The Fall.

Kornu was gone. I moved quickly, back inside the mercenary guild.

“Ma, Priest Marnak, what the hell is going on?”

“Don’t move a step from that spot!”

“What?! What does that mean—.”

I didn’t listen to Erin’s reply. I flew into my room, grabbed my frost steel sword, and headed straight for the room where the priests were staying.

“Mother, are you there!”

“Murder!

I turned and ran back to the first floor. Erin peeked out the door, heard me coming, and called out urgently.

“Priest! There’s a monster, a monster, a monster in the middle of the city!”

I can’t believe she didn’t run away like I told her to, I’ve saved her the trouble.

“Now what are we going to do–bam!”

I scooped Erin up in my arms.

“Priest Marnak?!”

“Where?”

I stormed out of the mercenary guild.

“What?”

“Where is the councilor who entrusted you with Pierre’s care, please show me to him now!”

I couldn’t let my barely spared life die for nothing in this commotion.

“Help me!”

“Get out of the way, don’t get in my way!”

“Gah!”

Crowds and screams tangled. The city had already been swallowed up by chaos.

– Gaaaaaaaah!

A giant monster rampaged madly, destroying everything it touched. Crumbling buildings and scattering rubble, nothing but wet blood and flesh where the demon had passed.

Atop the demon’s saccharine head, a man in pure white armor raised his hammer and shouted.

“Libra of Retribution!!!”

The giant battle hammer blazed with a pure white light. Orbs grabbed the raised hammer with one hand and brought it down on the demon’s head.

“Die, unclean thing!”

As the battle hammer smashed into the demon’s skull, a massive hammer of light fell from the sky. The demon struck by the Hammer of Punishment let out an agonized scream.

– Gaaaaaaaah!

As the giant black crocodile frantically struggled, countless people were swept up and crushed again.

Blood. Blood. Crimson blood. Flesh. The flesh of the innocent. Despair. Fear. Chaos.

Guise was falling apart.

“Erin!”

“Yes, yes?!”

“Go to the place where Pierre is!”

Erin’s finger pointed in one direction. I jumped out of my seat and sprinted up the street. My mother was silent, even as I hugged Erin. She knew I was serious now.

“Priest Marnak! Over there! Over there!”

The council chamber where Pierre was was near where the demon was rampaging. The door to the council chamber was already open.

“Puer!”

Blood flowed across the floor. The original owner was already dead. Two of the men who had taken advantage of the chaos to rob the councilor looked up at me in disbelief.

Trash. Scum beyond redemption.

“Nu, who?!”

Without hesitation, I drew my frost steel sword with one hand and slashed at the nearest man’s throat. Wiping the blood from my blade, I grabbed the other man by the head and slammed him against the wall. Blood and flesh splattered as the heads that failed to resist my power were crushed.

“Pierre!”

Luckily, Pierre was lying on the bed, unconscious, with bandages wrapped around his body. I sheathed my sword and picked him up empty-handed.

“Hold on tight, I can’t lift you with both hands anymore!”

Taking Erin’s tight embrace around my neck as my cue, I ran toward the gates of Guise. The streets were too crowded with citizens fleeing for their lives. Anyone who fell while running was immediately crushed by the crowd.

– Gaaaaaah!

I rolled my head in agony. We’ll be too late if we stay on this jammed street.

I quickly scanned my surroundings. Luckily, I spotted a low roof that I could leap onto in a single bound. My judgment was quick, and my body moved faster than my mind. Erin screamed.

“Gah, gah, gah!”

I ran, jumping from roof to roof, heading for the nearest gate. When I finally reached it, it was just as crowded as the street.

“Look, Priest, there’s a secret passage I know of!”

“Where is it?”

“Just go that way!”

Following Erin’s lead, they arrived at a small building.

“You can get out of Guis through the underground passage in this house! But the door is locked—.”

“Okay!”

I kicked the door harshly, and the thick door shattered like a sheet of paper. Darting down to the basement, I dropped Pierre and Erin off in front of an underground passage.

“If it gets any worse, just run.”

“What about the priest?”

“I’m going back.”

Now that we had secured the safety of those we knew, it was time to save the strangers.

Erin tried to tell me to speak Moorish, but I didn’t listen and ran out of the building.

***]

– Gaaaaaaaah!

Another hammer of pure white light fell from the sky. The demon screamed in agony and shook its head. Orbs steadied himself, gripping the pure white sword he had driven into the demon’s skull.

“Libra of Retribution!!!”

The horned man lunged for the demon’s forepaw, a white glowing hammer smashing into its forefoot, another hammer of light falling. But Cornu’s hammer was much smaller than Orth’s, and naturally the blow was weaker.

– Gaaaaaah!

Kornu was unable to dodge the demon’s forepaw. The horned man was sent flying through the air, smashing through the wall.

Seeing what happened, I ran toward the spot where Kornu had fallen.

“Priest Cornu!”

As I called his name over the rubble of the building, I heard a crawling voice from somewhere. I quickly turned to the source of the sound.

“Ma—Priest Larnak—you must be–.”

Cornu’s condition was dire, having been struck in the forefoot. His distorted armor had long since become a shackle, and a steady stream of crimson blood oozed from the gaps in his armor. I grabbed the half-crushed Kornu and asked quickly.

“Where is the other priest?”

There was no sign of the other priest, Petina, who had come with them. Cornu managed to muster the strength to speak.

“Petina is—dead.”

“Demons! Is there any way to quell them?”

“There is. With the other holy object we brought—the white sword that the Orcish priest is now driving into the demon’s head—with that sword through that thick hide and into its brain—the demon will die.”

With the last of his strength, Cornu managed to get the words out, and then he was dead. I put my hand to his head and closed his eyes.

“Mother of corruption. I take him from you.”

With a harsh prayer, Kornu’s body decayed in an instant, leaving nothing but a pile of crumbling armor. From two fingers, he became a hundred gods.

Now that he had all the information he needed, it was time to put a stop to this rampaging demon.

As he exited the building and drew his frost steel sword, it slid out of its scabbard.

– Gaaaaaah!

The demon was still rampaging madly in pain.

“Libra of Retribution!!!”

Hanging above the demon’s head, Orbs was relentless and persistent, slamming the hammer down with one hand. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the hammer was not hitting the hide of the demon’s head, but the handle of a pure white sword.

That sword is the holy relic that can quell demons.

A massive black fuselage rushed toward them, smashing into the building. The ground shook violently with the strides of a creature heavier than a building. I remained calm amidst the shaking, waiting for my chance.

– Gaaaaaaaaaah!

At that moment, the demon was within inches of me. With a swift leap, I plunged my frost steel sword into the demon’s leg and hung on.

My body shook violently with the demon’s struggles. Amidst the shaking, I calmly climbed up the demon’s legs bit by bit and headed for its head.

“Libra of Retribution!!!”

With a furious shout, another bolt of light fell down.

– Gaaaaaah!

With a wild roar, the world turned upside down.

Running out of patience, the demon rolled on the ground with its massive body. It was clear that it would be crushed into nothingness if it stayed, so it drew its frost steel sword and kicked the demon’s body to the ground.

The harshness of the air greeted me as I plummeted from the height I had barely climbed. The distant earth was quickly approaching me. I rolled calmly to minimize the impact of my fall. My white priestly robes were stained red with my blood as my flesh was swept away.

In agonizing pain, I quickly scrambled to my feet, my drug-enhanced body responding to my brain’s commands as if it had been waiting.

– Aaaaaaaaah!

A delightful roar. I rose to my feet and found the perfectly crushed remains of Orbs, who, unlike me, had not escaped the disaster his massive body had created.

Raising my head to look at the demon’s skull, I saw a pure white sword embedded in its crown.

Finally slaying the priest of all edification, the demon continued its indiscriminate destruction as if it had no end in sight.

Screams echoed from those who had not yet escaped.

I took off running once more. Over flat streets, over the rubble of collapsed buildings, and over rooftops.

Pow.

My froststeel sword pierced the leather of the demon’s tail. The frost steel sword, no bigger than a needle compared to its massive body, did not do any damage to the demon.

The demon ignored me and continued to crush the ears.

I leaned on my frost steel blade as it swayed wildly, inching forward.

My goal: the holy relic on the demon’s skull. Orbs’s efforts were not in vain, as all but a small portion of the pure white blade had already burrowed deep into the demon’s skull.

If I could just push it in just a little bit, the demon’s rampage would be over.

– Gaaaaaaaah!

My body shook constantly in time with the demon’s rampage. When the shaking became unbearable, I tightened my grip on the frost steel sword in my hand and clung to the demon’s body, waiting for the shock to pass.

The excited demon’s rampage intensified. I remained silent and patient, climbing up on the demon’s back and finally arriving in front of the pure white sword.

The demon’s body shook violently again. I stretched out my hand toward the white sword in front of me. It was a rash and foolish choice, as I was too preoccupied with the sword in front of me.

“‘Murder!

Something bounced off in the shaking vibration. My mother’s hand, out of my grasp, flew through the air and began a free fall toward the floor.

“Murder!!!

A pop.

My mother’s voice was gone. Silence descended. The anxiety of being alone in the world tightened my throat. I couldn’t breathe properly.

Mother. Mother. Mother! Mother! Mother!!!

The sword in front of me didn’t matter anymore. Without a moment’s hesitation, I leapt from the demon’s head.

The landing was a complete failure. My legs crumpled from the impact. I cried like a child.

“Mother, where are you, Mother!!!”

Then a small voice crept into my mind.

“Murder…

I crawled on my hands toward the direction of the voice. My nails cracked and my fingertips turned bright red, but I kept crawling.

Finally, I reached my mother’s hand on the rubble. A sense of calm returned to my head.

“Ah. Mother—.”

“Murder!

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I was in such a hurry that I almost lost my mother.”

“Murder! Murder! Murder!

“What can I say—. What?!”

I looked in the direction the Mother of Corruption was pointing, and saw the crushed corpse of Orbs.

And a small mirror lying in front of it.

“Murder!!!

The mirror was the holy relic of Corruption that I and Mother had been searching for.

I grinned as I held the mirror.

“You said life is not for the faint of heart, Mother, and this is where things get really interesting.”