The man approached, tapping the ground with his right-hand cane.
“My beloved Letinoa, forgive this foolish man–“
“Don’t come near me!”
Letinoa rejected with bared teeth. Letinoa narrowed her eyes sadly.
“What’s wrong, it’s Papa?”
“I don’t have a father!”
Yelling with anger, she realized she didn’t have a father. He was gone.
Letinoa nearly collapsed, kneeling on the ground.
“Oh, oh… What are you saying…? Oh, God, why do you give such hardship? I truly loved my children, but isn’t this too much?”
she curled up like a fetus, sobbing.
“It was for the world… Dannoa, Bartonoa, Leornoa, Annienoa… even Elenoa, sacrifices necessary for peace…”
Tears streamed down his face. His expression was one of true regret and repentance.
Seft, who had looked down on him, spoke up.
“So, are we done playing house?”
“Playing house, you say…? My love is genuine!”
“What are you talking about? How many times have you had to remake your ‘family’ until you got it right? Discard the ugly dolls and cherish the beautiful ones. It’s just like playing house.”
“Don’t mess with me! It’s because of you! Because you killed Elenoa–“
“Ugh! Shut up!”
Seft raised his voice and punched Redonis who had approached.
“Just do what I told you and make my vessel! …Ouch, that hurts… It’s broken. Seriously, this body is too inconvenient.”
Seft’s right hand dangled limp, broken from the impact of the punch. Redonis hunched over, clutching his stomach in pain.
“If you listen to me properly and get through this without trouble, I’ll let you play your beloved family game. You might make something similar again. I don’t know.”
“Ugh… uhh…”
Redonis scratched his hair frantically. His face was soaked with tears, contorted in sadness.
“Don’t start backing out now, huh? Don’t you wanna get back at those guys too?”
With those words, Redonis’s face contorted with hatred.
“…Yeah, those scum of the empire, who’s the real criminals here! They’re belittling me for acting for the good of the country, for the world…!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. We’re the righteous ones. We gotta fight to change this world of stubborn idiots, right?”
“Oh, yeah…!”
Seft grinned, his lips twisting.
“So, you know what to do, right?”
Redonis pushed himself up from the ground unsteadily,
making his way over to Letinoa and stopping at her side.
“My child, my beloved Letinoa.”
He gently placed his hand on Letinoa’s still form.
“Forgive me, foolish me–“
Suddenly, excruciating pain struck.
Letinoa’s scream echoed.
The sensation of her mind being stirred. Something within her being rapidly drawn out. Intense pain that made death seem preferable.
“What percentage are we at now?”
“About ninety-five… it seems… It must’ve been hard, but it’s over now.”
Redonis tenderly stroked Letinoa’s hair. Goosebumps ran down her entire body. Unable to hold back the nausea, she vomited more rom her mouth, which now produced nothing else but stomach acid.
Letinoa lifted her eyelids, barely able to open them, and saw the magic circle connected by chains.
The lump of flesh-like substance that had been at the center earlier.
It was now taking on a shape like that of a person.
Head, torso, arms, legs… the naked body was completely white, with no hair or fur. It looked clumsy like a child had molded it out of clay, but it certainly resembled a human.
And it continued to change its shape incessantly.
“So, just a little more to go, huh? I’m looking forward to it. Finally… I’ll have this world in my hands.”
Seft grinned unnervingly. Letinoa’s mouth moved slightly.
“What… do you mean–“
“Oh, you wanna know? Fine, I’ll tell you. It’s a souvenir from the afterlife.”
Seft began to speak eagerly, like a boy talking about a dream.
“You see, I wanna change this rotten world.”
“–?”
“To do that, you need power, right? But even if I steal as much power as I want with my [Thief], if my body can’t handle it, what’s the use? Even if I get a strong body, it’ll still age and deteriorate, and then I’ll have to exchange it again–so, I decided to make one.”
Seft smiled innocently.
“I left the exterior construction to Redonis, but to make a divine-grade body, I needed materials… lots of life force and internal mana.”
Seft whispered softly, “Oh, I see…”
“You know about [Soul Blight], right? I made that.”
Letinoa’s eyes widened.
“Since I met Redonis… about twenty years ago, I’ve been using [Thief] and [Curse] to continuously steal for the necessary materials. I set it up so that it wouldn’t be noticed, aiming for trash that no one would care about even if they died. Even your body, I collected the materials for it, you know? Be grateful, won’t you?”
Seft continued with glee, as if sharing a secret.
“I’m glad I stole the former [Curse]. Once it’s cast, it can’t be undone until I do it. Thanks to that, it’s not even worth it to steal this girl’s [Curse]. Useless weakling.”
Seft glanced at his own body and muttered, “Thanks to this, stealing the curse from this girl isn’t even worth it anymore. Pathetic.”
“But the material gathering is over now. I finally have an unbreakable body that can use all the stolen power! And then, I’ll become the king of this world and remake it into a world that worships me! How about that, isn’t it great!?”
Letinoa was speechless. It was such a selfish wish.
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“Why…”
“Why? It’s obvious, isn’t it? Because it pissed me off. Everyone thinks heroes are a given. Heroes should help, right? Bullshit!”
Seft’s face twisted with hatred as he spat out his words.
“This is ridiculous! You should be more grateful, you know! You should be kneeling and sobbing, thanking [Thank you, Hero-sama]!”
“Heroes… bring smiles to everyone—!?”
Letinoa’s head was forcefully kicked.
Seft grabbed Letinoa’s hair, forcing her face up.
“That’s what annoys me. We’re human; we want money, we want women. Because we were chosen as heroes, idiots come to us, saying, ‘You’re a hero, so help us.’ It’s disgusting, isn’t it, huh?”
Well, you don’t understand fake stuff, do you?” Seft let go.
“That’s why—after getting the body, first, I’ll kill all the other heroes except me and take their power! I’ll kill both the pretentious and the useless ones, and let only the useful ones live in my world!”
It’s the best world, Seft laughed hysterically.
Letinoa desperately tried to remove the handcuffs. But the sound of chains only tightened her restraint. Still, she didn’t stop. Even though the skin on her wrists was rubbing off, causing sharp pain, she continued to move her hands over and over.
“Letinoa… stop. Right now, we’re transferring power to this vessel. Relax; next, I’ll prepare a normal body for you…”
The sound of the handcuffs rattled. They wouldn’t come off.
“It’s great, isn’t it? You can be useful to me in the end? You’re not a failure anymore; you’ll be reborn as part of me. You were born for this purpose.”
“No—!”
“What’s different? That’s right, you were born as a tool—”
Clang! A harsh sound echoed.
Seft widened his eyes.
“Hey… with that, there’s almost no power left, right?”
“…No, it shouldn’t be.”
Letinoa swallowed, unable to believe the situation in front of her.
The handcuffs were abandoned and rolling on the ground. There was no target to hold onto.
Red blood dripped from Letinoa’s hands.
From the wrists onward, the flesh of both hands had been gouged out. The surface had become dark red and exposed. Dripping blood continued to create a pool under her feet.
“It was forced off, huh—”
Due to the forceful escape, the little finger and ring finger were unnaturally bent inward.
“I’ll protect, I’ll… everyone—”
Letinoa manifested her Holy Sword. Trying to hold it in both hands caused a piercing pain, and she accidentally dropped it on the ground. Bending her knees, she reached out with trembling hands.
This time, she firmly grasped it, making sure not to drop it again. Despite the increased pain, she gritted her teeth and didn’t let go.
Instantly, she stepped heavily on the ground.
“Quick—”
Seft dodged the blade approaching his neck by flipping his body. However, perhaps because of Kaas’s low physical abilities, he couldn’t completely avoid it, and the tendons of his left arm were severed.
Letinoa calmly regained her posture.
Seft’s right arm was broken and unusable due to Letinoa’s blow. His left arm was also unusable. Now, he had no choice but to use his feet for attack.
Seft let both arms droop weakly, his face contorted.
“H-Hey… wait a minute, this is a joke, right? I-I’m sorry, I apologize, so… huh…”
He smiled ingratiatingly and stepped back. Letty re-gripped her Holy Sword.
Leap. In an instant, the distance between the two became zero. The target was—his neck.
“Huh—!?”
However—Seft’s neck was not severed, as another sword knocked it away at the last moment.
A deadly blade approaching his own neck with a return stroke. Letinoa twisted her head to avoid it, but her right cheek was deeply cut, and blood splattered into the air.
“D-Damn… you’re too slow.”
“There’s no reason to complain.”
The red-haired man who easily deflected the Holy Sword spat out.
Letinoa clenched her back teeth. To suppress the anger of betrayal and… the fear of the man.
The red-haired man—Lucas flicked away the Holy Sword and shook off the blood clinging to the blade.
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