows nothing about teaching, would dream of raising a disciple.

…Wait a moment.

Disciple.

Yes.

It was a dream about a disciple.

The dream of raising Bell as a disciple on the night when I took Navarre as my disciple.

Perhaps encountering something related to that dream could be the trigger for dreaming, or the catalyst for it.

The dream of defeating Sophia and the demon army was dreamed on the night I witnessed Sophia exerting her power.

The dream of meeting and competing with Lucifer was dreamed on the night Lucifer obtained this sealed bracelet.

Then, perhaps through my actions, I might be able to induce a new dream.

…In that case, perhaps by trying a specific action, I might be able to induce a dream?

—

In the dark, unlit student council room

Diavel sat lost in thought in his chair.

“What’s this? Child? Why are you here?”

Their first encounter.

He was the one who discovered himself living peacefully in that village.

No, “peacefully” may be wrong.

At the time, Bell, who had been kidnapped by devil worshippers after his mother was murdered when he was a baby, didn’t know that all the villagers who treated him well were devil worshippers, raising him only to sacrifice him.

The demon king came to the human world, impregnated a woman he liked, and then disappeared or something like that.

She had thought that she would eventually kill the man who took her away to raise her, for the villagers’ revenge.

To the teacher, all of that probably seemed like cute mischief.

“Yes. Try to kill me. If you can.”

She often brandished her weapon at the teacher, but he easily deflected her attacks and casually messed up her hair.

“Do you really think you can kill me with just this much?”

He was a strict teacher who taught himself many things.

How to survive against someone stronger than oneself.

How to effectively use magic.

How to survive without losing in battle.

The teacher worked hard to ensure that she could survive without him.

“…Said you’d die without my help.”

That day, the emperor, who had learned of his identity as the descendant of the demon king, sent the imperial knights to the teacher’s hut to make an elixir of immortality using her as the ingredient.

To prove that his past reputation as a mercenary was not in vain, her teacher single-handedly defeated the imperial knights and even cornered their leader.

It was practically a victory.

If only I hadn’t interfered with helping the teacher.

“You promised me…!”

Now, long after the teacher’s death, she knows.

The teacher was nothing more than someone who saved me from devil worshippers.

The teacher taught me everything for my sake, without any ulterior motive, and sacrificed his life to protect me.

…The teacher did nothing wrong; it was all his own fault.

Thud

Diavel clenched her hand tightly.

A trickle of blood ran down her hand.

I tried to meet the teacher through death, but I couldn’t.

The oath of the pact held by the demon blood.

She couldn’t choose death because she had promised to survive with the teacher.

Even if she wanted to, her body refused to die.

Selfish teacher.

Did she want to survive alone?

She tried every possible means, but ultimately failed.

After countless attempts at death, the conclusion she reached was ‘destruction’.

Only the destruction of the world could free her from the curse of life.

If the world is destroyed, I can meet the teacher in the afterlife.

Awakened by the demon king’s blood, she attacked the empire.

If I die, it was the emperor who aimed at himself, blinded by desire, and killed his master.

To stop the demon king who appeared in the present world, the people of the continent united to thwart her.

“Why won’t you just die! Please die!”

Screams

She called herself a warrior, but she was the worst warrior party that had committed numerous crimes in collusion with the royal family.

“Argh!”

“My arm! My arm!”

Crack

“P-please save me!”

Bell, in a completely battered state, annihilated all the forces on the continent, including the warrior party.

Thud

No one on the battlefield survived, and she, having expended all her energy, also fell.

Gradually fading consciousness.

Is this the end?

I can probably go meet him.

Master…

If we meet…

Pfft

And then, when she opened her eyes again, she had been reborn as a noble girl named Diavel.

I thought I was dead….

Is this curse bringing me back to life like this?

I thought I could finally meet my master.

Diavel made up her mind.

Only destruction can free me.

The pact of life that separates me from my master.

For some reason, her actions to bring about destruction were not restrained at all.

The “organization” she created was also for the purpose of destroying the world.

In human form, Diavel slowly proceeded with her plan.

“There’s not much time left.”

The plan is scheduled to be executed within three years at the latest.

If this world is destroyed. If it is so, I can go meet him.

“Just wait a little longer.”

When we meet again, I will probably grab him by the hair and shake him once.

He made me suffer so much.

That should be okay.

Maybe the master might grab my hair too.

Did he destroy the world just to meet me? Did I teach you that way?

If a man who acts tough on the outside but has a warm heart inside, he might say that.

Destruction….

If it happens, I will become the worst mass murderer.

I may not be forgiven for that sin.

But if I can be liberated from this life.

If I could meet him, I wouldn’t mind enduring all the punishments of hell.

A man who sacrificed everything for me.

My… love,

If only I could meet V again.