Dekan and Talomati's Mutual Understanding

"Dekan! What do you mean?!"

The Master, who had been silent for so long, suddenly called out in Dekan's mind.

Her emotions became extremely unstable in an instant.

It was precisely because she understood Dekan's guess that she found it unacceptable.

Both she and Dekan were convinced that in the fourth and fifth Shadow World, Dekan was portraying Delois.

Furthermore, the first Shadow World [Demon Academy Tales] is also a story of Delois.

So, is there a possibility--

Are the second and third Shadow World, [Wild Mountain Blizzard Mystery] and [The Secret Tale of the Withered Sacred Rite], also fragments of an important memory in Delois's life?

The more you think about it in this direction...

The more you feel that these five seemingly unrelated Shadow World are all connected by an invisible thread.

And the result of connecting them.

That's half of Delois's life!

Before Dekan's eyes.

Talomati did not answer his question.

He just kept his head down, looking at the book in his hands.

Correspondingly, no one questioned Dekan's words.

It was as if I had heard something that I took for granted.

Dekan was very familiar with Talomati's reaction.

Just like how we initially accepted that he was the older brother.

"Master, I think we have finally found your memories."

Dekan responded to his Master with mixed feelings.

The Master seemed lost in thought, and for a moment, there was no sound in Dekan's mind.

She needs time to process and accept all of this.

Dekan controlled his expression and continued:

"And later, we went together to a small town on the Southern Border of the Holy Kingdom, where there was a church that sealed away an eighth-tier Blood Race marquis..."

Talomati remained silent, the pages of her book no longer turned.

Dekan could see her face, but not her eyes.

"That's when we parted ways, and it's been more than twenty years since then."

Finally, as if he had finished recounting the past, Dekan stopped speaking and looked at Talomati.

"Twenty-four years."

Talomati spoke softly, his tone revealing neither more hatred nor more emotion.

It's as if I wanted to tell the other person that I've held a grudge all these years and have never forgotten.

"Yes."

Dekan's heart was in turmoil, but he remained calm and composed as always.

Really.

Delois separated from Talomati in the timeline corresponding to the end of the third Shadow World [The Secret Tale of the Withered Sacred Rite].

Everything has been sorted out.

The story begins.

A pair of Twin Demons siblings stirred up trouble at the Demon Academy.

Later, upon graduating from the Demon Academy, they chose a practical project that required them to infiltrate the northern part of the Holy Kingdom. The project involved "investigating information about the lost Blood Race." So, they disguised themselves as humans, left the Demon Realm, came to the Holy Kingdom, and found a desolate mountain covered in blizzards.

After hunting down the Blood Race lurking in the Wild Mountain Ancient Mansion, they found more clues about the Blood Race. Always fearless, they could have returned to the Demon Realm to complete their graduation project, but instead, they chose to continue their journey to the southern border of the Holy Kingdom, where they found the city-state where Blood Race had been acting strangely and the town that sealed away dangerous Blood Race.

After Delois and Talomati defeated the Blood Race Marquis Roderick and Countess Lisilina, whom they could have otherwise defeated, the Twin Demons, who were originally going to return to the Demon Realm to become the strongest demons, seemed to have encountered a cruel joke from fate. On their way back, they encountered a small accident and began to split up, each returning to the Demon Realm on their own.

However, on his journey back to the Demon Realm alone, an even bigger accident occurred for Delois.

He may have started out on a whim, casually rescuing a lord who had been ambushed and was on the verge of death, wanting to study this down-on-his-luck middle-aged man with a desperate yet stubborn look in his eyes.

Unexpectedly, the lord, with his unique insight, saw through his disguise as a demon.

When Delois was about to kill the lord to silence him, the lord surprisingly offered him a contract. The lord promised to teach Delois more about humanity and how to disguise himself more perfectly. In return, Delois would lend him his power. At the end of the contract, the lord also willingly gave his life to Delois.

Perhaps because he found some interesting emotions and traits in this lord—for example, the lord felt that some humans were more evil than demons— Delois readily accepted the contract.

It will only take a little more time; it won't affect his return to the Demon Realm.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly simple contract...

But it forever bound Delois to its fate.

Because in the lord's territory, Delois met the Red-haired Girl who would completely change the course of his life.

Even Delois didn't realize that, as the days went by, he had become deeply attracted to this girl.

The less you understand her, the more you want to understand her.

Delois, who originally intended to stay in the territory for only a few days, ended up staying for several months, then a year, and by the time he realized the time had passed, he had unknowingly spent three years of peaceful life as a human.

It was from that time that Delois completely changed.

Before the girl died, he made an extraordinary promise to her—to be a good person until he understood the "human heart" he had been searching for.

On the other side...

Talomati, who returned to the Demon Realm alone, never saw Delois again.

Even if she wanted to find Delois, in the vast Holy Kingdom, she had no way of detecting the traces of the masterful Delois.

Later... when Talomati heard news of Delois again.

It was Delois, in order to help humanity, infiltrated the Demon Prison and rescued the Saintess of Darkness.

From that time onward, Delois of Calamity, and the great rebel of the Demon Realm were born.

This is the story of Delois and Talomati.

The reason why Talomati truly hated Delois was quite simple.

She was just a sister abandoned by the brother she trusted.

"Sorry,"

Dekan parted his lips slightly, and finally, as if he had found the answer, he uttered those words.

"Talomati, it was I who abandoned you."

This is an apology that Delois owes Talomati, an apology he has owed for twenty-four years.

Finally, after hearing the answer, Talomati released the pages of the book.

"Delois, we are both demons. Can demons truly feel remorse?"

Talomati stared intently into Dekan's eyes and questioned him.

For demons, a sincere apology is merely a technique used to deceive humans.

Because demons don't truly feel guilt or remorse.

Or perhaps this was a lie told by Delois to tease her.

Or perhaps Delois has become abnormal.

Talomati could no longer distinguish between what was real and what was fake in Delois.

But for some reason, the moment Delois spoke, she felt that Delois was no longer Delois, but had become a real human being.

"..."

Looking directly into Talomati's deep gaze, Dekan couldn't answer.

Indeed, this apology is reasonable for humans, but it defies common sense for demons.

Words spoken with the utmost sincerity sound more deceptive than lies.

But he didn't want to lie to Talomati.

Because this is what he truly felt at this moment, on behalf of Delois.

It was as if several seconds had passed after confirming Dekan's reaction.

"Indeed, you've become less like a demon."

"I can speak calmly," Talomati said.

She seemed to have expected this all along.

Delois has indeed changed.

This is also why, even after twenty-four years, the demon who thought he knew Delois best couldn't recognize him even in person.

Why is that?

Talomati asked again.

This time, it was Dekan's turn to remain silent.

He didn't know if Talomati would believe him or accept the answer if he told him.

Moreover, he didn't want to mention it.

Until just now, Dekan was unwilling to continue thinking about Cornelia's past life— Clodia.

In all five of his Shadow World so far, he has played the role of Delois.

In the first three Shadow World, Cornelia was always identified as Talomati.

The Shadow World will assign the most suitable identity to each challenger.

For example, at the Demon Academy, Dekan was directly assigned to Delois because Delois was his previous incarnation.

Cornelia, as Dekan's ever-present companion, filled the void left by Talomati.

Of course, this only applies to the first three Shadow World.

In the timelines corresponding to [Demon Academy Tales], [Wild Mountain Blizzard Mystery], and [The Secret Tale of the Withered Sacred Rite], Delois and Talomati always act together.

The dream of the Holy Kingdom between Delois and Clodia takes place between the Third and Fourth Shadow World.

Later, Talomati was no longer by Delois's side.

In the fourth Shadow World, Clodia was no longer by Delois's side.

In the Shadow World that follows.

There are no longer any Holy Kingdom characters suitable for Cornelia.

As for Cornelia's role in [Endless Purgatory of Eternal Pursuit]...

Perhaps it was merely something Delois longed for.

The phantom that accompanied him.

In this Shadow World, the "four epic heroes" mentioned in the story background actually correspond to the "Cunning, Righteous, Wise, and Brave" characteristics of the Shadow World, namely Dekan, Morion, Clay, and Croix.

But Dekan didn't want to think that way.

Driven by strong personal motives, he wanted to see Cornelia.

After arriving in this Shadow World, he seemed to be able to constantly feel Delois's loneliness. The more he immersed himself in Delois's experiences, the more afraid he became of every minute and second without Cornelia by his side.

It was as if all of this was his experience, to let him actually experience Delois's long journey.

Dekan closed his eyes and covered his forehead, looking somewhat tired.

Six months.

He had never imagined that a Shadow World could be so long.

He just wanted to end it quickly and return to Cornelia's side in the real world.

Dekan felt he had countless things he wanted to tell Cornelia, things that had been weighing on his mind.

And for some reason, he really wanted to make a Magic Card.

It was as if he could pour his soul into creating those cards, not for any particular reason, but simply out of a sudden impulse. He even had a strong premonition that they might become his most outstanding work to date.

I want to understand people's hearts.

Dekan, head bowed, wearily but with absolute certainty, uttered those words for Delois.

Talomati looked at Dekan, this was the first time in a month that she had seriously observed him.

Although these words sound utterly absurd coming from the mouth of a demon.

But at that moment, Talomati couldn't sense that Delois was joking at all.

Delois was such an absurd demon.

He possesses all the best qualities of a demon, yet he has a way of thinking that differs from other demons.

Back when I was taking the exam at the Demon Academy.

The easy question about "what fraction of one's self must a demon sacrifice to integrate into human society" was a perfect score-scoring question.

Every demon knows to choose "discard 0%".

Only Delois chose "abandon 100%".

Later, the teacher deducted points from his exam and mocked him harshly, calling him a bad student.

Delois held a grudge about this and punished the teacher who graded the papers.

Delois possesses not only talent, but also limitless potential and versatility.

This is Talomati's opinion of her brother.

Talomati was not surprised by the changes that had taken place in him more than twenty years later.

Who changed you?

That's what Talomati wanted to ask.

But when she lowered her head slightly and saw Delois's face, she found herself unable to ask the question.

She wasn't so happy to see Delois.

This was a side of Delois she had never seen before.

Talomati really finds it hard to imagine anyone being able to completely change Delois.

But perhaps there really was someone who left an indelible memory on Delois, leading him in a direction that a demon could never reach.

And.

It should be a woman.

For the Great Demon Clan, the ceremony of selecting a successor also carries another layer of meaning—

They have decided never to choose a partner again for the rest of their lives.

The woman who changed Delois is probably no longer alive.

In the end, Talomati simply asked:

"You said you wouldn't hand me over to Lunn tomorrow, is that true?"

"Yes."

"I won't forgive you so easily, but I will continue to observe you until I understand you."

Talomati also possesses a similar tenacity to Delois.

Just like Delois's desire to understand the human heart.

Talomati also wanted to understand the unusual changes in Delois and figure out what had been puzzling her for the past twenty-four years.

That's all.

The brother and sister in the room remained silent. Talomati continued flipping through her book, while Dekan, holding his hot coffee, remained still.

I don't know how much time passed.

"Eve went to buy a cake, she should be back soon."

Dekan spoke up.

"Um."

Talomati responded.

The atmosphere seemed unexpectedly much more harmonious.