CH 203

How long was that?

The black ashes that had been scattered in the sky turned into flower petals at some point.

Aria, who inadvertently raised her eyelids, realized through her mind.

‘It is a sight seen in my dream.’

The world of consciousness right before crossing over to hell.

The pure white scenery, whose surroundings could not be distinguished, resembled her dream.

“Were you trying to run away?”

“You whispered in a sweet voice that you love me, and you tried to run away…”

“If you’re going to run away to death, you’d rather pray that I die.”

“Because that’s the only way.”

Aria remembered exactly what Lloyd had said in her dream.

‘Now I understand why he said those things.’

Knowing that he was dead, she recklessly pursued him to hell.

‘I moved hastily.’

The moment she saw his pale corpse, she lost her sanity.

She should have believed that Lloyd couldn’t die in vain. Lloyd would have gone to hell without hesitation because he was sure he would survive.

However, since Aria, whom he thought would be safe, was dead, his eyes would have turned upside down too.

‘But it’s different from the dream.’

Even though Lloyd was in the same situation, he didn’t say anything like that in the dream. Far from getting angry that Aria had taken her own life, he rather kissed her as if to comfort her.

Why?

‘Maybe it has something to do with the boatman saying that I can’t cross?’

So while Aria was lost in her thoughts for a moment, he said, “You need to concentrate.”

After a short and persistent kiss, Lloyd whispered between his lips.

“Aren’t you angry?”

“Why would I?”

“You were very angry in my dream.”

“What exactly did I say?”

“Lloyd told me to beg Lloyd to die too if I was going to run away to death.”

He wiped Aria’s teardrops from her eyes. She shuddered unconsciously.

Lloyd in the dream raised his sharp fingernails and scratched her skin, pretending to wipe away her tears. Like giving her a warning.

But now it was different. He only wiped away the tears with a gentle, tender manner.

“You’re wrong. Even if I die, you won’t be able to run away to death.”

Aria was confused for a moment.

Lloyd in real life didn’t look as ferocious as in her dreams, though he was the same as usual.

‘I think he just made a more dangerous statement than in my dream…….’

For a moment, she felt a chill.

However, there was an important issue to address, so she decided to postpone that part for now.

“Is Lloyd alive?”

“I’m alive.”

Lloyd added as he cupped Aria’s cheek. Just cutting her off and reminding her of the truth.

“You too.”

I’m alive too? Come to think of it, it was strange.

Aria had already died once, so she vividly remembered the feeling when her breath stopped.

‘Rather than dying this time…… It was as if her soul was being forcibly pulled out right before she died.’

She pondered her memory.

Unlike reality, it seems that she almost died in her dream. That’s why Lloyd was so angry.

As she was thinking about that…….

“I didn’t pass on the dream I heard from you before.”

Lloyd just talked about the dream.

“That devil said that the means by which our ancestors could intervene in our affairs were through dreams or a sixth sense.”

That devil? Aria turned in the direction he pointed, and she freaked out.

A huge demon with two bird heads was staring at her.

“Wha-what is that?”

Aria pushed Lloyd’s chest.

He answered with a slight tilt of his head, without being pushed back in the slightest.

“The devil.”

Devil? Aria looked over Lloyd’s shoulder at the devil with her eyes wide open.

It’s bizarre to have a human body with a bird’s head…….

But more than she vaguely imagined…….

“You just thought it was kind of cute.”

“……not really.”

“Don’t think everything is cute because they’re all animals.”

What, animals?

“You insignificant creature, who are you calling animal!”

Mammon was outraged.

Raising his head, Lloyd’s bloody gaze met the devil, and his shoulders trembled.

‘The devil got scared by humans.’

It was a rare sight.

As Aria stared at it curiously, unable to hide her expression, the devil cleared his throat.

“It is true for the dream. Your human blood relatives often warn you of the near future in that way.”

He added that not all devils and blood relatives can do everything. Intervening is only possible if it helps to put an end to chaos in the world and maintain balance.

‘Through a dream or a sixth sense…….’

Aria had a memory that went through her head like a flash.

‘Come to think of it, before danger befalls me, I’ve heard someone whispering to me.’

‘Dangerous’ and ‘Be careful’. Thanks to that whisper, Aria was able to prepare for danger at the crucial moment.

“I thought it was possible that your dream had hinted at the future.”

Lloyd didn’t dismiss Aria’s dream as just a dream. He remembered the memory of her dream that was vividly imprinted in his memory.

Valentine’s incident. Aria lying cold in a pool of red blood.

‘And it was also reproduced in reality.’

Lloyd didn’t want to go through something like that again. So he made a deal with the devil.

To prevent Aria’s dream of choosing her own death to happen.

“As a condition of returning God’s feelings to their original state, I ask that you not be allowed to set foot in hell for the next 100 years.”

…… how many years? Aria was momentarily bewildered by those distant numbers.

Mammon suddenly trembled and cried out in a loud voice.

“Right! If there is no God, even devils cannot make contracts with humans!”

She didn’t ask, but did she touch on a topic? The devil suddenly threw a fit. Aria blinked her eyes with a ‘what’s going on’ expression.

“Did you sign a contract?”

“That, that’s because I broke the law…”

Mammon, who broke the laws of hell, was to be punished with endless dismemberment for the next hundreds of years. Even so, Satan sought leniency, and his punishment level was greatly lowered.

“The devil cannot directly intervene in matters related to God. And if the devil cannot make a contract with a human…”

Mammon clenched his beak as if his pride was hurt.

Lloyd, who had been listening silently, responded instead.

“It’s like losing the value of his existence. If it’s not in the form of a contract, he can’t exert any influence on the world.”

“Yes… you damn human.”

When Aria heard the truth of hell, she was stunned.

Since angels are servants of God, they cannot move without God. As expected, it was the same with the devils.

Moreover, to think that a devil with absolute power that humans cannot dare to surpass is actually living as a parasite on humans. If they don’t tempt humans, test them, and touch their desires and make a contract with them, the devil loses its value.

They can’t live.

‘Then Lloyd is holding the devil’s lifeline.’

That’s why the devil was watching Lloyd’s eyes like that.

“If two living humans stay here for a long time, the balance will be broken. Go back!”

“Hmm, who dragged that living human to hell before that?”

Mammon had nothing to dispute, so he exercised his right to remain silent.

‘Is that the devil who dragged Lloyd to Hell?’

After hearing that, Aria’s expression suddenly changed.

‘It was the devil who made a contract with Veronica.’

How dare you covet Lloyd. She mumbled.

“You bird-head…”

“…!”

These cheeky humans! The people of this generation are all self-indulgent. The devil’s authority has fallen to the bottom.

This was all due to the prohibition of contracts between humans and devils since God’s feelings were lost.

Humans lost their fear because they had not personally experienced the greatness and fear of the devil that shook the world!

“Once upon a time, just hearing the name Mammon, humans cried out for God’s mercy and begged on the floor…”

Mammon couldn’t speak anymore. It was because Lloyd smirked as if telling him to talk more.

The devil turned his topic unnaturally.

“Anyway, I couldn’t drag you to hell, so I didn’t get a fair price for my malice.”