The play wasn’t over yet. The eighth recruits were still captured, and the nagas were intently guarding them. There was Vepar, dreaming and assured of a rosy future where she was the main lead. Everything was as it was.
“You came.” She smiled, welcoming the entrance of an extra who would make her shine brighter. But Vepar didn’t know she couldn’t be the center of this stage. The stage was created to make sure exactly that, and it was the same for Ru Amuh. He wasn’t the main character, either. He wasn’t even one of the main leads, but at most a fake protagonist. The director of this play had drafted his script with a different main character in mind.
However, it was now time for Vepar to be released from her expectations and delusions. Thus, Ru Amuh gripped the statue in his hand tightly with a tense expression.
“I…brought it…”
“You came earlier than I expected you to. As I thought, you must have been quite anxious.” Vepar thought her strategy to let the opposite half of the captives go had been right on the mark. She looked completely satisfied with her own wisdom. Now that this dim-witted human male had come back, the matter was basically over—of course, that was if the holy relic that the human brought was the real deal.
It was a well-carved but weathered statue that looked lacking in some way. But its appearance was only secondary. Vepar closed her eyes and stretched out her arms, heightening all her senses toward the relic. A holy relic represented a god, and as its name suggested, was holy and gave off a unique feeling. No matter how artistic it appeared, if it didn’t have any divinity, it was nothing more than a pretty craftwork. On the opposite note, if a stone rolling on the street possessed divinity, its value skyrocketed.
And after studying it, Vepar noted, “It’s there!” She opened her eyes widely as she sensed the divinity from the statue. Although it was very weak and almost insignificant, it made more sense to her. Considering the state of this World and the fact that the item was from a secret religion barely holding on to their existence, it would’ve been more suspicious if it had been overflowing with divinity.
The divinity Vepar felt sealed the deal. And although it was only slight, she also felt traces of a god lingering. As divinity was no commonplace thing rolling around, from that point, all suspicions and doubts she had had evaporated. Her careful eyes soon turned red with greed and desire.
“I…kept the promise. So…” Ru Amuh’s voice trembled.
“Oh, yes.” Vepar’s lips curled into a smile. “The promise. Yes, the promise.” Her gaze shifted to the rest of the captives.
After a short silence, she said, “Go.” Turning to the nagas guarding the captives, she continued, “Capture them in half a day. You will bring me every single one of the humans we let go. No exception.”
The nagas turned around immediately like they had expected this.
“W-What!” Ru Amuh was appalled. “H—How could you…! You promised!”
Ru Amuh sounded enraged, like he couldn’t believe it, and Vepar smiled. She needed slaves as sacrifices to make up for the lacking divinity; now that a holy relic had rolled into her hands, and she had the perfect opportunity to get sacrifices, why would she give up on one when she could get both? ‘The strong deserved to get everything,’ she thought. This was the way of the devil.
“Disappointment, realization of how in vain one’s effort is…I love despairing feelings like that,” Vepar said with amusement as she watched Ru Amuh grit his teeth. “But you don’t have to worry. I won’t kill you, at least not for now. And I’m not lying this time. I will take you as my slave considering your contribution, and your face is also...” Vepar didn’t manage to finish her sentence before bursting into laughter. Ru Amuh was very, very handsome, even to a demon’s eyes. She could only be happy, acquiring a god and a slave that made her look forward to future nights. Although she didn’t hold the holy relic in her hands yet, it was basically hers. Because—
“What..?” Ru Amuh’s face stiffened, looking lost. His eyes darted around, stunned that the nagas had surrounded him without leaving a gap in no time.
“You aren’t stupid enough to not know that resistance is futile?” Vepar said leisurely. She was telling him to hand the relic over and obediently get captured.
Yet, in response—Sling! Ru Amuh pulled out his sword and swung it around. He ran away like he couldn’t accept the situation as it was.
“…Well, I suppose you could do that, you dim-wit.” Vepar shrugged and commanded while chuckling. “Don’t kill him, but capture him unharmed.”
Their opponent was a human at most. The number of nagas who had gone to chase after him was more than a dozen. Demons were fighting machines who had lived their whole lives on the battlefield. It would be weirder if they failed to capture him.
That was what Vepar had thought, but what happened next made her eyes widen.
“Hm?”
Splash! When Ru Amuh swung his sword, the heads of the nagas following him fell off while spurting blood. He swiftly sliced through the thick armor and scales and displayed splendid swordsmanship and movements. It was unexpected, but not completely out of expectations. Vepar was aware that not all humans were weak, and some were, admittedly, strong. It was humiliating, but during a time when a man named Salem Philip lived, demons had lived as slaves to humans.
“…He did say he was a great warrior of a secret religion.” Vepar clicked her tongue. “What are you all doing? Bring a troop or two if it’s necessary, but take him back quickly.”
Her command changed, and the nagas increased their offensive. However, they still failed to capture Ru Amuh. They thought they would be able to capture the human easily, but the nagas were falling one by one, getting swept away with Ru Amuh in the center.
“Those pathetic fools.” Vepar snorted. She realized that the human male was more skilled than she had thought, but she still had no doubt that she had the situation under control. After all, this was her territory.
“That useless lot, seriously…” She shook her head and extended her energy. Ru Amuh’s surroundings quickly became damp and filled with sticky darkness. She was about to wrap his body around to apply pressure when suddenly a light burst out.
Flash!
The bright light radiating from the statue enveloped Ru Amuh and pushed back against the pressing darkness.
“Ha!” The divinity reacted to him? Vepar shouted, “It’s protecting a traitor? What a forgiving god!” Her tone was still relaxed, but her smile had faded a little bit. At the same time, Ru Amuh defeated the last naga left and threw it to the ground before bolting again, never once turning back. Vepar’s beam was replaced by a slight frown. Even while considering how desperate the situation was, it was still unexpected that the human would choose to run away, leaving a loved one behind.
Vepar began to feel an unknown sense of unease, a type of unease that suggested she might be overlooking a crucial detail, and she let him escape. She sent some of the nagas to recapture the human slaves that had been sent out. The rest of the humans were being held as hostages, some of whom had lost consciousness. Even if she summoned more nagas, she didn’t think that they would be helpful in fixing the situation. The most important matter was that the holy relic she desperately wanted was getting further away from her—furthermore, in the direction of the Cassiubia League. In terms of importance, everything else paled in comparison. The holy relic was of the highest priority and must be retrieved at all costs. Vepar had already confirmed that the holy relic was real, so she was even more frantic to retrieve it. That left her with only one option.
“You dare.” Her body shrank back like a pressurized spring before shooting out with extreme force. “Make me step forward!”
The distance between her and Ru Amuh narrowed in an instance. Ru Amuh ran; he only focused on running. The momentum with which she was chasing him was truly terrifying. As expected of a great demon, even while using all the energy he could possibly squeeze out to run, the distance between him and Vepar was continuously shrinking. Vepar had done nothing but chase him down with a single-minded focus, but this made it even more frightening. Ru Amuh felt her extreme dedication to capture him at all costs; she would not allow him even a little gap to escape. His synesthesia also supported his thoughts. At this rate, she would catch up to him in minutes—no, in a few seconds, let alone a minute.
“You rascal.” However, Vepar surpassed his expectations and even his synesthesia. When he turned around, he saw her furious face right above his shoulders. “Give me the holy relic-!” She cried out and wriggled her body violently.
Vepar jumped on him like a ferocious beast, and Ru Amuh pulled back the hand holding the statue at almost the same time.
Swiiiish! A sudden gust of wind swept by, and carried the statue far, far away.
“What the-!” Vepar’s gaze snapped to the statue flying away like a game of shot put. Holy relics were fickle, so a very small crack could make them lose their function. It went without saying that if it broke, it might become completely useless.
“You bastard—No, no—!” Vepar cried out, and after hurriedly smacking Ru Amuh to the ground, she turned towards the direction of the statue. At this point, she was already out of her sphere of influence, and while following the statue, she went even deeper into enemy territory. Vepar managed to catch the statue just before it fell to the ground.
“Ha!” Vepar let out a sigh of relief with the statue in her hand. He really wasn’t a normal human being; things might have gotten very cumbersome if the statue had broken. However, his last desperate effort had ended up in vain. Nothing mattered to her now. Even if she made some losses right now, this alone would be more than enough to make up for it. Her gains would be incomparable to her losses—for she now had a god in her hand!
There was nothing wrong with Vepar’s thought process…if the statue in her hand had truly been a holy relic. “Ha…what?” Vepar, who was about to burst into laughter, paused. Even though she finally had the holy relic in her hand, something felt off. She did feel the traces left by a god, but there was no god in it. How could this be when she had definitely felt divinity inside?
“It’s not here anymore?” The small amount of divinity was completely gone.
Unbeknownst to Vepar, the holy water inside the statue had lost all its function after fulfilling Chi-Woo’s wish to protect Ru Amuh. In fact, the statue had really been a holy relic. However, after Kabal moved into Balal’s body, it became completely empty; in short, it was now nothing more than an empty shell.
However, Vepar had no way of knowing the circumstances surrounding the statue and was thoroughly flabbergasted. The reason why she had acted so boldly was that she was sure the holy relic was real. She had clearly felt the traces of a god, felt divinity inside it, and saw it exert its power with her own eyes. She hadn’t even imagined that it could be a fake. How could it be? Vepar quickly looked back as if she’d been bewitched.
Ru Amuh, who had been hit by her tail and rolled on the ground several times, slowly got up. He soon met her gaze and smiled. He looked extremely satisfied because his synesthesia was alerting him to the countless presence surrounding Vepar. Among the numerous presence, he also felt his teacher’s extremely powerful and pure energy.
Honestly, Ru Amuh had been scared, terrified even. While he was running away, thoughts like, ‘What if something went wrong, and no one would be there for me?’ flashed by. But his teacher kept his promise like always. And this only meant one thing.
“!” Vepar finally came to her senses and scanned her surroundings in a daze. “What…”
She gaped slightly when she saw the countless artilleries that filled her view. All of them pointed towards her as if to welcome and salute her.
“Atttaaackkkkkkk!”
Baammmmmm!
The new stage was brilliantly lit with fire all at once.