Trissy stared at the young man, her lovely features showing signs of bewilderment as she lightened her grip on her dagger, lowering it slightly as she looked up, her scarlet lips pursed, unable to give an answer to his question.
Was he correct? She didn't know. But he was still a devil... In other words, just as for humans animals are beings that can be killed without issue, for devils, they can kill any and every living being as if it's nothing. And in a way, it really is nothing special.
He wasn't human. Asking a devil to pity dead humans was like asking a human to pity a dead pig they would eat a few hours later...
However, that truly wasn't what caught her attention. It was his contemplation about the meaning of his own nature and freedom.
Trissy too... wished more than anything to be free, to live with no restraint, without becoming anyone's puppet.
It was the thing she longed for most. How pitiful was a life with no choice of her own? Walking wherever her owner pointed? Eating when she was told to eat and sleeping when she was told to sleep... It was humiliating! It was degrading, as if she was nothing more than an object to be used.
That's why those words, "Freedom is nothing but a delusion of the enslaved", irritated her so much. It was a cruel thing to say, and harsh like a loveless life.
But then again, isn't truth uncompromising and ruthless? Maybe that's why she felt so angry... Because at the end of the day, she knew that he was right.
Even if she escaped from the Demoness Sect, she would still be bound by the path she had decided to walk.
And slowly, the Demoness pathway would change her, inevitably altering her nature to fit the potion's names...
This was the fate of every Beyonder. None of them could find respite, not even the smallest triumph to celebrate, because they were all destined for madness and suffering.
Thinking like this, Trissy felt a deep ache in her heart. As if somewhere in the depths of her soul, reaching its deepest parts, something truly vital and essential for her existence... just shattered into pieces.
She clenched her fists, refusing to acknowledge the pitiless truth, cold as winter and heartless like...
She looked up, staring at Sam and thought... a devil.
I reject it! I will never accept that as truth! Delusion of the enslaved, huh? Delusion... Who does he think he is!? He's nothing but a boy, a filthy devil at that, he knows nothing!
She thought, her adorable face twisting with displeasure and anger, her brow furrowing as she pursed her exquisite lips in bitterness.
But even so, she still remained stunning and beautiful, her scarlet lips perhaps more venomous than any harsh words she could utter.
"My apologies, my good sir." Trissy said with a dark smile, licking her lips as she turned her dagger around. "I think you need to die."
"Sure." Sam smiled faintly, as projectile split the air from the forest, traveling with great speed and approaching Trissy with stunning precision.
Her eyes widened, turning left to avoid attack but in the next second, she felt something leaking down from her forehead.
She touched her gace, feeling warmth enveloping her slender fingers and as she lowered her hand, she saw nothing but a blood, dyeing her fingers red.
"H-huh? W-what a... H-how..." She spoke, stuttering as she began walking in circles, feeling disoriented, sharp pain exploding in her head, her vision growing blurry and unfocused until she fell.
Sam caught her, feeling her soft flesh as he stared at her pained face. At the same time, he thought about his new spell, [Desire Sense] was more valuable than it seemed. With it, he perceived her desire to dodge and aimed accurately, knocking her out.
But of course, without him, it would have been impossible, first attack was what allowed him to strike her. Sure, Mr. Maric missed but he also give Sam opportunity to land a hit, both throwing projectiles at the same time.
Looking up, he saw expressionless man walking out of the forest, his posture slightly hunched and his eyes cold, holding three heads by their hair, blood dripping on the ground, windpipe and flesh still visible while their expressions were frozen in terror.
"Great accuracy, Mr. Maric. Did you finished them all?" Sam asked, rubbing his eyes, feeling exhaustion seeping deep in his bones.
Maric raised the heads expressionlessly. "Those three messed with the locomotive. That's why it exploded. One of them is Apprentice, he managed to plant bomb and escape without any issue while other three assisted him." He said bleakly, not saying another word and dropping the heads as if they were nothing more than a garbage. Maric always preferred to not talk too much, only speaking when nececary or when leading others.
Sam frowned, picking up one of the head and staring at its frozen expression. He didn't feel particularly emotional about the deaths of those people, it was none of his business.
What really disturbed him was... Isn't this too much of a coincidence? I want to kill Raymond and the steam locomotive just explodes... How strange.
"Oi, cretin! Help me!"
Sam snapped out of his thoughts and turned around, only to see Amelia hanging in the air, a rope around her waist keeping her from falling, tied to what remained of the steel railings.
"Huh? What are you doing up there?" Sam smiled in disbelief, scratching the back of his head as he and Maric stared at her, hanging around like a puppet.
"Do you think I'm fast enough to dismantle a locomotive and escape before it all falls down? What are you, braindead?" She looked at him blankly, her expression unimpressed and disappointed, as if embarrassed that her partner was this retarded.
"Ahh, yeah, my bad." Sam yawned, walked towards the destroyed bridge and then paused, looking up at her with a confused look.
"Wait, how can I help you?! I can't fly!"
"I don't care, do something, bastard!"
"Shut up, I'm thinking right now!"
Amelia was expressionless, her eye twitching with irritation. "Your food for thought leaves everyone still hungry, my guy..."
Sam nodded with a sigh, then froze, his eyes widening. "Wait, what..."
He blurted out with a look of disbelief, trying to understand what she meant by that. It didn't seem anything insulting, but... why did it feel like an insult!?
At last, Maric moved. A small wall of ice appeared beneath his feet. Then another. And another. Each grew larger, forming stairs of ice as he walked calmly upward without a word. He reached Amelia, his nails extending slightly to cut the rope. He caught her and walked back down, placing her on the ground.
"Phew, thanks, Mr. Maric." She exhaled softly, cracking her sore neck with a yawn as Maric nodded expressionlessly. It felt like he was a nanny taking care of kids.
"What now?" Amelia asked, looking around, knowing that soon official Beyonders would come.
"We clean the place to remove any signs of our involvement, take everything of value and leave." Maric explained, getting to work as he started picking up corpses.
Amelia and Sam groaned, both tired as hell, but nevertheless they still did as he said.
Amelia began removing anything that might point to them, even their blood, sweat or clothes.
Meanwhile Sam stood motionless, thinking about his last spell: [Curse Magic].
Without a doubt, this was vastly more powerful than anything else he had, and also held great potential. However, it needed research and experimentation. And there was a downside too, he couldn't curse his enemies directly. If it was a weak, minor curse like slowness, discomfort, slight exhaustion and so on, sure, he could do it on the spot. But even then, it would be weaker than Devils who possessed that specific curse as a ingrained spell.
And if he wanted something more dangerous and insidous, he needed materials, incantations, and ritual preparation to complete the curse and bind it to the target.
Still, Sam wasn't discouraged. As he advanced through the sequences, this ability would grow stronger. His curses would become more effective.
As for [Link], it wasn't just something to create a deeper connection between a medium and the target, it could also create a connection between him and the target.
For example, if he consumed his enemy's blood, or if the enemy shared the same lineage as Sam, he could use himself as the medium to curse them. He could even turn himself into a mirror, reflecting any attack he suffered back onto his enemies.
And beyond that, he could form links between himself and his allies... to share spells.
That's right, he had been able to irritate both the witch and Raymond because he had borrowed Provoking from his horse. But it was still weak.
He had insulted the Mother Tree of Desire, degrading Raymond's deity, and that was why Raymond had been so enraged. If it had been some regular insult, he wouldn't have even reacted probably, after all, provoking needs to target what enemy cares, is sensitive and insecure about to be effective.
As for the witch, he didn't know why she had been provoked as well. Maybe he had touched on a topic sensitive to her? He didn't know.
Either way, if his horse could use Provoking to its maximum potential and efficiency, then Sam could only accomplish 40% of its strength for now. Maybe as he grew, it would increase. Besides, he could only share a connection and borrow a spell from a single individual for now, and even then, he could only take a single spell, he couldn't use two simultaneously.
As for [Desire Sense], it was as simple as it was effective. With it, he could practically predict his enemies' next moves. It could be used not just in battles but also in negotiations and in many more delicate situations.
Overall, he was satisfied with what he had gained. Perhaps because those spells came from his traits, experience, personality and soul.
"Ehh... It's time to work." He sighed and dragged his body forward, helping Maric with removing any evidence. With his Criminal proficiency, it wasn't that hard.
However, he slowly stopped.
He glanced at the alluring woman he'd dropped earlier to help Amelia. Curious, he crouched and grabbed her shoulder to get a better look.
She was indeed beautiful, with her lustrous black hair, spilling across the ground like ink, soft and comfortable to touch like a silk as Sam held it between his fingers with a tilted head, staring at her round, attractive face with plump lips slightly parted and long eyelashes, her cheeks little flushed, with curious eyes. Her pale, tantalizing skin was bewitching, as if encouraging him to touch her and feel her body against his, and he did, his hand inevitably reaching for her thigh, his fingers sinking into her warm, soft flesh as he leaned forward.
She was without doubt a very charming and captivating woman, to the point Sam felt a sudden desire to...
Oh fuck... He snapped out of it, flinching back with eyes wide with horror.
She's the same as Selina! Hell no. I'm not dealing with that crap again! He gulped, feeling chills crawling up his spine as he remembered all the disgusting shit she had forced him to do.
Dropping her on the ground like a sack of potatoes, he touched his chin, thinking about it. What to do... How do I handle this now... I definitely know I don't want to get raped again. That shit sucks. At least ask for my consent, maybe I'll agree, you dumb bitch... Wait, what was I thinking about... Ahh, right. What to do with this woman...
Hmmm... Maybe devil and human society aren't that different. Who knows? Well, asking Mr. Maric won't hurt.
"Mr. Maric!" Sam called out. "Should we kill this woman and take her Beyonder Characteristics, force her to sell her soul to us, or just sell her to someone else? Which will bring more money!?"