Chapter 100 – Reunion and Farewell

As Belial had said, Deus’s place should have been in Hell, not here.

He should have been fighting to seize the world from the protagonists, or failing to do so. That was how it should have been.

Hence, his overwhelming power and, though he claimed to be wronged, his fierce countenance.

If not for his very intense delusion. If not for the covenant born of it.

And if he hadn’t trusted and carried them both, refining the malice that should have been instinctively ingrained through endless training in that void, and instead imbuing himself with duty and benevolence.

The Deus standing before the demon now would never have existed.

“Uwaaa!!”

Monster! It’s a monster! What is that thing! Goddamn it, what the hell is that?!

That power! That force! And even that appearance! He’s worse than a demon!

Having absorbed the remaining energy of Puhs, Seir was in a state that couldn’t be called normal by any stretch of the imagination.

In that situation, it was only natural that Seir could do nothing but stumble backward against Deus.

To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that nothing else was possible.

He could feel it. The thick aura of death emanating from the man. The scent of a predator who had devoured countless demons.

He couldn’t resist. He couldn’t fight. It wasn’t just that his physical condition was poor; he recognized, as if etched into his very soul, that it was impossible.

So he had to run. Even if it was an impossible feat, he had to at least try.

“Oh. To think I’d push you this far.”

“Heok!”

He was definitely behind him, wasn’t he? When did he get in front of him, scrutinizing him so thoroughly?

“I thought just putting up a good fight would be a good training effect, but judging by this, you practically sliced your body in half with your final technique. This is definitely a wound inflicted by the Chairman. Hmm? Yurishia’s doesn’t seem to have left much of a mark?”

Then, *aha!* He suddenly flew somewhere, bringing Puhs, transformed into a mummy, before Seir, and began speaking as if giving a lesson.

“You should count yourself lucky. See this? If Yurishia had inflicted this much damage on you, you wouldn’t even be standing here.”

“W-what does that mean.”

“So, instead of rescuing a friend who was half-dead from being beaten up in your place, you think it’s okay to absorb their energy? Is that what you’re saying?”

Unlike Luciel and Nefertiti, who were already walking their own paths, Yurishia had wanted to follow him. And it was happening exactly as she wished.

Deus gleefully examined the clear evidence of this, smiling as if he were proud.

“…”

From Seir’s perspective, it looked like a madman examining the corpse that was once Puhs.

Such a romantic disaster, that one. Shouldn’t there be a modicum of comradeship, at least?

Ah. No, not really. What am I expecting from demons? This is probably how it should be. Right.

Deus, having settled on that conclusion internally, gave Seyr a casual pat on the shoulder.

Utterly defenseless. If I attacked now, I could kill him instantly.

That thought crossed Seyr’s mind, but his body remained completely unresponsive.

Frozen solid like a withered leaf in the dead of winter, unable to even twitch.

“I said it where you all came from, too.”

Where we came from? At those words, Seyr stared at Deus, a look of disbelief dawning.

“This blasted cycle will never break, just repeat endlessly. Whether the you of the future will be the same b*stards as now, I don’t know if you’ll even remember me. But keep this one thing in mind.”

—CRACK!

The hands gripping Seyr’s shoulders tightened with increasing force.

The demon, initially unmoving, soon screamed as excruciating pain tore through his shoulders, thrashing wildly to escape.

“Whenever you return, in the end, it will be me standing at the end of the line.”

—CRUNCH!!

“aaargh!!”

His body was folding in on itself. Not a metaphor or expression, but physically being bent and compressed.

No matter how much he struggled, kicked with both legs, or even headbutted his attacker hard enough to crack his own skull, the other remained unmoved.

“Save me! Please, save me!!”

Sorry. I’m too late, I know. But I believe you all would understand.

You, the version of you I knew, and that world, it’s all gone. What’s left is here.

So, you’d surely tell me to fight for the sake of goodness rather than let evil reign.

Ah. But what if you wouldn’t? What if your descendants, and the world, were just like this one? What if you just wanted everything to burn? What then?

‘Then you aren’t the people I remembered, and I have nothing to worry about or feel guilty for.’

Those he remembered had all been righteous, virtuous, and above all, valued sacrifice.

But if they forgot that, then he must have been mistaken about them, and there was no longer any need to feel sorry or guilty.

“Kkkyaaak! aaargh!”

The demon, nearly the same size as Deus, was gradually shrinking.

First, his arms (well, one arm and one tentacle) and legs curled inward. Then, his neck was bent forward, tucking his head neatly into his chest.

Next, his waist was folded, forcing him to greet his own lower body, before being pressed and squeezed with all his might until everything was neatly compact.

Originally, he was going to let him go gently. Like the other demons of hell had done.

Since he wasn’t completely without regret, he thought it would be better to send him off with one clean blow.

But still, how could he condone anyone growing stronger by absorbing their comrades?

“Such a romantic disaster, abandoning your comrades like that. These days, even demons cherish their colleagues; it’s the trend. No wonder Hell never evolves.”

If Seyr could have spoken, he would have shouted about how absurd that statement was.

But unfortunately, he could neither speak nor offer any resistance.

Now, all that remained for him was to slowly die, savoring his defeat.

*

“Good grief. Really. When did I ever tell you to exert your body like this? You dimwit.”

“Heeeiiiing!”

A scream escaped Eurisia’s lips, and Deus let out a disbelieving chuckle, utterly speechless.

“You didn’t even touch the wound, ইউরিসিয়া.”

“Huh? Oh, really?! I thought I did!”

“You just imagined touching it, I reckon.”

Deus clicked his tongue, eyeing the gash that had split open Eurasia side, and EurasiaEurasia started to whine.

She really thought she was going to die. It hurt too much. She was fussing like a child.

Neferti and Luciel, slumped on the ground, couldn’t help but offered embarrassed smiles at the sight.

They remembered her only moments ago, beating down demons without a shred of fear.

Whether a dagger entered her body or fingernails raked across her skin, she hadn’t cared, only charging straight ahead.

To see Eurasia suddenly acting like a frightened girl… well, it was a bit out of character, to say the least.

“Senior and Chairman also went through a lot. Both of your hands are torn up.”

“Eh? Ah. So they are.”

“When did I get hurt?”

Neferti, when she’d chosen close combat. Enveloping her hands in her power had damaged her as well.

And Luciel had swung her sword to the absolute limit; no matter how calloused her hands were, they simply couldn’t withstand it.

“Um, excuse me, junior. Are you, already, back? It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed since you left?”

“That’s how it turned out. I didn’t think it would end so quickly, but here we are.”

The three female students tilted their heads in unison. Deus’s expression as he’d offered that answer was unsettling.

Unlike his usual self, he couldn’t quite shake the bitter tone, and that bothered them.

“Junior?”

“Yes?”

“Your expression is a bit strange. Is something wrong?”

“Hmm. Wrong. I can’t say nothing’s wrong.”

But if you were to ask if it was something that could be fixed, that would be another matter entirely.

Deus’s ambiguous answer only piqued the other three’s curiosity even more.

“It just… ended more easily than I thought it would. That’s all.”

If this weren’t here, but rather, there, would he have been their enemy?

If he were in a position where he, who wanted to protect them more than anyone else, instead had to take from them, could he have borne that fate?

Perhaps mistaking who he was truly was the best stroke of luck. Taking the covenant, spending an eternity in that featureless dimension. Only to emerge outside.

Even if it began as a foolish act, in the end, didn’t it conclude just as he had desperately wished?

“So, now, at long last, the gates and the monsters…!”

“Ah. Not quite.”

“Huh?”

“Ehh?”

Hadn’t he just cleaned up Hell, the demons’ world? So why hadn’t those two things disappeared?

Luciel was bewildered, Neferti was questioning, and ইউরিসিয়া was simply whining to Deus about her pain.

“Well, to explain it, it’s a little complicated.”

How should he explain it? He couldn’t exactly tell them that this place was merely a reflection of a ruined world beyond, could he?

That those things would inevitably return someday, and that the gates and monsters were simply disposable devices, destined to be used again for their reappearance.

“So, to put it simply, you see…”

Simply. To speak without mentioning the things he shouldn’t…

“Well. The thing is, the last devil, in its death throes, released all the gates and monsters. Preventing it was beyond even my abilities.”

Call it a devil doing devilish things. What’s to be done? A dead devil is a silent devil.

It’s all the devil’s fault, truly. So, let’s all not relax and train even harder!