Chapter 67

## Chapter Chronology

**Anathema** is the 67th chapter of the "*Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: Record of Ragnarok*" manga series.

## Summary

Beelzebub. A name that has always been uttered alongside two other reviled names. The first is the "Lord of the Flies." The embodiment of gluttony, so to speak. In other words, the Ruler of Evil Spirits. The second is..."Satan." In Valhalla, in a city situated on a floating island, a single God walks down a path.

He was the most lonesome God in Valhalla. As he keeps walking by himself, a woman from inside her house asks the man next to her if it's true that the boy is cursed by Satan. The man confirms it began from when he was born, telling her lightning fell from the heavens and burned everything around him into a crisp.

At a bar, a man with angelic wings tells a man with bat-like wings that they say every God that gets involved with Beelzebub experiences misfortune, one by one. Apparently, their hearts are gnawed out by Satan and they lose their lives. Thus, everyone in the city decided to not speak with him, not make any eye contact with him or ever have anything to do with him.

For his entire life and by all around him, Beelzebub was spoken of as thus: One Cursed by Satan – "Anathema." Sitting down on some stairs, Beelzebub quietly feeds a unicorn while looking down. No-one dared to draw near Beelzebub and likewise, Beelzebub never drew near to anyone...save for three angels. A voice asks if he is Beelzebub and the three angels are revealed to be Lucifer, Azazel and Samael. Lucifer heard there was an interesting guy in the city and came to see him.

As Beelzebub continues ignoring him, Lucifer says he doesn't need to confirm who he is as he has good instincts.

As Beelzebub continues to stay silent, Lucifer calls Beelzebub very interesting before revealing the three of them are going to head down to Eden to hang out, inviting Beelzebub to come along. Azazel recalls how the apples there are delicious and Lucifer adds that it isn't a trip unless they check out the apple orchard. When Azazel gets confused as to why Beelzebub isn't convinced, Samael says only Azazel would be enticed by food. Samael decides to win Beelzebub over by showing off his fascinating trivia knowledge and tries to reveal what Zeus' nipples actually are, only for Beelzebub to harshly tell them to go back. As Azazel comforts a dejected Samael, Lucifer is happy he finally spoke before questioning why Beelzebub won't come.

Beelzebub points out that, according to everyone else, he's been cursed by Satan so they shouldn't be involved with him. Lucifer isn't deterred by that and expresses his belief that the stuff about Satan being an ancient monster is nothing more than just a superstition, wondering why Beelzebub is taking it seriously. He further asks if Beelzebub thinks everyone else is right about everything and recommends that Beelzebub tells them "Who cares?" if he doesn't.

Azazel tries to back Lucifer up by saying he's never eaten Satan before, leading Samael to be exasperated that Azazel thinks Satan is food. Beelzebub insists they leave him alone but Lucifer refuses to. Petting the unicorn, Beelzebub asks why they're so concerned about him and Lucifer happily says it's because they want to be his friends, shocking Beelzebub.

Beelzebub asserts they don't know a thing about him but Lucifer points out Beelzebub doesn't know a thing about him either. That means they'd totally get along, though that is also just Lucifer's instinct, going on to claim to have the best intuition in all of Valhalla. Shocked, Beelzebub asks if he's stupid and Lucifer tells him to come see for himself. Azazel declares he'll hack Satan to bits even though he doesn't know what it is but Samael doubts he could. Azazel questions why he couldn't and Samael says that he'd be tapped out if he stubbed his toe. Grabbing Samael by the collar, Azazel questions if he wants to get walloped. Samael says he'd like to see him try, only for Azazel to suddenly fart, causing all three angels to go silent.

Unexpectedly, Beelzebub lets out a chuckle, which Lucifer highlights. As Beelzebub shows a dissatisfied look, Lucifer tells him he can keep up the bluff all he wants but he doesn't look cool anymore. Extending his hand to him, Lucifer tells Beelzebub to come with them. Sighing, Beelzebub takes Lucifer's hand. At Eden, at the apple orchard, there is a sign prohibiting anyone from taking any apple from the trees. Not caring, Azazel and Samael pluck apples out of a tree, pass it down to Lucifer, who then passes it to Beelzebub.

Beelzebub questions if they seriously do stuff like this all the time when a guard comes running up to them, complaining about how the three angels have come back. Noticing Beelzebub, the guard gets mad that they managed to find another punk to join them. Beelzebub tries to say he's not with them, only to be dragged off by Lucifer as he, Azazel and Samael run. Smiling, Lucifer tells the guard to say hi to Beelzebub because he's their new friend. As Beelzebub is touched, the guard shouts at them to never come back. To Beelzebub, those three angels were the first friends he ever made. After eating the apples, Lucifer spotted a giant lake nearby. All four went to a nearby cliff and dove into the water.

After that, they went into the forest and started grilling some fish over a fire. Samael gets angry at Azazel for taking three fish for himself before they stop as the two of them and Lucifer notice the expression on Beelzebub's face. He was smiling. They played together, they ate together and they laughed together. Lucifer was happy to see Beelzebub looking like that. As Beelzebub and Lucifer clap for Azazel and Samael singing, Beelzebub thinks to himself about how fun this is, wishing things could stay like this.

Looking up at the sky, Beelzebub hopes he can be with them together, forever. Shedding a tear, Beelzebub falls asleep, just as some buzzing is heard. Beelzebub was no longer alone...or so it should have been. As the sun rises, Beelzebub stirs as a few flies hover over the remains of the fish they ate last night.

Beelzebub wonders when he fell asleep, only to find that he's entirely covered in blood. Panicking, Beelzebub quickly stands up and recognizes that it's not his blood that's on him. Beelzebub tries to wake up the other three, only to find all of them dead, with their hearts gouged out and flies buzzing around them. Walking towards Lucifer's corpse, Beelzebub questions how this happened before recalling the rumor surrounding him. Falling to his knees, Beelzebub questions if this was the work of Satan. Turning around to see nothing there, Beelzebub can't believe that Satan is actually real and exists, only to get mad and grip the ground as he thinks about how it was Satan who killed his friends.

At that moment, Beelzebub finally had a reason to keep living. Getting up, Beelzebub swears to Satan that he will find him and kill him. His reason to keep living was to get revenge against Satan. From then on, Beelzebub spent most of his time in the Library of Old Documents. He had abandoned everything to research about Satan's true identity. When someone bumped into Beelzebub on the street, he tried to apologize, only for him and his friend to get scared by Beelzebub's gaunt-looking face. Once again, Beelzebub was alone.

As Beelzebub writes something down on a table filled with books, a woman approaches him. She recounts the story of how three angels wandering around Eden were attacked and killed in their sleep by a wild beast. Only a young God, who was accompanying them at the time, survived and is said to be in custody of the Valhalla authorities. However, some who know about the incident believe that the culprit was Satan and that the "cursed boy" summoned him. Stopping in front of his table, the woman asks if he is Beelzebub. As Beelzebub continues to write, the woman says that the people in this city are very generous as when she told them that she was looking for him, they not only gave her his whereabouts but also threw in some gossip she had never heard of.

Beelzebub continues to ignore her, only for the woman to sit on the table and lift Beelzebub's face up by the chin so he can look at her. The Goddess introduces herself as Lilith. She had heard that Beelzebub was looking into Satan and offers to help. Getting up and walking away, Beelzebub harshly tells her to not get involved with him. Lilith says she can't since Satan killed her childhood friend, Lucifer, causing Beelzebub to stop. Lilith reveals she's been following Lucifer's last traces and that is how she found out about Beelzebub. Lilith came into this city to meet him and find out the truth about Beelzebub and the curse of Satan.

If Satan is tied to Lucifer's death, then that makes Lilith his enemy. Walking towards him, Lilith says that if Beelzebub is cursed by Satan, then she'll keep an eye on him and if he's looking into Satan, she'll help him uncover the truth. Lilith won't be convinced otherwise, swearing to stay with Beelzebub, all the way into the pits of Hell. Beelzebub tries to tell her that she can't just do that, only for Lilith to clarify that she isn't begging or saying please. Lilith asserts that this is an order. Taken aback, Beelzebub then sighs and sadly smiles about how Lilith is so forceful, which reminds him of Lucifer. Lilith guesses they have a deal and the two carry on their mission of finding Satan, looking through old books and maps.

As they travelled in pursuit of Satan, they found that Satan was a being which all fear, a being which all revile, a being which all know about and one which none have seen. At night, in his house, Beelzebub laments over how little progress they've made. He goes over how they've been to the outermost edges of Valhalla and the deepest pits of Helheim. They've gone over so many documents and pursued every trace and tale of Satan yet they still can't find him.

As he falls asleep, Beelzebub questions where Satan is. Feeling a dark presence, Beelzebub turns around and finds himself on top of a floating rock as Satan holds the bodies of Lucifer, Azazel and Samael in his hand. Beelzebub's arms and legs are then bound as Satan begins squeezing the three angels. Beelzebub pleads for him to stop. Satan says that love is hatred and crushes the angels as he declares that all whom Beelzebub loves shall perish. Beelzebub suddenly wakes up in bed, screaming and crying. Coming in, Lilith sits on the bed and asks if Beelzebub had another dream about Satan. Feeling sorry for him, Lilith hugs Beelzebub. Beelzebub asks Lilith why Lucifer wanted to become friends with someone like him and why such a nice guy had to find someone like him.

Lilith recalls how that was just how Lucifer was.

He was like the sun, warm and bright to everyone he ever met. But in spite of that, he hated being alone which made it harder for him to ignore other lonely people like Azazel and Samael. Holding Beelzebub close, Lilith tells him that Lucifer didn't want to leave him alone and that's all there was to it. Beelzebub questions just how kind of a person Lucifer was, crying about how he really was stupid, which Lilith agrees with. Hugging Lilith back, Beelzebub swears to get revenge for all three of them. Lilith reminds him they'll both get revenge and Beelzebub says that is why he swears to protect her. Smiling, Lilith says that when he says it upfront like that, she can't help but blush. Thanking Lilith, Beelzebub falls asleep once more as some buzzing occurs. Before long, Beelzebub had left behind his life of solitude. And thus, after spending so much time in search of Satan, Beelzebub finally came upon the truth. Beelzebub started to wake up, hearing Lilith stutter his name. Opening his eyes, Beelzebub found that he had pierced Lilith through her heart with his hand.

Smiling while bleeding, Lilith is relieved that Beelzebub is back to normal. When his love reaches its utmost peak, Beelzebub will destroy those he loves. It is called **Demonic Destrudo**. Recalling having killed the three angels as well, Beelzebub realizes that Satan is him. Satan had always been within Beelzebub. Beelzebub takes out his hand and Lilith falls to the ground. Cradling her, Beelzebub frantically tells Lilith that he didn't mean to do this and apologizes as this is because she was with him. Squeezing Beelzebub's hand, Lilith says the time she spent with him made her feel really happy.

She says it seems their quest for revenge ends here, knowing Lucifer wouldn't have been angry with Beelzebub either. When he was pierced through the heart, Lucifer had hugged Beelzebub. Beelzebub insists he can never forgive himself as Satan turned out to be him, only for Lilith to suddenly confess that she loves Beelzebub.

That is why she forgives him for everything. Touching Beelzebub's chest, Lilith tells him to live for their sakes. As the rose tattoo on the left side of her face disappears, Lilith says that is her last order to him before her hand goes limp and she dies. Beelzebub cries for Lilith to not leave him before screaming as he holds her corpse close to him. And thus, the vengeful spirit which had provided Beelzebub's foundation lost its fire and Beelzebub crumbled. Later on, inside his laboratory, Beelzebub sat in his chair with his shirt slightly unbuttoned, showing Lilith's tattoo is now on his chest. Beelzebub pleads for something to kill him. Touching the tattoo, Beelzebub wishes he could be killed, as brutally and as hideously possible.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Beelzebub
* Lucifer
* Azazel
* Samael
* Lilith