Chapter 497: Delusion (5)

"..." The smile silently disappeared from Gavid's face.

He did feel a burst of anger, but to be honest, he couldn't muster up any offended pride in the face of Eugene's remark. After all, it was true that he had launched a surprise attack on Eugene, attempting to kill the hero, when he knew that Eugene wasn't capable of putting up any resistance.

He knew that he was just making excuses for himself, but in the end, Gavid still said, "I do feel some shame for my actions, but I don't think I did anything wrong."

That was what Gavid truly believed. He hadn't wanted to swing his blade at that moment. Yet even so, he had still swung his sword at Eugene. Then, in the end, at the very last moment, Gavid had held back his sword. All of these conflicting behaviors were because of two things: Gavid's lust for battle as a demonfolk and his honor as the Blade of Incarceration.

His decision to launch a surprise attack was just his attempt to fulfill his duty as the Duke of Helmuth.

"Uhuh, fine, I get it," Eugene responded with a skeptical snort.

He wasn't bringing this up because he wanted to hear something like an excuse from Gavid. Although it might be quite fun to keep poking at Gavid's innermost feelings in front of everyone...

'Let's hold back from that urge for now,' Eugene decided.

If his body had been in healthy condition, that was definitely something he would have done.

Eugene clicked his tongue in disappointment. It was obvious that if he kept provoking Gavid in this current situation where he wasn't even able to protect himself, it would clearly only bring harm to the people around him.

"By the way, we aren't anywhere close enough for you to welcome me back, are we?" Eugene pointed out.

"Your words are so harsh," Gavid complained. "Hah, but since there is such a difference in our stations, I suppose it can't be helped. After all, you are the one who's been deceiving me from the very beginning by hiding your true identity."

"So what, does that piss you off?" Eugene scoffed.

Gavid shook his head, "No, I'm not angry. However, I do feel a slight sense of astonishment. I would never have thought that you would actually know how to use such a tactic."

Now that he knew Eugene was the reincarnation of Hamel, Gavid had smoothly organized everything else that had been puzzling him.

Their first meeting in this life had been at the Knight March. After receiving the invitation from the Demon King of Incarceration, Eugene had immediately drawn the Holy Sword and attacked Gavid. At that time, Gavid was too distracted by the words that the Demon King of Incarceration had left with to retaliate against Eugene's attack, and afterward, Eugene had distracted everyone from his attempt to kill Gavid by claiming to have received a revelation from the Light.

Now that Gavid thought about it, the whole thing had just been a blatant assassination attempt on Eugene's part.

Eugene shook his head, "Really now, all I did was refrain from saying anything I shouldn't while I left an idiot like you to come to your own conclusions. Is something like that really impressive enough to be called a tactic?"

As soon as he had finished speaking, Eugene felt the urge to cringe. He was trying hard not to provoke Gavid, but his mouth had just started moving on its own and ended up provoking Gavid anyway. On top of that, this provocation seemed to have been quite effective, as Gavid's expression was rapidly chilling.

If they kept conversing on this topic, Eugene felt like he would just continue provoking Gavid without even realizing he was doing so.

So Eugene immediately changed the subject, "Did the Demon King of Incarceration order you to do this?"

In fact, this new topic was exactly what Eugene had been hoping to ask Gavid about.

"What are you speaking of exactly?" Gavid asked with a frown.

"I'm talking about you trying to kill me," Eugene reminded him.

"Hah," Gavid shook his head, seeming genuinely displeased by Eugene's insinuation. "There is no way that my lord, the Demon King of Incarceration, would give such a cowardly order."

Eugene snickered, "Heheh, so you do know that what you did was cowardly."

Not again.... This time as well, in contrast to Eugene's best intentions, yet another provocation had leaped out from his lips. Eugene wanted to take his words back as soon as he said them, but he also inwardly felt aggrieved. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't help but think it was Gavid's fault for being such an idiot who kept showing him such good openings for a verbal jab.

"I do acknowledge that," Gavid replied with a calm expression, showing no sign of having been shaken by the accusation. "I don't need you to accept my reasons for committing such an act. From the beginning to the end, I just chose to do what I thought was right."

"Heh," Eugene just chuckled in response.

"Are you dissatisfied with my explanation?" Gavid asked pointedly.

Eugene rolled his eyes, "Why ask something so obvious?"

"Hamel," the corners of Gavid's lips twitched upwards in a smile, "no, Eugene Lionheart. The only reason you are alive right now is that I showed you mercy. It's because I held my sword back at the very last moment."

"The only reason you swung your sword at me without any warning was that you were scared of me," Eugene replied with the same sort of smile. "So now what? What are you going to do? Are you going to swing your sword once more and try to kill me again?"

"You should already know the answer to that," Gavid stated drily.

If he killed Eugene now, Gavid felt like he would end up regretting it for the rest of his life.

"I won't kill you today," Gavid promised. "After all, that is what my lord, the Demon King of Incarceration, wills. However... as it turns out, I myself have also decided on my own initiative not to cut you down just yet."

Although he had admitted this, Gavid himself felt a little puzzled about his current choice of behavior.

For Gavid, the will of the Demon King of Incarceration was absolute. Gavid would never willingly go against that. However, when he drew his sword earlier and launched his surprise attack — that hadn't been a part of the Demon King of Incarceration's will at all.

Gavid was the Archduke of Helmuth. This title had been granted to him by the Demon King of Incarceration. For the past three hundred years, he had overseen the devildom's, no, the entire empire's development. Helmuth was an empire in the truest sense of the word, one that was unrivaled by any other country on the continent. Gavid had swung his sword at Eugene because he thought that it was just the right thing for him to do as the Archduke of the empire.

"Next time...," Gavid began to speak slowly.

In the end, at the very final moment, Gavid had

held back his sword.

It was for the sake of his battle-lust as a demonfolk. To live up to his honor as the Blade of Incarceration. Because he didn't want to someday regret his actions. In order to cleanly move past the lingering feelings he had because of Hamel that had been deeply imprinted into his memories.

Three hundred years ago, Gavid wouldn't have had to deal with such complex considerations. As a blade, Gavid had told himself that he should just do what a blade does and follow his master's orders.

As such, Gavid had now been left with no choice but to admit it.

"...without any cowardice, I will face you head-on and take your neck," Gavid solemnly vowed.

Even Gavid himself had changed over these past three hundred years. Could this change be something he should be happy to accept? Or perhaps, should he mock himself for going through such unwanted changes?

Hiding the wry feeling within him, Gavid took a step backward.

"Pass on a message for me," Eugene said to the retreating Gavid. "If you have something you have to say, don't be so coy and just say it to me directly."

His words were meant for the Demon King of Incarceration. Gavid paused in his tracks to glare at Eugene.

Eugene's tone was extremely disrespectful. Gavid felt the urge to draw his sword right then and there, but... he couldn't just appear to change his mind less than one minute after making such a vow.

In the end, Gavid just turned around without responding.

In terms of suspicions, Gavid also had his fair share. This war over Nahama had felt extremely strange. The Demon King of Incarceration hadn't just condoned the actions of the specter; he had fully supported them. Thanks to that, Helmuth had lost all of the super-giant demonic beasts that had been sealed away in Ravesta to be used in case of emergencies.

That wasn't the only loss. Amelia Merwin, the Staff of Incarceration, had also been subdued and taken prisoner. Quite a few high-ranking demonfolk and all of the black wizards whom they had embedded in Nahama had died as well.

On top of that, most of the demonfolk who had lived in the fief of the Demon King of Destruction, Ravesta, had also perished. Although Gavid didn't think that the Demon King of Destruction would actually get angry over the loss of so many vassals, what if the Demon King of Destruction were to go on a rampage? Gavid could already feel his head pounding in stress as he swallowed back a sigh.

'It would be nice if he could at least give me a hint,' Gavid thought to himself.

He just couldn't tell what the Demon King of Incarceration was thinking. As this thought went through his mind, Gavid opened a Spatial Door and walked through it.

***

"Bastard, I was worried that he might suddenly pull his sword on me again," Eugene grumbled with a sigh of relief once he was sure Gavid had fully disappeared.

Sienna, who had landed next to him, rolled her eyes in exasperation at Eugene's rude tongue.

"If you were worried that that bastard might attack you, couldn't you have just avoided provoking him in the first place?" Sienna complained.

Bam!

Sienna delivered a stinging smack on Eugene's shoulder. Normally, the sting of the slap wouldn't have felt anywhere near as bad as it sounded, but right now, Eugene's state was far from normal. His body was about as weak as it could get.

Eugene gritted his teeth to suppress the scream that he had been about to unconsciously let loose, but he couldn't do anything about the fact that his body had started shaking involuntarily as if he was having convulsions.

Had Sienna really hit him without knowing what kind of state he was in? Of course not. As someone who had been Hamel's comrade before he even became Eugene, there was no way that Sienna couldn't know about the backlash that he would need to deal with once Ignition had ended. It was an extremely intentional and emotion-driven act on Sienna's part when she had smacked Eugene just now.

'This son of a bitch,' Sienna silently cursed.

What could he have been talking about with that damned Queen of the Sluts, when it was just the two of them? What on earth had the pair gotten up to on their own? What could have been so important that they even went so far as to block all sounds and sights from escaping?

Before Noir's wings had covered them both up, the Queen of the Sluts had pounced on Eugene. To Sienna's dismay, Noir had pushed Eugene down and leaped on top of him.

'And who is Aria?' Sienna scowled.

Sienna's ears were sharp enough to be compared to Eugene's keen senses. She had clearly heard him say the name Aria. The moment that she heard that name, the Queen of the Sluts — Noir Giabella — had been greatly shaken by it. So much so that it had left Sienna wondering if Noir had truly just shown such passion and emotion or if it was just an act.

And it wasn't just that. When Noir's wings had lifted, opening up the barrier, Eugene and Noir's lips had been stained with the same red color. A mix of blood and something glossy....

"...," Sienna barely managed to hold back her fist, which had felt like it was just about to unconsciously take a swing at Eugene.

When she thought about it rationally, s-so wh-what if... what if there had been an unsavory, scandalous, and shameless kiss between Eugene and Noir? That definitely couldn't have been a willing act on Eugene's part. In fact, after her wings had been pulled back, the very first thing that Eugene had done was scrub at his lips until they were wiped raw.

That was how Sienna could tell that the kiss must have definitely been forced onto him. That Queen of the Sluts, who didn't know the meaning of the word shame, must have acted just like her name would suggest and done something so thoughtless and dirty to Eugene.

She had pounced on Eugene, who was unable to put up any resistance due to the backlash from Ignition, straddled him, and overpowered Eugene, who could only try to use his words to dissuade; then, like a predator hunting down and devouring a weak herbivore, Noir must have slowly begun to satisfy her wildest desires....

'Gulp,' Sienna swallowed a mouthful of saliva as such thoughts continued to run wild inside her head.

She wasn't even hungry, so why was her mouth watering like this? Sienna was too afraid to actually look into the reason for her response. However, she could at least be certain of this much: Eugene was indeed a son of a bitch.

Also, Sienna really couldn't hate that selfish and jerkish side of him....

"However, sometimes, you still have to apply proper discipline," Sienna muttered in a low voice.

Since he had done something naughty, she should firmly tell him no and give him the punishment he needed to improve. Therefore, Sienna didn't feel any regret or guilt for having smacked Eugene.

There was no way for Eugene to know what kind of messy and complicated thoughts were going on in Sienna's head.

Now that the pain that had felt like his arm was about to be torn off had subsided, Eugene asked her with a sour expression, "What are you talking about?"

Sienna dismissed his question, "You don't need to know."

"If there's something you want to tell me, don't hide it; tell it to me straight," Eugene complained.

"There is something I want to ask you right now, but I'll just talk to you later. Because it's probably not a question that should be asked at a place like this," Sienna explained, as her eyes narrowed and she glared at Eugene.

Sienna wasn't the only one directing that sort of look towards Eugene. Kristina was descending from the sky while folding away each pair of wings in succession. She as well as Anise, who was still inside her, were both sending Eugene the same sort of looks as Sienna.

"Tch," Anise clicked her tongue.

She had a rough idea of what had happened. This was because she had already been told that Noir Giabella was the reincarnation of the Saintess of the God of War back at Giabella-Park. At that time, Eugene had also shown such extreme agitation as Noir had shown tonight.

Although Eugene had put a nail in the issue, claiming that everything was fine and that nothing had changed, Anise wasn't stupid enough not to recognize his obvious bravado.

However, even if all of his indifference were just a bluff, in the end, Eugene and Hamel would still try to kill Noir. Even though he might spend a long time hesitating and experience great anguish in the process, ultimately, Eugene still wouldn't stray from the choices that he had made.

Truthfully, Anise hated that part of him. In her opinion, Hamel tended to choose the options that made things the hardest for himself.

It was the same thing this time as well.

It wasn't like Anise actually wanted for Noir to repent her sins and be forgiven. However, she was willing to compromise if that was what was needed. As long as they could guarantee firm control of Noir, Anise didn't believe it was truly a necessity to kill her.

And if that was what Hamel secretly desired, then Anise would do her best to support his choice. Though that was only if Hamel truly would suffer less by not killing Noir.

[However, there is no way Sir Eugene will change his mind,] Kristina muttered with a sigh.

Anise had also come to the same conclusion, but she wasn't in the mood to smile at their shared exasperation at Eugene's stubbornness.

'Aria must be her actual name from their past lives,' Anise worked out.

Noir Giabella must have truly awoken her past memories.

'I don't know what exactly those two might have been talking about. However, I can be sure of this much: those two are still going to try and kill each other,' Anise shared her opinion with Kristina.

It didn't matter to her what kind of emotions Noir might be feeling because of this.

But if Hamel ended up feeling even greater pain because of this... it would break both Kristina and Anise's hearts. It would have been better if Noir had never awakened her memories. Then Hamel wouldn't have had to see such a different side of her.

—Anise, there is only one solution to this problem, and I have no intention of trying to find a different solution either.

—So what if Noir is the reincarnation of the Twilight Witch? Whether or not Agaroth considered her to be someone special doesn't matter to me.

—That's even more reason why it shouldn't matter to you either. Because you aren't Agaroth.

—In other words, how I should think of Noir is an issue that can only be answered by myself.

His words had been full of such bravado.

—I am not going to come up with any other solutions apart from that one.

It was just like Hamel and Eugene to say such a thing. His whole response to the issue matched perfectly with the image of him that Anise had built up inside her head.

Thanks to that, she knew that Hamel would regret it if he had to kill Noir.

Because the he that Anise knew was just that kind of man.

Pushing her emotions to one side, Anise took a deep breath instead of sighing and said out loud, "For now, we all need to get some rest—"

The war had ended with the victory of their allied forces. But before they could even celebrate their victory, far too many things had just happened. So, Anise stepped forward to try to resolve the situation.

"Kyaaaaah!"

However, Anise was stopped from doing so because someone emitted a loud crow-like screech that interrupted her before she even finished speaking.

The owner of that screeching voice was, of course, Melkith. Melkith had been sent sprawling along with the other wizards from the White Tower of Magic in the aftermath of Omega Force's destruction. As soon as her body had regained some strength, she immediately let out this piercing scream and was now rushing over towards Eugene.

"Eugene!" Melkith cried out as she leaped across the sand and raced towards Eugene.

But if Eugene were to be struck by Melkith's bodily assault in his current state, he might actually die from it. As Eugene let out a startled yelp, Ivatar quickly processed the situation and stepped forward with his hands raised to stop Melkith from colliding with Eugene. Then, on top of that, Sienna used a spell to hold Melkith up in the air.

"L-let go off me!" Melkith shouted as she struggled to get free. "I-I have something that I need to ask you! It's about what you said just now! Also, you said that if someone had something to say, they should just say it to you straight instead of hiding it, didn't you!"

At her shouts, a cold sweat broke out on Eugene's forehead.

"You, are you really the reincarnation of the Stupid Hamel?!" Melkith demanded.

Although he had expected to be asked this question, Eugene still squeezed his eyes shut in pained frustration.