Beware of the Red Thread - Chapter 20

“Can’t I just kill that bastard?”

Abel, who was walking through the space-like place, whispered dissatisfied. He didn’t even care about the amazing backdrop of the twinkling black stars and the turning of the sky and the earth.

“If the subject dies, betting is void. That bastard is a con artist.”

“That’s the problem. You can’t kill it.”

The male lead, Assand himself was unable to kill Caesar. Even in the game, strength, intelligence, agility, everything is unnecessary, and luck is the best. If you’re lucky, the skill you hit at him will also miss. Don’t ever touch him in the future. Alright? I whispered while pointing at the world’s luckiest guy in the world.

“He’s never going to die. So let’s just shut up. Huh?”

“……Damn it.”

Damn it, damn it. If you hadn’t jumped in and blew up a punch, this wouldn’t have happened! That bastard was the first to piss me off! Then you should be patient! We growled and argued over whether he did better or I did better, but Caesar glanced back at us and smiled with a strange expression on his face. What, what? Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing so hard?

“Wow.”

Meanwhile, the background has changed. In an instant, the sky and the earth were entangled like clay, and we came out to a bright place. Of course, it was brighter than the space-like place that we had been before, and it was midnight outside. Ziip, and Asura closed the space they had opened up like a zipper again.

A land of darkness that appears when you go down through the ‘Death Canyon’ made of black sand and rocks and cross the black river. It was a huge field that existed under the reign of the Dark Lord, where only the strongest among the corrupted or dark monsters were gathered.

Dark Age.

Passing the entrance written in blood-red letters that seemed to flow down on a huge rock, I saw a bustling city. All of the monsters in here are spirits or demons.

“Aren’t you going to turn your eyes away?”

Even the ones that don’t even have rotten eyes. The demons, who were drooling as they looked at me, were terrified and fled from Abel, who was snarling and growling. I arrived at the Black Castle where the Dark Lord was, receiving all kinds of glances – that I would be delicious – in one body.

In the distance, I can see a huge castle towering. There were two pale moons hanging from the top of the castle. Due to the power of the Dark Lord, it was like a field where there was always darkness 365 days a year. As we passed the bridge of the bubbling lava lake, the hollow-eyed Nightmare guided us with worn-out nightwear.

Deep inside the castle, when the huge door creaked open, it was dark all over the place. A black object sat in the middle of the constellation. A dry, emotionless voice resounds throughout the dark hall.

“…Yes. You’re here.”

The door closed behind my back with a squeak and a creepy sound. Suddenly, there were only three of us left in this dark room. Let’s be calm don’t be scared

“I am the Dark Lord, the leader of the Apocalypse.”

Dark Lord, female lead’s male interest number 5. As a habit, information came to mind. It seems that it is worthwhile to write it down on parchment and recall the memories. He was wearing a black hood, so his face could not be seen, but I knew he was a very decadent and sexy looking vampire.

Rather, I want to see his face. I turned my head to and fro and tiptoed on my feet, and squashed as I met Abel’s crumpled face. It was then that the Dark Lord uttered shocking words in a gloomy voice.

“Are you Saintess Lucia?”

“………Huh?”

There was a dazed sound of embarrassment in my answer. In an unexpected development, I forgot all the expected questions and answers I had been thinking about as I came. Either way, the Dark Lord began to speak sharply – narcissistically – with his dark red eyes gleaming under the hood.

“Lies don’t work. We’ve been gathering information about your powers and abilities for a long time. They match exactly the powers in the prophecy. Weren’t you gathering Assand’s information to unlock his seal?”

Hearing the strangely raised voice, this Dark Lord must have already been convinced that I was the female lead. Thanks to that, the blame was entirely on me.

My abilities are fake! Because she was the one who gathered the Asand information! Because the original story begins only when the male lead breaks the seal! -But I could never say that, so I just ripped my hair out. Also, when the name Assand appeared again, Abel’s condescending eyes turned to me. The Dark Lord saw me too. Suddenly receiving two pairs of red eyes, I struggle to keep my head above the water.

“It’s not really. She hasn’t–no, no yet. Anyway. Look, we look different!”

I gibberishly pointed at my face. Even though I had to undergo appearance correction due to the effect of dimensional shift, I do not have a striking appearance like Saintess Lucia. Pure white hair, blue eyes that could embrace everything. It would be nice if I didn’t become a squid standing next to her.

“Yes. You certainly look different. Because Lucia’s body is sleeping in Luce. However, the possibility that you possessed only her soul, leaving her body, cannot be ruled out.”

It’s not shit! Listen to what people say! I wanted to rant about it, but I timidly hid it because I didn’t even dare to stand up to the Dark Lord.

“No. Not really.”

Unlike the bubbly Abel, the Dark Lord was a ruler of darkness with tremendous power that would plunge me into a brimstone fire if he wanted to. There is no need for the No.1 Villain to act. “Styx, I swear by the River Styx I’m not!” He was silent for a moment as I demonstrated the trick I had picked up as a last bastion with his innocent eyes asking him to trust me.

“Okay. For now, I don’t care if you’re a saint or not. I just need your cooperation. Anyway, until we carry out our plan, you’ll have to stay under my watch so that Assand’s seal is not broken.”

“Who wants that?”

He grabbed my wrist and hid me behind, he said coolly. The deep energy that is likely to become a reaper at any moment is repeatedly canceled as it approaches the throne where the Dark Lord is. Uhhh, it’s suffocating. My hair fluttered and I choked in the invisible fight, and I buried my head in Abel’s back.

“Reaper. I’ve heard rumors that you too were kicked out of the temple. Apparently, your strength has weakened a lot. Don’t you need a lot of souls to gather power again? In that sense, Apocalypse is the best area for that activity.”

“I’ll take care of that. Shut up and get rid of this Caesar or what-ever cheating bastard right now!”

“I can’t do that.”

The Dark Lord, who had accepted the ping-pong conversation indifferently, turned his head to me again. That bastard! Abel gnashed his teeth, but he didn’t rush to me, perhaps after hearing my nagging at him before. Abel’s red thread became thicker and thinner in real time even during the conversation.

When I’m with him, every day is so suffocating that I can’t live. I looked at Abel with a half weeping heart. I was looking at him with the desire to discuss something as we both share a life and he looked at my expression – the image of death – and wrinkled his eyebrows  as if he had taken it in a different meaning.

“Reject if you don’t like it. I’ll take care of it.”

Look at that useless sense of confidence. Such a fool. I took a deep breath and shook my head. If I refuse, Abel will come to fight the Dark Lord and Caesar. No matter how strong he is, he cannot defeat the Dark Lord. The strongest villain in the game. Even if Abel wins, he will be caught one way or another. Even though we had wandered the long way, Apocalypse still came to him.

In the end, he was deceived by Caesar—even though the details were not revealed in the original story, but he was deceived by Caesar even then and was half-forced to be recruited—and now we’re here. It’s such a horrifyingly strange pattern. In the Temple of Immortality, I thoroughly realized that if I was bound by the original unchanging law, I would still return to my original place even if I refused, so I decided to quickly accept reality.

“…you’ll regret it later. You’re going to have to apologize to me.”

“I’ll think about it.”

I tried the last protest with her choked voice, but as the name suggests, there is only an answer that seems to be covered in chic black.

“Then what if. Very if. If I’m here and the real Saintess Lucia appears and Assand wakes up, then you’ll have to release me. Promise me.”

“Good.”

Whoa, are you cool? I flinched at the unexpectedly quick answer, so I quickly added an option before I changed my mind.

“Another thing. Please provide thorough security for our personal life. You know that personal life includes both life and information, right? And there is no such thing as betraying us and betraying us later because we are useless.”

“‘Us’?”

The corner of his mouth, who had been listening quietly, twisted, and his head turned to Abel. Abel grabbed my arm and he was standing with me half-covered behind him. He had been holding out even the gigantic scythe of the reaper for some time, so just looking at the shadows, he looked like one. Belatedly, embarrassed and about to fall a little, the Dark Lord gave out a windy laugh.

“…It’s a combination of a reaper who seeks immortality and a human who lives a short life. Interesting.”

The Dark Lord, who spoke dryly in an uninteresting voice, clenched his chin. The Dark Lord’s red thread embedded in his chest melted into the darkness of the floor, and there was no end in sight, unlike the others’ red threads that rose upward toward Solar. There were two moons hanging brightly outside the window, but not a single light came into the room. A verse came to mind at that gloomy look.

[His childhood name was Harden. As a vampire, he was cursed to burn when exposed to light due to Solar’s wrath as soon as he was born. Because of this, he curses ‘Solar’ and creates a group of villains, Apocalypse, to make the world dark. ]

One of the worst villains had the typical ‘he was actually a pitiful guy’ past, so the memories were vivid. As soon as I looked at him with dim eyes, a dry reply came back.

“Good.”

***

As I came out of the suffocating castle, a figure I had forgotten was waiting on the bridge. The figure of a monster standing proudly with a flaming mane fluttering. I rushed to him with regret and pleasure and hugged him tightly.

“Sleipnir!”

“I’m glad you’re safe. Well, you know how surprised I was that you were gone!”

It was Sleipnir who seemed to have come for a long time. Asura probably wouldn’t have met him, how did he get here so quickly? As I wondered, I remembered several times that he said he was from the Dark Age. It must have felt like coming home for him.

“Get on.”

“…Ah, thank you.”

Abel, who followed, lifted me lightly and put me on Sleipnir’s back. Won’t you ride? Before I could ask, Abel trudged ahead of me. Sleipnir asked, who had been walking behind him.

“Do you know how surprised I was to feel the master’s spirit from this side? It’s nice to see you too-Huft Huff, I thought I would never come here again! What have you done with the Dark Lord?”

“Negotiation is lame.”

It was, of course, half a failure. He’s a noble sir who doesn’t trust people at all! He’s a suspicious suspect! Swallowing the words, I briefly shortened the conversation to Sleipnir. Hmm, umm, umm. That’s right. Occasionally the Dark Lord’s swear words were mixed in, but he listened to me seriously.

“…So I decided to stay here for a while and cooperate with Apocalypse. Then, when Saintess Lucia appears-”

Swish! Abel’s ferocious eyes in front of me turned to me, so I bit my mouth as far as I could. The active volcano was boiling. In my experience, it’s best not to touch him in this case.

“It’s a message!”

At that moment, a Nightmare, who seemed to fall off at any moment, flew up and down. As if it had forgotten it earlier, it was a message that the Dark Lord had sent late. I opened the note and read it. I will arrange a house near the Black Castle. It was written that they would provide separate residences for Abel and mine if we wished.

“Abel. They can also provide a separate house for you. What should I do…”

The answer came from the ugly pigeon blood eyes. I see. If we use a separate room, we will be separated. Even though I said that I would use the house separately, the low pressure from Abel really felt like it was going to explode. There is also lava near him, so a chain explosion will occur. With tears in my eyes, I returned the message.

“…I’ll just live with him.”

“Yes! Then I will tell them that!”

I looked faintly at the Nightmare who received the message and nodded its head and flew away.