The Sin of the Great Mage Eibon
The screams of the demon echoed. Despite being hit by numerous bullets and grenades, the large sword was still intact, which was intriguing, but this level of resilience was expected. I took out the next weapon from the Treasury.
It was brought out by several golems. Its extreme weight and the fact that the wheels were made of iron due to a rubber shortage necessitated this. It was a weapon that once became legendary on Earth. Born as an anti-aircraft gun, its high performance allowed it to even destroy tanks—the 88mm cannon. Now, can it create a legend here as well?
"Fire."
"Gyaaahhh!"
The demon, charging to break this one-sided situation, collided head-on with the 88mm shell and was pushed back against the wall again. The shell fired from the 88mm cannon shattered the demon's pitch-black greatsword, embedded itself in its body, and exploded.
"This is enough. This won't be a threat. Even if the Empire uses it, as long as my Father, Big brother, and I are here, there’s no problem. Spirit Armament deployment."
――Understood――
A Light Spirit gently entered my chest. Borrowing the Spirit's power, my soul transformed, becoming a half-Spirit with no attribute, based on a human soul, and I enveloped myself with the Light Spirit’s aura. I'm actually not good at this process. If I make a mistake, my ego could be shattered, and even if it doesn’t break, I can feel the strain on myself.
After enduring the pain for a while, a halo and pure white wings appeared as before. Holding the dragon staff, I began to chant. Then, the halo descended to the back of my head, and my wings increased to three pairs, making six. Somehow, I understood this instinctively. And then, an overwhelming amount of magic surged through the dragon staff. Apparently, this was the combat mode.
"I've got the gist of it. You are no longer needed. Return to Hell obediently.
I bestow upon you the judgment of Light. Light, rain down. May light shine upon the sinner, Judgment."
A pillar of Light fell on the demon with a ringing sound. The demon, scorched by the light, couldn’t even scream as it began to vanish. However, it didn’t disappear with a single blow. As the pillar of Light weakened, I could see the demon rapidly regenerating. Therefore, I fired repeatedly. Stacking multiple magic circles, I continuously cast Judgment. The demon, unable to resist, was completely annihilated. Only the shattered greatsword remained. To be safe, I decided to retrieve it and examine its material later.
This time, I finally deactivated the Spirit armament. Apparently, last time, the Light Spirit was doing something and didn’t agree with my deactivation. The Spirit separated from me with a pop, and my soul returned to normal. This time, it seems to have been successful. There was nothing left but a sense of fatigue.
"I'm tired~~ Mr. Coote, take care of the rest."
"Understood."
Mr. Coote grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, tossed me up, and caught me on his back. He then carried me over to Big brother and others.
It seems the battle on their side is already over. Eibon was also faceless. Probably, it can be repaired if broken, so I instructed the dogs to destroy it. And where is Alicia? She's hiding somewhere again, I guess. Specifically, I feel like she's behind Eibon. I sense a tail there, so there's no mistake. After all, there’s no way Eibon, a skeleton, would have a tail, and if a skeleton did have a tail, I’d go on a rampage. It wouldn’t be cute at all.
"Well then, I'll take you, Eibon, and the grimoire."
"Okay, that's fine. However‼ Please become my disciple‼"
"No."
I don't need a skeleton for a master. Besides, my magic teacher is a Darkness Spirit. In other words, my Master. I have a rule of one master per subject, so he cannot be my master.
"Why‼ I may have weakened, but I was once renowned as a Great Mage. Or are you studying under someone more skilled than me? I have my pride. If your master is inferior to me, I'll kill them and take you as my disciple‼"
"My Master is a Darkness Spirit.”
"I hate Spirits‼ If I could regain my peak power, I would destroy them‼"
Well, the Darkness Spirit is older than Eibon and possesses more magic power and skill. There's no helping it. I didn't know Spirits could be destroyed.
"Well, no one can win against a Spirit."
"You should know your place."
Big brother and Master were quite harsh too. If I weren't studying under the Darkness Spirit, there wouldn't be any issue with Eibon being my master.
"By the way, why did you torment the demon so much? Normally, you'd kill it quickly."
Master seemed puzzled by my earlier actions.
"Well, there aren’t many people as knowledgeable about demons as those from the Empire or the Church. I was just conducting a threat assessment and weapon test for when demons are summoned inside Arland as sabotage."
"... In Alice's view, both the Church and the Empire are inhumane scoundrels. It's a correct judgment, and I hope they wouldn’t go that far... but, indeed, those guys might do it."
Summoning demons requires a sacrifice. It would be unbearable if they did that to us.
Incidentally, the Church in Arland calls itself the Orthodox Church. They preach that using the word "Holy" carelessly is arrogant, and they clearly declare that they are a different organization to avoid being equated with the Church of the Imperial State, which they openly call a heretical cult.
The definition of heretical cults in Arland is religions that perform sacrifices or actions classified as inhumane, so they're probably not wrong. At the very least, there's no doubt that they engage in abduction, confinement, and brainwashing. Also, they reportedly distribute something akin to drugs disguised as holy medicine to their followers, making them a proper cult. I really can't understand why people in other countries believe in them. So I generally consider the Holy Church to be a group that doesn’t hesitate to use such means.
Still, they call themselves a church, so they supposedly also engage in demon hunting. Therefore, they must have plenty of information about demons. There were rumors that even Vatican collected and studied forbidden books.
"Honestly, they're weak, so I can easily win. If you imbue assault rifle bullets with prayer magic or Light Spirit magic, it's super easy. I'll produce some later."
Even if one shot is weak, if you hit them with around 500, they’ll die. The strong Arland soldiers could easily dodge demon attacks while focusing their fire… Hmm, I just had a good idea. Maybe I'll make some money off this. Employ some orphans and... ehehe.
"Alice is thinking of something bad."
Anon hugged me from behind and squished my cheeks. I think she should do that with the doggies. The woofers just came back, and Eibon’s head has started regenerating. It seems they destroyed it.
I mean, it regenerates on its own? Seems like a waste of magic, but whatever.
"I'm not thinking of anything bad. Maybe the Magic Kingdom will get angry... but Arland has no trade or exchange with them, so it’s fine."
"Please don't ignore me‼"
"You're still here?"
Big brother dismissed Eibon’s anger with an annoyed tone. By the way, why does he want me as his disciple? He seemed to be talking with Big brother and Master earlier, but with the deafening noise, I couldn't hear anything.
What do you think about this chapter?
