“Uaaaaaaah!!!!”
In the dark of a moonless night, a scream pierced through the silence, echoing as if someone were scratching a chalkboard with a finger.
The source of the scream was Atlas’s mansion, a remote house that only a select few knew about.
Situated near the forest and rarely encountered by ordinary students, this mansion had once been home to a professor. After the disappearance of its owner, it fell into ruin, but someone had taken it upon themselves to renovate it, despite the fact that students living here was against school rules.
At the Academy, even bringing servants was strictly prohibited, so how on earth did they get permission for this?
Given it was Atlas’s place, one could assume it somehow slipped through the cracks, but the mansion still remained a mystery.
Though it was decorated neatly, the ambiance of the forest at its back always lent it a creepy aura, and the cries only added to its ghostly reputation.
“Uaaaaaaah!!!!!”
“Just screaming won’t end this; come out from that poor person’s body quietly.”
The student foolish enough to play pranks in such a mansion was enduring tortures unlike anything they had ever experienced.
Torture from a holy stake piercing their body, torture from holy fire burning them, and other forms of pain that didn’t require “instruments”, regretting every thought they had.
They wondered why they’d let a strange impulse from the morning lead them to such a creepy place.
Berne cursed himself as he writhed in agony.
What terrified Berne the most was that the one conducting these acts wasn’t even addressing him directly.
Though the words were clearly directed toward him, they seemed to be speaking elsewhere.
With a voice distorted by magic and a recognition interference magic rendering its face static, the torturer was causing Berne to experience extreme fear, causing every orifice in his body to relax and leak uncontrollably.
If torture was the term used, Amy, the one applying it, would find it highly unpleasant.
The actions, which seemed torturous at first glance, were all methods officially employed by the Church Country’s Inquisition.
Not all interrogation methods were this brutal, but once it was determined someone was possessed by a demon, the quickest methods for everyone’s sake were put into action.
The holy stake was dull-tipped but filled with holy power, meaning if one wasn’t possessed by a demon, they felt no pain at all and usually used it for acupressure.
The holy flames were the essence of Amy’s aura flame, reminiscent of perm energy, and likewise caused no pain if the target was not possessed.
The body-warping torture… well, it would hurt somewhat.
It preys on the pain of twisted blood, especially excruciating when possessed.
[Kuuaaaaaaah!!!!]
As the demonic extraction, which resembled torture, continued for free, something finally emerged from Berne, who had reached his limit.
A cloud of black smoke billowed up, darkening the already dim sky.
Unable to endure any longer, the demon attempted to escape Berne’s body.
“Here it comes,” Amy thought, tossing the limp Berne aside to a nearby sack as she watched the rising smoke.
The smell was foul, but the sack was soft, so it wouldn’t pose any danger.
“Where do you think you’re running off to!!!”
The demon that had escaped Berne did not attack Amy but fled skyward instead.
The demon, appearing as a pitch-black mass of mana, was incredibly hard to catch.
It ignored regular magic and flew through the sky as if it were unaffected by gravity—all the more troublesome.
To catch such demons, one could set up barriers with holy power in advance, but if they sensed it, demons would fight tooth and nail not to leave their host until death, which made the interrogation techniques of inquisitors filled with techniques that could inflict torment beyond the fear of death on demons.
[Let’s see if you can catch me!! I’ll remember this…!!]
However, the area showed no signs of such preparation.
If it escaped into the sky, there wouldn’t be anything anyone could do.
The demon fled as black smoke, which meant it couldn’t be physically grabbed, and a little damage wouldn’t be a big deal.
The demon would never forget the humiliation it felt today.
[I’ll gather other demons and definitely… Ugh???]
But the demon’s escape didn’t last long.
Suddenly, something grabbed it and slammed it into the ground.
[W-What…?? How did you catch me…!!]
“I wouldn’t have just let you go without a countermeasure.”
The demon was utterly confused about what had happened to it.
It found itself caught in an ordinary-looking snare, but it had somehow assumed its original form.
“Now, shall we begin the interrogation?”
As Amy approached holding a sword, the demon was overcome with panic.
.
.
.
“So, you mean to say… you heard about this from hell?”
[Y-Yeah! I heard that if we tormented or killed someone named Atlas, we could gain a prominent position!!]
“But you don’t know who did it?”
[I thought it would somehow work out… I had nothing else to do in hell, so it sounded amusing… ]
As the demon rambled on, it gradually lost an arm and a leg due to the inevitable procedures during the interrogation.
‘… Are there demons targeting Atlas in hell?’
It’s only natural that many demons would harbor hatred toward Atlas.
Atlas had been consistently hunting demons, and some of them were Great Demons.
It wouldn’t be surprising that a hoard of demons would want to take revenge, including Belphegor and Asmodeus, who had been forced to retreat with their horns cut off, and Satan, whose plans continuously thwarted.
But what Amy focused on was the timing.
“When did those rumors start circulating?”
[It’s just a rumor, so… maybe about a month ago…?]
Pinpointing an exact timeframe was tricky.
Hell is vast, and you wouldn’t know where the rumors originated.
Though it was said to be a month, in reality, it could be a story from about a year ago.
“Ugh… Alright. I don’t think we need to discuss this any further.”
[W-Well, if that’s the case… ]
Before it could finish, the demon’s neck was severed, rolling on the ground.
[Ugh… I did everything you asked… ]
“I never said I’d spare you.”
The demon, chopped to pieces by anti-magic aura, turned to ash almost instantly.
While it seemed like the incident had been resolved, nothing truly had, leaving Amy with a headache.
The demon testified it had entered the Academy from outside at dawn.
Such minor demons couldn’t breach the Academy’s barriers, so they couldn’t come in from the outside. They could only descend within the barriers after being summoned from hell.
“I can really feel the weakening of the barrier.”
[No choice but to hope for a speedy restoration. While we’re occupied like this, more are likely coming in.]
Amy felt that if this continued, the situation would become horrific.
Suddenly, Berne, who had lost consciousness, appeared harmlessly leaning against a sack containing monster innards that she had brought.
‘This’ also needed to be dealt with.
Having extracted the demon quickly, some damage might have occurred to the person, but what could be done?
It was much better than living as a slave possessed by a demon for life, even if it meant a few injuries.
“Ugh… what’s all this ruckus in the middle of the night?”
Just then, someone flew in through a window from the mansion.
It was Gemma Aurum, who was currently staying alone at the mansion.
“Huh? What’s this? It smells awful.”
“That’s the culprit that made a mess of the front door this morning.”
“What?? You… you little monster did that!!”
Gemma seemed to remember cleaning up the wrecked front door, and without hesitation, she struck Berne on the head.
The unconscious Berne offered no resistance, taking the blows from Gemma without protest.
It could lead to something serious, but Amy didn’t bother to stop her.
The demon had only prodded Berne a little; it was Berne who had fallen into temptation, made plans, and acted.
And… either way, he wouldn’t remember anything after he woke up.
Due to the awful smell of monster guts emanating from Berne, Gemma couldn’t hit him too much.
“Gemma, there may be more like this showing up in the future.”
“What?! You mean there are more despicable creatures like this?!”
“Yes… I might have to find a new place to stay for a while.”
She thought of informing River as well.
If a Great Demon was truly involved in seeking a bounty on Atlas, this would only be a minor prank.
More countermeasures needed to be taken.
“… Is Atlas alright?”
Given the situation, Amy felt concerned for Atlas, who had become the center of all this chaos.
While she knew Atlas had achieved a legendary feat of defeating a Great Demon, she only knew that he was in a serious state and unable to receive visitors.
Even if he were in his right mind, he’d likely be off-limits for about three days after sustaining such injuries, so she could simply ask again at that time.
With no barriers to filter out intruders, and with the current uncertainty about Atlas’s condition, she had no choice but to place her trust in Casey, who was absent from the scene right now.
