Every step I took on the black flas felt like it seared straight through my soul. All the training I’d done to resist pain suddenly felt useless. I was just a kid again, staring at his first fresh wound.
You want the girl to live, right?
Beelzebub’s voice echoed through the void, clear and inescapable, even though his mouth never moved.
Fiona? T-1? My students...
How many have I lost by now? How many have I let die because of my own incompetence? Fiona was the last straw.
[Photographic mory]
She was my last and longest student, the one who survived mission after mission without losing her brightness, no matter how dark the job got.
The one who broke my monotony.
Was she even just a student anymore?
[Photographic mo—ERROR
S-Shut up...
[Photogra—ERROR
I said shut up!
[Photographic mory]
No. By then, she was my partner. The one who broke through my walls and my disassociation from the world. The one who, even if only for a while, pulled out of the Crown of Thorns. My...
My first real Evelina...
I bit my lower lip. My mind made feel the pain, even if this wasn’t my physical body. I’d gone through worse.
So pathetic flas weren’t going to stop from getting what I wanted.
I clenched my fist and sprinted. The mont I moved, the path stretched further, Beelzebub’s form shrinking the faster I ran.
But that didn’t matter. I’d already made up my mind. I had to reach him. Even if my heart was with Evelina now, I could still try to make up for my mistake in the past.
To save soone who reminded of her.
Even if I knew it wasn’t directly my fault, who the fuck cares about logic at this point? Why would I care that it wasn’t my fault she chose this line of work?
It doesn’t matter!
ssst!
ssst!
ssst!
The sound of fire lting and searing flesh had beco background noise as I kept sprinting. It didn’t matter if the destination was unreachable. There’s no such thing as impossible if you’re stubborn enough.
I an, I got transmigrated into another world. Who’s to say I can’t bypass infinity?
[DIE!]
Phantoms suddenly appeared along the sides of the flaming path, each one running toward at the sa speed, perfectly mirroring my movents.
Were they regrets? Versions of ? Or just plain generic bad guys in the way of my happy ending?
Again... who cares!?
"Don’t get in my way, you bastards!"
I kicked the first one in the groin, grabbed it by the shoulder, and threw it behind . Next, I punched one straight in the throat, making it stumble backward.
I didn’t bother finishing them off. I wasn’t even sure I could. That wasn’t my priority anyway.
I needed to sprint, not fight—just sprint!
Each step peeled sothing off through the pain: pride, discipline, detachnt. The calm mask I’d worn for years burned away layer by layer until only the ugly core remained.
Regret.
Even ntal training was nothing when faced with sheer soul-rending pain from mythical fire.
"Stop running!" I snarled, not even sure who I was yelling at anymore. "Face , you bastard!"
Beelzebub didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
The path split.
One lane burned hotter, darker, the flas almost black-purple, crackling with sothing like annihilation. The other burned lower and steadier—controlled.
The throne lood closer.
No. I was shrinking.
Choose.
The hotter path roared with power—imdiate, absolute, and far closer to Beelzebub’s throne—yet it ca at a terrible cost: sheer, unimaginable pain that would probably make pass out.
The steadier path pulsed faintly: control, patience, and stability.
I didn’t slow down. I didn’t hesitate.
Who the hell would choose the second option!?
"Give everything," I said hoarsely. "I’ll pay it."
The mont my foot touched the darker flas—
CRACK.
Sothing inside my chest split open.
The fire didn’t burn anymore. It sank in—not around , but into .
The phantoms rushing at ignited, screaming as they dissolved before they could reach my skin. The path stopped stretching.
For the first ti, it shortened.
Beelzebub leaned forward on his throne, chin resting against his knuckles. His vast, ancient eyes finally acknowledged as sothing more than an insect crawling toward him.
Sothing more than just a pawn he could manipulate and use as his champion. An equal, and a soul that even hell would appreciate.
Co then, child.
My entire body burst into flas at the sound of his words, not just searing my feet anymore, but consuming from head to toe.
My speed faltered the mont I felt the fire.
But...
That didn’t stop . I couldn’t let it stop .
I kept running. Even if I was slower now, that didn’t an I was finished. It just ant the reward would be far greater than I’d imagined.
Why else would I be given this much pain for choosing this path?
No pain, no gain.
The flas climbed higher.
They didn’t just burn—they dug. Like talons sinking beneath skin that didn’t exist, prying open seams in my soul I didn’t know were there.
mories spilled out.
Beijing.
Gunfire.
A blindfold.
A trembling voice calling "sir."
CRACK.
Another fracture.
I stumbled, but didn’t fall.
The fire filled the cracks instead of widening them. It poured into every weakness, every hollow space I’d carved out to survive.
Discipline.
Cold logic.
Detachnt.
They were defenses that ca up when the Crown of Thorns wasn’t enough for to cope with reality.
In short, they were defenses filled with holes.
And the flas were eager to occupy them. I could feel my speed getting even slower the mont they did.
B-but...
Nathan!
Her voice—T-1... no, Trish’s voice. I’m not letting this happen again. Even if Fiona only acted a little like her, even if our situation only barely resembled Beijing, I wouldn’t let that stop from settling this stupid regret that had been holding back without even realizing it.
I’m going to face it—and that starts with making a deal with a demon prince for the second ti.
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