Generally, places contaminated with demonic energy are slowly purified by priests dispatched from the Temple. However, when the degree of demonic energy is severe enough to devour Divine Power, exceptions are bound to occur. And that exception was Rilton Forest.
Ruvlian Belitent, who entered that forest, felt that his exposed skin was gradually being contaminated. It changed to a mottled purple color, and it was difficult to move comfortably as if paralyzed. Breathing became difficult. However, he had experienced dying several times and dying again, and since Baek Sihyeon had died this time too, he didn’t feel much. If it went wrong, he would just have to reverse time and die.
When his shoulder very slightly brushed against a bare tree dyed black without a single green leaf, the tree crumbled. It turned to powder. The concentration of demonic energy was thicker than he thought. Ruvlian brushed off the powder like black ash.
Around the time he didn’t know how long he had walked on this dry and contaminated ground, someone who was clearly a demon at a glance walked from the side. Ruvlian was carefree. He had come with the feeling of grasping at straws before reversing time anyway. If it was a trap or no proper solution came out, he could just keep turning back time.
Until the day Baek Sihyeon surpassed twenty-two years old.
“You finally came. I was getting tired of having to say it dozens more times before you’d come, so this worked out well.”
The demon who moved in front of Ruvlian in one go scanned his face thoroughly and made a bored face. Ruvlian, who watched that appearance while slowly blinking without stepping back, twitched his eyebrows.
“Why did you call me?”
“Hmm. Right, you wouldn’t be curious at all about how I control the Demon King or such things. Your interest is only in the dead.”
When the demon spoke to Ruvlian who spoke straight to the point indiscriminately, at the words ‘the dead,’ his pale brow furrowed and his golden eyebrows distorted. His face became fierce.
“I only spoke the truth, but I don’t understand why you’re making such an expression. Is there something wrong with what I said?”
It was an arrogant tone. Ruvlian composed his expression. Whenever talk of Baek Sihyeon came up, he reacted hypersensitively. Whether he missed him too much, his mind became increasingly haggard because he occasionally even saw fantasies.
“So. Do I have to ask again what you have to say?”
It was a voice as if asking whether he couldn’t even remember what was just said. The Evil God using the demon’s body was irritated to death by a mere human crawling up. Originally, humans were beneath gods and were a species that should submit. What rebellion. To think he had to endure a single human who should be moving obediently doing this. Nevertheless, the Evil God endured because Ruvlian was absolutely necessary for his plan.
“You’re not perfect, but you’ve uniquely reached divine authority. Make a contract with me. I can perfect that authority, and I have a way to save your Hero who keeps dying. Hmm, rather than a contract, a deal would be more accurate.”
“…You have a way to save him?”
“Yes. You think the world runs according to its natural order, right? That’s all because fate is predetermined. And your Hero was born with the fate of death.”
The Evil God, who hated the Hero most among humans, spoke rather gleefully. He didn’t like the Hero who killed the Demon King, a useful card. Because he couldn’t intervene directly due to the checks of the Heavenly Realm’s Chief God, the Demon King was the only means to destroy the human realm and massacre humans.
Meanwhile, Ruvlian let out a hollow breath at the words that he was born with the fate of death. He tried to save him somehow, but he always died. To think it was because of fate. It was devastating, but he had no intention of giving up. The world is under the jurisdiction of gods. The natural order of the world is also under the jurisdiction of gods. Though immature, he had already infringed on the divine authority of ‘time.’ There’s no reason he couldn’t do other things.
Thinking so, Ruvlian looked at the demon in front of him. Though he didn’t know the exact identity, if it knew those things, it would also know a way to avoid fate.
“You’re saying you know a way to avoid that fate. Then what do you want from me?”
As if waiting for those words, the demon’s eyes flashed. It was a gaze that would have made others falter with faces turned pale, but Ruvlian was unfazed. The dozens of regressions whose number he couldn’t count had made him not fear death. They had broken his mind.
“A contract. I’m a god, but I govern and reside in the Demon Realm, not the Heavenly Realm. But there’s a god in the Heavenly Realm who tries to check and control me, so I can’t interfere with the human realm freely. Even now, I’m borrowing a demon’s body, avoiding the eyes of those in the Heavenly Realm by calling you to a place thick with demonic energy, aren’t I?”
“So you’re saying you want to directly interfere with the human realm through a contract.”
“Right. That’s it.”
Deep greed appeared in his inorganic eyes. Giving a way to save Baek Sihyeon, and allowing this character called an Evil God, who anyone could see was dangerous, to interfere with the human realm. Ruvlian organized the facts he noticed in a short time.
The Demon King is the form of a human who crossed over from another world and was changed by desire. Then why does desire grow just by crossing worlds, and why does one become the Demon King when it grows? It was probably because of the Evil God who occupied that demon’s body. How could someone who clearly hated humans while wanting to interfere with the human realm sit still saying there was no method? So the method found must have been changing ‘humans’ into ‘Demon Kings’ to control them.
“Tell me more properly about the contract.”
Then he was now making a deal with the god who had killed Baek Sihyeon dozens of times using the Demon King. To think I’m doing this with the bastard who killed you trying to save you. It became a ridiculous sight.
“It’s nothing special. You just have to receive the blessings and protection I bestow and move according to my will. I’ll parasitize your body. My voice will ring in your head.”
The Evil God wanted to steal and control that body if it were up to him. To think this was a body that remained fine even after touching divine authority. It was a solid body close to the celestial race, the kind that might come out once in thousands of years. If he obtained such a body, he could completely destroy this entire human realm indirectly.
However, to control a body, like this demon, one had to readily agree, or there had to be a gap. Moreover, one had to be in another world, not their own unique world. This was because humans in their own unique world were under their assigned god, so if desire was abnormally grown, the god would notice and block it.
That’s why all Demon Kings were those who crossed over from other worlds. Since they’re in another world, the god of their own unique world can’t interfere. But since they don’t belong to the other world either, they’re not bound by the world’s rules. There was no better prey.
Of course, the Evil God had also imagined gently coaxing Ruvlian to move to another world and taking over his body. However, this person who had reached divine authority was one step closer to god than human. If he tried to dig into a gap, he would feel something strange and block it himself. It was quite unsettling that a mere creation, a human, had come one step closer to the divine realm. It was displeasing as if challenging him. The Evil God, who had wanted to kill or control him right away, was smacking his lips in regret when Ruvlian opened his mouth.
“If I refuse your will, what happens?”
“I’ll let a certain level slide as cuteness, but if you continuously refuse, it will become difficult for you. Mentally.”
The Evil God controlling the demon’s body tapped Ruvlian’s temple. Ruvlian brushed off the black hand.
“What do you desire?”
“Human massacre. Ah, you and your Hero I won’t kill specially, but will let you live as my servants. You won’t be able to reproduce even if you copulate anyway. I can leave about two alone.”
It was sincere. It seemed fine to make humans who had approached godhood work so they couldn’t even think of crawling up. Of course, if Ruvlian died before that, he planned to take over the soulless body and kill even the Hero. The Evil God skillfully hid such inner thoughts.
“What are you agonizing over? Didn’t you intend to save your Hero who has the fate of death?”
The Evil God kept whispering. It was behavior close to temptation, pushing him to commit what shouldn’t be done.
“I intend to save him. But if you’re telling lies, isn’t that my loss?”
“Making an oath with a god’s true name has great meaning. I can swear on my name. That I’ve never told lies.”
Other gods wouldn’t even be able to touch fate. Fate was being handled by one of the two gods who created this world, and created all things and even the remaining gods. However, the Evil God was one of the gods who created this world.
Originally, they looked at the human realm together from the Heavenly Realm, but due to differing opinions, he himself created the Demon Realm. Then he descended to the Demon Realm, also created demons and monsters, and personally lent part of the authority to create monsters to humans who became Demon Kings.
The Evil God, who didn’t explain such inside information, urged an answer. Ruvlian, who had been agonizing, decided quite quickly.
“…Fine. Let’s do it.”
It was consent given while knowing it was better not to get close. It was also a judgment made easily because he had already reversed time many times and had nothing to lose. Everything he had built up was like a sandcastle. It crumbled with one incoming wave.
The accumulated memories, the emotions—when time was turned back, everything disappeared without a trace. The remaining trace was his own memory. That was all. Because he had turned back time so much, days when he made slips of the tongue became frequent, and eventually when he regressed, he even severed ties with his family. The household, family, nanny, servants. He cut all connections with everyone. They too noticed himself who had suddenly changed and tried desperately to hold on. It was a foolish act. He had no right to say that when he himself couldn’t give up on saving Baek Sihyeon, but it was so.
Thus he severed everything one by one. Truly, there was nothing whatsoever that Ruvlian Belitent held in his hands. Having nothing to lose, he had nothing to catch him, nothing to fear. Because he was someone who couldn’t even feel the fear of death.
“A good choice.”
The Evil God raised the corners of his mouth in a long stretch. It was a smile as if he had had a very satisfying meal.
