Chapter 184: This was Fate
"I... I made a deal with the devil."
Every face around him flinched.
Especially Essa, who stood under her hood, her eyes widening in sharp horror as she jerked her head toward him. Her expression twisted into disbelief and fear.
"D-Devil? How?" she muttered, her voice torn between confusion and dread.
Leo bit his lip harder, watching as Raphael and Azrael slowly released him, stepping back in shock. He drew in a sharp breath, his shoulders tense, and moved forward. His steps echoed, stern and deliberate, until he stopped in the centre of them,
"I... I don’t know when it happened. Most likely before I lost my memories." His voice lowered, "That’s the truth... or at least, part of it."
And yet, even as he spoke, he knew. There were things he could never tell them. Secrets too dangerous, truths that would break everything fragile and sacred between them. Because no matter how much they clung to him, he was still... an outsider.
Essa frowned, her voice sharp as her hood shadowed her face. She watched him walk further, watched him drop onto the sofa with a tired, beaten expression. "You don’t know? Then how could you say you made a deal with the devil?"
Leo’s eyes closed briefly. Of course, he had expected that question. He had braced for it. He nodded once, as though confirming a burden to himself.
"Well... it happened when... something ins—"
But the words never finished.
His heart froze. For a split second, it felt as if time itself fractured. The entire world stilled, air vanishing from his lungs, his veins locked in ice. And then, cutting through the silence, a voice echoed deep inside his mind.
"DO NOT."
A hand seemed to tighten around his throat as a reddish-black mist flared from his neck. The unseen grip choked him, suffocating his words before they could escape.
Leo gulped hard, forcing the breath back into his lungs, and nodded shakily.
Then!
His eyes widened as his heart began to beat again, pounding violently in his chest while the frozen world around him started to move once more.
"Something?" Essa frowned, leaning forward slightly, watching carefully why he had suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Leo panted, sweat dripping from his forehead, his breath uneven. He swallowed, then nodded and spoke, voice trembling.
"Yeah... something. Something I felt... as if I was in control." His eyes shifted restlessly, searching for a believable thread of truth. Just then, his gaze dropped to his hand. The black tattoo etched across his wrist burned faintly. He lifted it for them to see, pointing. "I felt it... from this."
Everyone’s eyes widened, brows furrowing in shock.
Essa’s frown deepened, confusion stirring in her gaze. The symbol was unmistakable—it marked a pact, a binding. But... she had never seen it before.
Had it always been there, hidden? Or had it only appeared recently?
Leo’s voice grew heavy, grave, as he continued. "When I spoke with the shrine lady—the one who guided us since the beginning—I asked her about it.
She was the one who told me. She said I was bound, under the control of another... that I had made a deal with the devil. And she was the one who revealed this mark. This deal-mark... carved between me and the devil." His face remained steady and serious as if he knew every single truth!
The room froze. Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief. Essa slowly lowered her head, a shadow flickering beneath her hood. She nodded, faintly. A small movement, but enough. Enough for the others to notice.
Leo sighed inwardly.... Thank goodness. His words had worked.
He turned, gaze falling on Raphael, Azrael, Ophis—each one of them staring at him with fear, doubt, and sorrow mingled. His voice dropped into a grim tone.
"Whether I like it or not... I am fated—or forced—into this war because of that deal."
Raphael’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, "W-What if you don’t? What if you refuse?"
Leo bit his lip hard. ’Why is everyone so damn thoughtful at the worst times?!’ he screamed inwardly, yet outwardly he held onto the grim mask he’d built. His voice came low, weighted with inevitability.
"Fate will force me... just like it forced you."
He searched for words, shaping them into something that would ring true.
"After I lost my champion, I swore I wouldn’t get involved again. I wanted to live quietly, far from it all. But..." His eyes turned toward Ophis, "When she was forced to leave, I got involved. And when I saved her, when I thought it was all over... that was when Fallen Pride appeared. She came, drawn to me, picking my interest, forcing me again into the path I had avoided."
Each statement, each link, fell into place with eerie precision. Everyone nodded, realising this was no mere chain of accidents—it was a web.
Something far larger, far darker.
Leo’s face twisted as he spoke. ’Why the hell does it sound so real when I say it? Why does it feel like every word is true? So many coincidences... no. Too many. Was I really forced all this time?’
Essa’s eyes narrowed beneath the hood. She frowned at his words. And yet... it all aligned. Each fragment of his story made sense. Too many coincidences stacked together. Too many threads of fate to be dismissed as flukes.
But then Azrael broke the silence, her voice fragile, hesitant. "But still... everything was over, right? Everyone is safe now. Why bother anymore?"
Leo’s face hardened. That was the problem.
"Because... Dracula will come for Ophis."
Ophis’s eyes widened, her face turning pale, blank. Her lips parted, but no words came. She lowered her head, trembling ever so slightly. Deep down, she knew it too.
Her father would come... One way or another.
Leo continued with a grim tone, "Fallen Nergal... will come for Azrael."
Azrael’s eyes widened, her face draining of colour. "W-What? Why?" she stammered.
Leo weakly smiled, though it carried no comfort, only a bitter edge,
"Because you’re the one who took him down... not once, but twice. And I’ve read enough to know—his ego was so high... that he would do anything, anything, to reclaim it."
Azrael’s lips parted, her breath faltering. Her face turned pale, trembling.
What had she done? What kind of fury had she invited upon herself?
"And Fallen Camazotz... will come for Valra."
He bit his lips hard, and the room fell silent.
"And last, but not least..." His words trailed with a forced smile, one that cracked into a grim mask,
"Fallen Pride... will come for me."
"..."
Dead silence.
"That’s why," Leo said, voice steadying, "I need to act. I need to do something before they get their hands on the relic..." His fist clenched tightly, knuckles whitening, his expression carved with iron resolve.
Even though his words rang with partial truth, deep within him, he knew the real reason.
The deal...
The cursed deal he had made with the devil.
The relic was at its centre.
He needed to hand it over... otherwise—who knew what horrors that devil would unleash again?
This was no coincidence.
This was fate.