The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

Sponsored Content

126.
Destruction and Salvation

The unleashed monsters rushed towards Kahel, and Kahel reacted to it before Liddell.

It was hopeless just by seeing the number of monsters, but Kahel had no choice but to fight by scraping away his magic again and shooting at them.
If left as it is, the people of Logos will only become food for the monsters.

The sense of duty as the Guardian of Logos was engraved in his bones, so he stopped the monsters without even thinking that his life might be in danger.

But, things have changed from before.
The more he fought, the more he felt that his strength was accumulating in his body, rather than losing his strength.
The feeling he had felt since fighting Liddell was now so clear that it could not be considered an illusion.
At the same time, a feeling of elevation that burned his brain paralyzed his reason.

‘I will kill them all! Die! Die!’

Only killing came to mind, and the blackened body had no hesitation in obeying the order to kill from his head.
He didn’t even care about getting the blood on him, and while intoxicated with the slaughter, he exploded the monster’s brain, pulled out the intestines, and stopped its breathing.
In the violent pleasure of destroying something, Kahel gradually forgot what he was standing for.
With a fading strand of reason, he only thought for a moment that maybe this was his essence.

It didn’t look sublime at all, even though he knew that seeing monsters killing monsters was meant to reassure people.
Those who had been watching all the sights from behind the line shuddered and retreated.

“How did such a monster appear? What is the temple doing!”

“Oh, what should we do? After killing them all, won’t it come to kill us?”

“Still, there is the angel…… !”

Not knowing that it was the very same angel who summoned the monsters, everyone looked at Liddell with all their heart.

Liddell was looking for an opportunity to kill Kahel with a single blow when he was moderately weak.
But then, Kahel, who was running rampantly to kill the monsters, suddenly stopped.
And Liddell knew what was causing him to stop.

“Kahel! Stop! No more!”

It was Lena who had been hidden in the carriage by Maria.
She was running hard towards Kahel from afar.
She couldn’t figure out how to jump over the corpses of monsters piled up like obstacles in front of her, but she desperately called Kahel.

“Lena…… ?”

Sponsored Content

He called Lena’s name with a shrill voice that sounded like he couldn’t even remember what his original voice was.
The red eyes were stuck in one place and would not fall.
In the meantime, even though the monsters were clinging to Kahel’s body and inserting their teeth, he couldn’t take his eyes off Lena.

He recognized himself as his head, where everything had been fading, became clear again.
A monster that lost his mind and went crazy for slaughter…….

“Kahel! Get back!”

But Lena sees him and calls him ‘Kahel’.
The traces of Kahel that he already knew had gone, and she must have just seen him smiling while smashing monsters on the ground…….

Even in the dire circumstances, Lena’s voice became his salvation.
Even when he thought of himself as a total monster, Lena simply turned him back into Kahel.
And she would sacrifice her life to save Kahel Luave in any form.

Liddell, who looked at him silently, snorted.

“What tear-inducing loyalty? Or is it sympathy?”

Liddell didn’t think Lena’s heart was love.
By Liddell’s standards, it was impossible to love such a hideous thing in this world.
But anyway, it was a good opportunity for Liddell.
Liddell strengthened her sword and then fired it in the direction of Lena who was running.

“Lena!”

Again, even in front of the monster, Kahel flew his body towards her.
As a result, one of his wings that had been caught by the monster was torn off, and the magic power Liddell fired pierced the heart in the middle of his chest.

“Kahel!”

Lena also ran towards Kahel, wielding her powers, but Liddell was faster.
She pierced the sword through the fissures in Kahel’s black, thick skin and pierced his heart with the blade.

Finally, the angel defeated the devil.

“That child certainly has the Queen’s blood, doesn’t she? Trying to protect that child until the moment of your death.”

“Kuggh…… !”

“Don’t worry.
Since you were anxious about not having a child like her around, so I will show you my last mercy and make her follow you soon.”

Sponsored Content

Kahel collapsed, letting out painful groans.
Then, people started cheering.
Lena’s scream was barely audible, overshadowed by the cheers.
Even the monsters that had gathered near the border of the capital began to scream.
Liddell secretly chanted a spell and suppressed the monster, but to those who didn’t know anything, when Kahel was struck, the monsters seemed to suffer as well.
The fact that Kahel had just been killing those monsters had no meaning to them, and it was quickly forgotten.

“As expected, that monster was the head of the monsters!”

Everything was according to Liddell’s intention.
Liddell stared tenaciously as Kahel’s red eyes slowly lost their light, and enjoyed the feeling that the inferiority that had weighed on her for many years disappeared.

His death was only slow, as his magical powers protected his life until the very end.
Liddell pulled the sword from Kahel’s chest and slammed it towards his neck, determined to finish him off completely.

Tang-!

Liddell’s sword was blocked with a strange noise.

“It’s amazing to be able to put on a shield even at this point.”

Liddell grinned and raised her sword again and struck it down.

Kaang-!

The sword with more magical energy than before was blocked by a stronger shield.

“Huh…… ?”

She thought that a faint shield that was barely made would be easily broken, but Kahel was surrounded by a stronger shield.

‘Your heart was pierced, but you still could raise a magic…… ?’

Liddell bit her teeth.
In front of the people watching from behind, she must raise the head of the monster she defeated and shout victory.
Liddell took the sword and pushed her magical power further and stabbed Kahel down again.

Kang-!

The tip of the sword of shimmering magical power was blocked again without even making a small scratch on the transparent shield.

“Liddell…… Santella…….”

Sponsored Content

Someone called her.
Even though it was a young woman’s voice, it was strangely intimidating.

“What?”

Liddell came at the last minute and lifted her head with an annoyed look at the thought that this was not going the way she wanted and that someone had called her by her name.
Behind the fallen Kahel, a white face filled with anger was visible.
It was Lena, who had come all the way here.

“The white wings of betrayal.”

“How dare you…… !”

Liddell, who was trying to berate Lena, suddenly noticed that a different air was flowing only around her.
It was a power different from magic.
Until she came here, Kahel’s close maid, who had been helplessly trying to get here, created a different atmosphere as if the person had completely changed.

At that moment, Liddell realized that Lena had awakened as the Queen.

“Don’t tell me…….”

Liddell never imagined that this would really happen, even though she had thought that Lena was of the Queen’s blood.
For in her life she had never witnessed a Queen unleash her powers, had never seen one awakened as the Queen, nor had she known that such a Queen would be born from predecessors of weak powers.

Liddell felt an instinctive sense of crisis and poured magic power back into the sword in her hand.
Her awakening wasn’t perfect yet, so she had to kill Lena right now.
Kahel was dying anyway, so she wouldn’t have any more worries.

“The devil’s minions have awakened! I, the descendant of angels, Liddell Santella……!”

Even at that moment, Liddell, who was conscious of the eyes looking at her, recited the lines like a play, was speechless as she saw a familiar sword emerging from Lena’s hand who was slowly approaching her.
‘Where did I see that sword before?’ She thought, but from a distance Leonard threw a magic sphere at Lena.
It was an attack that was quickly cast while taking advantage of Damien who got distracted by the fallen Kahel, but the purple magic sphere could not even reach Lena’s body and just disappeared with a pulsing sound.

And Lena swung the clunky, plain-shaped sword towards Liddell with effortless gesture.
Liddell blocked it with the white sword she was holding, but the white blade filled with her magical power was cut like air, and the tip of the sword that Lena swung went into the hem of Liddell’s dress.

“Uh…… ? Uh……?”

Her body was obviously protected by magic, but the sword that Lena was holding was approaching without any interference, no, rather, it was more gently slashing away.
Liddell snapped her body back.
A tension she had never felt in her life ran down her spine.

However, the other person approached Kahel calmly and sat down in front of him with her knees bent.

Sponsored Content

“Kahel.”

She wielded her powers to protect him narrowly, but his already tightly closed eyelids did not move.
Lena was afraid that she might be late.

“Kahel, look at me.”

Lena placed her hand on his hard shoulder, which was soaked with the monster’s and his blood.
Like that of a cool reptile, his body was cold.

“Open your eyes.
I cannot allow you to leave me like this.”

White light began to seep out from Lena’s hand, and then particles of light began to appear around her body as well.
It was a completely different light from the light that Liddell had sprinkled like a trick.
The tiny bits of light did not disappear immediately, but rather appeared more and more, and colored Lena’s and Kahel’s surroundings.

Confused, Liddell looked around her and found Maria.
Maria stood next to Damien, who had bound Leonard, and was helping him.

“Maria! What are you doing!”

At first she thought Maria was caught by Damien along with Leonard.
Because Maria was always completely submissive to Liddell.
But no matter how she looked at it, Maria seemed to be helping Damien.
She also glanced at her at Lidell’s call, but there was no sign of obedience in her eyes.

As if her master had changed…….

‘No way…… !’

Liddell couldn’t even close her gaping mouth and she trembled.

“It is said that the Queen of strong power was able to subjugate not only the Duchies, but also the common people.
I don’t know how long ago it was.”

It reminded her of a story her father once told her with ridicule.

‘No way…… Heila was said to have weaker powers than Fabian? There’s no way a daughter with strong powers could have been born from such a weak Ardenian bloodline…… !’

However, despite Liddell’s earnest wish, Lena gradually became accustomed to her power and began to radiate her full power.
With her hands, she steadily healed the fallen and tattered Kahel.
Liddell’s sword cut and pierced him, and the wing, which only had one side left, disappeared.
The horns along the spine and the terrifying beast-like claws grew smaller, and the hard scales that covered his body gradually assimilated and became normal skin.

As his mutated body gradually returned to its original state, that curse, which had never been seen before, covered up Kahel’s body as if in a raging manner.
But Lena seemed to be waiting for it, and she poured out greater powers, severing the old evil powers.
Pale purple smoke rose from Kahel’s body as each line of the curse disappeared.