Ch.105105. Rampage of the Lambs

When Cardinal Heinrich revealed a smile tinged with exhaustion, Amon’s heart ached.

Amon tried to hide his trembling voice as he asked about what had happened inside.

“What happened?”

“As I mentioned, the Secularist cardinals collectively experienced a Cyberpsycho phenomenon.”

“When did this happen?”

Both Heinrich and the Moderate cardinal shook their heads.

“There are no clocks inside.”

“But the guards would know.”

Amon investigated the incident like a detective.

Eventually, he discovered when the Decadent cardinals had gone mad.

“It was after we dealt with the demon’s avatar.”

“Ah! I heard! They say you fought a demon’s avatar during the conclave.”

Since they had been flying through the night sky destroying everything, news was bound to spread.

The cardinal offered a theory about the connection between Amon’s actions and the timing of the Decadents’ rampage.

“They likely tried to infiltrate, but when that failed, they triggered the cardinals’ breakdown.”

The Moderate cardinal spoke with certainty.

Amon could only nod.

Then Amon turned his gaze from the Moderate cardinal to Heinrich, whose bleeding had been stopped.

“Cardinal Heinrich.”

“Yes, brother.”

“…Let’s get your limbs treated first and talk later.”

“Understood.”

Heinrich greeted Amon with his usual warm smile.

With his back turned to Heinrich, Amon spoke.

“Brothers, if anyone’s crimes are revealed…”

Heinrich responded with a voice tinged with bitterness.

“…you who are spiritual should restore such a one with a gentle spirit.”

Amon nodded.

“I’ll see you in two weeks, Cardinal.”

*

After parting with the cardinal, Amon immediately rejoined his companions.

“Kathy. Can you track this thing’s main body?”

Amon pointed to the avatar that was now just a severed head.

Kathy tried to activate her ability to meet his expectations, but,

“No. I can’t see it.”

She gave a negative response, looking dejected.

“I feel so useless lately…”

Just as she was about to slip back into depression, Sonia embraced her.

“It’s okay. Kathy just needs to breathe.”

“Sonia. That’s not really comforting.”

“Is that so?”

Sonia tilted her head at Amon’s comment.

Kathy, with her face buried in Sonia’s chest, glared at her through narrowed eyes.

In any case, they couldn’t track the main body using Kathy’s method.

“But why are you suddenly looking for that old man?”

Kathy belatedly questioned.

Amon answered without taking his eyes off the demon’s head.

“Something’s happening in the Holy City. But the demon said this wasn’t their doing.”

“Don’t tell me… you’re going to make a deal?”

“I’d rather set myself on fire than make a deal with those creatures.”

“Then?”

“We need to find him and make him talk.”

Amon said as he pulled out his saw.

Kathy shrank back at the madness that emerged whenever she thought she’d forgotten about it.

In contrast, Sonia nodded as if she even liked this side of Amon.

“That’s our Amon.”

“…Has the virtue of forgiveness and tolerance been blinded by love?”

Kathy felt lonely being the only seemingly normal one.

The squinting priest who had been quietly listening joined the conversation.

“I know a way to track it, shall I tell you?”

“Oh, is it possible?”

“I did seal Astaroth, after all.”

The priest, though unremarkable in combat, claimed he could at least track.

Amon decided to accept his help.

“What’s the method?”

“If we have remnants of the avatar, it’s not difficult. We just need to track the residual Mystic Power. With the gold ring too, it will be much easier.”

“What significance does that have?”

“For demons, accessories are even better tracking devices than their avatars.”

The priest wrapped the old man’s ring in a cloth.

“But it’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Demons know the Vatican has this technology, yet they still sent an avatar.”

“Could it be a trap?”

“I think that’s quite possible.”

Amon fell silent.

After a brief contemplation, he spoke again.

“A trap inevitably reveals a weakness.”

“Then…”

“Let’s go. Head-on.”

***

Venice, the city of water.

Once a city of water and art, it had transformed into a flood zone due to rising sea levels caused by environmental pollution.

To make matters worse, nuclear waste had leaked and genetically modified fish had escaped, turning the entire city into a dungeon.

Though tourists no longer visited and even mercenaries and adventurers avoided it, people still lived there.

“Hmm… Agares. What are you plotting?”

A man with black hair flowing like a lion’s mane tossed grapes into his mouth while lying on a sofa.

“Tsk. Damn old man. If only I could read his mind.”

The man’s skin gleamed with a golden hue.

It shone so brightly that it was clearly visible even at night.

This man with the odd combination of black hair and golden tan was passing time by tossing grapes into his mouth when the door to his room burst open.

“Lord Marbas! We have intruders!”

“Ah… now I understand.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering why Agares took my gold ring.”

It was obvious that he had gone for a stroll and planned to frame him for the traces.

Many demons of Goetia had fallen victim to Agares’s tactics over the centuries.

But he couldn’t complain.

‘Well, at least he doesn’t pass on opponents I can’t handle.’

As a colleague, Agares only passed on beings that could be managed.

Moreover, since the compensation for the inconvenience was reliable, he had no choice but to tolerate it despite his resentment.

‘It’s definitely not because I’m afraid of that old man.’

The young man called Marbas rose from his seat and wrapped himself in a golden cloak.

Then, with his black mane-like hair flowing, he manifested his power.

‘Now, fight among yourselves, humans.’

Marbas’s powers were quite diverse.

Crafts and machinery, disease and healing, and more.

While these powers seemed unrelated at first glance, they all shared one common trait.

‘It is to lose reason and descend to beasthood.’

Reason, knowledge, and science.

Marbas’s power was to give or take these away.

The reason Agares had entrusted these intruders to him was because of this ability.

Just being near him caused humans to lose their reason, and when reason completely disappeared, they transformed into beasts.

Many of the so-called genetically modified fish in this water city were actually beings that had transformed this way.

‘Humans without reason are worse than beasts.’

Humans could be called the lords of creation thanks to their reason and knowledge.

Without these, humans are inferior to any animal from nature’s perspective.

Therefore, no matter how good their weapons or enhancements, no human could defeat Marbas.

At least, that’s what he thought.

Knock knock!

Until some madman knocked on the front door of the mansion.

“?”

While Marbas was wondering about the front door, it suddenly got cut off.

Whirrr!

Amon burst in after cutting through the thick iron door with a chainsaw.

However, Amon’s condition was strange.

Even normally, his eyes would roll back when seeing demons, but now there wasn’t a trace of reason left.

“Knock knock! Who’s there! It’s me, me!!”

Amon charged in, speaking sentences disconnected from human language like a beast just learning to talk.

“Who’s the real believer! Me! I’m the fucking holy believer! How much? Fucking holy as hell! I don’t need guns!!”

Vrrrrooom!

The chainsaw in Amon’s hand roared in agreement.

“I want to have a conversation about my desire for your information!!!!”

Seeing Amon’s condition, Marbas cursed Agares in his mind.

‘Fuck. Crazy old man. I told you to send someone manageable.’

***

As soon as Amon made eye contact with Marbas, he swung his chainsaw.

With the chainsaw swinging repeatedly right in front of his face, Marbas had no choice but to deactivate his power.

‘This crazy bastard!’

His power didn’t work on humans who were already without reason.

It was like multiplying 0 by 0, which equals 0.

A properly insane person.

That’s what described humans like Amon.

‘Why such a person!’

Cursing Agares in his mind, Marbas attempted to communicate with Amon.

“I am Marbas! I don’t know why you’re looking for Agares, but if you pretend you didn’t see me, I’ll tell you his location!”

Unfortunately, Marbas chose the wrong conversation partner.

“Marbas? You’re a demon too?”

“…?”

“I don’t make deals with demons!!!”

Vrrrrooom!

Though his reason seemed to have returned, Amon swung his chainsaw like a barbarian warrior.

Marbas trembled as the sharp blade grazed his mane.

“You’ve got the wrong address, you bastard!”

“Deus vult!”

“Damn crusader bastards!”

Belatedly, Sonia and Kathy entered the mansion.

Seeing Amon swinging his chainsaw as soon as they entered, Kathy’s mouth twitched.

“Wasn’t that chainsaw only needed to cut the door?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why is he like that?”

“Must be the demon’s power? You were like that too when we came in earlier.”

Kathy blushed as she recalled burying her face in Sonia’s chest and mumbling.

“…It’s all because of the demon’s power.”

Kathy neatly blamed the demon.

Knowing the trauma Kathy had experienced in childhood, Sonia didn’t tease her further.

‘She must have missed her mother.’

As someone who also had resentful feelings toward her mother, Sonia completely understood Kathy’s feelings.

Of course, Marbas, who was listening from a distance, felt extremely wronged.

It was true that Kathy’s loss of reason was due to his power.

But Amon’s madness was just his natural state.

“Aaaah! What do you want!”

“Give me information!”

“That’s not my power!”

The priest, listening through the radio, refuted Marbas’s plea.

[Amon. Anyway, demons ranked 1st to 10th basically have the power to uncover secrets. Even if not as much as Agares, Marbas would also know about the Holy City’s affairs.]

“That’s what he says!”

“Didn’t you say no deals!”

“That’s why I have to make you talk voluntarily!”

“Damn it!!!”

Fleeing from Amon’s chainsaw, Marbas began to weave a new power.

Controlling reason had no effect.

So he bestowed the curse of disease, one of his powers.

As the curse seeped into his body, even Amon’s movements slowed.

It wouldn’t normally work, but Amon had soaked his entire body in radioactive seawater while charging to the mansion in his mindless state.

His weakened body couldn’t withstand the curse.

“Phew… finally some safety.”

Watching from a distance, Sonia moved to support Amon.

“Amon! Fall back!”

Sonia spread her wings and fired her guns.

Kathy also tried to support with her spear, but,

“Hmm? That spear is too easy to hack.”

Just like the old man had done, it was neutralized again.

Being a demon who handled machinery and crafts, he was even better than Agares when it came to hacking.

Following Marbas’s gesture, her spear floated in the air.

“Let me borrow that spear.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Kathy activated the EMP she had prepared for such a situation.

She picked up the spear as it fell to the ground with a spark.

“Tsk. That was expensive.”

She lamented the now empty shell of a spear.

But with no time to spare, she joined her companions.

Marbas sprinkled his curse on the other two as well.

Sonia tried to resist with her healing ability, but ultimately Marbas’s power was slightly stronger.

Then Kathy also resisted with the power of her gene modification, but couldn’t hold out for long.

Marbas sighed in relief as he looked at the three who had quieted down.

“Now I can finally rest.”

“Who dumped radioactive waste here…!”

But a voice he had forgotten, or didn’t want to hear, came from behind him.

When he turned around, Amon was glaring at him, looking perfectly fine as if nothing had happened.

“How…?”

Marbas was confused, but Amon didn’t explain.

Adaptation and recovery.

It was the power of the essence Amon had absorbed, something Marbas could never understand.

An ability that grew stronger the longer the battle lasted, unless faced with overwhelming power like the old man’s.

Moreover, since Marbas’s disease worked by slowly killing the opponent, the ability demonstrated unreasonably high performance against him.

And incidentally, he had also adapted to the radiation to some extent.

Shing.

Amon drew his sword instead of the chainsaw and said,

“Righteousness! And superior firepower shall prevail! Amen!!”

“I’m sure I deactivated my power…”

The last thing Marbas saw before losing consciousness was a sword hilt flying toward his philtrum.