Chapter 26: Shattered
Nelly knew Karsus’s familiars would catch her. She wasn’t aiming for a shattered body; she just needed time.
The brief moment of falling was enough to take out the blue cone the system had given her and point it at her character card.
The piercing shriek of an arrow splitting the wind sounded, shattering the cone a moment before its tip touched the interface. The arrow grazed past Nelly’s fingers, leaving a deep gash. She looked up and saw black wings obscuring the already dim sunlight, and a pair of strong arms held her tightly.
Karsus was faster than she had thought. It seemed he had followed her down without regard for the pain of the power backlash.
Nelly closed her eyes, her lips moving, but in the end, she said nothing.
Karsus was also silent, but the gold at the edge of his pupils was terrifyingly bright. In an instant, they were back in the main hall of Sloth. There was no trace of the one-sided battle from before. The smooth, black marble floor reflected the bright glow of the torches, like a vast, inky ice field, and the cold air it exuded made Nelly feel inexplicably chilled.
He carried her all the way to the throne.
The cold stone throne was wide, more than enough for two people, but Karsus trapped her on his lap, holding her from behind as if in a prison. He breathed softly against her earlobe, “Nelly, you are so cruel. You know you’re all I have, but why do you still want to leave me? Is this world so important?”
He let out a low laugh, no longer as indulgent and gentle as usual. The sharp mockery in his laughter made it sound only sinister, a tone befitting a demon. “But you clearly had no attachment to this world before. You chose to stay because of me. Now, why are you leaving me for such a high-sounding reason?”
Caustic, cold, insane—this Karsus was terrifying, but perhaps this was the true nature of a demon, finally revealed after a long dormancy.
Nelly trembled in his embrace, her head lowered in silence for a long moment before she answered in a hoarse voice, “I stayed because you promised not to destroy this world.”
“I didn’t do anything. You know that.” Karsus forcefully turned her to face him, eye to eye, and curved his lips into a cold smile. “Or do you also think my very existence is a sin?”
She was speechless. The evidence the system had shown her was too powerful. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t lie to herself.
He let out a self-deprecating, hissing laugh, his fingertips tracing a path up her cheek, lingering tenderly. “If that’s the case, then you, who taught me about humanity, emotions, and the world, are you not as guilty as I am?” He paused meaningfully, then let out a sneer. “Or perhaps you deserve an extra charge of guilt? After all, if it weren’t for you, I would have continued to be killed by foolish heroes time and time again. How would this world have ever reached its twilight?”
“You can’t escape, Nelly.” He cupped her face, his burning red eyes under his inky black bangs aggressive. “Power and loneliness, sin and all, we will share them together.”
His lips were cool, and when they touched hers, it was like the taste of the first snow.
“I’ll give you one more chance. Nelly, please don’t disappoint me.” He looked into her eyes with focus and deep affection, but the words he spoke calmly were ruthless. “You know very well that you can’t escape now, no matter what. If you still choose this world, I,” he paused, a charming yet cold smile on his face, “will become a true demon, as they wish.”
Nelly knew her expression must be hideous.
Karsus looked at her, then shifted his gaze, taking her hand and placing it over his heart. He looked up at her and said, word for word, “Or, just kill me with this hand.”
At that moment, Nelly felt a deep sorrow. All they could do now was use their feelings to hurt each other. He knew very well that she couldn’t do it, just as she knew how devastating her departure would be for him.
Time passed mercilessly, second by second.
The hall remained silent, save for the crackle of sparks burning out.
Karsus’s gaze grew deeper and deeper. After a long moment, he suddenly pushed Nelly against the back of the throne, pinned her shoulders, and leaned in, laughing out loud.
“Very well, I’ve heard your answer.” He couldn’t stop laughing, and there were faint tears in his eyes, but they quickly dissipated, replaced by an even colder, sharper light. He recited as if chanting a spell, without emotion, “You only needed to look at me. You only needed me. This world is so absurd, why do you still want to protect it?”
“In that case, I will grant your wish.” He laughed until tears streamed down his face, and a violent gold lit up in his red eyes. Demon horns appeared in his hair, and the wings of the dark night spread out powerfully. The air distorted around him due to his immense power, and Nelly’s breathing became difficult. The pressure suddenly vanished the moment she was about to suffocate.
But at that moment, he kissed her, roughly and frantically.
Her body was hot, the stone throne was cold.
It was said that when the three goddesses created the world, they extinguished the fire surrounding the land with well water, and thus life was born.
But now, only an endless flame ruthlessly crushed the coldest ice into water, ravaging it wantonly. This world, and Nelly’s will, were about to sink into darkness.
※
“Still not willing to speak? It’s no use.” The Demon King turned his face and kissed the girl’s lips, unconcerned. Nelly’s lashes trembled slightly, but she remained silent.
She felt that she had become Karsus’s doll.
He fed her, dressed her in magnificent clothes, and held her as they walked through the flower bushes.
In his eyes, her passive resistance was perhaps a different kind of submission, something he couldn’t ask for more of. But she felt that she was already dead. She no longer longed to return to her original world, nor did she hope to escape from Sloth. She only watched as the sky grew redder day by day, sinking into the deep sea of her consciousness in guilt and despair, hoping that she would never surface again.
The world really will be destroyed, won’t it? What will happen to the Demon King then?
The chain of her thoughts had long since rusted, and the slightest effort to delve deeper would cause it to break completely.
There’s no point in caring about such things.
But she was still unwilling. Regret, sorrow, annoyance, self-blame—they came and went like the waves on the shore, particularly turbulent during the full moon, almost drowning out all other thoughts. Why are you not dead yet? Why are you still living a wretched existence? What are you still hoping for? So many people are suffering because of you, can you really do nothing?
Even if she wanted to kill Karsus now, Nelly knew she didn’t have the ability.
Having given up half of her heart’s demonic power, she was just an ordinary, powerless system guide, like an ant before the powerful demon. What else could she do?
“Pray.” Like a mumble in a dream, the brown-haired girl suddenly spoke, her voice light and ethereal.
Karsus’s movements paused for half a beat.
“I want to pray to the goddesses.”
The Demon King’s face was filled with undisguised mockery. But he did not refuse. “Fine, if you think praying to deaf and blind gods will actually do any good.”
And so, a spire-topped prayer room was built in the courtyard of Sloth.
Every morning and evening, Nelly would come before the altar, kneel before the lifelike statues of the three goddesses, and close her eyes. Perhaps she thought of nothing, perhaps she prayed in her heart, perhaps she mumbled.
At first, Karsus would stand in the shadow of a stone pillar and watch coldly. He gradually grew impatient and would pace restlessly in the portico. Later, he simply waited outside the door.
He was, after all, a demon, and did not like the aura of a temple, even if it was just a stained-glass window, an altar, and a bottle of holy water.
One day, Nelly stayed in the prayer room for a very long time.
Suddenly, there was a clear, shattering sound.
Karsus burst through the door. The stained-glass window on the altar was shattered, and a corner of the divine statue had broken off and rolled to the floor. Nelly lay before the altar, a large shard of glass embedded in her chest.
He rushed forward in a rage, but his movements were a step too slow.
She had doused herself in holy water. The sacred scent slowed his movements and prevented him from using his magic.
Nelly watched as he knelt on the ground and pushed the sharp shard deeper into her heart.
Her consciousness quickly blurred. She thought, I really am a selfish person after all. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of release at her long-planned victory.
But Karsus, his back hunched, suddenly pulled a dagger from his waist and, without hesitation, plunged it into his own chest.
He smiled at Nelly, crawling closer with difficulty, his fingertips just inches from her face. He finally endured the stinging pain of the holy water and caressed her brow. They became the center of a distorted space-time, and together, they fell backward.
He said, “Nelly, my heart is yours, and you can only be mine. We’ll start over in another world.”
Nelly lowered her eyes, unsurprised. She knew he would do this.
This was the first time she had used him. Even if it was for Wildia, the feeling was still colder than the glass piercing her heart.
“No, I won’t fall in love with you next time.”
Since she had already gone this far, Nelly told another lie.
—Click, clack.