355. Cohesion (8)
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Clearly, such a phenomenon was not only happening to Yuria.
If Liru Gardara, an ordinary human, were told to “act more ladylike,” she would probably make a similar expression to hearing “eat the heels of your shoes.”
If one were to pick one of the furthest words from her in her lifetime, that might be it.
“-Oh my.”
In that sense.
Seeing someone in front of her, speaking these words in the same appearance as her now, was clearly evoking indescribable emotions within her.
“This is… something I’ve never experienced before. There has never been such a case in all the timelines I’ve been through…”
“…You, you…?”
When she spoke with an excited voice, someone who had been cautiously feeling their own body in front of her blinked and looked at her.
If I raise Riru’s body properly for a few years, it would probably turn out like this.
Anyone would be startled if a person who looked like that suddenly appeared in front of them, but what made her lose her mind even more was that this behavior seemed familiar, as if she had “seen” it somewhere.
“You, that…thing that was floating around me…?”
“Ahahahaha. Well, compared to other demons, we had much more contact, didn’t we?”
“…”
He even boldly admitted it with his own mouth.
As Riru hesitated to speak, the blue demon who inhabited her body briefly frowned with a huff of breath.
“It seems the magic is almost sealed. It mixes with the divine power in the host body, giving it a feeling close to that of a real human.”
“…What?”
“After ‘purifying’ the host body to make it half useless, the fragments are then removed and completely merged with the host body, rendering it useless… You should have given it some thought. This way, it’s closer to a human with an incredibly sturdy body, rather than a demon.”
“What in the world…”
“Try using magic once. It won’t work, right?”
She couldn’t understand a single word of what he was saying, but despite that, instinctively she felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere emanating from him, which was probably why she followed his words.
It reminded her of the feeling of an adult within the tribe she often saw when she was young.
If Riru were to add even more “experience” and “maturity” to herself, would she exude this kind of aura?
“-?”
And yet, even that impression was swept away without a trace by the shock that followed.
Truly, no magic occurred at all.
“What, what is this…?”
She blurted out, seemingly unaware of her own words, as she pulled it out.
The hierarchy of what is referred to as the devil’s power is something she has long realized while directly dealing with that force.
Even if she could somewhat recall situations where she mishandled it and couldn’t feed it properly to the other party, being outright ‘originally sealed’ is an unimaginable scenario.
Being able to erase the devil’s power – what on earth does that even mean?
“I haven’t erased it… I, who is the source of the magic you use, have separated, so now that side is just a girl working hard in her exercises.”
“…”
“A fragment has the nature of transferring to another body and making it a vessel when the host dies, you know?”
“…Uh…”
“Right now, this body has become somewhat ‘blank,’ and magic doesn’t come out. To resume my devil duties, I have to die once, but as the main body of the devil who turned the surrounding world upside down, it’s not easy to die. At this point, it’s almost like a permanent seal, isn’t it?”
“…”
Information is pouring down in such a chaotic manner that it’s impossible to comprehend what is being said.
As Liru listens to these pieces of information with her spinning eyes, a blue devil who laughed heartily approached her, stretching out her cheek.
Normally, if someone did this to her, her jaw would have snapped back immediately, but for some reason, such thoughts don’t seem to hold here.
It’s as if a sense of guilt, like beating violence against one’s mother, is strongly felt…
“Seeing it like this, you look cute. Feels like having a younger sister. Is it strange to say it’s like looking at my past self?”
“…Uh, well…?”
“You’ll become like me when you grow up. It’s a story about becoming a lady, you know?”
“…”
By this point, it feels like not only her eyes but the entire world is spinning around her as the center.
I can certainly help you with that translation! Here’s the English translation of the novel excerpt:
I can’t make heads or tails of what they’re saying…
“Don’t, don’t laugh!”
Fortunately, there was someone nearby who could share the confusion she was experiencing.
Seras’ voice boomed from right beside her, breaking through the barely-held-together threads of her sanity.
Just like Rilu, it seemed she had heard something about these girls being the “future.”
“…I, I become like this in the future…?”
“Well, aren’t you happiest when you’re obeying someone even now?”
“…”
If Rilu had seen Seras trembling and clenching her fists like this on any other occasion, she would have probably laughed louder than anyone else. But now, Rilu felt a sense of relief almost before experiencing any other emotions.
They had always been so hostile towards each other, but in this situation, it was enough to bring tears of camaraderie.
However, soon even those emotions disappeared as a horrifying scene unfolded before them.
The blue demon, feeling around her body as if trying to get a better grasp of her surroundings and physical state, turned her gaze and locked eyes with the purple demon.
The eyes of both demons widened.
It felt like meeting a lifelong friend they thought they would never see again…
“…Sister?”
“…Little sister?”
Those dazed voices flowed softly.
And then, without anyone saying anything, the two demons sprang forward and embraced each other tightly, rolling on the ground.
“Oh my goodness! It’s been hundreds of years since we saw each other after ascending to demons! How have you been all this time?”
“Sister! Sister!”
“…”
“…”
Of course.
As they watched the blue demon and the purple demon twirling and embracing each other while giggling, the faces of Rilu and Seras transformed into something resembling the face of a frightened beast that had tasted cosmic horror…
“Um, excuse me, I just wanted to ask.”
Rilu spoke with a trembling voice.
“So, the ‘us’ in the future, does that mean that me and that damn Vileus will end up like this too…?”
“What kind of nonsense is that, Rilu? This little one is so obedient and pretty!”
The blue demon said with a single-minded smile, hugging the blushing cheek of the purple demon.
The purple demon, like a pet surrendering to its owner, wagged its tail and nodded in response.
“Indeed! Indeed! Where else can you find someone as close to us as my sister and me!”
“…”
Both Seras and Rilu turned pale at the same time.
In Seras’ case, she even covered her mouth with her hand as if her insides were churning.
“Why, how did it come to this…?”
“Well, you see. Maybe it all started after we had our joint wedding ceremony and devoured Mr. Dowd together on our wedding night-“
Before Rilu could hear any further, she grabbed the back of her neck in a daze, but there was no significant reaction.
Seras, too, was too preoccupied with a similar reaction to have any composure.
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“-Wouldn’t this be enough?”
As I let go of the emblem of Tacheon, Sun Gak-ja looked at me silently when I brought up that topic.
Red, brown, blue, purple, white…
All the vessels of nearby demons were likely experiencing the same phenomenon.
Even though the demon’s essence was combined, they couldn’t use magic properly due to the ‘impurities’ mixed in.
The demon’s true form and its uniqueness are still maintained, but the essential power, the ‘magic,’ can be said to be tightly sealed within their body.
“…So, you forcibly ‘infused’ divine power through the emblem of Tacheon. How did you come up with such a method?”
“Because I myself ascended from a human to a demon. I experimented excessively with combining divine power and magic.”
Saying so, he sighed and caressed his chest.
“-Thanks to that, I more or less accurately figured out how to ‘disable’ magic.”
From the very beginning, I had been continuously measuring the accurate values since I guessed the true nature of the emblem of Tacheon.
Really, I had been drawing that picture for quite a while.
“…It doesn’t seem like a perfect solution, though.”
At Sun Gak-ja’s muttering, I also nodded solemnly.
Of course, it’s like covering one’s eyes and trying to slip through. We can’t keep those guys holding onto magic in a sealed state forever.
So.
Unless the entity disabling their magic disappears.
“-Unless someone kills me, that’s what it means.”
“…”
“As long as I don’t die, that’s all that matters. I can keep infusing divine power into the demon’s true form as long as I’m alive. Then, those guys can continue to live as complete humans.”
Without getting entangled in troublesome matters just because they are demons.
As a complete human being, it sounds like we can live happily together, raising a storm of happiness.
“…”
Standing quietly, the leader who had been listening to those words slowly raised his head.
“…It’s all fine. Everything is fine.”
“Hmm?”
“It seems like there’s one person who doesn’t like that.”
Ah.
That’s right.
“Yeah.”
There is indeed one terrifying person who won’t overlook this.
“-Except for just one.”
With those words,
The ‘gray aura’ that hadn’t disappeared from the pillar of light that had just poured out, tore through the surrounding scenery and burst out.
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