“And you too will surely meet a pitiful death...worthy of your efforts...”
His words sounded like a curse — a condemnation. Diablo almost flinched, but he was able to keep himself from doing so. He filled himself with strength and held his ground. Letting the opponent’s hatred overwhelm him wasn’t something a Demon Lord would do.
“Hmph. Keep talking, you pathetic novice. Even death bows down before a Demon Lord!”
His boast was met with silence. Emperor Gelmed didn’t retort, and he would never say anything again. He began crumbling away. Like a statue becoming sand, his fragments crumbled at his feet. Before long, he was completely gone, as if all the color he was made up of faded away into the white void that made up this non-world.
His very presence was gone.
“That one’s soul...” Klem sighed. “It will wander this space forever.”
Diablo couldn’t fathom the true weight of those words. But no matter who Emperor Gelmed was, seeing someone meet their end was always bitter. It almost felt naive to feel that way, given how much suffering he’d inflicted on others.
And more than anything, he had damned them — Klem had no way to get back home. Emperor Gelmed said that only God’s miracles could allow passage through corridors to other worlds, and after bringing them here, he passed away.
“Good grief,” Klem sighed again. “Unless another god gives us some kind of miracle, we really will spend the rest of eternity here.”
“No... That can’t be, right?” Diablo looked at her, shocked.
“This Demon Lord is used to it, but...”
True, Klem did spend countless years sealed within Rem’s bloodline.
“We’re going to spend eternity...in a place like this...?” Diablo asked in disbelief.
“Aaah, I’m getting hungry already...” Klem grumbled despondently.
It had been hours since they’d infiltrated the Magimatic Castle Viovix, and there didn’t seem to be any food or water in this space.
Diablo looked around again. And indeed, there were no walls, floors, or ceilings to be seen...
†
—How long has it been? Diablo wondered to himself.
“I’m pretty sure it’s been a few hours, at least...”
His body felt the same as it did when he came here. Klem squatted at his feet.
“Hm, it seems we’re in the same state this Demon Lord was in when I was sealed. We’re currently in half-spirit form.”
“Like summon beasts?” Diablo asked.
“Something like that,” Klem said moodily. “I’m bored, I’m bored, give me something to do!”
Klem, lying on the ground, thrashed her hands and feet in frustration. She looked like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Didn’t you spend years sealed already?” Diablo asked.
“Again?! I have to go through it again?!” Klem was outraged.
“Hm...”
Diablo looked down at himself. Maybe it was thanks to being a spiritual body, but he didn’t have any damage from the battle anymore; his limbs and organs were all intact. He still felt fatigued and hungry, but not sleepy.
Klem got to her feet and stretched with a moan.
“...I wish we at least had some books here or something,” she grumbled.
Diablo was about to agree when he suddenly realized something.
“Klem, you can read?”
“Of course I can read. I’m a Demon Lord, after all! You’re just not interested in culture enough.”
“Ugh...” Diablo groaned.
“Well, in the past, this Demon Lord only cared about destroying everything.”
—That sounds brutish.
Still, it was clear Klem knew a great deal.
“Do you understand why magic works?” Diablo asked.
“Of course. A Demon Lord rules over all things demonic and magical.”
“I see...”
“If I had to say, the fact you can cast magic without understanding it shows that you’re the one who’s working outside the rules here.”
“Hmm...”
Diablo simply worked by feeling like he was casting spells from the game, but he didn’t understand anything about how it really worked. And Klem could tell.
“I mean, I was in your head for a time,” Klem shrugged. “You outsiders are fascinating.”
“Ah... Yeah...”
Diablo felt himself break into a nervous, cold sweat. Klem simply scoffed at him.
“Are you interested in knowing? Very well! This Demon Lord will teach you of magical energy and sorcery! We’ve got nothing better to do, after all!”
A Demon Lord studying magic came across as...off. Not very Demon Lord-ly. But he couldn’t deny that he was curious about it, and this felt like the perfect chance. Diablo sat opposite Klem.
“Fine!” he said, crossing his arms arrogantly. “I am bored as well. Discussing the nature of magic with a Demon Lord should be a worthy pastime.”
“Ah!” Klem let out a strange sound and reached her hand out to him.
“Wh-What? You want a fee? Do you want me to pay you money? Or in biscuits?”
“Hand Edelgard over!” she told him. “We have time, so I can give her magical energy and revive her.”
“Right...!”
Diablo reached into his leather pouch, no different from opening his inventory in Cross Reverie. Despite being a small pouch, it could contain many more items than its size suggested. He took out the small, faint blue bell and handed it over to Klem.
“Hmm...” Klem examined it fixedly.
“Can you restore her?”
Edelgard had crumbled to particles of light and was destroyed, but Klem turned her soul — or maybe her memories — into this small bell. Could she put her back the way she was?
“I don’t know! For now, I’ll try restoring her lost energy.”
“Hm.”
Klem brought the conversation back on track as she fiddled with the bell in her hand.
“You see, to begin with, magical energy is—”
In a world of frozen time, Diablo learned many things from Klem.