Volume 12 Chapter 31 Confession
Many demons have committed sins.
But they don't think much about it anymore. Nilfheim is hell. Those who oppress and those who are oppressed are all evil, so sin and punishment are just trivial matters.
While thinking such excuses, Kyrie was desperately running, protected by Wade's 3 wives.
"Wait for me~ everyone~♡ Give Rollo, Kyrie-oneesan~!"
Laughing creepily, Rollo kept chasing after them.
No matter how much the 3 protecting Kyrie shot magic, it didn't work. Even when they turned to attack, it was useless.
Illusions, illusions, and illusions.
It was unclear whether Rollo was really chasing them or if it was just an illusion. The situation continued with no understanding.
"Haah...! Haah...! Rollo, stop it!"
One of Wade's wives, Toxy, who seemed to use poison magic, challenged Rollo. She shot a blade of poison, slicing Rollo's body in half.
However, Rollo quickly reattached and laughed, "Toxy-sama is so rough~!" as she walked toward them.
"~~~~~~~."
"Toxy, you should give up. Ice's ice birds and my lightning were useless."
"Just like Sandra-chan said...! We have to conserve our strength and run until we understand the trick, Toxy-chan...!"
"Ugh... yeah...! What are we supposed to do now...!?"
Toxy gritted her teeth and started running again. Kyrie could only run in despair, knowing that the 3 who were much stronger than her were in a situation they couldn't handle.
Just like everyone else. Until they ran out of strength.
Until Jormungand fell, Kyrie and the others were able to stay hidden in their previous hideout.
However, Jormungand's movements were like a force of destruction. The rubble that flew from where it collapsed made the ruins where Kyrie and the others were hiding no longer a safe place.
Rollo found them precisely.
"———There!"
The first to notice was Sandra. As she turned around, she released a small electric shock. It exploded right behind Kyrie.
When Kyrie looked back in surprise, there stood Rollo, with singed hands. Rollo grimaced in pain and laughed, "Hehe~♡"
"Seriously, Sandra-sama's instincts are troublesome, aren't they~!"
She swung her arm. At the same time, Sandra's eyes went blank, and blood spurted out.
Right after that, Ice and Toxy each launched a magic attack. But it was already meaningless, as Rollo vanished, and this game of tag began.
"Hah, hah, hah...! W-Wait, is she still following us...!?"
Kyrie was desperately running, keeping pace with Ice at the front.
This was because, in terms of speed, Ice and Toxy were slower and couldn't escape effectively.
So, the fast and sharp-witted Sandra took the rear. Meanwhile, the order from the front was Ice, Kyrie, and then Toxy.
"Wait for me~♡ Hehe."
Rollo was chasing after Kyrie and the others at an incredible speed, as if she were just walking.
It's probably just a hallucination, maybe. But she can't tell what's real and what's not. Is what she's chasing completely fake, or is it a hallucination leading her on while the real thing is hiding and tracking her?
"Kyrie-san, over here...!"
Pulled by Ice, Kyrie jumped into a narrow alley.
Even as their bodies brushed against the walls a few times, the two of them ran desperately. While catching their breath, Ice said,
"Kyrie, please...! Hah, hah, can you close your eyes...!?"
"Eh? W-Why?"
"I have a distraction plan, but, haah, I don't want to be seen...! Please...!"
"O-Okay."
At this point, Kyrie was basically trusting her life to Ice and the others. So, Kyrie closed her eyes as she was told.
Running. Running. Running. After a while of being pulled along, she heard, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."
She opened her eyes. Ice ran a little further before starting to slow down.
Kyrie, feeling anxious, asked Ice,
"Um, Ice? Are you out of energy?"
"No... I noticed that the distraction plan worked and she's confused, so let's take a break...?"
Ice showed a somewhat relieved expression to Kyrie. If Ice said so, then it was probably true.
The two of them sat down in a small space behind some rubble and began to rest.
"...Ice. What about the other 2?"
"They're leading to different places to strengthen the distraction...!"
"I-I see..."
There is some distrust, but Ice was the only one who could match Rollo in their psychological battle. Kyrie decided that she had no choice but to trust her.
With that, Kyrie held her breath. As she stayed quiet, feelings of anxiety and sadness came rushing back.
"...Ugh, u, uuu..."
Lillu, Gand. Kyrie thought of the family she had lost in just a few hours.
Why did this have to happen to her?
Kyrie and the others were just ordinary demons. They sometimes did things like raiding and killing, but that was something anyone could do. In that sense, they were just normal demons.
Yet, after it was revealed that they were actually fragments of a god, they were pushed into this situation for reasons they couldn't understand.
"Why...! How come...! Lillu...! Gand...!"
Tears streamed down Kyrie's face as she groaned. Ice, next to her, said, "Kyrie-san, please try not to make too much noise..."
But Kyrie didn't have the calmness to follow that advice.
"It's not fair! Why does Kyrie have to go through this!? Did Kyrie do something so bad to deserve this!?"
Kyrie knew that Ice wasn't the one she should be angry at. She understood that, but she just couldn't hold it in.
"Sure, Kyrie has done some bad things! Like stealing a statue from a merchant, or fighting off a hundred people who came to get it back, or kidnapping a store owner whose shop got destroyed and selling them into sl*very!"
But, Kyrie continued,
"But everyone does stuff like that! Why do I have to be treated so horribly for such a small mistake...!?"
Kyrie shouts in a small voice. While scratching her head, she struggles with the hopeless situation.
Then, she notices something strange about Ice. Kyrie wonders what it could be and listens to her mumble.
"A merchant came to take back a statue... with 100 people? And the owner of the store that was destroyed..."
Ice looks at Kyrie.
"―――Kyrie-san, could it be that the request we just received was a trick to make us fight?"
"...ah..."
Kyrie covers her mouth. Ice tightens her lips.
"That's not all. The owner of the antique shop we relied on, Barcow-san, was also sold as a sl*ve...?"
"Ah, n-no, that's not it, Ice. This is, um..."
"Kyrie-san."
Ice's surroundings start to fill with ice birds. Knowing their power, Kyrie shakes her head in fear.
Ice presses Kyrie for answers.
"Right now, we're in a really tight situation...! I can't trust someone who would lie for their own sake...!"
Kyrie freezes at Ice's calm but fierce tone. Then, while grinding her teeth, she nods.
"...uh, yeah... Kyrie tricked Wade and the others."
Kyrie quickly speaks up in response to Ice's sharp gaze.
"B-but, but you know? Kyrie didn't tell any lies that would directly hurt Wade and the others, right? I helped out when it was about papa."
"Kyrie-san...!"
"U-uh...! B-but, but...!"
Kyrie tightly clenches her fists.
"Everyone, everyone is doing the same thing...! Kyrie is actually the kind one...!? I don't sell off all the weaklings, and I don't just raid without thinking...!"
Ice's gaze becomes even stricter at Kyrie's excuse.
Of course. Ice is human. Explaining with a demon's sense of ethics won't make sense.
But Kyrie had no other choice. Even knowing it wouldn't get through, Kyrie keeps insisting.
"That's right! I did bad things! But are you saying Ice didn't!? You were part of the big raid on the major store before too!"
Ice softens her gaze at that. Kyrie, with tears spilling, pleads.
"Everyone is doing bad things! Kyrie, Ice, everyone! So why does it have to be Kyrie who ends up like this!? It's not fair!"
Kyrie shouts, stuttering.
"At least, at least! If I was hurt by the people I hurt, I could understand it a little, right!?"
But that's not it! Kyrie shakes her head and sobs.
"What's happening to Kyrie is because of Rollo, whom I haven't done anything! Why!? Why do I have to be treated like this by Rollo, who should have no grudge against me!?"
No one answered that question. Ice silently strokes Kyrie's back, and Kyrie can only drown in the sadness of losing everything.
Kyrie's thoughts become a mess. Everything gets confusing. Holding her head, she mutter to the right.
"...I know I have a sin.... Kyrie has done terrible things.... But Rollo is not someone to atone to. Even if Rollo corners me and eats me, Kyrie won't be forgiven..."
Ice asks Kyrie, who is muttering such things.
"...Do you want to be forgiven, Kyrie-san...?"
"...I don't know.... Do I want to be forgiven...? But, you know... when I talk about this, I start to remember..."
Kyrie slightly lifts the corners of his mouth in a self-deprecating way.
"The eyes of the people I've hurt until now... When they look at me.... Everyone hated me.... That hatred, that punishment, is coming back to me now..."
Kyrie doesn't understand.
"How much do I have to suffer to be forgiven.... How much pain do I have to endure for the punishment to end.... I don't know.... Is this a punishment...? How can it end...?"
Kyrie's thoughts are in disarray. After running, he has almost lost all his strength.
Seeing Kyrie like this, Ice suddenly starts to say something.
"...Pray."
"...What...?"
Ice looks at Kyrie. It's not the same contemptuous gaze as before. He looks at Kyrie with pity.
"Kyrie-san. This might not solve anything, but is that okay...?"
"...It's fine, it doesn't matter now.... No matter how much I cry or get angry, Lillu and Gand won't come back..."
When Kyrie gives a reluctant permission, Ice begins to speak softly.
"...As Kyrie-san said, we can't really say that we are not sinners without a single cloud of doubt."
Ice looks down.
"Just because we apologize doesn't mean we're forgiven, and there are many things we can't even apologize for... The severity of what we've done can be so great that asking for forgiveness feels ridiculous."
"...Is it wrong to ask for forgiveness...?"
"...It can be. When you do something irreversible, you might not even be allowed to ask for forgiveness. For humans, things like death are like that."
"..."
Kyrie is a demon. So, things won't reach an irreversible state.
Even this city, despite being so massively destroyed, will eventually be rebuilt. Demons may die, but they don't disappear; they are still alive, buried under the rubble, groaning.
But somehow, she feels like she understands.
Demons were once alive. That lost memory might have prompted a faint understanding in Kyrie.
"...What should I do when I can't be forgiven no matter what...?"
Ice answers Kyrie's question.
"Pray."
"...How should I pray? Like, 'Oh, Demon King, please forgive me~'?"
"No. Just because the Demon King or even a god forgives you, it doesn't mean the one you hurt will forgive you. Forgiveness is something given. It's not something you just wish for."
"...Then, what should I pray for?"
Ice said.
"'Have mercy on me.'."
"...Have mercy on me."
"Sin is surely not something one desires. Therefore, even if they cannot forgive you for being driven to this unwanted sin, at least make them pity you. I pray to God, no, to the Lord."
"...Lord..."
"God gives rewards. But the Lord, the Creator, does not. He simply blesses this world and all of us."
So, pray to the Lord.
"I don't need anything. I don't ask for forgiveness. But please, have pity on me, who is helpless. ――I believe that praying like this is something anyone should be allowed to do."
"..."
Kyrie, without thinking, gently clasped her hands together. Then she closed her eyes and quietly, softly murmured.
"...Lord, have mercy."
"...Yeah."
I felt Ice's gaze soften, becoming gentle. Her heavy, gloomy heart felt just a little calmer and lighter.
With that slightly more peaceful feeling, Kyrie opened her eyes.
"Stop it. Praying to the Lord (that guy) is pointless."
There was.
"Eh...?"
It was Rollo.
She looked around. The place hadn't changed. But Ice was gone.
Just like that, Ice had disappeared, and Rollo was crouching right in front of Kyrie.
"Ah... ahhh..."
"Hehe~♡ Kyrie-oneesan."
Rollo poked Kyrie's chest with a finger.
"Gotch~a♡."
Rollo was grinning mischievously.
Like a god, so calm and composed.
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