Chapter 1534 - 218 - An Upcoming Storm (3)
Lucielle looked completely stunned by the sudden power-up she had just received. The expression on her face made it obvious that even she hadn’t expected something like this to happen. Honestly, I hadn’t expected her to be the one benefiting from it instead of me either. Seeing everything play out like this caught me just as much by surprise as it had caught her. So this was probably what Lilith meant when she hinted that I’d have a much better chance of defeating her if I fucked Lucielle. She never actually said those exact words out loud, but it was close enough that putting the pieces together wasn’t exactly difficult. Looking back on it now, the meaning behind her words felt a lot clearer than it did before.
It didn’t look like there was anything left of Beelzebub for her to regenerate from anymore. The battlefield had become eerily quiet after everything that had just happened, which honestly felt a little strange considering how chaotic it had been moments ago. Because of that, I figured it was safe to say that we had defeated her. Well, saying that we defeated her wasn’t entirely accurate. Lucielle was the one who had actually finished the job in the end. That outcome was honestly much further from what I had predicted after analyzing the difference in their strength. I had expected the fight to drag on much longer before reaching any real conclusion. Somehow, though, Lucielle had managed to completely destroy one of Beelzebub’s copies before it could regenerate. Whatever opening she found, she took full advantage of it without wasting even a second. Considering how troublesome Beelzebub’s regeneration was, that alone was an incredible accomplishment.
Lucielle slowly let out a long breath before finally turning her eyes toward me. Her breathing was still uneven from the battle, but she managed to keep herself standing despite everything she had gone through.
"You have to get out of here. Now. And fast," she said. "I don’t think Beelze was joking when she said the situation was as serious as it is." She paused briefly before continuing, almost as though she was carefully choosing her next words. "She might’ve actually meant it when she said Satania is already searching for you. At this point, I’d rather assume she’s telling the truth than gamble on the chance that she isn’t."
"You don’t have to worry about that," I replied while giving a small shake of my head. "I can handle myself just fine, so running away isn’t really something I’m planning to do. Besides, if I decide to hide somewhere, then she might start targeting the people I’m trying to protect instead. That would only make everything worse for everyone involved. I’d rather stay here and face her head-on than let innocent people suffer because I chose to run away. It isn’t exactly the smartest option, but I don’t really see another choice that lets me protect the people I care about."
"You seriously think you’re going to win against her?" she asked, sounding somewhere between disbelief and genuine concern.
Her words lingered in the air for a brief moment before she suddenly stopped herself. It looked as though another thought had crossed her mind before she could continue speaking.
"But then again," she said with a quiet sigh, "I guess you were never going to listen to my warning anyway. You’re the kind of person who’ll keep moving forward even if everyone around you tells you it’s dangerous. Even after everything I’ve said, you’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?"
I couldn’t really blame her for thinking that.
She wasn’t wrong.
I’d already made it painfully obvious that retreat was never something I was willing to consider. Hiding would only give Satania more time to widen her search. The wider her search became, the more places she’d be willing to destroy just to flush me out. That was exactly the kind of person she was. She wasn’t someone who cared about innocent lives getting caught in the middle of everything.
Eventually, that search would reach the Human Continent.
That was where my people lived.
That was where my friends and the people I cared about were waiting for me.
Walking away now would only put every one of them in even greater danger. The thought alone made my stomach tighten. Somebody like Satania wouldn’t simply shrug her shoulders and give up because I disappeared. She’d tear through cities, countries, and probably entire regions if she believed doing that would eventually lead her to me. Destruction wasn’t something she hesitated to choose. It was practically second nature to her. Giving her more room to act freely sounded like an absolutely terrible idea, even if standing my ground came with its own risks. Sometimes every option in front of you was terrible, and all you could do was choose the one that hurt the fewest people.
"Still," Lucielle murmured while staring at her own hands, "I seriously can’t believe I actually got stronger from that. How exactly did something like this even happen? Nothing about it makes any sense to me."
"It’s probably because it’s similar to what Lilith did to all of you," I answered after thinking about it for a moment. From everything I’d learned so far, that explanation made the most sense.
She blinked a couple of times before looking back at me.
"Similar to what Mother did to us?" she asked with a puzzled expression. "What exactly do you mean by that? You’re making it sound like this has happened before."
I already understood enough about the history of the Seven Deadly Sins to have a rough idea of what had taken place.
Lilith had always been the source of their strength. The reason every one of the Sins possessed such overwhelming power was because they had all received her influence in one form or another. She had likely trained them herself while also sharing part of her own power with them. Looking at Lucielle now, it seemed entirely possible that the same kind of process had happened again, even if the circumstances were completely different this time around.
"I don’t really think it needs that much of an explanation," I said while meeting her gaze. "I’m pretty sure you already know what I mean. Deep down, you’ve probably already figured it out yourself."
She still looked like she wanted to ask even more questions. Her curiosity was obvious enough that she almost opened her mouth again. What she truly wanted to understand, though, wasn’t really me. Her attention was focused on the Lilith residing inside me far more than it was on anything else. That was the real answer she was searching for.
"For now, I think we should leave this place," I told her while looking around at the battlefield one more time. "If the real Beelzebub is somewhere else right now, then she definitely would’ve felt her copy getting completely disintegrated. Something like that isn’t exactly easy to ignore. Once that happens, it’s only a matter of time before the other Sins start responding as well. I’d rather not still be standing here when they decide to show up, because that sounds like the opposite of a good day."