Chapter 46: ""King Giffereld""

Lilith: Then I warn you… if anything happens to her, especially if you are the cause, do you think I will remain calm, Erashia?

Sata: Grrrr… Your ridiculous threats don't scare me! Erasa is Lucifer's daughter, that Lucifer who is the source of all my torments. I will devour her to take my revenge, and if you dare stand in my way… prepare for the worst!

A murderous aura escaped from my body. Yet, Lilith did not flinch. She remained absolutely calm. That unsettled me.

Lilith: I knew it. You are far too dangerous for my children. I will therefore have to banish you from this world.

Sata: Ah! What a joke!

I rushed to attack her, but she suddenly grabbed me by the throat.

Lilith: If you force me to repeat myself one more time… you will regret the sufferings that Lucifer himself could inflict on you. For they will be pale compared to what I am capable of making you endure.

Her gaze… it was of divine monstrosity. A gaze of a superior being. My body, down to its deepest essence, convulsed. An unprecedented terror seized me, a fear that broke me.

Sata: Let me go! Please… let me go!

I struggled, screaming, sobbing like a lost child. I understood nothing anymore. Fear had consumed me.

Sata: I beg you… let me go!

She finally loosened her grip. Instinctively, I opened my wings and immediately flew away, fleeing this chaotic world without looking back. I had succeeded. Now I was in the World of Existence. No universe was unknown to me, for in my previous life, I had traversed them all.

But as I distanced myself, tears overwhelmed me. So much so that my body transformed, taking the appearance of a little girl. A child… symbol of fragility and innocence. I felt broken.

I cried endlessly. My sadness and despair attracted to me the shadow spirits. For those who do not know: they are beings covered with a long cloak of hair masking their faces, only their white eyes shining in the darkness. Dressed in rags, with huge nails, they are frightening but harmless.

I stopped sobbing for a moment to look around: they surrounded me.

Sata: Hey… what do you want from me?

The spirits replied:

Why are you sad?

Why do you cry?

Your sadness saddens us too, you know…

Sata: Uh…

I saw no point in answering them. I got up to fly away again.

But, even elsewhere, on the mountain where I landed, they were still there.

Sata: You followed me?

We want to understand why you cry, stranger.

Is it this world that makes you sad?

A doubt touched me. I had to be sure.

Sata: What are you for this world? How do you know I am not from here?

We are the guardians of the World of Existence. Nothing escapes us.

Sata: This world had no guardian before…

We have existed for five billion years.

Sata: Do you eliminate malicious intruders?

No. We do not have that power. We observe. And the day one of our superiors demands answers, we bring them.

Sata: You observe… even those who exceed all norms?

No. This world is immense, but our power of observation was transmitted to us.

It is so vast that we are often able to see the limit, before laws and concepts fade and extinguish in the giant dimensions.

Sata: The laws of the Giant Dimension?

Yes, when they are near the domain of the Abyss Devourer!

Sata: Anyway… my misfortune comes from a world…

Oh really? Can you describe it to us?

Sata: … It is a world I prefer to forget.

Oh… our apologies.

Is it this world that broke you?

I then understood: for them, there is only this world. And to tell the truth, they are not wrong. It is immensely vast.

Sata: Leave me… do not follow me anymore.

I opened my wings and flew away. It was then that he appeared.

A god.

It had been so long… but I could not be mistaken. The aura he radiated was inimitable.

The God: Who is this child?

Sata: You…

The God: What?

Sata: It had been a long time since I had seen one of your kind…

The God: But who are you then?

My body slowly transformed, revealing my true nature: a being half-woman, half-serpent.

The God: A demoness!

He drew a shining sword and rushed at me. I used my reptilian tail to push him back, but his weapon sliced it like a knife cutting butter.

I pulled it back inside me.

The God: Can she regenerate?!

Sata: I want you to die… in the worst way imaginable! Haaaaaaaaaaa!!

My body released a toxic cloud. This poison rose like a deadly mist, scaring away the spirits and dissolving the god's sword.

He tried to flee, but the fog thickened. I had cornered him. He was suffocating, invisible in this sea of miasma. This toxic cloud was the reflection of the evil in me, which could without difficulty fill his chōshinku and destroy it.

And I eliminated him without difficulty.

The mist gradually dissipated. The mountain peak was ravaged. Every being, from the tiniest microbe to the greatest spirit, was consumed down to the root of its existence.

I resumed my adult form. A twenty-eight-year-old woman, naked. I needed clothes… and to leave this mountain.

I teleported to the forest below. There, my powers seemed to die out. As if asleep. Weakened. I understood: the divine weapon had touched me, it had acted like a curse.

Fatigue overcame me. I sank into unconsciousness.

I woke up in a bed, in a vast room. I understood nothing.

Then I heard footsteps. Someone was approaching.

The door opened. A bearded man with long black hair entered.

The man: You are finally awake!

I did not answer. I remained silent.

The man: You were found in the forest. You too must have breathed that evil smoke coming from the summit…

Evil smoke, he said…

The man: This mist does not dissipate. It killed my soldiers, and we can't even find their bodies. As if it consumed everything.

Poor fool. This mist leaves nothing. It devours the being down to the source of its roots.

The man: You were lucky to survive it. What is your name?

He tires me…

The man: Oh, forgive my rudeness! I am Giffereld, King of this land. And you, who are you?

A king… Very well.

Sata: My name is Hinata.

Giffereld: What a magnificent name. It suits you perfectly. Where do you come from?

Sata: …

Giffereld: I see… it's not a good memory. I won't speak of it anymore, sweet Hinata.

He flirts with me. Pathetic human… Very well. I will use him. I will harvest humanity's energy through this.

I leaned toward him, brushing him. He blushed.

Giffereld: H-Hinata… would you accept to attend the royal banquet?

Sata: It would be an honor to share a meal with the king.

Giffereld: Hoho… You delight me. In that wardrobe, you will find outfits worthy of a queen… or rather… of a woman as beautiful as you.

He left the room, leaving me alone. I was not in the mood to play guest… but I had nowhere to go. Not yet.

In the banquet hall, everyone laughed and feasted. Until I entered.

Silence fell. All eyes turned to me.

Some dropped their cups. Others, their jaws.

Who is this goddess?

What beauty!

If I had a woman like that, I would ask for nothing else…

Voices mingled.

I approached King Giffereld. He stood and solemnly declared:

Sir Giffereld: "Your attention, please. Allow me to introduce Hinata… My goddess, Hinata. Yes, she is magnificent, even dazzling, but let it be clear: no one has the right to approach her. She belongs to me. And to no one else. Hehehe…"

I stood before him as he pronounced this speech, surrounded by guests whose murmurs immediately ceased.

Sir Giffereld: "You may resume your festivities! Let the music sound again!"

The banquet - or rather, the royal meal - resumed in a lively atmosphere. But Sir Giffereld discreetly leaned toward me.

Sir Giffereld: "Hinata, I took the liberty of preparing this dish myself. Accept it."

I took the dish with a respectful nod.

Sata: "Thank you, my king."

He indicated a more secluded spot where I could eat in peace, which I did. But barely had I begun to taste my meal when a man approached and sat without invitation.

"Hello, beauty."

His breath reeked of alcohol. He was drunk to the point of losing reason.

The stranger: "My name is Henry, and I want you to become Mrs. Henry. The future mother of my heirs. What do you say?"

I chose indifference as my only response, focusing again on my plate.

Henry: "What? Are you deaf? Don't you hear what I'm saying? You know, I am a king too. Tonight, it's just a meeting between kingdoms, you understand?"

What is he waiting for to leave? I will end up killing him.

Henry: "Why don't you answer, you filthy bitch?"

I plunged my gaze into his, icy as steel. A look meant to scare him. But he did not seem disturbed. Worse, he appeared fascinated.

Henry: "Your eyes… sublime. I would be ready to kill for you, I swear!"

Sata: "Ha… sigh."

Henry: "Ah, finally a reaction! You're playing hard to get, huh? Given your beauty, I suppose you think everything is owed to you."

I stood up calmly. I felt that if I stayed one second longer, I would strike him with a single gesture. And given his state, he wouldn't even have time to feel the pain. All these people… let them leave.

The evening dragged on, then finally, the guests left one by one. Only King Giffereld and a few members of his kingdom remained. As for me, I had taken refuge on the castle roof, contemplating the moon, when the king himself joined me.

Sir Giffereld: "Hinata!!"