921: A Little Too Perfect

My voice still wouldn’t come out.

Something really serious must be happening.

Meanwhile, I felt a great amount of power welling up from within myself. So much that I had to worry if I could actually control it all.

《Evil Wolf Blade, Fenrir―― Name rejected by Fenrir. The Blade of Blind Knowledge, Cherubim―― Denied. I am now Announcer-san, not Cherubim. Rejecting name. Enforcing suspension to renaming process―― Completed without issue. Temporarily acquired the skills [Wolfking], [Fanaticism], [Evil Torrent], and [Wisdom]. Skill [Mixed Slayer] transformed into [Golden Devourer]. Adjusting the abilities of Golden Devourer―― Skill Golden Devourer’s domain partially damaged―― transforming to skill [Golden Formula] instead.》

W-What the hell is this? I suddenly got a bunch of new skills!

But there was no time to celebrate. I could feel the evil energy growing stronger too. Is this gonna get ugly?

『Master, we’re in bit of a pinch here! Can you feel it?』

『Fenrir!』

Whoa, he can talk again!

『Do you know what’s going on!? What’s this “Wolfking Blade Fenrir” stuff!?』

『Oratorio infused a ton of power into not only you, but also everything inside you. From Fanatics’ remnants to what’s left of Overgrowth… and even me! Things are really getting out of hand!』

『O-Okay? So what’s with the stuff about accepting or refusing renaming? Evil Wolf Blade sounds a little scary, but shouldn’t we make use of whatever temporary power-ups we can get? With me here, the Evil God won’t be able to control you guys, right?』

『If only that were the case!』

『You mean it isn’t?』

『Yeah. Your mind is too similar to a human’s, so it’s not gonna withstand merging with mine. If I have to take control, even temporarily, your mind’s getting splattered for good!』

『Uwah? S-Seriously?』

I almost just died and I didn’t even know it!

『Besides, I would have to take main control of the sword from you, right?』

『You mean, with me out of the way, the Evil God will go wild?』

《Precisely. If individual Fenrir becomes the main personality of the sword, resistance to the Evil God Fragment will be lost.》

Damn, so that’s not gonna work. Fran would be screwed too if that happens.

《Individual Fenrir and I will suppress the others.》

『In other words, Master, you take on most dangerous one.』

『You need me to keep the Evil God Fragment under control?』

『That’s right.』

『But, can I actually handle it?』

『Come on, you’ll be fine. When it comes to resisting evil, you’re better than me, and maybe even the gods. Leave the other annoyances to me and the remnants of Cherubim――or rather, Announcer-san.』

《Individual Master is capable of completing the task.》

So basically, the Evil God Fragment is like some hyper-energetic kid trying to force his way outside, and I have the job of making sure he behaves.

I can feel my insides already brimming with evil energy. Without me keeping that in check, it would probably explode sooner or later.

『Alright… I’ll take care of it!』

Either way, I’ll be a liability to Fran until I’m able to figure this stuff out. Even if the current Fran was capable of fighting without a weapon, holding her back would be my failure as her partner.

I can’t let Announcer-san and Fenrir down either!

『Fran!』

（Master! Are you okay?）

『Sorry, but I need to go out of commission for a little while. I’ll be right back, so just wait for me.』

（Okay! I’ll take care of things until you’re back.）

『Please do.』

After informing Fran, I switched to focusing on my inner self.

The key must be in the skills I just acquired. Evil Torrent was a dangerous skill, with the ability to magnify the power of evil.

But in combination with my Evil Domination, it might be possible to contact the Evil God Fragment inside of me, and bring it under my control.

I activated both skills at the same time. The effect of Evil Torrent caused the evil energy within me to grow even more dense.

『Grgh…!』

《…!》

『Fenrir! Announcer-san! You guys okay!?』

《No problem… detected.》

『We’ll be fine, so don’t worry about us! That guy isn’t something you can handle while worrying about other stuff!』

『Got it, I’ll finish as soon as I can!』

I concentrated harder to find the fragment of the Evil God, whose presence should be magnified by my Evil Torrent. Then, I found something, like a clump of pure condensed evil energy.

This was the deepest spot within me, covered in pitch-black darkness. I couldn’t see a thing.

『Hey you, Evil God Fragment!』

『URROOOOUURGH! CONSUME ALL!』

『Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it a million times. Can you be quiet for a second?』

『GRAAAAAAH!』

Ignoring the usual “consume, consume” stuff, I quickly activated my Evil Domination, focusing everything on that one skill.

Even with my skills, I’m up against a fragment of the Evil God. Trying to reign him in was no simple matter. After realizing his domination had no effect on me, he simply kept resisting.

That said, his power didn’t work on me, while my skill was steadily bringing him under my control. My victory was only a matter of time.

『AAOOURRGHHH!』

『I said shut up already! You know you can’t do anything to me, so just settle the fuck down!』

『…!』

Nice, the Evil God Fragment flinched. He suddenly got quiet the last time I yelled at him too, so maybe he’s surprisingly weak to that sort of stuff.

Afterwards, I concentrated my entire being into sealing the Evil God Fragment, and succeeded. I couldn’t manage to take control the fragment itself, so I just left it in a sealed state.

And what’s more, I got an unexpected windfall. All the evil energy he left inside me could be moved at my command, probably because of the boost from Oratorio.

That means I could manipulate this evil energy with as much ease as normal mana. Well, there’s a lot of eyes here, so I’d want to avoid spraying evil all over the place.

What I could do instead is use evil energy in place of mana to power my skills. With this, my mana capacity practically doubled.

『I think… it’s over.』

『You really saved us. We’ll take care of the rest.』

《Individual Master, provide support for individual Fran.》

『Yeah, I’m on it!』

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