Chapter 27 - Apostle Beris (1)

Yohan and Gaf rode for a full half day before catching up with the pilgrimage party. The party had taken up a position on a high ridge and was preparing to camp.

Even in the darkness of night, the camp was brilliantly lit. Their vestments and the tents they had pitched shone pure white with holy power—a sanctuary surrounded by it. Most Demons could not even approach the ridge.

The same went for Yohan. Kazan's ring would keep him from burning to death, but the instant he touched that holy power, his identity would be exposed. As soon as the ring absorbed it, the clergy would notice something amiss. Everyone would go on alert, and no Demon could escape their watch.

"This is as far as we go. Gaf, don't get any closer," Yohan said from the mountain peak opposite the ridge.

Gaf snorted. "You called it a cheap glow in the dark. Looks like even you're afraid of holy power."

"If I were afraid, I wouldn't be standing here. Worry about your own nerves. We'll have to move soon."

Gaf looked toward the ridge. Nearly a hundred troops were stationed there. Among them would be priests who wielded holy magic and those monsters known as holy knights. The two of them were going to attack that force? No matter how he considered it, they had no chance of winning. His expression darkened.

Yohan chuckled. "Nervous?"

"What makes you so relaxed?"

"I'm certain of success."

Yohan opened his backpack and took out a jar plastered with talismans. A dark aura surrounded the relic. Merely looking at it was chilling.

He said, "As I told you earlier, there's not much for us to do. We draw their attention with this relic, seize the Great Saint's casket, and we're done."

"What in the world is inside that jar?"

A rare tension settled over Yohan's face. He spoke quietly. "The Twelfth Apostle of the End. More precisely, a fragment of the Archdemon Beris."

Gaf frowned. "The Beris from scripture?"

"Yes. The Demon the Great Saint Marziel tore to pieces five hundred years ago. As you know, his soul was divided into ten fragments and scattered across the continent."

"And one of those fragments is in that jar?"

"Exactly."

"... I simply can't believe it."

"See for yourself."

As he spoke, Yohan pulled off a talisman. The talismans formed a high-level sealing spell array, but time had weathered them until they no longer functioned. No one had repaired the array in hundreds of years.

The negligence of House Miyatro's heads had brought about a terrible result. Later generations would have to bear the consequences of their dereliction of duty.

The seal broke in an instant. In the original novel, a witch had summoned the Archdemon into this world. Now, a half-demon had done it. Though this was only a tenth of his soul, the repercussions were beyond anything mere mortals could withstand.

As pitch-black smoke erupted from the jar, Gaf collapsed to the ground. Blood poured ceaselessly from his nose and eyes. Yohan shook like a leaf. The unleashed malice bore down on the space around them like gravity.

A horrifying shriek erupted. "Kahahahaha! A mere five hundred years! To one who has existed for eternity, it was but an instant! Marziel! Behold! I have broken my chains and manifested upon this earth once more! The prophecy of the Apocalypse is fulfilled again!"

As though the voice itself carried death, mountain birds died and tumbled from the sky. The surrounding trees and soil began to rot. Nature was losing its life.

Yohan and Gaf covered their ears and groaned. The overwhelming pressure left them unable even to raise their heads. The Demon that had manifested was truly a being of a different order. Even divided into ten pieces, Beris possessed a majesty that reduced mortals to mere insects.

'... Just as horrifying as I expected.'

In the original novel, even Ilea had been unable to look Beris in the eye. Even a witch who commanded Demons had been crushed by the stature of her prey. Naturally, Yohan could not resist Beris's majesty either. That went without saying. Yet something unexpected happened.

Yohan was slowly raising his head. It was agonizing, but strangely, not enough to kill him. According to the original novel, he should not have been able to move a finger, yet he had more freedom than expected.

'Did the novel exaggerate?'

But Gaf was far too pitiful a sight for that to be true. His head was pressed to the ground as he writhed in agony. The novel had not exaggerated at all. Mortals could not even look upon an Apostle of the End.

'Then why...?'

As bewilderment took hold, the malice swept toward Yohan. A voice like metal scraping against an iron plate bored into his ears. "How peculiar. What are you?"

Only then could Yohan see Beris's true form. A grotesque being in an ash-gray robe. His large, hooked nose twitched as he stared at Yohan with two eyes that stretched into long vertical slits. His mouth, far too small in proportion to his eyes and nose, worked constantly as though chewing something. His appearance was profoundly bizarre.

"I asked you, worm. What are you?"

Every syllable bore weight, crushing down on Yohan. Resisting the pressure, he opened his mouth. "Lies won't work on you. I'll tell you the truth. I don't know what I am either. But one thing is certain. I'm the one who freed you."

The muscles in Beris's face twisted slightly. Yohan's lack of deference offended him. His pride was badly wounded. A Demon who showed no respect for an Archdemon. A mortal who resisted an Apostle's presence. This was a truly incomprehensible being.

Even Yohan himself found the situation difficult to understand. '...Was there something about the world of Chronicle of Humans and Demons I didn't know?'

Regardless of species, mortals were supposed to feel fear and awe toward transcendent beings. Yohan was different. The pressure tormented him, but neither fear nor reverence welled up within him. Even divided into ten fragments, an Apostle's presence was on an incomparably higher plane, yet for some reason, it had little effect on Yohan.

He could not tell why. Dwelling on it now would hardly yield an answer. For the moment, he had to focus on the present.

Beris spoke. "... You broke the seal? Very well. I shall bestow upon a worm like you the honor of bargaining with me. State your desire."

Beris was the Apostle who governed contracts. Before being sealed, he had left a contract spell in the world—a spell granting whoever freed him the right to bargain with him. In short, Yohan could make a contract directly with an Apostle.

Whatever changed hands, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a mortal. He could ask for an ageless body or demand to be taught great magic. He could even settle for wealth and glory.

The mortal would have to pay something in exchange, but in truth, the Apostle would take nothing. No mortal could ever give Beris what he wanted. Calling a contract with Beris a bargain was a polite fiction. For a mortal, it was as good as being granted a wish.

Yohan said, "Over there. Do you see that ridge?"

Beris twitched his nose. "Marziel's lackeys. More tenacious than cockroaches. Even after five hundred years, they still swarm together."

"There's a red-haired woman among them. Her name is Shaperia. Annihilate her completely. Those are my terms."

Beris blinked his long, vertically slit eyes. He sounded incredulous. "That's all?"

"Yes."

"I cannot comprehend it."

"I repeat: complete annihilation. And the deadline is midnight tonight."

Beris snickered. "To squander an opportunity that will never come again. What a fool you are, yet I find you most intriguing. So I shall keep you at my side. In return for annihilating that bitch by midnight, you shall become my thrall. Do you agree?"

Beris was demanding Yohan's subjugation as the price of the contract. Every Demon wished to become an Apostle's thrall. There was no reason to refuse. In fact, it would not have been strange at all for Yohan to have asked to serve Beris as his own condition of the bargain.

Yohan nodded. "Very well. The moment Shaperia is annihilated, I will become your thrall."

Still lying facedown, Gaf groaned and glared at Yohan. If Yohan became Beris's thrall, Ilea would automatically be entangled with the Apostle. An Apostle had only one goal: the extinction of humanity. His daughter would have no choice but to aid in that horrific evil.

Gaf trembled and struggled. What ending awaited him and his daughter? He could no longer even begin to guess. He regretted every moment. His selfish desire to find his daughter had brought them to this.

As he reproached himself, demonic energy erupted from Beris's body. The surging smoke seeped into Yohan, and something foreign settled in his chest. The contract was complete. Gaf watched in despair.

Beris snickered. "Shall we begin by correcting that tongue of yours?"

"I'm not your thrall yet. Deal with Shaperia first. If you fail, you'll pay the corresponding price."

Perhaps there was a timeline in which Beris failed, a chance of one in hundreds of millions or trillions. In that world, Beris would be crushed beneath consequences beyond imagination. An Apostle who governed contracts, unable to fulfill even a promise to a mere mortal? That would mean he had lost his very reason for existing. He could hardly protest if he were annihilated.

Beris burst into wild laughter. "Kahahahaha! Did you say fail?! What an amusing creature! Witness it with your own eyes and engrave it upon your mind! Your master's omnipotence!"

He shot into the air, his ash-gray robes fluttering. Looking down at Yohan, he said, "I'll teach you some manners when I return!"

Then he flew straight toward the ridge. The pilgrimage party had already noticed the disturbance and was preparing for battle.

With Beris gone, the pressure crushing the space around them vanished in an instant. Yet Gaf could not rise. He could only lie there reproaching himself, mired in despair and helplessness.

Yohan said, "Beris is gone. Shake it off and get up."

Coming face-to-face with an Apostle inflicted immense mental trauma upon a mortal. Gaf's reaction was entirely normal.

He spoke quietly. "... Now I finally know what you're really after."

"What are you talking about?"

"You intend to kill every human being."

Yohan frowned. "Why would I?"

"Then why did you become an Apostle's thrall?!"

Gaf's eyes brimmed with hatred. Yohan had dragged Ilea into this.

"I'm not Beris's thrall."

"Stop playing word games!"

Once Shaperia was annihilated, Yohan would become Beris's thrall. There was no chance of Beris failing.

"I'm not playing word games. I have no intention of submitting to some Apostle. If you don't believe me, I'll even make a contract with you. With my life as collateral."

Gaf stared at Yohan. Bewilderment crept into his hate-filled eyes. However he looked at it, Shaperia would die, and Yohan would become Beris's thrall. There could be no other outcome, yet Yohan was denying it.

Yohan nodded. "Thinking about it, I can see why you'd misunderstand. You know nothing about Shaperia."

"Then explain."

Yohan shook his head. "We need to steal the Great Saint's casket while Beris wreaks havoc. If we don't move now, we'll miss our chance. Besides, explaining every detail to you is a nuisance. I'm under no obligation to tell you, either."

Gaf gave a disbelieving laugh. "So all that talk of being partners was bullshit."

Partners were naturally supposed to share their thoughts. They could hardly be called partners if one hid everything. For the first time in a conversation with Gaf, Yohan felt as though he had taken a hit.

'He caught me off guard.'

Yohan said, "Fine. We're partners, so I'll share information from now on. But you have to acknowledge me as your partner, too. I'm talking about mutual respect."

Gaf rose, brushing the dirt from his knees. His tone was firm. "I'll decide once I see how things unfold."

Yohan chuckled and moved behind him. "Let me make this clear once more. I have absolutely no intention of serving under anyone."

With that, he slipped his arms under Gaf's armpits. Before the startled man could say a word, Yohan took flight. Their destination was the ridge, which had already become hell.