Chapter 96
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Devil Church's Resolve
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“How’s the work progressing?”
At the question about progress, the woman flew into a rage.
“How’s it going? That damn blonde stuck her nose in and royally screwed everything up. Just the other day, she broke all their fingers…!”
The woman vented her fury, huffing and puffing, then scrunched up her face as if her head was overheating.
The man solemnly kept his mouth shut, watching her unleash her anger.
Once he judged it had subsided enough, he lightened the mood and issued a warning.
“Control your emotions. Our centuries-old grand plan is nearing completion.”
“Hah?”
The woman stared at him in disbelief.
A faint glint of madness in her eyes pierced sharply, as if it would devour the man.
“Since when have we ever controlled our emotions? Weren’t we the group that revels in human instincts, our true selves, and pleasure?”
“…….”
“Weren’t we the ones rejecting those damn hypocrites who fill their vanity with abstinence and forgiveness?”
At those words, the man quietly chewed on a curse under his breath.
He might have been inwardly cursing her impatience, but if he looked back to their origins, this group had always been like this.
Devil worshippers, an anti-Christian group based on Satanism.
While heretical mages were generally obsessively fixated on purity, devil worshippers displayed impulsive and hedonistic tendencies.
However, there was a certain rule to it.
Resistance against the established order.
Satan as anti-order, Satan as anti-Christianity.
Most people who became devil worshippers joined in that manner.
Thus, even the low-level devil worshippers used Satanism as a slogan to resist an era where religious freedom was not guaranteed.
It grew stronger the more the ills of Christianity were exposed, and in the end, the greatest contributors to forming the devil worshipper group were the religious hypocrites—the worst of so-called goodness.
The devil worshippers’ beginnings were merely the shadows of that church.
“You’re not wrong. But for now, we must play along with them. Our true goal must remain hidden.”
“What bullshit is that?”
The woman snapped irritably.
The overt devil worship was treated as part of a social movement.
Its anti-social hue packaged it that way.
Because of this, it was subtly acknowledged amid unease, taboo yet supported everywhere.
Moreover, since they had a strict rule against committing crimes themselves, criminal acts disguised as devil worship weren’t counted as their activities.
This inclusion allowed them their current status.
Of course, it was all something the devil worshippers had orchestrated to appear that way.
The man stated solemnly.
“Recall our commandments.”
The woman bit her lip, as if remembering the commandments.
‘Satan is the First Apostle existing in the church’s underbelly, so we are a necessary evil that upholds goodness while being evil, tasked with purifying the holy war.’
‘Raise a righteous voice. Comrades, don the mask of the devil for those who trample our voices with hypocrisy amid the vanity of goodness.’
The commandments of the Devil Church that led them were systematic, focusing on anti-social, anti-Christian, and anti-hypocrisy.
Irrationalities from class differences, corrupt priests, the sin of falsehood.
Nobles wielding double standards, pastors adorned with riches, the lives of exploited peasants, harsh landowners treating humans as less than human.
They garnered fierce support from society’s underclass, and sometimes gathered strength from renowned scholars full of justice and vigor, or those who witnessed injustices.
Above all, they adopted a mindset of free entry and exit, no formal procedures needed—if you wanted to voice discontent against the order, you were always one of us.
“Most comrades still don’t know our grand plan.”
“Ah, you mean that lame crap?”
But among them, to join the Devil Church that directed their actions, one had to prove their ‘faith.’
The real die-hard devil worshippers were the ultra-filtered cultists within the Devil Church who truly worshipped demons.
From there, they took on the true face of a demon-worshipping group.
Having cultivated anti-societal consciousness to its peak, the extreme ideology that the existing society must be destroyed to reach completion transformed them into devil worshippers.
Such true believers carved pentagrams on parts of their bodies.
The woman and the man revealed the pentagrams on their bodies, signaling their affiliation with the Devil Church.
“But that’s for those idiots. We’re with the church. Since when did we follow their conventions? Exposing the true face of the god who imposes the golden rule as ethics? Where’d you sell out to?”
The woman stopped her outburst and glared at the man with a face grown icy cold.
“Hey, have you strayed from the greater cause?”
“…….”
“Answer carefully, before I offer you up as a sacrifice instead of that princess.”
“You’re obtuse.”
“What?”
Unable to endure any longer, the man closed his eyes and savored the silence.
He watched as heavy prayer rose from the woman before him, and just before her rage erupted, he unleashed crimson eyes glowing with malice.
“Recall the ugliness of that false faith. Remember what we banded together for. What we’ve borne for centuries of great endeavor.”
“…Huh?”
“It was to punish those who suck the people’s lifeblood in God’s name, meddle in politics, absolve sins they won’t bear with money, and arrogantly cage innate nature under the name of law.”
The Devil Church wasn’t greatly at odds with the commandments. It simply adopted the demon’s existence as a means to eradicate social injustices.
In that sense, it was the same as any group gathered from those dissatisfied with society.
The woman urged him to finish.
“So.”
“We don’t exist merely to vent emotions suppressed by them. To render void the shackles of status, the yoke of class, the binary judgment dividing noble from base. Such conventions.”
The man’s eyes turned toward some distant point.
“The true downfall of the existing order. With our own hands, shatter the foundations of their vain hypocrisy—forgiveness and tolerance—and return to nature’s rightful form.”
The man twisted his face and spat fervent words.
“We must liberate human nature. Topple the order. Worship the fall. Hating their hypocrisy and restoring ourselves to our rightful place—that is our mission.”
“…….”
“In the ruins once those spires crumble, we will finally reclaim our proper position.”
The woman looked into the man’s bloodthirsty crimson eyes.
The pentagram etched in his pupils.
Proof of the third eye received by offering his own eyeball to the demon in faithful devotion.
‘Damn it.’
The woman inwardly chewed curses.
The Devil Church’s followers all bore such marks of the demon on their bodies, like her.
To better absorb their power in preparation for becoming demons.
The commonly known side effects of becoming a demon were temporary loss of reason and succumbing to instincts.
But that occurred when the unprepared received favor.
If one tamed the corruption in their body like her, no side effects arose.
And if they eventually fell to become demons, the deeply rooted corruption would yield a demon unlike any other.
She looked at the man.
Among them, his mark was in his eye.
One could infer he would awaken death eyes upon becoming a demon.
“True liberation isn’t just peripheral pleasure and emotional outbursts based on instinct. Don’t get distracted by superficialities. The greater cause is downfall. Solely the downfall of the existing order.”
The man’s gleaming crimson gaze fixed on the woman.
“You, executor of the great endeavor. Hand and foot of Satan, comrade sharing His eyes and mind. Exercise restraint. Be even more cautious. Once we topple their hypocrisy, we’ll shed this ugly reason and become beasts as in primordial times.”
Only then will we truly be ‘free.’
With a grinning laugh, the man gradually regained his composure.
His mood plummeted from ecstasy’s peak to the sewers, growing icy, as if disgusted by still possessing reason.
“Cherish that anger and irritation of yours. Once He descends and the great downfall reigns, those suppressed emotions will become the most threatening, sharpest daggers piercing our enemies.”
“…Tch.”
“So, how’s the work progressing?”
“There are cracks in the collusion among her close aides. It’ll unravel soon.”
External interference had completely wrecked the power structure.
They’d been slowly tightening the noose around the princess, but she’d caught on and burst out of the palace, or somehow dragged in that monster.
Nothing went as planned.
The man pondered the situation deeply.
“We’ve infiltrated our spies into the imperial palace. We must succeed, after investing so much.”
“He’s a Master, even if at the bottom rung. Can we fool his eyes?”
“Lord Ors will join.”
‘…A demon!’
Not even a lesser demon.
Receiving an individual name meant a high demon’s subordinate active for over a millennium.
But beyond raw power, demons held different meaning for devil worshippers.
The only beings who could wield the authority of corruption.
In other words, entities that could transform devil worshippers into demons.
“If things go awry, those like me who receive favor will become demons. While they draw attention…”
“We kidnap the princess.”
The man nodded.
“For the sacrifice to Him, bring her without a single scratch. Handle with care.”
“Tch, I know.”
“Good, if you know. To receive the grace He’ll bestow upon us later, we must give our all in service.”
“But with that much force, why not just take out Master Aiden?”
The man shook his head.
“A Master is hard to touch even with our power. Unless we pour everything in, the eighth star heaven is an ill-omened baleful star. No need to provoke now.”
That meant, if things went south, turn all the spies planted in the palace into demons to create chaos, and snatch the princess during that time.
Above all, drawing a Master’s attention meant abandoning any hope of survival.
Reading her mood, the man closed his eyes and fell silent.
“Satan will not forget their loyalty.”
“Fine. I don’t like it, but we have no choice but to exploit that blonde’s plan.”
“It’s but a brief wait to complete our task.”
The woman and man met eyes.
“All for His public declaration.”
While the world fills its vanity and pockets, revive the great demon and enact the downfall.
Thus, in the crumbled ruins, humanity returns to its rightful place.
Centuries of endeavor for that end.
Aiden’s public declaration was not far off.