Chapter 184

We kept piling on the magic power all the way up to the roof.

I managed to erase as much as I could with my Saint Power, but I couldn’t foresee and deal with everything coming along the walls or rising from the sewer.

The inside of the apartment turned into a maze. They blocked the corridors here and there and stacked various objects around the house to obstruct our path however they could.

Bang!

The Church’s knights were just as good as Hunters. They smashed through thin walls, and if necessary, they would break through the ceiling, moving up, up.

The number of demons increased significantly as we went higher. I could have dealt with them all somehow.

“…Alright.”

With about three floors left to the rooftop, Ria spoke up.

“From here on, it’d probably be better if we jump ourselves. There shouldn’t be anyone among the knights here who can’t do that.”

“…”

Mari had already sidled over next to Anna.

Seeing the immense obstacles that scattered more as we climbed up, Ria seemed to think it would be faster to just jump up directly.

“…Okay.”

In the past, I would have said I couldn’t do that, but not now.

Right now, I had to do something.

Dark clouds began to gather above the apartment. But none of us thought that it was just an ordinary storm cloud.

It was definitely a cloud infused with magic power.

For the first time in this world, such a cloud was appearing.

What could possibly be on that rooftop?

I leaned against Ria.

At this point, I couldn’t afford not to trust her. I felt the literal ‘sincerity’ radiating from her, the kind that suggested she wouldn’t leave my side no matter what happened.

We jumped together.

We didn’t fall. Just like always, Ria sprang upward, stepping onto the air.

There were sounds coming from behind us.

And from the sky as well.

A swarm of birds gathered and flew toward us. All black. And the sound was unlike the cooing of the pigeons we knew.

My Saint Power and Ria’s holy sword light split the flock.

“We’re going through the middle!”

Ria shouted that and stomped hard on the air.

I heard sounds of blades swishing behind us. The silver Saint Power embroidered everything around us, and I watched as the birds fell in haste below.

We leaped through the gap that formed in the middle, barely managing to touch the rooftop.

Surprisingly, the rooftop didn’t show nearly as much magic power as the apartment’s insides had been tainted.

Except for what stood in the middle.

Everything we had seen up to this point was people who couldn’t take on human forms. Some had been used as mere tools to provide magic power. Some had received magic power and turned into monsters but lost their sanity.

But that figure stood upright, as if waiting for me to arrive.

Thank goodness it hadn’t lifted something into the sky. If it had, it surely would have fallen and caused a disaster.

There is a specific image that comes to mind with the word ‘demon.’ The person standing before me right now was just like that. Two horns protruded from their head, and their body was grotesque. Not just massively muscular but an appearance that couldn’t even resemble a human.

“I told you it was too late.”

It spoke.

“While you were wandering here, I—”

I thrust my Saint Power into its face.

It was as if I had doused its face in flames, but it cried out briefly and raised one hand to deflect the Saint Power.

“Do you really think your power will have the same effect on me?”

Probably not the same.

After all, isn’t that why such beings were created?

In this world, I was the only one like myself. If I were to split hairs, there was that Anna who existed, but even her power couldn’t match mine. The demon race had annihilated the world Anna came from.

So even if I couldn’t say for certain that its power was exactly like that of a true demon, if beings like that existed in numbers, it would itself be a massive disaster. A strength so formidable that an ordinary priest could not withstand it.

“…”

No, now was not the time to worry about that.

What I needed to do now was stop that thing.

Ria dashed straight forward, followed by the knights, and Mari did the same.

Then, more of the birds we hadn’t been able to cut down earlier flew toward us, and I halted the energy I was using for a moment to explode my Saint Power. Most of the incoming birds transformed back into ‘normal birds’ and fell away.

Clang!

The sound of blade meeting hand echoed.

“I received a revelation.”

It began to speak words I didn’t particularly want to hear.

“There are things only I can do. There is a way to undying this cursed world—”

But it couldn’t continue its words. I shoved my Saint Power into its face once more.

When I came to my senses, I was running. I wasn’t quite sure what I was trying to do. But I could barely hold back my anger this time.

God’s will. Revelation. There were people who spoke of such things with all seriousness. And those who said that to ascend to that position, you had to sacrifice something.

Gradually, something was disappearing from our perfectly fine home. They weren’t important things, but they were household appliances that subtly affected our daily life when absent. I only realized my father had sold my computer after it disappeared.

Debt had risen. A significant portion of the money that came in from that debt wasn’t for our family. Before long, my mom had gotten sucked into the same situation, and in the end, we just watched our house slowly crumble.

A significant part of religion in modern society is to give hope to life. To look for a reason to stay alive and to point out a direction to move toward. To guide people to live as well as possible.

Everyone is hurting. Everyone wants a place to lean on. Religion was the place that created a spot where people could rely on its massive body.

…And, of course, there are those who think they can profit from using that shell.

Bang!

I could hear that sound too. It was like the sound of a bullet fired from a gun carefully absorbing my Saint Power nonstop.

“Ugh!?”

The demon screamed because my attack had surely landed.

“Ria!”

“Got it!”

At my shout, Ria plunged her sword into the place where I fired my gun.

Saint Power erupted from that blade. Light seeped out from its wounds.

“You garbage!!”

The monster shouted like that as it tried to grab Ria, but the knights who had already rushed over swung their blades at the monster.

Blades pierced its arms, and blood sprayed black, but it didn’t touch those who had absorbed the Saint Power around me.

I approached to where I could see the monster’s face.

“Hah…ha ha…”

The monster laughed.

“Yeah, that’s right. You’re always like this.”

Knives were embedded throughout its body. If you asked whether it was beyond healing, that was not the case, but it seemed to have stopped moving altogether.

“Always talking about salvation, yet practically doing nothing. What have you ever done for me?”

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know this person’s life. I didn’t know if they had ever scraped their knee and received treatment at the Church when they were a child or not.

But what this person was saying wasn’t about that. They weren’t simply asking whether someone had healed a scraped knee.

Could they have granted a place to lean on?

The Church is a place where people live. There are good people, bad people, and ordinary people. My convent was like that. There were people who positively accepted me, those who worshipped me unknowingly, and those who had no particular interest in me.

No matter what happened, the Church probably couldn’t provide that kind of place for this person.

“…Yeah. Maybe they haven’t done anything for you.”

As I calmly said that, the expression of that person briefly went blank.

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

Should I say you shouldn’t kill people? There were a few people I would willingly want to kill myself. Although it was all because of their past lives. Perhaps if I had the strength to kill without a care, I might have done so.

I was just a hair’s breadth away from being this person.

But still, that doesn’t mean it’s not wrong. That much is certain.

“Let’s confirm one by one.”

I said calmly.

“Whether you went through something or not.”

Should I say it honestly? I didn’t want to comfort this person. Even if it’s right or wrong, I set that aside.

Having seen such sights as I made my way up here.

The reason I poured Saint Power into their face, despite thinking I needed to be objective and rational, was exactly that.

But even so, hearing such words makes you have many thoughts. Even as I think the path is one, I keep looking back.

Couldn’t I have stopped this? Before it came to this.

“Heh heh… Go, receive divine judgment or something?”

“…”

“Yeah, I thought so. But like I said, it’s too late—”

“Yes, I know.”

As I answered, I felt a sense of melancholy.

“It’s already far too late.”

I looked up at the sky.

And I reached out my hand.

Toward the stormy sky, I fired a beam of light.

The dark clouds vanished for a moment, revealing the shadow above. Just like when I vanquished the demons in the Beastman kingdom.

I couldn’t directly summon the demons. It would also be the same kind of power as the magic power visible on my body.

The dark clouds began to writhe.

Then, like it was becoming part of some god, it took on the shape of a hand.

A huge palm opened, as if trying to snatch away my Saint Power.

Before I knew it, the knights were all looking this way. Even Ria’s mouth was slightly agape.

There were probably people below looking up at this. They must have seen the light shooting up toward the sky.

How far could they see it? Could they see it well enough?

The hand didn’t disappear easily.

That hand, which seemed to melt away, suddenly came together again and plunged down toward us.

“Everyone, dodge!”

At my shout, Ria and the knights threw themselves with all their might. There wasn’t an incident of magic power splattering onto them.

However, someone was absorbing that immense magic power. I had indeed weakened it considerably, but there was still an absolute quantity of magic power.

“Hah, ha ha.”

The demon laughed.

No, should I say this is now a demon race?

It looked at me.

It didn’t seem to have any intention of further conversation.