My Childhood Friend the Demon Knight Hates Me - Episode 25: Elucidation
25 Elucidation
Translator: Lioness
Editor: Arya
The shattering sound of the spirit crystal seemed to upset Reiss greatly.
Fresh blood flowed from Reiss’s legs and arms, receiving the blades that had been exchanged without any concern.
When he called Reiss’s name, I almost rushed to him.
If Uur hadn’t held me back, “Don’t go, Suu!”, I might have recklessly jumped out of the blister barrier he had built for me and run into the rain of those black blades.
Reiss’s body turned lazily.
I hardly meditated without thinking.
I’m not sure why my mind instantly flashed with those memories with him, my childhood friend.
When we were still on good terms.
I silently sneaked from behind to watch Reiss train his swordsmanship with the help of Uncle Alan.
Reiss had already displayed his talent and was proud of his physical ability that could not be comparable to a normal child there, however he was still no match for Uncle Alan, who was also a well-known swordsman belonging to the former Knights corp.
Reiss rolled on the ground tons of times, but Uncle Alan just smirked at him while saying, “You can’t protect Suria like that.”
I was the only one who was watching over him, and I was on the verge of seating while wanting to say, “Oh, Uncle Alan, you’re going too far!” But I was busy cheering him on, “Best good luck, Reiss!”
Even though he was crawling on the ground and was covered in dirt, Reiss still glared up to him with his red eyes and tried to stand up quietly while holding his sword a bunch of times.
When I finally knocked his sword away and took one, I hid behind a wall and struck a gut pose by myself.
Yes, Reiss was surprisingly stubborn.
And he’s quite competitive, isn’t he?
—- A dull thud echoed through the air.
Simultaneously, the sound of the blade hitting the floor stopped.
As I opened my eyes fearfully, I could see Reiss standing on the floor, whilst breathing slightly hard, and pointing the tip of his sword at the man’s throat.
I wondered if he recovered and folded from there. The butterflies that had been flying around me were all gone.
Whatever this was, the winner was decided.
My tears had already stopped but the sight of Reiss being safe almost made me cry again. I’m really glad to see that although he was injured, it didn’t seem to be anything fatal.
“… You’re still weird. Why are you able to keep your sanity while ‘assimilating’ to that extent? What price did you pay? Or do you have to pay later and lose something big?”
“… Don’t talk out of the blue.”
“But I can’t just give up here either. Li is waiting for me. This time, I have to make her a spirit princess. Li, get Li to …, ggh!
Suddenly, the man let out a painful moan.
There was something wrong with him.
Reiss was also breathing hard on his shoulder instead, his wound, he held his chest tightly with his non-sword wielding hand and looked very sick. A thought of anxiety swelled within me.
Suddenly, the —- clatter of footsteps approached, and a familiar boy’s voice echoed from the warehouse entrance: “Get away from that man, Sir Knight!”
“Roa-kun?”
Roa-kun with five or six apostles appeared.
They all wore armbands with the shape of bells sewn in with gold thread on the sleeves of their usual white robes. I wonder if they were the apostles with strong spiritual power who could exorcise demons that Roa-kun mentioned before.
“You have to leave quickly! If we don’t hurry, the runaway will …!”
In the middle of Mr. Roa’s words, the man let out a single loud roar.
The butterfly pattern on the man’s chest appeared upside-down after the loud roar, melted into a slurry, from which a dark liquid poured out.
Reiss followed Roa’s instructions and jumped back from the man. The apostles ran to protect the kidnapped people, and Roa-kun also ran up to me, “Are you okay, Miss Suria?”
In the meantime, the amount of liquid was increasing and the area around the man turned into a black swamp.
This is … what?
“…The demon inside him is out of control. He has used too much of his power. Also, it seems that the contract itself was incomplete. … The black swamp created by the demon is trying to swallow the contractor’s soul because of the violation of the contract.”
“What? …Isn’t the contract between a possessed person and a demon supposed to be strong?”
“If the power of the demon is real, it is strong. Perhaps the demon who possessed him is just a third-rate … The ritual he was trying to do seems to be an anti-soul ritual, but the correct procedure I wonder if he taught him … It’s a guess, but a half-hearted demon messenger who has a grudge against the spirit messenger might have urged him to sign a contract and reward him. ”
“… I’m sorry. If that happens, we can’t save him,” Roa-kun closed his eyes along with his long eyelashes.
More likely from the very beginning, it seemed to be a difficult task to exorcise the assimilated demon-possessed, and looking at this situation, it was still unknown whether the apostles could remove the demon inside the criminal’s body. Roa-kun wanted to catch him alive and make a decent atonement, but he bites his lips with regret. It seems that he felt itchy because of his powerlessness.
“No, I hate it, why …!? The contract is different! I haven’t performed the ritual yet …! I should have passed the soul yet! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die! Devil I can’t meet Li if I’m eaten by him! I promised to make Li a spirit princess this time. I still have nothing to do with Li …! ”
Mercilessly, the black swamp swallowed up the man’s body with each cry of grief.
Both of his legs were already inside the bottomless swamp created by the demon which was spreading on the floor.
Reiss bounced away from the apostles’ rescue and reclined against the wall in the corner, looking at the man with such emotionless red eyes. It was hard to see his expression because it was dark and there was no moonlight, but his face was still pale. It seemed that the wound was not the only cause of concern, but the man’s horrible end had made me cower, and I was unable to move as if I were in a golden bind.
Although he was deceived, he was the one who begged the devil himself for the evil.
He was self-employed and had no sympathy, but … Still, he struggled to call his sister’s name, and he was in both vain and merciful.
No one would take the hand of a man reaching for help.
… Yes, I thought.
Everyone was able to stop moving with a sigh of breath and only watched the man sinking in the swamp.
Someone ran beside me and headed towards the man without any hesitation.