Chapter 343: A Bargain with the Devil

Valthor leaned forward expectantly.

“Say it one more time.”

Yuuta remained silent for a moment, wondering how this demon somehow managed to become more disturbing every time he opened his mouth.

Still, this was exactly the weakness Yuuta needed.

“…Valthor.”

Valthor’s smile widened the moment his name left Yuuta’s mouth. His entire body trembled with excitement, and to Yuuta’s disbelief, tears actually began rolling down the demon’s cheeks.

One of the guards glanced uncertainly toward the warden.

“My lord… he only called your name. Is it really a good idea to—”

Valthor’s hand moved without warning.

SLAP!

The blow snapped the warden’s head to the side and nearly knocked him off his feet. The surrounding demons immediately fell silent as Valthor’s delighted expression vanished, replaced by a coldness that seemed completely different from the trembling fanatic Yuuta had been watching only seconds earlier.

“How dare you?” Valthor said, glaring at the warden. “This is the second time you’ve interrupted me.”

The warden immediately lowered his head.

“I apologize, Lord Valthor.”

Yuuta stared at the exchange, momentarily caught off guard by how quickly Valthor’s personality had changed. In front of him, the demon behaved like an excited fool who could barely control himself. Yet the moment one of his subordinates crossed him, that foolishness disappeared, revealing something far more dangerous beneath it.

I need to be careful with this guy.

When the procession began moving again, Yuuta followed without protest. His plan might work, but that didn’t mean Valthor was harmless. The priest’s obsession gave him an opening, yet one careless question could just as easily destroy whatever advantage he had gained.

After waiting until Valthor’s attention returned to him, Yuuta spoke again.

“Don’t you want to know about my kind?”

Valthor froze.

“My… lord?” one of the priests murmured when he suddenly stopped again.

Valthor ignored him. His eyes remained fixed entirely on Yuuta.

“Your kind?”

Yuuta deliberately kept his expression composed.

“Yes. Don’t you want to know more about the Child of Chaos?”

Valthor’s breathing seemed to stop for a moment.

The words struck harder than Yuuta had expected. The Black Testament contained only fragments concerning the Child of Chaos, and Valthor had spent years treating those few passages as sacred knowledge. Yet now the very existence described within those pages was standing before him, apparently offering knowledge the scripture itself did not contain.

Valthor slowly dropped to one knee.

Yuuta almost smiled.

I knew it. He took the bait.

“It would be the greatest honor of my life.” Valthor bowed his head deeply, his earlier excitement returning. “To receive knowledge concerning a sacred being who has served the God of Shadow… I could ask for no greater blessing.”

Yuuta didn’t correct whatever misunderstanding Valthor had created in his own mind. The less he explained, the more mysterious he appeared, and right now that ignorance was the only advantage he possessed.

“Yes. You should consider it an honor.”

Valthor eagerly raised his head.

“However, before I share anything, I want you to answer something for me.”

The dangerous priest from moments earlier disappeared almost instantly. Valthor’s expression brightened as he nodded repeatedly, looking as though Yuuta had personally offered him a divine revelation.

“Yes, yes. Anything! Ask whatever you desire, Great Divine Sacrifice.”

Yuuta took a quiet breath.

“How do you get out of this place?”

Valthor blinked.

“…Pardon?”

The entire procession seemed to lose its rhythm. Several nearby demons stopped walking and turned toward Yuuta, while the warden slowly raised his head, staring at him as though he couldn’t believe what the supposed Last Sacrifice had just asked.

Yuuta remained still beneath their gazes. His heart was beating faster than he wanted, but he kept his expression composed. If he showed even the slightest panic, they might realize he had been bluffing about possessing secret knowledge concerning the Child of Chaos.

Valthor studied him for several seconds.

“Why would you wish to know something like that?”

Damn it. Of course he’d ask.

Yuuta had expected the priest’s excitement to make him careless, but apparently even Valthor wasn’t foolish enough to ignore such an obvious question.

“Because I want to understand where you’ve brought me,” Yuuta replied. “You expect me to tell you about my kind, yet I don’t even know where I am.”

Valthor stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“I suppose that is reasonable. However, information concerning the passages between our territories is not something we ordinarily share with outsiders.”

Yuuta felt his stomach tighten.

So he does know.

He couldn’t afford to retreat now. Instead, he glanced at The Black Testament in Valthor’s hands before looking back at the priest.

“Then I suppose there isn’t much point in continuing this conversation.”

Valthor’s expression changed immediately.

“W-Wait!”

Yuuta remained silent.

“Surely we can reach an understanding, Great Divine Sacrifice. I merely meant that certain information must be treated with care.”

“Then decide whether you want to learn about my kind or not.”

Valthor looked genuinely troubled.

Before he could answer, the warden stepped forward and dropped onto one knee.

“Lord Valthor, please forgive my interruption, but this human is clearly asking about a means of escape. We cannot risk revealing such information when the ritual is so close.”

Valthor’s expression darkened, though he did not strike the warden this time.

“Warden, do you seriously believe he can escape?”

The warden hesitated.

“You know better than anyone that escaping this kingdom is practically impossible.”

“That is true, my lord. However, I still don’t believe we should take an unnecessary risk.”

Valthor glanced toward Yuuta before gesturing toward the enormous kingdom surrounding them.

“Once the ritual begins, nearly every high-ranking demon will be present. The Upper Blood Demons will be there with their armies as well. Do you honestly believe one prisoner could simply run away while surrounded by all of them?”

The warden fell silent.

“Besides…” Valthor raised The Black Testament slightly. “In exchange for information that will be of little use to him, I may receive knowledge that isn’t even written within our sacred book. That alone makes this worthwhile.”

The warden clearly remained uncomfortable, but arguing any further would accomplish nothing.

“As you wish, Lord Valthor.”

Yuuta listened carefully to every word.

The information wasn’t entirely reassuring. If Valthor was telling the truth, then wherever they were taking him would soon be surrounded by high-ranking demons, Upper Blood Demons, and entire armies. Escaping from his cell had already seemed difficult enough. Escaping from the middle of something like that sounded nearly impossible.

Still, he had managed to make Valthor consider his request.

“Oh, forgive me.” Valthor turned toward Yuuta again, almost cheerfully. “I’ve kept you waiting, haven’t I?”

Yuuta said nothing, maintaining the same mysterious expression he had been using since their conversation began.

“Then allow me to answer part of your question.”

Valthor spread one hand toward the dark kingdom surrounding them.

“This kingdom exists at one of the deepest points of the ocean. Leaving through ordinary means is practically impossible.”

Yuuta’s eyes widened slightly before he could stop himself.

So I was right.

The strange soil, the absence of any true sky, and the oppressive atmosphere above them suddenly made more sense. They weren’t merely underground.

They were deep beneath the ocean.

Valthor continued, seemingly pleased by Yuuta’s interest.

“However, our kingdom is not completely isolated from the outside world. We possess ancient means of traveling between our territories.”

Yuuta immediately focused on him.

“Ancient means?”

“Indeed. Special tiles exist throughout the kingdom, allowing passage to our nearby branches.”

Yuuta’s heartbeat quickened.

Tiles?

“How do they work?”

Valthor opened his mouth, but this time he paused. His gaze briefly shifted toward the warden before returning to Yuuta.

“Ah… I’m afraid I cannot reveal the complete method. Even a sacred being such as yourself must understand that certain knowledge is restricted.”

Yuuta quietly clenched his bound hands.

Damn it.

He had finally discovered that an escape route existed, only to find himself blocked again. Pushing Valthor too aggressively might ruin everything, but leaving without knowing how the tiles worked would accomplish little.

He considered his next words carefully.

“Then tell me this. Are those tiles something anyone can use, or do they only respond to demons?”

Valthor seemed to find the question harmless.

“They respond to blood, naturally.”

Yuuta blinked.

Blood?

“Naturally?”

“Yes. Blood is offered to the tile, followed by the appropriate ancient words. Only then can the passage be opened.”

Valthor smiled proudly, apparently satisfied that he had explained the principle without revealing anything too dangerous.

“That is how we travel between our worlds.”

Yuuta slowly nodded, careful not to show how much the answer mattered.

“I see.”

Outwardly, his expression remained calm.

Inside, however, his thoughts were already racing.

For the first time since waking inside the Tower of No Return, Yuuta finally had something he hadn’t possessed before.

A clue.

He needed to get away from his escorts, find one of those special tiles, and somehow learn the ancient words required to activate it. Valthor had refused to reveal the actual text, and Yuuta still had no idea where the nearest tile was located, but at least he knew an escape route existed.

The tile and the ancient text. I need both.

The problem was time. Every step forward brought him closer to the ritual, and according to Valthor, an entire army would soon surround the place.

He needed to act before that happened.

“Now then, Sacred Sacrifice.”

Valthor’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. The priest had moved closer again, his earlier excitement returning now that he had fulfilled his side of their strange bargain.

“I answered your question. So please, tell me.” His eyes practically shone with curiosity. “Who are you? What kind of beings are the Children of Chaos?”

Yuuta’s mind immediately started working.

He knew absolutely nothing about the Child of Chaos beyond what these demons had already revealed. A complicated lie would eventually contradict itself, so instead of inventing something entirely new, he decided to build his story around things he actually understood.

“My kind is… isolated,” Yuuta began carefully. “There aren’t many of us.”

Valthor immediately pulled out a small journal he carried beneath his robe.

“Isolated…” he repeated while writing rapidly. “Where?”

“Nova.”

Valthor’s hand paused.

Yuuta continued before the demon could question him too deeply.

“Atlantis Kingdom.”

Valthor immediately resumed writing.

“I see… Atlantis. Please, continue.”

Yuuta nearly sighed in relief.

He began constructing the rest of his lie from pieces of his own life. He described his “kind” as beings naturally talented at understanding unfamiliar things, capable of learning quickly even when confronted with something complicated. Yuuta had always enjoyed learning and could grasp many new things with enough time, so describing it as a trait of the Child of Chaos made the lie easier to maintain.

“Our minds adapt quickly,” Yuuta explained. “Something complicated for others might only take us a few hours to understand.”

“Extraordinary…” Valthor whispered, his pen moving faster.

Yuuta continued walking as he spoke, carefully choosing every word. When he needed another believable trait, he thought about the nightmares that had followed him for so long—the strange trials, the shadow, and the things he had witnessed while unconscious.

“Sometimes, we also receive visions.”

Valthor’s pen stopped.

“Visions?”

“From time to time,” Yuuta replied. “They help guide us and show whether we’re following the correct path.”

That nearly made Valthor stumble.

The priest rapidly filled another section of his journal, occasionally glancing at Yuuta as though he had just discovered an entirely unknown species. Yuuta maintained his composure, but inwardly he couldn’t believe how readily the demon accepted everything.

Valthor’s attention eventually shifted toward Yuuta’s crimson eyes.

“And those eyes?” he asked eagerly. “Can they perceive things differently? Hidden truths, perhaps? When you look at the world, what exactly do you see?”

Yuuta almost frowned.

Don’t overdo it.

“I see normally.”

Valthor blinked, apparently disappointed.

“But when my kind becomes angry, our eyes can glow.”

The disappointment immediately vanished.

“Fascinating!”

Valthor scribbled it down as though Yuuta had revealed another sacred truth.

“Thank you.”

He finally stopped writing and hugged the journal against his chest with an almost ridiculous amount of affection.

“How I wish I could study you for longer. There are so many things I want to know…” His excitement faded slightly as he glanced toward the path ahead. “But we cannot delay what must happen. If we did, we would be failing the God of Shadow.”

Yuuta didn’t answer.

He had already obtained more information than he had expected, and continuing to invent details about the Child of Chaos would only increase the risk of contradicting himself.

The procession continued deeper into the Demonic Kingdom.

Valthor remained close throughout the journey, repeatedly rereading his notes before adding new observations. Sometimes he watched the way Yuuta walked. Other times he wrote something after noticing where Yuuta looked or how he reacted to the kingdom around them. He behaved less like a priest escorting a sacrifice and more like a scholar who had discovered an entirely unknown species and feared missing even the smallest detail.

Yuuta ignored him.

His attention remained on their surroundings, searching for anything that resembled the transportation tiles Valthor had mentioned. Yet the roads and structures they passed offered no obvious clues, and he couldn’t risk asking another suspicious question so soon.

I still need the ancient text.

Without those words, finding a tile would be useless. And even if he somehow obtained both, he would still need an opportunity to escape his escorts.

But eventually, the road ahead began to change.

The buildings surrounding them gradually gave way to an enormous restricted complex unlike anything Yuuta had seen since leaving the Tower. The path widened, and colossal black structures rose around the distant ceremonial grounds. Crimson flames burned atop towering pillars, illuminating ancient statues and enormous walls beneath the endless darkness.

The prisoners ahead were being led toward the same place.

Yuuta noticed that the guards had grown more numerous. Armed demons stood along the approach, while black-robed priests moved between the waiting groups of prisoners. Some carried ancient records, while others appeared to be inspecting the markings on the captives’ foreheads.

The sight made Yuuta’s stomach tighten.

He had hoped to find some weakness during the journey, but the closer they came to their destination, the more heavily guarded everything became.

Then the procession passed between two enormous pillars.

Beyond them lay a vast ceremonial ground, its black stone floor stretching toward a raised altar in the distance. Ancient inscriptions covered the surrounding structures, while countless crimson flames illuminated the assembled demons and the long lines of prisoners being brought inside.

Yuuta’s steps gradually slowed.

For a moment, he could only stare at the sheer scale of the place. The number of prisoners, the preparations, the soldiers stationed everywhere—everything suggested that the demons had been preparing for this ritual for a very long time.

And now he had been brought directly into its center.

They had arrived at the one place where the ritual would take place.

The Abyssal Sanctum.

Yuuta looked toward the enormous altar at the far end of the ceremonial grounds, his expression growing increasingly tense.

Whatever these demons intended to awaken, they were prepared to sacrifice hundreds of lives to accomplish it.

And he was supposed to be the final sacrifice.

To Be Continued…