I thought the pain would be quick.
Like a needle at the doctor's office—a sharp prick that fades into a dull ache you forget in minutes.
That was the hope clinging to the edges of my mind as the energy tightened around me.
It was not.
After a few seconds, the sensation shifted.
It felt more like someone had pressed salt straight into an open cut, or rubbed it across a raw canker sore.
The burn spread fast, lingering, refusing to let up.
My teeth clenched so hard I tasted blood.
But even that comparison fell apart almost immediately.
No.
This was worse.
Turns out, it was like being shot by a pistol—sudden, shocking, punching straight through my gut. And then I felt like I was hit by rifle rounds, one after another, tearing deeper.
A shotgun blast followed, scattering fire through every limb. And then an anti-materiel round punched a hole clean through my spine.
And finally, I was at the point where I felt like I had been struck by a direct hit of a rocket launcher.
I could not see Lothair or Hayja anymore. Could not see the ruins or the gray sky.
There was only the sensation of my body breaking, forcing itself to change, twisting into something that could hold Demonic Essence.
The pain climbed higher, layer after layer, until my mind could not hold it. Thoughts shattered. Screams turned silent because even my throat gave out.
Then, nothing.
I floated in empty white space again.
The same endless void as before.
A wry chuckle slipped out of me.
"Did I die for real this time?"
No one answered. Just white in every direction.
I turned slowly, trying to feel the edges, the depth, anything.
That was when I saw it—a thin dark slit hanging in the air. It widened, inch by inch, like an eye forcing itself open.
Ink-black sludge poured out. Shapes followed—twisted things with too many limbs, mouths where eyes should be, eyes where mouths belonged.
They writhed and sang in voices that overlapped, a chorus that scraped inside my skull.
I couldn't clearly hear the languge, but somehow I understood what it meant.
The Fallacy King has arrived.
The Fallacy King is the bringer of salvation.
The end of time draws near, where no laughter resides.
I backed away, but there was nowhere to go. The darkness rushed forward, ready to swallow me whole.
Cold stone pressed against my back.
My eyes snapped open. Every muscle ached like I had been beaten for hours.
I lay on the same hard slab from the ruins, but the air felt different—closed in, dim.
Lothair stood beside me, that eternal sly smile on her face was there like usual.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
Hayja was also here in this room, leaned against a nearby wall, arms crossed.
I pushed up on my elbows, wincing. "Where am I? What happened with the demonization?"
"This is my room," Hayja said as she pushed off the wall slightly. "You should feel lucky. That slab is my favorite bed."
I stared at the cold granite under me.
Bed? It felt like a tombstone.
"As for your demonization~" Lothair waved a hand, and a floating mirror appeared in front of my face.
I looked—and froze.
My right eye socket was no longer empty. A red flower bloomed there, it was the shape of an unknown species that I had never seen before. Parts of my hair had turned the same deep red, along with my eyelashes on that side.
Now that I looked at it closely, it appears less like a demonization but more of a permanent halloween makeover, especially the cringy two-toned hair get-up.
I sat up fully and ran my hands over my arms, my legs, my sides.
No horns, no tail, no wings. My skin felt the same temperature, the same texture.
The only differences were the eye and the hair.
Lothair watched me checking my body like a panicked gremlin. "Your demonization turned out surprisingly stable for you. The usual side effects are mild. However, that probably means your sensitivity to Demonic Essence is on the lower side too."
I glanced at her. Compared to me, she was completely looking like a normal human.
"You barely show any demonic traits yourself. Are your sensitivity on the lower side too?"
Hayja snorted softly. "Lothair is rather special."
Lothair's smile widened a fraction. "Do not worry. You can still harness Eisheth's inheritance despite the low sensitivity level."
"I don't think that I even worry the slightest about the inheritance." But then, the word inheritance snapped me back to something more urgent. I bolted upright the rest of the way. "My Ego! What happened to it? Did it awaken?"
Hayja tilted her head. "If you awakened one, you would feel it instinctively. The epithet would come to you naturally too."
I closed my eyes and reached inside, chasing the feeling people described back on Earth—that sudden rush, like a dam breaking.
I waited.
Counted to ten.
Nothing.
I opened my eye and sighed.
"It's not there."
Lothair placed a hand on my shoulder, gently tapping it.
"You will get it eventually."
"Uuuuu…"
And then, a loud growl cut through the room.
It was my stomach, demanding food because I pretty much ignored its need for a day or so.
Hayja raised an eyebrow. "You have not eaten?"
"I forgot."
Hayja pushed off the wall fully. "I will prepare something."
And thus, the scary pale bluish lady left without another word.
Lothair turned back to me, the curved dagger was already in her hand again—the one with the pulsing pink veins.
"It is time, Mesmer. Now that you're a fresh demon out of the oven, the quicker you get the inheritance, the better.
I stared at the blade, scared and curious.
"So, how to access the inheritance? I just... hold it? Or is the dagger the inheritance itself, and I draw power from it like a weapon?"
She smiled wider.
"Like this."
Lothair plunged the dagger straight into the back of my hand.
"GYAAAAAAA—"
I screamed.
Blood welled, but the blade stayed lodged, sticking up like a misplaced flag.
Panic surged as I realized that even if I moved my hand, the dagger was still there sticking out from the flesh like a goddamn accessory.
"What the hell—get it out!"
Pink veins along the metal lit up.
They burrowed under my skin, threading deeper.
My vision blurred.
Something ancient pressed against my mind, prodding, searching.
Then it stopped.
A voice filled my head—deep, warm, with the tone a gentle mother uses with her favorite child.
『 Do you like doing the deed rough like a wild beast, or slow and easy like swaying leaves? 』
I froze.
That voice didn't match with the content of her words in the slightest.
『 Ah, you are the rough and raw type. Good choice, good choice~ 』
"What the hell kind of question is that!?"
Lothair tilted her head, still smiling. "Are you all right?"
"Can you hear that?"
She blinked. "Hear what?"
The voice only I could hear answered.
『 Only you can hear me, child. 』
"Who are you?" I asked out loud, ignoring Lothair's growing confusion. "Are you that pinkish substance from the dagger that burrowed deep into my flesh!?"
『 I will explain everything—who I am, what the inheritance truly is, my purpose. But first, I want you to answer one vital question. Answer honestly, because this will be extremely important for your future, and how the inheritance will interact with your existence. 』
I swallowed.
Now that the situation has come to this, I might as well play along.
"Ask away then."
She mentioned that it had something to do with the inheritance, meaning that it might be related to my psyche like how a sage trying to determine someone's personality through quizzes, or something along the line.
I had already made up my mind. Whatever question that she threw at me, I shall answer in the best way possible!
『 When it comes to sex, do you prefer doing it a male who will rough you senseless, or a female you can overwhelm with pleasure until she breaks? 』
My jaw dropped, and I could feel my face rising in temperature.
"Can you... simplify the question? Or at least, make it less degeneration..."
『 Very well then, I shall make the question simpler. So, women or men? 』
I opened my mouth, closed it, and tried to put more thought into the answer.
The question might be silly and out of nowhere, but it didn't change the fact that it may be very important to my interaction with the inheritance that Eisheth left behind.
"Hmm…"
"Mesmer, I think the dagger has some kind of hallucinogen property, now that I see you acting like this," Lothair simply uttered after seeing my sorry state.
Well, I had never felt anything for men. Not really. The idea of romance with one always felt... distant. It also felt wrong, somehow.
Like, never in my life had I ever taken a step back and thought if I want to date or marry someone, have a family and children, and then grandchildren, and then die surrounded by those with the same blood as me.
In a way, I never really felt the attraction to have a romantic feeling.
I was ready to die single.
"Hmmmm…"
"Now you're just scaring me, Mesmer."
Women on the other hand, were different. Like, scary different.
It felt too adventurous. I knew one or two people who was attracted to the same gender and they had a nice romantic life and even forged a family. I also remembered that they were happy too in that regard.
Though of course, I saw those that didn't find success, just like all relationships.
But then, for a moment, Anatuya flashed through my mind—her constant flirting, the way she had looked at me that morning in bed, both of us naked, her smile soft and wicked at the same time…
『 Woman it is. Excellent. 』
"I didn't say—"
『 However, the main feature of the inheritance requires coitus, which is true sexual intercourse, penetration, and insemination! But we can adapt to your preference. Only that, a small adjustment needs to be done to your body. 』
Something stirred below my stomach.
Heat pooled, then surged.
Fabric tightened against my thighs. I looked down.
The skirt tented upward, pushed by something thick and tall and unmistakably there.
An 'Excalibur' had risen.
Lothair stared, expression unchanged, as if she watched paint dry.
"Oh my."
I could only gape at the proud tower now straining against the red dress, and wonder what the hell I had just gotten myself into.