Book Eater

Chapter 250: Ominous Identity (3)

Theo didn’t think that Gluttony was exaggerating when it spoke of the East Continent being in Lust’s hands. If masters like Theo couldn’t stand that temptation for more than a minute, ordinary humans would fall with a gesture.

Shim Samho must wear the cotton veil to suppress that mind control. Or it might just be something to induce a sense of safety, just like with Theo. Either way, it was an insidious ability.

However, Theo was more concerned with what Gluttony said.

Shim Samho—no, Lust might’ve got her hands on this empire? Is she a grimoire that seeks power?

- You are half right, half wrong. For Lust, power isn’t a purpose but a means to an end. She always forms a power base in order to carry out the purpose of her existence. I will describe it in detail later. Right now, I need to deal with her.

... Okay, I’ll leave it to you.

A human didn’t have a place in a conversation between two of the Seven Sins. Just like how Pride had treated Theo as a monkey, there was no way that Lust didn’t look down on humans.

Still, there was no need for Theo to provoke her.

As such, Theo remained silent, and Gluttony spoke.

- Your behavior doesn’t seem to have changed. This body is just a terminal?

- Well, true. I can’t use it anymore because of your host.

Shim Samho—no, Lust giggled as she traced the hole in her chest with a bloody hand.

Her body had been damaged by the 7th Circle spell, Shock Bound. The shockwave that hammered into her body couldn’t be blocked with just fleshly durability. It would pulverize rocks and bend iron. As such, the attack spell had certainly destroyed the woman’s body.

Pride would’ve restored the injury in an instant, but Lust didn’t have that kind of ability.

However, Gluttony coldly shot down Lust’s complaints.

- Don’t be condescending. It was a preemptive attack. Didn’t you and I form a pact of non-aggression?

- Ah, that is true. I didn’t think it was your host, so let’s end it here. You know that I don’t have any direct combat skills, right?

- Hmm.

Gluttony fell silent for a moment. In any case, Lust’s true body wasn’t here, and it was dangerous to be hostile to a person who had taken control of an empire.

Additionally, the Seven Sins had originally been designed to avoid being hostile to one another. Pride and Gluttony’s disagreements came about because of their contradictory natures, but Lust was usually neutral with all of the Seven Sins.

- This is the only time.?

Gluttony balanced the pros and cons and took a step back.

Lust’s, which were as red as blood, twisted in a teasing smirk.

- Indeed, you understand quickly, Gluttony. But it’s too bad. I thought I could finally get some decent seed after a long time.

“Uh!”

Theo felt a heat rising in him as Lust glanced at his lower body. To think that his body would react to her with just a look? The mental interference from a myth-grade existence was truly terrible. If someone other than Theo had been tempted like that, they wouldn’t have hesitated. Fortunately, it wasn’t at the same level as before. However, the loss of his reason was a truly terrible feeling.

Lust asked Gluttony.

- By the way, why did you come to the East Continent? Didn’t you say that you had given up on shamanism?

- It was an accident.

- Accident?

Lust looked bewildered as Gluttony explained.

- I was caught in a random space transfer. I never imagined that I would be moved to the East Continent.

- Aha! I knew you wouldn’t have come by yourself.?

Lust nodded before looking down at her broken body. It was still moving, but Theo’s blow had broken it beyond repair. It was gradually shutting down, as evidenced by Lust’s voice becoming increasingly weaker.

She shrugged.

- I’m reaching my limit. I’m sorry, but please take care of this. I don’t have any convenient features like destroying evidence.

- Are you going to come again?

- No, this person is your host, so I don’t want to touch him. If you’re thinking about coming to the capital, then I will meet you again, Gluttony. Human, if you change your mind, you can always contact me.?

Lust’s coy whisper hung in the air as Shim Samho’s body collapsed like a broken puppet.

Once its connection with Lust’s true self was cut off, it returned to being an ordinary body. It had perished the moment Theo’s strike hit it. Shim Samho’s dead body could no longer capture Theo’s eyes.

“Sigh...” Theo sighed as he looked around at the bloody room. “In the end, the cleanup is left to me.”

- I will start telling you the story as soon as you are done.

Why did Gluttony’s words sound so spiteful? The dead body of a naked woman and blood spattered across the ceiling and floor would be impossible to explain to the servants. It looked like a murder scene.

Theo summoned flames with a tired sigh and got started.

***

It took him an hour to clean the room of all the bloodstains and remove the stench.

It didn’t consume a lot of magic power, but the mental strain of meeting Lust had taken a toll on him. It was like he had used Umbra to his limits.

He slumped into a chair and murmured, “Hah, I still can’t stand against real monsters.”

In the past, Pride had overwhelmed him with strength, and now, Lust had just suppressed him mentally. The memory of his body trying to escape from Lust’s control was terrible, and he didn’t want to think about it again.

Gluttony woke up as soon as the cleaning finished.

- User, are you ready to hear the story?

“... Go ahead.”

Theo was tired but he had no intention of resting. At the very least, he wanted to know what power that Lust of the Seven Sins had.

As Theo’s blurred eyes grew clear, Gluttony started to go through Lust’s information.

- The collection production type grimoire, Lust. As you can tell, she has no direct combat ability. She uses an irresistible mental dominance to place a subordination instinct in her intercourse partner. She can be called a type of queen bee, with an instinct to reproduce.

“She brainwashes them by having sex?”

- It is similar. The other person submits to Lust’s command of their own will. He will be loyal enough to devote his life, even if he knows he is being manipulated. Once applied, this brainwashing can’t be released, so it is the highest level ability.

Theo felt goosebumps rise on his arms. To think that even Gluttony, who stored knowledge from the Age of Mythology, asserted that this brainwashing ability couldn’t be lifted...

If Theo hadn’t been able to regain his sanity, he would’ve become Lust’s slave. If she had this kind of ability, her lack of combat capability wasn’t an obstacle at all. This was comparable to Pride’s feeding evolution and Gluttony’s predation.

At the same time, Theo had a question. “Gluttony, I was wondering one thing.”

- Um?

“What is Lust’s purpose? What is it trying to accomplish with these two functions—sexual intercourse and brainwashing?”

Pride tried to generate the ultimate creature by eating all creatures and absorbing their qualities. Meanwhile, Gluttony’s purpose was to collect magic knowledge with its predation ability, so it saved rare artifacts in its body to achieve this purpose. As such, the powers of the Seven Sins were directly linked to their purposes of existence.

If so, what were Lust’s powers for?

It seemed Gluttony hadn’t expected Theo’s question, as it paused for a moment before answering.

- It is within the acceptable range. To be as clear as possible, Lust’s existence is to become the ultimate womb.

“... The ultimate womb?”

- That’s right.

The ultimate womb…?

Theo looked down at his left palm. The tongue protruded and moved slowly.

- Lust’s ability to seduce and brainwash others through sexual intercourse is a by-product of reaching the end. It is possible for Lust to collect genetic information from an organism she has sex with and store it separately.

“So, it is the same ability as Superbia.”

- No, it is similar but significantly different.?

Gluttony denied it decisively. If Pride took on the characteristics of the creatures it fed on, then Lust took advantage of it through reproductive behavior. However, there was a big difference between the two abilities.

-The ultimate creature... As you say, two of the Seven Sins have the same goal, but the method is different. If Superbia wants to reach it with its own body, then Lust’s purpose is to give birth.

“Give birth?”

- It is to give birth to a child that is superior to its parents. This is Lust’s ability and the purpose of her existence. I don’t know how many generations it will take, but if this process keeps repeating, she will reach the goal someday. Lust is the incubator.

Despite the words Theo didn’t know, he had picked up enough to understand Gluttony’s explanation. In some ways, Lust’s goal was to make the ultimate hybrid.

It was easy to observe the difference in the quality of each individual in a species. Some humans were inferior to others. Some had superior athletic abilities, while others had superior learning abilities. Lust could analyze the genetic information, extract it, and give birth to a more advanced fetus. In other words, it was an ability that could be the origin of a divine human being.

- Lust’s fetus will continue to progress with each generation. Physical, mental, and even the purity of the soul will keep rising until the end. In fact, some of the top species that existed in the Age of Mythology were her descendants.

Theo heard Lust’s purpose and realized the depth of the danger. He remembered an ancient myth about a marriage which had been ruined because of a prophecy that a child superior to the father would be born.

The process of evolution didn’t take place overnight. It couldn’t happen overnight. No, it was a miraculous phenomenon that would take place over hundreds, thousands of years. Yet Lust could artificially reproduce such a miracle.

Gluttony was quicker to see the danger before them than Theo as it muttered with a heavy voice.

- It is dangerous.

Theo was still confused by the mental interference, but the gears of Gluttony’s mind rotated at a different speed to those of humans.

- User, do you remember the words of Abe no Seimei?

“Seimei? Why are you suddenly mentioning that Onmyōji—ah!” Theo’s eyes darkened as he was reminded of the forgotten advice.

[If you go to the East Continent, never approach the capital in the center. If you have to go, only try it after you have reached full transcendence.]?

Seimei’s warning about not going to the middle kingdom echoed in Theo’s mind. What had Lust said as she left here? That they would meet again if Theo went to the capital?

“Seimei’s warning, was it about Lust?”

- The possibility is high.?

Gluttony’s voice flowed from Theo’s left hand as it trampled his hopes.

- According to the records, it has been a long time since Lust vanished from the West Continent. If Lust disappeared two thousand years ago and repeatedly gave birth over the next two millenia... The potential of that child would already surpass the top species.

“Perhaps...”

- It is as you think, User.

Both of them came to the same conclusion.

In contrast to the astonished and horrified Theo, the grimoire Gluttony spoke its hypothesis in a somewhat intrigued voice.

- The royal family of the Middle Kingdom, the family that has ruled over the East Continent for thousands of years... is probably where the most likely candidate is.