It’s Not My Fault, So I Have No Reason to Suffer (6)

The night with the red moon rising seemed to be punctuated by screams.

Silent screams, they would perfectly depict this scene.

The moonlight shouldn’t be red, but it truly was. The moonlight, unable to overcome the red and black demonic energy emitted by Yona, was dyed with the color of that energy as it fell to the ground. And in the midst of that, only Bigrind’s desperately pleading incantations emitted a golden radiance.

There seemed to be two demons here. Yona, standing proudly and looking down on her surroundings, was emitting demonic energy so thick it was indistinguishable from that of a demon, and a snake coiled around her, surveying the surrounding holy knights with a look of contempt.

Bigrind was so overwhelmed by this sight that she could barely breathe. This wasn’t limited to Bigrind, but extended to Rudvik as well. In this situation where two beings ‘descending’ and emitting such overwhelming demonic energy, which was antithetical to those with holy power—

“I’ll say this one last time.”

Yona took a slow step forward. Berbaria, who had been coiling around her, moved slightly in sync with her steps, as if to ensure her movements weren’t hindered. It was as if it was personally considering the steps of a being that was extremely important and precious.

“Give Alec back.”

The strange and ominous light originated from Yona’s eyes.

An orange glow burned, gleaming and sometimes flashing brightly.

“This isn’t a suggestion— don’t misunderstand.”

Every time Yona’s lips moved, dark red demonic energy rose up.

While emitting this demonic energy, Yona continued to look around.

—Then suddenly, Yona’s gaze stopped at one spot.

The moment those eyes emitting an ominous light seemed to stop.

Her two eyes grew as large as they could possibly be—

“A-Al… Al, Al… Ale… Ale—”

She thought it was just something crumpled in the corner.

It was so severely damaged that it was unrecognizable,

Something Yona wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t looked carefully.

Yona’s hands were trembling.

Slowly raising her hands that couldn’t stay still for a moment, Yona covered her face.

Her ice-cold hands didn’t even feel human body temperature.

“Ah, uh, uh, aah, uh—”

A string of unfinished words flowed from Yona’s mouth without any context.

Like blood flowing out, those words flowing from Yona’s mouth finally began to take shape.

“Al, Alec… Alec, Aleeeeeeeec—————!!!!!”

Kwagwagwagwagwang!!!!

With a thunderous roar, a storm rose from beneath Yona’s feet.

As if to show that everything until now had been a joke, the black and red demonic energy raged as if to fill this entire courtroom.

Broken and shattered fragments flew about in that momentum.

“Saint, it’s dangerous!”

Rudvik approached Bigrind’s side, deflecting fragments with his spear.

Bigrind was sweating profusely.

The golden radiance emanating from around her was now exerting physical force to block the flying fragments,

And within its radius, many holy knights including the Pope were being protected.

“Yona, stop—! Stop it, stop—!!!”

Bigrind shouted loudly.

She couldn’t let Yona commit any more sins.

How, how should she…

“I’ll try to stop her…!”

Rudvik, holding his spear askew.

Bigrind unconsciously grabbed his wrist.

“Saint…?”

“No, you can’t. You can’t, you can’t…”

Bigrind shook her head, looking at Rudvik with an expression on the verge of tears.

They shouldn’t think about charging in here.

For some reason, Yona had literally become a demon, and now even the Pope, along with these holy knights, didn’t dare to approach.

In this situation, Rudvik, who couldn’t even properly face Berbaria’s avatar despite being the Hero.

If he were to rush at Yona, Bigrind— she could almost see the future.

Now, only Bigrind could do it.

Only holy power could stand against demonic energy.

Only holy power could pierce through that demonic energy.

Bigrind bit her lip.

“Move aside, Bigrind.”

Yona spoke as if spitting the words, glaring at Bigrind who stood blocking her way.

At that quiet yet low voice filled with power, Bigrind felt her knees weaken.

“No, Yona. I’ll heal Alec. Calm down.”

“Shut up, Bigrind. I’ll heal Alec. So move aside.”

“Yona…!”

Golden radiance burst forth from Bigrind even more intensely.

Her holy power was rapidly depleting.

Although she was said to excel in the amount of holy power even in Evian, at this rate of frenzied emission, its limit was clear.

“I told you to move.”

“Yona, come to your senses…! You, you weren’t this kind of person…!”

“You, made me, like this—————!!! Not just me!! Alec too!!! I told you to move before I kill you——!!”

Kwagwang!

The surging demonic energy struck down at the radiance with force.

The demonic energy rising from Yona’s mouth began to take on an even deeper red hue,

And Bigrind, facing off against it and blocking the demonic energy, was trembling uncontrollably.

“Move, Bigrind————!!!!”

The force of the demonic energy pressing down on the radiance grew even stronger.

The golden radiance was gradually fading in color,

And Bigrind’s consciousness seemed to be slipping away.

As if all of this was a dream, becoming hazy—

“Saint—!”

With a shout, the Hero rushed in.

Under the blessing emanating from his spear, the Hero barely managed to rush in and catch Bigrind who was about to collapse.

“…Have mercy. Miss Yona.”

Looking at Rudvik’s face, Yona gave no answer.

Taking that silence as tacit permission, Rudvik soon nodded with a heavy expression,

And hurriedly left the place, holding Bigrind in his arms.

Now that the hindrance was gone.

Yona slowly approached Alec one step at a time.

With each of her steps, the ground, unable to withstand the demonic energy, caved in and cracked, creating more fragments.

“Alec… wh-why… why, why…”

Yona knelt in front of Alec and reached out with her trembling hand towards Alec—

“What should I do, how should I… how should I…”

Meanwhile, one of the holy knights charged at Yona’s back, wielding a morning star.

The silver morning star flew towards the back of Yona’s head with its spikes gleaming ominously, and just as those spikes were about to pierce the back of her head—

Yona’s demonic energy entwined the holy knight on its own.

The undulating demonic energy, as if possessing its own will, began to entangle and press down on the holy knight charging at its master,

And the holy power the holy knight had been emitting vanished futilely like a mere mirage before Yona’s demonic energy.

“Kuk, keuk… Kuk!”

The demonic energy twisted and constricted not just the holy knight’s wrists and ankles, but his entire body.

And within that demonic energy—

Do not interfere.

One of Berbaria’s heads bit into that holy knight.

Berbaria opened its mouth wide, and its teeth mercilessly crushed the armor and began to chew on the holy knight’s body.

Agonizing screams echoed.

After the sound of chewing the armor over and over again, the holy knight disappeared into Berbaria’s mouth.

Meanwhile, Yona’s hands embraced Alec.

There wasn’t a single uninjured spot.

His face, covered in wounds and swollen all over, was so terrible it was hard to recognize his form, and his entire body was full of torture marks.

Moreover, large nails as big as hammers were driven into both his thighs, making it clear he wouldn’t be able to walk properly.

Even his wrists had iron chains—

“That man is a criminal, put him down at once. You wicked apostate.”

Scarlet was glaring at her.

“…Apostate? Are you talking about me?”

Yona’s gaze turned to Scarlet.

The emitting demonic energy was undulating as if dancing, and after seeing the terrible death of the holy knight just now, the other holy knights didn’t dare to rush in recklessly and were watching the situation.

Amidst all this, only Scarlet stood firm, glaring at her.

“That’s right… filthy apostate. Your courage to come this far to find your companion is admirable, but this will be the grave for you apostates.”

“…Did you do this to Alec?”

Yona wasn’t listening to whatever Scarlet was spouting, not even with half an ear.

Rather, the only important thing was that these iron chains binding Alec’s wrists were held in Scarlet’s hand.

“You should be grateful that it stopped at that for an apostate. Don’t worry, you too will end up in the same state.”

“So you’re saying you did this.”

Yona gently laid Alec down and slowly stood up.

Even as she did so, demonic energy was raging all over her body, and her orange eyes, as ominous as that demonic energy, flashed as she glared at Scarlet.

“Let go of that chain.”

As Yona spoke, Scarlet yanked the chain hard.

This caused Alec, who was lying unconscious, to groan softly and stir, and seeing this, the fire in Yona’s eyes burned even more fiercely.

“Let go before I kill you.”

“I cannot release an apostate.”

“I see.”

With her mouth closed, Yona nodded.

Then, the demonic energy undulating around Yona rose up as if dancing—

In the midst of the demonic energy rising as if to burn everything, a black snake stretched out with a hissing sound.

“Kuk?!”

The snake, clearly smaller than Berbaria, lunged straight for Scarlet’s head with its stretching momentum.

As the snake coiled tightly around Scarlet’s helmet like wrapping around it, Scarlet unconsciously let go of the chain and kept pulling at the snake with her hands, trying to remove it.

But it seemed to have extraordinary strength, and Scarlet’s hands merely slipped off the snake’s skin futilely—

Eventually, with a crushing sound, the helmet became a piece of scrap metal and fell off, rolling on the ground.

Then Scarlet also rolled on the ground, writhing in pain.

“Aaaaaargh! Aah, aaaargh!”

Scarlet’s screams burst out.

It didn’t stop there.

The snake, not content with crushing Scarlet’s helmet, wrapped around both her arms and lifted them.

Ttududuk.

The armor on both arms was miserably crushed.

The holy power that had been filling the crushed armor gushed out as pale steam.

Yona was staring at this scene with a cold gaze.

A cold gaze without even a shred of mercy was directed at Scarlet.

Ttuduk.

“Kyaaaaaaargh!”

A shrill scream echoed.

There was a sound of both arms breaking at the shoulders and elbows, and then the snake moved to the legs—

Ttuduk.

Along with the sound of bones breaking, Scarlet’s agonizing screams echoed.

Pain that seemed like it would burn her mind white.

Scarlet was screaming in pain so much that she gritted her teeth, not realizing her own teeth were crumbling.

Only after both arms and legs were completely broken did Yona move the snake to her neck.

Yona was intending to strangle her to death right there.

Clang…

With a metallic sound, the armor Scarlet had been wearing rolled on the ground.

Emerging from inside, a girl with a body ridiculously small compared to the armor.

What popped out of the armor that had boasted a huge build was a girl not much different in size even compared to Bigrind.

“……”

Seeing this, Yona called back the snake.

At that appearance reminiscent of Bigrind, she ultimately couldn’t deliver the final blow.

Considering the pain inflicted on Alec, killing her a hundred times wouldn’t be enough.

But at that appearance similar to Bigrind’s, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

‘…I still haven’t completely abandoned everything, it seems…’

When she abandoned her clergy,

And when she saw Alec’s condition.

She thought she wouldn’t show any human compassion anymore.

But it seemed she still couldn’t, not yet.

“…Be grateful Alec is still alive.”

With a final cold gaze, Yona turned away from Scarlet who was rolling on the ground, writhing in pain.

If she were to kill her it would be one thing, but if she was going to let her live— this much should be enough to prevent her from charging in again.

If she dares to charge in again, not knowing her place, then she’ll really kill her next time.

Thinking this, Yona approached Alec again and knelt in front of him.

“…I’m sorry, Alec. Because of me. Because of me… for making you suffer so much, I’m truly sorry, Alec.”

Yona raised her right hand.

Her right arm, which had always been wrapped in sacred cloth, now had nothing, no sacred cloth or anything else.

Her bare right arm was revealed.

Instead of pale white skin, it was covered entirely in black letters.

With that right hand, Yona examined Alec’s body.

The most urgent matter was, of course, the large nails driven into his thighs.

Yona took a deep breath and gently grasped the nail in his thigh.

“Kuuuuugh…!”

A groan escaped from Alec even in his unconscious state.

Tears also fell from Yona’s eyes in drops.

Could she imagine this terrible pain?

Yona found it hard to accept the fact that Alec had suffered so much because of her, who was nothing.

“…Alec, you and I… we had no reason to end up like this. No one could say we did anything wrong. So, please bear with it for a little longer.”

The nail slowly began to be pulled out.

The specially treated nail didn’t cause blood to flow even as it was pulled out, but instead, Yona’s tears flowed endlessly over it.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… Alec, I’m sorry…”

After throwing away the nails pulled from both thighs carelessly, Yona’s hands traced over Alec’s entire body.

And when they reached around his lower abdomen, something she hadn’t felt until now caught her touch.

Something like a solid membrane.

Something firmly encasing Alec’s lower abdomen.

Something that seemed to be confining Alec’s holy power inside.

‘This is…’

Unconsciously, Yona grasped that membrane tightly.

The holy power flowing from her touch was different from that of the Celestial God, and the two conflicting natures of holy power collided.

But Yona’s holy power overwhelmed it, and finally, that membrane cracked with a sharp sensation in Yona’s grasp and ultimately shattered completely.

At that moment.

Light burst forth from Alec’s unconscious body,

Enveloping his body.

A radiance like white jade.

With a breaking sound, whatever had been sealing Alec’s lower abdomen burst open,

And that light, as if the power suppressed within was regaining its luster.

When that light finally subsided,

Alec’s appearance had changed.

Yona’s gaze surveyed Alec, unable to hide her surprise.

His baldness, which could have been called his trademark, had completely disappeared.

While his appearance remained the same, jet-black hair now fully covered his head.

And Scarlet, who witnessed this sight, opened her eyes wide—

Then slowly closed them.