Chapter 9 – Devil Beast
“What is that…?”
Ludrick let out a hoarse voice. Suddenly, a “golden light” was emitted from the castle they were heading towards, and the beauty of its radiance and the ominous presence they felt made their bodies tremble uncontrollably.
“What is that…?”
“Your Highness!”
Likewise, Noel let out a trembling voice, and the three Holy Knights who had caught up with them after neutralizing the poison also broke out in cold sweat, as if seeing something horrifying.
“No, Your Highness. That is something we must not get involved with…”
“What are you saying?”
Since the Holy Knights were versed in sacred magic, they could probably sense the evil from that light more accurately than Ludrick and the others. That’s why Ludrick couldn’t ignore it.
“What is your duty then!? It is true that you are also my guard, but as the Princess and the Holy Maiden of the Holy Kingdom, how can you not save Eurushia? Are you not the Knights of the Holy Kingdom who vanquish evil?”
“…I’m sorry.”
What did that apology mean? Probably, as Holy Knights, they should have gone to save Eurushia as Ludrick said. But at the same time, they also needed to protect Ludrick.
“We shall go save our Princess. Your Highness, please stay here with Sir Noel…”
“No! I don’t think holding back the forces will work. Besides…”
“Yes, I will go save her.”
Seeing their determined eyes, the leader of the Holy Knights sighed softly but nodded.
“I will save the Princess, even at the cost of my life. So if it is truly dangerous, please trust us and stay back.”
“Very well.”
Ludrick nodded, but the two probably wouldn’t stay back. Thinking so, but impressed by their resolve, the Holy Knight showed his understanding.
“Then let’s go!”
“Yes, sir!”
Holding the sword they had taken from the assailant, the Holy Knights followed Ludrick in the lead.
Noel, who was following behind, felt a sense of déjà vu at the golden light reaching up to the sky, and a growing uneasiness in her heart.
“Could it be… that light is…”
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“…Ah, so this is…”
Even from a distance, the tremendous power and beauty of it made Isabella hold her breath.
It was true that she felt a chilling horror and a paralyzing pressure, as if her body hair was standing on end, to the point of fainting or retreating. But Isabella endured it with the mental strength she had developed from living in the lineage of the dark faction.
She was able to endure it because she knew what it was.
Archbishop Calisto had called it the “God Familiar”. He said that while they couldn’t summon the God, they could communicate with its Familiar and have it use its power.
Cordle had called it “a being like a sealed spirit that was once called a god”. He said they could put it in a magic circle to harness its power for themselves.
She hadn’t heard that it would appear here, but if she thought that her wish could be fulfilled, a sense of excitement began to well up within her.
Leahsteere, the wife of the Prince Duke of Versenia. By sacrificing that woman’s daughter, Isabella would now become the Queen, and her own daughter would become a Princess.
If others heard this, they would call it nonsense. But for Isabella, who was supposed to be only the third wife, loveless, as a liaison between the Capel family and the dark faction, this was worth risking her life for. She believed that attaining a high position was a woman’s happiness.
Ludrick had not yet been reported captured, but the drug he had taken could not be easily cured even by sacred magic, and she should be able to capture him soon. Even if Ludrick himself became aware that he had been drugged and refused to cooperate as Cordelia’s son-in-law, the dark magic used by the demons could probably bewitch him.
“…Hehe.”
She finally felt a sense of reality. Isabella’s true life was about to begin.
For that, she had to take the first step. As Isabella tried to step forward with all her might to command that existence as her master, just then–
“Oh, God…!”
From the side, Calisto stumbled forward, tears streaming down his face.
Calisto was moved to tears at the sight of the existence that possessed the great power to control the foolish people, which was the fulfillment of his lifelong wish and aspiration for world peace.
The golden, shining figure was beyond what Calisto had imagined as God, and the fact that it was in the form of a beast, not a human, made him think without a doubt that it was a divine beast, a Familiar of God that transcended the human race.
The fear and trembling he felt were undoubtedly awe before this great existence, and Calisto reached out his hand without hesitation.
“God–“
In that moment, the fingertips of his outstretched hand turned black, and Calisto, with a look of ecstasy on his face, crumbled into a decaying human remnant in an instant.
A moment of silence–
“Eek!”
Immediately after, Isabella, who had also tried to approach, let out a strangled scream and tried to roll away from that spot.
That act…
The intense fear it sparked in Isabella caught the interest of the “golden beast” that had not moved a muscle until then.
“Somebody, help meeeeeeeeeeeee!!”
Isabella’s cries for help were met with a golden light rushing across her back, torn apart by crimson claws, as the “golden beast” trampled her, spilling vast amounts of fresh blood.
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“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh–“
What had gone wrong? What was unacceptable…?
I have done nothing wrong.
It is only natural that I, who excel in all things, would obtain everything.
And yet…
She vomited torrents of blood and death throes, without even knowing what she had done, what “thing” she had touched. Along with Isabella’s subordinates in the dark forces surrounding her, they were all drowned in miasma and reduced to rotten remains, closing their distorted lives.
“Could it be… that it is a ‘demonic beast’?”
Cordle, a magic general of the Demon King’s army, trembled at the sight of the golden-glowing beast that had consumed the holy maiden’s magic power.
As a warrior, Cordle would have preferred to face the humans head-on and fight a true hero. But the kind-hearted Demon King sought not the power to defeat humans, but a special combat force – a “great existence” – that could seize the “world” without too many of the demon race dying.
An demon of a higher dimension, whose eternal lifespan seemed endless to us mortals.
Among the three levels of dominating demons –
the “Devil Lord”,
the “Devil Beast”,
and the “Devil God” – even a single one could pose a national crisis.
If they could harness the power of any of these devils akin to gods, the “demon” race could be saved. But if released and uncontrolled, it would be a crisis not just for the demons, but for the survival of the world.
However, without such power, they could not manage the strong-willed demons or the greedy humans.
The Demon King and Cordle had been carefully orchestrating this for over a decade. If the human nations discovered they were summoning such a dangerous existence, they would try to exterminate the demon race as a whole, beyond national boundaries.
The Demon King did not truly intend to use this perilous being. He sought to control the human nations through military negotiations, using the term “deterrent” that Cordle had never heard before.
To summon and control it, massive magical power was channeled into the giant magic circle in the Demon King’s castle basement. As soon as preparations were complete, Cordle’s subordinates were to make a pact with the devil using hundreds of human sacrifices they had gathered.
They had successfully drained the magic power from Eurushia by drugging her and using dark magic rituals. The magic circle was screaming from the inhuman amount of magic power, but it would fulfill the Demon King’s wish.
But…
The very existence they were trying to summon had somehow appeared here, unrestrained.
“Damn it!”
Cordle was confused.
How could this legendary, mythical being appear here? Could it be that by offering the high-class mage Eurushia as a sacrifice, she had somehow drawn it here?
Callisto, Isabella, and the deceived humans who had been used were killed without care. No, this was mere “predation” – a meal for an absolute predator.
The golden demonic beast absorbed something akin to the souls of the dead humans, then floated in the air using its huge wings.
“What is it… doing?”
Was this beast aiming for the world’s destruction, or the annihilation of all life?
But Cordle paled as he saw the beast turn its face in a certain direction, its crimson eyes narrowing slightly.
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