125. Demon Bishop
125. Demon Bishop
Even before meeting him, I knew who he was.
I knew what Authority he used, what his personality was like, what his weaknesses were—everything.
The information gathered from talking with Cyclops pointed to him being exactly the Bishop I knew.
The Demon Archbishops were the main villains of Academy's Devil Slayer.
As demon-touched who directly contracted with Great Demons and borrowed their power, the Demon Archbishops were essentially the heads of the Demon Church.
Hayden had clashed with them several times. He had won before, but he had lost many times as well.
Most of the fights were lost because Hayden had entered their nests, which were advantageous to them.
Because they had fought so many times, the information on them was quite detailed. Fortunately, seeing them now, the composition of the Demon Archbishops hadn't changed yet.
This time, the situation was different.
It wasn't that I had entered a place where the Demon Archbishop had finished his preparations; rather, he had entered a place I'd already ruined several times to make his nest.
He seemed to have hidden himself well, but in the end, he caught my eye.
I had lost the initiative, but it wasn't an overwhelmingly advantageous situation for him yet.
His mask was a skull with goat horns, meaning it symbolized a Great Demon I had already met before.
His master was Belphegor, the Great Demon of Sloth, who appeared as an old man with goat horns.
As a demon of sloth and dominion, Belphegor possessed an Authority that explained this whole mess.
Belphegor, who detested moving himself to a terrible degree, had awakened the Power of Dominion based on the single thought that he wished others would do his work for him. With this single Authority, he became one of the lords of Hell.
The Power of Dominion was an absurd Authority that allowed him to control the opponent as he wished.
For someone with weak resistance, he could dominate them with just a gesture or a glance.
For those with strong resistance, such tricks didn't work, so he had to combine physical means like 'pins' to increase the intensity of his control.
At first glance, it seemed like a stupidly powerful Authority, an instant-death cheat that could control the fate of the opponent with a mere gesture, but it also had a weakness.
It was because it differed from the self-completion type Authorities of the other Demon Archbishops.
For example... well, if the body contained a type of power capable of resisting Authority.
Like a Dragon's Essence... or the Wolf God's Essence.
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"Keu... uuugh...!! [[Stop!!]]"
"You want me to stop your breathing?"
His neck, which had barely reattached, was severed once more.
This bastard's Authority was strong, but his body's combat power was garbage.
The same went for Belphegor.
"[[Protect me!!]]"
The Headmaster reacted to his voice, imbued with Authority, and used anti-personnel magic on me.
The paralysis magic that Buckingham had used before stretched toward me, but I cut it down with the same swing meant to slice the Demon Archbishop.
Slashing that thin flash of light felt like some sort of trick.
After that, the Headmaster flew around me and continued to use magic, but none of it could even touch a hair on my head.
Anti-personnel magic of that level simply dissipated upon contact with a Master's Aura Blade.
"To think there are three beings immune to my Authority..."
Three beings immune to his Authority... Probably me, Emy, and Liber.
It was a simple process of elimination.
Because the only ones moving right now were those two and me.
Liber's body contained an unknown essence, presumed to be the Wolf God's Essence, so that was likely resisting it.
As for why Emy resisted the Authority... I didn't know.
Hayden had sufficiently prepared countermeasures against the Power of Dominion, so he could resist, but Emy was a mystery.
Emy had also learned much to hunt demons, so I decided to assume she had prepared.
"Your tongue seems rather long."
Seeing him chatter and spew his Authority from his mouth, I wondered what would happen if I cut off his mouth, so I sliced off his jaw.
Now he wouldn't be able to move his mouth to speak.
He tried to regenerate it immediately, but I stomped on it with my foot.
[[If the Grand Mage is useless... then you there, protect me!]]
'Ugh... no...!'
The Demon Archbishop, his mouth gone, spat out thoughts instead of words.
As his Authority, contained in those thoughts, spread in all directions and touched her, Lucia's body, which had been standing blankly, moved.
It seemed she had been bound by his Authority until now.
"Atlas... I-I'm fine, so dodge!!!"
She seemed to be trying to resist, but Lucia, now under his control, swung her sword at me.
As I was about to react, Emy interposed herself between us and parried Lucia's sword.
'I'll block her!!'
'Atlas... we'll hold her off, so hurry and deal with that thing..!!'
Emy and Liber, having dealt with all the magical beasts that had risen from the ground, blocked Lucia.
'Seeing as you can't cut her down, she must be your friend... Unfortunately, I am dominating her now.'
Given a moment's respite, he regenerated again.
'You don't seem to understand. [[Put your sword to your neck.]]'
'Ugh..?!!'
At the Demon Archbishop's words, Lucia brought her sword to her own neck.
He had driven her right to the brink of the suicide command he had intended for me.
My sword, which had been trying to cut down the Demon Archbishop, stopped.
'Lucia?? Put the sword down!!'
'Ughhh... she's too strong..!!!'
The two clung to her, trying to stop Lucia, but she was naturally strong, so it seemed difficult to restrain her.
'Yes, I should have done this from the start. First... kneel and pray to Lord Belphegor. If you do, I will release them.'
'...Seeing the Headmaster like that, you've taken all the professors as well.'
'Yes, I am controlling them all. Right now, with a single gesture from me, they could all die..! If you surrender quietly, I will end it by tearing your limbs apart and killing you, just as you did to me.'
The sword finally touched Lucia's neck.
'.... Fine.'
Squete, which had seemed ready to swing at any moment, drooped powerlessly toward the floor.
And Lucia's eyes trembled at the sight.
'A...Atlas... I... I....'
Lucia, with the cold sword touching her neck, was terrified but was trying to steel her resolve.
'Don't... mind me... I don't want to be... a burden...!!'
'If you can't lower your arm, then drop... the sword from your hand.'
'Uuuugh..!! My arm...'
Lucia looked like she was about to cry, an expression that said she would rather sacrifice herself, which made Emy and Liber, sensing the danger, even more frantic.
'...Don't do anything stupid. I'll save you, so stay still.'
'B-But...!!'
From his perspective, he hadn't told me where they were, only that they were under his control, so he must have thought I would grow anxious.
It was a truly terrible situation.
In the brief time since the Hunting Festival began, the magical beasts in the deepest part had been dominated, the faculty who were supposed to protect the academy had been dominated, and even Lucia, one of the Five Pillars, had been dominated.
If he marched on the capital with his dominated forces as they were, it would cause tremendous chaos.
But wasn't it strange?
With such a tremendous Authority, why had they been hiding from the eyes of the Church and the Masters until now?
If he could do this by storming into enemy territory alone, why bother with the academy instead of just walking into the Imperial Palace?
'In short... he's pulling a bluff that doesn't suit him.'
Something in my bosom began to flash.
It seemed its recharge was finally complete.
I put my hand into my bosom and took out the round object I had been carrying for a long time.
'You.. what is that?!!'
In my hand was a spherical artifact decorated with various precious metals.
The artifact, which looked like an egg adorned with jewels, absorbed the aura flowing from my hand and began to emit a pale light.
-Buuuuuuung!!!
Then, it caused a massive explosion.
A wave of pale light spread from the sphere throughout the entire Black Forest.
'Aaaaaaagh!!!'
The Demon Archbishop, struck by the pale light, screamed.
He was hidden by his thick robes, but his whole body was likely seared as if burned.
That pale light spreading throughout the forest was Holy Power, after all.
'Agh... Aaaaagh!!!'
As if in true agony, the Demon Archbishop clutched his chest and collapsed, writhing.
'Y-You crazy bastard!! How can you use such an inhumane weapon..??'
'Let's call it non-diabolical rather than inhumane. This thing doesn't harm people at all, so how is it inhumane?'
The Demon Archbishop, writhing in pain, looked at the spherical artifact held lightly in my left hand and pointed at it with his finger.
'Impossible... That's the highest-grade Sacred Relic... How can a bastard like you be holding something only a saint should possess...!!!'
'I made a deal. I asked to borrow it in exchange for killing demons.'
The identity of the artifact I used was the 'Sacred Orb,' a Sacred Relic of the Church that I had borrowed from the Saintess.
A Sacred Relic that could inflict horrific damage on demons was a treasure that could never be borrowed through normal means, but I managed to borrow it by making a deal of sorts with the Saintess.
Despite going through such troublesome procedures, the highest-grade Sacred Relic I could borrow was this one, the weakest in power among its peers.
Even so, it didn't matter much because this was the only Sacred Relic I could use properly anyway.
Other Sacred Relics required the ability to use Holy Power to a certain level, or the recitation of special divine words,
or had various other conditions like praying for several days; if you couldn't meet them, you could only inflict damage equivalent to a high-purity raremetal weapon.
In comparison, the Sacred Orb's method of use was incredibly simple.
When the user channels mana or aura into it, it emits powerful Holy Power 'in proportion to it.'
That was its only function.
In other words, by holding this Sacred Orb, I could convert my aura, which was vast enough to fill the sky, into Holy Power and use it as an unlimited-use Holy Power bomb.
"Huh..? My body feels light.."
"The Authority's been lifted??"
Lucia, who had been controlled by the Authority, was freed.
'Huhh?! I... what was I??'
'Aaaagh?!!! What's wrong with my legs???'
The Authority that had been placed on the two who had been mindlessly controlled like faithful puppets of the Demon Archbishop until just moments ago was also released.
"Keu.. ugh..!!"
As soon as he saw his Authority was broken, the Demon Archbishop staggered to his feet.
It looked like he was trying to flee.
"Where do you think you're running?"
'Ugh.. aaagh?!!'
I swung my sword just visibly enough, and he dodged with an exaggerated backward lean.
It was completely different from before.
Though he had writhed in pain earlier, he hadn't even thought of dodging last time; this was clearly different.
'So you dodged. You'd been getting hit until now... How strange... you've lost your composure.'
It had only been a short time, but I had already seen his severed body parts regenerate dozens of times.
Having seen it this many times, I had a rough grasp of its mechanism.
'I... I simply don't want to waste any more power..!!'
"It's not that the 'extra lives' you painstakingly prepared and hid in the forest have all been destroyed, is it?"
He didn't answer, but the moment he heard that, I saw the Demon Archbishop's hand tremble.
'Under this powerful divine authority, that sorcery you're using with Demonic Energy won't work right now, will it?'
This place was not his prepared game board.
It was my game board that I had already arranged.
If I had been the one storming in, it would have been more difficult.
Instead of the abbreviated spell now carved on his body, he would have prepared a large-scale ritual capable of resisting the power of a Sacred Relic, and he would have prepared many more chess pieces under more complete control.
Belphegor himself had fled after his summoning ritual went wrong, unable to use his own power, so it was laughable that this lackey of his was following a similar path.
'Your chess pieces are all gone, your extra lives are gone, so what do you have left now? That moron of a Great Demon who got his horns cut off by me and ran away shitting himself?'
'You dare... insult Lord Belphegor...!!!'
'He descended and obtained a physical body, yet he couldn't even lay a finger on a single human. His limbs were cut off, he squirmed, got his horns chopped off—what face does he have to be like this? Hey, don't the other Great Demons make fun of him? How much of a moron must he be to get beaten up by a human and run away, huh!!!'
Unable to bear the insult, he became enraged and lunged at me.
Through his broken mask, his face, burning with fury, was visible.
'You... you heretic bastard....!!! Are you an angel possessed...?!'
'Wow, you're really saying something God would love to hear... Me, an angel possessed?'
'Forget it... it's unnecessary..!! Even if my Authority doesn't work on you....!!'
'If Belphegor can't use the Power of Dominion, his combat ability drops below a high-ranking demon... So how do you think his demon-touched like you will fare?'
Boiling with rage at the continued provocations, the Demon Archbishop spat blood and yelled.
"[[Even alone, I am the strongest warrior!!!]]"
Belphegor, in a final desperate struggle, commanded himself.