Chapter 14 - Evolution

Two of the three conditions for activating the Unhallowed Array had been met without a hitch: a spell array drawn in a Demon's blood and a living sacrifice. All that remained was to infuse it with mana, and Kazan's ring would be corrupted into an accursed object.

"Begin."

Ilea nodded and approached the Unhallowed Array. As she opened her palm, a cluster of blue lights streamed out and seeped into the spell array. The misshapen scrawls blazed black in response to her mana.

Guessing her fate, Betra began desperately shaking her head. She shook it so violently that her gag came loose.

Ilea gave the crone spirit an expressionless look.

"You should at least be able to do this properly."

"I-I'm sorry."

Betra clung to Ilea's skirts.

"Wh-why are you doing this to me? Stop! Please!"

"Struggling might make it hurt. I'll send you off painlessly, so let go."

There was no emotion whatsoever in Ilea's face. No resentment, no anger, not a shred of pity. She looked like a bureaucrat saddled with an official duty.

"I was wrong! I'll never defy you again! I mean it! Please forgive me, just this once!"

"Don't apologize. You've done nothing wrong to me, Mother."

Ilea's soulless manner left Betra aghast.

"Th-then why are you doing this to me?"

"Because Yohan chose you, Mother. That's all."

"What on earth are you talking..."

"Still, you can't feel wronged, can you?"

Betra screamed like a woman who had lost her mind.

"Of course I feel wronged! Why should I have to suffer this?"

"Halfhearted evil inevitably leaves hatred behind. Even if it hadn't happened now, the sins you've piled up would have stabbed you in the end, Mother. Plenty of the tribute girls were sharpening their knives."

"The Baron ordered all of it. You know that, don't you? It wasn't my fault!"

"You don't need to make excuses to me. I'm not trying to blame you, Mother. I'm merely offering advice."

Ilea smiled gently and added,

"In your next life, be thoroughly evil. So no one dares harbor thoughts of revenge, and no greater evil swallows you up. Do you understand?"

There was no time to answer. Having devoured the mana, the Unhallowed Array began disgorging grasping black hands, one after another.

"Wh-what are these? Get away! I said, get away!"

Pitch-black demonic hands fastened themselves all over Betra's body.

"A-aaargh! Don't touch me! I said, don't touch me!"

She struggled like mad, but could not resist them. Their dreadful touch engulfed her entire body, dragging her into the Unhallowed Array.

"No! No, please!"

Her body slowly sank. She was being swallowed as a sacrifice.

"Farewell, Mother."

With one last agonized scream, Betra vanished.

Having devoured its sacrifice, the Unhallowed Array spewed black smoke. Dreadful demonic energy enveloped the holy relic at its center. Kazan's ring began to tremble. It was being corrupted into an accursed object.

The moment the blue gemstone set into the ring turned violet, a wild light flashed through Yohan's eyes.

"Does it feel good, Yohan?"

The imp was convulsing. He giggled, sank into despondency, drowned in pleasure, then despaired. He was resisting an overwhelming ecstasy.

'... Fuck.'

Yohan dragged his long nails down his chest. Black blood burst out.

The crone spirit, dancing exuberantly, let out a wild cackle.

"Enjoy it, imp! Screams like those don't come often!"

The cries Betra had left behind were the finest nourishment a Demon could ask for.

"Come, let's savor them!"

Yohan did not respond. He kept hurting himself. If he surrendered to this exhilaration, he felt he truly would cross a point of no return. He might lose his identity.

"Why are you suffering? You're a Demon, Yohan. Don't resist it. Try embracing it. You'll feel much better."

In his delirium, he could not even hear Ilea. Looking puzzled, she approached him.

"Yohan?"

Just as she reached out to stroke the convulsing imp, a sharp slap rang out.

SMACK!

"... Don't touch me."

Yohan knocked Ilea's hand away. She froze, then looked at the back of her hand. Her white skin had reddened slightly.

The crone spirit scowled.

"You're spoiling the fun. Why so touchy?"

Yohan glared at her. His already red eyes were bloodshot a far deeper shade.

"Wh-what do you think glaring at me will accomplish?"

No sooner had the crone spirit finished speaking than Yohan's heart gave a mighty throb.

The imp's entire body twisted like a rotting old tree. Every joint shifted out of place with dull cracks. The red tattoos covering him blazed vividly. His grotesquely bent body was changing into a new form.

CRRACK-CRUNCH.

A framework of bone sprang from his shoulder blades. Black skin grew over the white frame. Its surface was torn in places, like livestock left half butchered. A pitch-black sheen spilled over the uneven surface.

Wings. So enormous that they covered Yohan's entire body.

The crone spirit could not hide her bewilderment.

"You damned imp!"

"I don't think you can call him an imp anymore."

Ilea was right. Nothing of the Demon whelp remained in Yohan's appearance. The difference was as stark as an insect before and after molting.

He had shot up to roughly Ilea's height. Lean muscles stood out across his black body, his horn had grown as long as an adult man's middle finger, and wings covered his frame. He had left his imp stage behind and become a subadult Demon.

With his evolution complete, the malice surging within him was beginning to subside as well. Yohan steadied his breathing, then slowly examined his body.

'I've definitely grown, just as the novel's lore said. I should have no trouble protecting myself for now.'

Demonic energy boiled over in his heart, and his skin was as hard as a carapace. Well-proportioned muscles gave him both strength and balance.

There was just one potential problem: his human form. Had the daytime Yohan grown out of infancy too? Whether his growth as a Demon would carry over to his human appearance remained unknown.

'I can't stay a newborn forever.'

That would disrupt his plans. Somehow, he had to escape infancy. Eating well and sleeping well would not be enough. He could not keep pace with the apocalypse by ordinary means. His human self needed a way to grow rapidly too.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Ilea's voice broke his train of thought. She approached with the corrupted holy relic in her hand.

"Nothing much. More importantly, where's Kazan's ring?"

"Right here."

She opened her palm, revealing the accursed object: a ring set with a violet gemstone. It had once been an artifact that defended against demonic energy, but the moment it was corrupted, it had gained the ability to resist holy power.

'I can go down there in comfort now.'

The holy power filling the forbidden library would no longer pose a threat to Yohan.

"You look pleased. And you were so touchy just a moment ago."

The back of Ilea's hand was slightly swollen as she offered him the ring.

"That must have hurt."

"If you're sorry, at least put some ointment on it for me."

"Use your magic. What else is it for?"

"How cold of you."

With a bright smile, Ilea slipped the ring onto Yohan's ring finger. It was a little loose at first, then resized itself. The perfectly snug pressure felt pleasant. He was satisfied.

"I may be cold, but I keep my promises. I'll terminate my contract with Gaf within a few days."

"Good. On a separate note, what about yesterday's offer?"

Yohan had promised Ilea the key to the Abyss as payment for a new deal. He pulled open the round table's drawer, revealing the key, a map, and gorge journals written by adventurers five hundred years ago.

"Take them."

Ilea gave an admiring murmur.

"What should I give you in return?"

"Sap from the World Tree's stump."

At once, something strange flickered across her face. Interest rippled through her blue eyes.

"World Tree sap, you say. That wouldn't be much use to a Demon like you. It would be a different matter if young master Raguel drank it, of course."

The sap was an elixir for fairies and humans.

"Or it would work nicely on that baby Father brought with him."

Ilea smiled innocently as she spoke.

'Is she probing me?'

She did not yet know that Yohan was a half-demon. The appearance of a baby and an imp at the same time might have led her to suspect something, but it was still only a guess. Besides, no half-demon could shift between Demon and human, so Ilea's reasoning could never advance beyond a hypothesis. She would have no examples on which to base a conclusion.

"If you're curious about something, ask me outright. Don't fish for answers."

She would find out soon enough. He had no particular intention of hiding it.

Ilea shook her head.

"I like riddles. Finding the answer is the enjoyable part. It wouldn't be any fun if you simply told me."

Witches were creatures who loved the unknown. Curiosity was the driving force of their lives, and Yohan's very existence was a great source of amusement to her. For now, she wanted to leave him a riddle.

Yohan shrugged.

"Suit yourself. Let's get back to business. Can you bring me the sap?"

The World Tree was rooted in the Abyss's First Zone. The great tree's trunk had been cut down long ago, but its stump would still remain. That was enough to harvest sap.

"Of course. You're offering me the key to the Abyss, after all."

Without the key, the gate to the Abyss would not open. Ilea had to visit the First Zone, and the World Tree stood along her route. She had no reason to refuse Yohan's proposal.

"Good. The full moon is in three days, so you can set out tomorrow."

The gate to the Abyss opened only at the full moon. Normally sealed tight, it opened and closed on a fifteen-day cycle. Once inside, no one could leave for two weeks.

Factoring in the distance between the lord's castle and the Abyss, Yohan would have to wait roughly three weeks for Ilea's return. Even that felt like wasted time. He did not want any further delays.

"You seem to be in quite a hurry."

"You could say that. Can you leave right away?"

"I'll leave as soon as I've dealt with the matter of Betra. It would look strange if both mother and daughter vanished without so much as a letter."

"Do that. I'll see you in three weeks."

"Take care of yourself while I'm gone. As you know, you are my heart."

Under their contract, Ilea would die the moment Yohan did.

"Don't worry about me. Just make sure you come back safely."

Ilea dipped her head slightly.

"Then I'll be off."

As she receded into the distance, darkness returned to the library.

Yohan closed his eyes for a moment. Lines of red text appeared across his darkened vision. Most were written in a malformed language. He could decipher only a few.

Contract with a Demon and Nightmare Spirit. Those were the powers he had possessed from the start. This latest growth had awakened one more.

Soul Slaying. A power that annihilated its target's soul, turning the victim into a puppet with no personality.

It was fundamentally different from mind control. Abilities such as brainwashing could often be dispelled through outside intervention. But once a soul had been annihilated and its owner reduced to a puppet, no relic or high-ranking cleric's power could restore that personality. It would be a perfect upgrade over every mental ability.

The one thing that troubled him was that this power had never appeared in the original novel. Its use, however, was already etched into his instincts.

Yohan opened his eyes. Raguel came into view, trembling violently. His soul, too, quivered like a leaf.

'I can see souls.'

It was a secondary effect of Soul Slaying.

Yohan approached the soul trembling with fear. The human sacrifice must have terrified him.

"I told you to stay on the stairs, but you insisted on coming down and making a spectacle of yourself."

"W-we're going to hell."

"Of course we are. I'm a Demon, and you're a contractor. Weren't you prepared to accept that?"

"I was, but this is..."

"This is hardly excessive. I might commit far greater evil. Kill God and do away with hell, for instance."

"Y-Yohan!"

"I'm telling you not to be afraid. Fear and regret won't change your fate. Why not enjoy this life instead of spending your time trembling?"

Raguel looked drained.

"How am I supposed to enjoy anything in a situation like this?"

"I'll give you an airplane ride, then."

"What's an airplane?"

Yohan spread his enormous wings wide, then grabbed the boy's clothes.

"I'll show you."

The Demon took flight.

"A-aaaaaah!"

The boy's scream reverberated through the library.

It was not the reaction he had hoped for, but it wasn't so bad. The cries were becoming another delicacy.

Like it or not, he had to grow quickly. There was no other way to survive in this godforsaken world.

"Cry, Raguel. You're my packed lunch."