Chapter 26

26. Joseph (3)

Did you... kill him because of that...?

Oliver lifted Andrew's upper body slightly and asked.

Maggots poured out from the severed waist.

Joseph was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"...Were you curious about that?"

"Well... Yes. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it, Master."

At Oliver's words, which didn't fit the situation, Joseph laughed silently and then said,

"Half right, half wrong. It's true that I killed Andrew to receive a blessing from the demon, but it wasn't just for that. He... annoyed me."

"Annoyed you?"

"Yes, annoyed. He dared to think of my organization as his own and even went so far as to create his own people, challenging my authority. It was very annoying."

Oliver nodded. Well, Oliver knew to some extent that Andrew had such feelings.

"Hmm, I see."

Oliver placed Andrew's body back on the altar. The maggots wriggled even more due to the shock.

"Um... If it's okay, can I say one more thing?"

Joseph took a cigarette out of his pocket and put it in his mouth.

"Alright... Go ahead."

"Did I ever annoy you, Master?"

"...No. You did point out a few things on your own, but I understand that it was to learn to read. Most importantly, you're not the type to do that."

"Phew... I'm glad you understand."

"But I can't let you live."

"I don't understand. Why not?"

"There's no personal grudge. It's just for a greater goal... Answer me. What is my goal?"

Oliver recalled the first time he met Joseph.

"...To cultivate an outstanding black magician... To become strong to survive. Ah... I see."

Oliver exclaimed, having understood Joseph's true meaning.

"That's right. My goal is to become stronger, and for that, I need to offer a greater sacrifice to the demon. Like you."

Oliver raised his hand.

"Out of personal curiosity, how did you meet the demon?"

Joseph stared at Oliver and, looking at the half-smoked cigarette, said,

"When I was still a third-rate black magician. The demon whispered to me, offering me power in exchange for following its commands. I built this altar and offered my teacher and fellow students to the demon."

Ah. Oliver looked around again.

He had felt familiar with this place, and now he knew it was where Joseph's past black magic organization was.

Oliver wanted to ask what he did here and what kind of person Joseph's teacher was, but he suppressed his curiosity and focused on the current situation.

"Can I say one more thing?"

"I'll allow you one more word. I'm about to finish."

"Thank you. Is there any chance you could let me live? I have personal things I want to do, and I'm grateful to you. You taught me many things. If you let me live, I'll serve you for the rest of my life."

Joseph threw the finished cigarette to the ground and stepped on it.

"You're sincere, and it's a good offer. But I'll refuse. I can't imagine what reward I'd get for offering someone as outstanding as you, and most importantly..."

"Most importantly?"

"...I don't think I can defeat you again if not now."

As he said this, Oliver could see a flash of killing intent in Joseph's eyes.

Reacting instinctively, he rolled to the side, avoiding the shadow tentacles that shot out from where he had been standing.

Rustle!

If his reaction had been a bit slower, he would have been caught for sure.

"Even though I tried to hide my emotions, you saw through it. As expected, your eyes are sharp. Better than anyone I've seen."

Joseph extracted emotions from a test tube and cast a new black magic spell.

[Object Hate]

The hatred from the test tube, like the life force, split into dozens of strands and entered the revived corpses.

The previously dazed corpses' faces now radiated hatred, and they turned their heads to look at Oliver, charging at him with a metallic sound.

"Kuuuaaaa!!!"

"Uuuuuuuu!!!"

"Kyahahahaa!"

About thirty zombies.

After confirming the approaching zombies, Oliver extracted the minimum amount of emotion from a test tube and used it on his shadow.

[Bind Shadow]

The first black magic Joseph used. Oliver imitated it, but it wasn't just a simple imitation.

He created more, thinner shadow tentacles than Joseph's, grabbing the zombies pouring in from all sides simultaneously.

The immobilized zombies.

They struggled and screamed, trying to break free, but as Oliver pulled his hands, the shadow tentacles dug into their flesh and sliced them like cheese.

As the zombies were severely damaged, the remaining life force scattered into the air. Seizing the moment, Joseph launched a fierce attack.

"Indeed, you're amazing! I found something truly remarkable!!"

A barrage of hate bullets. Oliver extracted the minimum amount of emotion and deployed a Black Shield.

However, as if anticipating this, Joseph shot Hate Bullets with different densities of emotion, forcing a war of attrition. He even used attacks from different angles, further increasing Oliver's emotional consumption.

[Quiet Snake]

Four venomous snakes appeared at Joseph's feet and silently crawled toward Oliver.

Oliver, while blocking Joseph's attacks, immediately shot Hate Bullets to eliminate the snakes.

Anyone who saw Oliver would have been amazed.

He was blocking Joseph's relentless attacks with a single test tube.

However, that was all.

While Joseph's emotions were still abundant, Oliver's emotions had dwindled from half to a third, and then to almost nothing.

[Black Javelin]

A black javelin, incomparable to the one Andrew used, pierced Oliver's Black Shield.

The broken Black Shield and the spent Black Javelin disappeared like mist.

Oliver, narrowly avoiding a fatal wound, observed the scene silently, as if time had stopped.

"It's over now."

Joseph, seeing Oliver's empty test tube, said. At most, it could fire one Hate Bullet?

Oliver silently looked at the test tube, then suddenly reached out to extract Joseph's emotions.

For a moment, it seemed he would succeed, but Joseph fiercely waved his hand, breaking the extraction, and another attack came.

The extraction, his last hope, had failed.

But Oliver didn't give up. He gathered a tiny amount of emotion and created a hate bullet, shooting it at Joseph's incoming Hate Bullets.

The hate bullets collided and disappeared in mid-air.

Oliver, at that moment, stretched out his hand and focused all his attention.

Time seemed to slow down, but he didn't care.

He intensified his focus.

What was important now were his hand and the emotion about to disappear in the air.

Surprisingly, as he exerted extreme concentration, the emotion, which was about to dissipate like smoke, began to condense and entered Oliver's hand in small amounts.

Oliver, as soon as he got the emotion, shouted.

[Black Shield]

A thin black barrier appeared.

The barrier barely blocked Joseph's attack.

Of course, it broke due to the lack of emotion, but it was undeniable that Oliver had narrowly survived.

And that was not all.

Having gained a feel for it, Oliver, while the broken Black Shield and blocked Hate Bullets were dissipating, extracted the remaining emotions from the air and stabilized them in his hand.

Joseph watched this silently.

"......What are you?"

Oliver, pretending to be exhausted, manipulated the emotion in his hand.

Noticing this, Joseph extracted all the emotions from a test tube and launched a barrage of attacks.

A barrage of hate bullets, black javelins, venomous snakes, and black flames.

Oliver, in the order they came, shot Hate Bullets to intercept, deployed a Black Shield to desperately block the attacks, and re-extracted the emotions about to disappear to gather more.

It was an extremely dangerous and precarious task.

One mistake in timing would mean death, but strangely, Oliver felt joy in this moment.

He found it strange himself.

If he died here, he wouldn't see that beautiful light again, and he wouldn't uncover the secret.

Yet, Oliver found this moment incredibly enjoyable, and his mind began to race.

While blocking the attacks, Oliver chanted.

[Shadow Spike]

From under Joseph, who was distracted by the attacks, shadow spikes emerged.

A reinterpreted black magic from Shadow Bind, it inflicted a large wound on one side of Joseph's face.

If it had been a bit faster, it could have pierced him from below.

"Wh-What...! Damn...!"

Joseph, losing his composure, revealed how critical the attack was, but there was no need to regret it.

The real attack was yet to come.

"Huh?"

Joseph, seeing the dartboard-like marks on his body, exclaimed.

He then saw Black Darts flying in a curve toward the dartboard.

"Black Shield!"

Panicking, Joseph deployed a shield.

The improved Black Dart, based on the Black Javelin, couldn't pierce the shield but was enough.

"Huh?"

Feeling something odd, Joseph looked at the Black Dart.

As a master of a family, he immediately recognized the cause of the odd sensation.

"Damn...!"

Bang―――――!

The laser bomb inside the Black Dart exploded.

While the power itself wasn't great, the timing caught Joseph off guard, breaking the Black Shield and severing one of his shoulders.

The test tube in Joseph's pocket fell and broke, and as he clutched his severed arm, he screamed as if the world was ending.

"Kuaaaaaaaah! Kuaah! Shiiiiiiit――――!"

The red blood flowing on the floor and the smell of burning flesh.

Joseph, unable to stabilize the emotions he had, let them scatter into the air.

Oliver, re-extracting the emotions, approached Joseph, who, in a state of madness from pain and fear, screamed and crawled away from Oliver.

"Shit! Shit!! Shiiiiit―!! Don't come! Don't come! Don't come!!!"

Oliver observed Joseph.

He could see a stubborn emotion beyond simple fear and pain.

It was something beyond a simple survival instinct, and Oliver couldn't immediately name it.

The only thing he was sure of was that the light was becoming increasingly beautiful.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Oliver, feeling his heart beat slightly, searched for an intact test tube among those on the floor.

"Master, please, just a moment. Please wait. I beg you."

Joseph, feeling even greater fear from Oliver, crawled away.

As the red blood left a snail-like trail, Oliver found an intact test tube.

"Ah!"

Oliver approached with the test tube, and Joseph, crawling away, muttered.

"I... I can't just die here..."

At that moment, a strange aura was felt from somewhere.

An ominous aura that surprised even Oliver, who was filled with anticipation, and Joseph, who was facing death.

Turning his head, he saw a bizarre sight of corpses sticking together.

The stuck-together corpses were forming a crude shape.

Oliver instinctively felt that this was similar to black magic but something more advanced.

"Haha... Hahahaha! As expected! As expected, you wouldn't just abandon me!!"

Joseph, seemingly forgetting his missing arm, began to laugh maniacally.

His appearance was that of a madman, laughing wildly, forgetting pain and fear.

Oliver saw a sense of relief and a faith-like belief in such Joseph.

Turning his head again, the lump of flesh was taking a more realistic shape, resembling...

"A... An old man on a horse?"

Oliver tilted his head and muttered.

The rotten flesh and skulls of the zombies were woven into a small horse, and the arms, legs, and intestines formed the shape of an old man.

Especially, the beard and hair made of intestines were not just abundant but unkempt.

In a normal situation, attacking would be the right choice, but Oliver instinctively realized it would be meaningless.

The bizarre shape suddenly made Joseph shout.

"Please save me! Old man on a horse! Please help me once! If you do, I'll offer more sacrifices! To you...!"

Did Joseph's plea reach the old man on the horse?

The lump of flesh, the old man on the horse, approached Oliver.

Oliver watched silently as the old man slowly raised his hand, placed it on his chest, and bowed to Oliver.

Anyone would see it as a polite greeting.

Joseph, more shocked by this than by losing his arm, tried to argue but before he could say anything, the lump of flesh collapsed and disappeared.

The intestines and maggots that fell at their feet dirtied Oliver's shoes and one side of Joseph's face.

Oliver asked Joseph politely.

"Master... What was that just now?"

But Joseph, as if not hearing, muttered hopelessly.

"This can't be... This can't be... I can't accept it...! My life...!! Accept...!!!"

Joseph, as if possessed, began to shout louder.

As he did, his emotions shone beautifully, and Oliver, excited, extracted them.

Though the amount was small, it was incredibly joyful.

Proving this joy, Oliver, as if thanking his master Joseph, gently patted his chest.

Even though Joseph had already passed away.

"Well, in any case... Thank you very much, Master."