Chapter 12
The Fate-Shattering Researcher
Part 4
On a certain sunny day, while flying through the sky without any particular aim, I saw a familiar town come into view.
It was ‘Forest Lake’. It’s a town with many dangers for a demon like me, so I’d been careful not to stop by too often, but it seems I ended up here by chance. Because of that, I ended up recalling events from ten years ago.
That human named Eric… A hateful memory I remember, albeit dimly and vaguely.
But, putting aside my memories with that human, the money from that time provided good entertainment. So many humans took the bait when I flashed bundles of bills before their eyes. I used it on alcohol, gambling, brothels—all sorts of things—but it’s all gone now.
Ten years have passed since then, but I haven’t heard a single thing about Lord Diabolos.
Human magic technology has also advanced, and humans have become more troublesome than before.
I was about to leave before being found, but I suddenly felt like checking if that hideout still existed. It was probably either ransacked or exactly as it was back then, but I had come here, even if by chance. I’m bored, so heading there isn’t a bad idea.
Relying on my faded memories, I walked for a while, carefully observing the area below the cliff. I arrived at a rock that was slightly, unnaturally raised. If I listened carefully, I could faintly hear the sound of air.
No mistake, this is it. The magical tool seemed to be still intact and unbroken, and it didn’t look like it would open even if pulled. Just like back then, I used magic to make my body intangible and entered inside.
The inside of the cave was exactly as it used to be, completely unchanged.
Yes, completely unchanged… and there was a light.
I’m sure it was a magical tool lit by magical power. Is it possible for it to stay lit for ten years without any magical power replenishment? As I was wondering this, I thought the light swayed just a little.
Someone’s here…
A thief or something? There shouldn’t have been anything valuable.
The magical tools might fetch some money if sold, but they’re old models, and the amount obtainable would be trivial. Not worth the effort. Slowly, I peeked from around the corner into the small study that should be there.
“Ha!?”
An unexpected event made me let out a voice unintentionally. A human… and a small child around ten years old was there.
That white-haired child was sitting on a chair, just like Eric used to. That alone probably wouldn’t have caught my attention much, but what surprised me was their soul.
The distorted, stitched-together soul was exactly the same as Eric’s.
The form of a soul reflects the person’s humanity more than their physical body. I’ve observed many humans until now, but the only human with such a distinctive soul I know of is that guy.
“Hmm? Oh, you are…”
The child turned around, and their red eyes met my gaze.
They held a quill pen in one hand and were writing something on a large piece of paper.
The books placed on the desk were also the same books about demons from that time. And the notebook I desperately filled with pages while looking at the materials back then was also placed nearby.
“…Eric, you were safe?”
In a state of half-belief, half-doubt, I approached the child. A large world map was drawn on the desk. Several X marks were placed on forests far from towns in the northern region.
“Eric, are you still searching for Lord Diabolos?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah.”
I can’t understand what’s going on. Is he saying Eric has returned as a child?
His appearance is different, but his actions and soul are the same as Eric’s. I hear there’s a concept of reincarnation in the human world, but I was told one is reborn as a different person with different memories and thoughts. So does that mean Eric didn’t die and his body became a child’s?
I understand less and less.
“Hey, won’t you give up searching for Lord Diabolos? Eric, you’ve already tried hard enough. Even if your appearance has changed, my feelings haven’t.”
“Your feelings haven’t changed… meaning…?”
“I want you to come with me.”
I don’t understand the meaning, but it’s a chance to settle my feelings from back then. I’ve stopped thinking leisurely, like ‘after I get to meet Lord Diabolos.’ Taking him to a human auction site in the demon world might help clear my mood a little.
Even if I don’t understand the logic, since he still remembers and is obsessed with his research, he should naturally remember me, who treated him so well. A lonely human wouldn’t forget one of the few beings who was kind to him.
I reached out my hand to Eric and smiled warmly.
“…Sorry, who are you?”
“Huh?”
After all that time we spent together, after I was so kind to him. I thought he would naturally take my hand. The unexpected response made my mind go blank for a moment.
“I-It’s me. Abyss, who was with you all the time.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I have no intention of giving up, so please leave. I’m busy making maps.”
Saying that, Eric turned his gaze back to the paper spread on the desk.
His attitude, as if I were beneath his notice, was infuriating.
“Don’t ignore me, human!!”
I stomped on the floor with all my might. The floor underfoot, made of thin planks, broke, and the sound of splintering wood and the impact echoed through the narrow cave. At my voice, Eric flinched, his shoulders shaking, and his wide, surprised eyes turned towards me.
“You little human brat, you dare make me angry not once, but twice? Let me tell you, everything you’re doing is pointless!! The documents here, that map-making, the compiled notes—it’s all useless. Someone like you, a mere human, cannot meet such a personage.”
“…I’ll decide what’s pointless or not. I will definitely find Dia. No matter how many times I’m reborn, this is the one thing I won’t give up on.”
Eric was initially surprised by my reaction, but he responded without batting an eye. Perhaps wary, he didn’t lower his gaze to the desk like before, but his attitude displeased me. My irritation grew at the red eyes glaring at me as if to say I was a nuisance. His very presence before me was unpleasant.
I began gathering magical power in my palm. The magic power grew intensely hot, and in an instant, black flames ignited in my palm.
Eric’s eyes widened in a flustered manner, but it was too late.
“Turn to ash!!”
Swinging my arm widely, the flame in my palm shot straight towards Eric like a bullet.
“Hey… so impatient…!”
Naturally, it should have hit Eric, and he should have been charred in an instant… or so I thought, but a transparent wall appeared around Eric, and the flame that hit it scattered into mist.
It seemed to be a barrier spell.
But that’s strange… My flame, from a thousand years of life, shouldn’t be something a human’s hastily erected barrier can block. Moreover, I sensed a strange magical power from the barrier. A feeling of unease, as if static electricity was running all over my body just from standing there.
I had thought Eric was a mage because he used magical tools, but I hadn’t sensed any magical power from him until now. Facing the barrier, I finally understood a little that it was a strange magical power. I’m not good at sensing magical power, but could it really be that I couldn’t detect it until he used magic?
…I’ve heard that while the number of humans who can wield it is small, there is a type of magical power that is difficult for demons to perceive and is effective against demons. Could this possibly be…
“Demon-sealing power…?”
“Hmm…? Ahh!!”
Eric let out a cry, looking at the notebook on the desk.
The notebook I desperately compiled ten years ago. The barrier prevented a direct hit on Eric, but the hastily erected barrier wasn’t large, and it seemed part of the flame, before scattering, had landed on the notebook.
The flame slowly grew larger, engulfing the notebook.
Eric frantically tried to beat it out with another nearby book, but it had no effect.
Of course not. My ability’s black flame, once ignited, won’t extinguish until it has completely burned up its target. The sight of the human who had been defiantly glaring at me moments ago now panicking was delightful.
I created the black flame with magic again. I set fire not to Eric, but to this hidden room. Not a large blaze all at once, but keeping it small. Watch helplessly as everything slowly burns to ash.
“Well then, what will you do? At this rate, everything will burn to ash in tens of minutes?”
“Ugh… How could you do something so terrible!”
Eric glared at me with teary eyes, but I even found it pleasant. The notebook was almost completely burned, and he seemed to have given up on extinguishing it. Now, what will he do next?
Eric, looking very regretful at the notebook, seemed to remember something and reached for a drawer deep in the room. What he pulled from the drawer were two large bottles. They seemed to contain some transparent liquid. Eric threw away the bottle caps and swung the bottles vigorously, splashing the liquid inside all over the room.
“My flame won’t be extinguished by mere water, you know?”
Thinking things couldn’t possibly take a turn for the better with this, I watched leisurely from a distance.
But the moment the water from the bottles scattered throughout the room, my flame immediately lost its power and vanished. All the flames that had spread to the furniture, floor, and various documents. They disappeared as if blown out in an instant, and I felt an illusion as if time had stopped for a moment.
“Impossible…”
The room only smelled of scorching but was completely extinguished. Some things had burned away, but most books and furniture remained.
My magical flame shouldn’t be extinguished by mere water. Even if it were a normal flame, the amount of water in those bottles shouldn’t be able to extinguish flames engulfing an entire room. Stunned, unable to believe the scene before my eyes, something came flying towards me with great force.
“Kuh…!”
I hastily erected a barrier around myself, and the flying object was deflected with a dull thud. It was the other bottle of liquid. The cap was already off, and the contents flew out as it was deflected. The moment the liquid inside touched the barrier, the barrier sizzled and dissolved away as if melting.
And without a moment to be taken aback, the liquid poured down vigorously onto my right shoulder, which was inside the barrier.
“GGAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
An intense pain I had never felt before raced through my entire body.
There was a sound like water evaporating, and I was enveloped in steam.
My right shoulder, where the liquid landed, was hot.
When I touched it with my left hand, I felt something viscous. It was my own skin and blood, melted and stained blackish. The intense pain made it hard to even stand, and I fell to my knees on the spot. My right shoulder was melted, the wound so deep I could see inside the muscle. It was stained black, and my melted right hand wouldn’t move at all.
I tried to understand what had happened, but the pain prevented coherent thought.
After crouching there for a few seconds, I heard a clunk sound of footsteps and looked up.
I met Eric’s eyes, filled with rage.
“What have you done!! Even though there are copies, I can’t forgive you for trying to burn everything! If you interfere, I won’t hold back!!”
Magical power overflowed from Eric’s body.
I couldn’t gauge the total amount, but for some reason, my trembling wouldn’t stop. A chill ran through my whole body, and even though I knew all too well that I was in danger if I didn’t escape, I couldn’t move. Rather, the intense pain made it hard to even maintain consciousness.
A magic circle appeared on a nearby wall, and I knew instinctively that I would be killed if this continued.
It’s unthinkable for me to feel fear towards a human. For me to lose… in a place like this… to such a small child, such a thing must not happen…
“Killing me is pointless… Even if you’re lucky enough to meet Lord Diabolos, you’ll die without being able to do anything anyway…”
All I could do was attack with words.
Desperately suppressing the trembling of my lips, I squeezed a voice from my throat, wanting to at least retaliate.
“Dia won’t kill me. Because we have a contract.”
“A contract? No such thing exists. Keep your delusions in check.”
“It seems it doesn’t exist, but I met him in person and made a contract. We properly pinky-swore.”
He held out his right hand, raising his pinky finger. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Eric puffed out his cheeks but showed no sign of staying quiet.
“Even if your delusion were true, you’re being deceived. You’re the only one clinging on, it’s ridiculous.”
“Well, the possibility that Dia has already forgotten isn’t zero, but a contract is a contract. Even if he’s forgotten, he can’t break it. Dia has a duty to stay by my side.”
“What’s with this ‘Dia’称呼 (way of addressing him) since a while ago… You’re a disgusting human. It’s audacious enough to address that personage like that, but you speak as if you have all rights over him… This is beyond impudent…”
“It’s not impudent. Because Dia is mine.”
What has this human been saying all this time? We’re completely talking past each other. No matter how you think about it, it’s a delusion, yet I couldn’t hide my agitation at his powerfully and clearly spoken words.
“Dia is mine!! Whether Dia forgets or falls in love with someone else, the fact doesn’t change. If he’s forgotten, I’ll just beat it into him until he remembers. If he tries to leave my side, I’ll bind him with chains. He will live his whole life with me and sleep with me!!”
A shiver ran down my spine.
Ah, I remember. I’ve experienced this sensation only once before.
It was when he first brought materials related to Lord Diabolos. Eric was stroking the picture of Lord Diabolos with eyes dyed in obsession and madness. I thought the instinctive fear I felt then was surely just my imagination. No, I wanted to think that.
My pride wouldn’t allow me to feel fear towards a human like this.
If I had left back then… No, if I hadn’t burned the hideout and provoked him, this wouldn’t have happened. By giving him knowledge I shouldn’t have, I may have unleashed a terrifying existence upon the world.
As the light of the magic circle floating on the wall grew larger, several magical chains shot out from the circle towards me.
I wanted to escape, but my body wouldn’t move properly. Unable to resist, I was bound in an instant and pulled into the magic circle. I grabbed onto a protruding rock with my left hand to resist, but for some reason, no strength entered my body. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before I was sucked into the magic circle.
“Don’t fuck with me… To a brat like this… I’m a demon who’s lived a thousand years… I won’t accept this fate!!”
I resisted by grabbing the rock, but half my body was already being sucked into the magic circle. Once my whole body enters the inside of the magic circle, what will become of me? There was no means left to break through this hopeless situation.
“…I see, you’ve lived a thousand years too, huh. Then you should have found a different way to live much sooner.”
“Eric… What are you saying…”
I looked up, and Eric was looking at me with pitying eyes.
The chains pulled me even more strongly, and my resistance was in vain as I was sucked into the magic circle.
“It’s not Eric. My current name is Akatsuki.”
Just before I was completely sucked in, Eric said that.
The way he looked at me with eyes shining like the dawn was just like a demon’s.
