Fated to Be Loved by Villains

Well, uh...

I said that I’d kill him quickly, didn’t I?

Well, actually, this fucker was a rather tough nut to crack.

“What the hell is that...?!”

Yuria stared at the pope with eyes full of fear.

The fear that had engraved in her due to her past experience was there, that was for sure, but that wasn’t all there was to it. The scene that was unfolding before her eyes was just that crazy.

Right now, the pope wasn’t the only one in this bunker, other Holy Kingdom’s combat personnel were too—although, these guys were too weak to be a match for us. Reaching the pope himself wasn’t hard.

Thanks to that, even though not a lot of time had passed since the battle began, we had inflicted countless fatal wounds on this motherfucker’s body.

We slashed him with swords, exploded him with Divine Power, blew his head off with my fist...

But, even after all that... 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

He just didn’t die.

I’ve seen immortal characteristics before with Lana, but even so, she would still be incapacitated if we were to do all these to her. With this guy, it was as if he hadn’t received any damage at all.

Yes, I could see his body got hurt, but it felt like we didn’t do anything to him. It was like we were beating a fucking scarecrow.

The fact that he didn’t even bother to defend himself only amplified that feeling.

“Why...! Why won’t you just die...!”

“Child, you’ve been with me for so long. Don’t you think it’s about time you understood a few things?”

Yuria’s words were cut off by that voice.

It was the voice of a kindly old grandpa, but given the situation, it felt more like a vicious taunt than anything else.

“I never fight a losing battle.”

“...”

Damn, stealing my line like that.

While I was having that bitter thought, another voice came from beside me.

“...At this rate... There’s no way we can win.”

Lucia gritted her teeth as she spoke.

Over her voice that clearly revealed her impatience, the kind voice overlapped once more.

“I suppose I should express my gratitude.”

The pope turned toward us, sneered as he spoke.

“Thank you for personally bringing me the materials I need for the final stage of my glorious resurrection. I didn’t even have to go far to find them.”

The pope’s languid gaze swept over Yuria and Lucia in turn.

I could see them flinch under his gaze. It was as if they were a pair of rabbits meeting the gaze of a snake.

...This is fucked up.

I ignored him and looked at the thing behind him.

Because there was an even bigger problem there than this fucker not dying.

Behind him, growing from a giant blister-like thing, was something in the shape of a ‘body’ wriggling like a fetus in the womb.

The sight was horrifying enough, but its power was even more so.

“...”

Like, if that thing got fully awakened, even I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

The Holy Body, a monster born from this motherfucker’s obsession and the subtle support of the Astral Realm. It was something whose power could even surpass the Devil’s. When it came to burst damage, nothing in the game could match it. That was the pope’s hidden ace in the hole, as well as the reason he didn’t bother to defend himself.

It feels like I’m on a fucking timer, too.

He could just stand there, breathe, and time would guarantee his victory.

In short...

We got a guy who wouldn’t die no matter how many times you kill him, and he got that card up his sleeve.

...The fight isn’t supposed to be this hard, though.

He wasn’t easy to kill in the original game either, but as usual, it seemed like the difficulty had been cranked up to eleven again.

If they’d made it like this in the game, the players would scream for the developers’ death. Like, how the fuck were they supposed to clear it?

[...If he’s truly immortal like you said, isn’t fighting him itself meaningless?]

‘...Theoretically, yeah.’

I looked at the pope who was just standing there, taking every hit.

The truth is, true immortality doesn’t exist. Not for Lana, not for this guy either.

To begin with, even Lana would die for real if she keeps on dying. Her regeneration isn’t infinite.

There’s a kind of energy source fueling her regeneration, it’s just a matter of depleting it.

But this guy is different.

We had killed him at least a few dozen, maybe a hundred times over, but there was no sign of his regeneration slowing down at all. The fact that I couldn’t even figure out how it works just makes this shitshow even more of a shitshow.

“...”

I closed my eyes and tried to organize my thoughts.

Like Caliban said, fighting like this was pointless. It was just a waste of energy.

—But still...

It wasn’t like I didn’t have any idea how to beat him.

And to achieve that, I only needed one thing: for us to focus all our firepower on one point.

“Let me ask you something.”

“I thought you said we should talk with our bodies?”

His sarcastic sneer came flying back as soon as I opened my mouth, but I continued regardless.

“I mean, you’ve been yapping all this time, so I feel like I should balance it out by talking a little.”

His face distorted slightly as I gave out that glib retort.

It seemed like he wasn’t pleased by the fact that I wasn’t losing my composure despite the obviously unfavorable situation.

That was how much he disliked me, I guess; he wanted to shake me mentally somehow.

And that was exactly what I was aiming for.

I continued calmly.

“I get that you’ve been playing all sorts of tricks on a continental scale. But I want to ask about just one of them.”

“...”

“The Tristan Duchy. Their curse is quite famous, isn’t it? Was that your doing too?”

“...”

“The previous Gray Devil’s Vessel was Eleanor’s mother. So, did someone deliberately create the opportunity for a piece to ‘dwell’ inside her?”

Thinking back, the reason why Eleanor received her first Devil’s Fragment was because she directly witnessed Gideon killing his wife.

Now, I was blatantly asking if this son of a bitch caused that situation.

Evidence? Ain’t got one.

But my instincts told me that it was the truth.

Knowing how insidious he was, there was a high chance he really did extend his hand to such deeds.

“...Hah.”

The pope let out a laugh in disbelief.

It was a face mixed with complex emotions. ‘Is this really a question you want to ask now?’ it was as if he was asking me that.

To begin with, there wasn’t any reason for him to admit it, nor was there a need to.

And as I just stated, it wasn’t like I had clear evidence either.

“-Yes, it was quite fun.”

And yet...

He voluntarily admitted it like an idiot, prompting me to chuckle inwardly at him.

While there wasn’t any reason to admit it, there was also no reason to deny it in a situation where his victory seemed certain.

He was just openly admitting it because he wanted to see me lose my composure even a little by knowing he did something terrible to my future wife’s family.

“The sight of that husband killing his wife was quite—”

“-Ah, you don’t need to say anything else.”

I cut off the pope’s words as he tried to continue.

Thanks to him blabbering his mouth like that...

I just obtained the decisive key to victory.

This fucker probably didn’t even realize what he just did.

Seeing me smirking as I cut off his words, his expression immediately hardened.

“...You’ve got quite a mouth on you. For someone about to die that is.”

“Oho?”

“You’ve shown quite a few interesting scenes so far, but in the end, you’re nothing special. Even if you called for reinforcements from the other side and struggled a bit—”

“No, that’s not it.”

I cut in, interrupting his words again.

This dumbass was misunderstanding something.

“Hey, do you really think you’re hot shit or something?”

“...”

“The reason why we came here in the first place is because I deemed that we all are enough to deal with you, you know?”

The pope’s face twisted horribly.

●

We can win...?! How?!

Yuria thought anxiously as she deflected another sword from a Holy Kingdom Paladin flying at her.

The opponent took no damage at all. But if we drag this out, we’ll definitely lose.

We aren’t strong enough! At this rate, we’re all gonna die—

“Yuria.”

Suddenly, Dowd’s voice cut into her anxious thoughts.

She turned towards him with a puzzled expression, only to see Dowd beckoning to her in a friendly manner, as if calling a pet.

“...?”

A familiar gesture.

It was the signal he often used when he wanted to throw her somewhere to grind something up.

But what’s the point...?!

‘Our enemy recovers from even fatal wounds, so what difference would it make to chop him up a bit more precisely?!’ Yuria thought this while biting her lip, but...

“...”

At that moment, she felt a strange sense of discomfort.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings, trying to find the source of this feeling.

And she found it, somewhere among the paladins she was fighting.

They were all knights wearing full armor, so she couldn’t see their faces.

But among them...

There was one figure that gave her an uncanny sense of déjà vu.

The way they held their sword, their stance...

...Both looked uncannily familiar to her.

As if she had fought someone who was wielding the same sword before.

“...”

Her gaze reflexively turned back to Dowd.

As always, it seemed like he was aiming for something this time too.

She didn’t know what it was, but she has a certainty that this was part of his arrangement.

If so...

As long as she followed his words, a solution would present itself. Like always.

“-I’ll do it!”

With those words, Yuria put a leash around her own neck.

[...Those resolute words just don’t match what she’s actually doing.]

‘...Well, as long as she’s determined about it.’

Such a conversation went on in a certain someone’s mind