Chapter 183: Chapter 179: Angelic Guidance

Demons.

To Francheska, who specialized in hunting such grotesque beings, they were an endlessly foreign concept.

They were not original inhabitants of this world like other species, nor were they twisted forms of existing creatures like the undead or monsters; they were merely a foreign race that tore through the dimensional cracks and invaded this world.

“Why on earth are you here…?”

Therefore, Francheska couldn’t immediately understand why the demon before her had intruded in this situation.

In this chaotic crucible created by humanity, beastmen, and vampires seeking salvation.

Where exactly did demons fit into this mess?

“Why are you, Yasmo Deus, one of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, here?”

“Ah~ Aren’t you being too formal from the first meeting? I’d like it if you called me Yasdeus~♡”

The only thing she could guess was that it had something to do with the ‘New Era’ organization she encountered while investigating the vampires that had infiltrated the imperial leadership.

But even taking that into account, it was still strange.

That organization was formed by individuals with their own objectives, yet they exterminated the True Ancestors, their supposed leaders, even before the new era unfolded.

“No, maybe it’s better if you keep that attitude. It’s more fun to tease a feisty little lady~”

“Shut up and just answer me!”

Slash! With a flick of her hand, Francheska lashed out with sharp threads.

Effortlessly, Yasmo turned her body into a spiritual form to dodge the attack and then began to strut around, showing off in front of Francheska.

“Demanding an answer while trying to tear me apart… The more I see you, the more I like you~”

“Mary only has eyes for the Demon King and never plays with me, so today promises a lot of fun in many ways.”

To Francheska, her antics were nothing short of revolting.

This vile character, who was likely behind all of this chaos, had the audacity to joke around when she was questioning her.

“Oh, angel. Angel…”

But Martina had long been enthralled by her.

At the sight of the demon, as though in awe, Martina fell to her knees, pressing her aged forehead to the ground.

“Messenger of Friga! Following your guidance, I distributed holy water to everyone in the sanctuary!”

And the following words were a prayer, driving a definitive nail into the fact that the abominable demon was behind all these events.

Francheska couldn’t overlook it and quickly turned her head towards Martina, dispelling her magic.

“Through the holy water, made from the bodies of those vile parasites, we have accepted fragments of God’s essence into ourselves, gaining strength. That strength has allowed us to convert even the beastly invaders of this land, finally uniting them with us as one!”

Beastly invaders.

Francheska could grasp the meaning of her words.

The monster she’d encountered before coming here, once a beastman, had hinted that a conflict had occurred between the sanctuary and their tribe.

“They were abandoned by God.”

Yet the Pope saw their massacre as salvation?

Martina, overcome with ecstasy, spread her arms wide before Yasmo.

“We reached out in salvation, even to those forsaken and reduced to beasts. The miracle I found under your guidance is truly awe-inspiring!”

Francheska trembled, not just from the sight of a madwoman, but from the familiarity of the power radiating from her heightened emotions.

“Yes, I alone was not enough for this task. Unlike the pitiful beasts who fell into savagery, even I, who used the wicked vision left by the witches for a righteous purpose, could only watch as they sucked the lifeblood from our young!”

The witches’ vision… Francheska had once fought to exterminate beings known as witches.

Every doll, save herself, had been rendered inoperable in that war, a bitter reminder of the witches’ horrendous power.

And though delayed by the demon’s presence, she finally noticed the same witch-like aura coming from the Pope before her.

“I had no choice but to endure… and endure…”

Through the witches’ research, which had survived their extermination, they had sought to progress into a “higher being.”

Unlike the beastmen who failed, the Pope before her had succeeded, wielding the witches’ powers while retaining her humanity.

“Those who shared the same will eventually turned into beasts, and although I alone gained the power and qualification to lead the Order… that alone wasn’t enough to unite the scattered humanity!”

But just an individual’s inherent power alone couldn’t unite humanity embroiled in conflict.

Despite her efforts to wield the witches’ vision, the leaders of humanity ultimately surrendered their fate to these foreign beings.

“The leaders I thought would be humanity’s pillars bowed powerlessly before these corrupted beings, forcing me to test even my faith in Friga!”

To those arrogant beings, the most valued nourishment was pure and clean blood.

And that meant the believers who pledged to remain chaste, devoting their lives to God.

“All I could do was watch.”

The clergy, the nuns.

Even the most devout saint, offered as a sacrifice.

“Betraying them, desecrating their faith… convincing myself that these hardships were the only path forward as the last one untouched by beasts!”

How much was tested by the helplessness that arose from that?

How much did the helplessness of offering her followers, who trusted and followed her, to the fallen beings eat away at her mind?

“And to me, you came as a light.”

So it was inevitable that she fell into temptation easily.

Unlike her god, who ignored her prayers, the physical manifestation of the demon before her must have seemed dazzling.

“It was all because of you that I could offer those foolish parasites as materials for God’s body, that I could turn the poor child tormented by them into god’s envoy, granting miracles to all!”

That hope had, in the end, turned into reality, allowing her to glorify the demon’s acts as miracles.

The saint, offered to the True Ancestors visiting the sanctuary for their usual feast, had secretly been fed a temptation spell, awakening a relentless appetite.

Due to this, even the saint’s blood that seeped into them was coveted, making them unable to stop feeding, even as they melted into lumps of flesh with innate immortality.

“And, just in time, I gained the power to resist the horde of beasts that now dared invade even their homeland!”

The beastmen, invading the sanctuary, likely became the perfect rallying point to spread the miracle among the sanctuary’s believers.

After all, eliminating the corrupt powers who had sullied humanity and the Order could itself be seen as a miracle.

If that miracle could eliminate the imminent threat, it would undoubtedly be seen as salvation for all humanity.

“All this was possible because Friga sent you to me!!”

Such was the salvation that Martina sought through the demon’s temptation.

The Pope, driven to madness by helplessness, had birthed a horror that should never have existed.

“Oh, angel, angel! You are our savior! Please, teach me what I must do to save even more souls!”

Martina cried out in ecstasy, oblivious to the truth, pouring out her fervent feelings.

She wore a veil, but the emotion on her face betrayed her hope for salvation.

Having already witnessed a miracle, she believed, without doubt, that her expectations would be fulfilled.

“Ugh, what a hassle.”

But to a demon, who inherently disdained others’ dignity, her response was predictable.

-Slash!

With a swipe of her magic-infused tail, Martina’s head flew off, her lifeless body collapsing to the floor.

The demon didn’t even bother to mock her.

She merely found it irritating that her tail had been stained with her blood.

“Religious people are easy to manipulate anywhere, but you’d think they’d back off once they realize they’re being used. Angels, saviors… How tedious.”

“Ahhhhh!!”

Francheska, overcome with rage, lost her senses and lunged forward.

But physical attacks had no effect on a succubus.

The threads lashed in all directions, missing her as Yasmo began to smile, even ceasing to dodge.

“What’s wrong, dear~? You’re overreacting over one dead old woman. Don’t tell me you knew her~?”

“She only wanted salvation! She just wanted to escape her suffering!”

Though they had never met before, Francheska could feel the Pope’s pain and anguish through her previous prayer.

She sought power for salvation, touched corruption, betrayed her comrades who lost their human form, bowed to foreign beings, betrayed the followers who trusted and followed her, and finally leaned on the demon…

“To use such a person as you pleased and leave her in such a state…”

The one who turned the Pope and the believers, who met such a miserable end, into monsters neither alive nor dead, was right before her.

Moreover, if she was a foreign being, there was no need to feel guilt like with the monsters she had killed so far, yet how could she remain calm and face her at this moment?

“You say strange things… I didn’t create this whole situation, yet you speak as if it’s all my fault.”

“That’s nonsense…!”

“Nonsense? Not at all~ I’m being serious~”

Her voice carried no weight, but there was no lie in her words.

Rather, she felt no need to emphasize it because she considered it obvious.

“This world was already broken beyond repair, even without anyone laying a hand on it. Among those living in such a world, who can claim to be free of sin or evil?”

“No. If people on this earth were free from beings like you…”

“Haha~ The believers would have remained pure to the end? So, what did humans in this world do when there were no demons like us?”

They quarreled and fought among themselves.

Yasmo, having waged countless wars across dimensions, knew well that it was the fate of intelligent beings who became the masters of the world.

“If demons hadn’t existed, if undead hadn’t risen, if vampires hadn’t preyed on them, everything would have been fine? Humans are rotten from the start.”

“Th-that’s…”

“Even now, look. I only tempted one old hag, but it was the choice of everyone on this land to fall for her incitement.”

It was sophistry. As if excusing someone’s misconduct by blaming the victim, she twisted the truth.

But Francheska couldn’t voice her disagreement.

Was it because she found her argument persuasive?

“Face it. Humans, demons, beasts, and those miserable heaps of flesh over there… All of them are but a small part of the confusion. No single one of them is solely to blame.”

No, rather, she was beginning to understand the nature of the “demon” before her.

Demons were beings who, by their very nature, were devoid of guilt.

And yet, they prided themselves on their understanding of what others called sin.

“In a world full of such beings, it’s no wonder everything is falling apart. Perhaps if there were someone as strong as the Demon King, things would be different…”

So they revered power.

Unable to feel guilt, they found the concept of sin annoying.

They revered an absolute force, immune to moral constraints.

“…Coincidentally, those guys aren’t even worthy adversaries for him. To avoid throwing cold water on the ‘New Era’ they sing about before it opens, it’s good to clean up for the Demon King and that child, isn’t it?”

Even if that revered figure could no longer fulfill their expectations, unless a being could surpass what they had achieved, the demon’s obsession would inevitably turn back to the past.

“Is that… your purpose?”

Yes, despite having abandoned the Four Heavenly Kings’ title, she remained bound to her nature, a race that worshiped power.

Everything she did was aimed at reviving the weary Demon King, and for that purpose, she would feel no guilt for any deed.

“For the Demon King’s army… for the Demon King, all this chaos…”

“I told you before, didn’t I? I’m just a part of it.”

Yasmo, the former Demon King’s loyal servant, simply smiled, unfazed, teaching her that cruel truth.

“I thought there might be a chance that the results might rouse the Demon King’s interest…”

As she spoke, her languid eyes shifted toward the writhing mass of vampires still engrossed in devouring one another…

And indifferently toward the severed head rolling forward.

“…Well, most of the time, it ends in such trivial results.”

No matter how many grotesque monsters with immortality emerged or how large they grew, it was impossible for them to spark her lord’s interest.

“Oh, angel, angel…!”

Despite her beheading, the Pope’s severed head continued to affirm her faith.

Even as it fell into the heap of flesh still regurgitating “holy water,” she took it as a divine sign.

“Yes, I see now—this is your guidance. If it’s your will, I shall follow…!”

With that, the mouth opened, sinking into the melted flesh, and all the greedy vampire mouths followed, surging toward it.

When the powerful body, successfully fused with the witches’ research, mixed with the blood of beings worthy of being called ‘gods’ from another realm.

“I shall become the vessel of god! I shall accept Friga’s essence and devour all the calamities upon this land, granting miracles to the poor lambs of this world!”

With a roar, the monster’s size grew even larger.

From the doll’s mouth, facing the gaping maw at the end, a small sense of despair began to seep out.

“Why on earth…?”

“Why… why is this world so cruel to me…? When all I wanted was to love…”

A believer who couldn’t even recognize her god and begged a demon for salvation.

What a pitiful tragedy indeed.