Chapter 1537 - 218 - An Upcoming Storm (6)
Beelzebub’s POV
It took me nearly an hour before I finally recovered from the attack Lucielle had landed on me.
The pain lingered much longer than I expected it to. Under normal circumstances, something like that wouldn’t have injured me in the slightest, yet for some reason, this attack was completely different. It hurt far more than it ever should have. The copy I had sent there to observe the situation and fight if necessary was completely erased the moment Lucielle attacked it, disappearing without leaving behind even the smallest trace.
What exactly was that attack?
Wasn’t it just an ordinary Black Sphere? Then why did it hurt that much? The entire thing felt as though it had been strengthened somehow, almost like someone had amplified it far beyond what it should have been capable of. Could it have something to do with the Vessel of Lilith? That honestly seemed like the only explanation that made any sense. After all, how could Lucielle possibly pull off something like that on her own? That simply wasn’t something she should have been capable of doing. It was practically impossible for her to achieve something on that level. The only reasonable explanation I could think of was that the Vessel of Lilith had somehow enhanced her power. Otherwise, absolutely none of it made any sense to me.
Eventually, I arrived at our usual meeting place after making sure my condition had stabilized enough.
The meeting place belonged to Belphegor, mostly because she hated leaving her own territory and preferred forcing everyone else to come to her instead. Honestly, it suited her personality perfectly. If she could avoid walking somewhere by making six other people do the walking instead, she probably considered that a productive day.
When I stepped inside, Morsea was already waiting. She had her back resting against the entrance with her arms casually folded, looking as relaxed as if nothing in the world could possibly bother her.
"It seems things didn’t go very well," she said with a smile that looked almost sympathetic.
At first glance, someone might have mistaken it for genuine concern.
The truth was painfully obvious.
She was definitely mocking me.
The way she looked at me was like she had just found someone so pitiful that she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. That irritating grin on her face made it very clear she was enjoying every second of this.
"I had him in the palm of my hand," I replied. "He only managed to get away because someone interfered."
"What kind of interference?"
"More like who," I corrected without hesitation. "And it was none other than Lucielle."
"So Lucielle really might have betrayed us, huh?" she asked.
"Well, considering that Lucielle was Mother’s most trusted and loyal follower, I suppose it was only natural for her to end up acting this way," I answered.
That much had always been true.
Lucielle had always been the one who opposed the idea of fighting Mother from the very beginning. Whenever the topic came up, she was always the first person to argue against it.
The rest of us had already accepted Satania’s decision that the only way forward was to kill Mother. Reaching that conclusion hadn’t been easy for any of us. In fact, accepting it had probably been one of the hardest decisions we had ever made.
After learning what Mother had truly been planning for this world, we simply couldn’t allow her to continue existing any longer.
Whether we liked it or not, we had no choice but to go through with it. Feelings stopped mattering the moment the fate of the world became part of the equation.
Lucielle, however, had never truly accepted that decision in her heart.
"Well," Morsea said with a small shrug, "I guess she’ll be our enemy the next time we meet."
She let out a quiet sigh that sounded more disappointed than worried.
"I really don’t want to fight her, but it is what it is. We have to destroy the Vessel again before he actually becomes Lilith. Things would get really bad if she came back."
The end of the world would be waiting just around the corner if that happened.
Things would truly become an absolute disaster beyond anything anyone wanted to imagine.
"Although..." I muttered after thinking everything through for another moment.
Morsea immediately turned her attention toward me, looking genuinely interested for the first time since I’d arrived.
"What do you mean?"
"I think something has changed with Lucielle."
Curiosity slowly replaced the amusement on her face as she continued looking directly at me.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Normally, she wouldn’t even be capable of damaging me," I explained. "But earlier, she hit me hard enough to completely disintegrate my copy, leaving it without even the slightest chance of regenerating. That shouldn’t have been possible under normal circumstances, yet she still managed to do it."
"Really?" Morsea raised an eyebrow while looking me up and down. "So that’s why you’ve been walking a little funny."
A rather unpleasant grin immediately spread across her face.
Apparently, my suffering had become today’s entertainment.
She clearly found my situation amusing, which honestly wasn’t surprising coming from someone like her. She must have assumed I was exaggerating the entire thing because she looked like she was enjoying the thought of me getting hurt far more than she probably should have.
A few seconds passed while she continued staring at me in silence.
Then she carefully studied my expression again.
The grin on her face slowly disappeared as realization finally caught up with her.
"...You’re serious."
"I don’t think Lucielle is capable of doing something like that on her own," I replied. "To be honest, she’s always been the weakest among us. Even though she was Mother’s very first follower, she was also the one who absorbed the least amount of Mother’s power. That’s exactly why I never expected her to damage me like that."
My thoughts continued connecting everything that had happened earlier without finding another reasonable answer.
"Which means the only explanation I can think of is the Vessel himself. He must have been the one who strengthened her somehow and gave her that additional power."
I folded my arms while quietly considering the possibility once more.
"It’s similar to what Mother once did for all of us. Since he’s Mother’s Vessel, it’s entirely possible that he was able to grant her some of that power as well."