666 Demons and the Seven Virtues
"Then let's part ways here."
"Actor..."
"You saw it yesterday, didn't you? Staying with us... won't end well for you."
…
The next morning, we parted ways with them.
Since I'd let one slip away due to my carelessness, that bastard would spill everything about our identities. It was time to truly cut ties with them here and now.
When I wore the face skin of the man who seemed to be the leader of those attacking mages yesterday, my mind went into instant turmoil.
I felt my sense of self completely dissolving.
It was starkly different from when I'd worn Libert's face skin.
A Lord, one of the pinnacle ranks among high-ranking archmages.
White Tower Lord, Ostis
A mage's mental strength was truly immense, and a Lord possessed superhuman willpower beyond mortal limits.
This world operated like a wuxia novel, with realms advancing step by step through enlightenment. For someone like me, with the mind of an ordinary human, enduring while wearing his skin was nearly impossible.
The moment I put on the mask, I bared hostility toward my kids and tried to unleash attack magic. But I'd prepared for the worst—if I went berserk, the kids I'd positioned beforehand blocked me and kept my rampage in check.
Thanks to Rina landing a light body blow to my gut, I puked up everything I'd eaten for dinner!
The White Tower specialized in light-based magic and healing spells.
[Light]
[Barrier]
[Illusion]
[Light Blaster]
[Solarion]
[Healing]
[Recovery]
⟨ White Tower Specialties ⟩
Mages and temples had a prickly relationship here, so mages developed their own healing and defensive spells that mimicked divine power.
Were temples and mages on bad terms? Simple: it boiled down to turf wars over influence.
Both mages and priests performed miracles. To ordinary folk, they were noble beings—priests wielding God's proxy power, mages harnessing vast magic. Naturally, they rose to the top of any class-based society.
And the answer's obvious, right? Ruling from above meant wealth and honor followed.
But do humans ever stop there? Hell no!
Pie fights for more slices—inevitable power struggles.
Plus, mages like Pladeus delved into forbidden knowledge and worldly secrets, even making backroom deals with demons or turning lich to cheat death.
Mages twisting God's natural order and bargaining with demons? Heretics by definition.
The past war between temples and mages—the God-Mage Great War, raging for centuries—sparked from mages summoning a demon.
God-worshippers despising demons? No surprise.
But those summoners only called low-level nobodies like Imps as familiars—mages felt hard done by.
Temples overreacted to demon summoning for good reason.
Long ago, demon-summoned glory led to a great empire and humanity's near-extinction.
An age so ancient, records scarce, its name forgotten. The civilization dominating the North Continent...
Vanished into nothingness after summoning one demon.
That was all the knowledge in mage Ostis's head, but with the demon lore Dantalian implanted, I knew exactly what that demon was.
Fallen Morning Star, God's Proxy, Fallen Angel Who Cried Justice, One with Ashen Wings.
Among the 666 demons, this great demon proudly claimed Rank 1.
Originally God's noble right hand, an archangel obsessed with realizing justice.
But his methods were arrogant, narrow-minded; he clashed even with fellow angels over differing values.
His insolence drew God's wrath, casting him down.
Even as a demon in Hell, he endlessly craved justice.
Like Dantalian and the other 666, he contracted with humans—but Lucifer's terms always centered on justice.
His twisted sense of "justice" was the problem. That continental genocide? Not the demon's doing, but his contractor's!
The contractor's creed: "Exterminate humanity for justice!"
Lucifer tailored "justice" to the contractor's bent. Seeing humans as evil, the contractor made a pact to eradicate evil and manifest justice.
1. Humanity is evil.
2. Eradicating evil realizes justice.
3. Thus, wipe out all evil on the continent—humanity.
Humans aren't that simplistic, but Lucifer's arrogance and rigid thinking influenced the contractor.
Lucifer prioritized justice implementation; no matter how warped or ugly the ideology, if the contractor deemed it justice, he granted power.
That contractor used Lucifer's immense might to annihilate every civilization and human on the North Continent.
No sparing by age, gender, class—total extermination.
Why only the North Continent? Simple: primitive navigation meant no intercontinental contact. The contractor assumed that was all of humanity and civilization.
What happened after? Even Dantalian doesn't know details.
With that history, temples went berserk on demon summoners or contractors, exterminating them by any means.
Mages, driven by endless curiosity, secretly dealt with demons—setting the stage for the God-Mage Great War.
That was what I gleaned from briefly wearing Ostis's face skin.
Why those mages targeted us? Precisely the sinister mage I'd insisted on loading up: lich Pladeus's grimoire and journal, records of forgotten forbidden magic.
Pladeus's legacy.
He sought ancient lost magical knowledge through demon pacts.
But yesterday, they witnessed us as demons and monsters.
Per Ostis's memories, some Tower Lords like Pladeus had long disliked demon summoning.
Now knowing the truth of yesterday's massacre, they'd likely form a massive subjugation force—unlike before.
Worst case: temples dispatching holy knight orders!
So we had to split from them.
"Hurry and go. Those bastards will swarm here soon."
"...Understood. We'll repay this grace someday."
"Romaani tribe, heirs of the mountain winds. We won't forget your kindness either."
"Then, farewell here."
"Bye, oppas~"
"See ya later~"
"Pfft! Yeah... stay healthy."
Before leaving, seeing the cute faces of Malcolm, Tucker, and their kids brought a rare smile after so long.
May they return to peaceful days...
Whoooosh!
Whoooosh!
> [Warp] successful.
> Destination reached. Lord Gunter.
"Good work. Thanks for the swift cooperation. Didn't expect a pillar of the Seven Virtues Knights to be dispatched."
"Demonic involvement demands it. As God's proxy, it's only right."
"Ostis reported encountering demons here."
Not long after Actor's group left, the Blue Tower Lord Gunter appeared with 50 subordinate mages and 500 elite holy knights dispatched from the temple.
Clad in dazzling platinum armor infused with holy power, they embodied the sacred number seven symbolizing the temple's seven virtues—the strongest holy knight orders.
Among them, the Purity Knights had joined: demon exterminators purging the world of great evils.
"One more time: during the mission to destroy heretical tomes, you truly encountered demons?"
"Absolutely. Magus Civitas, once a former elder but exiled for craving forbidden knowledge— we've tracked Pladeus for years to destroy his legacy. The White Lord Ostis's horrific massacre is all fact."
"...No lies detected. Then why spare the heretic Pladeus back then?"
"As I said, Pladeus craved forbidden lore enough to become a lich and touch demon knowledge. But he was once a Magus Civitas elder with many achievements. The elders' council voted exile and remote surveillance. Didn't we show Pladeus's excommunication records from decades ago?"
"That negligence let demons set foot here again. Mages remain as arrogant and insolent as ever—history repeats!"
…
"As promised, we'll exterminate the demons and burn the heretical tomes. And build a temple in Magus Civitas. No complaints?"
"...Of course. We've already discussed destroying Pladeus's legacy with the elders. Burn or seal it as you please."
Mages and temples were bitter rivals.
But with one of the 666 demons involved, better a temple in the mage city than exposing Pladeus's scandals and risking another God-Mage Great War.
Surveillance sucked, but better than tangling with a named high demon and becoming continent-wide public enemies.
Gunter, artfully mixing truth and lies to draw in the temple, now pursued Actor's group alongside them.