Side Story Chapter 140
The Grain Spirit Order. Grain, as in the texture of a tree, and spirit, as in the soul. When they were combined, they meant the Marriage[1] Knight Order.
“Although it’s a shame that Cain isn’t the first knight, I’m going to make everyone I meet to join the order.” Lilith—or rather, Joshua in Lilith’s body—smiled contentedly as he took in his surroundings through her eyes.
The fragments of dullahans were scattered everywhere, and Valmont was stupefied. Joshua loved the latter part. Among Joshua’s subordinates, there were too many bachelors, but most of them were perfectly capable of finding their significant other of their own. At this rate, his subordinates and his citizens were going to point fingers at Joshua even after his death.
‘What are you doing with my body?’ the actual Lilith asked.
-Didn’t you say you needed my help?
‘I said nothing about making a bet with me on the line.’
-It’s all for the best.
‘I thought I was going to end up marrying Sir Valmont!’
Considering the words came out of her own mouth, it was easy to see why she misunderstood what Joshua said. On the other hand, there couldn’t be a better misunderstanding for Joshua.
-Will you save him from the life of an old bachelor?
“Why would I?!” Lilith shrieked, her voice soured by annoyance.
Valmont jerked back to reality. “S-Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword?”
“...Excuse me.” Lilith turned away, cold as an icy wind.
She regained control of her body, so although Joshua hadn’t said anything else, that must mean this was the end of his help.
“Sir Valmont, this isn’t the time to space out.”
“Huh?”
“The Pain Demon is among the top fifty demons of the Demon Realm, not the top one hundred.”
Valmont’s face darkened. Demons were infamous as the race of battle, so it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Pain Demon was one of the fifty strongest creatures in all of creation.
-Hahahaha.
Squalo, the Pain Demon, burst into laughter.
-Human woman, you’re strong. I actually want to dissect you so I can take a close look.
“...Dissect me?” Lilith’s lips twitched.
-You’re only a human, yet you possess demonic power... But why do I find your power familiar?
Squalo slowly walked forward, small knives held in each hand as if he meant to make good on his threat.
-It’s you, wretch. I heard that Evil Sins' powers were scattered across the world and have manifested in humans. You got one of them... is that the power of Lust?
Squalo’s insight earned him a cold look from Lilith.
-But it’s strange. I’m only sensing the residue of the power, not the core of the power, as if the entire power has been carved out of you...
Lilith’s hand snapped to her weapon—not the spear that she used earlier, though—and drew it in a flash. She pointed it at Squalo.
“Have you finished analyzing me?”
-Hmm... I really can’t understand how this is possible. Whenever someone loses an Evil Sin, they are destroyed without exception.
Lilith flinched, shocked. “What? Destroyed?”
-The cores of the Evil Sins' powers are called the Roots of All Evil for a good reason. There is no such thing as power without a price, and the Evil Sins' powers are truly terrible. If their owners are foolish enough to lose them in spite of the might they are afforded, the Evil Sin claims a dreadful price for their failure—their life. Hehehe.
‘Then how did I...?’ Lilith wondered, but her head quickly jerked up. ‘Was it you?’
Her question received no answer, but Lilith took Joshua’s silence for a yes.
“...I owe him again.”
-Let’s begin. I really can’t wait any longer.
Selim chose that moment to step in. “I’ll deal with him.”
“...Prince Selim Sanders, you can’t handle him on your own,” Lilith advised him.
“No, His Majesty said that he left that demon for me to practice.” Selim straightened his back and hefted Longin.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Selim concisely replied.
Obviously, Lilith knew what Joshua had said because the words had come out of her own lips, so she took a step back for Selim. There was no need for her to hurt the Prince of Avalon’s pride right now. If anything happened, she could easily step in at a moment’s notice.
“You should stand down too, Sir Valmont,” Lilith said.
“But...”
“The Prince of Avalon has issued an order. Don’t tell me the citizens of Avalon would turn a deaf ear to the Prince’s order.”
Valmont retreated, biting his lip anxiously. “I trust you, Your Highness.”
Instead of answering out loud, Selim immediately enveloped his spear in his radiant aura. Squalo spread his arms invitingly.
-I’m ready.
“...Ready?” Selim murmured.
-Hehehe. Let me teach you why I’m called the Pain Demon.
Thick streams of black smoke rose from the ground.
“Shit, were the dullahans just there to stall for time? Valmont cussed.
“Get back!” Lilith yelled at Selim.
She and Valmont quickly distanced themselves from the demon; in contrast, Selim took another step forward.
“You don’t even know what that is! It’s crazy to—”
“I can just stab the demon before it can try anything,” Selim interrupted.
And then he disappeared.
Like lightning from the blue, Selim reappeared five meters away from Squalo, placing the demon squarely within Selim’s attack range.
Once again, Selim stayed true to his word. Before Squalo could react, Selim thrust Longin forward, the tip of his red spear seeking Squalo’s heart.
A frown tugged at Selim’s lips. The black smoke spewing out of the ground finally took on a concrete form and blocked Selim’s attack.
‘...I can just stop both of them,’ Selim quickly decided. He hefted his spear. Maybe the smoke was one of the undead or some other creature that Squalo had created, but it didn’t matter. All Selim had to do was stab it. With Longin and the Magic Spear Arts techniques at his disposal, there was nothing in the world that Selim couldn't pierce.
The actual ease with which he did it left Selim a little confused. He hadn’t mistaken it—he felt his spear punch through, but he’d failed to achieve his original goal, which was to penetrate both targets at once. His spear had pierced into the smoke, but at a certain point, Selim wasn’t able to push his spear any deeper.
-Hahahahahahahaha!
Squalo, safe behind the smoke, burst into manic laughter that had him bent over, clutching his stomach.
-You idiot! You humans may act all sly, but all of you are fools.
“What...”
-Take a closer look and see what you just stabbed.
Selim looked up, frowning. The smoke was a little less than two meters tall, as tall as Selim, an average male adult’s height. Aside from the fact that it was pitch-black, the smoke looked eeriy similar to a human.
Selim’s eyes slowly widened as he watched the undulating smoke slowly resolve into its final shape.
“Th-This is...?”
“Arggghhhhhh!”
A painful scream came from behind Selim. He whipped his head around and saw Valmont collapsed on the ground with his arms wrapped around his abdomen, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“S-Sir Valmont...?” Selim stammered.
-Allow me to introduce myself again: My name is Squalo the Pain Demon, but my other title is the Duplication Demon.
“...Duplication Demon?”
-Hehehe. Isn’t it such a self-explanatory name? I can create a doll that shares all its senses with my target, like the one you see in front of you.
Longin was stuck right through the doll’s abdomen which, when it had completed its transformation, looked exactly like Valmont. It was so unsettling that it made goosebumps rise all over Selim’s arms.
-And keep in mind that I can control the level of pain that this doll receives, so I can multiply the pain of getting stabbed with your metal stick dozens—no, hundreds of times. Hehehe. Your minion probably wants to die right now.
“Sir Valmont!” Selim was forced to abort his attack.
If Valmont shared his senses with this crazy doll, as Squalo said, Valmont would also experience the pain of being eviscerated when Selim pulled Longin out of the smoke doll. Selim couldn’t bring himself to take the risk, knowing the terrible consequences.
-Hahahahahaha! You should really see the look on your face. Yes, you’re finally acting like the vermin you are, human. Kneel before me right now or else...
“Urrrrrggghhhhhh!”
Valmont’s ear splitting howl of pain cut off Squalo, but that only served to illustrate the demon’s point.
Selim fell into despair. He’d never encountered a situation like this.
‘Are you just going to watch? Do something!’ Lilith raged in frustration.
-He needs to have this kind of experience so that he doesn't repeat the same mistake.
‘Are you seriously worrying about educating your child right now? Your knight is going to die!’ Lilith looked right at Valmont, knowing that Joshua would be able to see him through her eyes. Fortunately, the reply she was desperate to hear came quickly.
-...I guess there’s no other choice.
‘Yes! Do something for him, please!’
-Approach Valmont and get ready to send a telepathic message to Selim.
Although Lilith really wanted to tell Joshua to do it himself like he had done before, she just barely managed to hold herself back. They could ill afford to waste time right now.
‘Alright. Is there anything else?’ Lilith asked.
-No.
Lilith frowned. ‘That’s all?’
Joshua sounded as confident as ever.
-Of course it is. I’ll tell everyone how to deal with this kind of demon, so keep your ears open.
1. This is Korean wordplay. Texture is gyeol(?) in Korean while a spirit is hon(?). Gyeolhon is “marriage” in Korean. ?
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