"-Retreat."
The decision was immediate, and the lower priest immediately invoked his magical power upon receiving the order.
Hwaaak!
A dirty magical power reminiscent of muddy water surged.
It was the manifestation of a spell, and the lower priest tried to continue the incantation, but....
"Where do you think you're going."
Slash!
Swish...!
The magical power was instantly slashed—no, 'devoured'.
"How dare you use magic in front of me? Don't make me laugh."
Absorption of magical power.
No, it wasn't simply absorbing magical power, but a power that absorbed everything possessing vitality and made it his own.
It was the 'Mystery of Absorption', the second mystery succeeding the 'Mystery of Flames' that
Since ancient times, a Mystery was considered something that overturned common sense, bestowed upon those seeking to walk the path of a king's destiny and a hero... regarded as a 'miracle' bestowed by gods upon humans.
Therefore, even possessing just one Mystery, it would be no exaggeration to say one was chosen by the stars.
Because of that, the demonic sword was an exception to the norm.
The mysteries the demonic sword possessed totaled five.
It meant there were as many as three more mysteries comparable to, or perhaps even more powerful than, the mysteries of flame and absorption, and it was a power proving that the ancients didn't evaluate the demonic sword as a nation-destroying sword for nothing.
Crackle!
Flames engulfed them, threatening to burn them to a crisp at any moment.
Their stamina waned, and even their vitality was being drained.
If anyone even slightly frail were present here, they would have died instantly.
To that extent, the demonic sword—no, the Duke who freely wielded those mysteries was truly a monster.
For although the tool was powerful, if the wielder's capacity was even slightly lacking, the demonic sword would devour its user.
Just as the fates of its past users had been miserable.
"Hmm, it seems just running away isn't going to work, so I suppose I must get a bit serious."
"I already have, hehe."
If he were a typical mage, he should have been terrified in this situation.
A mage's arrogance and pride naturally stemmed from their magical power, and that very power was practically sealed.
However, the mage priest did not show the slightest fear; instead, he smiled radiantly.
As if delighted to be able to test this.
"[Come forth, existence that feeds on death, grant catastrophic despair to the enemies blocking my path]."
...The priest's spell was different from ordinary spells.
A spell that felt like making a request to someone.
No, it was closer to a 'wish'.
And the moment his wish ended.
Crunch!
Snap!
At some point, something utterly horrific pierced through the building's outer wall and revealed itself.
"Summoning magic?!"
"With our lord present, how...!"
No matter how alien summoning magic was as a discipline, for a summon to appear within a space under the demonic sword's influence....
It was an unbelievable sight.
However, the Duke did not panic, but his eyes grew as wide as lanterns as he confirmed the identity of those gradually revealing themselves.
"You.... What exactly did you form a contract with?"
"Haha, so this power can't be absorbed by the demonic sword after all? Thank goodness. I've obtained some good intel."
The mage laughed endlessly.
Even though spider-web-like burns were gradually spreading across his face, even though the pain must have been maddeningly surging....
He was rejoicing solely because he had found a means to threaten the Duke.
"You lot..."
For the first time, the Duke classified them as a threat.
Because he knew that was not simply the base emotion of those who hated the powerful or harbored schemes to topple the kingdom, but something far more viscous and tenacious.
They had clearly formed a contract with an 'existence of Hell'.
'They accepted a life where even their souls are mortgaged? They're completely mad.'
Madness-driven grudge.
Duke Blake had to admit that the bastard was someone harboring a grudge no less intense.
A grudge against the kingdom? Or perhaps against the world?
He didn't know what it was, but.
'I must kill him now.'
He couldn't just leave such dangerous things alone.
The Duke decided not to care about the opponent's grudge.
Because arguing over who is more right and who is the sinner would be endless.
Thus, he focused solely on what lay immediately ahead.
"-Give up on capturing them. Kill them."
Whoosh!
The moment the Duke's command fell, the shadows did not question it and immediately charged.
And toward such formidable individuals.
"[Kill the enemy, Hungry Ghosts (餓鬼)]."
The Hungry Ghosts—chimeras crafted from 'ingredients' of demonic beasts and humans—collided with the shadows.
......By the time the kingdom's troops belatedly arrived, what they witnessed was the sight of an entire city district half-destroyed.
Drip, drop...
"........."
Fortunately, there were no casualties, but no one considered this a relief upon seeing it.
Everyone had to be seized with terror, their faces turning pale white.
And for good reason.
"Unfortunately, we let one get away. Galahad will compensate for all the damaged property."
Seventeen buildings and a forest were burned to the ground, and the fact that this absurd act of destruction was committed by just one duke and fifty knights was appalling.
However, the Duke, who had wrought such a miracle of destruction, still wore a dissatisfied expression.
"Are there any dead, Lak?"
"I can only apologize."
"I asked if there were any dead; I don't know why you're apologizing first, tch."
"....."
...The shadows were in a miserable state.
Because they couldn't dare lift their faces to their lord, who was worrying about them.
"...An empty shell. They're certainly bastards who pull off entertaining stunts."
"....."
The mage they had captured after blowing up a city district only had a beating heart; there was no life in his eyes.
As if they had captured the flesh, but the core inside had vanished.
"They're undeniably bizarre things."
Within Duke Blake's low murmur, as much as there was anger, there was also gloom.
Even with the status of a Duke, in a reality where there were still so many unknowns.
And so he.
"If one truly becomes king, would they be able to know everything... I'm a bit interested now."
Recalled the whisper the young lion had insolently spat out before leaving.
*
*
*
Drip, drop.
"Haa, haaa...!"
Gasping for breath, the man clutched his arm.
During his escape, his arm was finally torn off by a strike from the knight named Lak.
Fortunately, he managed to stop the bleeding, but he didn't know how long this would last.
The knight's strike wasn't the problem; the demonic sword's flames were also burrowing deep inside his body.
It wouldn't be long before this fire pierced his heart, and he would die right then.
'As expected, they're strong. Even excluding the three transcendents, there are two monsters of that caliber. It's simply terrifying.'
The man advanced with difficulty, thanks to his subordinate's sacrifice.
Even as pain surged, he kept moving forward.
For the word 'surrender' did not exist in his dictionary.
Therefore, he.
"-No, this is the end. Step down from the stage, Andrea Laurent."
...Unfortunately, the vicissitudes of fate seem to arrive unheralded, as the high priest—.
Andrea Laurent looked at the black-haired man with bloodshot eyes.
"....."
"40 years ago, the Temple raised countless warriors to oppose the kingdom. The late king, realizing the Temple's ambition, crushed them once, but I heard the survivors are still parasitizing the Temple... yet, who would have thought they'd be plotting to overthrow the kingdom again in this day and age."
From the man's mouth came not only his name, but also his affiliation and hidden history.
How could he know such information about him?
"Did you think the Duke was the only one chasing you? You filthy bugs, did you think you could sow a 'plague' called faith in the North and escape our eyes? You must have thought the North was an easy target...!"
Grrrumble-!
It even gave the illusion of a massive beast roaring.
As he roared in anger, the ground shook once.
Andrea Laurent only then realized.
That those with shallow faith they had planted in the North had finally spat out information.
"...This is why we shouldn't have used those with shallow faith."
"Their faith didn't waver easily; it was information we only extracted after torturing them for over five hundred days. It was vicious, really. Just how severely did you brainwash them?"
The man shuddered in disgust.
Because the damage the North suffered due to a mere few bugs was significant.
Although it didn't show on the outside, would it be easier to understand if I said it had taken a deep, festering wound?
To that extent, their doctrines—no, the ideologies and thoughts they spread, and their brainwashing methods—were vicious.
Even now, they hadn't been able to root out all the remnants.
Thus, he stepped forward himself.
He moved the moment he got the information.
To find them without fail and uproot them entirely.
"Spit it out, you lot. Where is the stronghold of those guys called the [Blood Crusade]? If you speak willingly, I'll grant you a merciful death."
"...You even found out 'our name'. Impressive."
The moment their name came out, he recognized that their existence had been exposed.
Andrea Laurent let out a gloomy, bitter laugh.
What could he possibly be thinking?
Suddenly, he.
"......There are far too many powerless and sorrowful lambs in this world, thus we shall wash away and purify all that tragedy with blood, and even if this soul falls into the hellfire pit and suffers for eons, we shall purify the world with our pain—."
He gripped a cross—no, an inverted cross—and recited a chilling prayer.
It was undeniably an alien prayer that did not appear in any scripture.
"Damn zealots."
The man, Magnus Yulia de Lionel, shook his head, declaring he was sick and tired of it.
He had heard their doctrines countless times, and their extremism made his skin crawl.
But knowing the meaning behind those doctrines, even he could empathize.
And inevitably, if that ideology spread and seeped into the kingdom's citizens, the rule of law... no, the kingdom would unconditionally collapse.
Thus, it had to be stopped.
Before it spread any further.
"Maximus."
"Are we not capturing him?"
"It's a meaningless act."
"Then I understand."
The knight boasting a massive frame, the Great Warrior of the North, Maximus, stood before him.
Because this place was too narrow for the Black King to rampage.
Shouldn't the relatively smaller one step forward?
"They say your position in the Blood Crusade is at least a Thousand-Man Commander? I'd like you to show me that power."
Maximus knew he was an unforgivable sinner, but he gave him the opportunity to fight him proudly.
So that there would be no regrets left in a human's life.
However.
"-Oh, <13th Angel>, please bestow a bloody purification upon the sinful unbelievers."
Drip...
Blood overflowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, and he threw away the 'opportunity' to die as a human that Maximus had given him.
Drip, drip-.
Andrea Laurent's body gradually began to melt.
Blood melted his flesh and bones, erasing him from the world, and instead brought down a heterogeneous power.
At this very moment, Andrea Laurent had gained the power to single-handedly fight a Grand Lord-class knight order.
However.
"...There is nothing more foolish!"
The choice to become a monster devoid of reason as the price of gaining power was not only foolish, but equivalent to insulting life itself.
[Drip, drip....]
How could he avoid the struggle and choose to take on such a bloody mass of a form!
Maximus was enraged.
He should have rather died as a human; how could he meet his end in such a form?
"If you resented the world that much, you should have rebelled even more."
Instead of becoming like this.
[...Drip.]
"....."
Boom!!
Maximus discarded his usual cheerful demeanor, and with a tremendously ferocious aura, he gripped an executioner's axe (斧鉞), a massive battle-axe, in his hand.
Whoooosh!
Displaying the immense strength to freely wield an axe larger than a standard battle-axe like a club, Maximus faced the catastrophic blood-colored monster lunging at him.
"Hah!"
He struck with all his might.
......After a certain knight, drenched in fatigue, fell asleep, in the busy dawn of cleanup.
They say the night was exceptionally long and filled with loud roars.
For a very long time.