A Wish to Grab Happiness

Volume 10, Chapter 266: The Crawling Sweltering Heat

…It was a scene that resembled a play.

Philos Trait swallowed her spit, while her body cramped, sobbing every time she took a single breath. Her limbs ached every time she moved her throat. But it looked like she had forgotten that pain, as she stared fixedly at the sight in front of her. There were two shadows swaying in front of her eyes.

Was that explosion and flames made of magic? Did a demon turn into a person, or was the person turned into a demon? It was none other than the one who once called himself Roseau.

If the demon raised one hand, the heat of flames would blow around. It was far from a natural flame, nor was it invoked by art. It was not something that was designed for humans to use.

It was pure violence released just to devour a person’s life. Such a thing tore through the darkness every time it opened its palm lightly. It was like it was trying to burn the night itself.

At the same time, a snake made of flames stuck out from the magical fingertips. The snake scattered away like sparks, showing ferocious fangs while moving in the air. It was as if the flame itself had a will. Such thing came out of Roseau’s palm.

It was impossible. Whether with magic or not, Philos Trait didn’t remember hearing about a demon being with a will. This scene actually belonged to the territory of myths and fairy tales, where such things could be possible. She wondered if that devilishness had that kind of existence.

Philos Trait opened her eyelids with the numbing white eye. Then, instead of her immovable lips, she professed the following words in her chest.

“…So, what exactly is the opposite to the existence of that myth?”

A purple light ran high in the air, followed by a green shadow. The slashing that was released devoured the sky and ripped the jaw of the flame snake.

Once, twice, three times. Every time a ripple of fire fell on that person, he raised the sword with the purple blade and annihilated the snake’s neck and jaw. It seemed to Philos Trait that his eyes had the same heat as Roseau.

Lugis, the Lord of Vice. That was the name of the person who kept swinging the blade against the devilishness.

Philos Trait no longer knew what she was looking at. A wave of doubts swirled in her skull.

“I was just waiting for my death in that prison, but I was taken away by that Lord of Vice, and now I’m forced to see this unrealistic play.”

“I do not understand. To tell the truth, I feel like I’m dying every time that demon takes a step further. It feels like I’m dreaming. But it feels like a very unpleasant dream.”

However, the only abominable pain that hit her viscera was that this was not a play, but a reality. Philos Trait shook her fingertips, while narrowing of her white eye. Behind her sight was just regret.

“Why did I not go more rampant and try to get out of his hands while being held by that vice? I felt a lot of humiliation being carried away by such selfish man. What was he doing by upsetting me that much?”

The person named Philos Trait was prideful, and in a sense, she was a person who was captivated by that pride. She just couldn’t take actions or behaviors that deviated from said pride. That’s why she couldn’t even accept such rampaging violence.

The pride as a ruler tightened Philos Trait’s heart. In fact, she was on the verge of her death and still didn’t want to throw it away. Her pride was the vow she made when she put her city in her hands. How could she throw it away now?

She couldn’t even hate Roseau, who threw her into the dungeons. Despite her feelings of good and bad, the essential part was that she was a ruler, forever. She had no choice in her body but love the citizens of her beloved city.

However, the Lord of Vice, Lugis, was not a citizen.

He was an enemy that should be hated. Yes, he was a good enemy to hate. When she realized that, Philos Trait’s lips shook in distortion.

“That’s right, he’s the enemy. I need to hate that existence. That’s why, I…Ah, how hateful. My chest burns. I want to tighten that neck.” Philos Trait’s white eye was about to spew heat.

The swordfight that was unfolding in front of her eyes was about to reach the end.

Even if Roseau tried to pull the flame snake and the fire column all at once, they were all blocked by the purple blade. Lugis’ swings knew how to handle the flames. That sword behaved as if it once fought against the same being.

The sword smashed the burning flame in a great momentum. Lugis’ both hands were shaken off to the side.

…It seemed so for a moment. The purple light, which had been drawing fine lines until now, was slightly blurred. Amid that sight, Philos Trait could see Lugis with her eyes wide open.

“What happened? Even if I look from the sidelines, I don’t know. But for a moment he certainly stopped. Will the devilish snake miss that opportunity?”

Her eyelids blinked. The next moment, Philos Trait opened her eyes and what came into her sight was Lugis’ appearance, whose right arm was eaten by the flame snake.

Her heart was burning with extreme heat.

—

「…tsk, Ah!? 」

My right arm bounced off from the treasure sword. There was a sign that the fangs of the flame snake were biting into my flesh. It was no longer hot and painful. Rather, I felt that something was lost from my body and decayed. My foot stepped in the pool of blood on the spot.

In the meantime, the snake that had eaten my right arm spread his jaw wide. Perhaps, it was hungry enough to bite my whole arm.

This was bad. I forcibly drove my waist and shook the left arm. Then, with a powerful momentum, I pushed my treasure sword into the snake. The heat of those flames and sharp pain crushed my right arm at the same time.

At the last moment, the flame snake sparked with a roaring sound and it scattered itself into the night.

While relieving to see the released right arm, the pain and fever made my breathing rough. I clenched my back teeth, kicked the brick roof and reflexively distanced myself from Roseau.

My eyes hardened. My right arm was barely moving, and probably unusable. There was a limit to this fight.

However, this was not the real danger.

I felt the heat of the fangs from the flame snake reaching my body other than my right arm. I gritted my back teeth that had been misaligned, and a distorted sound was heard.

…My heart was heating up. It was almost burning.

Unknowingly, my sobbing leaked. The breath that exhaled from my mouth seemed like fire itself.

I felt like my throat and my lungs were burning. This feeling of trying to be eaten away from within, not from the outside of the body, almost made me mad. I desperately tried to move my legs, which were about to collapse, on top of the roof.

What was this? What happened?

「It took a long time to ignite. Is your body protected by something, enemy?」

Roseau spoke while hitting the red bricks with his foot. I could see him approaching me with burning flames all over his body. He no longer needed the flame snake or the swinging arms. All he needed was to approach me in order for my insides to burn without mercy.

I honestly didn’t know what was going on. However, it seemed certain that this unbearable heat was a mechanism prepared by Roseau. Then, I had no choice but to kill him first. With my left arm, which was safe, I firmly held the treasure sword.

On this moment, the feeling that my body was burning out erupted from the inside. I forcibly opened my eyes even amid pain.

「The heat is no longer mine. It’s yours, Lugis Vrilligant. 」

Roseau muttered as if words were spilling out of his existence without much force.

「As long as a person is a person, there will be hatred in that person’s chest. Yes, there will be envy for someone else. That becomes a flame. That flame will surely burn that person from within.」

Again, the burning flames around Roseau increased and erupted. As usual, only his eyes were shining brightly, as if they were thirsty for something.

「My enemy, you and I are the same, because we want to burn everything down. There is too much fuel for hatred in this world.」

At the same time as he uttered those words, my heart burned and burned. My vision became gradually blurred.