The Traitor in the Inquisitor's Uniform
This man was the culprit behind everything. All he had to do was bring down this one man.
Simon stepped on his Jet-Black and charged at Aloken.
"……!"
Just as Simon raised his fist to strike, a trembling, drifting red droplet of blood floated into his field of vision.
"Kgh!"
He threw his body sideways, wrenching his direction so hard his ankle buckled under the strain.
BOOOOOM!
Watching the grain-of-sand droplet swell into a massive blood explosion, Simon broke out in a cold sweat.
Aloken snickered.
"Still not a professional, are you?"
When Aloken swung his right arm, three more droplets shot out.
"Every single move gives you away."
Explosions erupted in unrelenting succession. This wrecked passenger car was the work of that very technique of Aloken's.
If Metin hadn't warned me, I'd have been hit for sure.
Simon activated the Bone Armour hand cannon fitted to his right arm. Weaving through the blood droplets scattering through the cramped space, he aimed the muzzle straight at Aloken's head.
Gunfire cracked out in a continuous stream.
And Aloken sent forward only a single droplet and detonated it.
"……!"
A blood explosion didn't simply go off once and end. The condensed blood, once detonated, hung its mass suspended in the air for a time.
In effect, a wall took shape. Every bullet was either deflected by the blast or dropped powerlessly to the floor.
Tch, this is sneakily tricky. Is he the type who trained and drilled one signature spell to the extreme?
At Kizen, which groomed elite necromancers, a broad curriculum was taught — but out in the field, specialists who dove deep into a single dark magic like this were actually common.
As Simon weaved through the chain of incoming blood explosions, a red whip flashed past his shoulder from behind while the blasts blinded his vision.
'Kgh!'
The wound was deep enough that blood sprayed out.
"Let an industry senior teach you something."
Aloken flicked his tongue. In the blink of an eye, a magic circle etched itself across Simon's shoulder.
"For a blood-flow specialist, even a scratch means defeat."
The moment he pressed his index and middle fingers together, a fountain of blood erupted from Simon's shoulder with a splurt!
Bleeding magic!
Simon urgently clamped his left hand over the wounded shoulder, but the blood kept flowing.
"Useless. Bleed to death."
"Heal."
"...What?"
Vuuuum!
Holy Power flowed out from Simon's left hand and the wound closed at astonishing speed. Aloken's face twisted into something grotesque.
"You! You were clearly a necromancer——!"
Simon answered questions with action, raising his index finger instead.
In the instant Aloken panicked, four blades erupted from the floor, scooped him up, smashed through the train's ceiling, and hurled him skyward.
"Hmph!"
Simon likewise rode an Overlord surging up from the floor and rose after him.
Clatter! Clatter!
Outside the train, the wind howled fiercely. The two men now stood facing each other on the train's roof. Aloken glanced around.
"How amusing. Did you think you could dodge out here, away from the cramped cabin?"
"……."
He spread his palm, and four droplets shimmered into being between his fingers.
"Experience for yourself whether your plan was right."
Simon assessed the situation with cold clarity.
Blood Explosion — closing the distance was impossible.
Overlord — it had just taken a direct hit and come away without meaningful damage.
Skeletons and zombies — summons were vulnerable to wide-area attacks.
Simon admitted it. This enemy was far stronger than him, someone the current him could not beat.
And he didn't have much time. Even now, the countless passengers aboard this train were being hurt or killed. If the train reached the cultists' destination, another danger would follow.
I've decided.
Simon drew the golden crown out of his subspace. Cradling it in both hands, he raised it above his head.
I'm using it. Right now.
Legs set slightly apart in a low stance, Simon slowly, deliberately lowered the crown onto his head.
Sensing an ominous aura from the crown, Aloken snapped into an extreme defensive posture — but once the crown was on, nothing about Simon changed at all.
What? Was that just a bluff?
Convinced he had tensed up for nothing, Aloken shifted to the offensive and called the blood droplets back to his hand.
Then, from Simon's throat, burst a colossal roar that no human throat should have been capable of.
The sound reached every passenger aboard the train, every Blood Sky Cult believer — and even the zombies sprinting toward the train.
Aloken felt a crawling, prickling sensation. Every hair on his body stood on end.
What on earth is about to happen?
Blood Zombies began climbing up onto the roof around Simon. He thought at first they meant to surround him — but that wasn't it at all.
-Kreeeeeeee!
The zombies began to change. Their pupils flooded with gold, and soon blue-black Jet-Black smoke came streaming out of their entire bodies like mist.
The black-stained zombies suddenly threw themselves at Aloken.
'!'
Aloken hurriedly swung his arm and sent out blood droplets. The droplets detonated in every direction, blasting the zombies apart — and the moment they did, more zombies came surging in.
'They've wrested control of the zombies from me!'
Aloken's head snapped up. There stood Simon, his eyes turned the same gold, arm outstretched.
'Don't tell me — the power of that crown?'
Simon exhaled lightly, gripped the crown in his right hand, and spoke.
RUUUUMBLE!
Every single zombie in every car of the train answered Simon's call. From Aloken's standpoint, the sight of the train blanketed pitch-black with zombies was nothing short of a nightmare.
The zombies behind Simon piled atop one another, mass upon mass, until they formed a hill — and began lifting the crowned Simon higher and higher.
'Damn it all! What in the world is happening?!'
Lethe blinked in bewilderment.
Only moments ago the zombies had been fighting alongside the cultists; now, reacting to that strange cry, every last one of them had poured out the window and was climbing onto the roof. It was the same everywhere else, too.
'Fine by me — I only have to deal with the cultists now — but what is going on?'
Tap-tap-tap.
Just then, hurried footsteps echoed from the passenger car ahead. Lethe froze, going on guard.
What emerged a moment later was a woman in her thirties dressed in an inquisitor's uniform and glasses — the very inquisitor who had conducted Lethe's body inspection.
"Goodness, you startled me."
Lethe relaxed her stance in relief. The inquisitor recognized her too, and cried out.
"Priestess! You're safe!"
"Obviously. More importantly — things have gotten this bad, so what exactly have the inquisitors been doing all this time?"
The woman lowered her head.
"W-we're ashamed of ourselves. We're fighting our hardest inside as we speak."
"I already swept this side clean, so let's head for the front car together. First we find the ringleader and kill them."
"Yes, this way."
Following her lead, Lethe strode briskly forward.
And then — the inquisitor's eyes, still bowing obsequiously before Lethe, flashed ice-cold. The instant Lethe passed her, she swung a knife-hand at the back of her neck.
Whap.
As if she had been waiting for it, Lethe shot her arm out and blocked, twisting her waist into a kick. The inquisitor raised her arm into a guard.
CRAAAAAASH!
Merely colliding with the kick, a gale whipped through the passenger car. Curtains billowed, and glass cups fell and shattered across the floor. The inquisitor's body skidded backward.
"I knew it."
Lethe smirked.
"Realistically speaking, there's no way those Blood Sky Cult bastards pulled off a terrorist attack of this scale on their own. You're the mole, aren't you?"
Just then, Divinity surged from the inquisitor's body like a booster and burrowed into Lethe's in an instant. The woman's palm slammed into Lethe's abdomen.
'?!'
⟨ Holy Martial Arts — Divine Dragon Ascension ⟩
BOOOOOOM!
Lethe's body bent into the shape of a D and went flying, slamming into the wall on the opposite side.
The impact was colossal; her mind went white.
'Gwah! Shit! This woman is insanely strong!'
The inquisitor swung her arms in a continuous, flowing combination.
On the wall where Lethe had crashed, a holy magic circle the inquisitor had drawn in advance was already deployed.
The wall ripples and transforms into shackles, sealing the target's limbs as binding sigils.
Clank!
Clang!
The wall undulated and turned to shackles, and in an instant they clamped down on Lethe's arms and legs like binding seals.
"Wh-what is this?!"
Lethe thrashed, struggling to break free, but the restraints didn't budge an inch.
"Ah, shit! What is this?! Undo it right nooow!"
"Fufu."
Only then revealing her true colors, the inquisitor crossed her arms and sauntered over to Lethe with a leisurely gait.
"You said you were an Efnel first-year, didn't you? How adorable."
She caressed Lethe's cheek and ran her tongue slowly across her own lips.
Murderous intent flared in Lethe's eyes for an instant, but she barely mastered her rage and spoke as if posing a question.
"Mind telling me why you're doing this?"
"?"
"Someone who's made it to heretic inquisitor — what exactly are you lacking, that you'd betray the Goddess and shack up with those rootless Blood Sky Cult scum?"
The woman smiled seductively and took hold of Lethe's uniform blouse, lifting it just slightly. Her pale stomach and navel were bared.
"Remember the body inspection?"
"What?"
Lethe scrunched her face, as if to say what nonsense is this.
"The way you blushed and squirmed shyly while standing naked in front of me — it was truly precious."
"Ahaha. Well, well."
Lethe gave an empty laugh, then nodded slowly, as if it made sense now.
"So you're the type who likes women?"
"Correct."
In the Dark Alliance, where attitudes toward sex were comparatively free, even the bare minimum of safeguards existed to protect the rights of sexual minorities.
But the Holy Federation, founded on the bedrock of religion, had nothing of the sort. On the contrary, it was strictly forbidden by doctrine and ruthlessly persecuted.
Lethe clicked her tongue.
"You poor thing, honestly. Hiding something like that while living a life of faith — your troubles were bound to blossom."
"Yes. A great many things happened."
Had she been a mere commoner farming out in the countryside, she could have simply hushed it up and hidden it away. But for a Priest who had passed through the Holy Coffin, even an ill-placed rumor sealed every path to advancement. And once it became fact, execution was unavoidable.
The inquisitor was no different. She had simply never made it into Efnel; raised by Priest parents and stepping smoothly through the elite track, her appointment to the dirty work of heretic inquisitor had in truth been a demotion — a convenient way to bury her.
Recently, as the affair had grown and grown, a trial had finally been convened.
The witness would be the female believer she had tried to seduce. If she lost the trial as it stood and the verdict of homosexual was returned, she could not escape a death sentence.
"So you shack up with heretics and cook up an incident like this?"
"I'm simply finding my way to survive."
The inquisitor said this as she tilted Lethe's chin upward. Lethe answered with an icy expression.
"Even so, you crossed a line this time. Aren't you afraid of the Goddess's divine punishment?"
"I am afraid. But isn't it curious?"
The woman spread her other palm. Divinity was welling up within it.
"The Pope and Efnel suppress homosexuality on the basis of scripture. They define it as an unforgivable evil. And yet my power has not diminished in the slightest — in fact, it grew even stronger the moment I became honest with my own heart. What do you think that means?"
"……."
"That's right! The Goddess has not abandoned me! She is still with me! So isn't it only natural to conclude—"
The inquisitor's expression twisted into something deranged.
"—that it is the Pope and Efnel who distort and commandeer the Goddess's will!"
"……."
"Heresy or whatever else — I will use every means at my disposal to bring Efnel crashing down. And then I will build my own paradise!"
Lethe heaved a deep, exasperated sigh. She didn't look remotely surprised by the inquisitor's rant.
'There are people this close by who wield Divinity without even believing in the Goddess, so... whatever.'
Lethe slowly raised her head.
"Just because you didn't lose your Divinity doesn't mean your thinking is right — that's garbage-grade solipsism."
"What?"
"You're just using God to rationalize yourself. Why do you automatically assume that keeping your Divinity means you received the Goddess's sanction? By that same logic, why doesn't the Divinity of people who reject homosexuality go out? Your thinking is so narrow and self-centered it makes me sick."
Interpreting the will of God from a human standpoint, propped up by logic with no theological foundation, was nothing short of blasphemy.
"And yet, you..."
The inquisitor flicked her tongue.
"You heard what kind of person I am, and you're still this composed?"
Her hand seized the hem of Lethe's skirt.
"……."
Lethe remained expressionless, and the inquisitor, giggling, began slowly, softly undoing the buttons of her shirt.
The thought of shattering that icy girl's composure into a ruined mess set the inquisitor's cheeks aflame.
"Captured and still running your mouth so freely. Aren't you afraid?"
"Ha. Why on earth would I be afraid?"
Lethe sneered.
"I got the information I needed."
"!"
FWOOOOOOSH!
From outside the window, a snow-white flame streaked toward the inquisitor.
"Kgh!"
She threw up a holy barrier by the narrowest of margins, but her body was blasted back dozens of meters. Poking its head in through the window before anyone noticed was 'Ran,' Lethe's Holy Beast.
'A—a Holy Beast? Since when?!'
Lethe Original — La Venue
FWOOOOOOSH!
Lethe's body, which should have been bound fast, was engulfed in blessing. The moment she moved, the binding sigils on the wall tore away with ease.
"I played the cornered little lamb just to humor you, and you climbed right up to the top of my head."
Ran flew in and coiled around Lethe's right arm. The baby white dragon's mouth promptly produced a prism-colored divine blade.
"And you keep muddying the point. I have no interest whatsoever in your sexual identity. What matters is that you are a horrific criminal who caused countless casualties."
Faced with holy power of a purity she had never felt in her life, the inquisitor broke into a cold sweat.
Lethe leveled her blade and smirked.
"Ready to die, heretic?"