Chapter 60. Even a Rebellious Phase Has Its Limits (4)
Meanwhile, Valefor, who had been caught in the Field of Distortion before managing to escape, had left Raum's room ahead of Michael.
"Haa, squeak. Should I just be thankful I managed to escape, squeak?"
Because Michael had recklessly unleashed his techniques in every direction, the demonic energy maintaining the Field of Distortion had become unstable. In particular, the flames of Libertas had reached Valefor's position and caused an explosion, which had conveniently sent him flying toward the doorknob.
"Squeak, I managed to get out thanks to that, but... Squeak! That lunatic almost killed me too, squeak!"
Valefor had nearly died because of Michael's indiscriminately released White Flame, but he had somehow managed to escape into the main hall of the pub.
"I'll just run away until everything is over and come back afterward, squeak!"
Now that he was away from the room, Valefor wanted nothing more than to avoid getting caught in the struggle between those two monsters and being crushed like a shrimp caught between fighting whales.
Crunch, crunch!
Valefor stepped across the debris left behind by Michael's battle with the demons and headed toward the exit. Then he stopped.
"Was it fun enjoying power all this time while hiding behind Michael? You're even weaker than a demonic beast."
Raum's earlier accusation suddenly came back to him, and Valefor turned his head.
Thud.
"Haa, what am I going to gain by running away like this, squeak?"
Valefor weakly sat down and looked around the pub. His eyes reflected the ruined establishment. The floor was covered in ashes that had once been demons, every sofa and chair had been smashed, and all the bottles of alcohol displayed on the shelves had shattered. The spilled alcohol was evaporating and filling the air with its smell.
Valefor looked bitterly around the hall and picked up a shard of broken glass.
"Squeak... I'm already caught in a Ranking Battle anyway. I might as well clean up the place, squeak."
He knew that cleaning was practically meaningless with front paws as tiny as little sprouts. Even so, Valefor couldn't bring himself to abandon the pub. No, he couldn't bring himself to abandon Michael and the Divine Beasts. For a moment, he wondered whether he, a demon, had somehow developed a guilty conscience.
"There's no way, squeak! If I run away and Michael catches me later, he'll turn me into something that can neither live nor die! How could I possibly have the courage to escape, squeak?!"
After convincing himself with that explanation, Valefor turned his attention back toward Raum. The sounds of battle still erupted from the room, with the two combatants shouting and aura colliding against demonic energy.
"There are plenty of bastards who hate Michael, squeak. But Raum... I don't remember him being this bad, squeak."
The fact that Raum had obtained Durandal was strange enough, and his reason for challenging Valefor to a Ranking Battle just to lure Michael out was also unclear. For that matter, there was no way Raum could have corrupted and obtained Durandal all by himself. If his only objective had been to lure Michael out, there was no need to challenge Valefor to a Ranking Battle.
"If he already knew I was weak, he should've just attacked me directly, squeak."
There was clearly another secret Valefor didn't know. One suspicious possibility did come to mind. Recently, he had heard rumors that a dangerous faction was quietly emerging in Hell. However, rumors were only rumors, so he couldn't believe them completely. At the time, he had simply considered the possibility and left it at that.
"Squeak, could those bastards be controlling Raum? But why? Come to think of it, the Omen... Squeak! Is it because of the Omen?!"
It was frustrating that V.F was no longer in a condition where it could function normally, preventing him from gathering additional information. Still, after operating V.F for so many years, Valefor had a feeling that the suspicious faction and Raum were somehow connected to the Omen.
"Raum said he was a vassal, so there's a good chance I'm right, squeak!"
FLAP, FLAP, FLAP!
Just as Valefor began putting his thoughts together, a crow flew out of the room, which now resembled a construction site.
"Squeak?! What happened this time... SQUEEEAK?!"
At the same moment, Valefor felt Raum's demonic energy all the way from the room. Raum had transformed into his true form.
"Don't tell me that bastard was hiding another trump card, squeak?!"
Since Valefor had yet to see Raum's true appearance, he simply assumed Raum had another technique hidden away.
"Caw! Caw!"
The crow that had been circling near the ceiling of the hall suddenly turned toward Valefor and dived straight at him.
BOOOOM!
Moving in a curved path like an arrow, the crow slammed directly into the spot where Valefor had been standing.
"Squeak! Squeak! That was dangerous, squeak!"
Fortunately, Valefor had narrowly managed to avoid the attack.
"Squeeeak. If that beak had pierced me... I'd have gone straight back to Hell, squeak."
The attack had been so powerful that it left a deep hole in the floor where the crow struck. The crow itself scattered into dust as though its job was finished, but the real problem was that the hole it left behind had become distorted.
Gulp.
"That crow had the power of distortion inside it, squeak?"
A terrible feeling suddenly came over Valefor.
FLAP, FLAP, FLAP!
As though proving that his instincts were correct, countless crows suddenly poured from the room. However, rather than becoming frightened by the approaching flock, Valefor grew angry.
"Squeak! These bastards... My head already hurts thinking about how much it'll cost to remodel the pub, squeak! Don't any of you understand the meaning of moderation, squeak?!"
Trembling with anger, Valefor rummaged through the pouch on his belly. Soon, he pulled out a tiny fork that was about the same size as his body. It was actually a trident that could grow or shrink depending on the size of its owner.
"Raum, you bastard! Do you know how much money I spent on this fork? I might not be able to kill you, but I'll make sure you take one hell of a hit, squeak!"
Although Valefor's strength was nowhere near that of an actual Great Demon, he understood the firepower that money could provide.
"Target, Raum! Go give him a good hit, squeak!"
Valefor threw the spear toward the room with all his strength. The spear pierced through the approaching crows and shot toward the room like a guided missile.
Crackle! Whoooosh! BOOOOM!
Then, almost as though responding to the spear, a single sword slash surrounded by sparks flew from the room and cut through the flock of crows. The slash, which seemed determined to destroy every evil in existence, passed right beside Valefor.
WHOOOOOM!
The crows instantly turned into black dust, and a powerful gust of wind followed the slash.
"SQUEEEEAK!"
Roll, roll, roll!
Unable to withstand the wind pressure, Valefor rolled across the floor again and again.
Thud!
After rolling along the floor and crashing into the remains of a display shelf, Valefor finally managed to stop and examine the situation. He could sense Michael's aura from the scorch marks covering everything from the floor to the walls.
"S, squeak? Did Raum... lose, squeak?"
For some reason, he could no longer sense Raum's demonic energy either. That meant the slash that had just passed through the hall must have been a technique used to defeat Raum. In that case, there was only one thing left to worry about.
"How much... am I going to have to pay him, squeak?"
His future would soon be buried under mountains of debt. Valefor carefully began stepping backward, but at that moment, a red circle marked with a pentagram appeared beneath his feet.
"Squeak? This symbol is?!"
CLATTER, CLATTER, CLATTER!
Chains shot from the circle and transformed into the shape of a chair, forcibly seating Valefor.
"L, let me go, squeak!"
Valefor struggled to escape the restraints, but the chair made of chains slowly dragged him down into the circle.
