He couldn’t believe it. Yes, he could admit that the plan was sloppy, but he was strong enough to deal with an Apostle of Zeus if one showed up. What truly messed up his plans was the brat who came out of nowhere with King-rank magic.
Disgusted, Emilelio emerged from beneath the rubble.
“Dammit. If I didn’t transform into Ambrosia at the last minute, I would have died for real.”
Emilelio recalled the face of his unpleasant colleague and grimaced. If Ambrosia knew that he had borrowed that other apostle’s powers, he could just picture the reaction. Ambrosia was capable of self-regeneration, and while the ability had conditions, it effectively allowed one to become immortal on a limited basis. That was how Emilelio survived his knife wounds.
“Whatever. The Zeus Apostle aside, who was that brat? How could he use King-rank magic at his age, and where the hell did he come from? He could get in the way of Lord Hades’s plans in the future. I need to let the other Apostles know so that we can—”
“That would be a problem, especially now that my best friend is changing the future,” said a handsome young man wearing a crocodile smile. “I can’t have him dying on me.”
“Who the hell are you?!”
The young man’s handsome face was enough to stir Emilelio’s jealous heart, and he immediately found himself wanting to kill the stranger. However, Emilelio was suddenly struck by an uncomfortable sensation, holding him in place.
“My name is Nyarl,” the stranger said. “Just your regular local nobleman, you see. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Emilelio of the Phantasm, number nine of the Twelve Apostles of Hades.”
As soon as he realized his identity was laid bare, panic ran through Emilelio’s voice. He hadn’t noticed this man when he was fighting earlier. He also went out of his way to minimize the unique qualities of his face to make himself as forgettable as possible, yet this young man recognized him as Emilelio.
“You… You follow Lord Hades, like us. Wait, no, you don’t?!” Cold sweat dripped down Emilelio’s brow. “Your blessing is from an even more insidious being! Who the hell are you, and how do you know who I am?!”
“Heh heh, I wonder how? More importantly, could you promise not to lay your hands on my best friend? If you do that, I’ll spare you. Oh, and I apologize, but I will be taking that pesky power of yours,” he said with the kind of cheerful attitude one might use when asking for a bite of someone’s meal.
He’s going to take my blessing? What is he saying? This guy is bad news. Can I use my power yet? Yes!
The singular weak point to Emilelio’s power was its cooldown period. But by this point, he was capable of another transformation. He would morph into Reinhard at full strength, the version that that man Darkness was familiar with, then cut down this man, Nyarl.
While I’m at it, I’ll rip off his handsome face. That’ll make me feel much better.
There was something deeply unsettling about how easily Emilelio cut Nyarl in half with his sword. In fact, it was so anticlimactic that Emilelio squawked in surprise.
Hold on. Think rationally. I’m a member of the Twelve Apostles of Hades. Of course this was easy. There’s no way I’d lose to a brat like—
“Oh, my. How brutish you are. Here I was, trying to talk things over.”
“Ack?!”
Nyarl spoke to Emilelio as if nothing had happened, as if the halves of his body weren’t growing tentaclelike appendages, and as if they weren’t reaching for each other to bring the two parts together again.
He’s a monster…!
“Wh-what the hell are you?!” Emilelio shouted, overcome with an indescribable fear.
I’ll chop you up, chop you, chop you up, chop you up, chop, chop, chop! I’ll chop you up so you can never talk again!
Surveying his work, Emilelio laughed like a broken man. “Y-you scared me for a second there! But you’ll never beat me, you freak…”
“My, oh, my, you sure are violent. Or perhaps this is some kind of ritual that all members of the Hades Church conduct before engaging in conversation?”
Despite Emilelio’s hard work, even the tiny pieces of Nyarl were reconnected by the tentacles emerging from his corpse, making him whole again.
“Wh-what are you? What the hell are you?!” Emilelio screamed in pure terror.