Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Burn It Up

“How...?”

Selenia was still on top of me, staring down with trembling eyes.

What do you mean, how, you fucking bitch?

I almost got completely fucked there.

Sorcery from those Lust bastards really is always creepy and annoying as hell.

One wrong move and I'd have become a mindless idiot who didn't even know anything anymore.

I poured all that rage into Astra, swung the spear violently, and hurled Selenia away while she was still impaled on it.

“Cough... cough.”

Selenia rolled across the floor several times, spraying blood everywhere, before clutching her chest and coughing up more.

“Haa... I definitely took away every form of cognition... How? Do you have two selves or something?”

Yeah.

Bingo.

More than ten years had passed since I fell into this world, but even now, I still viewed my mind as the man I had once been and Beatrice's possessed body as separate things.

I'd entered a woman's body, but I still thought of myself as a man.

That was why, when Selenia temporarily returned my judgment to mock me, I'd wondered whether I could shift the curse's erosion onto the ‘personality that had once been male.’

Honestly, I had no idea whether it would work.

But even a gamble like that was better than doing nothing.

If things continued as they were, I'd obviously end up as nothing more than an empty shell of a doll.

Fortunately, my gamble worked, and I barely managed to slip free of Selenia's sorcery.

Thanks to that, I was perfectly fine now.

My judgment, how to fight, how to use divine power—I remembered all of it clearly.

“Well? How does it feel for a backstabbing demon like you to get stabbed in the back instead?”

“Hehe, not bad?”

“Good. Then let's start with a beating.”

There was no need to worry about the Curse of Cognition being used again.

There was no way she could spam sorcery like that without any conditions whatsoever.

If she could, humanity would've been wiped out by demons long ago.

Still, if I gave her any breathing room, who knew what trick she'd try next?

So I immediately charged at Selenia and swung Astra.

Silver divine power surged violently around the spear.

CLANG-

Selenia barely managed to raise a barrier, but cracks spread across it like a spiderweb with a sharp creak.

She'd formed it in a hurry, so it didn't seem particularly sturdy.

One more strike should be enough to shatter it completely.

“Haa... Heh, a Saintess who charges into close combat swinging a spear. You're practically a wild boar, junior.”

“Why? Not confident in close combat?”

“Hehe... apparently not.”

Among the seven Great Demons, the sorcery used by servants of Lust was the most troublesome.

The tradeoff was that they were terrible in direct physical combat.

Selenia probably wasn't much different.

In other words, this bitch was fucked now.

“You still look pretty relaxed. Let's wipe that smugness off first.”

I brought the spear down again.

The barrier shattered like glass.

Before Selenia could try anything else, I surged forward and drove the spear straight through her heart.

Squelch.

The sensation of steel piercing flesh traveled into my fingertips.

I didn't stop after impaling her heart.

Gripping the shaft tightly, I continued charging forward.

Selenia's body lifted into the air, skewered on the spearhead, and I drove her all the way to the wall at the far end of the room.

BOOOOM—!

With a tremendous crash, Astra's spearhead punched completely through Selenia's heart and buried itself deep into the wall.

Spiderweb cracks spread across the surface.

Selenia hung there like a butterfly pinned to a display board, screaming.

“AAAAAAH...!”

“Don't start screaming over something this small. We still have plenty of accounts to settle, don't we?”

A human might've died instantly from this.

But she'd sold her body to demons.

There was no way something this minor would kill her.

“Hehe... Haa, goodness... You certainly are a fiery junior, aren't you? Ngh...”

Her smile annoyed me, so I twisted the spear embedded in her heart.

Selenia released a pained groan.

Dark-red blood pooled beneath her feet.

“Haa... haa... ngh... Being treated like this... isn't so bad... you know? It's almost getting me excited.”

“...Crazy bitch.”

I could only recoil at her reaction.

Divine power was burning through her demonic energy, so she should've been suffering unbearable pain.

Yet instead, the bitch flushed and wore an expression of ecstasy.

“But... being treated like this by someone other than Lady Lilith... isn't really my preference...!”

Selenia's eyes glowed crimson.

And then...

“Activate—.”

After uttering the activation word, Selenia smiled madly as though victory were already certain.

But one second passed.

Then two...

Nothing happened.

“...Hm?”

Selenia's smile twisted strangely.

“Activate! Why... Why isn't it working?”

I tilted my head and watched her repeat the trigger word in growing panic.

What the hell is this bitch doing?

Her demonic energy is being burned by divine power, so she shouldn't even be able to use sorcery right now.

What was she trying to activate?

“What are you doing? You think saying ‘activate’ while you can't even use demonic energy is going to scare me into running away?”

“Impossible! Lady Lilith's Curse of Carnal Desire was already engraved into your soul. Merely speaking the trigger word should activate it...!”

Selenia abruptly stopped.

Her trembling eyes stared at me as realization dawned.

“...You underwent the Bath... didn't you?”

Her words made everything click.

Selenia had obviously been trying to activate the mysterious curse Lilith had placed on me through the blood of demonic beasts.

“Aha, I get it. So Lilith really did put something inside my body? Unfortunately for you, whatever binding spell or curse that was, it's already gone.”

I had no idea what kind of curse she'd tried to activate.

But it obviously wouldn't have been good for me.

...Wow.

Thank you, Goddess.

That could've been really bad.

I looked at Selenia, who was trembling and covered in cold sweat.

Better kill her before she tried any more weird shit.

“Hands up, scream, burn it up.”

I hummed the tune that suddenly popped into my head and smiled crookedly.

This was payback for what she'd done to me and everyone from my Order.

You fucking bitch.

At the same time, I poured an explosive amount of divine power into Astra.

“Burn it up.”

“AAAAAAAAH...!”

With a crackling sound, white flames engulfed Selenia's body.

Her agonized screams filled the room.

Pure divine power erupted from Astra and mercilessly began burning away Selenia's body, corrupted by demonic energy.

Her skin sizzled and melted like oil in a boiling pan.

Her face, twisted in pain, quickly dissolved into a grotesque mass beyond recognition.

“SKREEEEEEE—! GHK, A-A-AAAAAAH—!”

Her screams grew increasingly wet with blood and horribly distorted.

The white flames burned beyond her skin and burrowed into muscle and bone.

With sickening sounds of flesh separating from bone, her body melted black.

Pieces of her fell toward the floor, only to burn away before they could even land.

Selenia's body rapidly turned to ash.

Her struggling finally stopped.

Even her screams of agony faded away.

Before long, not even a handful of ash remained where the holy spear Astra had pinned her to the wall.

Only the hole left by the spearhead and stains where her dark blood had burned into the stone remained as proof that Selenia the Apostate had ever been there.

‘Is she dead?’

Who knows.

Demons use bizarre sorcery, and the ones under Lust are even worse.

Even after being completely burned to ash like this, she might somehow revive somewhere and show up again.

Especially a demon on Selenia's level.

Still, there was no question I'd dealt her a massive blow.

“Huaa...”

I took a deep breath and pulled Astra from the wall.

First, check what's happening outside.

With that thought, I staggered out of the mysterious temple building.

The thick pink fog had vanished.

The rain had stopped sometime while I was inside, and when I looked up, the night sky was filled with countless stars.

Apparently Selenia's disappearance had broken the curse.

The villagers were sprawled unconscious across the ground.

‘...If we leave them like that, they'll definitely freeze to death.’

First, I needed to check on our group.

It would be better to get their help cleaning up the village.

“Haa... This... isn't good..”

A sudden wave of dizziness struck as I walked.

I leaned against the wall for a moment and caught my breath.

My body was hot.

My head was ringing.

Even when I used healing sacred arts, the wounds from the whip wouldn't close.

It clearly hadn't been an ordinary whip.

Then again, if a simple thorned whip had been enough to make me scream from agony, it obviously wasn't normal.

On top of that, I'd inhaled far too much demonic energy while unable to use divine power, leaving my insides completely wrecked.

And although I'd somehow miraculously broken it, the Curse of Cognition had effectively killed my mind once already.

It would be stranger if my body were perfectly fine.

Being able to walk at all might be a miracle.

“...Huu.”

I drew another deep breath, steadied myself, and passed through the wooden gate.

The guards were still unconscious.

And our group...

“You sure have it easy, don't you?”

They were still tied to the tree, sleeping peacefully.

Leonid was even snoring.

Seriously, how fucking comfortable can one bastard be?

I just went through hell fighting Selenia while you idiots slept like babies?

Sure, I was the one who knocked them unconscious.

But it still pissed me off.

Thud-

Thud-

Thud-

CRACK-

I kicked the tied-up bastards.

I gave the especially irritating Leonid a slightly harder one.

One by one, they began waking with groans.

“Hey. Sleep well?”

“Ugh... Sis? What the hell happened?”

“What happened? A whole fucking lot happened.”

I'm exhausted.

Seriously.

I pressed my fingers against my throbbing temples, trying to ease the headache.

“First, how much do you remember?”

“...Hmm. I remember talking to the guards at the village entrance, but everything after that is completely gone.”

“Ahh, right. Got it.”

So that was the moment Selenia's sorcery had completely taken them.

“...Did some cultists or a demon show up?”

Yeah.

Exactly.

And it was a particularly nasty one.

Thankfully, I dealt with it.

“Haa... I'll explain later. First, clean up the village. If we leave everyone lying around like that, they might freeze to death. Just carry them inside somewhere.”

This wasn't the time to leisurely explain everything I'd gone through.

We needed to clean up the situation quickly.

And I needed some rest.

“...Sis? What happened to you?”

Leonid apparently only now noticed the state I was in.

His eyes widened.

“While you bastards were sleeping comfortably, I was getting put through fucking hell.”

“Don't say it that casually! You need treatment first—”

“You think I haven't tried? My healing sacred arts aren't good enough. I'll have the old man treat me once he wakes up. Hurry into the village and start cleaning things up.”

Slice-

I cut the ropes with Astra and urged the Holy Knights onward.

The knights blinked while trying to understand the situation, then groaned as they got up.

“Ugh... Feels like someone beat the hell out of me.”

“I can't feel my side. Think I broke a few ribs...”

“Doesn't my temple look slightly caved in?”

Flinch-

I stiffened at their complaints.

Well...

I'm the one who did that to you.

But it was self-defense, okay?

You were the ones rushing at me trying to take my clothes off.

Avoiding their eyes, I laid the still-unconscious old man down properly, then nudged Cassian, who was still face-down, with my foot.

“Wake the fuck up already. How long are you planning to sleep?”

“Ughhh...”

Cassian's face was covered in blood.

Since he had the sturdy body of a Hero candidate, I'd subdued him more roughly than the others.

There was absolutely no personal resentment involved.

...Probably?

Anyway, seeing him groan awake and clutch his face in pain made me feel strangely good.

“Ugh... Saintess?”

“Yeah, it's me. Stop whining and go help the Holy Knights. The old man can treat you once he wakes up.”

With that, I dismissed Astra.

“Sis, you should rest here. Moving around with wounds like those isn't a good idea.”

“...Yeah, I think I'll do that. I don't really want to see the state of the village again anyway.”

After all, rows of naked women lying around wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.

...Wait.

Women?

“Ah, fuck.”

“I didn't do anything wrong!”

The moment I cursed, Leonid flinched like Pavlov's dog and immediately protested his innocence.

Ignoring him, I thought about the current state of the village and the composition of our group.

Aside from me, every last one of us was male.

Sure, those women had been wandering around naked without shame, but that had been because of Selenia's curse.

It felt wrong to leave unconscious naked women in the care of these guys.

Not because I was worried they'd do anything to them.

It was just a matter of basic decency.

“...Ah, damn it. Time to work. Guess I'm going too.”

“What are you talking about? You look like you're about to collapse. Just rest.”

“You wouldn't say that if you saw what the village looks like.”

The instant I took one step forward, the world spun.

“...Huh?”

The ground drew closer.

I saw Leonid shouting and rushing toward me, but the ringing in my ears drowned out whatever he was saying.

I felt someone catch me.

Then the world went black.