Volume 6 Chapter 4 (2/2)
”Procell, I'm telling you now: you are amazing. You have my recognition as well as that of others. Furthermore, always remember, everyone loves you more than you think.”
As she said those words, some kind of warmth spread across my chest.
I see, so this is what I have been longing for. And now that she has given it to me, I feel at ease.
My dark self was the result of both my sexual frustration and my hunger for recognition going out of control.
Realizing that, I smiled.
A frenzied, out of control person was far from the definition of a cool guy.
I was but a child.
Truly pitiful.
And yet, that was who I was.
”Thank you, Marcho. I was finally able to see who I really am.”
By accepting that dark part of myself, I finally became who I really was.
I still felt somewhat dizzy but despite that, I was now fully rational.
”That's a nice expression on your face. Yup, that suits you more.”
Marcho then smiled back.
”From the very beginning, there never was another me. I know that now.”
Accepting such emotions and moving on, that was what it meant to Awaken.
If one knew that, they would know what to do next: to not deny themselves and to compromise with themselves. Even my pitiful self was able to do that much.
”[Creation]”
Using my [Creation], I produced an M&K MK416 which was the most used assault rifle in Avalon.
With that, I was ready to use the new Demon Lord ability I had gained.
The [Bow] Demon Lord used his [Bow] medal to produce monsters which, as his name would suggest, were primarily long range attackers.
Furthermore, he had the special ability called [Necrosis] which made the arrows of his entire forces be able to inflict unhealable wounds that festered almost immediately. In other words, attacks made with it were certain kill attacks.
The question was whether or not it would apply to bullets as well.
Wild animals lived in the plain that Marcho and I were in and 300 meters from where we stood, I spotted a stray dog. It looked riddled with disease and would definitely cause only trouble if it got into the city and bit a human. It had to be put down, perhaps even for its own sake, so there was no need to feel remorse.
Reasoning so, I aimed at it.
Before pulling the trigger, however, I felt a decrease in my magic power, proof that the ability worked.
If the target was directly hit, it would die gruesomely regardless of the new ability so I decided to deliberately just graze it.
With confidence I could accurately hit the mark, I let the bullet fly and it grazed the stray dog as intended.
The dog's wound then festered. As moments passed, I saw the infection spread.
It worked, [Necrosis] worked.
”Marcho, as I am, I can now freely use [Awakening]. Thank you.”
”I'm glad to be of help. But you know, normally, it would have been much harder than this. I mean, not everyone wants to admit that they have such an unsightly side to them. In their effort to escape the truth and deny this part of them, Demon Lords would often lash out.”
The shame I felt for admitting it truly was immense.
Despite that, I still accepted all of it. Had I not done so, I wouldn't have mastered [Awakening].
”Don't rely on [Awakening] too much, though. I would recommend using it only up to 3 minutes straight and then waiting for at least 10 hours before using it again. The burden it puts on the body and soul is too great. …so much so that overuse will shorten your lifespan. You wouldn't want what happened to me, right?”
Marcho laughed at her own expense.
She had used [Awakening] along with her skill [Beast Transformation] for a long period of time and thus had shortened her lifespan.
Considering that, I decided to take her advice to heart. I wanted to live for as long as possible and do all the many things that needed to be done.
Besides that, I still felt uneasy on using [Awakening]. Though I may have accepted myself, what I had done was barely maintain balance. I didn't know when such a balance would crumble as even at present, I felt my instinctive urges growing stronger.
”I'll take care.”
We should conclude this session of experimentation soon. I have gained one more ability but that one's a little hard to use.
”Oh yeah, Procell”
”What is it?”
”Why don't we do another experiment while we're at it? How about that ability to impregnate monsters? You can try it out on me. You don't think of me as your daughter but as a proper woman, right?”
Marcho said so and then lowered the neckline of her white dress, revealing her cleavage.
In reaction, I gulped down.
”…Let's stop here for now. I don't think what remains of the three minutes will be enough for that.”
I wasn't that much of a quick shot, after all.
Moreover, perhaps due to the excitement, memories of what I had done to Fel the night before resurfaced in my mind.
And what I did… was barely acceptable. I had held back just enough before I did something truly extreme as a Demon LordPerson. Despite that, that girl still wanted to do something more. It might not be entirely wrong to say that that was her aim in asking me to use [Awakening].
”That's a shame. Well, let's go back then. You're quite the conservative, aren't you?”
”It's just that there's a proper order to these kind of things.”
I cancelled [Awakening] and my wings and horn then vanished.
Meanwhile, Marcho decided to link arms with me and when she did so, I felt a soft sensation in my arm and picked up a pleasant fragrance. Unsurprisingly, I somewhat regretted having refused her offer.
Oh well, let's just return to Avalon. I have to make sure all the preparations for the feast are going to be complete and perfect.
”Now that I think about it, what were you like when you first Awakened?”
I wanted to know Marcho's true nature. After all, it was kind of unfair to have only my true nature be revealed.
”It-it's nothing special. Yeah, totally ordinary. I didn't accumulate anything like you. Enough of that; that topic's off limits!”
Marcho forcibly ended the conversation and briskly walked ahead.
While looking at her back, I vowed to myself to someday get the answer to my question.