Episode 192
As if a high-ranking sorcerer had unfurled the world of thought, a hell of fire and blood engulfed the area.
The Ritual of Demon Subjugation.
Laughter tinged with madness and screams echoed, painting the scene with a nauseating horror.
The ground beneath their feet transformed into a writhing mass of living flesh, and the magic circle where the members of the “Covenant” stood pulsed with a blood-red power, isolating them as if within a barrier.
The flesh-like earth tore apart with explosive force, spraying blood and spilling entrails in a grotesque display, as if they were inside the belly of some unidentifiable giant creature.
And from within, they emerged.
“O, Almighty Evil!”
One of the Covenant members knelt in ecstasy. From the torn flesh of the earth, they revealed themselves.
With a sickening sound, tentacles burst forth, wrapping around the area.
Yet even this could not suppress their madness. No, they howled in ecstasy, as if nothing could bring them greater joy.
Three demons stood there, in forms that were all too familiar. Horned, reeking of sulfur, with bat wings and tails—the stereotypical image of demons.
The demons smiled, saying nothing, merely casting their ominous gaze around.
At that moment, Dale broke the silence, firing a shadow bullet. But as the bullet struck, a wall of flesh rose from the ground to block his attack.
”……!”
A voice came from beyond the wall.
“Speak what you wish to know.”
“Speak what you wish to feel.”
“Speak what you wish to restore.”
The demons whispered to the members of the Covenant.
“I wish to know pleasure, the greatest pleasure in this world!”
They clamored, each eager for their turn.
“I wish to feel pleasure, the most intense ecstasy this world can offer!”
The others echoed the same desire.
All except one man.
“Bring back the Holy Maiden to this land!”
Count Gilles de Rais of Wallachia cried out.
“The goddess did not answer my prayers! But surely the demons can!”
With a desperation that could not be surpassed.
“No matter how much I prayed, my prayers went unanswered. I could not be sure if it was the goddess’s silence or the absence of a god. So I killed devout children! If the goddess answered their call, her existence would be proven! But until the end, she did not respond!”
He poured out his pent-up frustration.
“But not the demons. The demons must exist! Otherwise, how could this world be so hellish and terrible? It’s the demons! From the beginning, the Holy Maiden was a puppet of the demons, and this world is nothing but a hell ravaged by them!”
It was then.
“Sir Gilles de Rais.”
After a long silence, a knight clad in black armor spoke. It was Lady Shadow, Aurelia.
“You need not ask that of the demons.”
”……!”
He heard a voice he could never forget.
At the same time, the wall of flesh separating Dale and his companions from the demons collapsed. Gilles de Rais finally turned his head.
“I am alive, here.”
Lady Shadow removed her black helmet.
The unforgettable golden hair of the Holy Maiden Aurelia cascaded down. She was not a puppet’s sword of shadows. She was the savior Dale had once encountered on the island of Britannia.
“Aurelia… my lady?”
Gilles de Rais murmured in disbelief.
“Where are you looking?”
Then, another voice spoke.
“I am here.”
”……!”
Gilles de Rais turned again, this time behind him.
A knight in pure white armor stood there. A golden-haired knight, symbolizing the very purity of this world—the Holy Maiden Aurelia.
With a swift motion, the white Aurelia swung her sword. The nameless sword was aimed at the members of the Covenant standing with the Count of Wallachia.
The sword swung, and before it, the demons in human guise revealed their true forms.
“Have you fallen to the path of evil?”
But even their desperate cries could not reach the “White Aurelia.” The Holy Maiden’s sword emitted a radiant light, and in that light, the members of the Covenant faded like fleeting shadows. Screams echoed. The screams of monsters.
“This… this can’t be…!”
Finally, the white sword severed the neck of the demon sorcerer, leaving him no time to finish his words. Blood splattered.
In the sea of blood, the Holy Maiden Aurelia smiled.
“O, O, I am…!”
Gilles de Rais knelt before Aurelia. Not the black-armored knight by Dale’s side, but the false Holy Maiden created by the three demons.
“You must have suffered greatly, Sir Gilles de Rais.”
The white Aurelia smiled gently. Dale’s expression turned icy.
“I understand your pain. But come, it is not too late to atone for your sins.”
“Holy Maiden…!”
“Let us repent together before the goddess of compassion and sisterhood. I will pray for your sins.”
The false Holy Maiden whispered kindly, and Gilles de Rais knelt.
“Please forgive my disbelief, O goddess of sisterhood! Only now do I understand your compassion and sisterhood!”
At that moment, another Holy Maiden broke the silence.
A shadow’s blade, having forsaken faith in the divine.
Lady Shadow charged, and the one to block her was the white Holy Maiden.
Clang!
The two swords clashed. White and blood-red auras intertwined.
“Why do you raise your sword against me, fallen one?”
The white Aurelia questioned.
“Have you too fallen to the path of evil?”
”…….”
The black Aurelia did not answer. For what stood before her was merely a specter of the past. No, not even a specter.
This being was the very creation of the demons’ ritual, the object of their fervent desire.
“It is not too late.”
The white Aurelia whispered gently.
“Come, let us join forces again. We can do it.”
“What do you mean?”
“To rebuild the Kingdom of Britannia on this land, as the goddess wills.”
Truly, like the whisper of a demon.
“It was not something you could achieve alone. But together, we can.”
”…….”
The white Aurelia spoke, and the black Aurelia remained silent. After a pause, Aurelia shook her head.
“There is nothing that can be undone.”
She spoke, and the white Aurelia sneered coldly.
“Then it cannot be helped.”
Once more, her sword glowed with a white light, but it was then.
“That’s enough.”
The Shadow Lord intervened, blocking Lady Shadow. He faced the other Aurelia, the one wielding the sword of light.
His shadowy blade clashed with the light, swallowing it in darkness and cold, and silence fell.
Srrng.
In the silence, the Shadow Lord adjusted his grip on his sword.
A sword imbued with the light of the past.
The cherished sword of an ancient hero, Peacemaker.
Not a mere imitation reflecting the otherworldly image. Moreover, Dale was no longer the inexperienced youth he once was.
Thus, the Shadow Lord, the former hero of another world, finally adjusted his grip on his sword.
“Why do you hinder me?”
The white Aurelia asked, unable to comprehend. Dale sneered coldly.
“Count of Wallachia.”
He sneered as he spoke.
“The Holy Maiden you seek so desperately is right here.”
He gestured to Lady Shadow, who stood by the Shadow Lord’s side.
“Ha, how amusing…!”
Yet Gilles de Rais, the Count of Wallachia, paid no heed. Instead, he laughed with a madness that suggested he finally understood.
“Do you dare try to deceive me with such a falsehood? I can tell! I served Lady Aurelia closer than anyone, and I know! The Holy Maiden I know would never sully herself with black armor, for that is her purity!”
“Exactly as you say.”
The false Aurelia beside Gilles de Rais, the white Holy Maiden, smiled. At the same time, she tenderly caressed his cheek with a cold smile.
“I am here, and those before you are nothing but the temptations and whispers of the demons you have fallen to.”
“O, Holy Maiden…!”
The white Holy Maiden whispered, and Gilles de Rais smiled in ecstasy.
By now, none of the Covenant remained except for him. All had fallen to the Holy Maiden’s sword. Was it the will of the demons? The Shadow Lord remained silent, adjusting his grip on his weapon.
“Was this really all there was to it?”
Dale asked, standing before the pure maiden of the sanctuary and the Count of Wallachia.
“The ritual of the dark magic you spoke of.”
As soon as he spoke, he realized.
‘So that’s how it was.’
Technically, the ritual had succeeded. Yet, what was unfolding now was merely a byproduct.
The only one who truly gained control of a demon through the initial ritual was Lady Scarlet.
The demon of evolution, the ultimate being.
That entity was now growing within her. From the start, the Red Tower’s aim had been that very thing. And in the end, they intended to leave the rest of the cleanup to Dale. It all made sense now.
“I’m tired of being a puppet. And I’m equally tired of dancing before a daydream.”
Dale declared. At last, Master Baro and Lady Shadow adjusted their grips on their swords behind him, and even the Grave Walkers were no exception.
“Therefore.”
Dale, the Shadow Lord, spun the hilt of the sword in his hand.
He reversed his grip on the hero’s sword, the Peacemaker.
“Take this sword, Aurelia.”
”…!”
At Dale’s words, the dark Aurelia caught her breath. She knew all too well the true name of the sword he held.
“This sword doesn’t suit me. But for you, it will be different.”
The Shadow Lord spoke calmly.
“With this sword, do what you think and wish to do.”
In response, the dark Aurelia nodded silently. She accepted the Peacemaker from the Shadow Lord and adjusted her grip on the hilt.
Swoosh!
A swift strike was unleashed.
Light surged, and from within the brilliance, the dark Aurelia revealed her avatar.
Though shrouded in darkness, she bore the six wings of a seraph.
In response, the false maiden created by the other three demons spread her wings.
They were wings of pure white, unmatched in beauty and purity by anything in this world.