While Oscar grumbled over what to write to his comrades in the West, a demon and a human sat face to face, feeling out each other’s minds in the Crown Prince’s castle.
Acerus tried not to be nervous. He stretched out his shoulders and sat confidently across from the demon, but he could not stop his face from stiffening up.
“What should I replace your meal with?”
“I’ll take care of that. For now, just tell me what you want.”
Valac arrogantly rejected Acerus’ favor. He ridiculed Acerus by saying human food did not even taste good when he put it in his mouth and he did not even feel full when he swallowed it.
“I want revenge on your race in the North.”
Acerus told him the truth. Rather than being caught trying to deceive Valac with a clumsy lie, he decided to be honest about the information that everyone knew. Then, Valac laughed out loud.
“I know what that half-breedhas done to you. Lilith has been able to use hallucinations freely since she was born. That’s the specialty of that half-breed. You must have been in the hallucinations she instilled.”
Valac looked delighted. He was speaking with Prince Sidhar’s face and voice but he was a much more unpredictable and outspoken demon than the original body’s owner.
“Damn it.”
Acerus was in pain even when he was only thinking about that time. And even knowing that Valac was watching him with great interest, Acerus picked up the cup on the table and gulped down the cold water. Only after drinking the cold water that made his heart shiver was he able to come to his senses.
“Yeah, so I’m going to get revenge.”
“In what way?”
“I’ll hunt down that demon and tear her to death.”
“I’m a demon too. How can you say you are going to tear one of my race to death in front of me? Isn’t it better not to talk in such a cocky tone while I’m still here?”
Valac seemed to be in a very good mood. As he watched Acerus trying hard to observe him, he smiled with a face as if he was having so much fun.
“Human beings can’t read a demon's intentions. You’re just a mayfly who will barely be able to live until 100 years. How are you going to challenge a demon who has lived for 1000 years?”
“Why do you keep appearing in the human realm?”
“It’s fun here.”
“What?”
“You revere the strong one and reign over the weak one. That ideology resembles ours. But it’s also interesting that you never admit that fact.”
Valac pointed his finger at the map of the continent hung on the wall.
“It’s fun to see you fighting over that small land. Love, jealousy, hate, and loathe; it’s all so thrilling. Is it because you have a short life? You humans always risk your lives on things that are useless and worthless.”
“Is that also the reason Lilith came to the human realm?”
“She’s not like that. That half-breed was born between a human and a demon so she must have come here to find her roots.”
“What?”
Acerus was taken aback. Looking at Acerus’ confusion, Valac seemed to have been enjoying the situation.
“I heard that she was born between a succubus demon and a human man.”
“How could that be? Is that even possible?”
“Yeah. Because of that, Lilith likes humans, but at the same time, she hates them. While destroying humans, she also comes to hate herself.”
Valac had a sense of disdain for Lilith. Whenever he talked about her, a clear feeling of contempt was revealed on his smiling face.
“If the demons hate Lilith so much, why do you just let her go? You said you don’t have any bond with your own race.”
“Hmph… It’s better to let humans handle something like that. It’s so trivial that it would make my hands dirty.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s why this great being is trying to help you humans. You should be thankful.”
“Ha! I can’t believe there comes a day when I, the successor of this Empire, the one representing humans, gets to say thank you to a demon… Where in the world are the many Gods? What are they doing to bring such trials to us humans?”
Bang! Acerus became emotional. He got angry and punched the grip of the chair. Valac smiled more deeply as he saw Acerus like that.
“Don’t worry, I’m not a demon who hates humans that much. If you promise me a few things, I’ll let you catch Lilith.”
“Promise?”
Acerus looked at Valac with a corrupt face. Then, Valac nodded his head and whispered.
“First, after hunting Lilith, let me drink her blood.”
“What? How can…”
“Isn’t that better than drinking human blood? I won’t be satisfied even with the blood from hundreds of humans. But only one demon is enough.”
“I see. I got it.”
“Second, protect me so that I can have fun in your country and keep my identity a secret. I like the life of this traitor Prince. It’s so full of ups and downs.”
“Great. What is the third one?”
Acerus asked. Valac said with madness in his eyes, not knowing how Acerus was looking at him and thinking that he had achieved everything he wanted.
“I heard there’s a guy who’s invulnerable to black magic. Give him to me.”
It was Demian who Valac was aiming for.
Acerus had been acting perfectly up to that point. But the moment he heard those words, for the first time, his eyes really shook. Fortunately, Valac did not notice. He was so excited that he was drunk on that good taste.
“Isn’t he interesting? I didn’t expect there would be such a thing in the human realm. I must eat him.”
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Lara was contacted by Acerus. She thought that maybe he had heard that Demian and his comrades were imprisoned, but that wasn’t the case. Acerus confided to Lara about all of his conversations with the demon Valac.
“The demon wants Demian? Why?”
「He didn’t tell me the reason… But it’s obvious why he wants Lilith’s blood.」
Acerus said with a little hint of impatience.
「It seems that demon becomes stronger when he eats another demon.」
“What?”
「Valac now is weaker than Lilith. No doubt. That’s why he doesn’t even want to meet her.」
Acerus was sure.
「But seeing him begging for Lillith’s death to get a drink of her blood, I’m convinced that would be the key to make him strong.」
Then, what about Demian?
The moment she heard Acerus’ words, a scene vividly popped into Lara’s mind.
It was the world after Lara’s death, as shown by the God of Fate. Demian pulled out the demon’s heart, covered himself with its blood, and gradually became a demon himself. Since then, he was an undoubtedly powerful demon lord in that post-apocalyptic world.
Lara suddenly had goosebumps all over her body. She became as dizzy as she was in the past before she turned back time. The events after that got mixed in her head.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
After she finished talking with Acerus, Lara could not sleep and walked around in her bedroom. Demian was a strange child found in the middle of the battlefield, he was said to have a combat power beyond human abilities from birth. His body was invulnerable to black magic. He has no desires, feelings, or dreams that a human should have.
‘Demian.’
Rather than being unable to adapt to human society, he was just not interested in humans themselves. In Lara’s view, before meeting her, Demian saw everything in the world as an object completely different from him.
‘Demian Rhode Drake.’
Lara wondered why she never doubted it. He only ever showed a human appearance with emotions when it was related to Lara. And even in his life before death, even though Acerus was the one who called him his friend, even though Acerus poured out his one-sided feelings on him, Demian killed him without hesitation.
Lara wandered through her bedroom, placing her hand on her heart that was beating painfully. Then she shook all her hesitation off and put on her coat.
As she went outside, she was stopped by the employees who were on night duty.
“Milady, at this late hour…”
“I’m going to the temple!”
“I’ll call the carriage.”
It was a deserted night so the carriage carrying Lara was able to head to the temple smoothly. As soon as she arrived at the temple, she ran towards the sanctum. The priests guarding the entrance did not arrest or block her as Acerus commanded.
Lara entered the empty sanctum and stood in front of the statue. She felt deep sadness and pain just looking at the face of God. Before this, it had only felt beautiful and reverent.
“I need to know.”
She, of all people, had to know. She decided to save the world for Demian and for her loved ones.
“Please tell me.”
God replied.
<Your lover is not a human being.>
“Oh…”
Lara did not collapse. She neither shivered in fear nor did she wallow in despair, all she felt was sadness.
She loved Demian. Even if he was a being that was hated by everyone in the world, she loved him unstoppably.
And that was terribly sad.
