Chapter 72: Chapter 261

Tesilid wasn't the only one who felt something was amiss.

"Your Eminence?"

"Huh? What's going on?"

"What's happening to Her Eminence?"

"Ailette! Are you okay? What's the matter?"

They were beginning to realize the battle had shifted. Ailette gasped for breath. The mighty Divine Emissary, who had just unleashed a tremendous display of power, could hardly keep herself upright anymore.

She wedged Liv Lily into the ground and desperately held onto it for balance. Her body started changing with every strained breath, dark energy seeping out from her back and polluting the air.

"Is that demonic energy?!"

None of them could believe what they were seeing or make sense of it. The near-omniscient Divine Emissary seemed to share their sentiments. Her eyes had widened in shock. That's when the only being who knew what was happening appeared.

A dashing man with long, black hair walked across the oval arena in graceful strides. Unsurprisingly, he was moving toward the Divine Emissary.

"It's the dark mage knight!"

Everyone present on the battlefield shuddered in fright and anxiety as Reed approached their saintess. But Reed wasn't hostile, not against the Divine Emissary, at least. He spoke to the pink-haired woman, who was now desperately gasping for breath.

"You seem to be suffering."

Only then did she open her trembling eyes in silence and notice a man offering his hand right to her.

He then spoke in a sweet, tempting voice. "Shall I help you?"

✠

I immediately realized something wasn't right. I felt the stigmata being etched across my back. It seemed as though my heart was no longer mine, pounding violently against my rib cage like a foreign object trying to burst out of my body.

My first instinct was to resist. I tried to contain my energy as best as I could, but it wasn't enough.

«Ailette! What's happening?!»

The shock was apparent in Agnes' voice.

I could only hold on to Liv Lily for support and stare ahead of me as I struggled to keep myself upright. Fortunately, doing so gave me the pieces of the puzzle I needed to make sense of what was occurring around me because I could see demonic energy building up on the ground.

Why is this happening? The Demon Lord was already dead. So why was there a thick plume of demonic energy still emanating from that spot?

I can't be... A drop of cold sweat trickled down my chin. Right then, the energy within me immediately distorted into something violent.

⟬«System» Warning. You have met all requirements for [Accession to the Throne]. A hidden spell held within Liv Lily has been activated.⟭

The warning message caught my attention despite the terrible distress I was in.

A hidden spell? Nothing sounded more ominous than that. It immediately made me remember the description I had read about Liv Lily.

⟬Note: [Primordial Chaos] custom-made the weapon for you with great effort in hopes of corrupting you.⟭

I instantly understood that Reed had tampered with my weapon to cause this situation.

"Ugh!" I screamed out.

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World starts investigating.⟭

⟬The Advocate of Confidentiality scans all information in the original story.⟭

⟬The Eye Overseeing All Chaos looks for anomalies in the Cross Flory Lily Scythe.⟭

⟬The Scale that Judges Souls detects an abnormal transformation in your soul.⟭

⟬The Critic for Balance notices the balance of good and evil in this world has broken down.⟭

Every cell in my body screamed out in pain and alarm. The situation was getting worse by the second.

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World has completed their analysis.⟭

I could see more information popping up as my vision slowly faded.

⟬«System» The Holy Demon Scythe has reached its threshold. Unable to convert any more demonic energy.⟭

I see. Reed placed a maximum threshold on that item.

⟬«System» Stigma conversion for [Royal Command] has failed. The Dark Stigma will be inscribed as [Demon Lord's Command].⟭

The Demon Lord's power was etched on my back in its pure, unconverted form.

⟬«System» The powerful Dark Stigma corrupts other Stigmata.⟭

And the result of that promptly followed.

⟬«System» Warning! Your soul is being corrupted!⟭

⟬«System» Warning! Your soul is being corrupted!⟭

⟬«System» Warning! Your soul is being corrupted!⟭

So, you're dragging me down to where you are, Reed. In a flash, Liv Lily changed its outer form while I was still leaning on it. The smooth cross flory adorned with bright moonstones transformed into a jagged cross of black metal and red agate.

⟬«System» The Holy Scythe Liv Lily has turned into the Demonic Scythe Liv Lily.⟭

But it wasn't just the scythe. The parasitic weapon immediately began to affect its host. With my face looking down, I could see my hair turning black. I groaned out aloud. There wasn't anything I could do after I fell into his trap other than helplessly trying to withstand the pain.

Someone approached me.

"You seem to be suffering. Shall I help you?"

I had hardly noticed him coming. I gathered what strength I had remaining and raised my head.

"Reed..."

He surely looked the part of an endgame boss. The sinister schemer who plotted the whole thing donned a satisfied smirk on his face. I didn't know what to think because his face still looked gorgeous, even amidst everything else that was happening. So I decided to keep my silence.

He offered his hand to help, but I felt guarded against this gesture. Telling him to keep his hand away wasn't going to change anything, so I decided to question him instead.

"Is this... what you were... up to?"

My voice didn't sound nearly as intimidating as I hoped it would.

"Yeah."

"I knew... I had a bad feeling... about that gift of yours."

"But you still took it nonetheless. Thanks for that," he remarked dryly.

"Why are you trying... to corrupt me? Is this... what you meant to do?"

He put on an innocent face that made it seem like he would never hurt me but didn't provide any other response.

"Is this the salvation you talked about?" I asked. I hadn't forgotten what he told me in Anaxia's throne room.

"I've made my mind up, Ailette Rodeline. I'm going to save you."

"What?"

"I won't allow you to live your life as another one of God's puppets."

He offered me a satisfied grin.

"You remembered. That pleases me." His hand was much closer now. It almost felt as if he was a courteous gentleman offering to escort me out of my troubles. "Join me, and I will treat you as my queen."

"I'd hardly be a queen—"

"Or whatever you want to be treated as."

He didn't pay me any mind as he interrupted me, so I decided to keep my mouth closed. Anyway, I needed to conserve my strength and make preparations with any means possible. I had to do something.

"Let yourself fall from grace, Ailette Rodeline."

I tried to ignore him.

"Let your soul become corrupt and join me. You and I will live together in the ashes of the world."

His sweet whispers made me lose my composure, the words like music to my ears and a siren song to my mind. My legs finally gave way, bringing me to the ground on all fours. I clutched my chest and resisted the urge to rip out the organ hiding beneath my rib cage.

Right then, countless flying swords of light darted toward Reed. Unfazed, the dark mage knight summoned an equal number of aura blades and shot the incoming projectiles down. The plume of dust caused by the explosion soon subsided and revealed the stands on the other side.

⟬«System» Spectators in the losing stands will be penalized and taken to the Demon Realm's landfill.⟭

Inferinos' stands turned into a swamp of ghouls. Dark hands with sharp nails grabbed on to Tesilid's body and pulled him into the swamp.

"Allie!"

Tesilid continued fighting against the rules of the dungeon, even though his body was already covered in wounds. He flailed his arms in an effort to crawl over to me.

For the first time, the smile left Reed's face. "Sorry, Ailette Rodeline. We'll have to wrap this up before someone gets in the way."

Then, Reed unveiled the true motive of his right hand, which he had offered. He covered my eyes with his large, burning hands. Instead of resisting, I opened my mouth to speak.

"Tez."

But it wasn't meant for Reed.

"You trust me, right?"

I couldn't see how Tesilid was reacting to my words, since Reed was covering my eyes. Perhaps he was too far away to hear me at all. I was thinking along those lines when the darkness suddenly came over me.

⟬«System» Warning. [Primordial Chaos] has shattered your mental barrier.⟭

⟬«System» Warning. [Primordial Chaos] neutralizes the effects of the [Greater Love of the Voice that Shapes the Voice that Shapes the World].⟭

The intruder destroyed each barrier that maintained my sanity and broke into my mind.

«Ailette! No!»

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World shrieks and shouts your name.⟭

Right before I lost consciousness, I saw a message that read as follows:

⟬«System» A new Demon Lord has been born in your world.⟭

✠

That was, perhaps, the most glorious sight Reed had ever seen. Ailette Rodeline was still in his hold when her hair turned dark, and her eyes became crimson to match his own. It felt as though she had been dyed in his colors.

The moon in the sky changed shape as Ailette inherited Inferinos' powers. The blue distorted half moon disappeared, leaving only a thin slice of its silver outline in its wake. The new Demon Lord's symbol was a new moon, a sliver of a crescent in the night sky.

The Divine Emissary, or at least the person who had once been called that, slowly got up. She then walked over to the dark mage knight, the color of her hair and eyes now reflected in those of the man standing by her side.

People let out laments of disbelief as they witnessed the corruption of humanity's champion.

"No... I don't believe this..."

"She was the Demon Lord of which the dark mage knight foretold..."

They all assumed they would be fighting Inferinos, but they were proven wrong in the worst way possible.

Hestio cried out in horror, "It was Ailette!"