Lucifer, Guide of Evil – 6

As the palm collided with the floor, a thunderous roar and shockwave, as if shaking heaven and earth, spread out. The atmosphere instantly froze. It was so chilling, as if a fight could break out at any moment.

“Wait a moment, Pope.”

But no actual fight broke out. It was because Kaikilia had stopped the Popes.

“……For what reason are you doing so?”

“From my perspective, that thing has no intention of fighting at all. So you may rest assured.”

Kaikilia said so and lowered her Holy Sword. Floreta and Luna, though uncertain, slightly lowered the arms that had raised their Holy Relics, and Stella and Selene followed suit. The rest were last.

The result came out quickly.

It was just as she said. The hand covered in tree roots, disregarding the gazes fixed upon it, pressed its fingertips into the floor. The tips of its finger joints dug forcefully into the floor.

The fingers were pulled towards the distorted space, tearing up the floor. A *kwad-deu-deuk* sound was heard, and five long lines of marks were left behind.

Kaikilia with an indifferent expression, and the others with slightly surprised expressions, watched the sight. It felt exactly as if it were trying to escape from something.

“Is it… trying to escape from something?”

“That thought is likely correct, Pope of the Moon.”

Soon, the form beyond its forearm began to reveal itself.

Through the distorted space, a shoulder appeared, then a neck, then a face. All of them were covered in dark reddish-black tree roots, and on its face, there was nothing but a single eye.

The thing that showed its face surveyed the outside scenery with its single eye. Each time its pupil rotated, the tree roots bent and broke, making strange sounds.

Due to the horrible and repulsive aura felt just by its presence, several Holy Knights and Battle Nuns couldn’t endure it any longer and dry-heaved.

*Tong*, Floreta lightly tapped the floor with the tip of her Holy Relic. A golden curtain unfolded. Then, the dry-heaving heard from various places subsided.

What came after the nausea subsided was instinctive fear. The Battle Nuns and Holy Knights unconsciously raised their weapons, but seeing the Popes, they cautiously lowered them again.

The Popes simply watched the repulsive thing in silence.

Its fingers came out of the floor. The terribly torn-up floor and five thick lines were visible.

Then it struck the floor again, dug its fingers in, and pulled its body up. Its upper body was revealed even more. It was just about to reveal its left shoulder and the area around its ribs.

Now they could be certain. That thing was indeed escaping from something inside.

“Why do you have such surprised expressions?”

Kaikilia chuckled and opened her mouth.

“……Your Majesty, aren’t you surprised?”

“I will ask you in return. I clearly know who is inside there, so what reason is there to be surprised?”

“Ah.”

The Popes’ voices overlapped. Only then did their expressions melt away like snow in spring. Stella and Selene were similar. It was obvious how much the tension in their bodies had released.

That wicked thing covered in tree roots was flailing so wildly and noisily, that the others couldn’t hear it.

“That’s right. Honored Guest-nim was inside there. If it’s Honored Guest-nim, then of course they could do that. Our thoughts were shallow.”

Floreta spoke, and Luna nodded. Both of them understood very simply. If Honored Guest-nim was dealing with that thing, then it was only natural for it to run away like that upon seeing their power.

In contrast, Kaikilia, the one who had actually spoken, held a slight doubt. Delta didn’t have enough divine power to make the Demon King like that. At least, that’s how it seemed to Kaikilia.

Moreover, that thing, wasn’t its body at least twice as big as when she first saw it? Did he crush such a creature so much that it abandoned all pride and ran away?

‘What were you hiding, Delta? Power? Ability? Or something else?’

Kaikilia licked her lips with great delight. Another excellent point of interest had arisen. Indeed, there was never a dull moment when that man was by her side.

As Kaikilia was thinking such thoughts and smiling pleasantly, something alien was heard in her ear.

Soon after, from beyond the space the Demon King was trying to escape from, an enormous amount of divine power burst forth.

“This, what in the……!”

It was divine power strong enough to make even Floreta and Luna instinctively flinch. Kaikilia raised her Holy Sword. The Holy Sword itself was resonating wildly with the divine power that had just erupted.

The sun and moon attached to the tip of the Holy Relic were also the same. They shook so much that it felt like they might explode. Startled, Floreta and Luna gasped.

Since the Popes’ reactions were like this, the appearance of the others was obvious. Stella and Selene, the Battle Nuns, and the Holy Knights, without exception, knelt down, bowed their heads, and offered prayers.

It was because they felt they absolutely couldn’t endure it otherwise.

The Demon King’s reaction was also extraordinary. It glanced down at the space where its lower ribs were still inside, then desperately began to crawl forward.

It pressed its right arm into the floor, then its left arm into the floor, pulling its body up as it did so. Desperation was felt by everyone who watched.

Of course, it was all futile action. The speed at which its body was being sucked in grew faster and faster. The Demon King, perhaps in a final act of resistance, forcefully dug both its fingers into the floor, but that was all.

Because it was sucked in just like that.

The distorted space closed again. The brilliantly felt divine power disappeared, and only about ten long lines of marks remained on the floor.

Silence hung in the air. No one dared to speak easily.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

But the silence was brief.

Before Kaikilia, Floreta, and Luna could even open their mouths, the space twisted again, and along with the immense divine power that had just been felt, a man with a familiar face slowly walked out from within.

Holding a sword that was half gold and half silver in his right hand, with a face that seemed slightly emotional yet very complex, and dragging the head of the Demon King, severed from the neck, in his left hand.

A man with black hair, black eyes, and wearing a black uniform.

It was Delta.

“I’m here, Your Majes…… huh?”

Delta, who was about to greet Kaikilia directly in front of him, looked around with a bewildered expression.

Into his jet-black pupils, Stella and Selene, trembling and kneeling in prayer, likewise trembling and kneeling Battle Nuns and Holy Knights, and Floreta and Luna came into view.

“…….”

His jet-black eyes trembled slightly.

“So, the reason His Holiness the Popes have been doing that for a full day is because of you, Delta, right?”

“They told me not to worry, saying they’d somehow bring me to the Holy Kingdom and serve me as a saint.”

Rije, who was hugging me from behind, burst into laughter.

Laughter was heard from beside me too. It was Claudia. Erica had an incredulous expression, and Iris was fidgeting.

A little distance away, Aurora was also there, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, elegantly sipping tea, yet occasionally glancing this way. In fact, it was as if the entire old group had gathered.

“Then, His Majesty the Emperor and His Holiness the Popes are desperate to have this man, and I was the first to pick him. Aren’t I truly too good at judging people?”

“…….”

Rije, whose eyes met mine, giggled and pulled my head between her breasts. As my head burrowed into her cleavage, I felt a soft, squishy sensation on the back of my head.

The place I was in was the room of the Silver Dawn Knight Commander, and more precisely, Rije’s room. It was said that Knight Commanders each used their own private rooms.

Perhaps meaning they wouldn’t pay actual attention but would certainly take care of the treatment, despite being a private room, its size was considerable. Enough space remained even after all six of us entered.

Claudia, who had been smirking along with Rije while leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, approached my side. *Pulsseok*, she sat on the bed and pulled her body closer to me. The distance naturally narrowed.

“Wow. Our Delta, he’s a sinful man, isn’t he? Right?”

“My head is already aching to death, do you have to be like this too?”

“Did I say something wrong? His Holiness the Popes are protesting in front of the Audience chamber because of you, aren’t they?”

Claudia giggled and poked my cheek. It made me even angrier because there was nothing wrong with what she said.

After that incident, Floreta and Luna very strongly insisted on taking me to the Holy Kingdom. Kaikilia, of course, growled at them to stop talking nonsense.

When their dozens of claims were all rejected, they followed to the Imperial Palace and have been protesting in front of the Audience chamber, demanding to take me.

Of course, Kaikilia wouldn’t bat an eye at that. Thanks to that, it had been over a full day since I returned from hell, but my head was still complicated.

Minerva and the Silver Dawn Knight Commanders, and even Aurora, who had rushed over after hearing the news, at first jumped for joy at the fact that I had returned, but then made incredulous faces upon seeing the Popes acting like that.

And I was also one of the people who had an incredulous face.

“…….”

Forcefully ignoring the sensation of the back of my head being rubbed against her chest, I observed Aurora.

She seemed to be maintaining her composure somehow, but her trembling fingers clearly revealed that this was not the case.

“Don’t do that, if you’re going to come next to me, then come, Lord-nim.”

“Uh, uh-oh?”

As if she had never expected me to say such a thing, Aurora, startled and flustered, cleared her throat and subtly approached my side. It meant she wouldn’t refuse.

Aurora slightly lifted my right arm and draped it over her shoulder. Then she pressed her body close to me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

If Claudia, who merely sat beside me, was considered an exception, no one looked at me strangely despite me openly having two women clinging to me. In fact, it was even natural.

“Hey, Delta.”

Rije suddenly poked her head in from the side. Due to her overly large chest, her limit was only up to my shoulder.

“Why?”

I also slightly turned my head and looked at Rije.

“Isn’t the front empty?”

“Suddenly?”

“Originally, things like this need to be balanced. There’s someone behind, on the right, and on the left, so is it okay if there’s no one in front?”

“Huh? Me?”

Claudia, who had unknowingly become responsible for the left side, blinked, then, as if understanding the meaning, grinned and stuck to my side. Her entire body was incredibly hard, as if it were made of built-in muscles.

“Who said you had to balance things like this?”

“I did.”

Rije smiled brazenly and then lifted her head. *Eumjjeul*, Iris, who was where her gaze landed, flinched.

“You know what I mean, Iris?”

As soon as Iris heard those words and looked at me, the gazes of the other five also turned to Iris. Come to think of it, I also need to clear up the misunderstanding related to the charm from last time.

Iris seemed to hesitate for a moment, then, like a timid cat, she hesitantly approached and came between my legs. *Tok*, her silver hair touched my chest.

Rije, confirming that all sides were filled, nodded with a proud smile. Erica was looking at her older sister with an utterly pathetic expression.

“Now that the balance is filled, Delta.”

Rije poked my shoulder with her chin.

“What on earth happened that His Holiness the Popes are so desperate to take you?”

“Uh…”

I hesitated for a moment. It was because I wondered if I should say this.

‘It’ll be fine.’

They’re not strangers to me. With our level of relationship, I can trust them enough to confide in them.

“Because I met their God directly.”

The chin that was poking my shoulder stopped abruptly.