Chapter 44: Ziffnel, the Angel of Love VII (part 2)

‘After the small wedding, I was always worried that he might cheat on me.’  

Even in the moment when she was facing her end, she had tried to hold onto him with harsh words—words she still regretted to this day.  

Cecil Lionelta was that kind of woman.  

A woman madly in love, who had devoted her entire life to Julius Tapnel, the man who had stolen her heart at first sight.  

The woman who had willingly sacrificed herself, enduring hardship just to keep her love from being taken away, now faced someone who was like a younger sister to him.  

She raised her fist at Thalia, as if venting her anger.  

“I know. I know I’m already dead—that I’ve become a filthy devil and appeared before him in such a disgusting way!”  

But still, it had to be this way. It couldn’t happen without him—without Julius.  

“My heart is being torn apart!”  

Cecil, pounding her fists on the black-haired heretic inquisitor as her eyes turned red, clenched her teeth and stretched out her pale legs to kick Thalia away.  

The girl rolled on the ground as if she’d been flung aside.  

However, her eyes remained resolute. 

Julius’s wife, who even felt a tinge of fear at the sight, raised her small hand and pointed at Thalia, summoning another devil.  

“…Come on. I have to get rid of you now, or Julius is going to leave me—leave for good.”  

So fight for me, Langsahil.  

Dag-dak── Dag-dak── 

A sound echoed, like the pounding of hooves striking the ground.  

An incomprehensible vibration pulsed beneath Thalia’s legs as she turned, only to obliterate the black giant charging at her—its gaping mouth ready to devour her—with a single blow.  

“…What a filthy devil. What trick have you pulled this time?”  

A bead of cold sweat ran down her cheek, falling onto the dark, muddy shadow-soaked ground.  

The origin of the hoofbeats—unclear until now—was finally revealed.  

Kwasik──

Avoiding it had been pure luck.  

No, had her shadow not seized her leg with an odd motion and dragged her back, she surely would’ve suffered a fatal blow.  

A devil had suddenly emerged from the swamp of shadows, attempting to tear out the girl’s throat.  

Long ago, a high-ranking devil had invaded Heaven’s stables, hunted a unicorn, defiled her purity, and despised her chastity.  

The one who stabbed to kill—Langsahil.  

A two-horned horse with a jet-black mane and a body taut with trembling muscles and veins.  

The sealed clone of a high-ranking devil born from the void, one that loathed pure love, had been released into the world by Cecil’s hand.  

[—Calm down. If you kill that child, my husband will hate you.]  

She was the only one who still clung to reason in this place where love, madness, and fear mixed together in a chaotic swirl.  

‘The Emperor’s Nightmare’ whispered constantly inside Cecil’s mind, in a voice like a mother scolding her child. But there was one mistake she had made.  

“…Husband, husband? Julius is my husband! No—mine! How dare you try to take what’s mine!”  

To make matters worse, Thalia—the woman who had ignited her anxiety—was standing right in front of her.  

Cecil, who normally would have smiled and ignored the whispering voice from the other half of her soul, could no longer tolerate it.  

She frowned, her lovely face twisting with rage, and screamed out an order to Langsahil.  

“Langsahil! Get rid of that thing in front of me right now! And get rid of this filthy devil in my head!”  

[—What are you doing? Don’t be foolish!]

A su!cidal move.

Despite the incomprehensible commands of the master who had summoned her, Langsahil simply snorted once and gathered demonic energy into a pair of horns proudly jutting from her head, ready to devour even the light. 

Strangely enough, she split her head in two and fired black magic energy equally at the women standing on either side of her.

“Aaah!”

“… Huh? Suddenly handing over the control of the body to me, you b*tch!”

The energy of the void flew equally toward both priestess and devil.

Thalia and Nirhil, who were struck by the dark red energy emitted by Langsahil, rolled around on the ground like twins.

“… I can’t give up to this extent, not to this extent. Brother Julius is my precious family before he is anything else! Even if I’m hated, I have to burn that body here. Only then—only then will my brother’s eyes be opened!”

Likewise, the woman who had gone insane—the black-haired girl, Thalia—slowly stood up from the ground, muttering strange words as if repeating prayers from earlier.

“… Yes, even if I die here…”

‘I will definitely punish that abominable devil.’

Her black eyes gleamed with such intensity that one couldn’t help but think they were tinged with madness.

In her body, where the power of loving-kindness once manifested, the last traces of it faded away, and an infinite flame began to swirl within her. 

Thalia’s body turned pink, like a flower’s petals unfolding to reveal their true colors.

Nirhil, who had been watching her young inquisitor’s flame burn with the intensity of setting her own heart ablaze, tapped her forehead—something she was now completely accustomed to—and withdrew into herself. 

She spoke to Cecil.

“… You are not very mature. Don’t you know Julius will never betray you? Thalia Ziffnel is more than just a girl who loves him—she is his only younger sister. If you try to kill her like this, he will hate you.”

“…It doesn’t matter. If I can’t have him, no one can.”

The ancient devil, sensing Cecil’s behavior even while she remained unconscious—spewing vicious words and radiating an aura like a drawn sword—finally sighed.

‘We are so different from each other, it seems the day we become completely one is still a long way off.’

“In the end, I am the one who can help him the most. After all, I am also Cecil Lionelta.”

“Hehehehe~”

No… looking at the devil laughing unpleasantly and muttering nonsense, it seemed like no one here was in their right mind.

“Be prepared! The Emperor’s Nightmare!”

Looking at Julius’s younger sister rushing toward her with her molars clenched and her life set aflame, the devil—radiating a leisurely, glamorous aura—brought her finger to her lips and let out a soft breath, as if extinguishing a candle.

“Now is the time to sleep.”

After—

Nirhil’s third power: Silent Dawn.

With the devil’s low whisper, the pink divinity that had spread infinitely, swallowing the entire land beneath their feet, vanished in an instant without a trace.

Despite that, Nirhil grabbed Thalia by the collar as she charged forward and slammed her to the ground. Nirhil gently lowered her head and whispered softly into the young inquisitor’s ear.

“Would you like to make a simple bet with me, young inquisitor?”

“Let go of me! Dirty devil, I am Inquisitor Thalia Ziffnel! The clergy of the Church of Telmere never give in to the whispers of evil!”

Thalia’s eyes even rolled back as she desperately tried to punch Cecil.

The brown-haired woman, who easily blocked the struggle with a black shadow, licked her lips once again and made a wager the young inquisitor couldn’t refuse.