vstars Chapter 125 Door-S01 E05
Chapter 125 Door-S01 E05
"...■■■? But...why?"
Seeing that she had been rejected, Shirley clenched her right hand in astonishment, her tone full of confusion.
Xia Li, who was closest to ■■■ in the entire inn, couldn't understand why that gentle female demon from the East would forbid her from going to the other side of this white fire.
After all, ■■■ had never refused her; she always sided with her and was willing to let her try anything she wanted.
■■■ She always smiled gently at him and never said a harsh word to him.
"...Maybe she's just worried about you being in danger, Shirley."
Seeing her lover's confused and hurt expression, Vicky, who seemed to have already processed the fact that Shirley and ■■■ had made a deal, first glared at the seemingly leisurely Alastor, and then reached out to comfort the blonde woman in front of her.
"You should understand how cautious [they] are, right?"
“Vicky…I…but if this happens, who can help her? We can’t just stand by and watch…!”
The blonde woman, looking somewhat dejected, glanced back at her equally worried white-haired lover, hesitant to speak.
"If I'm not allowed in... I can't understand! Why be so cautious as to cut off your own escape route?"
"I'm not happy," said Shirley in a somewhat impatient tone.
"Cautious? In my opinion, this girl is crazy enough that even among those old fogies in heaven, she would definitely be the most outstanding one..."
"Perhaps because I can see far more than ordinary demons," Lucifer said in a somewhat exaggerated tone, standing beside his daughter and holding his apple cane.
Most of the people in the inn gathered around Xia Li, trying to get more solutions to their current situation from her.
But not a single demon dared to risk their life, or rather, to cross the fire that possessed an innate sense of awe and power, to reach another world—
...except for Alastor.
"Alastor! Wait a minute! You... wait, what?"
By the time Shirley saw Wendigo, who seemed utterly unafraid, reach his hand into the white flame, it was already too late.
...But the terrible scene the blonde had imagined did not come to pass.
Because the fire of the ■■■ did not harm the red demon who looked particularly dazzling after being embraced by white.
At this moment, most of the latter's body was submerged in the entrance to another world.
The broadcasting demon, who had always been extremely interested in ■■■ and another world, widened his eyes slightly, a look of pleasure and surprise on his face.
A faint hissing sound came from Wendigo's throat, which seemed to have become a sign of the emotional fluctuations of a certain sinful lord.
"Hmph~ Interesting."
Alastor, who seemed to be able to move freely in and out of the white flames, raised an eyebrow and retreated through the fire door.
After he stepped back, Xia Li, who had been staring at him intently with wide eyes, immediately rushed over.
She grasped the old gentleman's hands, exclaiming excitedly, "Alastor! Are you alright?! Your hands..."
Alastor: "..."
Although he longed to admire the flushed faces of the King of Hell and the white-haired demoness a little longer, Wendigo, clearly disliking being touched like that, silently withdrew his hand from the blonde woman's. He then elegantly rubbed it against his collar and said, "I appreciate your concern, dear princess, but thank you for your kindness; my hand is as good as new."
Perhaps to reassure Shirley and to avoid unnecessary contact, Alastor closed one eye and playfully showed off his perfectly intact right hand.
"Yes! So what I mean is, maybe now I can entrust the safety of [illegible] to..."
Before Shirley could finish saying those words with an excited expression, Vicky grabbed her and pulled her aside.
"￥%……Xia Li, are you crazy!?"
The white-haired female demon, who almost bit her tongue with excitement at her first words, widened her eyes and lowered her voice in disbelief as she spoke.
“■■■ like this… I mean! What if ■■■ is very weak, and then Alastor takes advantage of her weakness? What if this guy—I mean, this freak!”
Vicky, somewhat exasperated, gestured wildly at Alastor, who stood beside her, looking quite elegant with a cane in his hand.
"What...? You must be overthinking it, Vicky! I think ■■■ and Alastor have actually gotten along quite well these days, haven't they?"
Faced with Vicky's almost ferocious and repulsive dissatisfaction, Shirley glanced with some surprise at the radio demon standing behind them, looking utterly bored.
At least Shirley felt that a truly cautious and powerful sinner lord would not have acted so recklessly.
...especially Alastor, who was standing right in front of her.
To be honest, the Broadcast Demon, like all sinner lords, has an exceptionally poor reputation within the Pride Ring. However, the majority of opinions still hold that he is "cunning, cautious, and shrewd" and "his intelligence far surpasses his strength."
As a sinner lord, Alastor's lack of fear of the fire of the ■■■ may be due to his personality.
But Shirley couldn't imagine that a clever demon like Alastor, who was cautious about everything, would come into contact with fire full of unknown possibilities without asking any questions.
...So does this prove that Alastor actually cares a lot about ■■■?
Shirley thought this with a mix of excitement and agitation.
And similarly, she was also surprised that the fire had not harmed Alastor.
Although her own inn's head chef always looked down on the inn manager, since her fire was unwilling to harm Alastor, does that prove that she actually approves of him in her heart?
After all, their fire wasn't part of their soul deal. If they so desired, even the demons in the inn could be driven away by their fire.
"...And I believe Alastor; he wouldn't be so rude to a lady!"
Shirley, who was always full of confidence in the demons around her, looked at Vicky, who was full of suspicion, with her bright eyes.
"Besides, Alastor is the best candidate right now besides my dad. I can't possibly let my dad go save [illegible], can I? Otherwise, that would be... a bit too strange. And I don't think my dad can... um, you know what I mean?"
The blonde woman, who seemed a little unsure how to explain, gestured frantically at the white-haired female demon in front of her.
……
indeed.
"..."
Vicky stared at her lover for a moment before shaking her head helplessly and whispering, "To be precise, it should be considered fluid... never mind, if you really want to do it this way..."
The white-haired demoness glanced again at the broadcasting demon standing in front of the fire door.
The latter was currently touching the white flame with his finger and rubbing it, it was unclear whether he intended to put it in his mouth and taste it next.
Vicky: "..."
Even with only one eye, she could tell this guy was completely unreliable!
"Alright! Come on! Anyway, I need to ask Alastor if he can... Oh no!!"
Seeing that Vicky had given in, Shirley, who was overjoyed that ■■■ was saved, turned around and tried to say something to the demon, but the latter had already turned into a shadow and appeared quickly beside her.
"So, what is it?"
With drooping eyelids, his scarlet eyes stared unblinkingly at the hellish princess Alastor, whose hands were behind her back.
Compared to the startled Shirley, the cunning Wendigo seemed to have anticipated that she would come to him for help.
At this moment, the broadcasting demon, who had been completely at ease and unhurried from beginning to end, was looking down at the blonde woman in front of him, his eerie smile becoming increasingly meaningful.
"...I'm warning you, you'd better not even think about doing anything to Shirley and ■■■, or I won't hesitate to let you experience a pain worse than hell!"
Faced with Alastor, who seemed particularly dangerous at all times, Vicky, who was unwilling to let the most dangerous guy in and make contact with the probably very weak lord, reluctantly pointed her spear at the sinner lord in front of her, but she was quickly taken away by Angel and Hesk.
"..."
"I mean... uh..."
After peeking at the furious Vicky and seeing that she hadn't done anything too outrageous, Shirley stammered for a long time before finally pulling her head back.
Looking at Alastor, who was waiting for her to speak, the blonde woman nervously rubbed her hands together.
Although her intention was to let Alastor go in and help ■■■, she actually didn't know how to help ■■■ get out of her current situation.
The little princess of hell simply felt that having a demon by her side was much better than fighting alone.
But she had no idea what lay on the other side of that white fire, because if ■■■ didn't want her to go there, there must be a reason.
What if the other side of this door is really dangerous?
Although she was very worried about the situation at this moment, she was equally unwilling for Alastor to go through the door to his death.
"..."
"...Yes, my dear."
"Because our only innkeeper chef in Hell is currently in trouble, and only the great Broadcasting Demon can resolve this situation, so we hope he can bring her back—"
Seeing that Shirley remained silent, Wendigo, as if giving her a way out, narrowed his eyes, tilted his head, and rattled off a long string of words like a news broadcast.
"...What? I...uh, yes...?"
Shirley, bewildered by Alastor's extremely long speech, frowned slightly and stammered for a long time without being able to utter a complete sentence.
"What can I say? How could I refuse my charming little princess? Besides, who would bear to see our perfect inn chef suffer, my dear?"
Alastor, who seemed very eager to enter the Fire Gate, stood still, tapping his microphone cane idly with his fingers.
Wendigo's commotion successfully caught the attention of Lucifer, who was standing nearby.
The King of Hell stood silently for a while before pointing at the scarlet gentleman not far away with a strange expression and saying, "Isn't this guy... uh? Could it be that they're not actually partners? Is he your inn's head chef?"
Although his logic was coherent, Lucifer, whose speech was clearly somewhat incoherent, glanced at Hesker and Angel with a slightly disdainful expression.
Angel, who had been watching the whole thing with a smug, amused expression, thought: "Hmph, you'll find out~"
After uttering this statement, which was even more meaningful than the laughter of the broadcasting demon, the Spider Sinner even winked at the King of Hell, whose expression was quite bizarre.
"..."
……
Lucifer, feeling that the strange feeling he had just managed to grasp had vanished instantly, silently moved a little further away from Angel.
Before Alastor entered the fire gate, the entire rooftop was filled with a subtle atmosphere, like the prelude to some kind of ritual.
No one knows whether the broadcasting demon actually listened to the words of concern and warnings, or rather, probably no one in the world but himself could understand what Alastor was thinking.
All the noise vanished after he entered the mysterious white flame. The barrier the Dragon Girl used to prevent others from entering was as fragile as paper to the Broadcasting Demon.
As he passed through these restrictions, Alastor even clearly sensed a precise magic array that was almost materialized.
The demon, who hadn't blinked since entering the fire gate, strolled leisurely through the sea of fire, which resembled delicate flower petals, as if admiring a mural.
Alastor didn't really care to linger a little longer in this spectacular tunnel of flames, just as he enjoyed the endless novelty that ■■■ brought him.
Unfortunately, even for the devil, moments of happiness are fleeting.
Soon, white flames spread out from the blood-red Wendigo like wings.
The pure white before the demon from hell vanished in an instant.
Alastor, showing no emotion whatsoever, glanced indifferently at the white flames that had vanished completely behind him before taking in the scenery before him.
In fact, neither in life nor after death, Alastor had ever seen such a special place.
Above him was a hazy gray sky, and the ground was a surface of water so clean that it could reflect one's face, yet he could walk on the water as if it were flat ground.
...However, Alastor was more concerned about why the place was completely deserted.
Out of caution, the Broadcast Demon, who was new to the place, frowned and narrowed his eyes, taking a few steps straight ahead.
In that empty world, there was nothing but the sky and the water.
Aside from the crisp sound of water splashing as elegant as a deer's steps, the desolate world, so still it seemed even the wind had died, possessed an eerie vastness that would make even demons uneasy—
Until Alastor began to hear a distant song.