HKWM | Chapter 35

Crack- Boom-!

As the magic barrier was broken, the backlash caused one of Envy’s arms to be torn apart as if crushed. The power was enough to tear even the resilient body of an Archdemon, so Noah, who should have been relatively safe inside the magic, was not entirely spared from the damage. The sharp wind pressure grazed his shoulder. If he hadn’t rolled to avoid it, the injury would have been much worse.

“Noah-!”

As drops of blood from Noah’s wound fell to the ground, my vision distorted greatly, and I saw Envy reaching out with his intact arm towards Noah in slow motion.

Congratulations, brother. You failed again. You’re as incompetent as ever.

A hallucination that my mind had fabricated out of nowhere whispered in my ears.

There were many children in the orphanage. The director was exceptionally kind, but it was impossible for anyone to take care of each child meticulously. Because of this, those of us who were somewhat older had to help the director look after the younger ones.

The first things I taught to the very young children who had just started speaking were how to wash themselves properly, how to tidy their beds after waking up, and how to dress neatly. It was my way of trying to get them adopted and hoping they wouldn’t be abandoned again after being adopted. The only thing I didn’t teach them was that being loved isn’t something that can be achieved through effort.

“Brother, am I doing this right?”

“No, you dummy. I told you to flip it first.”

“You don’t know anything! You never told me that!”

The younger siblings who used to follow me around cried more pitifully than ever when I left the orphanage. Some clung to my clothes, begging me not to go, while others locked themselves in their rooms, not even showing their shadows, or got angry knowing it wasn’t my fault. In the end, it was all love.

What did I say to comfort those children?

“Don’t worry. I’ll visit often. Even if I’m too busy to come often, I’ll call at least once a week.”

“…Really?”

“I’ll call using the phone in the director’s office. But I won’t call late at night, so you must go to bed early. Got it?”

Even though each child promised by hooking their little fingers, those promises were never kept afterward.

I made excuses to myself about being too busy making a living to even have time to call, but perhaps I was also scared. Scared that they might think their future was like my struggling daily life and be disheartened. Scared they might give up without taking a single step forward. I didn’t want to be their despair, even if I couldn’t be their hope, so I chose to run away instead.

Sometimes, memories I had buried with difficulty would surge like a tidal wave, soaking me from head to toe, and in the midst of the muffled feeling like water in my ears, clear voices would ring like hallucinations, but I always ignored them.

‘Just one more month.’

Just one more year. No, just a little longer.
When things get better than they are now, I’ll go visit. I’ll tell them I’m doing well and that they can do well outside the orphanage too. When I go, I’ll bring lots of pizza and chicken they used to love. And…

But by the time I finally caught my breath, the orphanage had disappeared, and I lost all means of contacting the children. Even though those memories were precious enough not to be casually revisited for fear they might fade if pondered over, I was the one who ultimately abandoned those siblings who felt like my real brothers.

The thought that those small, skinny children who followed me around would never grow up, at least in my memory, was simply horrifying. But even more horrifying was…

But, brother. Weren’t we actually the ones you found burdensome? Just like our parents did, you wanted to abandon us too, right?

I couldn’t answer that damn hallucination’s question.

I blocked Envy’s path to Noah, grabbed the arm that was right in front of me, and threw him with all my might. Before Envy, who had flown far and crashed to the ground, could get up, I stepped through space and pierced his chest with my hand. There was nothing in my hand as it easily passed through something soft; his core must have been elsewhere. Envy only grimaced slightly in discomfort.

Confirming the absence of the core, I extended my arm sideways. As his body tore apart horizontally and began to collapse, I grabbed his neck before he hit the ground. Throughout this sequence, my body moved before I could think.

From the moment I decided to kill him, I was aware of the risks I would face, but it didn’t matter anymore. All I knew was that the magic raging inside me was telling me to tear him into a thousand pieces.

“I’ll slowly let you know who you dared to touch.”

My arm, drenched in the black blood characteristic of demons, was wrapped in blood-red magic, making it look like it was stained with human blood. It was as if it was blaming me for not protecting Noah properly.

“You, you’re not really trying to kill me-”

“Don’t say you didn’t see this coming. ‘Wrath’ has never let anyone who got in his way live.”

I dragged the tattered body of Envy back to the Demon Realm and threw him down unceremoniously. Still, because his wounds hadn’t fully healed, he lay sprawled on the dry, parched ground.

Before his wounds could heal, I sharpened my magic and cut his body into small pieces. It was the most effective method when dealing with a demon whose core location was unknown.

With only his torso left after losing his arms and legs, he shouted in a panic, contrary to his usual calm demeanor.

“Wait-! Wait, wait!”

“Shut up.”

“Why! What’s so special about that human!”

I didn’t respond. I had no intention of stopping until I found his core.

“I wanted him too! Why can’t I have him…!”

Crunch- Crackle-

When I shattered the core in his left eye, Envy’s words abruptly stopped. His fragmented body turned into magic and dispersed into the air, and I absorbed the shattered core before it could dissipate. Only then did the magic that had been erupting from my body begin to subside.

I cleaned off Envy’s blood from my body with magic and looked at my now clean hands. In the Demon Realm, I always felt an exhilarating sense of capability, but absorbing the power of another Archdemon like Envy made the world feel different, to put it mildly.

However, considering the risks I’d have to face upon returning, there wouldn’t be much to feel except for not needing to eat for a while. Right now, I was more concerned about whether Noah was okay. He had rolled to avoid the strong wind pressure and had quickly gotten up while holding his wound, so it shouldn’t be a deep injury…

“…He’ll be fine, right?”

I sighed deeply, waiting quietly for the Demon Lord’s summon. Now it was time to pay for the imbalance I’d disrupted.

While Jin had left an enormous storm of magic behind, taking Envy away, Phoras and Kimaris, who had been thrown far away, rushed back to check on Noah’s condition. They were also bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

“Young master!”

“The wound…!”

Noah, who had been pressing on his wound to stop the bleeding, removed his hand. Fortunately, since he had dodged by rolling, it wasn’t a deep wound, and the bleeding had already stopped. Still, Phoras’s face turned white.

They had seen what happened to Envy at the last moment. Even though he wasn’t dead because his core was intact despite having his chest pierced, the outcome for him being dragged to the Demon Realm was obvious. If their master was upset due to Noah’s injury, their fate wouldn’t be much different.

“…Kimaris, should we write our wills now?”

Ignoring Phoras’s comment, Kimaris carefully examined Noah’s wound, checking for any signs of magic poisoning or other symptoms. Fortunately, there were no issues other than the cut from the wind pressure.

“Young master, we’ll treat the wound once we get home. Are you unwell anywhere else?”

Noah didn’t answer, just blinking blankly as if he’d lost his soul. Seeing this, Phoras asked in alarm.

“Perhaps… is there another injury?”

Hoping it wasn’t so, Noah shook his head slightly and asked.

“…Where did Jin go?”

“He seems to have gone to the Demon Realm.”

Since they were bound to Jin, they could roughly sense where he was. It was the same for Jin, so they decided to leave the place first. The magic explosion might attract the Holy Knights soon.

“Young master, we’ll move to the house now, but we’ll detour to avoid pursuit. You might feel motion sickness, but please bear with it for a while.”

“…Okay.”

As explained, Phoras and Kimaris repeatedly cast spatial movement magic to go through random locations to prevent anyone from tracking them.

However, at the last attempt, they failed to set precise coordinates due to their depleted magic, resulting in crash-landing far from home. Consequently, Kimaris had to carry Phoras and Noah on his shoulders, running with all his might to get home.

Having used so much magic in the human world for the first time, both were exhausted upon arrival. Phoras, who had used more magic, even collapsed on the floor, retching.

Noah, who had been silent all this time, asked again.

“Why did Jin go to the Demon Realm?”

“To kill Lord Invidia¹, ugh-.” Recalling Jin’s last appearance, Phoras added.

“Not just kill, but tear him to pieces.”

“Why?”

“Because he targeted you, young master.”

Phoras, still lying on the floor, mumbled his answer while slowly getting up.

“Our master, despite being called ‘Wrath,’ is quite lenient and merciful. The only way to make him truly angry might be this, and Lord Invidia just hit that one right answer.”

“……”

“Since our master cares for you enough to pay the price for breaking a taboo, consider it a great blessing. Although, they do break those taboos so often it hardly seems like they’re taboos anymore…”

“Wait, price?”

Noah asked with a now pale face.