“This incident that happened here was all part of Athena’s plan, a plan she so desperately wished for you to break.”
“….What?”
“It was her command to make you an incompetent, useless person.”
He was grinning as if he didn’t care about his injured arm, looking at me with a smile that could split his face.
I stared blankly into the air, momentarily lost in thought.
Athena.
Athena gave me such a command…?
No.
That can’t be.
I snorted softly at Bordin.
“What are you plotting?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you trying to sow discord?”
…You need to make sense.
Embarrassingly, I knew how much Athena loved me. I understood how much she cherished me.
She would never do anything to harm me.
It was definitely Bordin’s wicked trick.
“That won’t work, Bordin.”
I said this confidently to Bordin, who gazed at me for a moment, a look of intrigue on his face.
“This is quite interesting. Are you choosing to flee?”
“I told you it won’t work.”
“How can you be so sure?”
I looked at him boldly.
“Of course.”
With a confident glare, I said, “I trust Athena, whom I love, more than a criminal like you.”
“Kheuh… how amusing. Very amusing.”
Bordin then turned to Alina.
“It seems the plan has failed, Alina. The lady says she has no intention of leaving here.”
“…..”
Alina briefly looked at me with a confused expression, then shut her eyes tightly, turning her gaze back to Bordin.
“I will respect the lady’s choice. Master, please give up already.”
“I refuse.”
“….What?”
While Alina appeared momentarily flustered, Bordin twisted his broken arm a few times and readjusted the dislocated bones.
“Alina, there are several reasons I cannot accept your plan.”
He clenched his returned hand a few times, then immediately raised his fingers toward Alina one by one.
“Firstly, you trust the Imperial Palace too much. They are not the virtuous people you think they are.”
He glanced at me.
“Secondly, you underestimate Athena. If it serves her desires, she will not hesitate, even if the opponent is the Imperial Palace.”
As Alina quietly observed, Bordin continued.
“Lastly, did you say to give up on revenge?”
Noticing something was off, Alina raised her sword, taking a defensive stance.
“I can’t let that happen. Telling me to abandon revenge is tantamount to telling me to die.”
“It’s already over, Master.”
Bordin, who had already lost a significant amount of blood, calmly spoke to Alina despite the dire situation.
“Alina, haven’t I always said this?”
Crack-
Bordin bit down on his own teeth, and the sound of something breaking filled the room.
Purple liquid began to flow into his mouth.
“It always pays to have a backup plan.”
“….!”
A sense of ominous energy started gathering around his body.
Alina sensed the danger and rushed toward him, but…
“It might have worked as a surprise attack, but do you really think you can beat me in an all-out fight?”
Bordin easily subdued her with one hand and then kicked her legs violently.
“Ugh!”
Alina winced in pain and fell to her knees. Bordin immediately kicked her away, sending her crashing into the wall.
“Alina!!”
I quickly rushed to Alina and checked her condition.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she had serious injuries, but it looked like getting up would be difficult.
“Lady…”
However, she forced herself to get up despite her injuries and once again gripped her sword.
“This is my mistake. I’ll buy you time, so run away.”
It seemed she was completely disregarding her own injuries, still worrying about me.
…Why are you going so far for me, Alina?
I glanced briefly at Alina and then sighed, helping her back down to sit comfortably on the floor.
“…Lady?”
“…..Just rest for a bit, Alina.”
“What? But-”
“I’ll take care of it.”
I cut off Alina’s words firmly, and she looked at me in surprise.
Leaving her behind, I turned my gaze to Bordin, noticing his condition was alarming.
He looked so grotesque that he could barely be considered human.
The purple tentacles were grotesquely writhing from his severed arm, and his eyes were unrecognizable.
The sclera was stained black while his pupils appeared as red, resembling a beast.
It was a scene I had seen in a novel.
The appearance of the demon race. No, it was the appearance of a human becoming a demon.
The symptoms that emerge when a non-demonic being undergoes demonization.
“…Impressive, indeed.”
Bordin remarked as he looked at his regenerated arm.
I unleashed a sharp retort at him.
“…Have you dabbled in dark magic?”
“Oh? You know of dark magic?”
How could I not?
It was written in the novel.
Dark magic.
In the novel, dark magic was described as a power received from a Demon King or a high-ranking demon commander.
Receiving dark magic leads to demonization, granting not only superior physical abilities but also the ability to use part of their master’s powers.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
While one could obtain great power in a short time,
there was one significant downside to it.
“Have you renounced your humanity?”
It meant not only inheriting the powers of the demons, but also their savage temper.
Once you consume dark magic, your life as a human ends and you become ravenous for blood.
‘From whom did you receive dark magic?’
Since he was not a character from the novel, there was so much I didn’t know about Bordin.
From the royal family’s seal to dark magic.
If he were such an influential figure, he should have been mentioned somewhere. So why was there no information about Bordin at all?
“Renounced my humanity…”
Bordin examined his body for a moment before looking at me and answering.
“I have not wanted to live as a human since my wife died.”
As he extended his hand forward, the purple tentacles began swirling toward me.
Countless bizarre and hideous tentacles.
But rather than horrifying someone, these tentacles would have made an ordinary person flee in terror.
Boom- Smash-
With a kick and punch, they exploded easily.
The unpleasant feeling of the tentacles touching my skin made me grit my teeth, but I pressed my foot to the ground and dashed forward with all my might.
“….!”
In an instant, I reached him.
Perhaps he didn’t anticipate my speed as his red eyes grew wide with shock.
As I threw a punch at Bordin, he reflexively raised both arms to block.
Gah!
Crash!
With a sound like bones breaking, his body shot back like a bullet, crashing into the wall.
I quietly spoke to the bloodied figure on the ground.
“Now that you’ve become a demon, I won’t be lenient.”
Bordin, whose body was grotesquely bent, stood up effortlessly.
“I knew you were strong, but… this is surprising.”
I raised my fist again, ready to strike.
Around me danced golden and blue lights, swirling violently.
“You’d better prepare yourself.”
*
“Kugh!”
‘What in the world.’
Bordin couldn’t comprehend the situation he was in.
Crack-
His arm spun off.
Boom-
With each punch, his body shattered to pieces.
Thanks to the influence of dark magic, he quickly regenerated, but surely even this had its limits.
‘Did my calculation fail?’
He knew he was strong after all.
After all, he possessed a unique ability.
Moreover, he had heard that he inherited a portion of Athena’s power.
But he had expected she would be as strong as he anticipated.
He had prepared thoroughly.
With his life on the line as a last resort, he had obtained this dark magic.
It was not common dark magic.
It was the dark magic created directly by one of the top commanders, the Immortal King Beluum, right after the Demon King.
It was the power he painstakingly received, sworn to the fall of the hero.
Although his body and soul would undoubtedly suffer devastating damage, he should have gained the ability to use Beluum’s powers directly.
But all he was doing was regenerating his body; his other attacks didn’t seem to affect her at all.
‘…What is that blue mana?’
That blue aura was of a much denser concentration than the mana Athena had.
The clear reason for his defeat must lie in that unknown power.
At this rate, he would easily meet his demise.
There was no way he could let go of the revenge he had prepared for years.
Just as he was pondering how to solve this predicament,
Creeeeak-
The sound of the dining room door creaking open echoed.
Turning my head to see, a young girl stood at the entrance.
“Mom… what’s wrong—…huh?”
A child who had barely shed her youth.
I recognized her.
She was the girl Athena brought back when she returned from her journey.
Athena had mentioned she was an orphan taken from Karman out of pity.
“…M-mom… blood…?”
Upon seeing the lady, the girl began to panic severely.
“M-Mari…”
The lady showed clear signs of surprise upon seeing the child.
My brain was quickly calculating.
It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion.
‘I don’t know what the relationship is, but this is good.’
If I take the child hostage,
I could create a breakthrough in this situation.
Having finished my thoughts, I dashed towards the girl.
Even if it was inhuman, I was willing to do whatever to bring despair to Athena.
“Don’t… Mari!!”
The lady rushed toward me with a frantic expression.
“Kheuh. It’s too late.”
Lucky for me, I was closer to the door of the dining room, allowing me to reach the child quicker than her.
“I’m sorry, little one.”
Without hesitation, I reached out my tentacles toward the child, whose expression had dulled. The tentacles began to envelop her.
But just as I was about to grab the girl,
Her head swiftly spun around to look at me.
“It’s you?!”
“!!!”
Seeing her piercing blue eyes filled me with dread.
It felt as though I had come face to face with a transcendent being.
My instincts screamed at me to flee, warning me of life-threatening danger.
“W-what is this?!”
But before I could turn away,
a magic circle appeared beneath me.
And without having any time to feel pain,
Splatter-
My body was split in half.
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