Chapter 98: Thunder God
“[Narukami – Thunder God]!”
“A high-level enhancement spell that envelops the entire body with a high-density of lightning magic power… You’re getting serious. It’s a shame we can’t come to an understanding, Luche.”
“How dare you…!”
Loretta’s appearance, clad in the power of the [Chaos Ring] said to belong to the Wind Demon King, was no longer what I knew. The four wings spread across her back, the lion and serpent-like garb adorning her body – everything was unfamiliar. And yet, Loretta’s face, the sword she wielded, it was all unmistakably her.
“Truth be told, I still consider you a dear friend, even knowing we can no longer see eye to eye.”
And yet… ah, damn it. As much as I don’t want to understand, I do.
Loretta truly feels that way from the bottom of her heart. No lies, no deception.
The Loretta-Garland I knew hasn’t changed one bit.
“The friend I once had inside me is gone! Already dead!”
Perhaps she never even existed to begin with – that girl Loretta-Garland who was my friend.
It’s painful. Sorrowful. An indescribable tightness grips my chest. It hurts so much I want to scream and cry until my voice gives out.
“[Thunder Rage]!”
Instead of screaming, I unleash a torrential rain of lightning from my hands.
Each bolt packing enough firepower and force to reduce even steel to ash. But Loretta casually evades the lightning storm, using the footwork techniques we honed together back in our academy days – spending our afterschool hours training side by side. That evasive maneuver was one of the techniques we perfected together.
“Still packing an incredible punch, I see. [Zeus] – the highest-ranking spirit you succeeded in contracting. An embodiment of that extraordinarily powerful magic dwelling within you. A true manifestation of your talent.”
Deftly maneuvering through the lightning deluge, Loretta closes the distance between us.
Her blade wreathed in a miasmic wind. I cloak my arms in lightning to receive her strikes.
“Your trademark offensive lightning is as formidable as ever, I see… Ah, Luche. You dazzle me so. Truly. Shining so brilliantly, you are beautiful beyond words.”
Lightning and wind clash. Our exchanged magical forces colliding, blades scraping again and again – vivid recollections of the days we trained together flood my mind unbidden.
Why must those memories linger? Such recollections and nostalgia are nothing but a hindrance now.
“But you see, no matter how brightly you shine, no matter how much lightning you cloak yourself in, no matter what supreme spirit you command… you yourself are only human.”
“…?!”
Abruptly, as if my strings were cut, my body crumples to my knees.
“Kuh… ah…?”
It hurts. Breathing is difficult. Painful. Agonizing.
“Kah… haah… haah…!”
The strength leaves my body. A scorching heat envelops me as sweat pours down in streams.
Chills like a fever set in, steadily giving way to exhaustion and fatigue. My head throbs painfully. Nausea rises up.
Poisoned? No, even if her blade were laced with toxins, not a single strike landed – I parried them all with lightning. Then magic? None of her attacks struck directly. And I don’t recall triggering any trap spells. Then that means…
“The wind…!”
“Correct.”
Looking down at me kneeling on the ground, Loretta flashes the same smile she once showed at the academy.
“This wind carries disease. Though I didn’t land a direct hit, your lungs have thoroughly inhaled the sickness borne upon these winds – the power of my [Chaos Ring]… the [Wind Demon King].”
“…!”
The lightning I had cloaked myself in flickers weakly before dissipating entirely.
While I may have contracted with the mightiest of spirits, Zeus, I who wields that power am still just a human – a mere human now afflicted with sickness. That’s what Loretta wanted to convey.
“Fufufu…”
“What’s…so…funny…?!”
“How could I not be amused? This is a moment of sheer elation!”
Loretta elegantly kneels before me, forcibly tilting my chin up with her finger to meet her gaze.
Her eyes were filled, overflowing, with a profound joy from the depths of her heart.
“You see, Luche, I’ve given it much thought. What is true joy to me? Why does stealing others’ futures bring me such delight? Why does the mere thought of your anguished expression fill me with such rapture?”
It was simple, really, Loretta discloses with a smile bordering on seductive.
“I am someone who finds joy in the misery of others.”
“What did…you say…?”
“Yes, a shockingly mundane reason, isn’t it? But no matter how I looked at it, this explanation resonated the most. If you are the one looking down on others, then I am merely the one looking up. Being forced to constantly look up breeds resentment, loneliness, and wretchedness. You grow envious of those above you and wish for their downfall. Isn’t that only natural?”
“…!”
“You seem to see me as some sort of aberration, but I disagree. Rather, it’s quite normal. Take an immensely wealthy and powerful ruler for instance. While you may find a handful of commoners who derive joy from that ruler’s happiness, the vast majority harbor envy, resentment, and spite. But if that same ruler were to lose everything – status, honor, fortune – all of it, then the masses would… rejoice. A chorus of ‘you got what you deserved.'”
I could not refute Loretta’s words.
I understood that joy was not solely derived from positive outcomes.
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“The masses revel in the misery of others. Especially those of power and status above them. It’s the same for me. Having my dreams so cruelly shattered, it fills me with unbridled euphoria to watch others who had their dreams torn away fall beside me in anguish. That’s why stripping others of their futures brings me such glee. What is this feeling called? The sweetness of others’ suffering?”
“That’s no…excuse…to inflict…misery…!”
“Is it not? Hmm, I suppose our perspectives simply differ on this matter. From where I stand, you’re the one who is aberrant.”
“What did you…say…?”
“You constantly wish for the happiness of those around you, do you not? Despite having to abandon your greatest dream, you still give your all to help others attain their best. … Truly admirable. And yet, undeniably aberrant.”
As we converse, my body grows heavier still.
The scorching heat permeating my form. My thoughts steadily losing cohesion as consciousness slowly slips away.
“To have what you desire most cruelly denied, yet take everything else gladly? To find joy in others’ happiness? When I first heard such drivel, it left me utterly unhinged! At the time I couldn’t comprehend it, but now I see! This feeling I’ve harbored towards you all along – it was a murderous intent! An urge to deny your entire existence with my own hands, to contort you in agony, to kill you!”
“…!”
“The only reason you can be at peace with not attaining your heart’s desire is because you are privileged! For most people, their own happiness is all that matters! Me included. All I want is what I desire most!”
Luche’s hand grips my throat. Her crushing force increasing steadily as she strangles me.
“Tell me, Luche, does it hurt? To be sprawled on the ground, only able to look up, is utterly agonizing, is it not? That is the very torment I’ve endured. Having been born under that wretched excuse for a father, it’s the suffering I harbored for so very long. An anguish you, in your privilege of being able to live without your greatest wish, could never comprehend!”
“Kuh… gah…!”
“Let me teach you the truth about joy, Luche. Joy, you see, is born from greedily devouring others’ misfortune. It is a dark, deep, jet-black thing! That is true joy!”
As consciousness fades away, the only thing audible is a laughter drenched in profound joy from the depths of her heart.
“Ah, I’ve wanted this for so long! To deny your happy existence with these hands and kill you! It’s finally happening! How joyous!”
…Ah, I see. So this is Loretta’s true heart.
Everything I’ve seen and heard here, she spoke with the Loretta’s face that I know.
Like when eating lunch together.
Like when exchanging opinions about techniques and magic.
Like when chatting at the cake shop on a day off.
With that same face, that same mouth, she says she’s happy to be able to kill me.
“Farewell, gifted freak!”
Nothing has changed. No transformation. Which means…these were the feelings, the true thoughts she’s had since long ago when she was with me…
“Naru….ami…!”
“Guh!?”
Mustering all my spirit to activate magic. The lightning I unleashed forces Loretta’s hand open.
My constricted throat is freed, and my lungs start gasping for air.
“Gekh, gahah……kahah……haah……haah……haah……!”
“…! So you still had enough strength left to use [Narukāmi]. But your body has been ravaged by illness. No enhancement magic can help you now.”
Seemingly wary of me, Loretta generates a massive miasmic wind from her sword.
The disease-bearing wind of death instantly fills the room, leaving no avenue for escape.
“Whether you command the strongest spirit or wield extraordinary magic power or muster your last strength – you’re still just a frail human! You cannot defy this illness!”
This miasmic wind Loretta has unleashed is essentially a lethal poisonous cloud.
Enough to kill an ordinary person with just one breath.
“Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”
Just by standing still, massive amounts of the diseased wind are entering me. For a human cannot stop breathing.
“Ahaha, ah…………”
The laughter stops.
“…………Why”
Even enveloped in the miasmic darkness, she seems able to see me.
“Why are you still alive…!”
“…………Can you guess why?”
“Don’t mock me! An ordinary human would have been–!”
“Yes, an ordinary human would probably be dead by now.”
But as it stands, both Loretta and I are still on our feet.
“I am no ordinary human now.”
“What did you say?”
Loretta furrows her brow at my words, but quickly arrives at the answer.
“…I see. That [Narukāmi] you used earlier. It’s a type of enhancement magic. By strengthening your body, it increased your resistance to the disease. But it’s meaningless. Such a thing is only a–“
“You’re mistaken.”
But her answer is completely off the mark.
“What I activated just now wasn’t [Narukāmi]…it was [Narugami – Divine Ascension]. The magic to [become a god].”
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