Chapter 178

INTERLUDE The Bitter Boy and the Glowing Girl Beneath the bright beams of sunlight, inside a school building, a large chorus of praise echoed off the walls. “W-wow! This is a potion of legend, made from a lost recipe!” “You’re the best, Mephisto!” “You are the greatest genius at this school! No, the greatest this country has ever known!” The compliments resounded through the classroom. Praising him was the just and moral thing for them to do. And thus… “Don’t get cocky, you little—” “You peon! How dare you insult our Mephisto!” “You insulted Mephisto?! What a waste of life!” “Anyone who dares to insult Mephisto deserves to die!” …they swarmed to slaughter the one dissenting student. There was no logic to it. They would praise the exalted one and affirm everything he said or did. Such was the meaning of their existence. Anyone who defied him was disposed of. Their angry shouts drowned out the wrongdoer’s screams. Nobody stopped them from cruelly ripping the heretic apart. If anything, they were praised for it. Nobody in the room felt a single shred of doubt over their actions. “““Long live Mephisto! Long live Mephisto! Long live Mephisto! Long live Mephisto!””” As the chorus of adoring voices boomed through the classroom, Mephisto Yuu Phegor reclined on the desk at the front, smiling peacefully. He favored his adoring classmates with a dazzlingly beautiful smile, looking as elegant as an angel and as terrifying as a devil. “Worthless, all of you.” Bone-chilling contempt leaked from his peaceful grin. A moment later, every member of the classroom mob burst open, decorating the surroundings in a shower of flesh, bone, organs, and blood. The boy’s inhuman smile didn’t falter beneath the crimson rain. “What’s so great about all this? I don’t understand, honey.” He saw the man in his mind. Varvatos, or Ard Meteor—the only one in this world who could match him. All other living things on this planet were indistinguishable and worthless. He couldn’t even tell which were sentient. Ard Meteor alone was a being equal to Mephisto Yuu Phegor. “Okay. He’s probably beaten the first level by now.” Mephisto used vista magic. A mirror appeared before him, displaying a distant scene. Ard Meteor rose from the ground and shook hands with his former enemy. Mephisto sighed with relief at the scene. “Oh, good. You stood back up for me.” A smile formed on his angelically beautiful face—a genuine one. “That’s why you’re my darling. You are the one person who might be able to teach me what defeat feels like.” Mephisto inhaled and released the breath, then he turned away from the mirror. “All right, then. I planned to share his experiences to deepen my understanding of him, but…” “I take it you’ve grown tired of us, Mephisto?” one of the three people that hadn’t burst apart asked. It was Ginny Salvan. “Yes, I have. I mean, you’re just so horrendously boring.” One of the three dared defy that statement. “What about us is boring? Please, enlighten us.” It was Sylphy Marheaven. Mephisto answered her question calmly. “You kids aren’t sentient. You aren’t people.” He spoke as though delivering a self-evident truth. The last of the three, Ireena Olhyde, refused Mephisto. “But we are people. We’re flesh and blood, and we have souls, too.” Mephisto’s smile turned to stone. “I see. A being of flesh that houses advanced intelligence should indeed be called a person. But you see, sweet Ireena, that little thought of yours is common knowledge among your own kind. As long as you hoist that up as truth, a transcendent being like myself cannot accept it as a confirmed fact.” Without even finishing his thought, Mephisto unleashed another volley of spells. Regenerate, Disassemble, Rearrange. All the fragments of flesh, bone, and organs in the classroom converged—and were rebuilt. It looked like a scene right out of a nightmare. The students, reanimated from mutilated corpses, were the epitome of deformity. All they could do was groan and wander the room like zombies. “Good. My vision’s come to life.” And with a snap of Mephisto’s fingers, the mob of zombies fell apart again. Then they were regenerated, disassembled, and rearranged. This time, they looked more normal on the outside, but they were abnormal on the inside. “Watch where you’re lookin’!” “Huh?! Drop dead, you shit!” “I’ll frickin’ kill all of you!” It was a cruel and gruesome battle royal. Everyone abused, hated, and hurt each other without a second thought. And as Mephisto watched it all unwind, he said, “Shut up.” With a snap of his fingers, the reanimated students collapsed into a heap of meat. Mephisto bathed in spurting blood until he was coated red. His expression didn’t so much as flinch. “I can bend others fully to my will. Their minds and bodies belong to me. I can kill them as I please, revive them as I please, change them as I please, manipulate them as I please. And if all of that is possible, then human relationships essentially don’t exist.” He could extinguish anyone he didn’t like, or corrupt them. To Mephisto, it was nothing fancy. “If only there were a limit to the existences I could target, then perhaps I might have embraced a banal common knowledge like you kids and wielded my power for love, justice, and peace. However…I regret to inform you that everyone kneels to my will but him.” That was why. “Only he can be described as a person. Because he’s the only one I can’t bend to my desires. He subverts my assumptions. But you kids? Sorry, but you don’t pass.” Hiding his coldness behind a mechanical smile, Mephisto pointed his right index finger at Sylphy. “Truth be told, you got my hopes up just a little, sweet Sylphy. As Lydia’s friend, you were the one being who might have inherited her spirit. I’d hoped that you might surpass my expectations…that you might interact with me like a sentient human being.” Mephisto narrowed his eyes to knife points as he continued. “But you were exactly what I thought, in every way possible. Even now, you’re still under my control. In the end, you’re nothing more than an inorganic being wearing an organic mask, just like everyone else.” The devil raised his finger, giving form to the negative feelings in his heart as a cruel, violent attack. “You see, I hate nothing more than having my hopes betrayed.” Mephisto leveled the tip of his finger at Slyphy and drew a magic circle. Her fate was already sealed. In a moment, Sylphy would join the lumps of flesh on the floor. As far as Mephisto was concerned, it was inevitable. “Please…stop!” Which was why the unexpected development delighted his soul. “…Who? Ah yes, that’s right, that does make sense. Mmm-hmm.” He opened his eyes wide and stared at Ireena, who stood before Sylphy protectively. She was supposed to be under Mephisto’s control. With her perceptions warped, she was an empty shell. She was unable to disobey Mephisto’s orders. The words from her mouth should have been his. However, Ireena took action outside his power. Although it was slight, she had slipped from Mephisto’s grasp. “Anyone…who hurts…my friends…answers…to me!” Her spirit was a raging inferno. And when Mephisto saw that… “Hmm-hmm. Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. Mwee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee.” …he blushed and brought his clasped hands to his lips as they twisted into a smile. “I never once felt any value in bloodlines. As far as I’m concerned, my wife and daughter were my only family. I had no interest in any relatives beyond them…but now that opinion has drastically changed.” Intense love burned in Mephisto’s eyes, but there wasn’t a hint of the fondness an ordinary person would show. A devil’s love was always a repulsive thing. “Oh, sweet Ireena, now I’m very interested in you.” A devil’s smile spread wide on his angelic face as he gazed at his kin. “Let’s have a chat with you in your right mind. A nice, long chat…”