I'm in Love with the Villainess!-Chapter 153: Profaned No More...?

After breezing through the first week since I first arrived in this world, it was only a matter of time before I met some resistance. Philosophical rambling about shortcuts and all that warned me about this...

Becoming an S-Rank, getting an SSS-Rank item, and a demon prince as a patron... it didn’t even take a day for me to get all of that, now that I think about it. Kind of unfair to be punished for it though—I still earned it fair and square.

I slowed to a torturous walk, dozens of wolves tearing into my back, their fangs dragging me down to a snail’s pace.

I couldn’t fight back anymore, and I couldn’t sprint either.

But since this was my mind, the damage I was taking didn’t really matter.

As long as I remained calm...

I’d reach my destination.

[Breakthrough!]

[Adept: Level 2]

[Cursed Coating]

The wolves behind me exploded into balls of fire. I didn’t question the breakthrough over something so simple; if it let me speed up, I’d take it.

And...

[Dark Sun]

The soles of my feet ignited, like rocket thrusters firing beneath me and propelling me forward.

CLASP!

Cold stone slammed against my seared flesh. Beelzebub’s throne.

Guess being stubborn paid off.

"Beelzebub!"

Speak, mortal.

"You’ve been looking through my mind, you know what I want! You can bring her back, can’t you!? Someone like her, who worked in the sketchy underbelly of society her whole life—surely you have some jurisdiction over her soul!"

Fiona wasn’t exactly innocent; if her soul went to the afterlife, it would probably be hell.

Even if I do, why would I help you? You already lost my ring. That alone proves you are too incompetent to earn my favor.

This bastard. Is he seriously trying to play mind games with me now?

No self-respecting demon prince would go out of his way to set up shop in my death trap of a crumbling mind just to refuse me. I’m not dumb or weak-willed enough to fall for something that basic.

If he’s testing me beyond the path itself, then he’s doing terribly!

"The ring! No—the eye itself! I’ll give it back to you if you bring her back!"

I could simply take it once you—or its new wielder—dies. What’s the point? Besides, you’re not even the one holding it right now.

I’m just here to motivate you. Who said I’m actually making deals?

Beelzebub laughed. He’s really playing hard to get, huh? But I know exactly how tempting my offer is. An immortal being might live forever, but that doesn’t mean he has all the time in the world to utilize that immortality.

Because if the grand world of this novel is still moving, that means he doesn’t have time to just play around while Gary Stu is still getting stronger and stronger.

But... if he even got a single ounce of divine energy from that eye...

He could definitely just relax while reality starts to shatter under Julius’s own fate.

"If I made that eye, I can break it as well!"

It was a risky thing to say to a being as powerful as him, but considering I already caught his eye. I have a bit more leeway when it comes to talking to him!

DUN!

You dare!?

My entire mind shook the moment I threatened him.

I was right.

He needed that eye. There’s no way a demon prince would risk losing a source of divine energy.

Even if he tried to wait it out, someone else could stumble upon it, hand it to another god, or... I could make good on my own threat.

He had no leverage at all. He was just pretending, hoping to take advantage of me while I was vulnerable.

I won’t let him think I’m that easy!

He might be powerful, but stepping into the mortal world to grab a powerful artifact—without another powerful being summoning him—was on a whole other level of impossible.

Fine.

I heard him click his tongue in reluctant acceptance. He already knew I would make a deal, but even so, the deal I had actually made disappointed him.

He at least wanted my soul for Fiona’s life.

You give me power, I give you life. That’s... the opposite of most demonic deals I made in the past...

His smile curved slightly.

Whatever.

He shooed me away with his left hand.

The void around us shattered, collapsing into nothing as a soul-rending pain tore through me.

***

GASP!

"If I die, you’re coming with me, along with hundreds of others!"

[Profaned Heaven’s Fall]

W–What?

My eyes snapped open.

I was back in the real world.

Standing before me was an unfamiliar man, bleeding heavily. Both his arms had been severed. His legs were burned to a charred ruin. And from the empty ruin of his face, one remaining eye glowed with profaned magic.

Was this...?

It had to be him.

The one who orchestrated everything.

The one who arranged Fiona’s death.

[Memory Implant]

[Black Flames Information Stored]

FWOOSH!

"You’ve come back to your senses, eh!?"

The Monarch burst into manic laughter, noticing the faint return of color in my pupils.

"Too bad," he sneered. "You’re too late!"

"I’d agree," I said calmly, "if I weren’t just a little smarter."

I lunged forward.

My fist drove straight into the Monarch’s glowing eye, black flames coating my arm as I burned through the nerves and flesh connecting it to his brain. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Why waste time destroying the body...

...when I could rip out the power source?

"W–Wait! What are you doing?!"

His spell wavered. The Monarch had never once considered this possibility—too intoxicated by his newfound power and the danger of battle to imagine someone simply tearing the eye from his skull.

"Seriously? You didn’t think of that?"

RIP!

I ripped the eye free from its socket.

For good measure, I planted my palm against his chest.

[Black Sun]

The spell detonated inside him, black flames blooming outward as they incinerated him from within.

Did he really think fighting the real me would be as easy as fighting an unconscious one?

"Y-You..."

I slammed his face down onto the ruined floor for good measure. Why did he even bother talking? If he lived after that, then he should’ve just shut up and hoped I wouldn’t double-tap him.

"I got it."

I weighed the eye in my palm—the same one I was about to give away.

Should I really...?

No. I will.

I’ve been way too reliant on it anyway. Besides, these new flames definitely suit me better. Even if it pisses me off that all that light training ended up being for nothing.

"I have your eye, Beelzebub."

I tapped my foot.

[Black Flames Manipulation]

I drew a pentagram in the air with black fire. The eye in my hand immediately reacted, yanked from my palm and pulled into the center as a small portal opened beneath it, swallowing it whole.

Don’t worry, your precious girl has already been returned...

Beelzebub laughed.

Just not in the way you expected, of course. Even I have my limits, mortal. Check on your little mistress if you want to see what I mean.

"W-What!? Wait, that’s not—"

Should’ve worded it better then. But don’t worry, I added in a little extra so you wouldn’t get too mad at me~

The black flames vanished as Beelzebub’s link to the mortal world was cut.

"T-That bastard..."

I dropped to my knees, every ache and throb settling into my body at once—pain in my muscles, pain in my mind. Losing the healing magic from my light attunement was going to be rough.

But more importantly...

"Mistress? Did he mean Evelina?"

What did he do to both of them!?