30. Angels and Demons
30. Angels and Demons
Atlas, having chased off the seniors, came back to me wearing a smug little grin.
"If any more of those bastards show up... never mind. I'll stop by more often."
"Thank you for helping me..."
Even though the classroom for the classes Atlas attended was a fair distance away, he said he would always come check on me—bothered by the thought that I might get into trouble.
He had the face of a demon, but his heart was like an angel's.
He had been a little harsh with the seniors, but he had done it for my sake.
My feelings were thrown into confusion once again.
Just as my thoughts were about to sink deeper, Atlas opened his mouth.
"I just don't know. You must have your reasons."
"Huh?"
I was flustered by the sudden remark.
"I don't know. You seemed to be getting a little more comfortable, but then you subtly started keeping your distance—not completely cutting me off, but still hovering around me. I don't know why. If it's your personal business, I guess there's nothing to be done."
"That... I'm sorry..."
I guess it was... pretty obvious.
I had been suspicious of Atlas... and afraid that if we got too close, I might fail to notice if he changed, so I had deliberately kept my distance.
"You don't have to be sorry. I don't know what you think of me. But my opinion of you hasn't changed in the slightest."
Atlas was thinking about me this considerately, and yet I was still suspecting him.
His direct gaze, looking up at me, was painfully unbearable.
"If anything difficult happens—like just now—tell me. If it's something I can help with, I'll help as much as I can. If it's hard to say, then I guess I can't do anything about it...."
"...Thank you for saying that."
They were incredibly kind words, yet they hurt more than I could bear.
'What... should I do...'
I bit my lip hard.
—————————-
I still hadn't sorted out my feelings regarding Atlas.
There was no physical evidence that he was truly a demon-touched, only a mountain of circumstantial suspicion.
It made no sense to discuss taking a life over something so flimsy.
Rather than deciding something so uncertain, I decided to do something definite first.
"This is... the place, right?"
I arrived at a cave near the Deep Forest.
I was wearing a different outfit than usual.
Sturdy leather pants, white leather armor reinforced with chainmail, and a red coat over it all.
Beneath the coat, holstered in a rig, were two silver automatic pistols—weapons rarely seen at the academy—and a thick silver greatsword glowed softly under the moonlight.
-Now is the right time. The Demon Church will have just started moving, and they won't have properly prepared the ritual yet.
'...Got it.'
Today was a day for killing demons.
The Companion had said that during the Dungeon Exploration Practical Training in a few days, the demon-worshipping fanatics who had been making preparations in the dungeon would send it into a rampage.
Since it wasn't something that could be done overnight, they had been secretly preparing for it for some time near the Deep Forest, the most desolate part of the academy.
I had to kill them all.
Ever since I began hearing the Companion's voice, I had fought the Demon Church countless times.
I had almost no personal thirst for revenge against demons, but the Companion was different.
He could not forgive the existence of demons.
He could not tolerate the very fact that demons and the forces that worshipped them breathed and lived in this world.
The Companion provided information beneficial to me, and I killed demons according to his wishes.
It wasn't a relationship where I was being dragged along against my will.
Because I knew better than anyone how people died because of the Demon Church's schemes.
I believed someone had to stop them, and the one who knew best how to stop them was the Companion.
The ultimate goal of the Demon Church was to fully descend all the Great Demons and turn this world into hell.
Right... this was about saving the world and saving more lives.
The dark cave didn't even have any traps.
It was simply disguised as an ordinary cave.
But to the Companion, it seemed all the disguises were visible, as he gave me step-by-step directions on where to move.
Once I passed through a secret passage that looked like a wall and entered inside, an unpleasant sensation made me frown.
That unpleasant sensation, visible as pitch-black smoke... demonic energy, the presence of a demon, was filling the passageway.
'It's so thick I can't even see ahead...!'
-Ugh... that's some nasty demonic energy. Don't tell me we're too late?
My heart pounded wildly.
A concentration of demonic energy this dense meant either a demon had descended or a demon-touched who had made a contract was nearby.
I had faced demon-touched—people who had made contracts with demons—several times before, and it was always terrifying.
This time, it might not be a demon-touched but the demon itself that had directly appeared.
'De...mon...'
The demon I had seen as a child surfaced in my mind.
I steadied my trembling hand.
I was afraid, but I had already killed demon-touched and demons several times.
Both the blessed greatsword strapped to my back, inscribed with the Word of God, and the two pistols loaded with special ammunition were all special weapons made specifically to oppose demons.
A demon can be faced as long as you know how to kill it.
Let's not be afraid.
Just do as I always have.
As I cautiously moved deeper into the cave, tense and on edge, the demon's presence grew thicker and thicker.
At some point, the narrow passage widened, revealing a large open space.
The wide open space was filled with dark demonic energy, making it hard to see ahead.
Looking closely, I could see a pentagram magic circle drawn in blood on the ground.
It was a magic circle for summoning a demon.
-That is...!
Someone was standing in the center of the magic circle.
He was drenched in blood.
The surroundings were littered with the corpses of those wearing black robes.
Was it him... who killed them all?
Or were they offered up as sacrifices?
It could be both.
His face was hidden behind the dark, murky demonic energy.
As time passed, the demonic energy began to clear, revealing the figure standing atop the magic circle.
He was holding a sword coated in black.
His height... looked rather short.
As the demonic energy cleared, beautiful golden hair came into view.
It was golden hair that seemed very familiar.
His face came into view.
"Huh...?"
-Snap out of it!!!
Freezing up with an enemy right in front of you was unacceptable, but the moment I saw that man, I was at a complete loss for words.
I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing.
'Atlas...?'
Standing atop the demonic-energy-filled magic circle was Atlas, drenched in blood.
——————————————-
The hand that had just stopped trembling began to shake violently again, as if nothing had happened.
It was unbelievable.
-This is a disaster. Has he really become a demon-touched?! If he just made the contract, he won't have adapted yet. You have to kill him now!!
'No... that can't be.... Why would Atlas...?'
Had Atlas really... become a demon-touched?
Had he made a contract with a demon?
I didn't want to believe it.
I remembered Atlas's smile from earlier today.
I remembered the warm words he had said, telling me to let him know if anything difficult happened and he would help me as much as he could.
I remembered Atlas, who, when I was terrified and knew nothing at the academy, had been the first to reach out his hand to me.
-Don't you remember what he said this morning? He's a guy who would do anything to grow taller! No doubt about it, the demon must have set a condition to make him taller.
'Just you wait. I'm gonna keep growing until someday I'm at the same eye level as you, Russell.'
The Companion snapped me out of my confusion.
The words he always said...
That Atlas would do anything to grow taller.
The things Atlas did and said in his obsession with growing, with increasing his height, meant that he would be unable to shake off a demon's temptation.
The hand gripping the pistol wouldn't steady.
It was the same kind of demon-touched I had always killed, but he looked different.
He didn't look like a demon; he looked like a person. Like Atlas.
For a moment, I wanted to pretend I hadn't seen anything and just run away.
-If you leave him like this, countless people will die. A vessel that strong... who wouldn't even hesitate for a second before using up a person... that kind of vessel has become a demon-touched.
-Until now, we managed by exploiting weaknesses, but that might not work on that guy...!
'I... I...!!'
-Don't you forget your oath, Emy Parker!!
At the Companion's shout, the tragedy that had unfolded in my territory flashed back through my mind.
I hated seeing any more innocent people die.
The trembling in my hand stopped.
-Bang! Ba-bang!!
The pistols in both hands spat fire.
What had been loaded were pure silver bullets that had been steeped in holy water.
Pure silver was not quite as effective as a rare metal, but it was one of the substances that could deal great damage to demons.
The bullets, whose power was enhanced by being soaked in holy water imbued with holy power, had enough firepower to annihilate a lesser demon with just a single shot.
But not a single shot hit its mark.
Because he had deflected all the bullets with a pitch-black long sword.
I never expected a demon-touched could be finished off with just a few gunshots anyway.
"...Emy?"
The demon-touched with Atlas's appearance spoke to me, brazenly, as if nothing was wrong.
It was exactly the Atlas I had seen today.
"...!!!"
Afraid that talking to him would weaken my resolve even further, I shut my mouth.
The anti-Great-Demon bullets were fired wildly from the pistols in both hands.
"Whoa?! Emy, it's me. It's Atlas! Why are you doing this? This joke has gone too far!"
The demon-touched dodged all the bullets fired wildly from the automatic pistols with terrifying movements.
It was certainly fitting for a demon-touched using Atlas's body.
But for me, the fact that he was speaking with Atlas's face and voice was more agonizing than his movements.
'You... are not Atlas...!!'
I bit my lip hard.
'Don't speak with Atlas's voice...!!!!'
I holstered the pistols again and drew the greatsword I had been carrying over my shoulder.
I brought the thick greatsword, inscribed with the Word of God, down upon Atlas... no, upon the demon-touched.