Side Story Chapter 184
The moment the floor gave out, Joshua plummeted. Since he had already visited the secret vault several times, he knew that it was going to fall dozens of meters at least.
The air was filled with the remnants of the council chamber, so there was a high chance that they would hit his people. Even as he fell, Joshua was busy deflecting the falling debris away from them.
However, that wasn’t the only problem. Tshchary darted toward Joshua like a lightning bolt. Tshchary was technically responsible for both the strongest and second strongest demons’ deaths, so he was confident about his chances against Altheon. However, the Shining Darkness was a different story—but since Tshchary could levitate, this fall was his golden opportunity to attack Joshua.
Tshchary swung his giant scythe through the air, and Joshua thrust his spear forward in response. Their weapons clashed, throwing sparks into the air to join the rubble.
-Here comes my real attack!
Dozens—no, hundreds of heads suddenly emerged from Tshchary one after another; all of those heads were shedding tears of lamentation. There were some familiar faces too.
“Altheon Deos...” Joshua murmured.
Altheon Deos, the strongest demon alive up until a moment ago, emerged from Tshchary’s left shoulder, and Urus the red devil’s head was on Tshchary’s right shoulder.
-Curse you, Shining Darkness!
-Unwanted trash! You don’t even know how pathetic you are by continuing to live as a mere human!
They poured out curses at Joshua, their demonic voices spitting fire and vitriol. If ordinary people heard them, they would have gone crazy, but it was nothing to Joshua.
“I can see why they call the death reapers the vultures of the Demon Realm,” Joshua scoffed.
-Shut your damn mouth!
Reapers were frequently denigrated for picking over the dead much like a carrion bird.
-We death reapers are the rulers of death. Whoever loses their mortal coil must obey me!
“You people feed on souls, not bodies, but I don’t see how you’re any different from a vulture.”
-Do you think I’ll fall for your crude provocations, Shining Darkness? I’ve made a place for you right in the center of me! Although I originally left that place for the Demon Spirit... you’d make quite a nice replacement.
A dark hole yawned in the center of Tshchary’s chest. The heads that covered the rest of his body swelled up like pimples and then burst off of his form and flew at Joshua with a will of their own.
-Die!
-Curse you!
Each head’s attack was unique. While Altheon unleashed a ray of demonic power from his mouth, Urus emitted powerful lightning currents through his horns on his forehead. This was the true ability of Tshchary, the king of the death reapers. The more Tshchary killed, the stronger he got.
“...But that doesn’t change the fact that all those souls belong to the people I defeated,” Joshua stated matter-of-factly as he quietly leveled his spear. There was nowhere to stand and nowhere to run, so Joshua had to intercept every head. That was nothing; no worse than a few hundred arrows flying at him.
Just then, the power of Pride inside Joshua reacted for the first time. The power of Pride asked Joshua to leave the counterattack to it, as if that wished to show how glad that was to meet its original owner.
“That’s not a bad idea.”
An immense amount of power amassed at the tip of Joshua’s spear, the overwhelming power of Pride.
-What?
Tshchary was surprised to see the heads suddenly explode one after another. Joshua didn’t even move Longin, his unsettlingly red spear, nor use any techniques, so what was happening right now?
“I know you desperately wanted the power of Pride, but that hurts its ego,” Joshua said.
-What...?
Joshua pointed his spear at Tshchary. “The Demon Realm’s fall forced Pride to choose a mediocre owner. It wants you to know that it’ll never repeat the same mistake.”
Tshchary stared at him, bewildered, as they neared the bottom of the hole. Tshchary was getting more anxious by the second.
‘This is the worst possible situation!’ The fact that Tshchary had an advantage in the air didn’t mean anything. If he let this go on until they touched the ground, he would lose without a doubt.
‘Perchilin! I know you’re listening to everything! Give me Lust and Sloth right now!’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Perchilin stared at him. The witch was safely hidden in the shadows and her wings made the fall a non-issue for her.
‘There’s no turning back now! Now that we’ve betrayed him, do you think the Shining Darkness is going to spare us? We’re out of time, and you know that I’m the only one who can undo your Overlord Symbol now!’
Perchilin bit her lip. She had blindly hoped that she would be able to find a way to undo her Overlord Symbol with three Evil Sins. The Seven Evil Sins were the powers of the Demon Kings, so three of them would surely amount to something. However, she still hadn’t found a way to be free from this damned Overlord Symbol even with two Evil Sins. Was one more Evil Sin going to make a difference?
‘Don’t gamble on a dream. Make a deal! Isn’t that what the human woman said earlier?’ Tshchary snapped.
‘I, Tshchary, pledge to Perchilin the witch that I shall return the powers of Sloth and Lust to her once our common enemy has been eliminated!’
Perchilin sensed an immense amount of demonic power coming from Tshchary and a corner of her heart was heating up. Having already experienced it before, she knew that this was a sign that an Overlord Symbol was forming.
‘I saw that disobeying the terms of an Overlord Symbol is crippling. Then...’
It didn’t take long for Perchilin to make a move because there was a good reason why Tshchary was in a rush. If the Shining Darkness interfered, the Overlord Symbol he’d left on her would render Perchilin unable to act.
-Gah! Sloth and Lust! Go to Tshchary! He’s much stronger than me, so you guys will like him too!
A splitting headache struck her again as she was speaking.
The debris of the erstwhile council chamber hit the floor of the secret vault, followed momentarily by Joshua. Although he had nullified the attacks of the strongest demon alive without lifting a finger, Joshua couldn’t help but worry about his people.
“Icarus! Cain!”
“I... I’m here, master!”
“The Queen Consort is fine, too.”
Joshua heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Cain’s and Ulabis’s voices waft through opaque clouds of dust, and then turned to regard his enemy.
He immediately paused, confused. Earlier he had felt the presence of two powerful demons, but there was a big difference in the amount of energy he could sense from them now. One of them was vastly stronger than before while the other one had become very weak. It didn’t take long for Joshua to understand what was going on because he and Perchilin were connected through their Overlord Symbols. Apparently Perchilin had handed both of her Evil Sins over to Tshchary; even Joshua hadn’t expected something like that.
“A greedy demon voluntarily giving away her Evil Sins... Now I’ve seen everything,” Joshua murmured.
-Hehehe, we learned a lot from your human wife.
Tshchary’s manic laughter echoed in the darkness. He felt energized. He had never imagined that these Evil Sins would bring him this much power even though they weren’t Pride. He was actually starting to wonder why he insisted on only taking Pride.
-Keep... your promise.
Perchilin seemed to see what Tshchary was thinking. The death reaper grunted.
-Hmm...
Tshchary was beginning to understand why the Human Realm’s people said that taking a shit gave you a new perspective. He felt like it would be a real waste to return the powers he had obtained.
Tshchary had to stop that train of thought.
‘I’ll think of a way after I get rid of this problem...’
He turned his lightless eyes elsewhere. Despite the clouds of dust that yet filled the air, disguising everything in a gray murk, Tshchary could sense two new kinds of energy.
-...Wait.
Tshchary focused on the new energies and immediately shuddered in ecstasy.
-I see. I see... Hahaha... Hahahahahahaha!
Tshchary’s manic laughter rang out in the vault once again.
The demon began to swing his scythe, launching deadly bolts of demonic power in the direction of Icarus and Ulabis.
Joshua stood in the way and deflected every attack, but they weren’t Tshchary’s real target.
Tshchary ran so fast that the air was slammed out of his way.
-You haven’t used the Demon Spirit’s body even though it’s right there! Hahahahaha!
Tshchary had the powers of Lust and Sloth now. With the addition of the Demon Spirit’s body, he may have a chance against the Shining Darkness.
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