Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 360

Chapter 360

The moment Beili killed Ashera with her own hands, the Life-and-Death Contract took effect.

Pitch-black Chains coiled around her throat, tightening relentlessly.

A distant bell tolled.

She held Ashera in her arms, and in the instant they crossed into death together, a lengthy set of memories appeared in her mind.

They were her memories as the God of Dreams-

The previous God of Dreams had just fallen when she happened to be born within a bank of gray fog.

Oh, right. She had another name:

Hereshte.

But since the divine body named “Hereshte” no longer existed, she might as well continue calling herself Beili.

She had been called that for as long as she could remember at the orphanage. She liked the name too.

After all, Bartholomew was already enough of a mouthful. Adding Hereshte on top of that was simply asking too much of her.

A ray of Light descended into the gray fog.

It fell upon her.

Then it transformed into an apricot-colored dress, like morning light blended with mist, draping softly over her body.

[From this day forward, you are the God of Dreams.]

A voice from Heaven guided her.

“Who are you?” she asked, bewildered.

[The Light that made you a God.]

At the time, she had scoffed and promptly gotten up to leave. In the blink of an eye, however, the Light seized her and dragged her into Heaven.

Calling it Heaven was generous. It was more like a “training camp.”

Aside from her, there was an entire group of bizarre-looking Children.

Of course, after arriving in Heaven, she had also turned into a child.

And, well… she looked just as bizarre.

She later learned that those rude Children were all Gods.

The God of Wisdom, the God of War, the God of the Four Seasons, the God of Beauty, the God of Love… Whatever concept one could think of, there was a corresponding God for it.

“Good heavens, what is that? She has three pairs of wings!”

Someone had appeared behind her and was lifting the wings on her back with all six hands at once.

“Hey, do you even have eyes?”

Someone else tried to part the feathers covering her eyes.

For a while, the entire place was incredibly noisy-and incredibly rude.

Looking back now, however, Beili suspected that the Light had turned all the Gods into irritating Children with childlike bodies, devoid of desire, to prevent them from falling for one another during training.

It certainly worked.

All she had felt at the time was overwhelming irritation.

Fortunately, the Light transformed into a barrier a moment later, separating the Children who had crowded around her and pushing each of them back to their assigned place.

[This is the God of Dreams,] the Light announced.

[She will govern dreams, whether pleasant dreams or nightmares.]

Dreams.

Yes, dreams.

Her divine domain was limited to dreams.

It did not sound especially impressive… Fine, it truly was not impressive. Among all the Gods, she had always been one of the least noticeable.

The only one she could really talk to was the God of Destiny.

But that was fine. She did not like dealing with the other Gods anyway.

As soon as the “training” ended, she left Heaven and returned to her original form.

Once she was out of Heaven, she followed the basic requirements for becoming a God. First, she built a Divine Temple. Then, she created a group of Divine Attendants loyal to her.

She also created a world.

Not that she managed it much.

In truth, Gods did not actually need to do anything. Even if mortals had no faith in them, the Gods could remain comfortably in their divine seats without consequence.

Beili remembered that when she had first become a God, she had spent a pleasant stretch of time in her Divine Temple, even without interacting with any of the other Gods.

Until the God of Destiny arrived…

…

Looking back on it now, the beginning of everything could be traced to the day the God of Destiny appeared at her Divine Temple.

That day, she had been reclining as usual, lazily watching the Divine Attendants laugh and play in the plaza.

Everything was perfectly harmonious.

Then, without warning, an overwhelming presence descended.

Before the Divine Attendants noticed anything, she lightly spread her six wings and vanished. In the blink of an eye, she reappeared outside the Divine Temple.

The God of Destiny was leaning against one of the white pillars outside.

That alone was highly unusual.

Gods never set foot in one another’s territory. Doing so was an offensively rude intrusion, and she had every right to drive the trespasser out by force.

Besides, this particular God never brought good news.

Still, since they had gotten along reasonably well during “training,” she had been patient enough to ask,

“What are you-”

She was cut off before she could finish.

“Destiny has told me-”

The God of Destiny turned to face her.

There was no distinction between pupil and sclera in those eyes, only unbroken blackness. Even so, she could feel that gaze settle upon her.

“You will lose your divine office,” the God said.

“…”

Lose her divine office.
As expected, this particular visitor never brought good news.

And there could be no worse news than this.

Looking back on how she had felt at the time, Beili remembered being utterly thunderstruck.

But as a God herself, she couldn’t afford to lose her composure. She had to remain elegant and calm.

So she forced herself to appear unruffled and asked slowly, her disbelief hidden beneath an air of nonchalance,

“Oh… I’ll lose my divine office? Why?”

After all, a divine office was the most secure position imaginable these days. Even if she accidentally destroyed a few worlds, it would be no great matter.

Unless…

Unless she perished like the Previous God of Dreams.

“Because you will fall in love with a Demon,” the God of Destiny told her. “You will consort with darkness, and you will fall into Hell.”

“…”

That was even worse than perishing.

She had gone very quiet at the time, though she was rolling her eyes so hard that the corner of her mouth kept twitching.

During their “training” in Heaven, Light had not only taught them how to conduct themselves as dignified and elegant Gods, but had also emphasized that one particular group posed a grave danger to every God: the sinister, hideous Demons of Hell!

Hell was every bit as dreadful as Heaven was wonderful.

Why would she ever abandon a perfectly good divine office and fall into Hell for a Demon?

“Fall in love with a Demon?”

Her tone was amused as she flatly denied it.

“That will never happen.”

After making that declaration, however, she hesitated. What if a Demon used some kind of bewitching magic on her, leaving her unable to control her own heart…?

While she contemplated the possibility with a grim expression, the God of Destiny made no attempt to argue. The figure vanished and left her domain in the blink of an eye.

Only then did every Divine Attendant in the Divine Temple finally react, searching everywhere for their God.

But even after searching for a long time, they couldn’t find her.

At the time, she was actually busy with something else: forging her heart into a weapon capable of killing a Demon.

It was the perfect solution to both problems.

Not only would it ensure that her Divine Heart could never be bewitched, but if a Demon tried anything, she could send him straight back to Hell.

She gave herself a thumbs-up for her ingenuity.

After successfully forging her heart into the Red Dagger, she returned to the Divine Temple with her mind at ease and waited for the Demon foretold by the God of Destiny to appear.

No Demon appeared, but she did notice that turning her heart into a weapon had made her temperament increasingly aloof and eccentric.

But that small side effect hardly mattered. Her personality had never been particularly pleasant to begin with.

After waiting a great deal longer, a Demon finally arrived. Riding a black dragon, he swaggered openly into the world she had created.

And when she appeared, he presented her with several things she didn’t even want to dignify with the word “gifts.”

They were simply too appalling to look at.

Clearly, she and the Demon had a severe difference in taste.

Then the Demon stood before her and declared in unison with the three noisy skulls behind him that she would become his wife someday. Yet she didn’t feel the slightest hint of affection.

Not even a trace.

Only curiosity.

So she devised a way to trap the Demon inside her world.

As long as she still possessed divine power, the Demon would be unable to leave the disk.

But the moment her method of imprisoning him took effect, her Divine Heart was stolen.

Her Divine Heart vanished.

It contained nearly all her divine power as the God of Dreams.

She couldn’t sense its location.

She panicked completely.

…

Could destiny truly control her?

To be honest, even then, she had only half believed the God of Destiny’s words.

The God of Destiny was a God, and every word spoken carried divine power. But she was a God too… Oh, fine. After her trip to the Human Realm, she could now be considered half a God at best.

She had only a body, but no heart.

Still, at least her Divine Heart remained intact somewhere. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to sit unharmed within the Divine Temple.

That was right.

As she sat upon the throne in the Divine Temple, a thought suddenly came to her. To be forgotten by destiny, she would have to disappear just as her Divine Heart had.

Yes. She had to disappear.

But only her divine body needed to vanish.

As long as the Divine Heart she had forged into the Red Dagger remained undestroyed, then in a sense, the position of the God of Dreams would still be hers.

And so…

After swiftly informing every Divine Attendant that they would be exiled to the Human Realm, she exhausted the last of her divine power to summon flames capable of burning all things to ash.

The divine body of the God of Dreams and the Divine Temple were swallowed together by a sea of vivid crimson fire.

…

“…”

Icy fingertips slowly twined around the strands of hair hanging at her side.

The black mist surrounding her, thick as ribbons, silently curled around her ankles.

Someone seemed to be laughing.

The voice sounded as though it had been scoured by gravel, the low chuckle deep and hoarse.

“Welcome to Hell, my dear Little Butterfly.”