The Devil Who Grants Wishes

143 – Void (9)

‘…’

There is only pitch black space. The only tangible objects that can be seen here are two hands and two feet that can be seen with the head down.

It’s just a pitch-black space down to the floor, to the point where I can’t even tell where I’m standing.

It even makes you feel as if you are dreaming.

But, of course, this is not a dream.

The scene I’m seeing right now and the whisper I just heard are too vivid to be a dream.

Of course, it’s too strange to be real, but… Anyway.

‘Debugging mode…?’

In a silent space where no sound can be heard, I desperately recall the mechanical sound that disturbed my ears just a moment ago.

debugging mode.

The word that had never been seen or heard since Faust possessed it.

For some reason, the memory of being a human is so vivid that there is no sense of experience from hearing it for a long time, but it is a word that I have not seen since being possessed, so the impression is quite new.

‘I didn’t code, though.’

Of course I’ve never used debugging mode. No, it should be more correct to say that I can’t write because I want to write, but I don’t know anything.

Because my job wasn’t coding.

Although he is a developer, he has been in charge of only level design and storytelling, so he has no ties to coding. The only command it knows is printf hello world.

Anyway, hearing the word debugging mode in this fantasy world, no matter how you look at it, it’s real, but because of the word debugging mode, it seems like it’s not real.

Even though there are similarities, I was shocked because I thought this world was not a game.

Although I’m not free right now to the extent that I should be shaking my head at the shock.

‘Shit…’

As always, he spreads his hands and concentrates his mind to try to cast a spell, but the magic doesn’t even work. Obviously, even though my body is so full of mana and demonic energy, I cannot exhale that mana and demonic energy.

It feels as if the concept of emitting mana and magic has disappeared.

This is true even if you don’t exhale.

Even if you try to use magic using mana and magic within the body without ejecting it out of the body, the mana and magic cannot be formed in a form that can be used for magic.

…How do I get this out?

Read from noble mtl dot com

Kut… It shouldn’t be like this…!

It’s so terrible to think that time will pass forever without being able to do anything like this. I can’t be like this, leaving everyone, Lucia alone—

[…he said he was waking up.]

At that moment, a voice I hadn’t heard in quite a while resounded in my head.

Of course, since I haven’t heard it, it’s completely the same as the voice I spit out of my mouth, but I have to say that it’s clearly different from my own voice as the emotion itself in the voice is completely different.

Faust.

The original owner of this body, and an existence that doesn’t even try to get it back.

[What are you doing?]

‘…I need help. I have to get out of here.’

When I said that, a feeling of mild shock welled up in my head.

As if he hadn’t expected me to say that, as if he had been struck with an injustice.

[…Hmm, even if everything else is the same, it seems that the skill that comes from the difference in experience cannot be ignored.]

‘what?’

[Try to find out for yourself.]

‘What… oops…!’

After Faust’s words, the black space suddenly turns into a pure white space as if it had never happened.

It would be normal for the pupils to rapidly constrict and become dazzled if they were so black and then suddenly turn white, but I don’t feel that kind of sensation at all.

What the hell is this… what?

“Dad…”

“Mr. Faust…”

Beyond that white space, I see Lucia, Iris, Celestine, and Lena drooping down.

They’re not here, I’m watching them.

At first, I had the illusion that it was not just a hallucination, but my instincts determined that these were not hallucinations, but reality displayed in real time.

“…It’s already been two days since Faust-nim disappeared.”

‘Two days?’

Everyone’s exhausted appearance is shocking enough, but the words that came out of Lena’s mouth are even more shocking.

two days? Have I disappeared?

It feels like less than an hour has passed.

“…The connection is completely cut off. There is no sharing of emotions.”

Celestine’s pitiful voice scratches my ears. It’s like talking about someone whose life and death are unknown.

It’s hard to believe that the connection was lost for only an hour or so.

Everyone’s attitude is enough to make you realize that the passage of time is different.

I’m sorry

‘…it’s okay.’

But unlike before, the situation is not hopeless.

Unlike just before, when he couldn’t use magic at all, he could use magic very easily and refreshed as if he had never done it before. The very small fireball that floated in my hand is very telling of that fact.

Since the spirit of the demons suddenly disappeared from my hand when I came to this space, I couldn’t just open the portal to and from the space like before, but I can say that the situation has improved enough just by being able to use magic.

Wait a little bit, I’ll be back soon… Are you…?

‘what is this.’

At that moment, an eerie number written in red letters comes to mind next to the screen that everyone can see.

It’s not just a group of warriors. The same numbers are written in red letters on other civilians near the hero’s party.

The number, which decreases by one every minute, gives an eerie feeling as if some kind of time bomb is exploding.

‘…why are they all the same?’

What makes it even creepier of all is that everyone has the same number.

Lucia, Iris, Celestine, Lena, and all the other characters on the screen have the same numbers above their heads.

…If that number is considered a lifespan, does that mean that everyone dies at the same time?

oh, that’s nonsense

It’s not that some kind of deaf man declared that he would die one day at one o’clock under the peach tree, and how could the remaining lifespan be the same for the warriors and other civilians… Wait a minute.

‘…life limit.’

At that moment, it feels like lightning strikes in my head.

It’s such a nonsense that everyone dies together, but if life limits are involved in it, it’s a completely different story.

Literally, if the world perishes because the life limit is unbearable, that lifespan is fully explained.

If that number isn’t the number of lives remaining as guessed, then this guess is just ridiculous bullshit… but unfortunately all my instincts are crying out that it’s not bullshit.

“Ugh… now it’s all done. With a little more repairs, we can have the same environment as before.”

“I was worried because the demons disappeared so much… Well, this is fine. I can restore them in 100 years.”

I scanned the world through the screen to see if anyone else had a different number, but nothing changed.

Both Elias and Belial had the same red numbers floating above their heads as the others.

The more I look at those numbers, the more I despair and tell me only one truth.

If you want to protect the world, if you want to protect your loved ones, kill the innocent.

To meet the limits of life and take good care of the world so that it does not perish.

…to kill? really?

Up until now, although my body is a demon, I have not killed as much as possible in order to live like a human… In the end, I have to take people’s lives like the devil, like the Great Demon King?

[You will have to kill people even if you don’t want to kill, you will become an evil created, and in the end you will be killed by the being you love the most. That… is your destiny.]

I remember what Serafia said to me right before she died.

…Is this what it meant?

At first, I thought it was just a curse that was spat out carelessly out of resentment, but like a person who has ruled the Goddess of Light, he perfectly penetrated the truth.

“Dad…”

I can see Lucia crying and calling me over the screen.

…Until now, in order for Lucia to live a peaceful life, and to prevent Lucia from being eroded by demonic energy, I have been moving around the world and contaminating those places with my demonic energy.

If you look at it broadly… is it no different from sacrificing the lives of others for Lucia?

Well, it’s no different from what I’ve been doing so far.

Okay, it’s just a life of a mechanical device that repeats simple tasks, but for Lucia’s sake, this kind of life can’t be endured– Huh?

“…what?”

At that moment, I catch something that cannot be in my eyes.

So far, I’ve looked around at a lot of people, and I’ve confirmed that they all have the same number written above their heads.

Wasn’t that why I was determined to accept the fate inflicted upon me and to preserve the world for Lucia’s sake?

But… enough to break that promise in an instant, something shocking is caught on the other side of the screen.

“…There are no numbers.”

As if lifespan does not exist, as if even if the world perishes, only one can survive comfortably.

There are no numbers written on the top of Irene’s head, who is looking at the sad warriors with a pitiful look.

Irene, why the hell… lifespan doesn’t appear?

‘Even Belial, who possesses divine power, has a lifespan, so why—-… Gaia?’

The moment I realized that Irene was related to Gaia, it felt like lightning struck in my head.

The trigger that destroys the world is the saturation of the limit of life, and Gaia is… the god of life with the power of life.

…Is there still a way?