Ch.179Chapter 179. A Cruel World

Demon Tribe.

Ironically, they were beings that felt utterly alien to Francesca, who specialized in hunting otherworldly existences.

They weren’t original inhabitants of this world like other species, nor were they transformed versions of existing beings like the Undead or magical beasts due to dimensional distortions. They were merely extraterrestrial races that had torn through the imperfect dimensional rifts and invaded this world.

“Why on earth are you here…?”

That’s why Francesca couldn’t immediately understand why the Demon Tribe member before her had intervened in this situation.

In this chaotic crucible where humans, Beastmen, and vampires intermingled in search of salvation.

Where exactly was there any reason for the Demon Tribe to be involved?

“You, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord’s army, are here. Yasmo Deus…!”

“Ah~ Isn’t it too unfriendly to address me so formally when we’ve just met? I’d prefer if you called me Yasdes more affectionately~♡”

The only thing she could guess was that this was somehow connected to the “New Era” organization she had encountered while investigating the vampires that had infiltrated the imperial leadership.

But even considering that, she couldn’t help but find it strange.

That organization was formed with each member having their own agenda, yet they had annihilated the True Ancestors who were their leaders before the new era could even unfold.

“Actually, maybe it’s better if you maintain that attitude. Strong-willed little ladies are more fun to torment~”

“Shut up and answer me!”

Swish! With a hand swipe came a barrage of threads.

Yasmo easily evaded the attack by transforming his body into a spiritual form, then began to show off right in front of Francesca.

“Demanding answers while trying to tear me apart… The more I see you, the more I like you~”

“Meri is always so focused on the Demon Lord that she never gives me proper attention, but today I think I’ll have fun in many ways?”

To Francesca, his demeanor was revolting.

The culprit behind all this chaos was taking such a playful attitude toward her questioning.

“Oh, Angel! Angel…!”

But Martina had long been entranced by him.

As if struck with awe when the demon revealed himself, Martina immediately dropped her aged knees to the ground and bowed her head.

“Messenger of Friga! Following your guidance, I have distributed holy water to everyone in the sanctuary!”

And the prayer that followed confirmed that this abominable Demon Tribe member was indeed the source of all this trouble.

Unable to ignore this, Francesca released her magical power and quickly turned her head toward Martina.

“Through the holy water made from those abominable parasites’ flesh, we have all embraced fragments of divinity and gained power. That power has even reformed the beasts who lost their humanity and invaded this land, ultimately making them one with us!”

Beasts.

Francesca understood the meaning.

The monstrous Beastman she had encountered before coming here had indirectly taught her that there had been a conflict between the Beastmen and the sanctuary.

“They were beings abandoned by God.”

But did the Pope consider their massacre to be salvation?

Unable to contain her ecstasy, Martina spread her arms wide before Yasmo.

“The miracle we found following your guidance was truly reverent, extending a hand of salvation even to those abandoned by God and reduced to beasts!”

Francesca’s body trembled at the fervent acclaim.

Not just from the horror of witnessing a madwoman, but from the familiar sensation of power she felt as the other grew more emotional.

“Yes, it was all beyond my capabilities alone. Unlike those pitiful ones who had devolved into beasts, even I, who could use the witch’s evil vision in the right direction, had no choice but to stand by as they drained the lifeblood of the young lambs…!!”

The witch’s vision… Yes, Francesca had experience in suppressing beings once called witches.

She was painfully aware of how dangerous they were, as all automatons except herself had been rendered incapacitated in that war.

And though it had taken her time to notice due to the presence of the Demon Tribe member, she now sensed the aura of such a witch emanating from the Pope before her.

“I could only endure and endure…”

Progress toward becoming a “higher being” through the research left behind by the eradicated witches.

Unlike the failed Beastmen, the Pope before her had succeeded in that research and gained the ability to “wield a witch’s power while maintaining a human mind.”

“Even though those who shared our vision ultimately devolved into beasts, and I alone gained the power and qualification to lead the church… that alone was not enough to unite the scattered humanity!”

But it’s impossible to unite conflicting humanity with just one individual’s innate power.

Despite the church’s attempts using the witch’s vision, humanity’s leaders eventually entrusted the fate of mankind to otherworldly beings.

“The leaders who should have been humanity’s pillars helplessly bowed to corrupted beings, and to curry their favor, they made me test my faith in Lady Friga!”

And for these arrogant beings, the most valuable food was pure and innocent blood.

The most fitting were the believers who had vowed lifelong chastity, dedicating their bodies to God.

“I could only watch.”

The clergy, the nuns.

Among them, offering the most righteous-hearted saint as a sacrifice.

“Betraying them, defiling their faith… convincing myself that it was all a trial and the only path for everyone was all I, who hadn’t taken the path of beasts, could do!”

How much had she been tested by the powerlessness that resulted?

How much had that powerlessness gnawed at her mind when she offered her faithful followers to these corrupted beings?

“You came to me as light.”

So she must have easily fallen to temptation.

Unlike her God who didn’t respond to prayers, the demon who appeared before her as a tangible entity must have seemed more radiant.

“It was through you that we could use those foolish, arrogant leeches as sacrifices to create God’s flesh, and that the pitiful child who had been constantly mocked by them could become God’s messenger and bestow miracles upon everyone!”

Such expectations eventually became reality, elevating the demon’s deeds to miracles.

By secretly injecting the magic of temptation into the saint who was offered as a sacrifice to the True Ancestors visiting the sanctuary for their usual feast, giving her an “endless appetite.”

By making them continue their act of consumption even as they melted into lumps of flesh due to their innate immortality, still craving the saint’s blood that had permeated them.

“And it was through you that we gained the power to resist those beasts who had lost their humanity and begun to invade their homeland!!”

And the Beastmen who subsequently invaded the sanctuary must have served as the most effective propaganda tool to share this miracle with everyone in the sanctuary.

After all, eliminating the powers that had been defiling humanity and the church was itself worthy of being called a miracle.

If such a miracle could also eliminate the imminent danger, it could rightfully be interpreted as salvation for all of humanity.

“All of this was possible because Lady Friga sent you to me!!!!”

That was the salvation sought by Martina, who had fallen to the demon’s temptation.

The incitement of a Pope driven mad by powerlessness had ultimately given birth to a terrible calamity that should never have existed in the world.

“Oh, Angel, Angel! You are our savior! Tell me what more I must do to save even more people!”

Without even such awareness, Martina fervently expressed only the ecstasy she felt in this moment.

The emotion drawn behind her veil was clearly expectation of salvation.

Having already experienced a miracle, she believed without doubt that her expectation would soon be fulfilled.

“Ah, how annoying.”

But as a Demon Tribe member born to look down on others’ dignity, the response was predictable.

-Slash!

As the tail imbued with magical power swung, her head flew off, and her powerless body slumped to the ground.

But the demon didn’t even mock her. He merely found the blood dirtying his tail distasteful.

“Regardless of which world, religious types are easy to exploit, but if you realized you were being deceived, you should have known to get out. Angel this, savior that… It’s absolutely sickening.”

“Aaaaaahhh!!”

Francesca, finally losing her reason, charged at him.

But physical attacks don’t work on a succubus. The threads she whipped around in all directions passed through empty air, and a pleased smile formed on Yasmo’s face as he no longer even bothered to dodge.

“What’s wrong, darling~? You’re overreacting just because one old hag died. Were you acquainted with her?”

“She was just someone who wanted salvation! Someone who just wanted to escape her suffering!!”

Though they had never met before, Francesca could clearly feel the pain and desperation from her previous prayers despite being strangers.

She had sought power for salvation, dabbled in evil, betrayed colleagues who had lost their human form, bowed to otherworldly beings, betrayed followers who trusted her, and ultimately placed her hopes in a demon…

“To use someone like that for your own purposes and then reduce them to this…!”

The being who had turned the Pope and her followers into monstrosities that were neither alive nor dead was right in front of her.

Moreover, since this being was otherworldly, she needn’t feel guilty about killing it like the other monsters she had slain, so how could she maintain composure in this moment?

“What a strange thing to say… I didn’t create this entire situation, yet you speak as if I’m solely responsible.”

“Nonsense…!”

“Nonsense? Not at all~ I’m being completely serious~”

Though his voice lacked any gravity, there was no lie in his words.

Rather, he found it so obvious that he didn’t feel the need to emphasize it.

“This world was already broken beyond repair without anyone’s intervention. Among those living in such a world, no one can claim to be free of sin or evil.”

“No. If beings like you hadn’t existed, the people of this land would have…”

“Haha~ They would have remained virtuous to the end? So what were the humans of this world doing when beings like us Demon Tribe weren’t around?”

They fought and quarreled with each other.

Yasmo, having traversed countless dimensions and waged wars, knew well that this was the fate of intelligent beings who became the masters of their world.

“If there were no Demon Tribe, if corpses didn’t rise, if vampires didn’t exist, everything would have been clean. Everything would have been fine… That’s too much to claim when the human race itself is rotten from birth.”

“T-That’s…”

“Look even now. I may have tempted only one old hag, but in the end, it was the choice of everyone in this land to fall for her incitement.”

It was sophistry. It’s illogical for the perpetrator who created the situation to argue that someone who committed adultery when cornered is responsible.

But Francesca ultimately couldn’t voice this.

Was it because she felt persuaded by the logic of the being before her?

“Let’s acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged. Humans, demons, beasts, and those disgusting lumps of flesh over there… In the end, no one can be singled out as the cause; they’re all just ‘parts’ participating in the chaos.”

No, she was just slow to understand, but she felt her comprehension of the “demon” before her increasing.

Demons are beings designed from their very nature to feel no guilt. Yet they are a race that understands better than anyone the concept of sin that others speak of.

“With so many such beings existing in the world, it’s no wonder the whole world is falling apart. Unless one had absolute power like the Demon Lord…”

That’s why they worship power.

Because they don’t feel guilt, yet find the sins that others speak of annoying.

They admire beings with absolute power that aren’t governed by the logic of good and evil.

“…Coincidentally, those creatures are at a level that’s embarrassingly inadequate to be considered the Demon Lord’s match. So isn’t it better to clean them up before they throw cold water on the ‘New Era’ they’re singing about, for the sake of the Demon Lord and that child?”

Even if the object of their admiration can no longer fulfill their expectations, if they cannot find another being that makes them feel more than what that person achieved, their obsession will inevitably return to the past.

“Is that… your purpose?”

Yes, even if she left her position as one of the Four Heavenly Kings, her nature is still that of a race that worships power.

Everything she does culminates in reviving the bored Demon Lord, and for that purpose, she would feel no guilt for whatever she does, no matter what it is.

“For the Demon Lord’s army… for the Demon Lord, all of this…”

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? I’m just a part of it all.”

The former Four Heavenly King of the Demon Lord’s army, who nonetheless still harbors loyalty to an irreplaceable being, smiled nonchalantly as if teaching her this realization.

“Of course, I thought that perhaps the end result might stimulate the Demon Lord…”

Her half-closed eyes then turned toward the group of vampires still focused only on devouring their own bodies, intoxicated by her magic…

And then began to move indifferently toward the severed head rolling in front of them.

“…Well, things usually end with such trivial results.”

No matter how many hideous monsters with mere immortality are created, no matter how large they grow, it would be impossible to stimulate her lord.

“Ah, aah. Angel, Angeeel…!”

Despite this disappointment, the Pope’s severed head tried to prove her faith.

As if it were divine providence that her severed head had landed near the lump of flesh still spewing “holy water” even at this moment.

“I see, this is your guidance. If this is your will, I shall follow. I shall follow…!!”

Beginning with her opened mouth devouring the melting flesh, all the greedy vampire mouths sprouting from the flesh mass began moving toward that spot.

The moment the intense power emitted by a body successfully integrated with witch research mixed with the blood of beings from another world worthy of being called “gods”…

“I shall become God’s vessel myself! I shall directly receive Lady Friga!! By devouring all calamities of this land and bestowing your miracles upon the pitiful lambs of this land!!!”

With a monstrous cry, the huge lump of monstrosity grew larger.

Facing its gaping maw, a small sense of despair began to leak from the automaton’s lips.

“Why…”

“Why does this world… force such a cruel fate upon me who is satisfied with simply loving?”

Followers who don’t recognize their own god and instead cry out for salvation to a demon.

What a ridiculous tragedy is this?