Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Pride
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A woman who spoke for the being above the heavens.
Even though that god had withdrawn its power. Even though she had endured the horrific tragedy that followed.
The pure white power began to surge at Stella's will, as if rewarding the faith she had never let go.
Like the saint known to have resurrected from the tomb in just three days.
The saintess who had awakened from slumber to purify this place overrun by evil and malice.
Just as the scriptures promised that on the day the saint returned, judgment would come in flames, the pure white flames rising from Stella as the center were now ready to judge the wicked.
"This... this is dangerous."
"Eek!"
"......"
Valkyria's wings folded in, Payrun curled his body and hid his nine tails in his embrace.
Even Dune was breaking out in cold sweat as he looked up at the vast divine flames.
No matter how pitch-black the darkness, it had no choice but to retreat before even a small candle flame.
The appearance of Saintess Stella was like the sun peeking out a little early in the late dawn.
[Are you okay?]
"Yeah."
Of course it was.
It wasn't as if Stella had truly returned to life in the flesh like the saints in the scriptures.
Just as I had used her power through Belica's soul.
Stella was merely helping me in a similar way, while I supplied the mana to wield the holy power.
Naturally, it was impossible without practice.
Just as I had practiced syncing with Belica, no matter how aligned our hearts were, it couldn't be done on the spur of the moment.
But after Belica, I had already finished practicing linkage with Stella as well.
If asked how that was possible.
A bit out of left field, but it was a result gained during the long period when Deus had control of my body.
In truth, with no holy power of my own, handling Stella's soul would be useless.
But using the Holy Grail like this to indirectly wield holy power changed everything.
Through Stella's experience and skill, I was drawing on holy power via mana extended outward without touching the body.
[It's a power already forbidden to me as a soul.]
Even for Stella, touching holy power would mean instant annihilation.
Holy power was also such a finicky force that it couldn't be handled for long.
[A moment will be enough.]
But Stella was confident of victory with just the few minutes granted to her.
The white flames occupying the center of the banquet hall finally began to move.
The flames, about the size of a person, grew larger as they flew, then shot straight toward the archdemons.
The archdemons' tense reactions were closer to desperate flight than evasion.
They rolled desperately on the floor or barely flapped their wings to take off, showing pathetic movements.
"Huh? Huh!"
"Wait a second!"
In the spots where the archdemons fled were the others who had been tussling with them.
Especially since the pure white flames covered such a wide area, none of the group could dodge and took direct hits.
"Huh?"
Pindenai's dazed voice indicated she had suffered no harm.
Deia and Elenoa were looking over their bodies, which were gradually healing within the flames.
Saintess Lucia, who had collapsed, stared in shock amid the flames.
[It drives out evil.]
Stella slowly turned her head toward such a Lucia.
The former saintess and current saintess met eyes. Lucia's lips trembled as if she had too much to say.
Stella smiled gently while imparting a teaching.
[And heals the wounded.]
"St-Stella..."
[That's us, right?]
A strike deadly enough to threaten life with the slightest graze for archdemons became, conversely, a blessing that healed the whole body and invigorated humans.
This was the saintess.
A being prepared solely for humanity.
Stella turned back to gaze at the archdemons. Lucia shed tears endlessly while staring at her back.
She had always chased that back.
In tough situations, she must have pondered what that one would do.
A perfected saintess who had fully shouldered her burdens, accomplished them, and stepped aside.
Lucia seemed to yearn to one day reach that ideal herself while gazing upon it.
Stella showed that radiant glory once more to the junior following behind, then looked back at the archdemons.
The ground was already ablaze with holy flames spreading at tremendous speed like an autumn reed field, preventing the archdemons from stepping carelessly.
She realized this was not just to drive out the archdemons or flaunt her power.
It was Stella's will to protect every human present.
With the holy flames spreading everywhere and boiling over, the rest of the group standing embraced within them were safe from the archdemons' threats.
'Amazing.'
Quick judgment in a short moment.
Sorry, Lucia, but to catch up to Stella, relentless effort would be needed.
Stella wasn't just experienced in fighting demons; she knew exactly how to protect others while battling them.
The archdemons ground their teeth while looking down at the burning ground.
Valkyria had wings, so she could flee anytime.
But Payrun and Dune were plastered to the walls or hanging by one hand from the chandeliers.
To escape, they had no choice but to risk injury and leap outside the building.
"I'm running away!"
Payrun smashed right through the wall. Now realizing the danger of the holy power, he flung himself out the hole with survival as his sole thought.
"Stop!"
"Payrun!"
The two demons tried to stop his rash action, but it was too late.
Pure white flames poured in through the hole Payrun made, engulfing his entire body.
"Aaahhhhhhh!"
Amid the pain of his whole body burning, the archdemon clutched his face with both hands. Unable to steady himself, he fell from the wall.
Thud.
The flames, alive as if breathing, welcomed Payrun's fall and engulfed him.
His scream didn't last long.
The archdemon who had tormented humans so much and arrogantly received worship with his ten tails met an end more pathetic than imagined.
It wasn't just Payrun's problem.
This was the power of holy power.
The unprecedented force given by a god to only one human.
Valkyria and Dune gulped as they looked down at Payrun, who left not even a corpse behind and whose soul achieved not repose but annihilation.
The threatening heat felt from outside.
The two demons already knew Stella's flames had spread like a net even to the outer walls of the banquet hall.
They also knew they had become insignificant insects in the grasp of the woman who followed the god.
They, the great apex predators of the continent.
The archdemons who had soared endlessly without anything above them now realized for the first time today how high the ceiling over their heads truly was.
Crunch.
The shadow of defeat loomed thick, and the sense of defeat felt for the first time in centuries seemed quite bitter.
But more than that, it seemed unfair, so unfair to lose without any resistance.
As demons by race, born pursuing struggle and pride, they must have enjoyed so much.
The name archdemon was like a black card that worked anywhere and granted legitimacy to all actions, a kind of privilege.
Now, that very thing.
Was roughly grabbing the ankles of the two demons.
"Prideful... saintess."
Dune, hanging from the chandelier and looking down at Stella and me, finally asked in a low voice, as if resigning to something.
If this place was his end.
At least as an archdemon bearing the name of pride.
He showed a desire to close his eyes embracing his own pride.
"Show me your conviction."
It was a request spat out in the impulse to confirm once more that we were worthy to grant him death.
To the gentlemanly man who accepted reality and death even in this desperate situation, I wanted to make him feel the clear gap with our eyes and skin.
[Deus, is that alright?]
If it were the old Stella.
The her from life would not have given even a shred of possibility to a demon.
The past her I heard of showered infinite mercy on humans, balancing it with endless coldness toward demons.
But now.
With the Archdemon of Mutation as a close friend, she acknowledged they too had their own convictions and ways of life.
"Yes, as you wish."
At my permission, Stella calmly looked up at Dune and nodded.
[I accept.]
The moment those words reached Dune's ears, his body began to thicken.
The third eye on his forehead opened wide and began shedding bloody tears, and Dune's lower body, which had been that of a ram, transformed entirely into steel-like coarse fur.
Kuuoooooo!
The archdemon's final roar echoed long through the night sky. Far too short to encapsulate his long, long years.
But he immediately tensed his legs, kicked off the wall, and leaped toward Stella and me.
Boom!
The impact of his leap crumbled the wall he stood on, and the banquet hall's ceiling began to tilt.
Even as the precariously balanced hall collapsed, everyone's eyes were fixed on us.
Pure white flames welcomed Dune flying in like a moth to the flame. Just touching them had already turned parts of his body to black ash.
But the propulsion from his leap remained.
He pierced through the surging flames swallowing him.
"I've seen thousands, tens of thousands of prides! The convictions shown by those living on this land were truly ecstatic!"
His two side eyes were already burst and blind, but the third eye on his forehead squarely captured us.
"Archdemon of Pride Dune repays your performance by showing the pride of great evil here!"
As he neared us, Dune twisted his waist. He intended to swing his right fist.
One strike.
The current Dune could shatter us mercilessly with a single blow and take us as companions.
[Watching and enjoying the desperate yet sublime convictions of the republic's people.]
Toward the man heading to his end, Stella offered a meaningful farewell.
[Wasn't that defiling the pride you so shouted about?]
Dune's right arm, which he was about to swing, was already gone.
"Ah."
Looking down at his own body, now turned to ash and vanished, Dune finally let out a rueful chuckle of realization and closed his final eye.