Wallace (3)

It was an explicit declaration of war.

A sign that he would no longer overlook my behind-the-scenes meddling.

If his priority had been his plans until now, from this point forward he would prioritize eliminating me, who could ruin those plans.

That’s why he came to see me. Since he had decided on assassination rather than capture.

He wanted to see my face in advance, since he might never see it again.

“I’m honored that you’ll remember me. Seems we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on.”

“…”

“What? Feeling upset about getting informal speech from me here of all places?”

“You don’t seem afraid.”

Whoosh!

Belial’s shadows rippled before flying toward me.

The shadows that grazed exposed parts of my skin like my cheeks and wrists curved and hardened as if binding my body.

In that state, a shadow that seemed about to pierce straight through the center of my neck stopped just in front of it.

“I know that your empty threats can’t kill me right now.”

“Your hands are shaking quite a bit for someone saying that.”

“That’s just tremors. It’s a common condition for tobacco smokers.”

He can’t kill me. This much is certain. If he killed me here and now, it would lead straight to war even if he didn’t reveal his identity as a demon.

What Belial wants is humanity’s extinction, not the Pantheon Temple’s destruction.

For just that much…

He’s not the type to be satisfied.

“Your preparations aren’t complete yet, are they?”

One step. I gather my courage and stride toward where Belial stands.

At that, the shadow that looked about to pierce straight through my neck retreats.

See, you can’t kill me, can you?

“You know, I’ve been thinking. You’re not particularly exceptional in strength among the trials, are you?”

I recall my memories. Belial’s inconceivable miracle of dying the sky black and turning it to night.

In situations where he created environments locally advantageous to himself like that…

How many times did Belial appear directly on the frontlines to fight?

Though allied casualties were severe each time, were there really no survivors?

No, that’s not it.

“I’ll acknowledge you’re the most meticulous and horrifying trial.”

Belial lost a wing in his battle with Cotinus before the war intensified. Of course, considering that he unfurls over 12 wings when fighting seriously, it wasn’t that critical a wound.

But looking at it differently, Belial took damage equivalent to 1/12 of himself from just one human.

He’s certainly a monster who drove humanity to the brink of extinction.

However…

“Even if you kill me here and reveal your demon identity to wage war against the entire continent…”

I remember.

Before my regression, the path of death that the <Corruptor> Eremus scattered.

All life lost its light along the path he moved through, and many died from having their souls corroded just from meeting his gaze.

Power that transcends even time.

He was undoubtedly the uniquely monstrous one.

If his lifespan hadn’t run out.

If he had wanted to see it through to the end.

Humanity might have gone extinct from that alone.

But what about Belial?

Even if he covers the sky and creates eternal night, could he carry out slaughter on the scale of Eremus?

“Could you survive?”

He’s meticulous. He knows that as long as his identity isn’t revealed, no one can corner him.

He’s in a position that makes that possible.

But if we’re asking whether he’s a transcendent being or a mortal, he’s closer to mortal.

He’s not a unique and complete being, which is why he commands subordinates.

He lurks in darkness to utilize trials and make humans clash with humans.

What makes him frightening isn’t his power but his patience and meticulousness in preparing beneath the surface for thousands of years.

“You’re not ready yet.”

He only revealed himself properly after over half the empire had turned to ruins. In that state, he swept through the empire with overwhelming military force.

The alliance of remaining humans and other races that opposed him held out for 5 years.

And they might have held out longer.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see that end.

“All you can do is hide in the shadows and pull cheap tricks.”

Humanity can defeat Belial now. For the final chapter of the trials, his stature falls short.

That’s why he went into hiding. To wait for the perfect opportunity.

That’s why he came to see me. To soon eliminate me, who was destroying all those opportunities.

“So take this away.”

I place my hand on the blade of shadows surrounding me.

I push aside the shadows hindering my movement as I advance.

Though my palm was cut by those blades and blood dripped down, I paid it no mind as I stood directly before him.

Last time, was I so terrified that I desperately tried to find some way?

“Stop putting on that deep voice and just say what you want to say before getting out.”

We still haven’t proven he’s a demon. Because his power differs from demonic energy, we can’t use it as evidence of him being a demon.

Perhaps he even created this recognition itself. Over thousands of years, he probably separated his authority from the power known as demonic energy.

I’ll acknowledge that point.

“There’s nothing you can do to mess around here.”

Crack!

I weave my holy blood flowing over his shadows into chains and shatter those shadows.

Something impossible before has become possible for me now.

Yes, I no longer need to fear him.

My blood already contains holiness.

A fact I could realize after hearing Cotinus’s advice.

That I’m already practically walking holiness.

Beyond the holiness I manifest, my flesh and blood contain holiness.

The sacred scars that form on my palms each time I create chains follow similar logic. It’s a ritual to assist the chains generated from thin air.

Chains that pierce through and entangle the shadows, shattering them, and shadows that surge in response to destroy those chains.

A battle of nerves between apostle and demon.

Realizing nothing more was possible from this, Belial quietly withdraws his shadows.

“…I’ll acknowledge it.”

Taking a step back, Belial raises both hands with a sneer.

Right, this level of nerve battle was just play anyway.

If he got serious he could pressure me plenty, but at that point hiding would become impossible.

Even if his demon identity wasn’t exposed, the act of attacking an apostle inside the Pantheon Temple would be fatal.

Only now did he return to Wallace Hope’s appearance.

“You’re right. I haven’t obtained unmatched strength. Even over thousands of years. Well, it’s not that I didn’t have opportunities but… You destroyed them yourself, didn’t you?”

He must be talking about Pinocchio. He probably planned to absorb Pinocchio whole someday.

Though I don’t think something that didn’t happen even by the time of my regression would happen now.

He must have had such thoughts when corrupting Pinocchio. He just changed plans partway through.

“…Perhaps.”

Anyway, since Belial withdrew his shadows, I had no choice but to withdraw my chains too. We have no means to prove he’s a demon anyway.

If someone had seen me alone drawing weapons in this situation, only rumors of the Pantheon Temple oppressing House Hope would spread.

The damn politics created by humans have become a restraint entangled in the battle for humanity’s survival.

“But just as my preparations aren’t complete, you have no means to prove me either. In the end, you’ll just have to suck your thumbs until I finish my preparations…”

“There could be one more way.”

I have no intention of waiting until he finishes his preparations.

I don’t want to see him dye the sky black again.

Of course, there are no means to prove he’s a demon either.

If the Pantheon Temple side ignored public opinion and struck first, whose side would the empire’s emperor take?

The Pantheon Temple as an independent organization? Or the historic House Hope that has been with the empire since its founding?

It’s obvious.

That’s why he’s so confident. He thinks no one can touch him until he finishes his preparations.

“What if I finish my preparations first?”

“…Such impudent words.”

“Would it matter even if I take your head by my own judgment?”

“If by some chance that were possible. Could you handle the empire’s fury that would follow?”

“What does it matter?”

He probably wants to ask about the aftermath if I succeed in gathering enough power to kill Belial.

But the premise is wrong.

“Once you’re dead, would it matter if just one person like me dies?”

“Ah! Yes, how magnificent.”

By then, I’ll walk into the execution grounds of my own accord.

That role is enough for me.

Who knows if he’ll keep silent until his preparations are complete even if I stay silent until my lifespan runs out?

I have no regrets if I can eliminate a demon at the cost of my life.

“Someone with nothing to lose is frightening indeed.”

“Indeed. It was foolish of me to ask someone with no future what they’d do about the aftermath. Kekeke.”

Rather than showing displeasure at my answer, Belial grabs his forehead as if amused and cackles.

“Our conversation just now made it clear.”

Belial, who had been bursting into grotesque laughter, suddenly turns serious and speaks.

“How to make you most miserable.”

“…”

“That’s what I wanted to say today.”

Tap tap.

Belial taps the ground with his staff a few times before speaking with a grin.

“Do you know who survives long wars? The brave general? The great commander? Those belonging to large armies with abundant resources?”

Unlike his grotesque smile from before, that smile was like one worn by a sage who had lived long years, so…

“No, no. That’s not it. That might be true for short wars. But in long wars, all those things get swept away by fate.”

“…”

“Those who survive long wars are cowardly weaklings.”

Conversely, it sent chills down my spine.

Because the meaning in those words contained not a demon’s malice but truly the time of one who had endured long years.

“You say you’ll become a threat to me? That you’re fine with sacrificing yourself after killing me?”

He reaches out to grab my wrist. Leading my hand to his neck like that, Belial speaks.

“Do you think I’ll just let that happen? I’m confident I can waste a hundred years just hindering your growth.”

“…”

“I’m saying it’s no problem for me to constantly check you while maintaining this wretched life without doing anything.”

He has lurked in shadows plotting humanity’s extinction.

And that fruition must not be far off. Looking at the world before my regression, the answer is clear.

He has already begun moving. That’s why he moved the <Corruptor> and <Future Drawer>.

Plans built up over thousands of years.

“Don’t think I can’t do it. Even thousands of years were but a fleeting moment to me. I have no problem building up that time again. Just that much. Did you think I would feel humiliated about wasting time on a single human?”

He can prioritize survival even if it means throwing all that away.

That’s what makes Belial frightening.

“Wrong. That’s how I survived. I survived those long years in such a cowardly way. Would this time be any different?”

The method of a cowardly weakling who prioritizes survival without getting drunk on power.

“You don’t know. You don’t know with what feelings I lived all those countless years mixed among disgusting creatures like you. No one can understand this degradation of mine.”

Demon. No, a being who has endured thousands of years. What I face is not just a trial with powerful strength.

“What do you think has been the driving force behind my endurance all this time living in a world where everything is worthless?”

“…”

“It was solely the will to exterminate all of you. The blind faith that I would overturn the outcome! Yet you say you’ll interfere with that?”

It was emotion.

“Mere creatures like you?”

And intense emotions that hadn’t faded even after thousands of years…

“How pitiful. You can’t even begin to fathom me.”

It was primal hatred.