Chapter 14: Asmodeus (2)

I returned to my room after the encounter with Bathory.

Or rather, the moment she released me, I fled without looking back.

Three days had passed since then.

“Ugh…”

Honestly, I was confused.

Who confesses to someone they kidnapped?

I love you.

“Gyaaaaa!”

My face burned just thinking about it.

I tossed and turned in bed, trying to dispel the heat, but it refused to fade.

I only succeeded in messing up the blankets.

Bathory was the one who kidnapped me, the one who tormented me.

She was practically my enemy.

So why?

My heart wouldn’t stop racing.

Even imagining revenge against her felt difficult.

In a normal situation, I could blame it on an irregular heartbeat, but this was different.

I love…

“Uwaaaaa!”

Even with my nonexistent knowledge of romance, both in this life and the last, I knew that was a confession.

Why was I the one suffering when she was the one who confessed?!

The most frustrating part was that I couldn’t deny the fact that her words had flustered me.

Every time I went downstairs for a meal and saw her face, I averted my gaze.

During training, the memory of that moment would surface, causing my swordsmanship to falter.

I couldn’t even sleep properly because her words kept replaying in my head.

“…What am I supposed to do?”

Everything I thought I knew was crumbling around me.

My once ordinary daily life was a distant memory.

Even my past memories were fading.

I could barely remember my time with Lucia.

All that remained of the past were the nightmares that haunted me every night.

You’re awake?

It’s okay.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to push her away.

Murder?

Past me would have been shocked, but now, it was just a matter of “when.” An unavoidable fate.

Kidnapping?

That was the fate I had chosen.

So what was I agonizing over?

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“…I don’t know.”

I recognized the voice and realized I was dreaming.

I opened my eyes to familiar white hair.

I had only closed my eyes for a moment, but I had fallen asleep.

“You’re truly shameless, Aria. Living comfortably while leaving behind the hell you created~”

The scenery around me began to shift with Lucia’s words.

My room crumbled, transforming into a place I had grown sick of seeing over the past six months.

Help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me…

Traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor…

“This is the scene you created. Are you satisfied?”

Lucia turned to me, a smile on her face.

It was a smile I had never seen before.

“It’s not my fault.”

“No, these are all the people you killed.”

“They were destined to die anyway.”

“And you could have changed that.”

Our words went back and forth, but nothing changed.

She resented me, and this nightmare existed to torment me.

Reasoning with malice only yielded more malice.

It was simple.

“Hey, answer me!”

It was better to ignore her.

Dreams always ended eventually.

“Are you just going to ignore me now?”

“Nothing changes even if I don’t.”

Lucia fell silent at my response.

“Ah, aha… Ahahahaha!”

She covered her mouth, letting out a chilling laugh.

The laughter abruptly stopped, replaced by a cold voice.

“Do you think you can ignore us?”

As if enraged, the sky, filled with eyes, churned like waves.

As if on cue, the ghosts wandering around turned their gazes towards me.

They wandered around like corpses, so the term “ghost” wasn’t inaccurate.

“You must suffer more. The pain we felt. Eternally, until you die.”

They began to close in on me.

Lucia had moved away.

“Honestly… I knew, but…”

I had realized long ago that she wasn’t the real Lucia.

My real sister would never say such things to me.

The reason I hadn’t abandoned her was because I thought she was a fragment, a memory of my sister.

It seemed like a false hope.

“If that’s the case…”

There was no reason to hold back any longer.

Slice

The front line of the approaching horde was cut down in an instant.

Perhaps because I no longer remembered them, or because I already considered them dead, I felt no guilt.

Only…

“I won’t… let you continue…”

I wouldn’t let the image of my sister within me be tarnished.

I would bury everything related to my sister while good memories still remained, even if it meant plunging a sword through her spectral form.

“Come at me, imposter.”

Yes, she was just an imposter. A monster, a phantom, wearing the face of my sister.

So let’s end this here.

I pushed off the ground, no hesitation left.

The enemies closed in.

I channeled magic, accelerating, leaving a black streak in my wake.

“Kyaaaaa!”

Screams and dismembered bodies rained down where I passed.

But…

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap…

As if unfazed, more ghosts surged forward, trampling over the blood and flesh of their former comrades, driven by a single purpose: to kill me.

The soldier-like figures lunged, weapons raised.

“So you really are nothing more than fakes.”

There was no need to conserve magic.

This was a dream.

Wiping out the fakes in front of me was more important.

“Get lost.”

I swung my magic-infused sword, drawing a black arc.

Crackle, crackle, crackle…

A wave of shadowy blades tore through the enemies within range, a gruesome sound accompanying the spray of blood and gore.

Snap

I grabbed the neck of a soldier who had tried to stab me from behind and snapped it.

Crack, crunch

I seized the skull of another, conjuring a shadowy blade in my hand, causing blood and brain matter to erupt.

Simultaneously, the sword in my other hand swung wildly, cleaving through everything in its path.

But the battle had just begun.

Time passed.

“Haa… Haa…”

How many had I killed? Hundreds? Thousands?

Even in a dream, my stamina and magic were running low. No, perhaps it was my mental strength that was depleted.

Their numbers had visibly dwindled, but the remaining ghosts still filled my vision.

Even worse, some of them were quite powerful.

According to my fading memories, the Knight Commander’s ghost was the strongest enemy here.

But…

“Did you think it would be that easy?”

…the fake Lucia was my biggest concern.

It seemed I had reached my limit.

A familiar sensation washed over me.

The feeling of sinking into a swamp.

I was waking up.

I looked at her one last time, my voice cold.

“Wait for me. I will definitely…”

…kill you.

My consciousness faded with those words.

The ruined city, abandoned after Aria disappeared.

With her gone, the ghosts also vanished, leaving only the girl alone.

“Hahaha! That was fun!”

Lucia, or rather, the “her” who had taken Lucia’s form, was enveloped by a shadow rising from the ground.

Her appearance remained mostly the same, but her hair and eyes began to change color.

“Well, I’ll be looking forward to it, A.r.i.a.”

Her hair turned black, her eyes crimson.

“She” had become Aria.

And with that, the space collapsed.

Waiting for her next visit.

“You’re awake, Aria?”

A familiar voice greeted me as I opened my eyes.

If my sister’s voice signaled a dream, Bathory’s confirmed reality.

Familiar green eyes and red hair came into view.

The only person left for me in this Demon Realm. The one who reached out to me.

“Bathory.”

“What’s wrong?”

I knew this was a twisted emotion. But now, with everything else gone, even the last vestiges of my feelings for my sister fading, I understood.

It seemed I… perhaps she was the only one…

“I love you.”

“What?”

“Why? Do you hate it?”

“N-No, it’s not that…”

It seemed I couldn’t push her away any longer.

“Bathory.”

“W-What?”

She responded, flustered by my sudden words.

But she seemed to compose herself, sensing my mood.

“Make me stronger.”

“That’s sudden. How strong do you want to be?”

Bathory asked.

Did you think it would be that easy?

It probably wouldn’t be easy.

But at least…

“…Strong enough to kill anyone.”

I vowed not to hesitate any longer.