The Story of an Arrogant Succubus Princess Who Always Looked Down on Humans as Mere Food, Until She Fell in Love With an Ordinary Man - Chapter 42

“…! What is this presence…!”

A piercing sound echoed from the kitchen. Asbel, who had been brewing tea, accidentally dropped the teacup to the floor. It was as if his heart had been seized all at once. Not even on those hellish battlefields had he ever felt such a presence.

“Is it that Pixie?!”

Asbel burst through the door, rushing back to the room where Liliana was waiting. And there…he saw it.

“…”

Those red eyes made even Asbel, feared as the Iron Demon, instinctively take a step back. Hair as white as pure snow—not a sign of age, but a symbol of unstained purity. For a moment, Asbel didn’t recognize this girl.

“Could it be…Lili?”

The hair, the eyes, the atmosphere—all were completely different. But her outfit and, more importantly, the ring on her finger were the ones he had given her yesterday.

“What…what did you do to Lili?”

Asbel glared at the Pixie standing blank-eyed beside Liliana. But she only laughed.

“Oh, Lady Liliana! How beautiful you are! Your soul, untouched by the corruption of humanity! Ahaha…Ahahahahaha!”

Mimi kept laughing, her broken laughter ringing out. Liliana didn’t seem to notice Mimi’s twisted state or Asbel’s presence. She simply stared into empty space with transparent eyes, lost.

“Lili, can’t you hear me? You’re…not hurt, right?”

Unable to grasp the situation, Asbel slowly moved toward Liliana. As he approached, Liliana—or rather, the white-haired girl—spoke in an icy voice.

“…How bothersome.”

“…!”

In an instant, the room vanished, blasted away. The impact was like a bomb exploding right in front of him, sending Asbel flying out of the mansion and rolling across the grassland.

“…Damn, I let my guard down.”

Asbel wasn’t injured. The shock was enough to kill an ordinary person, but his body could withstand far more than this. He glared irritably at the sky, where a single girl hovered. She had Liliana’s white hair and wings, gazing down with arrogant eyes, as if she ruled this world.

This was no longer Liliana. Asbel didn’t know the cause or the method, but that Pixie had done something to Liliana. Understanding that much, he clicked his tongue and stood up.

“A monster…”

What was this girl, who sent shivers down his spine just by being there? How could he bring Liliana back? Asbel had no idea what to make of the situation. Well, except for one thing—he knew he couldn’t leave things like this.

“No problem. I swore to protect you. I won’t leave you alone, no matter what.”

Asbel kicked off from the ground, moving with such speed it seemed he’d vanished. The average demon wouldn’t even see him coming.

“…!”

But with a mere wave of her hand, the girl sent Asbel flying to a nearby mountain. Even as the strongest warrior, he was just a human in the face of godly power.

“…Magic? No, there’s no sign of any preparation…”

Spitting out blood-stained saliva, Asbel got back up. His body was covered in cuts, but even a hundred such attacks wouldn’t be enough to kill him. So, if there was an issue, it was…

“She probably doesn’t even think she’s attacking…”

Asbel chuckled softly and kicked off from the ground once more, only to be flung back again, even harder this time.

“So, that’s it. She’s a mass of pure magic.”

Now, Asbel understood what the girl—who had once been Liliana—was doing. Magic, the energy circulating through the world, usually involved formulas to create various effects. Asbel had no aptitude for magic, but he’d learned the basics as a knight.

The girl before him was handling magic without any formulas, treating it purely as energy. Asbel knew of no species capable of such a feat—not even a Pixie skilled in magic could manage it.

And above all, she didn’t recognize Asbel as an enemy. She saw him as little more than an insect to be swatted away. But if she ever did see him as an enemy…

The girl just kept staring into the distance, as if searching for something. She looked defenseless, yet Asbel’s battlefield instincts were screaming at him: this was dangerous.

“It doesn’t matter…!”

Even so, Asbel kicked off the ground again. Over and over, he charged toward the girl he had sworn to protect, reaching out his hand. No matter how many times he was blown back, no matter how much pain wracked his body, he refused to stop.

“What is that man…”

Mimi, the Pixie responsible for this disaster, muttered to herself. She thought she had freed Liliana from cruel humans. Even if Ilias’ charm had been at play, she had clearly seen Asbel as an enemy.

So, Mimi had expected to laugh as she watched humans cower and flee before divine power. She thought human feelings meant that little.

Yet this man, oblivious to the situation, wouldn’t stop. He kept running, reckless and desperate, striving only to stay by Liliana’s side.

She remembered Liliana’s smile—the one she’d never shown Mimi, a smile full of happiness. Surely, Liliana must have fallen for his determination.

For the first time, Mimi understood Liliana’s feelings. But still, her feelings didn’t change…no, she couldn’t change them.

“…It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter!!!”

Mimi screamed. She didn’t care about Asbel’s feelings or his way of life. She didn’t care about Ilias’ plans, Keydrec’s ideas, or the issues of human kingdoms. Even if this world perished, none of it mattered.

“Lady Liliana has to be my princess, and mine alone!”

The girl screamed, her voice cracked and broken. Asbel, oblivious to Mimi’s fury, continued his charge toward Liliana with relentless determination.

“I made it…!”

At last, Asbel’s hand touched Liliana’s shoulder. He reached to embrace her, but before he could, the girl spoke.

“…Don’t touch me so familiarly, human.”

The girl finally recognized Asbel as an enemy. The power of a god, the reenactment of the divine ritual said to destroy the world. Just a fraction of her power.

The girl spoke.

“▪️▪️▪️▪️”

In a divine language that modern beings couldn’t pronounce, her magic was beyond anything Asbel, seasoned as he was, had ever seen.

“────!”

A brilliant flash of lightning burst from her wings, erasing a nearby mountain and piercing through Asbel’s body.

“…Guh!”

An impact unlike any he had felt before. Even Asbel, as tough as he was, couldn’t stay standing, let alone keep his consciousness, after such a blow.

“L…Lili…”

Blood was pouring out, far beyond fatal. Still, Asbel desperately reached out, trying to stand. But he slipped and fell on the blood-soaked ground.

“Ah…ah…”

For the first time, he heard the footsteps of death. Though he’d survived countless battles that were like hell, he’d never felt such a clear sense of death. Yet even now, he reached out without stopping.

“L…Lili…”

His hand, reaching for an unreachable star, grasped nothing. The demon of the battlefield lay sprawled on the ground, unable to rise again.

“I…I will…never…”

There, Asbel’s consciousness faded. In the secluded mountain wilderness, no one was around to save him—only the beasts lurked, waiting for his flesh.

Thus, a warrior who fought not for righteousness but for a single girl collapsed, drowning in his own blood.