episode_0060

When I slowly opened my eyes, my surroundings had completely changed.

The holey ceiling, the dozens of pillars supporting the huge hall, and Astesia and Deshade, who were with me just a moment ago, were all gone.

It is a space in memory.

The room when I first met Astesia.

The interior is much smaller than the hall and resembles an old-fashioned office often used by nobles.

Here too, the golden throne remained, shining even brighter under the light of the candles hanging on the wall.

And there is a woman sitting on the throne instead of Astesia.

‘No, I think Astesia is right, but the atmosphere has changed.’

What appeared was clearly Astesia.

Unlike his restrained appearance just now, he is now free, wearing a small crown on his head, and his hair has turned white, but his face and body shape are clearly familiar.

I couldn’t see the whole thing because my eyes were always covered, but it’s Astesia.

But I knew it instinctively.

The woman in front of me is Astesia, but she is not Astesia.

This being was different from Deshade, but was giving off a similar atmosphere.

In Astesia’s appearance, only the color of her hair has been changed.

I cautiously approached the woman wearing a pure white dress sitting cross-legged on the throne.

“… Who are you?”

When you carefully ask a being that takes the form of someone you know, the being answers.

“I am the devil Asmodeus. This is the true identity of the power that lay dormant in the blood of the girl you saved.”

‘It doesn’t look like a devil.’

“It will be so. If I reveal my true self, my little villa will be destroyed. I passed on my power to a cute child who will continue it, so shouldn’t I destroy it? So, I temporarily borrowed the image of that child.”

‘Is this a being that reads thoughts again?’

This is already my third encounter with someone who can read my thoughts.

I tried to carefully think about how to deal with the current situation, but it all turned out to be in vain.

The first is Gloria, a human, the second is Deshade, a god, and the third is a demon.

‘It’s going to turn.’

“Don’t think too deeply. Since I am in my own space, I can only read thoughts as I please.”

As the devil said, I decided to just proceed with the conversation without hesitation, whatever came to mind.

“I have given up now. By the way, I want to ask you something. Can I ask you a question?”

“Try it. It will be entertainment for a while.”

“What happened to Astesia and the others?”

First, if the being in front of you takes the form of Astesia, check what happened to the real Astesia.

“My child and that little chick are now completely separated from us. I left it exactly where you were. By the way, there was one guy who was great at human subjects, right? To forcibly tear away my castle, which had completely assimilated into reality, with only a single sword. Thanks to this, my villa gradually collapsed and is now completely separated from the space they were in.”

‘Thank goodness.’

It seems that they have become separated. My worries disappeared as I was told I was safe.

The last words seem to be roughly about the state of Mongma’s castle, but I decided to skip it.

“As a bonus, I have completely cut off the magical bond between that child and the villa, so you don’t have to worry. Now, let me ask a question too.”

“Of course.”

Since one-sided demands are not good, try quietly talking to the devil for now.

“Are you my enemy?”

‘Enemies? is it?’

Take some time to reflect on the devil’s words.

I don’t know if I’m a bishop or what, but I ended up making my vows to Deshade.

If the devil descends to earth, I pledge to become the sword that will help God and cut down the devil.

But now that I am exhausted both mentally and physically from continuous fighting, I do not want to fight the devil. So I racked my brain a bit.

“Is this the ground?”

“You answer a question with a question. I don’t like it, but I hope there will be an answer at the end. This is not the ground. It may only be for a short time, but it can be seen as a completely separate world.”

First of all, one condition is out of the question.

“Didn’t it come down?”

“Descent. It’s not a complete advent. Thanks to the newborn chick god, all desires have been sealed.”

Should we consider it a half-advent? In any case, it seems that it is not in a state of complete advent.

“Then do you intend to ravage the earth?”

It is said that as soon as the devil descends to earth, he absorbs all themes and destroys everything in sight.

“If it were me, it would be like that. But I am extremely crazy right now.”

“You’re saying you’re crazy?”

‘What does it mean to be crazy when the conversation is going well like this?’

It was a final confirmation question, but what came back was a slightly incomprehensible answer.

“Yes. The demons’ ritual had failed from the beginning. There is a normal way to descend me. The moment a child whose blood is so thick that it brings him close to me in hell, and at the same time lives a life of chastity, eventually gives up that chastity, my lust for love awakens. That’s natural.”

Asmodeus stands up and continues speaking.

“All of that should naturally lead to the child running around freely, growing up, and starting to love over time, but I can’t help but be angry because I forced this body to wake up.”

‘Then was the ritual a failure in the first place?’

The words that came out of the devil’s mouth were different from what we, and even the devils, knew.

“He doesn’t seem to have any special feelings, considering he’s gone crazy.”

Asmodeus says he is mad and angry, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem to me.

Aside from the fact that his voice doesn’t seem to contain any emotion and his tone is dry, I feel like he’s just a rather cold person.

“I am crazy, so you are also alive. If I was summoned normally, my normal descent would be to constantly trample everything, make it obey, and make all living beings sacrifice themselves. However, since the source of love and desire has been sealed away, there is no motivation whatsoever. Even though he was obviously angry.”

‘Indeed, the normal form of the devil that humans know is one where he acts like a crazy person, scattering disasters. If such a devil were crazy, wouldn’t that mean he would turn around and act normal?’

Certainly, even though Asmodeus was saying those words and tapping his fingers on the armrests of the throne as if expressing dissatisfaction, it felt vaguely like anger.

The only facial expressions and actions he made on purpose to show me that he was angry were expressing his anger at this demon’s inability to have emotions.

‘This is, of course, that and that. I guess I’ll assume he was neutered.’

The basis of the devil is a neutered devil, a devil whose desire for the theme has been controlled.

“Of course, I can muster up enough motivation to kill the seed of a god who uses vulgar words.”

My thoughts went on without my knowledge, so I ended up being rude.

“I made a mistake. Still, I just thought about it, so please take a look. Anyway, then I am not your enemy.”

“Why?”

“I made this contract with God. I will regard God’s enemies as my own and extend the tip of my sword.”

“I see.”

“But God said it again before. The devil’s goal is to descend to earth and ravage everything.”

“Would you like to answer with sophistry?”

“Rather than a sophistry, the idea is that checking the whole story carefully can prevent unnecessary actions. As Asmodeus said earlier, this is not the earth. And the current Asmodeus is so crazy that he cannot ravage everything when he descends. So you won’t be my enemy.”

In fact, it is sophistry. It was an answer I came up with after thinking through my brain to avoid a fight.

“Yes. Then I can’t express my anger on you.”

‘Did you get through safely?’

And fortunately, the devil accepted the logic of reducing the conditions of the oath as much as possible in order to avoid this fight at all costs.

If I had declared that I was an enemy to the devil just because I was doing my duty to God, I would have been killed.

However, Asmodeus’ white hair began to gradually turn black from the roots.

‘Isn’t the story over now?’

“Your hair color is changing.”

“This? Since the anger cannot be expressed, the unburned magical energy is gradually building up. The reason I’m not angry is because I’m not motivated. That’s because I don’t have a goal that’s reasonable enough to convince me of my crazy thoughts.”

“Uh… what does that mean?”

“Since I am angry, someone has to take responsibility.”

Soon, the devil’s hair not only changed color, but also began to shed a black mist.

“So, let me ask you one more question. Then who is my enemy?”

“Do I really need to have enemies?”

I wonder if he can just calmly go back to where he came from.

“The anger has already started to build up. The personality on the surface imitates that child, so I am staying calm and quiet, but I am not sure what will happen if I exceed the limit. I probably want to lose my temper.”

Contrary to the smiling expression that the devil had forced upon me, sweat began to bead on my forehead when I saw that artificial expression.

“What happens when reason is lost?”

“It will probably destroy everything. Since the theme has not been absorbed, it will not be able to produce as much power as if it had used its original power, but it is something that can not be ignored by anyone who has offended the devil.”

“Like that.”

Short and bold answer.

‘Tonight is Friday.’ He said it in the same tone as if he were saying something, but the content contained therein was not something that could be ignored.

“Okay, so think about your answer quickly. If we don’t hurry, we’ll have no choice but to go back to the ground and start destroying it. Before I do so, while this child’s personality, whom I have borrowed for a moment, musters the strength to endure its impulses, consider who my enemy is. I hope I can convince you.”

‘This is crazy. Was it a time bomb? In the end, what explodes is the same whether it is summoned normally or not.’

I have to get over it somehow.

A more reasonable answer.

Think about the target that will receive Asmodeus’ wrath.

‘Why on earth should I worry about this in a place like this?’

I’m going crazy trying to get my head around it anymore. To the point of blaming someone.

Then my thoughts drifted to one side.

‘Wait, someone? The one who pushed me to this point? The culprit of all this?’

Deshade, who made him meet Asmodeus,

That Deshade and the Astesia I saved,

The demon king who ordered Astesia to die.

‘what. The answer came right away.’

When I thought about it carefully, it was an answer that I didn’t have to think about for a long time.

The target of my revenge and the target of the devil’s revenge were already decided from the beginning.

A demon king in demon territory.

This guy is enjoying his power by manipulating the captured people while I am here having fun running around with the subordinates he sent.

I mentioned the devil as an object of revenge against the angry devil.