"Great Goddess... please gaze upon this place..."

Feier prayed devoutly, then opened her eyes.

Her eyes had remained shut ever since she accepted this mission.

And now, at last, they opened.

Yet what appeared within those eyes was not Feier’s pair of beautiful pupils that could make countless «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» people lose themselves in dazed admiration.

Instead...

It was a sacred radiance.

Boundless, endless radiance, as if it had all been stored inside those eyes—and at this moment, within those eyes, it truly seemed as though a supreme gaze was slowly turning to look upon this place.

...

Shenyi abruptly raised his head.

The sky blazed bright.

For the first time in a thousand years, the Abyss’s perpetually dim sky was illuminated to such brilliance, because holy light shone like a rising sun, equally bathing all things.

All across Gutongs Castle, every demonman was drawn by that warmth, unconsciously lifting their heads and staring at that radiance—eyes stung until tears streamed down their faces, yet they still refused to look away.

"Is this salvation?"

The demonmen raised their hands in hope.

"No."

But what answered them was a cold voice.

"This is judgment!"

From a fissure built of daylight, a slender, fair hand slowly reached out. On the middle finger, an authority ring was engraved with a solemn Holy Light cross, while the vivid, wide sleeve fluttered like a surging river of blood.

That hand slowly pressed downward.

A grand bell toll thundered, and the judgment of sinners was thus declared. Flowing holy radiance transformed into spears that washed the souls of criminals, and like a rainstorm, they descended upon this ancient mighty city.

Warmth turned into bone-eroding scorching heat.

Before the spears even fell, weak demonmen were already wailing as they died in the flames of judgment.

"The human Life Church?"

Shenyi’s gaze tightened, yet on his aged face, that gentle smile still lingered.

He was neither angry, nor panicked.

He even ignored the disgusting Lion King’s son at his side—who looked as if he had found a backer and was wearing a provocative expression.

Like he was welcoming an old acquaintance.

"Judging by these methods, Your Excellency must be that famed Judgment Archbishop."

Shenyi’s figure appeared high in the sky. His shadow extended, covering the entire city, and the Holy Light spears were all erased by that shadow.

"A distinguished guest has come in person, and I failed to greet you from afar. Why not follow me and sit for a moment first?"

Shenyi smiled and extended his hand. "This place of mine is poor and crude, but there are still a few local specialties, enough to entertain a guest."

"No need."

The voice within the Holy Light was extremely pleasant—gentle, feminine, yet within that gentleness was a chill of cruel severity that made one fear it.

"I didn’t come here to make friends."

"Oh? Then what is Your Excellency’s purpose?" Shenyi sounded quite interested.

"Why put on such hypocrisy?"

The Judgment Archbishop said, "Since I have come, naturally it is by the Goddess’s will, to bring down blades and arms upon you."

"Bring down blades and arms... Listening to that, the Goddess you worship doesn’t sound like some merciful Goddess." Shenyi sighed.

"The Goddess is, of course, merciful. But what your demonfolk have done has already affected the safety of the entire continent, so even a merciful and compassionate Goddess must bring down thunderous wrath."

The Judgment Archbishop said softly, "Turn back now, accept judgment, cleanse your sins—there is still room. Shenyi, you crossed the line."

"Sounds like your Life Church... no, it should be all humans."

Shenyi said, "Are still as hypocritical as ever."

"Whether it’s hypocritical or not is not for a sinner to define."

The hand reaching out from within the Holy Light slowly clenched into a fist.

So slender and fair, looking so weak—no matter how tightly it clenched, it carried not the slightest intimidation.

Like a girl playfully pouting in a scuffle—no matter how she threw a punch, it would have no killing power.

But when that fist slowly fell, all of the Holy Light suddenly boiled.

The entire sea of Holy Light surged. Chanting that praised the Goddess echoed, and a doomsday horn was also sounded at the same time.

Gutongs Castle—this entire city—trembled beneath that small fist.

Because that was not a fist.

That was judgment.

That was blades and arms.

Shenyi’s expression finally grew a bit more solemn. He stepped forward. The shadow behind him drifted and flowed, gathering into his palm.

Becoming a deep gray point.

"￥%......%"

A harsh, difficult language spilled from his thin lips. That deep gray point rapidly expanded—point to line, line to plane.

In the end it nearly covered the entire city, and then, as Shenyi’s palm slammed upward, it met the fist and the Holy Light.

Deep gray and brilliance collided.

Everything in the world seemed to vanish for a brief moment.

Between heaven and earth was absolute silence, as if all air had been drained away, becoming a vacuum.

But it was only extremely brief.

Very quickly, sound returned, and all things in the world reappeared.

As if nothing had happened.

Yet in a world that looked like nothing had happened, there were always some things that had changed.

For example, the blood on Shenyi’s palm.

And for example, that hand drooping weakly in the sky above—slender, but no longer fair, because it had been dyed red with blood.

"It seems the blades and arms of that Life Goddess I’d never even heard of a thousand years ago are still lacking a bit."

Shenyi flicked his hand casually, and the traces of blood in his palm dispersed into the wind.

In that head-on collision, he had suffered only a slight surface wound, yet the Judgment Archbishop’s entire hand was already nearly crippled.

Who had won and who had lost was obvious at a glance.

"As expected."

The Judgment Archbishop could not help letting out a soft sigh. "Just as His Holiness the Pope said—even though you are merely a sinner imprisoned, you are still an old remnant that survived from a thousand years ago. You won’t be defeated that easily."

Everyone in the world knew the demonfolk’s number one Grand Duke, but probably very few people knew that Grand Duke Shenyi was one of the rare old monsters in this world who had survived from that era.

Over a thousand years, the demonfolk’s Grand Dukes had changed again and again, but only Shenyi... had always been there, always the number one Grand Duke.

"Doesn’t that prove you lack the qualification to judge?" Shenyi chuckled. "Perhaps if the Pope you speak of came in person, it would be better?"

"His Holiness manages countless affairs—how could he take the time to personally deal with sinners like you? But you should be glad His Holiness did not come in person. If this game ended too early, it would be far too boring."

Holy radiance surged again, constructing a golden gate.

Wearing a dark crimson divine robe, the Judgment Archbishop gently pushed that gate open, passed through the passage of the holy domain, and fully descended upon this place.

That made Shenyi slightly startled.

"Knowing you can’t win... you still come in person to deliver yourself to death?"

"Sorry, I’m not as bold as a certain blond brat who cross-dresses as a woman, flirts around, picks flowers and messes with grass, doesn’t know what’s good for him... and even dares to act sweet with other women right under the Saintess’s gaze."

As a certain blond stiffened in expression, the Judgment Archbishop smiled slightly.

"I just know that some restless rats definitely won’t let go of such a good opportunity—they won’t be able to resist coming to stick a hand in."

...

...

Julia opened her eyes.

The ceiling was very white, the lamplight very bright.

Pink gauze curtains swayed gently. After careful arrangement, the lingering mood in this room always made one’s heart drift.

But it still could not erase the fear in her heart.

"So scary... so scary..."

Julia climbed out of the bathtub. Her gaze swept the entire room, and she discovered that the other girls who had been locked in this room with her earlier were all gone without a trace.

Very strange.

But she didn’t pay it much mind.

Because fear was smothering her heart. For a coward like her, at this moment she had no spare strength to think about whether something was strange or not.

"So scary... so scary..."

She was only thinking: since she was so afraid, what should she do?

What could she do to make this fear disappear?

"Ah, right."

Julia suddenly thought of it.

"Suicide."

That’s right.

Suicide.

After suicide, she wouldn’t be afraid anymore.

So without the slightest hesitation, she smashed the mirror on the vanity, grabbed a shard of glass, and stabbed it through her own neck.

Blood kept pouring out. Julia slowly went limp and collapsed to the floor, but at the corner of her mouth, a smile surfaced.

"Ha... n-not... not scared anymore... finally not scared anymore... good..."

Julia quickly lost all signs of life.

But that blood still kept flowing.

In the end, it gathered into a small pool of blood.

The pool of blood rippled. Footsteps came, as if someone were slowly walking out of the pool.

That was... a gaunt middle-aged man.

His skin was deathly pale, like a demon-ghost that had never seen sunlight, yet he had none of the ferocity such legendary monsters were said to have. Instead, he wore a tailcoat, a top hat on his head, and carried a cane—elegant and refined.

He stepped out of the blood pool, then removed his top hat, pressed a hand to his chest, and bowed with grace to the old man who had appeared in front of him at some unknown time.

"Greetings, honored Grand Duke Shenyi."

The middle-aged man introduced himself politely.

"My humble name is not worth mentioning, but you may call me the Black Knight. Salvation Society, Second Seat—the Black Knight—has come to borrow something from you..."

...

...

Beneath Gutongs Castle, that towering corpse mountain where Muen had once stayed.

Corpses piled here year after year, looking both spectacular and horrifying.

Most had long since become white bones, even dust, yet a small portion—bodies abandoned here by the Enchantress Grand Duke or other demonmen—were still rotting.

This ought to have been the quietest place in all of Gutongs Castle.

Because in a place with no living people, how could there be any commotion?

But...

Creak, creak...

A strange sound suddenly rang out.

On that corpse mountain, at the very top, a corpse that had just been thrown here slowly sat up.

It was a succubus corpse.

Not long ago she had still been in the Enchantress Grand Duke’s bed, serving her pleasures, so aside from a few livor mortis stains that had appeared with the passage of time, she looked no different from the living.

Creak, creak...

But her movements were extremely bizarre. As she got up and walked, every joint rubbed and ground. She stumbled crookedly, like a puppet controlled by strings.

It seemed that whatever existed inside her at this moment did not know how a “human” was supposed to walk.

Creak, creak...

The succubus corpse swayed, tumbled down from the corpse mountain, then advanced along the dim path.

But she hadn’t gone far before she stopped.

She had to stop.

The succubus’s side face suddenly split open. A ferocious eyeball flipped outward, staring at the old man blocking the way ahead.

"Get out of the way... human..."