Necromancer Of The Black Bible (116)

“I can’t trust you. Show me proof that what you say is true.”

In response to Erisia’s words, Belphages asked curtly,

“Proof?”

“Simple.”

Erisia cast a spell on her own lips.

The magic of a vow.

As the magic activated, her solidified lips flushed a deep red.

The sight was thoroughly enchanting.

Erisia stepped toward Belphages and continued speaking.

“I’ll make a vow that brands a mark on part of you, binding you as my slave.”

The smile faded from Belphages’ lips.

He had realized exactly what Erisia was asking for.

Erisia looked at him and asked,

“Why? Has your mind suddenly changed? Or were you lying from the start?”

“It’s not that…”

When Erisia took a step closer, Belphages backed away and spoke.

“It’s my first time being bound by a vow, so I’m a bit nervous.”

“No need to be nervous. It stings at first, but afterwards it gets comfortable.”

This was the truth.

When she was young, Erisia had received a binding kiss from Ragdares, and from then on she swore her loyalty.

She still remembered the heat when Ragdares’ lips touched her left cheek.

At the time, Erisia accepted that heat willingly.

She had vowed that if one day she found a slave she liked, she would grant them that same heat.

‘How will it be? Is this one mentally prepared?’

She didn’t expect much, but her spirit body warmed lightly.

Belphages faltered at the sight of her.

His already pale complexion went even paler, and his body seemed to tremble faintly.

But Erisia did not stop.

Instead, she hurried forward and grabbed him by the collar.

“Stop.”

A command laced with mana.

It wasn’t the high-level draconic-word spell ‘Absolute Command,’ but without strong willpower it was hard to resist.

Sure enough, Belphages stopped retreating and stood upright before Erisia.

Erisia looked up at Belphages who was a head taller than her and gave another command.

“Your stance is too high. It’s uncomfortable looking up at you.”

“……”

Belphages silently knelt on one knee.

Erisia smiled with satisfaction as she looked down at him,

then she touched his face and spoke.

“What is your name?”

“…Belphages.”

“Good, Belphages. Will you now swear loyalty to me?”

Belphages’ pupils wavered for a moment.

But nothing else happened.

He soon spoke.

“I swear…I will.”

Erisia smiled darkly and recited the vow’s incantation.

“I hereby take this Belphages as my faithful thrall; before all the world I carve this token upon you.”

When she finished, Erisia pressed her reddened lips to Belphages’ left cheek in a kiss.

On his cheek, Erisia’s name appeared, written in the draconic word,

and seeing this, a smile began to form at Erisia’s mouth.

But it lasted only a moment.

As the energy flowing from the mark enveloped Belphages, his form suddenly vanished.

Erisia was startled by the unexpected event.

She looked around for Belphages, but could no longer see him anywhere.

After standing there for a long while, Erisia realized she had been tricked by him.

“Damn it!”

Erisia clenched her fists and unleashed magic all around the area.

She did so on the suspicion that he might be watching from somewhere.

Kwak kwak kwak kwang-!

An absolute-power draconic-word spell swept the area.

Erisia went further and formed an eighth Mana Ring around her heart.

Then she used the highest-level draconic-word spell she knew: Agnyssed.

A crimson dragon illusion appeared in the air and began to unleash its breath with tremendous force.

It was complete devastation.

The ultra-hot flames melted everything in the vicinity.

Grains of sand and rocks turned into lava and began to flow; acrid black smoke filled the area.

A poisonous gas so lethal that any corporeal life could not endure it for even a minute.

Yet Erisia suffered no harm within it.

While she was melting innocent rock for a long time, a clear voice echoed in her chest.

-Enough now.

“Master?”

Erisia looked around, and the voice came again.

-That is sufficient now.

At that moment, a shadow appeared before Erisia.

As the shadow’s form completed, it became clearer and soon revealed itself perfectly before Erisia’s eyes.

He was Damian.

His face was cold and expressionless, but his eyes were dark and deep as if holding a primordial abyss.

Under the black cloak, his body seemed not entirely of a living being; even its outline was shrouded in a blurred black aura.

Seeing him, Erisia lowered her head and kowtowed.

“M-Master, I greet you!”

Her clear voice rang through the smoke-filled space.

Damian looked down at her and then spoke.

“You completed the mission admirably.”

“B-but…”

Erisia hesitated, then managed to continue.

“I missed Belphages. I fell into his ruse…”

“It wasn’t your fault. He’s a demon who’s rolled around the subterranean hell for over a thousand years. I did not expect you to slay him.”

“Th-then…”

Erisia’s eyes snapped open.

According to Damian’s words, she had indeed completed her mission.

Damian gave a smile to the eagerly expectant woman.

“You have completed the mission. Therefore, I will give you a reward.”

Damian bowed slightly and lifted Erisia’s chin.

Naturally Erisia met Damian’s gaze and saw the abyssal shimmer within his irises.

An abyss flashing with crimson wrath and an enigmatic greenish aura.

Looking at it, her mind felt faint.

She felt as if she were being sucked into his pupils.

Damian still traced Erisia’s reddened lips with his thumb.

“You know an interesting method.”

“…I-it was just a little trick.”

“No. I am deeply impressed. I have always wondered: how do dragons make slaves?”

“Ah…”

Erisia let out a small gasp.

It was because Damian’s lips were stained a deep green.

Damian continued, still stroking her lips as he spoke.

“Thanks to what you showed, I learned much. Therefore I have decided it would be best for our contract to be made in that manner.”

“I-I’m honored…”

“Close your eyes.”

Erisia closed her eyes as Damian instructed.

Then Damian asked.

“What is your name?”

“…Erisia von Eckhart.”

“From now on your name is Emma.”

“Th-that is…”

Erisia’s eyebrows twitched.

Damian watched this and spoke in an even gentler voice.

“It is your old name. But I do not wish to call you by the name sullied by a greedy dragon. So from now on you are Emma.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

“Good, Emma. Will you swear loyalty to me?”

“I swear.”

A faint smile appeared on Damian’s lips, and Emma’s lips began to tremble slightly.

Damian looked at Emma and continued.

“You are my slave. A slave may request nothing of their master. You must accept whatever the master gives, and if you feel even the slightest complaint, I will strip you of your status at once. Further, whatever the master commands, you must accomplish it even if it requires grinding your very soul to pieces. And always be grateful. If you fail to uphold these three, your soul will be extinguished on the spot.”

It was truly chilling content.

A vow composed solely of duty and punishment.

But Emma remained silent, and Damian kissed her left cheek.

The green mana smeared on Damian’s lips drew two concentric circles and sank into Emma’s cheek; at the same time a faint green tinge appeared in her eyes.

Emma felt some new energy entering within her.

An indescribable sensation welled up inside her.

What Damian demanded was a horrifying level of obedience, but she did not care.

She even thought she would obey him thousands of times if only she could taste such ecstasy.

After a single surge of intense pleasure swept through her body, she bowed before Damian again.

Damian looked down at her and spoke.

“I will give the next order.”

“I await your command.”

“Pursue Belphages. If you track his mana trace, you will find him soon.”

“I will obey the order.”

When Emma lifted her head, Damian had vanished.

But Emma was no longer flustered or looking around.

She could feel him within her regardless.

‘He resides within me.’

Emma rose from her place.

Then, following Damian’s guidance, she sensed the mana traces.

‘There, then.’

The trace of Belphages.

More precisely, the trace left by the one struck by Emma’s magic.

Emma moved forward, admiring the tracking method her new master had taught her.

A metal collar was fixed around her neck, but she felt freer than ever.

At that moment.

Balthazar was beneath the Grand Temple.

About a week ago, Pope Lactea graciously granted Balthazar’s request and ordered that this place, where Ksiratis was kept, be guarded alongside the squire-paladin Andre.

From then until now, Balthazar had been guarding the place together with Andre.

At first it felt strange, as it was a place he had never set foot in in his previous life.

Before him were the remnants of the god-slaying weapon ‘Ksiratis’ and the ‘Bible of the Nameless God,’ whose very existence had been a mystery.

But as time passed, what puzzled him more was Pope Lactea’s reaction.

‘Was the Pope always like that?’

In his memory, the Pope had been cold and resolute.

Meeting her directly had been nearly impossible; one had to go through the Papal legate or a cardinal.

But last time she had willingly allowed a private audience,

and immediately agreed to Balthazar’s demands.

‘She would just meet the senior investigator and hear his request?’

It made no sense.

Moreover, what was stranger was the Andre assigned to this place.

He was supposedly a squire-paladin, but gave off no aura of sanctity.

Additionally, the energy he emitted was unusual.

Even among the knights he had met in his past life, a warrior of this caliber could be counted on one hand.

‘Someone like Kaleon of the Dead Lands?’

He had never fought Kaleon personally, but had watched him fight from afar.

The sight of him charging alone into enemy ranks and cutting down hundreds was truly spectacular.

A muscular warrior with bulging veins.

Where he passed, rivers of blood formed and corpses piled into mounds.

The aura emanating from him was brutally fierce.

By contrast, the aura from Andre, who stood motionless opposite, was even more chilling.

‘An aura as if he could kill everyone without swinging a sword?’

Andre himself felt like a cold, sharp blade.

‘That the Pope immediately granted my request and assigned this fellow—could that really be coincidence?’

It was Equinox that answered Balthazar’s question.

-Stop the useless thoughts and pull yourself together.

At the same time, Andre’s voice was heard.

“Be careful, Investigator. Something is approaching.”