Afterimage (25)
Struggling to breathe, I shoved the limp corpse aside.
I got up from the spot and perched on one of the church's long pews.
I took out the last remaining cigarette from my pocket, clamped it in my mouth, and lit it.
I touched my left shoulder, which had just been hit by the mace.
It was perfectly fine, without pain or any strange sensation.
The sensation of bones being crushed clearly remained in my head...
It probably wouldn't an much, since I'd die soon anyway.
If I said I was tired of dying, I wonder how many people would truly empathize.
Even after that, demons kept crawling in, but I sohow sent them back to where they belonged.
What could these idiots, who couldn't even kill a moron like , possibly drive out humans for?
They should just stay cooped up where they ca from.
Seraphina must be working with the mages now, digging moats around the capital.
The mages would be deciding exactly where to fight, one by one.
Because they had said they wouldn't crawl straight into the city walls, but would set up defensive lines around it and fight, and only if pushed back would they fight in the capital's fortress.
Anyway, she'd be busy working here and there.
I wonder if Estelle has arrived at the church by now.
What would it feel like?
To be caught in an unknown past emotion, and to willingly give up sothing very precious right before your eyes.
I didn't particularly want to know.
Honestly, even now, it's not particularly pleasant.
Because here I am, waiting for death, moping around like this, supposedly to find sothing out, and to collect that damned 'Ending'.
When I threw the finished cigarette onto the bloody puddle on the floor, it hissed and quickly extinguished.
I poked at the demon corpses sprawled on the floor with my foot, then took out a new cigarette and put it in my mouth.
As I was enjoying that last cigarette, a demon slowly walked in.
And behind it, dozens more ca in, attempting to surround , but when the first demon to enter raised its hand, they all stopped moving.
"You've killed a great many."
It was a woman's voice.
Without replying, I kicked a lump that had once been a demon lying nearby.
"Was it hateful enough to dismber?"
"Hateful? We just had a slight disagreent."
Saying so, I picked up a demon's head, split in half, that was rolling on the floor, and threw it in front of that demon.
Thud.
The head rolled with a squishy sound and stopped at the demon's feet.
The demon looked down at it, then frowned and closed its vacant eyes with its hand.
"You all looked so damn ugly, like you had no need to face each other. That's why."
"You are indeed a human unlike a human."
Saying so, the woman drew the sword from her waist.
The sword was adorned with various dazzling decorations.
"Despite a remarkably beautiful exterior, your interior is rotten and decayed.
Such decay as yours would be rare even among our own kind."
"Indeed."
"However, I favor beauty.
Drink my blood and beco mine, and I shall bestow much upon you."
"If that were the case, I wouldn't have stayed here."
"Indeed, that is true."
After that, as the demoness nodded, the surrounding demons began to charge at .
I was diligently fighting and killing the ones that sward, but it sohow felt like I was putting on a show.
Whether it was because I knew I couldn't get out alive anyway, or because she was looking at as if admiring a beautiful piece of pottery, I couldn't tell.
Had I killed about twenty of them?
The ones approaching all retreated simultaneously.
The woman was slowly walking forward.
Sohow, she felt similar to soone I knew.
A face I had seen sowhere.
"Still, you desire nothing?"
"I want to die."
"You could have done that anyti."
I let out a hollow laugh and did not reply.
I stared blankly at the nurous demons still standing behind her, and the demoness who seed to be quite high-ranking, then flicked my fingers to create steam.
It seed such childish tricks wouldn't work on her.
The woman, unfazed, kicked off the floor, launched herself, and swung her sword.
After dodging the sword strike, I swung the sword I was holding, but it was blocked by sothing in the air.
And then, an incoming attack.
Slice.
A blade was thrust into my abdon.
Unfazed, I grabbed the woman's face and endlessly cast spells.
Then, as I tried to swing the sword in my right hand, my arm flew off into the distance.
I was utterly no match.
Her level was excessively high.
But I couldn't give up.
With my remaining left hand, I picked up the mace from the floor.
As I picked up the mace, a blade got stuck in my thigh, making lose my balance, but I threw my body forward and struck the woman's head.
It seed to be of little use.
Instead, I had effectively offered myself up.
Even with her face scorched by burns and one eye burst, the woman grabbed the back of my head, hugged tightly, and bit my neck.
And she drank the flowing blood.
After sucking and drinking the flowing blood for a long ti, and after my body went limp, the woman wiped her mouth.
Her face was already perfectly fine.
"The taste is subtle."
The woman said, frowning slightly.
She then cut off her finger, shoved her hand into my mouth, and fed blood.
Then, grabbing my hair, she sprinkled her blood on the severed stump of my arm.
A demon behind her received my severed arm that had flown off, and attached it to the stump.
Flesh grew, and my arm reattached.
"I don't like to force things."
"Then how about just letting go?"
I said with a laugh.
The demon did not reply, and instead sliced open my belly with her sword.
The sharp sword plunged into my bleeding abdon, then was lifted straight upwards.
I learned for the first ti that blood pouring out makes a pattering sound.
And the woman parted the severed incision, grabbed what was inside with her hand, and began to pull everything out.
Thud. Splat.
The sound of chunks of flesh and organs that filled it falling to the floor, and the unique stench of blood and pungent odor, pierced my nostrils.
For so reason, it wasn't painful.
Only a strangely dazed feeling remained.
I had been feeling this way ever since I sent Estelle away.
Do people who live by hurting others truly feel nothing when they inflict pain?
Even when it's this painful.
"I never thought the first person to lay bare their insides would be a demon."
I was consud by the feeling that I would die soon, and a sensation, not quite my own, that I absolutely had to kill the demon before .
I lunged at the demon and bit its neck.
My teeth dug in, but far from chewing flesh, I couldn't exert much force.
Nevertheless, I did not die.
The woman, unfazed, gently pulled away, then sliced open my chest and, with extre precision, removed every piece of flesh and bone, taking out everything within.
Even with my heart torn out, I was still alive.
But my body wouldn't move.
The demon placed the heart, still beating in her hand, into her mouth.
The wounds on my body began to heal rapidly.
But my body would not move as I wished.
"At this point, you're surely a person who has made a na for themselves among humans. Strive onwards."
My consciousness remained in my head, but my body wouldn't move as I wished.
It wasn't confusing, painful, or horrific.
For so reason, was it because I had a feeling it would turn out this way?
And not long after, I had an intuition that I would soon crumble and die.
I don't know exactly how many days passed.
Sotis, when my vision blackened and my consciousness faded, I'd expect to wake up in that small room at the academy, but instead, I found myself walking beside the demoness.
My thoughts continued in my head, but my body still wouldn't obey .
In my hand was a knife similar to the one the woman used.
My body moved in the exact sa way that woman moved, slicing and killing humans who fled from or fought back.
Innocent farrs, young girls fleeing with their backs exposed, and sotis knights fighting with bloodshot eyes and screaming in rage.
Though they died by my hand, I felt no particular emotion.
Simply, now, even recalling what Seraphina said, recalling my past with Levina, or recalling the day I burned to death, I felt nothing.
Was it because my body was light?
Physically, that is.
Today too, I walked alongside that demoness.
And a familiar landscape entered my view.
The capital's city walls, and in the distance, the academy's tower.
I did not cling to the city walls, but always stayed by the demoness's side, only swinging my sword and living when humans occasionally rushed out to ambush us.
Sotis, when I saw eyeballs pop out and roll on the floor, I thought I was slowly rotting and would soon die.
My consciousness blackened, then I woke up again.
And suddenly, my body was pierced by sothing that flew through the air.
I struck away the incoming spell with my sword.
When I raised my head, familiar blonde hair caught my eye.
Our eyes t.
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