Kiseki's POV
The last time I remember before passing out was seeing my friends get attacked by the Cyclops. I wonder if they were able to get out of there alive; I hope they do. My body was hurting so much back then. But now, I don't feel a single thing.
"Did I just died?" I asked myself,
Maybe I am dead, I don't know. It's tough to tell. Even if I am, it sure is a short span of second life I've been through,
"So nice to see you again~." said the voice running through my ears,
That voice sounded somewhat familiar. Where have I heard it before?
"Wake up, you sleepy head." the voice called out to me again,
After a moment of familiarizing myself with the voice, I soon found out who it was. I opened my eyes and noticed that I was back where it all began. While looking up in the darkness that surrounded me, I responded,
"Lucifer,"
There she was, squatting down right in front of me while staring into my eyes. She has the same sinister smile written on her face; it disgusted me.
Lucifer softly chuckled at me and said, "I thought you had forgotten about me?~"
My face was expressionless at that time, and I replied, "How can I forgot someone who's been putting a lot of trouble into the world I was brought in,"
She started laughing maniacally while laying down her head right next to me. It's pissing me off. I soon realized that I wasn't able to move my whole body right now. I have frozen to the ground, with a Devil lying beside me.
"Oh, boy~ You really haven't changed quite a bit since the last time we met~ How long was it? Like two years?" She asked me,
"Two years for you. It's only been three weeks for me," I replied,
She suddenly caressing her hand all over my body while making me looked at her face straight up. "I'm sorry about that, child. I knew I was taking too long explaining things to you before~ But you know, I hardly have visitors around here~ So please be considerate when I keep you here a little longer than I should've been,"
"Why of all places, I ended up in this place right now; with you," I asked her directly,
She swiftly stood up and let out a long sigh, "I don't want my hero to die this quickly. So I brought you here in my realm to keep you safe from any danger~" She said,
"You mean keeping me away from the danger that you brought upon me? What a complete jackass you are," I responded,
Lucifer began to hum melodically as she walked around me in a circle. She didn't reply to what I just said to her.
Slowly I was able to regain control over my whole body. I gently move my hands and feet around before sitting on the ground. When I looked at Lucifer, she began to walk away from me and assemble her usual skeletal throne a few feet apart from where I am.
"Tell me, how do you like your stay in Ruina for these couple of weeks? Fun? Happy? Relaxing?" Lucifer asked me while sitting on her throne,
"What makes you think I'm going to tell you about that," I asked her,
She glared at me as she smiled and replied, "Oh, come on~ Just a small talk between us while you're here,"
To be quite honest, I'm not fond of talking to her even further. But it seems like there's no other option for me at the moment.
"Frantic, torturing, and miserable. All thanks to you," I said to Lucifer,
"Interesting~ From what I see, it seems like you've made yourself some new friends. Best of all, even reunited with your old pal," she replied,
Lucifer quickly summoned a different chair for me to sit on when I walked right at her. This time, it didn't seem to be made out of some random bones. Since when is she even care about other people well being,
She then continued, "We did this before, don't be shy. Have a seat! I made this one special for you,"
I didn't question her anything as for now. Seems like in this situation, I shouldn't be dealing with her wrong side. My mind kept telling me to summon my artifact and kill her right now since she was defenseless. But, when I tried to take them out, it didn't seem to be working. I realized that I didn't even feel my Karma flowing in me at the moment.
I wonder if it's because of this room I'm in with her or something else restraining me from using it. More or less, even if I can take out my artifact, I doubt I can deal with her all by myself. Somehow she always let out an eerie vibe around her all the time. It's pretty daunting if you ask me.
"It's pointless if you want to kill me right now. This chamber isn't somewhere you can willy-nilly your powers around at your will," she told me,
Seems like she knew what I was trying to do. I better be careful next time when dealing with her.
"Would you like to eat something this time?" Lucifer said,
I swiftly replied, "Actually, I take whatever you make for me. All those battles with your underlings back there make me starving right now."
She chuckled sinisterly and waved her hand around, "Good choice,"
A plume of crimson smoke started to appear right in front of me and began turning itself into an abundance of food. What game is she trying to play with me right now? The food that was displayed right at me was all from my old world. One of which is the usual food Misaki used to cook for me.
I hastened and reached my hand out onto those foods. I picked and chose what I wanted to eat and stuffed it right into my mouth with zero hesitation. These taste sure brings back memories. Even though it's only been three weeks since I come to Ruina. Enjoying these meal sure make it feels like it's been years.
While I was eating, Lucifer hadn't been pulling her view away from me. She just stood there quietly with her chin resting on her hand. It just took me few minutes to finish all the food. It was satisfying for sure. Then Lucifer started to talk to me,
"How was it?"
I swallowed the last piece that I had in my mouth and replied, "Quite impressive for someone who cares nothing other than hurting people if you asked me,"
"I'll take that compliment any day, child," Lucifer replied to me happily,
I still didn't know what's her motif were at the moment. This is probably the best time to ask her,
"Let get down to business now, shall we," I said to her as I was licking off the leftovers from my fingers.
Her creepy smiles widened up, and she nodded slowly with her eyes locked onto mine,
"Since you can see everything that I do in Ruina, you're well aware of my goals, right? To find a way to end this war for good," I quickly told her,
"Certainly, boy. I see and hear everything around you. What's come to your mind at the moment?" she said to me,
"What I still don't understand is, why did you bring me here? You had your chance to end me right there with the Cyclops. Why keep something that might bring trouble to you in the near future?" I asked,
"I brought you here to give you my wisdom. If you're interested, of course," she responded while she playing with her hair,
I smirked and replied to her, "wisdom? From you? Why would I even care about that,"
"There's plenty of reason for you to care, you shallow-minded human," she said to me,
She then proceeded to say, "Because my wisdom can help you win over Fairdrift and save all of your friends from their demise,"
I flinched by her words. Save my friend? What is she even saying,
"What do you mean by that,"
"It means I will give you a small tip to defeat the Cyclops," She said,
I was a little hesitant, but I wanted to know more about it, "...Go on,"
She burst into laughter loudly while hugging her body around, "Hahahaha! I finally pick your interest, huh," I didn't respond afterward and looked at her in seriousness.
"Did you know why your Karma didn't do single damage onto those beasts? Because it never meant to be made to kill monsters above Titan level," she explained,
"So, you're saying that Karma is useless?" I asked,
"No! No! Of course not! Karma does help you well in defeating your enemies. But only up to a certain level," Lucifer replied,
"Then, if Karma doesn't work against those Cyclops. What could I even use to kill them?" I blatantly asked,
She leaned forward and grinned for a moment, then replied, "Have you heard the phrase, 'Fight fire with fire.' This goes the same when you go against beings from the underworld. You can't win just by using the power of Karma to fight against evil."
"You're expecting me to kill evilness by using evil? That makes no sense. How can I even make that happen? Just walk around and tell the Cyclops to just fight each other?-" I sarcastically responded,
"No, are you stupid, human?" She shakes her head around in disappointment, "Certainly talking won't solve a problem. But that thing in you can do the trick," She replied as she pointed her index finger at my chest,
I looked to where she was aiming, and it was indeed what I didn't expect to be using all this time. My Sinner's System.
"You're saying my Sinner's System can kill a freaking giant. You've seen it before; it's just a blob of liquid. What can I even do with it, throw it at the Cyclops eye?" I said to her,
"Somewhat your sarcasm really gets my blood boiling, child. I don't want to give it away to you everything. You need to find out how to use it yourself. Heck, I'm not even your mother to teach you all kinds of stuff. All I want is to enjoy this epic adventure of yours, unveiling the truth about your own power and this world," She said angrily,
"Sigh, very well. So let me confirm this. All I have to do to summon my power is saying 'Release the Sin,' right?" I replied monotonously,
"That's all. Just say those words, and from that point onward, you need to figure out how to use them by yourself," Lucifer said. Her mood switched quite frantically. She was pissed, and now she's happy? I really don't get what's wrong with this Devil.
"Fine- One thing I still wanted to know from you," I told her,
She brushed her finger and blew onto them and replied, "Ask away, human."
"Why help me? Why are you telling me all this? How to kill the Cyclops, how to use my power, even assisting me with the battle to recapture Fairdrift... From yourself," I asked her,
"That's an interesting thought you have right now. Why do I help you? Who knows~" She replied. She didn't give the answer I was hoping for.
So I said to her, "You're a Devil. All you wanted was to rule over this world. But why let your own enemy stop you from doing that?"
"Oh- enough of that nonsense. Ruling over Ruina isn't a bit of interest for me," Lucifer responded,
"If you don't want to take over, then why attack all of these innocent Specia in the first place? You guys even obliterate Nyoko's homeland to the point she had to suffer from being a slave! And what is that for? You do it just because you were bored or something?!" I yelled at her,
She smirked at me and replied, "I don't have to give the answer to all of that to you. Just keep focusing on your main objective and seek the truth by yourself. Trust me, you'll eventually find the reason behind all of this,"
"No! I'm right in front of you now! The person who started all of this! Stop wasting my time with your games and tricks! I have enough of that!" I shouted angrily as I slammed my hand against the hand rest of the seat,
Lucifer's expression doesn't look good at the moment. She's trying to hold back her anger from me for some reason. Her menacing eyes are sharply aimed at mine. Her fingernails are scratching against the seat, producing an unbearable screeching noise across the room,
"I think we have enough talk for today... I'll send you back to Fairdrift so you can finish your mission," She said to me blatantly,
Then she flicked her fingers together, and all of a sudden, my head started feeling like it was spinning, and my whole body felt the agonizing pain that I had from Cyclops' attack.
"I-... I'm not done talking to you!-..." I screamed as I tried to reach out to her,
"Good luck, Sinner," was the last word she said to me,
My vision gradually gets blurry, and moments later, it's all dark again. Why is she putting me through all this torture and then helping me for no god damn reason!?-
I'm stressing myself out too much. I need to calm myself down. Okay- if she said that my Sinner's System is the key to victory in this battle, I'll give it a try. I'll put an end to this and make my way to Elmwick Mountains to find the answer no matter what-
Afterward, for a brief moment, I can hear a faint voice crying right next to me. It's a gentle cry coming from someone that I will always recognize. I slowly opened my eyes and said,
"Ellisa..."
It was her. She had my head over her lap, and her hand was right on my chest. She's healing me up with her magic,
"Kiseki... Thank god you're alive..." She responded,