A head made of metal floated in the sky; this was the famed Giabella-Face. As its name suggested, it was sculpted in the form of Noir Giabella’s face, and this bizarre flying object was as large as a sizable mansion.
Moreover, there wasn’t just one of them flying about the city. When Eugene had checked the guidebooks, they had only mentioned the one Giabella-Face, but now there were three Giabella-Faces flying in the skies above Giabella City.
Although they all sported the same face, the hair attached to each of the heads wasn’t identical. There existed clear differences between their hairstyles and individual hair colors.
“What kind of crazy…,” Eugene muttered, his brow furrowed as he stared up at the three Giabella-Faces.
He found it extremely difficult to understand just what kind of twisted person with twisted sense could come up with such bizarrely shaped flying objects. Perhaps someone might be able to claim to see some sort of artistic value in them, but to Eugene, they just seemed like a manifestation of Noir Giabella’s characteristically self-obsessed narcissism.
However, these flying heads did not seem to just be floating around without any meaning or purpose to their existence. After Eugene reached into his cloak to get hold of Akasha, he unconsciously let out a sigh.
‘They’re even more complex than most Signatures,’ Eugene realized.
He could tell that each of the Giabella-Faces was made from a combination of several different types of magic, but even with all of Eugene and Akasha’s abilities combined, it was impossible to see all of the magic that had gone into making one of those Giabella-Faces. It was clear that since Noir was openly displaying them in the skies above her city instead of hiding them away somewhere, it meant that she must have already put a lot of work into ensuring that no one would be able to see through them.
‘She’s previously shown that she can extend the power of her Demoneye of Fantasy through the eyes of those flying heads. Then does that mean she can link all three of them together to expand the reach of her power…? No, that’s impossible,’ Eugene told himself.
If that was possible, she might be able to cast the power of her Demoneye of Fantasy over extreme distances just by sending a Giabella-Face to another city, but that would be absurd. If something like that was truly possible, then she would be able to conquer an entire empire with just a single Giabella-Face.
‘Noir Giabella should only be able to extend the power of her Demoneye of Fantasy through the Giabella-Face that she is personally riding,’ Eugene decided.
But even that alone was an amazing feat. Looking at the size of a single Giabella-Face, Noir would be able to meet the eyes of most of the inhabitants of an entire city, which would allow her to cast a fantasy over all of the inhabitants at once.
While examining the movements of the flying Giabella-Faces, Eugene continued to ponder, ‘The remaining two might also serve some kind of role. No… perhaps they were just made so that she could show off her face more….’
Considering Noir’s personality, something like that wasn’t completely impossible, but when Eugene took a look at all the dark power that had gone into their construction, it didn’t seem likely that they would not be serving some kind of purpose. Since they were flying above the city's center, it seemed like Noir might currently be riding in one of them, and as for the other two….
Eugene speculated that if he were to destroy just one of those heads, the crater that would be left in the ground from its fall would be around the same size as the one left by the Dragon-Demon Castle. But even with such dangerous flying objects with mysterious purposes floating over their heads, there were far too many eager visitors still wanting to enter the city.
This was the city that attracted the most tourists in all of Helmuth. The entrance fee charged just to pass through the city gates alone was considerable, but plenty of people were still waiting in line ahead of them to enter through the distant city gates.
Even with all of that, the fact that this line was only so long was all because Giabella City had placed restrictions on how many were allowed to enter. Any ordinary person would have to book in advance and wait several months if they wanted to enter Giabella City, and even if you did pay extra, under the pretext of making a donation, for a priority ticket, it was still impossible to enter on the same day.
However, Eugene had a badge that had been directly gifted to the Ruhr Kingdom. Thanks to it, he was able to head straight to Giabella City after leaving Ruhr, but… looking at the speed at which the line was moving, it seemed like he would have no choice but to stand in line like this for at least a full day.
It wasn’t like there wasn’t a way for them to receive special treatment. Looking far ahead into the distance, Eugene could see that there was a separate line for VIPs seeking to enter the city on the other side of a holographic screen. Even as he had stood here, waiting in line, Eugene had already watched several long, dark limousines drop off their VIPs at the gate before leaving.
While this wasn’t likely to happen thanks to his possessing the Ruhr Kingdom’s badge, if Eugene were to reveal his identity right now and ask to be let in, the staff stationed at the entrance would surely lead Eugene inside immediately. Considering that he was planning on revealing his whereabouts to the world in any case, there was no need for him to attempt to hide his identity through the use of a pseudonym.
But even so… wouldn’t it be too embarrassing to go up to one of the demonfolk manning the line, reveal his identity, and demand special treatment? He might already be planning to spread his whereabouts, but he didn’t want to reveal himself in such a shameful manner. So, in his heart, Eugene was caught between weighing his pride against his reason.
Tchtchk.
The holographic screen that was dividing the two lines suddenly let out a static sound. The movements of the idols on screen, whose dance steps were as sharp as a knife, suddenly froze before an entirely different image appeared in their place.
The appearance of the owner of Giabella City, Noir Giabella, had appeared on the holographic screen.
Most of the people who were standing in line let out noises of surprise when the screen suddenly changed. This couldn’t be helped, as the Noir that was currently shown on screen was in the middle of soaking her body in a large bathtub.
Thanks to the thick foam, there wasn’t much skin exposed, but all of those present couldn’t help but be surprised to see the beautiful Duke appear on screen without even a single stitch of clothing.
Blinking her wide, round eyes, Noir shifted in her bath. While brushing away her water-soaked bangs of hair, she leaned her head forward, her gaze darting here and there as if she were searching for something.
“...Wow,” Noir eventually let out a small exclamation of surprise.
Why had she suddenly appeared on the screen like this? What could she be looking for with that roving gaze of hers? To Eugene, the answer to these questions was so obvious that there was no need to make any guesses. In the end, Eugene felt his eyes meet with Noir’s.
“Sir Eugene…,” Mer whispered.
Both Mer and Raimira felt a mixture of excitement and concern upon seeing Noir. In addition to that, they were also distracted by the need to pay attention to Eugene’s reaction.
There was no way that they were just going to turn around and leave after having come this far, right? From what they had seen so far, Eugene had always reacted with a stiff expression, along with irritation or rage, whenever the Queen of the Night Demons did something outrageous like this in his presence….
“B-benefactor, I’m fine with not going into that city. As long as the lady is together with my Benefactor and the Saint, this lady will be happy with wherever you choose to go,” Raimira quickly piped as she clung onto both Eugene and Kristina’s hands.
‘Just what you would expect from such a cunning lizard,’ Mer thought as she glanced over at Raimira, who had stolen the words that she was about to say.
“Why change plans after coming all the way here? If I really didn’t want to see that bitch pulling such bullshit, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place,” Eugene said with a sullen expression as he pulled his hands free from both of the young girls’ grips.
He was pretty sure that Noir wasn’t going to do anything drastic, but he couldn’t be sure of anything yet. Keeping his guard up, Eugene glared up into the sky.
One of the Giabella-Faces that had been floating over the city began approaching them. It was the one that Noir Giabella was personally riding in, which had a crown on top of its head.
When the Giabella-Face suddenly flew over the castle walls and above the crowd that was waiting in line, everyone present let out a cheer as they looked up into the sky.
“Don’t look,” Eugene muttered in a low voice.
At these words, Mer ducked her head, and Raimira covered her eyes with both hands. Kristina also pulled the hood of her robe down over her eyes.
Eugene was the only one who didn’t lower his head.
The Giabella-Face slowly drew closer. At some point, the cries of everyone who had been looking up into the sky had fallen silent.
Eugene glanced around at the people standing next to them. The eyes of everyone who had raised their heads to look up into the sky were now blank and empty.
‘The Demoneye of Fantasy,’ Eugene recognized.
The floating head hadn’t just simply flown over the crowd. Noir Giabella had also cast an illusion over everyone present in the crowd through her Demoneye of Fantasy. There was no way to tell what kinds of illusions they were being shown, but looking at the smiles spreading across all of their faces, it seemed like it was at least a happy and peaceful fantasy.
Of course, Eugene had no desire to be caught in a fantasy like that. But he still refused to turn his gaze away even with that risk because he wanted to test his resistance against the Demoneye of Fantasy that had currently enraptured the whole crowd.
Kristina, who had lowered her head, saw some light begin to spread out from beneath Eugene’s feet. Although it only stretched a few paces outwards in a circle from where Eugene was standing, the entire zone was protected by Eugene’s divine power and, under its influence, had been transformed into holy ground.
‘So this is what it feels like,’ Eugene thought.
Standing in the center of his holy ground, Eugene saw something that you wouldn’t usually see, something that usually couldn’t be seen. He watched as waves of light spread out from the Giabella-Face’s large eyes. However, none of the waves were able to intrude into the holy ground that Eugene had created.
Inside the Giabella-Face, behind those large crystal pupils, Eugene saw the source of these waves; he spotted Noir Giabella, who had quickly slipped on a change of clothes.
Right now, in Eugene’s eyes, he seemed to be getting a glimpse into what lay at the very depths of Noir’s, the Queen of the Night Demon’s, existence. He could see how long she had managed to stay alive and just how much her strength had grown over that time.
Her dark power, which seemed to be without end, felt even greater than the universe contained within Eugene. Even if he maximized his firepower by stacking Ignition and Prominence together, like he had when he defeated Molon, it didn’t feel like it would be possible for Eugene to match Noir Giabella in terms of her strength and intensity of dark power. Was it even possible for an existence like her to die in the first place?
A trace of divinity suddenly leaked into his thoughts and sparked Eugene’s intuition.
It was impossible. There didn’t exist any method by which the current Eugene could slay Noir Giabella. No matter what means he attempted, Eugene wouldn’t be able to kill Noir Giabella.
Upon comprehending this fact, Eugene could only laugh in disbelief. Even though she possessed such a level of strength, she still wasn’t even a Demon King?
Eugene tried to be optimistic, ‘At least it’s possible to resist her Demoneye by extending my holy ground.’
However, would it still be possible for him to resist it when Noir put all her effort into unleashing her power on him?
Last time, he had managed to confirm that even if he did fall into one of her illusions, he would be able to regain consciousness thanks to his divinity. This latest experiment did at least manage to prove that he wouldn’t be able to kill Noir without obtaining much more divine power than he currently possessed.
Eugene glared at Noir as she slowly drew closer.
‘What a fiery gaze,’ Noir thought as she looked down at Eugene.
Although there were countless other people gathered below her, Noir’s eyes were fixed solely on Eugene.
She had thought that it might be an illusion at first. However, there was no way that Noir could fail to recognize the feeling of Eugene’s presence.
Really… to think that they would be able to meet again here in this city.
—If you come to my city to have fun instead of trying to kill me, I will be sure to welcome you sincerely.
That was the invitation she had left Eugene with when they had parted ways in Shimuin. However, Noir hadn’t gotten her hopes up. She had thought there was no way someone likeHamel would visit Giabella City to have fun.
But lo and behold, Hamel had arrived here in her city.
While feeling a mixture of curiosity and excitement, Noir combed her hair back.
Had he come here to fight? Had the time come for him to finally try to kill her?
‘No, that’s not it,’ Noir quickly decided.
She reminded herself that she needed to set aside her own feelings and think about the issue calmly.
Keeping a cold smile on her face, Noir tilted her head to the side and said, “If you have come here today to try and kill me, I feel like you might end up being disappointed.”
Noir was just as certain as Eugene was that he currently wasn’t able to kill her. Moreover, Eugene didn’t even have Sienna Merdein at his side.
Noir narrowed her eyes, ‘However….’
It was readily apparent from the gap between their strength that Eugene didn’t have a chance at killing Noir, but Noir still felt surprised by Eugene’s current strength. He had become much stronger since the last time she had met him in Shimuin. On top of that, the power within him felt different from the mana that most humans used.
Divine power…? Could he have started worshiping the Light? Tilting her head to the other side, Noir furrowed her brow.
Her Demoneye of Fantasy hadn’t been able to get through Eugene’s defenses.
‘It seems like he’s prepared something to deal with my Demoneye,’ Noir realized.
She wanted to try and attempt to focus the power of her Demoneye on him, but Hamel would probably become angry with her if she pushed that far. Recalling the date that they had had within the dream, Noir suddenly grinned. She had pulled Eugene into the dream by suppressing his consciousness, but Eugene had still managed to reawaken his consciousness all on his own.
“Though… that might not always be the case,” Noir muttered with a nod.
She would never be defeated. Hamel would never be able to kill her.
Noir had the feeling that having such thoughts might be a mistake. Because within the current Eugene, there was an unusual power that Noir couldn’t truly see through.
Wait, unusual?
“...?” Noir hummed thoughtfully.
She had never once met a divine power that caused her to feel it was unusual. Up until now, Noir had managed to corrupt countless priests. During the era of war, the number of paladins that Noir had toyed with and killed all by herself was enough to form a legion, and even before that, revealing a priest’s true desires and corrupting them had been one of Noir’s favorite hobbies.
But now, the light that was currently shining beneath Eugene’s feet… was giving her a strange feeling, one both familiar and unfamiliar.
Now that she was aware of it, it was beginning to bother her, and she felt her heart start to pound. Noir unconsciously clenched her fists as her shoulders trembled in surprise.
Her attention was suddenly drawn to Eugene’s left ring finger. Of course, he was no longer wearing anything on that finger, and for some unknown reason, Noir felt an inexplicable satisfaction upon seeing this.
Noir couldn’t understand the source of all these emotions that she was currently experiencing. She felt quite flustered by this, but even though she tried her best, it was impossible to identify the source of these fleeting feelings.
“Could this be love?” Noir muttered to herself as Eugene began walking over.
She turned her attention away from his bare ring finger and stepped forward to meet him.
Cre- cre- creak.
The lips of the Giabella-Face opened up.
Having already cleared all thoughts of those mysterious emotions from her mind, Noir gave Eugene a bright smile and said, “Welcome to Giabella City!”
* * *
‘Could this be a dream?’ Noir Giabella thought to herself.
Even after all the years she had been alive, she still found it difficult to grasp a clear understanding of the situation she now found herself in.
Hamel had suddenly shown up in front of her Giabella City. Although she had gone out in person to meet him, Noir hadn’t expected their reunion to be such a happy one.
She had thought that things would play out just as they had before, with her being met with a few harsh words and for all of her love-filled invitations to be deflected by him.
I’m glad to see you again, Hamel. How are you? Would you like to come in and take a flight with me?
She had said all this while fully expecting him to reject her. She had been waiting for him to swear at her and tell her to fuck off, but instead….
Eugene had just said, ‘Fine.’
It was a reply that she couldn’t have ever imagined from him. Noir had yet to shake herself free of the questions that had flooded her head when he had surprised her.
Noir, who had just been standing there with a blank look, belatedly came to her senses and turned to look beside her, “...Hamel?”
They were currently inside the Giabella-Face, in the gorgeous room that Noir usually resided in.
Eugene and his companions were all currently in the same room with her. Eugene, who had been glaring down at the city through the front window, now turned around to look at her in response to her call.
“What?” Eugene grunted.
Noir coughed awkwardly, “Um… ahem. It’s just that this is very unexpected of you.”
Kristina was standing quite far apart from them while holding onto Mer and Ramira’s hands. She was just as taken aback as Noir had been by Eugene’s unexpected response and subsequent actions. Though as they had come to Giabella City, it was only natural that they would end up coming into contact with Noir Giabella.
[What on earth is he thinking…,] Anise muttered, unable to understand what Eugene might be planning.
Kristina also felt the same way. Suppressing her anxiety, she stared at the backs of Eugene and Noir.
‘...Sister,’ Kristina silently called out.
[Yes, I saw it as well,] Anise confirmed.
Earlier, before the lips of the Giabella-Face opened up and Noir walked out, Eugene’s expression had suddenly changed as he was watching the Giabella-Face gradually draw closer. His eyes, which had been filled with his wariness of Noir, had shaken as his brow and lips twisted into a grimace.
Kristina and Anise knew all too well what kind of emotion that expression was meant to convey.
Despair.
‘But what on earth could have prompted it?’ Kristina asked herself.
Could his despair be because of the gap Eugene had sensed between himself and the Queen of the Night Demons? No, there was no way that could be the case. The two Saints knew that Eugene would never feel despair in the face of something like that.
“It’s because I also have a lot of questions about this strange device,” Eugene answered Noir’s unspoken question with a stiff expression. “That’s why I didn’t refuse your offer. I just thought that I would be able to get a better look at it from the inside rather than staying outside.”
His claim was true to a certain extent.
Eugene didn’t say anything further as he turned his gaze away from Noir. Even though he had just given her such an excuse, Eugene wasn’t able to truly focus on examining the inside of the Giabella-Face.
Instead, he glared down at Giabella City through the window that he was currently standing in front of.
At the same time, he kept shooting glances at the dim reflection of Noir Giabella that was visible in the window.