The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss-Chapter 246: Conversation with the Saint

We walked through the forest following the leadership of the "heroes" and obviously everything went wrong. To start with, there were so many leeches that they spent almost 3 hours pulling them all off while moaning in pain, which was entertaining at first, but soon became monotonous.

While they were removing the leeches, I decided it was a good opportunity to give some attention to my wonderful shadows. I’m so strong that they’ve lost their prominence since I didn’t need them in the fights I was having.

However, now I can use them for torture, just as I used the sand worms on Vanessa, but I don’t want to repeat the torture. I want to give each of my bullies something special, just as they gave me something "special" to remember them by.

After they removed the leeches, they had another shitty idea to follow a denser and more closed-off forest, obviously they were attacked by giant bats that avoided me and the saint because we were too strong, but focused on the heroes.

They dealt with the bats relatively well and we continued through the dense forest, facing many insect-type monsters. It seems the dungeon itself has this theme.

Unlike the previous one I went to, which had a more forest-like theme with wolves and snakes as monsters.

After 7 hours of walking, I decided to tell everyone to take a break and gave them a hint about the direction, telling them to stop going in the complete opposite direction of the correct location. They stopped and started setting up a base using earth magic.

It ended up being quite good. It has a great size and walls for defense, but since it’s made of reinforced earth and stone by mana, if a strong monster appears, it will collapse with one blow.

In my opinion, it would be better to erect a barrier with magic and sleep on the ground or in the trees, but since they’re idiots, they think sleeping in this place is safer just because it has slightly more comfort.

Setting that aside, I went to talk to the saint. The shadow insects I infiltrated into her body a long time ago have made incredible progress, manipulating her body from the inside without being noticed.

They practically transformed her body into a dwelling and even multiplied there, which I didn’t know they could do, but they surprisingly managed to accomplish.

"W-What do you want to talk to me about, P-Pandora?" The saint speaks with nervousness as I take her outside the small fortress, leaving us alone.

"I just want to chat a bit, we’re both teachers, is there a problem with me wanting to talk?" I say, leading her to an increasingly isolated location.

"Rosaline, could you help me get into the church? I want... hmm... let’s say, to have a greater connection with the divine," I say with a "gentle" and peaceful smile.

"..."

"I’m sorry, but I won’t do that, Pandora," she speaks with courage, the first time since I’ve known her. She’s never had much courage when looking at me, so seeing her being brave and not trembling in her voice is slightly surprising.

"Okay," I say, leaving her surprised.

"You know, Rosaline, I’ve heard impressive things about those who bear the title of saint. They have a monstrous vitality comparable to high-level monsters," I say, wandering a bit.

"W-Well... it’s true..."

"I think that’s amazing. It means that as long as you don’t lose your head and have mana, you won’t die. Truly impressive," I say, complimenting her.

"H-Haha, yes, it’s something incredible... w-wait, why are you talking about this?" She notices as I smile maliciously.

"From here, no one would hear either of us scream. How curious, isn’t it?" I approach her as she tries to back away, but ends up with her back against a tree.

"W-Wait, please wait!!" She speaks nervously as I grab her by the throat, pinning her against the tree. Honestly, I don’t have much against the saint.

I don’t like her, and she undoubtedly had a hand in my death, but that’s how politics work. She just discarded a faulty piece, just as I do. I’m not a hypocrite to not see that.

Clearly, I hate her for that, but my hatred for her is not equal to the hatred I have for the heroes.

"H-Mmm??" I kiss her, surprising her, and deepen the kiss as she becomes confused.

Crack.

"..." She looks shocked as my hand pierces her abdomen, entering inside. She can’t even scream in pain because I’m kissing her while forcefully crushing her internal organs.

It’s hot and humid, an ironically perfect environment for insects to live and make a home.

"..." She cries in pain as I move my hands inside and touch the small colony of shadow insects that now reside in her body. I pull one out, taking my bloodied hand out of her.

’They’ve changed...’ I was curious if they had changed as well. All my shadows that have been with someone have undergone changes over time, adjusting to the person in question and having variations.

I look at the saint, who falls to the ground, clutching her belly, which has a large hole.

"T-These are..." She looks terrified at the ground, seeing some black insects along with her pulled-out intestines.

"Yes, they are insects," I confirm, analyzing the small insect in my hands, comparing it to the memories I have of its original version. The saint is more resilient than I thought, as she’s not screaming in pain.

"..." The saint looks with disgust at the ground as blood drips from her mouth due to the injury.

"Y-You! I-It was you!" She looks at me with terror.

"Yes, it was me," I lick my hand, savoring her blood.

"Hmm, how delicious!" I say, surprised by the great taste. It was a real surprise that she was so tasty.

"Y-You monster! Abomination!" She yells with little courage as she heals the injury with magic, showing her incredible vitality, as a normal person would have passed out with such a large wound in the abdomen.

"Be careful with what you say, Rosaline. You don’t want them to devour your brain, do you?" I say to instill fear in her. She shivers, feeling the urgency.

Just because I don’t hate her too much is why I don’t kill her and send her to my universe. For the saint, her title and position are everything she has, and I’m slowly taking that away from her.

With the progress in the modifications to her body, soon she will no longer be human and will automatically lose the title of saint, losing all the powers that come with the title.

"W-What do you want from me!"

"That’s better. That’s how it should have been from the beginning, Saint Rosaline. What I want is quite simple. I want to enter the church, and you’re going to help me."

"And if you think you can remove those insects from you, know that you’re very mistaken. Perhaps in the past it would have been possible, but now they practically have a symbiotic relationship with you."

"They need you to survive, but... you also need them to continue living. The moment you remove them all from your body, you will die. Your whole body will stop functioning completely."

This is one of the things that surprises me about the evolution of these shadows. They have fused with Rosaline’s body, similar to the Isabel who has that dragon I gave her.

That dragon is intimately linked to her shadows, practically a perfect fusion, and now these insects are also fused with the saint’s body, creating an extremely complex symbiosis.

It’s also similar to the sharks and wolves I had left in the shadow of my dear and lovely Zephyra. They had also merged to a certain extent with her shadows.

"W-When did you do this!" She questions, getting up from the ground.

"A while ago. Don’t take it personally, or do if you want, I don’t care. Just know that your life is in my hands, and you’ll help me with what I want."

"...Why are you doing this!" She questions as I approach her, looking at her with arrogance.

"Because I can, and no one is going to stop me."

"D-Do you think you’ll get away with this! I-If I tell the kingdom, M-Mikael Calamitas will be summoned, and he’ll kill you as a traitor!" The saint tries to use the authority of the church to have Mikael come and kill me.

"Urk." I grab her throat, piercing it with my nails.

"Go ahead, I’d love for Mikael to come fight me. In fact, that’s the plan. Mikael and I already have a fight to the death scheduled," I say with a smile that terrifies her even more as my fingers enter her throat.

"Did you know that magma is very painful to have inserted into your body?" When I say this, she feels the flow of mana and shakes her head desperately, already knowing what I’m talking about.

"If I release the magma now, it will flow down your esophagus, melting the flesh until it reaches the stomach, where it will start burning your organs, melting everything quite quickly."

"..." I’m hit by something and thrown a little distance, quickly realizing it’s light magic and sacred magic.

’Blood...’ Blood drips from my mouth. It seems I underestimated the saint too much, but even the most cowardly of rats will bite if threatened enough.

"P-Pandora, if I call the heroes here, you know we could defeat you, right? They may not have experience, but with my support and leadership, we can win!" Rosaline speaks with little confidence.

"Why do you think I kissed you?" I question with the most disturbing smile I can make. She soon falls to her knees, clutching her throat.

"Y-You..." She freezes completely, breathing with difficulty.

"I poisoned you. I hope you enjoyed my kiss, because know that my sweet kisses are reserved for those I love. All that’s left for you is a poisonous kiss," I say, approaching and kicking her.

"Daring to defy me, even knowing those insects in your body can kill you, but your daring is of no use against my meticulous planning."

"..."

"Are you trying to heal yourself? Hahahaha, how funny," I laugh at her. I used what I learned from Velvet. This is the biggest advantage of poisoning others using only mana instead of magic.

Curing this will be very difficult, so difficult that she’ll have to maintain all her focus on the healing if she really wants to be cured.

"Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I’ll leave you here and give you time to think. I’ll ask you another time if you accept taking me to the church."

The church is very strict. Truly entering it requires a selection that I wouldn’t be accepted into.

"But think about it carefully, okay? After all, next time... I might make you die and only realize you’re dead after some centuries. Hahahaha!" I say, leaving and leaving her there to heal herself.

This is another trick I’m trying, so it was an empty threat. I still can’t make someone’s perception slow down so much that a scene would take years to pass, but it’s not 100% impossible, so maybe I can do it or just give up because it’s not that useful, besides causing slow suffering.

After all, having your head ripped off, but seeing the scene so slowly that it seems it never passes must be terribly painful for the mind that will see the head being taken off so ridiculously slowly, driving them insane.

Anyway, I have a lot of time to convince the saint. I still need her alive, so killing her is just a lie. If I kill her, I won’t have anyone who would accept to take me to the church and have the authority to go to the important parts.

And I want her alive after I take her title, so that she always remembers what she lost.