Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 108
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Pretending to Be Human: Episode 108
The demonic power was incomparable to what I faced when confronting Loreil.
If it spiraled out of control even slightly, not just the Manor but an entire district of the Imperial Capital would be obliterated by its sheer force.
Gregory spoke urgently.
“Calm yourself, Captain of the 2nd Legion! Right now, the Commander is pretending to be human—!”
“Silence! Bring my mother before me this instant! I’ve come all this way—how dare you ignore me!”
The surrounding trees trembled in response to her demonic power. If this continued, those trees would transform into demonic beasts and attack the nearby dwellings.
Recognizing the necessity, Gregory too drew upon his own demonic power.
Unlike Asmo-rina’s power, which surged with vitality, Gregory’s power was one of absorption.
A black void materialized in the air, indiscriminately drawing in Asmo-rina’s demonic power that radiated outward in all directions.
‘Spatial magic…!’
Witnessing this, Asmo-rina bit her lip.
Gregory’s ability was her natural antithesis. Already wounded from the explosion, she could not withstand such a force.
Alongside her rage at her own helplessness came a bitter sense of injustice—the fact that Asmodina had rejected her.
‘Damn it, why does she refuse me? After all my searching…!’
I had endured more than a century in pursuit of Asmodina’s traces. From the blood-soaked battlefields of the Demon Realm to the squalid back alleys of the Human Realm.
Throughout that long journey, which I bore alone, I never imagined that Asmodina would push me away.
I had believed she would naturally welcome me.
‘How could I have grown so strong for you? How many trials have I overcome to reach this point…!’
I couldn’t fathom that Asmodina, who had never rejected even the worthless version of myself from the past, would now push me away.
‘Did Gregory lie? No. That’s impossible. He would never lie about anything concerning Asmodina.’
Then what could the reason possibly be?
What am I lacking?
Or does she no longer consider me her daughter?
“What is it? What’s the reason…!”
Watching Asmo-rina, her reason clouded by directionless rage, Gregory opened his mouth desperately.
“She could never hate you! Please, just calm down for a moment….”
“Shut up. If she rejects me, then I’ll go find her myself.”
Realizing that her magic wouldn’t work, Asmo-rina picked up the sword lying on the ground and advanced toward Gregory.
Gregory clicked his tongue and retreated backward.
“She is currently living peacefully in the Human Realm. Knowing you would lose your composure like this, she hesitated to meet you—don’t you understand that?”
“Stop spouting nonsense. Mother will return to the Demon Realm with me.”
“That’s precisely why she’s refusing! She intends to live in the Human Realm….”
Asmo-rina swung her sword with fierce intensity, unwilling to hear another word.
Crash—!
The sword strike infused with demonic power detonated the ruins of the manor, shaking the very space around them.
“Then I can’t forgive this even more. Living in the Human Realm now? It’s as if she wants to erase all her memories from the Demon Realm.”
“That’s….”
Gregory fell silent, unable to deny her words. Seeing his silence, Asmo-rina’s eyes blazed with renewed determination.
My memories from the Demon Realm may be harrowing. After all, I spent most of my life consumed by warfare.
‘But what of me, left behind?’
She had called herself my daughter.
My only family, she had said, wanting to rely on me.
Yet now she would abandon the Demon Realm alone and live in the Human Realm?
“…The fact that she hasn’t stepped in to stop me directly proves her power has weakened. She must have possessed a human body.”
If that were true, there was only one course of action.
“I’ll kill the possessed body and claim her soul for myself.”
There was no need for complicated deliberation. I possessed the means to send her back to the Demon Realm—why should I concern myself with a mere human life?
‘Kill her first. Then return and demand answers for why she rejected me.’
Why she became human, how she vanished from the Demon Realm—
Conversation always became simpler after violence. That was the way of things.
It had always been so on the battlefield.
Watching Asmo-rina’s resolve crystallize, Gregory muttered with exasperation.
“You haven’t grown at all. And here I thought I’d kept you alive for a reason….”
But Asmo-rina had no intention of listening further. She drew her blade and charged at him.
Gregory had no intention of yielding either. He thrust his hand into the black void and spoke to Asmo-rina with unwavering certainty.
“You brought this upon yourself, Captain of the 2nd Legion. Do not regret it.”
“Shut your mouth and die, Doglike Soldier…!”
Just as the two Demons were about to collide.
“Oh my, two treasures gathered in one place.”
An unexpected voice echoed from the empty air.
“…!”
Asmo-rina and Gregory simultaneously created distance between themselves and looked up at the sky.
With the sun at his back, a man descended slowly through the air.
Gregory’s eyes widened upon seeing his figure.
Platinum hair cascading like a lion’s mane. Eyes gleaming with overwhelming presence, sharp and piercing. An excessively ornate golden robe.
‘The Emperor…!’
He was none other than Bernard, the Emperor of the Empire.
Why was the Emperor here? How was he flying through the sky without any magical aura? As these two questions crossed Gregory’s mind, Asmo-rina unleashed her power toward the Emperor first.
“What is this old man?”
It was power that would tear an ordinary human’s body apart upon contact. Yet the Emperor didn’t even blink.
Instead, he smiled with leisure and extended his hand toward the approaching power.
“Indeed, what tremendous strength. I find myself quite covetous of it.”
“…!”
The moment Asmo-rina’s power touched the Emperor’s hand, it dissipated like mist scattering in the wind.
Asmo-rina’s eyes widened in shock at the surreal sight. Gregory, however, quickly grasped the situation.
‘A power that erases magical force… Only one being possesses such a thing.’
And if his conjecture was correct, the Emperor was not an opponent they could stand against.
“Captain of the 2nd Legion! Fall back!”
I had ordered them to fall back and assess the situation, but Asmo-rina refused to listen. Instead, as if her stubbornness had ignited, she leveled her blade at the Emperor.
“Your magic doesn’t work on him either, does it? Let’s see if you survive a direct hit from my sword.”
“Captain of the 2nd Legion!”
“Silence! Don’t give me orders!”
Asmo-rina kicked off the ground and charged toward the Emperor. Then she swung her blade with devastating force.
It was a powerful strike capable of splitting stone itself, yet the Emperor merely sneered in response.
“A moth drawn to flame.”
From his outstretched hand, a thread of platinum light streamed forth.
Warm as the midday sun, yet faint. The moment I saw it, I threw myself toward Asmo-rina.
“What are you doing…!”
The instant I intercepted the light with my body, a searing agony erupted from the point of contact.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
It was pain even I could not endure. The Emperor’s light left no wound. Instead, it carved away at my very soul with overwhelming divine power.
I seized the bewildered Asmo-rina and poured every ounce of my demonic energy into my legs to distance us from the Emperor.
Then I bolted rapidly toward the Forest next to the Mansion.
Asmo-rina, clinging to my shoulder, murmured in confusion.
“What… what is this…?”
“Shut up and listen, Rina! That’s not human! It’s divine power!”
“What… what did you say?”
“It’s the Sun God! The Emperor is wielding the Sun God’s authority right now!”
A power that annihilates a Demon’s magical essence and drains their vitality and soul.
It was an ability wielded by the Sun God.
Yet divine powers are forces mortals cannot wield. Holy energy was merely another name for magical power—it possessed no inherent ability of its own.
Which meant.
“The Emperor is… the Sun God?”
Just as Asmodina had been reincarnated as a human, this Emperor possessed the soul of the Sun God.
Gregory spoke calmly to Asmo-rina, whose eyes trembled with disbelief.
“We retreat for now. This is not our time to fight. You hide yourself, and I’ll report to the Captain—”
“Captain, you say? So there’s another Demon among you.”
“…!”
In that instant, the Emperor’s voice echoed from above once more.
Gregory hurled Asmo-rina away with all his strength.
“Come on, Doglike Soldier!”
“Ugh…!”
This time, dozens of rays of sunlight pierced through Gregory. Still no wounds appeared on his flesh, yet his internal magical essence dissolved and his soul was carved away.
Each strike was fatal.
And the most horrifying truth was this: those struck by the Sun God’s power could not even be reincarnated.
‘I might be annihilated while trapped in this human form.’
At that thought, cold sweat beaded on Gregory’s brow.
Meanwhile, the Emperor landed gracefully on the ground, laughing like a child who had discovered treasure.
“Hoho, a male and female Demon. How fortuitous. With this, I could produce far more of their kind.”
Then she uttered words that would give even a Demon pause, her tone utterly composed.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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