Chapter 90 - One Who Seeks Salvation And One Who Seeks Death

After running frantically for a while in the direction Corn indicated.

In the distance.

I saw a demon follower in black clothes and a hunchbacked woman collapsed with a dagger stabbed in her heart inside a black magic circle.

Damn it.

Am I too late?

I accelerated even faster, and while leaping into the magic circle at that speed, I unfastened my belt, gripped it in my hand, and swung it.

With a loud noise, a shock transmitting through my hand confirmed the strike had landed properly.

The follower's mask shattered into pieces and burst apart, and he crumpled roughly to the ground.

But proving he was no ordinary person, the follower was still not dead.

Beyond not being dead, black energy was frosting on his terribly crushed jaw area and recovering at an incredible speed.

That was better for me.

"Y-you... who..."

I immediately used Absolute Hypnosis on the follower slowly getting up.

His eyes full of surprise and bewilderment became hazy for a moment before returning, and when I confirmed the skill had worked, I immediately asked questions.

"Answer only truthfully to everything I say from now on. This woman. Why is she like this now?"

"She's in a state with Lady Belphegor's subjugation spell dagger stabbed in her."

I didn’t know what it was, but it didn't sound like a good word.

"How do I remove it?"

"This is magic containing Lady Belphegor's power itself. It can't be removed unless by someone of the same Demon King level."

"Is that so?"

Then there was no problem.

I immediately ran to the hunchbacked woman and firmly grasped the dagger stabbed in her heart.

As I began to exert force to pull it out, the black energy spreading throughout her body like a snake began to be sucked back into the dagger while letting out chilling screams.

Even though I had raised my strength to a level surpassing humans with Body Modification, it took tremendous force to pull it out.

"You!! Help me pull this out!!"

Because it was difficult alone, I ordered the follower who was bewildered as truths spilled out against his will.

"I-I'll help with that…! Huh?"

With an expression saying he really didn't want to do it and a shocked expression at the same time, the follower approached and placed his hand on the dagger to help pull it out.

"W-what is this…? Y-you, who are you? What did you do to me! Why am I…!?"

"Shut up and just use your strength!!"

With two people combining their strength, the speed of pulling it out increased even more.

The black energy that had been struggling while letting out all kinds of screams as if it were alive couldn't hold out for long.

As everything that had spread throughout her body was completely sucked back into the dagger, the dagger was pulled out of the hunchbacked woman's body.

I immediately put the dagger down on the ground, then placed my hand on the woman's body and used body modification.

Her two broken wrists and crushed face were instantly healed.

But that was all I could do.

[The subject's body is <fixed> in its current state.]

[Recovery is possible, but modification is not possible at the current skill level.]

[Please try again after raising the skill level more.]

With a notification window I'd never seen before, no further Body Modification was possible.

"What is this…?"

I tried a few more times, but no matter how hard I tried, the hunchbacked woman's withered limbs and deformed protruding back were in a state that absolutely couldn't be fixed with Body Modification.

An explanation was needed for what was going on.

And fortunately, there was someone beside me who could explain.

"You."

I turned my head towards the follower.

"Explain what's going on here. Who this woman is and why she's like this. And also about what connection this woman has with the Demon King called Belphegor or whatever. Explain everything."

It probably wouldn't be a short story.

But I needed to take the time to clearly understand what the circumstances were before moving on.

And the moment I gave that order.

[Confirmed that the time required to carry out the given order is excessively long.]

[Use of expanded abilities from skill level up is possible.]

[It is possible to selectively extract desired memories from the target's mind and input them into the brain at once.]

[Do you want to proceed?]

A notification window I'd never seen before appeared before my eyes.

And at the explanation in the notification window, I felt a chilling sensation crawling up my spine to my brain.

Without me knowing, the skill had become stronger at some point.

Isn't this proof that Asmodeus is steadily sucking up faith and getting stronger in real time even now?

As expected.

For the sake of this world too, I needed to have my soul shattered as soon as possible.

And to do that, I had no choice but to use the chilling upgraded ability of Absolute Hypnosis.

"Proceed."

As my permission fell, the focus disappeared from the follower's eyes.

[Order confirmed. Selectively extracting memories from the target related to the ordered parts...]

[Selection complete. Inputting.]

And suddenly.

I felt a vast amount of memories being rapidly sucked into my head.

[Input complete.]

After a brief moment that felt like an eternity passed.

I slowly raised my head to look at the follower.

After blankly staring at the follower for a long time, I had to laugh hollowly.

"Are you human?"

Search the entire continent to find a suitable sacrifice to put the Goddess of War into.

Then horribly torture the sacrifice's body again and again to make both mind and body desolate, then use various black magic and sorcery to fix and maintain the sacrifice's body in that desolate state.

Then put the Goddess of War in and additionally cast a magic called subjugation spell on the sacrifice.

Afterwards, if the goddess didn’t obey, use the subjugation spell to inflict terrible mental and physical pain on the sacrifice to make the goddess submit and utilize her.

And the girl in my arms.

The being who made the greatest contribution to making Kanya a sacrifice was the man right in front of me.

It was the man in front of me who kidnapped Kanya's pregnant parents, let her spend some happy time with her parents after she was born, then implanted mental trauma by showing the 4-year-old child her parents dying in front of her.

It was also him who shot magic causing pain in her limbs just short of killing her to make her arms and legs wither and twist.

Intentionally laying a curse to twist her spine.

It was all done by the man in front of me.

And after she received Bellia into her body, whenever Bellia resisted, activating magic to forcibly recall the terrible past traumas to torture her mind.

Using magic engraved on her body to make her flesh painful.

It was all done by the man in front of me.

I shouldn't have looked.

After vividly experiencing years of human malice as if it were my own memory, I felt beyond feeling bad to the point of wanting to vomit.

I tightly hugged the woman in my arms.

Kanya.

"Pick up the dagger."

At my order, the follower picked up the fallen dagger with trembling hands.

No disgust.

No anger arose.

I just thought I needed to get rid of the being in front of me.

"Kill yourself."

At my order, the follower's eyes widened.

"N-no... Please...... No…!! Kuuugh!! O’ Sloth!! Please help me…!!"

Whether he was trying to resist the Absolute Hypnosis or not, the follower tried to push away the hand holding the dagger with his other hand, but it was useless.

"Guk…! Kuuugh..."

After watching only until the dagger dug into his neck, I turned my body.

Among the memories I saw through the follower's memories, there were also memories about the rocky mountains of Talaheim.

Bellia's hidden divinity was there, and the moment Kanya went there, Bellia would recover her divinity once again and leave Belphegor's hands forever, he had said.

I exerted force on the arm holding Kanya.

"I'll save you. For sure."

No matter what happened, I'd take this child to the rocky mountains of Talaheim.

Three Demon Kings would probably rush in to stop me, but that was what I wanted.

I wanted my soul to be destroyed by three Demon Kings.

And this child wanted salvation.

Isn't it a perfect combination?

***

The moment one of Belphegor's followers searching for the Goddess of War Bellia with heightened alertness encountered Saint Amael.

Belphegor immediately called Satan and Leviathan.

[The stupid saint bastard somehow came to commit suicide! Come quickly!!]

[Your collection piece and the saint are together? Haha! How convenient!]

The mood was still good until then.

But.

The moment a huge being inside Amael's soul revealed its presence in the spiritual realm, the three Demon Kings realized they had misjudged.

[It's been a while.]

Eight pairs of wings on her back flutter.

Belphegor, Satan, and Leviathan had to tremble as they looked at Asmodeus with an overwhelming presence that seemed to fill the entire spiritual realm.

[I think it's the first time I've seen three of you together. What's the occasion?]

As always, Asmodeus looked at the three Demon Kings with a soft and benevolent smile.

Seeing Asmodeus boasting a size on a different dimension from the Demon King of Lust they knew 300 years ago, the three Demon Kings began to inwardly curse Lucifer.

Isn't this a monster they're not sure they can win against even if all three rush in at once?

[Satan. Leviathan. Can you do it?]

Belphegor carefully asked the other two Demon Kings, but no answer came.

At that sight, the Demon King of Sloth asked again in a rarely urgent tone.

[I'm asking if it's possible!!]

At those words, Satan answered first.

[It should be possible. But we'll have to take considerable losses too.]

[Sloth. You were right. Three isn't enough. We need the Goddess of War you mentioned.]

The three Demon Kings' eyes turn to the divinity of the Goddess of War Bellia beside Asmodeus.

Perhaps because she had just been subjected to the subjugation spell, the already weak divinity of the Goddess of War had changed to a precarious state that seemed like it would shatter instantly if touched even a little.

Belphegor gritted her teeth.

If the saint bastard had come after the subjugation spell had completely settled, they could have subdued Asmodeus 4 vs 1 by having Bellia join in.

But if one didn't have teeth, one had to chew with their gums.

[Let's just deal with her now. Even if we take losses, it's better to deal with her. Lucifer is right. Look at that size. If we leave her to keep sucking up faith like this, the entire human realm will fall into her hands. It'll be easier to deal with her now rather than later.]

At Sloth's words, Wrath and Envy rarely agreed without protest.

[I admit it.]

[If we're going to strike, now is better.]

The two Demon Kings roughly enlarged their divinities.

The spiritual realm felt tautly stretched.

Belphegor clenched her fist and glared at Asmodeus.

If Satan and Leviathan could just restrain her, immediately.

She'd approach Amael's soul protected by Asmodeus and corrupt him.

Corrupting one human soul.

Was easier than breathing for her.

But the next moment.

[Hmm. So Amael is the goal after all?]

Seeing Asmodeus carefully pick up Bellia's shattered divinity, the three Demon Kings had to stop rushing in.

[Since Amael probably wouldn't like it very much, I don't want to do the thing of devouring a Pantheon divinity either. But if you three come to attack me, I'll have to reluctantly do something I don't want to do to protect Amael.]

[This damn!!]

Satan bursts out in anger.

The win rate was already wavering precariously around 50%, but the moment Asmodeus devoured Bellia's divinity and became even stronger, the win rate would definitely drop to 0.

Even a narrow victory full of wounds was still a victory.

Lucifer wouldn't be able to come because he was blocking the Pantheon, and Beelzebub was confronting the Evil God bastard.

The fragmented divinities of the three defeated Demon Kings would be eaten up by the surviving Asmodeus.

Then everything is over.

[...Let's retreat.]

At Belphegor's words that sounded like she was vomiting blood, the other two Demon Kings turned their backs without lingering.

At that sight, Asmodeus put down Bellia's fragmented divinity while still smiling brightly.

Belphegor stared intently at Bellia's divinity before reluctantly turning her back.

The situation was now clearer than ever.

They had to separate Bellia's divinity from Asmodeus by any means necessary.

If not that, the three Demon Kings had no chance of winning.