Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218
“…Yes, I have to exit.”
The Last Clown covered his face.
“Because it's a promise. Because we are beings who can not keep a promise…….”
Beila Beile has the form of a flower with a thousand petals.
Each and every petal was a hand, and in the center was the clown's head.
He is a transcendent being, just like his appearance.
That is why he is bound by promises.
This is because, in exchange for casting off the fetters of humanity, he is bound by new fetters that humans cannot understand.
“…I have no choice but to disappear with you, Sen Sorti.”
“Hey!”
Sen Sorti got angry.
She has the form of a dragon with forty-eight wings.
Every time she got angry, a silver aura flickered.
“That thing is seven stars! It's not on a level humans can block at all!”
“…I can't help it either.”
The clown muttered, dejected.
He, too, knows full well that Demon King Pāpīyān cannot be left as he is.
But because it's a promise, there is no way.
“Who knows. You have your disciple.”
“…Tsk. That's true, but…….”
Sen Sorti fell into thought.
The one bound by the promise is only the clown.
She seriously considered whether to stay in this place, even if it meant striking down the Last Clown.
But it was too much.
No matter how strong Sen Sorti was, the Last Clown is not an easy opponent.
The cost would inevitably be great.
She wouldn't have enough power left to face Demon King Pāpīyān.
A sudden resentment welled up.
Both the Last Clown, bound by a strange promise, and the other Eight Man-Gods, who hadn't shown even a nose, were endlessly detestable.
They must have all sensed the Demon King Pāpīyān's existence, but how could they not even come near.
She bared her fangs and seethed.
“Shion.”
The Silver Dragon spoke.
“I'm embarrassed. To appear so splendidly, only to exit so laughably. After lording it over as a thousand-year-old Man-God…….”
Shion Pollinglight raised his head.
He looked at his master with his blue eyes.
The Last Mage did not hide her affection for her regressed disciple.
“I'll leave it to you.”
“I thought so.”
The Regressing Prince shrugged his shoulders.
“The sixth secret?”
“I've already opened it.”
“…Good.”
The Last Mage spoke as if whispering.
The silver halo was fading.
It was time for both the clown and the mage to disappear.
“I'm counting on you, Shion, my Pollinglight…….”
Again, the silver light flashed.
And then she was no longer seen.
She returned to the place she was supposed to be.
The clown was the same.
“…….”
The Undying Demon Queen Lefren is gone.
The Last Clown and the Last Mage are also gone.
Only the new seven-star mage, Demon King Pāpīyān, sits in meditation on the black lotus, cackling.
“……Anyway.”
The Regressing Prince grumbled, looking up at the sky filled only with despair.
He sensed that the time of secrets had come once again.
“It's always like this.”
***
In the wide sky, only Pāpīyān was worthy of calling himself a god.
Three bodies sitting in meditation on the black lotus.
But the three are connected as one.
The woman, the man, and the old man; Ma-aya, Karkarsso, and Belrsasal, in order.
Pāpīyān's soul, which had split into three, enjoyed a single joy together.
“Lefren… had prepared a pathetic plan.”
The old man's head, Belrsasal, spoke.
“But I was one step ahead. I drove out the Eight Man-Gods with Moon-Shadow's promise.”
“That was wise, Belrsasal.”
“Don't mention it, Karkarsso.”
The old man and the man exchanged pleasantries.
The woman covered her mouth and laughed.
The sight of them being one body yet exchanging words was quite grotesque.
“Do you see, Aida.”
“In this sky, I alone remain.”
“There is no Undying Demon Queen, nor the Eight Man-Gods.”
The old man, the man, and the woman said, chuckling.
“““What will you do now?”””
The three voices overlapped as one.
Time is already flowing.
The blowing wind and the passing clouds prove this.
The Demon King who appeared in reality would become an unparalleled disaster.
“…….”
No answer was needed.
Shion flicked his wrist.
‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’ flew.
Amethus had already kicked off the ground.
Hmph. Karkarsso unhesitatingly snatched ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’ with his thick forearm.
It was so terribly hot and terribly heavy that just touching it must have been a huge shock, but Karkarsso paid it no mind.
The double-edged sword cut sharply through the air.
It tried to split the headless old man vertically.
It was a speed impossible to dodge.
The old man could not dodge.
But he was not split either.
……. Amethus's face stiffened.
His sword left only a slight scratch on Belrsasal's emaciated body.
Even that healed immediately the moment the sword was removed.
The goat's head cradled in the old man's arms, twisted its mouth and laughed.
The Widow Queen Aida discovered that Ma-aya had been staring at her all along.
The woman with bared breasts, Ma-aya, gestured at the Queen, muttering something.
Aida felt something profane and unholy digging into her mind.
“Oho, it's easy, so easy.”
“And yet they keep trying.”
“Why could that be?”
The three heads exchanged words.
“Perhaps I, Belrsasal, could just leave.”
“Why do you think I, Karkarsso, would be hostile to you?”
“Do not hate me, Ma-aya.”
Three heads, so six eyes.
All six eyes curved bewitchingly, trying to charm the world.
The Widow Queen Aida felt her heart, hardened by long fatigue, waver.
But Shion did not waver.
Neither did Amethus.
This was because they were already half-mad with hatred for the Empire.
A person who is thoroughly mad cannot go madder.
“You talk too much, mage.”
“““Please call me Pāpīyān.”””
“In any case, shut up.”
The Regressing Prince snapped.
“I know bastards like you well. You're not the type to quietly disappear just because you achieved your goal. You're the kind who, having gained power, can't stand not to use it, and so inevitably overturn peace.”
“““…Oh, such harsh words.”””
The three heads smiled faintly at the same time.
“““But you saw exactly right.”””
Belrsasal stuck out his tongue.
His head is cradled, severed.
It also had the form of a goat.
The goat, sticking its tongue way out, trembled its emaciated body and laughed even more.
“You're right. I was thinking of turning the entire West into hell.”
“A Demon King has been born, so hell must follow.”
“Isn't that the proper way?”
Karkarsso glanced at the face next to him.
“But as it happens, there are three of us.”
“There are three of you, too.”
“I've got a good idea.”
A krr-chk sound was heard.
The three bodies that had been attached as one mass began to split.
The Demon King Pāpīyān unhesitatingly split his body completely into three.
Ma-aya, Karkarsso, Belrsasal.
They were Pāpīyān together, and at the same time, each one was Pāpīyān.
“From now on, I will turn the West into hell.”
“I'll start with Schmeizen.”
“Try and stop me.”
***
The Demon King, who had been one, split into three.
The three Demon Kings looked at Shion, Amethus, and Aida and spoke.
“But who takes who?”
“Well. Should we discuss it now?”
“No, dibs to whoever chooses first!”
Karkarsso was the first to dash out.
The muscular body, completely covered in veins and sinews, strode and leapt through the air.
He jumped at Shion without hesitation.
“Shion of Merion, this one is mine!”
“…Hk!”
Shion gritted his teeth.
As Karkarssod rushed in, he simultaneously invoked his second Ars, ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’.
But the Demon King's soul did not push back easily due to its weight.
Rather, Shion ended up being pushed way back by Karkarsso.
“…Shion!”
“I'm fine, so just worry about your own business, Amethus!”
Shion Pollinglight shouted thus and moved further away.
A blue flame was already on his body.
It was the fifth Ars of the Septem Arcana, ‘Soul Fire’.
Amethus clicked his tongue and gripped his double-edged sword.
Sweetness lingered by his ear.
“My. Such charming jade-colored eyes…….”
It was Ma-aya.
The woman with bared breasts was already beside Amethus, caressing his cheek.
Even with Amethus's intuition, he had not sensed her approach.
He, flustered, swung his double-edged sword.
He intended to cut her in two in one go, but only a small scratch was left on Ma-aya's chest.
Ma-aya looked at her own chest, at her bare breasts and the red wound between them.
A drop of blood formed on the scratch.
She rubbed her blood on her chest, making it red, and soon also applied the blood to her lips, making them bright red.
She giggled with her blood-red lips, as if something was so enjoyable.
“But you're too sharp. And your heart is too hard. I prefer this one after all.”
Ma-aya glanced sideways at the Widow Queen.
From her exposed naked body, snake-like vines shot up.
Aida was captured by the vines with no time to escape.
She raised the earth to sever the vines, but red marks from being caught remained all over the Widow Queen's body.
“Play with me, Aida.”
“…I refuse.”
“I refuse your refusal.”
Ma-aya smiled faintly and raised hundreds of thousands of snake-like vines.
The torrent of vines swept up the two women.
The Queen in black mourning clothes and the naked Demon King were soon out of sight.
“Dear me. Cute Aida has been snatched away…….”
The headless old man lamented.
Karkarsso and Ma-aya left, and only Belrsasal remained.
He alone is sitting in meditation on the black lotus.
The goat head was placed on the emaciated body.
“It seems you are my opponent, swordsman.”
“It is Amethus.”
“Mm. I heard. Amethus Aretion.”
The goat head laughed.
“I heard you were the brat Ferbias's confidant? Ferbias felt sorry, thinking you were the best on the continent.”
“…….”
“Brats are always like that. They think what they know is everything.”
Belrsasal stroked his beard.
“Just 53 years ago, people of your level were a dime a dozen.”
“…….”
“Not talking. What are you thinking so intently about?”
The hint of mockery was thick.
From the black lotus, Belrsasal continuously threw sneers at Amethus.
“Are you ruminating on your failure from before? Was it that shocking that your all-out strike only made a single scratch?”
“…Something like that.”
Amethus slowly parted his lips.
He had never taken his hand off the double-edged sword.
“…I was just contemplating how I could cut you down.”
“Ha! Haha! How diligent.”
Amethus lowered his gaze.
On the double-edged sword he maintained daily, letters were engraved.
He read it.
[I, the future emperor Ferbias Caseptus, hereby bestow this upon my close friend and future Ten Great General of the Empire, Amethus Aretion.]
…Pel.
Amethus hated Ferbias.
He hated and hated him.
As much as he had trusted him, as much as he had considered him a close friend, he felt hatred and betrayal.
And yet, it was strange that he could not discard this double-edged sword.
He even felt shameless for suddenly missing their past friendship.
The heart is like that.
It has two sides and always clashes.
It always fights and fights inside, giving birth to pain and suffering.
But that conflict had a clear meaning, and it sharpened Amethus.
It wasn't that he sharpened because he wanted to be sharp.
But clearly, he had become sharp.
His jade-colored eyes, which had not lost their light, proved this.
“I will cut you down, Belrsasal.”
“Do you think I will just stand still?”
“Whether you stand still or not, it doesn't matter at all.”
He raised his sword.
He suddenly thought of Shadi.
Shadi, Shadi Shandor.
The name of his adjutant who had still not woken.
The brown-skinned woman who had sacrificed herself for him.
A renewed hatred.
Come to think of it, Belrsasal is also a pawn of Cordis.
Hatred.
Amethus had been robbed.
He had been robbed once of his family's honor, his ancient family, his cherished adjutant, the future he dreamed of and the ideal friendship, everything he cherished so deeply he didn't even know he cherished it.
With such a trampled heart, he had sworn loyalty to Shion.
That he would become his sword and bring down Cordis.
He is a sword.
If so, what he must do is clear.
“You will be cut down by me.”