I Saw It All (1)

The Skeleton Demon King.

Who in the world could fail to know that name? Among the demon race, the few hundred years of the Skeleton Demon King gave the gods more headaches than the tens of thousands of years all the other Demon Kings combined had.

He had revived the demon race from the brink of annihilation when everyone said it was impossible, and in sheer ability he ranked among the top five Demon Kings in history. The terror of all mankind — every hero and champion of the continent had risen against him, and every single one had failed.

No wonder the gods had gone to the trouble of creating the Saintess, a demon-hunter forged exclusively to destroy the Skeleton Demon King. A being of pure living myth, one might say—

Like hell! Goddammit!

Why the hell am I standing over there?!

Sparks practically flew from Isaac's eyes. Far from an ordinary skeleton, this one had a flame blazing from its chest like a soul stone, and mana that rippled off it like black fire. Not some scrawny bag of bones but an imposing, towering frame of— yes! That damn bone-bastard he cursed at every single time he looked in a mirror was standing right there, dammit!

Whisper was seething too.

Right?! Pisses you off too, doesn't it, you little creep?!

Goddamn you, go jump off a cliff!

At the same time, the crowd erupted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into chaos.

"Don't tell me it's come for the Saint!"

After all, wouldn't he become the greatest threat to the Skeleton Demon King in the years to come?

But the very moment the Skeleton Demon King seized Isaac, the Cardinals struck without hesitation.

Crack!

The Gold — the element that banished and expelled everything beyond its own allies with fanatical exclusivity. The Red — the element that brought enemies to their knees through hellish agony that turned their very blood to tears. Two ferocious lights slammed into the Skeleton Demon King as if to rend him apart and kill him outright.

BOOM!

On their heels came lights of black and white, surging in to smother ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and boil the Skeleton Demon King alive. Variations aside, these were arts of supreme lethality — techniques that either severed a soul from its body or stopped a victim's breath in a single stroke.

And then, out of nowhere, high-tier divine arts began detonating across the hall, turning the banquet into a screaming madhouse. The newly ordained Academy graduates, receiving their first taste of clergy rank, had never seen such arts in their lives; they were one stumble away from bursting into tears.

THUD! KABOOM!

Those strikes were being thrown with the force of outright kill-shots, and Eli, head of House Blue, was clearly furious.

Understandably so — every one of those blows was a destructive art aimed solely at erasing the Skeleton Demon King. In other words: a single graze meant instant death.

And those blows were landing right beside the face of Isaac, who was currently being held in the Skeleton Demon King's grip — and near the students who hadn't managed to dodge?

"You noodle-brained pieces of trash! Are my grandson and the children invisible to you?!"

Snarling curses, the head of House Blue slammed his palm into the floor. In the same instant, a current of water as alive as a serpent erupted from the ground. It coiled around the students who hadn't escaped in time and flung them, one after another, like bales of cargo to the rear.

"Kghk! Thank y—you!"

Having saved the children first, he sent the water snaking out one last time to pull Isaac to safety as well—

Clang!

"!"

The water froze solid the instant it reached the Skeleton Demon King. Having frozen the water outright, the creature gave a contemptuous little laugh.

"!"

At those words, flames leapt in the Blue Faction head's eyes. The corners of his mouth — lips that never knew a smile — curled up in something cold and lethal.

This bastard dares to speak of a curse, in front of the Blue?

"I went along quietly back then so you wouldn't whine at me later about smashing up your temple."

In that instant, the entire banquet hall shuddered.

CRASH!

"Gyaaah!"

The dignitaries and priests couldn't even remain standing. Eli's overwhelming holy power carved a furrow through the floor, and water came flooding up across the banquet hall at terrifying speed.

"E-Elder!"

The violently surging water converged upon the head of House Blue. This was no mere serpent anymore. A colossal whale had taken shape, as if he had dragged in the largest waterfall on the continent and sculpted it into living form.

Even with only the tiniest fraction of its face above the surface, it was already large enough to swallow the entire hall. Buildings brushed by the mere edge of the whale vaporized and vanished on the spot.

In other words: touch it, and not even your bones would remain. The priests who had been helping the Pope maintain the barrier looked ready to foam at the mouth in sheer terror.

"Elder!! Please restrain yourself here! The capital will be vaporized!"

"His Holiness the Pope will be furious!"

"Quiet."

As if to say the other one had started it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he set the whale in motion.

At that sight, the Skeleton Demon King casually thrust Isaac forward as a shield.

Held captive, Isaac bristled with fury.

Yeah, I'm deliberately staying caught so I can figure out who the hell this thing is, but would you listen to the way this guy talks? Getting bolder by the second.

But the crowd was in an uproar for an entirely different reason.

"See? He said it again!"

"Oh…! The Saint…!"

"Don't tell me young lord Isaac really is the Saint?!"

Isaac's eyebrows twitched.

…Dammit, am I supposed to be thanking him for this?

Well, whatever. If that thing hits me, I probably won't leave bones to collect either, so I'll cheer for you for now.

Grandpa, your grandson is being held hostage right now.

I'll handle this myself, so calm down a little and put that thing down, okay?

Look, I know you're strong, Grandpa, and I'm well aware your temper is shit. So stop! I'm actually starting to get scared here!

Right! Grandpa, you adore me! You even snuck a spirit candy under my pillow when you thought I was asleep! Even if my insides are your mortal enemy, your adorable grandson still can't get hurt!

But the old man only gave a hollow laugh.

"Saints are sturdy. They don't die from something like this."

No!

I WILL die! I'm telling you I'll die!!! Dammit!

The whale, vast as the banquet hall itself, crashed down upon the Skeleton Demon King and Isaac without mercy. With a colossal impact, the Blue faction's holy power annihilated the creature's mana—

WHUMMM!

—and what remained of its body was brutally smashed apart by raw force.

BOOOM!

A blinding flash, and then an explosion.

"Gyaaah!"

Shockwaves and concussive force tangled together and turned the interior into utter chaos. The priests inside were nearly hurled through the air like paper dolls.

Thanks to the barrier the priests had woven, the building held — but still, this was a power beyond all common sense.

Then, suddenly, everything went silent. No trace of the Skeleton Demon King's power could be felt either. People shook their heads as they crawled out of their shock.

"…Good heavens, the Skeleton Demon King has appeared again!"

"He hasn't been seen since he laid his curse upon House Eshua seventy years ago, has he…?"

No, he never laid any curse.

"They say after his defeat at the hands of the gods 150 years ago, only his soul fled like a whimpering rat."

No, he never lost— wait, what?!

"They say he declared war on the gods because he meant to devour the God Realm itself."

He wouldn't eat that reeking cesspit of a God Realm if you paid him— WHAT?!

"Is he finally returning, his strength hoarded and restored?"

NO! That thing is a FAKE, you idiots!!!!

Buried under the rubble, Isaac wiggled his fingers.

"…"

…You Eshua bastards. I really will slaughter every last one of you.

Just then, Rillai hurried over to Isaac.

"Isaac, are you all right?"

Does I look all right to you, you big lunk?

Shuri, visibly shaken, came running over with his close classmates in tow.

"Good heavens. Even granting he's an Eshua, to take that hit and come out fine — what IS that body made of?"

I'm NOT fine, thank you very much. The holy power hit me so hard I feel like my brain is cracking in half.

"And they call him a Saint candidate! Sturdy to the bone, too!"

"At this point, couldn't he skip hiring a bodyguard holy knight like the ones the clergy hires?"

"Truly the Saint…! Should I get his autograph now, just in case?"

"No need to call a physician, surely…?"

"Of course not. He's a Saint, after all."

Dammit! I'm going to massacre the entire clergy, I swea—

"That's it, Isaac! My uncle's training paid off, I see. I'll help you with the advanced regimen too. Together we'll crack open that Skeleton Demon King's skull!"

Let's start by cracking YOURS!

But at Rillai's words, the other students looked startled.

"Wait — didn't the Skeleton Demon King die from the Blue Cardinal's attack?"

"It vanished…!"

"You think that would kill it? That wasn't the real Skeleton Demon King."

What?!

Everyone turned to gape at Isaac — but Isaac himself was grinning with barely suppressed rage.

That's right. The skeleton that had just appeared was a clone. A phantasm conjured out of mana. Isaac had allowed himself to be captured precisely because he wanted to trace where it had come from.

'Of course, it's not a complete fabrication.'

The Skeleton Demon King's true body existed somewhere, and this thing had been copied from it, shadow-for-shadow, and sent here.

And then there was the mana it had been using.

'That's MY mana.'

There was no mistaking it.

'Don't tell me my magic core got scattered somewhere too?'

Well, his physical body had been stored in the Saintess Treasury, after all. Was his magic core really so unlikely to be there as well? Granted, he had detonated it, so it would be damaged compared to its original state.

In any case, one thing was now certain: somewhere out there, an impostor was running around impersonating the Skeleton Demon King.

And above all — impersonating a king?

Impersonation was a grave felony even in the demon world. Did they think he'd let that slide? Especially when even a cursory glance said that bastard was the one behind the curse on this body of his.

'If — just if — he also has my magic core, that's two birds with one stone.'

Isaac's eyes gleamed, feral and bright.

Eli's eyes gleamed too.

"On that note — that was excessive of you. You knew from the start it was a phantom, and still you unleashed divine arts that violent. What were you planning to do if Isaac had been hurt?"

Rillai got his licks in, but the head of House Blue only stiffened his neck.

"It was a warning. How dare they contemplate crashing the ordination ceremony."

As he said it, Eli frowned and glanced toward the head table. He had seemed to lash out in a fit of rage — but the truth was different.

Eli had watched. Closely.

He had seen the Pope make a subtle gesture toward the Skeleton Demon King — while it held Isaac in its grip.

'No doubt about it. He meant to kill Isaac along with it.'

It was no accident that Eli had played along with the creature's words, accepting Isaac as a "Saint" he didn't believe in for a second. All of it had been to pin every eye in the hall on the spectacle, so the Pope couldn't pull anything sly.

And that was what made it stranger still.

'There's no way the Skeleton Demon King would do that merely because it called Isaac a Saint.'

What in the world came out of that Holy Water Basin?

Be that as it may, unable to let his grandson die, the old man had simply moved first — and struck big. The other Cardinals, too, had moved violently despite knowing the enemy was a phantom; partly for show, but that in itself spoke to just how threatening the Skeleton Demon King's existence was.

He had expected them to pull something major this year, targeting the ordination at which the Saint candidates would become priests.

'I just never imagined it would happen during Isaac's turn.'

The shock of his grandson suddenly appearing, all grown up, had nearly stopped his heart.

In any case, that wasn't what mattered now.

'I've found my grandson. First things first — I'm dragging that boy and that thing out of here.'

Whatever the reason, the Pope had tried to dispose of Isaac.

'Could he have glimpsed the boy's faith?'

He's not suspicious that I summoned the Skeleton Demon King, is he?

Well, surely the Pope wouldn't think of killing a child over something like that. Either way, the point stood: Isaac's very existence had caught the Papacy's eye.

And so, for the boy's protection, the best course was to lock him away not in the capital, where the Papacy's power reached, but on Eshua territory.

Either way, once he had him penned up — moral education first, founded on proper Saintess training!

"Isaac, come here. Grandfather has a reward for you."

As the old man beckoned and approached, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Isaac slunk backward out of range.

Dammit, what's with that face? You say you'll buy me a pork cutlet and then drag me straight to the dentist — that's exactly the face you're making.

But the head of House Blue was not one to retreat meekly.

"Did my grandson not overcome the Skeleton Demon King's curse and grow up this splendidly? Grandfather will buy you delicious sweets."

Are you seriously planning to pull my teeth out, you old bastard?!

But then, salvation came for Isaac in the form of a voice.

"I don't believe he should be allowed to leave."

"!"

The savior was none other than Kina Berith.

The head of House Blue shot Kina a glare that asked why he was interfering — and Kina Berith pointed beyond the banquet hall.

Outside it lay the mana of the Skeleton Demon King, which everyone had believed vanished. And rising from that mana, beginning to bloom — monsters.

"If those creatures have come for the Saint, then surely the Saint candidates must be the ones to deal with them. Only then will it serve as an example."

Eli narrowed his eyes.

This brat?

But Kina Berith looked at Isaac. There was a very specific reason he had stepped forward.

As the Pope's grandson, Kina could hardly stomach what the priests had said. Which left him only one option: to prove once and for all who the true Saint was.

Whisper, having caught wind of the scheme between Eli and Kina Berith, stepped up.

'No.'

I have a much better idea.

Isaac grinned — and pulled something out.