The Nightmare Demon (6)
The flickering wings of flame swelled vast, flaunting their presence with a majesty that filled every onlooker with spontaneous awe.
Those wings of fire beat and scattered tiny embers in every direction, while the blazing halo above shone with radiant light.
Had an angel descended upon Kenis’s body?
Or had Kenis herself ascended into an angel?
Before the holy, sacred angel of fire, every head bowed in reverence.
“Ohh…”
“An angel… It’s an angel!”
“She’ll save us with fire!”
“The angel looked at me!! She’s going to lead me to the field of glory!!”
“Not you—she looked at me, standing behind you!”
Even from afar the wings’ presence was unmistakable. Soldiers stirred and murmured at the sight of Kenis, voices rising here and there in praise of the “Angel of Fire.”
Kenis snapped back to her senses.
An angel? … Who? Me? … Why?
She had been pouring out her passion only to find, when she came to herself, that people were bowing their heads and praying toward her. The situation made no sense at all.
Feigning composure, she rolled her eyes and scanned her surroundings thoroughly.
— Flap-flap
Huh? Huhh? Huhhhh?!
When she turned her head just a little, the wings of fire came into view. By angle and by sensation alike, there was no doubt: they had sprouted from her own back. Wings… had grown?
As a test she twitched as though flexing her shoulder blades—and the wings beat powerfully in answer. They truly belonged to her back.
W-wings… on my back?
Kenis’s pupils trembled faintly. What on earth was happening? Why had wings suddenly appeared?
She could not understand it. Her eyes began to spin in circles, though the people with bowed heads never noticed.
W-what do I do? What now?! What is this…?
The people prayed and praised her, while Kenis—now the Angel of Fire—stood tall and proud, wings beating, for a long stretch of time.
From the outside it looked like a single perfect painting.
A demon pierced through by silver chains and forced to its knees; soldiers praying in fervent ecstasy; and an angel standing in solemn majesty.
…The reality was rather different.
I-is this the will of God? Have I… become an angel?
There was only Kenis, completely at a loss, and the soldiers, who had grown far too heated.
“The angel will save us with fire!”
“Receive the baptism of flame!!”
“Haa…”
Friga’s sigh deepened as she roughly grasped how things were unfolding. Just as the soldiers’ uproar swelled toward outright frenzy—
— Clank-clank!
The sharp rattle of iron chains rolled across the battlefield. The feverish atmosphere cooled as though cold water had been dashed over it.
A quiet, cold stillness settled.
It was not the chill of despair or helplessness.
It was the chill of cold steel—sharp, and tempered by clear reason. The soldiers’ eyes grew calm and keen.
“Angel! The demon—the demon is starting to move!!”
An unnamed soldier shouted urgently toward Kenis. Just as he said, the demon that had been kneeling, pierced by chains, was beginning to twitch.
Each time the demon stirred, the chains clanked and swayed with a metallic rasp.
Kenis’s spinning eyes snapped back into focus. She still did not know why wings had grown from her back or why a halo had appeared above her head… yet this, too, must be the will of God.
In that case—
I simply fight…!
With the miracle God had granted her, she would fight with everything she had.
— Flap!
Kenis’s wings beat powerfully up and down. The wings of fire scattered pure embers as they moved with all their might.
A single bright star shot upward from the earth toward the sky.
The girl who soared high enough to nearly touch the stars and the moon then fell toward the demon, trailing a long tail of light.
— KRAAANG!
An angel descending from the heavens. God’s proxy upon the earth. The Blessed One.
Or simply—a hero.
Kenis drew her holy sword. The blade, which always glowed with a soft violet light, burst into flame with a whoosh. It was a warm fire.
Sacred flame that drove out darkness and struck down demons.
— “Kii-hiiiiiik!!”
At last the demon snapped the chains completely free and loosed a monstrous roar at Kenis. The enraged howl shook the entire battlefield.
Her opponent was an immortal monster that grew stronger the longer it fought.
Standing against it was a single girl with a sword.
— Shiiing
The holy sword rang with a razor-sharp note. Sacred fire climbed the blade and flickered. This was the holy flame that would purify and burn every evil in the world—the sacred fire God had sent down to earth.
— “Kkihi-iiik!”
The frenzied demon charged at Kenis. The way it kicked off the ground on all fours was pure beast, yet Kenis did not lower her guard.
“Cha—aat!”
— KAAANG!
Holy sword and demonic claws collided in a shower of sparks. The demon staggered, driven back by the full force of Kenis’s swing.
She did not miss the opening.
A gap!
A razor-sharp flash. She carved halfway through the demon’s shoulder.
One of the demon’s arms dangled, showing a clean cut surface.
Sacred fire seethed along the wound, giving off the stench of burning flesh. A wound lit by holy flame would regenerate no further.
— “Kkhi-ik!! Kkihi-ek!!”
Whether the sacred fire pained it or not, the demon screamed and thrashed madly. It rolled and beat at itself trying to put out the fire, yet the holy flame only crept higher, greedily consuming its body.
— Seok!
With a soft thud the demon’s entire arm dropped free. It had severed its own flaming limb.
Moments later the cut shoulder writhed, and a new arm regenerated.
“This…”
Kenis’s expression darkened slightly at the sight of the regrown arm. To cut away the wounded part itself and regenerate…
Yet she had confirmed that the sacred fire worked against the demon.
The moment Kenis gripped her holy sword and prepared to charge—
— “Kii-hik.”
Both of the demon’s hands writhed and transformed, taking the shape of a massive sword. Twin blades twisted into a double helix—a uniquely shaped greatsword.
The demon had imitated Kenis’s holy sword.
“You—demon!”
Enraged, Kenis kicked off the ground and charged. How dare a demon mimic the holy sword?
This was monstrous blasphemy!
“Atone for your sin—!”
The fiercely burning wings lent power to her speed. She twisted her hips and unleashed a powerful horizontal slash. Hot flames fanned out in a wide arc behind the blade.
— KWAANG!
A gigantic flower of fire bloomed. The crude greatsword the demon had copied met the holy sword—only to be swallowed and burned away by the sacred flame.
— “Kiiik?!”
Startled, the demon retreated, but Kenis closed in at once. Once she seized the flow of battle, she never let it go.
If the demon would simply cut away any wound touched by sacred fire, then she only needed to press so hard it never had the chance to cut.
Her sword flowed like water, smoothly pursuing the demon.
Flames trailed after the holy sword, blooming like flowers of fire. Little by little the demon’s body was consumed by the sacred flame.
Legs, shoulders, torso. The holy fire burned and ate the demon alive.
— “Kki-hiik!! Kkhik!”
A storm of continuous sword strokes. At its center stood Kenis, wings of fire upon her back. One of the demon’s arms dropped free with a soft thud.
Its legs burned; a hole opened in its side.
The sight was wretched, yet it did not fall. Instead the demon slowly grew by imitating Kenis’s swordplay.
She felt it instinctively.
She needed a stronger blow. A single strike powerful enough to overwhelm the regenerative force the sacred fire was suppressing—and to end the demon’s life in one stroke.
“Hup—!”
Kenis leapt far back and drew a deep breath.
Her wings beat and she soared high. For an instant the wings spread wide and lifted her upward.
She leapt as though flying and raised her sword with every ounce of strength she possessed.
From above to below.
She pictured splitting the earth and cutting the sky.
What she needed now was—
A single swing into which she poured every last scrap of her power.
Faster!
Swift as lightning.
Stronger!
Hot as flame.
— Chwaak!
Sacred fire streamed down the blade, drawing a beautiful tail as it fell. A flame as dazzling as the sun itself dropped from the heavens and split the demon cleanly in two.
— “Kii… hik…”
The demon’s screaming breath gradually faded. A red line appeared, dividing its body down the center.
Then, using that line as a fuse, the sacred fire ignited and swallowed the demon whole. Like a bonfire devouring dry kindling, the holy flame consumed the demon’s body and burned with fierce intensity.
“Huuu—”
Kenis landed and exhaled a long breath. Behind her the wings still beat, scattering bright embers.
Sacred fire streamed in rivulets down the massive greatsword, proclaiming its presence.
The holy flame that had eaten the demon and still burned now drifted on the wind like flower petals, wrapping gently around Kenis.
“Angel of Fire…”
“The one who came to save us with flame…”
A burning halo floated above her head; with wings of sacred fire she looked down upon the earth.
In her hand the holy sword flickered with the fire that destroyed evil.
She was truly the earthly executor of divine punishment—the one who chastised wickedness.
Silence settled over the battlefield where flames still burned.
Soldiers offered prayers as they gazed upon Kenis holding the blazing holy sword; the apostles watched with eyes full of reverence.
“Incredible…”
“That was really amazing.”
Friga’s half-stunned admiration. Ruel’s eyes sparkled in agreement.
The crackling of the sacred fire consuming the demon’s corpse filled the battlefield, while Kenis panted in short, sharp breaths.
“Huu— huuu—”
She felt the halo above her head snuff out with a soft pfft. The wings burning on her back faded as well, and the sacred fire dwelling in the sword gradually died.
The power God had granted her was probably reaching its end.
Kenis felt her consciousness slowly clouding.
Was this the price of using an angel’s power, even briefly, in a human body? Her eyelids grew heavy; her breathing turned labored.
Beyond her steadily blurring vision she saw Demonic running toward her.
Ah… Father…
A small smile formed. At the same time she offered one prayer toward God.
Please… let the others… be safe…
O One filled with mercy and compassion.
Bestow miracles upon the others as well, and grant them even a handful of smiles.
O Sixth God.