Chapter 136: The Judgment of the Covenant, After the Storm

It was cold. It was dark.

Grijan slowly opened his eyes.

— "Where... where am I?" he whispered, worried, his voice trembling.

He turned his head, scanning the endless darkness that surrounded him. Nothing. Nothing but a silent, oppressive void.

— "I thought I couldn't die... So what am I doing in a place like this?!" he screamed.

He clenched his fists, his voice harder:

— "Lucifer! Show yourself!"

A dull vibration answered his call. The void seemed to shiver, to twist, then two gigantic red eyes opened in the darkness. Eyes so vast that Grijan, tiny beside them, seemed barely bigger than a mouse.

— "What's happening?!" he cried out.

— "Take me back to Earth! I haven't finished... my revenge!"

A laugh arose. Deep. Dark. Infinite.

Then a mocking voice resonated:

— "Your revenge?"

A cruel echo lingered in the void:

— "You want to continue? And how do you plan to do it, Grijan? You are mine now. And I... I have decided that this little game is over."

— "W... what?" Grijan stammered.

Lucifer approached, his sneer distorting space itself.

— "Revenge, anger... all of it makes you pitifully weak, you humans. Until now, you were my puppet. My instrument."

He chuckled.

— "You didn't even realize that I was pulling the strings from the whole time. You gave me everything, Grijan: your body, your soul... your entire being, simply to satisfy this obsession."

He paused, his tone becoming more biting:

— "But tell me... If you had succeeded? What would you have left? What would you have done once your revenge was accomplished? You destroyed your wife, your son, and so many others... blinded by your desire to make others suffer."

Silence fell again. Then Lucifer concluded, in an almost apologetic tone:

— "Your hatred devoured you before I had to. It stole your feelings. It emptied you of your meaning."

Grijan screamed, his voice vibrating with rage:

— "Shut up! What are you meddling in, demon!

He pointed an accusing finger at the shadow:

— "You were supposed to help me, nothing more! Your role is not to judge! You have no right to speak of what does not concern you!"

Lucifer smiled even wider.

— "Roles?" he repeated, amused.

— "These concepts are for the weak. For humans like you, who seek to give meaning to the meaningless. I do not play. I pursue a goal. And my goal..."

A colossal hand emerged from the void. Black, formless, made of pure shadow. It slowly extended, pointing its disproportionate finger at Grijan.

— "...was to devour you."

Lucifer came closer, his murmur filled with delight:

— "So I played my role, yes. Just enough for you to abandon yourself. Just enough to savor your slow agony. Did you really think that a being like me cared about your pathetic little revenge?"

A silent roar filled the space. The void stretched, and Grijan felt that the end was approaching—or perhaps the beginning of something else, much worse.

Grijan, eyes red with rage:

— "Stupid revenge?!"

— "It was the ultimate revenge, Lucifer! Against my tormentors, those who tore my family away! Do you hear that?! Watch your words, you hideous creature!"

Lucifer burst out laughing. An abyssal chuckle, rumbling like thousands of demonic throats:

— "You've got some nerve.

— To take revenge on your tormentors? Very well. But you never opened your eyes: in your delusion, you became the tormentor of innocents."

He approached, his growing shadow covering Grijan.

— "For you, everyone around you was just a tool or an enemy. Disposable objects. Do you want to talk about the Satsujin Otoko? About Lazareth? About Gaius? About Shirōgane?

— You crushed them at your whim, never asking if they deserved your wrath.

— You are so proud, so cheeky. You distribute roles like a God, and you consider them as truths carved in stone.

— But it is you, Grijan, the most deceitful of all."

Grijan, screaming:

— "Shut up! You promised me, the day of our pact, to help me without ever meddling in my affairs! Why are you intervening now?!"

Lucifer's smile widened. White fangs like bone, immense, emerged from the darkness. His blazing eyes pierced Grijan.

— "Why am I no longer respecting the contract?" he said, bringing his voice down to an icy whisper.

— "Because I'm trying to open your eyes to the mess you've gotten yourself into."

Grijan's eyes widened.

— "The... mess?"

Lucifer, with terrifying calm:

— "You haven't even reached the weave where consequences collapse yet... You are still trapped by causality, Grijan. And on this plane, every action brings a return.

— Did you really think you could sow so much ruin without anything coming back to you?"

Grijan clenched his fists:

— "I don't believe in that karma nonsense!"

Lucifer tilted his head, almost disappointed:

— "You were so blinded by your hatred that you ended up attracting the Devil himself...

— You offered yourself to me body and soul, and for what? A revenge that turned you into my slave.

— You should know, though: you never win against the Devil."

He advanced, slowly. His shadow hand glided over the void, suspended above Grijan.

— "And today, Grijan... you just lost."

Grijan recoiled, breathless. He opened his eyes wide, terrified:

— "No... no, you can't do that!"

Lucifer smiled at him, and his proverb fell like a divine sentence:

"He who forges his revenge with the fire of Hell forgets that it was Hell that held out the forge to him."

Grijan abruptly turned on his heels. The void seemed endless, but he ran anyway, fleeing blindly into the icy darkness. His breath was ragged, his footsteps echoed in a void that did not respond.

Suddenly, Lucifer's voice boomed, mocking and imperious:

— "Where do you think you're going, Grijan?

— You are mine.

— No one escapes their own consequences."

Suddenly, the void began to shiver. Shadowy hands, black as primordial night, burst forth from all sides. They gripped Grijan: his arms, his legs, his throat, his back—as if the void itself refused to let him escape.

— "You are mine now."

— "No... NO!" Grijan screamed, struggling.

— "Let go of me, Lucifer! Let go of me!"

But his cries were in vain. The hands grew more numerous, more insistent, more voracious.

Then, a terrifying rift opened in the void. It was neither door nor passage, but a screaming tear in the very fabric of reality. Shadowy arms slowly emerged from it, skeletal, groaning, as if the dead themselves were calling for their tormentor.

Grijan, in tears, tried to resist, his heels sliding against a non-existent floor.

— "No! What are you doing?! Where are you trying to take me?!"

— "Let go of me, Lucifer! I beg you!"

But Lucifer leaned towards him, his booming laugh making the universe vibrate:

— "Begging me?

— Tell me, Grijan... did you listen to your victims when they begged you?

— When they cried, hurt by the roles you mercilessly imposed on them?

— Did you even see the suffering of your wife... of your son...?

The Devil's voice became deeper, sharper:

— "All died because of you, Grijan. And now, you are begging for your life? Why should I grant you what you never gave to anyone?

— Karma, you see, has no feelings. It returns... with the same intensity.

— And if it is the Devil himself who is tasked with bringing you your punishment...

— ...it means you were truly a scumbag.

— Hahahahahaha!!!"

Grijan stopped screaming. His eyes clouded over. He no longer resisted. The arms slowly dragged him towards the gaping rift, where distant screams resonated, like the echo of a personal hell.

In that heavy silence, a thought crept in.

He saw... his wife's face, his child's, their pleading eyes.

Then came the faces of the Satsujin Otoko. Innocent. Frightened. Pleading. And he... cold. Merciless.

Silent tears rolled down his cheeks.

— "There will be no redemption for me...

— Did I really... do all that?

— Without even realizing it?

— Revenge... it literally blinded me..."

His body slowly disappeared into the rift, carried away by the vengeful darkness. In a last desperate cry, he screamed:

— "Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

And then...

BAMMMMM.

The rift closed.

Silence fell again.

Absolute. Heart-wrenching. Definitive.

SWOOOSH!!

KBOOOM!!

A flash of violence split the sky.

Sakolomé, breathless, dodged between the titanic assaults of Shushu, with his raven wings beating the air, and Gorgonax, a horned, monstrous colossus with armored skin.

Blows rained down like meteors.

Shushu swooped down on Sakolomé, his powerful arms carving furrows in the air.

Sakolomé pivoted, narrowly dodged, landed smoothly on a raised root, ready to counterattack.

But a shadow emerged behind him.

Gorgonax.

Too late.

The demon's massive fingers wrapped around his neck.

Sakolomé arched his back, threw an elbow into his assailant's chest... but Gorgonax's body didn't budge. As rigid as a cursed rock.

"RAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The beast's howl made the surrounding trees vibrate.

He brought his fist forward, but Sakolomé rolled to the side, then leaped back, a defiant smile on his lips, despite the blood trickling on his temple.

WOOOSH!!

Shushu struck in turn, his wings beating so violently that the air itself was distorted.

Sakolomé parried.

The two exchanged blows in a series of supernatural speed exchanges.

The blows were precise, brutal, equal.

Sakolomé took a blow to the side. He responded with a knee to Shushu's chest.

They separated, panting, their gazes lighting up with an almost fraternal... and warlike intensity.

But suddenly...

"GRRAAAHH!!"

Gorgonax charged them like an infernal chariot.

His massive arm grabbed Sakolomé by the head and slammed him violently against the ground, raising a cloud of dust and uprooted roots.

The ground shook.

Shushu recoiled, surprised.

But Gorgonax, drunk with rage, leaped at him in turn.

He grabbed Shushu by the leg, lifted him like a puppet... and slammed him to the ground with unheard-of brutality.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Shushu's body bounced under the impacts.

Then Gorgonax released him... before raising his fist again.

"That's enough!"

Sakolomé returned to the charge.

His face bloody. His chest covered in wounds.

But his fists clenched. His eyes bright.

"I told you it wasn't over, old man!"

His blow reached Gorgonax's flank, who staggered...

One step. Just one.

But it was already an achievement.

Gorgonax slowly turned his head.

His eyes... glowed red like two molten stars.

ZAAAAAARRRR!!

Two scarlet rays shot from his orbits.

Sakolomé dove to the side, rolling on the ground, the rays burning a tree behind him down to its roots.

But Shushu had gotten up.

And this time...

"RAAAAHHHH!!"

He lunged at Gorgonax.

His claws gripped the titan's throat.

A struggle of colossuses ensued.

The ground cracked beneath their feet.

Their titanic forces clashed without restraint, each blow capable of pulverizing a mountain.

— "STOP THIS FIGHT!!"

The voice cracked like a detonation.

Gorgonax froze.

Shushu recoiled slightly.

Sakolomé, panting, turned his head.

It was Velda. She stood on a rocky ridge, arms crossed, visibly annoyed.

— "Aren't you tired? You've been fighting for twelve hours! Take a break, for heaven's sake! Plus, this is my resting domain! You've ruined everything!"

Sakolomé wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked around.

The sight was... desolate.

Broken trees, collapsed mountains, a water point completely evaporated under the effect of their rampage.

— "Hahaha... yeah, sorry, Velda," he said with an apologetic smile.

He stretched, wiping a drop of blood from his cheekbone.

His body was more muscular, more robust.

His features more mature.

He was no longer 16. Nor 17. Not even 19.

Sakolomé was now 21 years old.

The young man was no longer a mere hero in the making. He was a warrior.

Velda, sighing, extended her hand. Her energy flowed through the air like a golden mist.

The trees grew back. The mountains reconnected. The water flowed back.

The domain regained its splendor—as if chaos had never existed.

In the shade of a tree that had returned to life, Rivhiamë, lazily stretched out on a deckchair, launched:

— "And to think you didn't even manage to scratch Gorgonax..."

A silence settled.

Sakolomé and Shushu simultaneously turned their eyes to the massive silhouette of their opponent.

Sakolomé shrugged:

— "Gorgonax is a living mountain.

Neither Shushu nor I are a match... for now."

Shushu, in a deep, determined tone, added:

— "He's too strong for us, father. But it's not definitive."

Without warning, Gorgonax transformed.

His rough skin receded.

His titanic muscles sagged.

He became again... a small black goat with red eyes, peaceful, almost innocent.

Sakolomé, laughing:

— "You're much less terrifying like that, old man."

Rivhiamë sat up slightly:

— "Sakolomé. In the real world, it must be nine in the morning. You have class in two hours, right?"

— "Tch, yeah. You have a point."

He took a few steps towards the dimensional rift, preparing to leave.

— "That said, Velda... your domain is frankly the perfect place to train.

There, I'm limited. Here, I push my limits."

— "Wait!" Velda said, stopping him.

She approached and placed her hands on his chest.

A soft, warm light enveloped Sakolomé.

His wounds closed. His bruises faded. His muscles relaxed.

— "You two are crazy..." she resumed.

It's as if you fight to kill each other every time."

Sakolomé offered a crooked smile:

— "No mercy when it comes to getting stronger."

Velda nodded, resigned, then patted his shoulder.

— "You can go now. Take care, Sakolomé."

He winked, then raised his hand to his companions:

— "Thanks, Velda.

See you guys!"

And in a pulsating energy breach, Sakolomé disappeared..