The Demon Who Toys With Hearts
The black smoke billowed upward, and when the woman appeared, I seriously wondered if this was even a real demon.
Her frivolous attitude was no different from that of an ordinary teenage girl. There was nothing awkward about it, and the aura she gave off felt exactly like an average human who didn't use mana. But after a little more time passed, I came to bitterly realize just how wrong that assumption had been.
"Nice to meet you all! Haha. It's been so long since I've seen humans!"
"Glory to our god!"
"Ah, O God... please embrace us."
"What the hell? We summoned a demon, so why did some bitch show up?!"
"It's real... did we fail?"
"There's no way that thing is our god! We failed!"
"You blasphemous fools! Why aren't you showing reverence to our god?!"
The demon worshippers began to fracture among themselves. Some despaired over the failed summoning, while others insisted that she was indeed their god and continued to worship her. The group split cleanly in two.
And the woman, watching all of this, simply smiled. She looked thoroughly entertained.
The high-ranking officials who already knew the demon's true nature naturally understood that she was the real deal. After all, this wasn't their first time summoning a demon. But most of the ordinary worshippers had no idea. The scriptures distributed by the Vatican clearly stated that all demons took the form of goats.
Demon worshippers moved according to their faith. Since they revered demons instead of the god the Vatican believed in, once their faith in that demon was shattered, division came easily.
"Jude, was it? It looks like the demon summoning failed?"
"No."
He curled the corner of his mouth as he answered.
"It succeeded perfectly."
"What do you... ugh."
An overwhelming power pressed down on my entire body, as if crushing me. It was impossible to resist.
This is...
It wasn't simply the pressure of a strong opponent. This was something beyond a Transcendent—something far higher. Yes. It felt exactly like that day when I had received the Lord's blessing. It was the overwhelming gap between a mortal and a true transcendent being.
Normally, when someone breaks through their limits and reaches a new realm, we call it the realm of Transcendence and name them a Transcendent. But if a being like a god or demon—whose very existence exists on a completely different level—were to look at us, they would probably find us laughable. The difference was that absolute.
Between demons and humans.
"You pathetic little creatures. Babbling without knowing your place?"
The demon laughed. The bright smile on her lips was no different from when she had first been summoned. But the atmosphere around her had changed completely.
I could tell instinctively. That thing was a completely different kind of creature from us. Human? What a stupid thing to say. There was no way that could be human. No—it absolutely must not be human.
The demon worshippers who had been whispering among themselves all shut their mouths at once. Not a single one dared to speak.
"We greet our god."
Jude turned away from me, immediately dropped to one knee, and spoke. The other demon worshippers followed suit, all taking the same posture.
"We greet our god."
Right now. This was the perfect chance to kill him. Jude was completely defenseless, as if he hadn't just been fighting moments ago. If I drove a blade into the back of his neck, he'd die instantly.
But I couldn't kill him.
The woman was watching. No—the demon was staring straight at me.
"You. You're the Lord's little toy, aren't you?"
With those words, she turned into smoke and vanished. Then she immediately reappeared right beside me.
"Hup!"
Instinctively, I swung my sword downward vertically toward her side.
Slice.
An arm fell. Of course, it wasn't the demon I had cut. It was Jude. Without the slightest hesitation, he had thrown himself in front of the demon and taken the blow in her place.
"Ugh... that must hurt! Right?"
The demon spoke with a laugh. Goosebumps erupted all over my body. She was treating all of this like a game. Just like a curious child watching a fight between pill bugs, the demon was observing us and enjoying herself.
That thing shouldn't exist here. It had to be killed.
Holy Strengthen
Flap.
Bat-like wings unfurled from the demon's back. She immediately shot upward into the air. The moment divine power filled my body, I leaped straight toward her.
But Jude, who had already stopped the bleeding from his severed arm, blocked my path.
"If you don't want to die, you'd better back off, Paladin."
I ignored his words and swung my sword horizontally, wrapped in divine power. Jude used his remaining right arm to deflect the blade. We both landed on the ground.
The demon worshippers around me approached with weapons drawn. I didn't have time to waste on them. If I dragged this out, the demon would definitely escape.
I readjusted my grip on the sword and steadied my energy.
Aber Style, First Form: Dead Corpse.
Caesar, the first head of the Caesar family, had sublimated the life he had lived into swordsmanship. Dead Corpse was the trace of the life he had led before becoming a noble.
Caesar had been a slave soldier. Abandoned by his parents the moment he was born, he had been raised in a monastery. If this had been a peaceful world, he might have become a priest. Unfortunately, this was a world filled with war.
Caesar lost all the family who had raised him in the monastery during a sudden war. Captured by soldiers, he was raised as a slave soldier treated worse than livestock. The hardest part of becoming a slave soldier wasn't killing people.
What tormented Caesar the most was hunger.
He wasn't given proper rations. The only things he could eat were the scraps left behind by other soldiers and the insects crawling on the ground. And even those, he often couldn't eat properly because of the soldiers' harassment.
One day, Caesar saw other slave soldiers just like himself. They were livestock like him, dying without anything to eat.
Starvation. A body without caloric intake breaks down its own fat, muscle, and organs to use as nutrients. The slaves grew thinner by the day, eventually dying in grotesque forms.
Caesar silently buried them. That was all he could do. The bodies of the dead slaves were little more than skin and bones.
He would soon end up the same. He ran his fingers over the corpse. It was a hideous sight, but it was still the shape of a person. He quietly closed his eyes and asked himself:
Who exactly is causing me this suffering?
The answer came immediately. There had only ever been one answer.
What tormented him were the dogs of the Empire.
With his small, scarred hands, he picked up the sword that a soldier who had died alone had dropped. And he made a vow.
He would no longer live as a weakling who simply endured. He would slice the bellies of those fat pigs as thinly as possible and make them just like us. Until he killed every last dog of the Empire, he would never forget this hunger.
Shuk.
Julius's sword tore apart every human within a twenty-meter radius. The skin of the demon worshippers was sliced as thinly as sliced ham. A few unlucky ones didn't die. They looked at their own thinly sliced bodies, lost the will to fight, or screamed and fainted.
The same happened to Jude. His entire body had been flayed. Looking at the skin that had peeled off his face, he let out a hollow laugh.
"Not bad for a Paladin's swordsmanship."
"It's not a Paladin's technique. That's why I don't use it often."
Finishing my words, I swung my sword at Jude. He tried to guard with his remaining arm, but in the end, both his arm and his head flew off, and he died.
"Now it's just you left, demon."
She was laughing endlessly, as if she found this entire situation delightful.
"Wow! Amazing. It's been a while since I've seen a swordsman as strong as you. Are you really that powerful?"
"Among mortals, at least."
I couldn't hear the rest of what she said. She chanted a short incantation.
"Отрезать запястье"
⟨ Sever the Wrist ⟩
A terrible feeling washed over me, so I immediately leaped toward the demon. I swung my sword at her slender neck. But before the blade could reach her, my arm froze in place. Then my body crashed straight into the ground.
Thud.
"Ugh."
Suddenly, a rage directed at myself surged up from deep within my heart.
Why am I so weak?
Because you're worthless trash.
You can't protect anything, so why do you even hold a sword?
Exactly. Just throw the sword away. Why don't you beg the Lord instead?
Julius is such a baby, he wants to throw a tantrum at God.
Because of my stupid actions, I couldn't even protect Sirmia. I left her with a terrible wound.
Even now? You've been turning a blind eye to the Pope's crimes all this time anyway, you hypocrite.
Why was I even born?
Right. Why don't you just die?
Bella, who loved you, is gone now anyway. She died because of your stupidity.
Shut up... That wasn't my fault. That was, that was...
My mind filled with rage. Come on, let's cut off that useless wrist first.
I raised my sword and brought it down toward my right wrist. No—I stopped just before I could.
Why is this anger rising up?
This rage was clearly abnormal. I didn't know why the Lord's blessing couldn't block the spell, but this was definitely some sinister demonic curse.
I gritted my teeth and resisted with all my strength. When I stopped myself from cutting my wrist, the demon tilted her head in confusion. Her expression seemed to ask, Why isn't he dying?
Drip.
Blood tears flowed from both eyes, as if capillaries had burst.
This won't work. I can't hold on any longer.
I threw away my sword and used my left hand to snap my right wrist.
Crack.
A grotesque sound rang out as my right wrist twisted at an unnatural angle. Only then did the intense rage that had filled my mind lessen slightly.
Cut it. Cut it off.
Damn it. I can't control my emotions at all.
"Whoa! Incredible. A human resisting my spell with sheer willpower. This is a first, even for me!"
The demon clapped her hands as if she were looking at a fascinating animal.
Is it mental type? It seems a little different from domination-type curses. Is it manipulating emotions...?
Now that I knew the Lord's blessing didn't work against the demon's spells, escaping was my top priority. I needed to contact the Papal Office and send in the black unit, which had immunity to mental attacks. This demon was a terrible match for me.