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The cascade of black liquid slowly tapered and stopped. Nothing more flowed from the dead World Tree as if it had been squeezed dry of its contents.
The last drops fell through the hole in the World Tree as the black liquid poured onto the floor, forming a large puddle.
Above the pool, a figure floated at a distance. Its entire body was bathed in inky blackness and red lines were tattooed across its body.
It had four arms, and its back was covered in black wings that looked like the flaps of a bat's skin. Most striking of all, it had two black horns growing out of the top of its head.
When Rudger saw it, he groaned to himself.
'I'm going to die. Is this a real demon, not just a Liberation Army cadre who borrowed demonic powers?'
The demonization was complete. No, the demon that had taken over his body now spoke.
"Ah, good."
The voice was eerie and dismal, at the same time pleasing and seductive. There was something about this strange voice that made him feel conflicting emotions at the same time.
There was no longer any trace of Louispold in the voice.
"It's been a long, long time. After struggling in that damned World Tree, I've finally been able to get out, and I have you to thank for that."
The demon smirked at Andrei as he said that as if in genuine gratitude.
The demon looked away from Andrei, who was mostly disempowered and bewildered and looked at Rudger.
"Hmm. I see. You are the one who's been giving off an uncomfortable aura for a while now."
Rudger didn't bother to answer. He didn't know what the mind-bending tricks the demon might be up to with this conversation.
"You're being wary, but you don't have to be. Unlike the original owner of this body, Louispold, I have no intention of fighting you."
"……No intention of fighting?"
Rudger couldn't help but ask as he tried to remain silent.
It was very unusual for the demon to say such a thing. If anything, Louispold, who was bent on killing them all, was even more demonic.
"You seem to possess quite a bit of power. I've just been resurrected, so I don't have to deal with you."
"You speak more eloquently than I thought, given your ugly appearance."
"I have existed in this form since the beginning of time, and to call me ugly is a bit of a stretch."
What?
Rudger couldn't help but feel that something was off about this conversation with the demon. Something about it was too normal, too unlike the demons in the literature.
It didn't respond to his provocative words with anger, but with calm.
"Why should I fight you in the first place?"
"You used humans for your resurrection."
"It was the humans who tried to use my power in the first place. So in exchange for lending my power, I received a small price to get out of that prison. After all, it was the humans who caused all this carnage."
It was true but Rudger remained vigilant to the end.
He didn't know when the creature would suddenly change its demeanor and lunge. But in his experience over the years, the demon in front of him really didn't seem to want to do him any harm.
'I don't feel any animosity or malice that I should.'
This is also the first time Rudger has actually met a demon and wondered if the literature had been deliberately misleading.
'Considering that the writers were members of the Order of Lumensis, I can't say no to that.'
But Rudger did not let up on the tension until the very end.
"So what are you going to do now?"
"Hmm. I hadn't planned on being forced out so suddenly, but I have a mission that was given to me long ago, and I must fulfill it."
"A mission?"
"Yes. All 'apostles' like me have a mission, and while some don't follow it, I'm one of them."
With that, the demon raised one hand and pointed his index finger at Casey on the floor.
Immediately after black energy shot from his fingertips and engulfed Casey.
It transformed into a black sphere about two meters in diameter before shrinking to a single point and disappearing. Nothing existed where the sphere had disappeared. Even the ground was indented, revealing a sharp curved surface.
The sight stunned Andrei to the core as the power of the attack was unbelievable for such a simple gesture.
The demon, on the other hand, was puzzled.
"Hmm?"
The demon's head turned to face Rudger, who was holding Casey Selmore in his arms.
The demon's gaze flickered between the crater and Rudger.
"What did you just do?"
"That's for me to ask."
Rudger's voice was angry as he laid Casey gently on the ground.
"Didn't you say you weren't going to fight?"
"I did. I said I wouldn't fight."
"Then why did you suddenly try to kill someone who passed out?"
"Hmm?"
The demon cocked his head to the side as if he didn't understand Rudger's question, then clapped his hands together.
"Ah, so that's what you meant, then. I'm not looking for a fight, especially not with you."
"……But you tried to kill my coworker?"
"Is that wrong?"
Rudger realized something was wrong with the demon's words.
He'd tried to kill Casey, saying he wouldn't fight and yet, it still said he hadn't lied.
"……Yes."
Rudger couldn't help but realize.
Everything the demon in front of him said was genuine. There was not even a hint of animosity toward his opponent but beyond that, there was barely any emotion. And yet, he was going to kill Casey casually, like stepping on a bug on the side of the road because that was his mission.
"I was a fool to think I could talk to a demon, even for a moment."
"Hmm. Judging by your reaction, you have an intense hostility towards me, which I don't understand at all. You know it's not a good idea to fight me, don't you?"
"So you want me to watch you kill all the people here?"
"Can't I do that?"
Before the demon could finish his sentence, a pillar of fire rose from beneath his feet.
After a brief flurry, the flames died down, and the demon was still hovering in midair, unharmed.
"I don't understand."
He still didn't understand Rudger's behavior but Rudger turned to the demon and said solemnly.
"If you still don't understand, then you'll die in ignorance."
"That would be a pity."
The demon said, sounding genuinely sorry.
It had no intention of fighting.
"Before we fight, let me ask you a question. How did you defend that human from my attack earlier, when she was clearly out of range?"
Rudger was dumbfounded.
In the middle of all this, he's asking questions?
But of course Rudger had no intention of answering.
Sensing his determination, the demon hummed and stroked his chin.
"You don't intend to tell me, I see. It's a bit peculiar, because her position has changed slightly, albeit only for a moment, and it would be impossible for you to move quickly in that split second."
The demon recalled the blurry scene again, then shook his head as if it didn't matter.
"Let's see if I can stop this one, shall we?"
With that, the demon spread its four arms wide and something like a jet-black snowflake formed around him.
The snowflakes slowly floated through the air and landed on the fallen people, each with a purpose but just before they reached the bodies, Rudger moved.
His body was instantly covered in black shadows and his jet-black cloak fluttered as a raven's mask fell over his face.
He used a large amount of mana to weave magic into his body as the fainted people were all swallowed up by his shadow.
When they emerged, they were far away from the snowflakes.
Having lost its destination, the snowflakes hit the ground and exploded like an inflated balloon, the expanding sphere engulfing the space around it.
The place where the snowflake had touched was neatly disintegrated but the demon was not furious that he had failed to kill anyone instead it gazed at Rudger with interest.
"A spell to travel through space via shadows? Is such a thing possible for wizards in this day and age, but I know of no such magic in the memory of this body."
Instead of answering, Rudger walked over to Belaruna and rummaged through the pouch at her side. He paused slightly at the chunks of test subject flesh in the pouch, but then pulled out what he wanted. It was a finely folded piece of paper.
Unfolding the paper, he found dried herbs inside.
Rudger stuffed the dried herb into the tobacco of his pipe and pressed down hard.
The demon watched Rudger's actions with interest.
Rudger struck a lighter-like flame from the tip of his index finger and stuck it into the pipe. He pushed the pipe under his raven mask and soon puffed out a stream of smoke. This time, however, the smoke wasn't white instead it was a dangerous purple color.
Something far more potent than the herb he had inhaled against Quasimodo.
It was a poisonous herb that Rudger had specially ordered Belaruna to make and the effect was more than ten times what he'd used before.
Blue mana began to flow around Rudger's body and the mana fog added to the existing fog, growing in size.
More.
He needed more.
If the opponent was a demon from the literature, this would not be enough.
Divine power? That was his last resort.
The repercussions of misusing divine power can be devastating, so he had to be as careful as possible. He also needed to maximize his mana reserves for the best use he could make of it at the moment.
"Oh, no."
It was then that Casey's voice was heard.
* * *
Casey plummeted into infinite darkness in an endless descent into the abyss of her mind but ironically the sensation triggered a memory for her.
-Well done.
The image of the man throwing himself down the waterfall, muttering those words to himself as he plummeted.
Recalling it brought her back to her senses.
The man couldn't blame her for not saving anyone because he was the one who had to carry all that grief and pain alone.
The things he couldn't protect and the things he couldn't accomplish were his own inadequacies and yet he didn't stop.
She saw it, and it made her want to chase after it. She couldn't let this false illusion break her.
Casey opened his closed eyes and faced the false world squarely.
[Boom!]
The black world cracked and shattered like broken glass.
Casey was back in the real world.
* * *
Rudger looked at Casey in surprise but he didn't forget to check her out.
Even though she was awake, she wasn't in the best of shape. She was so traumatized that she couldn't speak or move properly.
She literally could barely open her eyes.
"Me, I have to fight……."
Still, Casey muttered desperately, clutching the hem of Rudger's pants.
She couldn't stay still like this. She'd fight too.
Rudger stared into the blue eyes that looked up at him desperately.
"I, too……."
With you.
Casey didn't finish the sentence.
Rudger leaned down and placed his index finger on her lips. Then he pulled his hand away from Casey's grip on his pants.
Casey's eyes widened since Rudger's behavior was out of character.
He wasn't blatantly ignoring her, or even pushing her away. Rather, he was careful, like touching a slender piece of glass.
"Ah."
When Rudger's index finger moved away from her lips, Casey let out a sigh of regret. From the way he was acting now, she knew what he was trying to say.
"Rest."
With that, Rudger raised his shadow and it cocooned the bodies of those who had passed out, including Casey.
With that, the cocoon submerged into the shadows, transporting them to a safe place far, far away, away from the central area.
Moving someone other than yourself with spatial magic takes a great deal of energy. Needless to say, if the distance is far from yourself.
Nevertheless, the blue aura around Rudger didn't seem to have changed in size. In fact, it seemed to have grown even larger, swallowing up the purple smoke from his pipe.
It was like watching the birth of a giant creature and the sight gave the demon an inexplicable chill.
'This will endanger me if I stay still.'
His instincts told him he couldn't let this happen so the demon immediately fired a psychic wave at Rudger.
It was a huge wave, nothing like the one Louispold had used, and it was eating away at Rudger's mind but Rudger stood still. He didn't stagger, but instead stared at the demon with a steady gaze, as if he wasn't affected at all.
"……How?"
The demon asked, as if it didn't understand because Rudger's mind was even more solid than before. Moreover, an unnerving power swirled around Rudger. It was similar to holy power, but a little different.
It was definitely the kind of mana used by wizards, but it had a strange quality to it, unlike ordinary mana.
The demon remembered Rudger's power crushing Louispold's body.
"This is the magic you used without any casting or ritual, but this time you don't even have a wand. How can you use it, and why is it triggered?"
Even after searching through all his memories as a demon and the memories in his body, Rudger's behavior was hard to understand.
"Is it even magic in the first place?"
For the first time, Rudger reacted to the demon's question and with a nod, he admitted that it was magic but this only fueled the demon's questions.
"How on earth can you use such magic?"
"Faith."
Rudger's voice was unwavering, and the demon asked, unable to comprehend.
"Faith? That's all it takes to use that much power?"
"Then let me ask you the opposite: what makes you think you can't?"
Rudger's question left the demon speechless. He couldn't think of anything to say when Rudger asked him why he couldn't do it.
What should he say if he asked him why he couldn't do something that was obviously impossible?
"You can't answer that. Is that all there is to the demon in the literature?"
"I'll tell you, I'm not a demon, my name is Basara. And it is you humans who call us, the Apostles, demons."
"That's not what matters now."
Rudger couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice.
Magic existed where he thought it didn't. What he thought was impossible was possible. If so, what more was possible?
He had experienced the presence of magic and witnessed the power of mystery. It was the kind of thing that a person living in this world should feel.
However Rudger went one step further and created a magic with no rituals or chanting but only his faith and conviction because magic is a miracle that defies the laws of reality.
"Belief in miracles."
It was ironic because Rudger lived in a world where magic didn't exist so he was able to think further than the people of this world, who took magic for granted.
"Come. Demon."
A true mystery that cannot be calculated by a formula alone.
Rudger's real magic was his faith and his awe-inspiring belief in the infinity of magic.