“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because the place you hit hurts.”
I coughed awkwardly at the words that felt strangely petulant. I thought he didn’t care much since he recovered quickly, but it seemed it had hurt more than I thought. Well, smashing his head with a hammer was a bit too much. I should have just gently stabbed him a few times with a knife. I tried hard to appease Deus, who was avoiding my gaze as if sulking.
“……You kept acting threatening, that’s why. And actually, I’m not a sow. I’m a proper human.”
“Human…… Fine, I used to like them when I was young too. Though the gamey smell is hard to remove when cooking……”
So he meant he liked them as ingredients. Deus, who had been pondering something while I stood there with a soured expression, tilted his head slightly.
“If you’re a human and not a sow, you must have a name. What’s your name?”
I unconsciously flinched at the ordinary question that Deus wouldn’t normally ask. After hesitating, I answered.
“Ash Serpent.”
“Good. Ash.”
“……”
“If you open this door right now and hug me, I’ll forgive you.”
I remained silent instead of answering the proposal whose intention I couldn’t discern. Golden eyes that I couldn’t tell were friend or foe glowed eerily in the darkness. At my hesitant appearance, Deus gestured as if urging me. I warned in a voice full of suspicion with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t do anything weird.”
“Define the scope of weird things.”
“Think of me as your birth mother.”
“Then the scope gets even wider.”
I silently glared at Deus, who was spouting suspicious words nonchalantly. Only then did Deus, saying ‘Okay, okay,’ spread both arms.
I sighed and approached the door to unlock it. And with a hammer gripped tightly in one hand to prepare for any possible situation, I hugged Deus. His body was so solid it felt like I was hugging a stone grandfather statue rather than a person. Deus, who had been hugging me tightly in return as if he’d been waiting, let out a pleased laugh. And he whispered in a locked voice.
“I used to believe that too at one time. That I might be able to defy fate.”
“……”
“But some fates, you see, can’t be defied no matter how hard you try. They remain like a curse.”
I looked quietly at Deus, who was saying something meaningful, then let out a sigh. As expected, this level of persuasion couldn’t completely make Deus my ally. Just as I was worrying about how to win this psycho’s heart, the hot embrace slowly moved away. Deus, who had returned to a grinning face, passed by me and headed somewhere. I asked in a flustered voice.
“Where are you going?”
“The Void has started to crack.”
“Crack?”
“Yeah, probably……”
Deus, who had stopped speaking briefly, smiled coldly with veins bulging in his neck.
“It seems an uninvited guest has arrived.”
* * *
Caw, caw.
A flock of crows circled in groups over the cloudy sky. It was because of the terrible stench of rotting flesh. Rascal, who had been watching the unbelievable scene unfolding before his eyes in dismay along with the mercenaries standing in a daze, opened his mouth with a pale face.
“Kilius-nim.”
“……”
“The situation seems worse than expected.”
The flesh densely covering the passage going down to the basement wriggled. It was a bizarre appearance different from when Ash had been pushed in last night. Just as even the seasoned mercenaries were frozen in place, unable to rashly enter at the appearance like the inner wall of a monster, Kiss sighed as if troubled and said.
“This is troublesome. I was supposed to go to a famous dessert shop today. At this rate, overtime is confirmed.”
The day after locking Ash in the basement, Kiss opened the door expecting to see Ash crying and sniffling at the entrance of the stairs. But what greeted him full of expectation was the disgusting sight of stairs completely covered in flesh on all sides. Rascal muttered in a voice full of worry.
“Sir Ash couldn’t have met with misfortune, right?”
“Well, he has surprisingly good survival skills…… I think he’s probably hiding somewhere like a cockroach.”
“Even if that’s the case, I think it would be good for Kiss-nim to feel some guilt.”
“I’ll add a few more lines to the eulogy during grace before meals later.”
At the cold answer, Rascal rolled his eyes. Even if he was the enemy’s child, still, he was a childhood friend he’d known since they were young. It was something he understood and yet didn’t about how heartless his lord could be.
However, Kiss had his own thoughts too. When he had pushed Ash into that basement in the first place, he had attached a magical device capable of tracking life force to his waist. Fortunately, Ash’s life force could be traced, albeit faintly, and with that he could know that Ash was still alive. Now that Ash’s survival was confirmed, the truly important thing was something else.
Deus, who had an immortal body due to the Void’s ability, didn’t die by simple methods. Only by piercing the heart hidden somewhere in the Void could Deus be killed.
At this point in time, the one with the strongest right to imperial succession wasn’t himself but Deus, so Kiss had no intention of missing this miraculous opportunity. Until now, he hadn’t been able to eliminate Deus because there was no justification, but Deus with his seal broken was clearly a dangerous existence, so there was sufficient justification to eliminate him.
‘Right, this is the last chance to get rid of Deus.’
Among the terrified mercenaries, one mercenary who looked relatively confident stepped forward with his sword drawn. The moment the mercenary’s sword cut through the pink flesh, small blisters rapidly covered the mercenary’s body. The mercenary, who had been screaming at the suddenly unfolding situation, fell backward and convulsed. A deathly silence flowed at the sight of the mercenary choking with blisters covering even the inside of his throat. Kiss shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s better not to touch that flesh. Deus’s power also has the function of corrosion and contamination.”
“What’s happening?”
“Deus’s seal has been broken. The boundary between the original world and the Void world is crumbling. To put it simply……”
As Kiss pointed to the door hidden in the wriggling flesh, the mercenaries’ gazes all fixed on that door at once. Kiss, who had been looking at the tightly closed door, smiled faintly. Thinking of the Empress who would be screaming hysterically upon hearing the news that Deus’s seal had been broken by now, he felt full even though he hadn’t eaten. Kiss continued in a pleasant voice.
“It means the contributions of a hundred elders who gave their lives to seal that monster have become futile.”
“Is there no particular method?”
“Well, even Deus has weaknesses. If it were me, I could have solved it and more, but……”
“What if Sir Ash defeats Deus or something.”
“Do you think that’s feasible?”
Rascal let out a deep sigh. Indeed, it was close to impossible for Ash, who didn’t stand out greatly in either martial arts or magic, to defeat Deus. Kiss, who had been staring quietly at the wriggling flesh, drew the holy sword at his waist. Rascal asked in a voice that said ‘surely not.’
“You’re not going to enter the Void alone, are you?”
“I’m the only one not affected by Deus’s ability. If a rampage starts, it’s the end. This worked out well, I can’t leave a corpse in the front yard forever.”
Kilius, who had finished speaking calmly, got a few potions from a nearby mercenary and packed them. Kiss, who had finished preparing to jump into the Void, whispered quietly toward Rascal, who clearly showed signs of tension.
“Don’t worry, even though we have different mothers, Deus is my brother.”
“……”
“I guess blood can’t be fooled—we overlap in quite a few areas more than I thought.”
By what twist of fate, the Empress and Lilia gave birth to sons in the same year. That’s why Kiss and Death had many similar aspects. Kiss knew better than anyone what kind of childhood Deus had spent. Everything, including that he had spent a childhood that was more unfortunate than his own if anything, and could never be called happy. If they had been born in an ordinary family, they might have become friendly brothers. The cold murderous intent descended again on the pupils that had seemed conflicted for a moment.
‘It’s a meaningless supposition though.’
Kiss, who had quickly finished preparing to leave for the Void, stood facing the door. Kiss, who had been adjusting the sword at his waist, muttered words tinged with humor.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I hope our taste in men doesn’t overlap.”
Beyond the open door, pitch-black darkness spread its arms. Kiss, who had been quietly looking beyond that darkness, moved his steps without hesitation. Kiss’s body was gradually buried in the darkness.
