Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Holy Kingdom (12)
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Yujin roughly tucked the dazed Sena under his arm and began moving swiftly. His destination was where Lua was.
Leaping from rooftop to rooftop at high speed—
"…"
He sensed two massive demonic energies and the holy power barely shining in front of them.
'Greed and Lust, and the 1st Holy Knight Commander…!'
It seemed they were locked in combat. He immediately changed his target.
If the Seven Deadly Sins Seats, the culprits behind all this, were there, wouldn't it be enough to just kill them?
Kwaaaaaaang——!!!!!!
"Kuh…!"
"Haha! Wouldn't it be better to just give up now? If you surrender this instant, I'll keep your body intact and make you one of my knights."
"Oh no, that won't do. It'd be better to give up quickly and come to my side, wouldn't it? I'm the best at satisfying men, after all."
Lust let out a bewitching laugh.
At the same time, the demonic energy pressuring the 1st Holy Knight Commander intensified even further. He parried Greed's attack and swung his sword at Lust, grinding his teeth.
"Filthy demon scum…!"
"Pfft. Yeah, I like it when they're that feisty. They act like they'll never submit, but in the end, they end up under me, moaning and writhing."
"Eup! I have to admit, that's one thing Lust excels at! Hurry and give up, join us, and enjoy the pleasures!"
Greed, who had been cackling beside Lust, spread his arms wide. As if inviting him to embrace them instead of the goddess's bosom.
"Shut your mouths, you filthy demons."
But he remained unyielding.
Of course. The 1st Holy Knight Commander was a man who had honed his sword for decades in service to the Holy Kingdom and the faith.
If he, the Holy Kingdom's greatest warrior aside from the Pope, bowed to these filthy demons, it would negate his entire life of the past several decades.
"Hmm. I told you to just give up? Everyone else besides you has already surrendered anyway. Wouldn't it be better to let go comfortably and come to me?"
Lust glanced at the priests and holy knights scattered around. Every one of them had bulging crotches.
Lust stepped on the waistband of someone's trousers lying on the ground, grinding her heel.
"See? This nameless priest is going crazy with pleasure too. All that sticky desire flowing into me? Hehe."
Lust's demonic energy grew stronger by the moment.
Her ability strengthened her power through others' desires as a medium, blurring the boundary between mind and body, allowing her to create an illusory world.
And in that illusory world, she was… no different from a god. For it was solely her domain.
"Priests are so funny. They despise us so much and pretend to be so noble, but they're the most vulnerable to desire."
"That's the fate of these hypocrites!"
"Hehe. Exactly."
The Holy Kingdom had originally been like a sturdy shield forged from fervent faith. For hundreds, thousands of years, it had executed demon worshippers, heretics, and apostates, proving itself purer and more steadfast than any other.
But precisely because it was so pure, it had vulnerabilities.
It was easy to corrupt with desire. Especially vulnerable to Lust, who granted pleasure, and to humanity's fundamental greed.
"Even if I die, I won't kneel to scum like you!"
"Hng, that's a shame. Guess I'll have to kill you then."
"Haha! Give me the corpse, Lust!"
"Sure, sure."
As Lust snapped her fingers, the world flipped.
Minds crumbled, and the world was engulfed in illusion. The desires of the fallen priests expanded the illusion further, and a blood-red moon rose in the sky.
"Hehe."
She extended her hand with a bewitching smile, and a throbbing headache assaulted him.
'Kuh… she's tampering with desire…!'
It was a form of mental magic.
Independently of that, hundreds of spells adorned the air. Overwhelming computational power impossible for an ordinary mage.
Even Greed's hundreds of Golden Knights drew their swords and charged.
…
He thought to himself.
His body was already at its limit. No matter that he was the Holy Kingdom's strongest knight, victory against these foes in this situation was impossible.
He would probably meet certain death here.
'In that case, even in death, I'll take one life with me.'
Though the church leadership had fractured, and the holy knights he cherished were fighting each other in suspicion, he believed there was hope if he just held out a little longer.
After all, the church had the Pope and Saintess, living proof of the goddess's existence.
Those two could surely rebuild the church, even if it crumbled now.
'So I'll stop them here and leave hope for the others…!'
Even if he broke here, he would protect the seed so that the sprout of faith could bloom again.
That was his only thought.
"Hup…!"
Drawing even on his life force, he manifested immense holy power. A colossal sword aura, one he had never unleashed before, whipped out.
Sek—
The holy sword aura incinerated everything made of demonic energy as it passed.
Golden Knights, the illusory world, spells.
It cleaved through it all, momentarily carving a path to Greed and Lust.
But—
"Hahat! Impressive…! Truly impressive! That vicious holy power—if it even grazed us, regeneration would be impossible!"
"Hng, too bad. You could've come under me."
The result didn't reach them.
Before he could exploit that brief opening, Golden Knights surged from everywhere without end, and from the sky poured spells equivalent to 7th-circle magic.
Just as Greed and Lust would suffer irrecoverable damage from touching the 1st Holy Knight Commander's sword aura, touching the enemies' attacks here meant immediate retirement for him.
Without even accomplishing anything.
"Kuh…!"
In the end, he could only twist his body this way and that, swinging his sword in the best possible manner he could manage now.
"I'm curious how long you can hold out."
And so Lust and Greed watched the 1st Holy Knight Commander, who was inching ever closer to death, with their hands behind their backs.
If the other holy knight commanders had been present, victory might have been possible—
"But they're busy fighting each other."
Not knowing who the apostates were, they were slaughtering one another.
"What a foolish race."
"Hehe. Tell me about it."
Greed and Lust were certain. They were confident they could seize one of their long-cherished goals today: domination of the Holy Kingdom.
And rightly so. That monstrous Imperial Master, Yujin, had headed to the heart of the Papal Palace and vanished. The Holy Kingdom's true top power, the Pope, had long been a relic of the past.
'Probably tried to tackle the Trial of the Sword of Dominion… and got devoured.'
Ah, what a pity.
That man Yujin was someone they really wanted.
She smirked—
"Well, time's up. Sorry, but you have to die now."
Lust flashed a dark smile and drew in even more desire. Specifically, to snuff out the final flickering flame of life from that holy knight burning it all here.
Just as 8th-circle magic was about to strike the 1st Holy Knight Commander—
Chinggrang———
Creeeeeeeak———
With the sound of glass shattering, Lust's illusory world cracked open.
"!??!!!!!!"
Lust's head snapped down in shock.
Sek——
Kwaaaaaaang——!!!!
A black line slashed above her head, splitting everything in half. Greed, who reacted a beat late, had his right shoulder completely obliterated.
"……!!!!"
Stunned by the sudden attack, Lust clutched her neck. A little slower, and her head would have separated from her body just now.
Cold sweat and a chilling sensation ran down her spine.
Gulp—
'The illusory world… collapsed?'
This had never happened before.
'Who the hell…!'
Thud—
Thud—
And then, footsteps echoed from beyond the rift, entering the illusory world.
"Yujin Banus…!"
Strangely, Yujin strolled in leisurely, with the Saintess tucked under one arm.
Ignoring Greed and Lust as they glared warily,
"Are you alright?"
"Y-Yes, I'm fine."
"Good."
It seemed he'd arrived just in time.
A little later, and the holy knight commander before him might have lost his life.
He set Sena, whom he'd had tucked under his arm, down.
"I'll handle them, so protect Sena."
"They're dangerous. It'd be better if we attacked together—"
Kwaaaaaaang———!!!!
Yujin suddenly swung his sword, slicing through the sinister spells Lust had sent flying.
Dozens of them, effortlessly.
"Better how?"
…
The 1st Holy Knight Commander was at a loss for words.
'How… just now?'
Slicing spells—he could do that too. But without using sword aura or sword ray, with a single swing, to cleave dozens of spells?
'…Gulp.'
…Indeed. They said seeing one revealed ten, and it wasn't wrong.
With that single sword strike, Yujin had revealed he was on a whole different level from other masters.
'…So this is the greatest genius in history.'
"I'm fine, so don't worry about me and protect Sena. I can handle those two sufficiently."
Moreover, Lua, whose body was fully recovered, was surely leading the other forces here. The 1st Holy Knight Commander nodded and stood in front of Sena.
Meanwhile, watching this, Lust distorted her features as if her pride was wounded.
"Oh dear, that's a bit hurtful to my pride."
"Hahaha! Aren't you being a tad arrogant, Duke Banus?!"
They had overlooked it.
The meaning of Yujin, whom they'd thought devoured by the trial, appearing unscathed.
Yujin twisted the corner of his mouth slightly.
To erase these ignorant demons from the world.
"…Domain Deployment."
Domain Deployment
At that instant—
Kugugugugugu———!!!
"……?!!!!!!"
"You…! My illusory world…!"
Lust's illusory world vanished. No, more precisely, control had transferred to Yujin. Through domain deployment, it had devoured Lust's illusory world into his mindscape.
As if Lust's illusory world was merely a lesser imitation of domain deployment.
Realizing this, Lust strained with all her might to summon the illusory world again—but
"Pointless, you vermin."
"How in the world…!"
Soon, the world where Lust's blood-red moon hung was overwritten by ashen skies.
Now, in this moment, the master of the world was solely Yujin.