Chapter 177

Elzard heaved a long, loud sigh. Then she looked right into my eyes and said, “Mephisto Yuu Phegor—I’ve known of that name for a long time. Neither you nor he were around when I was born, though, so I had no clue what he was like. Had we been born in the same era, I’m sure he would’ve killed me. The moment I saw Mephisto, that much was clear.” Despite her words, there wasn’t a trace of weakness or defeat in Elzard’s eyes. Even now, after learning what Mephisto was capable of, she was still ready to fight him. “How…?” I croaked. “How can you be so—?” “How can you be so pathetic? Why do you let his words get to you like that? Remember what you told me once? ‘Don’t insult my friends,’ you said. Well, right back at ya. You shouldn’t care what anyone else says or does, as long as the bonds in your heart are genuine. Can you seriously not understand something that simple? You moron!” Emotions burned in her golden eyes. Our relationship couldn’t be described as friendly, and that’s precisely how I knew she was being sincere. She didn’t pull punches or coddle me, and she had no shame. Elzard beat her feelings into me. “Truth is, I envied you. I was jealous, with all my heart. I was jealous of how you looked together. Of how you acted together. I’m a monster, just like she is. So why was I the only one left out? “Ard Meteor, you have something I’ve been searching for all my life…something I was never able to attain. “Something far prettier, brighter, and more precious than anything. “I knew it was something I could never defy. “It was something I should never let anyone else defy. “Yet you clumsily let your heart break and quit without a fight. “You’re an idiot, the lord of idiots. You’re a stupid piece of shit. “Let me tell ya something, I can still see all your friends in a circle around you. But I guess you can’t. “Seriously, could you be any more pathetic, clumsy, or stupid?” Elzard’s words were cruel. They beat me to the ground. Yet they were oddly inspiring. She was trying to get me on my feet again. Her fiery words burned my broken heart…dyeing it the color of fire. With a budding vitality in my chest, I tossed a question back at Elzard. “Do you seriously think either of us stands a chance against that devil?” “Yeah. It’s possible…if we team up, that is.” She muttered the last part of the sentence shyly, with her eyes turned away from me, but there was confidence in her reply, too. “I can’t do it alone. And you can’t, either. To be honest, I hate the idea… I hate it with every fiber of my being. But if we work together, we can beat him. I wouldn’t have saved your ass if I didn’t think so. ’Cause I seriously loathe you.” Elzard fixed me in her gaze and offered me a hand. “I want to transcend. What about you, Ard Meteor? Aren’t ya tired of being a whiny bitch? Get over yourself and stand on your feet, ya damn slug.” In my past life, I never would’ve joined forces with an enemy. When I was the Demon Lord, my foes were foes and that was the end of it. I used to think something like this was impossible. But now… “Being reincarnated as a nobody…made me weak. I thought that made it impossible to defeat Mephisto.” However, maybe the opposite was true. Perhaps because I was a typical nobody and not the Demon Lord, I could defy the impossible. Seeing Elzard standing before me made me believe that. “A best friend of mine once told me that if I feel depressed, I should embrace stupidity. That moping wouldn’t turn the tables, so I should turn off my brain, become an idiot, and run forward without thinking… I think I’ll listen to that advice and become an idiot.” I’d found something I wanted to believe in—Elzard’s words, not Mephisto’s. I would believe in her and her feelings. I would believe in all my friends. And most of all… “Will you help me, Elzard?” “Hmph. All I did was help ya get on your feet. The rest is up to you.” We exchanged cynical smirks. Then we shook hands.