For all his denial, the hierophant was growing paler by the minute. It really seemed like he was being shown a side of the world he hadn’t considered. From Allen’s point of view, he couldn’t see what the big deal was, even if Anriette had been telling the whole truth. As someone who had verifiably been handpicked by a god in his last life, he felt qualified to say there was nothing worse. It wasn’t the sort of thing you needed to care about. Chosen or not, people were best when they did what they wanted to do. Otherwise...all that lay ahead was regret.
“Heh... Ha ha! I see your game! Did you truly think you could lead me astray like this? No, not I. My faith will protect me from your lies. But I’m sure that others are not so resolute. I’ll have to dispose of you before you can worm your way into their ears and corrupt the faithful.”
“It’s always disposal with you when the going gets tough. Is God really that convenient?”
“See?” the demon said. “I told you, he willfully misinterprets everything. You should learn something from us demons, you know. We may go around picking fights with the world, but at least we own up to our choices. Our rebellion is, and always has been, of our own will.”
“Enough. I will hear no more heresy. I don’t know why I tolerated this to begin with. Evil must be dealt with swiftly.”
Brimming with hostility, the hierophant was ready to kill. For an old man, he sure did have a short temper—or maybe it was because he was old. Whatever the case, Allen was happy to be done with all the talking. He’d made up his mind before the conversation had even begun. If this guy was the root cause of everything, then all Allen had to do was put him in the dirt and take Riese and Noel home.
“All right, since you’re finally in the mood, let’s get this over with.”
Allen dashed forward.
The moment Allen brought down his sword, a high-pitched sound rang out and stopped his arm in an unnatural spot. Just before he could make contact, some invisible force prevented his advancement.
“Heh heh. No matter how strong you are, I have the blessing of the gods on my side. You won’t be able to lay a finger—”
Sword of Cataclysm: Beast Cleaver.
Before the man could finish talking, Allen put strength behind his arm and swung down again. This time, he felt minimal resistance and made a clean slash diagonally across the hierophant’s body that spurted blood.
“What? But, what? How? I have the gods—”
“You call it a blessing, but you’re just bending space, right? I’ve seen a demon with that kind of power. Are you saying the gods bless demons too?”
“You heathen!”
The hierophant let loose some kind of shock wave, but Allen was already gone. As the Church leader’s face twisted in anger and pain, Allen could only sigh.
“I’ll admit that you have some strong powers, but they’re so...all over the place? Like you can’t even use them all properly.”
“Of course he can’t,” the demon chimed in. “The hierophant’s Gift is one that lets him steal other people’s Gifts. There seem to be some restrictions on it, but it lets him collect all sorts of powerful abilities that he hasn’t mastered himself. He must have let his collection go to his head.”
“Ah, you see that a lot with that kind of Gift,” Anriette said. “If you used your brain to come up with combinations that suit yourself, it’d be an amazing opportunity, but you can’t be clever when you’re drowning in a lust for power.”
“Run your mouths all you want,” the hierophant said. “Very well, then! I didn’t want to wrap up the Cathedral in this, but I’ll have to go all out. I’ll take my time rebuilding once you all are out of my hair.”
The man’s body began to expand. There was no better way to describe it: He grew to more than twice his original size, standing at around five meters tall. His skin darkened beyond that of the Amazons’ until he was pitch-black, and his eyes glowed crimson. His nails fused with his fingers into long claws, two horns poked out of his head, and wings sprouted from his back. By the time his transformation was done, not a single one of his original features remained.
“Whoa,” Allen said. “What the...”
“Is that a demon?” someone asked.
“Did you call for me?” the woman replied. “But no, that isn’t one of us. It’s hard to say who the real demon is in this case.”
“I’ve heard the story of demons having horns was made up to make them more memorable,” Anriette said, “but maybe this is where that rumor came from.”
“You’re saying the Church leader who joined forces with demons was a demon himself?” Allen laughed. “Come on, isn’t that a little too cliché?”
“Don’t say that,” the demon cooed. “I, for one, think this hideous form is a perfect fit for his hideous heart.”
The hierophant glared at them to cut off their heckling. His eye was no longer human but reptilian in nature.
“This form is hideous, I’ll admit. I try my best not to let it see the light of day, but I can’t sit idly by when faced with an enemy of the gods!”
“Allen,” Riese said, “when did you become an enemy of the gods?”
“You know, I’m not sure. If I had to guess, maybe a few minutes ago.”
He returned Riese’s quip with one of his own, but it was clear she was putting on a brave front. There was fear in her eyes, and how could there not be when faced with a monster like this?
Giant as he was, there were plenty of monsters out there that were bigger than the hierophant in size. But he likely had some kind of ability that exuded an aura of intimidation. He emitted more pressure than the dragon Allen had faced a while ago, and any normal person would pass out from fear.
Riese was doing a great job of staying calm, but perhaps that was because there was something else mixed in with her fear: her belief in Allen. She could stay sane in the face of this monstrosity because Allen was with her and because she had faith that he would handle it.
Shouldering that trust, how could Allen call himself a man if he didn’t rise to the occasion? Besides, the threat the hierophant posed was real. He wasn’t using this new form effectively, but that also meant he couldn’t control the power it afforded him. He wasn’t just talking a big game—he really could turn the Cathedral into a pile of rubble.
“Listen, I’m sorry to do this when you’ve shown me your trump card, but I don’t think I can handle going blow for blow with you. I’m going to end this in one strike,” Allen announced.
“Ha ha! Even as a bluff, I commend you for having the audacity to say that to me, of all people! I would expect as much from an enemy of the gods. Very well. Let me show you all that I can muster! Begone, sinner! Today is a day to remember—the day I prove my devotion!”
The beast raised his arms. The energy charged within them wouldn’t just destroy the Cathedral but obliterate it to the point where not even rubble remained. Obviously, Riese and Noel wouldn’t survive that either, but that no longer seemed to be a priority.
“This is malice in its purest form,” Allen said. “I’m sure you really did want to better the world at first, but it’s too late for you to turn back now. The only mercy I can give you is to let you die as a human being.”
“What are you saying?! I have always been a human, just as I’ve always been a servant to the gods! That’s why I, I—”
“Sorry, I can’t bear this anymore.” Allen watched as the hierophant swung. “This is over.”
He watched the mass of pure violence rush toward him...
Sword Cataclysm: Ultimate End.
...but it never arrived.
A gentle breeze was all that remained. Allen cast his gaze at the hierophant, who was split cleanly in two.
“This...can’t...be! I... I was chosen!”
With his final words, the hierophant crumbled into a pile of thinly sliced bits, to be carried off into the wind and never seen again.
Slowly exhaling, Allen sheathed his sword. A quiet click echoed in the space, signaling the end of the battle.
“Why did you destroy all traces of him?” Anriette asked. “You didn’t have to go that far.”
“I mean, it’s not like I had a huge grudge against him, and it probably would’ve been easier to explain things if I’d left the body, but...I was just kind of put off by the idea of leaving him with a corpse that looks like a monster, you know?”
“Soft as ever.”
“I think that’s very like you, Allen,” Riese chimed in.
“She has a point,” Noel agreed.
“Yeah, that is very him,” Mylène said.
Allen shrugged off their comments and turned back to rejoin the group.