Chương 116: The Cocagne Affair (16)

Space bent around them as a cloud of miasma swallowed the throne room. Simon had already experienced an Abyssal Domain when fighting Exodeos, but this one behaved a bit differently. Reality shifted, the walls and ceiling of the throne room fading away into a greenish, magical thunderstorm that stretched across an endless horizon. The ground became a platform floating amidst raw, primeval chaos. Each lightning bolt echoed with a scream in a murderous cacophony.

Casval-Nodens, the Painbringer, has trapped you in his Abyssal Domain! All teleportation effects are negated! Casval-Nodens' attacks will pierce through all elemental resistances! Simon had read that what separated demons from true archfiends was the latter's ability to create an Abyssal Domain, a private demiplane that granted them extraordinary advantages and trapped their victims inside.

Exodeos had been too weakened by his long imprisonment to fully manifest his own, but Casval had bonded long enough with his demon to manifest its full power. Nonetheless, all of Simon's allies were trained fighters and reacted in kind. Alphonse and Thalas immediately charged at the enemy to get into melee range, while Simon and Filip moved to the sides; the former so he could cast offensive spells, the latter so he could aim his arrows at the enemy.

Moving the fastest, Thalas quickly closed the gap with Casval and attempted to smash him with his axe. The dragon extended his wings and took flight, dodging at the last second and pulling the leashed Eole with him. Thalas immediately gave pursuit by jumping after them, but Casval quickly pointed at him. A crackling bolt of lightning erupted from his claw and struck Thalas in midair, the blast pushing back to the ground below.

Eole herself opened her mouth and began to sing, her bewitching voice echoing through the Domain. It was a beautiful and sorrowful song that would have melted the hearts of those who listened. A pity nobody did. Charm negated by Indomitable Crown & Aura of Bravery! Casval grunted in annoyance and flapped away Filip's arrows of light with a wing, then shrugged off Simon's Petrify and Countdown spells—either having an ailment immunity of some kind or sufficient power to ignore the effects.

The demon dragon incanted another spell of his own, the air crackling with magic." Hurricane!" A mighty wind rose from nowhere and shaped a tornado into existence. A storm swallowed the entire Domain, sending Simon flying into the air and upward. Thalas managed to anchor himself to the ground with his axe, and Filip's wolf-mount did the same with his claws, while Alphonse's defensive buffs shielded him.

"Simon!" The Paladin called to him, his voice muffled by the tornado. Simon himself cursed as he flew uncontrollably across the Domain, flying stones hitting him in the face and the chest. He continued to ascend upward without any control over his flight. He briefly considered opening his Inventory and put on one of his elemental rings to protect himself, but that would have given himself away to his allies. He had to avoid using suspicious abilities for now.

Worse, the leashed Eole had begun to target his immobilized allies on the ground with ice spear projectiles. Thalas and Alphonse both managed to deflect the projectiles with their weapons, but Filip and his wolf took a few bloody wounds from the impacts.

"You have become predictable, Deceiver," Casval taunted Simon from the eye of the storm, his voice carrying through the wind.

"Your plot to have my sister and Mithras' future vessel fight to the death was painfully transparent. You should change schemes more often." He quickly turned towards Simon's allies.

"Do you know he is the Overlord in disguise?" Thalas' scornful laughter rang louder than the storm." Him?!" he mocked Casval, before shattering a piece of the earth with his axe and then tossing the rock at the dragon with such strength that it shattered on impact.

"He is the runt of House Magnos!"

"Your lies cannot deceive us, demon!" Alphonse replied, turning to Filip.

"Can you bring him down?!"

"I will try!" The Ranger replied, his bow shining with power." Inescapable Shot!" The arrow he fired was more akin to a shooting star than any solid projectile. It pierced through the walls of wind faster than lightning, then deviated from its course when Casval attempted to fly out of the way. It struck the dragon in the chest hard enough to break past his scales and draw black, demonic blood.

Sensing his chance, Simon used a Hellfire blast to propel himself the best he could through the storm, the same way he tried to escape Mastemo's pit trap in the previous reign.

He moved closer to Casval, then threw a shuriken at him. The unimpressed dragon ignored the tiny projectile and retaliated by breathing unholy green flames at him. That was a mistake. Simon switched places with the shuriken thanks to his Ninja's Kawarimi Technique, dodging the dragon's breath and reappearing right in front of Casval. His shocked foe hastily folded his wings to protect himself from the inevitable attack, but Simon aimed his Mire spell at a different target.

He blasted Eole's leash and dissolved it in corrosive poison. She rewarded him by summoning a trident and blasting him with a blue-white ray of cold air and ice. It struck him in the chest, the chill reaching all the way to his heart and freezing the blood in his veins. That hurt. Heavy Frost damage! Frostbite ailment! Frostbite transferred by Lovestruck! Argh, the leash was merely cosmetic! Eole's slave collar had to be what kept her under Vouivre and Casval's control!

Simon attempted to use Kawarimi to switch places with it, but failed. He guessed the technique only worked on unanchored objects.

"Throw me at them!" Alphonse shouted at Thalas, who moved to lift him as if he were lighter than a feather.

"Aim for the collar!" Simon shouted at his allies, though he could feel the ice in his lungs. He hoped that Filip would at least hear him over the wind.

"He can't control her without it!"

"Minion Eole, twist them!" Casval ordered in response. Eole swung her trident and rained down aurora beams onto everyone present. Simon already knew it wouldn't do anything—having suffered from it in a previous reign—and couldn't dodge anyway, while all his allies were struck one after another. Thalas dropped Alphonse before he could throw him, and Filip's wolf howled to the winds.

Simon sensed the Two-Tailed Fish's sorcery attempt to reshape and transform him, only to bounce off the inviolate armor of the Overlord spirit. Polymorphy attempt negated by Unyielding Essence. Charm attempt negated by Indomitable Crown. Alphonse's Holy Fortitude let him shrug off Eole's magic, but Filip… the beam struck him and his mount, causing them to scream and growl in shared pain.

A hideous transformation unfolded, the Ranger's legs merging with his companion's back into a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and sinew. They began to shed their skin and fur like a snake did its scales.

"Your Majesty!" Alphonse immediately rushed to Filip's side and attempted to heal him with a Cleanse prayer. The Ranger Crestone shone brightly on the King Consort's chest, its light fighting the unholy sorcery taking hold of its user. Simon could only pray that the Paladin's own prayers would be enough when another problem reared its ugly head. Thalas had also begun to transform, growling as his fingers began to meld together into a single tentacle."

Magic Erase–" Thalas attempted to cast, only for him to drop his axe and wriggle on the ground in his struggle. His tongue had turned into a snake.

"Argh…" Don't do it, you fool, Simon hoped in his heart of hearts. Anything but that." Primal…" Thalas rasped with a reptilian hiss.

"Regression!" A wave of power strong enough to repel the hurricane's winds erupted from Thalas. He shed his Berserker garb as his body doubled in size, undoing the transformation and changing from a squid into a musclebound paragon of shame coated in a crimson aura. His white irises looked around with mind-numbing fury, searching for prey. His gaze settled on Simon. Simon barely had time to Kawarimi with a flying rock as a comet of muscle barely missed him.

Thalas had jumped over a dozen meters in the air in an attempt to catch him, missing and landing on the ground in a crash." He's the enemy, you fool!" Simon snapped at his berserk half-brother, who didn't listen. The man's sheer grudge guided him to fratricide in his current state. Alphonse and Filip weren't doing any better. The Paladin's prayers and the Ranger Crestone hadn't been enough to protect the King-Consort from Eole's power.

He and his wolf had merged into an abominable parody of a skinless centaur of grisly muscles and leaking veins, with Filip's torso sprouting from his mount's back. He dropped his bow and Crestone alike, then attempted to mow down Alphonse with bone-blades extended from his forearms.

"Your Majesty!" Alphonse shouted as he parried the attacks with his sword in a vain attempt to reason with the monster.

"Fight it!" Casval himself laughed heartily at the spectacle.

"See?!" he taunted Simon while holding his stomach.

"My minions are better than yours!" Simon tried to find a way to get Thalas off his back as his half-brother prepared to jump at him again. He looked up to Casval and quickly came up with something.

"You cannot win, Mardok!" Casval said as he incanted another spell.

"Unlike you, I have found true friends who stand by my side! A sister that finally respects me, a brotherhood of darkness who welcomes me, and a shining star to guide my path!"

"Respect you?" Simon couldn't help but laugh in scorn at the sheer absurdity of his enemy's response.

"You are always one mistake away from being eaten, Casval! You have obtained an archdemon's power, and yet you remain your sister's slave!" Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on." Crushing Wheel!" Acting quickly, he activated Devil's Arm and grabbed the dragon's tail. He pulled himself closer to Casval while dodging some kind of summoned, screaming fire wheel Casval had thrown his way.

"What was that meant to–" Casval asked, only to notice the giant form leaping their way.

"Oh." A frothing Thalas missed Simon by an inch and tackled Casval instead. The sheer force of the impact threw Simon back, and the Berserker's touch abruptly cancelling out all of Casval's magical effects. The hurricane died out in an instant, calling Simon to the ground. He somewhat managed to soften his landing with a Hellfire blast… for about a second before Eole struck him from a blind spot and impaled him with her icy trident. Heavy frost damage!

She nailed Simon to the floor while Casval and Thalas brawled in the sky above. The trident sank into his paper-thin Ninja garb and dug into his flesh. His poisonous blood melted the ice at the edges, but not enough to destroy the weapon. Simon grit his teeth and drained life from his cows to regenerate, then exploited the opportunity. He activated Devil's Arm again, grabbed her slave collar, and then followed through with a Mire spell.

That vile parody of a necklace melted between his fingers, and Eole's eyes lit up with consciousness. She blinked in confusion and looked around aimlessly.

"Eole, Two-Tailed Fish of the Zodiac," Simon rasped as he grabbed her trident and forced it back. She was too shaken to resist.

"I know you're both in there, merged as one." Asterion had warned him that the Zodiac Fiends weren't necessarily allied, though only Mardok went out of his way to sabotage the others. A possessed Casval wouldn't need to enslave Eole if both their demons shared the same goals, and Simon had helped the Kish escape slavery and go back to her peoples' Sanctuary. There was a chance for an alliance.

"Return King Filip to normal, and let's put down the dragon together," Simon said after rising to his feet.

"Then we can free the Kish people from Vouivre and her cohorts." The possessed Eole glanced at the chaos around them. While Alphonse entirely focused on dodging or blocking Filip's strikes, Casval was trying—and failing—to get Thalas off him. The dragon's spells failed to pierce past Primal Regression, and the Berserker continued to punch and bite his enemy even as he breathed unholy fire at him. The tide could yet turn.

Eole stared back at Simon, seemed to briefly recognize the man who had freed her, and considered his words. Simon's pulse quickened with hope… Then it died in a flash of anger.

"No," Eole said, her beautiful voice tainted by demonic majesty. She flapped her fin-wings and flew up in an instant.

"No, Mardok, I don't think I will help you." She snapped her fingers, and ice spears flew at everyone. Simon was quick enough to dodge and the magical projectiles bounced off Thalas' skin, but Alphonse was struck in the back and Casval in the left eye, blinding him on that side. Eole spared her thrall alone from her assault, and the monstrous Filip used the opportunity to hack past Alphonse's guard and cut him in the shoulder.

The Paladin briefly repelled him by striking him with a Starshot spell to the chest, then healed his wounds with a prayer.

"I remember your lies, how you turned my own subjects and husband against me!" the possessed Eole snapped at Simon while repairing her damaged trident with her magic.

"I won't let you bite me again, viper! You and our sister's thralls will both pay for their treachery, and I will free the Kish from you all!"

"I am not Mardok!" Simon argued in vain.

"He's dead! I'm Simon!"

"Then why do you hide who you are?!" Eole pointed her trident at Simon." Water Cycle!" A wave of water struck Simon in the blink of an eye and swallowed him in a swirling current. He didn't even have time to react when the liquid suddenly turned to ice, freezing him in a chilly prison that then swiftly exploded into steam. The impact was so strong that it cancelled his Ninja outfit and seared his skin to the bone. Heavy Water, Frost, and Fire damage! Ninja Crestone shattered! Simon grunted in pain.

He drained his cows to heal his wounds, but he could tell he was exhausting his herd at a frightening pace. The animals' lifeforce was meager compared to that of Class users like Shabram or his Darkwood monsters.

"Eole, stop… I'm not going to fight or hurt you." Simon pleaded with his friend, until he realized he had one way to make her listen. He opened his Inventory and pulled out a small item he had routinely held onto across the reigns. A small, red feather. Eole pitilessly pointed her trident at his head, magic crackling in it, yet her resolve wavered when she saw the feather. Memories—her Kish memories rather than those of the demon she had merged with—flooded her mind.

"Do you remember now, Eole?" Simon asked her.

"I freed you from Frightwall, let you go… you said you owed me a debt of gratitude… you gave this to me so we could meet again as friends one day."

"I…" Eole gulped, her arm weaker as her natural goodness and duty clashed with her inner demon's rage.

"I… I do not…" A blade of light chopped her head off her shoulders. Time seemed to freeze for Simon as he watched Eole's skull roll and fall down onto the ground, miasma surging from her body and retreating back into the cursed gem in her chest. Her wings shifted from fins back to the beautiful feathers, her scales faded into smoke, and her knees gave way. Her corpse collapsed onto the ground with a faint thump that sounded so terribly heavy to Simon's ears.

He stared up at his knight in shining armor, his mind numb of thoughts as it struggled to process the situation.

"I thought…" Alphonse muttered in sorrow and disappointment, his blade red with Eole's blood.

"I thought it would lift His Majesty's curse…" It didn't. Filip was still a monster galloping their way, and all his mistress' death had done was enrage him.

"There's… no way to do so now," Simon replied grimly. If the shifters retained their current appearance centuries after the Two-Tailed Fish's sealing, then Filip's condition was likely incurable outside of Mastemo's elixir. And he didn't care to try to save the Ranger anymore. Eole's sudden, abrupt death had snuffed out all his emotions. Alphonse had meant well, war was war, and Eole's demise would no doubt cripple Vouivre's army… but all those reasonable thoughts were drowned out in numbness and grief.

Simon had once again failed to save Eole, and it gnawed at him. He was so absorbed in his guilt and sorrow that he barely sensed Belzemine's death rippling through her brands from across half a world over. Whether it had been Louis who slew her, or Lauriane, or a Silk or whatever forces they assembled to take Frightwall, he likely would never know. All that mattered was that she died a slave, just like Eole. It was just one final stab in the back after a cavalcade of them. How could it have gone so wrong?

How could changing one name on a will have caused such a disaster? It was only when he heard a dragon's roar that Simon jolted back to awareness. He looked up to see that Casval had managed to free himself from Thalas by throwing the Berserker off him and into the void beyond the platform. Whether that would kill Thalas or simply incapacitate him didn't matter to Simon. A strong and familiar emotion swelled in his heart when he saw the heavily wounded Casval land on the ground with a dislocated wing. Hatred.

This reign was already lost. There was no way he would survive long with Louis, Vouivre, and the Cobweb all fighting together with knowledge of his identity. All he could do was save Remedia, grab as many levels and take as many heads as he could, and murder that cursed dragon.

"Alphonse," Simon said with a dead, cold voice, his choice made. The Paladin froze.

"Yes?"

"Whatever happens now, I swear that I am on your side," Simon replied as he activated his Nightveil and cloaked himself in shadows.

"Put Filip to rest. I'll kill the dragon." He put on his Overlord armor beneath the cloak of shadows, then activated his Ring of Strength for Speed. Sixty points were suddenly added to his Agility score, increasing his speed even more than what he could achieve as a hastened Ninja. He crossed the gap with Casval in the blink of an eye and struck him with an Ectoplasmer blast to the face that caused the dragon to reel." Iron Maiden!" Casval cast, a coffin of steely spikes appearing right behind Simon.

It closed on empty air as he dodged and retaliated with Night Raid. A swarm of bats assaulted Casval and engorged themselves on his open wounds. Meanwhile, realizing he had no choice left, Alphonse finally struck back against the possessed Filip and cut him in half in a single stroke of his sacred blade. He quickly cast Haste on himself and moved to rejoin Simon. Roaring, Casval gathered his breath and unleashed his fire at Simon.

He tried to outrun the unholy flames, then summoned an Impwall when he realized he couldn't. A thick, living barrier of tiny imps appeared to take the blow for him. Most were incinerated in an instant, but Simon survived the weakened blast with only slight burns. The hastened Alphonse caught up to them and jumped at Casval, driving his sword into the dragon's chest. Simon supported him by casting Mire and melting Casval's scales with toxins so that his ally's sacred blade had an easier time reaching his heart.

Casval screamed in pain, his crystal oozing miasma whose shadows clashed with the light of Alphonse's sword." Phantom Pain!" A teal aura of pure, distilled pain erupted from the Goatfish crystal. It struck both Alphonse and Simon, setting their nerves ablaze. The Paladin's wail was deafening, and the horrible surge of pain brought Simon to his knees. The suffering reached past his body and into his very mana system, torturing his very essence with invisible knives and spiritual blades. Massive Soul damage!

The Goatfish was flaying their souls.

"Do you feel that, Deceiver?" Casval slapped a screaming Alphonse off him with his tail.

"I had so much pain inside me for all of my life… and I cannot wait to share it with you." There was no word to describe the pain. This was the bath of acid in Frightwall's trap room, being incinerated by Vouivre's flames, the emotional distress of losing Anna, Cassandra, and all those he loved, every single painful memory he had distilled into a single moment of absolute torture. And it still wasn't enough.

"You know nothing of pain, Casval," Simon rasped. Such a word meant little to one who had died nearly fifteen times." Mindflayer!" He shared his pain back with Casval tenfold. Simon poured all of his dark thoughts, all his resentment, all of his pain and sorrow into his psychic attack, even drawing on the feelings produced by Phantom Pain. The blast brought Casval to his knees, the dragon wriggling on the ground, clutching his head hard enough to crush a man with ease.

Simon could sense the amalgamation of his spirit melded with the demon inside him wailing inside his skull, which only encouraged him.

"Oh… is that it?" Simon taunted him as he flayed Casval's mind layer by layer.

"You can give the pain, but you can't take it?"

"Mercy…" Casval and the demon rasped with a single voice.

"M-mercy…"

"Death is your only mercy, Casval." Lightning crackled in Simon's fingers." Hellthunder!" He aimed at the wound in Casval's chest and where Alphonse's sword was still stuck, using the blade as a lightning rod. His crimson bolts coursed all the way to the dragon's exposed heart and fried it.

"Do you understand now, at the end of all things?" Simon asked Casval as he blasted his heart with Hellthunder again and again and again, until his heart was melting inside his ribs.

"You may be a dragon and a demon both, but I?" Simon poured all of his malice into his final Hellthunder.

"I am power!!" He shocked Casval to death in a final burst of lightning, frying his heart and flaying his soul. His Domain shattered with his last feeble string of life, and a grim pleasure soon washed away Simon's pain. Level 53 Overlord Perk: Lord of the Demon Castle VI (Active): You are immediately aware of the location of anyone stepping inside your Demon Castle, and you can scry at any place within its confines so long as you are inside it.

Level 54 Overlord Perk: Devil Brand VI (Active): You can mark willing targets with the Brand of Wrath, allowing them to transform into powerful demonic creatures at the cost of burning through their lifespan. The branded are bound to obey your orders, at the risk of losing control of their transformation on refusal. Level 55 Overlord Perk: Deathmastery V (Active): You can infuse inanimate objects with souls bound in your miasma gems or spirits enslaved to your will, granting them will and unusual properties.

Casval's death healed his wounds, but the joy his death provided Simon was only a mere reprieve. Simon looked around as the Domain shattered into pieces, finding himself facing a giant wall of scales…" Spacetime Anchor," he heard Vouivre cast. Anchor status. You can no longer teleport. They were back in the throne room. Alphonse was unconscious, Thalas was back—but still a maddened hulk—and they were surrounded from all sides. War Party dragon riders, Vouivre, and a slightly wounded, mountless Dassein were here.

"Loser," was all Vouivre had to say to her brother's corpse.

"Lay down your arms, Thalas!" Dassein called out to his brother, who simply roared back.

"Don't force me to kill you!" Simon knew it was over. He had exhausted his cow herd, he was trapped in a room full of high level enemies with an unconscious Alphonse and an enraged Thalas, and cut from teleportation. Vouivre and Dassein's presence meant Norbelle's Eidolons had been defeated too, if not Norbelle herself. All he could do was to go down fighting. He still took a moment to look at what remained of the council room. Its Domain had collapsed on itself, leaving smoking ruins.

Silk's blasted corpse lay on the ground, next to a smoking Crab miasma crystal. A faceless, shifting shadow—someone else also using Nightveil, almost certainly the Rogue—stood as the only victor. In one hand was a golden miasma crystal bearing the Lion's emblem. In the other was Remedia's severed head.

"Do you know what her third wish was, Simon of Endymion?" The shadow spoke using Remedia's voice, to further twist the knife." Make me happy, Simon," the Nightveiled assassin mocked him with her laughter, a sharp saber materializing in place of the Lion crystal." Make me happy, my Overlord." Simon struck the monster with Ectoplasmer in a final hail of defiance right before Vouivre and a hail of spells blasted him from all sides. He went down fighting to the bitter end.