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‘What…?’ Sebastian thought as his eyes widened in shock, a cascading stream of blood impacting the cracked, littered floor of the room filling his ears.

The same blood of the demon lord who had bested him in battle, no less, currently seeming as if she, or it,was being strangled whilst having severe lung haemorrhages.

Sebastian’s remaining arm subconsciously attempted to reach for a nonexistent sword as the demon lord continued to clutch at the hands of a seemingly invisible assailant as it choked to death slowly, and evidently, painfully, right in front of his very eyes.

Seeing Reina like this, his mind sprung into chaos, confusion, and finally, the realisation that should have come long ago.

Sebastian took his remaining left hand, looking upon it for a brief moment, before thinking …

‘So it’s come to this huh ...’ He sighed, deeply vexed …

*spleesh!* He garnered whatever strength he could, in order to pierce his skull, a spot just next to his ear, his fingers easily going past the flesh, the bone, and finally the brain matter …

... and injected mana into the centre of his brain.

Reina, the seemingly unmountable wall, was for some reason, stooping down low enough to present an opportunity.

‘Why did it have to be like this ...’ He sighed once more, thinking that if Reina had remained as she was, he wouldn’t have had to do something as unsightly as the action he was currently doing.

But now with such a chance presented, it was clear that he couldn’t sit this one out, and that the wall had dropped low enough for him to decide that he could try again, seeing a sliver of success as long as he tried enough …

‘Goddammit ...’

‘... I will complete my mission!’ Sebastian’s last thoughts rang out, his mouth moving even though he didn’t intend for it to, as his body was slowly being taken over, by a wiggling substance inside his own brain …

*Sprooouuut!* An arm from the vacant spot where his right arm was supposed to be grew, though unlike Sebastian’s own original arm, it had purple veins and patches over it, as well as in random spots as the amount of mana in his body flared.

Sebastian stood up slowly, his lifeless body being sporadically controlled by the thing inside his head quietly grabbed his broken sword in silence, raising his arm, the light in his eyes disappearing as they were replaced by an eerie purple glow.

“I will ...”

It was the Devilite state, a state which required one to offer one’s own life to the Demonoid worm lying dormant implanted inside his head, in exchange for great power for a short period of time that would eventually snuff the life of the user out …

... and it would be Sebastian’s last trump card.

“—complete my mission!!”

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She never really thought about it too much, because frankly, there wasn’t a need to.

She had used her trump card thousands of years ago, and her soul went into an awry state of slumber as it recovered, unknowingly within the closet of the God of Chaos.

That meant she didn’t know how, but suddenly she had felt that thousands of years had indeed passed, due to how her soul had been already pieced back together naturally, and somehow being already presented with a host that looked conveniently closer to her old physical body …

What did it matter if she didn’t know how? Answers can always be gained later, and it was always more important to seize the opportunity presented.

But there was one problem …

‘This is ...’ She lamented.

The host, Rei, had an unexpectedly strong will, her mind rejecting Reina’s grasp, even while unconscious …

No, it was actually even stronger while unconscious, as it seemed that Rei’s body already had two occupants, herself, and what seemed to be another side.

‘An unknown psyche ...’

Reina had been banking on the moment where Rei would be knocked unconscious due to having experienced Reina’s last moments, but unexpectedly such a gap wasn’t found as her body was piloted by another mental element much stronger than her even in a state of mental inactivity.

While Rei was busy indulging in Reina’s flashback, the unknown psyche acted with a single thought, which was to eliminate all the enemies in the vicinity, unable to recognize friend or foe, utilizing Rei’s potential to its near-fullest, which led to the deaths of Zaren and other palace guards, which led to escalation with new and unknown factors presenting themselves, the opportunity already forfeit when Rei took back the reins of her own body just before facing Lionel.

Faced with such a dilemma, she thought she was going to have to wait another long-game, until another opportunity presented itself …

‘Yes, that’s right!’ Reina watched on the sidelines, cheering for Sebastian whilst hidden deep inside of Rei’s head, seemingly co-existing with the unknown psyche.

Rei lost to Sebastian, with her brain pierced cleanly, knocking both Rei and the unknown psyche clean off their feet, leaving both of Reina’s mental opponents dead in the water, leaving a gap that was all too big for any person to not take nice of.

That loathsome girl, no matter how much latent talent she possessed, could still do nothing in the face of a brain injury …

Reina, thinking that she now essentially owned the body as the thought of a human going up against a Demon Lord, especially in a battle of the mind, wasn’t really at all a feasible thought, however …

That same girl was now towering over her, looking into her eyes with clear and visible feelings of not anger, nor fear, or even bits of admiration like how most people had ever held for her ...

... but disgust.

“How unsightly.” Rei said coldly, looking at Reina as if she was little more than just the debris and mangled corpses around her.

Hearing and seeing, or rather more technically, thinking this, as Rei wasn’t actually there physically, the veins of Reina’s forehead immediately crumpled in annoyance, and anger.

‘This bitch dares ...!?’ She thinks, unable to actually move her mouth as Reina looked up towards Rei.

Seemingly hearing this, and unaware that Rei was now visible to Reina, her disgusted look immediately transformed into that of a cold smile, which would have been mimicking Reina’s own wide, ear-bordering smile were it not for the still-human limits of the corners of Rei’s own mouth.

“Aha, so you can see me now, isn’t that right you mongrel?” Hearing the trash-talk that was coming from Rei’s mouth, the feelings within Reina multiplied in intensity.

“Well, even though you’re currently like this, I’m still quite glad you’ve got this much spunk left in you ...” Rei said, cheerfully smiling, and then grabbing Reina by the hair, and then looking her in the eye.

“—Because then this is gonna be real fun.” Rei said, her smile warping even more, which unnerved even Reina.

‘I’ve got no time for this …’ Reina said, before garnering up her own will, desperately fighting against Rei’s attempt at wringing back control of her own body …

‘She’s just as strong as me … no, she’s even better!’ Reina was forced to admit, after bleeding even more as her body was busted up even more due to the conflict going on inside of Rei’s head, and sure enough, Rei herself was feeling Reina’s stubbornness as well, as she started bleeding somewhat from her nose as well.

‘However, I’ve got the advantage!’ Reina was the one in possession of Rei’s mind, and Reina was on the defensive, and the one with the steady position near-always had the strategic advantage, which was more than enough to make up for in the gap of mental will.

Seeing that she was slowly losing, Rei put a finger to the drip of blood trickling down her nose, licking it and then speaking …

“You know, it’s good at all that you’re trying, but aren’t you forgetting something, O Great Demon Lord of Gluttony?” She continued, mocking Reina and making fun of the fact that she seemed to ever be more clueless about the events that would transpire in just mere moments, too engrossed in the desperate fight for control ...

‘What the hell are you talking abou–‘ Reina was about to say, before she felt a sudden flare of mana just next to her ...

‘!?’ Reina’s eyes went wide in surprise, astonishment, and a staggering amount of alarm as she immediately knew the cause of such an unexpected event ...

The old coot, or rather what was left of him, stood tall just next to her, whatever wounds he had replaced with what seemed to be deformed parts with no intention with sustainability in mind upon being designed.

‘Sebastian ...!’ Her thoughts rang out, seeing Sebastian standing up, the light in his eyes gone as it was obvious that he had devoted whatever spark of life he had left in order just to comply with his orders after seeing a gap in Reina’s seemingly invincible stature, sensing a vulnerability that he just couldn’t afford to let go of.

‘Damned opportunistic bastards! How desperate are these fools, even thousands of years after and these people are still the same!’ Reina’s rage kept only rising the more she was reminded of just how insane human beings could be, resorting to any method in their grasp to achieve whatever screwed up goal, driven by their screwed up motives, had in mind.

“I will …” Sebastian said softly, as the Demonoid worm puppeteering his corpse was slowly getting a grasp of the vessel that it had been assigned to.

“—complete my mission!!” Sebastian, or whatever what he it currently was, shouted, affirming the will that it was left with, with his sword, as well as even his arm, erupting into purple flames as his hand swung down, his broken sword glistening as Reina’s senses went awry in alarm.

‘That technique again, I’ve already seen it before you fool!’ Reina mocked in inherent rage, obviously annoyed with what was supposed to be a bleeding corpse resisting much harder than what she expected.

‘The monkey even offered his damn life force for a moment of power, you insects just never learn!’

The man who she fought had always been weak, at least when measured right next to her overwhelming strength, and even though something was off with the way that his mana was conducting itself, it would not matter in the end.

‘He’s going for my head!’

After all, from how easy Reina essentially just swatted away Sebastian earlier, she would think that a mere and tiny multiplication of his abilities would at most, leave her with an injury that she would still be able to cure within seconds despite fighting what seemed to be a desperate mental battle with Rei.

‘That’s right, both that talented brat and this old fool ... all of you humans are nothing but just weaklings clinging into whatever crappy lives they lead with that absurd psyche of theirs!’ Reina convinced herself fully that she would be able to take on the incoming attack.

‘I’ll just divert Aether to reinforce the toughness of my neck, and once you run out of juice and I expel this wench from existence, I’ll finish you off for rea–’ Reina thought furiously, conducting Aether through her veins, but was stopped short when she saw something that unnerved her even more …

“Angel-Slaying Indivine Halo!” Sebastian screamed out, the purple flames on his sword, as well as the purple veins and colours on his newly-generated right arm turning black, as he started screaming when his sword made contact with Reina’s neck.

*Thunk!* His flaming sword, coated in unholy mana hit Reina’s Aether-coated neck, however as Reina feared, and as Rei expected …

‘It’s not the same technique!?’ Reina’s neck bent, unable to withstand the surprising force that Sebastian had somehow garnered.

*Teaaaaarr!* It started slashing through, albeit slowly through the sheer toughness of Reina’s Aether.

With the unexpected resistance, and because of Reina not being able to garner enough control of her possessed body, Reina was pushed by the neck from Sebastian’s sword onto the ground, her face almost crashing towards the ground had it not been for her unintentionally diverting some of her focus to rein her arms to stop such a thing from becoming so.

“UOOOOOHHH!!” Sebastian kept screaming, the blade sinking in deeper inside of Reina’s flesh bit by bit with the black flames on his sword charring away at the Aether that was essentially shielding Reina’s neck from being split in less than a second.

‘No ... I see, this is all a ruse!’ Reina thought.

Or more specifically, a game of chicken as Reina believed.

Reina became convinced that Rei was only acting like she didn’t care, and that she was going to pull her mental disturbance away at the last moment just before Reina’s head was just about to be cut off.

‘That’s right … it’s like that!’ Reina had convinced herself.

‘Even though its currently possessed by me, nobody would ever want to see their body die in front of their own–’ She continued thinking before stopping her thoughts midway as she saw Rei’s expression as she spectated all of this.

Unease.

‘!?’

Rei’s face, which was filled with what seemed to be a deep emotion, as if saying farewell, didn’t at all correspond to what Reina was expecting.

‘Rei, you wretch!’ Reina cursed in the middle of her thoughts, absolutely enraged at seeing Rei look down upon her like that, smiling from ear to ear.

Reina had expected Rei to be reasonable, a tacit human being from what she had observed while she was spectating as Rei piloted ...

But in fact, she was being quite the opposite.

With her extreme pride, pettiness, and sheer disgust fueling her, it seemed that she was determined to hold Reina enough just so that Sebastian would be able to cut her head off, choosing death rather than letting Reina hold onto her body.

“Yes ... going out like this doesn’t seem to be all that bad ...” Reina heard her start muttering all of a sudden.

“Yes, that’s right ... if there’s ever an actual hell out there, I’ll be sure to meet you there!” Rei said, thereafter giggling manically, each giggle making Reina’s heart sink deeper and deeper into despair as she heard it while desperately struggling.

‘This bitch is crazy …’

‘No, she has me cornered!’

Seeing this, it basically meant that Reina was being given a choice, and the only two options that were present were the ones that Rei had set for her.

Reina was in no position to negotiate, having nothing to offer as Rei was already determined to die and drag Reina down along with her …

Reina would either use her focus to attempt to flush out Rei from her own body, which was in itself, a procedure with unknown results, or use her focus to deal with the threat, Sebastian, whose blade, while covered in demonic flames, is slowly separating her head from her body.

If Reina were to focus on expelling Rei from her body, a feat that she herself wasn’t even sure she could do in her current condition, she would definitely leave Sebastian with enough leeway which would no doubt leave her beheaded in the process …

‘Shit ...’

She had no idea what they would do to her own heart straight afterwards, and death would maybe even possible, or somehow an even worse fate as with her knowledge on human corruption, not being at all infeasible.

‘Fuck ...’

Now matter how much she thought, there was no denying that the most logical, and safest choice, was to surrender the body back to Rei, taking out Sebastian in the process to guarantee survival, banking on a mental resurgence later on, in more favourable conditions.

‘Fuck! Fuck! Shit!’

No matter how prideful, no matter how vexed, no matter how frustrated, and no matter how enraged … Reina was still an intelligent, and rational living being.

Her mind, even though having Rei’s pettiness, pride, and sheer insanity weighing down upon it, was still all-too capable of prioritising logic.

Self-preservation, at any cost, especially after waiting for thousands of years, was the right choice.

‘Damn it …!’ Reina grit her teeth hard, grinding sounds unimaginably painful being emanated even making Sebastian’s ears bleed.

‘Gods damn it ...!’ Her bloodshot eyes, even redder than the most iron-riddled of blood-types, couldn’t even do justice to the amount of sheer anger she had been feeling as of now, being so humiliated at such a level in all of her life …

It was a full-on checkmate.

‘Damn you, Rei!’ Were Reina’s last thoughts, just before not just the Kingdom of Malta, as well as the island itself …

… was wiped away from the map that day.

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