The Church of Eternal Life was an emerging religion that was gradually gaining prominence throughout the world.
In fact, it was the most prominent religion in Australia, where it devoted most of its efforts and where it remained the longest. The same could be said for Europe, where it was slowly expanding its influence.
After ‘conquering’ these two regions, the Church of Eternal Life set its sights on Asia.
In fact, it didn’t have much of a choice. No matter how ambitious Slei was, he knew that it would only be crazy to set his sights on North America at that point.
Asia.
In particular, Slei focused on the Korean Peninsula.
He felt that it would be easy to attract believers there because it had suffered great damage from the Demons in the past and it was neglected by the Hunter Association. This meant that it would serve as the perfect foothold to support their expansion into China, which was considered the center of Asia.
And his expectations were on point.
Most of the citizens of Korea were unable to let go of their feelings of loss, which allowed Slei to capture their hearts by showing them miracles.
Everything had been going according to plan.
Paak!
Slei rolled across the ground once again. He rolled a few times before finally springing to his feet.
He didn’t even see Sedi.
Puk.
“U-. urk…”
All he felt was the pain in his side before he was sent flying through the air once again. His body crashed into a wall like a meteor.
The walls of the auditorium, which had once been a training ground for hunters and could withstand the strikes of multiple missiles, were now covered in cracks because of the continuous impacts.
“Huk…”
Slei coughed up a mouthful of blood, his mind racing.
She was strong.
She was too strong.
‘She’s not an Absolute or a Demon… So how…?’
This question lingered in his mind.
At the same time, he was filled with regrets.
If the three Vice Bishops who led each region… No, if even two of them had been there, they would have been able to deal with the monstrous little bitch.
Taht.
Sedi didn’t give Slei the chance to think. Once again, she kicked off from the ground and quickly closed the distance between them.
However, this time, Slei was able to react in time. He barely raised his right hand, blocking the blow from his staff, which was now in Sedi’s hands.
Crack!
But just because he’d managed to successfully block the attack didn’t mean he had been able to negate the damage.
The bones of his right hand were smashed to bits as soon as they came into contact with the staff.
Nevertheless, Slei used his building rage to suppress his pain as he grabbed the staff. His eyes were filled with venom.
“This is mine!”
“Fuck you.”
As she muttered in a cynical tone, Sedi stretched out her left hand. Her dainty white hand formed the shape of a blade as it slid across Slei’s forearm.
Shuk-
The sound that emerged was not something a hand should’ve been able to make. Slei looked down at his arm with a blank expression.
There, he saw a thin red line, from which blood slowly began to drip. Then, Slei’s forearm slid smoothly like a perfectly sliced cake.
“Kuaak…!”
Slei let out a scream of pain before a flash of bright light exploded from his body.
Sedi frowned slightly. She still hadn’t figured out what exactly this power was yet. Of course, she didn’t think that it was particularly threatening, but one could never be certain.
She’d seen people who were on the brink of death ignore everything and drag their murderers down with them many times.
‘He’s caught like a rat anyway.’
There was no reason for her to gamble with her life. With a sly smirk on her face, Sedi widened the distance between them.
“Cough, cough…”
Slei coughed heavily, and his body shook.
Before this, he had always done his best to maintain a neat appearance. His bleached white hair was always combed neatly without even a single errant strand, his expression had always been calm and gentle, and his voice was always warm and soothing.
But now, that appearance was nowhere to be seen.
His hair was disheveled, his face was distorted like a devil, and his eyes were filled with sheer hatred.
Sedi smiled brightly at him for a moment before her eyes were drawn to the staff in her hands. There, she saw Slei’s detached right hand, still holding on firmly.
“Hmph.”
She made an expression of disgust before shaking her hand slightly, causing the disgusting hand to fall to the ground with a thud.
Slei cried out with a broken voice.
“Do you know what you’re doing?!”
“Getting rid of an old fart who should have died long ago.”
“Our Church of Eternal Life has over a million followers!”
“Why would I care about that?”
Sedi raised an eyebrow.
She hoped that this old man wouldn’t suddenly say bullshit like ‘if you kill me, then they will all become your enemies’.
“Killing me means destroying all of their hopes! Are you prepared for that? Are you prepared to be the one who steals away their opportunities to reunite with their loved ones and feel happiness once again?!”
Fortunately for Slei, he didn’t say what Sedi expected, but that didn’t change anything.
She became even more annoyed.
As if to vent her anger, Sedi stomped on the severed right hand in front of her.
Strangely, there was a weak snap as though she had stomped on an old tree branch instead of a hand.
Slei quivered as if he could feel his hand being trampled.
“Prepared? Always. I’m always prepared to kill trash who cry out like they’re the most pitiful beings in the world.”
“What did you…”
“You heard me. I don’t care about garbage that deserves to be culled.”
This was a truth that Sedi learned in her home world.
Laws and Justice? Those were simply delusions of the weak.
“It’s the rule of nature for the weak to lose everything and be devoured. If they don’t like it, then they simply have to become strong.”
After saying that, Sedi smiled.
It was only at that moment when Slei finally realised.
Despite her doll-like appearance, this being in front of him was no little girl. Instead, she was a monster in human form who wore the mask of a little girl.
“Anyone who willingly listens to your nonsense is an idiot. They are weak and pathetic for willingly following and relying on a fool like you. A fool who has delusions of grandeur but no real power to back it up.”
Slei shouted in a hoarse voice.
“I, I can’t believe you’d say that about people who lost their families and were filled with despair… Y-, you’re a demonic beast.”
“…in the past, I might have taken that as a compliment.”
Sedi muttered those words and closed her eyes.
Right. In the old days, she used to like having her eyes closed like this. Since all she could see was darkness, she always felt that closing her eyes allowed her to connect with him a little more.
But not anymore.
Sedi Glaston was no longer the child of the Black Horned Demon King.
“…now, I feel kinda bad.”
After saying that, Sedi pointed her staff towards Slei.
It seemed that she no longer had any intentions of keeping this old man alive.
If nothing had happened at that moment, the tip of her staff would have probably pierced the old man’s throat.
“Huh?”
However, Sedi suddenly raised her eyes to look at the ceiling.
She could feel two sources of demonic energy approaching at high speeds. Lukas could probably sense them as well.
“…the Five Dukes?”
It could only be them.
Their demonic energy was similar to the Duke’s, whom she’d encountered back in Africa.
However, it was strange.
Sedi also knew that the Demon Dukes would only arrive in Busan the next morning if they were to continue at their original pace.
‘No.’
It wasn’t that strange.
In the first place, since they had only been a day away, it was possible that they had grown tired of destroying the cities or killing the humans and decided to increase their speed.
“…no. Wait.”
In addition to the Demon Dukes, she also sensed another energy signature.
For the first time in a very long while, Sedi’s expression hardened.
(TL: Who do you guys think the third energy signature is? Kran? Or one of the Absolutes? I’m not sure if Sedi’s expression would change because of Kran though.)