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Chapter 198: The Crusader (1)

The darkness created by the woman enveloped her surroundings like a fog and began to sink deep into the hole. After the darkness spread completely, the woman walked down into the hole, her feet utterly bare of any protection.

Just a few steps into the hole and she had already found corpses. It looked like they had desperately tried to climb out of the hole. While this was perhaps due to the difficulty of climbing out of a hole this deep with their broken bodies, most of the collapsed corpses also had what looked like wounds from a snake’s fangs.

Most of these corpses had their fingertips crusted with blood and dirt and looked like they had been crushed. In the days since their deaths, their bodies had already stiffened in rigor mortis, but the looks on their faces, contorted in pain and horror, remained. The woman examined each of these faces one by one as she headed deeper and deeper into the hole.

The thin cotton veil covering her lips twitched. With each step she took downwards, an unpleasant stench weighed ever more heavily in the space around her.

It was the smell of blood and spilled intestines. The smells of the rot that started days after the death of a body. A stench of death had concentrated in this hole from countless corpses. The woman felt slightly aroused by the smell. In this peaceful era that hadn’t seen any wars break out, it was hard to find a place like this where so many corpses were buried in one location.

Especially corpses like these. These weren’t the worthless corpses of a person with little to no status. The woman scanned the uniforms worn by the corpses. The red cross on their chests was the sigil of the Knights of the Blood Cross, and that red cloak was the symbol of the Inquisition\'s Maleficarum.

There were well over a hundred corpses. Though not all of them had died instantly. Quite a few of them looked like they could have survived, but they hadn’t been able to escape this pit due to their severe injuries and exhaustion.

However, as human lives were very tenacious, a few people could still be seen clinging to their last breaths. With dying voices, they chanted prayers or called out to their God in a murmur. There were also a few voices begging for help while some had completely lost their minds and were just muttering incomprehensibly.

The woman paid no attention to them. She had no reason to save them. On the contrary, the darkness spreading from her with each step she took was claiming their lives. The souls that were collected by this weren’t able to ascend towards the sky, instead dissolving into the darkness.

At the very bottom of the hole, the woman’s steps halted.

Down here, it was so dark that the woman couldn’t darken it further. The smell of death that had been concentrated to its limits made every breath a joy. The woman lifted her veil slightly and took in the stench. Then she looked a bit further down with delight in her eyes.

There wasn’t any land visible at the bottom of the hole. There weren’t any piled-up bodies either. Instead, crimson blood had pooled up at the bottom like it was rainwater.

Within that pool of blood, the debris of corpses could be seen floating around. This made the woman’s lips, which were pressed tight, stretch in a thin smile. Then, her purple eyes glowing, she took a step toward the pool of blood.

Boom!

A ripple spread across the blood pool as she took that step forward. The surface of the pool turned clear, exposing what lay beneath. There were bodies that looked like they had been chewed upon, but there was still too much of this now-clear blood for it to have all been spilled from these corpses.

“Well, now, I just wanted to see what had happened to cause Atarax’s death,” the woman commented to herself.

In the woman’s opinion, he was a rare, enlightened priest.

In this current era, black magic didn’t receive an unconditional rejection. While it was impossible for a demonfolk to rise to the position of a bishop, if they wished, they really could enter the Church of Light and become a priest.

However, it was hard to imagine that an Inquisitor of all people had held a slight desire to comprehend black magic instead of having a huge prejudice against it.

In the past, after having secretly been in contact with him for some time, this woman had personally met Atarax. At that time, Atarax had shown an incorruptible attitude even as he asked the nemesis of his organization for advice on black magic. No, rather than just incorruptible, at that time, Atarax’s attitude was close to intimidating.

We, the Inquisition, can hunt you down at any time. As such, if you value your life, you should cooperate with our demands.

The woman had immediately realized that Atarax’s request was nothing more than a facade for his true intentions. This was because the advice that Atarax had requested regarding black magic wasn’t on how to deal with it as an enemy.

The woman had expected him to fall one day.

She had wanted to see the moment when Atarax’s arrogant delusion that the Light would forgive and condone any injustice that he committed was shattered. If a cleric who had reached such a level were to fall, what kind of unique flavor might permeate his soul. It was curiosity and greed that had led the woman to secretly brand the young Atarax.

“There’s not even a trace left of Atarax’s corpse,” the woman noted. “His soul isn’t here either. Did he rise to heaven like he so hoped for and was confident about? Or perhaps the soul itself had disappeared…. Haha. I really wanted to see his final moments in person.”

The woman wasn’t talking to herself.

She was staring at a being floating in the center of the pool of blood. All of their limbs had been severed, leaving only a torso and a head. Yet, having been left in a condition where death was certain, they had somehow managed to survive.

“Depending on the use of blood magic, you really can achieve immortality comparable to one of the undead,” the woman whispered. “Were you aware? You may have classified blood magic as being different from black magic, but the truth is that isn’t necessarily the case. Blood magic was originally developed from those vampires who like to suck out people’s blood and drink it.”

Hemoria continued to cling to her last breaths that seemed like they might cut out at any moment.

“Even among the demonfolk, vampires possess a particularly high class of immortality. They can be revived as long as there’s a single drop of blood. Blood magic should be able to do the same, right? Instead of needing to feed on other’s blood like a vampire, you should be able to multiply your own blood with mana and magic…. Haha. Though, in your case, it seems like you’ve gone past what ordinary blood magic can heal,” the woman observed.

“...You…,” Hemoria’s lips opened. Glaring at the woman, she squeezed out in a hoarse voice, “...Amelia Merwin….”

One of the Three Mages of Incarceration.

The Desert’s Dungeon-master. The Black Thorn. Death Answerer.

Among the black wizards who had signed a contract with the Demon King of Incarceration, Amelia Merwin was known to be particularly eccentric and powerful, so she had many nicknames. The Ashur Desert, which she ruled over, had been designated a Restricted Zone by the Kingdom of Nahama, and all access was forbidden.

“Why… are you… here?” Hemoria squeezed out.

“Didn’t I already tell you? I came here to see Atarax’s corpse. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to see him fall while he was still alive, but as long as his corpse remained, I was thinking of making him into an undead. Ah, could it be you don’t know? As long as the corpse remains and it’s only been dead for a few days, it can be used to summon the deceased’s soul,” Amelia said as she smiled and raised her hand.

A staff made from a goat\'s head and several other bones appeared in her hand.

Buzzzz!

The Dark Power[1] released from her staff evaporated the blood.

Amelia continued, “However, Atarax’s corpse is missing. Although there are a lot of other corpses, they are all useless and worthless. But it seems I did well to come all the way down to the bottom of this deep hole. It’s like I’ve found a jewel on the sidewalk.”

“...Let go…!” Hemoria hissed.

Amelia’s Dark Power had wrapped around Hemoria. Hemoria thrashed her body, trying to somehow escape her grasp, but the only resistance her dismembered body could offer was arching her back and shaking her head.

No. The truth was that Hemoria did have other means of resistance available to her. It was that her blood magic was being suppressed by Amelia’s Dark Power. If she could just get a little closer, Hemoria was confident that she would get a chance….

The moment Amelia’s Dark Power dragged Hemoria’s body closer, patterns appeared on each of Hemoria’s cheeks.

“Stop!” Hemoria roared.

The simpler the command, the stronger the power. She didn’t need to keep a hold of Amelia Merwin for long. Hemoria just needed her to stop for a moment.

Hemoria’s jaws spread wide, then she tore a bite out of the air.

Crack!

Amelia’s head tilted to the side. More than half of her neck had been bitten off and disappeared. The blood gushing out stained Amelia’s cotton veil and her clothes red. If she was only human, then she would definitely be dead.

However, Amelia Merwin didn’t die.

Her tilted head straightened once more. The spray of blood abruptly stopped. While feeling for the missing part of her neck, Amelia chuckled.

“Word Arts on top of Blood Magic. Both types of magic were once persecuted by the Holy Empire. And those fangs…,” Amelia trailed off as she stared at Hemoria’s sharp teeth.

They weren’t just simple teeth. Curses that were close to black magic had been boiled down into the form of a tooth. The idea of inserting teeth made through such a method into one\'s gums was insane, but….

“You really have been designed to make optimal use of the magic that your body itself possesses,” Amelia complimented. “No matter how much someone is trained in magic from an early age, it would be hard to achieve your level of optimization. In the first place, if you had such talent, it should be displayed in other ways, but you seem to have specialized solely in blood magic and the word arts, while everything else isn’t that great.”

Hemoria’s eyes trembled in fright.

Amelia continued, “It’s honestly a surprise. To think that the Holy Empire… no, that the Inquisition would show such knowledge of both magic and black magic.”

“Sh… Shut up…,” Hemoria growled weakly.

“Ah,” Amelia gasped faintly. “It seems that you weren’t aware? It’s not just Atarax. Your Inquisition has made contact with black wizards in every era. I don’t know who they were in contact with previously, but even before Atarax, I’ve given advice on black magic to two previous Inquisitors.”

Hemoria’s face turned pale.

“What? Are you disappointed? Do you hate the fact that the Inquisition you serve actually has ties to the black wizards and to me, Amelia Merwin, at that? Why now, after having come so far? I actually rather admire them. Even for wizards, it’s rare to see such dedication towards understanding black magic, all for the sake of their god,” Amelia giggled as she probed her own wounds.

Wherever her fingers went, new skin grew, and the wounded flesh was reconnected.

“Ah, but even among them, Atarax was quite the interesting individual,” Amelia sighed. "Even though he knew nothing about the subject, he would still try to threaten me, and he showed such confidence that the light would continue to protect him unconditionally—”

“M-master…! Don’t insult… my father!” Hemoria let out a scream as her body twisted futilely.

Her father!

A big smile spread across Amelia’s face at those words. She strode over and grabbed Hemoria by the hair. After forcefully pulling Hemoria’s head up, Amelia pressed her face close to Hemoria and looked into her eyes.

A chill went down Hemoria’s back as her spirits fell.

The terror of death seemed to pour forth from the eyes that were locked with hers. Hemoria couldn’t say anything more, and her body trembled in fear. Unable to hold on any longer, the lingering marks of her Word Arts disappeared from her cheeks.

“...Your faaather?” Amelia drawled out with a snicker as she grabbed Hemoria’s chin with her other hand.

With this grip, Amelia forced Hemoria’s mouth open and grabbed onto one of the sharp teeth.

Pupuput!

Blood spurted from the gap where the tooth had forcefully been pulled out. However, Hemoria wasn’t even able to let out a scream.

After turning the pulled-out tooth this way and that as she scanned it, Amelia shrugged her shoulders and asked, “You ate humans, right?”

Hemoria’s face paled even further.

“From the corpses here, as well as those who weren’t quite corpses yet. Weren’t they all your comrades? You actually devoured your own comrades to survive here at the bottom of this hole,” Amelia accused.

Hemoria stammered, “N-no, I didn’t—”

“Were you trying to make the excuse that you didn’t eat them yourself? Aren’t you aware of how ridiculous of an excuse that is? You used blood magic to drain the blood from the corpses here as well as those who were only half-dead. You used them to restore your own blood and heal your wounds. If you had a few more days, you would probably have recovered enough to make it out of this hole on your own,” Amelia said as she pushed her head down on top of Hemoria’s head.

Splash!

As Hemoria’s limbless body fell back into the pool of blood, she saw all the corpses that were submerged in the pool.

In fact, the corpses were so severely damaged that it was hard to recognize that they had even once been human. It wasn’t Hemoria that had killed them. Hemoria had just connected her blood to these deceased corpses to draw from them….

Or at least, that was what she had thought.

“I really like things like this,” Amelia admitted cheerfully. “Just the fact that an Inquisitor, who’s meant to show unconditional obedience towards the light, actually secretly contacted a black wizard and studied black magic would be amusing enough… but to think that he would even father a child behind closed doors. Then to find out that that daughter would eventually go on to suck the lifeblood of her companions, both Paladins and Inquisitors, in order to survive.”

“No. It’s not true,” Hemoria desperately denied. “I didn’t….”

Amelia continued mercilessly, “In the end, I find out that the daughter isn’t even a proper human being, but instead some kind of chimera? I only came all this way to pick up your father’s corpse, but… ahaha! You are a much more entertaining find than your father.”

Hemoria feebly lifted her head to look up at Amelia. Those purple eyes that were glowing in the midst of the darkness were terrifying. Hemoria unconsciously chewed her bottom lip as she muttered a prayer.

“After turning yourself into this, are you really looking for the light to save you?” Amelia mocked. “I’m not a believer in the light, but I can still confidently say this. The light might not be a merciless asshole, but do you really think it would still take care of something like you, who’s done the things you’ve done?”

Hemoria gasped, “I… it was all for the light that I….”

“Your father said the same thing. He probably even said those words before he died, right? If the light really was looking out for the both of you, then your limbs wouldn’t have been chopped off, and your father wouldn’t have died. No, hold on. If the light really cared about this world in the first place, your father wouldn’t have dared to make something like you. Your very existence is an insult to the light!” Amelia spat.

Bam!

Her staff swung down onto Hemoria’s back.

“It seems that as an idiot, you don’t even know what kind of existence you are, so allow me to inform you. You are not a normal human being. Do you know what that means? You’re a chimera made from mixing a human with various other things,” Amelia enlightened her.

Hemoria’s trembling came to a halt.

“You said that Atarax is your father? That’s probably because part of your genes was copied from Atarax’s semen and blood, but from my perspective, both as a wizard and as a black wizard, your relationship with Atarax is nothing more than a handful of sand. Don’t you think so yourself? After having sucked in so much blood to survive these past few days, do you really think that the blood you’ve inherited from Atarax is thicker than the blood you have absorbed into your body?” Amelia questioned.

“No… I-i-it’s not true…,” Hemoria weakly denied.

“What do you mean it’s not true? Why deny such an obvious thing? Ah, I guess it does come naturally. You fanatics react to anything other than the light with denial. It’s fine. I’ll show some understanding. I would prefer it if your personality and the strength of your beliefs remain very, very strong,” Amelia confessed as she used her Dark Power to lift Hemoria’s body into the air. “That’s what will make training you so fun. Don’t worry, I won\'t kill you. Instead, I’ll give you what you want. So what if your limbs have been chopped off? It’s just a matter of restoring your limbs, right? Ah… by the way, what exactly is your name?”

Hemoria didn’t reply. She wasn’t able to.

The words that Amelia had let loose with a chuckle, the truths that Amelia had poured out so very casually, as if she were only teasing, had shaken Hemoria’s mind.

“Aren’t you going to talk? In that case, I’ll have no choice but to hear it from you next time. Now then, from now on, I want you to understand it. The light didn’t protect you. It didn’t care for you while you were dying. Do you think that what you did was unavoidable? Yes, that’s right. If the light really did care for you, then you wouldn’t have had to suck the blood out of your comrades,” Amelia said all this in a pleasant voice as she began dragging Hemoria away. “Do you know what that means? The light you serve isn’t as kind as your prayers describe it to be. So, do you know what you should resent from now on?”

Amelia’s voice sounded like it was coming from far away. In her faltering vision, Hemoria saw a small light.

But that light was being held in the hands of a devil. A devil that had approached Hemoria while holding unbelievable and terrifying murderous intent and hatred for all the things that existed in this world.

The light that had promised to protect Hemoria and its other believers was outshone by the light in the devil’s hands. Then she began to dance with the devil.

“...Grgrk.”

In her tightly clenched jaws, Hemoria’s teeth began to grind.

* * *

Two days after the end of the rituals that had been held at the Fount of Light, Eugene and Kristina were staying in a tent that they had set up deep within a large forest. The tent was a magic artifact they had used while wandering the Samar Rainforest.

Although the recoil this time was light, Eugene still had to stay in bed for these past two days without straining himself. Kristina had nursed Eugene while he was in this state, only heading out of the tent to hunt small animals and forage for herbs when the time came for their meals.

Sometimes, if Mer offered to take over nursing Eugene, Kristina would kneel down and offer her prayers.

Although she no longer uttered her prayers out loud, she was still drawn to the light deep within her heart.

Whenever this happened, she would hear Anise’s voice inside her head, and while listening to Anise’s voice, a soft light would envelop Kristina’s body.

“It seems that there’s no need for us to turn on any lights at night,” Mer cheekily commented.

The light surrounding Kristina was only moderately bright. Unlike the lights that could be summoned by magic, or the sun in the sky, their eyes wouldn’t hurt even after looking at this light for a long time. Kristina was also quite warm, though not as warm as a campfire. Mer actually liked how comfortably warm Kristina was, as it kept her from feeling far too hot no matter how close her hand got to Kristina.

“I think it would be really nice to have her around when I want to read. It would also be good to snuggle up to her and sleep together during the cold winter….” Mer stopped what she was saying to glare at Eugene. “Of course, Sir Eugene, you aren’t allowed to do that.”

“When did I say that I even wanted to do that?” Eugene protested.

“If Lady Anise ever takes over that body and tries to hug you, then you need to say it firmly,” Mer instructed. “Tell her that you can’t do that. Understand?”

“What am I, a kid?” Eugene grumbled.

“You sometimes act like a child, Sir Eugene.”

“Just stop talking to me and also keep some distance from her. Why do you keep bothering her when she’s trying to pray?”

As Kristina was kneeling, Mer was lying down with her head resting on Kristina’s thighs.

“I like how soft and fluffy this feels,” Mer sighed in contentment. “Although this feeling is one you might never experience for the rest of your life. Ah, just because I said this, you’re not allowed to secretly try and find out what it feels like—”

“Just stop it already,” Eugene grumbled as he undid the bandage wrapped around his left hand.

Although the hand had been crushed two days ago, thanks to a miracle from Kristina, it was now completely healed. Even the bones that had been shattered into pieces had fully healed during the time that the bandages were wrapped around his arm, and no nerves had been severed.

‘Like I thought, the power of her miracles is stronger than before,’ Eugene observed.

Although Kristina’s miracles were beyond all comparison to those performed by other clergymen even before now, the healing magic that she had used in the Samar Rainforest had yet to have reached this level.

This was all thanks to Anise dwelling within Kristina. One day, Kristina would reach the point of being able to regenerate cut-off limbs like Anise had.

Even as Eugene anticipated the coming of such a day, at the same time, he felt concerned. In the end, wasn’t this like they were holding back Anise, who had already died a long time ago, keeping her in this world to make her suffer?

‘No… hold on. If we think of it like that, I’m the one you should feel sorry for in the first place. Why does a person who died three hundred years ago have to be reincarnated and go through such a headache…? Vermouth, that fucking bastard,’ Eugene silently cursed to himself.

Anise hadn’t known anything about Vermouth.

Through Eugene, she had learned that Vermouth had pierced a hole through Sienna’s chest, but it didn’t seem like she knew anything apart from that. It couldn’t be helped. After returning from Helmuth, Anise hadn’t had any further contact with Vermouth.

It was because of the Oath with the Demon Kings.

Sienna wasn’t the only one who had been disappointed that their fight had ended like that.

“Hm,” Eugene hummed thoughtfully as he finished unwrapping the bandage and stood up.

Kristina also halted her prayers and opened her eyes. She turned to Eugene with slight concern in her eyes.

“What are you so startled for? We were expecting someone to come looking for us,” Eugene pointed out.

Kristina hesitated, “But….”

“It’s fine,” Eugene said as he opened the entrance to the tent.

Someone was approaching them from a distance. If they had wanted to, they could have hidden their presence and tried to sneak up on Eugene and the others, but instead, they were approaching with an obvious display of their arrival. It was so that they could alert Eugene’s side and give them time to ready a response.

“How polite of him,” Eugene muttered as he pulled the Holy Sword out from his cloak.

Although Eugene didn’t know who it was, it would definitely be a high-ranking priest within Yuras. Perhaps another Cardinal?

No… the presence approaching them today felt like something close to a knight. It had to be someone who was at least at the rank of a Captain in the Knights of the Blood Cross.

‘No, it’s different,’ Eugene frowned.

It was even greater than that. Although there was still quite a distance between them, Eugene could already tell that the feeling of that person’s presence was extremely heavy. It had to be a warrior comparable to Alchester, the Commander of the White Dragon Knights, who was approaching them.

‘So, is this the Commander of the Blood Cross Knights?’ Eugene wondered as the figure drew nearer.

It was the Crusader.

Eugene stepped forward to meet him.