Chapter 625 – Atonement and Light

000

When Lilim opened her eyes, she felt that there was nothing around her, and when she got up, in an instant, the restraining barrier spread across the room enveloped the room.

It wouldn’t be difficult to find out who hit it.

Lyla Flamewatch.

When he was the devil of Astarothe, it was a powerful mage’s technique that he was most wary of along with Cleon.

Probably, it was set up so that the awakening of the consciousness of the target sleeping inside was activated as a trigger.

In an instant, Lilim sighed as she felt her arms and legs being tied to the bed and unable to get out.

Yes, this must be normal, she thought.

Rather, she felt even the slightest bit of mercy for not restraining her while she was asleep.

“What if I come in?”

With that said, Layla, the one who opened the barrier standing outside the door, opened the door and came in.

In one hand, even with her enormous staff, it was clear that she would at any time purify herself with fire if she did any of her nonsense.

“Woke up. Lilim. How are you feeling?”

“Not bad. Could it be because you and Cleon-sama prevented them from turning back into demons?”

Watching Lilim squeeze and open her hand while letting out a self-deprecating laugh, Lila wrinkled her between her brows and slammed her staff into the ground as she spoke.

“It’s because we’re in trouble.”

“I guess so. Who else besides you?”

“Breakfast is being prepared. Cleon… Has been away for a while. I can roughly guess where he went.”

“Okay…”

Then, Lilim doesn’t say anything for a moment, then she meets Lila’s eyes once more and she talks.

“If you’re that vigilant, how about erasing my memories once again?”

“Your memory has value. The information you had when you were in the Empire. Because I need to hear about the resurrected Black Giant.”

“Ah…”

Lilim, hearing Layla’s words, nodded her head as if there was no surprise at the fact that the black giant had been resurrected.

“As expected, you know something.”

“The story is a bit complicated with various circumstances, but if you know it, you know it.”

After Lilim said that, he sighed, and then he lay down on the bed again.

“For a moment! We are still talking.”

“We’re not going to talk about it in earnest until Cleon-sama comes, right? And it looks like you need to talk to our princess. Is not it?”

Listening to her talk as she laid her head on her pillow, Lila closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and spoke to her.

“When you lose all your memories and become a different person. I can forgive you ‘Devil Lilim’ is dead. We should have been able to understand that.”

“…”

“But. If you’ve recovered her original memories… You, who made her and the countless people in her kingdom suffer, can be said to be different from ‘Devil Lilim’?”

“Well… Judging that is not a matter for you and me to solve together. There-“

Lilim slowly raised her body, made eye contact with Lila, and continued the conversation.

“I have no intention of denying myself in those days.”

“——Yes.”

Lyla, who heard Lilim’s answer, heard the light of her magical power drifting from the tip of her head, and a gurgling sound rose up.

But soon, as if to hold it back, he swallowed and turned around to leave the room.

Then, Lilim, who was left in the room, quietly laid back on the bed and talked.

“Because there is no right to deny it.”

001

Thanks to Lila’s restraining magic, Lilim couldn’t get out of bed without her permission.

And—even in the middle of preparing breakfast, when all of her party, except for Emma and Illenu, gather in the room where she slept, Lilim looks around at them and lets out a sigh.

“It is a familiar composition. This.”

“Are you used to it?”

When Lila asks what she is talking about, Lilim turns to her and talks.

“Okay. As if looking at an animal trapped in an animal cage, this composition surrounds and looks at it. After the fall of the empire, it was a scene I watched so much when I was being experimented on. If anything else, there was a wall made of strong glass between them and me.”

“That…Um, that story is for later.”

Lyla hears her story and she seems to have an idea, but she shakes her head and tells her story.

Then, she looked at Amelia, who stood next to Cleon, not knowing what expression to make, and she met Cleon’s eyes.

“Lilim. You… Planted the seed of the Black Crystal in Amelia’s body when she was a member of Astaroth and was a demon. And- in it, the devil was inside. Yes?”

When Cleon asks such a question, Lilim answers with a nod of her head without the slightest sign of distress.

“You’re right. The seed planted in Princess Amelia over there was in response to her dark feelings she had. And by adapting to the kind of powers she has in her. Because it was our plan to turn her into her dark princess.”

Hearing her answer, Amelia clenched her fists and took a step forward to talk to Lilim.

“Why, such a plan…!”

“To put it simply, it was a hindrance. Your existence, to us Astarote. And- because there were people who wanted that to happen. Maybe It was completely out of the plan for me to suffer first before seeing the result.”

Lilim, who spoke in a calm manner, as if she were talking about someone else’s past, did not change her expression, and Sasha could only frown when she saw it.

“…Don’t you think it was a mistake?”

Unbeknownst to her, she had a strong tone and she must have questioned Lilim.

Although she ceased to be a demon, she became human in person.

Wouldn’t it be normal for her to feel even the slightest bit guilty on her part if she really became human?

Because of her, Amelia should have felt so much pain, and she had to go through such a harsh time.

No – it’s not over yet.

The kingdom was still on the move to capture Amelia Chaldearis, and the Five Elements had sent her envoys to find Amelia.

“Wrong…”

Lilim, hearing Sasha’s story, repeats the word for a moment before looking at Amelia.

“It wouldn’t be a story about right and wrong. Actions done with malice produced consequences. Because what created that result is an undeniable ‘sin’. Do you think so too? Princess.”

“…”

Lilim’s answer was a story that felt a little different from her attitude, so Amelia nodded her head while looking straight into her eyes.

But soon, Lilim’s eyes turned to Quon, who was standing next to her, and her mouth opened.

“Hey, Lady. Surely there was a confession, laying down her sins before God. In your religion.”

“…Huh. Originally, it was just the two of us, and we went to a place where no one else could hear, but…”

The act of confessing one’s sins to a priest in a confessional placed in a temple or church and receiving forgiveness for them.

“That. How are you doing? Can I just tell you the crime you committed?”
“If you sincerely want to be forgiven for that sin. You can’t say ‘just’.”

After hearing Quon’s answer, Lilim nodded her head, and she looked back at Amelia once more to talk.

“Princess Amelia. I… ‘Lilim Lulu and Apoptosis’ have committed many evils to achieve their own goals, and sacrificed countless humans in the process. And among them, you must have suffered the most.”

Not to mention kidnapping people to change their gender, driving Amelia on a rampage, and- her mother’s little brother. In other words, it was also Astaroth who encouraged her uncle who had rebelled from behind.

Truly- it was Ishtar, her colleague and hers, that completely turned Amelia’s life upside down. And those organizations.

“That’s me. It’s really shameless to come now and ask for your forgiveness. The past cannot be undone, and the dead cannot be brought back to life. And- reversing what happened too.”

“Yes-“

As if Lila couldn’t hold back her words any longer, she tried to say something to her.

Amelia raised her arm to block it.

“…Atonement is not about deciding what to do with your own will. Because I think the people who sin… Do what they want.”

Lilim said so, and she removed the blanket she was covering.

Pale, skinny legs.

When Lilim tried to get down to the bottom of the bed by walking on her legs, which seemed to break easily with just a little effort, the binding magic hanging from the bed revealed itself and grabbed her limbs with chains.

“What… Don’t be stupid! That’s because I don’t care about the circumstances of your body…! Are you thinking of breaking your limbs!?”

Even Layla’s screams seemed inaudible to Lilim.

“Kuh…! Ugh…!”

The chain created by her magic power tried to return Lilim’s body to the bed with her powerful manpower, but Lilim refused to do so, wrapping her magic power around her own body.

Then, her limbs descended to the ground while somehow enduring the crushing force, and the sound of her chain led her trembling legs to Amelia’s side.

As it is, she falls to her knees as if collapsing.

“What…”

Sasha’s voice sounded embarrassed.

Nonetheless, she does not stop, she raises her arm—just like that, and takes Amelia’s hand carefully, bringing her own fingers to the back of her hand.

“Sssss…!”

And- thinking that the tips of Lilim’s fingers were shining for a moment, a black cross-shaped pattern was engraved on the back of Amelia’s hand, then disappeared.

It happened so quickly, but Cleon just watched the scene quietly.

“Princess Amelia… I will give you this life. Should you ever lose your life, instead, this soul will take the place of that pain.”

“──The contract of the ‘private marriage’…! You, such a taboo…”

Layla, immediately grasping what her magic was doing, frowned at her.

The Death Soul Transition contract is a curse that the user puts on himself, believing that there are no magicians who can use it anymore.

When the subject of the contract dies, the cause of the death is transferred to the caster, and it is almost the only curse that exists for others that can prevent the death of the subject.

However- when the effect of this curse is activated, the soul of the caster is shattered in return, so the soul cannot return to the spirit vein and completely disappears.

It is to face a complete death, unable to receive even the vague concept of ‘reincarnation’.

In other words- Now, if Amelia were to die as a result. Lilim will receive that death instead.

For Amelia, it was as if she had one more life.

“…Of course, I don’t intend to end with this. I’ll do… Anything you want. I’ve said it before- but the important thing is ‘what will you do with me’, not ‘what should I do’. That I- don’t have that right—”

“——Sir…!”

The next moment, Amelia grabbed Lilim by the collar and pulled her up, blocking her words.

“Something like that—”

“…”

Amelia’s mouth, in the rare twist, bursts out what was stored inside her.

“There’s no way you can understand something like that!”

Then, before anyone else can stop – Amelia pushes her lilim onto her bed, where she is bound, and trips her over.

Completely entrusted to the momentum, Amelia herself also took the form of riding on top of Lilim, who was lying on top of her bed, but Lilim showed no resistance except for making a ‘Kuh…’ Sound due to the shock that shook her body. It was invisible.

“You’re giving me your life…!? There’s no way I can understand something like that! Because of everything you’ve done, how many people have been killed and wounded…! Are you saying it ends up being used only for me! I don’t need anything like that!”

Amelia’s voice echoes like a scream.

It was the first time for all of her companions to see her raise her voice with such intense emotion.

However, Amelia’s eyes, which must have been pushing her, reddened, and at the same time, her tears began to flow drop by drop.

“If you did anything to me, I can forgive you. But … Mother … And, her little father – do not return … Nor the people of another kingdom …! The time of suffering they went through… I can’t do anything that wasn’t there… You will never…! I will never be able to forgive them…”

“…”

It is as she said.

——Thoughts Lilim, but she didn’t answer.

After all, giving her own life to her was an act of atonement for her self-satisfaction that her lilim came up with.

Even she knew that she couldn’t be happy about using her life like this.

But – to himself, there was no other way to come to mind.

As soon as he was born, he was encased in ice.

The soul mate I met at the end of thousands of years was corrupted and disappeared before I could stop it.

From the moment he chose the path of being stained with evil as a means to overcome that loss until now.

There was only a very simple answer left: ‘I shouldn’t have done that wrong in the first place’.

All human lives are equal without discrimination of value.

It was too late for him to realize that every single step he had taken to meet the Demon Sword Emperor was of equal value to the Demon Sword Emperor.

“What you have to do is not to give your life for this curse… Even if everyone points at you and shouts at you to die… Tenaciously surviving. Doing the best you can. Helping more people than the sins you have committed… Even with that alone, atonement is impossible- but that is already your duty.”

Humans are not just rational beings.

When someone commits a sin, it is inevitable to point the finger at it, and even if the sinner wishes to atone and be forgiven – it is also inevitable not to forgive it.

That’s why – the sinner must regret.

Everything he did, the cause and effect.

Even if it is unintentional, even if there is another noble purpose.

You should never forget the regret of what you have done.

The moment you forget that, atonement becomes no atonement.

Thinking that there is no such thing as a day of forgiveness, constantly agonizing, going to bed feeling anxious, even if the weight of sin always weighs down on your shoulders.

You have to think of it as your own karma.

“I am…”

Realizing this fact through Amelia’s cry – realizing it too late, Lilim’s face twisted.

It wasn’t because of her anger at Amelia, who had pushed and knocked her down.

It was because her tears flowed from those eyes, as did Amelia, who was holding her back.

You could say, “What did you do well to cry about?” But since tears naturally come out, it’s not something you can do with your own will.

Then, bringing her chained hands to her face and covering her eyes with her wrists, she told her the first thing she had to do.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…! Sorry…!!!”

Everyone there knew that those words were not smoke.

It was clumsy, like a child committing a mistake and begging for forgiveness in front of an adult, although it was mixed with loud cries.

Those wails, those tears.

Because it was to tell her the truth.

002

“Are you calm?”

First, let the party go outside for a while, and Amelia and Cleon are in the room. And only Lilim was left.

“… Yes.”

Lilim nodded and sat with her limbs hanging limp on the bunk bed.

“Amelia, too, if you don’t feel comfortable being with me, you can leave.”

“Ah, no. Are you okay.”

Amelia shook her head as she waved her hand, wondering where the passion from earlier had gone.

Talk with a slightly friendly expression.

“…Because I decided to become Lilim’s watcher.”

“Okay…”

Speaking of watchers- it felt a bit restrictive, but it was something Amelia decided on her own, and Lilim accepted it as well.

Watching Lilim right next to her to see if she really didn’t stop atonement – her own.

Lest the day come when she forgets her own regrets.

And- to spend the rest of the time doing the right thing.

“—You’re the type that’s unexpectedly restrained. The princess.”

When Lilim says that, Amelia flinches and shakes her body, then slaps her back laughing.

“That way of speaking… Have you forgotten already?”

Then, what she lifted – the pattern of the black cross engraved on the back of her hand – was made with the contract of transfer of marriage.

It was impossible to do, she said, saying that Lila said that the contract would not disappear unless the contractor died first.

For that reason, the contract that existed between the two did not disappear, but it was able to be slightly modified by adding Cleon’s engraving to it.

Exactly – the object to which the soul is connected. In other words, Amelia’s right to command.

It’s holding the string of the soul, so it wouldn’t be strange if it was possible to do that much, but it’s not the original function, so there’s a limit to the number of times.

In other words, Amelia was forcibly given the authority to give orders to Lilim, but she said that it was the first order she gave—

“When the regret fades, remember the scene where she cried and begged her forgiveness.”

That is, quite a beastly specification.

In other words, in Lilim’s head, the scene from earlier when she repeatedly cried and said sorry in front of everyone’s eyes flashed back.

This is something I will never be able to forget for the rest of my life. At least until death.

However, how effective it will be will weaken as you get used to the scene.

Regarding that part, Cleon thought there would be no problem.

“What. Amelia must think more about Lilim than I do. That I am entirely on Amelia’s side.”

“Yes! Thank you, Cleon.”

“…”

As Amelia smiled and nodded her head, Lilim just looked at the two of them with a hard-to-read expression on her emotions.

‘Just in case I-‘

If only she could have stopped Cain.

If only I could have caught him by the side, who was vengeful and only moving in a straight line – to point the blade at the right opponent.

Wouldn’t Cain have become the Demonic Sword Emperor?

Give her a bright smile by her own side.

As the eldest of the brothers and sisters who grew up together, helping people more courageously than anyone else.

Sooner or later, he might have been able to stand in front of the great enemy of Adam and become a representative of all those who suffered from him.

Not being able to stop it is one’s own original sin.

‘Ah. I see.’

So, the punishment for that original sin is this.

His own demonic sword emperor is dead.

And Cleon, the dark horse of the previous life who followed him, makes all the pleasant things he imagined into reality to others other than himself.

‘But now, I don’t have the right to wish for that. …All I have to do is make sure their happiness isn’t broken.’

“Princess Amelia.”

That’s why – Lilim couldn’t help but feel great pain at the fact that he had to convey this fact.

“…Yes?”

To the sound of her voice calling her own—as Amelia looks back at her, Lilim is speaking after taking her small deep breath.

“We, Astarote, have one common goal. I was collaborating with Adam’s forces. Of course, the direction they were heading in was completely different – although they would have to split up and compete with each other’s blades at each other’s necks.”

“…”

At that, Cleon and Amelia change her eyes and look at her.

“What is purpose. …’The Crystal of Perfection’. To find and secure it. For us, the purpose was to use that magic to open the door to the ancient ruins and summon Demiurge. Adam had the purpose of using that crystal to create the ultimate body. “

“Ultimate body…?”

Cleon noticed something in her words that bothered him, but Lilim continued her words as if he wasn’t going to talk about it right now.

“But in the process… There was someone who stood in the way of Adam. That’s right, your mother, Chariel Chaldearis. … She, by the power of her Holy Spirit, which she possesses, was trying to free her father and King-Lucius Chaldearis from Adam’s dominion.”

“Mother…!”

Amelia raised her voice, her eyes twinkling at the fact that her own mother, too, was resisting Adam.

“But unfortunately. Your father wasn’t particularly mind-controlled by Adam.”

“──Eh…”

However, at Lilim’s words that followed, Amelia’s expression suddenly darkened.

“Lucius Chaldearis cooperates with Adam, of his own will. Humans like the Church of Exile who obey Adam. From the moment of his childhood, when he wanted the power to kill his own brother – Abel.”

“──…”

“That’s why ‘Lucius Chaldearis’ requested Astaroth through ‘Setos Tromeia’. Mind control your little father with a devil’s curse, and make him rebel.”

“For a moment.”

Cleon put a hand on her forehead as she stopped talking.

“I knew to some extent that Lord Sethos had something to do with Adam. But- Kamala, who was one of your demons before… When she talked about it, it was easier to summon the Demiurge if you rebelled and caused chaos.”

“You couldn’t even talk about Ishtal to those demons. That they did so under the ‘order’ of their enemies, Lucius and Setos.”

“…”

“At that time, Astarothe was much smaller and weaker than when Cleon-sama dealt with her in her capital. The gang members didn’t even have the skills to summon demons yet—and above all, Lucius’s favored merchant named Hughes Wood Nocker had her back alleys tight.”

“Are you Eustes’s father…!”

At Cleon’s words, Lilim nodded her head and continued her story.

“A small cult organization can be trampled on at any time if they are sincere, which is why they knew Astarothe and left it alone. After – Hughes Wood Knocker’s sudden death, it became possible to rule her back alley in an instant, so the story changed a little. More importantly…”

Cleon turned to Amelia at Lilim’s words.

There, as the light quickly faded from Amelia’s eyes, she was muttering with a blank face.

“… The reason why the little father rebelled was to dethrone and imprison his mother… His Majesty’s… Father’s plan…?”

“This is the truth of the rebellion. Our- No, I’m not trying to avoid my responsibility. Because I thought it was necessary to tell you the truth.”

Amelia felt an intense dizziness run through her body, accompanied by a dizzying sensation before her eyes.

“Amelia! Wake!”

And at the sound of Cleon’s voice beside her, Amelia was able to hold on to her body as she was about to collapse, holding her back on the spot.

“…Amelia. …What the heck, what should I say-“

“It’s okay, okay… Cleon. Because Cleon isn’t bad…”

Seeing Cleon’s worried expression on her own, Amelia shakes her head while saying that.

Then, after placing her hand on her own chest – where her seed had been planted by Lilim earlier, she took a small deep breath…

Kwok, while putting strength into her fist, straightened her back—her chest—and looked back at Lilim.

“—Lilim. Thanks for talking.”

“…I’ll tell you, I was also an executive at Astarote back then. I also agreed to the plan. You don’t deserve to be thanked.”

“So, thank you for not hiding that fact. …I’m sure I’m disappointed in my father… But that doesn’t mean I can’t collapse here.”

Things too harsh for a 10-year-old-no, soon to be 11-year-old girl to go through one after another.

As Cleon watched Amelia try not to break, her heart felt like it would break.

“I- I will stop. I am. I have to stop with my own hands. Father. And- Adam… The construction of the world they are trying to envision.”

Amelia looks back at Cleon and Lilim while saying that.

And- holding his hand that Cleon held, firmly. It was a promise.

“──That will be my revenge on them.”

Watching the girl say that word with a feeling of squeezing it out, Cleon nodded his head.

And, Lilim realized once again.

That she was a person like her, that she was an existence that was not lacking to be by Cleon’s side.

The ones who should be next to the black demons of the previous life were those who shine brilliantly with kind hearts and strong wills.

‘Ah.’

The demon Lilim, who tried to throw the world into chaos, was completely exorcised.

It doesn’t end with physically becoming a human body, after that.

It was the result of the light created by a girl’s dazzling determination.