Episode 254
A shabby inn at a crossroads leading from the empire's outskirts to the bustling city center.
"Omnomnom..."
"........"
In the inn's dining area, Frey was watching Serena eat spaghetti with gleaming eyes, his own eyes tired.
"Why spaghetti of all things."
"Hmm?"
At Frey's question, Serena, who was in the middle of eating spaghetti, looked up.
"...Never mind."
Sensing instinctively that engaging in conversation would only make things troublesome, Frey picked up his fork with a listless expression and twirled some spaghetti.
"Yum."
The spaghetti had the stimulating, greasy taste commonly found in such shabby inns.
Thinking that the inn must be doing quite well despite its shabby appearance thanks to its good location, Frey was slurping down the spaghetti with sleepy eyes when suddenly his eyes went wide.
"...♥"
Serena, who had been holding the same strand of spaghetti he was eating, had approached right up to his face with a smiling gaze.
'If I keep appealing like this... won't Frey's heart eventually flutter at least once?'
It was Serena's brilliant move, calculated with intricate and complex reasoning.
"Slurp."
".....!?"
Until Frey pushed his head toward her without any change in expression and devoured the spaghetti strand.
"...Lick."
"Heek...!"
When Frey lightly licked Serena's lips as she wore a dazed expression, Serena felt like a volcano was erupting in her head and covered her face with her hands.
"You had sauce on your lips."
"I, I don't know..."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"A, anyway I don't know."
Watching Serena like that, Frey leaned his hand on the desk and tapped his fingers, looking at her as if amused by how many times she had broken down today, just since this morning.
Their appearance looked like fresh lovers who had just started dating, so it naturally captured the attention of the surrounding people eating in the dining area.
It was impossible to hide their charm even with Serena's perception-altering magic, so just watching them created a beautiful scene.
The sudden stinging sensation in their sides was surely due to the winter wind seeping through the gaps of the old inn.
"U, um... Frey."
After spending such dreamlike time flirting with Frey for a while, Serena slightly hardened her expression and asked a question.
"About the hero party... what should we do?"
"What do you mean?"
When Frey tilted his head at Serena who had even used soundproofing magic to speak, she changed her expression to a cold one and began to speak.
"They're trying to kill you, both socially and physically."
When Frey didn't answer at all, she continued speaking with slight excitement.
"Especially that Vener... no, that woman is the worst."
"Is that so."
"She hit your stomach and cheek, strangled your neck, and is constantly watching for an opportunity, isn't she?"
Speaking as if it were her own grievance, she glanced at Frey and asked.
"S, shall I handle it my way...? Actually, not just her but most of the dangerous figures too, I've prepared so that I can start the operation right away with just a snap of my fingers right here..."
- Thwack!
"...Ouch."
Then Serena, who got flicked on the forehead, looked at Frey with a tearful face.
"I... can do any dirty work for your sake."
Then she opened her mouth again with determined eyes.
"So please, don't refuse and leave it to me."
".........."
"If anything happens, I could even join the Demon King's army as a staff member..."
"...That's enough."
However, Frey cut off her words with a cold voice.
"Just do what I tell you to do."
"Y, yes..."
When Serena lowered her head with a regretful expression at those words, Frey, who had been quietly watching her, wiped his mouth with a tissue and began to speak.
"I already have a plan to remove her."
"Huh?"
"I have a fatal weakness of Vener's. A weakness that would cause her great public humiliation if revealed."
Saying that with an evil smile, Frey continued looking at Serena who had her eyes wide open.
"Do you dislike seeing her?"
"Y, yes... honestly..."
"Alright, then I'll remove her from your sight. I don't particularly like her either. So don't do anything reckless."
"...Hehe."
Despite being downcast just moments ago, Serena burst into a silly smile.
- Flap flap!
"Eek!!"
When wing sounds were heard right next to her, she was startled and took out her fan.
"G, go away! You damn things!!"
The clichéd development of animal friends barging in and ruining the mood was something she was now sick of.
"Gu?"
".....?"
However, strangely enough, only Gu Gu had come inside the shop.
- Looking around, looking around...
Only then did Serena recall that she had locked up all the animals before leaving the mansion, and she started looking around like a wary cat.
"I, if it's just one... I can handle it sufficiently, so it's fine."
After confirming there were no more escapees, she placed Gu Gu on her shoulder and quietly placed her hand on top of Frey's hand while whispering.
"I like you so much... Frey..."
"That's enough, move away."
"I love you... Frey..."
Frowning at Serena's affection offensive that had somehow become more persistent than before, Frey was pushing her away when he started to show a startled expression.
"Hehehe..."
The liquid in the glass at the corner of her seat was something unusual.
"Damn."
It was alcohol.
Serena, who becomes uncontrollable when she drinks alcohol, had downed the cheap liquor placed on the table for customers.
"Frey...♥"
As a result, Serena, whose eyes were already starting to glaze over, buried her chest in the table and started reaching out toward Frey while writhing about.
"...Tsk."
When Frey showed a troubled expression looking at her like that, the surrounding people's expressions changed strangely.
- Ding!
It was right at that moment that a quest window floated before Frey's eyes.
[Hidden Quest: Remove Serena's Subjugation Curse]
[Progress: 80%]
"Haah."
Reading through the window that appeared before his eyes, Frey quietly sighed.
"This is troublesome."
He couldn't decide whether to be happy or afraid of the progress rate that had changed from 60 percent to 80 percent as soon as Serena drank alcohol.
[Serena Curse Liberation Quest - New Mission!]
".....?"
Shaking his head and trying to get Serena up from her seat, he suddenly saw such a notification appear below the window and tried to press it with his finger without thinking.
- Zap...!
"What, what is that?"
Before his finger could even touch it, sparks suddenly started flying from the system.
- Zzzzt...!
Thanks to that, Frey, who had stood up in alarm, grabbed the sword at his waist with a confused expression as the sparks started covering the entire system window.
And at that moment.
Red letters, exuding a hideous energy, appeared before him.
Sensing danger instinctively from those letters, Frey immediately kicked off from his spot and stood with his back to Serena, but.
".....What is this?"
He soon had no choice but to be horrified.
"""..........."""
All the people in the shop were dead, bleeding.
"What is... this... huh?"
Sweating cold sweat at that impossible situation, Frey was quietly backing away when he felt a squishy sensation at his feet and looked down with a disbelieving gaze.
"Ah."
And, despair began.
"This is a new patch for you. I'll specially modify the game over rule for her too. How about it? Merciful, isn't it?"
"Aaaaaah..."
Serena was bleeding from her whole body, growing cold.
.
"Aaaa... Aaaaaa....."
"Puhehehe... hehehe..."
The Holy Knight... No, the Demon God Eclipse was bursting into laughter while covering her mouth as she watched Frey in panic.
'It's beautiful... truly beautiful...'
The despair, deterioration, sadness, and other negative energy she had tasted so far were false flavors.
The emotional taste now emanating from Frey was a delicacy so exquisite that it would make the eyes roll back for a Demon God who could only survive by consuming negative energy.
'...Ah right, this isn't the time.'
But she soon came to her senses.
The reason she had forcibly twisted the world's laws to descend wasn't for a meal.
"Let's see, do this like this... hmm..."
She, who had been looking down at Serena with dead eyes, started floating complex system windows all around.
"This code... combine it like this... ugh..."
Writing down complex arrays of English letters and numbers, she had been wracking her brain for a while when she muttered with a cold expression.
"They should have chosen a novel or comic as the medium to send to another world to make it easier to modify... why did she have to be obsessed with games of all things... anyway, damn that older sister."
Having pounded away at the windows for a while, she pressed a button with an evil smile.
[Sudden Quest - Corruption]
Reward: Serena's resurrection, and everything.
[Do you accept? Y/N]
And at that moment, a system window floated before Frey's eyes.
"..........."
Frey's deep silence followed.
"Hehehe..."
The Demon God, who laughed with satisfaction in that deep silence, muttered in a low voice.
"This will completely strip away divinity... but 'He' is there, so whatever."
Frey's pupils were quietly trembling.
"Hmm."
To the Demon God, that seemed like the emotion of hesitation.
"Give up, Frey..."
So, to hasten his decision, the Demon God began to gradually approach Frey.
"Put down duty, responsibility, heroism too..."
Her mouth corners curved thinly.
"You'll become incredibly happ..."
But when the Demon God, who was reaching for Frey's cheek, suddenly stopped speaking, her mouth corners were curved in the opposite direction.
".....Ugh."
Frey's sword was piercing her side.
"H, how...?"
Due to the terrible pain that came from descending in a mortal's body, and the faint but clear memory of being overpowered by him, the Demon God's expression turned pale as she asked.
"W, shouldn't you have been corrupted? How could you refuse that...?"
The system window floating in the air was disappearing with 'N' selected.
[Name: Frey Raon Starlight]
[Ability: Strength 10/ Magic Power 10 / Intelligence ??? / Mental Strength 10]
[Special Characteristics: Villainization LV Max / Star's Protection / Hero's Power / Fanatical Rage]
[Alignment: Hero]
[Goodness: 0~100 (Real-time fluctuation)]
"W, what is this...!"
Thanks to that, the Demon God, who had a confused expression and opened Frey's information window with her authority, showed an appalled expression.
"You'd know if it were you, right?"
Frey, who was looking at such a Demon God, slowly opened his mouth.
"That the Star Hero can exert explosive power enough to overwhelm everything momentarily."
".......!"
"And the state where that power can be maintained the largest and longest is when 'enraged'."
He was making a creepy expression he hadn't shown even once since returning.
"S, so... you're saying you'll abandon Serena?"
"That's your illusion. When rage rushes to the very top of your head, the appearance looks somewhat strange."
"Is that the kind of person who bets his fiancée's life on such measly possibility? You?"
The Demon God, forcing a smile, slowly stepped back and once again displayed the corruption quest before Frey, but he pushed the window aside with a cold expression.
"Even if she died, it doesn't matter."
"What...?"
"If she died, I just need to pray to the Sun God to revive her."
"........"
The Demon God, who heard Frey's statement spoken as if it were obvious, was at a loss for words for a moment.
"T, this is a Holy Knight's body, you know? I'll tell you now, she's clearly a human? A sentient being?"
When she urgently said that, Frey momentarily stopped walking.
"Are you planning to sacrifice her and make me suffer for a while? I won't even die anyway?"
Smiling while clutching her pierced side, the Demon God said that, and Frey's eyebrows twitched momentarily.
- Twitch...!
"And you know..."
Not missing that moment, the Demon God moved her finger to summon a massive amount of black chains from all directions.
"Kugh."
"There's something you overlooked."
With a spine-chilling smile as if she had never been flustered, she immediately subdued Frey and whispered.
"A mortal cannot defeat a god..."
"Ugh..."
"Even if your system stats reach 10... to me, you're nothing more than a single fist's worth."
Having finished speaking, she muttered while sweating cold sweat.
"It'll be really bad if I use even this power... even though I've already interfered this much, the power I've gathered so far..."
But the Demon God, shaking her head, muttered.
"...No, no."
Her eyes now contained fear.
"Still... it's better than receiving punishment from 'Him' who came from outside..."
Right after that, a black energy started to exude from her body.
- Shaaaa...
"Even after absorbing all the black magic power I have as a Demon God... will you be able to maintain your goodness?"
"Kuugh..."
The Demon God, who started pushing all those endlessly pouring energies through Frey's mouth and nostrils, quietly smiled.
'To make this hallucination into truth... you need to accept corruption, Frey...'
Muttering excitedly about what was to come.
- Zzzzt...
"Alright."
Having poured in all the energies, the Demon God released the chains that had been tightly binding him.
- Thud...!
"This is your last chance."
The Demon God, who displayed the corruption quest for the third time to Frey who had fallen from the air to the ground, began to give orders in a cold voice.
"Put everything down and rest comfortab..."
That command never reached its end.
- Zzzzzing...!
"...Kyah!"
Frey's sword, which appeared through the system window, pierced her eye this time.
"O, ow! It hurts! Aaah...!"
"Now that you've used all the black magic power in your body..."
Frey, who was bleeding from his mouth as the price of using the Hero's power, looked at the Demon God writhing in pain while clutching her left eye.
"You're weaker than me?"
"Impossible... no matter how good you are, that's systemically impossible..."
When her Plan B was also neutralized, the Demon God looked up at Frey from the ground with an incomprehensible expression.
"...W, what?"
Despite having concentrated black magic power that had been accumulating for hundreds of years into his body just moments ago, not a single drop of magic power existed in Frey's body.
- Hum...!
Instead, strange black magic circles with mysterious patterns were floating on Frey's body.
They were magic circles with the same shape as the patterns that had appeared when he controlled the core during the Hero appointment ceremony.
"Not even controlled?"
The Demon God, thinking that Frey had used some trick to send her black magic power somewhere, tried to recall the black magic power, but strangely she couldn't do that.
"Then I...?"
The Demon God, who had lost control of her black magic power to someone on the other side of the continent overnight, started to wear a blank expression.
"...I should talk to Kania."
Meanwhile, Frey, who had examined the patterns engraved on his body closely and muttered that, slowly moved his feet.
"Then... are you prepared?"
"D, don't make me laugh... you wouldn't sacrifice people..."
The Demon God, who was looking at Frey approaching with terrifying eyes while holding his sword, raised the corner of her mouth and said.
- Squelch...!
"Kyaaaaah!!"
When his sword stomped on her foot, she stopped speaking and screamed in pain.
"You'd know what the true identity of the ability the 'Saintess' possesses is, right?"
Looking down at her, Frey asked in a low voice.
"...The ability to freely manipulate 'souls'."
"Ugh..."
"Serena said that, actually the Saintess wasn't chosen by god but chooses god with her power."
"O, ow..."
"Astral projection to meet god, making god descend into her body... all of that is based on such ability. The memories engraved in people's souls after the third trial must be due to her ability too."
Making such deductions with a clear mind while quietly twisting the sword, Frey smiled.
"Well, that's how it turned out."
Saying that, Frey showed the blade of his sword to the Demon God, and engraved on it was Gu Gu, Peroroche's pet.
"I was holding Serena when this one suddenly went into the sword and did something."
"......!"
Only then did the Demon God realize.
The side she was pierced first, the eye and foot she was pierced next - all were perfectly fine without a single wound.
"I've been cutting your soul this whole time."
"Heek...!"
"Of course I can't kill you, and I can't deal damage either..."
Frey, who was saying that with a bright smile on his face, finally straightened his sword and finished.
"But I can make it hurt incredibly."
"Aaaaa..."
Thanks to that, the Demon God, seized by fear, was finally able to disconnect the connection she had been proceeding with all her might, and cut off the connection with the Holy Knight without a moment to say anything.
- Zap! Zap! Zzzzzzt!!!
But by then, Frey's slashes with physical abilities at maximum had already slashed her body hundreds of times.
"What a shame... guy..."
Trembling at the obvious pain that would soon come, the Demon God, who still looked at Frey arrogantly.
"True terror will... come..."
Smiled with a spine-chilling expression, keeping her eyes fixed on Frey until the end.
"No matter how much you... you can't withstand that..."
The Demon God's... the Holy Knight's eyes rolled back.
"...Heok."
In the now quiet room, Frey, who was breathing roughly, slumped down on the floor sweating cold sweat.
- Zzzzt...
As the Demon God's hallucination was lifted, the surrounding people and Serena were transforming into appearances of having briefly fallen asleep at the table.
"Gu?"
In that lull, Gu Gu, who quietly came out from Frey's sword blade.
"Gu Gu~♪"
With a pleased expression, flew to the Holy Knight.
- Flash...!
And a moment later, in a fleeting instant, her body flashed with light.
.
"Ugh....."
In the dining area after a considerable amount of time had passed.
"Darkness is now sick of it. Chains too, I'm sick of them now."
"........"
Frey was quietly looking down at the Holy Knight who was lying on the floor twitching.
"I hate being helplessly confined too."
She, who had been accepting the Demon God's soul until just before, was somehow making a deeply agonized expression.
"Now I want to... be helpful to the world..."
Muttering like that for a while.
- Thwack!
"Ow!"
When Frey, who couldn't watch anymore, flicked her forehead, she was startled and opened her eyes wide and got up.
""...........""
And silence flowed for a while.
"...Mr. Frey?"
"Hmm."
"Th, this place is...?"
She, who was looking at Frey standing before her with an expression as if seeing him after a long time, started looking around.
"H, huh? The darkness? The chains?"
Her pupils, for some reason, were not white or red, but a burning golden color.
"Am I... now free...?"
She, who had been looking around for a while, muttered blankly with a dumbfounded expression, and Frey, who had been quietly watching her until then, asked nonchalantly.
"What exactly are you?"
Hearing that, she blinked for a moment, then answered with a bright voice.
"...I'm the Sun God?"
Frey's expression changed through various forms for 5 seconds.
"...Is that so?"
"Heek...!"
The last expression he made was a cold smile.