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Chapter 13 – All Evil Of The World
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Seraphina looked up, covering her lower face with the edge of her blanket "Mercy, could you tell me the story again before I sleep?".
Mercy smiled and nodded his head "sure, what story you want to know, princess?".
Seraphina looked deep in thought before she decided to ask what had been bugging her mind "I know and understand the reason why uncle Lucifer is known as the 'Fallen Angel', or why mother is known as the 'Cursed Goddess' but why Aunt Faust is known as the 'Angra Mainyu'?".
Well, it was quite the story. True story of Faust had been kept as a secret because the real, entire story had been locked by the hands of the Gods themselves. However, since this was Seraphina, it was alright to tell her the story.
Once upon a time, there was a woman who born with unique ability on the metropolis called Belialuin. She didn't have an ability to fight, neither she possessed incredible skill to fight as a warrior usually had.
She only possessed strange magic power that was known as 'All Knowledge Of The World'.
It was strange but immense and unique magic power. It could answer all questions that came to her but it was not a prophecy like a seer would see. She even could know the answer of what were upcoming events from the future or the past, sort-of the precognition and the retrocognition but it was also not Clairvoyance.
Her name was Faust.
Faust's parents were a scientist and an elite of the wise men. They always told her that they were so proud of her but behind her, she knew they only used her as their object and knowing her unique magic power, along with her parents' comrades, they used her as a guinea pig. From their research, they knew that the main source of her magic power was her brain. When she was 8 years old, she found out they had tried to create Homunculus from her DNA and she found her clones on the secret laboratory. Faust exploded an entire laboratory before running away from her home and she arrived on the outskirt of the downhill where she met her destined mate for the first time.
On the yellowish field of wheat, she dropped to her knees and laughed crazily for the first time of her disobedience. For the first time, she felt freedom and she felt the disobedience was so relieving.
"are you alright?".
There, she met with silver-haired youth around her age who looked down to her with clear concern on those blue eyes. She wondered why would he ask her about whether she was alright or not.
Cupping her cheeks, he lifted her chin up and wiped the blood that came out of her nose "look, you're bleeding, from your nose. Do you feel dizzy or something?".
Now, she thought about it, she felt dizzy and before she totally lost her consciousness, she felt like she saw a little girl approaching them and calling this male in front of her as 'Lucifer'.
Next time she regained her consciousness, she was lying on her bed at her house. Her parents told her that Lucifer of Goddess Clan found her and healed her before he brought her home. It seemed like she overusing her magic power and some of her brain nerves exploded. Now, she knew why she had gotten terrible headache lately now. That brief moment was enough to make her fallen into him. For her, he was her first love. However, she was a mere human and he was a Crowned Prince of Goddess Clan.
What she could offer to him as a woman and how could she possibly win over his heart when she even lost her magic power after she got the unrepairable damage on her brain?
Well, perhaps it was just like what people said, that First Love usually went unrequited.
When she came on age, she couldn't let her family down so she accepted her marriage with the Chief of Sage. She worked as a scientist and physician, ruled over their Clan by his side, but never had once he treated her as a woman. She asked an advice from her friend, Mephistopheles (since Belialuin was the neutral metropolis, they could befriend with Demons or Goddesses) about how to earn the affection and love from her husband as a woman. Faust didn't know that Mephistopheles was in love with her and it was a wrong move. As if not enough with Mephistopheles tricked her, even her husband didn't want to listen to her explanation and did some experiments on her. Thanks to his experiments, anyway, a little of her magic power was back. About how to use her magic power, it was so simple, she just needed to ask and she would get the answer.
When she used her magic power to ask a simple question "what should I do?".
Her magic power, All Knowledge Of The World answered "run away from here and never return, and don't look behind. Run until you meet someone who reaches out their hand to you".
She did and the one who reached out their hand to her, no one other than Lucifer of Goddess Clan. She was supposed to be happy, that she could meet him again even if he seemed not remember her, neither he remembered their very first meeting, it seemed. However, all she could feel right now was only the numbness, after so many experiments, torture, and medicines had gotten into herself. She was wreck.
She asked in her mind about how to break free from this pain and to never feel it again.
All Knowledge Of The World answered she should ask him to kill her.
She asked again, why should she ask him and why it has to be him?
All Knowledge Of The World answered because he was the only existence on this world who could kill her.
Perhaps it was true, because in fact, she thought it was not bad at all, to die on his hands. So, she asked him with sad, broken-hearted smile on her face "kill me, Lucifer".
Surprisingly, Lucifer refused and when she asked him why, Lucifer pulled her into his embrace and he kissed her "because you are my first love".
Their story was supposed to be a happy ending, if not because of the fact she died on the childbirth but Faust was human and she could reincarnate. However, when they reunited again, she was not the same as Faust, the woman he loved.
Lucifer blinked "Borderline Personality Disorder?".
Merlin lifted her glasses and started reading the symptoms she gathered "yes, there are symptoms of BPD like one of these terms: Fear of abandonment. Having an unstable relationship. Unclear or shifting self-image. Impulsive, self-destructive behaviors. Self-harm such as suicidal behavior or deliberate self-harm. Extreme emotional swings. Chronic feelings of emptiness. Explosive anger. Feeling suspicious or out of touch with reality".
Lucifer lifted his hand in surrender "please, speak with simpler language so I can understand it".
"Okay, to put it simply, it's like... She often feels 'empty'. Her emotions shift very quickly which she often experienced extreme sadness, anger, and anxiety. She's constantly afraid that the people she cares about will abandon her or leave her. She would describe most of her romantic relationships as intense, but unstable. The way she feels about the people in her life can dramatically change from one moment to the next and she doesn't understand why. She often does things that she knows are dangerous or unhealthy, such as having unsafe sex, binge drinking, using drugs, or going on spending sprees. She's attempted to hurt herself, engaged in self-harm behaviors such as cutting or threatened suicide. When she's feeling insecure in a relationship, she tends to lash out or make impulsive gestures to keep the other person close", with both eyes closed, lowering her glasses and putting down the papers on her hand to the table, Merlin shook her head and opened her eyes slowly "before you ask me, father, yes, mother may suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder".
"Merlin, you are the most genius of all your sisters", Lucifer beckoned "so just tell me, what should I do?".
Merlin hugged him, even if she knew it might have killed him, she couldn't help but to ask "stay by her side. Never let her hands go, ever. Don't give up on mother, father".
Lucifer chuckled and ruffled her hair "you don't have to ask me about it, daughter".
When they found out about Demon King's and Supreme Deity's curses afflicted on Lucifer and Faust, they finally knew the reason behind her mental disorders. Faust told them all about it after using she was in her right mind, to the point she could use All Knowledge Of The World to earn the answer of their question. It was like a mixture of Meliodas' and Elizabeth's curses.
Demon King put the curse on Faust where every time Faust died, she would reincarnate and reborn with remembering all her past-lives memories. Every time she died, she would lose part of 'herself' that went straight to Purgatory instead of to the Necropolis. Once her reincarnation turned into 16 years old, her body would turn into an empty shell, the perfect embodiment of 'Void' and the easy target for the Evil Spirits. She only would turn into normal once in a month when the moon was on its brightest shine (the full moon) but other than that, she was nothing but an empty shell, the vessel for Evil Spirits who could do every single evil deed like steal, or even to kill. To turn her back into normal, to pull her out of her misery, Faust had to kill Lucifer.However, when it happened, once Faust killedLucifer and turned back to normal, she would kill herself if no one of their daughters was there to stop her.
Not only that, but Supreme Deity also put the curse on Lucifer as his punishment. He would no longer able to grow older. Every time Lucifer died, he would resurrect back to life but of course, it was not without cost. He would lose his memories and emotions, unable to feel anything temporarily and he only would earn those back when Faust had been reborn somewhere in this world. As if to complete their suffering, Supreme Deity gave the last touch on Lucifer's curse where he and Faust would meet inevitably, she would fall in love with him every time she reincarnated, only to end up with Lucifer got killed by Faust's hand.
The first time it happened and Faust realized what happened, All Knowledge Of The World whispered to her about how to end their suffering.
Kill the Gods.
Looking down to her bloodied hands that had killed her beloved one for the first time, Faust cried out which sounded like the howling of sorrowful, blood-thirst beast "cursed you, Demon King and Supreme Deity! I will make sure to kill you someday and break us free from our curses even if I have to gather All Evil Of The World!".
All Knowledge Of The World who was corrupted and turned into All Evil Of The World covered her eyes and took control of Faust who got consumed by her immense power "don't cry, O' you poor Holy Maiden, the one who loves Fallen Angel. I will always be there for you".
Weeping on her lover's chest, Faust hugged his corpse and cried harder. With the darkness corrupted her magic power, All Knowledge Of The World was corrupted and turned into All Evil Of The World. Just like its name, not only All Knowledge Of The World, but even All Evil Of The World came to her and it was the beginning of how a woman with a pure heart who only wanted the love from the one she loved, was corrupted and her hands were stained by blood, turning into Angra Mainyu, the one who possessed All Evil Of The World.
Looking down, Mercy had predicted this "oh, princess... please, don't cry".
Seraphina sobbed "I think what people said about it... it's true...".
Mercy wiped her tears with the handkerchief "about what?".
"that not all people are born as evil. Evil people are actually born from the people who hurt, badly".
"careful there, princess. True evil does exist in this world. If your grandmother ever heard about your words just now, you wouldn't hear the end of it. I bet she would comment about how naive you are".
Seraphina sat up abruptly, waving her hands "geez, I know why they did it in the first place but it's too much!? Grandma really should do something! Otherwise, I'm gonna try to open up the gate and create the path down to the Mortal Realm myself!".
Mercy jaw-dropped after listening to her resolve "EH!".
"yes, she's reincarnated where every time she's reborn, she remembered all of her past-lives memories. I'm sort-of the freaking immortal who always get myself resurrected every time I died, with temporary memory-loss and emotionless as the side-effect of my resurrection. Well, her curse comes from Demon King and mine comes from Supreme Deity, my mother, but our curse is intertwined so we have to break our curse at the same time", Lucifer rubbed his temple and awkwardly explained as he scratched his nape "so... to make a long story short, we have been cursed, destined to meet each other, fall in love, and I ended up got myself be killed by her".
Diane lifted her shaking finger "and it's been going on like that ever since 3.000 years ago?".
Escanor lifted his hand "uh... how many times you've... well, died on her hands?".
Lucifer chuckled nervously "frankly, I'm not quite good with math and because of temporary memory-loss, I lost count about how often it has happened until now".
"liar", Ban narrowed his eyes, clearly not believe in him. Pointing his forefinger to his chest, Ban barked out "even I who just spent short-term friendship with you can tell out loud that you are a bad liar because you are surprisingly too honest person!".
Meliodas clapped his hands "Ha! Glad to know we have the very same thought, my best friend!".
"to be more precise, ever since 3.000 years ago when you two have been cursed by them, it's been 99 times", Iseult stepped in and crossed her arms before her chest, grimly giving clarification "and it will be the 100th times in case you let yourself be killed by mother again this time".
"welp, now you let the cat out of bag", Lucifer was startled when he saw King, Diane, and Hawk burst out into tears "wait, why are you guys crying?".
King remembered his words to Lucifer just now "do you mean to let your lover shoulder your sin together with you?".
How insensitive of him! When he knew nothing about Lucifer and to say it out loud right in front his face like that...
King hiccupped and apologized "Sir Lucifer, forgive me, I was...".
"no, you didn't know about it, yet. It couldn't be helped, at all. And honey...", Lucifer waved his hand to King before turning to Iseult, "I thought we have discussed it?".
"oh, yes. I do remember it. You said that if it meant you can freed mother from her misery, you would not mind to die in her hands and no matter how many times you've been killed by mother, you would not stop loving her. Your unwavering love to her is truly inimitable", Iseult huffed "but even so, it's not the reason to let yourself be killed by her hands! Why not you try to fight back?".
"only to make your mother suffered more? Yes, I could have fought her back, but if it will only end up bringing more pain to her, I refuse", Lucifer said without a doubt "no matter how many times I died by her hands, no matter how many lives I have to give to her, as long as it can save her from her curse, I don't mind to die for her and I will not stop loving her".
Tristan deadpanned "father-in-law, this is what people said that your masochist side can kill you for real".
"with all honesty, I totally lost respect on Supreme Deity and the Goddess Clan right now. Demon King and Demon Clan are no different", King hastily added "of course, princess Elizabeth, Lady Iseult, and Sir Lucifer aren't included! I know you're different from your Clan!".
"speaking of which, Tristan, do what you should do in case we meet Faust on the Necropolis", Lucifer explained further "as you all know, All Knowledge Of The World within Faust is corrupted and as the result, it brings All Evil Of The World. Right now, with her magic power consumed her, she can kill us but naturally by Angra Mainyu, someone who possesses All Evil Of The World, she will only aim for someone who possesses the magic power that entirely the opposite of hers. Because she possesses the Darkness within her, Faust, without doubt, will aim someone with Light magic power. Usually, it's only me, but now Iseult and Elizabeth are here as well... I don't have to ask you two for protecting them, right? I rely on you two to protect them, Tristan, Meliodas".
Tristan and Meliodas raised their hand in unison "leave it to us".
Iseult put her trembling hands on her chest. She wasn't sure at all, but she knew she had to do this. She lifted her chin up before she started singing. After she finished her song, she reached out her hands and lifted an orb in front of her "in the name of the Holy Maiden, the Priestess Iseult asks you to open the gate to the Necropolis. Allow me to bring the wanderers and lead the way for the dead to the Capital Of The Dead".
After they entered the Necropolis, somewhere on the Necropolis, Gelda turned to her companion "they are here, Mistress".
"at last", white-haired red eyes woman with Chesire-cat-like sickening grin mused "come here, quick... I've been waiting for you... I've been looking for you... to kill you with my own hands...".
Gelda asked "then, what should we do?".
"I will take care of Lucifer, and you, Gelda", standing up from the green crystal throne-like chair, she told her "take care of the rest".
Gelda pulled out her daggers and bared her fangs, her eyes gleaming red as well "as you command".