Rahon looked up toward Artarrk, his waist still lowered in his thrusting posture. The golden light in his eyes looked down on him as Artarrk's tail moved. The snakehead bit down upon the holy text on the ground and brought it up to him.
Rahon, who couldn't respond from the shock, only continued to look at him in his thrusting stance.
[What was that spell?]
Artarrk browsed through the holy text. To Rahon's surprise, it remained unscathed under his touch, the same one which had disintegrated his sword just moments ago. Rahon's eye twitched upon hearing Artarrk's words. He didn't like that his holy text was being dirtied by the hands of a heretic. Despite the bizarre spectacle before, he spoke with a trembling voice.
"T-that is the holy text made by the Pope himself! Unless you know the activation phrase, you can't use it! Take your dirty hands away…"
Artarrk tore a scroll from the holy text, stuck it to Rahon's forehead, and uttered the phrase, [Ah. Just, kneel.]
Instantly, Rahon's body crumpled. His body was crushed and caved in as though an unseen boulder had fallen on it.
"Uwaaaack!"
By a single scroll and with an unbelievable amount of holy energy, Rahon's body was being turned into tenderized meat. Artarrk's eyes grew sour at the scene, and he began to look back and forth between Rahon and the holy text.
[Oh my, I only told him to kneel.]
Rahon continued to scream internally.
'This… doesn't make sense, at all!'
That single book itself was created through dozens of Cardinals pouring countless hours of sweat and blood into it. It was an encrypted magic tool that required undergoing a procedure to adjust to its special characteristics, but the devil managed to use it right away. Not only was it able to figure out the password, it understood its unique features and then adjusted to them immediately.
"Could it be that you deciphered it? Even Grand Mages and Archbishops would take ages to figure out the password…?!"
[Would I do such a troublesome thing? I only said 'kneel'.]
When Artarrk's activation phrase was uttered again, Rahon's body was pressed down even further.
"U-unbelievable! J-just who are you?! I-I am a warrior of a hero's grade…!"
[Hero-grade? Ah, I see.]
Artarrk looked down on Rahon and smiled with his eyes.
[You must be like an apprentice hero, a chick.]
Rahon's eyes widened in shock.
[You're quite audacious with such a paltry amount of strength. Do you truly believe yourself to be comparable to a genuine hero?] Artarrk recalled his party with his former companions. [People that I know of wouldn't budge even if there were a whole lot of you. Just which country are you going to wipe out? Laughable. To call yourself a Hero with such a bug-like strength!] Artarrk looked down on Rahon and reprimanded him even more. [Don't sully the title of Hero! You insect!]
"Uwaaaack!"
Artarrk's snake tail looked at Rahon, filled with curiosity.
[It's a good nutrient. Eat up.]
The snakehead opened its maw as it grew larger, then swallowed Rahon whole.
***
"Just what happened?"
Ellin was leaning against the wall, staring dumbly down the hallway which Artarrk had disappeared into. Her eyes had clearly seen what had happened before them, but her head could not comprehend it. Everything had taken place instantly, and she was left wondering if it had all been nothing more than a dream.
"Was that truly the Devil of Lania?"
'Did someone who hid their presence for 30 years suddenly appear? If so, why did he come here?'
Ellin could only sit in silence with those questions plaguing her mind.
***
"Shit, Shit, I have to leave this place. I felt nervous after seeing that weird crow! For there to have been a priest that I recognized and a demon that tried to kill me!"
Kelvin opened his satchel and unlocked his vault in order to move his gold. Once he confirmed the bag was full, he lifted it in a hurry. He struggled with all his might, but his skinny body didn't have the strength to move that amount of gold.
"W-why won't you move?! I can't abandon it! I can't!"
Kelvin did not give up, though. As he continued to drag himself, the wall of the room containing his vault began to turn black. It eroded, then melted away, forming a path. Kelvin raised his head in surprise, his eyes overwhelmed by the golden light radiating throughout the room. He couldn't help but feel fear from the color that he once loved so much.
"Hiiiieeek!"
Kelvin noticed Artarrk and attempted to run away, giving up on his bag of gold, but tripped over one of the nuggets on the ground. He tried to crawl away, scrambling for his dear life.
[Pathetic.] Artarrk approached him slowly. [You couldn't abandon your love of gold and still lived like this.] His eyes looked down on Kelvin. He could see his soul; it was dyed dark red with greed. [Gold! Gold! Gold! Do you love gold that much?] Artarrk stretched out his hand and held it over Kelvin's head. [Then, let me adorn your life with gold.]
A slit in the air began to form above Arrtark's hand. Kelvin's eyes grew wide as he saw what was happening. Gold was falling from where the air was split into a dark void. Gold that had been kept within the palace of Lania began to slowly dribble onto Kelvin.
Kelvin, despite being pummeled with the gold, smiled instinctively.
"G-gold is falling! It's falling like rain… Ah… Ah… S-stop… It hurts! Stop…!"
However, his smile didn't last long. Gold continued to pour down, and it fell onto Kelvin's head. It piled up, wrapping around his figure. His frail body was crushed under the weight of the gold. With the sound of bones breaking, blood began to spill out between the nuggets of gold, dying it with a shade of red.
"S-stop…! It hurts! I'm dying! Dying!"
Artarrk looked at Kelvin with narrowed eyes.
[Then die.]
The gold began to gradually heat up until it started to melt. That liquified gold seared and clung to Kevin's buried flesh.
"Uwaaaack!"
Artarrk became amused, seeing Kelvin's figure in that way. Like playing with a toy, curiosity filled his eyes.
From behind, one of his undead servants approached and kneeled. Artarrk turned to it and calmly gave it an order.
[Knead the poor bastard into a symbol for the glorious Golden Cross Army of the Holy Kingdom!]
The undead moved under his command. It grabbed Kelvin and the hardening gold.
***
The rumors of the Devil of Lania's advent spread across the continent in an instant. It was the notorious devil that had toppled the capital of the Holy Kingdom at its peak. The news of his arrival left the continent with an inescapable feeling of unease. Many were frightened by the report of the re-emergence of the sinister devil while the demons cheered and celebrated at the news. Both sides held vastly different opinions, but in reality, he was a concerning existence for one and all; nobody knew what he wanted..
Humans understandably considered the devil who had attacked them as an enemy, while the demons could only suspect he might become hostile, as he had yet to visit their cities. Both factions were wary of the Devil of Lania and began to prepare their defenses for the possibility of an attack. Each would be happy to have him as their ally, but without any certainty in that regard, they could only be wary of this potential enemy..
Both factions tried to look into the Devil of Lania, but once again, he had vanished. They were only left with a single warning.
"…What is this?"
The Holy Knights that rushed to Golden Fief after hearing the news of the devil's advent shut their mouths. There was a massive cross before their eyes. The golden cross contained a hideous human figure within it. His arms and legs were poking out in strange directions from within the cross, and various parts of it were spotted with his blood. The face of the elderly man frozen within this horrendous golden mass looked to be screaming in horrendous pain.
The Holy Knights looked at the letters etched into this horrid cross in bewildered terror.
[Just wait, Salem Gottshuranche!]
Dozens, if not hundreds, of such messages were etched into the cross in different spots.
— Ω —