Even before I encountered him, I already knew who he was.
I was aware of his powers, his personality, and his weaknesses.
The information I gathered from conversing with the Cyclops pointed to the fact that he was indeed the Bishop I knew.
The Demon Bishop was one of the main villains of the Devil Slayer at the Academy.
These demon bishops, who make direct contracts with Great Demons to leverage their powers, essentially lead the Demon Church.
Hayden had clashed with them several times, experiencing victories, but he had suffered many losses as well.
Most of the fights were lopsided because Hayden entered their nest, which was advantageous for them.
Having fought multiple times, I had gathered quite detailed information on them, and fortunately, it seemed their composition hadn’t changed just yet.
This time, the situation was different.
I wasn’t the one who had crashed their well-prepared location; it was him who had entered the site he had already wrecked multiple times to create his nest.
He seemed to have hidden himself well, but ultimately, he caught my eye.
Although I lost my chance to ambush, it wasn’t yet a particularly favorable situation for him.
The mask made from a skull with goat horns symbolized the Great Demon I had already encountered.
The slothful Great Demon Belphegor, appearing as an old man with goat horns, was his master.
Belphegor, the Demon of Sloth and Domination, was possibly the reason for this chaos.
He despises moving himself and wishes for others to do the work, which activated his Power of Domination. With this one power, he became one of the Lords of Hell.
The Power of Domination is a ridiculous ability to manipulate others as he desires.
For someone with low resistance, a mere gesture with his hand or an eye movement suffices to establish domination.
For those with strong resistance, he must use physical means such as pins to enhance the strength of his control.
At first glance, it appears to be a cheat that allows him to dictate the fate of others with just a wave of his hand, yet it also has its weaknesses.
This is because it differs from other self-actualizing powers of the other demon bishops.
For instance… it likely contains some type of power that can resist the authority within one’s body.
Like the essence of a dragon… or the essence of a wolf god…
“C-Cough…!! [[Stop!!]]”
“Do you want me to cut off your breathing?”
Once again, the neck that had just attached itself was severed.
This guy has strong powers, but his actual combat ability is terrible.
Just like Belphegor.
“[[Protect me!!]]”
The Principal reacted to the power-laden voice and cast Large-Scale Magic on me.
The paralysis spell that Buckingham used before stretched toward me, but as I slashed at the Demon Bishop, I inadvertently intercepted it as well.
It felt almost like a stunt to dodge that thin flash.
Even after that, the Principal flew around me, continuously casting spells, but none came near me even a little bit.
That level of Large-Scale Magic would disappear as soon as it touched the Aura Blade of a Master.
“Three who are unaffected by his powers…”
Three who are unaffected by his powers… I guess it includes me, Amy, and River.
It’s simple process of elimination.
Only the three of us are moving right now.
On River’s body, there was an unidentified essence presumed to be that of the wolf god, so it was likely resisting, and I don’t know why Amy can resist the power.
Hayden had sufficient measures against the Power of Domination, allowing him to resist, but I’m unsure about Amy.
I assume she must have trained a lot to hunt demons, so she prepared herself.
“You seem to have a long tongue.”
Watching him babble and spew powers from his mouth made me curious about what would happen if I cut his tongue out, so I sliced his jaw.
Now he wouldn’t be able to speak.
He attempted to regenerate quickly, but I crushed it with my foot.
“[[If the Archmage is useless… you there, protect me!]]”
“Ugh… No way…!”
The tongue-less Demon Bishop expressed thoughts rather than words.
Upon coming into contact with the thoughts sent out by him, Lucia, who had been standing still, began to move.
It seemed she had been bound by his power until now.
“Atlas… I… I’m alright, so stay back!!!”
She seemed to be trying to resist, but as Lucia was soon manipulated into swinging her sword at me.
As I made a move, Amy intervened between us and countered Lucia’s attack.
“I’ll block it!”
“Atlas… we’ll hold her off, so you handle that quickly…!!”
Having dealt with the monsters that emerged from the ground, Amy and River stood in front of Lucia.
“Seeing you can’t slash her, I guess she must be your friend… It’s a pity, but currently, I’m in control.”
Having been given just a moment, he had already regenerated.
“I guess you didn’t understand, [[Place the blade to your throat]]”
“Wha..?!!”
At the words of the Demon Bishop, Lucia placed the sword against her own neck.
He had nearly compelled her to commit suicide.
My sword, which was poised to strike down the Demon Bishop, halted.
“Lucia?? Lower the sword!!”
“Ughh… It’s so strong..!!!”
Two people tried to talk Lucia down, but given her inherent strength, she was hard to persuade.
“Looks like you should have done this sooner. First… kneel and beg to Lord Belphegor. If you do, I won’t kill them.”
“…Seeing the Principal act like that, I guess all the professors have been snatched up by you, huh?”
“Indeed, I’m controlling all of them. With just a flick of my hand, I could have them all killed! If you submit quietly, I’ll end it quickly by tearing your limbs apart and killing you like I endured.”
Finally, the sword grazed against Lucia’s neck.
“…Understood.”
The Squirette, who seemed ready to strike, lowered the sword helplessly towards the ground.
Seeing that, Lucia’s eyes began to tremble.
“A… Atlas… I… I…”
With the cold sword against her neck, Lucia was terrified but desperately tried to make a resolution.
“I… Don’t worry about me… I don’t want to be a burden…!!”
“If you can’t lower your hands, just drop the sword.”
“Ughh…!! My arms…”
Lucia, on the verge of tears as if she were about to cry, wore the expression of a willing sacrifice, making Amy and River even more anxious.
“…I won’t let you do anything foolish. Just stay still, and I’ll save you.”
“But…!!”
From his perspective, he hadn’t even told where he was and only hinted that he was under his control, which he must have thought would make me anxious.
This was indeed a horrifying situation.
During the brief moment the Hunting Festival was set to begin, the most powerful monsters were under his command, the Academy staff were similarly controlled, and even Lucia, one of the five pillars, had succumbed to his power.
If he drew this many people under his control into the capital, it would create absolute chaos.
But isn’t it strange?
With such overwhelming power, why had he been hiding from the Church and the Master until now?
If the Demon Bishop could invade enemy territory like this, he should have directly gone to the Imperial Palace instead of causing a scene at the Academy.
“In short… it means he’s engaging in an unfair scam.”
Something began to glow within my pocket.
It seemed like the charging was finally complete.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the round object I had carried for a long time.
“You… what is that?!!”
In my hand was an artifact shaped like a globe adorned with various jewels.
As it began to emit a pale light, the bejeweled artifact absorbed my aura.
– Buuuuuuuuuum!!!
Then it caused an enormous explosion.
The wave of pale light spread across the entire Black Forest from the center of the orb.
“Aaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”
The Demon Bishop screamed as the pale light hit him.
Though covered by thick robes, he likely looked charred from burning all over.
The pale light that spread throughout the forest was none other than Holy Power.
“Guh… Aaaaah!!!”
In apparent agony, he clutched his chest and writhed.
“What… insane! How can you use such an inhumane weapon??”
“Inhumane? I prefer to say it’s inhuman. This poses absolutely no harm to humans, so how can it be inhumane?”
The Demon Bishop, writhing in pain, pointed at the globe-shaped artifact lightly held in my left hand.
“No way… That’s a relic of the highest grade… How could a scoundrel like you hold something meant for a Saint…!!!”
“I made a deal. I said I would kill demons, and she lent it to me.”
The artifact I had used was the Holy Artifact ‘Holy Relic’ borrowed from a Saint.
A holy relic capable of causing horrific damage to demons can’t normally be lent out through standard means, but I managed to borrow it through some deal with the Saint.
Even though I had gone through that troublesome procedure, this was the only artifact of the highest grade I could borrow, which was also the weakest among them.
Nonetheless, given that this was the only holy relic I could effectively wield, it didn’t particularly matter.
Other holy relics come with various conditions like needing a certain level of Holy Power to be used, reciting specific divine words, or praying for several days.
If these conditions weren’t met, they would only inflict damage equivalent to that of a high-purity rare metal weapon.
Compared to that, the Holy Relic had a remarkably simple usage method.
Once the user pours their mana or aura into it, it radiates Holy Power ‘in proportion to it.’
That’s all there is to it.
In other words, as long as I hold this relic, I can transform my enormous aura, filling the sky, into an unlimited number of holy bombs.
“Uh…? My body feels lighter…”
“Is the power lifted??”
Lucia, who was being controlled by his power, was freed.
“Huh?! What… Who am I??”
The powers that had bound Amy and River, who had been obedient puppets under the control of the Demon Bishop, were also lifted.
“Ugh..!!”
Realizing the power had been lifted, the Demon Bishop stood up awkwardly.
It seemed he intended to escape or something.
“Where do you think you’re running?”
“Guh…?!”
As I swung my sword with moderate force, he reacted excessively, evading the attack.
He was completely different from before.
Though he had thrashed about in pain, he hadn’t even thought about dodging until now.
“Looks like you dodged. You’ve been hit until now… how strange… you’ve lost your calm.”
In a short time, I had witnessed him regenerate his severed body numerous times.
At this point, I had a pretty good grasp of his structure.
“I’m just unwilling to waste any more power…!!”
“Is it because all your ‘spare lives’ you hid in the forest have been ruined?”
He didn’t answer, but upon hearing that, I could see the tremor in the Demon Bishop’s hand.
“Under the authority of the powerful gods, your spells you utilize as a demon will no longer have any effect, will they?”
This place isn’t the game board he prepared.
It’s already my game board I set up.
If I had intruded, it might have been tougher.
He would have likely set up a larger-scale ritual capable of resisting the power of the relic, not just this hasty scheme. He would have prepared many more pawns under complete control.
Belphegor had fled after failing his summoning ritual; it was utterly amusing that his servant would have to go through a similar procedure.
“Now that your pawns are all gone and your spare lives are lost, what’s left for you? That scoundrel Great Demon who ran away after getting his horns chopped off?”
“Insulting Lord Belphegor…!!!”
“What a disgrace it is that he even touched a human and ended up losing his limbs and fleeing without being able to lay a single finger on me! How could you show your face after being a runaway? Don’t you think the other Great Demons are laughing at him? How foolish must he be to get thrashed by a human and run away, huh!!!”
Unable to withstand the insult, the enraged Demon Bishop charged at me.
His face, ablaze with anger, peeked through the cracks of the broken mask.
“You… heretic…!!! Did you hear the angels…?!”
“Wow, you’re really saying something that a deity would love… You mean you heard the angels?”
“Enough… It’s not needed..!! Even if my powers don’t work….!!”
“Without using Belphegor’s Power of Domination, his capabilities drop below that of a high-ranking demon… What do you think will happen to your master?”
The continued provocations ignited the blood of the Demon Bishop, and he spat out blood as he shouted.
“[[I am the strongest warrior, even alone!!!]]”
With his last-ditch effort, the Demon Bishop commanded himself.
