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Lucia calmly announced the beginning of the Grand Exorcism.

Her voice, devoid of any tremor, seemed almost indifferent.

“In the name of the merciful and compassionate Lord, we pray to You, the Parent of all creation.”

Her small prayer echoed throughout the vast cavern.

“Look kindly upon Your servant, and protect us from all evil, the persecutions and threats that come from malice, and shield us from the influence of evil and curses, or the ill intentions of those who cast their gaze upon us.”

Lucia prayed fervently. In that lowest place where faint starlight poured in, she appealed to the one seated in the highest position.

Her eyes were now closed, yet her voice continued with unwavering steadiness.

“Please, do not lead us into temptation. But….”

In the darkest hour.

As the north wind raged and the darkness thickened in the cavern.

“But deliver us from evil.”

As Lucia finished her prayer and opened her eyes, a pair of blue irises began to shine with brilliance.

Lucia spoke.

“You have already been exposed.”

The saint declared.

“Prepare to return to hell.”

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

Lucia opened her palm and laid it on the inquisitor’s forehead. Then, in a soft voice, she warned him.

“Come out from there while I’m still speaking nicely. And return to where you came from.”

The inquisitor bared his teeth and shook his head.

His teeth, soaked with liquid that could have been drool, glistened under the faint starlight.

The intense struggle began.

“GUAAAAAAAH!”

The inquisitor twisted his whole body in apparent agony, trying to break free from his bonds.

The binds constricting his hands and feet twisted mercilessly, writhing, as his body convulsed like a patient plagued by a fit. The immense force emanating from the inquisitor’s body even made my upper body tremble.

However, despite his frenzied, beast-like movements, he could not break free.

Lucia firmly pinned the resisting inquisitor down with her weight.

“Resistance is futile. Once your existence has been exposed, there remains only one path for you.”

The inquisitor’s mouth gaped open. He seemed ready to bite Lucia.

Sharp teeth glistening with drool came at her, yet Lucia remained utterly unfazed.

She tossed aside the holy scripture she held and pulled back her raised arm.

-THWACK!

A fist slammed into the inquisitor’s face.

Lucia, with the cloth wrapped around the talisman clenched in her fist, struck the inquisitor squarely in the face.

The impact was so strong it produced a sound reminiscent of a watermelon bursting, forcibly driving the inquisitor’s head into the ground.

Seeing this, I gasped and shouted.

“What in the world are you doing?!”

“I have subdued him. Rest assured, he won’t die.”

Even after striking the inquisitor’s face, Lucia maintained an air of confidence.

Just as she said, the inquisitor’s head, thumped against the ground, emitted a faint groan.

Certainly, had he been an ordinary person, a concussion would have left him dazed. Yet, the inquisitor seemed much less worse for wear than I had anticipated.

Lucia withdrew her fist and picked up the discarded scripture, beginning to speak.

“Ordinary means cannot exorcise or kill a demon. This is effective precisely because it exists.”

Lucia gestured toward the cloth encircling her fist.

It was silk made from the cocoons of silkworms raised on mulberry leaves blessed by priests, harvested by monks, and treasured even in various parishes.

Whether it was a moment of fainting or not, the inquisitor groaned as he wildly shook his head. I hurriedly sat beside him, pressing my hand against his head.

“Please hold him down like that. He’ll likely continue to resist, so be careful not to get hurt.”

“And for how long should I hold him down?”

“Until the ritual is complete. Until I say it’s okay to let go.”

After making that request, Lucia checked the status of the inquisitor and opened the scripture.

-PAPAPAPA!

Pages turned swiftly in an instant.

With a single gesture, Lucia flipped through dozens, no, hundreds of pages, rapidly scanning the verses inscribed within the scripture.

“The wicked are ensnared by their own actions. The wicked shall be returned to hell. Even if the wicked join hands, they shall not escape punishment, but the righteous shall be saved.”

Having recited the passage, Lucia closed her eyes. Then, in an exceedingly grave tone, she spoke.

“I ask in the name of the Almighty Lord, what is your true identity?”

“Identity?”

A twisted smile crept on the inquisitor’s lips. A horridly unsettling grin filled the cavern.

“So curious, for one believing in god.”

“You have been exposed.”

The cold, deep-set blue eyes turned toward the pinned inquisitor.

“The cunning serpent, the wicked scorpion, can no longer harm humans. Release Inquisitor Agato and come out from there already.”

The inquisitor lifted his head.

“Do you truly believe that what you worship is God?”

His hair was soaked in dark, crimson fluid. Blood from a shattered skull trickled down, soaking his hair and the floor with filth.

With each nod of his head, his hair swayed, exuding an awful smell.

“This bastard…!”

I pressed down on his head with all my weight. Though an adult male was holding him down, the inquisitor showed no signs of his head touching the ground.

Even while exerting so much force that my arms trembled, he resisted with merely the strength of his neck. No, beyond just resisting, he glared at Lucia.

The inquisitor, lying on the ground, glared murderously at Lucia.

“No.”

The inquisitor sneered and grinned wickedly.

“You just need something to believe in. There is no paradise where you wish to go. Give up hope, young cleric.”

Despite the blasphemy and accusations hurled at her, Lucia did not respond.

She removed the vial of holy water from her side without even glancing at the sneering inquisitor.

Pop! The cork opened with a cheerful sound, reminiscent of uncorking champagne. The holy water, tasteless and odorless, drastically changed nothing, yet the inquisitor eyed Lucia and the holy water with trembling eyes in turns.

Lucia blocked the opening of the holy water vial with her finger and turned it upside down.

The holy water dripped down her finger, and Lucia pressed her wet finger against the inquisitor’s forehead, drawing a small cross.

At that, the inquisitor raised his chin and strengthened his voice.

“Young daughter! You are no threat to me. Just live life pretending you didn’t see me, like other humans do!”

“…….”

Lucia gazed at the inquisitor with an impassive expression.

After looking down in silence, she shifted her gaze to me and softly said.

“Don’t worry. Leave the exorcism ritual to me, and please keep holding onto Inquisitor Agato.”

I nodded while pressing the inquisitor’s head down.

“…Understood.”

Seemingly pleased with my response, Lucia smiled slightly.

Having drawn a cross on the inquisitor’s forehead, she closed her eyes once more, made the sign of the cross, and began to hum a hymn as she reached into her sleeve.

At last, when her hand emerged from her sleeve, a pure golden cross dangling from a long string, accompanied by a sound reminiscent of clashing Go stones, appeared.

A rosary crafted from olive wood, with a Roman cross.

The inquisitor’s eyes flew wide open right after.

“…!”

The inquisitor tilted his chin up, his eyes wide open. Strong tension caused his jaw to strain to the point of spasms.

Clenching his molars tightly, the inquisitor lifted his chin as though his head was about to collide with the ground. His flesh tightened until the wrinkles vanished from his neck.

Lucia brought the Roman cross close to the inquisitor’s forehead. The inquisitor twisted his head fiercely, resisting with a display he had not shown until now.

Just when I thought the position resembled a desperate attempt to avoid the cross.

“Johann!”

A dying scream erupted from the inquisitor’s mouth.

“The adversary! The hunter who brings the stars crashing down! Detestable priest!”

The inquisitor spewed words that made no sense in his rage, as if naming an arch-nemesis.

Upon seeing this, Lucia responded in a composed tone.

“Ah, so you do know. This is a cross borrowed with great difficulty from the high priest.”

“That bastard! He should be hung upside down from the bell tower and sawed! How dare he…!”

The inquisitor writhed as if he were a person thrown into fire, spewing curses.

Lucia, still atop him, firmly pinned him down, while I squatted to the ground, pressing my weight onto his head and shoulders.

Like a bull hit by a matador’s sword, he fought fiercely against it.

At that moment, the Roman cross touched his forehead.

“…Hah!”

The sound of a gasping breath marked the onset of silence. The instant the squirming inquisitor, pressing his belly and head against the ground, thrust his chest out toward the sky in defiance, his movements abruptly came to a stop.

Lucia, placing the pure golden Roman cross to the inquisitor’s forehead, quietly closed her eyes and began humming a hymn.

Then, as if branding him with a hot iron, smoke began to rise from his forehead. The stench of burning flesh wafted through the air.

His head jerked back violently. Below his bulging eyes, his lips parted with a hideous shriek.

-■■■■■■■!!!

An unimaginable, terrible scream.

The inquisitor’s scream reverberated through the cavern, shaking its vastness.

“F**k!!”

The inquisitor shouted with a voice consumed by evil.

His pupils were turning black. Like ink seeping into the whites of his eyes, they rapidly darkened.

Black blood vessels protruded and rose.

With his neck literally straining, the inquisitor hurled profanities at Lucia.

“F**k you, you b*tch!!”

Once opened, his mouth did not stop.

With an outpouring of rage, the inquisitor’s mouth spewed forth filthy words.

He cursed at Lucia relentlessly. The first word that slipped from his lips was, without exception, in Kien language.

“You are just like that bastard! Claiming to save humans while taking lives! This one is your doing!”

Profanity in Kien poured out toward Lucia. When Lucia didn’t even flinch, the inquisitor continued with an agitated tone.

This time, he switched to Patalia language.

“Do you really think I’ll leave here because of that!? You dumb b*tch. You’ve lived your whole life in a convent, so of course you don’t know anything.”

“…….”

“No matter how hard you try, nothing will change. It’s all pointless!”

The curses didn’t stop there.

Beginning with Kien and Patalia, it moved to Abas, Roshu, common Mauritania, and even languages of the East that were unrecognizable, the variety of languages formed a torrent of insults.

The inquisitor unleashed curses, mixing many languages.

Sometimes, harsh and malevolent words gushed forth, and at other times, lewd remarks unfit to be spoken escaped his lips.

“If you help those impoverished humans, do you think your sins will be absolved? No. You’re not noble-heartedly helping others; you’re merely doing it to alleviate your guilt a little. You perfectly know what people whisper about behind your back. For that ridiculous farce, you drag others in!”

“I’ll carve out your breasts and turn your lungs into stones! The first child you bear will never see the light of day, and the second will perish before five years are up! I will make sure of it!”

“I’ll gouge out your eyes and cut off your tongue, ensuring you can’t survive without the help of the humans you so cherish! You’ll crawl on the ground like a dog for the rest of your life!”

With a voice pained by evil, the inquisitor spewed forth the anger bubbling from deep within him.

“How dare you, a mere monk, defy me! Do you think I can’t kill you for saying this? I will shred this piece of meat and feed it to the vultures!”

“……”

Thud! I slammed the inquisitor’s head against the ground. Yet, his eyes shone fiercely with venom.

His darkening gaze twisted to capture the image of Lucia, who was praying.

“When I regain my strength, I will surely tear apart your limbs and leave them in the rivers and fields. It will happen soon. Without a doubt!”

Those words were incomprehensible and not something I wanted to understand.

Each time he opened his mouth, the language he invoked changed. His voice varied too; at times, it was that of a child, an old man, and even a woman’s.

Could this really be a person? Even a madman would appear sane if placed beside this inquisitor.

I pressed down hard on the writhing inquisitor’s body, cursing needlessly.

“What the hell are you babbling about…!”

The inquisitor condemned Lucia with a venomous glare and a malicious voice. However, Lucia acted as if she hadn’t heard a word.

“Protect us as we engage in battle. Even when walking the darkest paths, I believe you are by our side.”

“Shut up!”

Laughter mixed with ridicule cut through her prayer.

Lucia opened her closed eyes. The mocking laughter continued.

“Pray all you want. Do you think that being will listen to your words?”

In his darkened gaze, the image of Lucia hung vividly.

“Even if you cast me out, I will wait for your demise. And when you fall to hell, I will return to this land with your head in my hands. I have witnessed the rise and fall of empires on this earth. Waiting for you to rot away is nothing.”

“……”

“So cease your futile efforts, young daughter.”

The inquisitor grinned wickedly.

“Just like your mother and father did.”

Lucia’s prayer had stopped at some point. The darkened pupils and gleaming teeth sparkled under the fallen starlight.

“……”

Lucia closed her eyes and slowly reached out her hand.

And then.

-Thud!

She smashed his head into the ground.

The strong impact cracked the stone bricks.

Though her hand covered her eyes and forehead, I could tell her expression was clearly one of satisfaction.

Lucia withdrew her hand from the grinning figure and brushed herself off as she stepped away.

“I bought us some time.”

As she shook her hands off, a white light scattered through the air. In that brief moment, she seemed to have summoned the divine.

“Please continue to hold him down just like this, until I return.”

“Where are you going?”

“I plan to fetch the tools needed for the ceremony. It won’t take long.”

One minute.

She extended her index finger.

“Just hold on for one minute. Until then, it will be safe for me to step away.”

I nodded in response.

“Thank you. Then, I leave it to you.”

Lucia bowed her head and stepped toward the area marked by the remnants of battle.

As I pressed the Roman cross down to bind the inquisitor, he seemed surprisingly docile, contrary to his earlier rampaging like a bull. Had she really done something?

Even while I sat at his head, he didn’t even glance in my direction.

As he watched Lucia moving away, he grinned before abruptly turning his gaze back to me.

At that moment, the previously grinning face erupted into wide laughter.

“It’s you. The punk I saw in that village. With the inquisition officers, right?”

“……”

“Hehe.”

Unlike before when he pretended to stifle his laughter while watching Lucia, now he could hardly contain himself in front of me.

“I sense something peculiar about you. What’s this? Where did you come from?”

His grin stretched ear to ear.

As if he were seeing something utterly fascinating and rare. He beamed.

I tried hard to ignore his babbling. So, I closed my ears and shut my eyes.

But I couldn’t control my sense of smell. Each time he opened his mouth, a foul stench twisted through my nostrils, assaulting my membranes.

As I attempted to distract my mind by keeping my eyes closed, I heard a whisper right next to me that sounded like he was snickering.

“How long do you think you can live like this? Do you really believe you can enjoy a long life while deceiving everyone’s eyes and ears?”

I opened my eyes and glared at him.

His hideous black pupils twinkled like an abyss.

I stared blankly at him.

His mouth curved into a crescent, revealing those gleaming teeth.

“Listen to me.”

“Don’t listen to him!”

A firm voice pierced my eardrums. In that instant, my mind cleared.

Lucia had somehow returned and was now standing beside me. She held a small bucket in both hands.

She had returned before even a minute had passed, just as she promised.

“This is just a fabricated, absurd story meant to lure you in. There’s no need to pay it any mind.”

“…Is that so?”

Lucia ignored his mocking question and prepared to continue the exorcism.

With the end of the purple sash draped around her neck in hand, Lucia sat beside me and used the sash to cover his eyes.

-Clatter.

The bucket was set down, and the distinctive sound of metal striking metal resonated. Inside the bucket was a long stick.

Lucia gripped the stick and said, “This is a watering can.”

“…A watering can?”

“Yes.”

And she swung it around.

“This is how it’s used.”

Swish! As she swung the watering can, holy water splashed onto his face.

He screamed out in shock at the sudden baptism of holy water.

Lucia mumbled prayers as she scattered the holy water, and with each splash, his screams transformed into sharper cries.

“Uaaah!!”

“Cast all evils into the eternally burning pit so that they can no longer touch me or all of creation.”

The bizarre symphony of her prayers and his screams continued, stretching long. Momentarily silent, he soon began to writhe in agony once more.

And his vitriol directed at Lucia started again.

“I’ll rip you to shreds! Do you really think I, born from fire and sulfur, will suffer there, you foolish thing!”

“……”

He persisted in attacking Lucia, trying to coerce and threaten her.

But Lucia didn’t react to a single one of his words. The more he unleashed his venom, the more it failed to provoke a response from her.

Whether out of frustration or the inability to bear the pain, he began slamming his head against the ground while howling.

“Uaaaah!!”

His condition was clearly not normal.

His mouth, spewing thorny insults and venomous retorts, dripped with dark red fluid. Each time he pounded on the ground, shouting “Stop it! Stop it!”, a spurt of blood gushed up like a volcano.

The veins on his neck stood out, crawling across his face and downwards. The bulging veins seemed about to burst, and the convulsions in his limbs intensified.

A final desperate struggle.

Lucia described his frenzy aptly.

“Even a beast will thrash when cornered.”

“But this seems a bit much!”

“Let’s calm him down first.”

Lucia threw a punch. With the sound of a breaking nose, the ground cracked beneath him.

After landing that blow, he temporarily sealed his lips.

However, as soon as she sprinkled holy water or presented the Roman Cross or recited her prayers, he went into a fit of rage again.

Of course, his foul language and insults didn’t spare her either. And Lucia was not the only one to hear such words.

“Leave the empire immediately!”

I found myself in similar circumstances.

“There’s nothing you can do here. You, more useless than cosmic dust, have no reason or need to be here!”

“……”

“If you value your life, leave this place before the new sun rises.”

Whether he knew something or was just tossing random insults, he fixated on me, turning his arrows away from Lucia.

At this point, there was no more to see. This creature thrashing before me was certainly no human.

The demon shouted.

“You will have no home, no homeland, no family left. Everything will burn away. You are fated to kill not just yourself but all of those around you.”

“……”

“So if you wish to live, if you wish to save them, leave immediately. And never return.”

Though my eyes were covered by the sash, I could still feel his gaze upon me.

Despite my efforts to press down on his head and not listen attentively, it was in vain. Yet, thanks to Lucia guarding my side, I could at least keep my sanity intact.

Lucia placed her hand over mine and spoke in a comforting tone.

“Do not waver. It’s just a lie. Don’t be swayed by the falsehoods uttered as he is about to be cast out.”

“…A lie?”

A smirk danced on the demon’s lips.

“I acknowledge your skills. Undoubtedly impressive, but your intuition lacks, young cleric.”

“……”

The demon occupying the inquisitor’s body relaxed his limbs.

“Give up.”

Underneath the sash, his blackened teeth were revealed.

“Here, there is no light.”

“……”

He lounged against the ground as if lying on a bed, his posture casual as he grinned.

For the first time, Lucia furrowed her brow at this surreal sight. She removed the sash that covered his eyes and stared directly into his dark pupils.

“What are you plotting?”

The demon grinned.

He grinned widely.

“See for yourself.”

It was then.

-Rumble!

A thunderous noise of collapsing earth echoed.

Lucia and I turned our heads simultaneously toward the source of the sound, and once we identified the source of the commotion, shock washed over us.

“What on earth…?”

The ground was buckling.

The stone bricks that occupied the cavern surged up and down in a restless motion.

As if something were about to spring from the depths of the earth.

Realizing the situation, I grabbed Lucia’s wrist and pulled her behind me.

“It’s dangerous. Step back.”

“Wait a minute…!”

We stared at the heaving and sinking cavern.

The demon, observing the scene, smirked as he muttered.

“You should have run instead of trying to fight me.”

That was the last of his words.

The ground erupted, bricks and mounds of earth crumbled, and the surrounding sounds were engulfed in chaos.

Thick clouds of dust and threatening rock fragments poured down from above.

In the fallen starlight flooding the cavern, dozens of red eyes sparkled from the darkness.

 

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