Everyone's sense of taste was different, so naturally, their experiences varied as well.
If Zesshi Zetsumei had to describe it, she would say the texture was somewhat jelly-like, slightly salty, with a faint metallic taste.
"I'm so full~"
Zesshi Zetsumei couldn't help licking the corner of her lips as a mild feeling of fullness settled in her stomach.
That was soon followed by an invigorating sensation.
It was almost as though she had taken some powerful tonic. Not only did she feel no fatigue whatsoever, but her entire body was brimming with energy.
"It's a shame it'll eventually be digested, though."
Zesshi Zetsumei spoke with a hint of regret as she rubbed her slightly rounded belly.
It would have been even better if it had gone somewhere else.
"You wouldn't be able to handle that."
Naohara, who had already entered Sage Mode, seemed to notice what Zesshi Zetsumei was thinking and chuckled softly.
Rather than backing down, Zesshi Zetsumei looked even more eager when she heard him.
"The more you say that, the more curious I get. Darling, how about we give it another try?"
"After all… we have plenty of time in every sense of the word."
If one phrase could describe Zesshi Zetsumei at that moment, it would probably be that she still wanted more.
After several hundred years, this was her first taste of forbidden fruit.
Zesshi Zetsumei felt as though she had already become somewhat addicted to that exhilarating rush of hormones.
She had never been particularly good at restraining herself in the first place.
Now that she had experienced the pleasure involved, controlling herself had become even harder.
With this sort of thing, there were only two possibilities. Either it never happened at all, or it happened countless times.
Zesshi Zetsumei was clearly the latter type.
"Da-me~"
Yet despite such an enticing invitation, Naohara refused without the slightest hesitation.
He raised a finger and lightly flicked the girl's fair forehead.
A little reminder to calm herself down.
"If you don't want to, then fine. But darling, why did you hit me? I'm very sensitive to pain, you know."
Zesshi Zetsumei hurriedly covered her forehead, sounding rather aggrieved.
...She was certainly good at pretending.
If Naohara hadn't known her for so long, he might genuinely have mistaken her for some delicate young woman.
"I barely used any strength, and you're telling me you're afraid of pain?"
"During our sparring over the past three years, at your own request, I've literally twisted your head off more than once."
Naohara rolled his eyes and spoke irritably.
Zesshi Zetsumei definitely had some S&M tendencies. What normal person would make such bizarre requests?
Then again, Naohara himself, who had half-indulged her requests as a way of venting his own aggression and stress, was not exactly in a position to judge.
In a certain sense, the two of them really were quite well matched.
"Eheh, fighting is fighting, and everyday life is everyday life. In front of my darling, aren't I just a weak little girl?"
At that, Zesshi Zetsumei's expression returned to normal.
She smiled faintly.
Then she naturally settled herself into Naohara's lap and began poking at his abdominal muscles with her small fingers. Combined with her angelic face, she actually looked rather cute.
"What? You really won't reconsider?"
Zesshi Zetsumei pouted and tried again, unwilling to give up.
It was obvious that she genuinely wanted to try.
"Da-me."
Naohara refused just as decisively as before.
"Ugh. Can you at least tell me why?"
Zesshi Zetsumei immediately pressed him for an explanation.
Being rejected was one thing, but she wanted to know the reason.
Judging from what had just happened, her darling clearly wasn't completely without desire for her. So why did he still refuse?
It certainly wasn't because he was incapable in that regard.
After all, even now, her lips and tongue were still slightly numb.
"Because if we actually went that far, I probably wouldn't want to let you return to the Theocracy afterward."
Naohara reached out a hand.
Zesshi Zetsumei obediently rested her chin in his palm and let him knead her cheeks, a pleased smile appearing on her face.
"So that's why…"
So he was taking her identity and position into consideration.
As long as there was any possibility that she was being used by others rather than acting purely according to her own will, he would not accept her.
Unless she completely severed ties with the Theocracy and walked away with nothing.
But was that really possible?
Zesshi Zetsumei asked herself the question, only to realize that even she did not know the answer.
Her childhood in the Theocracy had certainly not been pleasant because of her bloodline.
But it was equally undeniable that the Theocracy had done more good for her than harm.
Judge actions, not intentions.
The Theocracy might once have harbored malicious intentions toward her, but those intentions had remained just that. They had never actually been carried out.
And after her bloodline underwent an Ancestral Blood Awakening and her Talent awakened, the Theocracy had provided her with the best treatment it could offer in every respect.
Not to mention that she had personally watched the current generation of priests grow up. In a sense, she could even be considered their elder.
It truly was difficult to let go.
Conflict and unwillingness showed plainly on Zesshi Zetsumei's face.
She had finally found someone she wanted to mate with, only for the opportunity to slip through her fingers because of something like this.
She simply could not accept it.
"Don't think too much about it. You'll only make yourself more miserable."
Naohara tried to comfort her.
His rational side told him not to become too deeply entangled with Zesshi Zetsumei, ensuring that a momentary impulse would not create any uncontrollable complications.
Yet emotionally, he found it difficult to truly reject her pursuit and instead enjoyed the process.
Sometimes Naohara wondered whether he should simply allow himself to act a little more recklessly.
But Herohero's remark about "letting the little head control the big head" was still fresh in his memory.
Sometimes, self-restraint really was important.
After all, certain things either happened once or happened countless times.
In the end, Naohara decided it was better to simply let things take their natural course.
That was the fundamental reason he had always maintained an attitude of neither accepting nor rejecting Zesshi Zetsumei.
Just as Naraku had said before, the being known as Naohara was indeed full of contradictions.
"Ha! How am I supposed to not think about it?"
Zesshi Zetsumei immediately shot back, then bit her fingernail and sank into thought again.
Although she usually spent most of her time training and rarely gave serious thought to complicated problems, that did not mean she was stupid.
Perhaps the recent "brain nourishment" had helped, because Zesshi Zetsumei felt unusually clear-headed at the moment.
Her normally sluggish thoughts began racing.
Finally, under the guidance of her astonishing wisdom, a bold idea suddenly appeared in her mind.
Zesshi Zetsumei: Hey, I have a plan!
"Darling, I have an idea."
"If you're worried about all of that, why don't you just conquer the Theocracy and turn it into a vassal state of the Sorcerer Kingdom?"
?
What?
Naohara stared at the excited Zesshi Zetsumei in astonishment.
Good grief. She really said something like that as casually as if she were discussing the weather.
"We can cooperate from the inside and outside and carry out a decapitation strike. I'll hold off Captain of the Black Scripture, and you can deal with that old fossil."
"As long as we do it without anyone noticing, we can take over the Theocracy without losing a single soldier. Everything can remain normal on the surface, while you control things from behind the scenes."
"That way, darling, you won't have anything to worry about anymore, right?"
Zesshi Zetsumei wanted to preserve the Theocracy while still achieving her own goal.
After thinking it over repeatedly, she concluded that the real problem was still that old fossil, Surshana.
As long as Surshana could be brought under control, every other problem would resolve itself.
The more Zesshi Zetsumei considered it, the more feasible the plan seemed.
She had no particular faith in or respect for the Six Great Gods.
More importantly, Surshana was an Undead. None of his blood flowed through her veins, so it could hardly count as betraying her teachers or ancestors.
Wonderful!
She really was a Genius!
Zesshi Zetsumei immediately raised her chin in smug satisfaction.
Naohara: ...
You really are a Genius.
To be fair, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with Zesshi Zetsumei's plan.
That was assuming there really was only one God of Death.
Unfortunately, there were actually five other old monsters as well.
"I told you to stop thinking about this nonsense."
Naohara flicked Zesshi Zetsumei's forehead again.
If the Six Great Gods were truly that easy to deal with, there would have been no need for them to keep up this delicate pretense with one another.
Contracts might have existed from the moment they were signed for the sake of eventually being broken, but that day certainly was not now.
Naohara had always suspected that the Six Great Gods possessed some hidden trump card.
The previous incident involving the movements of the desert Demihumans had been an open scheme meant to test them.
And the result had been exactly as expected.
Not only had the Six Great Gods put on an impressive display of strength, but they had also turned his probing against him, publicly announcing the return of the God of Death and giving their followers an enormous morale boost.
And judging from the fact that they had taken the risk of gathering intelligence on Kuyō through faith, the Six Great Gods clearly were not content to simply maintain the status quo.
The claim that they could only survive through faith was nothing more than a smokescreen.
Naohara had never believed it.
Those old monsters were absolutely planning something else.
And the key to that plan was most likely Surshana.
Naohara certainly did not want Zesshi Zetsumei foolishly charging in and getting herself killed.
"Sigh. Fine."
Was he rejecting the idea because there was information she didn't know?
Zesshi Zetsumei thought about it for a while but could not come up with anything.
Still, she took his warning seriously.
After all, if Naohara genuinely wanted to harm her, he would have no reason to stop her.
Huh?
Did that mean he was worried about her?
At that thought, Zesshi Zetsumei's mood instantly improved.
"By the way, pass along one more message for me."
"For a while, Nazarick will temporarily withdraw from the world and deliberately cut off all contact with the outside. Be careful, and remember to leave yourself a way out."
"That applies not only to the Six Great Gods, but to you as well."
The Planar War was already very close.
It would probably begin within the next few days.
Considering they might lose contact for quite a long time afterward, Naohara felt it was necessary to notify the Six Great Gods in advance.
After all, compared to their previous loose alliance, which had always kept a certain distance between them, the appearance of Kuyō as a common threat had undoubtedly brought the two sides much closer.
According to the information provided by the NPCs of the Floating Castle, it had been confirmed that the Eight Greed Kings had died at the hands of Kuyō's creations.
Combined with the anomaly Naohara had previously sensed in the Great River of Souls, he had good reason to suspect there was a connection.
"A way out?"
Zesshi Zetsumei frowned slightly.
"…Forget it. I'll give you some insurance myself."
Naohara hesitated briefly before eventually extending a finger.
Under Zesshi Zetsumei's puzzled gaze, he touched her forehead.
A faint black mist spread outward.
A hideous dragon-shaped mark appeared on what had previously been her smooth forehead.
The Catastrophe Mark.
At that moment, Zesshi Zetsumei was marked by the World Disaster Torrent, her entire body surrounded by curses.
"Until we meet again, it will protect you from danger."
Catastrophe had no sense of justice, nor did it distinguish between good and evil.
A curse could also be a blessing.
Just as Naohara had once cursed Samirth in E-Rantel.
Naohara had now cursed Zesshi Zetsumei.
He cursed her to remain alive until the next time she saw him. During that period, the torrent of Catastrophe would clear a path for her.
"I don't really understand it, but thanks, darling~"
Zesshi Zetsumei used her hair to cover the mark on her forehead, then happily rubbed herself against Naohara while sitting in his arms.
"If I did absolutely nothing, I'd feel like a bit of a scumbag."
Naohara rubbed Zesshi Zetsumei's little belly, then stopped her mouth with his hand when she tried to kiss him.
"I'm a bit of a clean freak. Next time."
"Tsk."
Zesshi Zetsumei pouted.
After recalling the taste still lingering in her mouth, she decided that it really would be somewhat inappropriate and did not insist.
"By the way, should I look after that Clem for you?"
As though suddenly remembering something, Zesshi Zetsumei asked.
Clem...
Clementine.
It was a name from long ago.
Naohara realized it had already been more than three years since they had last seen each other. They had only maintained contact through messages.
It almost felt as though she had been deliberately avoiding him.
"Do whatever you want."
Naohara shook his head and said nothing more.
Whether it was Clem or Clementine, he had nothing in particular to say about it.
He wished he could buy osmanthus blossoms and share wine again, but it would never feel the same as the journeys of their youth.
He, Momonga, and Herohero were no longer the people they had been during those early adventuring days.
Their personalities had completely adapted to their current races.
The transformation was no less profound than being reborn.
If he were somehow returned to the scene of their first meeting, facing a Clementine who bore him ill will, Naohara doubted he would have the patience to play along with her anymore.
He would probably twist her head off immediately.
His core self had never changed, but his perception of himself had already shifted.
Zesshi Zetsumei nodded.
She had only remembered Clem by chance and asked about her in passing.
"Well then, I'm going to sleep, darling. Yawn~ I always get sleepy after eating my fill."
Zesshi Zetsumei stood up and stretched before wandering over to the edge of the tower, preparing to jump down and sleep in Naohara's room.
Whenever she came to the Sorcerer Kingdom, she usually stayed for several days.
By now, she had practically taken complete possession of Naohara's room.
At first, Naohara would still warn her about it from time to time, but eventually he simply stopped caring.
He only came to the Sorcerer Kingdom a few times a year anyway.
The room would otherwise remain empty, so if Zesshi Zetsumei wanted to stay there, she could.
Just before leaving, Zesshi Zetsumei suddenly stopped and turned around with a faint smile.
She quickly pulled out a pair of cat ears and cat paws.
After putting them on, she gave an adorable farewell.
"Meow~"
Then she jumped backward and disappeared from Naohara's sight.
"Heh. This girl really…"
She did this every single time.
There was no need to guess whose idea it had been.
Naohara chuckled softly.
This time, maybe he would leave [Dragonic Will] deactivated.
Just as Naohara was enjoying the breeze, the previously closed door opened once again.
"Naohara-nii."
Akemi slowly approached.
Before she could say anything else, however, her brows drew together.
As she breathed in, a scent reminiscent of heather drifted into her nose.
That smell...
Akemi's expression shifted slightly before an odd smile appeared on her face.
"Naohara-nii, did I come at a bad time~?"
...
Naohara: You already know the answer.