The Fallen Saint
Though men of the cloth are called “holy,” deep down they are either greed-driven sinners or oblivious dreamers. But of course, I have no complaints either way. They are all soon to serve our great ambition, no matter which kind they might be.
“Sir Sage! Terrible news!”
As soon as I emerged from the shadow, one of my subordinates came rushing over in a noisy panic.
When he told me why, I ended up shouting as well.
“The Holy Woman has been kidnapped?!”
Because I was delayed dealing with the pontiff, I received some unexpected and deeply unpleasant news when I finally arrived at the ceremony hall in the Den of Evil.
“Yes, some thieves who were lurking near the ceiling threw smoke bombs into the room, and the Holy Woman was abducted in the ensuing chaos.”
“What in the world were her bodyguards doing?!”
“I’m terribly sorry. They came running as soon as the smoke bombs went off, but the Holy Woman disappeared from the room without a trace within a matter of seconds.”
The Holy Woman—Demon Lord Shizuka—is an indispensable tool for my path toward total domination.
When I let her out of the thoroughly protected City Core Chamber, it is always with a nearly excessive number of skilled bodyguards and mages keeping close watch on her.
How could someone have outmaneuvered them all so easily…?
“Who was present in the room?”
“The Adepts were returned to their cages after being physically searched and examined. Those who were there to receive ‘aptitudes’ have been gathered in one place to await your orders.”
“And the search for the Holy Woman?”
“The vast majority of our guards, including her elite bodyguards, have been sent out to find her.”
“You’re saying you sent people besides the bodyguards out on the search?”
This absolute moron…
“Y-yes, sir. I thought it best to have as many eyes as possible…”
“Whoever kidnapped the Holy Woman may have escaped with these guards. Bring them all back and take a roll call at once.”
“R-right away, sir!”
The bodyguards’ leader ran out of the room.
“Sir Sage, is it possible that the thieves had access to teleportation methods, like Space Magic or Shadow Magic?”
“Perhaps, but it is no easy feat to teleport a long distance with another person in tow.”
Even in all of Parion Province, the only mage skilled enough to secure the Holy Woman and teleport away in only a few seconds is probably myself.
No, there may be one other…
The face of the girl-child who traveled here with Sir Pendragon flashed across my mind.
While she was using a highly advanced Recognition-Inhibiting item to protect her stats and skills, the “Status Check” skill I stole from Shizuka revealed to me that she had the “Space Magic” skill.
A mage over level 50 like her might well be able to master other magic besides her standard Fire Magic.
“Go to the Village of Adepts and—”
I started to send a group of bodyguards out, then stopped abruptly.
Sir Pendragon, the girl-child’s guardian, was not to be underestimated. While he might look like a friendly, ordinary youngster leading a band of mere children, he and his group were actually masterful fighters who battled the demon lord alongside the likes of the hero’s party and Mezzalt.
The elite bodyguards, whose strength came from stolen skills and experience points given to them by the Holy Woman, would probably be no match for such seasoned fighters.
“…No, I will go there myself. The rest of you check whether the Holy Woman’s kidnapper is among the search party, and look for any suspicious figures fleeing toward town.”
The bodyguard captain gave a short salute and ran off to carry out his orders.
I took a magic potion out from my Item Box and drank it down, then teleported to the Village of Adepts using the Shadow Portal spell.
“Urgh…”
When I returned to this world from the shadows, exhaustion weighed me down, making my limbs feel heavier.
“…I would prefer not to keep teleporting such long distances this often.”
My magic was drained to nearly nothing, so I drank another magic recovery potion.
I had to be careful. If I drank too many in a row, it could lead to poison-like symptoms.
I ran out of the private room that I used as a teleport point in the village office, leaping across rooftops toward the ninja house.
With the overly complicated makeup of the village, it was faster to travel this way than by riding a horse.
As I ran, I spotted the female ninja hiding on the roof of the ninja house in the distance.
“Since she is still keeping watch, does that mean Sir Pendragon and his brood haven’t gone anywhere?”
I’d assigned that woman to monitor Sir Pendragon and the rest of his little group.
“Anything to report?”
“S-Sir Sage!”
The Kunoichi looked flustered that I’d managed to sneak up without her noticing. What a sorry excuse for a ninja, losing her cool in such a way.
“Where is Sir Pendragon?”
“It seems like he’s just staying inside this time,” she responded confidently.
“…This time? Did something happen yesterday?”
“Erm, yes. He managed to slip out right under my nose and went looking in the Dens of Evil near the tower for a few kids who were sent to the ‘Aptitude Transfer’ mines.”
“So he’s caught on already…”
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that a mithril adventurer would notice something amiss in just a few short days.
“Not to worry. He seemed to believe the excuses I made up on the spot. He’s been sleeping in his bed all evening.”
“I see…”
Sure enough, I could see through the open window that Sir Pendragon and his little friends were lying perfectly still in a deep sleep, not stirring in the slightest.
…Perfectly still?
“S-Sir Sage?”
I ignored the ninja’s confused voice behind me as I stole through the dark night, leaping into the room where Sir Pendragon and company were supposedly sleeping.
Landing without a sound, I lifted the blanket and looked at Sir Pendragon’s face.
“Damn it all. A doll?”
Sir Pendragon, as well as his two girl-child henchmen, had been replaced with dolls.
And they were surprisingly detailed dolls, at that. It was small wonder that the ninja woman didn’t notice such a convincing doll in the darkness.
“Sir Sage, I am so sorry. I swear—”
“Save the apologies for later. I’m going to the magic classroom where two of his minions were teaching. You check on the rest of their little gang.”
I interrupted the irrational woman’s apologies and gave her a top-priority mission.
Then, without waiting for an answer, I sprang out the window and headed for the magic classroom.
“Gone. Just as I thought…”
As I’d suspected, the reincarnated girl-child and the elf were nowhere to be found.
“So it was Sir Pendragon and company who kidnapped the Holy Woman, then…”
…But for what purpose?
The answer was obvious. He clearly intended to use Demon Lord Shizuka’s Unique Skills to create the ultimate army for the Shiga Kingdom.
No—perhaps he would make an army of his own to take over the kingdom instead.
“It seems you have your hands full, indeed.”
Just as I was about to get lost deep in my thoughts, I heard a voice with an unnatural echo.
“Lord Green!”
A green-tinged shadow swirled in a nearby corner, then took the grotesque shape of my sworn ally.
I created a wall with Barrier Magic before speaking to the green greater demon with whom I had a pact.
“The Holy Woman—Demon Lord Shizuka has been kidnapped. I must recover her at any cost for the sake of the plan. I would appreciate your aid as well, Lord Green.”
Perhaps the phantomlike Lord Green could locate Sir Pendragon?
But my faint hopes were dashed by the demon’s response.
“It is no use, indeed.”
“No use? Do you know something I do not, Lord Green?”
“I came because I could no longer sense the Imprint, indeed.”
“The Imprint? Surely you do not mean that Demon Lord Shizuka’s Evil God’s Imprint was removed?”
“It was, indeed.”
The demon nodded.
The Evil God’s Imprint is an item I found deep in the ruins of the Evil God’s Prison. Just like the Brace of Stolen Divinity, it is capable of fooling even a hero’s “Analysis” skill.
One who has equipped this item is bound by a fatal curse that can never be removed, according to Lord Green. If it was torn off by force, the wearer’s very soul would be torn apart, and the Imprint itself would turn into black fog and disappear.
“Does that mean Demon Lord Shizuka is dead?”
…This cannot be.
My vision began to darken with the shock.
That woman was an absolutely vital piece of my plan to rule the world.
Even if I succeeded in filling the Evil God’s Prison with miasma and breaking the seal, and used the revived calamitous army to eradicate the current system of rule, I would need capable personnel to get rid of the calamity when it was no longer needed and bring the world under my reign.
It was only with Demon Lord Shizuka’s Unique Skill that my long-oppressed clan could finally become rulers.
“Such sweet regret, indeed.”
“You seem to be enjoying this.”
I couldn’t help complaining about Lord Green’s unpleasant comment, even though I knew it was pointless.
“But of course, indeed. The sorrow of others is nectar to me, indeed.”
I looked away from the unrepentant demon and steadied myself despite my bitterness at this impossible new reality.
“Have you calmed down already, indeed? You could at least vow to have your revenge, indeed.”
Revenge…?
Of course. Demon Lord Shizuka could not have killed herself.
After all, I forbade her from taking her own life with my “Geist” skill. Though it was an inferior version of “Geist” copied with the Copy Plagiarism Unique Skill, I reinforced it enough with Psychic Magic to be sure that she couldn’t commit suicide, no matter what.
“Do you know who killed her?”
“What’s this, are you testing me, indeed?”
Lord Green answered my question with a question.
Indeed, the culprit who killed Shizuka was already known to me…
“So Sir Pendragon removed the Evil God’s Imprint from Demon Lord Shizuka…?”
“It is the only explanation, indeed. He took on a greater demon in Labyrinth City. It would be no surprise if the boy held a strong grudge against demons and demon lords, indeed.”
I found it hard to believe at first that the kindly Sir Pendragon would harm the pitiful-looking Shizuka, but Lord Green’s information forced me to rethink.
Grudges and hatred can change a person. If he had a deep-seated grudge against demons and demon lords, then he might destroy her without being swayed by her appearance.
Sir Pendragon and his minions certainly have enough strength to do so…
“It seems I foolishly brought a snake into this village.”
With just a few words of regret, I looked back at Lord Green, who was watching me eagerly.
“How am I to enjoy this if you do not suffer more about it, indeed?”
This demon truly was perverse.
“What will you do now, indeed? Take revenge for the slain Holy Woman, indeed?”
Lord Green smirked, his lips like a crescent moon.
I could tell from his expression that he was deliberately trying to fan the flames of hatred in my heart. I suppose that means that Lord Green is still a demon who cannot coexist with humans.
“Revenge will have to wait.”
I did need to retaliate, but getting caught up in an emotional act of vengeance would be inefficient.
“First, I must decide our new course of action.”
I looked away from the demon, thinking hard.
My original plan was to steal the reincarnated girl-child’s Unique Skills and craft her into a new demon lord to take the place of the Sandstorm Lord.
But now that we’d lost Demon Lord Shizuka, I was forced to postpone that plan indefinitely.
While it might still be possible to turn the girl into a demon lord, it would be both difficult and unreliable to try to abduct her from the Pendragon brat’s protection and bring her to the point of transformation.
No, more importantly, I only needed a demon lord to undo the seal on the Evil God’s Prison. There would be no point in reviving the calamitous army unless I could prepare enough manpower to destroy them once they were no longer needed. I would then use that manpower to bring the world under my control.
“I may have to put undoing the seal on the Evil God’s Prison on hold for a time…”
“That simply won’t do, indeed.”
“…Lord Green?”
The demon drew closer.
“There is something else I needed to tell you, indeed.” His crescent moon smile deepened. “The holy city is in a very entertaining state right now, indeed…”
“Entertaining…?”
I stared at Lord Green with a sinking feeling.
I knew full well that anything he was enjoying talking about could only be bad news.
“Let me show you, indeed.”
Lord Green pressed a hand to my forehead…
“Aaaargh!”
A massive number of images flowed into my mind, nearly drowning me in the torrent of information.
“First, there’s this, indeed.”
Lord Green’s voice anchored my floundering consciousness and focused my attention on one of the images.
“The pontiff is a fake…?”
“Rumor has it, he’s been replaced by a demon.”
Some working-class men were amusing themselves with a ridiculous rumor on a street corner somewhere.
“Stupid! That can’t be true!”
“Yeah, come on! The pontiff is in the cathedral, protected by Parion’s holy barrier!”
“Exactly! A demon could never get in there!”
Even these low-class men were not fools.
They knew more than anyone in the church expected of them.
“Have you morons forgotten?”
“What?”
“A demon lord broke the barrier and attacked the cathedral!”
The other men’s protests fell silent at that.
“I bet that’s when they made the switch, right?”
“B-but His Holiness has still been doing the healing ceremonies since then…”
“Has he, though? Think long and hard.”
The men furrowed their brows.
“Come to think of it, the ceremony was cut short last time!”
“Wasn’t that just because he wasn’t feeling well?”
“No, there’s more! There were some people who started feeling sicker, instead of getting healed this time.”
Ah, the day that the pontiff’s Unique Skill went out of control…
While it was a ridiculous rumor, including a piece of the truth made it seem far more plausible. I would have to spread other rumors to negate this one, and quickly.
“This part is fun, too, indeed.”
Lord Green’s voice drew me to a different view.
“I saw it, ya know. When the pontiff was doing the healing ceremony, he made purple light, not blue light, like a hero.”
“What are you talking about? The healing thing always makes pure blue light.”
“It’s true, I tell ya! I was watching from the front row last time. There was a breeze right when the ceremony started, and behind the curtain, the pontiff’s body was glowing with purple light!”
An eyewitness…that wasn’t good. I had better silence him quickly, just to be safe.
“There was something off about the healing that day, now that you mention it.”
“Oh yeah, you got a point. My grandma’s been laid up in bed ever since.”
“Do you think that rumor could be true…?”
“What rumor?”
“You haven’t heard? People are saying the pontiff’s been replaced by a demon.”
This rumor again?
It was spreading almost unnaturally quickly.
“There must be someone behind this…”
“Correct, indeed.”
My view changed again, and I saw one of the men who was spreading the rumor about the pontiff speaking with a hooded figure.
“I spread that rumor for ya.”
“Well done. Next, I need you to agitate the people and get them to riot at the cathedral.”
“Come on, gimme a break. I don’t wanna get arrested by guards or executed by the Holy Knights.”
“Let us take care of that. Just get people worked up as much as you can, then make your escape when the time seems right.”
The man accepted money from the person in the hood, then gathered his friends and started inciting a riot.
Things just kept getting worse…
I tried to stir, only to realize that I couldn’t feel my body.
“Lord Green, please end the spell. I must return to the holy city.”
I couldn’t move my limbs or use chantless magic.
Which also meant that I wouldn’t be able to forcibly free myself from Lord Green’s spell.
“No need to worry, indeed. These recordings are from the past. Only a moment will pass in the real world, no matter how long you watch here, indeed.”
With that, he showed me the next scene.
“SAVE THE PONTIIIIFF!”
“DESTROY THE DEMOOOON!”
The masses who’d believed the rumor were mobbing around the cathedral.
“DEFEAT THE DEMON PRETENDING TO BE THE PONTIFF!”
“THE DEMON MUST DIIIIE!”
“KILL THE MURDERER!”
The people glared at the cathedral with bloodshot eyes, shouting with anger and hatred.
There were even children and the elderly among them.
“Isn’t that…?”
“I’m gonna be a priest when I grow up so I can be useful to you, Pontiff.”
The boy who’d innocently declared his loyalty to the pontiff after he’d healed his father was among the angry mob.
I recognized many others who had thanked the pontiff countless times at the healing ceremony, too.
…Those fools.
I glared contemptuously at the masses who had turned on the pontiff so easily.
“TAKE DOWN THE DEMON DISGUISED AS THE PONTIFF!!”
As I watched, the crowd grew larger and angrier by the minute.
“…What’s going on here?”
This momentum made no sense, even if there were agitators.
“Psychic Magic is a must for inciting a crowd, indeed.”
As Lord Green spoke, my vision moved to the hooded man who was stirring up the crowd.
“Is that…me?”
On closer inspection, the agitator who imitated my appearance wore green lipstick, with green painted on his nails and eyelids.
I’ve seen this before. It’s one of Lord Green’s Avatars.
“So you’ve betrayed me?!”
As soon as I shouted with rage, the visions faded away.
I closed in on Lord Green, who stood before me.
“Surely not. My goal has always been to remove the seal on the Evil God’s Prison, indeed. I simply did what was most effective to that end, indeed.”
“Damn you…!”
Overcome with fury, I used the advanced Light Magic attack spell Anti-Evil Ray Sword to attack Lord Green.
The blade of blinding light slashed his body clean in two.
…With no resistance.
“I failed?!”
“My, how frightening. Good thing I used an Avatar to narrowly escape death, indeed.”
“Damned trickster…!”
Lord Green’s presence faded away.
He must have escaped me.
“You’ll pay for this, I promise you that.”
With a muttered word into the darkness, I traveled through a Shadow Portal to the cathedral.
“DESTROY THE DEMON DISGUISED AS THE PONTIIIIFF!”
The increasingly violent mob in front of the cathedral was pushing forward with enough force to overwhelm the temple soldiers and guards.
Some of the guards were even siding with the crowd instead.
“Even some of the priests and pastors…”
Even if they were being agitated with Psychic Magic, these people were supposed to lead the people of a country that was named for a goddess…
My mouth hung open at the sheer disgrace of it all.
“…Sir Sage?! I thought you were giving orders from the rear?”
One of my subordinates saw me and came running over.
He must have been tricked by Lord Green’s Avatar, like so many others.
“That sage is a fake. Disregard all of its orders.”
“Wh-what?! …Oh no! Some of our number are already on their way to kill the so-called false pontiff!”
“I will protect His Holiness. You tell the others what I’ve said and eliminate the agitators in the crowd.”
“Yes, sir.”
I watched my subordinate run toward the mob, then summoned three Shadow Beasts with Shadow Magic.
“Find the fake me hiding at the rear of the mob and destroy it.”
The beasts howled and set off through the mob, traveling from shadow to shadow.
Without waiting to see them reach their target, I used Shadow Portal to hurry to the pontiff’s side.
“Here, too…?”
There was a throng of pastors and priests around the pontiff’s room.
The room was protected by a Holy Magic barrier, leaving me no choice but to go there from my own room.
“Aaaaaah!”
“Eeeeeek!”
I heard screams from inside the room, and the door was flung open, letting purple light spill into the hall.
“Help! They’re being sucked dry!”
“He really is a demon! The rumor was true!”
“Someone get Sir Mezzalt! We need a Holy Sword wielder!”
The pastors who came tumbling out of the room sent the crowd into a panic.
I launched off the floor and ran along the wall to leap into the pontiff’s room.
“What in the world happened here?”
Several pastors and bishops were lying shriveled to death on the floor. Beyond them, Temple Knights were surrounding the pontiff with their hands on the hilts of their swords.
The pontiff himself was clutching his head and covering his ears, trembling in a corner.
In his emotionally unstable state, being cornered by people he trusted must have caused his Unique Skill Heal All to backfire spectacularly.
“Stop! His Holiness is no demon!”
I slowly walked closer, trying not to set off the Temple Knights.
Although I tried to calm the pontiff with Psychic Magic, the Holy Magic barrier around the room nullified it. I couldn’t simply destroy the barrier with Break Magic, either—doing something like that might end up pushing the Temple Knights over the edge.
“You’re the one who needs to stop.”
“…Sir Mezzalt!”
The worst possible person arrived at the worst possible time.
The Temple Knight Mezzalt’s Holy Sword Blutgang was far too dangerous to the pontiff in his current condition.
“I will calm His Holiness down.”
“I won’t let you approach the demon. You are under suspicion of colluding with a demon lord, abducting the pontiff, and replacing him with a demon in disguise.”
I ignored Mezzalt and tried to run to the pontiff’s side.
“I told you to stop!”
As I heard Mezzalt shout, I felt sudden, intense heat on my back.
I turned around and backed away, seeing the Holy Sword dripping with blood.
Mezzalt must have cut me from behind. To think he was able to slice through my robe, lined as it is with a molted lesser dragon’s hide… Truly, Holy Swords are not to be underestimated.
“…S-Sorijeyro.”
The pontiff rose unsteadily to his feet, staggering toward me with faltering steps.
“D-don’t move!”
“If you try to turn on us, we’ll show you no mercy!”
One of the Temple Knights drew his sword out of fear and slashed at the pontiff.
The cut appeared to be shallow, but the pontiff looked deeply shocked, tears streaming down his face.
…Not good.
Black miasma began billowing from the pontiff’s body.
“Mezzalt! Out of the way!”
“Stay there and watch as the demon reveals itself.”
I tried to heal the Holy Sword wound with Healing Magic and “Blink” away from Mezzalt, but with his years of bloody battlefield experience, he wouldn’t let me do that so easily.
“Now we see its true colors.”
“Damned demon! Servant of a demon lord!”
“I am not… I aM… I—I… IIIIIIAAAAAHHHM!”
…Tch.
Miasma overflowed from the pontiff and began to transfigure his body.
“…Too late.”
It was inevitable now.
I tossed a smoke bomb. By the time Mezzalt cut through it and lunged at me through the fog, I had sunk into a shadow.
Even a Holy Sword user wouldn’t be able to follow me into the shadows.
I watched the pontiff’s transformation from the other side.
“SO…SoRi…JeYROOOOOOO!”
His body began collapsing like viscous liquid, the lines between his flesh and clothes blurring. Strange bumps and creases emerged on what was left of the pontiff as his volume expanded outward.
Black smog spewed from inside the warped body, and there were flashes of purple underneath its bubbling surface, like lightning in a storm cloud.
The only remaining indicator of the pontiff was a faint impression of his face near the head area.
HZOOOBBBLZY.
Demon Lord Zarzaris let out a scream as he was born.
Purple light swathed around the demon lord’s body like a vestment, spreading out across the room in rings.
“What a mess…”
Everyone the ripples of light touched let out screams of agony, drying up and dying one by one.
This must be the effect of the inverted Unique Skill.
“Damn you, demon…!”
Safe in the shadows, I heard Mezzalt roar.
The highest-level Temple Knights were still immobilized with their life force drained. Even Mezzalt, who escaped the worst of it with the Holy Sword Blutgang’s protection, dropped to his knees in a daze.
“You even managed to incapacitate a Holy Sword wielder. Not half bad for a newly born demon lord.”
This was far from what I had planned, but now that he had transformed into a demon lord, there was no point in lamenting the situation.
All I could do was use the pontiff-turned-demon lord as effectively as possible.
“I suppose it would be most optimal to undo the seal on the Evil God’s prison so this demon lord does not go to waste… As much as it pains me to aid in Lord Green’s goals after he betrayed me, Sir Pendragon or the Shiga Kingdom hero are bound to show up if I simply stand around wringing my hands.”
Outside the shadows, the demon lord grew until he broke through the ceiling of the cathedral.
“If I eliminate the three of Sir Pendragon’s minions who can attack from a distance, the demon lord will surely take care of the rest, as he did with Mezzalt. The problem is that pesky Shiga Kingdom hero. No doubt the tales that he has defeated the great Golden Boar Lord and the Ancient Dogheaded King are exaggerated, but he must be powerful enough to warrant such rumors.”
At the very least, someone in the Shiga Kingdom was able to defeat Cardinal Hozzunas, who had been strengthened to perfection by Demon Lord Shizuka.
I looked around and saw that Demon Lord Zarzaris was still rampaging in the Heavenly Room like a child throwing a tantrum. It was all the more repulsive because he still retained faint traces of the pontiff’s countenance.
“What an uncooperative pawn.”
I used Shadow Portal to teleport next to the demon lord’s shoulder, stepped out of the shadow, and whispered into his ear.
Fortunately, the resistance skills I’d collected using Shizuka seemed to be doing their job. I wasn’t assailed by as much lethargy as I expected.
“Your Holiness. Can you hear my voice?”
“SO…ri…JeYROOOOOOOOO…”
He still remembered me?
“WHAT sHOUld I DO…”
And he still trusted me?
…What a fool.
But that foolishness was a boon to me.
“Now, Your Holiness. Go forth and preach god’s love to the ignorant masses.”
I used my terminal to connect to the City Core and prepared a space to use “Geist.”
Countless magic circles made of light appeared at the demon lord’s feet, while a many-layered circle appeared in midair and enveloped the demon lord like a pillar.
“Your Holiness. You must go forth. Granting death to the mindless infidels who dared turn against you is the only way to show them god’s love.”
I used a combination of the “Geist” skill and Psychic Magic to plant an order that the demon lord would have no choice but to obey.
“SO…sori…jErOOOOOOO!”
HZOOOBBBLZY.
The demon lord burst through the wall of the cathedral and stumbled into the square.
“The demon! It showed itself!”
“I-it’s a monsteeeeer!”
“Run awaaaaay!”
The people who had been packed into the square ran around in a panic when the demon lord crashed into view. The reckless ones who tried to stand their ground and face it soon dropped their swords and fled in the face of the demon lord’s sheer size.
“Your Holiness, you must grant death to the infidels who betrayed you. That is how a god shows love to such fools.”
“GOD…gODS…GOD’S looOOOOOOOOVE!”
HZOOOBBBLZY.
At my prompting, the demon lord glowed with purple light.
Anyone who was touched by the ripples of that light fell and dried up at once.
“Bringing instant death to the people simply by existing…quite the demon lord, indeed…”
Killing one person doesn’t grant a great deal of experience points. But if he wiped out the entire population of this crowded city, this demon lord might just become powerful enough that even a hero couldn’t defeat it.
“Interesting…”
The people who shriveled up from the demon lord’s light waves began turning dark purple and transforming into the twisted shapes of undead or chimeras.
These grotesque spawn—the Violet Zealots—began following after the fledgling demon lord. Most of them lost their human shapes and took on the appearances of demons or monsters.
“What convenient soldiers. I ought to wind them up with Psychic Magic, too.”
Once I incited the Violet Zealots, I headed to the City Core room.
My intention was to invoke a layered lockdown barrier around the city so that no one could escape. Finally, the position of vice-lord that I wrested from the pontiff by surreptitiously manipulating his will would come in handy.
It cost a great deal of the city’s magic, but the result was a perfect hunting ground for the demon lord from which no one could escape.
With all my preparations complete, I stepped outside the cathedral.
“GOd’s loOOOOOOOVE!”
The demon lord was only screaming in the cathedral square, with the Violet Zealots wandering around aimlessly nearby.
The guards and Temple Knights were beginning to surround the outskirts of the plaza. There were curious onlookers gathered on the roofs of nearby buildings, too. These ridiculous fools truly had no sense of self-preservation.
“To think you cannot even carry out a simple slaughter without my orders…”
I used Wind Magic to send my voice to the demon lord’s ears.
“Your Holiness, grant death to the foolish infidels at once. You must show them god’s love.”
“LOOooOOve…God’S LOoOOOOOVE!”
HZOOOBBBLZY.
Sending off a wave of purple light, the demon lord began shambling downtown.
The sudden wave soon reached the buildings at the edge of the square, and people fell to the ground as dried husks. People nearby gathered to try to save the fallen, only for them to transform into Violet Zealots and slaughter the survivors, creating even more Violet Zealots.
“This is quite an efficient form of spawn.”
The growing numbers of Violet Zealots chased after the civilians, destroying buildings and turning the city into a hellscape.
“Yes…more, more, more. Let this holy city that names itself for a foolish goddess be filled with fear, despair, and death, and let the miasma grow and sink into the earth.”
No doubt the Malice Urns and Chaos Jars I’d set up throughout the city would soon be full.
I created a portal between shadows and landed on the demon lord’s shoulder.
Suddenly, a white-clad figure stood in our way…
“…So you’ve arrived, Hero of the Shiga Kingdom.”
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