Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)

Chapter 610: Perdition Part One

610. Perdition Part One

“A ploy to save his own life?”

My brows snapped together. I glanced between Haec, Taburas, Bertrugil, and Aemula sat to the side, just as perplexed as I was. We turned back to the Devil who sighed.

“That is right. Everything he did— it was all for his own benefit. His own gain. It was… a trick, so to speak.”

I felt my eyes twitching as I watched my dad wag his fingers with a smirk. I harrumphed and crossed my arms.

“So you got tricked by the Trickster! Good job— are you stupid or something?”

Sal shook his head, before turning away from me. He stared at the glass-like surface of my pocket space. I caught a glimpse of his reflection, and I saw a morose expression there. Nothing like the Devil I knew.

I paused. It was the first time I had seen my dad look so… pained. His eyes fluttered shut, and he placed a hand on his chest.

“Perhaps to you I may look like just an old fool…”

He whispered as I saw flashes of his memories in his eyes.

A young Lesser Demon, kneeling in a bloodied pool at the bottom of a crater, on the verge of death. But standing before him was a faceless figure— a cosmic creature. It was Trico. The Trickster. The Worldwalker.

Trico raised a hand, and Samuel’s wounds began to close.

Sal raised his head, looking up with a somber gaze.

“But you do not understand, my dear daughter. You were not there. Trico had guided me for over a thousand years. He had been by my side, saving my life numerous times again and again.”

And I saw another flash of the Devil’s past.

The same Lesser Demon ran across a white valley. He looked different now. He had a tail, and he stood taller— more muscular.

He was a Greater Demon now. Stronger, smarter. But he was still no match for a Primordial Demon.

Samuel sprinted for his life, screaming as he walked in the path of a terrible beast. No… it wasn’t just a beast. It was the Beast. But— smaller.

It lumbered forward, its many heads sweeping over the landscape. It opened one of its mouths, and Samuel braced himself. But a hole opened beneath him. A tear in space.

Samuel fell through , landing in the middle of a white cavern as the Beast unleashed its white flames, before the hole closed. He groaned as he lay there, rubbing his back. And before him, Trico stared at him, the stars in his body twinkling brightly.

I blinked, returning to reality. But Sal wasn’t finished. His eyes flickered, and he looked down at the palm of his hand.

“Trico taught me everything I knew. He guided me. He made me the Devil King. He helped me build my kingdom. It was all because of him.”

Samuel sat in the middle of a white cavern. He was an Archdemon now, and he had a metallic ring in the palm of his hand. It was shoddily-made— clearly crafted by his inexperienced hands. He messed with it. Tinkered with it. And standing behind him, the Trickster watched, nodding approvingly.

“You call me a fool, but I trust Trico as you trust me now. After all, am I not the Devil? Am I not known for my tricks? For my cruel pranks? For the way I toy with the lives of others?“

Sal clenched his fist, before spinning around to face me as I froze. He held my gaze. He stared only at me, and I could only look at him. It was like Haec, Taburas, Bertrugil, and Aemula had just evaporated.

“Would you also think yourself a fool if I slaughtered all your friends right this moment?”

And for a moment, I saw a murderous intent in the Devil’s gaze. It was not anger, but it was still overwhelming. A sense of bloodlust that made me want to drop to my knees.

He spread his wide as he laughed madly.

“The betrayal I experienced would be the same you’d feel if I ruined everything you have ever worked for and dropped you before the Beast!”

I recoiled at the Devil’s words. A shiver ran down my spine, and I couldn’t muster up a single thought. The idea of my dad… betraying me had never even crossed my mind.

I couldn’t even imagine what it was like— I couldn’t even imagine how I’d feel if it became a reality.

Sal looked at me as I stood in stunned silence. He snickered, slowly lowering his raised arms. He placed a hand on his chin, before tapping it, breaking me out of my daze.

“Actually… it would be quite different. After all, I have not done nearly as much for you as Trico had done for me. So the pain you’d feel from my betrayal would not be nearly as inconceivable as what I experienced.”

I nodded mechanically as the world around me seemed to return to normal. The Archdemons sitting next to me appeared once more in my peripheral vision as I was allowed to look away from the Devil.

He placed a hand on his chest, and he sighed wistfully.

“You do not nearly understand just how much grief I felt when I learned of Trico’s betrayal… the agony, the confusion, the anger. You do not understand, my dear daughter. It was unlike anything I have ever felt before.”

As my dad whispered, I was once again submerged in his memories. But this time, it was no longer as clear as the other visions. It was like I was staring through a fogged window pane— like I had been dunked deep into the ocean that were the tears of the Devil King.

And I saw it all.

“Trico! You bastard! You tricked us!”

Belphegor’s booming voice echoed in the background. But Samuel barely even heard it. He couldn’t hear it even if he wanted to. All he was capable of doing at this moment was stare at the broken space spinning before him— the glowing iridescent light that seemed to blur with each passing moment.

It was supposed to be their Paradise. A world safe from the impending death of the Nexeus— one where they could all be Gods. Where they could rule like the Arcaem.

But before their world could take shape, it collapsed. It imploded into itself, swallowing Nahum, Baal, and tens of thousands of other Archdemons who had been aiding its creation.

The Devil King had only managed to escape alongside Belphegor because of his [Supreme Spatial Magic]. Now, the two Primordial Demons stood before the exit of the Seventh Gate as Focalor, Beelzebub, Vepar, Agnares, Valefor, and a crowd of Primeval Demons gathered. They stared in shock at the destruction that was unfurling ahead, wreaking across the Seventh Layer of the Netherworld.

They stared in confusion, processing what happened. Only Belphegor seemed to know. He directed his fury at a cosmic creature standing behind Samuel at parade rest. The Worldwalker. The Planehopper. The Realityskipper. The Trickster.

Trico himself.

The stars in his body shone with a scintillating light as Belphegor bellowed.

“How dare you betray us! Nahum, Baal, Buer, Furfur… they are all dead because of you!”

Belphegor’s words made the cavern shake, and Samuel slowly raised his head. He heard the susurration sweep over the watching crowd. In the distance, swarms of wild Demons were swallowed by the collapsing reality. Some of them tried to run. Whether they were wild Primeval Demons or wild Archdemons. It didn’t matter. Tendrils of broken space shot out, grabbing them before they could flee.

And this distortion of reality only grew bigger.

“What’s going on…?”

“What happened? Wasn’t this supposed to be our Paradise?”

“How did this happen?”

Voices asked, and Samuel wasn’t sure if the questions came from the crowd, or from his own head. He looked up at Trico standing there. Silent and shining like always. Almost undeterred by the destruction that had been wrought to the Nexeus.

Finally, the Devil King freed himself from his stupor. With trembling feet, he took a step forward, and he held the gaze of his master.

“Trico, is this your doing?”

“Whatever could you mean, my apprentice?”

The Worldwalker replied, tilting his head curiously. Samuel gritted his teeth. He bit back his tears and gestured at the first vestiges of the corruption that was taking hold behind him.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You know what I’m talking about! This… this… this…”

The Devil King failed to muster up the words. Belphegor paused, staring in shock at his lover. And so did the rest of Samuel’s subjects. None of them had ever seen their monarch display such emotions before.

Even Samuel had never seen this side of himself in a long time. The last time he had felt so vulnerable, he was a mere Lesser Demon. Tears slid down his cheeks as he faced the Trickster. He waited for a response as his breathing grew labored.

“Belphegor is wrong.”

Trico finally said as he placed a finger on his chin. For a moment, the Devil King paused, feeling a sense of relief wash over him. But it immediately vanished as the Worldwalker continued.

“It is not just Nahum, Baal, Buer, or Furfur who will die because of me. It is every single plant, animal, and creature in all of the Nexeus that shall die because of me.”

He chuckled as he shook his head. And Samuel froze. It was like the world itself shattered. Everything went quiet. Even the chittering of the spreading corruption faded away as he stumbled back. He looked down at himself as he gasped.

The memories of all the time he had spent with Trico flashed in his head. All the things he had learned. All that he had been taught. It was all… a lie?”

“But why?”

Samuel mustered up the strength to ask. Trico just shrugged in response.

“Because, my apprentice, you must understand, I… do not actually care about the Nexeus.”

He shook his head as he gestured at the world around them.

“I know, it’s surprising! But I don’t care about this place in the slightest! I mean… I’m not from this world, so why should I care about it at all?”

The Devil King blinked as each word seemed to strike him across the face. Trico nodded, placing his hand on his chest.

“I know, it’s surprising! But I have seen dozens of worlds collapse, brought about naturally by an apocalypse. I have witnessed the end of universes, destroyed by wandering Void Pirates. So I don’t actually care if the Nexeus is destroyed or saved.”

Samuel wasn’t sure how to react. He just listened, left in a state of shock. But it didn’t matter how much pain he seemed to be in, the Trickster didn’t stop there. He strode forward, chuckling softly as he spoke simply.

“And you know what’s even more surprising?”

Trico came to a halt right before the Devil King. He held Samuel’s gaze as his body became engulfed in an all-consuming darkness. The stars in his face winked out of existence, and the nebula spreading across his chest faded away.

The Worldwalker whispered into Samuel’s ears.

“It’s that you are somehow so full of yourself you actually believed you were the one who slew Via— that you were the one who brought about the death of a Worldwalker.”

Samuel’s eyes went wide.

“I… what?”

“Did you really think that any Worldwalker who saw that scene would believe you are the one responsible for killing her? Even with my Divine Trident, your mortal hands couldn’t even scratch the surface of her skin.”

Trico leant forward, shaking his head as the Devil King remembered that moment in the crater so long ago.

“You may have distracted her, my apprentice, and you may have even held the blade for me, but it was I who killed her. It was I who slew another Worldwalker. And it was I who would have faced perdition for her murder, had you not claimed credit for what I did.”

josei