023 The Evil King of the Night Sky
“Ugh…”
Iris awoke in a dimly lit place resembling the great hall of the ice castle, Niflheim.
She was seated on a chair made of cold ice, her hands bound by chains connected to the ceiling, and a golden spear pierced through her abdomen, pinning her to the backrest. The blood, chilled and solidified by the cold, seemed to be acting as a makeshift bandage, and she figured she hadn’t lost as much blood as it looked. However, the fact that she felt neither cold nor heat from the wound made her realize that her injuries were more severe than she had imagined.
“(Where… am I…? Inside the ‘Tower’? How could there be a place like this… where… ?)”
“This is deeper within the core of the ‘Tower,’ a secret place known only to a few. Though, now, I suppose only Anubis and I know of it.”
Appearing before her, who was practically on the verge of death, was a large man who must have been at least two meters tall.
The man had one side of his head shaved, while the other side had long purple hair that reached down to his feet, covering half of his face and even half of his body. He carried a massive battle axe on his back, and his upper body was lean rather than muscular. However, the swirling red tattoos that covered his body gave him an imposing presence, making him look twice as large and giving off a menacing, ferocious aura. Furthermore, the tattoos extended up his neck and onto his face and ears, and to compensate for the imbalance of his head, he always tilted it to the shaved side.
Iris was taken aback by the man’s eerie and bizarre appearance, yet his dignified demeanor.
“Don’t be so wary. It’s a reunion, after all.”
“Who… are you…?”
“What? No… How can you say such a thing, Iris? To ask me ‘who I am’?”
The man’s face twisted into a furious expression at those words, and he gripped the spear piercing Iris and violently pulled it out. The pain and heat that had been suppressed surged back as if rushing through the gaping hole in her body. Iris screamed and groaned, trying to alleviate the pain even slightly.
“Gah!? Guuuhh…!”
“What are you yelling about! Does it hurt!? After hurting me, you dare speak of pain!? You!! You!!”
The man, consumed by anger, repeatedly struck Iris with the spear he held. The unrestrained violence was literally extinguishing the flame of her life at an accelerated rate.
“Haa, haa…! No, wait. So, Anubis, is this your doing, Anubis! You detestable younger brother!! Iris was innocent!”
“Gaboh!?”
The man shouted his resentment towards the heavens, then thrust the spear back into Iris’s abdomen. The spear returned to the exact same spot, causing a grinding pain as it rubbed against the wound. Iris coughed up blood that had welled up from within. She was amazed that she was still alive after all she had endured.
“If that is the case, then I shall tell you. No, you must know. My name is Babi Niflheim. Anubis’s older brother and your father.”
“What, that’s, ridiculous.”
“Did that man tell you that your father was dead? No, no, no!! He stole you away from me! My possession! Selfishly!”
Iris couldn’t understand what Babi was saying.
She had been told that her father had died in a battle against a wolf monster with the epithet “The End.” When Anubis and the others lived on the surface, he had protected the fleeing people, fighting until Anubis and his companions arrived, and ultimately losing his life.
Once, when she was taken to the mortal realm, Anubis had gently told her this story, and Iris had felt proud of her father, whom she didn’t even remember. She felt that the warm place called the mortal realm was the treasure her father had protected. That was why she had wanted a job where she could protect others, and had chosen to be a guard, maintaining the order of the Netherworld.
In her mind, her father had been deified as an ‘ideal.’ That was why she had strived to live a life worthy of that ‘ideal (father).’
“Ah, detestable! Not only did he steal you from me, but he even rewrote your memories! Is this how you treat your older brother, your father!? A fiend, nothing more than a fiend!”
“…Ugh, guh…”
“And why didn’t you remember me!? Whose you are! Why didn’t you remember!? You’re a failure… a complete failure! Even while falling into Anubis’s demonic hands, it was your duty as a child (the bond of family) not to forget me!!”
That was why she couldn’t understand how the man before her could claim to be her father. She didn’t want to think that such a hideous being was her family.
His ominous ‘passion’ was searing her eyes. She closed her eyes tightly to escape the pain, but the blade-like ‘passion’ pierced through her eyelids, and she could feel not only her eyes but her heart creaking.
“Well, it’s fine. You have your faults, but the root cause lies with Anubis. Now that you’ve returned to me, you just need to fulfill your duty.”
“Let, go…!”
“Silence. Don’t move.”
“Aaaahhhhhhh!!”
Babi grabbed Iris’s head. His grip, without any restraint, dug his fingers into her temples, causing intense pain. She tried to shake her head in resistance, but his grip only tightened, as if to say he wouldn’t allow it. Iris could only scream.
“Good. Now, Iris. What is the name of the man who kidnapped you? What is the name of the man who raised you?”
“Wha… what… are you…?”
“Just answer me already!! Do you intend to make me say it twice or three times!! Remember!! Speak!!”
“That’s… eh? What!?”
The words wouldn’t come out. The one who had raised her until today was ‘Anubis-sama.’ …Who was ‘ ‘ ? Was it just the pain that was preventing her from remembering? No, that wasn’t it. ‘ ‘ , why? Why couldn’t she remember?
Iris forgot even the pain she had been feeling, and was stunned by the sudden loss of memory. ‘ ‘ was supposed to be someone important and respected. But she couldn’t remember their name, face, appearance, or what kind of person they were. Even though she had spoken to them just a few days ago, the person who should have been there was completely missing from the scene.
“Why!? Why!? What did you do to me!?”
“Good, good. It’s gone. That’s good, that’s good. The memories of ‘ ‘ are unnecessary.”
“Why, why can’t I hear it!? That name!? Why!! Why!!!”
She couldn’t even recognize the words Babi was saying. There was supposed to be something important about that person.
Despairing, terrified, she began to struggle to escape Babi. However, her actions only pointlessly drained her strength, widening her wounds, and causing the chains binding her hands to dig in even more.
“Let go! Don’t touch me! Let me go home! Nooo!”
“No. There are too many unnecessary things in your head for you to return to my home. You must erase everything up until now, and return to being my daughter. This is necessary, don’t be selfish.”
Babi smiled as he watched Iris in her frenzied state. He called Iris his daughter, but he seemed to relish her suffering, slowly and carefully erasing the memories he deemed ‘unnecessary’ from her mind.
“No!! Nooo!! Someone, someone help me!! Somebodyyy!!”
“Don’t struggle so much. Even if you have inherited my resilience, you’ll die from those wounds eventually, you know? I won’t allow that, understand?”
Unnecessary, unnecessary, this is also unnecessary. All that is needed is me, your father, think only of that and live only for that.
The embodiment of endless ego, the Evil King of the Night Sky (Babi Niflheim), laughed heartily, enjoying Iris’s screams.