“Nothing else is needed… Vigrind, give Alex back.”
A crimson magic swirled around Yona like a curtain.
Her torn nun’s outfit looked pitifully shabby, but despite that, Yona kept muttering the same thing over and over.
“Saint, it’s dangerous. Yona isn’t acting normally.”
Ludvik stepped forward in front of Vigrind, spear in hand.
Sweaty palms desperately wanted to wipe against his pants, but Ludvik couldn’t step back.
Meanwhile, the Cathedral knights were forming a blockade with their reinforcements again.
The courtroom had long turned into chaos, but around Yona, shining silver swords and morning stars stood in a circle, revealing their hostility toward her.
“A demon shall never rise again in this Church Region.”
A low but powerful voice echoed.
Ignoring all warnings, Pope Akzel IV stepped forward.
The old giant with snowy hair stood straight, glaring at Yona with piercing eyes.
“I’ll say it again. A demon cannot rise in this Church Region.”
Yona’s gaze shifted to the Pope.
In the depths of her inscrutable thoughts, Yona parted her lips.
Black magic surged from her mouth like smoke.
The intense magic billowed from her body, resembling a vapor, yet even that wasn’t enough, as every time she moved her lips, it shot into the air.
“—Fine, if you won’t return them, I’ll just take them. You all—”
– Boom—!
With a tremor, the courtroom floor shook.
Those who couldn’t escape screamed as they tumbled to the ground, but the Cathedral knights, including Akzel IV, maintained their balance without faltering.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
The black and red curtain swirling around her intensified.
In the middle of that veil stood Yona.
She slowly closed her eyes.
“Still—yeah, fine. Even if I say this to you all… it’s probably useless now. So, yeah.”
A mournful voice.
A small, quiet voice that was now unsure to whom it was directed.
Then, at some moment, Yona’s eyes flew wide open.
Yona’s eyes shot wide open.
It felt like an ominous, fiery orange gaze was bursting forth.
“So, I told you, just give Alex back—!”
Each time Yona screamed, magical energy exploded out of her.
The magic emanating from her was overwhelmingly intense, and even in the very heart of this Church Region, protected by immense divine power, it didn’t wane one bit.
‘What a terrible magic…! I can’t believe this is just a mere demon…!’
Pope Akzel IV frowned.
Yona had seemed like quite the devout priestess during their private meeting before.
As Elder Ceres had boasted, she appeared to be fulfilling her role as a “vessel” quite sufficiently—indeed, more than adequately thus far.
However, the instincts of a priest flowing through her body were ringing alarm bells, indicating that something was going wrong.
This was excessive. Way too excessive. Overly excessive. What kind of magic is this—
‘Could it really just be a mere demon? Seriously, is it true that having Vervaria’s presence would lead to this…?’
Akzel IV understood that Yona was a nun possessed by Vervaria, as per Ceres’ claims.
He also understood and agreed with the plan to unify the Church of the Celestial God’s rituals under the premise of the demon’s descent.
The Celestial God has undoubtedly existed, but hasn’t descended for a long time.
Though He appointed Ludvik as the hero with that wondrous voice and declared Vigrind as a saint, that was all there was to it.
It has been way too long since He has bestowed blessings upon humans since that era long ago when He vanquished the Infernal God and established order within the Church.
Thus, the branches have been eagerly eyeing the Church’s own power, and even more, they coveted dominion over the entire Empire of Kapatia. On top of that, the Beastman Empire of Katus was also eyeing unification of the continent, so external threats couldn’t be ignored either.
To stand by and allow a demon to descend, using an ordinary healer rather than a precious priest as the vessel, to stir up a sense of crisis within the Church—that grand scheme was only just beginning.
However, Pope Akzel IV couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.
The nun, who was supposed to be just a vessel, should have had Vervaria descend by now, yet Vervaria was nowhere to be found.
“Give him back, give him back, give him back, give him back, Alex, give him back—!!!”
Yona shouted, and with each cry, dark magic burst forth.
“Yona, stop it!”
The magic exploding in all directions encountered a golden radiance, and its explosive momentum began to wane.
Priest Vigrind, who had somehow rushed forward, was emanating the blessing of the Celestial God, blocking Yona’s magic.
“Stop it… please, Yona. Don’t commit any more sins against the Celestial God…”
Vigrind’s voice was heavily suppressed.
He struggled to understand Yona, holding onto the faint thought that she must have had her reasons.
Desperate to make sense of Yona, who had ultimately become an apostate, he believed that no one could understand her better than he could, and as such, he began to gradually suppress Yona’s magic while invoking the blessing of the Celestial God.
“Vigrind, no, Big.”
Yona’s clouded orange gaze turned towards Vigrind.
Vigrind, whose eyes were full of crosses, faced her.
“I don’t understand why you say I’m committing sins.”
“But Yona, you look so tormented right now. Don’t do this. Maybe we can resolve this with a conversation.”
Most problems arise from a lack of dialogue.
Misunderstandings can entangle and escalate from just a single word, even a mere 5-minute conversation could clear things up.
That’s why Vigrind didn’t give up, perhaps because he didn’t want to—
At least, the current Yona still maintained her human sanity.
If they could just talk, maybe…
“Talk, yeah, talking is good. Big, talking is great. But what did you guys do to Alex, who wanted to have a conversation?”
“Well—”
Vigrind was left speechless at Yona’s words.
Alex had indeed asked for a chance to defend himself, but the Church of the Celestial God had rejected that plea.
Hence, Alex was captured, and Yona ended up like this.
“But, but… Yona, you’re suffering too, aren’t you? So, so… let’s talk. Okay?”
Vigrind’s voice grew more desperate.
Yona wasn’t someone who would end up like this.
The Yona he knew wasn’t the type to easily become an apostate.
“I’m not suffering at all. I’m fine. All I need is to get Alex back. That’s all I need.”
“I just need Alex back. That’s enough.”
“What?”
A faint smile appeared on Yona’s face.
But there was no warmth in that smile, only a clear expression of sarcasm.
“You all messed up. Why should I suffer when you were the ones who wronged? I’m actually quite relieved. As long as I get Alex back, I wouldn’t need anything else. Now that this has happened, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t do this sooner. So, I’m not in any pain at all. It’s you guys who should start suffering from now on, right?”
Those who did wrong should suffer.
Yona was insisting that she was the real victim.
So she wasn’t in pain. It was only right for those who did wrong to be the ones in pain—
And that logic was indeed quite valid.
“Why didn’t you listen when Alex asked you to? If you had just listened to him, everything would have been fine. I didn’t want things to turn out like this. You didn’t listen to us. You charged at us wanting to kill us. And now you’re asking me to listen to you?”
Yona smiled brightly.
This time, it was a cheerful laugh that really seemed funny.
“Don’t you think that’s really selfish? If you had just listened to us, we wouldn’t have ended up like this. So, you’re the ones at fault. Heroes, Saints, Popes! ‘We must kill those demons right now!’ If you hadn’t said such nonsense and just listened to us, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
Then Yona took a deep breath.
She lifted her head, which had been slightly bent down, with a satisfied expression.
“It’s already too late. Even if you regret it now, it’s too late, and now that you’re clinging to me saying, ‘Yona, Yona!’ it’s far too late. I have nothing to suffer from. It’s all on you.”
“So, just give me Alex back. That’s all I need. For me—my most important thing.”
“Again, the most—”
“My precious, Alex, give him back.”
Yona mumbled as if reciting a judgment with a choppy voice.
“If you won’t give him back, I’ll take him by force.”
The tattoo on Yona’s left arm began to fade gradually.
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