“Lilian.”
“You called, your majesty.”
At Trika’s call, the floor turned icy, and Lilian rose from there.
As if she was there right from the start, she naturally followed Trika.
“Call the commanders right now.”
Lilian’s face looked a bit startled upon hearing that.
From the start, the wars weren’t an uncommon event in the Devildom, but it was rare for all the commanders to be summoned.
She wondered what was happening and asked Trika.
“What is happening?”
“Wrath will invade us.”
Everyone in the Devildom knew who ‘Wrath’ was. If it was Lilian, who is ranked 3rd in his troops, she would know plenty.
The Demon King of Wrath.
The one called ‘Satan’.
“W-why is he….?”
“I don’t know.”
Trika and the vampire lord, who was under Wrath, were rivals.
Although they repeatedly fought and defeated each other, Wrath had never once intervened in their rivalry.
The reason was unknown, but in the eyes of an adult, the fight between the two demon lords couldn’t be seen as anything but a child’s fight.
So why so suddenly?
‘Is he siding with the vampires?’
It cannot be.
Trika didn’t know what he was aiming for, but he could get to one conclusion.
They don’t usually care unless it is the Great Demon lords.
There were several demon lords in the Devildom, but not all were the same. A huge piece of land exists, split by many demon lords, but in actuality, the land was cut into 5 pieces.
At least for the 5 of them.
So the land ruled by Trika was also the property of one of the 5 Great Demon Lords.
There is no reason why one of them would actively intervene in the fights of the lower ones.
‘Katos said that Diablo is the reason Wrath is moving.’
Because a human appeared in Devildom?
If it was the other ones, they would have laughed, but Satan, the Demon Lord of Wrath, couldn’t do that.
He was a living disaster and a monster driven by emotions.
Perhaps, the title of Demon Lord of Lust would be brought to an end now.
“To move quickly. We will talk about the important stuff.”
“I understand.”
Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, Lilian vanished to summon the other commanders.
Trika, now alone, was standing near the wall with purple light shining through his helmet.
“You know, right? If I am real or… fake?”
Katos said he was someone who knew about the information Gaia held.
In the human world, Bless, he was an existence akin to an old record.
Above all, he held the message of Gaia, the creator of God and someone who was involved in Jamie’s rebirth.
Then he might know who Jamie is.
Katos, who was silent, opened his mouth.
“It isn’t something that can be easily said.”
“No. The other things can be known later, but I need to know this right now.”
He didn’t know what the evil deeds the 12 Gods did with the multiple resets, but to Jamie now, his identity was more important.
He pretended to be alright when talking with Osiris, but he couldn’t forget the thought of being a fake existence.
If he is fake, he would at least want to know it.
That is because he can aim to achieve his goal with these thoughts.
“Am I fake?”
“It isn’t that easy to explain.”
“That means I am not real?”
He roughly expected this.
The primordial darkness is a space where the 12 Gods cannot interfere.
Osiris, who could deal with the souls, said he didn’t feel the souls of the dead.
He said reincarnation isn’t impossible if Gaia was involved.
One way or another, all that meant was that Diablo Volfir wasn’t a perfect reincarnation.
Katos showed a worried look and said
“… there is only one thing I can tell you.”
“Do tell me that. It is an important thing for me.”
“You are a being born out of the needs of Diablo Volfir.”
“… what?”
“But if you ask me if you are fake, then the aanswer is no.”
When Jamie didn’t respond, Katos continued.
“You are imperfect, but you have inherited most of his memories. And you are slowly recovering the lost ones too.”
“So Katos, you mean that even if the body and soul are different, I am the same person as long as the memories are the same. Is that what you mean?”
“I will not deny it if you want to put it that way. I hope you don’t think of yourself as the fake one. Your spirit and will within are real.”
“Enough. There is no need for consolation.”
“Diablo Volfi…”
“I!”
When Katos tried to call his previous name, Jamie cut his words.
And he got up as he said.
“I am Jamie Welton.”
“Is that so?”
“To be honest, everything I heard from you shocked me. The fact that my existence was created out of necessity and that I’m not even the real Diablo Volfir.”
“…”
“But well? I cannot help it. After all, I was born, and now I am here.”
Diablo Volfir’s memories were vivid in his mind. Indeed, he didn’t have all of them, but now he was aware of most of them.
Everything was so natural that it was hard to believe that the memory was implanted.
Actually, Jamie thought Katos was pulling his leg here, but he knew it wasn’t the case.
“I accept that I am fake. It isn’t an easy thing. To deny my identity is no easy task.”
“As I said, you aren’t fake…”
“Stop!”
Black mana flowed from Jamie’s body, and purple eyes shone.
A lot more stable than Trika, and this was pure black mana; Katos admired it.
“It is fine. I was wondering if I was real or fake, and I was shocked but not frustrated.”
He was expecting this to some extent.
Even since he heard it from Osiris, he knew that things would be different from what he knew.
He was thinking of it that way, and now that it was confirmed, he felt more comfortable.
Accept it and move on.
Katos cautiously called out to Jamie.
“Jamie Welton.”
“My purpose is still there. My memories are still there. Even if it is put into my mind, I am standing here.”
To kill the 12 Gods.
To return freedom back to humans. That was his only sense of mission.
Whether he was real or fake did not matter.
“I am not Diablo Volfir.”
It was clear the memories belonged to him, but today it felt certain.
“From now on, I will.”
Jamie spoke with a determined face.
“I will live as Jamie Welton.”
At the words, which seemed more like a declaration, Katos felt captivated.
It was like seeing Abel, a friend who existed long ago.
“Then is Diablo Volfir still sealed in the primordial darkness?”
“Yes.”
As Jamie acknowledged his existence, Katos no longer called him Diablo.
“I think I have an idea of what Gaia was trying.”
Through him, to break down the seal on Diablo, who is still trapped.
He didn’t know how that would happen, but that was the ideal way to defeat the 12 Gods.
However, that isn’t the best outcome.
‘In the past life… no, sealed Diablo Volfir will be the same as back then.’
Without any emotions, he would move ahead to eradicate the 12 Gods.
It wasn’t known what contract was made with Gaia, but if he woke up from the seal, it was sure that he would be troublesome.
‘Maybe even more demanding than the 12 Gods.’
Diablo Volfir was such a being. Perhaps he will try to kill Jamie and absorb his powers too.
‘Because I would have done that.’
A lot had changed now, but a few years back, Jamie, too, had no feelings.
To be precise, everything except the emotion of anger was just an act. If he could defeat the 12 Gods, he would have chosen any means and methods.
That is the Diablo trapped in the primordial darkness.
“Phew. I am dizzy.”
To prevent that from happening, he had to overcome Diablo Volfir.
He originally had this intent, but he thought he should get stronger a lot faster now.
“Jamie Welton.”
At that moment, Katos called Jamie, who remembered.
“Ah! It was told that the Wrath is coming; I need to help Trika prepare.”
“It isn’t about that.”
Jamie was about to get out when Katos called him.
“What? Is it important?”
“Leave the war to the demon lord of lust, and you have a place to come with me.”
“Where?”
“Follow me, and you will know.”
“Wait, then, I will let Trika know…”
But Katos didn’t even give him time to do that.
Darkness began to rise up around the 2 of them, and Jamie got sucked into it without a moment’s notice.
“Huh!”
Jamie appeared from the darkness as if tossed into the air.
He was a bit surprised at this, but then he teleported to land lightly on the ground.
After that, Katos appeared.
“Uhu! Why do this so suddenly!?”
Jamie was angry at Katos for doing this all so suddenly.
Rather than apologizing for that, Katos looked at Jamie with a yellow glow in their eyes.
Jamie falt puzzled by this attitude and turned his head only to be shocked.
“This…”
A gigantic pale yellow crystal that glowed softly was connected to the ground and to the top of unending heights.
Stems protruding from this crystal were scattered around, and despite the enormous size of the hole here, it wasn’t dark.
Above all, this crystal seemed to have infinite strength.
“What is this?”
“Core of Devildom. And that…”
Katos pointed to the highest point of the crystal. A place that no human could see.
A light purple crystal with a familiar aura.
Since it had been assimilated to the core of Devildom, only about half stayed, but Jamie could recognize it.
“The Dimension Stone Fragment of Shadow World.”
“Right. It is a fragment that fell from the Shadow World’s core.”
“How could… Venus couldn’t have allowed it.”
“I think it worked because she had no clue.”
“I wish you could talk in a way we could understand you.”
As Katos began to mumble stuff, Jamie asked for clear words.
But Katos began to list the unknown words again as if he was now a machine.
“That is the basis of a contract. The power which most resembles the darkness of the beginning. A trace of causality that will bear the birth of your being.”
“See.”
“The aftermath after the creation. The sunken goddess. Time to look ahead. For hope.”
“Katos!”
“Forgotten memories. Glory to return. Wishing for death. Revenge obsession. The falling world. A chance to make it right.”
“Are you broken or something?”
Jamie, who couldn’t see this anymore, tried to grab Katos by the collar, but he could not touch the darkness, which had no physical body.
“Contract. Life. Years. The time. Purpose. Target. Hope. Calculation. Result.”
The darkness of Katos began to shake.
He was only speaking words and not even a sentence, but something felt unusual, and as Jamie watched this, the darkness soon calmed down, and the Katos spoke coherently once more.
“Go in.”
“Uh?”
“The time has come.”
“You brat!”
Jamie began to be pulled into the core of the Devildom.
“What are you doing to me!?”
Katos mumbled at Jamie’s cries.
“Everything you want to know will be there. Everything you lost too.”
As Jamie disappeared, Katos sighed.
Actually, he had no intention of bringing Jamie here now.
After a calm conversation, he tried to let him in after understanding the situation. But things don’t happen the way we plan.
The Demon Lord of Wrath has moved.
As long as the most violent monster in the Demon Lords targets Jamie, he cannot send him to battle.
He decided that Jamie should be hidden in a place no one could find, and no matter how much he thought about it, the core was the only place for it.
‘I wish you success. If you can accomplish the purpose there, maybe the Demon Lord of Wrath too…’
At that moment, the eyes of Katos shook, and the darkness too.
He leaned down like he needed to hold something.
“… heard it.”
The clone in the camp of Wrath was destroyed.
The war was starting.
“Assemble the clones.”
At the signal, the clones spread around the Devildom began to come to him.
It wasn’t known when Jamie Welton would be out, so he had to hold on till then.
Even if he dies
Gaia’s command was absolute to Katos.
