What exactly did the gods see? Would I be able to recognize whatever surprised them as well? I felt anxiety rise within me, but I swallowed it down and took the remaining five steps to stand before the well.
"Don't get too close. It's not safe," Reed warned, though he sounded relaxed and mildly intrigued instead of truly worried, like someone posing a riddle to be answered.
I looked into the well and noticed the dark water neither reflected my silhouette nor any glimmer of light at all. It seemed as if it led into an abyss or the night sky itself, appearing not to be a well but a vast and empty black hole. In fact, the gentle counter-clockwise movement of the water almost made it seem like a gate.
That's when a sudden epiphany hit me like a clap of thunder.
A gate. Yes, that's what it is. I finally understood the design of the Altar of Chaos. It was a dungeon within a dungeon. In other words...
It's a double-layered dungeon!
Reed spoke tauntingly, his tone carrying a smirk, "Do you get it now?"
Of course. I could finally see through the structure of the dungeon and what Reed wanted out of it. The well was a gate that led to the other dungeon, and where that would be now seemed obviousâthe Cradle of Chaos and Evil. The sea of dark tornadoes. That's where Tesilid Argente threw himself during Loop One Hundred to sacrifice himself on behalf of the rest of the world.
In the original story, Reed sought to destroy the world by causing a dungeon burst in the Cradle of Chaos and Evil in that same Loop. But now, he created a double-layered dungeon to trigger two dungeon bursts at once, and his motive for doing so was quite clear. Dungeon bursts boost the power of the dungeon master.
So, it was his plan to amplify the powers of Chaos and Evil to wipe out all humans from the world. It made my blood curdle to think how his plan had become far more elaborate than the one mentioned in the original story.
"I don't believe this."
"So you understand. You are indeed quite intelligent," he said snidely.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Oh. I thought you'd be happy for me."
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Of course," he said, as if the answer should be obvious. "Do you really expect me to be sane?"
There wasn't much I could say to that.
"This is the best way to make sure I stop returning once and for all."
I bit down on my lips as I stared into his eyes, now filled with madness and desperation. Not only did he fail to see sense, but he also refused to listen. Then Reed suddenly tilted his head, as if hearing something from a distance.
"We got what we came for, so we'd better get going," he said. "Karpeios will soon be here."
Wham!
Reed swiftly brought out the demonic sword and destroyed a section of the stairs. The outer shell fell apart, revealing the turbulent vortex of subspace within the walls. It was just like the rift I noticed on the way here.
"If you accidentally fall into this rift, you will end up between the Demon Realm and its dumpster. However..." Reed trailed off and glanced downward. I could tell he was staring at my right hand. "The mark Inferinos made on you will work as a bridge and take you back to the court."
Marchioness Levant had explained how the mark would work on the way here as well. The distorted half moon on my right hand was not only a sign of the deal we had made, but, as Reed just mentioned, it also served as a connection to a specific location when warping through space.
"It was nice to see you again, Ailette Rodeline."
I didn't say anything in return.
"You seem to say less and less every time we meet. Don't I even get a goodbye this time?"
I don't understand myself, either. What should I say to him? Should I even smile?
He curled his lips into a grin. "That's fine. We will soon see each other again anyway."
Was that his wishful thinking or a revelation of his schemes? Reed extended his hand toward me. I expected him to push me into the rift, but instead he reached over my head. It was only then that I remembered the dark purple Dead Man's Flower was still there. The demonic energy flowing out of him burned away its root and stem, after which, he took the flower in his hands.
"Let me take this," he said.
Since he didn't bother asking my permission, I didn't bother giving it. I slowly walked toward the rift. It was only when I was about to step inside that I managed to say something at all.
"Bye."
I didn't linger to hear his well-wishes. Everything started spinning as my body got pulled back into the darkness of the demonic courthouse.
â
"Yeah... Bye."
Reed's delayed response never reached Ailette, but he continued to stare at the spot where she had been standing. The image of her lingered in his mind for some reason, perhaps because she had been wearing something quite different from usual today.
He slowly turned his gaze downward. His mind unwillingly drifted off as he looked at the cut flower in his left hand. The memories of a distant past started playing back in his head. The thousand tiresome years he had lived through had chipped away most of his memories, but some still remained intact, such as the memories of his life prior to his many returns.
He remembered how a girl with pink pigtails insisted on meeting Count Orshe with the dark purple Dead Man's Flower on her head. He also recalled how he got mad and taunted her willingness to sacrifice herself.
"You're not a saint, or even remotely special. There's no reason for you to sacrifice yourself for some strangers that you've never even met."
Little did he know at the time that she was the saintess the religious order had been searching for. Oh, how embarrassed he had felt when everything was finally revealed. It reminded him how naive he had been.
Then he turned his gaze to the other hand. He still held the demonic sword he had summoned to create the rift of subspace so that Ailette could leave. She had also been there when he acquired this sword. He had just turned twenty and was hopelessly weak at the time. He had been pitifully beaten for hours by a man possessed by the demonic sword until Ailette miraculously appeared out of nowhere and saved him.
How I wish I had died back then instead. But his mild resentment toward his rescuer barely lasted a second. If he had died prior to the point of return, the universe would have simply canceled the occurrence by turning a day back in time.
Ailette probably knew about the rather deceptive "daily rollback" function as well. Did he have any right to resent or hate Ailette Rodeline at all? He was a mortal when he had desperately struggled to survive on the mound of dead bodies. The man she saved was not Reed, who seeks death every second of his existence, but Tesilid Argente, who longed for salvation.
In other words, she had given him exactly what he sought at the time. She saved him from his impending demise, and he would never forget how she battled death itself for his sake. Nonetheless, the resulting sentiments were practically forced on him, were they not? In fact, after saving him, she had simply vanished.
The sense of longing and loss eventually gave way to desperation. The sentiment should have only lasted as long as the seasonal flu in wintertime ever did, but it turned into an illness from which he never fully recovered. That is to say, it persisted throughout the thousand years of his lifetimes.
It was the perfect scheme. The universe gave him a taste of his only hope and salvation by forcing her upon him. It made sure he would never forget her, nor be able to live without her. It didn't matter whether it was out of love or obsession because, whichever it was, it left him with no choice. It would've made him willingly walk down the path of despair, even if it indeed was a trap conceived by the Strict Order and Goodness.
You made me want to keep you by my side. It's your fault. The red gem embedded in his demonic sword suddenly started trembling. He remembered how it had once done that when he held the Holy Demon Sword for the very first time, and how Ailette had handed him the sword without a moment of hesitation. She knew it would eventually corrupt him, but she still handed him the Holy Demon Sword on account of his goodness at the time.
"I'm in your hands if I turn out like Sir Ilion."
"There's no chance of that happening, so don't you worry."
"You believe in me?"
"Yeah."
"I suppose it's only fair that I repay that trust."
Swish!
Reed flicked the demonic sword in a downward motion. The sword made a loud crack and vaporized into thin air. He then asked a question as if Ailette was still with him.
"Do you still believe in me, Ailette Rodeline?"
There was a cold smile on the face of the handsome man, the man who was bound to kill more people than he already had. His perfectly-shaped nose touched the pistil of the Dead Man's Flower, which had a scent far too sweet and fragrant for a flower with such a gruesome name. Unfortunately, he wasn't given the luxury of appreciating it in silence/ He rolled his eyes to the right, where the space had distorted to reveal a face he despised.
"Great Chaos and Evil. I didn't realize you were here."
Reed did not answer.
The demon had blond hair which turned crimson toward the ends. It was Karpeios, the master of the Abyssal Dunes. The demon's face never failed to remind Reed of the long-standing bad blood between them. All the horrible things the returner had to endure before the Loops began were caused by Karpeios, including his very first murder.
"Ah. You've become quite the butcher, silver beast."
Karpeios was one of the few beings that made him swear when he had been forced to watch his language due to the commandment of the seven heavenly virtues and seven deadly sins. The hatred that was branded into his brain re-emerged every time he saw the demon's face. These emotions were beyond Reed's control, and he hated them because it made him feel like he was back to his weak, helpless self.
The irony of it all was that the demons no longer recognized him for who he used to be once he turned into Chaos and Evil.
"Oh!"
Karpeios could hardly breathe upon raising his gaze to see the flower in Reed's hand. The dark purple Dead Man's Flower had been cut from its stem. Karpeios' new darling pet was dead before he could even cherish it for a day.
"That's the dark purple Dead Man's Flower!"
Karpeios wasn't one to stay still after losing the object of his desire and obsession. Fierce winds immediately rose around him and sent his blond hair flying upward. His eyes turned red and the veins around his eyes started twitching as he revealed his true form as a Demon Lord.
The ground trembled and the walls of the Sacred Tomb shook in fear. It seemed as though the Demon Lord might destroy the world with his power. But it wasn't to be.
"Why... did you decide to cut its stem, great Chaos and Evil?"
He was up against the foundation of all demons. The fear and admiration for Chaos and Evil built into the souls of all demons swiftly calmed Karpeios down.
Reed stopped himself from wanting to laugh out in scorn. Instead, he spoke indifferently. "I liked what I saw. That's why I cut it."
"Oh... I see... It is yours to cut, of course. I'm glad it made you happy, your malevolence."
"Good."
"But... may I ask what you did with its pot?"