Chapter 196

INTERLUDE The Bitter Boy Won’t Take the Outstretched Hand “All right, I think we’ve reached a resting point.” Mephisto leaned the entirety of his weight against the back of a chair as he sipped his tea in the Laville National Academy of Magic’s cafeteria. He relaxed with a smile on his lips. To all eyes, he surely seemed quite stately. Yet to Ireena, he was a boy on the verge of tears. “So…why did you—?” “Forget it. Shouldn’t you be worried about your friends instead?” He was right, and she was worried for them. She worried for Ard, who’d been attacked by Lizer, knocked unconscious, and abducted. She fretted for those left behind, too. Everything she saw in the giant mirror before her made with magic was troubling. However, none of those were her greatest concern. “You…don’t make sense to me anymore.” Her first impression of Mephisto could be summed up with the word evil. He applauded the world’s cruelty, laughed at tragedy, and delighted in chaos. Mephisto was a devil. There was nothing to understand about him. That’s what she thought. Yet what he did for Verda was exactly what a father would have done for the daughter he loved. “Be honest…are you really trying to destroy the world?” Mephisto was a monster of contradictions, but Ireena was starting to glean the truth buried within him. “Your kindness is heartwarming, truly…and that’s why I hate you.” His smile never faltered. As Mephisto went on, his tone noticeably lacked its usual silliness. It had been swapped for traces of warmth. “The beings you call Evil Gods are visitors from another world. And I’m one of them.” “That’s right…you were talking about that earlier. You said your world was destroyed by someone who called themselves a god.” “Yup. That’s why we fled here, sacrificing many people along the way… My friends were among them.” Friends. Ireena’s eyes opened wide at the word. “Boy, you sure are an open book… Yes, contrary to what you might think, I had many friends in the other world.” Mephisto gazed sentimentally up at the sky. “My curiosity is insatiable. That’s why the more I come to like a person, the more I want to destroy them. If that cycle always produced the same feeling, I’d lose interest. However, I experience something different with each person I crush, so I never tire of it. So I can repeat it for all eternity.” However… Mephisto smiled softly, imagining someone. “In my old world, there were many people that even I couldn’t destroy. And thanks to them, I had a happy life. They wouldn’t break, even if I exerted all my power. If anything, I would’ve been beaten to death. Those were such bright, golden days…which is why everything hurts all the more now.” Mephisto sipped his tea. There was an intense look of resignation in his beautiful eyes. “Say, Ireena, help me picture something. Let’s say I joined your team, and we fought to stop the end of the world. And let’s say we succeeded… Now, here’s the question: While you and your friends smiled and sang for joy, would there be any room for me in your circle?” Ireena’s reply stuck in her throat. For as kindhearted as she was, Ireena felt visceral repulsion to the devil called Mephisto Yuu Phegor. “See? You can’t accept me, right?” “Well…you only have yourself to blame for that.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hello, bed I made! Burning in agony because of the calling I was born to is my punishment. I get it. But you see…” I feel so bitter. I feel so lonely. I feel so disgusted. By everything in my life. That’s why. “…That’s my motive. That was why I started this fight. I’m tired. Tired of being burned by my own flame. Tired of pretending to accept it. I’m tired of everything. I want to end it. I want to end it in the happiest way for me.” These were Mephisto’s true feelings, yet he failed to communicate them completely. What was he scheming? What sort of ending did he seek? The answers remained a mystery, but Ireena understood one thing. This man, Mephisto Yuu Phegor… I’m not equipped to teach him. There’s no way I can save him. His loneliness stemmed from his being an absolute existence. However, if that’s all it was, he wouldn’t need to resign himself to that fate.