Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Black Knight (3)

The manor’s reception room.

Within the black mist the Black Knight had raised into the air, the image of a female student searching through the manor garden could be seen.

‘Yulia Yupiter……?’

It was showing me the sight seen through the eyes of the Living Armor standing in the garden, but that didn’t matter right now. 

I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things, but of course, that wasn’t the case.

The Black Knight also saw her and let out a low groan.

“Isn’t that the girl you said you wanted to kill? She looks familiar to me too.”

The Black Knight and I both kept silent for a moment.

I had only just parted ways with Yulia, and just in case, I had even gone all the way into a deserted alley.

And yet she had found her way in here? 

Even passing through the rift entrance that closed within one minute?

‘Tch, it does seem like she somehow followed me in…….’

I was sick to death of my damned fate, but I had no time to lament.

Whatever the cause, the fact that Yulia had entered this rift at all was a variable I hadn’t accounted for.

“So that’s the Yulia girl……?”

The Black Knight stared at Yulia and meaningfully stroked his helmet.

“Looks like you didn’t want to kill that girl for nothing. I’ve no idea what method she used to crawl in here.”

The Black Knight soon glanced at me, then broke into a low laugh.

“Kikikik… No, no. Maybe this is better?”

CLANK— CREAK— CLICK—

After withdrawing his greatsword, the Black Knight ordered the Living Armors around me to step back.

“Let’s make this easy for both of us.”

When the Black Knight spread one hand into the air, the Demonic Aura rising from his hand gathered together and took shape.

A scroll made of pitch-black paper was gripped in his hand.

“…A demon contract?”

“That’s right. When making a deal, nothing is more certain than this.”

The common authority of Demon-Possessed Ones, demon contract.

Now that a demon had taken a human body, he had become capable of directly exercising a demon contract as well.

“Now, read it.”

Whip— Smack—

After catching the contract the Black Knight threw, I untied the cord binding it and unfolded it.

“Tell me what other demons you’ve made contracts with besides Valak, and tell me every single technique you can currently use without leaving anything out. If you properly confirm them for me, I’ll help you kill that Holy Knight bitch who entered the rift.”

The contract I read through had the trade conditions the Black Knight had mentioned written in red letters.

If I firmly held the will to enter the contract and wrote my name in the blank space at the bottom, the contract would be executed, but...

The problem was what came after that.

“…So if I lie or refuse, my soul immediately becomes yours?”

I looked back at the Living Armors.

“What, are you going to make another one of those with my soul?”

“That wouldn’t be bad either. The soul of a direct line of one of the Four Great Houses is precious, after all.”

“Spare me. Weren’t you planning to kill her during the tournament anyway? I don’t see any reason for me to accept a contract like this.”

“You’re mistaken. I don’t particularly care whether that young Grade 1 Holy Knight dies or not. It would just be nice if I could get rid of her while I’m at it.”

“Then why did you make a plan to intrude on the tournament? Do you have another objective?”

“Well, perhaps I do?”

The Black Knight blatantly played dumb, but I didn’t particularly care.

I had long since guessed that Yulia was merely a pretext to drag me in, and that Abyss’s original objective was to stop the Magic Department Tournament.

That was why the Black Knight was proposing a deal to me.

He was using Yulia as bait to properly dig into my abilities.

“But you must want to get rid of that Holy Knight bitch right away. From what I hear, you even spread a barrier during Saengterminum class to try to kill her. Kik. I wonder just how badly you wanted her dead?”

“So this is how you’re going to play it?”

“Let’s be honest with each other. You want to kill her cleanly inside this rift too, without any trouble, don’t you?”

“…Hah.”

A laugh escaped me at the absurd proposal.

“Ah. I’m seriously speechless.”

He really was a Demon-Possessed One.

Maybe I should say he was demonic precisely because he was a demon, but fundamentally, he treated humans as beneath him when proposing a deal.

He was offering that deal because he had no doubt that I was ‘Aron Bayonel,’ the Mad Dog who had not only disliked Holy Magic, but outright loathed it.

But I was not the same as I had been back then.

Rather, this deal gave me plenty of room to use it against him.

And to do that...

“What a load of bullshit.”

RIIIP—

I tore the demon contract in half right in front of him.

The contract, unable to maintain its form, oxidized into Demonic Aura and scattered through the air.

“You think I came looking for you bastards to be treated like this?”

“Oh, look at that. Are you saying you won’t make a deal with me?”

“Obviously. You call this piece of crap a deal?”

I glared like a mad dog and scowled.

“You think I’m trying to kill Yulia for no reason? I’m trying to get rid of her before she becomes even more annoying later. If you’re a demon, then people from the Holy Order should be an eyesore to you all the same, shouldn’t they?”

I curled my lips into a sneer and answered coldly.

“But what? Even asking me to catch Yulia with you right now wouldn’t be enough, and instead you’re trying to use Yulia to gauge my level? Your eyes must be seriously screwed up.”

I glared up at the Black Knight.

“You think awfully little of the judgment of a direct line of the Four Great Houses. And you still call yourself a Demon-Possessed One?”

“Looks like you don’t understand the situation, do you? That Holy Knight isn’t going to leave a criminal like you alone. Whether you like it or not, if you want to leave the rift, you’ll have to deal with her.”

The Black Knight pointed at Yulia, who was being projected in the black mist.

I could see Yulia finishing her search of the garden and entering the manor.

“But look. I can watch you fight from here, can’t I? No matter what choice you make, you’ll have no choice but to show me your capabilities. Whether you like it or not, if you want to leave this rift, you’ll have to face that Holy Knight.”

Sitting in his chair, the Black Knight spread both arms as if to show off.

“Besides, this is my double. No matter what happens here, I suffer no loss. Between the two of us, you’re the one in trouble, since you’re inside the rift, aren’t you?”

“…….”

“Kuh, kuh, kuh… Well? Do you feel like reconsidering the deal even now?”

Regardless of his appearance, his way of acting was not merely cunning, but meticulous.

That alone proved that the demon was no ordinary demon.

“Get lost.”

But to me, it was laughable.

Obediently accepting a demon’s proposal didn’t suit my temperament.

And in the first place, I had no intention of killing Yulia.

Killing a key figure from the previous round, one who was even a Sacred Mark Successor?

Absolutely out of the question.

“Did I look like the kind of bastard who’d bow his pride and make a deal with someone who looks down on people?”

I turned my body in the opposite direction.

“If you’re not going to help, stay out of it. I’ll handle it myself.”

“…Well, I’ll be looking forward to it in my own way. I am curious how you’ll try to deal with her.”

Leaving the Black Knight’s words behind me, I moved toward the exit of the reception room.

***

After leaving the reception room, I headed toward the manor’s front entrance, where Yulia had come in.

Whew.

A sigh slipped out quietly, for good measure.

‘Hmm, do I actually have a talent for acting?’

Since I had openly rejected the deal the Black Knight proposed, he wouldn’t interfere in the meeting between me and Yulia from this point on.

Demons of that sort were prideful by nature.

SHING—

I drew the Mana Crystal Dagger.

This was the ‘Mana Crystal Dagger’ I used under the alias Damon.

If I handled this in front of Yulia, it would be hard to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

‘Let’s see…….’

After raising violet mana, I drew a formula over the dagger.

Flicker…….

Mid-Rank Black Magic, Mask Curse.

Vwoom…….

A Mid-Rank Black Magic that overlays the target’s face with an illusion.

As I had used it before, it was an extremely delicate formula, so its duration was short, and its casting range was limited to the face, but...

‘Change the handle like this, and the blade like this…….’

The story was different when I cast it on the ‘Mana Crystal Dagger’ like this.

At present, the dagger’s handle stored a large amount of my mana because of the Mana Crystal.

That meant it had become highly compatible with my mana.

And it meant I could place ‘Mask Curse’ on the ‘Mana Crystal Dagger.’

Shhh—

I turned the dagger, now permeated by the curse, this way and that.

The blade, once sharpened and forged in silver, had turned red, and the handle, once tanned with brown leather, had turned a deep black.

‘At this level, she won’t notice.’

As long as the mana contained within the Mana Crystal Dagger didn’t run dry, ‘Mask Curse’ would continue to be maintained.

I had also properly woven in the Security Formula, so it wouldn’t be dispelled even if it came into contact with Holy Power.

[Artifact active.]

On top of that, the Pocket Watch Artifact was functioning properly as well.

With this, all preparations were complete.

I didn’t know how she had gotten this far, but Yulia surely wouldn’t leave this rift until she found the person who had opened it.

That wasn’t exactly ideal for me either.

‘Good grief. Do I have to force her out if it comes to that?’

I rubbed the back of my neck and hurried my steps.

***

After entering the central hall before the manor’s front door, Yulia wiped away the cold sweat forming on her forehead.

‘…Keeping this up is work too.’

She briefly caught her breath.

It was the side effect of continuously condensing the Holy Power inside her body ever since she had entered the rift.

It was difficult, but this place was inside a rift. 

Since she didn’t know what might happen, there was no harm in keeping it condensed as much as possible.

But…….

‘There are this many suits of armor here too……?’

As she looked around the manor and felt a strange sense of wrongness, she frowned.

Even though she had entered a rift, she had seen nothing but these suits of armor, let alone monsters.

This place was inside a rift. 

If it was inside a rift, monsters would normally appear, so how could it be this quiet?

She stopped.

‘Wait, armor?’

She was from the Holy Order and a Sacred Mark Successor.

Though she didn’t know the detailed theory of Black Magic, she had often heard how Black Magic could be abused.

And she knew that among those methods, there was also Black Magic that dealt with souls.

The most representative example was placing souls inside armor and controlling them.

‘Could it be……?’

A chill ran over her at the possibility that came to mind, and she placed her hand on a nearby suit of armor.

Mid-Rank Holy Magic, Flame of Purification.

FWOOOOSH……!

The Holy Power spreading from her hand transformed into the shape of flames and wrapped around the armor.

Yulia paid it no mind and continued raising the output of ‘Flame of Purification.’

Creeeak……! CLANG! THUD!

The armor, its joints creaking on their own, lost its strength and collapsed to the floor.

“Dear God…….”

Yulia covered her mouth and trailed off.

If a suit of armor rejected Holy Power this violently…….

“Living Armor……?”

With trembling eyes, she looked around at the suits of armor standing nearby.

Then everything inside this rift was……?

Grit.

She pressed her lips shut.

“Who on earth did something like this……?”

She had no time to think any further.

Step, step, step…….

“……?”

The sound of someone approaching from the far side was gradually drawing closer.

Hearing the sound of footsteps echo through the quiet central hall, Yulia turned her gaze in that direction.

“What kind of trick did you pull, exactly?”

The figure who appeared from the corridor spat out the words in irritation.

“How did you find your way in here?”

“…It really was you, then.”

After confirming the figure’s identity, Yulia tightened her grip on her sword.

“Aron Bayonel.”

Aron Bayonel.

He was glaring at her with red eyes.