Chapter 31 - Sacred Relic (1)

Silence settled over the once-thunderous mountain. The explosions and deafening crashes had vanished completely. No birds sang, and no beasts cried out.

The mountain was as quiet as death. Every sound made by living things had evaporated.

Was this what nature looked like with all its vitality stripped away? Surveying the devastation, Ilea spoke.

"It became a wasteland in an instant. It was rather beautiful before."

The forest's greenery had turned to black ash and grayish smoke. Its fresh, fragrant scent had long since been swallowed by the stench of death. Most of the plants and animals had died or disappeared.

All because two transcendent beings had clashed.

Gaf spoke.

"... You'll end up making the whole world like this. Together with Yohan, that damned Demon."

"Of course not. Life can't take root in a wasteland like this. Humans can't survive here either. Without them, Demons lose their reason to exist. Do you really think Yohan wants that ending?"

"The Apostles want humanity extinct. Demons are nothing but their lackeys. Why would Yohan be any different?"

Ilea gave a curious smile and pointed ahead.

"Doesn't he look a little different to you?"

Yohan was walking toward them. The towering, lifeless trees all around him made for an eerie sight. His appearance only added to the bleak atmosphere.

Gaf spoke, his face aghast.

"D-don't tell me that's... in your hand..."

Ilea smiled in satisfaction.

"Yohan is no Apostle's lackey."

Beris was being dragged along by the hair in Yohan's grip.

It was an utterly unbelievable sight. Having experienced the Apostle's presence for himself, Gaf could not quite accept it as real.

Yohan chuckled.

"What's that dumbfounded look for?"

Gaf could not answer. He simply stood rigid, too bewildered to move.

Ilea spoke.

"You're teasing my father too much. This is rather shocking, isn't it?"

Yohan shrugged.

"Yet you seem perfectly calm."

"Do I? Not at all. I'm very surprised myself."

She rubbed her chest with deliberate exaggeration and added,

"I thought my heart had stopped."

Yohan snorted.

"Enough. Let's finish the job."

He intended to collect the fragment of the Great Saint's corpse first. Just as he was about to move, a scream-like shout rang out.

"You wretch! Release me at once!"

Still held by the hair, Beris raged.

"This is sacrilege! You cannot bear the consequences!"

He struggled like a madman, but could not escape Yohan's grip. Shaperia had slashed his entire body to the point where recovery was impossible.

Yohan's mouth stretched into a grin.

"Before I face your wrath, don't you have something to answer for yourself?"

Beris had not fulfilled his contract with Yohan. Having failed to annihilate Shaperia, he would have to pay a terrible price.

"H-how dare you!"

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing you reduced to an imp."

Beris would regress into a Demon whelp. In the original novel, too, he had suffered the same humiliation after failing to honor a contract with a mortal.

His already large eyes swelled even further and quivered.

"You... from the very beginning..."

Ilea smiled innocently.

"An imp with the potential of an Apostle. May I take him as my familiar? If you permit it, I'll train him to help you in your endeavors."

Ilea had lost the crone spirit because of Shaperia. She did need a familiar. But he could not give her Beris.

He was the Apostle who governed 'contracts.'

'Ilea might secretly tamper with her contract with me.'

With Beris at her disposal, it would hardly be difficult.

Yohan spoke rather coldly.

"Out of the question. You know perfectly well why."

Ilea made a show of looking crestfallen.

"A pity, but it can't be helped."

"Disappointed?"

"No. If anything, I like how cautious you are."

There was something appraising about her tone.

Just as Yohan was about to reply, Beris interrupted.

"... Utterly laughable. Do you insignificant creatures, who have not even conquered your own lifespans, think you can contain me? You are a thousand—no, ten thousand years too early!"

Black blood streamed from his eyes.

"I shall never forget this day's humiliation. I shall dwell upon it again and again, until it is carved into my bones."

His bitter voice sank low. It was so cold and sharp that it felt as though an awl were gouging their eardrums. Yohan reflexively released his hair.

At that same moment, Beris shot skyward. Beneath the full moon, malice began to surge explosively.

Like a star at the end of its life, he was swelling grotesquely. Black demonic energy poured ceaselessly from every mottled bulge.

"I swear upon my name, Beris. I shall grant you an end more terrible than death. You shall scream in regret for all eternity!"

Crimson magic circles embroidered the night sky. A contract spell was being inscribed upon the worldline.

Watching, Gaf vomited a mouthful of blood. Ilea's expression turned icy.

Yohan clicked his tongue.

"An Apostle is still an Apostle, even divided into ten. Not so easily made mine."

Beris let out a dying scream.

"Repent, and repent again, as you await the day of judgment!"

An instant later, his body exploded. It turned into black demonic energy and scattered across the night sky.

Gaf slumped to the ground, breathing hard.

"W-what in the world just happened?"

Ilea sighed softly.

"Unfortunately, he chose annihilation."

"He still has nine souls left. You can hardly call it annihilation."

"They'll all come after you."

"I'm not afraid in the slightest. Beris can never be whole again now."

One of the ten souls had been annihilated for certain. Even if all nine remaining souls revived, Beris would never be able to wield his full power.

That much of a gain was enough.

'Wanting him as a familiar was too greedy.'

Setting his disappointment aside, Yohan walked toward the casket.

"Let's wrap this up."

The aftereffects of what had just happened still lingered, but Ilea spoke as calmly as she could.

"I've undone everything."

All that remained was to open the lid.

Yohan nodded and opened the casket. His face contorted violently. An immense amount of holy power lay coiled within.

Without Kazan's ring, he would have fainted on the spot.

"Gaf, I'll need your help."

The light was too strong for his demonic eyes even to make out the contents.

Stifling a groan, Gaf approached.

"What do I do?"

"There should be a golden model shaped like an eyeball. Take it out."

Gaf's arm moved slowly. His hand was trembling violently.

Yohan clicked his tongue.

"Why hesitate after coming this far? Stop dawdling and bring it here."

"Damn it!"

Gaf snatched something up, took it out, and handed it to Yohan.

A sacred relic rested in the Demon's black grip: the Great Saint's left eye, wrapped in gold leaf. It looked exactly as described in the original novel.

Yohan immediately took a long glass tube from his backpack.

'Polymorph Slime.'

It was a treasure capable of imitating any object designated as its target.

Ilea let out a small murmur of admiration.

"The forbidden library really does seem to have everything."

"They don't call it the kingdom's treasure vault for nothing."

As he spoke, Yohan poured the liquid from the glass tube over the golden model. The sticky slime covered the Great Saint's eye, clinging tightly to it and beginning to writhe.

A moment later, the slime sprang up. By the time Yohan caught it, every trace of slime was gone.

All that remained was a perfect replica of the Great Saint's eye.

"Gaf, you know what to do, don't you?"

A switch. With a conflicted expression, Gaf carried out Yohan's instructions.

Ilea spoke.

"A neat finish. They'll find evidence that the casket was opened, but they won't be certain anything was stolen. No appraiser will be able to identify the Polymorph Slime. Not in this kingdom, at least."

"But they'll discover it eventually. Ultimately, we're just buying time."

"Then what matters is how we use that time."

Yohan nodded silently.

Ilea took hold of her broom.

"Shall we hurry back, then? We can't afford to waste a moment."

"Before that, what about Reil?"

Yohan had asked Ilea and Gaf to find him.

Gaf answered.

"We couldn't even find his body. He seems to have been caught in the clash and reduced to dust. The horses too."

Disappointment crossed Yohan's face.

'He was useful.'

Ilea spoke as though something had just occurred to her.

"Oh, and Shaperia?"

"The objective is achieved."

A faint shadow fell across her face.

"You left her alive, then."

"Well, she's as good as dead."

Gaf stared at Yohan without a word. As if to change the subject, Yohan spread his wings wide.

"Let's go."

Ilea's expression softened, and she spoke playfully.

"Will you hold me like you did earlier?"

"Stop talking nonsense and look after your father."

With that, Yohan rose into the night sky.

* * *

Dawn began to break. The time had come for warm sunlight to melt the cold night and fill frozen nature with the sounds of life.

Today was different.

The sun had risen, but the mountain remained quiet and cold. If anything, it was bleaker than it had been at night. In the sunlight, the previous night's devastation lay exposed in all its starkness.

Animal carcasses lay scattered everywhere, and uprooted giants of trees blocked the paths. The Apostle's malice was rapidly rotting even the earth and water.

The only trace of color was red hair glinting in the sun.

Shaperia. She was walking through the wasteland, supporting herself on a single iron sword.

"... The casket. I have to find the casket first."

The Apostle and the horned spirit must have attacked for the Great Saint's corpse. There was no other explanation. High-ranking Demons like them would have no other reason to appear in this southern backwater.

"Is anyone there? Your Grace! Sir Knight!"

The altered terrain made the campsite difficult to find. There were no survivors in sight, either.

Were they all dead?

"Damn it!"

Shaperia all but collapsed to the ground. Her strength had run out long ago. If only she still had her holy energy, things would have been different. Without divine grace, she was nothing. Tears spilled from her eyes in despair.

She hated herself for being so powerless.

She struck the pile of stones before her hard. At the same moment, the rubble stirred.

Shaperia's eyes widened. A rough hand was protruding between the stones.

"A-are you alive in there?"

Summoning every last ounce of strength, she began digging through the rubble.

"Hold on! I'll have you out soon!"

After a long while of digging, she uncovered what lay beneath.

There was a man—a blond young man. He looked somehow familiar.

"You're...!"

He was a knight she had encountered a few times at the baronial House of Miyatro. Shaperia remembered those empty eyes.

Why was one of the lord's retainers here?

"I-I'll get you out first."

Just as she was about to clear away the remaining rubble, the knight spoke.

"... At last. At last, I'm free."

He looked happier than anyone she had ever seen. Like someone delivered from hell.

"Yes, I'll get you out right...!"

Before Shaperia could finish, the knight's head lolled limply.

He was dead. Even in death, he was smiling.

Shaperia's eyes trembled ceaselessly.

What in the world had the knight been freed from?