LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 58
The young Anser in her memories spoke.
“Mom, why are those people pointing fingers and bullying us?”
Anser wore a sad expression, one that could squeeze out tears with a poke.
The reason was simple. She was born in a rural area during a time when the conflict between mixed races and humanity was still raging. She openly faced bullying from both adults and children.
If only she looked more like elves or vampires, beings that weren’t too different from humans. Her prominent red eyes and blue skin were enough to make people shy away.
Moreover, perhaps it was because of her exceptionally kind and gentle personality for a demon. Such a personality could only absorb the wounds caused by the blind violence of the masses.
In moments like this, she feared she might become a demon who hated humans, breaking the promise she made with her mother. Anser’s mother lovingly embraced her and said,
“It’s because those people are hurt themselves.”
“Hurt? Those people?”
“Yeah. Right now, hate breeds more hate, making this era one where it can’t stop. So, people want to hate first before being hated.”
They’re poor souls who choose to inflict pain on others rather than suffer themselves.
Anser’s mother murmured, patting her back softly.
“But I didn’t do anything wrong…”
Unable to hold back her tears any longer, Anser buried her face in her mother’s arms.
Her mother, smiling gently as if to say it was okay, tenderly stroked Anser’s hair and said.
“And it’s understandable that people hate demons. Most of them are incredibly greedy. When they see a shining soul, they lose control and go wild. When the Great Demon from ages past put limits on soul contracts, they began to look for loopholes in all sorts of ways. Truly ridiculous.”
“…Mom, who is the Great Demon from ages past?”
“Oh… there’s a palace of demons back in our hometown. It probably doesn’t exist anymore, but would you like to hear about it?”
“Yeah! Tell me!”
Anser’s mother, lifting Anser playfully, set her down quietly on the sofa and began telling tales of old memories.
From unbelievable stories about rivers made of lava in the land where demons lived, to exciting love stories of how she first met Anser’s dad and fought for their lives.
Every time Anser heard these heart-pounding tales, her eyes sparkled, and her mother gazed at her with a hint of nostalgia.
“One day, our Anser will certainly meet someone whose soul is so beautiful that you would want to have it, just like I did with your father.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Although it’s rare to end up getting married and having children like me. But in life, there will be a day like that, so… I hope you don’t become obsessed with souls like other demons.”
“Hmm? What does being obsessed with souls mean?”
“You know, saying they’ll take a soul in exchange for a contract or trying to take weakness to enslave them. Those typical things demons do. I don’t like that much. The beauty of a soul lies in its shining state.”
Little Anser tilted her head at her mother’s words.
She had never seen a soul so beautiful that it tempted her, so she couldn’t grasp the meaning behind her mother’s words.
Even if she didn’t get it now, she would surely understand later.
After her mother’s final words, time in Anser’s memory flew by quickly.
Her mother soon passed away after falling ill.
Yet the bullying didn’t subside. As soon as Anser became an adult, she fled the village, struggling to earn a living by doing all sorts of odd jobs.
But discrimination against mixed races and demons remained strong.
No, perhaps as days went by, that sentiment only strengthened.
As demons were discriminated against by humans, their discontent spilled into severe crimes.
This led to a vicious cycle where incidents further worsened perceptions.
Eventually, Anser was laid off from the last job she barely managed to find, leaving her with nowhere to go. She considered it her last chance in life and headed towards Night Haven.
However, no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t shake off the prejudice against demons.
Having never held hands with anyone but her mother from birth, despair filled her heart.
It had its limits, enduring solely on the strength of the promise to her mother.
When the cowardly demon finally wanted to give up everything, Anser truly began to understand her mother’s words.
“…?”
Two girls, who for the first time extended their hands toward her, showing no emotion toward her demon form.
Among them, the masked Yuria possessed a soul of such density that Anser had never seen in her life.
It shone like an absurdly bright white sun, as if it would burn her if she got too close.
This was the truly beautiful soul that she would want to possess.
Of course, born as a timid person, Anser found herself incapable of desiring it.
She feared that if this beautiful soul were to be tarnished, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
What she could do was offer up the greatest thing she could for a sign of help.
She would simply treat this meeting as a new lighthouse, a hope illuminating her path.
“Ah, that’s strange. You seem to have a lot less despair than when we met last time, don’t you? At this point, I thought it would fill up so much that you’d be on the brink of death.”
“Well… whichever way it goes, the rift between mixed races can’t grow any bigger. We should continue with the plan as is.”
“Tch, is it your plan or mine, sir?”
“Ah, I see….”
“Now, now, don’t move. I’ve just pierced your heart precisely. If you resist, it’ll only worsen your injury.”
On her way home after failing the last interview, Anser was suddenly ambushed by a duo and dragged into the Invader’s schemes, leading to this very moment.
Through Anser’s memories, I caught a fleeting glimpse of her entire life as if watching a long movie, quickly realizing the identities of the duo who attacked her.
‘I had my suspicions… but the mastermind has been operating behind the scenes at this point as well. Considering the Drakel incident, it’s probably not surprising.’
They were a type of zealots helping the Invader invade Earth by intoxicated with its power.
Thanks to Earth’s peculiar environment, which had very little magical energy in the atmosphere, the Invader couldn’t cross over yet.
These zealots plotted to incite conflict between mixed races and humanity to weaken the Invader’s power as much as possible for the day it would eventually breach dimensions and reach Earth.
One of their activities included… abducting and modifying mixed races to manipulate them at their will.
‘So Anser was not a character in the original story but a victim they sacrificed…’
Breaking free from the memories, I stood quietly in front of Anser, biting my lip.
I found myself in a complicated thought process in many ways.
Now that I understood everything, a flicker of hesitation arose within me.
The zealots responsible for this commotion must have left long ago.
They’d want to avoid unwarranted suspicion directed at themselves.
If that were the case, what would happen if I extracted the fragment lodged in Anser’s chest?
Would Anser die, carrying all the resentment and bringing everything to an end?
‘That… is not acceptable. Anser would be unhappy even in death. There must be another way…’
Standing before the cold, statue-like Anser, I racked my brain, my head pounding.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp sensation pricking at my chest.
What is this? When I placed my hand on the spot, astonishingly, my fingers touched none other than the Tesseract.
Taken aback, I quickly pulled the Tesseract from my clothing. It spun around in the small cube and greeted me.
[ Mama! ]
“…?!”
I pushed aside the white tablecloth that concealed my face and raised the Tesseract to my eye level on both hands.
As I did, I finally noticed the Tesseract’s movement that had seemed completely absent before.
What’s going on? In a mixture of joy and surprise, I blinked, suddenly recalling that my powers had surged when I touched the fragment earlier.
It couldn’t have just awakened like this in one try. The preparation I put in while buried in Raven’s closet must have had an impact. Effort doesn’t betray people, huh?
“…!”
[ Heehee! Tickle! ]
As if thrilled to see me again, the Tesseract stretched out its telekinesis and playfully tumbled around in its cube, laughing delightedly.
Although I still didn’t understand why it was calling me Mama, it was a relief to see it healthy.
‘Wait a second. If the Tesseract has awakened…’
I raised the Tesseract cautiously and then looked at Anser.
The possibility that it could restore me, who had been deeply injured, and return Drakel, an old man, back to his prime.
If this is the case, perhaps Anser, who was in a terrible state, could be saved as well.
But then again, I had to consider that this power strictly followed the law of equivalent exchange.
The Tesseract had covered for me, and Drakel had resolved his debt by drinking blood after forcibly paying for it, so that was fine.
But what should I do with Anser? Restoring her to her original state would mean taking her heart or vital organs as payment, which wouldn’t make sense.
Asking the Tesseract to pay that cost would be a delicate matter I wanted to avoid if possible.
‘…Ah, maybe this could work?’
Suddenly, something caught my eye.
It was the Invader Fragment firmly embedded in Anser’s chest, still pulsating with power.
Now that I think of it, one oddity arose. How did this small Tesseract manage to restore my ravaged body without a scar as payment?
Reflecting on the fact that it needed the Invader’s energy to awaken, the question easily solved itself.
The Tesseract, an object of the Invader, consumed their energy as payment. If I used the energy flowing from this fragment, which was implanted to control Anser, as the cost…
I could save Anser and play a trick on the enemy, a brilliantly clever plan!
Now, the important part was conveying this thought to the Tesseract.
I fervently hoped this method would work. I carefully brought my forehead close to the Tesseract.
And praying that my thoughts would reach it, I connected with it using my telekinesis.
‘Tesseract, can you use the energy from that fragment as payment?’
[ Hmm? Yeah… I’ll give it a try! ]
Had my will truly been conveyed? The Tesseract, which spun in place for a moment as if pondering, responded with a resolute voice.
Following the Tesseract’s request to get close to the fragment, I brought it toward Anser’s embedded piece.
As a torrent of immense power surged forth, the red letters flowing from Anser’s insides began to crumble, fading into the air.
Erupting forth from the Tesseract was a luminous, soft white light that surrounded Anser.
It was blinding, making it almost unbearable to keep my eyes open.
‘Ugh…! I must hold on…!’
If I were to be pushed away by this force, everything would fall apart.
Noticing this instinctively, I gritted my teeth and endured, using my telekinesis to brace myself against the strain.
The arm holding the Tesseract trembled violently as pain coursed through every muscle, yet…
This wasn’t the time to be whining about pain.
Hold on, don’t back down, fight back!
Perhaps my struggle bore fruit, the explosion of power that had been erupting began to settle down.
Finally, I exhaled heavily, collapsing to the ground where the red letters had vanished without a trace.
[ We did it! Mama! ]
“….”
And beyond the faint shimmer of descending light in the darkness…
There was Anser, simply unconscious, her grotesque wound gone as if it had never existed.
I did it. The tension that had risen to my chin slowly drained away.