Chapter 527: Do as you wish, I will return to my path
Naberius raised the sword before her face, and for an instant, the red light radiating from it reflected in her eyes like two cruel twin suns. The edge glowed as if freshly forged, pulsing in response to its owner’s touch. With a slow, almost ritualistic movement, she brought the blade to her lips and placed a lingering kiss on the burning metal.
“Ah…” she sighed, her eyes half-closed in pleasure, like someone reuniting with a lost lover. “I’ve missed you so much, my baby…”
She hugged the sword to her chest, closing her eyes, as if she could hear a response coming from deep within the steel. The edge crackled with energy, red and gold flames coursing through the blade, vibrating in tune with her sigh.
Vergil, still leaning on his katana, froze. He tried to find a word, any word, but nothing came. The most he could manage was a dry, incredulous laugh, spitting a trickle of blood onto the floor at the same time.
“…What the hell am I seeing?” he muttered to himself, his eyes fixed on the scene that bordered on the grotesque.
Roxanne approached slowly, standing to Vergil’s left, while Katharina took his place on his right. They were both fascinated, but in different ways.
Roxanne bit her lower lip, her eyes half-closed, trying to decipher Naberius’s figure. She didn’t exactly look scared, but there was an aura of tension in her body, as if she were ready to fight or flee at any moment.
Katharina, on the other hand, seemed overcome with an almost childlike excitement. Her eyes shone like those of someone watching a grand play, a forbidden story being performed before her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, as if the spectacle were simultaneously terrifying and too wonderful to ignore.
Vanny and Rize stood a few steps behind, oblivious to the others, as if spellbound. Naberius’s aura was overwhelming, almost narcotic. They sighed almost simultaneously, like devotees who had just received a vision of a deity. Their expressions were illogical: half ecstasy, half exhaustion.
Zuri, however, was the only one who simply didn’t give in. The small, serpentine creature curled into itself, its scaly body coiling in a spiral in the corner of the clearing, as if silently saying, “Not my problem.” Its gaze seemed indifferent, almost disdainful, despite the oppressive weight filling the air.
Titania, for her part, couldn’t even feign calm. Her wide eyes and tense posture clearly showed she was struggling to accept what she saw. Her voice finally escaped in a trembling whisper:
“It can’t be… it can’t be that… here, in this rotten depths of the world… was sealed… one of Lilith’s most troublesome creations.”
She bit her lip, clenching her fists, as if the words were too bitter to speak.
“Naberius…” The name escaped her with revulsion and reverence. “That… thing, which Lucifer sealed away because it was too authoritarian or whatever.”
Vergil turned his face slightly to Titania, but said nothing. It was clear the woman was still struggling with her own disbelief.
Meanwhile, Naberius seemed oblivious to the reactions around her. She caressed the blade as if it were living flesh, whispering inaudible words to the edge that responded with crackles and flames.
Vergil wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, huffing. Finally, he raised his voice.
“Okay.” “I understand,” he said dryly. “I understand that you and that sword have… I don’t know, a sick relationship. But now answer me, what do you intend to do with all this?”
Silence fell. Naberius slowly raised her gaze to him. The flames around the blade wavered, as if in time with her breathing. For a moment, it seemed she was going to give a speech, that she would speak of grandiose plans of reconquest, revenge, or destruction.
But what came was something completely unexpected.
“I don’t know,” she replied, shrugging with an almost vulgar ease.
The entire hall seemed to hold its breath.
Vergil blinked, astonished.
“…What?”
Naberius gave a lazy smile, as if it were obvious.
“I’ve been locked in this filthy hole for centuries.” She waved the sword, as if playing with a freshly picked flower. “Now I’m free. I’m going to breathe a little, taste the world, hear the chains cry for me.” What am I going to do next…? I have no idea.
Vergil ran his hand over his face, chuckling softly in exasperation.
“Are you kidding me?”
Katharina’s eyes widened, as if she couldn’t believe someone with so much power could be so… careless. Roxanne, however, sighed deeply, almost as if she had expected that exact response.
“That’s so… Sapphire…” Roxanne murmured, her tone thick with irony. “You sound like that sickly redhead.”
Vany and Rize, still enchanted, sighed together, as if even that aimless answer were a divine revelation.
Titania, however, almost screamed:
“You… you’re a cosmic joke!” Her eyes burned with rage. “Thousands of years of sealing, countless lives lost to keep you imprisoned… and now that you’re free, you… don’t know what you’re going to do?!”
Naberius gave her a lazy, almost maternal look, tilting her head slightly.
“Darling…” he said, with a smile that blended cruelty and tenderness. “The weight of eternity is unbearable. Don’t expect consistency from me. I wasn’t born to follow anyone’s plans, not even my own.”
Titania took a step back, biting her lip in fury.
Vergil, on the other hand, let out a hoarse laugh, leaning on his katana.
“Hahahaha! I like that. Finally, someone who admits they have no fucking plan.”
He spat more blood on the ground and looked up at Naberius, his smile still wide.
“So you’re just another demon who’ll improvise until the world falls apart. Welcome to the club.”
Naberius narrowed his eyes, but instead of getting angry, he returned her smile, wide and cruel.
“Maybe that’s why I can’t hate you, boy.”
Vergil arched an eyebrow but didn’t answer.
The flames around the sword crackled louder, illuminating the demonic clearing as if a new sun had risen there.
“Well, do what you want, just don’t involve me in these things. I have to dominate this forest,” Vergil said, turning around.