Fated to Be Loved by Villains

“-Hm.”

Explosions and gunshots that occurred all over the place, someone’s shouts and screams that echoed through the space... As those things went on, Eleanor wiped her sweat, exhaling through her nose.

She had used all her energy to ‘manipulate reality’ earlier, that was why she couldn’t lend him a hand, but...

“Are you satisfied?”

“-”

As she asked that, she could feel ‘someone’ answering from inside her heart.

She couldn’t hear the ‘voice’ properly yet, but she could at least feel the other’s satisfaction.

...It’s a little bit strange.

From her observation on the other Devil’s Vessels, it was clear that communication between the Vessels and the beings inside their bodies wasn’t something that was hard to do.

Let alone Faenol—who had already collected all her Fragments—even Yuria could communicate with the White Devil with ease.

She was the only one who wasn’t able to talk properly with the being inside her.

It was as if the being, the Devil herself, didn’t want to show herself in front of her.

...Does she have something to hide, or what?

As Eleanor asked that question inwardly, sighing, the Devil shared what was in her mind again.

‘Good job. This would probably solidify Dowd’s recognition of you.’ That was what she was trying to say.

“-Is that so?”

Still, the reason why she wasn’t really dissatisfied with the Devil’s attitude was because, at the very least, they were working towards the same goal.

“I guess it’s true that at this point, Dowd would have no choice but to notice.”

By coming to the Magic Tower, she got to monopolize his ‘past’ and helped him when he needed it the most, securing an advantage over her ‘competitions’.

While she had to pull all sorts of tricks in order to get to the Magic Tower, she successfully achieved her goal and more, so it was more than worth it.

—Although I have no choice but to give way a little.

Dowd already collected a lot of women around him, so she hadn’t expected her to be able to monopolize him so easily.

However, at the very least, she wanted to be the one in the ‘center’ of his everything.

She was already the first one among everyone who broke down the firm ‘barrier’ that he built around him.

As for the battle that was unfolding before her eyes, it had already turned into a trivial matter in her eyes. After all, Dowd had never failed to overcome any adversaries that came his way so far, and she didn’t think that this battle would break his 100% winning rate.

Rather than thinking about that, she...

“So, once the incident is settled—”

Thought that this was the time to put the ‘restraint’ she had prepared on him.

She fiddled with the small box that she always had near her chest.

Inside the box was the ring that she had exchanged with Dowd a long time ago.

The time to pull this out proper is near—

“...?”

As Eleanor thought so, something caught her eyes.

Close to Dowd—who had reached Mobius—the world was dyed in a ‘color’.

If that was the only thing that happened, she would’ve thought that he was just using someone else’s Demonic Aura and moved on, but...

It wasn’t, and it fouled her mood.

What happened there was someone else’s ‘color’ being mixed with the Black Demonic Aura that was pouring out from the Seal on his chest.

Someone was seeping into his ‘heart’.

As if both of them ‘became one’.

“-!”

At that moment, she could feel the being inside her heart shake intensely the moment she noticed that.

Though they couldn’t communicate, Eleanor could tell...

The punk was livid.

As if she was pissed off about him breaking a ‘promise’.

“-Hm?”

Her eyes bent, like a crescent moon.

●

Currently, Chancellor Sullivan was indulging in a very fascinating sensation.

The sensation of not being in her body in the Material Realm, but being an ‘Aura’ in Dowd’s body. It gave her a weird feeling of exaltation.

Then, sentences she had heard before crossed her mind.

It was the Q&A session she had exchanged with Dowd the first time he asked her to ‘become one’ with him.

-Actually, I have a lot of questions about you, Chancellor.

-...What are they?

-How did you come back to the past? As far as I know, controlling time is Gray’s Authority, not the others’.

-...

-While yes, Devils are beings who exist beyond the time axis, I don’t think that they could just take another Devil’s Authority like that. Also, the fact that it was you, Chancellor, the Vessel, who came with the ‘memories of the future’, not the Devil herself, is another thing that I found strange.

-...

-And, seeing how you’ve been passionately showing me favors from the first time we met... I can assume that we were in a special relationship in the time axis you ‘came from’. Am I right?

-...Yes.

His guess was correct.

He was her partner.

Her other half.

Her everything that completed her.

Before she ‘regressed’, Dowd Campbell was such a person to her.

-You see...

She remembered how she replied to him in a gloomy voice.

-...I made a deal with Gray.

-Hm.

-I asked her help...so that I can meet you again... In return, I gave up my Authority, status, everything...

Even if she had to give up her status as one of the seven Devils...

She willingly went back to the past, so that she could meet him.

After she added to the terms that she’d also throw away her Authority, Gray accepted it without a fuss.

-Well, it’s kinda like getting rid of a political opponent. Once my Authority was taken away, Gray could just...’turn me back into nothing’, if she wanted to.

-...Ah, about that...

She also remembered Dowd awkwardly scratching his head at her words.

-I’ll try to prevent that from happening.

-...What?

-I mean, you regressed with such an affectionate feeling, so... I should give you something in return, no?

-...?

Seeing Sullivan’s face that was full of question marks, Dowd let out an awkward smile before continuing.

-Anyway, we can do something cool if we can become one properly, Chancellor.

As she finished her reminiscence...

Her consciousness was dragged out to reality again.

She could see Dowd, standing in front of Mobius. Soon after, a voice could be heard.

“Let’s go.”

Matching Dowd’s voice, the color of the Demonic Aura that was wriggling to the surroundings turned even deeper.

“Ha!”

At that moment, she could hear Mobius’ sudden snort.

“-I’ll admit it, Dowd Campbell. You won this time! But—!”

“I know. You probably wouldn’t die even if I were to kill you multiple times.”

Next, she heard Dowd’s calm reply.

“...What?”

“I know you aren’t just any wicked guy. You came here prepared for all kinds of possibilities, including the possibility that your carefully prepared plans go horribly wrong.”

In other words, he must had some kind of lifeline.

With him as the opponent, even if Dowd were to win against him in battle, he would still be a pain in his ass no matter what.

Utilizing the Magic Tower’s technologies, the cunning punk would definitely have a ‘back-up’ of his mind somewhere, and would revive himself even if Dowd were to kill him.

“That’s why...”

Dowd put his hand over his heart.

The Black Demonic Aura began to shake.

“I’ve prepared something for you. Something that would deal with you completely, no matter what kind of lifeline you have prepared.”

“What are you talking ab—”

“Your fate is already sealed the moment you let me get this close to you.”

‘Mixing’ Demonic Auras would create a clear effect and its utility was already proven more than enough times.

With that in mind...

What would happen if he were to mix his own Authority, and an Authority that wasn’t supposed to exist?

The result was something quite fun. Even more fun than he expected.

“-I’ve been wanting to use this so badly.”

Yellow Devil’s ability came from ‘Deception’, the ability to deceive one’s opponents.

Hallucination was only one of its derivative abilities.

To put it simply, the Yellow Devil’s ability was one that aimed to deceive the opponent’s ‘senses’.

If, such an ability...

“I call this Aura Combination.”

Was mixed with Dowd’s own ‘Authority’, that could allow him to completely suppress the opponent...

The result that came out of it was quite fun in nature, to say the least.

–

–!!!!

The Demonic Aura that had been spreading and wriggling, soon gathered in one place.

And engulfed Professor Mobius.

“Ahem, what I’m trying to say is...”

Dowd cleared his throat...

Then he recited something to turn the opponent into his ‘doll’.

“-Submit to me.”

If he couldn’t kill the opponent...

He just had to destroy his ‘mind’.

Hallucination, Deception...

Combined with ‘Command’.

He slammed the ‘plate’ into his opponent’s mind, to prevent him from escaping.

Even if the guy had thousands of tactics, as long as he broke his ‘will to fight’...

They would cease to become his opponent.

[...So.]

Caliban, who was watching silently, called out in an uncomfortable voice.

[Anyone who touched that would completely lose their mind and obey anything you said?]

...Yes, but no? The way it works is that I’m squeezing in a lot of false information so that he’d see me favorably, essentially brainwashing him—

[You modified his mind so you could use him as a doll.]

...

[While he deserves it, holy fuck, this really shows your fetish, isn’t it?]

...Shut up.

●

“-”

I stared at Mobius, who stood stiff as if he had died standing, while letting out a deep sigh.

Yep. That should be enough to overpower him for now.

I wouldn’t need to use him much anyway, turning him like this would be enough.

But anyway, there was something else that was a bit more urgent than this guy.

“Eleanor.”

After letting out a sigh, I continued.

“Could you please, hear me out for a bit first?”

I swear if I didn’t say those words, she’d actually split me in half.