An inhuman gasp escaped Cardinal Key’s lips as he crumpled to the floor, his breath coming in ragged, shallow bursts.

Dark crimson veins writhed across his neck. His pupils flooded with red from broken capillaries.

He was the very image of a Demonkin.

“Aaaargh!”

A raw, guttural scream ripped from the cardinal’s throat as a wave of demonic energy erupted from him. Wings tore through the back of his vestments, flesh and fabric shredding as horns pushed through the skin of his forehead.

Complete corruption. The final stage for a soul consumed by demonic energy—a soul sold to the Demonkin.

“Hah… Hah…!” Cardinal Key gasped, demonic power pouring from his twisted form.

But only for a moment.

His trembling eyes took in his own transformed body, and he spat out a denial. “N-no…! This isn’t real!”

His plea reached no one. To the people of the Holy Kingdom, his voice was nothing more than the cry of a beast.

An animalistic howl of demonic energy.

“…This trial is concluded.” Helena’s voice was ice, her eyes as cold as a winter tomb.

“By my authority as Inquisitor-General, I issue this command: Templars, Inquisitors, seize that servant of the Demonkin.”

With perfect discipline, the Templars and Inquisitors closed in on Cardinal Key. Even the knight from House Artezia who had been defending him was swiftly subdued, a heavy collar slapped around his neck.

“Let go of me!” the knight screamed. “This wasn’t what I was promised!”

The Templars ignored him completely.

He’ll break under interrogation, and betray Artezia soon enough.

Not that it mattered to me.

I dismissed the knight from my mind and turned my gaze back to the cardinal. With a trembling, clawed hand, he reached toward Helena.

“W-wait! Give me a moment! This is…!”

His beastly cry echoed with pathetic desperation as the demonic energy warped the very air around him.

Watching him, Helena’s lips curled into a sneer. “Silence, miserable dog of the Demonkin. How did I not recognize it sooner? The stench of your evil has spread from this cathedral to infest the entire Holy Kingdom.”

“Damn you, it’s not true!”

“Ha! Then what is this form you now wear?” Helena roared. “Your demonic energy flares so vividly in response to the Saint’s halo, and still you deny it?”

I gave a subtle nod.

Of course.

This was the nature of demonic corruption, vile and wicked to the core. Look at him, screaming his innocence to the very end.

Of course, he was telling the truth.

In any case…

Maintaining the halo, I began to walk toward him. He was still spewing demonic energy, but his wild eyes locked onto me, glittering with a mad light as he ground his teeth.

“…You. This is all your doing.”

Ah. He’s figured it out.

It was hardly surprising, given the situation unraveled the moment my halo appeared.

But no one would believe the words of a monster, not when the creature before them was the very picture of corruption itself.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m saying you orchestrated this!”

“Orchestrated it?” I said, my voice calm. “That would be a convenient power to have. To be able to turn a man into a Demonkin while being beloved by the Goddess… Does the pagan god you serve grant such abilities?”

“Silence! Everything fell apart the moment you arrived! My Holy Kingdom, my position! It’s all been ruined because of you—AAAAARGH!”

Cardinal Key swiped at me.

A blur of motion. Claws like daggers sliced through the air, aimed for my throat.

“Watch out!” Philip the Templar screamed.

The very man who tried to kill me just hours ago was now screaming a warning like my most loyal retainer.

I had planned to dispose of him after this was all over. Maybe I would reconsider. He might be worth observing for a while longer.

“It’s fine,” I answered in a low voice. “Be quiet.”

I channeled my Aura into the halo.

The halo floating above my brow spun into a blur, its divine radiance instantly scouring the demonic energy from the air.

At the same time…

“Aaaargh!”

The cardinal’s massive hand began to burn, flesh melting away like wax.

It was only natural. No matter how terrifying his new form, no matter how close to true corruption, he was merely the dregs of the Demonkin, awakened by a simple potion.

He was no Grand Master who had honed his power for years, no ancient member of the Twelve Nobles. For a creature like him to withstand the halo would be an absurdity.

“It seems one who has sold his soul to the Demonkin cannot bear the Goddess’s grace.”

“Gaaah! Quiet! I told you to be quiet!”

“I don’t recall raising my voice.”

Just like the Demonkin, his mind was coming undone.

“Even speaking with you is an offense.” I ignored his agonized screams and manifested my aura.

The Demonbane Aura. The power that had elevated me to the rank of Grand Master, the very antithesis of corruption. I amplified it through the halo, and the swirling energy coalesced, taking the shape of luminous arrows.

The arrows hummed with power, all aimed at Cardinal Key.

Then, the volley shot forward, burying themselves in his body in a single instant.

“Gaaaaaaaaagh!”

His flesh sizzled as if scorched by the sun, releasing a plume of acrid smoke. The demonic energy shrouding his body melted away before the halo’s light.

He was defenseless.

Helena did not miss the opening.

“Servants of the Goddess!” she commanded, drawing her sword. A great surge of divinity erupted from the blade. “Strike down this abominable traitor who dared betray Her!”

“For the Goddess!”

“For the Goddess!”

The Templars followed her lead, drawing their own blades and charging toward the wounded cardinal.

“Stay back! Stay away from me!” Cardinal Key shrieked, flapping his useless wings, but the divine power he had cultivated his entire life no longer answered his call.

Only the demonic energy within him stirred, coiling like a dying serpent.

Blade after blade sank into his flesh.

Wounds piled upon his body. “Aaaargh!” he shrieked in agony.

At this rate, the Templars would take his life.

But I could not allow others to claim this glory. This affair would only be perfectly concluded if I killed him with my own hands.

This will make the Holy Kingdom a perfect ally.

My eyes cold and detached, I snapped my fingers.

In that instant, a colossal arrow of light began to form in the vaulted ceiling high above. A low hum filled the cathedral as it materialized, a construct of pure energy too vast and raw to be called an arrow.

It was a spear of divine judgment, and it hung directly over Cardinal Key’s head.

The sight was overwhelming. Templars and nobles alike stared, mouths agape, their awe a palpable thing.

“…It is divine punishment.”

“…The Goddess is delivering judgment through the Saint.”

A good reaction. I gave them words they would appreciate as I swept my finger downward.

“Accept the punishment for turning your back on the Goddess.”

The great spear, wreathed in Demonbane Aura, began its rumbling descent.

* * *

“…Ah.”

A final gasp escaped Cardinal Key’s lips as he looked up.

There was no blocking it. He knew it, even in this demonic form. No, because he was in this form, he knew it all the better.

That power was an absolute counter to all things demonic.

…This is how I die?

He had dedicated his entire life to the Goddess. And this, in the end, was to be his final moment.

“…Ha. Ha.” A hollow, broken laugh escaped him.

What had he done to deserve this?

He had served his entire life. Yes, he had indulged in the comforts his station afforded, had played the games of power, but did that warrant this?

To have the reputation he had spent a lifetime building shattered in an instant? To be cast out by the Goddess he revered, only to die as the very thing he despised?

What a pathetic end.

The great spear loomed ever closer.

Cardinal Key’s eyes shifted, landing on one man.

Louis Berg.

All of this had happened since that man arrived in the Holy Kingdom. Everything that had befallen him, the way the Holy Kingdom itself had changed…

It was all his fault.

“…I curse you,” Cardinal Key snarled, his voice a guttural rasp. “Louis… Berg…”

The moment the words left him, he felt something heavy crash down upon his head.

Crack!

With a wet thud, his consciousness faded into nothing.

Cardinal Key was dead.

The Templars and everyone else in the cathedral erupted in cheers. Louis Berg nodded once and let the halo fade.

And so, Key Dupron, the man once called the most suitable candidate for the next Pope… met his end.

* * *

I gazed dispassionately at the fallen cardinal.

In truth, there were many other ways I could have brought him down. I could have used the congregation, as the Pope wished, or even arranged an assassination.

But I chose the cruelest method. The death of a cleric’s soul.

The Pope likely never wanted this. For all their conflict, he was a man of the cloth, and Cardinal Key had been a believer.

But simply doing as the Pope asked offered me too little. I would have ended up with just the Holy Grail.

If the Holy Kingdom cleansed its own filth, what benefit was there for me or the North? It was far better to solve the problem myself and be hailed as a Saint, a hero of the Holy Kingdom.

And just as I planned…

“Louis! Louis! Louis! Louis!”

The congregation was chanting my name.

From this day forward, they would be mine. If I told them to wage war on the Demonic Realm, they would gladly take up their swords. If I told them to strike down House Artezia, they would throw their lives away to see it done.

They were fanatics.

Perfect.

I nodded, retracting the halo. A dull throb started behind my eyes, a consequence of expending so much Aura, but I let none of it show.

“Thank you, Baron,” Helena said, approaching with an outstretched hand.

“It was merely what had to be done,” I replied, taking it.

After some time had passed, the Pope approached my side.

His expression was hard, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “…Was there truly no other way?”

He didn’t name what I’d done. Not with others watching.

But the respect was gone from his tone, and the conflict was plain. 

“Yes,” I said. “It was unavoidable.”

“…Is that so.”

The Pope’s head fell. He stood frozen for a moment, held his breath, then looked at me with a bitter smile.

“…I see. As promised, I will complete the Grand Duke’s treatment. However…”

His gaze flickered between Cardinal Key’s corpse and the cheering congregation. His voice was bitter as he continued.

“…I cannot bring myself to thank you.”

With those final words, the Pope turned and walked away.

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