Chapter 189
In the hazy consciousness, Steina was just looking at a scene. There was a flame dancing around her. It danced at every movement, jumping up and down. Looking ahead to the edge of the eye sight, there was a dark-haired black-eyed man and he looked as if he was playing around.
However, if the flame reached the man, there would be no difference that it would burn the skin, flesh and bond. He seemed to be able to dodge and repel everything at the moment, but how long would he last? Steina knew that, but there was nothing she could do.
She was able to understand her current situation roughly. The consciousness remained firmly until it was handed over to the Demon G.o.d. It wasn't difficult to determine the current situation with a little bit of consciousness still remained.
Anyhow, it would be another matter if it was useful to determine the current situation or not. No… it would be better to clearly say that there was no point in dodging the flames. In fact, that was all there was to it.
Now, the current state of Steina was almost completely taken over by the Demon G.o.d. It was possible to think, but on the contrary, nothing else could be done.
She could see what she saw in the eyes, and she could hear the sounds, but they were scattering away. She couldn't move her eyes or even close it.
Speaking of something meaningful in this state, the answer was none. It was possible to think and recognize anything simply because she was still alive, but that was it.
The Demon G.o.d seemed to have something like consciousness, but she didn't know what it was thinking because it didn't try to communicate with her. For the time being, it seemed that the Demon G.o.d was doing whatever Nicholas said, but… well, when she thought about it, wouldn't it be meaningless? Anyhow, there was nothing that could be done.
That was a thought that appeared because she had given up. So, that couldn't be helped. In fact, she couldn't do anything, and she thought that it didn't make sense to keep thinking.
At any rate, his foster father could only run away. Apparently, he hadn't given up yet. She knew it since the father was sometimes looking at her. If it was possible for him to do something, he would have done it now.
To put it simply, it was a mere useless resistance. Surely, the ending had been decided, and… Steina wasn't strong enough to understand and resist it.
Perhaps, if she could think of what Nicholas had said, there might be something else. It was true that she should seek revenge against her foster father, Iori. If she held a piece of grudge, shouldn't she had other feelings instead of giving up on this situation?
Even if it was, it wouldn't be useful in any way to solve the current situation. In fact, it was meaningless since she didn't hold even a piece of grudge. The other side was the enemy who killed her father.
Well, to begin with, she had never thought of getting revenge even once. As a Demon… or as a daughter.
To conclude it simply, Steina was the daughter of the real Demon King. The blood flew within her wasn't from Iori but from the Demon King killed by Iori.
In the first place, it was correct to call Steina, not Aina, was the one who could succeed the Demon King in true sense. In that sense, it was correct to call herself the daughter of the Demon King in front of Soma.
By the way, the meaning was true. Iori announced to the public that he would inherit the t.i.tle. It wasn't enough to call himself the Demon King in the true sense.
Originally, the role of the Demon King was given by the world. It was a mark for the person recognized to be the enemy of the world. That was the real meaning of the name of the Demon King.
That was also the reason why the faction of the former Demon King didn't recognized Iori as the new Demon King.
On top of knowing that fact, they wors.h.i.+pped and followed the Demon King. Some found hope in the form of opposition, some fell in despair and envy, and some felt a certain power. Although the reasons might be different, it meant only that they were hostile to the world.
In that sense, Iori was rather opposite. That was because he was the Hero who was on the side of the world. Strictly speaking, it wasn't the world but humanity. However, if the world was destroyed, humanity would be destroyed as well.
When the crisis of survival reached the humanity, there were decisive wars within and outside of the humanity. He was the guardian of humanity. It was another name of the Hero, and it was actually the original name.
There was also a real reason why the Demon G.o.d was the natural enemy of the
The Demon G.o.d was the existence that belong to the side of the world and it contained the name 'G.o.d'. It was adjusted to be exact, but anyhow, the Hero couldn't go against the Demon King.
Even if he was a former Hero, there was no difference. For starters, he was called former Hero because he had already fulfilled the mission to defeat the Demon King. It had only a definitive meaning, and essentially, nothing had changed since Iori was the Hero. That was why Iori couldn't do anything other than evading such an attack.
However, even if it was the Demon G.o.d, there were still some ways to survive.
"Hmm… it seems to me you're just evading from the beginning. So, what are you going to do? If it's a person like you, there should be a way to go against a natural enemy, but… does that mean that you're hiding it? No, perhaps, you can't raise your hand against your daughter regardless of your duty?" (Nicholas)
"Tsk, what a barefaced behavior… I'm doing it as soon as I can. I mean, I was wondering if Steina was the cause… I guess there seems to be another reason for this, right? It's not just the Demon G.o.d, no?" (Iori)
"Oh my… as I expected, you noticed it. Yes, well, it's meaningless to hide it. If I have to confess, there's a fragment of the Evil G.o.d-sama's power that made the Demon G.o.d comes to life." (Nicholas)
"A fragment of the Evil G.o.d's power? I don't think it's easy to get such a thing…" (Iori)
"You're right. I also thought the same, but… I found it one day by chance. Yeah, yes… It really happened to be on the roadside." (Nicholas)
"Haa..?" (Iori)
The voice wasn't trying to ridicule Nicholas, but it was rather a murmur whether he was joking.
However, that might be normal. Even Steina, who was listening to it right away, thought so. In general, it could be only thought of as something that was obviously a joke.
But apparently, it seemed to be serious.
"Yes, That's right, I think it's normal to believe it. To be honest, I couldn't believe it. But everything is real and true. Yes… I'm sure you can think of it as our G.o.d's will." (Nicholas)
"Our G.o.d, huh… I didn't think you would use the honorific -sama on the Evil G.o.d, but… seriously, have you become the believers of the Evil G.o.d?" (Iori)
"Oh my, it's unthinkable to say it in that way. Rather, most of us are companions are the believers, you know?" (Nicholas)
It was true that she didn't want to admit it too much. Most of the people called the faction of the former Demon King were those who believed in the Evil G.o.d.
Steina knew that only when she became their leader, but to be honest, she wanted to ask for forgiveness. She also had a small hunch that her father was among the believers.
"Well, that's it. I was grateful to use whatever I could get, but… to be honest, the quant.i.ty and quality weren't very good. As a result, it didn't help to increase its strength, but… it looks like it has more than enough power." (Nicholas)
"What a terrible thing to do…!" (Iori)
While saying so, Iori evaded the flames that continued to attack him, but… the momentum was suddenly lost at a certain point. Iori's body stopped halfway in the air, as if there was a wall there. It was a barrier that was stretched around.
The barrier was intended to physically cut off from the inside and outside of it, and it was mainly used to prevent the surroundings from being affected or to prevent escape. It was used by Nicholas rather than Iori, and more precisely, it was intended to limit and impede Iori's range of action.
Nonetheless, if Iori really wanted to break it down, it was something he could break without taking even one second, but that was enough for this time. If Iori tried to do that, there would be opening for sure, but it could be deadly to the physical body even if the opponent was the Demon G.o.d.
Of course, he couldn't defeat it alone, but he could at least do this much. In that case, he would do as much as he could.
After all, Iori knew that his attack would be invalidated, rather than hurting the Demon G.o.d.
Even though it was called the Evil G.o.d, it was a pillar of the official G.o.d of this world. The compatibility between the Hero and the Demon G.o.d combined with the Evil G.o.d was the worst possible compatibility.
If it was the real Demon G.o.d, Iori's attack wouldn't be nullified even if it was his natural enemy. It was possible to survive if he poked here and there. That what it meant by the way of escape.
However, it was impossible to do anything else if his a.s.saults were nullified. Again, he wasn't careless around Nicholas. He understood that Steina was being used. Although Nicholas could afford what he said and did, Iori's mind had been on alert all the time. He understood what would happen if he showed an opening for a moment in this situation.
Since he understood that fact, he couldn't win. Perhaps, the thing he could do was…
"Oh my, as expected of the former Hero, but… yeah, would you just let your enemy get her revenge?" (Nicholas)
"If that is Steina's intention, it's worth to consider it a little bit, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be that way." (Iori)
"Well, you've been talking big, but how much longer you can continue that bluff?" (Nicholas)
At the same time of saying those words, the Demon G.o.d, who descended on Steina's body, ignored her will and moved according to Nicholas' will. By waving her arm, she created a flame with a tremendous amount of heat and was struck toward Iori.
However, as this didn't affect his defense, Iori turned his eyes away for a moment while continuing to move and evade it. Nicholas bit his lips because he understood what that meant. Steina was also aware of it.
It was supposed to be a diversion, and the sound that had followed it intermittently from there was considerably decreasing in frequency by now. There shouldn't be any need to do that. That was because it was simply becoming more difficult to take action. That was what happened when someone headed over there.
Nicholas predicted that only the chief butler would left besides Iori, and Steina had the same thought too. Did that mean that Iori gave up the protection of the castle and gave priority to this situation instead. Iori and others should be aware that there were other enemies. Of course, Nicholas had deliberately deployed them in a way that was easy to be understood.
He predicted that the chief butler would protect the castle rather than taking care the diversion, but did his prediction went off? Although Steina was thinking about the same thing… it didn't make sense to strengthen the defense of an empty castle. Perhaps, it wasn't so strange to abandon it temporarily, or there was someone else there.
But in any case, that meant one thing. If Nicholas spent more time here, he wouldn't know what would happen. The more time pa.s.sed, the more likely that someone, who had headed toward the diversion, would come here.
As a matter of course, Nicholas also wanted that to happen, but… he wouldn't allow things to progress smoothly.
"…Phew. I didn't want to do this, but… I guess it can't be helped. Please forgive me, Steinsama. But you may ask your foster father to apologize. If he had given up obediently, I wouldn't have done this." (Nicholas)
"– Oi, what are you…!?" (Iori)
"– Astraea, do it." (Nicholas)
Those words were a signal. A clear emotion arrived from the Demon G.o.d, who she hadn't understood what it had been thinking so far. It was a feeling of joyful… and if she wasn't imagining things, it was a feeling of laughing.
And then…
[—-!!??] (Steina)
The next moment, Steina shouted with a voiceless voice as pain ran through her whole body.
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TLN: