episode_0189

“Ah, hello… From today onwards, I am the former Great Demon who will be in charge of your care… My name is Natae, Velfegor…”

“…”

“…”

|…|

They say that when something is too shocking, your mind goes blank.

It seems to be true.

My brain had already declared a strike, giving up on trying to comprehend the scene unfolding before my eyes.

After a while, Velfegor’s face turned red, and he exploded in anger as if making excuses.

“My father ordered me to do this! I’m not doing this because I want to!”

“Who said you were?”

“I thought you were losing your mind, thinking I was doing this willingly!!!”

“…”

How did he know?

In the demon realm where there was no need for clothing, why was he wearing human attire, making me wonder if he had truly lost his mind?

I found a note attached to Velfegor’s back and took it off.

– A gift. It seems that my offspring has caused great trouble in the mortal realm. While this may not be enough to make amends, please use Velfegor as you wish. I do not care how you dispose of him in the future.

Has the hearing ended already?

It seems Satan has deemed Velfegor’s sins too heavy and decided to make a scandal out of it.

It’s okay to handle him as you please, and he doesn’t care how you dispose of him…

“Are they telling me to kill him?”

It’s a roundabout way of saying it’s okay to kill him.

He must have hinted at this knowing my hatred towards Velfegor.

But why?

“What does it say?”

“…”

Until yesterday, I only wanted to crush Velfegor’s head and kill him.

Now, that urge to commit murder has faded away.

It’s not that the hatred has disappeared.

It’s more like a frog in boiling water.

When it’s okay to kill him, I no longer want to.

It feels like playing into Satan’s hands if I were to kill him.

And above all, it is only right to pay for the sins committed in one’s lifetime while still alive.

In the case of Luna and Cali, they were already dead, so I sent them to the afterlife to pay for their sins.

But for the living, it is right to deal with them while they are alive.

If I were to add an excuse here, Velfegor, being a descendant of the Four Kings, holds a lot of valuable information.

Handling him as I please would mean extracting information through “interrogation.”

|Astatoth. I’ll be right back|

|Got it. Call me anytime if it gets dangerous|

“What, what?!”

Sending a message to Astatoth through magic, she responds in kind and retreats.

Due to not being able to handle magic, Velfegor and I take turns looking at each other in confusion.

Now, only I, Mijeong, and Velfegor remain here.

The surroundings are enclosed by a barrier of magic.

“Just a moment… What are you going to do to me?”

“…”

As I pondered how to handle this situation, Velfegor seemed to be overcome with fear and took a step back, tripping and falling on his buttocks.

I carefully examined Velfegor, analyzing his abilities.

There was almost no magic or power emanating from his body.

It was even less than an ordinary human, unable to even muster a breath no matter how hard he tried.

Scratching with fingernails would be much more effective.

His physical structure was not much different from a human’s.

Slim, smooth limbs.

There was no sense of strength in his slender body.

Of course, even though it’s the body of a demon, it seems like there’s a significant gap in power between me and it.

Nevertheless, it feels like I have a long way to go to fully exert my strength.

Belphagor has no means to resist me.

He is overwhelmingly dominated even by Mijeong.

That’s the conclusion I’ve reached.

“Belphagor. Do you know that Luna and Cali have been dragged to the afterlife?”

“W-what…?”

“Sola has turned her back. Now, you are the only one left among the Four Kings.”

“I can’t believe this…”

After being abandoned by Draken, the Four Kings fell apart completely.

Cali tried to persuade the gods of the afterlife until the end that her way was right.

Luna, faced with eternal life, wailed miserably as she was dragged away by the gods of the afterlife.

So, what kind of reaction will Belphagor show?

“Kuh! Kill me!”

“Sure.”

“Rather than being humiliated by humans, I’d rather die! I will die while keeping my dignity!”

“Sure…”

This is not right.

A completely unexpected reaction came out from what I had anticipated.

At first, I didn’t think much when I saw Belphagor in a female body.

But seeing it now, I feel a desire to humiliate it even more.

“It seems like you’re misunderstanding something.”

“…?!”

I step closer and grab Belphagor’s mouth to silence it.

I used to find the demon’s deep voice unpleasant.

But now, hearing a feminine voice coming out of its mouth makes it even more unbearable.

“Do you think you can die? You can never die. Your father just abandoned you. Until I allow it, you can never die.”

“…!”

As I gather magic at my fingertips, Belphagor trembles and shakes his pupils wildly.

The trembling spreads to my hand.

With magic gathered in my hand, I press it against Belphagor’s chest.

I tried to imitate the acupuncture technique I saw from Sogong long ago.

But perhaps due to lack of talent, I couldn’t replicate it just from memory.

Moreover, here, where there are no wandering spirits, the acupuncture technique wouldn’t work in the first place.

“Swear. Swear that you will be mine and can’t do anything without my permission.”

“W-what?!”

“Swear.”

“Kyaaah?!”

If I can’t use the acupuncture technique, I’ll create a new spell suitable for this environment.

As I insert my fingertip into Belphagor’s chest, the magic gradually seeps into his veins.

Like with other contractees, I infuse magic into his body.

The difference is that while Belphagor was afraid of the magic being exposed and only put a small amount in a discreet place, I fill his veins completely, turning his whole body into a puppet.

And with this much magic, it’s possible to make the other person truly a will-less doll.

Of course, that’s only if there’s a sworn oath.

“Swear.”

“I-I refuse…”

“You don’t understand because you’re a demon. Do you know how much pain a fragile body that is protected by magic feels? Let me teach you step by step. The pinnacle of torture developed by humans over thousands of years-”

“I-I swear! I am Eugene’s slave! I am now Eugene’s possession and can’t do anything without Eugene’s permission!!!”

“…”

Before I could finish speaking, Belphagor, trembling, quickly completed the oath.

As the spell mimicking the acupuncture technique was completed, the magic flowing through Belphagor’s veins was imbued with the oath.

I was so surprised that I lost my words.

I had expected to torture him for a day and night to get him to swear.

I never expected him to surrender before it even began.

In any case.

Now it’s time to test the performance of magic.

“Sit.”

“Hng?!”

“Stand up.”

“Hm······!”

“Lie down.”

“Hiyuk!”

“Kneel.”

“Ah! My knee!”

“Fly.”

“Uh······?”

Following the commands one by one, Velpegore moved quickly as if his body was moving on its own.

While the Blood Pact forces compliance through pain if orders are not followed.

My magic forces the body to move on its own according to commands.

It seems like it will be much easier to handle now.

“You’re such a tyrant······! Controlling women who follow you like this!”

“Me? Corrupting and controlling contractees to the point of killing them?”

“I’ve never killed a contractee! They’re all valuable customers, why would I kill them!”

“Don’t you remember Lawrence Briem? The mayor of Kuerun City that you killed.”

“That guy was killed by this little corpse brat, not me!”

“······.”

Or something like that.

I briefly glanced back and forth between Mijeong and Mijeong’s back of the head with the club before turning my head again.

That’s not important right now.

“Regardless, the countless casualties and disasters remain unchanged. Do you hate humans that much?”

“······.”

“Until I came here, I thought demons were inherently evil and saw humans as mere targets for exploitation. But now it seems like you’re the only one of that kind. Even in this Demon Realm where morality and justice exist, what is your deal? What have humans done to you?”

“Even though you’re not interested······.”

“What?”

“You’re asking what humans have done to me? You’re really curious, aren’t you? No. You’re not curious. You’re just asking out of formality to create a reason to punish me. You won’t believe whatever answer I give.”

“······.”

Velpegore glared at me with a sharp gaze.

There is still fear in his pupils directed towards me, but deep inside, there is a faint sense of hatred.

A deep and thick sense of hatred.

“Are you going to make excuses? Saying you sought revenge because humans wronged you?”

“I have no intention of doing that. If you were about to be subdued and killed by me right now, would you regret what you’ve done?”

“No.”

“Same here. I don’t think I was wrong. I just lacked power and lost. I don’t regret it.”

“This is······.”

For the first time, Velpegore showed resentment towards me.

Even though he had become nothing more than a slave under the Blood Pact.

He stared at me with a stiff neck and a growling gaze.