“Damn you! Don’t look down on me!” Emergias rallied himself, lashing out with his spear once more. The spearhead was imbued with intense magic, but I blocked it with Adamas. Right when the two weapons touched, I poured every drop of magic from my body into my blade.
With a flash of light and a shattering sound, Emergias’s weapon exploded into a thousand pieces.
“Wha...?!” Emergias was stunned. He had nowhere to run now!
I lifted Adamas above my head with a roar. At long last, the blade of vengeance would get its due.
“Dieeeeeeee!!!”
Adamas slammed down into the top of his head. It cleanly sliced through his skull, his snaking-long neck, and his body—dividing him in two.
Emergias sputtered as he staggered back. Instead of blood, thick black magic poured from him.
“Agh...gah... No... No! Nooo!” His body began to warp, giving off bizarre popping sounds as it twisted and bent. “I am...going to be...the strongest Demon King! I... I can’t...!”
All devils met the same fate once fatally wounded. I jumped backward.
“Agh...guh... Gaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
Emergias collapsed with a scream. A moment later, the magic within him ruptured, and he exploded with a thunderous roar.
When the smoke finally cleared, all that remained was the charred husk of what he had once been. He had been destroyed by holy magic. As he had transformed into a devil, no proper corpse had been left in the wake of his death.
At least that was what I thought...until the ashes started to squirm.
No way!
I couldn’t believe he was still alive in that state... But it was not Emergias who emerged from the ashes, but rather a snakelike woman with long hair. Her body was transparent, riddled with scales here and there. Plus, she was missing a lower half.
So this is the Devil of Envy?! I lifted Adamas to put an end to her as well.
“Wait...I just want to talk...”
No way in hell we’re talking!
“You’re the devil that made a pact with the fourth prince?” But before I could bring Adamas down, Ante emerged from my body.
“Ah... Ssso it really is you. I am the Devil of Envy, Jiiria. It is an honor to be in your presence once again, Lady Antendeixis.”
“Hmm? Have we met before?” Ante replied quizzically.
“Only once... But back then, I was no more than a little imp,” Jiiria replied, holding her fingers up to show how small she had been.
“Ah. You’ve certainly put your contractor through quite a bit, haven’t you?” Ante said, staring at his charred remains.
“Yes... Mortals are quite the ssstubborn bunch, aren’t they? This was a good reminder. Their longings far outstrip our own.” Jiiria nodded.
Why are they just having a normal chat? For the time being, I lowered my sword. But I was ready to finish her off at a moment’s notice.
“There was nothing left of his soul’s original form, was there?” Ante asked.
“It was truly in tatters. At his request, I gave him more of my authority than he could handle, and it ripped him apart. Though as long as I held the broken pieces together, his mind would return to him.”
“So it was brute force? Silly me, here I thought you discovered some incredible new technique.” Ante sighed, losing all interest.
“As embarrassing as it is to admit... When I distorted my authority to sssteal the power of his sssubordinates, he lost control of it,” the snake gave a bitter smile, her body beginning to crumble starting from her fingertips.
Her vertical slit pupils turned to look at me.
“No wonder he was ssso envious of you. You are incredibly ssstrong. Not in magic, but in ssspirit. And you made a pact with the great Devil God of Taboo...? Just what will you accomplish...?” The rest of her body crumbled away, and she was gone.
Both devil and demon gone in a flash, huh?
“Is it over...?” Liliana called out from behind me.
“Yeah. Somehow...”
Before I could turn around to face her, I felt her wrap me in a hug from behind. I didn’t know what to say. That incredibly powerful ally who had just fought alongside me in battle was now trembling.
“I’m sorry... Just...let me stay like this for a bit...”
With her mind back, that meant her memories had returned as well. There was no way she would be in a state of mind to celebrate our victory. She must have been terrified out of her wits.
“Thank you, Liliana.” All I could do was thank her. I put my hands over hers.
“You’re welcome...” she replied quietly. For some reason, the soft feeling of her fingers brought tears to my eyes.
“Um...” After a long while, Layla poked her head into the fortress, back in her dragon form. “Is it over?”
“Yeah, it’s done! And look at you! Back to normal!” I exclaimed.
Thank goodness! Now that I noticed that, I could tell the magic Emergias had taken from me was back as well.
“Yes! I assumed the fight had concluded once I felt my power come back to me. Miss Barbara, Mr. Hessel, the battle is over!” Layla said over her shoulder before returning to human form. She then hesitantly stepped into the field of flowers the fortress had become. “Wow, they’re beautiful...”
“What are those two doing?”
“They said they want to take a moment to reminisce outside.”
“Ah, I see.” I guessed that made sense. They probably couldn’t get back into the fortress even if they wanted to with Liliana’s barriers and them being undead and all. On that note, there was no sign of Claire anywhere. I hoped she was okay. She should have been hiding in the basement of the fortress. As soon as Liliana calmed down, I’d go check on her.
“Liliana! Your hands and feet are back!” Layla cried with joy, running forward while avoiding Emergias’s charred remains. “I’m glad you’re okay too, Alex!”
“You also took really great care of me, didn’t you, Layla? Thanks.” Liliana looked up with a smile, causing Layla to stop in her tracks like she had been struck by lightning.
“What?! She can talk?!”
Of course she can talk!
“Oh, uh, sorry! Of course, if your hands and feet are back, your mind is probably back too!” Layla waved her hands in a panic, finally remembering that Liliana was actually a high elf. “So, um...Li—Miss Liliana? It’s a pleasure to meet you...?”
Liliana laughed as Layla tried to act formal (despite being entirely naked save for Konectus). “Please, just Liliana is fine, like always. My older memories may be back, but that doesn’t mean my newer ones disappeared. I remember all the time we spent...together...” Liliana’s words trailed off. “I remember...everything...” she whispered. I felt Liliana’s forehead strike the back of my head.
Silence. I broke out in a cold sweat.
She remembered everything, huh? Well, I remembered everything that demon prince Zilbagias had done while I had sealed my own memories, so I got where she was coming from. But that meant the “healing by licking,” sleeping in bed together, the baths... Ugh...
Layla had mustered the best fake smile she could, and Ante was starting to squirm inside me.
Suddenly, Liliana started to stroke my shoulder. No...that wasn’t it! She was stroking the Bon Dage suit I was wearing...!
“So this is my leather, huh?” she murmured. My sweat had turned into a waterfall.
“Ohooo!” Ante started making strange sounds in my head. All of a sudden, the power of Taboo was growing awfully fast!