“Miner-”

“Hush, did not this body tell thee to be quiet now, Svengali?”

Minerva.. no, the shadow that took the form of Minerva smirked.

Crimson eyes and a mouth full of sharp fangs like a crocodile’s were all that appeared in the black outline.

Eerie as it was, Svengali was not intimidated by her appearance.

Her voice was far more frightening to him.

“Hmm.. I suppose this is all I can do for now.”

For a moment, the shadows that enveloped her body rustled and trembled, and then, as if washed away by water, they slithered and slid down.

The next moment, her figure appeared, smiling smugly, and Svengali muttered to himself.

“All well and good, but why are you naked?”

“I couldn’t be bothered to make clothes. Are you jealous you’ve never had a human body?”

“What a horrible thing to say.”

Svengali replied with a croak and a shake of his beak.

Minerva let out a laugh and looked at her body.

“Well.. his condition is not good now, so this is the best I can do. Once he recovers, I will be able to appear in a more complete state.”

She murmured, holding onto Svengali tightly and running her free hand through her hair.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to settle for being able to take this form now.”

“May I ask you a question, Minerva?”

“Permission granted.”

Watching her nod lazily, Svengali opened his mouth.

“I’m not in a position to ask this, but.. how did you come to take up residence in a human body?”

Minerva looked at him as if expecting more to the question.

Then, she shook her head in a naturally graceful motion.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“How could I know? It’s not my specialty at all. I believed I was dead. Then I woke up and found myself in this body.”

Minerva glanced over at Svengali.

“Wouldn’t you be more familiar?”

“No.. I don’t know much about this stuff, and I’m more of a psychiatrist, not a psychologist, so I’m out of the loop on this sort of thing. The creepy slime or the stupid stoner would know more than me.”

“Is that what you call Milited and Yuno?”

Minerva snorted.

Her arm blended with the shadows, forming several shapes, and she smiled in amusement.

“Hmm, I suppose it’s more accurate to say that I fused with the shadows rather than taking up residence in his body.. but either way, it looks like I’m able to use skills I didn’t own.”

“That’s terrible.”

The utility of Ji-Hyuk’s shadow was something Svengali was familiar with.

The thought of Minerva being able to fully utilize such an ability made him shudder.

“..What?”

“No, you don’t understand this situation.”

Svengali spun the words around in his favor, clacking his beak with a snap.

“Even if I had your blood on me and took your heart.. I can understand that my bowl has grown larger, but there is such a thing as moderation.”

Svengali shook his head in incomprehension.

“How can two of the Seven Evils.. no, three if you count Margo.. how can three powers reside in a single human body?”

Even assuming an ordinary human soul, putting multiple spirits into a single human body would cause the body or mind to collapse.

But there were no signs of that in Ji-Hyuk.

He clucked his beak at the incomprehensible situation.

“Is his body some sort of Evils’ apartment.. I dread to think the seven of us living together.”

“An apartment?”

“There is such a thing. Like concrete towers where humans live.”

“Oh, that’s kind of nice.”

Her hand tightened on Svengali.

“Argh...”

“So Margo is inside too?”

“Ah, unlike us, he was completely consumed by Ji-Hyuk, leaving only a remnant.”

She loosened her grip ever so slightly.

“Hmmm.. I thought they’d met before because I could smell him faintly, but I never thought my dear ate him.”

Looking at Minerva, who seemed strangely pleased, Svengali muttered.

“What an incomprehensible monster.”

Suddenly, Minerva stopped humming, and her eyes narrowed.

“Wait, so doesn’t that explain why he acted so weird when he fought me...”

“Yes, it’s because the remnants were interfering.”

Svengali babbled.

He knew Minerva well enough to know that she abhorred the idea of anyone interfering in the act of dueling.

“Calm yourself. He will never return to the surface; I’ve suppressed him perfectly.”

With a loud crack, his body shuddered.

At the same time, Svengali’s beak revealed his pain.

“Squawk..!”

“You should’ve done it earlier.”

Svengali feared her voice more than his crushed body.

“Ugh, hee, relax..! Are you trying to kill me..!” historical

“Unluckily for you, I still had one more question.”

Minerva said, looking at Svangali with narrowed eyes.

“What did you say earlier?”

Swallowing hard, Svengali asked.

“What the hell were you talking about?”

“Svengali~.”

She leaned her face ever so slightly toward him.

“Didn’t you say something about it taking away his body and soul?”

“..!”

Svengali suddenly understood why she was doing this.

When she’d shown her obsession with Ji-Hyuk, he’d thought it was merely because of her admiration for him, but as soon as he saw her eyes glaring at him, he knew it wasn’t just that.

The fact that they began glowing a brilliant crimson color reaffirmed her agitation.

“It was just.. a joke.”

“A joke?”

“Well, yeah. Do you see that guy?”

Where Svangali pointed at Laune, standing before Ji-Hyuk, trembling with fear.

When Minerva looked at him like she didn’t know what it was, Svengali chuckled and continued.

“That’s my alter ego. He’s the one who’s spent the most time with Ji-Hyuk.”

“So?”

“Well, he was acting up, so I decided to play a little prank.”

“.....”

“Please let me go!”

Minerva looked at Svengali as he pleaded his case, then released her grip.

Released from her grasp, Svengali flapped its wings and flew away from her, panting and breathing heavily.

“I’m going to let this one slide, and I’d advise you not to make such jokes, Svengali.”

Minerva blinked lazily.

The vertical slits in her eyes quickly reverted to human ones.

“I don’t understand jokes very well.”

“..You’re the same as ever.”

Minerva clicked her tongue and brushed her hands.

Svengali could see that her chest and lower half were now covered in shadows.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep this body for long.. I would save it for later since coming out now would be too much for him.”

In fact, Minerva had no intention of coming out right now.

To be more honest, she had planned to sneak up on him when he was in danger or when he reminisced about her.

And Svengali, who could see through that thought, shook his head with a small movement she couldn’t notice.

He’s quite the womanizer.

“May I ask you a question, Minerva?”

“I’m not the one who has to answer questions.”

“I’m asking on Ji-Hyuk’s behalf.”

Minerva’s eyes narrowed slightly at that.

Taking that as a sign of agreement, Svengali clicked his beak.

“What does your skill Dragonblood do?”

“Hmm? Why would you want to know that?”

“Yes. We’re curious.”

Svengali flapped his wings once.

Minerva thought for a moment.

“Dragonblood. My power in his body is my blood, which comes from my heart.”

“Hmm?”

“It can also be said to be myself, Minerva.”

She spoke enchantingly as if reciting poetry or singing a song.

“Therefore, it can also be said that I became one with him.”

Svengali nodded.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“Well, it’s not like I have to explain it to you.”

Minerva snorted.

“Uh, we’ll have to talk about it later, in private anyway.. It’s not too late to explain it then; there’s a lot to tell, and I need to get my thoughts together...”

As she spoke, her body slowly melted into the shadows.

“Besides, it’s almost time. I don’t want to burden him anymore, so I must disappear.”

Then Minerva looked at Svengali as if remembering something.

“Do not tell him anything about me.”

“What? Why?”

Svengali asked, shaking his head.

“You’ll see the answer if you think about it. When he recovers, he will be very distressed about what happened with me, so..”

“I’m well aware of that. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“What are you talking about..”

Minerva let out a small sigh at Svangali’s grumbling.

“Are you teasing me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have the opportunity of a reunion I had never expected or hoped for.”

Minerva blushed and muttered.

“If I looked into his eyes now, I would blush, and if I heard his voice, my heart would burst. There’s no way I can face him right now.”

“.....”

Svengali stared at her, at a loss for words.

“Besides, it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s.. it’s embarrassing.” (TN: I had to double-check if my translator was bugging.)

Seeing Minerva’s ears flush red as she covered her face with both hands, Svengali nodded.

“..I’ll keep it a secret, and I promise I won’t talk about you until you reveal yourself.”

“Are you sure..?”

Seeing Minerva raising her head slightly and looking at him in shame made Svangali stop dead in his tracks.

It hadn’t taken her more than a week to destroy a country, and even compared to Venus and Yuno, she was overwhelmingly disobedient.

Even with the help of Milited and Margo, they hadn’t lasted half a day, barely escaping with their lives when they’d run for their lives.

“I’m a man of my word. I may cheat, but I would never lie?”

“If you break your word, I will kill you.”

Svengali remained silent.

Her threat was not one to be taken lightly.

“Anyway...”

Minerva nodded.

“I’ll watch over him.”

With that, she disappeared without a trace.

Either she had been summoned back on her own accord because she didn’t want to burden Ji-Hyuk or wanted to take a break to recuperate.

Svengali looked down at the silent shadow and muttered.

“..I guess I’m going to live to fight another day.”

“No more running away.”

As he muttered to himself, someone tapped him on the wing.

“.....”

He turned to see Laune stroking his body as if trying to get rid of the chills.

Svengali didn’t say anything and turned his head and looked at the shadow with downcast eyes.

***

“Huh?”

Myung-joon, resting on the floor directly below Ji-Hyuk, carefully took out his phone.

It was an unfamiliar number.

After checking the contents of the text with deep eyes, Myung-joon jumped out of his seat.

“Why all of a sudden...”

The text was from his longtime friend Alice Blessbuck.

It said she had finally finished her business and was rushing back to Korea.