Chapter 461: The Black Things that Devours Everything

『IiiiIIIiiii――!』

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!

What is this!

Unbelievable magic power is..!

Hot! Hot, hot! Something is burning inside of me! I'm burning, burning, and seemed to pop!

『GUhGHaaaaghaaaaaaiiiiii!』

It's disgusting! A strange feeling as if countless bugs were crawling around inside my head, inside my body, and all over my body.

『UwaaaaAaaaAaaa!』

Help! Help me!

I will break....!

『Gha, GHaah.....』

Gkiiiiin!

『?』

Suddenly, there's a sound like something cracking. What was it? what's cracking――.

It was right after that.

『UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA――!』

Black stuff overflows from deep inside me.

It hurts, it's hot, it's cold, it's painful. It's just that something black is covering and invading my insides. No, this is me too. It's an entity that makes up myself. I understood this intuitively.

『Devour it』

『Ghaaaa....!』

『Devour it』

『AAAAAghuh....?』

『Devour it, Devour it!』

『Ghuh....What is this? Ghaaa!』

Devour?

『Devour it! Devours everything!』

Devour what...? Everything...? You're a part of me, but you're not me. Who are you?

『Listen to my voice! Surrender yourself to me! Surrender yourself to me!』

A voice echoing directly in my mind. The image is black. An evil and terrifying thing is screaming inside me.

『Devour it! Devour the Heaven and earth, gods and demons, people and beast, devour them all, devour everything!』

What came through in his voice was an intense sense of hunger. The word "devour" means exactly what it sounds like. Its to eats flesh, slurps blood, swallows the earth, and even bites through the heavens. This black thing is capable of that.

『Ugh!』

What I felt in response was tremendous anger. My mind was filled with anger.

You can't just say whatever you want! You want to devour everything? And by people, you mean Fran too huh!

Don't mess with me! I won't allow anyone to kill Fran, even if it's me! If you're going to kill Fran, you'll have to kill me first, me! Oh, shit! I don't even understand it! I don't know what I'm talking about! My thoughts are all jumbled up!

『AAAAAAHH! You're so noisy! Shut the fuck up!』

Maybe because of my anger, but the pain and discomfort went away.

『Why don't you obey me! Obey me!』

『I said shut the fuck up!』

『......!』

What? It did shut up? I guess i just have to command it to...

The lord of that voices――I could see that the black evil thing was clearly confused. Then, it rapidly lost its power. It didn't disappear, nor did it leave me, but I could feel it receding deep inside me.

Anyway....how did it work?

It was right after I thought that. I heard a high-pitched voice, different from the one I had just heard.

『Kehihihihi! It's funny to see what the guy who ate us was like!』

『You're next huh――』

I don't know why I know who they are. Maybe there's something that the discarded divine sword can communicate with each other.

『Fanatics huh?』

『Kihihihihi! Now what? We are what we are! But you've got one hell of a thing going on here!』

Every time the Fanatics speak, their voice tone changes. It could be a man, a woman, an old man, or a child. But the fanatics were inside me. It seems that cannibalism was triggered and ate the Fanatics. I was in so much pain that I didn't even notice it.

However, this was the first time that I could feel so clearly the being I had absorbed through cannibalism. As soon as I became aware of it, a sick feeling came over me.

『Ughooh....!』

『Guhahahaha! You were originally a human! So pitiful!』

『Wha-what do you mean...?』

『Someday, you will definitely go crazy! The body of a sword, the mind of a man! There's no way you can stand it! One day, you will go mad! Just like we did!』

『I won't go crazy!』

『That's impossible! We're going to watch you from the inside. We're gonna watch you went crazy! And finally, you will kill your own wielder at the end!』

『Shit! You are so noisy!』

『Gyaha――gha! What the...!』

The Fanatics, who had been ranting and raving about the joke inside me, suddenly writhed in agony.

『Wha-what the hell is going on inside of you?』

Fanatics raise a frightened voice. It's Announcer-san who bites into that spirit. I can see that Announcer-san - or what's left of Cherubim - absorbs the Fanatics.

『Wha-what the hell is this! Why is there a being of our kind inside of you...! Stop it! Don't devour us! Stop! We're not going away! We won't going AWAAAAAAaaaaaay――――』

With that exclamation, the horrible feeling of disgust that had overtaken me completely disappeared. Just like that.

『.....It's finally over?』

『.....』

There was no one to answer my mutter. I thought that maybe announcer-san would answer me, but no. However, I could feel its presence increase slightly. Perhaps, if I continue use cannibalism, Announcer-san might come back one day.

But my condition is pretty bad. The blade is completely shattered, and to the casual observer it would appear to have been broken. I'm not sure if I'm still under the influence of the divine attributes, but my regeneration is slow.

However, my durability value was slowly recovering. I guess I survived just in the nick of time......

『No, rather than about me, what happened to Velmeria!』

Had her rampage stopped? I hurriedly checked my surroundings.

『Velmeria is――there she is!』

At some distance away, I saw Velmeria lying on the ground. Her body had returned to its original human-like form. I could see her chest rising and falling lightly. She seemed to be alive.

The super magic power emanating from her body had vanished and she was rather dying. Her right arm was blasted off, along with her fanatics, and the right half of her body was torn to shreds.

On the opposite side of Velmeria, I could also see Ashwrath lying on the ground.

『Oi, Ashwrath?』

「Shih, Master, huh?」

The words come back to me, albeit weakly.

『You're not out of control, are you?』

「It's thanks to you.....」

Apparently, the worst had been averted.