Underground of the Union Headquarters.
In the depths of the interrogation room, I was left in shock.
I came to find Belphegor and…
“No way. Were you torturing him?”
“Yeah. He wouldn’t stop giving me the silent treatment.”
Various tools scattered around.
And the intense heat rising from the furnace.
This is definitely…
“Aren’t these tools for forging?”
“Right. Since it’s in a sword form, it serves the torture best, doesn’t it?”
Yerina, tilting her head as if asking what the problem is, looked at me.
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
Just because it’s in the shape of a sword, does heating it up and hammering it make it torture?
It felt too pure an idea to not want to laugh.
|Ughhhhh!!! No! Nooo! I can’t take any more forging! Ughhhh! Please stop banging the sword to make a double-edged sword! I can’t take it anymore turning the full-tank hilt into a hidden tank!!!|
“……”
I thought that for a moment.
It seems to have surprisingly effective results.
I approached Belphegor, who was screaming while struggling against the rope, and untied him.
Gripping the magic sword, the shape that had been deformed from the torture returned to a Dakota-style sword.
“Good job. Thanks to you, I was able to safely regain my existence and achieve revival.”
|Stop lying! What do you mean I was any help! I was just thrown aside for time-buying and ran away!|
“……”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t completely right either.
At that time, I had indeed cast him aside to buy time and fled.
However, listening to Yerina, the reason she doubted me as an ‘unrecognizable existence’ came from the fact I gained insight while torturing Belphegor.
If it weren’t for Yerina’s suspicion, I wouldn’t have been able to lead the Frost-style secrets, and I wouldn’t have been able to create the ultimate technique to recreate my inner world.
|Degenerate bastard… Return me to my free form.|
“That might be difficult.”
|Why?!|
“For your sake.”
|What do you mean by that!|
As Belphegor protested in irritation, I stuffed him back into the sheath.
Then, covering the hilt, there was a slight humming vibration, but no sound was heard.
Suddenly transforming Belphegor in front of those who knew him as a hideous figure would invite…
Jill, Yulia, and Yerina’s sharp glares.
Considering it’s a sensitive time right now, it’d be better to show his true form later when the opportunity arises.
“Are you going to take care of the Great Demon?”
“More like… how should I put it.”
“Give him a chance?”
“That’s right. A chance. A chance to suffer.”
“……”
The current world is more hellish than the demon world.
Satan said that.
A hell filled with all kinds of injustice, hatred, and disgust.
But because of that, justice, goodness, and love shine brightly.
I brought Belphegor back to such a world.
And from now on, I will give him a chance.
As much as he accelerated the hellification of the current world, he would get a chance to reverse it.
Spilling water is easy, but scooping it back up is hard.
Belphegor will likely have to put in hundreds, thousands of times the effort he put into ruining the current world.
Knowing full well what kind of judgment a soul with a life span meets in the underworld, Belphegor has no choice but to do his best.
“Yerina. Can I ask you to call a conference?”
“Sure. Then I’ll get the Union executives—”
“No. Just you, Jill, Yulia, and me. The others may still pose a betrayal risk.”
“……!”
It may sound a bit harsh.
But the only ones I can say with 100% certainty haven’t betrayed are those who have examined the inner essence thoroughly.
.
.
.
“Do you know where the Priestess is? I need to report but she’s not at her post…”
“Shh. Save it for later. Unless it’s urgent.”
“It’s a regular report that says everything is normal, but… If I can’t report this, I will face military law.”
“Ahh. Be perceptive. Something more important is happening.”
“What on earth is going on?”
In front of the rookie officer who had just started to look like a soldier, the chief of staff hesitated for a moment.
How should I explain this?
I thought it might be best to tell the facts as they are.
“Yoo Jin entered the bedroom with the Priestess, Witch, and Frost Duchess. Around the bedroom, various barriers have been laid over each other.”
“Uh…”
The officer’s face flushed red.
The man who had been crying and hugging the three women went into a room with them?
And even laid down barriers?
I could understand what must be happening without seeing it.
Then suddenly, the rookie officer noticed that one person’s name was missing.
His gaze shifted sideways.
There stood Cornelia Briam, the mayor, with a grim expression in front of the firmly closed door.
Yoo Jin’s fiancée.
“It’s a despairful situation…”
“Yeah. Best to ignore it until the door opens.”
The young officer and the chief of staff quietly slipped away.
Meanwhile, inside the barrier-encircled bedroom.
A fragrant scented candle and a large bed that had been placed there… had already been removed, and bright lights were now illuminating a huge map.
Jill, Yulia, Yerina, and Yoo Jin, surrounding it, all looked quite serious.
“So, is there a high probability that Linda’s betrayal was planned long ago?”
“100%. I’m sure. Linda has not updated a single time since I left. Since she hasn’t had to accept any external data, that means she couldn’t have been hacked in between. From the moment I disappeared, that is, even before the deal with the Union, she approached with the intention of double-crossing you all.”
“……”
The atmosphere became solemn.
Archives destroyed by Yoo Jin.
There was extensive evidence pointing that external connections should not have existed there, except for the one-sided communication line with the allied headquarters.
It was clear evidence that the place was built with the intention of stealing the Union’s information from the get-go.
Moreover, no matter how capable Linda was to access the communication line, was it really possible to seize the entire communication network across the continent at the exact same time?
Considering that there is always a delay in sending and receiving communication, it is absolutely impossible.
Linda must have planned the betrayal, determining an execution time and synchronized clocks across various regions.
“Was it a malfunction of the artificial soul…?”
An artificial soul malfunction.
It sounds plausible, but I strongly felt it wasn’t the case.
Linda, when last seen by Yoo Jin, had merely some resentment towards Cern, but it wasn’t a universal hatred towards humanity.
Yet one day, she suddenly chose self-harm and forced shutdown.
After being revived by Cern, she had turned completely.
Since there hadn’t been any updates since then, that three-year gap is meaningless.
On the day of her forced shutdown, all changes began.
[That day… The day when all powers were recouped from the current world.]
“Yeah. Do you find any clues?”
[Shocked as I was, I remember it vividly. As one who was closest to that individual, I had a certain degree of insight into their powers. All the powers were recouped in the current world, and an innumerable number of beams of light shot up towards the sky. Then, shortly after, a massive lump of power poured down from the heavens to one place.]
“……!”
Yoo Jin’s eyes twisted.
What was Draken attempting to achieve by recouping all powers?
What were the reclaimed powers used for?
It was all a simple story.
He intended to concentrate powers that had been indiscriminately scattered throughout the current world to one single spot.
[And while I can’t fully interpret that individual’s will… I’ve understood in bits and pieces that they seemed to be quite fond of the Northern Region’s Clockwork Machine, watching it closely.]
And the spot where Draken poured his powers was undoubtedly Linda.
He must have gone all-in to gain control over Linda.
Sensing that crisis, Linda quickly chose to end her life to prevent losing her body.
However, by the time she was restored and turned back on, Linda had already been seized by Draken.
“Linda… has been under Draken’s manipulation this whole time…?”
Everyone’s faces turned pale.
Even Luna, the one acting as a cardinal, and Belphegor, who had demon contractors throughout the nation, were significant headaches.
But to think that Linda, who handled almost all information of the Union, was actually Draken’s puppet.
Now, it’s safe to assume that Draken knows practically everything about the Union.
The military’s strength, vulnerabilities, everything.
From now on, it wouldn’t be strange if the entire army betrayed and turned its back on us instead of just the airship fleet.
“I’ll scrap all pre-established operational plans. From now on, I’ll create strategies against Draken at my discretion.”
Jill, Yulia, and Yerina silently nodded and gathered closer.
Since everything about our move was already read, there was no choice but to rely on Yoo Jin from here on.
.
.
.
[Hehe…]
Creek, creak.
Amidst the low-quality mechanical sounds that resembled a sneeze.
The sound of gears winding and screws tightening rang out continuously.
Apricot-colored silicone was draped over the skeletal clockwork machine.
Snip, snip, repeating the cutting with scissors and sticking pieces together, the skin began to adhere to the body.
After putting in the prosthetics and finishing with a hot air blower, the areas became indistinguishable from human skin.
[Hmm…]
Numerous eyes revealed themselves from the open box.
After gradually moving, the fingers selected the brown eyeballs and slipped them into place with a click.
Next were the wig, eyebrows, and nails…
After finishing the series of repairs, the reflection of the clockwork machine in the mirror was undeniably that of a beautiful woman.
With simple features and black hair.
[Hmm…]
The machine smiled as if satisfied, meticulously donned a maid’s outfit, and spun around.
Finally, when adjusting the vocal cords, the low-quality mechanical sound transformed into a smooth, feminine voice.
In this form, unless cut by a sword, no one would ever know it was a clockwork machine.
[Huh?]
Just then, the doorbell rang with a ding-dong.
An unfamiliar person stood at the door.
The clockwork machine, with a stiff expression, locked the maintenance room and opened the door in a demure posture.
[The Master is currently away-]
“I found you.”
Slap!
In that moment, a chilling sound echoed as the clockwork machine lost its balance.
In an instant, both legs were severed, causing the machine to fall to the ground.
Crimson blood erupted from the carefully fitted tubes acting as veins.
[Ah! Ughhh! What, what is this?! I’ll call the Knights! I’m calling the Knights!]
“……”
But the man merely continued to chop off the clockwork machine’s arms in silence.
The severed section lay bare, exposing its mechanical body.
As the clockwork machine looked up with a tear-streaked face, Yoo Jin removed his mask and murmured.
“The main body.”
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