Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Get Off Me, You Fucking Bitch

“Ugh...”

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was a fishy sweetness piercing my nose.

The scent seeped deep into my lungs with a thick, clinging quality that numbed reason and kindled the embers of instinct.

Only one thing gave off a feeling like this.

“...Fuck, it was demonic energy.”

And specifically, that sickeningly sweet demonic energy unique to beasts and demons serving Lust.

What the hell?

How had I failed to sense demonic energy this dense at all?

What I'd felt instead had been faint but familiar divine power.

A curse that distorted the senses?

But to distort a sensation, whoever cast the curse would first have to understand that sensation themselves.

There was no way a demon could recreate the feel of divine power.

To demons, divine power was nothing more than something unpleasant and painful.

I forced my heavy eyelids open.

My vision swayed as an unfamiliar room came into focus.

It was far too decadent and luxurious to belong inside what was supposedly a dying Order.

Blood-red curtains covered the walls, while grotesque carvings across the ceiling intertwined in obscene poses.

And as for my current condition...

Clink-

When I tried to move my arms, I heard the scrape of metal.

Steel cuffs enclosed both wrists, connected to heavy chains fixed to the ceiling.

I was suspended just high enough that the tips of my toes could barely touch the floor.

Basically, I was dangling in midair like a punching bag hanging in a gym.

With my weight hanging from my wrists, my shoulders and wrists throbbed so badly they were almost numb.

Still, restraints like these seemed breakable enough.

“Ah, awake already, my adorable junior?”

While I was thinking about how to escape, the shadows in the room rippled and a woman rose from within them.

It was the nun from earlier.

Her name was...

“...Selenia.”

Right.

“Yes, that's right. My name is Selenia. I'm pleased you remembered.”

Her long ash-gray hair, now loose, writhed behind her like snakes.

Both familiar divine power and demonic energy flowed from Selenia's body.

I hadn't remembered before losing consciousness.

But now I knew exactly who she was.

No, even considering I'd been on the verge of passing out, I couldn't understand how I'd failed to recognize the name immediately.

The woman said to have possessed the greatest divine power of any Saintess in the history of the Eris Order, with a character so virtuous she had been praised as the very embodiment of a true Saintess.

Then one day, she abruptly betrayed the Order and became a legion commander under Lilith.

Selenia the Apostate.

“I knew the name sounded familiar... So you're that fucking apostate?”

“My, you know me? How delightful. I suppose being famous does have its benefits.”

Selenia answered with a faint smile.

Watching her act so relaxed, I bit down hard on my lip.

Ever since we'd approached the village called Sodom, I'd made one incomprehensible decision after another.

Entering an ominous village without taking a single precaution had already been a mistake.

I should've wrapped myself in divine power or at least cast a defensive sacred art first.

Then I'd beaten everyone from our Order unconscious and tied them to trees.

Someone could've attacked them while they were helpless, and even if they came to their senses, it would delay them from coming to help me.

It had been a dangerous choice for both of us.

And even after suspecting that the demon responsible for cursing the village might be inside this building, I'd walked in without any preparation whatsoever.

...How had I managed to choose the worst possible option every single time?

But regretting the past wouldn't help.

Right now, I needed to focus only on getting out of this situation.

“I should've known something was wrong the moment you said you worshiped some god called Lithil that I'd never even heard of.”

Being helplessly overpowered and left dangling from the ceiling was really starting to piss me off.

I should've punched a hole through Selenia's throat the moment she started spouting bullshit.

...Though a demon on the level of an Apostate probably wouldn't have let me do that so easily.

“A god you've never heard of? Surely our junior knows this god very well.”

“Bullshit. You made up some name on the spot, and now you're talking nonsense.”

Instead of answering, Selenia smiled and formed the word Lithil in midair.

She waved one hand.

The letters separated and began rearranging themselves.

What appeared was

Lilith.

“...You've got to be fucking kidding me. Is Lilith some bald wizard whose name must not be spoken? You're pulling this shit with an anagram?”

And calling a Great Demon a god?

She really had gone completely insane.

Well, there was probably a reason everyone called her the Apostate.

“It was only a little wordplay. You didn't find it amusing?”

“No. It was fucking awful.”

“Hehe, so prickly.”

Selenia didn't seem likely to hurt me immediately.

After all, she'd already captured me and was wasting time making dumb jokes.

In that case, I needed to stall somehow while searching for a way out.

...Please let this woman be the stereotypical villain who loves hearing herself talk.

Even better if she got excited and started explaining her entire plan and the nature of that mysterious sorcery.

“What the hell did you do to this village?”

With that thought, I threw the question at Selenia.

“This village, ‘Sodom,’ is a little garden I created. Here, people cast away every form of hypocrisy and indulge only in their purest instincts. Isn't it beautiful?”

“Beautiful, my ass. You call that pure instinct? That's so ridiculous I don't even know what to say.”

Walking around completely naked was supposedly pure instinct and beautiful.

That really was exactly the kind of thinking you'd expect from a servant of Lust.

I couldn't help staring at Selenia with open contempt.

“Haa... That proud gaze is incredibly exciting.”

“Crazy bitch.”

“Honestly, I've been rather frustrated. If there'd been a decent woman in this village, I would've called her to my bed and spoiled her thoroughly. Unfortunately, none of them appealed to me.”

Selenia smiled.

“Come to think of it, I prepared this entire stage while waiting only for you, junior. Why would some woman from a mountain village ever catch my eye? Don't you agree?”

“I don't know what the hell you're planning, but it's not going to go your way, so wake up from your dream, Granny Nun.”

I hurled the insult at Selenia with a derisive laugh.

Her brow twitched.

From the shadows, she drew a black whip covered in thorns.

Then...

CRACK-

“Ahk-!”

A sharp snap cut through the air, followed by searing pain from my left shoulder all the way down my side.

My clothes tore apart, exposing flesh as bright blood began flowing over it.

The pain was so horrific that I couldn't believe I'd only been struck by a whip.

A scream escaped me before I could stop it.

“Our little junior certainly has a filthy mouth. It seems we'll need to begin by teaching you some manners.”

“Kh... Fuck off. Even old Bartolomew failed at that. You really think some apostate like you can manage— AAAAAH...!”

CRAAACK-

The whip came again, this time tearing across my chest.

Scarlet blood sprayed upward and splattered across my face.

Wherever the whip passed burned as though it had been engulfed in flame.

My vision flashed pure white.

I wanted to curl up from the agony, but hanging in midair made even that impossible.

Blood flowed down my side and dripped steadily beneath my feet.

“Haa... haa...”

“Well? Do you feel like speaking a little more politely now?”

Fuck off.

If something this pathetic were enough to break me, I'd never have picked up a spear in the first place.

“...Did you really think I would speak politely to someone like you?”

...!?

But contrary to my thoughts, polite words came out of my mouth.

My eyes widened in confusion, and my expression twisted in shock.

“Hehe, how wonderfully polite you've become.”

“You...! What have you done to me?!”

This fucking bitch.

What the hell did she do?

Some kind of mind-affecting curse?

“Who knows? Doesn't my adorable junior know what I've done?”

“I don't. So please, I'm begging you, tell me—”

No matter how roughly I tried to speak, polite phrasing came out naturally.

Me?

Speaking respectfully to a demon?

My pride absolutely refused to accept that.

I stopped halfway through and clamped my mouth shut.

“You've become a little more obedient.”

What did she do?

Sorcery that forces someone to speak politely?

No.

There's no way it was something that lighthearted and stupid.

Think.

Think about everything that happened inside that fog.

I felt like I was almost grasping a clue.

But I couldn't connect the pieces well enough to reach a conclusion.

“Hehe, good. Now that it's progressed this far, I think letting you go will be more entertaining.”

Snap-

Selenia snapped her fingers, and the cuffs restraining me opened.

I landed shakily on the floor and stared at her.

What?

Is she underestimating me?

I immediately rushed forward and threw a punch.

“...!”

But Selenia caught my wrist absurdly easily.

It wasn't because she was particularly skilled.

My punch itself had been unbelievably pathetic.

“My, wouldn't running away have been the correct decision in a situation like this?”

She was right.

The instant the cuffs came off, running should've been the obvious choice.

Without divine power, fleeing gave me at least a slightly better chance of escaping this situation than attacking Selenia.

My head was a mess.

It felt like I'd been choosing the worst possible move over and over again.

“What... did you do to me...?!”

I gritted my teeth and demanded an answer from the smirking Selenia.

“Who knows? What did I do? Would you like to guess?”

Selenia released my wrist.

I immediately backed away from her.

“A pet dog walking on two legs doesn't seem quite right, does it, junior?”

“Ugh!?”

The instant she said that, I collapsed onto my backside with a thud.

I tried to get up again, but I couldn't stand.

I fell face-first to the floor several times.

It felt as though I'd forgotten how to walk.

No.

I knew how walking worked, but my thoughts and movements refused to connect.

...What the hell kind of sorcery is this...!

“Hehe, still don't understand? Well, I suppose that's natural. The very first thing you lost was your judgment.”

“What are you talking about...?!”

“Hehe, who knows? What could I mean?”

Selenia's smile deepened.

Again and again, I imagined subduing her or escaping.

Whether those ideas were actually possible didn't matter.

My body refused to obey me now, so I couldn't even attempt them.

No matter how desperately I tried to move, all I could do was crawl around on the floor and flail pathetically.

“You look like a puppet with its strings cut. Adorable.”

Like a child playing with an ant, Selenia gracefully bent her knees and crouched until our eyes were level.

“Well? The Curse of Cognition is quite wonderful, isn't it?”

“What... happened...”

“Hehe, how foolish. Shall I give your judgment back for a moment?”

...Right.

I understand now.

The instant Selenia snapped her fingers, I comprehended the situation I was in.

Her sorcery was taking away my ability to perceive and process things.

I'd thought I'd escaped the terrible brainwashing earlier.

I hadn't.

At that moment, I'd lost my judgment.

Then, one after another, I lost the ability to speak casually, the sensation of throwing a punch, the act of walking, and now even the ability to move my own body properly.

No.

Rather than forgetting those things, even if I understood them, I could no longer carry them out.

While Selenia was letting her guard down, I needed to think of some way out as quickly as possible.

If she distorted my mind itself next, there'd be no coming back.

The only idea I could think of was...

“All right, you've had enough time to think, haven't you? I'll be taking that back now.”

“Ah... aaah...”

I tried to say something.

But now even words refused to come.

“Ahaha, sorry. It seems I accidentally took away your sense for ‘language’ too.”

Selenia smiled seductively and gently raised my chin.

An unpleasant chill crawled across my skin where she touched me, but I couldn't resist at all.

“Soon you won't even be able to comprehend who you are. Don't worry. You'll be reborn into something absolutely wonderful.”

“Auh... aaah...”

I couldn't understand space anymore.

The ceiling felt like the floor, and the floor felt like the ceiling.

I couldn't tell whether I was underwater, inside a room, or somewhere in the mountains.

The entire world spun.

Thoughts rose inside my head only to scatter like grains of sand before they could connect.

What had I been trying to say?

Had I wanted to kill Selenia?

Or was I going to beg her to spare me?

“Now then, shall we try saying who you are?”

Who am I?

I am... Eris's... Saintess...

No, the Silver...

Who... am I?

I don't know.

Now I can't... think...

C A N' T... T H I N K...

C... A N... ' T...

A H...

...

...

“Auh... uu...”

Selenia smiled down at Beatrice, who lay limp on the floor and could only release occasional broken moans.

There was no longer any intelligence befitting a Saintess in Beatrice's unfocused eyes, nor any hatred toward demons.

Only the vacant stupidity of livestock waiting for its master's touch remained.

“You've become a perfect doll, haven't you? Good girl.”

Selenia stroked Beatrice's hair and smiled faintly in satisfaction.

She easily lifted Beatrice's limp body into her arms and carried her toward the enormous bed in the middle of the room.

“Junior, wasn't this a little too easy?”

Selenia smiled as she lowered Beatrice onto the bed.

Activating the Curse of Carnal Desire immediately would have made everything too easy, so she'd gone to the trouble of preparing an entertaining stage to welcome Beatrice.

She had honestly been somewhat surprised when Beatrice broke free from the brainwashing of the Primordial Mist.

But to think she couldn't properly resist the Curse of Cognition at all and would fall this helplessly.

Then again, the curse had been personally created by Lady Lilith.

Naturally, even a Saintess couldn't break it.

“Perhaps taking away her judgment first was a little too cruel?”

It had made things far too easy.

Hunting prey that resisted and desperately tried to escape was much more entertaining.

Still, she'd captured her prey.

Now it was time for a taste, wasn't it?

Selenia licked her lips as she gazed at Beatrice lying blankly on the bed.

Beatrice's unfocused eyes were like empty glass marbles that reflected nothing.

Now then.

How should she play with her?

Selenia climbed on top of Beatrice, planted her hands on either side of her head, and slowly leaned down.

Ash-gray hair spilled over Beatrice's cheeks, lightly tickling them.

“Now, junior. I'll carve it into that empty body of yours. The greatest pleasure imaginable, and exactly who your master is.”

Selenia's fingers reached toward Beatrice's chest.

Warmth and a faint heartbeat could be felt through the thin fabric.

Just imagining how miserably and sweetly this Saintess would break beneath her fingertips, what obscene creature she would be reborn as, filled Selenia with ecstasy.

That was when it happened.

“...!”

A flash erupted.

Horrific pain tore through her chest.

“Ghk...!”

Dark-red blood burst from between Selenia's lips.

Something had gone wrong.

Selenia lowered her gaze toward her chest, where the terrible pain was coming from.

A dazzling silver spearhead had pierced straight through her.

Her trembling gaze followed the shaft.

The one gripping the spear was none other than Beatrice.

“Get the fuck off me, you bitch.”

Beatrice's lips twisted upward into a vicious grin.

Selenia's eyes widened in shock.