I repeatedly covered my increasingly parched lips with saliva. But before I could even collect my thoughts, two enormous storms collided with each other, showing not even a shred of mercy.
Rumble…!
A grand roar echoed through the surroundings. The look on his face was one of leisure, arms crossed confidently. In contrast, I found myself swallowing nervously over and over—a stark difference between us. For a moment, I wondered if the battle had already been decided. But my pride, steeped in honor, refused to accept retreat. No matter what, Colossus of Ruin was my ultimate technique. If I backed down now, I wouldn't be able to face Lady Lilith. Clenching my teeth, I poured even more magic into my attack. And finally, I saw the tides turn—if only for a moment. My meteor shower overwhelmed his swords.
But then—
"Hraaaaaaaah!!"
A scream of agony burst from my throat. Each clash sent a violent shockwave through my body, shaking me from the inside out. Why? How?! The questions swirled in my mind, but I barely managed to steady myself. I had just seen my magic overpower him—if I could hold out a little longer… or so I thought.
"Tch…!"
The moment I lifted my gaze, I froze in shock.
The spectacle before me was nothing short of breathtaking—a downpour of meteors colliding against a storm of swords. A sight to behold, no doubt. But at this moment, I had no luxury to admire it.
Had my overwhelming display been an illusion? My meteorites exploded the instant they made contact with his blades, vanishing without a trace. And yet, his sword storm pushed through the blasts, advancing relentlessly, devouring the space between us inch by inch. No—they weren't just withstanding the explosions.
They were consuming my attack in a blaze of brilliant fire.
At that moment, a surge of pain welled up, and I coughed out a mouthful of blood. Simultaneously, a crushing exhaustion spread through my body, draining every ounce of strength. No… Could it be? Was my reckless mana expenditure causing my body to collapse? Or perhaps—was it the ancient barrier set by those damned humans, finally activating?
Why now, of all times?!
I had planned to end this quickly, bearing the full weight of my power—but instead, I was barely holding my ground. And as the restrictions came upon me faster than expected, my growing desperation only made matters worse. My nerves wavered for just a moment—a fleeting lapse in focus.
And that single moment of hesitation led to an outcome more devastating than I could have imagined.
Fwooooooosh!
His swords, burning with an unbearably pure and radiant fire, surged forward, swiftly devouring my magic—intent on erasing my very existence. The moment I withdrew my power, I would be annihilated, not even a speck of ash left behind.
Panic gripped me as I frantically pulled forth every last drop of my magic. I refuse to believe it. I refuse to accept defeat at the hands of a mere human!
Feeling the turbulent surge of mana coursing through my body, I focused it into my hands. And yet—deep down, I wanted nothing more than to flee.
If I use the Dark Fairytale… If I'm lucky, I might survive.
But still, my pride clawed at me, refusing to let go. I knew—I knew—that if I remained here, I would die. And yet, the centuries I had spent as a Demon Count would not allow me to retreat.
But as my meteor shower faded, and his blazing swords claimed the empty space, even my pride began to wane.
At some point, amidst the relentless storm of swords, I felt an emptiness behind me. Though I stood in the heart of this violent clash, the nape of my neck felt chillingly cold.
No… Could it really be over?
Had he burned away my entire Colossus of Ruin spell?
"Fuck you, bastard."
The human's voice rang out—cold, absolute.
And then, an avalanche of swords descended, blotting out the sky.
Only at the precipice of death did my stubborn pride finally take a single step back.
As the fiery blades rushed in to tear my body apart, I clenched my eyes shut and reached deep within myself—desperately summoning the last remnants of darkness hidden within me.
…
...
...…
"Huff… Huff…"
As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a new ceiling above me—still intact. At the same time, thunderous crashes echoed from the upper floor.
The moment that first strike landed, instinct took over—I ran.
Shadow teleportation. It was hastily executed, so I had only managed to move two floors down. Not much of an escape, considering I was still inside the laboratory, but at least I hadn't been torn to shreds by that monstrous technique. That alone was a relief.
"Kuhk…!"
Another mouthful of blood spilled from my throat.
I wanted to rest. But my body had already been pierced by several of his swords. I could feel the searing pain eating away at me, yet I forced myself to move—knowing that those damn humans would be tracking me soon.
There has to be a hidden chamber somewhere on this floor…
Shff… shff…
Dragging one leg behind me, I staggered forward.
And then, when I finally reached my destination, I saw it—the door was wide open.
Not just this one.
Had he taken care of the others before coming after me?
At least I could enter without trouble. Smirking at my small fortune, I slipped inside and ran my fingers along the floor beside the door.
It had to be here. Somewhere—
"Damn it!"
I had been searching for over ten minutes, yet I still couldn't find it.
Panic crept in.
I needed to hurry—before they arrive.
Just as desperation threatened to consume me, my hand brushed against something… off. Something that shouldn't be there.
Finally.
I lunged for it—
Ssssshhk. Fwoosh.
…
A sound.
Something was burning.
Right. My body must still be feeling the aftermath of his flames.
No matter. Ignore it. Just focus on—
"Hooo~."
…
...
A deep exhale.
And then—
"A noble Demon Count… running for his life. And here I thought you were cleaning the floor."
A low chuckle escaped his lips.
Perhaps, deep down, I had known all along.
But I refused to acknowledge it.
Clinging to false reassurance, I convinced myself otherwise.
Maybe—just maybe—I had been trying to avoid him from the very beginning.
"Being a good boy now won't earn you any mercy."
Slowly, I turned my head.
And there he was—standing casually, cigarette in hand, exhaling smoke with an infuriating air of ease.
*
I laughed as I watched him desperately scrape at the floor.
I had originally planned to save this for later, but at this moment, there was no way I could resist.
Reaching into my coat, I pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow, deliberate drag.
"Never thought you'd actually run. You really do love that little 'Dark Fairytale' of yours, huh? Then and now—when it comes to running away, you're a damn expert."
"H-How… h-how did you…?"
Belphegor gasped for breath, barely managing to speak.
I exhaled a puff of smoke and flicked the cigarette away, stepping closer.
With every step I took, he weakly stumbled back, his legs trembling as he tried to retreat.
Then—suddenly—a sharp, thrilling sensation shot through my lower abdomen.
The pain. The heat. This situation brings me immense excitement.
I grinned.
"M-Magic Sword… Sculepf… s-summon—"
"Whoa there."
The instant he tried to summon his sword, I lunged—my foot slamming into his wrist.
The newly summoned sword flew through the air, landing uselessly far away.
Belphegor's face went deathly pale as he looked up at me in stunned silence.
I raised my foot—
And stomped his head into the floor.
"Beg."
"Kh…!"
"You're nothing but a worthless demon insect. Crawl. Plead for your life, and maybe—just maybe—I'll let you live."
His response came without hesitation.
"Kill me."
I raised an eyebrow at his unwavering response.
Belphegor let out a hollow chuckle, as if he'd already resigned himself to fate.
"I admit your power is remarkable," He said, his voice laced with bitter amusement. "But in the end, you're nothing more than an insect before them. My revenge… they will see it through. And when that time comes, you will meet the exact same fate as me."
I smirked. "Who exactly are they? The ones you worship so blindly? Lilith? Astaroth? Satan? Baal? Asmodeus? Lucifer?"
His breath hitched. "Kuh… How… How do you know the names of the Veiled Lords of the Demon Realm…?"
He trailed off, his words cut short.
I lifted my foot off his head and casually sat down in front of him.
And then—without warning—I drove my fist straight into his mouth.
There was a sickening crunch as something shattered under my knuckles. Splintered teeth scattered across the floor, mixed with blood and saliva.
I watched him writhe, savoring the look of disbelief on his face. Then, I spoke—slow, deliberate, and venomous.
"Too bad. Those so-called 'Lords' of yours? They've already been killed by humans."
"No! D-don'th jhoke wif me! Theth hhav nhever even sstepped ffoot in this worrld—!" (No! Don't joke with me! They have never descended into the human world before!)
His voice was a garbled mess, but he still spat back at me in sheer defiance.
I clicked my tongue. "Tch. Can't even talk properly, but you still got the nerve to argue?"
I leaned in slightly, making sure he could see the glint in my eyes. "Listen up, idiot. Stop putting those demons on a pedestal. I'm telling you—I've killed every single one of them with my own hands. That's why I know."
Belphegor's eyes met mine—and for the first time, they wavered.
Demons, by nature, were pathological liars. They lied as easily as they breathed. Because of that, they had a natural instinct for detecting deception—an ability honed over centuries. It wasn't absolute, but tricking a demon with mere words was close to impossible.
Which meant—
He knew I was telling the truth.
"M-misshterable… thiething…"(M-miserable… lying…)" He muttered, shaking his head.
Of course, he still refused to accept it.
Not that I blamed him.
After all, those 'Lords' had only been killed during my first life.
But I knew the truth.
And now, so did he.
For the first time, Belphegor, the arrogant Demon Count—was truly shaken.
I widened my eyes in mock surprise and spoke with an easy, almost casual tone.
"I'm not lying, you know."
Then, as if a thought had just struck me, I smirked.
"Ah… since you're the Demon of Sloth, you must be one of Lilith's underlings, huh? Killing her was especially fun. She was one of the few female demons, after all… I had so much fun with her body."
I saw it—the instant spark of fury in Belphegor's eyes.
He was already trapped in the contradiction of this world.
In this timeline, the Demon Lords were still alive.
And yet, the things I had done to them in my first life were also undeniable truths.
Caught between those two conflicting realities, Belphegor let out a deep, seething growl.
I chuckled. "Krrrr… look at you."
And then, in a voice dripping with amusement, I twisted the knife deeper.
"You wanna know how it went down? She stripped completely naked in front of the humans. Fell to her knees, hands clasped together, begging for mercy—oh, what was it she said again?"
I tilted my head, feigning thoughtfulness.
Then I snapped my fingers.
"Ah, right! Please, I beg you! Spare me!"
I grinned. "She grovelled like a pitiful worm, all while her own subordinates were being slaughtered around her."
"HRAAAAAA!!!"
Belphegor roared, his whole body shaking with rage.
I ignored him and pressed on, my voice laced with cruel satisfaction.
"And you should've seen her when they finally took her. The 'Whore of the Demon Realm' lived up to her name. Even with every human soldier taking turns, she still moaned and shook her ass, desperate for more. She was loving every second of it—"
"HRAAAAAAA! HRAAAAAAA!!!"
His enraged screams filled the room.
Ahh… What a lovely sound.
I let out a slow, exaggerated sigh, as if I were truly heartbroken by his words.
"You seriously don't know? You really don't?"
Belphegor's face was a mess—bloodied, swollen, and twisted with confusion. Even now, his eyes searched mine, desperate for an answer that would make sense of this madness.
"What… did I… ever do to you…?"
His voice was barely more than a wheeze, every word soaked in pain.
I smiled. A gentle, almost affectionate smile.
Then—I slammed his head into the ground again.
BANG!
The impact rattled the floor. Blood spattered across the cold stone.
I leaned in, whispering right against his ear.
"You demons love to pretend, don't you? Pretend you don't know. Pretend you're above it all. But you're just as rotten as the rest."
I slowly lifted his head again, forcing him to look at me.
"Why am I doing this? Why do I hate you? The real question is—"
I grinned, my fingers tightening in his hair.
"Why the fuck wouldn't I?"
Thud!
Another sickening crack as I slammed his head into the ground again.
Belphegor's entire body trembled violently. He let out a weak, ragged breath—his strength draining with every impact.
I ignored it. My voice was low, almost trembling with emotion.
"You don't get it, do you? You still don't understand why I want you dead?"
I laughed, bitterly.
"I remember everything. I never forgot. The moment it all started—when you did that to Da-Yeon."
Thud!
Another brutal slam.
"She was one of the few people who smiled at me back then. One of the only good ones."
I tightened my grip in his hair, forcing him to look at me. His bloodied face twitched, his breath coming in short gasps.
"But after what you did to her… after she realized she was carrying a demon's child… she took her own life."
My fingers clenched harder.
"That bright, cheerful girl… killed herself because of you."
Thud!
His skull cracked against the floor again.
I exhaled sharply. My voice steadied.
"I lost it after that. I hunted you down, completely blinded by rage. My brother tried to stop me, but I wouldn't listen. That was the first time I ever acted on my own."
A hollow chuckle escaped my lips.
"And you? You lured me into a trap. I was a fool. I got caught. Fine. I can accept that—I was weak. I deserved it."
I pulled his face inches from mine.
"But I wasn't the one you were after, was I?"
My voice dropped to a whisper, laced with venom.
"You didn't care about me. You only wanted my brother. And when he came to save me, you gathered every Demon Lord you could find—your entire army—to take him down. My brother fucking died because of that."
"Yeah. My brother died in that battle. Even in the midst of it all, that foolish older brother of mine was determined to save his pathetic younger brother. He threw away his own life, along with the lives of his comrades who followed him, just to protect me. And in the end, he saved me—but at the cost of his own life."
Thud!
"Kh... aaagh…."
I paused for a moment and yanked Belphegor's hair up even higher. His face was so battered that it was barely recognizable. Looking down at that once-proud face, I spat on him.
"But our wretched ties didn't end there. You barely escaped with your life back then… and when we met again, you had become a demon duke. And then... and then, you took her…."
The moment Han So-Young's image surfaced in my mind, the dam holding back all the emotions I had hidden from everyone burst violently. Rage, agony, sorrow, despair—all those overwhelming, negative emotions.
"I held onto the end to save her. And desperately, so desperately, I wished for it. But I could never obtain what I wanted. It was only after listening to the angels that I finally realized—I had been nothing more than a pawn in your hands all along. Do you even understand? Do you have the slightest idea what I endured to seize that chance? And when I finally grasped it, only to lose all hope just a single step away… do you have any idea what that felt like…?"
Foam was already bubbling from his mouth. His face, drenched in blood, was nothing like the arrogant one he once flaunted. His proud horns had long since shattered. But even so, he was still alive.
Seeing his nostrils flare, I let out a roar and slammed his face into the ground once more.
My grip trembled.
Thud!
The floor cracked beneath the force of my blow.
My breath came in ragged gasps, my body trembling from the sheer weight of emotions crashing over me. Rage. Pain. Sorrow. A suffocating mix of it all.
"Do you even understand? Do you even fucking grasp what you did to me?"
My fingers tightened in his matted hair.
"You took her away from me too."
"She was my last hope."
My voice cracked.
"The one thing I had left to hold on to. And you took her. You ripped her away from me just like you did Da-Yeon. Just like you did my brother. And I—"
I gritted my teeth, forcing the words out.
"I fought. I fought for her. I was willing to give everything, anything, just to bring her back. But in the end…"
I let out a hollow laugh.
"I lost her too."
My grip trembled.
I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. The weight of every moment, every scar, every regret pressing down on my chest like a crushing boulder.
"And you? You get to sit there and fucking breathe?!"
With a furious roar, I slammed his head down one final time.
Thud!
His body twitched, then went limp.
A heavy silence followed.
My breaths came out sharp and ragged. My fists, my clothes—everything was stained with his blood.
I let go.
His body slumped lifelessly to the ground.
I exhaled.
For the first time in a long, long while…
I felt empty.
"Seeing all of it, keeping it in my heart… Do you have any idea what it's like to live every day tormented by guilt?"
"Keuk… keuk…."
"Do you? Huh? It's all because of you. If it weren't for you…."
Thud!
"You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you—it's all because of YOU, you miserable bastard!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! BOOM!
"Kkeuk… grrrk…."
I threw him aside roughly and straightened myself up. My breathing had grown ragged, heavy with something beyond mere exhaustion.
But I was consumed, entranced by the moment.
Slowly, deliberately, I lifted my foot and placed it over his head once more.
Savoring the sensation, I spoke in a voice dry as dust.
"I'm glad. I'm really, truly glad I found you here. And that I get to kill you here."
"For that, I'm grateful."
"So let's end it. Right here. Right now. This wretched, endless feud between us."
Belphegor was already in no condition to answer. But I didn't need his response.
And so—without hesitation—I pressed down harder on his head with my foot.
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