“Is that enough time for your final words, my bow?”
Leraze crouched before Larry, who sat slumped against the wall, his life’s flame burning away to its end.
His hand moved slowly, like the flow of a quiet stream, before resting precisely over Larry’s core.
With this final blow, Leraze’s fragment would disappear — as if it had never existed in this world to begin with.
After all, it was never born under divine order — it was merely the product of a passing whim, a moment’s impulse from Leraze.
"My name is Larry."
"Hmm?"
"My name… it's Larry."
Larry pronounced each word with crisp, deliberate clarity — each syllable carefully bitten off.
Then, with the last of his strength, he grabbed Leraze’s wrist.
“I existed in this world not as a fragment of you, but as Larry.”
And there was someone who promised to remember him, forever.
That alone was reason enough for his life to have meaning.
That was what gave his life its worth.
He clutched Leraze’s wrist with his last ounce of strength as if to crush it.
At that moment, black sigils began to wind around Leraze’s legs like serpents, coiling upward.
Though still incomplete, the spell fought to take hold — its stubborn defiance a mirror of Larry himself.
That was the limit of Leraze’s patience.
His eyes narrowed — and in a single motion, he drove his strike through Larry’s core.
“That’s enough. Go back.”
And then, it happened.
Larry’s trembling lips finally curled into a faint, crooked smile.
Just as Leraze began to frown, puzzled by the strangely satisfied expression on the dying man’s face — as if Larry had landed a final, fatal blow — the soul Leraze meant to absorb was suddenly pulled away.
Swift and unstoppable, it was drawn into the spell that had wrapped around him, but not into him.
In an instant, the ritual ignited.
Blinding light flashed as ancient runes etched themselves across Leraze’s skin — too fast for the eye to follow.
‘A self-sacrifice spell…’
A spell completed only through the caster’s death — the most powerful, the most absolute of incantations.
It was already too late when Leraze realised what it truly was.
Having devoured Larry’s soul, the magic swelled with unbearable force, surging to the edge of detonation.
Then, in an instant, it burst forth, piercing deep into Leraze’s flesh.
"Ugh…!"
A short, strained groan escaped him.
The energy rampaging inside him like a parasite was barely held down by sheer force of will.
For the first time, Leraze fully unleashed his demonic power.
The building shook as if it would collapse completely — then disintegrated, leaving behind only a skeletal frame before crumbling into dust.
Swept up in the storm of unleashed power, even the few remaining pillars shattered and broke apart one by one.
The energy, vast enough to erase an entire city, began to concentrate slowly around the temple.
A searing light blazed, blinding as divine judgment, and the air rippled with sun-like heat.
And then — it stopped.
Abruptly, unbelievably, it vanished.
Like steam in the sky, it left no trace.
No matter how much demonic energy he called upon, no power manifested.
"The contract…"
All his contracts had been utterly nullified.
The divine restriction — that devils could wield their powers only through pacts with humans — remained absolute.
Leraze felt the final thread connecting him to the human realm snap, and let out a hollow laugh.
Had he stayed in the demon realm for too long? He’d been absurdly caught off guard by a pitiful fragment.
"Impressive. You’ve managed to bind me to the human realm."
Who would’ve thought that a devil abandoned in the human realm would discover a means of severing another devil’s contract through self-sacrifice?
Whoever created it, it surely wasn’t made for that purpose.
Having been left alone in the human world, feeling frustrated and wronged, it must have desperately tried to drag other devils down into the human world by force.
Even if it meant killing itself.
“You’re probably the only one who could’ve twisted a spell born of such a vile, wormlike mindset into something like this.”
Leraze muttered, feeling the very channel through which he commanded demonic power snap shut, sealed beyond reach.
"I admit it."
“You win,” he said, gazing down at his opponent, still as a puppet with its strings severed.
He reached out, collecting the shimmering soul particles drifting through the air like dust, all that remained after the spell had devoured the rest.
Leraze gazed down at it in silence, then clicked his tongue with a sharp “tsk.”
It had already been just a shard of a soul — now shattered even further, there wasn’t nearly enough left to absorb.
At this rate, his trip to the human realm would amount to nothing more than a wasted effort.
Still a thorn in his side, even now.
With Larry’s soul fully gone, the body began to slowly reshape itself in the likeness of its original soul.
His jet-black hair lost its darkness and was imbued with radiant light.
The warrior’s body, once densely packed with muscle, gradually withered, and his skin began to glow with a translucent sheen.
And what shone even more brightly was the human’s soul that remained after Larry’s soul had fully departed.
The soul, corroded and corrupted from years of hosting a devil, now shone with the clarity of a lake kissed by sunlight.
Just as Leraze mused, ‘So that’s why my fragment was swept up in his emotions so easily…’ — the chest of the body, slack and lifeless like a corpse, suddenly heaved — and in the next instant, a hand clamped around his collar.
“...”
It should have been impossible for him to wake.
The very fact that this body had taken on a devil’s power head-on and had survived was a miracle in itself.
The human who had wrought that miracle moved his lips.
What spilled forth was a broken, rasping sound — desperate to shape itself into words.
Leraze, who had never once been seized by a human, blinked in disbelief and lowered his head.
“Where…is…”
"Ah."
Leraze grasped the meaning at once, then tilted his head slightly, a puzzled look crossing his face.
A transparent sheen welled up in Felix’s eyes, which reflected the sky in perfect stillness, then slipped away like raindrops falling.
"Why are you crying?"
“These aren’t my tears.”
"Are those Larry’s tears?"
Leraze spoke the name his fragment had left him with — and found its resonance suited him perfectly.
"I no longer have any reason to hurt you."
Now that the contract had been completely nullified, he no longer had the obligation, reason, or even the power to see it through.
Drained of any will, Leraze answered with disinterest — then, upon spotting someone, the corner of his mouth curled into a faint smirk.
Just then, at the far end of the hallway, Benjamin, who had been searching for an exit, froze in place when he spotted Leraze and Felix.
Blood dripped steadily from a gash on his forehead, likely from being struck by falling debris from the collapsed building.
He was clearly an ordinary human — powerless by any measure — yet his vitality was nothing short of extraordinary.
“I think that person might know.”
At his whisper, the mana surrounding Felix began to stir.
・・・・・
Benjamin reflected bitterly.
Had anything in his life ever gone this wrong?
Irene — whom he had believed to be completely in his grasp — had vanished without a trace.
She had pushed him away and suddenly fallen into a pitch-black void.
Out of nowhere, a rift in space had opened up in that hallway, already thick with the lies and deception of devils.
Anyone could tell it was Nivas’s doing.
Driven by rage, Benjamin had barely taken a step toward the treacherous devil who had betrayed him when the temple began to crumble.
The building collapsed in an instant, nearly burying him alive in a humiliating death.
As if that weren’t enough, the mark of his contract with the devil disappeared — wiped away as though it had never existed.
The contract had been nullified for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand, and at the same time, he’d been left completely exposed to the devil’s raw power.
If he hadn’t run into Constantine — freed in the chaos of the collapse — he would’ve long since succumbed.
Despite the very real threat to his life, Benjamin had clawed his way this far.
His instincts screamed that turning back now was the wisest choice — but the more tangled things became, the more stubbornly he pressed forward.
He couldn’t stop. He knew that if he paused to unravel the knot, the thread would eventually be cut altogether.
And now things had ended up like this. Everything had unfolded in the exact opposite way of what Benjamin intended.
No, before even considering whether it was the complete opposite, he hadn’t properly grasped the situation in the first place.
Walter and Felix were clearly the same person, and yet they were both standing here at the same time.
And on top of that, Walter now had red eyes, something he’d never had before.
Moreover, where on earth did that devil, Nivas, vanish off to in the first place?
“It’s a devil. A powerful, high-ranking one without question.”
Constantine spoke, his gaze fixed firmly on Leraze.
The moment he heard it, Benjamin, as sharp as ever, grasped the truth.
He had been suspicious from the start when Nivas had concealed his appearance so flawlessly behind an illusion.
But when the illusion faded, the devil appeared identical to Walter — just as Felix had looked when possessed by a devil — as if they were cast from the same mould.
"Victory and struggle... the devil of love and pleasure... Leraze."
Leraze had deceived him. He had posed as Nivas and forged a contract under that lie.
But why? What reason could there possibly have been? For what purpose?
At that moment, Benjamin saw him smile.
Those red lips curved in satisfaction, tilting slightly at one corner.
It was the exact same expression he had seen once — through the mirror — when everything had fallen perfectly into place.
It was a trap.
And he had fallen for it.
‘Run. Get out, now.’
His instincts blared a scarlet alarm. But in most cases, when one thought it was too late, it often really was.
Felix, who was slumped against the wall, slowly moved his eyes.
His gaze, glassy with tears, drifted like a slow current, and then — like something sinking quietly into the deep sea — darkened.
Benjamin Lamberg and Constantine.
The moment he locked eyes with his opponent, a chilling light scraped across his gaze.
He could only breathe heavily as an explosive aura of lethal intent surged from his body.
Leraze watched him with a sceptical gaze.
With both body and soul in such an incomplete state, trying to manifest magic would likely only bring ruin.
But that devil’s prediction was utterly wrong.
An enormous amount of mana — one that had endlessly gathered and dispersed around Felix — had now seeped deeply into his body.
Wiping the blood trickling from his lips, he slowly raised his hand.
Using his right arm — the only limb still intact — he snapped his dislocated left shoulder back into place in one swift motion.
Freed of his injuries in his arms, he staggered upright.
A gentle touch of white light brushed over his broken left leg, instantly fusing the shattered bones.
With each step, his crushed right leg visibly restored itself.
Even his fractured ribs and mangled, bleeding organs rapidly healed.
Like a machine’s misaligned gears clicking perfectly back together, like severed body parts being seamlessly sewn back, every piece swiftly found its rightful place.
Everything began returning to order in an instant.
The imperial guard uniform he wore and the sword sheathed at his waist shifted awkwardly on his frame, swaying oddly.
All these changes took place as Felix rose and walked steadily toward Benjamin.
Felix handled mana as effortlessly as devils breathed their demonic energy.
If a mythical being like a dragon were to appear once more in this world, it might look exactly like this.
At first glance, it seemed less like he was wielding magic himself and more as if the very world around him was conjuring magic on his behalf.
"...I never thought I'd see this face again."
It wasn’t a face he missed. Benjamin muttered softly, frustration flickering across his features.
Who held the upper hand now? That question didn’t even need asking.
This was a game he had no chance of winning — calling it hopeless wouldn’t be an exaggeration. He didn’t stand a chance at all.
Benjamin had always been fairly objective about Felix’s talents.
What had kept Felix Chamberlain in check all this time wasn’t loyalty to the nation or a sense of honour. It was his humanity — his morals, convictions, and love for his family.
And the one who had given Felix the reason to cut through all those boundaries, to break the lines that restrained him? None other than Benjamin himself.
“I knew this would happen from the moment you came up with that absurd plan to use a devil.”
"Were you really counting on a stroke of luck? Even once would have been a miracle," Constantine added with biting sarcasm despite the tense moment.
Benjamin’s violet eyes, stripped of all composure, simmered with molten fury.
He despised more than anything those freeloaders who did nothing but shirk responsibility, always quick to say, "I knew this would happen," whenever a plan failed.
"Shut up before I cut out your tongue."
“You think it’ll be just my tongue that gets cut out?”
Sensing the inevitable, Constantine replied with irritation.
Yet, he summoned his divine power to its utmost limit.
Even when Felix was still Walter, he had been brutally defeated and endured the humiliation of being locked away in an underground prison.
But now, facing someone who had completely broken free from the ‘control of the Ministry of Magic’ and the ‘constraints of the beliefs that once bound him,’ could he truly hope to win?
“The revenge of a righteous and selfless man.”
Leraze, watching the scene, tilted his head and murmured thoughtfully.
It was a truly fascinating moment.
The one he sought revenge against was a fragile human, one who could die with the slightest flick of a finger.
Yet, what kind of judgment would a noble soul — one that had even bathed a devil in light and compelled them to sacrifice themself — ultimately deliver?
Would he forgive even this? Dismiss his opponent as unworthy and let him go? Mercifully end his life in one swift stroke? Or subject him to cruel torment?
Clenching his teeth, Constantine lunged at Felix.
Before Constantine could even unleash his divine power, his outstretched arm was cleanly severed, as if sliced by a blade, leaving a perfectly smooth cross-section.
At the same time, blood spurted out like a fountain.
It happened so fast that he didn’t even realise it.
Frozen in shock, Constantine reacted a moment too late.
"Aaarrgh!!!"
Sparks flew over his eyes as he screamed in pain.
No matter how powerful his opponent was, he was never the type to just take it lying down.
Desperately, Constantine unleashed the rest of his divine power at Felix, but Felix effortlessly blocked the decisive strike with a simple defensive spell.
In less than a second, his other arm was severed.
It was a clear warning: if he attacked again, his remaining legs would be cut off one by one.
“Do not interfere. This does not concern you.”
Felix said coldly, looking down at Constantine, who trembled after losing both arms.
Felix’s gaze held no explosive madness — only calm, quiet fury. It was a highly rational stare, fully aware of exactly what he was doing.
"Shh, stay quiet and still."
“If you struggle, I might reattach your limbs in the wrong places.”
Felix said as he calmly and neatly reattached Constantine’s severed arms, making it seem as if they had never been cut off in the first place.
"Ha, you crazy bastard..."
Benjamin had been watching the entire scene from start to finish, sweat pouring down his face.
No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t move an inch — as if bound by an invisible magical restraint.
Leraze, who had been observing with curiosity, finally asked:
"What are you doing?"
Was he torturing him? But his demeanour was far too calm for that.
It was more like disciplining a wild, untamed beast — patiently scolding and soothing it.
No, it felt more like dealing with an annoying ant nibbling at his toes.
Felix glanced briefly at Leraze with a look that said, ‘You sure ask a lot of questions,’ then answered.
“Their fate is not something I can decide alone.”
“Are you going to forgive them?”
"Not at all."
“I thought you might be capable of that.”
"I am not a saint."
He simply had a bit more patience and endurance than others.
No matter how fiercely his body burned with rage, he hid it deep inside and endured it as much as he could — like a volcano hardened only on the surface.
But if one ever let their guard down and trampled on it, thinking it was solid, his body would instantly melt away like lava vanishing without a trace.
“There is a final line in my beliefs that I cannot tolerate crossing — beyond which, I no longer extend respect.”
Life itself was precious; there was nothing more valuable.
But these were not living beings.
Not even worthy of being called insects.
If Irene had wished, Felix would have felt no guilt at all for inflicting any kind of torture on them, committing acts that went against humanity itself.
“Don’t think that any land you step on from now on will remain safe.”
“You will always live in fear and anxiety, trembling at the thought that one careless step might cause lava to swallow you whole.”
Felix added in a calm, measured voice, locking eyes with Leraze as he spoke.
“Enough with the games. Tell me — where is Irene?”
Felix never once wavered under the devil’s words and instantly saw through the core of the matter.
‘As expected, is it really that different for those with experience?’
Leraze lifted a lazy smile to his lips.
“Games? I’m simply easing your troubled heart.”
When the mind and body were exhausted, humans lost their judgment and wavered at even the slightest provocation.
All the more so when the very person they despised to their very core was kindly pointed out as the culprit.
Even though they knew it wasn’t true, they pretended to accept it, unable to resist — and who could blame them for wanting to tear that person apart?
It was the devil’s own twisted kindness.
‘If you want, go ahead and rampage. I’ll allow it. No one will dare to scold you — not even your lover.’
With such gentle whispers, it was merely giving him the opportunity he deserved.
After all, when something piqued your curiosity, you naturally wanted to poke at it.
It was a devil’s instinct to trample a pristine snowfield just for the sake of it.
When Leraze showed a look of quiet disappointment, a gaze of unfathomable depth pierced him with a chilling sharpness.
Felix didn’t utter a single word at that moment, but his eyes — cracked and dry with age-old madness — spoke volumes.
They seemed to silently demand: “Tell me, now.”
"Leraze."
Felix closed the distance in a stride and yanked Leraze by the collar.
“I’ve had enough of being toyed with by you.”
Leraze glanced down at his severely crumpled sleeve for a moment and faintly frowned. His expression showed no irritation but mild surprise. Had they already noticed that much?
"I won’t bother asking where your plan really began. And just the same, I won’t be hurting them — at least not yet."
So what he meant was, if the revenge were to begin right now, Leraze wouldn’t come out of it unscathed either.
It was arrogance so staggering that it would leave one speechless.
“I’ve heard devils cannot use their powers in the human world without a contract.”
"That may be true."
"If anything happens to her, I don't think I'll be able to keep my composure the way you hope I will — so please, don't test me."
His touch was outright rude, and his tone, though polite, was nothing but a veiled threat.
This was a treatment unlike anything his entire species had ever faced before.
Leraze was so stunned he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, that’s kind of you.”
‘Even if I can't use my powers, there's no way I'd be taken down so easily by a human like you. Besides, there are two humans right next to you who are more eager than anyone to make a contract. If I wanted, I could gain power in an instant.’
There was no need to say it out loud. It wasn’t condescension; Leraze had simply reached his limit.
Leraze watched Felix’s gaze tremble violently, like a ship caught in a raging storm.
If anything happened to the woman he was desperately searching for, his turmoil could shake the whole world.
A man who never showed such an expression, even when his body and soul were on the verge of shattering.
Meanwhile, those humans in front of him — whom he would gladly tear apart — stood defenceless, their necks fully exposed.
His patience seemed to reach the heavens, but when it came to the woman’s safety, it instantly ignited into a blazing flame — a beautiful fire that never flickered for even a moment.
Leraze stared into the blue flame, lost in thought.
No matter how naturally one tended to side with their own, he wondered — could even a fragment of a god, reborn from death, truly win against this one?
That was why he decided it was time to stop observing Felix.
"I’ll give you the coordinates."
"...Coordinates?"
“Oh dear, as you said, my powers are sealed, so that woman might be trapped in a dimensional rift.”
“I wonder if it’s even possible to find her.” Leraze couldn’t help but add this time, playfully.
At the mention of the “coordinates,” Felix briefly gave off a menacing vibe, but being wise, he clearly understood what the top priority was.
He turned his back on everyone, split the air, and opened a hyperspace portal, leaving behind a bold threat that if anything happened to Irene, no one would remain safe.
"...He’s gone."
No matter how tightly bound by magic they were, a devil was standing right beside them — and yet he just left them behind.
That meant he already judged that Leraze wouldn’t pull any foolish tricks.
Leraze thought Felix wasn’t just exceptional in magic, but pretty sharp and clever too.
“Even if you had entered a more ordinary human body, you still wouldn’t have become a complete devil.”
“Isn’t that right, Larry?” Leraze chuckled softly, muttering to himself before turning to Benjamin and Constantine.
Then he approached them.
As he leisurely stepped across the bloodstains scattered across the floor, a bright red mark was etched onto the stone surface.
Sometimes it happened. A shattered fragment of a devil’s soul would be born in the vessel of a human.
Gazing down at the humans who had been born in the wrong bodies, he asked with a hint of pity.
“Do you know why devils can never escape the demon realm?”
The wars and rebellions caused by devils always ended in brutal failure.
Of course, the main reason was the strict regulations imposed by the divine realm.
But from the start, why did the divine realm apply such harsh standards only to devils?
Angels ascended to the heavens, enjoying power and glory, while devils were doomed to live forever underground, silenced like defeated dogs.
Why had the world been set this way?
Whether angel or devil, they were all children created by the gods — wasn’t that terribly unjust?
Leraze had pondered this countless times over the eons and reached one conclusion.
"That’s because there is no concept of trust, no concept of bonds, and no concept of betrayal."
It was the instinct and essence of devils.
Therefore, no matter how much they became self-aware and diligently reflected on it, it was a chronic illness that could never be cured.
“We devils, who have not escaped even a bit from being beasts, are fools who think that using, trampling, and killing everything but ourselves is the shortcut to success and life.”
In that moment, one might gain an advantage, but the faster one rose, the swifter and more suddenly they would fall.
That was why devils were doomed to be forever crushed beneath the feet of angels.
“And you all have proven that.”
“No matter how hard the devils tried, they just couldn’t change that. But you humans — aren’t you different?”
Leraze clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he approached Benjamin, who was bound by magic and couldn’t even move his lips.
Pretending to comfort him, he gently stroked Benjamin’s cold, pale cheek.
Swearing inwardly, Benjamin’s lips trembled, but before he could even form a word, a shrill scream escaped him.
Leraze’s hand had pierced straight through his abdomen like a blade.
“Shall we renew our contract? This time, let’s do it right — no breaking it, no matter what.”
“Try begging for your life,” the devil whispered softly after licking the blood from his fingers.
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Wonder if Benjamin really would have been happier as a devil.