There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 167

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She staggered into the room.

“Pheeelooomeeel!”

Then, with terrifying momentum, she charged at Philomel.

“Kyaa!”

It was the moment Ieries’s hand was about to touch Philomel.

Pajik!

The Evil God was knocked away by a spark. It was the effect of the automatic protection magic.

‘That’s right! Estellion is also Miwa’s power!’

So, Le Guin’s magic was activated even in Ieries’s domain, although its power seemed to be halved.

In that gap, Philomel picked up the revolver she had placed on the floor and shot at Elencia’s thigh.

Bang!

However, the bullet was deflected by the darkness that instantly wrapped around her body.

Bang! Bang!

She pulled the trigger a few more times, but the result was the same.

‘Attacking Elencia is useless this way!’

Then, the only way is to target the heart.

In the first place, to truly defeat the Evil God, the heart must be destroyed. The body can just be replaced.

Philomel switched from the revolver to a dagger.

At that moment, Ieries rushed in again.

“Philomel!”

Pajijijijik!

The automatic protection magic was activated again, but this time, he endured it.

“Did you think something like this could stop me!”

The Evil God reached out to Philomel, not caring that the skin on his hand was burning.

‘Quickly, the heart!’

Philomel stabbed Barvard’s sword into the heart once more.

“Aaaagh!”

Ieries distorted his expression but did not back down.

“Get away!”

Philomel pulled out every last bit of strength she had and stabbed the heart continuously. Sweat poured from her entire body.

The heart gradually darkened and began to shrink. The ‘stem’ [the core of the Evil God’s power] thrashed even more violently.

‘It’s about to be completely destroyed!’

Just when she thought she only needed to stab it one more time, Ieries’s hand broke through the automatic protection magic.

“Cough!”

The Evil God strangled Philomel. In the process of her resisting, the two of them rolled around on the floor, entangled.

“I told you, it would have been better to have a happy dream forever.”

“Who, who would want…… something like that……”

She couldn’t even speak properly because she was suffocating.

Philomel tried to shake off Ieries’s arm with both hands, but it was not enough.

It was an unimaginable, monstrous strength. Even Philomel, who had taken a high-grade strength potion, could only slightly loosen the grip that was strangling her.

Suddenly, divine power flowed out from the ring of red flames.

“Heh heh. That guy is struggling to protect you.”

The Sun God’s divine power was soon swallowed by the Evil God’s darkness.

‘I can’t breathe.’

Philomel opened her mouth wide to inhale the insufficient oxygen, but it was a futile struggle.

Her vision blurs. The strength drains from the hand holding the Evil God’s wrist. Her mind becomes hazy.

‘……No. I just need to stab it one more time.’

She can save her world.

Suddenly, memories of the past came to mind.

Philomel picked up in the garden a long time ago. After that, she was desperate to survive, and eventually, she escaped from the Imperial Palace.

That’s how she met Le Guin and her brothers. The first meeting was the worst, but they gradually became close.

She made real friends too. She also confirmed her feelings with Nasar.

She also learned the truth about and this world…….

Although things didn’t work out well with the Emperor, Elencia…….

Her thoughts don’t connect well.

‘Is this a dying dream?’

Maybe, just maybe, this might be the end. Just when even the determination not to die was fading away, suddenly.

“Gasp!”

Suddenly, she could breathe.

“Haa, haa.”

Fresh air rushed into Philomel’s lungs.

She took a few breaths and then assessed the situation.

The Evil God’s strangling grip on her neck had weakened a lot. The reason was soon clear.

“How dare you……!”

Ieries’s left hand was trying to remove the right hand that was holding Philomel’s neck.

‘What is it?’

The Evil God shouted fiercely.

“Quietly entrust your body!”

It wasn’t a word to Philomel. Rather, it seemed like he was talking to his left hand. As if the left hand had a separate will.

Soon, a lightning-like realization struck Philomel.

‘Elencia!’

The real Elencia, not the intruder.

It was that child.

There was no way an intruder would try to save Philomel even while opposing the Evil God, so it could only be that child.

Ieries’s expression twisted terribly.

“Just stay asleep quietly like you have been!”

After a while, a very faint voice leaked out.

“I…… don’t…… want to.”

It was Elencia’s voice.

“I, I don’t want to…… kill Philomel…….”

The child said with difficulty.

“I don’t want to kill people anymore……!”

A drop of tears flowing from Elencia’s eyes fell on Philomel’s face.

Elencia is fighting.

Just like Philomel had done, Elencia was also fighting. In a secluded place. Lonely.

That sight ignited something in Philomel’s heart.

Philomel grabbed Ieries’s arm again with strength. Three hands were attached to his right arm.

‘I can’t give up!’

If that child is fighting, it would be pathetic if Philomel gave up.

Philomel clenched her teeth and struggled with all her might. The pain in her neck didn’t matter anymore.

“Let…….”

The strength was gradually draining from Ieries’s right hand.

“Let go!”

Finally, she shook it off.

Philomel quickly got up and went to pick up the dagger that had fallen in the corner.

“I’ll kill you!”

The Evil God screamed with bloodshot eyes, chasing closely behind Philomel.

Thump!

At that moment, the ‘stem’ tilted greatly with a loud noise.

Ieries lost his balance and rolled on the floor. Philomel was about to do the same, but she grabbed anything she could get her hands on and held on.

The situation outside was easily predictable. Beleron’s attack must have hit the ‘stem,’ which was already weakened because Philomel had stabbed the heart.

Somehow, the sensation felt on her hand is squishy.

“Huh?”

Philomel checked the identity of the object she had grabbed a little while ago.

It’s the heart.

It was an opportunity given by heaven. To be exact, it was given by the Sun God.

She aimed Barvard’s sword at the heart.

“No!”

The Evil God struggled.

“Yes!”

The darkness that he spewed out rushed towards Philomel.

The moment the dark darkness was about to cover her.

Stab!

Barvard’s sword stabbed the heart first by a hair’s breadth.

A painful scream filled the room, no, the ‘stem.’

“How dare, how dare…… you insignificant humans dare to do this to me…….”

The darkness that was about to cover Philomel, and the darkness that was surrounding Ieries, disappeared at once. Nevertheless, the Evil God staggered towards Philomel.

“Everything born into the world…… must return to nothingness……. That is the reason for my existence…….”

A terrible obsession was felt in his bloodshot eyes.

“Sorry, Elencia.”

Philomel apologized first before acting.

Whack!

And she punched the Evil God’s face.

It was a clean hit. It was worth learning self-defense from Nasar in preparation for times like these.

Ieries made an uh sound and collapsed to the floor with a thud. She wanted to hit him with her own hands at least once.

Sreureu. Darkness flowed out of Elencia’s body, who had fainted. That darkness seemed to be Ieries’s consciousness.

Philomel muttered, looking at the heart that had become a handful of ashes.

“The purpose of existence is the destruction of other things.”

In the end, the Evil God did all this because he was born that way.

“Even though you’re a god, what a futile life.”

But humans, Philomel, are different.

She will decide the purpose of her life herself.

And now, it was time to return freedom to a person who had been bound by others.

Philomel pulled out the dagger stuck in the heart and aimed it at Elencia’s chest.

“Even if it hurts, bear with it a little. I’ll get your body back.”

Barvard’s sword is not simply a sacred object that defeats the Evil God, but a sword that can affect the intangible spiritual realm.

“Umm…….”

At that time, Elencia opened her eyes.

“Ah, F…… What, why does it hurt so much?”

Judging from the way she spoke, it was the intruder, not Elencia.

The intruder frowned and rubbed her cheek, then discovered Philomel aiming a sword at her.

“Phi, Philomel!”

Philomel swung the sword without hesitation.

“Kyaa!”

The intruder defended with her arm, but Barvard’s sword was faster.

“Get out of that body!”

Now that there is no Evil God to hold the intruder’s soul, this was the perfect opportunity.