Fated to Be Loved by Villains
chapter-178

System Message

[ The Parent Body who has been maintaining the Spell has been overpowered.]

[ ‘Event: Sweet Play’ will be forcibly canceled!]

[ The Image World is collapsing! ]

[ You have witnessed the downfall of a ‘Devil’ in person. ]

[ The ‘Fallen's Seal’ automatically records the target’s weakness and how to defeat them. ]

[ ‘'Suppression Method’ of the ‘White Devil’ can be unlocked! ]

After such messages popped out in succession, the world crumbled down.

This Image World was preserved by the White Devil’s authority to begin with. There was no way it would be intact after the Grey Devil destroyed the punk.

But, that was that.

My eyes widened as I saw the message window that popped up in front of my eyes.

The last line was the sole reason why my eyes widened like this.

‘Suppression method?’

To summarize what the sentence was trying to imply, it meant that I could interact closely with a ‘Devil’ through the ‘Fallen Seal’.

All this time, I had been able to ‘borrow’ and ‘imitate’ their power, but to overpower them?

“...”

I didn’t know how that was possible, but what I knew for sure was the fact that it wasn’t a bad thing.

In the original game, ‘overpowering a Devil’ was only something that could be brought up when we were talking about three subjects. Other Devils, a Seraphim with fully charged Divine Power and Iliya who had completed her final growth while wielding the Holy Sword.

Even so, except for the Grey Devil and Iliya, the others could only achieve a tie with the Devils. Getting the upper hand against them? Well, that was quite the good joke if I had ever heard one.

“...”

Wait, now that I think about it, it didn’t make any sense for Iliya to be able to do it. Like, how the fuck did her at full potential could be on the same level as ‘those kinds of beings’?

With such thoughts, I looked at the Grey Devil who was smiling in front of me while standing still. She held my hands, shook them and patted my head. No, I wasn’t joking, she really did that.

As always, she acted like an innocent child.

“...”

When I slightly shifted my gaze, the shattered figure of the White Devil came into my view. She could barely maintain her body because of this punk in front of me.

Of course, it was hard for me to find this punk cute after seeing her effortlessly pummeling another Devil like that. You know, even if a tiger was trying to act cute, there was no way people would find it cute, it was something similar to that.

“...”

Still, even if she was a tiger that I encountered when I was unarmed, I could tell that she was sincerely worried about me..

Obviously I’d feel that way if she were to see me with that gaze filled with affection. As I was having such thoughts, she opened her mouth.

[...Have youÁöbeen well?]

“...”

That was when I noticed something strange.

The noise that had always covered her voice seemed to have faded away. It only faded a little, but it was enough to make her voice sound clean.

“...Uh?”

When I became aware of that, I also became able to move to some extent. As if I had grown some tolerance toward the Grey Devil’s abilities.

[You look surprised.]

When she saw my trembling eyes, she said those words while poking me.

She flew closer as if she was not subject to gravity as she stroked my chest–where the Fallen's Seal was at.

[...It’s¾î°¡because of this. Because I’ve absorbed the knowledge about White just now.]

“...”

[Since theÇÏ¿¡Seal is gradually growing the more youÁ¦meet us. Your tolerance¡UCwill also keep rising.]

As she said that, she clenched her fist and threw it forward, as if trying to gesture ‘Do your best~’.

But the straight punching gesture only made her seem like a martial artist instead.

[If Whiteî°¡UCbothers¾ðyou next time, returnîÁ¦it.]

“...”

[Just¾î°¡Uin case, I’ll give you¾î°¡Uthis too.]

A window popped up again in front of my eyes.

[Since¾îÁ¦it’s a skill nobody but Dowd would be able to use.]

System Message

[ ‘Synthesis’ function is added to the ‘Fallen's Seal’! ]

[ You can synthesize the Devil's Aura accumulated in the seal and create additional effects! ]

“...”

I narrowed my eyes.

That window popped up in accordance with her words.

She had done this multiple times before. The Grey Devil seemed to have a grasp on the system windows, even though I was the only one who could see it. It made me wonder if she could manipulate it as much as she wanted.

“...”

That aside.

‘...Synthesizing the Devil’s Aura?’

The idea behind the skill was somewhat crazy.

Its scale was just on a different level, I couldn’t even guess how amazing it would turn out.

“...I’ll receive it gratefully.”

As I expressed my gratitude, the Grey Devil hugged me tightly with a wide smile.

Since our bodies were just astral bodies in this Image World, I couldn’t feel any physical force, but her gesture was so affectionate that it made me feel like a dad looking after his daughter.

“...”

Anyway.

While this punk was still here, there was something I needed to handle.

If I were to do it now, she wouldn’t kill me right away.

I pulled myself away from the Gray Devil and took some steps.

At the end of my gaze was the White Devil who was barely able to maintain her form after she got pummeled by the punk.

“...Later…”

I said to the White Devil, who seemed to receive quite the hard blow judging by how her body kept on glitching.

“Show me everything.”

[...?]

“I was talking about Yuria’s past that you tried to show me. You know, I only acted harshly because it isn’t the right time for this.”

With a sigh, I continued my words, prompting the White Devil to open her eyes slightly wider.

There was no way that she tried to show me Yuria’s past for no reason. She definitely had something on mind. I didn’t know what it was, but there must be something she wanted to tell me.

However, given my current situation, I couldn’t meet that expectation of hers.

An event related to the main scenario, the Hero Selection was still going on outside. If things went wrong, the entire scenario would go down the road of destruction.

“When the right time comes, I’ll hear you out properly.”

But, to put it differently…

If it wasn’t anything like that, I would respect this punk’s will.

Based on the fact that my assumptions were true, that is.

I had to treat the Devils preciously, just like how I treated their Vessels. Since that was the case, I had no intention to ignore their feelings and thoughts.

[...]

After I said that to the White Devil, who was still staring at me with wide open eyes, the Grey Devil flew in front of me again.

The corners of her mouth were twitching, seemingly unhappy.

[...You don’t¾î°have to be that nice to¾îÁthe otherÁ¦ ÇÏ¿colors but me.]

“...I’m just telling her let’s get along.”

[More than with me?]

“...That’s not it.”

Seeing the Grey Devil puffing her cheeks after saying that, I hurriedly replied to her while breaking out in a cold sweat.

I had a feeling that if I didn’t do that, I’d just die.

There was a high probability that this punk didn’t even guess that I was planning to live together with all the Devils.

“...”

Speaking of, how could I do that?

Did it mean that the only way I could survive was to seven-time them all without getting caught by any of them?

But, like, how?

‘...Ugh, I don’t know anymore.’

Foreseeing my destructive future, I cried inwardly while smiling at the Grey Devil outwardly.

Whatever, I’ll worry about that when I cross that bridge. If I worked my ass off to the point that I faint or even die, maybe, things would work out, surely. That was how I had been surviving so far anyway.

-I love you.

As I was having such thoughts as always, the Grey Devil said so as she was wrapping her hands around my face.

At this point, her voice sounded so clean it was almost perfect. As if her intention to convey those words was more important than anything else.

-See you later.

-At that time, definitely. You. Until the end of the world.

-Just the two of us. Forever.

I remembered those sentences. Because every time I was with her, whenever we parted ways, she would add new parts to it little by little.

This time, it was;

-Let’s walk the ending of this recurring ‘story’.

It was a sentence where a ‘conclusion’ existed.

One with a very clear goal.

-So…

-Don’t die until the next time we meet again, okay?

With those words as a cue, my consciousness was forcefully yanked out of the world.

“...How persistent.”

One of the men said that to Iliya, who was gasping for breath.

Considering that she didn’t even wear proper equipment, just wearing a cloth, while holding a blunt dagger, she was holding up bizarrely well.

But, if one were to put it in a different perspective, even after she learned the ‘Eyes of Truth’ from the enlightenment during her training with the Fist Saint, she could only endure their assaults and nothing more.

‘...I thought I could at least knock out one or two people.’

Her initial plan was to reduce the number of the opponents before escaping with Dowd, whether she had to carry him on her back or she had to use any other means.

However, the opponents were too skilled.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more it became apparent.

These people were powerful enough to be treated as national key forces in any country.

In the Empire, they were pretty much at the same level as the ‘Knights’ who were right below the Imperial Guards.

“...”

With that in mind, the person who controlled them unquestionably deserved to be described as possessing a force at the same level of the Imperial Guards.

They were a group filled with monsters who’d purposely go to battles with handicaps, even if they were to face the Tristan Duchy, who had the reputation as the region with the best swordsmanship in the continent, as their opponent.

Even when compared to them, the man’s skills could be considered not all that far off from their level.

“But, that’s it, that should be your limit.”

And his words were true.

She couldn’t simply endure forever. There were minor injuries all over her body. It was a miracle that there were no serious injuries so far.

“I don’t know why you think that man is worth so much to the point that you went this hard. In any case, you’ll die here, Iliya Krisanax. You’re more foolish than I thought.”

“...Ugh, that was my bad.”

She really believed that it was her fault.

“If I hadn’t thought of spending a hundred years with Teach, I wouldn’t go this hard. If only I hadn’t dreamed of a great married life with him, with so many children that we could form a team of a ball game, then I wouldn’t have no reason to go through this kind of hardship.”

“...”

“I wouldn’t have to live my life while being taken advantage of by a crazy playboy who constantly flirts with other women! I wouldn’t need to help him deal with the mishaps that he caused because of the women he entangled himself with! I wouldn’t have become a pushover who, instead of getting sick of him, I felt happy because he was relying on me—!”

“...”

“Seriously, it’s my fault for falling in love with this trash!”

As she said those words with a voice filled with resentment, her opponent looked at her, seemingly at a loss for words.

“...I see, it’s complicated, huh?”

His voice sounded uncharacteristically sympathetic.

But that was that, this was this.

They were pros, so they had to do their job.

“Time to wrap it up.”

While saying such words, the man’s sword rushed towards Iliya.

‘-It’s dangerous…!’

With her body filled with injuries, she couldn’t react to his speed.

If she couldn’t avoid this blow, it would definitely get her seriously injured.

-!

-!!!

But an explosive sound echoed and the man’s body flew tens of meters back after getting hit by someone’s fist.

“...!”

Everyone nearby raised their respective weapons with terrified expressions on their faces.

As experienced as they were, this was the first time they had ever seen or heard such a scene being created with merely unarmed combat skill.

However, a certain someone had seen it awfully often.

As far as she knew, there was only one person who’d become drastically stronger in a moment of crisis.

“...Teach?”

She called him, sounding as if she was in a daze.

All this time, he had only watched from behind her back, but he suddenly pulled out something like this.

“...”

When their eyes met, Iliya intuitively realized.

He was back.

The usual Dowd, whom she found a little annoying…

Had finally come back.

“H-H-Have you come back to your senses?”

“...Yeah. Just now.”

‘Damn.’

‘Damn it.’

‘...It’s nice that he’s back and I’m really curious about what happened, but…!’

‘There’s something more urgent than that now!’

Iliya stammered with a flushed face.

“B-By any chance! J-J-Just now—! D-D-Did you hear—!”

“...What are you saying?”

“...”

From his expression, it seemed like he really hadn’t heard her words.

Thankfully.

‘What a relief…!’

She had felt a sense of crisis worse than a threat to her life…!

“...I don’t know what’s going on here, but…”

As Iliya was pondering with her own thoughts, Dowd scanned around expressionlessly.

In front of them were several skilled combatants and an exceptionally strong battle priest who was leading them.

“This is perfect.”

“...What is?”

“I got something new, so I want to give it a try once.”

Along with such words, the Demonic Aura of the Grey Devil and White Devil mixed together radiated intensely from Dowd’s chest.