Up until now, there had only been a single Noir Giabella within this dream, but from now on, there would be two. Noir separated a clone of herself who would continue to act as the narrator, playing out her memory, while she herself would now be acting as a spectator.
The reason for this was simply so that she could link her arms together with Eugene. As she watched her dream self follow the same movements she had made in her own memory, Noir whispered to Eugene, who was struggling beside her, “Though it’s a bit weird for me to say this myself, but, Hamel, don’t you think that I look just perfect.” Noir almost sounded like she was bragging.
“Let go,” Eugene demanded.
“There’s no point in talking about the obvious details, like my face or body. All of my external features are, of course, flawless. By the way, Hamel, do you know I can cater to and accommodate every and all tastes. If you prefer smaller breasts over larger breasts, then I can just transform myself up to a certain extent,” Noir offered.
“I said, let go of me,” Eugene insisted.
“And I do mean what I say. I really can cater to whatever sort of tastes that you might have,” Noir said seductively. “Even if it’s something that you would never talk about to anyone else… even if it’s the most shameful and twisted of fetishes. Also, I’m really only saying this just in case, but Hamel, if it so happens that you’re gay instead of straight, I can—”
“Let go, you crazy bitch!” Eugene roared as he frantically tried to twist his body free.
Only then did Noir let go of his arm with a slight smile on her face.
“It’s just a joke, Hamel. Please don’t be too angry with me,” Noir pleaded, only to smirk soon after. “Or was it really a joke? I started out trying to be serious, but my tongue seems to have gotten away from me at some point. The fact is that I do look perfect. There’s no room for argument in that. Not just in terms of outer beauty, but also in terms of personality and background.”
“Don’t you feel ashamed or embarrassed to say such things yourself?” Eugene accused.
If Mer had heard these words, she would have snorted while pointing out the shamefulness of Eugene’s own usual behavior. However, as Mer wasn’t present right now, Eugene was able to accuse Noir without feeling any such compunctions.
Noir raised an eyebrow, “What’s so shameful and embarrassing about saying something like that when I’ve only come to such an evaluation after giving it serious consideration?”
To some extent, Noir’s response managed to resonate with Eugene’s heart and sway him to agree with her, but the murderous intent and annoyance that Noir sparked within him were far stronger than such enticements.
Eugene just silently glared at her without making any sort of response. Noir’s shoulders shook tearfully as she whispered to herself, “However, even someone as perfect as I have become a fool in the face of love.”
A foul curse crawled up Eugene’s throat, but instead of letting it burst out, Eugene clamped his lips shut. This was because he felt it would be impossible to even try and have a sensible conversation with such an idiot.
While all this was happening, the Noir within the dream had arrived somewhere significant.
This mansion, like all other buildings within the city of Ravesta, had no light source, and the walls were an even darker shade of black.
As Noir descended onto a garden that didn’t have even a single blade of grass growing within it, she unconsciously burst into laughter.
“Woof woof!”
This barking noise was actually made by Noir.
Hemoria was leaning with her back against a dog house designed to look like a barn. She had a large dog collar around her neck and a thick chain connecting the collar to a stake in the ground. She glared at Noir, refusing to make a similar barking noise back at Noir.
“That costume really suits you, no?” Noir complimented as she smirked at Hemoria.
This was the Inquisitor who had once been called the ‘Guillotine’ by the Holy Empire’s Bureau of Inquisition, the Maleficarum. However, after being excommunicated from the Holy Empire, she had now become someone who didn’t officially exist and had been turned into Amelia Merwin’s pet.
In the past, Hemoria had always worn a metal mask that already covered her entire mouth, but her current mask now also had a protruding snout resembling that of a dog.
Grk….
The sound of grinding teeth could be heard coming from inside Hemoria’s protruding mask. Laughing at Hemoria, Noir approached the door to the mansion.
“I see that she’s still grinding her teeth,” Eugene commented as he glanced at Hemoria with a click of his tongue.
Seeing as how her hair was a wild mess, and her eyes were full of venomous resentment, it seemed like Hemoria had been through a lot of hardships since he last saw her.
‘If she had just gone and died back then, she wouldn’t have had to suffer like this,’ Eugene thought to himself as he turned to look ahead.
The Noir in the dream opened the door without waiting for permission and headed on in.
“You’ve got quite the kind personality,” Eugene said sarcastically.
Noir accepted the compliment calmly, “My demeanor has always been this excellent, but what prompts you to bring up such a thing so suddenly?”
“You left that shitty bitch alone even after she glared at you,” Eugene pointed out.
“Ahahaha, I was wondering what you were trying to say. Hamel, if an ant crawling on the ground were to glare up at you, would you really feel the need to stomp it to death because of that? Also, instead of ending her miserable life by grinding her beneath my heel, it would be a much more painful fate for her to continue to live while crawling on the ground,” Noir explained with a giggle as she followed her dream self forward.
Eugene changed the subject, “Amelia Merwin. What is that rotten bitch doing here and not in her desert? Alphiero claimed that there aren’t any humans living in Ravesta, but she is a human, isn’t she?”
“Amelia Merwin isn’t actually a human,” Noir corrected.
Eugene was taken aback, “What?”
“Although her human characteristics are prominent, she’s actually half-human, half-demonfolk,” Noir explained.
Eugene’s eyes widened at these words. Although mixed races born between different species were already rare enough, the rarest of all such pairings were those born between humans and demonfolks. Eugene was reminded of Eileen Plott, the half-vampire bishop of Alcarte.
Noir continued to speak, “Amelia’s mother was a demonfolk from Ravesta who was impregnated by a human while she was out in the world. She later returned to Ravesta to give birth to her child, and voila, that’s how Amelia Merwin was born.”
“Hmm…,” Eugene huffed as he processed this revelation.
“That’s why Amelia is a special case. She’s a mixed race born between a human and a demonfolk. Even though those born from such a mix usually aren’t able to awaken their dark power like ordinary demonfolk, Amelia was able to awaken her dark power all on her own and became a black wizard. That means she didn’t see the need to follow her mother’s example to make a contract with the Demon King of Destruction.” Noir turned to Eugene with a smile and said, “Also, Amelia is currently here in Ravesta… because she’s afraid.”
“Afraid?” Eugene repeated, his brows furrowing as he felt confused by what Noir was saying.
As they walked down a dark hallway, Noir whispered to Eugene, “Just think about it, Hamel. Until the Knight March a few months ago, Amelia Merwin didn’t even consider you to be a threat. She doesn’t know that you’re actually Hamel, and she usually keeps that Death Knight that thinks of itself as the ‘Stupid Hamel’ by her side to act as her guard.”
“Even though that bastard is so fucking weak,” Eugene grumbled, still maintaining a furrowed brow.
Though, in fact, such a rude assessment was practically spitting into his own face. This was because, after excluding the fact that its memories had been altered, if you only looked at its combat ability, there was no doubt that the Death Knight was at the same level that Hamel had been when he was still alive.
Noir nodded, “That’s right, for you, who has surpassed the level you had in your previous life, I’m sure he’s no longer your opponent. Amelia Merwin has also realized the truth of that. After all, Hamel, you did defeat the Death Knight when you killed Edmond in the Samar Rainforest. So what do you think Amelia Merwin’s first thoughts were when she discovered such a fact?”
Instead of replying, Eugene’s lips twitched in a smirk.
Glancing over at the sarcastic smile on Eugene’s face, Noir chuckled and continued speaking, “On top of that, you even managed to resurrect the Wise Sienna, now haven’t you? Now that you’ve done all that, even Amelia, who used to be so fearless, couldn’t help but start to feel afraid. After all, she does have plenty of reasons to feel guilty.”
It was just as Noir had said. Sienna harbored an enormous grudge towards Amelia for her desecration of Hamel’s tomb and especially his corpse.
“So because of that, she abandoned her dungeon in the desert and ended up here?” Eugene asked.
“That’s right,” Noir confirmed. “After all, even you would find it difficult to force your way in if it's here. And Hamel, you don’t plan to provoke the Demon King of Destruction so quickly, now do you?”
It would be insane to even think of heading toward the Demon King of Destruction before he had even managed to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration. No matter how much he wanted to get rid of Amelia, Eugene at least had enough self-control to keep himself from doing that.
However, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of annoyance rising within him because of this.
As Eugene’s face crumpled into a scowl, Noir, who was still glancing towards him, whispered with a smile, “If you want to kill Amelia, there’s no need for you to come all the way here.”
“What are you trying to say?” Eugene asked suspiciously.
Noir waved off his question, “Well, you’ll understand once you’ve watched a bit further.”
Noir’s dream self suddenly halted her steps. With a silent laugh, she spun to the side and reached out her hand. At this gesture, the darkness in the hallway parted, and a door opened in front of her.
Even from within the dream, Eugene was able to sense how heavy and violent the dark power spilling out of that room was. Standing behind Noir, Eugene looked over her shoulder and into the room.
He saw something wriggling on the ground, wrapped in rolls of paper talismans like they were being used as bandages. The shape of the squirming figure wasn’t quite clear. It looked a bit like a jiggling slime and also a bit like a shadow that was sent writhing across a wall when a light illuminating a dark room flickered.
The thing made some kind of muffled noise.
Although Eugene couldn’t hear it clearly, it sounded like it was trying to speak in a hoarse man’s voice. But that short burst of sound was enough for Eugene to feel an intense murderous desire and hatred rising within him, allowing him to quickly realize what this figure was.
“It seems you’re tied up in something?” the dream Noir whispered. Nodding her head in greeting towards the spirit wriggling within the darkness, Noir called out, “Hello, Hamel.”
Though her dream self had called it Hamel, Noir knew perfectly well that this thing wasn’t actually Hamel. However, she thought it was funny and amusing to watch this thing continue to believe it was actually Hamel and try to act like he would.
But if this thing were to complete its transformation by struggling forward with such misconceptions, if this imitation were to somehow manage to become almost identical to the real thing, Noir had her hopes that it might become quite the interesting specimen.
“...oir… …ella…,” the thing groaned.
“That’s right, it’s me, Hamel, Noir Giabella,” Noir said softly. “Your appearance seems quite different from when I last saw you in Babel, no?”
The figure remained silent.
Noir sighed, “As a Death Knight who has lost his body, all that remains of you is your soul. To think that that woman, Amelia, would be so cruel, she doesn’t even allow the dead to have their proper rest… and she keeps on placing such burdens on you. Don’t you think so, too, Hamel?”
The Death Knight continued to hold its tongue.
“The body that proved who you really were… has now disappeared. And it’s all because of Vermouth’s descendant, Eugene Lionheart. Now that you’ve turned out like this, the only thing that proves you are ‘Hamel’ is…,” Noir’s voice trailed off as she stooped down and extended a finger towards the darkness.
Skillfully pretending sympathy, Noir continued, “The only thing left is the poor soul squirming in front of me right now. However, Hamel, you should know this as well, right? That no one in the world would think of ‘Hamel Dynas’ if they could see you right now. The world still remembers you as the ‘Stupid Hamel’ who died three hundred years ago. Who on earth could have imagined that such a hero would be corrupted and become a Death Knight?”
There was only silence at Noir’s provocative words.
“Of course, you must feel aggrieved by that. You definitely still do exist, and you remain aware of your own true identity, but what can you do? After all, even I have to wonder… are you really the Hamel I once knew? On top of that, in your current state, you can’t really be described as ‘just’ you, can you? It seems that far too many things have been mixed in with you,” Noir sighed regretfully.
Eugene stared at the twisted spirit with a complex emotion in his eyes.
It was a fake created by basing its personality on the memories lingering within Hamel’s corpse. Or at least, that was what it had been when they had met in the Rainforest. But currently, that thing couldn’t even rightly be called a Death Knight any longer, as, like Noir had said, many other things seemed to have been mixed into it until the thing’s very soul had become polluted.
However….
There was something that Eugene could be sure of. Even though its body had disappeared, and too many things had been infused into it, this spirit would adamantly refuse to despair or be discouraged by its situation.
As long as that thing continued to hold on to Hamel’s memories and thought of itself as Hamel, that is. Especially since it sincerely believed the story that its false memories had told it that Hamel was “betrayed” by his comrades after ascending to the Demon King of Incarceration’s castle.
In Eugene’s opinion — when placed in such a situation, Hamel would never despair, no matter how poor the current conditions were. As long as he had a goal to pursue, Hamel would always survive somehow, even if that goal was to reunite with his former comrades and seek revenge.
Or perhaps….
‘It might just want to ask them why they did it,’ Eugene silently sighed.
Or rather, that was definitely what it wanted to do. The Hamel in Eugene’s memories was definitely someone with that personality. After having been in a situation where he felt that he didn’t have much time left and still insisted on climbing up towards the Demon King of Incarceration’s castle, if such a person were to actually believe that he had died, not from an ugly self-inflicted death, but from a betrayal by his comrades, then….
As someone who had already gone through the despair of that realization and clawed his way up through such a hell, Eugene believed that there was no way that ‘he’ would give up when in such a situation.
The soul kept refusing to say anything in response.
Noir shrugged at the spirit’s refusal to show any reaction and turned to look behind her.
“Now, how did you end up like that?” Noir asked.
Standing behind her was Amelia Merwin.
From what Eugene could see, Amelia currently looked ridiculous. Just like the spirit lying on the floor, Amelia’s whole body was wrapped up in paper talismans like a mummy’s bandages. Taking a closer look at her face, which had the fewest bandages on it, Eugene saw that the surface of her skin seemed to be cracked as if it might break apart at any moment.
“What are you doing here?” Amelia demanded in a raspy voice.
The cracks didn’t just spread across her skin; they even reached into her eyes, so when Amelia’s brow furrowed in a frown, her eyes physically cracked apart.
Noir sniffed, “It’s my freedom to go wherever I please. Don’t you agree?”
“This… is Ravesta. This isn’t a territory that the likes of you are permitted to enter,” Amelia insisted.
“Ahem, it doesn’t seem like such a forbidden zone to me, though? The only one who can ban me from entering this fief is the Demon King of Destruction himself, but I haven’t heard any reprimands from him,” Noir said with a giggle as she walked over to Amelia. “Or perhaps, has the Demon King of Destruction said anything to you? Has he told you that he is displeased with me?”
Amelia was unable to answer her questions.
“Aha,” Noir suddenly said as she nodded her head. “Now I understand why you look like that. It’s already been several decades since you first left this place, but… this is the first time you’ve returned here since you signed a contract with the Demon King of Incarceration, isn’t it?”
Instead of replying, Amelia bit down on her lip.
“Moreover, since you’ve now become the ‘Staff’ of Incarceration, you should have received even more of the Demon King of Incarceration’s dark power.” Noir burst into laughter, “Ahahaha… does it feel like your very existence is being rejected by the land itself? If you were also a deceased spirit without a physical body of your own, you might have been able to blend the two powers together, but since you’re not dead yet, the powers aren’t able to get along within your flesh, causing your whole body to crumble into pieces.”
“Have you come here just to mock me?” Amelia scowled.
“No way. Do I really look like I have enough time to do something like that? I’ve come here for a much different reason,” Noir said with a smile.
Even as she continued to smile brightly, Noir pinched her nose as if smelling something nasty.
“However, after seeing you like this, I couldn’t help but mock you,” Noir admitted. “So much so that even I am troubled by how the urge to mock you has gotten the better of me despite my best intentions otherwise. After all, the hometown you decided to return to out of fear doesn’t seem willing to protect you. So, Amelia Merwin, how does it feel to be dying?”
Amelia bit harder on her lip.
“Poor Amelia Merwin,” Noir sighed. “No wonder you smell like a rotting corpse. It’s funny how the smell of those rotten bodies that you so loved to play with and embrace is now emanating from your own body.”
Mutual repulsion: this was a concept that even Eugene found easy to understand.
Noir Giabella had never made a contract with the Demon King of Incarceration. So, her dark power belonged solely to herself. On the other hand, Amelia had made a contract with the Demon King of Incarceration, which meant she was drawing on his dark power. That was why she was now receiving backlash from staying within Ravesta.
‘So what she said earlier was true… there’s no need for me to come all the way here just to kill Amelia Merwin,’ Eugene realized. ‘Since Amelia can’t last much longer within Ravesta in any case.’
As for that deceased soul — no, that spirit had never actually died in the first place — that artificial soul and the things that had been mixed into it were now blending together along with the ambient dark power.
However, Amelia wasn’t able to reconcile with the ambient dark power like the spirit could, so all she could do was forcefully endure the pain. So unless Amelia truly wanted to die, she would eventually have no choice but to leave Ravesta.
“If you’ve finished… mocking me… then please leave,” Amelia requested curtly after a pause.
“When it comes to mocking you, I have enough material to last several more days. However, I do agree to stop here, Amelia Merwin. Although I don’t like you, that doesn’t mean I hate you,” Noir said as she walked over to Amelia. “I’m asking this just in case, but do you know where the palace of the Demon King of Destruction is located?”
“No, I don’t,” Amelia quickly denied.
“Really?” Noir asked doubtfully.
Amelia scoffed, “Even if I did know where it was, I have no intention of telling you. In the first place, what are you even—”
Noir interrupted her, “The truth is, I didn’t actually come here looking for directions.”
Her amusement-laden voice had Amelia furrowing her brow in concern.
“The reason I came here… is just that I was curious about how you and Hamel were doing. That’s all there was to it,” Noir claimed as she slowly raised her hands.
Amelia, who was carefully watching Noir, soon realized something was wrong, and her face twisted into a panicked expression, “Hold on, Giabe—”
Booom!
Noir slammed both of her raised arms down. At this gesture, the space around them shook violently, and the mansion began to collapse.
Boooom!
Noir swung her arms once more. The immense amounts of dark power wielded by Noir managed to shatter space itself.
“Stop!” Amelia screamed.
The various spells that she had embedded into the mansion were being shattered by Noir’s rampage, and the backlash of their shattering caused Amelia to spew out a dark mouthful of blood.
“Ahahaha!” Noir laughed crazily as she continued to strike out with her dark power, one blow after another.
Groooooan!
The demonfolk who had been standing guard outside of the mansion started to rush towards the noise. Among their number was Alphiero, who had escorted Noir on the way here. His expression showed that he never could have imagined that Noir would do something this barbaric and violent here, in the center of Ravesta.
The same was also true of Eugene. Eugene’s jaw dropped open as he turned to look at the real Noir. Noir, observing the dream alongside Eugene, was staring at her own self within the dream, her eyes downcast in dismay at the sight of this behavior.
“If I knew that I was going to show this scene to you, I would have acted a bit more elegantly,” Noir sighed regretfully.
“Just what the hell are you thinking?” Eugene inquired.
“You can tell just by looking, Hamel, I’m knocking on the wall,” Noir explained.
“The wall?” Eugene repeated curiously.
“That’s right,” Noir said with a gin as she pointed downwards. “The Demon King of Destruction is hiding down there — though by that, I don’t mean he’s actually further underground. Instead, he’s residing within a separate space somewhere beyond this dimension. So, I’m just attempting to get through to that dimension by breaking down the wall in between. Though I’m making that attempt here, of all places… just because Amelia Merwin kept telling me to leave.”
With a look of disbelief, Eugene turned back to look at Amelia.
Amelia, who had been caught up in Noir’s rampage and forced to vomit blood, was now unable to even keep standing and had fallen onto the ground. In this situation, Noir finally managed to break through the ‘wall.’
“Duke Giabella!” Alphiero cried out as he rushed towards Noir.
However, Alphiero suddenly fell to the ground, frozen in the act of running.
Alphiero wasn’t the only one. The dozens of demonfolk rushing forward alongside him also collapsed onto the ground, unable to approach Noir.
This was Hypnotism, an ability that all high-ranking Night Demons were able to use, and it could force any opponent in their field of vision to fall asleep. Noir’s Hypnotism could make even high-ranking demonfolk fall asleep in a single moment. On top of that, she would send them into a layered Dream-Within-a-Dream. This special technique could trap her opponents, allowing them to wander through multiple layers of dreams without invading too deeply into their consciousnesses.
After subduing all the demonfolk just like that, Noir headed on ‘down’ with a giggle, crossing over to the other side of the broken wall. She descended into the source of the dark power that had already engulfed the entirety of Ravesta.
“Ah…!” Noir moaned in satisfaction as an enticing chill ran up her spine.
This was the first time that Noir had had to protect herself in a very long time. Within the eerie confines of this space, even Noir Giabella, the Queen of the Night Demons, felt threatened. She continued to descend while protecting herself with her dark power.
“...Is the Demon King of Destruction down there?” Eugene asked suddenly.
Noir shrugged, “Probably.”
“Probably?” Eugene repeated, his brow furrowing in a frown as he glared below.
As the darkness rushed past them, he saw something huge waiting below… it looked like a temple.
“Well, you’ll find out if you just keep watching,” Noir assured him.
The descending Noir finally arrived at the entrance to the temple. Instead of entering the temple right away, she raised her head to look up at the sky.
No one had followed her in, past the wall she had broken, but they should all be able to wake up from her dreams within a short time…. Other demonfolk who may still be waiting outside the mansion might also come in after her.
Since she had already done more than enough to cause him offense by acting so aggressively, Noir didn’t intend to go any further than this.
“Please excuse me,” Noir said politely.
This temple had to be the palace of the Demon King of Destruction. Even though it was Noir, she had no intention of causing a scene while within the Demon King’s palace. With a low bow of greeting, Noir walked into the temple.
The temple was completely empty. She couldn’t even see anything like the Demon King’s throne. Naturally, that also meant the Demon King was nowhere to be seen. However, Noir wasn’t flustered by this fact and kept heading deeper into the temple.
“There’s a barrier here,” Noir said with a grin as she rubbed a hand over her eyes.
Breaking the barrier erected here… seemed a bit too dangerous even for her. However, the fact that there was a ‘barrier’ here led Noir to make all sorts of guesses.
Ring…!
Noir’s eyes shone with light. Packed to the brim with dark power, her eyes focused as they stared into the barrier.
As her eyes looked past the barrier, spying on the other side, Noir saw a chair wrapped in chains.
