Out of everyone, Illyna was the most flustered by the sudden turn of events. She stared at Reina speechlessly for a while. In fact, all she could do was look between Davey and Reina alternately without any idea of what to say or do.
Davey simply gave some slight confirmation. He said, “Say hi. She’s someone who’s very close to you.”
Illyna replied with a frown, “Someone close to me? You’re telling me that I know her?”
“Perhaps you’re the one who knows her best,” Davey said playfully.
Feeling frustrated, Illyna pouted. “What the hell… What in the world is it…?”
“Would you believe me if I told you that she’s you?”
Illyna’s eyes widened in shock while Belial, who had been listening from the side, had a similar reaction.
‘Well then, let’s see how it goes.’
“What do you…?”
“Warrior Reina is Illyna de Pallan from a parallel world. She was the Fourth Commander of the Final Resistance’s Army and was one of the few who had survived mankind’s defeat from the hands of Demon Lord Perserque, who had been successfully revived and manipulated through the vampires’ schemes.”
Reina had confided in Davey during their drinking sessions before her first death. She had expressed how lonely, painful, and sad her life had been back then.
Illyna’s gaze trembled after she heard Davey’s explanation. She knew him well enough to know that he was not joking around right now. Staring at Reina in confusion, she said in a quavering voice, “You’re…lying.”
Reina looked at Davey in doubt. Feeling unclear as to why Davey was doing this, she asked, “Is this really fine?”
“It’s fine. I’m doing this because I trust in the process.”
Hearing that unexpected reply, Reina felt even more doubt toward Davey. However, she said nothing more.
‘Now, it’s time for the bait.’
“After having suffered fatal injuries during the fight against the Undead in the Pallan Empire, she had become a prisoner of war in the Demonic Legion. In the years to follow, she had been subjected to horrible torture and unexplainable shame.”
Illyna balled her trembling hands into fists. She held them so tight that they could break.
“Do you want me to tell you what happened after?”
With red eyes, Illyna turned to look at Reina. She seemed to be asking her if Davey was speaking the truth.
The mana in the air around them began to shake. However, Davey appeared to be the only one who was aware of it.
“Everything that has been said…is true…”
Boom!!!
Before Reina could finish speaking, Illyna suddenly froze. In fact, everything had froze in place and time except for Davey and Reina.
“This…”
“This will happen if we keep on going about your past. See, your existence has been wiped out. That fact won’t change.”
“…”
“And once someone forces the others to remember and remind them of your existence…” Davey said calmly before spitting out a piece of flesh onto his hand. It had been stuck in his mouth.
Upon reaching the 9th Circle, one would reach immunity toward almost all kinds of internal injuries. However, the shock that Davey had received went beyond the normal level and had managed to injure him.
“…There’s a restriction.”
“Are… Are you alright?!” Reina shouted in surprise as she rushed over and helped Davey up. She asked, “Why did you do something so foolish?!”
Her shout of urgency sounded so familiar that Davey was given the impression that, no matter how old she got, Illyna would always be Illyna.
“Do not try to experiment on this. If you’re going to bring these facts to light just to create confusion, then…”
Reina would disappear on the spot.
Since Davey was not lying, Reina turned pale in the face.
“I spent a lot of money to save you, so don’t try to commit suicide.”
“Goodness… There’s no human who will do something so stupid and reckless!”
“There is. Over here,” Davey said jokingly as he pointed at himself. Then, he reached his hand toward Reina’s face and said, “Curses were originally made for a good purpose. I’m sorry, but I’ll put a Recognition Interference Curse on your face. This is a semi-permanent curse. As long as I’m alive, this curse will remain.”
“Are you saying that no one would view me as Illyna?”
“It’s a bit similar. They’ll see you as someone who looks like her, but they will never think that you’re the same person.”
This was not the only thing that Davey had prepared on his side.
“If that’s the case, then… I wish you gave me a different face in the first place…”
“Easy for you to say. Besides, what did you do wrong for me to change that pretty face, huh?”
Reina chuckled helplessly. “If I heard that before my first death, I would definitely have fallen for you.”
“That’s not the case now, right?”
“Who knows? As long as you wish for it, then I will give it to you…whether it’s my body, my soul, or my mind. But my soul is not as clean and as pure as you think. To be honest… I find men a bit scary.”
“Take it easy. I don’t like this and that either. Ah, close your eyes for a bit.”
Vwooooong!!!
When a dark energy surrounded Reina, Davey stretched his hand and flicked his finger to chip away at the mana that had hardened and surrounded them both. Once that was done, the surroundings, including Illyna and Belial, began moving again.
“Davey. Who the hell is this…person?”
The dazed Illyna repeated what she had said to Davey before. It was clear that the entire conversation that had occurred earlier on had been wiped from her memory. After all, she had stopped in time just now.
Illyna, who was staring at Reina, tilted her head in confusion. “That’s strange? I was obviously…”
Reina’s face remained unchanged, but no one thought of her as Illyna de Pallan any longer. Now, they just saw her as someone who had a slightly similar appearance to Illyna. This would mean that the Recognition Interference Curse, the 9th Circle curse, that had been placed on Reina was working properly.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you staring blatantly at someone else’s face?”
“N-No. I’m sorry for my rudeness. N-No, that isn’t it… Right! You! Who are you to judge me like that?! What do you even know about me?!” Illyna snapped at Reina as if she was being mean to the woman for no reason at all.
Reina looked at Davey, who shook his head quietly. She then said to Illyna, “It was a slip of the tongue. Please excuse me for my rudeness. I didn't mean to offend you, Princess.”
After listening to Reina’s calm apology that belied her sadness, Illyna became flustered and embarrassed. “No, well… If you say it like that, then I have nothing more to say…”
Unlike Davey, who liked to bite even deeper when his opponents lowered their tail, Illyna did not like any unnecessary disturbance to her life.
And with Reina’s business all done with, Davey’s entire attention was now placed on the demon bastard named Belial. He called out, “Reina.”
“Yes.”
“What’s this bastard’s position?”
“Well, we haven’t held any deep conversations. However, I’m sure that he holds a very high position.”
“Is that so? You know more than I had expected,” Davey said. Then, he turned to look at Belial and asked, “What made you guys come over to this place?”
Belial did not answer Davey’s question but said, “Came over… Human, are you saying that you know where we came from?”
“Do I look like a dumbass to you? Do I look like the kind of person who will give you information without thinking things through?”
Remaining silent, Belial looked at Davey with a searching gaze. He expressed no hatred, just caution and vigilance. He then said, “Anyway, I’m just a failure who has failed to finish his mission. I’m not worth anything to become a prisoner of war. Although I am grateful that you did not kill me and have treated me humanely, this is a separate matter altogether.”
“What a pity. If you came at me, then I was going to use a very, very nice method to get information from you.”
The two looked at each other in a quiet battle of nerves. Belial was fully aware that the only reason why Davey had not made a move on him was because of his consideration for Illyna.
“I might be a prisoner of war, but that human woman is like my benefactor. Even though we’re enemies, I’m not stupid enough to not be able to distinguish between grace and hostility,” Belial said as he stood up. Then, he continued, “I will surely repay my debt to you.”
Only then did Davey relax his grip on Belial, who disappeared after having said those honest and righteous words. Davey then stood up, looked at Illyna, and snapped his fingers.
“W-What?!”
“What do you mean? We’re going to do what we always do.”
Realizing exactly what Davey was planning to do, Illyna trembled and jumped up in shock. She quickly pulled Caldeiras out and stepped away from Davey.
Shiiiiiing!!!
Davey found Illyna’s display of fright to be rather hilarious.
“There, there…is no need to do something like that, right?”
“You can’t escape. We’re going to do it. You punk, you won’t even be able to receive this treatment anywhere else even if you’re willing to pay.”
“That, that’s not the point!”
“Just accept it, you rascal.”
Grab!
Reina was already on Illyna even before Davey could finish his sentence. All Illyna could do was struggle against her grip, cold sweat dripping down her forehead.
Illyna’s future self holding and overpowering her past self was quite the unusual sight to behold. Of course, her past self was completely unaware of this fact.
Illyna, who had reached the Sword Master level, was obviously a powerhouse. However, Reina had been a warrior for a very long time now, so a Sword Master was no threat to someone like her at all.
“It will only hurt at first. Don’t worry, you’ll feel good in no time.”
Just one look at Illyna and anyone would miraculously want to give her a massage. How strange, huh?
—You don’t do that to others, Davey. Davey, if you let the world know of the effects of your massage, then you’ll definitely rake in bundles of money.
‘I absolutely refuse. I have no intention of doing this to others unless they feel good under my hands.’
Crack, crack, crack…
“Kyaaaaaaaack!!!”
The terrible and disastrous scream was just a bonus for him.
***
“That damn human bastard!”
A gray-haired man gnashed his teeth as he stared at the debris of the huge lab in front of him. He looked furious enough to rip and tear apart anyone who he could get his hands on at any moment. His look was also made even more vicious by the several gashes and burns that littered his entire body.
Everything had gone according to their plans…until they were about to finish processing the materials that they had acquired from the Pandora Region. As if the researchers had touched something that they shouldn’t have, a huge explosion happened in the laboratory. Clearly, they had touched something that had detonated a holy bomb.
Due to the explosion, the body of the Demon Lord that they had been making was tremendously damaged. Even half of the sacrifices that they had taken couldn’t be used anymore.
It was a reckless and ridiculous idea to use holy magic to purify the hatred of the sacrifices. However, purifying the hatred that was needed to create the body of the Demon Lord was enough to anger the vampires.
This was just what the human had intended. It seemed like everything was in the palm of his hands. He appeared to be aware of their research and their progress just by monitoring their supply and transport of materials.
Nevertheless, the vampires were still doubtful if a human could create the absurd situation that they were now in. Still, this was their reality now. They had lost a considerable amount of time and the revival of the Demon Lord had been pushed further back.
“This won’t work. It’s time for us to show the pride and honor of us, nobles.”
“If you’re done with preparations, then let’s make our move.”
Angered, the vampires no longer opposed the idea of war. All of them agreed and made the decision to move their army that had been on standby for a very long time. The winds of war were finally starting to blow.
However, unbeknownst to these vampires, a secret organization had been waiting for them to mobilize their huge army.
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