Chapter 160: Disappearance Part 1

The moment I saw Cattleya walking toward Loki, I understood.

She wanted certainty.

Sure, I’d always lived by tossing things at the wall and running if they didn’t stick. But for her, this moment was something she couldn’t afford to lose.

She stepped forward.

And because of that…

“Cattleya?”

She drew everyone’s attention.

Loki and Theseus both snapped their eyes toward her in an instant.

Loki immediately began hurling magic at Cattleya, and though flustered, Theseus started deflecting every attack aimed her way.

“Ha!”

Originally, our plan was a surprise attack.

If Loki noticed in advance, he’d dodge. If Theseus noticed, he’d try to stop us.

That’s why we were supposed to wait quietly and strike from the shadows.

Loki couldn’t afford to take his eyes off Theseus, and Theseus who was clearly shaken was barely holding it together, seeing his own brother in such a state and having to raise his sword against him.

To suddenly do something that conspicuous in a situation like this…

It meant she was taking on the risk in exchange for a guaranteed return.

And I couldn’t blame her for it.

At this range, even a minor miss with the gun could mean total failure. I left the final move to her, and if this was the method she chose….well, I had no choice.

I had to make it work.

“Hup!”

The moment all of Loki’s magic was sliced apart by Theseus’s sword—

Cattleya thrust the muzzle of the gun forward. At this range, it was impossible to miss.

If there were any variables, they were two:

Loki’s resistance, and Theseus’s reaction.

But Loki could barely resist. He had just lost all means of attack to Theseus’s strike.

Use physical strength to react? For someone who had already become undead, his body was just for show.

He wasn’t truly dead, but his condition was far from intact after being cut down by Theseus’s blade.

Loki’s only possible resistance would be casting magic again.

But at this distance, at this timing…. he wouldn’t be able to react in time.

Then what about Theseus?

That’s a different story. He had been thrown off by Cattleya’s sudden move, yes—

But the moment she aimed the gun at Loki, he caught on.

And that was enough.

Even a fleeting moment like that was more than enough time for Theseus.

So then, my role became clear.

Advanced illusion magic:

[Sensory Disruption]

One chance.

I had to fool Theseus who didn’t fully know what kind of people we were.

“……!”

I saw it just for a second…his body flinched as he was about to swing his sword.

“Tsk.”

And at the same time, I saw Cattleya’s gun shatter in her hands.

This monster. He corrected his twisted senses in just a heartbeat?

Lobelia’s aim had been thrown off. Even Yuna had missed her footing after I cast that spell.

But Theseus had responded perfectly.

“Haha!”

But what he didn’t know—

Was that Cattleya’s resolve went beyond anything even I could have imagined.

There’s no way someone like him, practically a stranger to her, could understand that.

“If you really wanted to stop me, you should’ve aimed for my arm, not the weapon.”

From the broken gun, Cattleya grabbed the magic engineering battery and began casting a spell.

A beginner-level spell. One that anyone could use with just a bit of learning.

A small spark flickered to life.

At the same time, Cattleya drove her fist straight into Loki’s chest.

Booooom!!

The magic-engineering battery whose safety lock had been released exploded.

No matter how weak its power might be, at that distance, there was no way he could endure it. Especially with all defensive spells disabled.

“Ha… hahaha!”

But even before the blast had cleared, a chilling laugh rang out.

That bastard. He took the hit and still survived?

“Ah, I didn’t see that coming. Yes, bold indeed. But… unfortunate. You were unlucky.”

“Loki, you…”

Theseus called out to Loki but bit his lip hard.

He must have realized again that Loki was no longer truly alive.

Watching him sigh faintly left me feeling stifled.

Even now, after all this, does he still pity Loki?

When the blast finally faded, lying on the ground was Cattleya, and Loki whose chest had been blasted open, almost to the point where half his body had been blown away.

This guy… he was tougher than a cockroach.

His entire heart was obliterated, yet he was still standing? We’d struck a vital point even for an undead, …

“My true self isn’t bound to mere flesh.”

Thud.

Loki’s arm fell off.

The parts of his body blasted away by the explosion were collapsing further.

From the outside, it looked like he could die at any moment.

Normally, an undead suffering this much damage would cease to exist.

But from the way Loki carried himself, it didn’t feel like this was the end.

“Aren’t you curious what he experimented on, using my soul?”

Crackle!

Behind Loki, a red light began to rise. Forming a single halo-like ring, it glowed as if it were a sacred radiance.

But I could tell that the light was incomplete.

The ring of light spinning in a loop wasn’t connected. It simply rotated as if each end was chasing the other.

“Ouroboros.”

An infinite cycle.

“Why don’t you take this opportunity to see what he’s really after?”

With Loki’s sneer, the rotating Ouroboros began to shine.

The spinning light….along with it, the world itself began to twist, as if being sucked into a vortex.

My instincts screamed a warning.

That must be stopped. And to do that…

“We have to kill him!”

“What…?”

I pressed Theseus.

But in the end, Theseus didn’t swing his sword.

Ugh, I didn’t expect much anyway.

***

After the red light of Ouroboros swallowed the world—

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the Damus Territory.

“What are you doing, Johan? Come on, let’s go!”

And right next to me was Alice, smiling brightly as she ran ahead.

The moment I saw her, I immediately began rummaging through my coat.

“Wait! Hold on! It wasn’t me!”

“Oh, really?”

I quietly set down the Book of Lemegaton, which I had been about to slam into the ground.

It really seemed like the kind of crap this bastard would pull, but I guess not this time.

Still, sharp little thing.

“I mean, the book’s not the real body anyway. Wouldn’t it be fine to smash it on the ground a little?”

“Don’t you frown when there’s static on your radio?”

“Oh, that kind of thing?”

Huh. Learned something new today.

Well, putting that aside, let’s try to get a handle on the situation.

I remember the world twisting as the Ouroboros created by Loki spun fiercely.

Then this must definitely be a result of that. But there’s no way someone like Loki actually created a whole world, so in the end, this was probably more like an illusion.

Since Loki mentioned Faust’s experiment, it was safe to assume this was a landscape created by the great sage Faust.

Like that so-called paradise Kult made in the past, or the strange world Mephistopheles conjured up.

Each of those bastards had their own vision of an ideal world, and I guess they all wanted to show it off in their own way.

“At this point, you’ve milked the idea dry. I can’t even cry about it anymore, you bastards.”

But now, I was just sick of it.

Even seeing Alice like this again didn’t stir anything in me.

It used to make my heart ache. Now it just made me sigh.

“What are you doing? Johan. I said hurry up!”

“You know, I don’t know if it’s my fault or theirs, but you really are going through a lot.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Go on ahead, Alice. I’ll catch up in a bit.”

“Oh! Are you planning a surprise party or something? Then I’ll totally look forward to it, okay? Super excited~!”

“……”

Now when I look at Alice, I feel a different kind of pity than before.

To think she ended up like this because she got engaged to the wrong guy. Even in death, she’s stuck like this. I really have no right to face her.

“Wow! There’s so much ham in this today! If you don’t come soon, I’m eating it all!”

Sitting on the green grass, nibbling on a sandwich she’d packed as a snack.

In the end, I guess what I longed for was just this. This trivial, peaceful moment in everyday life.

Man, I really am a small-minded guy.

“Or maybe you just really like that young girl a bit too much?”

“Can you be a little more careful with your choice of words?”

“Hmph, did I say anything wrong?”

“Yeah.”

I could get into serious trouble, so don’t go around saying stuff like that.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do about this situation.

“What do you think I should do? Give me a hint or something. You’re the one with experience.”

“If you chant the spell ‘Stop, O moment!’ you can escape.”

“You’re not even trying to lie anymore, you bastard.”

At least make an effort.

You’ve gone beyond repeating the same lines. Now you don’t even have a routine.

“Lie? I’ve always spoken the truth. It’s not like I’ve said anything wrong, have I, Johan Damus?”

“That’s not something we can be sure of. Looking at how you’ve been lately, I’m not hopeful. Be honest. If I make a contract with you, can you really break this illusion?”

“What?!”

You know I can’t trust you these days, right?

For a so-called great demon, you’ve been nothing but a disgrace lately.

“I’d appreciate it more if you recognized how much I’m able to intervene even without a contract.”

“Just because the downside is guaranteed doesn’t mean the upside is.”

“What?! What?! What the hell—!”

Mephistopheles was at a loss for words.

But honestly, I really don’t know. Just how powerful is this guy, anyway? Is he even that strong?

The ability to stop time was certainly attractive, but if that’s all there is, it’s hard to see much value in it.

Even if I could stop time right now, would I even be able to leave a scratch on the great warrior’s skin? There are monsters in this world like that.

When Yuna had me imprisoned, stopping time wouldn’t have helped me break out of that cell either, right?

In the end, if that’s all it is, it’s just pearls on a pig’s neck.

It can’t be helped. My fighting power was just that poor.

“What a joke. You really think my power is only at that level?”

“Talk is cheap. By that logic, I could beat the emperor too, you bastard.”

“Hmph. It’s a lame trick, but I suppose letting this slide would hurt my pride. I’ll be generous and tell you how to escape this illusion.”

Mephistopheles rubbing himself over something I hadn’t even said. That’s exactly the problem. It’s this kind of behavior that makes him so hard to trust.

Anyway, if he’s willing to tell me how to get out of here, I’ll take it.

“These kinds of illusions always have a core.”

“Like the Queen of Hearts?”

“Exactly. Illusions like this can be broken simply by destroying their center.”

“So where is the center?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know. You already have the answer, don’t you?”

Mephistopheles chuckled.

Right. At this point, there’s no way I don’t know.

“You want me to kill Alice?”

“What? Can’t do it? Didn’t you say you don’t even feel anything for her anymore?”

“This is different.”

Even if it weren’t Alice, I’d still hesitate.

If she were some clear villain, maybe it’d be easier….but who wouldn’t hesitate to kill such an innocent little girl? Anyone with a shred of humanity would.

“There’s no other way?”

“Unless you can grasp the true meaning of this world. If you do, you may naturally arrive at the answer.”

“What a load of vague nonsense.”

Well, of course. There’s no way this guy would just hand me good advice.

No matter how he acts, deep down he wants to see me cornered.

He was convinced that was the only way I would agree to make a contract with him.

And to be fair… he wasn’t exactly wrong.

If I truly couldn’t find an answer no matter what I tried, then maybe I would’ve considered making the contract.

But not yet.

“Guess I’ll take a look around first.”

What was the meaning of this illusion?

If I thought about it simply, it was probably something meant to show me my happiest moments.

A pretty effective way to mess with someone’s mental state,too.

Still, I had to consider the intent behind it.

The one behind all this was Faust, wasn’t it?

Under Chain and the Great Sage Faust. If I thought about what that guy wanted, it was probably a world without death.

“Ha…”

That’s when I spotted a middle-aged man in the distance waving at me.

A middle-aged man wearing work clothes stained with grease and grime, and had a face marked by fatigue, yet his smile lit up his face. He ran towards me.

I froze when I saw him, and after a brief hesitation, I ran a hand down my face in despair.

“Wow, this is just…”

I’d imagined a lot of scenarios. Since this was a world without death, it made a kind of sense that Alice would appear.

“But this is just too much.”

Still, I had to admit it.

This one hit me where I least expected.

“Have you eaten? I brought some Sundae.”

“……”

“You like Sundae, right?”

Even after a hard day of exhausting work, he smiled so brightly.

“What’s wrong, son? Did something happen at school today?”

My father from my past life.

The moment I saw the face I thought I’d never see again, a hollow laugh escaped from me before I even realized it.