193. When It’S Time To Take It Out (1)
Memories of the past flashed by like a flashback.
It was different from simply ‘watching’.
Belfagor’s experiences were flowing into me.
Demons and humans are completely different in terms of physical structure, way of thinking, and everything else.
However, her senses and experiences as a demon flowed straight into me without any filtering or interpretation.
As expected, it was full of incomprehensible things.
But there was one thing I could be sure of.
The emotions that Belfagor felt.
That much was clearly conveyed to me.
This is Belfagor’s trauma.
It was a painful past that had become her shackles and filled her inner world.
‘I think I understand.’
The events that unfolded after Belfagor arrived in the present world were quite predictable.
How would people react when a demon who couldn’t speak their language descended upon the present world?
Naturally, they rushed to kill her.
Belfagor tried to talk to them.
However, the language was so different that there was no way it could be communicated.
In the eyes of humans, Belfagor must have looked like a mindless demon.
So Belfagor ran and ran.
She ran away from the paladins who were chasing her, to a place where she wouldn’t be seen by people.
She gradually crawled into a dark and gloomy place.
Belfagor, who had been stripped of her power as a great demon, had no choice but to fight against her.
She was about to be cornered and captured after running away.
There was someone who reached out to her again.
‘Draken······.’
The guy Belfagor called ‘him’ and worshipped.
Draken’s power began to be fully infused into Belfagor.
With that power, Belfagor was barely able to escape the human encirclement.
‘I don’t need to see any more.’
The rest is really obvious.
There were still hundreds of years left in terms of time.
She would have dedicated herself to ‘him’ who saved her and helped him descend.
The faces of Transylvania and Luna before she died flashed by, but I didn’t pay much attention to them and decided to skip them.
It’s not because of anything else, but because time is of the essence right now······.
“Ugh. She’s gone crazy.”
“Ah······.”
Did I bring back too many memories to the guy who just entered the inner world?
Belfagor was standing still, her pupils dilated and her mind blank.
She didn’t respond even when I snapped my fingers in front of her.
Judging from the fact that she didn’t even flinch when I lifted her skirt as a joke, she must have really lost her mind or was about to lose it.
Just then, the world began to shake and the heavens and the earth shook.
If we stayed here, we would sink into the ground and die.
There was no way we could survive such a disaster in a world that was a perfect embodiment of Belfagor’s trauma, where we couldn’t use magic or mana.
“Let’s go.”
“······Yeah.”
“······.”
I took Miso’s hand and looked around.
There was only one way out of here.
Belfagor would take us out.
Belfagor is the master of this world.
She can’t destroy the world or change the terrain yet.
But at the very least, the owner should be able to enter and exit as he pleases.
“Belfagor. Wake up. Are you going to die here?”
“Maybe it’s better to die······.”
“Oh, come on.”
In the meantime, a huge black new model crawled up from the deep abyss.
Wrath, Satan.
He definitely had his form, but unlike the Satan I had seen, he had a sickeningly grotesque smile on his face and was crawling slowly on his belly.
Damn it.
If Belfagor doesn’t come to her senses, we’ll be dragged into the abyss by that nasty Satan.”Where are you going, daughter! Let’s sacrifice together! We will become the eternal heroes of the Demon Realm together!”
“Belphegor!”
“······?!”
Caw!
I grab Belphegor’s face with my right hand.
As I apply strong force as if to crush her face, a faint vitality begins to appear in her eyes, which are visible between my fingers, as if she has regained some consciousness.
“Even if you die a dog’s death? Was your life, which you said you had no regrets about, so worthless that it would end in a place like this?”
“That’s not······ that can’t be······.”
“Then let’s go.”
“How······?”
Belphegor looks at me with tears in her eyes.
It’s like a child who has come to a dead end and is asking an adult what to do now.
I left her tears flowing and quietly chanted.
“I admit it. This place represents your true nature, and the fact that you are nothing more than a powerless inhabitant here.”
“I’m already powerless-“
“No. That’s wrong. You’re just trembling with fear right now. Admit it! This place is not just a simple memory projector, but a vast world!”
“······!”
An infinitely vast and expansive world.
It’s a world so vast that beings like us seem like mere specks of dust.
The moment we acknowledge it, we become infinitely small.
And paradoxically, we become infinitely omnipotent.
-Kuaaak!-
Belphegor’s eyes clear.
Just before Satan’s hand, which had approached in an instant, reached the back of Belphegor’s head, it scattered into black fog.
I did it.
Belphegor has finally awakened to the way of handling this world.
This vast world is mine.
I am the master of this place.
The moment she realized that, Belphegor became both a powerless inhabitant and an omnipotent god of this world.
“Whew······.”
“Are you a little calmer now? The more you fear, the more this world will try to devour you and destroy you. It’s a world created based on your trauma, after all.”
“I think I’m okay······. But I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to go out.”
“Wait a minute. Before that.”
“······?”
Belphegor closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to go out.
But there’s something I have to do before that.
I knelt on one knee in front of Belphegor and poured a high-grade potion from my pocket into my hand.
It’s the last potion, with only one bottle left.
“What, what are you······!”
“Hold still.”
“Ugh?!”
And then I lifted Belphegor’s clothes and applied it carefully to her stomach and back.
She can’t move at my command, but she seems to be very cold, so she can’t stay still and fidgets.
I think this is enough.
The moment I gave the signal that it was done.
Belphegor closed her eyes with a red face as if she was ashamed, and the scenery around her changed in an instant.
“Heeey······! Kheeey! My stomach! Damn it! It hurts! aaah!!!”
I’m back.
The present world, no, the Demon Realm.
Belphegor was rolling around, clutching her stomach, on the sword mark where my huge magical sword had swept past.
“It’s attached well.”
I accidentally separated her upper body.
I thought that if I entered the inner world and applied the potion while it was still attached, it would heal cleanly, and it really worked.
There was a minor scar around her stomach and back, but what’s the difference?
It was a perfect treatment with no problems except for the minor problem of not being able to wear a bikini.
“Don’t be so sarcastic.”
“Aak! This crazy kid······.”
“Get up.”
“I’m going to die in pain······.”
“Get up.”
“Heuk······.”
A command that does not contain the power of magic.
As I reach out and say so, Belphegor, who had been shedding tears, takes my hand.And then he abruptly gets up and stands before me.
Belfagor stands tall and looks up at me.
His eyes seem to have gained a bit of determination.
“You said you don’t regret the things you’ve done.”
“Of course not. You saw it too, so you know. There was no other way for me. Regret? That’s something only rich people or idiots who have too many chances do. If I hadn’t taken this path, I wouldn’t be here. I would have been trapped in that abyss or dead by now······. So I don’t regret it. No, I can’t.”
“······.”
For Belfagor, regret is an impossible word.
After all, regret is only possible when you can go back to the past and make a different choice.
But for Belfagor, all the other paths led to death or being sealed away.
Even if that path is tainted.
The fact that Belfagor has desperately survived by making the best choices for himself remains unchanged.
‘That was it.’
That’s what sets him apart from Luna and Kali.
When they look back on the past, do they regret it or not?
Have they lived the life they believe is best?
Belfagor is satisfied with both.
And I think that someone who has lived such a life should be given a chance to choose.
“Choose, Belfagor.”
“What? Ugh······!”
Bang.
I grab Belfagor’s face and squeeze it hard.
Belfagor grimaces and cries out in pain, his brow furrowed as if his bones are being crushed.
But I have no intention of letting him go.
If I really have to, I’ll crush him to death.
I’m prepared and ready for that.
“First choice. Die here by my hand. Then your painful life will be over, and you will be judged by the gods of the underworld. You will no longer have to struggle to survive.”
“Don’t be ridiculous······!”
“Second and final choice. Come back to the mortal world with me.”
“······!”
“Come back and atone for your sins. I heard from the gods of the underworld that the conditions for the remission of sins are the repentance of the perpetrator and the forgiveness of the victim. But I don’t know where to start or what to do to meet those conditions, since you’ve done so much harm······. At least there’s a possibility. If you suffer for hundreds or even thousands of years, you might receive less punishment after death. The choice is yours.”
“······.”
I put aside the personal grudges that have built up over the past 12 times.
I’m giving Belfagor a new chance.
It’s not for Belfagor’s sake.
I’m just trying it out because I think I can persuade him.
If it works, I can turn the great demon who has been trying to destroy the mortal world into an infinite service machine, so it’s worth a shot.
“······I will.”
“What?”
“I’ll go back to the mortal world······. To that place where my ugly past lies······.”
Belfagor whispers quietly, his eyes downcast.
For the first time in his life, which had only been one choice, he was faced with a fork in the road.
There, Belfagor did not choose to escape.
He chose to face his sins and his ugly past again.
For the first time, he took a step forward and chose a path.
I let go of Belfagor and touched his face, which was still red with handprints.
When I look at it like this, it’s a pretty face by human standards.
I wonder what it looks like to demons······.
“Why? What’s wrong? What’s wrong with my face?”
“No······. It’s not that······.”
Belfagor tilts his head as if to say I’m strange, and looks bewildered.
This face.
What should I say?
From Noble mtl dot com
Something······.
-hahahahaha! That’s great! As expected of you!-
“······?”
At that moment, a hearty laugh and applause filled the air.Fury, Satan.
He deliberately distorted his vocal cords to make a strange voice, and deliberately made a sound by hitting his palm made of magic.
It’s a scene that can’t help but look bizarre.
-Already, the power to rule 10% of the Demon Realm! As expected, you are familiar with death! When everyone was skeptical, I was the only one who firmly believed! No matter how human your body is, you will definitely do it! Of course, I didn’t expect you to do this! hehehe!-
“What on earth are you talking about? Familiar with death?”
-Don’t worry! Just think of it as a talent you were born with! You have honed that talent and are now not only able to handle part of the Demon Realm, but also tame Belphegor as your wife! All the demons look up to you as a venerable being! It’s a pity to go back to the present world!-
“What the hell are you trying to say with that kind of nonsense-“
-Hereby, I, the Great Heavenly General of the Demon Realm, appoint the great human being who came from the present world as the Great Judge of the Underworld!-
“Wait a minute······!”
That moment.
With a rattling sound like chains being filled.
An overwhelming sense of oppression began to weigh down on my body.
“Kyaaak!!!”
In an instant, the scenery of the snowy field unfolds before my eyes.
In the snowy field where the snowstorm was raging.
There was a huge seat.