The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 34

“Hah.”

The crown prince began rubbing his forehead with his fingertips at my words. I twisted my body this way and that, trying to find a comfortable position, regardless of his reaction.

After a few attempts, I finally settled into a comfortable position and spoke to the crown prince, who was standing under the tree.

“I’ll cheer you on from here. Do you know how rare it is to receive the support of a demon like me?”

Hang in there, crown prince. You can do it.

I clenched my fist and cheered for the crown prince.

“……”

The crown prince looked up at me for a moment as if he had something to say, but eventually chose to keep his mouth shut.

As the monster approached, the crown prince had no choice but to draw his sword.

From my vantage point in the tree, the crown prince’s martial prowess was impressive.

How could he be so…?

“Pathetic. It’s shameful to even call you a demon’s contractor.”

I clicked my tongue. From now on, I’ll call him ‘Pathetic.’

The monster let out a bizarre noise as it charged at the crown prince.

All the crown prince could do was defend himself. Even when his blade grazed the monster, it failed to inflict any injury. Of course, an ordinary sword could never kill a monster.

“Ha. Do you not know how to use aura?”

“…I’ve awakened my aura,” the crown prince replied, gripping his sword with both hands. The blade briefly flickered with blue light, but the glow quickly faded.

“Since contracting with my master, I can no longer use aura. You know this, right? Magic and aura cannot coexist.”

“…Wait. Do you even know how to properly use your magic?”

“Magic is suppressed by my aura… I can only use a little of it.”

Unbelievable.

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

“That’s nonsense. Magic, divine power, aura—all three share the same origin and can coexist.”

Could it be that Dantalion didn’t teach him even these basic concepts? It made sense, though. Dantalion had always been known for being harsh with his contractors.

The crown prince paused at my words.

“…What do you mean, they share the same origin?”

“You’re still chattering away at a time like this? I was just wondering what color your insides were, and it seems I’ll find out soon.”

I warned Pathetic not to lose focus in front of his enemy.

Should I help him or not? I debated briefly in my mind, leaning toward helping him.

Though I hated to admit it, the crown prince had been of great assistance to me thus far. It wasn’t out of gratitude—demons know nothing of such things. Rather, I decided it wouldn’t be bad to help him so that I could extract even more use out of him later.

“Pathetic. I’ll explain this just once, so listen carefully.”

“Wait. Pathetic—is that supposed to be me?”

Ignoring his words, I drew out the magic from within my body. Soon, two dark blue orbs formed in my hands. I threw the orb in my left hand at the monster with all my strength.

-Kurgh!

The monster was hit by the orb and collapsed to the ground.

“It’s just temporarily unconscious,” I said, showing the remaining orb in my hand to the crown prince.

“This is magic—the source of power that every demon possesses. Since you’ve made a contract with a demon, you also have this power.”

I slowly rolled the magic orb in my hand. “Magic is… well, depending on your perspective, you could see it as corrupted power.”

I covered the orb with both hands and focused.

After a moment, the orb began to split into two. In my left hand, a dark, ominous orb appeared, while in my right hand, a pure, white orb formed.

“What I just did was separate the demonic energy from the magic. The reason you feel your aura is being suppressed by the magic is because of this demonic energy.”

I spun the white orb around in my hand.

“You need to learn how to suppress the demonic energy. Then, you’ll be able to use your aura. In fact, the purified magic combined with aura will allow you to wield even greater power.”

This time, I picked up the orb composed of demonic energy.

“Alternatively, there’s another way. Demonic energy is highly destructive. It may be less effective against demons, but it can be fatal to humans and angels. Learning to wield demonic energy could also be quite useful.”

And finally—

I forcefully clashed the two orbs in my hands together. With a loud explosion, a massive blast occurred.

The explosion was so intense that the monster, which had been lying on the ground, began to twitch.

“It’s about making opposing forces collide to create an explosion—the most destructive method. However, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you lose focus even for a moment, you could end up blowing yourself up instead of your enemy.”

I glanced at the monster. It had fully regained consciousness and was now drooling as it stared at the crown prince.

“Time for practice. Go ahead and kill that monster.”

I said it without much expectation. Humans who had contracted with demons often took years to learn to wield their magic like this.

But the crown prince defied my expectations.

Gripping his sword with both hands, he concentrated briefly. Soon, a clear blue aura began to flicker around his blade.

He’s actually doing it?

To grasp this so quickly—only a genius could manage it…

I revised my mental assessment of Pathetic.

“From now on, you’ll be called Half-Pathetic.”

“What does that—”

“It means you’re only half pathetic. But if you fail to kill that monster, you’ll be demoted back to Pathetic. So attack!”

The reason he was still half pathetic was because he had made a contract with Dantalion. How poor must his judgment have been to contract with such a demon?

Still, Half-Pathetic did not end up being demoted. The aura-infused sword easily sliced through the monster.

In just a few movements, the monster fell dead with the blade embedded in its center.

After pulling his sword from the monster’s corpse, the crown prince wore a dazed expression.

Well, it’s only natural. I just promoted Pathetic to Half-Pathetic—that kind of reaction was to be expected.

“Lady Bella—”

“Don’t thank me. I only taught you so I could make better use of you later.”

I cut him off, not wanting to hear any unnecessary gratitude.

I walked over to the monster. It was weaker than I’d hoped. With a monster this weak, the magic stone would be small…

“Give me the sword.”

I took the sword from the crown prince and began hacking away at the monster. After a while of digging through its insides, I finally found what I was looking for.

Reaching into the monster’s carcass, I pulled out the magic stone. I wiped the slime-covered stone on my skirt, revealing its jet-black color. It was a color that exuded an ominous feeling just from looking at it.

Fortunately, the stone was the perfect size for what I intended to do.

I had come all this way for this magic stone. What I needed was pure demonic energy.

Corrupting divine power with demonic energy would make it almost identical to magic.

The magic within my body wasn’t enough to corrupt the priests’ divine power, so I needed more demonic energy.

As the crown prince approached, trying to get a closer look at the magic stone, I warned him, “Keep your distance. This is pure demonic energy. You can’t handle it with just the magic you gained from a contract.”

In truth, even most demons avoided contact with demonic energy.

Demonic energy could enhance a demon’s power, but it could also drive them mad—a double-edged sword.

“But for me, it’s a tasty treat.”

I’m a demon lord. Not just any demon, so I should be fine. Probably.

I put the magic stone in my mouth and began to chew. As the stone shattered, the condensed demonic energy spread throughout my body.

-Koff!

Not long after, I started coughing.

I could feel blood flowing from all my internal organs. Though the wounds quickly healed with my magic, the pain lingered.

The crown prince, startled, rushed over to me. “Lady Bella! Are you alright?!”

“It’s just… quite a strong flavor. I’m fine.”

“But you’re bleeding—”

I looked down at my hands, which were covered in blood from my earlier coughing.

-Koff!

I coughed again, this time bringing up a large clot of blood. My body swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

***

Fortunately, I didn’t die.

However, I was bedridden in the carriage all the way back to the capital.

My stomach still hurt terribly, and I groaned, clutching my abdomen. The crown prince looked at me with worried eyes.

“I’m going to kill someone.”

“…Don’t people usually say ‘I’m going to die’ when they’re in pain?”

“Humans do. Demons kill others when they’re in pain.”

Typically, demons kill whoever caused them pain. But in cases like mine, where there’s no specific target to blame, it’s just an empty threat.

Who knew handling the demonic energy in the magic stone would be this tough? I found myself resenting my weakened self.

I let out a deep sigh.