Book 2: Chapter 437
The Apostles didn’t answer. Instead, they simply glared at Sedi with deathly gazes. The same was true for Kasajin. The difference was that there was no animosity in his eyes.
He was still looking down at the girl with his chin on his fist and an indifferent attitude.
“What’s your name?”
Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own.
The girl looked at Kasajin with blood red eyes. In fact, that had been the case since the girl had broken down the door. Even though she hadn’t received an answer, the girl clearly knew who was the strongest there.
She swept her long hair from in front of her forehead as she responded.
“Sedi Trowman.”
“…Trowman?”
That was a last name that Kasajin had no choice but to pay attention to.
When his eyes twitched, the girl, Sedi, reacted even more violently than he did.
“What is it? Have you heard it somewhere before?”
“…I knew someone with the same last name.”
Sedi’s eyes shined.
“Hoh. What was their name?”
“Lukas.”
“—”
The two Apostles closest to Sedi subconsciously shrank back. For a moment, they felt as if a cold breeze swept past their bodies.
Later, when they realised that the phenomenon had been caused because of Sedi’s changing mood, their faces were marked with humiliation.
“I came all the way after chasing after an annoying woman, and I got an unexpected gain. Hey, condescending old man sitting on a chair, do I have to blow up everything to find out?”
“What’s your relationship with Lukas?”
Sedi responded with an uncaring expression.
“I’m his daughter.”
“—”
On the other hand, Kasajin’s mind went blank.
After that, he brooded about five times on whether he’d heard wrong or not. Of course, since he wasn’t deaf, he couldn’t have heard wrong.
…Daughter?
That Lukas had a daughter?
He glanced over Sedi’s appearance once again.
Her dark hair which was reminiscent of a starless sky contrasted starkly with her bright red eyes. Of course, her black hair and red eyes had as little to do with Lukas as her fingernails. Then what about her facial features?
…She had a strange, decadent aura that reminded him of Iris Peacefinder, but her features were completely different. When looking at just her features, Iris appeared quite docile. The corners of her eyes drooped slightly and the corners of her mouth curved softly. With such a face, it was always terrifying to hear what kind of speech came out of her mouth, but that wasn’t important right now.
On the other hand, Sedi had stronger features, the sharply rising corners of her eyes, the twisted smile resting at the corner of her mouth, and the fangs that could be seen within her mouth. To sum it up, her face was at least five times fiercer than the Black Witch’s.
In other words, this meant that this child was most likely not the child of Lukas and Iris…
“Who is your mother? Is it Iris?”
Nevertheless, he decided to get confirmation first.
“Who is that?”
It was denied immediately.
…For now, it seemed that Iris hadn’t preyed on Lukas yet.
Then who was it? He had a headache because he couldn’t think of anyone.
Of course, this wasn’t because Lukas was unpopular with women. He was tactless and sometimes had a more serious personality than Lucid, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any love interests at all, because his appearance wasn’t bad, and he was quite the academic. On top of that, he had a heroic aspect that anyone could respect and admire, and that was longed for by women.
Of course, their flirting would disappear as soon as they saw the Black Witch’s dark smile, but that wasn’t important right now.
The reason Kasajin was bewildered was simple.
“You must be from ‘the outside’…”
After becoming one of the Twelve Void Lords, Kasajin also learned the truth about the multiverse. He learned that his home universe was like a grain of sand in a desert. He also vaguely understood the role of the World of Void.
“The outside. You’re saying the same thing that woman did.”
“That woman?”
“It was a blue haired woman. And I hate blue. The mere sight of it makes me sick. So I feel like shit right now.”
“…”
A blue haired woman.
…Pale, had she led Sedi here?
Kasajin’s gaze deepened.
If that was the case, then he could vaguely understand what his meeting with Sedi meant.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said that if I defeated the strongest person here, my wish would come true.”
“…”
“Sorry about destroying the door, was I tricked?”
Sedi glanced at the broken door as she said that.
Kasajin chuckled.
“No.”
“That’s good. Then… how long are you going to keep sitting there?”
“…”
“Get up. You’re the strongest guy here.”
Looking around, Sedi continued.
“I’m not interested in fighting these small fries.”
That statement was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Unable to take it any longer, the five remaining Apostles moved almost reflexively. They felt no shame in their collaborative attack. They acknowledged that Sedi was strong.
Nevertheless, it was hard for them to accept.
Not only was it an insult to themselves, it was an insult to Kasajin.
“Snake, goat, lion, bat, and horse.”
Sedi clicked her tongue.
The appearances of the demons were truly individualistic, or in other words, there was no consistency. And it wasn’t threatening.
She lifted her right foot and placed it down lightly. It was a simple step, but the ground broke apart like a cracker.
The ground crumbled and fragments of stone were sent flying. Sedi caught five of the fragments and threw them toward the demons.
The momentum contained in those fragments of stone was strange.
‘A trick.’
The five demons all had the same thought at the same time.
In that case, what was her real target?
Puk!
Following the sound of something being pierced, the demons stopped moving.
Sedi murmured with an expressionless face.
“Not against you all.”
[Why…]
“Your vision is too narrow.”
Black energy from Sedi’s toes penetrated the demon’s bodies. It instantly neutralised five of the Pit’s greatest demons.
“Kuak.”
[What is this…]
The demons muttered in futile voices, but Sedi’s attitude was cold.
“It would be better to not move. If you don’t want to die.”
Kasajin noticed that Sedi hadn’t killed any of them. The first two Apostles were also still alive, even though the arms they’d outstretched had been ruined.
“Don’t you think it’s really about time you got up?”
Nodding, Kasajin got up from his seat.
“Shall we change location?”
“That’s annoying.”
“I don’t want to make a mess of this place. I hope you will agree to this.”
“…Fine. Then where?”
“The end of this territory. The bottom of this pit where no light can enter.”
The Pit had made rapid progress, but its ‘bottom’ where he had fought the [0th Demon] had been preserved.
At first, he thought it was to protect the many statues and sculptures there, but in retrospect, they might have been preparing for this day to an extent.
“Why do you want to fight there?”
Kasajin answered.
“It might be the tradition to fight there.”
* * *
Kasajin stopped talking and turned to look at the door behind Lukas.
Tap tap-
Faint footsteps could be heard beyond the door. A look of tension appeared in Kasajin’s eyes.
“This is dangerous.”
“What is?”
“Lukas, hide firs-”
Before he could finish his sentence, the door swung open.
“…”
Lukas paused for a moment before stiffening.
A girl stood just outside the open door.
The girl, Sedi, was wearing clothes he’d never seen before.
She was wearing a black and white dress, it had a bit of lace, but it didn’t feel airy. It also felt like she was wrapped up. The black gloves that were wrapped around her forearms made that sentiment even stronger. It was an outfit he wasn’t used to, but it wasn’t hard to recognise her.
Her distinctive hair and eyes were still the same.
“-ah.”
For a moment, Lukas couldn’t think of anything to say.
He’d heard it several times already.
The fact that Sedi became the [0th Demon], one of the Twelve Void Lords.
If that was the case… then did that mean Sedi had lost most of herself like Kasajin? No, she hadn’t. If that was the case, she wouldn’t still call herself ‘Sedi Trowman’. Then how much had Sedi lost to Kasajin? In the first place, she had lost to Kasajin so was it possible that he had returned it to her?
[That brat… is your daughter?]
[I think we have similar eyes.]
[What are you talking about? They said that we weren’t related by blood last time.]
His thoughts and questions didn’t stop, and the voices of the ‘Lukases’ mixed in, making his head a mess.
Perhaps Lukas was currently experiencing the greatest chaos since he’d entered the World of Void.
And that chaos was cut off in an instant.
Puk.
There was a slightly heavy feeling, the touch of cool fabric, and the warmth that he could feel beyond it.
It took a moment for Lukas to understand what had happened.
Sedi had strode forward and buried herself in his chest.
“…”
He couldn’t think of anything to say.
So Lukas just stood there stiffly.
It was Sedi who made the first move.
“…one more time.”
Sedi spoke first.
Her face was still buried in his chest so he couldn’t see it. But her voice was as thin and faint as if it was barely squeezed out.
“…if you disappear without a word one more time, that will really be the end.”
He didn’t know what it would be the end of. In fact, he couldn’t afford to think too deeply about it.
Lukas was panicking.
And this kind of confusion was something he’d never experienced before.
First of all, Lukas had never seen this side of Sedi. As far as Lukas could remember, while she had the last name Glaston, Sedi had always maintained a calm expression even in the face of death. It didn’t matter if it was an act or a faked expression. What that told him was that Sedi hated looking weak more than dying.
However, what about now?
Lukas felt like the girl in his arms was like a glass sculpture.
“I didn’t think you were dead. People who didn’t know anything said you died, but I didn’t believe them.”
“…”
“If you had died on your own after talking to me like that, I would have killed you myself.”
She was talking incoherently. He wasn’t used to that either.
“…you remember me?”
In retrospect, this was probably not what he should have said right after they reunited.
Sedi jerked her head up, revealing her face.
The tip of her nose was red, and her eyes were red in a different way from usual.
“Then you wanted me to forget?”
At her sharp voice, Lukas shrank back slightly.
“No, I just…”
He couldn’t think of anything to say. He couldn’t even look her in the eye… Dammit. He was more agitated than he expected. Perhaps it was visible on his face as well.
The voices in his head had become loud once again. And Lukas was no longer in a position to control the agitation.
It was at that moment that an unexpected saviour appeared.
“Sedi didn’t lose anything.”
Kasajin spoke with a sigh.
“What?”
“Naturally, that means she also remembers everything about you.”
“How is that possible?”
“Because…”
After a brief moment of hesitation, Kasajin started to answer.
“I never lost to him.”
Sedi interrupted him, and Kasajin’s expression became a bit uncomfortable.
“…what you just said.”
“…what she just said.”
Did he suddenly become stupid? Did he lose his comprehension ability? Or was it because of the voices in his head?
While Lukas found it hard to understand the situation, Kasajin continued to explain.
“I lost to Sedi in our first fight. Naturally, this means she became the [0th Demon] without losing anything.”
This development which far exceeded his expectations put Lukas at a loss for words. Then, he suddenly felt warmth on his chest and lowered his head.
Sedi sniffled slightly, then, as their eyes met, she said,
“Why?”