Ch.252Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

After about 10 minutes, Lucia, who had briefly stepped out, returned to the room with a priest. It was Archbishop Theodosius, who was staying at St. Basil’s Cathedral.

The seasoned clergyman, who had once taught Lucia—now a saint of the church—carefully examined the wounds on my body.

“Hmm…”

Archbishop Theodosius spoke with a rather grave expression.

“The wound is less than a day old… yet the surrounding skin is already necrotizing. This is similar to what the Inquisitors have been experiencing.”

Lucia, who had been observing the situation from a step back, looked at the Archbishop with concerned eyes.

“…After hearing the circumstances, I have some suspicions. What do you think, Your Eminence?”

“If you remember the lessons you diligently attended, your suspicions are likely correct.”

A faint sigh, almost a lament, escaped from Lucia’s lips. Archbishop Theodosius delivered his diagnosis in a serious voice.

“This involves a demon.”

Episode 12 – The Most Powerful Mage in History

A room in St. Basil’s Cathedral. Three people gathered in a secluded corner where neither the faithful nor other clergy would see them.

Archbishop Theodosius, who oversees all archbishops; Lucia, who was awaiting her canonization ceremony; and lastly, myself.

As Lucia tended to my festering wound with clean cloths dampened with holy water, she explained the situation.

“Based on the characteristics of the monk you described and the surrounding circumstances, Archbishop Theodosius and I have analyzed the situation.”

The smell of death emanating from a living person,

The strong fragrance used to mask the odor,

Sensitivity to holiness enough to notice even faint divine power,

Remaining unscathed despite the Inquisitors’ attacks,

And the strength to kill an Inquisitor with a single blow.

After considering all these factors, Lucia reached this conclusion:

“We believe a demon is involved.”

“……”

Lucia, still examining my wound, turned to Archbishop Theodosius.

“Since you mentioned smelling a strong corpse-like odor when he opened his mouth, I think he’s likely a demon-possessed person. What do you think, Your Eminence?”

“The smell of decay is indeed one characteristic of the demon-possessed, so it’s not far-fetched… but…”

The Archbishop closed his eyes slightly and nodded slowly.

“There are aspects that don’t quite fit with a typical possession case. Perhaps… this person might not be demon-possessed but a necromancer.”

Lucia and Archbishop Theodosius continued their conversation with rather serious expressions.

Lucia, who usually wore a smile, occasionally frowned during their exchange, while Archbishop Theodosius, whom I hadn’t seen often but who typically acted jovial, maintained an expressionless face.

“If he were a necromancer, the Inquisitors wouldn’t have been defeated so thoroughly, Your Eminence.”

“It’s entirely possible if the sorcerer has been consumed by a demon. Even exorcist priests occasionally witness such situations, Saint.”

“I see…”

The two continued their conversation in a grave atmosphere. Meanwhile, I listened to their exchange without understanding what was happening.

Finally, lying on the bed wearing only pants, I interjected with a strained voice.

“Excuse me, but what are you talking about…? What’s all this about demons, and why are we suddenly discussing necromancers?”

Lucia, who had been cleaning my wound with the cloth, began to explain.

“As I mentioned earlier, considering the monk’s characteristics and the circumstances, it appears a demon is involved in this incident.”

“No, I understand that part, but specifically how…?”

“Ah, regarding that…”

Lucia calmly presented evidence that a demon was involved in this situation.

First, the smell.

“A putrid, decaying odor coming from a living person is characteristic of those possessed by demons. In the church, we call such possessed individuals ‘demon vessels.’ Because it’s winter, the smell might not be noticeable outdoors, but indoors it’s impossible to hide such a stench, which is why they likely burned strong incense as a temporary measure.”

Second, the sensitivity.

“Demon vessels generally react sensitively to holy objects. They respond not only to religious symbols like crosses or religious paintings but sometimes even to objects with similar shapes. That’s why he could detect the faint holiness in your amulet.”

Third, the strength.

“Finally, considering that he survived the Inquisitors’ attacks with a human body without major injuries, and then killed the Inquisitors in that state—the monk you described is highly likely to be possessed by a demon.”

Lucia added an ambiguous afterthought, trailing off.

“Of course, this is still just a hypothesis, not a certainty…”

“……”

“Causing wounds to rot and exerting an intangible force to prevent people from escaping are typically characteristics often seen in demonic or necromantic black magic.”

Demon, demon vessel, necromancer—all unfamiliar terms to me.

Talk of demon possession and spiritual inhabitation honestly seemed unrealistic to me as someone who didn’t believe in religion, but that didn’t mean I disbelieved Lucia and the Archbishop. While I might not know about demon vessels, I had heard about necromancers a few times during my work as an assistant to the counterintelligence director.

But whether it was demons or necromancers, my head was too muddled to think about such things now.

The wound on my upper body was not only rotting but causing tremendous pain. Unable to do anything, I just lay in bed, breathing softly and staring at the ceiling.

As I was being tossed about by waves of information coming at me relentlessly since opening my eyes, Archbishop Theodosius, who had been carefully observing my wound since entering the room, stepped forward to summarize the situation.

“The wound isn’t healing at all. It seems that monk’s power is stronger than we imagined. I believe we should inform His Holiness the Pope, Inquisition Chief Peter, and Saint Veronica of this fact. Since time is of the essence, I’ll do it personally.”

“Would you do that for us?”

“It’s my duty.”

“Thank you, Your Eminence.”

Lucia bowed to Archbishop Theodosius. By rank, Lucia, as a saint, shouldn’t have bowed to him, but since they had met as teacher and student at the theological university, this seemed to be an exception.

After respectfully greeting Lucia, the Archbishop rose from his seat and said to her:

“Meanwhile, Saint, please take care of our brother. Judging by his current state, his healing cannot be entrusted to any other priest.”

Archbishop Theodosius continued in a calm tone.

“If these wounds were indeed inflicted by a demon or necromancer, they cannot be healed with the holiness or holy water of an ordinary priest. The current necrosis of the skin confirms this.”

Lucia asked with evident concern:

“Is there… no way?”

“I can’t be certain. We’ll need to search among the holy relics kept by the church for something capable of healing wounds inflicted by demons… But one thing is certain: Saint Lucia’s holiness, while perhaps unable to completely heal the wounds, can at least prevent them from worsening.”

“……”

“Two days should suffice, Saint. It will take about two days to transport and autopsy the Inquisitors’ bodies. After that, the State Council will send what’s needed for our brother’s recovery.”

“…I understand.”

Having finished speaking, the Archbishop made a small sign of the cross and left the room.

*

As the Archbishop had said, he sent word to the church before dawn. Simple documents about the incident in the north and the bodies of the four Inquisitors were sent back to their home country through the embassy.

And the church was thrown into turmoil.

The Inquisitors were carefully selected employees within the Inquisition, especially since they were dispatched to an area with demon conflicts. Yet overnight, four Inquisitors had returned as corpses.

I wasn’t sure about the exact internal situation, but from what Lucia said, there seemed to be much debate within the church. The Pope directed Peter to investigate, and the Inquisition decided to conduct its own investigation and autopsy.

At this point, I was certain that imperial intelligence agencies, including the Imperial Guard, would have caught wind of this.

They might not know the exact truth, but they likely had obtained fragmentary information that the Inquisition had independently carried out an operation in the north, resulting in the deaths of four Inquisitors.

But I couldn’t go to the embassy or hotel to gather information, nor could I meet with Priestess Rebecca to conceal the truth.

“Urgh…”

Despite the sun being high in the sky, I still couldn’t leave the bed. It was impossible.

The wounds on my chest and stomach were painful enough on their own, and any slight movement of my muscles brought waves of excruciating pain. The bigger problem was that the wounds were actively rotting in real time.

I hadn’t noticed when I first woke up, but now the pain was so severe I thought I might die from shock.

Lucia nursed me as I lay there, unable to do anything. She carefully cleaned my wounds with cloths soaked in holy water and brought me water to take antibiotics and painkillers. Of course, they had little effect.

She meticulously tended to my wounds, sharing knowledge from unknown sources.

“The first few days are critical with wounds inflicted by demons and necromancers. Tomorrow will be more painful than today, and the day after even worse. I had planned to give you a detailed explanation today, but…”

After alternately examining my wound and contorted face, Lucia sighed deeply.

“You’re clearly in no condition to listen. Perhaps you should take a sleeping pill and rest for today?”

“…No.”

“Then there’s no helping it.”

Lucia, who had been offering sleeping pills, put down the water cup and pills and sighed.

Thud. While staring at the ceiling, I heard something fall to the floor.

At the edge of my vision, Lucia’s head appeared and disappeared repeatedly. After busily moving around doing something, she lifted the blanket slightly and climbed onto the bed.

Then, summoning her holy power, she murmured softly:

“It will take quite a long time for the wound to heal. Of course, it won’t heal completely—this will only prevent it from getting worse.”

“Even maintaining… the current state would be good.”

I barely managed to reply, and Lucia silently began to heal my wounds.