"Again?! Noelle!" Isaac shouted as he watch the falling Noelle on the stairs, rapidly being dragged down to the frenzy maze.
'Urgh, fuck this devil!'
Noelle tried to remove the hand but when he successfully did, another tried to grab him. He keeps doing the same thing, only to be met by the same fate, this time, much harder.
Hands of some corpses started grabbing him on the leg, some on the feet, cutting him from moving, some on the same arms while the others aim for his neck and head. In the end, they continued to drag him back.
'Corpses? So, Omen deliberately made it look like that screech was some last resort that could make it hard for others to leave this place by corrupting their souls? No, they are already dead! He's just using those bodies! Does that mean he could control them?!
'He made it look like they don't have a mind of their own, appearing sluggish and moving like zombies. I get it now! What's weird is that there are no corpses outside! They are some but they turned into zombies just to make it look like an obstacle to hide the true intention!
'This is unlike that demon! He would've used them to at least smile in my direction, appearing smug and all, and I would've noticed it but it didn't! Which could only mean that he was being serious about grabbing my attention! Just why is this happening to me?!'
His mind was in complete disarray as thoughts keep flood his mind.
Boom—!
Not adding salt to the injury, the sound of something exploding was heard just right below the staircase that leads upwards.
That was the cue that the maze was being blown off.
Even though Noelle couldn't see Isaac now, he knew his bombs adding to that firepower, could stop these corpses from dragging him back there by blowing off Omen's summoning.
I hurriedly shouted, "Isaac! Ignite it, now!"
Shouting loudly, another hand grabbed him and covered his mouth. While he was being dragged down, he saw Hans, Oliver, and others being trashed down by the force of many corpses dragging him down.
'It's connected until in the inside?'
He wanted to laugh helplessly but didn't do so. His mind stirred for a solution to get out of Omen's grasp. At that moment, another sound of an explosion was heard once more.
Boom—!
The quakes of the earth intensified as chunks of dirt and cracked stones scattered, resulting in for the victims to move forward with The Justice unable to help his predicament.
"You have," "Very mysterious," "And nerve wrenching," "Power." "I will," "Kill you," "And obtain it,"
The sound of the corpse's mouth moves subsequently with the voice of the devil attached to it.
Noelle could only frown, quickly deciding to use his Piece to end this right away even if he was feeling bad inside. With a cough coming from his mouth, he began speaking.
"Omen, my shoulders are stiff. If you remove it, I might tell you the power I wield. We can have a nice chat after that,"
The hands touching Noelle's shoulders, stopped for a second before they retracted.
"Stop touching my neck. How could I even speak properly? Even though you are being considerate not to kill me, it still bothered me,"
The hands grasping his neck stopped for a second before they retracted.
Coughing out blood, Noelle continued, "My chest, arms, legs, hands, head, and every part thing that your corpse's hands touch is all stiffening my body. Remove them in an instant if you want to continue our conversation,"
Those arms reached Noelle's different parts of his body had let go. As if it was an order and not a request and soon enough, he found himself free right at the very entrance of the maze, between the flight of stairs and the exact frenzy maze.
"Help—"
Whoosh—!
Noelle saw Isaac and the other Justice's men running in his direction. He tried to call for help but the instant he did so, a hand grabbed his feet once again, dragging him inside which resulted in him falling forward, and bumping his forehead on the ground.
Crash—!
In that same instant, Noelle saw the passageway up has been blocked by falling debris due to the endless shaking of the ground which is the result of those explosions.
He started descending.
Whoosh—!
"I knew it. You could somehow control the people's movements just by words but there are some rules you have to follow like having a topic," The corpse of the man said, who looked identical to the one Noelle killed earlier,
It then continued, "I was right to wait outside the entrance. Of course, I have another solution to capture you if my corpses failed to get you there,"
Whoosh—!
"What do you want?" Noelle asked, seeing and waiting for the impending death to come.
He knew the struggle of surviving is already non-existent in his situation as he can't grab something to stop his fall or know any magic that could help him fly or levitate. His Piece also didn't have that kind of power.
He faced the passageway that seemed to get harder and longer to look and reach at with a deadpan expression.
He even knew that in the next few seconds, he would die to fall damage.
Hence, the only thing he could do was to know why the devil was so attracted to him. Before he could die, he wished to know what drive him to this extent for a nobody like him.
"Your power or Piece that you people called in this world. What's its name?"
Chak—!
Just after hearing the devil's question, Noelle coughed up a mouthful of blood as he felt a stinging pain in his abdomen, hardly moving his head into it, only to see something sharp had passed through his body.
It had shaped cone debris with its tip intact on his body.
"Bleurgh!"
Coughing another mouthful of blood, Noelle can't help but cursed in an amused tone, "My fucking luck has been very bad. I can't even have a quick death…"
"Hey, your answer?"
The corpse on his side spoke and Noelle weakly turned his head around and faintly smiled. He slowly moved it toward the corpse's face and showed his middle finger.
"Fuck you is its name,"
"…"
At that moment, Noelle's hand dropped down. His head became motionless and his eyes turned lifeless.
There's no sign of movement at all.
He died.
"Sigh,"
It was also at that moment that a sigh resonated in his consciousness but failed to hear it. Omen couldn't sense it either.
Only the voice of 'someone has the only right to hear its own voice.
"I guess I can give you a bit of help."
…
"Sigh, what a shame," The man that was being controlled by Omen, looked at Noelle's corpse with a sigh, already standing in its place after those few seconds of talking to him.
"Well, it wouldn't matter. Though I would get half of it, it's better for me to study it first," The man thought with a voice much closer to the devil, "Hehe, this world is much better than I had imagined. Hmm, I'll try putting more attention on this one,"
Whoosh—!
The corpse that Omen possessed looked up, seeing a falling big chunk of rock directed at Noelle's head. With a smile, he retraced back his steps, expecting that in a few seconds, a Remnant would appear in Noelle's chest since his death has been sped up.
Closing his eyes, feeling excited about the scene he was about to see, he waited. In a minute, he didn't hear the disgusting sound of the rock colliding with a person's corpse.
"Hmm?"
Opening his eyes, Omen saw the large rock stop just a few centimeters from Noelle's face. He looked around, still continuing to see the rocks falling. He moved his gaze once more and saw that this was the only place where everything had stopped.
Omen immediately raised his hand, leveled into that large rock, and clenched his fist. The scattered rocks falls for a second before they all came to halt.
Whether they were big or small, they all stopped.
"Omen,"
'Omen' frowned upon hearing the voice which came from his front. He shifted his gaze at Noelle's body, only to see it looking in his direction with a faint smile.
His appearance appeared dead, but he was very much alive!
"I almost forgot you, unlucky demon,"
'Omen' didn't know if he was being called by his name or mocked but there was a sense of hatred in 'Noelle's' voice. It even made the demon shiver.
"Right…you,"
'Noelle' began moving on its own while being pulled away by that sharp debris that penetrated his abdomen. Standing on the tip of the debris, 'Noelle' smiled wider.
Swish—!
He lightly swiped his hand on the left and a huge explosion happened on that side! Everything gets cleared, leaving only a clear and desolate land!
Swish—!
He did the same gesture on his right side and the same thing happened. Soon enough, only the path towards 'Omen' was placed.
"Why are you alive?! Your heart isn't even breathing! You have no spiritual essence left! So, how could you?!"
'Omen' was left afraid. For the first time in his centuries of living in the universe, he felt fear. To his superiors, he didn't have this kind of feeling towards them.
He respected them and even had thinking of achieving greater power and achievements but this…! This was a first-time experience.
"Sigh, if it were the past me, I would've trembled," 'Noelle' mused as he walked slowly with a deadpan expression, standing in front of the trembling 'Omen', and then continued, "But that 'me' is already gone."
A low-ranking demon like him in 'Noelle's' perspective is not something he had to worry about. He wasn't even part of his list of problems right now.
He slowly grabbed 'Omen's' head and placed them on his chest. Noelle then said with a smile, "See, my heart has begun beating once more. I've very much alive,"
"Ah…"
Splash—!
'Omen's' head exploded. He couldn't even express his emotion as the connection he had to the devil was cut.
Noelle cast his gaze at the middle of the prison where everything seemed to have been destroyed. He moved his hand forward and lightly swipe his hand.
BOOOOMM—!
Words couldn't be enough to express what happened but it was right to say that a calamity had descended.
It put its place into desolation and reduced the place to nothingness.
"Sigh..."
Though the heart of Noelle wasn't actually beating, 'Noelle' leave an impression on Omen in teasing and the most heart-wrenching way he could think of. He could be sure that the Devil of Detrimental wouldn't plan on coming back to this world.
'Noelle' shakes his head as he looked down at his body, muttering something along the way, "Good job,"
At that moment, Noelle slowly slumped on the ground, motionlessly lying on the ground after a few seconds.
Tak—!
Inside the dome, white-transparent strings moved with direction in mind, surrounding the dead Noelle, and protecting him from any falling rubbles.
…
"Humm… hmm?"
Somewhere, one person was awaking from his bed. His eyes appeared tired and he seems confused about what was happening.
Having a recollection of what just happened, the person quickly shot up on his bed as a flash of horror was plastered on his face.
He looked around, only to see that he was so familiar to them like it was yesterday and his confusion gradually increased, making him more horrified.
He then moved towards the mirror of his apartment and carefully looked at himself. This time, he couldn't contain the shock in his voice as he shouted loudly.
"What the fuck?!!"
Noelle Portnner—who goes by the name France Neemon in his previous world, mysteriously moved back to his own world!
He pinched his cheek to see if he was dreaming and when he knew he wasn't, he shouted once more.
"What the fuck?!!!"