Reborn (1)

"Noel.. where are you.. Noel.."

It felt as if my once scattered self came back into one piece. Sentience came settling in; Thoughts and feelings.. became hard to grasp.

"Noel.. where am I.."

There was a shatter. Came loose another piece..

What was I?

I wasn't able to comprehend this. Why do I exist? Was I merely a tangible being to some ephemeral world? Were all those pain, those experiences, made for simply naught?

"Wake up dear Liliath.."

It hurts.. the sensation of a thousand blades sinking into my soul.

"How are you? Did you have a pleasant sleep."

Everything was a blur. A silhouette of some familiar form called out to me. The buzzing of the ears disoriented my thoughts, I closed my eyes, trying to drown away into the world of my mind– I wanted so much to leave. This pain was.. unbearable..

I felt her caress. Beginning from my forehead, her finger traced my cheeks. She lifted me by the chin.

"My, what happened? It couldn't be that you passed out from all that?

"N-no.." I squeaked.

This was familiar.. this dreadful feeling of..

Fear.

"Cute reply sweetheart, your petty lies won't work on me.. come on, say it. What was it that you wanted?"

W-Why.. I.. didn't do anything wrong..

What was it? That was..

I don't.. remember..

Noel.. save me..

"Ak.." a murderous grip ceased my throat.

"Repeat after me: I will destroy the world."

"No. no.. no, no, n-no.." I choked.

She traced her fingernails along my chest. Her nail ran across my skin, caught in between the fold of the many small cuts on the surface. It was akin to stringing a harp, the melody being my wince.

"Why Lililath? Why are you going against me? Isn't this what we promised? Don't you remember? Our goal?"

"I don't want to.. I don't want.. Noel.. help.."

"It's him.. it's him every time. That damned demon lord."

In a shaky breath, "He's.. not.. a bad.."

She released my neck, I was dropped back on the throne. Chains wound itself on my body, the little barbs dug into my skin and held me in place. I.. didn't dare move a finger, let alone trembling, this was torture..

"Oh dear Noel, what have you done to my sweetheart? She's changed so much since you came into her life, so much so that you've made my life really hard."

My vision began to clear, out of fear, pain or some unexplainable phenomenon.

I saw her. An opening slit to the back of her blood red dress, enthralling her soft, angular shoulder blades. She had delicate skin, flushed a little red..

She gave me a side-long glance. Her gorgeous red-purple hair, shifted, like sticky silk web, each strand arched around her shoulders. Red lips curved into a frown.

This person was.. me..

Why? I.. I thought it was over? I thought.. I left it in the past? There was nothing left to see, no purpose returning to those memories..

"No purpose? I was your creation out of desperation. I was the you which you gave birth to. It was I who got you through hell and this is what I get? Sealed away, never to be seen again– forever?" her voice were like thorns shackling my heart.

I wanted to speak, no words formed.

I wanted to apologize, but was too scared to do so.

Because what she said was true. She was.. was a part of me I don't want to ever remember.

I.. don't deserve all this.. these fortunates that I received on a whim..

I shouldn't have existed.. I should've died. Then these problems.. unresolved pains and scars wouldn't have manifested..

I should've taken my life a long time ago.

"Sorry.." my voice cracking.

Through the shadow of her face, I saw a little smile.

"Good. Good. I like an obedient me. Now, repeat after me.."

The chains tightened themselves around my flaccid body, blood poured out of my wounds, it stung, pain jolted my senses. Someone, help me..

"I will destroy the world.. "

"I will.."

I raised my head to look at her in desperation. Gorgeous velvet hair, silky smooth skin, eyes burning in a crimson red lust of desire.

Yes.. this was.. me..

The me I created.. the self I depended on back in the past. How could I have forgotten?

The reason for my existence. The reason why I kept living.. through all that pain.. I survived so that I could..

"Destroy the.."

"No.."

She halted my words by placing a finger over my lips. She leaned in closer.

"Instead, we'll destroy everything that threatens our loved ones."

Ah.. loved.. ones..

That means..

"We'll.. destroy everything.."

"And kill anyone.."

"That threatens Noel.."

"And us."

"We."

Our words came into sync. I felt a sort of enlightenment in my heart–

This was why.. I remember now.. why, or how I made it here. The vow I made to live, the reason for my existence.

I will do.

Anything.

Everything.

Kill.

Anyone.

Everyone.

Everon.

Eno..

No..

Please…

Someone..

Help..

Me..

"I'll take it from here sweetheart."

Noel.. I'm sorry.

===

'That's the only plan we can come up with. I'm really sorry.'

'Please don't mind it.. you've been really kind to us. It's scary being here though.. when are you coming?'

'Just a bit. Nine is making preparations. We'll bust you out soon, be prepared.'

I heard the sound of the blanket shuffling. I turned around to see that Liliath had woken up. Her velvet coloured hair was as messy as her nightgown. They hung loosely on her shoulder.. and the fact that it wasn't properly covering her was creating a sight for the divine– I mean, a dangerous sight for the eyes.

"Morning Liliath.."

She nodded without an indeschiperharble murmure.

She's still out of it.. not that I'm any better.

Damn.. we still lack a few hundred points for the activation of the Revivalwidget. accumulating all the funds we have, it rounded up to around 9674 points. Short of another three hundred or so points. We should've not upgraded the apartment using the points.

Not to mention, we'll be using up some of the points to teleport us the heck out of here.

This was the continuation of the morning of the disastrous night.

It was a perfect banquet, Liliath was pepped up, steeled herself and was ready to finally talk to her brother after being gone missing. That was when.. Rin, one of us, a demon lord– and you could even call her my other fiance– was killed in front of us.

Things went to crap when Liliath lost herself, our cover was blown. The kingdom now knows we're demon lords.

From the map, there were royal knights still guarding the ballroom where we last opened the [Home Sweet Home] door. So if anyone tries to exit the apartment, they'll be noticed immediately.

"Noel."

"Yes?" I peered into her eyes– something felt off about the way it reflected back to me.

"Where's Rina?" she tilted her head. I felt my heart sink.

"She's.. she'll come back. We'll get her back, definitely.."

"Oh.. Okay.." Liliath nodded blankly. She got out of bed and headed out the door.

'Nine, Prune.. take care of Liliath. She's still shocked by last night's incident.'

'Roger that.'

Nine and I stayed up, while Liliath and Prune slept through the night. We busied ourselves with the contingency plans. Nine played the role of the data collector, while I wracked my brain to formulate our next course of action. I communicated with various people via the messaging system.

To be honest, I didn't expect Erudite kingdom to take the demon lords so seriously. They even went and locked up Miss Margrett's entire family.

Fortunately Jennifer-chan knew about the messaging function, so it became a much easier operation as we could exchange information. But there was news that Sid, Jennifer-chan's father and Margrett's husband was to be.. executed today for siding with the demon lord.

I don't get it. Don't they have historical records of friendly demon lords? Or could it be because of the Regressor? That damned Regressor.. uguh.. damned or not damn, he's a pitiful person that went through all that shit I can't undretsnad so fuck. Just empathize with him and move on Noel.

Things happen, shit happens. He had his reasons for doing what he did.

Here's the plan.

First, we'll rescue Miss Margrett, Jennifer-chan and Sid.

Second, we'll teleport over to the elven territory where The Goddess of Nature, Gaia-sama resides. I'm sure she'll welcome us with open arms? There's also the level 900 hero elf Teal that recognizes me as a demon lord. I'll be needing her assistance for covert actions.

Third, I'll do that exploit one more time the Exchangepoint widget so that we get enough to revive Rin. Else.. maybe we can complete our quests along and somehow earn enough to barely afford it.

I also read the manual in the mail on the specifics regarding the Revivalwidget. This widget can revive anyone, even if the person's body has been incinerated into ash. That's the key point here.

But the catch is that they have to be revived before their soul enters this cliche soul-recycling machine. Rin's soul should still.. remain by then right? Just like Princess the frog? Maybe?

That's the uncertainty. In any case, we better act fast.