#53
“Selé, okay?”
「This is also not a true name, but it is one of the gods that you humans support… … Same concept as Hyperion. Well, even if you don’t ascend to the throne, you can’t take the name of an existence that is out of the way of the world.”
“You must be a demon.”
“I would have said it wasn’t like God.”
“I heard that you created the demons of the Demon Realm in the beginning. Unless you are a God who transcends laws and principles, you cannot create new life. then… … What are you.”
“Selene.”
A holy voice rang in my ears.
“That’s the only thing that can identify you.”
read at https://noblemtl.com
Demon–Selene is the enemy of mankind.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that if he stands at the apex of Manma (萬魔), he is the main enemy that mankind must ultimately be slain.
The lives that were torn apart in the long war were recorded in the history books as mere lines. The main culprit who filled the canal across the continent and flooded it, causing countless blood to flow.
If Selene does not die, the war between demons and humans will not end. Demons were born from the fingertips of demons. As long as the primordial demon Selene existed—the devil’s seed would never be uprooted.
“But, you… … 」
Kugugugugugugu-
In the hollow of the collapsing darkness.
Selene’s sparkling eyes turned to Ezio.
“You hate yourself deeply.”
──Because Selene exists,
Ezio went through many of those things himself.
Rubia was kidnapped by an abominable demon. He sacrificed his life to save her. Hundreds of years of asceticism left as vague memories. His spirit and body were terribly broken. A forceful fate given to uproot the remaining demons in the world. A life destined for a miserable end. The reason why you have to live with this clenched fist despite enduring all that.
that… …
“Are you sad?”
Just born with no talent.
He, who was only the only son of a fallen aristocratic family, got caught up in such a huge flow of nonsense.
It was itself.
“Why did it have to be you, because it was unfair and unfair… … Can’t you just vomit out your passion?”
There is no coercion or such coercion.
So you can’t die without meaning.
Until the culprit of all this is removed and the serenity of everyday life is restored, Ezio Cranil cannot stop chewing on stones.
“Kill yourself.”
I just wanted to be happy.
In a carefree rural village.
With a dear friend… … I just wanted to live quietly while watching the dawn through the attic window of the hut.
“Do you want to break free from all yoke?”
How did it become like this?
I heard a heartbreaking cry.
He didn’t want to become a hero who saved the world until he gradually lost the emotions he should have felt as a human being. To be honest, I was terrified and scared. Because I was aware that it was getting more and more strange.
I don’t want to hurt the people I love more than anyone else.
just… …
“Isn’t the war over?”
if only i could
He didn’t have a single mediocre talent, and he wanted to go back to the way he was when he was infinitely unsightly.
Ezio Cranil wished for a peaceful peace.
“now… … Isn’t it time to stop?”
The voice was drowned out in the noise and only rang out.
But everyone in the room could hear it. desperate sound. Rubia didn’t have the opportunity or thought to say anything, but just grabbed Ezio’s hand from behind. Because his body was shaking a little.
“Stop it, it’s time to… … 」
The human-horse war of ten years ago ended with a massive victory for humans.
The demon realm has fallen into human hands, and some of the soil full of demons has been reconstructed into an environment habitable by humans.
The placenta of demons with horns and wings were either executed by hanging on a guillotine, or their horns were broken and reduced to mere entertainment. Or became a slave in a dark basement.
On the other side of the empire, at the auction house in the dark district, too young demons sometimes came up. It was a demon conceived among demons who were forcibly bred. It was an auction item favored by wealthy people on the continent who wanted to be completely submissive to humans from birth.
On the other hand, those who fortunately survived the war or escaped from the war—some of the Great Evils infiltrated the human world and lived their lives fulfilling their private desires. The identity of the afterlife that I had made in advance as part of the primordial entertainment was very helpful.
Unlike some idiots who set fires and untimely slaughter in the name of rebuilding the Demon Realm, and rioting, the Great Demons of the placenta did not even dream of treason and treason.
The moment they are discovered by the human side, who has become more powerful, they will be reduced to death or a wretched slavery.
Above all, they usually care about their own well-being more than the demon realm. So even in the war, he noticed the signs of defeat and fled in advance.
In that way, the demon realm outside the ‘boundary’ suffered unusual damage to the extent that it was impossible to rebuild.
It was a great war that there would be no disagreement even if it was said that it put an end to the many times of human warfare in human history.
In other words, the Demon Realm cannot be rebuilt again. There is no power or possibility to continue the war here.
Pass sass… …
The flaps of the wings, which had been flapping wide open, gradually turned to dust and crumbled. The horns slowly disappear into the skull, and the torn blood pupils regain their original color.
As time passed, demonization was dissipating. This would cause Selene to soon depart from the body of Naberius.
“… … 」
Selene slowly closed and opened her eyelids.
“I am here now.”
He talked about the possibility of a re-war.
Selene── The demon is still alive.
The war is not over yet.
So, someday.
The blue sky of the Altima continent will be immersed in darkness again.
“… … What was the war for?”
So, Ezio Cranil asks.
What caused you to shed so much blood?
Selene quietly answers.
“I will tell you a lie.”
next.
“I wished for peace.”
I said something that could not be a lie.
#54
“Peace… … ”
It’s ridiculous.
Then there would be no reason to continue the war.
Betraying the gods, giving birth to demons, and becoming the ruler of the demon realm outside the borders was not to threaten mankind.
Selene told herself that it was a lie.
In that case, the demon doesn’t want peace.
However.
Is the very word of telling a lie itself a lie?
Is it a lie to say you wanted peace?
Not everyone who was present knew.
Ezio Cranil said to Selene.
“The gods in the sky are trying to kill you. They say that only when your existence disappears will all these chains be broken.”
“I will.”
“The reason is… … Is it because you were the first to betray God? So is God trying to kill you?”
“… … 」
Curl rumble.
Suddenly, the ceiling of the cavity cracked and stones fell.
“!”
“uh-“
“Harm!”
It wasn’t one.
It becomes several meteorites and falls over the group’s heads.
“You tell a very interesting story.”
Selene carelessly raises her wrist.
The earthquake that shook the hall and the heavy stone that fell from the ceiling all stopped on the spot.
A small piece of stone is suspended in the air.
Rubia looked at it blankly.
Space-time did not move as if it was fixed.
“Hello, do you think so?”
Ezio’s posture, which had been trying to evacuate by hastily hugging Yuri, who had been lost in the past, was momentarily relieved, but everyone was overwhelmed by the bizarre phenomenon such as that great magic, and they only held their breath.
“Betrayal is accomplished only by trust.”
The sound of the noble Selene.
That alone filled the cavity.
“So, your words do not reach the truth.”
can’t reach the truth
then… … You mean you didn’t betray me?
“Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“What, would you like an answer? An ignorant bastard.”
“… … ”
If you go overboard like that.
It’s getting harder and harder to figure out what it is.
Tetra and Elena.
Incarnations like Ezio Cranil.
Because the story they heard could have been wrong from the very beginning.
“You stupid, you pitiful. When I see you, I always think of that child.”
after a while.
Selene sighed lowly.
“Sia. The child still couldn’t sleep… … 」
It sounds like you are drawing someone deeply.
Selene’s eyes were too colorless.
around that time.
“Ezio, what are you… … ”
Rubia, who was holding Ezio’s hand, looked up at him with a very confused look.
The things that are most likely to explode right now are divinity, god, fate… … It was Rubia, Mew, and Yuri who had nothing to do with such things.
Like Stella, Ezio had a lot to hide from those close to them. Although I recently ran into it and I was not able to organize it well, I couldn’t confide in anyone else… From now on, everyone who knew about it would have to tell the story.
“I’ll tell you later. Now is… ”
“Yes… I know.”
Rubia nodded her head slightly.
“I… Because I believe in Ezio… ”
And then kuk
A little bit of strength was added to the hand holding it.
“… … ”
Stella, Yuri, and Rubia were all behind Ezio. However, not a single person stood by Ezio’s side.
She looked at her without saying a word, then turned her gaze back to Selene.
“Hmm.”
Even if space-time stands still.
Selene was slowly crumbling.
Before he left, Ezio asked.
“Drink. I have a question.”
“You have committed two mistakes now. The first is that he calls himself a demon. The second is that the ruler is not attached. Would you like to give an answer to yourself like that?”
“The story of my life… What was it?”
“How dare you ignore me. You have good guts.”
Selene made a groaning sound.
Without a single facial expression changed.
“Literally.”
next.
“If it goes on like this, it won’t last more than ten years. The moment the spirit collapses, the body will naturally also collapse. You will die at the end of ten years or so.”
“… … ”
It could be false.
Because no one else is talking about it.
However, Ezio quietly opened his mouth.
“How can I extend… Isn’t there?”
“none.”
Let Selene dismiss it briefly.
Ezio and the rest of the rest——especially, Mew’s heart, who was away from Ezio, suddenly thumped and sank.
However, immediately after.
“Unless you are freed from bondage.”
Selene spoke carelessly.
“You will not exceed ten years.”
Selene offered a condition.
liberation of the bridle.
For that… …
“Aren’t you saying that I should kill you?”
“If you can.”
impossible.
They say they find his body.
With this body, with this power.
There’s no way you can kill a demon.
“You are desperate.”
“… … ”
“Not only you, but the lights around you are all flickering. There seems to be some kind of relationship involved.”
“… … ”
“Do you want to live… … It would be wrong to ask. There is no way for a person with a will to give up on life.”
One of Selene’s arms was all crumbled.
There is not much time left.
“in due season.”
Selene continued.
“You will choose.”
Now is not the time.
So I can’t tell you another way.
Selene seemed so suggestive.
“… … The owner of that body said that you could grant our wishes.”
after a while.
Arrogantly, Selene nodded.
「If so?」
Ezio Cranil said with sincerity.
“My body and my mind… … Can you bring it back?”
“… … 」
Selene wasn’t the only one who responded to those words.
Rubia, Mew, and Stella, who knew Ezio’s former self—even though she was a child of six or seven years old—it was a meaningful statement that made even Yuri, who had been lost in spirit, question her a little.
“If possible, what is the cost?”
Selene was silent for a moment.
“The time has not come. Your wishes cannot be granted.”
It was just repeating it.
next moment.
“Drink.”
“… … uhm? Because I’m not a drinker.”
Giving honor to the demon,
Stella opened her mouth.
“you… … 」
The demon’s face was wrinkled in an instant.
It soon unfolded as expressionless as it should have been.
“… … Yes, you are the representative of Eos. There’s nothing wrong with you. tell me.”
eos?
The moment Ezio looked back at Stella.
“Naverius, what happened?”
Stella said quietly.
and.
“dead.”
“… … ”
“It looks like he was researching to become a Richie. There was no separate life vessel made, so there will be no possibility of being revived forever.”
Indeed, it was a perfect death.
So easy and simple.
vainly.
“… … is that so.”
Stella silently grabbed the decoration of the necklace.
Selene saw it and said softly.
“It’s something that has an origin. So, it became an artifact with a small, feeble power. Could it be someone’s memento?”
“… … yes.”
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary necklace.
In reality, it wouldn’t be much different.
It was obviously an ordinary necklace, but somehow it became an artifact with magical power.
“… ”
Ezio carefully placed a hand on Stella’s shoulder. Stella felt a little comfort in that touch.
“I myself have experienced loss from time immemorial. A sense of revenge that has nowhere to go is bound to end in vain.”
Suddenly, Selene opened her mouth.
“It would be too far-fetched to mention the concept of reincarnation. Your enemy is dead. you won’t come back alive The same goes for your mother and father. … However, the afterlife of souls without karma is peaceful. There will be no war there, so it’s okay.”
The demon god, who must have committed countless slaughter mercilessly, seemed to offer his own words of condolences to the parents of humans who were sacrificed in the war.
In fact, the death of Stella’s parents was ultimately the devil’s fault. Without the Demon God, there would be no war. Then, it was right that Stella’s lost hatred and revenge should now be directed towards Selene.
“… … is that so.”
No, it wasn’t.
Because Stella has already fallen into a state of emptiness.
I had no desire to take revenge on anything.
“… … 」
Selene caressed her chin——but realized she didn’t have a hand, and looked around each other in silence.
Suddenly, his eyes met the kneeling corpse.
what else is this
Unlike those who sleep down here,
There are some things that I feel are weak, but… …
“If you leave, you will die of your sins.”
Selene has absolutely no reason to keep them alive.
They were sure to become a big obstacle to threaten Manma in the future. It would have been better to kill him now, even for that time.
“Let’s just go down here. According to the memory of this insignificant body, there is something useful under here.”
But the devil didn’t.
Rather, it opened the way for the companions to live.
woo woo woo… …
One arm and one leg were gone, but Selene moved towards the altar in the middle of the cavity, as if sliding on the floor.
Kugugugu… …
Without a single movement of limbs, he moved the altar and pushed it back, and opened the door hidden beneath it, opening the passage to the basement stairs.
“That… … ”
The gate of Naberius that Stella spoke of.
The ultimate portal that could go to any part of the continent was that underground.
… … It will soon collapse and collapse.
As Rubia, who knew the academic and financial value of the ultimate gate, even though there were so many things, it was a bit of a waste.
“Are you going to die there? What, I won’t stop.”
Mew, Rubia, and Stella.
Finally, Ezio too.
He was hesitant to walk, turning to one side.
“Yuri, you have to go now.”
“… … ”
Ezio said quietly.
“… … ”
“glass. I know your heart… … ”
There’s only one chance now.
You never know when Selene will change her mind.
Eidel’s body must be recovered anyway. Because he would not be sleeping in Eidel’s tomb, which is now in the Kingdom of Artina.
If you do that, not only the kingdom, but also the Frontier and the Empire will be turned upside down… … That was later.
First, I had to get out of here.
“… … ”
“glass.”
Kneeling in front of Eidel’s corpse.
Yuri bowed her head for a while and was silent.
“Selene.”
He lifted his head and lit up his sullen eyes.
“I no longer call you a demon. you are the first I really liked it, so tell me.”
“… … I know I can’t.”
Towards Selene, who had only her upper body floating in the air, Yuri hurriedly uttered those words.
“… … Can you spare my brother?”
For Ezio, it was the first time I had ever seen a princess named Yuri von Artina speak so politely.