Vampire, Arrival (3)

Despite it clearly being daytime, the surroundings were dyed pitch black.

Although visibility wasn’t obscured due to the red light glowing here and there, it was nonetheless extremely ominous because of that red light.

Damian, standing in front of the altar, lightly flicked his finger.

-Grrrung…

With the sound of the earth splitting, a massive throne revealed itself.

The backrest was particularly high, and the throne was so large that it seemed one could not only sit but even lie down on it.

However, this throne wasn’t made of wood or the like.

“This guy is completely insane…”

Yona muttered upon seeing the throne.

Not a throne made of wood or stone, or gold, or precious metals, but a throne where red liquid sloshed about within transparency.

The red liquid filling that throne was undoubtedly blood, and it was disgusting just to look at.

“Yona…!”

“…Are you hurt?”

Bigrind, who had finished checking on the cathedral knights and even healed those who were injured, approached and called out to Yona.

The demonic energy that Yona was raising and the golden radiance that Bigrind was emitting clashed with crackling sounds, repelling each other’s energies, but the two Saints didn’t seem to particularly mind as they approached each other closely and faced one another.

“I’m fine. But the Hero, the Hero was absorbed by that black giant.”

“…Tch.”

What a half-wit.

Calling himself a hero, what on earth is he doing?

She thought this, but she couldn’t voice it out loud.

But regardless of black giants or whatever, Yona wasn’t particularly worried.

Berbaria would handle that black giant without much problem—

-Kwakwaang—!

Startled by the sudden thunderous noise, Yona looked ahead.

The black giant was standing tall, and Berbaria was tumbling on the ground.

Berbaria, who was originally a snake and thus had a long body.

That Berbaria was tumbling on the ground, unable to properly control his body.

Looking closely, a large spear was deeply embedded in his body, and with each tumble, the spear dug in even deeper.

“…Be-Berbaria—?!”

Yona’s eyes widened.

And at the same time, the black giant pounced on Berbaria.

The black giant grabbed Berbaria, who was tumbling on the ground unable to properly control his body.

【Kruruaaa——!!】

Berbaria screamed with a bizarre sound.

It was an incomprehensible, utterly unfathomable situation, but it was happening right before her eyes.

Dark red demonic energy began to swirl around Yona.

Demonic energy more fierce and wild than Bigrind’s holy power began to swirl around her.

As Bigrind stepped back a few steps, unable to withstand the storm of such demonic energy, Yona glanced at her from the corner of her eye.

“…Big, take care of the knights. I’ll handle Berbaria myself.”

Whether holy power or demonic energy, if you consider it, their origins were the same.

That which was like a blessing said to be bestowed by a god.

The only difference was which god bestowed it.

The difference in how that god was perceived by humans.

In the human world protected by the Celestial God, it was holy power,

In the demon realm protected by the Evil God, it was demonic energy.

Yona’s demonic energy had beneficial effects on the inhabitants of the demon realm, but it wasn’t entirely beneficial to the inhabitants of the human world.

Bigrind’s holy power had beneficial effects on the inhabitants of the human world, but it also wasn’t entirely beneficial to the inhabitants of the demon realm.

That was the only difference.

That’s why Yona couldn’t heal those cathedral knights.

She could heal them if she tried — but if they received healing from her, their bodies would become such that they couldn’t be properly healed without demonic energy afterwards, which would be more like a curse to them.

The demonic energy rising from Yona’s entire body became a single intense wind and headed towards Berbaria.

The demonic energy seeped into Berbaria, who was being held by the black giant and screaming in pain.

Then, the black blood that had been flowing from his entire body began to stop, and the wounds inflicted by the black giant were rapidly healing.

Damian was quietly watching this scene.

Gloomy, or expressionless, or strangely smiling.

On Damian’s face, which had only shown such expressions, there was now a slight hint of surprise.

“—You call yourself a Saint, and you’re quite something.”

Regardless of whether Damian said this or not.

Yona took a few steps closer to Damian.

Yona’s goal was the subjugation of the demon Grand Dukes.

And this Damian in front of her was one of those demon Grand Dukes, a unique being who had become a demon Grand Duke with a human body.

Conversely, it also meant he was that strong of a human.

So Yona wanted to subjugate Damian without killing him if possible.

“I won’t talk long. Submit to me.”

Demonic energy rising from Yona’s entire body.

Even from her mouth, demonic energy flowed out and rose like smoke.

While continuously sending demonic energy to Berbaria, Yona glared at Damian.

Meeting her gaze head-on, Damian, seated on the throne, crossed his legs and smiled.

“I have lived for hundreds of years. I have lived for a time that might not even be fully counted in hundreds of years. During that time, I have lived only wishing for death. For me, who has spent such a long, long time, to be told to submit by a greenhorn who has just become a Saint — it’s truly not even laughable.”

Seated on the throne, Damian slowly raised his right hand.

With a snap of his fingers, a red circle appeared on the ground that had been entirely black, and—

From there, an unidentifiable black shadow began to creep up.

“A king does not fight directly. Those who serve the king fight. Would you like to face them? It should be enough for entertainment.”

Damian smiled at Yona and spoke as if whispering.

If it had been only Yona and Bigrind, they would have already been in trouble.

Indeed, it was so.

Bigrind, who had no power to fight on her own, and Yona, who could fight using Berbaria’s power.

But even Yona’s power was useless in front of Damian, who was far stronger than Berbaria.

Yona had to protect Berbaria,

And Bigrind had to support and protect the cathedral knights.

“Spread out and block them—!”

“The Saint is with us! Block them!”

“Don’t be pushed back!”

“Push them back! Push them—!”

The cathedral knights were fighting well.

Above the heads of these cathedral knights, several types of magic including fireballs were being fired indiscriminately, and this magic was being cast by none other than Ceres.

‘Unnecessarily dragging this out… It would be good to end this quickly.’

Ceres managed her expression while trying to suppress the rising irritation inside her.

Her fingers were constantly drawing magical circuits, and with her other hand, she was activating those circuits by striking down in the center.

Each time she did this, red fireballs and deep purple lightning scattered, turning the undead into ashes.

‘This has gotten bigger than expected.’

It was unexpected from the start that Yona barged in like this.

Ceres had thought that Yona had already headed towards Lukasia, and she had planned to deal with the Saint in the meantime.

Without Yona, there would be no one who could stop Damian.

The stupid Hero who didn’t know what Damian’s minions were had already been eaten by the minions, so the Saint who couldn’t fight alone would undoubtedly meet her death at Damian’s hands.

And if Damian, who had eaten the Saint, also died, if Yona couldn’t absorb Damian, then Yona wouldn’t be able to become a proper Saint of the demon realm.

And that was what Ceres was aiming for.

A Saint who comes infinitely close to the False Celestial God but falls one step short.

That was Ceres’s goal.

She had only been catering to the whims of those seven Grand Duke nobodies for this one purpose.

But at this rate, even Yona might end up being killed by Damian.

That wasn’t what Ceres had intended either.

‘Alebiang…!’

The Observer, Alebiang.

She hadn’t received any message from her.

Ceres’s plan, who was called the Instigator or Designer, necessarily required mutual cooperation with Alebiang, but Alebiang hadn’t informed her that Yona was returning to Evian, so Ceres hadn’t even thought that Yona would appear here.

‘What should I do… Should I make Damian retreat?’

Yona mustn’t die here.

Even though the balance has already tilted after being abandoned in indifference for a long time, the demon realm hasn’t overlapped this human world thanks to the Celestial God somehow managing it.

And because of that, it’s been quite a while since the Celestial God showed himself in this human world, and after briefly appearing in Marlen and Evian to appoint the Hero and the Saint, the Celestial God disappeared again.

The Celestial God who doesn’t show himself, and because of that, the Celestine Church that has started to decay, split into factions.

If the Saint meets her death there, and the Hero dies too, and even then the Celestial God doesn’t show himself.

The human world would undoubtedly reach the end of that decay and self-destruct.

‘If only Yona wasn’t here…’

Ceres bit her lip hard.

She was utterly irritated as she glared at the back of Yona, who couldn’t even fight on her own yet was standing in front of Damian blocking his way.

And this scene, without even Ceres noticing, was being closely observed by Eize.