Don't Do This (7)

“Haa… haa…”

The moment the tension eased even slightly, a surge of agony slammed into the Inquisitor. She furrowed her brow. Each ragged breath slowly pushed the white haze back from the edges of her vision, restoring the world to something resembling clarity.

“Is it… over…?”

She wiped the sweat from her face and fixed a hard stare on the figure who had been flung far away. Had they done it? Was the demon no longer free to rampage inside the Demon Knight’s body?

Her green eyes scanned the fallen man without pause. The one who had taken that deep, caved-in wound to the abdomen lay utterly still.

“…Huu.”

Only then did she sink to the ground where she stood. Not a single injury marked her body, yet every inch of her seemed to scream in protest.

“Ugh.”

The aftereffects of expending holy power could not be healed by any means. So she simply endured the pain and dragged air into her lungs. Click. Click. Click. Footsteps approached from a distance.

“You alive, or what?!”

The first thing out of his mouth was asking if she was still breathing. Of course she was alive—what, was he hoping she was dead? She could never bring herself to think kindly of that rogue, no matter how hard she tried.

The Inquisitor let her arms and legs go limp, grumbling uselessly under her breath. The teachings of the Order demanded proper posture, but she had no choice. Right now, even remaining seated was hardship enough.

“May the Lord not be angered…”

At least she hadn’t sprawled flat on her back. She could only pray that He would look upon her with mercy.

“Tsk. You’re alive, right? Why aren’t you answering?”

“…Quiet.”

“Still kicking, good. But what’s with the hair? Did a rat take a bite out of it?”

At the rogue’s jab she reflexively raised a hand to her head. Her ear had not been completely severed, so it had somehow reattached, but the hair around it was now shorter than the length of a finger joint.

“It got cut.”

The Inquisitor looked a little regretful at the uneven length on either side, then steeled herself with the thought that at least the ear itself was intact. Hair would grow back with time; that was all.

“…You look an absolute mess.”

When a fight turned rough, clothes tore and armor broke. That was only natural. And yet he had to point it out. Truly a fool.

She answered with nothing more than a sullen silence. The rogue didn’t seem to expect a reply either, and asked nothing further.

Instead something settled over her shoulders. It was the hooded shawl the rogue always wore.

The Inquisitor’s gaze shifted to him.

“What? Why?”

The night was cool enough, but dawn would break soon. Cold of this degree barely registered as chill to her anyway.

So she simply blinked.

“I don’t need it.”

“Just take what you’re given. Or what, you hate it because it belongs to a thieving bastard?”

“That isn’t it.”

She wasn’t cold. The Inquisitor fingered the green hood for a moment before giving up on returning it. She was far too exhausted to argue with that sharp-tongued man.

“Did you get the people evacuated?”

Instead she asked only what she most needed to know. The mere fact that the Slicker had made it this far already answered the question, but she wanted to hear it properly.

“Ha, of course.”

As expected.

She felt relief wash through her at the news that the people had been moved to safety. Even if a mountain of work still remained, she could not help but welcome the knowledge that the greatest threats had been dealt with.

“The main force has arrived too. I saw them coming.”

“That is good news.”

If the main force was here, they could clear out the remaining demons in the city. The people could be relocated to proper shelter as well, and…

“The Demon Knight…”

“He’s over there. But don’t go near him.”

They would be able to seal the Demon Knight properly.

“…Has the demon… withdrawn?”

“Who knows.”

She hoped so too. Yet she could still feel the demon energy inside the Demon Knight’s body refusing to diminish. He was unconscious for now, but whether he would still be in his right mind when he next woke was anyone’s guess.

“Even so, he will return.”

She believed it. If not the next time he woke, then the time after that, or the time after that—the true Demon Knight would awaken once more.

“I must get up.”

She had caught her breath as much as she was going to. Swallowing the involuntary groan that tried to escape, she forced her body upright.

“Why not rest a little longer?”

“I cannot. I must place a seal.”

She needed to lay even a simple seal before the Demon Knight woke. They had managed to subdue him without major damage thanks to his own resistance from within, but there was no guarantee it would happen that way again.

And if she did not want to watch the Demon Knight die from his wounds worsening, the injury to his abdomen needed treatment as well.

“A seal?”

“As a precaution.”

“I get that, but… what happens to the knight then?”

She found herself puzzled by how flustered the Slicker suddenly seemed.

“Then we simply release the seal?”

“…You can release it?”

“There is no seal in this world that cannot be undone.”

“Aren’t seals… the kind of things that take forever and are all grand and permanent? The ones that keep something from ever waking up?”

“There are large-scale seals like that, yes, but I do not know how to perform them.”

All she could manage was a simple binding seal—chains of holy power that wrapped the body tight and restricted movement.

“And I would not perform one even if I could.”

More importantly, a large-scale seal would prevent not only the demon but the Demon Knight himself from ever waking. She could never do such a thing. She believed in the Demon Knight.

“That’s a relief, I guess… but it kind of kills the mood.”

The Order arriving now would almost certainly see things differently, of course.

The Inquisitor swallowed that future whole. The Demon Knight would wake up perfectly fine, just as he always did. He would.

He had to…

“Is that the ritual formula?”

“Yes.”

“…Want a shoulder to lean on?”

“…Yes.”

She staggered as she began to draw the formula, then accepted the rogue’s offered consideration. It wounded her pride, but her body was in no state for stubbornness. A dull, pervasive ache had her limbs trembling for no reason at all.

The rogue said nothing of it, yet her entire body must have been soaked in cold sweat.

“Why is this formula so huge…?”

How many careful strokes had she drawn of the circular formula around the Demon Knight?

“Doesn’t this end in a single line?”

“Sealing formulas usually begin with two lines.”

“That’s a pain in the— Get down!”

Just as she finished the first line, the rogue shoved her body sideways. There was no need to ask why he was panicking.

KWAANG!

A jet-black surge of energy tore through the spot where they had been standing.

“……!”

The dread that seized her reached its peak the instant she lifted her head to grasp the situation.

She saw the Demon Knight standing. Half of his face, however, was stained black as though something had swallowed it whole.

Murderous intent given form by demon energy filled his right eye socket and spilled down from the empty hollow.

Viciously concentrated demon energy writhed throughout his entire body.

“Damn it, this is bad, right?”

The tension that had loosened once already now turned her whole body leaden. But heaviness of the limbs was no reason to avoid a fight.

She gritted her teeth and gripped her mace. Thank the heavens she had not left her weapon on the ground.

“I’ll hold him here—run!”

“Shit!”

The Inquisitor offered a prayer to the Lord. A measure of holy power enough to instantly close a stab wound was granted to her.

The price would be the sort of muscle ache one felt the day after overexertion.

“Kh!”

Even that was a burden on her now. A moan slipped between her teeth.

Click.

Unfortunately, her opponent paid no mind to her condition. The Demon Knight flicked his left hand, and the demon energy swirling around his body began to gather into several distinct clusters.

Long and sharp-tipped, the masses of demon energy looked exactly like spears.

“…?”

Was something like that even possible? Firing energy that clung to one’s body or weapon was one thing, but gathering energy from empty air and launching it—that belonged to the realm of magic, did it not?

The Inquisitor entertained the thin question. It would not last long.

The spears poured toward her.

Pabababak.

She rolled across the ground as fast as her heavy legs allowed. The spears pursued her, driving into the earth one after another.

Ssssss.

Maintaining distance from the Demon Knight, the Inquisitor ran sideways, then sideways again. What entered her vision then was something flowing through the darkness.

It was a black current. No—it was crimson blood. The blood that had tilted and sloshed and finally spilled from the iron-plate pit while she and the Demon Knight fought.

“What in the—!”

The blood gathering before the Demon Knight’s left hand slowly began to take shape.

A sword. A blade formed of pure, densely concentrated corruption.

The two-handed sword he had been holding grew thinner and a little shorter until it was a size that could be wielded in one hand.

“O Lord, grant me once more the strength to fight.”

Would the Lord bestow more holy power? And even if He did, could she endure the pain that came with it?

Could she purify that thing?

The Inquisitor crushed the desire to voice her weakness. If she could not overcome even this adversity, how could she ever hope to slay the Demon King?

Trickle.

Blood ran from her nose again. Something seemed to be flowing from her eyes as well. It was fine. Her memory was hazy, but she had been like this when they felled the Sea Dragon too.

So just as she had succeeded then, she would overcome this as well.

She would surely…

Seogeok!

She hurriedly rolled aside to avoid the two-handed sword that came swinging. She thought she had cleared the range, yet the Demon Knight’s blade path carved a chunk of flesh from her shoulder anyway.

The garment the rogue had lent her tore to tatters as well.

“……!”

How had she been hit? She still had not grasped it when her eyes flew wide. The Demon Knight, awakened once more, swung his sword again.

She retreated swiftly. Only then did she understand why she had been struck.

Whenever the Demon Knight swung his sword, half a beat later a second trajectory—identical to the first—was carved into the empty air roughly thirty centimeters away.

Two additional attacks came, one above and one below, parallel to the plane of the blade.

To evade them she would have to leap farther. She understood that now.

“Keuk!”

But knowing a thing and being able to avoid it were two different matters; otherwise anyone could become a master of combat.

Another cut opened across her forearm.

“Demon Knight!”

She endured. Feeling the nosebleed and tears of blood vanish as holy power purified them, she closed the distance on the Demon Knight.

Spears formed from empty air flew at her, interfering.

In that interval the Demon Knight glided backward as if skating and raked the blood-sword upward from below.

Demon energy split the earth and fanned outward in a semicircle. It looked exactly like flame.

“……!”

This one she could not dodge.

She thrust holy power forward. A solid wall of light took the black energy’s blows. Through the gaps she could dimly see the Demon Knight crossing both arms, ready to swing.

Following instinct, the Inquisitor rolled straight toward him. Demon energy still burning on the ground scorched her cloak and seared her skin, but the choice proved correct in the end.

The Demon Knight shot forward to the exact spot she had just vacated and swung. The extended blade path did not merely crack the ground—it sliced clean through the castle wall beyond.

For a fleeting moment the view on the far side of the castle seemed to show through the cut. The raw power was terrifying.

Yet rolling forward had let her claim a position at his back. She poured every scrap of remaining holy power into her mace and swung.

The man twisted at the waist, blocked the mace with the blood-sword, and stabbed for her abdomen with the two-handed sword.

Chwaak!

Spiral demon energy erupted from the straight-thrusting blade and pierced everything in a straight line. She avoided a direct hit from the edge, yet could not escape the swirl of demon energy; a great wound tore open along her side.

Flesh hung in ragged strips as though ripped free by force; torn muscle vomited blood.

“Ugh.”

Recovery was possible, but the mounting burden was not something she could simply ignore. She steadied her reeling body and rolled across the ground.

Damn it—true to a Great Demon, his demon energy seemed endless; the opponent gave her not even a heartbeat of rest before swinging the blood-sword on a diagonal.

The earth split, and demon energy surged up through the cracks. Long-burning black flames remained along the trajectory.

There was no opening to counterattack. The Inquisitor’s lips finally pressed flat against her teeth.

“Hyaaaaah!”

But if there was no opening, she would simply create one herself.

Barely avoiding a straight thrust that shot through the flames, she gripped her mace. Her intent was to shake the ground and throw him off balance.

Kang!

“……!”

But he was too fast.

Before she could even smash the mace into the earth she was forced to parry the attack that came crashing down. Two blades focused on a single point left their first marks on a mace forged only from star-metal and consecrated iron.

“What—!”

Then one of the two blades stabbing at the mace—the two-handed sword, now shortened to the length of a longsword—pulled back. The pressure she had been pushing against halved, yet she barely had time to exploit it.

The two-handed sword carved through the air aimed at her head. The Inquisitor’s waist bent desperately.

Saak!

She avoided the sword itself, but several strands of hair were sheared away by the additional trajectory.

At the same moment the Inquisitor threw herself into a tackle against the Demon Knight’s body. It was pure instinct—if she could just knock him down…

Peong!

A vain hope. Demon energy flared from the Demon Knight’s body for an instant and then detonated outward.

“Eut.”

The protection that still clung to her body kept her from being shredded completely. She could do nothing, however, about the way she was flung rolling backward or the minor scrapes that came with it.

Nor about the demon spears that punched through her thigh and forearm in the same breath.

Chwaaak.

She forced her body to move, refusing to yield to it.

The Demon Knight closed on her in a single instant. The blood-sword that had been scraping along the ground rose, unleashing a fan of burning demon energy.

Then came successive blade paths that seemed to predict the direction she would dodge. Three claw-like sword scars of flame and beast left their marks on the earth one after another.

The Inquisitor’s brow twisted hard. There was no opening—no opening at all. Even when she tried to create one, the gap in speed was simply too great.

She was hard-pressed merely to evade.

And yet.

And yet.

She could not yield here.

For the first time she released holy power through her flesh alone, without the mace as a conduit. She had never attempted such a thing before, but this was no time for half-measures.

The instant her reinforced body struck the ground, the power that used her feet as a gateway shook the earth itself.

“……!!”

Kugugugung.

As though an earthquake had struck, the ground rose and collapsed in chaotic heaves.

In the midst of it the Inquisitor’s nose gushed blood. Channeling holy power through a weapon and channeling it through one’s own flesh were entirely different matters; the realization etched itself into her mind.

Using the body was more intuitive, yet the release of power was unstable and far more painful.

It hurt.

Even though she had grown used to pain, it truly did.

“Demon Knight!!”

Still she could stand. She could still move.

The Inquisitor clenched her failing hands tight and drove her feet into the ground. Her body shot forward.

Kwag!

As if on cue, the Demon Knight drove the blood-sword into the earth.

Peong, peong, peong!

From one step behind him, pillars of demon-energy flame erupted. He would only stop once he realized the half-beat delay and reclaimed the blood-sword.

And within that chaos the Inquisitor seized a scrap of iron plating from the blood-catching pit. The plate that had bounced off her foot flew into her empty hand.

A three-pronged slash cut it into four pieces. The Inquisitor now stood immediately behind him, ready to shake the earth once more.

“Please—come to your senses!”

With three deep gashes newly carved into her body, the Inquisitor stomped a true stamp. The ground undulated and stole the Demon Knight’s balance. The demon energy scattered.

Yet the moment she thought she had found an opening and took a step— the instant she made to swing the mace—

the corner of the Demon Knight’s mouth curled upward.

Even with demon energy scattered, a sword could still be swung. He might not launch a proper-powered slash, but he could still load the blade itself with demon energy.

The Inquisitor had overlooked that. As a result the Demon Knight simply pulled the blood-sword free of the earth and swung.

This blade path could not be avoided.

A certainty equal to prophecy carved itself into the Inquisitor’s mind. The skin around her throat went cold.

“Gather and stack! A wall of protection!”

Suddenly several transparent walls rose in front of the Inquisitor.

Jjaenggeurang!

Even without proper demon energy loaded into the strike, a single swing from the Demon Knight shattered every layer.

It did, however, buy the Inquisitor the time she needed to throw her body clear. That was enough.

“Inquisitor!”

“……! Archmage?!”

She confirmed a face she felt she had not seen in a very long time. The Archmage, clothes thrown into complete disarray from his frantic run, had dozens of mages and priests trailing behind him like a tail.

“Damn it, we’re not too late, right?”

Accompanied by Deathbringer’s ragged panting, the Demon Knight’s gaze turned that way.

“Get down!”

She shouted urgently and planted herself between the reinforcements and the Demon Knight.

Holy power arrayed itself at high speed into a barrier; the Demon Knight swung. Four trajectories sliced through the shield as easily as soft bread and raked the castle wall behind them.

Fortunately everyone had heeded her warning and thrown themselves flat, so no one was cut in half. At least not that she could see.

“Binding formulas!”

“No—don’t spread out! If you scatter I cannot protect you! Please perform purification from right where you stand!”

At her cry the priests took positions and began to pray. Purification was most efficient when close to the target or surrounding it, but the situation was what it was.

She had no ability to cover every direction, and the Demon Knight could cut people down with a single gesture. Better that they stayed clustered in the one direction she could still shield.

It would be better.

The back of the Inquisitor’s hand wiped blood from her nose. Ordinarily holy power would have burned it away, but she no longer had the strength even for that. She pretended otherwise, yet her vision was flickering.

It was hard.

“Binding!”

Several mages chanted restraint spells. White-and-blue chains surged up, trying to bind the Demon Knight.

A single dismissive wave of his hand shattered every chain into scattering fragments. He was strong—far too strong.

“Catch!”

Even so, the brief moment bought yet another chance. Two silhouettes approached from behind and threw something.

“This is…”

Kung!

A holy artifact forged, like her mace, from star-metal mixed with iron—her reliable partner, the great shield—finally stood before her.

Kwaang!

By a hair’s breadth the spears the Demon Knight had launched buried themselves in the great shield. Unlike cheap shields, this sacred implement accepted holy power efficiently and in volume; it extinguished the spears with ease.

The burden lightened. It did not, of course, erase the fatigue already piled upon her.

“O flame, burn my enemies!”

In that interval the Archmage and several mages under him launched offensive spells.

The Demon Knight’s free hand used the blood-sword to draw a circle on the ground. Flames erupted and blocked every attack magic.

Attacks timed separately so that some arrived after the flames died were the same. The Demon Knight needed only the slightest swing of his sword to erase them with ease.

Instead he launched an attack of his own from that very spot. The blood-sword stabbed into the ground and used the earth itself as a conduit to drive demon energy outward.

Pillars of flame. The Inquisitor’s eyes flew wide at the pattern she had already endured once.

“Nothing gets past me!”

Her hand drove the shield into the earth. Capillaries in her eyes must have burst; part of her vision mottled red.

Light that rose after drinking blood purified the charging demon energy.

It hurt. The Inquisitor’s legs trembled slightly.

“O Lord, burn the impure and erase the wicked!”

A slash from the two-handed sword came flying. She squeezed her eyes shut against the prayer rising behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her. She still had to endure. She still had to hold on a little longer.

Tuk.

Something fell.

She looked ahead again through reddened vision. The Demon Knight was clutching his forehead, the blood-sword dropped at his feet.

The Inquisitor’s green eyes sparkled for an instant with a thin, fragile hope.

“Now—attack!”

No. The way he looked just now was clearly—

“W-wait a secon—khup.”

The Inquisitor wanted to block the incoming attacks. She could not.

Techniques unleashed by mages and priests alike flew through the air and bombarded the spot where the Demon Knight had stood. A cloud of dust rose.

“…Did we get him?”

…Surely he wasn’t dead?

She stared into the cloud with uneasy eyes. The wish that the Demon Knight had fallen and the wish that he still lived crossed and tangled inside her.

She knew he was a truly dangerous existence, and yet she still hoped the Demon Knight was alive.

…But she did not wish for him to remain in the demon’s thrall.

The murderous intent still dripping from the Demon Knight’s right eye looked exactly like drops of blood.

The hand left empty when he dropped the blood-sword stroked the two-handed sword’s blade. The weapon regained its original—long and massive—form and was gripped firmly in both hands.

The blood-sword that had fallen to the ground was already dissolving back into blood and gathering along the edge of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the two-handed sword.

Something big was coming.

Shoving aside the tangle of regret, relief, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and helplessness, instinct sounded the alarm.

“Everyone gather to the center!”

She shouted on pure reflex and drove the shield into the ground before her. Holy power she had no idea how she had scraped together filled the shield and completed a rectangular barrier. Pain so remote it left her fingertips and toes unable to move could still not defeat the scream of instinct.

Saak.

A sound like dust being swept brushed her ears for a moment. The dull impact she had braced for never came.

“……!”

Rather, she simply could not feel it. The sensation that something had crushed past them was vivid. Somehow her back felt empty.

“…….”

As if entranced, the Inquisitor’s head turned. People were visible. The city was visible. The city that should have been hidden behind the castle was visible.

“The castle…”

Was gone.

Goosebumps rose all at once.

“Has he… been holding back until now…?”

No. That could not be. The demon occupying the Demon Knight’s body would never go easy on her, and if he had poured out an attack this massive, even a Great Demon would surely be strained—

Kwag!

“Keheuk!”

The shield was forcibly wrenched aside. Her arm felt as though it would break, but a different part of her body was the real problem.

“Ugh!”

Her throat was seized.

“Uh—”

She looked at the Demon Knight who had seized her throat and lifted her into the air. She resisted with every scrap of holy power she could muster, yet the pressure on her neck was gradually overwhelming her.

She wanted nothing more than to swing the mace or kick with her feet in resistance, yet her body refused to obey.

Her airway began to tighten bit by bit.

“Release her, you demon!”

Tadadadak!

At that moment several figures who were likely inquisitors of the heresy tribunal charged in.

No. Her throat tried to form the words, but it was impossible.

The Demon Knight moved the sword held in his other hand. Chwaak! The sound of flesh being sliced and blood spraying rang out.

“By the Lord’s name…!”

Immediately spears formed in the empty air above the Demon Knight’s head.

They flew past her toward the rear. The chants of the Archmage and the other mages cut off; screams rose in a cacophony.

“Ugh!”

Powerlessness began to rule her entire body.

Puuk.

“Damn it, I’ve got no idea what you’ve been muttering this whole time, but please just snap out of it.”

Then, for a brief moment, there came the sound of something being stabbed.

“Keok, keok.”

Just before her vision went black, her throat was released.

She collapsed onto failing legs and gasped desperately for air.

Through a vision already low and growing hazy she saw the Demon Knight’s legs—and behind them, another pair of legs. Even in her dazed state she recognized them as human.

“Why…?”

Why, when he always whined that he was no superhuman?

“Ah, shit.”

Jjaenggeurang.

She watched the Demon Knight crush the kukri embedded in his own shoulder with a bare hand and turn toward the rogue.

“No… don’t…”

That much, at least, she had to stop. For all his little tricks, the rogue was little better than an ordinary person. A single wave of the Demon Knight’s hand—without even swinging a sword—would kill him.

She absolutely had to stop it.

“No…!”

Get up. She had to get up.

Her fogged vision forced itself into focus.

“You mustn’t, Demon Knight!”

The Demon Knight’s sword finally swept downward.

What the hell is he saying.

Shut up with the bullshit and get out.

Deathbringer raised his arm unconsciously. He knew it would not protect him, yet the motion was pure instinct.

But even though he clearly heard the sound of a slash being launched, no pain arrived. He cautiously opened the eyes he had squeezed shut.

“…Sir Knight?”

The Demon Knight’s right eye, which only moments earlier had been filled with seething crimson energy, was returning to the ordinary eyes of a human—white sclera and dark pupil distinct once more.

The sword that had clearly been aimed at him now sat embedded in the earth to his right, having obliterated the ground there instead.

“…Du.”

“……?”

“Mandu.”

Mandu? What was that?

He heard the word the Demon Knight muttered. He had no idea what it meant. It was a word he had never heard in his life.

“Meat dumpling.”

Yet in the next moment he witnessed everything that unfolded with perfect clarity.

“I’m sorry.”

With the rising sun at his back, the Demon Knight—ash-gray hair returning like water draining away, a veil of scarlet still resting over it—

“I’m really sorry.”

smiled gently as he apologized.

While driving his own sword into his abdomen.