Allen looked around at the situation and sighed. Akira was slumped over by the far wall with some serious injuries, but nothing so serious that she was at risk of dying. She’d be able to manage on her own—in fact, she’d probably get mad at him if he lent her a hand.
The demon woman looked healthy enough, so there was no need to help her either. He could sense that behind him, Anriette and Mylène still had some words for her, but personally, he was fine with how their deal had turned out. She was looking at him with shock in her eyes for some reason, but he doubted he needed to pay her any mind.
As for Riese and Noel, he’d known they’d be here, but physically seeing them safe and unharmed put his fears to rest.
And lastly... “It’s nice to meet you, Your Eminence.”
“This is indeed our first meeting...but who are you?”
Allen had pegged this twenty-something-year-old as the hierophant based on his general vibe, but he was clearly too young to fit the timelines Allen knew. It must have been the work of a Gift. He’d never encountered such a thing in this world but had seen a handful of cases in his last life.
The hierophant was eyeing him incredulously, but he ignored that for now and scanned the rest of the room. The demon had said she’d go on ahead, and this seemed to be the deepest part of the Cathedral. It was a tier smaller than the worship hall he’d just been in, but it was big enough.
What really set this room apart was that this place lacked the ornamentation of the worship hall. In exchange, the ground was littered with writing; it was hard to make out the whole thing all at once, but it was probably a magic circle. Allen looked up at the ceiling to find a similar pattern there, but since it was farther away, it was a lot easier to recognize that it was indeed a magic circle.
There were two runes in the deepest part of the Cathedral, in a room that—according to the demon woman—could only be entered by a small handful of people, even among those who could access the Cathedral itself. Was it prejudiced to assume that this was a site of some kind of terrible ritual? Then again, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t going to affect him now.
Allen returned his gaze to the hierophant, who was still staring back at him. Looking at Riese, he asked, “So is this guy the cause of this whole mess?”
“Well, yes,” she answered, “but how did you know? You weren’t listening to our conversation, were you?”
“Nope. I had some stuff to take care of, so I was busy running around all over the place until now.”
“I don’t think you were the one having to run around,” Anriette quipped.
“That would better describe your opponents,” Mylène added.
Allen shrugged. Sure, his enemies had seemed pretty busy, but he’d cut them down before they could even look at his face. Maybe “running around” was an overstatement, but he’d been plenty busy himself.
“Then how do you know he’s behind it all?” Noel asked.
“Huh? Uh, well, I kinda just figured from the situation.”
The demon had only told him the bare minimum. They were cooperating for now but were likely to become enemies once this was over, so it would be stupid for her to reveal more than necessary to a future foe.
But even that minimal information was enough to guess that the hierophant was behind all sorts of the issues they were facing. It looked like the demon’s end goal was the hierophant himself, and Akira had clearly been fighting him too. Riese was glaring at him, and Noel looked like she’d lunge for his throat if she could, so the clues all lined up.
“I don’t think a normal person would have guessed that,” Riese sighed.
“Business as usual for you, I guess,” Noel said.
“Getting up to speed I can understand,” the demon said, “but how in the world did you get here? What happened to the suppression squads that went your way? They’re strong enough to drive us demons off if we ever attack. Are you saying you three defeated them all by yourselves?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess.”
“Hey, we didn’t do anything,” Anriette said.
“Allen wiped them out on his own,” Mylène added.
That was all true, but Allen couldn’t help but feel the enemy hadn’t been that strong to begin with. Sure, they had the basics down, and maybe they were good enough to call “elite,” but he doubted they’d be able to beat a band of demons. Maybe they specialized in group warfare or something, in which case they could potentially fend off the demons. But then they should have come to him in formation to play off their strengths. They hadn’t, which meant that either way, they were inexperienced.
“Is that so?” the demon said. “It seems I was right about you—or perhaps I was very, very wrong. Either way, it looks like I’ll have all the more to look forward to!” She laughed gleefully.
Then her gaze suddenly shifted to something that gave Allen a bad feeling. Maybe he’d overshared, but he didn’t get long to dwell on it.
“You...defeated them? Alone?” The hierophant squinted at him as if he’d had a revelation. “Now that I think about it, there were many matters that couldn’t have been the work of Lady Riese or Noel alone. I wrote off the events in Adastera as the handiwork of those wretched fools, but could it have been you instead?”
Allen had a feeling he knew who the “fools” in question were. As a matter of fact, they had indeed been foolish. But to hear them spoken of in this way soured his mood.
“What if it was?” he asked.
“If it was...then it all falls into place.”
“What do you mean?”
“It just makes sense.” The man’s face was beaming, as if to say he’d just solved an impossible mystery. “I was so confused. It didn’t make any sense why Lady Riese would stand in our way since she, too, was chosen by the gods. Could she involve herself to help our cause? Of course. But hurt it? It didn’t make sense. But if you were the one to impede us, then everything falls into place. In fact, were you not also the one to lead the hero astray? Oh, what a revelation! If I slay you, surely the hero will also come to her senses. What a blessed day!”
Since the hierophant had begun rattling off incomprehensible gibberish, Allen looked over at Riese to figure out what was going on, but she seemed just as lost.
Yeah, can’t blame you... he thought.
The demon sighed and said, “That thing is convinced that he’s God and willfully misinterprets everything to suit himself. Sickening, isn’t it?”
“Think what you will of me,” the hierophant answered. “But the truth is the truth.”
“The truth, eh? Well, maybe from a certain point of view, Allen wasn’t chosen by the gods. After all, he doesn’t have a Gift.”
“Anriette?”
Surprised by his companion’s sudden comment, Allen looked at Anriette. Her eyes were gleaming with rage and contempt. It seemed she had a bone to pick with the hierophant’s claims as a former apostle herself. If she had something to say, then Allen was content to let her say it.
“To think this man was forsaken by the gods!” the hierophant cried. “No wonder he would go to such lengths to stop us. This truly must be a message from above: Destroy those who would oppose the gods and awaken the chosen to their true destiny!”
“But that only works if you think that Gifts are proof the gods chose you,” Anriette answered. “You have that the other way around. Allen’s the one the gods chose.”
“Excuse me? What nonsense are you spouting? Gifts are powers bestowed upon us by the gods, evidence of our blessing, and—”
“And I’m telling you that you’re wrong. To begin with, you think God has the time to be picking out boons for each and every person? Gifts are a blessing, for sure, but they’re just crutches. We get them because life is tough without them.”
The man laughed uncertainly. “What? Goodness, listen to yourself. That can’t be!”
“So if you don’t have any Gifts, that means the gods figured you didn’t need the help. Those without Gifts are the true chosen who are fit to live in this world as they are.”
In truth, Allen had gotten three powers from the god in question, so Anriette’s theory wasn’t quite on the money...but that was probably intentional. Her story was an exaggeration, but she delivered it with absolute confidence to say that she knew the one, singular truth.