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Chapter 197 – Falling
“Shut that mouth…”
It seemed that Kaiquilia’s pride wouldn’t allow her to say that it was a lie, as she only quietly raised her spirit instead of speaking. Floretta continued with a smile.
“My proposal will remain eternal. So please, think it over leisurely. As you just realized, the distinguished guest is capable of embracing us all.”
I wanted to believe it had a different meaning, but with Floretta saying that, it only sounded like it had the same meaning. The incident in the Holy Kingdom seemed deeply etched into my mind.
Kaiquilia stayed silent for a moment, gritting her teeth with a crunch.
“…Pope of the Sun.”
“Speak.”
“Why did you spare that one?”
Thinking she couldn’t win against Floretta right now, she glared at the golden-eyed figure in golden armor that was still writhing.
Floretta seemed to have no intention of answering, as she simply brushed it off.
“Normally, I would have killed it myself. However, it is merely a possession, so it’s not as dangerous as when a demon directly incarnates, and above all, it was a servant of Her Majesty the Empress, so I thought perhaps there might be something to ask, and I kept it alive. For instance, clues about when, where, and to whom the demon was accepted.”
“Ask? Ha, what a waste of time. There can’t be anything to ask from such a thing. We don’t need to know where it made a deal with the demon. That merely means its mind is thoroughly rotten.”
At those words, the mutated body wriggled even more violently.
It still only meant its movements were slightly more visible, but that seemed enough to irritate Kaiquilia, who frowned.
“Dare to contradict my words, you useless thing. I have no reason to ask a bug that abandoned its loyalty for mere jealousy to grasp at life. So die quietly and disappear.”
“Th… he…”
A mumble escaped from its lips, but it was completely unintelligible. Thinking it might be some kind of spell, I turned to Floretta, but she looked equally clueless.
“Knight Commander of the Dark Night Order.”
Kaiquilia cleanly ignored the mumbling and called me. By now, at least in appearance, she had returned to being the perfect Empress of the Empire.
Her body remained the same, though.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“That knight order is now under your command. Do not disappoint her.”
“I will do my best to repay Your Majesty’s trust.”
I knew this would happen.
While I groaned over the future after absorbing the entire Golden Dusk Knights, the one who had once been the commander of the Golden Dusk Knights was incessantly mumbling something.
“M… Magic…”
“You’re making such a racket. If you’re going to die, die gracefully; why beg for a useless life to the very end?”
As Kaiquilia got ready to unsheathe her Holy Sword, she paused for a moment and glanced at me.
“I will give you an order. Take care of that.”
“Understood.”
I was already considering requesting to take down the boss for the experience. I quickly nodded and drew my Wingless Nightmare.
The Divine Attribute Wingless Nightmare emitted brilliant light. Floretta was watching this scene with a pleased smile from the other side.
“S… Summon…”
I was about to swing Wingless Nightmare down while ignoring its mumbling when I suddenly hesitated.
I had noticed the Anti-Demon Symbol drawn beneath its body. As I abruptly halted, Floretta tilted her head.
“What’s the matter, distinguished guest?”
“Your Holiness, do you see the Anti-Demon Symbol drawn beneath its body?”
“Anti-Demon Symbol… Oh, you mean this? Yes, I see it.”
“Do you have any idea why it has appeared now?”
The Anti-Demon Symbol is a symbol drawn by Devil Worshippers when summoning demons. Since the commander of the Golden Dusk Knights was already possessed, it should have been normal for it not to be visible.
Floretta considered my words for a moment and then held up a Sacred Relic. A golden hemispherical shield covered the former commander of the Golden Dusk Knights.
“I apologize, distinguished guest. I don’t know why it has appeared either. However, it won’t hurt to be prepared.”
I nodded. We were in a situation where we didn’t even know what that was. We needed to be ready for anything. If we were unlucky, a demon could really be summoned from there.
“Your Majesty the Empress, can you leave its handling to me? It’s to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.”
“Do as you wish.”
Kaiquilia seemed to have some uneasy feelings as well and readily granted that request.
Once Floretta received the permission, as she was about to infuse Divine Power into the small sun at the end of her staff, the Anti-Demon Symbol began to emanate a ominous red light.
“I knew it.”
Floretta’s voice chilled as it had with Kaiquilia. Her benevolent smile vanished. She must have known what it meant for the Anti-Demon Symbol to glow.
I also understood what the Anti-Demon Symbol implied, but my mind was complicated, unlike Kaiquilia, Floretta, and Minerva.
This sort of event didn’t exist in the game. In other words, everything that was about to happen from now on was beyond my knowledge. Faced with something I had never encountered before, it was only natural for my mind to be messy.
‘…Let’s just observe for now.’
With Kaiquilia, holding the Holy Sword next to me, and the Pope of the Sun standing closest to the Anti-Demon Symbol, any ordinary demon would be no match for such a combination.
I felt my mind clear up. Right, whatever it may be, I could leave it to those two. I probably wouldn’t even have the chance to step in. All I needed to do was watch.
The ominous red light grew stronger. In response, the golden light bursting from the small sun intensified.
“…”
I don’t know how much time had passed; the red light swirling inside the hemispherical Divine Barrier began to dim. It seemed Floretta’s Divine Power couldn’t sustain it any longer.
Floretta’s face broke into a smile once more.
“It seems to be over.”
I sighed with relief inside me. I had been quite tense since this was an unprecedented situation.
It was truly fortunate that Floretta was right beside me. Otherwise, I might have had to face whatever came out and began fighting right after it was summoned.
“Now, should we purify the inside with Divine Power…?”
Having said that, Floretta trailed off. The moment I began to question that fact, the red light began to erupt even more violently than before.
Floretta frowned as much as she could and raised her Sacred Relic again. The sunlight poured down as if it would cover everything on the ground with brilliance.
Splat
“What the…!”
But this time it was useless. With cracks forming in the hemispherical Divine Barrier, Floretta’s expression also fractured. As she was hastily infusing Divine Power, Floretta shouted behind us.
“Eternal Magician! We need your help! Mana is spilling out from inside!”
‘Mana, huh?’
“What do you mean by that, Pope of the Sun! Did you just say mana?!”
Kaiquilia shouted with a similar question as mine, but the howling mana drowned out the sounds. Minerva immediately cast a spell.
A blue orb wrapped around the Divine Barrier, which was on the brink of shattering. The red light that had stained everything nearby in crimson briefly disappeared under the blue mana. A golden Divine Power covered it once again.
And.
“You need to dodge—!”
The red light that erupted, breaking through the barrier of mana and Divine Power, engulfed the world in red.
“…”
Floretta, with a hardened face, withdrew the Divine Barrier. From the small sun at the end of the Sacred Relic, a brilliant golden light began to rise up, purifying every corner of the Imperial Palace.
What had just happened was something even Floretta had never seen before.
Not only had the Anti-Demon Symbol appeared beneath the nearly dead possessed body, but it had also breached both the Divine Barrier used to its full power by the Pope of the Sun and the mana shield used with full force by the Eternal Magician.
Such things weren’t even recorded in the history books of the Holy Kingdom.
“Distinguished guest, are you unharmed?”
Floretta first sought the distinguished guest. She had indeed unfolded the Divine Barrier in her own way at the moment just before the explosion, but the scope was slightly ambiguous.
While it surely had prevented the red light from spreading beyond the Imperial Palace hallway, it was uncertain beyond that.
“Distinguished guest? Why is there no answer?”
With no response, Floretta called out for the distinguished guest again. Still, there was no reply.
“…Distinguished guest?”
The third call yielded the same result.
Rustle, suddenly, a sound echoed from the hallway as if debris was being dug up. Floretta quickly turned in that direction.
“Hah, what in the world is going on?”
There, surrounded by a mana shield, stood Minerva, letting out a sigh as she crushed the debris of the building.
As Minerva began to ask Floretta if she was okay upon seeing her, she fell silent when she noticed Floretta’s very unokay expression.
When she heard the reason for such an expression, they both began upending the entire hallway as they searched for Delta.
But Delta was nowhere to be found.
Kaiquilia was the same.
“Hah…”
I kicked the floor with my toe. The parched earth, without a drop of moisture, kicked up clouds of dust.
Why here of all places? I chuckled hollowly in my heart as I lifted my head. Kaiquilia was vigilantly guarding the surroundings, holding the Holy Sword.
“What in the world is this place? It’s disgustingly horrible.”
Kaiquilia frowned as much as she could, mumbling that. Such a sentiment was justifiable in this gruesome setting.
Nearby, a river made of crimson blood flowed, and several hills made of bones were visible. The ground was cracked and parched, and sticks adorned with human corpses stood here and there.
‘I was engulfed in red light, and why did I have to end up here… No, is this not better than dying?’
I approached Kaiquilia. As I moved closer, she retracted her Holy Sword.
“Your Majesty the Empress.”
“Speak.”
“I know where this place is.”
“I think I know too. It likely aligns with your thoughts, but still, speak.”
Now that I thought about it, there was no way I wouldn’t know in such a scene. I forced a bitter smile and opened my mouth.
“It seems we’ve fallen into hell.”
Specifically, the third DLC of Brightest Darkness 4, ‘Demon’s Sanctuary.’
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