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Side Story Chapter 262

“…Come to think of it, I can’t sense Greed anymore.”

Which was odd. Greed had been doggedly tormenting Lucifer as if it had a will of its own, but, when Lucifer examined himself closely, he couldn’t detect the slightest trace of Greed any longer.

“…It’s gone.” Lucifer’s eyes flew open.

“Pardon?”

“Wrath… is gone.”

“What do you mean…?” the knight who had brought Kireua to the forest cautiously asked. He’d already been feeling alarmed by the power he could sense coming behind him; he was even more distressed than Lucifer.

“…Put him down.”

“Put Kireua Sanders down this instant!” Lucifer demanded, his demonic power bursting out of his body.

“…Urgh!” The knight put Kireua Sanders down, but when he tried to retreat, but he discovered that he couldn’t lift a finger. His entire body was stiff as stone. “Wh-what in the world…?”

“Just die.” Lucifer swung his arm.

The world the knight saw tilted, but he still didn’t realize what happened even after his head separated from his neck.

The knight’s body should have collapsed on the ground by the time his head was kissing the dirt, but that didn’t happen, in contrast to Lucifer’s expectations.

“It’s too late.” Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

The knight was standing, but with his head missing—as if he were a dullahan. What was happening behind the corpse, however, was the real concern.

“Greed is willing to consume a fellow Evil Sin. I can’t believe it.”

Although other people couldn’t see Greed, Lucifer could. The cotton ball was returning to its owner, bringing with it the red form of Wrath.

“I should kill him here and now,” Lucifer quickly concluded. Kireua was too dangerous, maybe even more so than the Martial God, his father. There was nothing more troubling than an opponent whose exact prowess was yet to be determined. Lucifer had fought the Martial God before, so he was able to come up with a countermeasure and expect that it would work within his expectations. However, it wasn’t easy to deal with an opponent like Kireua, no matter how hard Lucifer tried.

‘This is my best chance.’

Lucifer closed the distance between himself and Kireua in the blink of an eye and brought his demonically enhanced knife-hand strike down on Kireua’s head.

The attack could have destroyed Kireua’s skull, but Lucifer\'s attempt was foiled. Not because Kireua had woken up just in time to block the attack, which wouldn’t have been nearly as shocking to Lucifer as what had actually happened.

“What…in the world are you?” he whispered.

Lucifer’s question was rhetorical. The black cotton ball he saw earlier had grown bigger to protect its owner’s head.

“I never heard about Greed having such an ability!” Lucifer screamed.

-Heh! Hehehehehehe!

Greed bounced up and down, laughing unpleasantly.

“Speak! I scoured the Wrath’s memory…!”

-Heh. Hehehehe. Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!

The cotton ball split in half like a human mouth, revealing something red within—the power of Wrath, being devoured before Lucifer’s very eyes.

‘Yes, Greed is the only Evil Sin which can get stronger independently of its owner. In that case…’

A possibility that Lucifer didn’t want to imagine loomed in his thoughts: Greed was capable of making its own progress, just like a human.

“The real monster… is you, not Joshua Sanders,” Lucifer muttered.

He’d almost given up on his survival. He could instinctively tell that Greed’s unfathomable power made it the natural predator of those who relied on demonic power. Lucifer could only see one conclusion.

“…Eat me.” Lucifer opened his arms. “Although I think you were planning on that anyway.”

-Heh. Hehehehe!

Greed didn’t turn Lucifer’s offer down. It slowly crawled toward Lucifer, laughing heartily the whole way.

‘Maybe… I should try one last attack.’

Lucifer dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. As an Absolute, he was able to foresee the outcome of a fight without even actually engaging, and he knew that it would be meaningless.

‘This isn’t how I expected to meet my demise… Ha!’ Lucifer chuckled in disbelief as he watched Greed, who was already on his leg.

“…I have one last request.”

-Heh?

“I’m assuming that if you eat me, I’ll become a part of you, like Wrath. However, if I manage to maintain my identity within you…” Lucifer paused to sort out his thoughts before continuing, “…let me have control of the body just once for ten minutes when I ask for it. I’m sure that won’t be an issue for you.”

-Hehehehe. Hehe.

“Yeah, I don’t care if that means my annihilation afterward.”

-Hee…

“You must have felt the depths of my fury. All of that will become yours, so I believe I can ask this much at least,” Lucifer insisted.

-Hehehehehe!

“…It’s a deal, then.”

Lucifer smiled, content. If someone saw him right now, they might call him a madman because it looked like he was talking to thin air. However, it wouldn’t take long to shut their mouths.

“I’m ready. Eat me.”

Greed stretched its mouth open like an abyss and swallowed Lucifer whole.

The man disappeared from the world completely.

A gust of wind blew over the site, finding only the headless knight and Kireua. Anna and Isaac had arrived.

“Kireua!”

* * *

Anna and Isaac weren’t the only ones who had been searching for Kireua.

“Sir Cain!”

“Did you find him?” Cain quickly asked.

“Umm…”

The three surviving Avalon nobles hesitated, but that was enough for Cain to deduce what had happened.

“We don’t have time. If we waste any more time, His Highness will be…”

“Why don’t you calm down first?” one of the nobles advised.

Cain fell silent. Their forces’ morale was low because two hundred of the five hundred knights had been killed by a single attack from Lucifer. On top of that, two of the five nobles had died with them. The five nobles, as the lords of neighboring land, had known each other for a long time. The three nobles left had lost their neighbors…

‘…I do understand how they feel right now, but…’

As Cain brainstormed how to speed up their search for Kireua, one of the nobles came forward.

“Sir Cain, I’ll cut to the point since we don’t have much time.”

“…Yes, go on.”

“I received an urgent message from Avalon just now.”

Cain\'s eyes widened—they were still in Hubalt. Or actually, when he thought about it, they were in the untamed lands of the Black Monster Forest; it was entirely likely that the forest wasn’t affected by the jamming barrier.

“Is it from the Palace?” Cain asked.

“…Our neighboring lords are the ones who sent the message.”

“What did they say?”

“Umm…” The noble hesitated for a moment, his expression dark. “Our fortress in the north has been conquered.”

Cain’s entire body froze but for his trembling lip. “Does that mean… His Highness Selim lost?”

“The Battle God himself joined the battle, so…”

As the mention of the Battle God, Cain shut his eyes.

“Fortunately, His Highness Selim was able to retreat from the battle.”

“…That is one silver lining,” Cain muttered.

“Speaking of which, shouldn’t we go back to Avalon as quickly as possible?” the noble asked.

Since the Hubalt forces had conquered the north, they would probably head to the capital next. The nobles’ lands were in the way, which meant they would be in danger.

‘...I can’t force them to make more sacrifices,’ Cain thought, agonized. However, returning to Avalon would mean that they had to stop searching for Kireua.

In the nick of time, news that made Cain’s hesitation vanish arrived.

“Th-The crystal ball is responding.”

“...Don’t tell me that Hubalt’s forces are already close to our land!”

“A-Answer the call!”

The noble holding the crystal ball nodded and infused his mana into the crystal ball.

-M-My lord! I ha-have an urgent message to deliver!

“Stop stammering. Talk! What is the message!”

-Umm… Uh…

The three nobles scowled at the flustered mage.

“For goodness’ sake! Speak already!” a noble shouted.

-Th-The Sword Emperor…

“The Sword Emperor? Are you talking about His Grace Tremblin?”

-Yes, yes… he…

“You’re driving us insane!”

The mage squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself.

-His Grace Tremblin was killed in the battle!