I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

It was as if the world had come to an end. Camoli Island, which was a reenactment of paradise, collapsed in a flash.

I stared blankly at the devil of chaos – the embodiment of destruction – as it walked languidly and reached out a hand towards me.

Whether it was salvation or damnation, in the world that had turned into scattered black ashes, the glow of the heavenly figure was exceptionally white.

I wondered if this was what it would look like if a devil came down to Earth to deceive and corrupt humans.

“You’re Irene Amber…….”

Felix called out my name like a stranger.

His eyes twinkled with curiosity for a moment as if he were seeing something familiar but strange. It wasn’t as scary as I thought, so I felt slightly unsettled.

Even if he wasn’t completely devoured by the devil, he would at least be half-devoured. That was why I thought he would go crazy. Instead, the devil was calmer than I expected.

“My heart aches because of you.”

“……What?”

“Stop hurting me.”

Felix, who crouched down and stared at me, grumbled and frowned lightly.

He kept abruptly speaking in brief sentences and in a tone that was somewhat light and confused.

“Smile a little less. No, just don’t smile.”

The hand that carried the power to reverse summon the Spirit of Life covered my eyes.

I reflexively flinched, but nothing happened even after a long time.

There was no such thing as instantly rotting flesh or a terrible pain that followed.

He just covered my eyes.

“……Leraze?”

I blinked and asked in a hushed voice.

The entity that entered Felix’s body was the power of Leraze. It was a fragment of Leraze’s soul.

So I thought it would be most appropriate for me to call it by the devil’s name.

“That’s right. This body is Lera–, Miss!”

Then Felix, no, Leraze, nervously yanked his hand away as if my eyebrows tickled the palm of his hand.

He stared down at his palm with an uncomfortable expression.

It was strange to see him act like this with Felix’s face. Anyway, I doubt Leraze would have anything to say if Felix sued him for defamation.

“Why is it a child……. ”

“What?”

“Why do you want her so much……. Ah, that’s right.”

What did he stop in mid-sentence? I heard half of it already.

“Do you want me?”

“No, you’re too small. In fact, you’re like the size of a mouse.”

In an instant, my blood started to boil.

‘I can’t believe you want to start a quarrel with me as soon as we meet. Don’t say such frivolous things with Felix’s face!’

I couldn’t bring myself to get angry and just clenched my fists as the devil insulted me while borrowing that angelic face. Gosh, my blood pressure.

For the time being, my blood pressure wasn’t significant.

“So what about Felix? Don’t tell me you devoured all of Felix’s soul, did you?”

If that were the case, I wouldn’t remain still.

When confronted with a stern face, Leraze responded sullenly.

“He just fainted for a moment.”

I was glad to hear that. I breathed a sigh of relief but narrowed my eyes and cast a suspicious look.

The devil, who was vigilantly awaiting the opportunity to seize Felix’s pure soul, deliberately saved us from a crisis?

It was absurd. It wouldn’t be without a price.

“You’ve never come out before, have you?”

Then as if Leraze was commenting on how fine the weather was today, he calmly replied.

“It’s not a big deal. He just made a simple deal with me…….”

“What?!”

I unconsciously cried out and grabbed the devil’s bastard by the neck and then shook it.

At first, I was confused by Felix’s appearance and almost faltered, but the bastard currently before me was the child of Satan!

Only the shell was Felix. No traces of the contents remained.

“What deal? What kind of deal did you make?!”

“……Don’t you have a very different attitude toward him and me?”

“You’re stating the obvious. You should thank the heavens that I’m not beating you up because you’re in Felix’s body.”

“…….”

And if he dared to do something foolish with Felix’s body, I wouldn’t remain still.

As I muttered murderously to myself as if I were chanting with my eyes wide open, Leraze murmured to himself for a moment as well and then finally responded while avoiding my gaze.

“Why would I be obliged to tell you something like that? The devil’s deal is a secret.”

‘You’re a devil, and yet you’re obeying the rules? Don’t tell me something really happened to the real Felix?’

What if Felix’s soul was eaten completely, and this devil’s bastard took over his body? Where the hell would the soul that was devoured by the devil even go? Would I never see him again?

I gnawed at my lower lip. Just imagining it made me feel like my heart was being torn into pieces.

The tip of my nose tingled, and my throat tighten. Even if I tried to hold it back, I couldn’t stop the tears from forming.

Leraze abruptly yelled, “Hey! Don’t make that face! My heart hurts!”

“Can you feel it? It’s a guilty conscience.”

“Conscience? Bullshit. A devil with a conscience?!”

No, why was he so upset? Was this fool really getting angry?!

Whether it was really a guilty conscience or not, the devil made a very distressed expression. As if he couldn’t stand it, his face crumpled, and he grabbed the hem of his clothes over his heart.

Seeing Felix’s face like that broke my heart.

I hoped that this wicked devil couldn’t bear the pain of his conscience and decomposed into the air.

Leraze lowered his head for a long time while breathing heavily. He then raised his head with a grim expression on his face.

Felix, who had already suffered a lot, had a pale face and dark eyes.

“This small human is impudent. If I lift a finger against you…….”

His hand was about to touch my cheek. This time, I wondered if he would try to corrode the skin while I was alive, just like what he did to the spirit earlier.

I was only watching silently to see what he would do, but as I blinked, the tears that had filled my eyes started to drop and flow down.

Leraze raised a finger and caught the falling tears. Then, he grabbed his hand with a mortified expression and frantically shook his head.

“Ah, damn it. I hate this jerk’s body so much.”

This devil, what the hell was he doing?

“It wasn’t a big deal. I just asked for a slightly larger amount this time around, and he accepted it.”

In the end, Leraze wiped away all the tears that ran down my cheeks as if he couldn’t stand the sight of it. I wanted to avoid it, but the appearance of Felix, who was exhausted and injured, made me feel guilty to refuse.

It wasn’t just an imitation of his appearance. Felix’s body, itself, was different from other strange men, and I didn’t feel much repulsion towards it.

I wanted to punch the devil in the face right now, but I couldn’t. It was a really frustrating situation, damn it.

“How much did you get?”

“A quarter?”

“Heug–!”

“Oh, stop crying! That amount won’t kill him yet!”

Leraze lost his temper and tore at his hair as he muttered frantically about things that only he could understand.

“I don’t know what it is, but I was trapped in the bow for so long that I only know how to spend time alone–”

“–Why the hell did I try to comfort her by saying he won’t die even after I took away his soul?”

“–What about the comfort of hell?”

“Rin! Brother!”

Claudia’s voice was heard amid Leraze’s anxious rambles.

She came running towards us while panting heavily.

‘Oh, you’re all right, Chloe!!’

I instantly shoved Leraze to the back of my mind and ran towards Claudia.

Then we embraced each other and spun around in happiness.

I hugged her waist tightly and buried my face in her arms.

‘Heug-heug, Chloe. Do you know what happened while you were gone?’

‘The spirit we came to sign a contract with was an uncontrollable madman, Felix lost a quarter of his soul to the devil, and now the devil has taken over your brother’s body.’

Damn, as expected of this impoverished world.

Claudia took a deep breath as she patted my trembling back.

And after waiting for me to calm down, she asked me, “What are these clothes?” and let out a sad voice.

Of course, for Claudia, whose life purpose was to dress me prettily, these simple clothes wouldn’t satisfy her.

But, my clothing wasn’t the problem right now.

“As I was running around, my surroundings just started to collapse. I was so surprised…….”

“It’s all fake. In fact, what you see now is the true form of this island. It’s just returned to its original state.”

“Really?”

Claudia didn’t seem to know where she was or what the situation was until now. She blinked her eyes in bewilderment for a moment and then grasped my hand and spoke.

“Then let’s go sign the contract with the Spirit.”

“The Spirit? We just defeated it…….”

“What? That can’t be right.”

Claudia lifted up a small wooden box that she had been grasping tightly in her arms since a while ago and continued.

“The heart of the Spirit is here.”

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Thank you so much for your patience, everyone! My exams are over (thank you for the luck, everyone~❤️). Updates will return as usual (i.e. 2 chapters every Sat/Sun).

P.S. I’ll still try and see if I can get the 2 extra chapters TL-ed to make up for the ones I missed during my study break so look forward to the extra chapters throughout the week!

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