Why Are You Coming Out of There? (3)
Thud.
"Holy shit, this thing is heavy as hell."
Yohan tossed the demon's head aside. It hit the ground with a heavy, stone-like thud. The goat-headed demon had died with its eyes wide open, its neck cleanly severed. Dark red blood seeped from the cut on the rolling head, staining the gaps between the white tiles.
The knight commander and his soldiers could only stare blankly at Yohan. An awkward silence hung in the air for several seconds.
"W-We won!" one of the Holy Knights cried out, finally grasping the situation.
"Yeahhh!"
With that single cry, thunderous cheers erupted, quickly filling the area around the cathedral.
Yohan explained to the commander how he had first encountered this goat-headed demon.
"I see... So this monster was a fusion of two demons from Pandemonium." The commander couldn't hide his astonishment. It seemed that Pandemonium was a well-known threat not just to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but to the Holy Knights as well.
"Yeah. I originally ran into him way down south in Westania, but somehow we ended up having a rematch here."
"Haha... It radiated a demonic energy far more foul than any demon I've ever faced. To be honest, I thought today would be my last."
Yohan shrugged lightly at the commander's confession.
"For someone who thought they were going to die, you didn't run away. You kept your men stationed right around the barrier."
Logically speaking, the right move would have been for everyone to retreat while Yohan bought them time with his barrier. After all, their opponent was a fusion of two high-level devils—a monstrosity so overwhelming that even the knight commander had momentarily lost his will to fight just by looking at it.
Yet, the commander hadn't fled. Instead, he had placed his trust in Yohan, rallying his men to hold their ground. The commander smiled, his eyes filled with earnest conviction.
"Because a brother like you was standing with us. Besides, if we had retreated here, we would have lost any chance of ever reclaiming Patermachi."
"Hmm."
Yohan idly kicked the demon's head rolling on the floor. The commander's eyes widened in surprise at the casual disrespect, but he soon let out a hearty laugh.
"I must report this to the higher-ups immediately. You've slain two demons of Pandemonium that the Church has been hunting for two centuries."
"Do whatever you want. Though I have no idea if the higher-ups you're reporting to are even sane right now."
"Ah, indeed... You make a fair point. In any case, we aren't even in a position to send a messenger."
The only path from the gateway cities, including Patermachi, to the Holy City was by land. While there had been teleportation magic circles connecting the Holy City to the surrounding regions, those had been destroyed long ago.
Consequently, the Holy Knights stationed in Patermachi were completely cut off from the Holy City. Since the number of people afflicted by the madness only increased the closer one got to the capital, it was safe to assume that the high command's chain of leadership had utterly collapsed.
Knowing this all too well, the commander's expression darkened. But he quickly shook off his grim thoughts and surveyed their surroundings.
Those afflicted by the madness had regained their sanity, and the demon that had devoured the corrupted inquisitors had paid with its life. Though the city was devastated and the cathedral was stained with foul demonic energy, it was nothing that couldn't be cleansed with enough time and effort.
"Well, the important thing is that there are no more demon bastards left in this city."
"Haha, indeed you are right."
Patermachi had been completely reclaimed. Of course, half the city lay in ruins, and countless residents had been killed, injured, or forced to flee. But at the very least, they had averted the catastrophe of a holy city falling into the hands of a vile demon.
"And things are only going to get tougher from here. The bastards in the Holy City will try to retake this place by any means necessary."
"We are prepared for that."
"Hmph."
Their conversation finished, the two turned their heads to look at the Patermachi Cathedral, its front wall completely blown open. Numerous clergymen surrounded the building, tirelessly chanting prayers and performing miracle arts.
Although Yohan had personally sent the high-level devil of Pandemonium back to hell, the cathedral's interior was still thick with the lingering demonic energy it had radiated. They needed to thoroughly cleanse the corruption eating away at the structure. Otherwise, the area would become as uninhabitable as a radioactive wasteland.
"Once the purification of the cathedral is complete, we plan to hold a memorial service to honor the souls of the believers who perished. After that, we will begin rebuilding the city and establishing defensive lines in earnest."
"A memorial service... Not a bad idea."
As he spoke with the commander, a sudden idea flashed through Yohan's mind.
"Well, I'm going to go get some rest. You don't mind, right?"
"Yes, of course. You've only just defeated that massive high-level devil. If you'd like, we can prepare a tent in our camp..."
"Nah, don't worry about it."
Yohan immediately spread his wings of light and flew to a secluded spot. There, he opened a dimensional portal and stepped inside.
The single-room pocket dimension was packed with all sorts of items, including the Original Scriptures and crates of High Potions. A few sample copies of Martin's Fables lay scattered across the floor. They were all traces of his travels across the continent as the Goddess's Apostle—or, to put it bluntly, the props from his various performances.
Because of this, the pocket dimension was cramped, but there was still enough room to sit down and relax.
So... what now? Leaning his back against the wall, Yohan asked himself.
Yohan's original plan had been simple. From what he had gathered so far, the victims of the madness were concentrated around the Holy City. This was because the source of the madness, Pope Angelo III, resided there. Regions far from the capital suffered relatively less damage, which served as circumstantial evidence that the bastards of Pandemonium had seized the Holy City and were trying to do something to the sleeping Main God Justia.
Therefore, his original goal was to reclaim all the gateway cities surrounding the Holy Capital Justia and lay siege to it.
The Holy Kingdom was a nation structured around regional cities acting as central hubs. Furthermore, because the Central Church ruled each city directly, its societal structure was vastly different from Westania, where local lords held significant power. Thus, if they could seize the surrounding gateway cities—starting with Patermachi, the largest city after the capital—reclaiming the Holy City itself would become much easier.
Moreover, the Empire, which had merely observed the situation until now, was bound to make its move soon. Currently, the Empire was providing temporary shelter near its borders to refugees from the Holy Kingdom, including those from Easthold. Naturally, the Empire wasn't doing this out of pure humanitarian concern for its ally's refugees. Before long, they would try to secure their own piece of the pie. Frankly speaking, Yohan couldn't care less about how the relationship between the Holy Kingdom and the Empire shifted.
But just now, an idea had struck him—one that would slightly alter the steps of his plan.
"Hey, dummy."
—I am listening.
"Those guys said they're going to hold a memorial service for the people sacrificed to that goat-head," Yohan said, glancing toward the door of the pocket dimension.
—Indeed.
"I was thinking about it... isn't that kind of thing your specialty?"
—It is, but what do you mean by... Ah. The Goddess quickly caught on to his meaning.
—You wish to reveal our identity here, just as we did in Easthold, and invite them to join our faith.
"Bingo."
Flash!
A bright light suddenly flared, and the Unnamed Goddess materialized before him. The fact that she chose to physically manifest when she could have easily conversed as a spirit meant she considered this matter highly important.
"If we proceed as you suggest, the survivors of Patermachi will undoubtedly become my believers."
"Exactly. And we're not talking about ordinary folks here. We're talking about hundreds of Holy Knights, inquisitors, and priests."
Although the Holy Kingdom was a nation run entirely by religion, there was still a clear distinction between ordinary citizens and the clergy. While human faith couldn't be measured in exact numbers, converting believers who were far more devout than the average person would undoubtedly bolster the Goddess's divinity significantly.
"My Apostle."
"Yeah, I'm listening."
Yet, for some reason, the Goddess's expression was troubled.
"I cannot readily agree to this plan of yours."
"Why not?" Instead of getting annoyed right away as he usually did, Yohan decided to hear her out.
"You know well how beings called gods, including myself, sustain our near-eternal lives." Yohan nodded at her words.
Gods and demons alike lived off the faith or terror of mortals. For a deity, the faith of their believers was not just the source of their authority, but their very life force.
"If we were to completely turn all the people of the Holy Kingdom into my believers as you propose, what do you think would happen?"
"..." Yohan finally understood why she was refusing. "Your other half..."
According to the prophecies in the Original Scriptures, the Goddess of Justice, who was once a single entity, would temporarily split before merging back together to become whole and perfect. The problem was that one half had imprisoned the other to monopolize the title of the Goddess of Justice, and her followers had subsequently altered the scriptures to hide any passages related to the prophecy.
"I was indeed once the Goddess of Justice. But even so, I do not wish to directly bring about the demise of my other half, who took my original name."
Siphoning off two thousand believers from the Central Church to their own faith was, in a way, like receiving a blood donation. On the other hand, converting all the believers to dismantle the Central Church entirely was no longer a donation—it was akin to draining the other party dry until they became a mummy. Put in those terms, it did seem a bit excessive.
"Mmm..." Yohan groaned. The Goddess merely looked up at him in silence.
"Then is that really the only way?" It was a method he had kept in the back of his mind, but had hesitated to put into practice because the risk was simply too high.
"To go to the Holy City, break the seal, and awaken my sleeping counterpart?"
"Yeah."
"But what if she tries to kill you or bury you somewhere the moment she wakes up?"
"It matters not. If my other half awakens and begins to act, at least the innocent people of this nation will no longer have to suffer. And..." The Goddess paused, suddenly offering Yohan a warm smile.
"With your current strength, surely you can at least manage to run away from my newly awakened counterpart, can you not?"
"Are you kidding me... You're basically telling me to start all over from scratch after we've made it this far. Actually, it's even worse than that. Your other half will be fully aware of our existence."
So, in exchange for saving the people of the Holy Kingdom, he had to play a second round on hard mode? Yohan clicked his tongue as he looked down at the Goddess. Still... it was a thought worthy of the Goddess of Justice.
"Fine. Whatever the case, it's worth a shot." Having made up his mind, Yohan prepared to stand up.
"Wait, hold on." He paused, his gaze suddenly locking onto the Original Scriptures resting in a corner of the room.
"Does that thing... usually glow like that and float around on its own?" Yohan asked, his voice trembling slightly. The Goddess shook her head in silence.
Whoosh!
"Holy shit, what is that?!"
The Original Scriptures floated into the air, flipping open on its own and radiating a brilliant light. Immediately after, the upper torso of a woman who looked exactly like the Unnamed Goddess materialized above the book.
"I-It connected! Is anyone there? Please, save m—"
The woman cried out in a panicked voice, but her words trailed off as her eyes locked onto the two standing before her.