Chapter 254 — 제라이츠
Chapter 254
Zeraitz
Rumble, rumble!
Boom!
KRA-KRA-KRAK—
In the ceaselessly spreading storm of thunder and lightning, Lapis and Lazuli were hurled out helplessly, bodies half-ruined.
‘How on earth…!’
Lapis, in particular, could not make sense of any of this.
‘How did he even find where we were?’
No wonder she thought that, for the scroll crafted by two Demon Lords was supposed to be impossible to “hack.”
She and Lazuli were that accomplished in magic. From the Grigori doctrine that began with Azazel to the arcane lore passed down among humans—there was hardly a branch of knowledge they hadn’t mastered.
In fact, when she had lived under a false identity, Lapis had even worked as an arcane scholar.
So even if Elric really was a “Merbinger,” she never imagined he could breach the magical system she’d devised this easily.
Even if he could, she’d figured it would take a very long time.
At least a year or two. Six months at the absolute shortest?
And even that assumed he threw away every other task and did nothing but decode her system.
Which, reasonably, meant it was effectively impossible.
Yet—
It had actually happened.
Elric had gone beyond mere decryption and had even pinpointed their coordinates.
It was absurd.
‘Unless the Iceflower has returned!’
A figure that lived on in legend even among the Grigori. If it were Iceflower Mia, right hand of Otto Han, progenitor of the Merbinger line, then perhaps she could have unraveled Lapis’s magic system—that much Lapis had vaguely allowed for.
After all, much of the system Lapis had built had been inspired by records Mia had left behind.
But no matter how she turned it over in her mind, no firm conclusion presented itself.
There were limits to her reasoning when she didn’t even know that the members of the Six of Winter were with Elric as Guardians.
‘We have to run!’
Lapis and Lazuli were nothing like battle-mad Reda or the brute-force Belot.
They prided themselves on being strategists, not fighters; they judged they had no chance in a straight fight against Elric.
The sigil embedded in Lapis’s back glimmered a dusky light.
Demonic energy welled at her fingertips and a magic circle blossomed. She meant to teleport.
But—
【Be Blocked.】
Crack!
At the low murmur, the circle blooming at Lapis’s hand shattered at once.
‘What?’
Shock flashed across her face.
【Howl.】
As the storm of heat died, a blizzard swept in.
The temperature plunged toward absolute zero, and from the heavens ice arrows and hail poured without respite.
Thup-thup-thup!
“Kyaaaa!”
Holes punched through Lapis’s head and torso alike, and she shrieked.
And then—
Fwoosh!
Elric appeared behind her.
Like a wraith, scattering ghostlight.
【Extend.】
The ice dust drawn into Elric’s grasp coalesced into spears. A long, narrow blade bored straight through Lapis’s right breast.
Thunk!
Coughing blood, Lapis was nailed to the ground.
She wanted to scream, but oddly, no sound came.
Whether she’d injured her vocal cords, or simply lost too much blood—she couldn’t tell. Either way, the pain seemed to double.
“Spa… spare…!”
Lapis stared up at Elric as he looked down on her, cold and impassive, and her arms trembled.
Had she ever felt pain like this?
She had—before she became a Demon Lord, when she’d been nothing but a vessel.
But after ascending? Never. She’d almost never fought this violently, either.
She’d always been busy weaving schemes from the rear.
In Lapis’s eyes, every human in this world was just a piece on a chessboard, easy to move.
Especially the men, who were always busy currying favor with her looks—when crisis came, there was always someone ready to throw himself down as her sacrifice.
Even Elric Merbinger, beguiled by appearances, should be no different.
And yet—
‘At this rate, I might really die!’
Lapis realized she was sunk in a mire of death.
Those were the eyes of a predator.
Gazing at a tasty piece of prey—
‘Was it true he could absorb sigils?’
Shiver—
Lapis’s whole body shook. In the instant Elric’s hand closed over her face, the only thought she had was that she wanted to live.
So she wanted to beg for her life, somehow.
But for some reason, no voice left her lips.
Even with damaged vocal cords, she could have tried to speak with hands and feet.
The terror clawing up to her throat, though, smothered speech—and even the will to debase herself for survival.
Was she really going to be done in like this?
She had only just regained her freedom—was she going to die, empty and helpless?
Then a thought flashed through her.
‘The Anomaly…?’
If she used the thing she’d meant to give the Crown Prince of Zeraitz on herself instead—might she have a chance?
But the Anomaly had a fatal flaw.
Once mutation occurred, there was no going back.
You could never reclaim your self.
That made her hesitate for a heartbeat.
“Idiot.”
“…!”
“If you were going to pull that out, you should’ve done it ages ago.”
By the time she made up her mind, it was far too late.
Her demonic energy wouldn’t budge.
A Lock had somehow been set.
And that was the last thought she had in life.
“Sp—!”
Crunch!
Lapis’s head burst.
【Be Absorbed.】
A shadow slipped out of Elric and spread in all directions. Huge bestial fangs sprouted and ravenously tore into what remained of Lapis’s corpse.
Crunch, crunch—
At last, something tasty.
Leaving Hyul’s mutter behind him, Elric slowly straightened and turned.
“L-Lady Lapis…!”
“Elric Merbinger, how did you…?”
Demons who’d gathered at the commotion stood around, faces rigid.
They’d watched a Demon Lord slain far too easily; terror had them by the throat.
A few tried to run.
【Manifest.】
Tzzzt—
At the incantation of Manifest, Guardians rose along the broad sheets of shadow spread across the ground, and the demons found themselves unable to budge.
“Clear them all.”
No sooner had Elric finished speaking than the Guardians fell on the demons as one.
“Aaaargh!”
Screams rang the air.
* * *
“This it? I didn’t even get any fun. Weren’t you going to keep me entertained?”
Once Lapis was fully absorbed, a grumble from King Yulho echoed in Elric’s head.
He was full of complaint at not having had a chance to step in.
“What would you gain from swatting small fry?”
“It kills time!”
“Stop acting like a child.”
“Next one—give it to me!”
“No.”
“Aw, why!”
“Just because.”
“Damn it!”
Elric couldn’t help a wry smile; the once-dignified King Yulho seemed to be turning into a kid.
‘Mephi seems swamped.’
He glanced at Mephisto, who still hadn’t gathered himself, and smirked, then narrowed his eyes again.
Of the two Demon Lords he’d picked up, one had slipped away.
But Elric had let that one go on purpose.
To drive the herd.
‘There’s only one place he’ll run.’
Now that he’d set things in motion, it made sense to end it in one sweep.
Besides, beyond this lay an existence Elric himself couldn’t yet guarantee he could beat.
‘So I need to squeeze harder. So they can’t twitch.’
His eyes sank.
And then—
Fwoosh!
He moved again, following the fleeing Lazuli.
* * *
“Ba… tu!”
Batu looked down, indifferent, at the female Demon Lord who suddenly dropped at his feet.
He looked as if he’d already gone through one bout of a surge, soaked in blood as though he’d bathed in it.
But his eyes were colder and sharper than ever.
“Help me, Batu!”
Had she been her usual, keen-eyed self, Lazuli would have noticed at once that Batu’s mood was nothing like usual.
But she was running for her life from Elric.
And the fear that Elric might appear again at any moment kept her from regaining her composure.
“What is it?”
“Elric! Elric Merbinger is on my heels!”
“Merbinger? He’s been hounding me and my clan all this time, and he got that far already?”
“Yes! So help—urk!”
Lazuli couldn’t finish. She kept sneaking glances at the teleport gate she’d slipped out of, in case Elric followed her through—and then her breath simply stopped.
At some point Batu had clamped a brutal hand around the back of her neck and was holding her up, dangling in the air.
“Why…!”
She could only stare at Batu, demanding to know why.
His face stayed blank, but his eyes told another story.
Naked hostility.
She’d taken him for an ally; the shock was only natural.
“You’re no use to me anymore.”
“…!”
“You lot only ever saw me as something useful, too. So we’re even, aren’t we?”
“N-no, that’s not—!”
A chill crawled down her spine and she tried to coax him somehow, but Batu’s flat tone didn’t change.
“And I’ve long been curious.”
One corner of Batu’s mouth curled.
“In the distant past, dragons and demons were enemies. So what happens if you mix their blood?”
Lazuli couldn’t force the words out.
No, you’ve got it wrong—that’s what she wanted to say.
But somehow her tongue wouldn’t work.
Fear.
The feeling a Demon Lord was supposed to inspire in ordinary humans, she was tasting herself.
It was probably because of the dragon’s pupils now gleaming in Batu’s eyes.
Staring into those vertically slit, reptilian pupils, her already-blank mind only grew paler.
“The thirst from dragonblood was driving me mad as it was. You came at just the right time.”
No!
She wanted to say it, but before she could, Batu’s remaining left hand had already separated her torso from her head.
Splat!
Blood and spinal fluid poured down in sheets.
Batu opened his jaws like a crocodile tearing at prey in a swamp and swallowed it all.
Gulp!
Gulp!
With every bob of his Adam’s apple, the Demon Lord’s blood poured into his gut.
Crunch.
But even that didn’t satisfy him. He lightly crushed what remained of Lazuli’s skull and devoured the rest of her brains and flesh.
The Mage Who Devoured Talent