“Why did you think we submitted to you?” Even without waiting for my answer, One-eye rushed off to his next monologue: “At the very beginning, all I wanted to do was make use of you to leave the Blood Sea. My inherited memories told me that if we didn’t leave soon, there wouldn’t be enough time. Thus, I chose to submit temporarily. I originally intended to court you along the way but who knew that you would actually ignore me so thoroughly, did you actually think I was some kind of brainless fool?!”
‘So he was never loyal to begin with. He willingly played the role of a subservient little brother only because he had the foresight to butter me up…’
Honestly, he was a really competent devil during his time under me. His performance was at complete odds to the first impression he left on me but because that impression was so engraved in me, I ended up pegging him as a moron from start till finish.”
If I was a female devil, I might have really recruited him as a close aide. No matter how incompetent he might be, he would, at the very least, fulfill some bodily desires. Unfortunately for him, I was and still am, a man. Being a man, I wasn’t too excited about any form of close contact with another male, thus his plan had failed by half from the very start. Ultimately, this aversion made him decide on another course of action.
Using force.
“…is this the reason for your betrayal?”
“Betrayal? In my eyes, the real traitor is you…my former master.”
‘Me? A traitor? Are you kidding me, exactly who did I betray?! I don’t remember having any sort of relationship with you so what do you mean ‘traitor’?’
“Do you know what I really want to do right now? To have a tumble with you of course!”
“One-eye! You dare to disrespect the Master like that! I’ll never forgive you!” Still sprawled on the floor, Big 4 bellowed with all his might before dragging his battered body towards One-eye. However, just as his show of bravado started, Nine-finger gave him a resounding kick on the head after letting go of No.3.
“What my Boss wishes to do has nothing to do with you.”
“That’s my Master! That’s your Master as well!”
Nine-finger paused for a moment before scratching his bald noggin two seconds later and stating thusly, in a silly voice: “I only listen to the Boss.”
“Well said, even though I won’t share the prize with you this time, I’ll make sure to reward you the next time we catch another female devil.”
“You’re going to reward me, Boss? What’s the reward? Is it edible?”
“…just look after those two pieces of trash, don’t let them spoil my mood.” Having reached a new level of being unable to read the mood, One-eye truly regretted not letting this subordinate of his have some souls in the beginning. However, having a silly subordinate did have its benefits as well; how else were they so loyal?
‘That bastard, he actually…actually…I’d rather die than suffer through that!’
“I just knew you would look at me like that, you d*mned les!”
‘Huh…when did my sexuality change? I’ve always been a man who loves woman, all right?!’
‘Not that saying all that would help anything right now…perhaps I had always been a woman in One-eye’s mind. To think he actually betrayed me because he thought I liked those of the same sex. He probably assumed, rightfully so I might add, that he no longer stood a chance so he had to use force instead…well, now that has been confirmed, it’s time for my own counterattack.’
“Look me in the eyes!”
Even while prone, that didn’t stop me from invoking my control over illusions. My pupils immediately blazed with a blue light and as my voice resounded amidst the slight bubbling of the lava behind me, One-eye couldn’t help but turn his eyes towards me. The moment we locked eyes however, his body shuddered and everything suddenly turned foreign in his eyes.
The boiling river of lava turned into an eternal river of ice. The sweltering heat disappeared and soon, even a tiny gust of wind chilled his bones. How was this Purgatory, this was clearly Gehenna! By now, One-eye was beginning to suspect if he had entered the wrong gate. But he was in Purgatory just moments ago so how did it suddenly turn into Gehenna?
“Don’t you think this magical tattoo of mine is rather strange? It’s an illusion demon’s.” I couldn’t help but embark on my own triumphant speech even though I knew that One-eye probably couldn’t hear a word I was saying.
“Even though I never expected that you would betray me, I still left a trump card behind, just in case…illusion magicks might not work against the undead, but against someone with a weak psyche like you, it’s more than enough!”
Upon reaching Four-stars, a devil now possessed the basic defining features of a devil: a horn on their head, a tail similar to that of a bull’s, fleshy devil wings and the ability to control fire. Should that devil advance one more level, he would be gain the blessing of an original sin and become a true devil with a clan. However, One-eye’s evolutionary path was now at an end. Today, he had to die.
Bearing the burning ache running through my body, I slowly walked over to the ensorceled One-eye. By now, my numbed left hand was beginning to regain the majority of its mobility. As for my right, it reached for Shadowfang, still slung over my back.
Still under the control of my illusion, One-eye was currently experiencing a wintery hell that left him completely buried in layers of snow. Because of the perceived pressure of the snow and the cold it left on his body, he curled into a defensive and completely harmless ball.
Just as I was about to reach the incapacitated devil however, alarm bells began to ring out in my head. My chest suddenly felt constricted, my head felt light and my limbs began to weaken; these were all signs of mana exhaustion.
‘Sh*t, I have to finish him off quick or he might just make it out of my illusion. No time now…’ Shadowfang sliced through his body without meeting any resistance whatsoever. On my part, I felt no pity at all in killing off the head of this rebellion.
Dead. Ever so easily, a Four-star flame demon-child was slain by me. At the same time as his death, I had a taste of that familiar weakness once more. My limbs began to collapse and my body started to convulse uncontrollably, though to a small degree only.
“BOSS!” Still in the midst of torturing No.3 and Big 4, all Nine-finger heard was the dying grunt of One-eye before he turned around to see my blade cleanly leave the corpse of his boss. It was then that my mana was exhausted as well. Abandoning No.3 and Big 4, he rushed towards me with bloodshot eyes: “You dare to murder my Boss! I’ll trample you to death!”
As his feet stomped on my back with the weight of his fury, it felt like my body was about to explode from the sheer pain that ravaged my nervous system. However, that took effort and I clearly had no energy to even resist. One, two, three, four…he was like a tireless stomping machine right now. With every stomp, a mouthful of blood would spurt from my mouth. Once more, I tried to fight back but my body merely twitched in response.
‘No…I mustn’t give up like this. That moron, Nine-finger, actually didn’t take away my Shadowfang, if only he used it, he would’ve killed me in one stroke already. Replenish, I need to replenish my mana. I need souls for that…souls…’
‘One-eye’s soul…that’s right, I can consume his soul.’ Thankfully, One-eye’s headless corpse was just lying there right in front of me. With hope laid out before my eyes, I summoned forth the last bit of strength left in my body to slowly drag myself towards the fallen devil. With every inch I covered, I would suffer a stomp from Nine-finger. Yet even with that numbing pall cast over my body, I felt that I could hold out just for a bit longer…till I ate One-eye’s soul.
In midst of my crawling, the devil egg bearing devil suddenly ran over. She paid no attention to me whatsoever as she dashed towards the headless One-eye and knelt beside his corpse weeping. She was crying…for some b*stard who threw her aside? Perhaps she truly did love him, however, he never loved her back.
‘Well, you can cry all you want, as long as you stay out of my way.’
However, I was too late. Just as I was mere inches away from his corpse, fate played a cruel trick on me once more. One-eye’s soul was suddenly sucked away by a mysterious force that swiftly sent the semi-translucent mass flying into the egg still resting in the arms of that female devil…
‘It absorbed his soul?’
‘D*mnit…why now? Not like this! If it was me who absorbed his soul, I would’ve been able to recover a portion of my mana and slice Nine-finger apart…the script…it’s not supposed to proceed like that…’
Nine-finger’s stomping continued as viciously as before. It almost seemed like he enjoyed stepping on my back. Even with my armor, it wasn’t easy enduring the stomps of a Three-star demon child.
The problem was that I was still powerless to resist. No.3 and Big 4 were still severely injured and what was supposed to be my shot at a comeback ended up being absorbed by the devil egg in some cruel twist of fate…the me right now, was just a salted fish.
“Master…” My two loyal subordinates stared at me with bloodshot eyes that almost seemed watery with regret. However, tears were useless. They couldn’t heal their wounds and neither could they replenish my mana.
‘Is this truly it…even One-eye was slain by me and yet I’m about to die to this moron, Nine-finger…haha…cough cough…ah, there’s blood…the taste of Purgatory’s floor isn’t great at all…so painful…my body’s about to explode…’
‘Looking at him, I doubt Nine-finger is even capable of having any inappropriate thoughts about me, I guess that’s a silver lining?’
“Oh right, Boss said something about having a tumble with you? I don’t know what a ‘tumble’ means but there’s no way I’m letting you off the hook so easily.” As if he was talking to himself but at same time tormenting me, he scratched his head while pondering the meaning of One-eye’s words. He then turned his eyes towards the egg-hugging devil: “Hey you, do you know what a ‘tumble’ means?”
“…” Still in the midst of her grief, she was stumped by this strange question. Head slightly addled, she replied: “That’s…it’s doing ‘that thing’…”
“That thing?”
“Doing that thing.”
“I’m asking what exactly is that thing!”
“…” The female imp was left speechless and thoroughly shocked by the stupidity of Nine-finger.
“You dare to look down on me?” Perhaps her eyes gave away some sort of disdain; perhaps the long silence was all the answer he needed or maybe he simply wanted to show off his power, whatever the reason was, he tossed me aside and walked up to the female imp. Wrapping his hands around her neck, he lifted her off the ground. Having been strangled, the female devil finally released the egg in her arms.
“Speak, exactly what is ‘that thing’?”
“…”It was a forceful question by Nine-finger and yet his grip was just as forceful. The female imp desperately wanted to speak but her throat simply wouldn’t allow her to, thus all she could do was struggle. The female imp was merely a Two-star and naturally wasn’t a match for a Three-star like Nine-finger. Like that, she was strangled to death after a mere minute.
“Dead?” Feeling the warmth leave the corpse in his hand, Nine-finger realized the female imp was dead. Casually tossing the body aside, he inexplicably muttered to himself: “Ah. If you didn’t want to talk then just say so, is there a need to kill yourself?”
“…”
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