YM778.TV Chapter 118: Interlude - Madness
Chapter 118: Interlude - Madness
"……."
Inside the barrier made of blood-red mist.
In the silence that fell like a curtain.
"...Ha."
A faint chuckle slipped out from the lips of Seto, the Archbishop of Madness.
"Really? Did you really pull the trigger five times?"
“There was no rule saying I couldn’t pull it multiple times on my own, was there?”
"……."
Seto\'s expression hardened.
‘How?’
He stared intently at the candidate before him as if unable to understand.
Eyes calm, as though nothing had happened.
His mind was filled with the question, ‘How? How is there no sign of disturbance at all?’
What Seto couldn’t comprehend wasn’t that the candidate had pulled the trigger on his head five times in a row.
He had seen many humans willing to sacrifice their lives to protect something precious.
Parents throwing themselves in harm’s way for their children, lovers facing death to save each other.
He had even witnessed foolish humans who offered their lives for strangers they had never even met.
‘But.’
Even those people displayed some kind of emotion when faced with the proximity of death.
Whether it was fear, relief...
‘At the very least, they showed enjoyment.’
Sometimes there were people like that.
Humans who welcomed death instead.
People who would smile brightly and spread their arms wide when death was near.
‘But you... you’re not even that.’
Seto looked at Dale with trembling eyes.
During those five trigger pulls...
There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
As if he had multiple lives to spare.
Calmly.
Emotionlessly.
He pulled the trigger.
"...Ha, haha!"
Seto burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.
He grinned widely, looking at Dale as if he couldn’t contain his excitement.
The ‘true face’ he saw behind his mask was...
"You… You’re insane, aren’t you?"
Indeed, the word ‘madness’ suited him perfectly.
Perhaps even more so than Seto himself, who was known as the Archbishop of Madness.
“Ahihi, ihihi! Ahahahaha!!! Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly it!”
Seto jumped up and down like a child, spreading his arms wide.
“I just came here on a whim, and to think I’d find someone crazier than me!”
A shiver ran down his spine.
His body trembled with excitement as euphoria filled him.
"Yes, good. I\'m satisfied."
Seto nodded and snapped his fingers.
Rumble.
The blood-red mist that had surrounded them melted into the ground.
"Hah! Hah, hah!"
Cough, cough!
“Hah, hah… Dale!”
As the barrier disappeared, Yuren, Camilla, and Iris, who had been crushed under Seto’s pressure, gasped for breath.
Yuren and Iris immediately rushed to Dale’s side as soon as the barrier lifted.
"Ugh..."
Professor Elisha, who the blood-red mist had bound, was also freed and watched Seto with wary eyes.
"Well then. See you later, Dale Han!"
As Seto turned to leave through the entrance—
"Hey."
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
“Huh?”
“You talk a big game, but now you’re just going to run away?”
"Wh-what?"
I pulled Seto’s shoulder, forcing him to face me.
"Your turn."
“…….”
Seto stared at the revolver I held out with his mouth hanging open.
"No, but… didn’t I just say I’d let you all live?"
“Letting us live is one thing.”
I aimed the gun at Seto’s head.
“You should still fire a shot before you go. There\'s one bullet left, isn’t there?”
“…….”
“Well, if you don’t want to, I can pull the trigger for you.”
With the gun aimed at Seto’s head, I pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out, and Seto’s head snapped back violently.
KABOOOM!!!
The demonic energy condensed in the bullet exploded.
"Heh."
A faint chuckle slipped out of Seto’s mouth.
As he raised his head again, a thin line of blood trickled down his forehead.
“Damn.”
I had hoped, but as expected, the demonic energy in the bullet wasn’t enough to blow Seto’s head off.
"Ha, haha! Ahahahahaha!!!"
Seto burst into laughter, not even bothering to wipe the blood from his forehead.
"Yes, yes, yes!!! That’s it! This is exactly the kind of lunatic hero I was looking for!"
Unlike the other heroes who trembled in fear when standing before him.
This one was twisted.
Out of place.
Broken beyond repair.
"Haah. What should I do? I think I might fall for you."
Seto licked his lips, breathing heavily with excitement.
I furrowed my brow and shook my head.
"I’m not interested in guys."
“Really? Should I cut it off?”
[PR/N: A femboy demon is not what i expected.]
“No.”
Cut off what, you bastard?
“Hahaha! Just kidding!”
Seto laughed and shook his shoulders, leaning in close to me.
“Look forward to it, Dale.”
He curled his lips into a savage grin, sticking out his tongue.
“I’ll make sure to kill you with my own hands.”
“Is that so?”
Heh.
A faint chuckle escaped me without realizing.
“Try it, then.”
If you can.
“Hahaha! Yes, yes, that’s the reaction I was hoping for!”
Seto laughed in satisfaction and turned away.
“Alright, I’m off! See you again, Dale!”
He waved his hand wildly as he walked away, as if saying goodbye to a close friend.
"……."
"……."
Once Seto had left, a heavy silence descended.
But only for a moment.
Sigh.
Professor Elisha let out a deep sigh, shaking her head.
“…Dale, cadet.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s have a private talk later.”
“……”
Why?
What did I do wrong?
“D-Dale, you…!”
Yuren grabbed me by the collar, his eyes blazing.
“Why did you do something so reckless?!”
His voice trembled as if he was about to burst into tears, and his grip tightened on my collar.
“Five shots… Five shots! What would you have done if it had actually fired?!”
“……”
“What am I supposed to do if you die…?”
Tears finally welled up in Yuren\'s eyes.
I looked at him and gave a bitter smile.
‘Seems like it’s about time to tell him.’
The only people who knew about my "Blessing of Revival" were Iris and Professor Elisha.
Yuren had no idea that I could come back to life even if I died.
“I won’t die.”
“…What?”
“Even if the gun had fired and my head exploded, I would’ve survived.”
“……?”
Yuren furrowed his brow as if he couldn’t understand.
I glanced around.
Aside from Albert, who was still unconscious, everyone else was staring at me.
“I have the Blessing of Revival.”
“The Blessing of… Revival? What’s that?”
“Well, it’s easier to show you than to explain.”
As I said that, I conjured a magic bullet beside my head.
I fired the magic bullet straight at my temple.
Puff.
Along with the sensation of my head exploding, my vision went black.
“…What?”
Yuren’s eyes widened in shock as he watched my head explode right in front of him.
“Wh-What are you doing, Dale?!”
Even Camilla, who had been silently watching, shouted in horror.
And then—
Vroom!
The Stigma engraved on my left chest glowed, and, accompanied by gray ash, my head regenerated as if time had rewound.
“W-What?”
“What is this…?”
Yuren and Camilla stared, their mouths agape in shock.
Even Iris and Professor Elisha, who already knew about my Blessing of Revival, were watching in stunned silence as my head was restored before their very eyes.
“See? This is the Blessing of Revival.”
I casually tapped my fully regenerated head with my index finger.
Camilla, her eyes trembling, asked,
“So… you can come back to life even if you die?”
“That’s right.”
“Over and over again?”
I nodded instead of answering.
“Hah… What the…?”
Camilla shook her head in disbelief.
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, Yuren let out a small exclamation, as if something had dawned on him.
“So that’s why you didn’t die back then…”
He must’ve been thinking of the day I stormed into the Helios household alone.
“Anyway, I trusted in my blessing and pulled the trigger, so don’t worry so much.”
“…Don’t worry?!”
Iris came up to me, her face flushed with anger.
“Just because you won’t die, you still feel all the pain! How can you say not to worry?”
She frowned and smacked me on the back.
Yuren glanced at Iris, his expression tense.
“Iris, you knew? That Dale has the Blessing of Revival?”
“Ah… yes, I knew.”
“……”
At her response, Yuren bit his lip.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Sorry. I didn’t get a chance to.”
It wasn’t that I intended to keep it from Yuren.
But—
‘Well, I didn’t really have a reason to tell him unless I was going to die.’
Lately, aside from magic training, there hadn’t been any situations where I was at risk of dying, so I hadn’t found an opportunity to mention it.
“Still, you could’ve at least told me!”
Yuren shouted, clearly upset that Iris had known while he hadn’t.
“Alright, alright, let’s cut the lovers’ quarrel here.”
Professor Elisha sighed and gently pushed Yuren aside.
“Candidate Dale, I need to talk to you briefly.”
Professor Elisha led me behind the pile of rocks where we had been earlier.
“Phew. I don’t even know where to begin…”
Professor Elisha took out a cigarette and bowed her head slightly toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“What kind of professor can’t even protect their own student…? I’m a failure as a teacher.”
She bit her lip in self-reproach, her expression full of regret.
I let out a small chuckle and shook my head.
“No one could’ve predicted that the Archbishop of Madness would show up here.”
She lit the cigarette with a small flicker of magic.
“……”
Professor Elisha took a silent drag from her cigarette.
After a brief pause, she looked at me and asked,
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you pull the trigger?”
“Huh? Well, because I have the Blessing of Revival…”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“What I’m asking is why you pulled the trigger when the Archbishop of Madness said he was going to leave.”
“That’s…”
“Did you know? That the Archbishop of Madness would actually welcome your reckless action?”
“……”
“Was it your intention to make sure all of the Archbishop’s attention would be focused on you?”
Professor Elisha exhaled a cloud of smoke, her eyes dark and heavy as she looked at me.
“Candidate Dale… are you, by any chance…”
Her violet eyes glinted sharply.
“…from the future?”