Eugene inhaled sharply.
A chair wrapped in chains. The moment he saw this, the very first thought that came to Eugene’s mind was the Demon King of Incarceration.
Whenever that Demon King appeared, he was always accompanied by the sound of chains, and he also had countless chains trailing behind him like a cloak. Not only that, the Demon King of Incarceration also held an inseparable relationship with the Demon King of Destruction.
This was because — although they weren’t sure what the actual truth was — in Eugene's and a few others’ opinions, the Demon King of Incarceration seemed to be the only one who could control the Demon King of Destruction.
At the very least, during the few times in the past when Eugene had managed to get close to the Demon King of Destruction, his attempts to find out more had always been interfered with by the Demon King of Incarceration.
This was Ravesta, the territory of Destruction. And this temple found in the depths of Ravesta might just be the Demon King of Destruction’s palace. Could it be that the Demon King of Incarceration had appeared here to ward off any intruders who approached without permission….
No, it wasn’t him.
The blurry scene on the other side of the barrier gradually became clearer. Upon seeing what lay beyond, Eugene unconsciously tried to move forward.
However, he wasn’t able to do what he wanted. This was because Noir, the one who had been watching the memory play out alongside him, grabbed Eugene’s arm.
“You can’t get any closer,” Noir whispered. “Even though this is a dream, it’s still all based on what I personally experienced. And I didn’t get to see anything past this point. So even if you get closer, Hamel, you won’t be able to see or sense anything more than this.”
As if to prove these words, the ‘dream’ shook. The shaking was because Noir’s consciousness had been damaged by what she had just witnessed in the dream.
The Noir in the dream, who had been standing there in a daze, was suddenly thrown backward, blood pouring from her eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Ver… Vermouth?” Noir gasped out in a confused tone as she kept coughing up blood.
The figure sitting in the chair, wrapped in chains, was Vermouth Lionheart. Eugene gritted his teeth at this sight.
Vermouth looked incomparably more exhausted and haggard than when Eugene had seen him in the Darkroom’s vision.
His long gray hair, which had resembled a lion’s mane, now looked as if it hadn’t been combed in a very long time and had transformed into a matted bird’s nest. His head was bowed so low that it was hard to see his face, but from the way that his shoulders slumped, his arms draped limply over the armrests, and his legs stretched out weakly in front of him, it was possible to confirm what a poor condition Vermouth was in.
There weren’t even any signs of breathing. Vermouth just sat there in complete stillness as if he had been taxidermied.
Eugene’s body trembled with agitation as he tried to go to Vermouth once more. However, Noir strengthened her hold on Eugene and refused to let him go.
Noir reminded him, “I told you already, it’s useless.”
“Let go,” Eugene grunted.
“Really, even though I’m saying this for your sake…,” Noir let out a sigh as she let go of Eugene’s arm.
Only then was Eugene able to stagger over towards Vermouth. However, the distance between him and Vermouth didn’t shorten, no matter how much he wanted it to. Eugene’s steps reached an unseen line, with their farthest point set at where the dream-Noir was currently standing, and they refused to go any further.
“I told you so,” Noir huffed. “Like I said, that is as far as I got when trying to see what was on the other side of the barrier. Something blocked my mental probe when I focused on trying to cross that line.”
Although Eugene kept trying to walk forward, he was just left repeatedly stumbling in the exact same spot. Eugene snorted in anger and clenched his fists.
“You’re Vermouth… Vermouth Lionheart, right? What are you doing in there?” the dream-Noir asked in an urgent voice.
Dark blood continued to pour from her eyes, nose, and mouth. The sinister dark power within the barrier had even managed to overwhelm the defenses of a demonfolk at Noir’s level and had caused her harm. Although she had been able to endure the assault of the dark power without allowing it to contaminate her, she couldn’t even imagine trying to resist or fight back against it.
This was the Great Vermouth.
The Vermouth of Despair.
For the past three hundred years, Noir had harbored a fear of this beautiful, yet eerie, man.
During the era of war, Noir had delved into the dreams of all this man’s companions, including her dear Hamel. She had trespassed into Hamel, Molon, Sienna, and Anise’s dreams.
She had also attempted to invade Vermouth’s dreams. However, she hadn’t found any dreams waiting for her at the bottom of Vermouth’s heart.
No, for the man known as Vermouth, things such as dreams simply didn’t seem to exist.
All of his comrades had had some kind of dream lying deep within their hearts, and she could always find within them lingering emotions related to their dreams or what was happening in reality — but strangely, no such things seemed to exist within the man known as Vermouth.
But perhaps… it might just be because Vermouth had managed to learn some exotic spell of protection. Just like how people with particularly strong mental strength were able to protect their minds through sheer willpower, Vermouth may have also used some kind of spell to protect his mind from invasion.
In fact, Noir had only managed to trespass on Hamel and the other party members’ dreams the first few times she had tried, as from some point onwards, Noir had no longer been able to break through Sienna and Anise’s barriers. As Vermouth was a special case even among their ranks, it was possible that he may have been able to perfectly protect his mind from the very beginning.
…But was that really the case? Even now, after three hundred years had passed, Noir didn’t have any confidence in making any assumptions about Vermouth, even as he was back then.
Had she really failed to spy on his dreams? Or perhaps… she truly had seen what lay at the heart of Vermouth. So if what she saw was real, then that meant….
Noir tried to call out Vermouth’s name once more, “Vermouth Lionhe—”
But at that very moment, Vermouth, who looked to have been frozen in position, suddenly moved. It was only a tiny movement, but the sound that it caused was much larger than what might have been expected at first sight.
Tchichichichink!
The chains connected to the chair all simultaneously raised their ends. They then moved to wrap around both the chair and Vermouth, binding him from head to toe; then, as if that wasn’t enough, they even twisted through the air a few more times, creating a tight knot.
Noir was startled by this sudden commotion and took a step backward.
Creak, creeeak.
The entangled mass of chains collectively made a noise as Vermouth raised his head from within their tight confines. Beneath the messy and disheveled hair, his eyes slowly opened.
At this moment, Eugene recalled his battle against the Demon King of Fury. Specifically when the Moonlight Sword had run out of control, and Eugene was dragged into an unknown void. At that time, Eugene had seen Vermouth in the middle of that void.
Though… while it was true that Eugene had seen him there, he hadn’t been able to see Vermouth’s face directly. However, Eugene was still sure that the wavering figure he had seen there was Vermouth, and in fact, it had definitely been Vermouth.
But the figure that was currently reflected within Eugene’s eyes didn’t feel at all like Vermouth. Given the current circumstances, there couldn’t have been a significant gap of time between the Vermouth that he had spoken to during the Moonlight Sword’s rampage and the Vermouth that was currently being bound in that chair with those chains. However, the Vermouth that Eugene was presently looking at directly felt more like a stranger than when Vermouth had only been visible as a faint figure within the void.
Vermouth raised his head and opened his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. However, Eugene was able to sense several things from that silence.
Like how worn-out Vermouth was and how clouded his eyes looked.
At that moment, Vermouth looked weaker than he had at any point in Eugene’s memories. He looked shrunken and worn down. If the Vermouth that Eugene had met in the Darkroom had seemed tired and haggard, the current Vermouth looked depressed and broken.
‘He could at least try to say something,’ Eugene thought as he glared at Vermouth.
The emotions welling up within Eugene were growing ever more intense, but despite that, Eugene didn’t try to say anything to Vermouth. In the end, this was all just Noir’s dream, so no matter what Eugene said or did, Vermouth wouldn’t be able to show any kind of reaction. After all, all of this had already happened in the past.
Amid his swirling emotions, Eugene couldn’t help but feel annoyed by that fact.
Eugene ground his teeth as the dream-Noir just stared at Vermouth without saying a word to him. Likewise, Vermouth also didn’t say anything to Noir.
After hesitating in silence for a few more seconds, Noir took a step forward.
Fwooooosh!
But the moment Noir stepped forward, everything suddenly receded into the distance. Both the door that had opened up like a gap in space and Vermouth, who was sitting wrapped in chains beyond the doorway, then the temple, Amelia Merwin’s mansion, and even the underground city of Ravesta.
“This is as far as it goes,” Noir informed him cheerfully.
The dream scattered into pieces. Eugene stood there in silence for a few moments before turning to look back at Noir for an explanation.
After all, the dream that Noir had intended to show him may have ended, but it wasn’t as if the world had ended alongside the dream’s end.
Noir gave Eugene a bright smile before continuing to speak, “I don’t think there is any need to show you what happened after that. After that, I was kicked out of Ravesta, dropped into the sea, and had to struggle to stay afloat…. Hm, or do you perhaps want to see what I look like when wet?”
Before the lingering vestiges of what Eugene had just seen could even fade away, Noir had already started talking nonsense.
Normally, he would have just ignored Noir’s bullshit, or perhaps he would have tried to kick her ass, but… the current Eugene wasn’t capable of doing so. He stood there, frozen in the same spot, as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.
“Fuck,” Eugene eventually cursed.
There was no way that this was good news. But even so, his doubts weren’t as strong as the last time he had received such a disturbing revelation. This was because Eugene felt that he had managed to confirm most of his deepest suspicions, so there wasn’t any need for him to feel doubt.
So, Vermouth Lionheart was currently in Ravesta. Bound in the chains of Incarceration, trapped in a chair, sitting inside a temple dedicated to the Demon King of Destruction. Given the circumstances, it seemed like the Demon King of Destruction might be lying in wait behind Vermouth, but what did all of this mean…?
‘The Demon King of Destruction has been silent for the past three hundred years. Does that mean… Vermouth is currently sealing away the Demon King of Destruction?’ Eugene wondered.
Eugene had considered such a possibility in the past. This was because, between the Moonlight Sword and the Lionheart clan’s blood, Vermouth seemed to have far too many connections to the Demon King of Destruction.
“There are a few things that I want to ask you,” Eugene said as he turned to look at Noir after calming his emotions. “The things that you showed me just now. Were those—”
“It was all real,” Noir confirmed without waiting for him to finish speaking. “I can understand why you would feel such doubts, Hamel. For someone like you, who hates demonfolk and wants to kill all of us, you must not want to trust the words of a demonfolk like me. However, Hamel, what benefit would I obtain from showing you a ‘lie’ like this?”
“You could just want to fuck with me,” Eugene accused suspiciously. “Or perhaps you just want me killed without having to get your own hands dirty.”
“Ahahaha! Hamel, are you seriously saying that? Do you really think I would consider something like that a benefit?” Noir asked with a dangerous smile.
Although she might have let out a hearty laugh, Noir hadn’t really been expressing amusement. Instead, she was glaring at Hamel with a rarely-seen look of anger on her face.
After being subjected to this gaze for a few moments, Eugene quietly shook his head.
“I guess it wouldn’t seem like a benefit to you, someone without any common sense,” Eugene conceded.
“That’s right,” Noir happily agreed. “Hamel, I’m the only one with the right to mess with you and give you a headache. Even without playing a trick like this, I can still mess with you as much as I want. As for killing you without getting my own hands dirty? Oh my god, Hamel, there’s no way that I would do something like that! If you ever do die, I’m the one who has to take your life, and the same goes in reverse! And it has to be by my own hands that you lose your life so that your death can take place within my embrace.”
“...You… if you do end up telling me that you made all this up as a lie, if you’re tricking me into accepting your story as real during such a critical moment, only to later reveal that it’s actually false, I really will be furious with you,” Eugene gravely warned her.
“Ahahaha! For you to have such suspicions, you really do know me quite well. However, Hamel, what reason could there be for me to go this far? If it’s to instill a murderous desire into someone who doesn’t actually resent or hate me, then yes, I might use such a method. However… don’t you already resent me, hate me, and want me dead? Why would I have to fan the flames even higher when you're already so heated up?” Noir said with a giggle as she cutely poked her own cheeks.
“And I have to say, if I really did want to instill even more resentment, hatred, murderous intent, and rage into you, there’s no need for me to show you this sort of dream. Honestly speaking, faking something like this would be cumbersome, complicated, and far too difficult for what it is worth. Because if I wanted to manipulate your emotions in a certain direction without being detected, I would have to create an extremely subtle dream to do so.”
Dimples appeared on Noir’s cheeks as she began floating up into the air with an evil smirk.
“However, what would you do if I were to storm over to the Lionhearts right now and murder your siblings? If I were to kill all of your family as well? Or perhaps, if I got rid of Sienna Merdein and Kristina Rogeris? If I broke that little familiar you so cherish into pieces? Or if I kill the Dragon Princess Raimira, who you’re raising like a pet?”
The world around them seemed to be shaking. They were both currently located within the realm of Eugene’s consciousness. Now that the dream Noir had wished to show him had ended, everything in this realm could be seriously influenced by Eugene’s heightened emotions.
Noir blinked in surprise and looked down at her body before bursting into laughter, “Ahahaha!”
At some point, before she had even realized it, Noir’s body had been torn into shreds. The emotions currently running through Eugene were responsible for having torn Noir apart. Noir giggled as she reconstructed her body.
“Ahem, I was only giving an example of how far I could possibly go,” Noir reassured him. “It may have been an unpleasant example to listen to, but, in any case, you should see that there’s no need for me to go through all that trouble just to trick you.”
“In that case, what exactly do you gain from doing this?” Eugene questioned suspiciously.
“Well, now, I didn’t necessarily do this because I felt that I had to gain some benefit from doing so, but… if I were forced to find a reason, hmmm…,” Noir thought about it for a few moments before her eyes curved up in a smile. “Hamel, I just felt the urge to show it to you.”
Eugene was silent.
“I just wanted to show you what I saw,” Noir repeated. “Because I thought that was something that you desperately needed to know. Or perhaps, part of me could also have thought that if I showed you this… the perception you have of me might change a little.”
What exactly was she trying to say? Eugene’s brow furrowed in a scowl as he glared up at Noir.
“There’s no way that you’re trying to say something like… what happened between you and me is just a misunderstanding, that the grudge between us is something from three hundred years ago, and that you’re different now, right?” Eugene eyed her suspiciously.
Noir coughed, “Ahem.”
Eugene continued to voice his speculations, “You don’t want me to hate you, which is why you’ve helped me out so many times, and now you want me to… accept you and perhaps even join hands to fight against the Demon King of Incarceration togeth—”
“Ahaha!” Noir erupted in laughter, unable to hold it in any longer. “Oh my god, Hamel, it’s nothing like that. Let me just say this clearly: I really do want you to hate me so much that you dream of killing me. As for a misunderstanding? What is there to misunderstand between us? The grudge being from three hundred years ago? Ahahaha, if needed, I’m willing to build up even more grudges, you know? Also… ahem, accepting me? Joining hands? Those do sound pretty tempting, and I think we can even consider accepting each other and joining hands in bed.”
As she watched Eugene’s expression darken, Noir continued speaking, “Hamel, what I want from you is something quite romantic and sentimental. Someday, when we finally attempt to kill each other, I… or whoever ends up winning, I suppose, I hope they feel a slight hesitation at the final moment.”
“Hesitation?” Eugene repeated in disbelief after a pause.
“Yes,” Noir nodded. “As they think about all the memories we share between us, I hope the winner hesitates before taking their foe’s last breath. And if that variable ends up changing the outcome between victory and defeat, I feel like that would be quite entertaining as well.”
Noir created a comfortable chair out of nowhere, took a seat, slowly crossed her legs, and settled in a seductive pose.
“To put it simply, the reason I am doing these things for you is to build up those ‘memories’ between us. Because most of the memories that we share are from three hundred years ago. However, many things have already happened between us since then, haven’t they?” Noir said with a smile.
For example, in the snowfields on their way to the Knight March, in the hotel as Eugene prepared to infiltrate the Dragon-Demon Castle, and the latest being on the deck of a ship in the Solgalta Sea.
And then, right at this very moment.
“From now on as well, I will try to get closer to you whenever I have the chance. That way, even more memories will be built up between us, and… Hamel, perhaps some attachment might just grow within you as well. However, we definitely will attempt to kill each other someday, but after we decide who lives and dies…,” Noir paused and placed a hand on her chest as she imagined their shared future. “Then perhaps… I will feel a great sense of loss. I will regret killing you, I will grieve, I will mourn… and perhaps I might even end up hating myself for doing so. Hamel, because of you, I may end up feeling all sorts of firsts.”
Such thoughts definitely couldn’t be understood by anyone with a normal point of view.
Eugene stared at Noir with eyes devoid of understanding and shook his head before saying, “I won’t hesitate when the time comes to kill you, and after killing you, I won’t feel any emotions other than joy and relief.”
Noir smirked, “Hehe, but that doesn’t matter to me. After all, I would already be dead. Also, Hamel, in my opinion… the probability of me killing you is overwhelmingly higher than the probability of you killing me.”
Eugene also thought Noir’s words were correct, at least for now. When he thought about it that way, he could understand Noir’s words and actions just a little.
In Noir’s case, she believed that she would definitely kill Eugene someday. As such, she felt free to build up as many memories and shared feelings with Eugene as she pleased. All so that one day, whenever she finally decided to go ahead and kill Eugene, she would get to feel all of the emotions that she had built up for him crumble away.
“But why are you so obsessed with me?” Eugene asked in confusion.
That was what Eugene couldn’t understand.
“If I had to say why, Hamel, it’s because of how much you want to kill me,” Noir answered him.
Eugene pointed out, “There should be a lot of people other than me who want to kill you. Even setting aside all of the humans, there should be quite a few demonfolk as well.”
“However, no one among them has feelings as strong as yours. There’s no one as special as you are, and there’s also no one as capable as you are,” Noir praised Eugene.
Eugene took a few moments to think, “If you really want to die that much, why don’t you just revolt against the Demon King of Incarceration? Or you could throw yourself against the Demon King of Destruction?”
“It seems that you really don’t understand what my heart desires? I’m saying that I want to be killed by someone with a particular, obsessive, and intense hatred for me. The Demon Kings… they might be able to kill me whenever they please, but I’m not anything special to them. And, in return, I don’t think of them as being a special existence to myself either,” Noir said with a grin as she shook her head. “Hamel, I love you more than you actually realize. It doesn’t matter, even if you dislike me and try to push me away.”
“...Just one last question,” Eugene said after sighing with a disgusted expression. “You… are those insane notions of yours really important enough for you to betray the Demon King of Incarceration? Aren’t you supposed to be on the Demon King of Incarceration’s side?”
“Oh my god!” Noir yelped as she stared at Eugene with a sincerely astonished expression. “Hamel, what on earth do you mean by that? You’re accusing me of betrayal? But I was never on the Demon King of Incarceration’s side in the first place!”
Eugene was perplexed, “...What?”
“Of course, the Demon King of Incarceration is the Emperor of Helmuth, and I am one of the Dukes, but even so… that doesn’t actually mean I have sworn obedience to the Demon King of Incarceration. So it’s not a betrayal for me to tell you about my visit to Ravesta or what I saw there,” Noir claimed.
Eugene frowned, “What kind of bullshit is—”
Noir spoke over him, “To put it simply, I am not a vassal of the Demon King of Incarceration. Everything I have was achieved solely through my own efforts, and I am the only one with authority over myself.”
As she finished saying that — Noir abruptly leaped up from her chair, having had a sudden thought.
“No way!” Noir gasped. “There’s no way, Hamel! Are you actually showing worry for me? You think that, for your sake, I betrayed the Demon King of Incarceration! So you were worried that I might be severely punished because of that, weren’t you?!”
Eugene scowled, “I just thought that it wouldn’t be good if the Demon King of Incarceration gets to kill you instead of me!”
“Liar!” Noir accused. “You were worried about me! That’s right, I have betrayed the Demon King of Incarceration. All for your sake, Hamel! For the sake of our love!”
“When exactly do I get to wake up from this damn dream?” Eugene spat out as his face twisted into a disgusted grimace.
