“Have you actually gone crazy?” Eugene glared at Noir with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
There was bullshit, and then there was what Noir had just said, which had gone far beyond anything that Eugene could comprehend.
Play around? Together? How absurd! Until now, he had already become far more involved with Noir than he felt was necessary. Eugene no longer wanted any further entanglement with Noir, whether by doing things together, making shared memories, or sharing emotional connections.
Was it because Eugene wanted to avoid any needless provocation from Noir? Of course, there was also that reason, but wasn’t it strange in the first place to interact more than necessary with an enemy that you were determined to kill.
“Don’t be like that,” Noir said with a grin as she pulled on Eugene’s arms.
Unlike her expression, tone, and attitude, her grip was so strong that even Eugene couldn’t shake her off immediately. But this fact just left Eugene feeling even more dumbfounded.
Just how much did Noir want to play around with him to put such a level of strength in her grip? Was this really something she should put such power into?
“Why are you being so clingy?” Eugene complained.
“Well, who knows, why do you think I’m doing this?” Noir said coyly.
In fact, Noir herself couldn’t figure out the exact reason for her current behavior. Until now, she had bothered Eugene like this many times before, but Noir had kept herself extremely cool-headed every time she did so. Although Noir had offered up Eugene a few lewd temptations, they had all been done jokingly, and whenever Eugene rejected her, she wouldn’t linger on it for too long and knew when to step back.
However, currently… in a rare and strange case for her, Noir didn’t want to do that.
“It’s a strange feeling,” Noir whispered to herself as she tilted her head in confusion.
Still holding on firmly to Eugene’s arm, Noir pulled on it a little harder.
As she buried Eugene’s rock-hard forearm into her chest, Noir licked her lips and said, “Hamel, although there have been several times where I felt a strong desire for you, now…. Fufu, just why could this be? These current feelings are so strange and mysterious.”
Noir wondered why she was feeling this way. Her love for Hamel was something she had first started feeling three hundred years ago, but it had never burned as strongly as it did now.
Was it because he had grown up so delectably? Because he had become strong enough that he could truly make her feel the possibility of her own death? Or perhaps….
Noir giggled to herself and whispered to him, “Now that I think about it, today is the full moon. Did you know that?”
“Let go,” Eugene just grunted.
“Almost all of the races of demonfolk receive some influence from the full moon. Their dark power becomes stronger, and so do their desires. Among the lower class of demonfolk, there are even a few cases where they go berserk on the night of the full moon,” Noir paused to let out a pitiless laugh. “But that’s just for the lower class… that’s right, only the lower class. Such influence doesn’t apply to those like us, and until now, I have never experienced such a thing. However, today… could it be that my excessive desire has caused me to regress?”
Eugene glared into Noir’s eyes. The blatant emotions swirling within those eyes were familiar to him. These were the same emotions that Hamel had first seen when he met Noir Giabella three hundred years ago.
However, they also resembled the same emotions he had seen not so long ago. They were similar to the emotions that had filled the Twilight Witch’s eyes when she looked at Agaroth.
This realization just made Eugene feel annoyed and angry. Just like how Eugene Lionheart wasn’t Agaroth, Noir Giabella wasn’t the Twilight Witch. Even though that should be the case, he couldn’t deny that Noir's current emotions still bore a striking similarity to those of the Twilight Witch.
Fwooosh.
Black flames flickered to life around Eugene. His irritability and rage over his current situation drove him to seek out more violent measures to deal with Noir.
Although he knew that he would only suffer an overwhelming loss if he were to clash with Noir this early, despite being aware of this, the fact that he had come into such skin-on-skin contact with Noir was causing him to tremble in disgust.
“Do you really not want to play with me that much?” Noir asked with a pout.
“It’s not like we’re close enough to skip around together while laughing merrily, now are we?” Eugene replied challengingly.
“It depends on how you interpret playing around, but, hmm, fine, I get it. No need to be so angry, Hamel,” Noir said as she let go of Eugene’s arm.
But that was all she did; she didn’t step back to give him more space.
Still standing right next to Eugene, Noir smiled and said, “Then how about this? If you stay with me until the sun rises in the morning, I will answer any three questions you might have.”
Eugene eyed her suspiciously, “...But I don’t have anything I want to ask you?”
Noir snickered, “Hehe, no need to tell such obvious lies, no? There’s no way that after coming all the way to this city, you have nothing you are curious about. Also, have you already forgotten what you said to me earlier? Hamel, you did tell me that you were curious about my Giabella-Faces.”
At these words, Eugene’s face twisted as if he had just bitten into shit.
Fine. He had indeed said those words to Noir just half a day ago. It hadn’t been a lie either. Eugene honestly did want to figure out the true purpose of those mass-manufactured Giabella-Faces.
However, he was not getting the urge to lie about it. He did want to ask Noir many questions, but he really wanted to lie and say there wasn’t anything he needed to talk to her about.
The reason for this was simple. Eugene just didn’t want to be together with Noir right now.
“Haaaah,” Eugene said, letting out a sigh. He suppressed his turbulent emotions.
Along with his surging killing intent, Eugene shoved it all down to the bottom of his chest. When he thought about it calmly and rationally, rejecting Noir’s offer would be foolish.
About six to seven hours were left until the sun rose again in the morning. As long as he spent that much time with her, he would be able to ask the Queen of the Night Demons three questions.
“Fine,” Eugene nodded in agreement while still keeping up his glare.
As Noir had said, part of the reason he had come here to Giabella City was that he intended to investigate more information about her.
“But instead of that, why don’t you answer my questions first,” Eugene proposed.
Noir gasped, “No way. You don’t really think that I would just play around with you and then run away without answering, do you?”
“Isn’t that a possibility?” Eugene frowned.
“Well, now, looking at it from my perspective, Hamel, it seems more likely that you would just listen to my answers first and then leave on your own,” Noir said with a pout as she examined Eugene’s expression.
She noticed how cold Eugene’s eyes were. His eyes and expression had always looked frosty, but strangely enough, they seemed more so today than they had ever been before.
‘It’s not just me,’ Noir thought, gradually realizing that her current self was slightly different from how she usually was.
And likewise, she had also realized that Eugene was also behaving differently from usual.
Just what on earth was causing such a change? Was it truly the full moon? No, there was no way that would be the case. Noir chuckled as she wound a strand of her hair around her fingers.
“Look at you not replying to my words. How annoying. Even so, Hamel, I’ve decided to trust you. Though if you do betray me, my anger will be just as sincere as my trust in you,” Noir placed a strange emphasis on the word ‘betray’ as she smiled at him with her eyes. “Since our time is so precious, let’s do the questions and answers on our way up, alright? Down here, the despair of these losers and the stench coming from the filth and garbage all smell so terrible.”
Noir set off without waiting for his reply. Eugene glared at Noir’s back as she headed up the stairs in front of him, then he followed behind her with a heavy sigh.
“Fine then, so what exactly is going on with those stupid heads?” Eugene asked her.
Noir corrected him, “They’re called Giabella-Faces, not stupid heads.”
Eugene pressed the question, “So, what exactly are they?”
“Hehe, it seems that you really were quite curious about it. How fortunate that I didn’t answer you when you asked earlier,” Noir chuckled before waving her finger.
At this gesture, Noir’s robes, which had seemed to be made out of rags, disappeared. This left Noir standing only in her underwear momentarily, and Eugene reflexively turned his gaze to the side.
Noir revealed, “The three Giabella-Faces are basically meant to extend the range of my Demoneye. Hamel, you saw it too, didn’t you?”
“I already knew that from the very beginning,” Eugene complained. “Are there any idiots who come to this city without knowing that?”
The Giabella Showtime was a specialty of this city. It didn’t have a set schedule. Instead, its appearance depended on Noir’s mood. A ‘dream’ created by the Queen of the Night Demons herself was something that couldn’t be bought even with hundreds of millions of sals.
When the mouth of the Giabella-Faces, which were floating in the skies above this city, opened up, the moment that the Queen declared Showtime , the power of her Demoneye of Fantasy would be spread through the light shining from the Giabella-Face’s eyes.
“It’s already absurd that you’re able to use the power of your Demoneye of Fantasy through something other than your own two eyes. But why are there three of them?” Eugene asked.
“Absurd?” Noir repeated. “Ahahaha, Hamel, you can’t use such a word so lightly. Now, there is almost nothing that is truly impossible for someone like me.”
“...What?” Eugene furrowed his brow.
“Just how much life-force do you think this city has supplied me so far?” Noir said evasively, glancing back over her shoulder at Eugene with a smile. “In fact, there’s no need for me to specify ‘so far.’ Can you even imagine how much life-force Giabella Park supplies in just a single day like today?”
Eugene couldn’t come up with a response. Because it was absolutely impossible to estimate just how huge such an amount was.
“To be honest, Hamel, the life-force supplied by this city can’t provide me with any meaningful increases in power. I’ve already surpassed the line that can be reached by receiving life-force and converting it into dark power,” Noir boasted.
Her words were arrogant, but Eugene didn’t doubt their truthfulness. Even Iris had obtained near-infinite dark power immediately after becoming a Demon King, but it was the ‘how’ someone used such overwhelming power that truly determined their level of threat.
“In the end, what the Demoneye of Fantasy shows you is just an illusion. It can’t actually alter reality. However, let me just say this, Hamel: the current me can do far more than that,” Noir tantalizingly revealed.
“Just what are you saying?” Eugene asked suspiciously after a pause.
“I’m saying that I’ve made this whole city into a dream ,” Noir tilted her head as she stared at Eugene. “Don’t you think that it's strange, Hamel? During the whole time that you and I were on the stairs leading down into the abandoned railroad, not a single one of those pieces of trash below seemed to look up at us.”
“...,” Eugene silently processed this.
Noir also pointed out, “That’s the case even now. We are walking through the subway of the city without a night, right? But why is there no one here?”
At these words, Eugene came to a halt. Just earlier, when he was heading down towards the abandoned railroad, the subway had been crowded with people.
However now… there was no one here. Could he have entered a dream without even realizing it? No, there was no way that could have happened. Eugene was sure that the place he was now in wasn’t a dream but reality.
Claclank, claclank.
He could hear the sound of a train rattling away in the distance. While focusing on that sound, Eugene kept trying to expand his senses. He could sense the presence of countless people coming from further around them, but it was only in their immediate vicinity that there was an absence of people.
“Have you placed a suggestion throughout the whole area?” Eugene voiced his suspicions.
“That’s right,” Noir nodded while smiling. “The three Giabella-Faces floating in the sky are able to circulate the life-force supplied by the city throughout the whole area. Thanks to that, I am getting stronger with every day that passes. Instead of using this supply of life-force to increase my dark power, I’m going in a different direction. This city, which is under my complete control, will gradually become part of my dream instead of remaining a part of reality. Then I can collapse the boundary between dreams and reality.”
Eugene’s expression hardened as he worked through what these words actually meant.
If, as Noir had said, the boundary between dreams and reality was to completely collapse… then this whole space, this entire city, would become part of Noir Giabella’s dream. Even if one were able to resist falling asleep, all of reality could still be used as a weapon to attack oneself.
The unavoidable weakness of the Demoneye of Fantasy was that, in the end, it was just a fantasy. No matter how strong of a psychological suggestion was woven into the dream, reality itself wouldn’t change.
So even if Noir showed Eugene all sorts of ridiculous fantasies, Eugene was confident that he wouldn’t be deceived by any of them. His will was strong, and he believed that as long as he strengthened his divine power and overall divinity, he would definitely be able to resist whatever tricks she might pull.
However, if the boundary between dreams and reality did collapse, that would mean that the Demoneye of Fantasy wouldn’t have any weakness. Within the confines of this city, Noir Giabella’s power would reach a level of literal omnipotence.
And the spearhead that would allow her to realize such an incredulous ideal… were those three stupid-looking heads.
‘What if I were to destroy them now?’ Eugene silently considered.
“It would be useless to try to destroy them,” Noir said as if she had just read Eugene’s mind. “If they are destroyed, I can just remake them. Or perhaps I could fly up into the sky and handle the circulation myself.”
They didn’t encounter anyone else while leaving the subway, but the streets were crowded with people as they headed into the night. However, even among these people, none turned to look at Eugene and Noir.
Noir tried to reassure him, “There’s no point in worrying about it just yet, Hamel. Because the process still isn’t complete. Right now, the only things possible to demonstrate would be… things like slight changes in perception?”
Although Noir tried to say it like it wasn’t a big deal, Eugene couldn’t just accept this at face value. He had seen how the numerous individuals in the abandoned railroad hadn’t been able to look at them directly, and instead, all began to look up at the ceiling as if it was only natural for them to do so. There hadn’t been anyone around them in the subway either. And even now, no one in their immediate vicinity was looking at Eugene and Noir.
Presently, Noir wasn’t using her Demoneye of Fantasy, and Eugene wasn’t being shown some kind of dream either. It seemed that a suggestion was laid over the entire area that naturally diverted attention away from them….
“I feel like that’s enough to answer your question about the Giabella-Faces. What are your other questions?” Noir prompted.
“I’m still thinking of some,” Eugene replied, suppressing the urge to sigh.
Eugene had originally wanted to investigate what kind of security forces or private guards were serving Noir. When he next came here to kill her, he didn’t want to get caught off guard when her reinforcements came pouring in.
However, at this point, something like that was no longer at a level that was worth worrying about.
‘Would holy ground be able to resist her power?’ Eugene wondered.
Invasions into his mind and being dragged into a dream could both be resisted through his mental power and divinity.
But would holy ground be able to resist her direct manipulations of reality? Eugene didn’t believe that such a situation would be necessarily hopeless. Eugene also had many measures that he could take in response. Even if the boundary between dreams and reality collapsed and this entire city became a territory over which Noir reigned, in the truest sense of the word, holy ground could turn an area into a land controlled personally by a god.
In fact, there was a simple solution to the whole problem.
Eugene just didn’t have to fight Noir while in this city.
‘There’s no reason for me to play to her strengths,’ Eugene thought before spitting out with a scowl, “So where are we going now?”
“Does that count as one of your questions?” Noir asked cheekily.
“Should I just stay silent then?” Eugene countered.
“It was just a little joke, Hamel. I also want to keep talking with you, so of course, I won’t be too harsh about the conditions of our agreement. Fine then, how about this? If you raise your hand and shout ‘Question!’, it’s only then that the question will be counted,” Noir raised two fingers and waved them at him. “You have two questions left starting now.”
Eugene repeated the question, “So like I said, where are we going?”
“We’re heading to the Giabella Department Store,” Noir revealed.
“Do you even know what time it is right now?” Eugene protested.
“What’s so important about the time? Hamel, this is the city without a night,” Noir reminded him.
As she said this, she casually tried to hook her arms around his, but Eugene quickly sidestepped her, keeping his distance from Noir.
“Just what on earth are you going there to buy?” Eugene asked.
Noir sighed, “Haaaah, do you really only go shopping when there’s something that you need to buy? It’s fun to just take a look around…. Hmm, never mind. There are actually a few things that I want to buy right now. I also feel like it would make me really happy if you could pick out some clothes for me.”
“Get lost,” Eugene scoffed.
“I knew that would be your response,” Noir said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter. I already have a whole lot of clothes, so I don’t really need to buy any more.”
Eugene frowned, “Then why—”
“How about a ring?” Noir spoke over him, holding her fingers up against the sparkling stars in the sky. “I really want a new ring.”