Chapter 160

Mephisto blushed as though he were feeling a bit shy. He squirmed and pressed his index fingers together. “As you know, I tend to grow lonely easily. I’ve truly missed you. For the last few millennia, I desperately waited until I could meet you again. From your perspective, I suppose it seems you saw me only a few days ago. However, that thing you met was one of my avatars, not the true me. This is the first I’ve seen you myself in thousands of years. Ahh, yes. I don’t feel like I can restrain myself any longer. Can we start with a hug and a kiss—?” “Quiet. Shut up. Just die.” Gross. That one word said it all. Despite my clear rejection, that irritating devil maintained his grin. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha. You don’t need to be so shy. Oh, or are you worried about the fact that you look different now? It’s okay. I don’t care about your appearance. You were indeed more beautiful than any other in the world before your reincarnation, but that wasn’t what I fell in love with. It’s with your very existence—” “Bite off your tongue and rot,” I stated coldly, keeping my expression level. It seemed that was finally enough to convince him there was no chance of anything happening, and he held up his hands in surrender. “Hmm. Then I guess I’ll have to satisfy myself with talking to you.” He looked disappointed, but kept his distance and sat down at a table. “Go on and take a seat. Why don’t we chat over tea? I’ve started a little garden recently. I’ve been able to grow some nice tea leaves, so—” “Our relationship isn’t the type where we chat over drinks.” My heart remained icy through this exchange. I don’t think I would’ve felt such disdain had we simply been enemies. There were plenty of rivals I settled differences with. I would sooner die than do as much with this devil, however. “Yeesh. You really are a spoilsport. I guess that’s all right. No matter the attitude you take, it doesn’t change the fact that we share a strong, unbreakable bond.” “…Stop your rambling.” “No, it’s true. I’m the only one you can really be friends with.” Mephisto smiled knowingly at me. Was this his usual babbling, or was he taunting me? Either way, I had no intention of humoring him. “Let’s get to the point,” I declared while remaining standing, which elicited a chuckle from Mephisto. “You’re after the secret to Alvarto’s immortality, right, my darling?” The way he spoke suggested he’d anticipated this. “You were caught between two contradictions: his wish to have you kill him and her wish for him to live on. The promises are contradictory, and you couldn’t keep them both. Which is why…you abandoned the problems you needed to solve and reincarnated into the future, right?” He shrugged while he spoke. “This is what happens when you don’t settle your debts… Surely your long life taught you as much. Yet you still ran like a fool… The situation must have felt unbearable.” Seething hatred boiled within me as I listened to Mephisto describe the situation from the perspective of an unrelated outsider. Damn you. It was all your doing. I wanted to scream that at him, but I knew it was a pointless effort. Keeping my cool as best as I could, I replied, “Yes, I was truly foolish. I genuinely regret it… That’s why I’m here now, begging for your help.” It was the truth. If Mephisto wanted, not only would I plead, but I was willing to do whatever else he requested. To my amazement, however, he made no demands of me. “It’s fine. I’ll tell you,” he remarked casually. “Alvarto’s immortality stems from a spatial link he possesses with the underworld. Since he himself functions as part of the underworld, no matter what methods you use in this world, you can’t erase his existence. He’s a creature from a different dimension and not any ordinary life-form.” I replayed Mephisto’s words in my head a few times and broke them down, processing them. “…Meaning, you acquired a specific part of the underworld and gave that space itself a consciousness?” “Ah, impressively done, my darling. So quick on the uptake.” Mephisto smiled at me the way a parent would when proud of their child. It was infuriating, but I had to concede that he possessed amazing power. For life to exist, there needed to be a vessel made of flesh and self-awareness. The former was created in the womb, while standard theory stated that the soul created the latter, but… …Alvarto’s consciousness wasn’t based on a soul. A part of the underworld was what made up his mind. His soul was merely a support mechanism to keep his awareness in the physical world, and there was no lasting damage in destroying it. “So, unless the portion of the underworld that makes up Alvarto’s consciousness is eradicated, he can never die. Put a different way, destroying that makes it possible to kill him.” “That’s pretty much it… So? Any other questions?” I asked three more questions and obtained all the necessary answers. In the end, I got all the information I’d sought by coming here. “Seems like you’ve devised a plan. I suppose that means—” “Yes, I have no further use for you.” Without the slightest show of emotion, I turned on my heel and departed. My business here was completed, so there was no reason to delay. I wanted to get back to the others as quickly as possible. Breathing the same air as Mephisto was sickening and only hastened my steps. “Yeesh, you could at least give me a kiss good-bye,” he said with a slight pout, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of a response. I continued on my way, determined to ignore him. And just as I was a step away from exiting the room— “You have a bad habit, you know?” I couldn’t help but pause at that. Truthfully, I don’t know why. There was something in Mephisto’s voice, a pull that made me freeze in my tracks. “You have overwhelming, absolute power. In battle, your strength is like no other’s. But your psyche, at least in your daily life, is extremely fragile. You tend to unconsciously run from problems that you need to face. This is why, no matter how much you may think you’ve learned your lesson, you keep repeating the same mistakes.” A shiver ran up my spine. Every hair on my body stood on end. I broke out into a cold sweat and couldn’t stop the sense of dread running through my nerves. The evil that lingered behind me went on, chilling me to my very soul. “A devil will always reach out and take the hand of someone who desires aid. Yet the moment you accept assistance from that sort of creature, the end is doomed never to change. No matter how well things might seem to go, the result will be identical. After all, there’s no such thing as a devil that doesn’t seek payment for their help.” And then… “Make sure you remember that, and this too, my darling.” A heavy meaning filled Mephisto’s voice, giving it a disturbing ring of truth. “You can never escape the past. It will never let you go.” …before I knew it, I was running. The gates shut behind me, and Mephisto’s presence grew more distant. Still, I couldn’t stop. My legs kept moving, desperately carrying me away from something.