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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Purpose Matters More Than Reason
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Whether you embed a demon in a soul or in flesh, there's "almost" no way for a human split into upper and lower halves to survive.
"The two-handed greatsword is the best, after all, right?"
-If you're going to fight this brutishly, it's actually pretty good.
Before exhaling three breaths, Fernandez had sliced through the two demon worshippers and stepped toward the altar. The man called the altar's "bishop" trembled at the sight of him but didn't stop what he was doing.
"Stop it, won't you?"
-Quaaack!
Fernandez drew a dagger from his shoulder bag and hurled it. He prided himself on his precision with dagger throws. The blade pierced the wrist gripping the obsidian knife exactly.
"Guhhh!"
The man clutched his wrist, blood gushing out, and staggered back. In that moment, Fernandez climbed onto the altar.
"Huh, quite modern, huh?"
It was a summoning altar constructed with highly contemporary incantations. Dismembered limbs were tangled here and there, forming inverted pentagrams, and between them, blood refined with mana formed sinister runes.
"Let me see. Sadarkelia... hmm... Sadarkelia's seventeenth apostle? Hey, why struggle to summon some lowly imp like this? If you're going to do it, summon Sadarkelia herself."
"You... you know the infernal runes...?"
"Infernal runes? Come on, don't say something so pathetic, you bishop. Look, this isn't infernal runes—it's Demidraco script. Completely different language family..."
Fernandez approached the quivering bishop with a grin. As if some halfwit had learned it sloppily.
"Lies, lies! Infernal runes are the language bestowed only by our Master... No human could possibly read them!"
"Why not? It's just a liberal arts subject."
Must've gotten some twisted nonsense from a demon. Fernandez found the man's behavior amusing. To think the bishop of Demdrizad was such a fool?
"You're really a bishop?"
"Eeek! S-Sadarkelia, grant me your power!"
-Kwachijik!
As the man shuddered and tried to intertwine his fingers, Fernandez swiftly grabbed his wrist and snapped it. The obsidian dagger clattered to the floor.
"Your mantra's wrong. The angle between index and thumb needs to be about 12.5 degrees narrower. Wrist orientation's off too. Where'd you learn magic? No Wildcast wandering mage teaches like that."
"S-Sadarkelia...!"
"And you're getting the name of the demon whispering to you wrong too."
Fernandez drove his knee into the man's gut. The man curled up with a choke and collapsed. Fernandez slowly ground down the punctured right wrist under his foot.
"Grk, guhhh..."
Face buried in the pool of blood, the man foamed and screamed.
"It's not Sadarkelia. The demon you worship is..."
[Tetragalan.]
In that instant, red light flashed in the underground cavern, accompanied by a menacing hiss. Wind carrying a thick sulfur stench blew from somewhere, tousling Fernandez's hair.
"Right. Tetragalan. White Captain Tetragalan. Sadarkelia's apostle. Right fang of Lizard King Kshasrakhs. Yeah?"
[A fairly wise mortal. If you'd been one of my limbs, this wouldn't have been so troublesome.]
"You're not worthy to command me."
[How dare you.]
-Whoooosh.
Another gale surged. Fernandez's robe billowed like a sail. The man crushed under his foot let out a squeak and huddled, trembling.
"S-Sadarkelia. I offer my soul!"
"Not on my watch!"
-Kwajik!
The man suddenly grabbed the fallen obsidian dagger and plunged it into his own chest. He convulsed several times, eyes rolling back, and died. Bubbles rose in the locked pool of blood.
-Careless.
"Worth it. It's fine."
-Tetragalan isn't a lesser demon. He's one of hell's demon lords.
"I know. Still just a demon lord."
-Incoming. Get ready.
"Me?"
Fernandez stepped back from the summoning altar and gripped his greatsword. Its hefty weight was reassuring.
-Whoooosh...
The wind whipped madly through the underground cavern. Red snakes emerging from the shadows of this sewer hissed in unison, producing eerie sounds.
The snakes' noises formed a bizarre rhythm. A melody that shattered minds and induced madness. They bowed their heads in reverence to their master.
-Kwachijik.
From the pool of blood and corpses on the summoning altar, vivid green sparks flew. Then, through the gap, a massive, scale-covered hand appeared. Nearly as big as Fernandez's head.
-Thud, thud. Thump.
Soon, starting from the hand, a marble-pillar-like forearm, then a chest and face bulging with scales and muscle emerged. One, two, three... Its four heads seeped from the shadows.
-Descendant of the Four-Headed Dragon... Tetragalan of the blue scales.
"Yeah. Long time no see."
Fernandez's words were somewhat ambiguous. It meant it had been ages since seeing a real demon, and also since seeing Tetragalan specifically.
In other words, Tetragalan was no stranger. Ironically, he was one of the demons Kirhas had pierced through the heart in Fernandez's past life.
The scream Tetragalan had let out then still rang vividly in his ears. He had witnessed that scene with his own eyes. And that meant...
"Ready?"
-I've got nothing to prepare.
"Not you. You. The demon."
Fernandez aimed his two-handed greatsword at Tetragalan's massive body. Tetragalan saw it and hissed a laugh.
[How dare you speak to me so. I am Tetragalan. Heir to the great Four-Headed Dragon, apostle of the great mother Sadarkelia! Right fang of King Ksharlakhs and...]
As Fernandez listened to Tetragalan, he drifted into memory. Same repertoire as what he'd spat at Kirhas during their private audience. The scene was vividly clear in his mind.
"Snakes sure have long tongues."
[You bastard!]
-Passs...
Fernandez's pauldrons corroded and crumbled in an instant. [Aura of Corrosion], usable only by true Demidraco. Only the blessed silver longsword endured the aura.
"I can't match Kirhas's skill."
-Yeah.
"But copying her strategy? Piece of cake!"
Fernandez charged at Tetragalan's right flank, shouting. Tetragalan roared and swung a fist.
*
-Kwaaang!
Tetragalan's third head rolled across the floor. Sizzle—the strong acid pouring from its mouth melted the altar.
[You bastard! Youuuu!!! Name! Give me your name!!!]
-Puhwaaak!
Fernandez slashed Tetragalan's right thigh and rolled backward. A massive tail whipped over his head.
'Slower now.'
Fernandez blocked the tail with his sword and was pushed back. Tetragalan tried to recover its stance in the interim.
-Quaaack!
[Grraaah!!!]
The deftly thrown dagger burrowed into Tetragalan's left eye.
[This... this can't be. It can't! Youuuu! Reveal yourself! A-Are you celestial kin from the Holy Pantheon?!]
"Pathetic, demon. That's all you've got?"
Fernandez gripped the creaking, bloodied greatsword tightly and shot forward.
His joints were in no better shape than his blade. Poison, acid, fatigue, and impacts battered his body to pieces.
'Trying to mimic peak Kirhas is risky, huh.'
-At least you're doing something like it.
'This time, let's do what Kirhas couldn't.'
Fernandez stabbed his sword into the staggering Tetragalan's heart.
"Seek first the kingdom and its justice, and all these things will be added unto you."
-John's Apocalypse isn't the verse for this?
"Tried it solo once. Feizashi, prerequisites for holy spells?"
-Faith, prayer, miracle?
"I've got all three!"
-Kwajik!
[This can't happen! It can't...]
The greatsword shattered and fell from Fernandez's hand. Golden light flashed from Tetragalan's heart, seeping into the blade shard embedded in its chest.
"See? Told you it'd work."
Tetragalan's massive body slowly toppled. Soon it crumbled to dust. Not dissolving into hell's sixth layer. Its soul was being sealed into the blade.
[How?!? The Holy Pantheon's power is sealed!! This can't...!!]
"Someone makes the impossible possible. Ever heard of saints?"
Fernandez picked up the fallen, glowing green blade shard. He carefully wrapped it in his robe hem and tied it with his rosary.
"Our Enmagicka brothers would flip if they saw this."
No gear left intact. Pauldrons, daggers, shoulder bag, greatsword... He slowly knelt on one knee. A strange liquid of poison, acid, and blood sloshed at his feet.
"Hoo..."
Facing a hell demon lord alone was exhausting. He gathered his creaking body from the fierce battle. He desperately wanted to lie down and pass out right there.
But he didn't live complacent. He never stood still in satisfaction.
Fernandez groaned as he rose. His robe hem was stained filthy with blood and filth.
"Work to do."
-Know where to go?
"Traces."
Fernandez pointed to the dried bloodstains under the altar. Drag marks like sacks filled the path. They led to a dark tunnel at the sewer's end.
*
Slave storeroom. Or cursed nursery—this place reeked of dampness, filth, and a nauseating stench. Kirhas sat in the corner, knees up, wrapped in rags.
-Step, step.
Massive booms had rained from the altar direction earlier, then quieted. Footsteps approached from there.
'What are those demons up to...'
Kirhas peered through the bars with fatigue-glazed eyes. Of the slaves captured with her, only about five remained.
-Clank.
A robed man stood outside the bars. Kirhas's turquoise eyes gleamed in the dark. The man scanned the ragged slaves and spoke.
"No demon scent."
"True. But we can't just kill them all."
"Ah, quit grumbling."
The youth suddenly stopped and muttered to himself.
'Gone mad?'
The slaves huddled in fear, silent. A crazy demon worshipper had come to the sacrifice slave pen!!
"Ah, enough!! Everyone lives and gets out!"
-Ching.
The youth drew a dagger and jammed it into the chains on the bars, twisting until they snapped. Impressive strength. The chains clattered to the floor noisily.
"Come on, up."
"...???"
"Run far, as far as you can. Ideally, hide outside Gloridein City for a few days. It's about to become a sea of fire."
As the slaves hesitated, the youth bellowed.
"Hurry!"
"Eeeek!!"
After shooing the slaves, the youth looked at Kirhas, who glared from the corner with arms crossed.
"You, huh?"
"You know me?"
"Kirhas Hearttaker. Last survivor of the Kalani clan. Right?"
At that, Kirhas stood roughly. Her voice was cracked from long hunger and thirst, but still strong.
"...Who are you? Why do this? What happened to the lunatics outside?"
"Lots of questions. Good attitude. Walk with me a bit?"
Kirhas approached silently, and the youth stepped aside to let her pass. She slipped by cautiously.
"Hmm. Kirhas."
The youth raised a finger and flicked off her rag hood. Though gaunt from starvation, a fierce, beautiful catfolk beauty with striking features emerged.
"Yep. Nice to see you young."
"Who are you?"
"Demonica Inquisitor Balthazar. For now, think of me that way."
"Inquisitor... Never been chummy with your kind. What's your business with me?"
"Of course!"
The man exited through the open bars. Kirhas followed, eyeing his back.
From corridor to cavern to altar, the underground sewer brimmed with blood and bodies. Acrid stench mingled with flickering ominous lights drifting nearby. The youth strolled through as if on a walk.
Kirhas was astounded. No matter how she looked, the sly youth wasn't much older than her. Yet undoubtedly a powerhouse she couldn't dream of matching.
His robe hem soaked in blood and filth without a care. He walked steadily, speaking.
"Monthly pay calculated cumulatively on the 1st. Half a silver coin base. Mission life allowance and success bonus at 150% separate, plus three silver coins per mission. Can guarantee free citizen status under Beitasser Church and grant bishop-level immunity for missions."
"...?"
Kirhas tilted her head at him. Too polite for a slave rescuer, yet not just letting her go free.
Climbing the sewer stairs, the youth continued.
"In short, join as my attendant. Inquisitors have followers. 'Torchmen.' Those who carry the torch and follow. I need you there."
"Me... Why go this far?"
Her tone had already grown deferential. She felt overpowered by his presence. Fernandez didn't turn. He pressed forward.
"Reason doesn't matter. For people like you and me, purpose does. 'Save the world,' 'Burn demons,' 'Exterminate heretics.' Fine purposes, but not ours."
They reached the sewer exit. Fernandez flung open the half-open grate. Dawn sky and fresh air poured over Kirhas like a burst.
Kirhas stared blankly at his back and halted. Fernandez looked down at her.
"You want revenge. I want you to have it."
'Avenger of the clan slaughtered by slave hunters and demon worshippers. Kirhas Hearttaker.'
-For my son's future. Burn the demons. Kirhas Hearttaker.
Her keen nose caught the scent of embers. Intense, scorching. The seductive aroma from Fernandez's words—she could resist no longer.
Didn't want to.
Slowly, she knelt before Fernandez, backlit by the dawn sky.
"I submit to the Inquisition."
"Good."
"My benefactor. Your name?"
"Fernandez Cerned."
Kirhas bowed her head low and murmured.
"I pledge my loyalty, Lord Cerned."
Above her, Fernandez cast a shadow and smiled.
In his past life, he'd wanted to kill her so badly. Kirhas of the Kalani clan. Catfolk's proudest spear, the West Wilds' sturdiest shield.
Now, she was just another chess piece. Fernandez's hand stroked her hair.
*
On the dark summoning altar floor, one red snake hid.
[...Inquisitor... Demonica...]
[...Balthazar...]
[Inquisitor...]
[Beitasser's dog...]
The snake hissed at the path Fernandez and Kirhas had taken, then slowly slithered into the blood pool.
[Sadarkelia will remember you, mortal.]