Chapter 87 - Midlight Village#7

"Aaaand here am I? So, which one of you called this Batman?" I see Morpheus standing at the exact place where the circle vanished. Speaking of something incomprehensible again, he looks at all of us, then focuses on me.

"You are the one, right? Your face tells me you know me, so care to explain the situation? Pretty pleeaaseee," he makes a cute expression as he asks me, looking at him. If I hadn't known his powers from the previous regression, I would have had the same expression of curiosity and caution that my classmates are showing on their faces. 

I then move forward a few steps before speaking,

"You asked me to do it because you were needed here."

His expression turns from childish to mature as his smile deepens. He looks at me curiously before closing his eyes, then he opens his eyes with a look of seriousness in them as he looks in the direction from where Belphegor was coming from.

-Boom

I then hear something on my left. Instinctively looking in that direction, I find Morpheus stopping an attack from Belphegor using his dagger, as the same wintery smile forms on Morpehus' face. This reminded me once again how much of a monster Morpehus is. The others seem horror stricken as they see Belphegor right in front of them. I turn around to see Katherine looking at Morpheus with a complex expression.

"So it's him, huh? No wonder you ran here in a hurry. Did you sense him or something?" That same teenage boy arrives on the scene from the forest as he takes out his scythe and places it on his shoulders with one hand in his pocket. Soon, Zwain and others also enter the area.

"Fifth Branch of…Alfheim? We are saved!!" A smile forms on the face of Daphne and the instructors as they look at Zwain arriving in the area..

'Haha…you guys must be really idiots to still not register the power level of that kid in your brains. I wonder, will you be shocked when you see what happens next?' I think, as I observe the surrounding situation.

'Everyone is alive. Morpheus and Zwain are already here, Katherine is alive. Looks like we can really return safely with no casualties.' A smile blossoms on my face once again as I look at Morpheus, who is observing Belphegor with emotionless eyes. Then Morpehus looks at me as Belphegor is being pushed away,

"Thank you. This will be rewarded, I guess. But that is after I kill this bast*rd, just for a few more hours, okay? It will be over in no time," he speaks and turns his head back at Belphegor. The other party members of his team are standing idle there. The instructors and the others are confused, yet perplexed, at the situation.

Then Morpheus vanishes for a second, and suddenly Belphegor loses both his arms. He then takes out his dagger as he speaks.

"I know it might confuse you from here onwards, to what have you done to deserve the wrath of someone whom you have never met before. So let me tell you a story as I torture you slowly and comfortably."

The pattern is similar to what happened last time. Morpheus tortures the he*k out of Belphegor as he tells his story to everyone. After hours that felt like a few moments of satisfaction to me, the screams finally ended.

'I should count myself lucky to see the death of the same Sin Devil twice in this lifetime.'

Morpheus then comes towards us, and both the instructors and the students take a few steps back as they gulp and look at him. Their expressions were more terrified than shocked right now.

Walking towards me, Morpheus speaks with a smile on his face, "I would like to hear about everything, but let's do it after I really kill Belphegor once and for all. I am not really sure, but from his expression, he wanted to die as soon as the pain started rather than fighting the pain itself. If I had not taken his ability to kill himself, he might have really killed himself. If I am to guess, then he is still alive somewhere out there. Since his clone is here, his actual body must be close too."

Morpheus tells me a piece of information that he did not tell me before. My eyes turn shocked by his words, but then I realise that the one we are talking about is a Sin Devil, so he must have at least some life saving skills. But…

"If it was a clone, can you defeat the original?" This is the question that popped into my brain as I observed Morpheus. Morpheus looks slightly confused, but then speaks again.

"I think you miss understood when I spoke the word 'Clone', it just means that his body here was a replacement. As for the power level, hehe, if it increases anymore, he might as well be the Devil King or something. It's okay, I am well versed in clones and their perspectives so I know about them a lot, he is not a threat," He speaks with an understanding expression as he gives me a thumbs up. Hearing this, a relaxed expression forms on my face.

Morpheus then looks at the monsters standing there and then observes the children before he speaks.

"An expedition?"

Everyone stays silent for a few moments before a voice comes,

"Max…who is he? Do you know that…kid?" The instructor asks with hesitation in his voice. His eyes are filled with complexion and curiosity, along with a tinge of horror in them. At his question, everyone turns to look at me. From Morpheus' party to my own classmates, everyone looked at me for answers.

Gaining the attention of everyone at once, I couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant. Katherine's curious gaze increased my nervousness by a notch. Not knowing what to do, I turned to Morpheus for help. He was observing me with a smile on his face and looking at me, expecting help from him. He chuckled a little before speaking,

"Zwain, explain to the instructors about our business here. Lucy, take care of the children. Icelos and Phan, you both clear the monsters while I will have a small talk with this kid here."

Those four nodded and began doing their work, while Morpheus started walking a bit away from the crowd. Following him for a minute, we reach at a considerable distance from the others. Meanwhile, Phan and Icelos erased the monsters as if they were nothing. This greatly shocked not only my classmates but also the instructors. Looking at their faces, I am sure that their curiosity is at its peak.

"It would be better if you explain everything to me from the start," Morpheus' voice snapped my attention back to him. I look at him with a serious expression as I nod and begin describing the whole situation to him.

…

"…and then you arrived here and settled everything," I finished my story once again. I might have missed some details here and there, but I told him everything that was important, so it should be fine, I guess.

He ponders over it for a few moments before looking at me, then at Katherine and the others.

"All right, though, I will erase the circle from your memories now. If I did what I was supposed to do then, it means that I knew before about Belphegor's Clone too and that leads us to this village. I wonder if it has something to do with the kidnapping though?" He speaks as he takes out his dagger and once again inserts mana into my forehead. After this, the circle completely vanishes from my thoughts. Morpheus then vanishes from my front.

Looking around, I found him speaking with Zwain about something and Zwain seems to be respectfully nodding at his commands. Zwain then vanishes from our sight and Morpheus then turns to the children, more specifically Katherine. He then starts to speak to her.

Getting interested in what was happening, I ran towards them. Katherine all of a sudden smiles at Morpheus as I hear her voice,

"Is that true? You really know her?" Katherine's eyes are blinking as she looks at Morpheus with more curiosity. Hearing such remarks made me even more curious than I already was.

"Yeah, I met her before. I see she got enrolled in the Academy, huh? Well, given her enlightenment and hard work, it was pretty much expected to say the least," Morpheus speaks with a smile on his face as he looks at Katherine.

"Yeah, cous is doing great. I didn't know she knew someone like…you. Tell me, are you really a child or just using some spell? And why can't I sense any mana from you? And why…" She started bombarding questions on Morpheus as she got really frank with Morpheus. Honestly, I feel very…very jealous of Morpheus right now. I wish it were me she was talking to, like that.

"Oi! Oi! Oi! Break! Break! That's a lot of questions at once. As for your answers, I am just a normal human with a little bit lesser mana than others and a little bit stronger than others," he speaks with a humble smile to Katherine at which she makes a funny dumbfounded face before smiling back at him.

"How are your sisters? Amanda and Linda? I wonder if they are doing great now?" He asks her a question at which Katherine once again looks at Morpheus with a piercing gaze, but before she could speak, Zwain comes back with a serious expression as he speaks,

"I found something."