Chapter 129
Chapter 129
“…Agares?”
At that familiar name, I parted my lips.
He was one of the supreme existences who reigned as a lord in the Demonic Realm, just like the Hell Archduke Aloken and the Demonic Realm Duke Gremory.
This place was the very heart of the Holy Kingdom—the very center of the Holy Palace. It was a gathering that included the Holy King and the Saintess, the Grand Archbishop, Paladins, and countless members of the clergy.
Unless a gate to the Demonic Realm had already been connected, even a high-ranking demon would find this place burdensome in every sense.
But Agares paid absolutely no attention to those around him, directing his gaze solely at me.
His eyes, matted with bloody tears, soon began to darken. At their center, slit yellow pupils like a serpent’s emerged, scattering dense demonic energy as they wrapped tightly around my body.
Wooooong.
Excalibur in my hand poured out holy power, resisting Agares’s suppressive force. Even so, he pressed down on me with a strength far greater than that of the two high-ranking demons I had encountered before.
“What the hell……!”
I kicked off the ground and retreated backward, frowning deeply. The body Agares had possessed was clearly that of a Paladin.
I could have cut him down, but possessing a body that held such tremendous holy power should have been difficult even for a high-ranking demon. Yet the demonic energy pouring out from his entire body radiated pressure as though his true form itself had descended.
Uuuuuung-.
As those around us sprang into action, dozens of crosses floated up around the training ground. Emitting a pure white light, they pinned down the demonic energy pouring from Agares’s body.
“Monster!”
Amid them, the Holy King himself, along with numerous Paladins, ascended onto the training ground. Behind them, priests—including the Grand Archbishop and cardinals—chanted holy spells, redoubling their efforts to suppress Agares’s demonic energy, and for a moment it seemed the tide was turning.
[Annoying gnats.]
Agares’s face twisted as interference poured in from all sides, his gaze still fixed on me.
‘…What is it?’
From the moment he appeared before me until now, he had maintained an unshakably relaxed attitude.
The situation was absolutely in our favor. If his true body had manifested here, it would have been another story, but with nothing more than a possessed body, he could not possibly face everyone present.
“The moment you so much as twitch a finger, I will erase that body entirely, you instrument of evil.”
[The Holy King of this era, is it.]
Agares burst into laughter as he looked at those standing before him.
[How utterly laughable, young Holy King. I, Agares, stood alongside the creation of the world itself. Even if you were blessed by the Goddess, humans are nothing more than paltry mortals in the end. And such beings dare speak of my annihilation?]
“You certainly spew nonsense freely. Here and now, I will capture you and set the prestige of the Holy Kingdom right!”
In response to the Holy King’s words, the Paladins slowly advanced. Agares looked at them, then turned his gaze back toward me.
[Normally, I would not even consider doing anything with this body, but.]
From within his robes, he took something out. The black, lump-like object looked strangely familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before.
‘The demon’s seed… was that what it was called?’
It resembled the one that Isabel, one of the Majin who had attacked Leipzig, had embedded into her own chest.
Pabababak-!
Without hesitation, I kicked off the ground.
Back then with Isabel as well, a bad feeling had driven me to bisect her body, but the demon’s seed had already burrowed into her chest by that point.
Behind me, the Holy King and Paladins widened their eyes at my sudden charge. Agares raised his other hand, spewing black demonic energy to block my approach, but I poured all the power I had been conserving into a single swing of Excalibur.
“Sever(切)-.”
Sword Saint Style Secret Art, Sever(切).
Sensing danger from the dazzling flash unleashed from my blade, Agares created a black wall in front of himself. But Sever(切) was a secret art that cut through the target along with the very space it occupied. It was a difficult technique to use, but its power was unquestionable.
Jeojeojeok-!
What looked strong enough to withstand even a formidable Aura Blade was shattered in an instant, exploding into countless fragments. I threw my body forward and severed Agares’s neck.
Slash.
The head—once belonging to a Paladin of the Holy Kingdom—was cut clean off and fell to the floor. His body had long since been consumed by demonic energy, and not a single drop of blood spilled out.
The headless body soon collapsed onto the training ground as well. I stood right before it, Excalibur in hand, keeping my guard up for a long while.
Unlike Isabel, he had not embedded a demon’s seed into the chest, but against a high-ranking demon like Agares, there was no telling what trick he might use.
“Retrieve the body.”
Yet no matter how much time passed, it did not move again. Considering the weight of his name, it was an almost anticlimactic end, but given the incidents that had occurred before, it was rather fortunate that it ended at this.
“…Then what happens to the Pilgrim’s Path?”
Paladins and priests kept watch over Agares’s corpse as Holy Knights carefully retrieved it. I asked the Holy King, who was still standing atop the training ground behind them.
“…….”
He quietly surveyed his surroundings. The venue was filled with restless murmurs from what had just transpired.
To begin with, the Pilgrim’s Path itself had been an event pushed forward rather abruptly. On top of that, a being wielding such immense demonic energy had suddenly appeared. Had the Holy King and the Holy Kingdom’s high-ranking nobles not been present, it would not have been strange for panic to erupt.
“In principle, it would be right to suspend it, but isn’t the situation special?”
“Then.”
“The Holy Kingdom does not belittle the achievements of others. You have defeated Agares, one of the lords of the Demonic Realm. Even if it was only a possessed body.”
But the Holy King’s face as he said that was bitter beyond measure. And it was understandable—the body Agares had possessed was that of a Paladin of the Holy Kingdom, and one counted among the strongest.
“…Fortunately, you currently hold the title of Hero. If we actively publicize this point, it should further instill vigilance against Majin and Demons.”
“So Goddess’s Tears are the price for that.”
“Do not take it the wrong way. We will also do everything we can to support you.”
At that, I silently nodded. Whether the Holy Kingdom used my name or not, what mattered right now was saving Petra.
For that sake, even accepting attention under the name of Hero a hundred times over was more than worth it.
“Let us end this by restoring order here for now. There are too many eyes watching. We had the academy students of both nations attend as observers for a grand plan, but it seems that only backfired.”
I shared the same sentiment, and smiled wryly with him.
“…Huh? Huh?”
“W-What? What are you doing…?”
The situation began to change abruptly when urgent voices rose from the Holy Knights who were recovering the corpse of the Paladin whose neck I had severed.
“……?”
My gaze and the Holy King’s turned there at the same time. One of the Holy Knights handling the body was bleeding bright red blood from his eyes and nose.
That Holy Knight soon held the recovered demon’s seed in his hand. Then he looked at the corpse of the beheaded Paladin.
“Stop him!”
Whether it was Agares or one of his subordinate Demons, someone must have possessed the Holy Knight’s body again. At my shout, the surrounding Paladins swung their swords at the Holy Knight.
Kang-!
The Holy Knight drew his own sword and blocked it, but the difference in strength was overwhelming to begin with. What he did next was throw his body toward the Paladin’s corpse. At that sudden action, the Paladin blocking his path swung his sword with a deep frown.
Slash.
The possessed Holy Knight’s head was severed, scattering crimson blood across the training ground as it rolled away. The Paladin who had swung the blade let out a soundless groan.
In a single day, two Holy Knights had lost their lives in the Holy Palace. And both times, through possession by Demons.
Beyond the loss of face, the sacrifice of innocent lives was what truly hurt.
“…The seed, where is the seed?”
Before anything else, I searched for the demon’s seed that had been clenched in the Holy Knight’s hand until the moment of death. But even after scouring the training ground floor, I could not find it.
Thud.
“…….”
At that moment, an unknown vibration shook the ground. After Agares fell to my blade, the academies of both nations had withdrawn under the guidance of the Holy Knights, leaving only officials of the Holy Kingdom behind.
And now, they all froze in place, turning their gazes toward a single spot as they felt that vibration through the ground.
“…Fuck.”
Whether it was the law of clichés taking effect or the intervention of something else entirely, I did not know—but the demon’s seed that had been in the Holy Knight’s hand was now resting on the chest of the headless Paladin’s corpse.
Pabababak-!
Black tentacles burst forth from the demon’s seed. They tore through clothing, bored into the chest, and in an instant settled there.
A moment of silence.
As the eyes of everyone present focused on that spot, a single drop of cold sweat fell from someone’s chin onto the training ground floor.
Paaaaaaat-!
“B-Back! Get back!”
A violent storm of demonic energy raged outward from the center of the headless Paladin.
Nearby Paladins barely managed to escape it while covering their faces with their arms, but comparatively weaker Holy Knights and priests had their flesh melt away, rot, and decay, collapsing on the spot.
“Damn it!”
A coarse curse burst from the Holy King’s mouth at the sight. He and the priests hurriedly activated their holy power to oppose the demonic energy, but already more than a dozen Holy Knights had been caught in the storm and lost their lives.
“…Demonic energy pushing back holy power.”
I was left speechless by the scene before me. No matter how powerful Agares was, on this side stood the Holy King—the Demonic Realm’s polar opposite—along with Paladins and high-ranking priests.
Yet even they could not stop Agares’s demonic energy as it surged in like a tidal wave.
“Hold it back! Squeeze out your holy power even if it kills you!”
A Paladin shouted as he cleaved through the demonic energy with his sword. If they were overwhelmed here, it would be nothing short of a catastrophe. With that in mind, I too stepped forward, Excalibur in hand.
“You should withdraw as you are. Before long, the Holy Knight Order will notice the disturbance and arrive.”
“No. As stated in the materials you handed over, what Agares implanted into his chest is called a demon’s seed. The Majin who embedded it in her own chest in Leipzig multiplied her power severalfold in an instant—!”
Before I could finish, a pale white hand suddenly thrust out from within the storm of demonic energy. It grabbed the neck of the foremost Paladin.
“Ghk! How dare—!”
He flared his Aura Blade to its fullest and tried to sever it, but was instead dragged into the demonic energy by that overwhelming force.
“Bama!”
Everyone else was unable to move as they struggled to hold back the demonic energy. Seeing that, I kicked off the ground and charged forward.
“You must not leave the barrier!”
The Holy King warned urgently, but losing another Paladin was an unbearable loss. So, together with Excalibur, I extended my other hand and began an incantation.
“[Prometheus’s Flame]!”
Blue sacred flames wrapped around my body. I hurled myself straight into the storm of demonic energy, and within it managed to grab the nape of Paladin Bama’s neck just before he was completely consumed by Agares.
“Hup!”
I flung him straight backward. Once he escaped beyond the domain of demonic energy, the Holy Knights would take care of the rest.
[You again.]
Above the severed neck, black energy gathered, forming the shape of a monster. That was likely Agares’s true form.
He gaped his mouth wide at me in threat. Dozens—hundreds—of teeth writhed, ready to bite down on me at any moment. At that instant, I drove Excalibur, blazing with Prometheus’s Flame, straight into Agares’s monstrously torn maw.
“Eat this!”