Chapter 75: Belial, The Cursed Sword. (1)
It was simple to understand.
Lloyd felt guilty. But he hadn’t realized it.
The reason was his own stupidity. He saw himself as someone cold and manipulative, but even if that was so, it didn’t change that he was also human.
On his conscience weighed the guilt of having pushed Alice to commit an atrocity like matricide.
Yes, he was aware Alice’s mother was a monster, that Alice had reasons to do what she did.
That’s precisely why he wasn’t angry with Alice.
He was angry with himself for having pushed someone as innocent and broken as Alice to commit that act.
The anger was with himself.
Each time he scolded Alice, he was really yelling at himself.
But that was dangerous, since it caused a vicious circle.
Because each time he yelled at Alice the worse he would feel about himself.
And each time that happened, Alice would try to err again to gain that affection and love she needed.
Lloyd understood it now, though also, he felt extremely stupid for not having noticed before.
"Shit, where the hell did she go?" the boy then asked himself while running through Conrad’s fort.
It was then a notification jumped:
[Secondary Mission Failed: you didn’t find Conrad’s fort secret room]
[New mission: consume the demonic sword.]
Lloyd stood still at that very instant.
That didn’t give him a good feeling.
**********
It had been many centuries since Belial had been sealed in that sword.
Without doubt, being sealed is a hard fate for a demon, condemned to boredom, however, Belial was able to have fun many times.
In that context, Belial was sealed in a sword, in one of the artifacts that damn hero had created.
That bastard Siegfried.
However, that parasitic demon found a way to have fun.
He corrupted many warriors who sought easy strength and power, and ended up consuming them.
The typical story of a demonic sword, until one of the giant kings, after ruining his kingdom, decided to bury it in that place and forbid all living beings from approaching.
Yes, the giants were forced to abandon that place solely to not fall into the temptation of using that demonic sword.
However, a new civilization arrived.
Humans.
Much crueler than what curiously giants can be.
Giants are aggressive, brutish and territorial. They could be considered evil but ironically are only like wild beasts.
In terms of evil, humans are much more original.
Yes, it was true.
A group of humans found him, and not only made him a temple, but built a fort on top of him where they tortured people just to feed him with people’s pain.
Belial was impressed.
And very happy.
For several years, he was fed with the desperation of tortured slaves, until one day, everything ended.
Belial was aware of it.
Everything bad ends.
However, new opportunities also opened.
The opportunity to obtain a new host.
Belial felt it, a broken vessel full of immeasurable pain and unparalleled power.
The sword wanted to take that host.
But it seemed difficult, for some reason that vessel didn’t break, something prevented it.
When the vessel left Belial felt desolate, he reproached himself for being so timid.
In another era, Belial would have already managed to coax that broken and pained soul.
But then the vessel returned, more broken than before.
Much more.
It was the perfect opportunity.
That vessel, each day was breaking more, reaching a point of no return.
One where she would become the perfect puppet.
Yes, even a demonic sword saw Alice as a puppet.
Though she, only wanted to be Lloyd’s puppet.
She had demonstrated it, she had done something irrefutable.
When Lloyd arrived at that village, Alice had felt fear.
She was afraid of being discarded, of being abandoned in that horrible place again.
However, Lloyd had let her choose.
He had given her the opportunity to choose between him or her past.
And she chose him, doing it in the clearest way possible.
Killing everything that represented her past, ending the life of the one who had abandoned her.
She loved Lloyd.
She wanted Lloyd to caress her head and tell her "well done."
But that didn’t happen.
When she looked back at Lloyd, what she feared most happened... there was fear in his eyes.
Fear, the reason everyone hated her.
For some reason, everyone feared her, and that’s why they mistreated her.
Or at least that’s what Alice understood.
Alice didn’t understand what she had done wrong.
She felt like someone offering a gift, but that gift was rejected.
But she also felt terror, terror that Lloyd would become like her mother.
A monster.
She tried to call his attention, but didn’t know how.
The only thing that occurred to her was to do things wrong to gain affection.
But it didn’t work.
Lloyd got angry.
He didn’t hit her like her mother did, though her mother didn’t start hitting her either.
Would Lloyd become like her mother?
Of course... it was true... she deserved that.
She deserved that hatred, that contempt.
After all she had committed an unnameable sin.
Even if it was while playing.
While doing a combat simulation like every day, a simple game... father and daughter.
But she ended up killing him.
She didn’t measure her strength, and ended up murdering her father.
That changed her mother.
And while she never told anyone, lying and saying that man had abandoned the village.
The truth was she had killed her father.
And now... she had also killed her mother.
She was a monster, a half-breed, an aberration.
Lloyd had been so kind to her, being by his side was perfect, but then... she did it.
She showed her true nature.
That of a killer.
And she killed that woman in front of Lloyd’s eyes.
Even if she did it as an act to demonstrate her love, deep down she knew that was wrong.
It was a monstrous act.
Now, after having witnessed that, it was clear what would happen.
Lloyd would also treat her as she deserved.
He would yell at and hit her, because she deserved it.
Or at least that’s what the girl thought.
A girl with a power she couldn’t control.
And when Alice’s confidence hit rock bottom, Belial took advantage, and called to her.
He took advantage of her instability to manipulate her... and bring her to him, to be able to parasitize her, and cause chaos.
As a good demon should do.
