Chapter 316: Chapter 280: Correction (1)

So, uh, that unfortunate thing happened.

But, I couldn’t deal with it because a Devil was out for my blood right now.

“…It seems like we won’t be able to dodge it anymore after a while.”

I muttered as such while looking at Her Imperial Majesty, who was walking towards us slowly.

The Brown Demonic Aura—which possessed the Authority ‘Corruption’—that had been spreading to the surroundings was gradually thickening.

It was to the point where I wasn’t able to avoid it with simple movements like I did anymore. I needed to carefully maneuver around it, but even so I could only barely manage to dodge it.

Seeing the speed of its thickening, it wouldn’t take long before this empty space was completely filled with Demonic Aura.

…I can’t even leave this place if I want to.

We’ve defeated the Predator, but the traces of it wrapping the whole palace, trying to eat it, still remained.

There were rubbles everywhere here, so unless I cleared those up first, I couldn’t get away from here. Of course, if I were to actually try to do that, the Demonic Aura would catch up to me and kill me instead.

Also, there was a huge chance that the Brown Devil only revealed herself like this after she was sure that ‘I wouldn’t be able to run away’.

While the Brown Devil’s Aura had a weaker force compared to Blue Devil Aura’s Pulverization, it wasn’t exactly the point of its ability. After all, it only needed to come into contact with its target, and the target would end up dying, albeit slowly.

Instead of physically grinding someone to death, it would slowly erase their existence.

With that in mind, there was only one option available to me.

I need to finish this fight quickly.

Closing the battle as soon as I could.

The presence of the Sword Saint, who was being suppressed temporarily by the Devil’s Vessels was another reason why I needed to finish this up quickly.

Like, it felt like he could break through the Devil’s Vessels’ suppression and come here at any moment now, which was scary to think of…

“Talker.”

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one who thought so. The Prophet called out to the man nearby in a low voice.

“You can create a path, right?

“A path?”

“We need to end this battle quickly, or else everyone here will die.”

“—Hmm.”

The Fire Spinning Wheel stroked his chin, contemplating for a moment, before he continued.

“I can. Only once, though. But at best it could only help you to touch her.”

What he was trying to say here was that while he could create a ‘path’ for us, it wouldn’t help us in regards to actually attacking the opponent or buffing us so we could fight it directly.

However…

“That will do.”

While stretching my body, I replied as such.

“I mean, just look at our opponent.”

“…What do you mean?”

The Fire Spinning Wheel asked blankly. To that, I gave him an incredulous look.

“Haven’t you been observing me for a while? How could you not know this?”

“…Know what?”

“Our opponent is a woman who has the Devil’s Fragment inside her.”

I continued, as if this was a matter of course.

“Which means, as long as you could open a path for me, I’ll definitely beat her.”

“…”

Indeed. My existence itself was the perfect counter against the Devils. Just a single opening would be enough to guarantee our victory.

“…Right, I forgot that this bastard is the greatest playboy in human’s history.”

“…”

Honestly, at this point, I didn’t think that it was appropriate for me to deny that.

Objectively speaking, the results of the things that I’ve been doing were all pointed in that direction.

[Finally! You’re finally admitting it!!]

…Shut the fuck up.

As I told Caliban off, the Prophet let out a deep breath and gave her command.

“Do it. Right now.”

“Alright, guess there’s no need to mull over the matter anymore, huh?”

At that, the Fire Spinning Wheel spread out the accessories hanging all over his body towards the surroundings.

It was as if all the religious symbols in the world had been gathered here. These Holy Relics served to reinforce the True Speech coming out of his mouth.

And what came out after was the ‘purification ritual’ that he always recited whenever he met an opponent that was related to the Devils.

Except that the power in his words was significantly higher and more pure than before.

-Song of Songs, I wish.

-Song of Songs, I wish.

-This lowly being prays, the lust that stains every verse and word, all of it.

The clear and transparent energies came out of the Holy Relics and quickly gathered in one place, before turning into a spherical lump.

【Wash it with your light】

With such words as a cue, the purification sphere was fired forward.

It collided with the Brown Devil’s Demonic Aura, but it wasn’t being pushed out by it. Instead, it advanced forward while spreading its bright light to the surroundings.

Just like the Red Sea, being split by Moses, the Demonic Aura was split by it in an instant.

“—Now!”

“—You don’t have to tell me!”

And upon seeing the sight, the Prophet and I—who were waiting for the perfect timing to move—shot our body forward like arrows.

If we just considered our basic specs, this punk was on the same level as me. Because of that, we managed to reach Her Imperial Majesty at a similar speed.

“—Keuk!”

The Brown Demonic Aura rushed towards us like mad right in front of our eyes.

As if it was trying to push my existence away, I could feel its will, trying its best to not let me get closer to it.

It was a completely different reaction from the Red Devil, who just accepted me without much resistance after I got this close, or the other Devils who were actually the ones pulling me ‘into’ them instead.

However…

“—”

The Prophet took a deep breath and advanced forward, using her body as a ‘shield’.

Of course, since she was facing a Devil’s Demonic Aura directly, her arms instantly rotted away.

However, the Demonic Aura slightly faded away because of it, which meant whatever it was she was doing had an effect on it.

“Let’s push forward like this!”

Hearing that, my eyes widened.

“You—!”

“Don’t worry about me, just do it quickly! I roughly know what you’re trying to do!”

Seeing her shouting out those words while clenching her teeth, I nodded instead of replying to her.

With her body as a shield, we quickly approached Her Imperial Majesty.

A few seconds passed after we moved forward like that, the Prophet was moaning in pain as she clenched her teeth. And then…

“I…Touched…Her…!”

The moment the tip of my finger somehow managed to come upon ‘contact’ with Her Imperial Majesty’s body after breaking through the thick Demonic Aura…

[ Existence of ‘Brown Devil’ confirmed.]

[ With the influence of the ‘Fallen’s Seal’, you can make a close contact with target. ]

[ Would you make an attempt? ] [ Y / N ]

Such windows popped up.

Of course, I didn’t need to think twice about this.

[ Entering target’s ‘Image World’. ]

Along with such a sentence…

My vision flickered.

●

“…Oww.”

This was my fourth time entering someone else’s Image World.

Riru’s, Yuria’s, Faenol’s, and now, Her Imperial Majesty’s.

But of course, this one was a whole different experience compared to the first three Image Worlds.

“…The whole place is soft and fluffy. I guess this is what the inner world of someone who grew up spoiled looks like.”

The Prophet—who entered the Image World ‘together’ with me—muttered as such. I could sense the malice in her voice.

Riru’s Image World showed me an extreme ambivalence, Yuria’s was connected to her past trauma, while Faenol’s was completely under the Red Devil’s control.

This one was quite different.

It felt a little desolate, but it depicted the Imperial Palace as it was. Out of everyone’s, this one looked like the ‘real world’ the most.

Her Imperial Majesty’s personality—sensible, gentle, yet sometimes, lonely—must’ve been reflected in it.

In any case, I understood why the Prophet said what she said.

“…Well.”

I looked around, letting out a bitter smile.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to agree with her assessment.

“I don’t think looking soft is all there is to it in this place.”

At that moment, the landscape around us collapsed.

Like a broken glass, the surrounding landscape broke into pieces and scattered in all directions. What was revealed under it was a black background that resembled the darkness of the abyss.

And down there…

-…

-…

-…!!!

Brown color rose, dyeing everything brown.

-…That was surprising. I can’t believe you were so stupid.

And then, a threatening voice came up from below.

It was none other than the Brown Devil, wearing the appearance of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress.

A deep hatred that could make the fuzz on one’s whole body stand up just by facing it filled up her red eyes.

-I can’t believe you’re seriously thinking of fighting a Devil inside the Image World. You know that this will only make things easier for me, right?

With such words, the Brown Aura filled up the surroundings again.

As she said, unlike the Material Realm where the Devils’ had their power restricted, they were practically invincible in the Image World. The only ones who could match them were the other Devils, the ones that had the same status as them.

-You’re not saying anything. What? Are you finally scared shitless now?

Instead of answering her, I only stared at her silently.

I scanned her whole body with my eyes. It looked exactly like Her Imperial Majesty the Empress’ body.

Like…

From her appearance, her body…

You know, things like that… They were all similar…

Which meant, the other things about her must’ve been similar as well… Right…?

“…The fuck with that perverted gaze…?”

“…”

What are you on about, Prophet?

I’m completely innocent here.

Why do you make me sound like a pervert?

I tried to ignore her words and instead called out to the Brown Devil calmly.

“Can I ask you something?”

-…Do you think it’s the time to ask questions so leisurely like that?

“Just think of this as my last will and answer my question, okay? You can do that much at least, right? Anyway, I assume that you want to kill me that badly?

-…

At that question, she let out a smirk.

-You are way more stupid than I thought. I won’t even need to explain to you why I hate you. It’s pointless.

-Anyway, yes, I want to kill you. I want to tear you apart so badly to the point that you would never be able to be resurrected—

“Alright then.”

I cut her words while scratching my head.

“If it’s like this, continuing the conversation would be meaningless.”

Before everything, I’d need to ‘correct’ her attitude first.

-What?

I ignored the Brown Devil who let out such a word in bewilderment and turned to look at the Prophet.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“You’ve got something up your sleeves, right?”

“…Stop talking as if you already know everything in advance. It’s annoying.”

“…”

Woman, just answer me properly.

Seriously, she really is the woman version of Caliban.

Even the way they get annoyed at others resembles each other so much…

Fortunately, she also resembled Caliban in the way that she still did what I wanted her to do, even though she was grumbling like that.

-!

As she pulled out her sword from her waist, a white glow appeared.

In an instant…

That glow turned into a tremendous light, to the point that I could feel its sacredness.

The Brown Devil was ‘hit’ by it, and stumbled hard. Her eyes widened, they probably couldn’t get any wider than that.

-…What the?!

Seeing her freaking out, the Prophet just shrugged her shoulders.

“…I mean…”

She continued indifferently while withdrawing her hand.

“I’m also quite good at catching Devils. Although in a different way from the master of seducing Devils over here.”

I’m born that way after all….

After she muttered as such…

The blinding glow that had whacked the Brown Devil soon turned into a ‘restraining device’ and restrained her arms and legs.

“…Oh, that actually works?”

“…”

Hearing my muttering, the Prophet turned to look at me, as if asking me, ‘Are you kidding me right now?’ with her gaze. Well, I couldn’t help it. I was genuinely surprised by this.

Like, I never expected that she could neutralize a Devil so effortlessly like this.

…Anyway.

I actually had thought of a way to beat the Brown Devil for quite a while now.

To be exact…

I’ve come up with it ever since I was squeezed out by the Gray Devil…

Not only that, I had also tried it on the White Devil before.

“…Can you promise me something?”

“What?”

“…Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“…”

I could tell that the Prophet was frowning under her mask.

She was staring at me as if I was trash, but that didn’t faze me at all, so I just continued.

This was just a precaution, you know, since she quite literally just detonated a whole nuke on me not too long ago…

“If the thing that’s going to happen here were to spread outside, they’ll actually chop me to pieces…”

“…Whatever.”

“…Can I take that as a yes?”

“…Jeez, you’re such a coward! Yes, yes, I won’t tell anyone!”

Nice, nice. Despite everything, she likes me after all.

If she doesn’t like this, well tough luck! It’s her fault for falling for me in the first place! Ha!

[…I swear, the more you talk, the more I want to beat the shit out of you.]

…

Can you please not say discouraging things in this kind of urgent situation, Mister?

-What are you two talking about—?

The Brown Devil—who was still restrained—asked in a voice filled with killing intent.

“It’s too long to explain.”

First of all, this was my first time meeting this punk, but seeing her attitude towards me… I could tell that she had a lot to say to me.

Which meant, I’d need to hear out what she wanted to say.

But, we couldn’t have that kind of conversation right now.

Because I needed to ‘correct her attitude’ first.

I sighed, spreading the Aura from my Seal in all directions.

At the end of the day, she was still the owner of this Image World.

While the Prophet managed to surprise her, if she were to recover from her shock, she’d try to kill us again.

Which meant, I had to finish what I had to do quickly.

“…”

Fortunately…

Considering the EXP I had accumulated so far, it wouldn’t take long for me to accomplish my goal.

While thinking so, I summoned the most important item in the strategy to win the Brown Devil into the Image World.

-…What is this…?

Upon seeing the rectangle ‘thing’ that rose up in the center of the space, the Brown Devil asked in a blank tone.

“Aah.”

I drowsily replied while sweeping back my forehead.

“This is called a bed.”

-…Huh?

“This is the item I’m gonna be using to ‘correct’ you.”

-…Huh?

As the Brown Devil’s face went blank…

“I’ve felt this way since a long time ago, but…”

The Prophet said so while letting out a chuckle.

She didn’t sound surprised, as if what I was doing was something that she had already expected.

“…You’re a fucking lunatic, do you know that?”

Not only her…

A voice that sounded as if the owner’s soul had left his body came from the Soul Linker.

[…I know, right?]

Caliban muttered with a dumbfounded voice

[Is that what you meant when you said that the difficulty level is different when it comes to her?]

What?

[So, with the Red Devil, you were able to finish it with only a kiss, but with her… Uh…]

What are you trying to say?

[You need to be more ‘earnest’ in your actions?]

…

[Like, you’re going to fuck her if needed to?]

…

What’s with those crude words you’re spouting, Mister?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Aren’t you a Holy Knight of some sort?

“…”

However…

It was quite sad, but…

…Pretty much, yeah.

[…]

After hearing my answer, it seemed like he had no energy left to reply to me anymore.

I, too, had no intention of continuing the conversation.

So, I ignored him.

And looked down at the Brown Devil, who was lying down on the ‘bed’, tied with a ‘restraining device’.

-…

As if she could tell that things were about to go in a weird direction, her face that resembled Her Majesty the Empress’ face stiffened in an instant.

I’m going to ignore that.

“Alright, then…”

Because I had no intention of going easy on her.

“…Let’s see if she has similar weaknesses as Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, shall we?”

“…Playboy. Trash. Womanizer. Lecher. Go fuck yourself.”

You know…

Those words actually didn’t hurt me anymore because I also thought that they were true…