Ceres, the saint that summoned Arata, was being cornered.
“You, a saint accepted by the church, summoned a demon!? You are not even a saint anymore! You were enticed by a demon, you.. Sinful witch!”
“B-but…!?”
The church was the most influential organization in the continent, and worshiped only one god.
Ceres was originally a simple village girl, but was named a saint after receiving a divine revelation.
The title of saint weighed heavily on her, since she was much more devout than most, but she had her friends, the hero Arc, and the Witch of Destruction Erie, who was said to be on par with the strongest mages, who displayed their incredible power in a faraway land, the Seven Great Mages.
They worked together, and continuously protected the people from the great beasts that were said to be calamity incarnate.
But what awaited them after the battle with Walpurgis, the dragon of the end, was not voices of praise, but harsh stares.
Also, a rumor spread within the church.
The saint sold her soul to a demon.
The three of them gathered in the headquarters of the church, and received words of condemnation.
“Ceres, sell her soul to a demon!? How can you even suggest that!? No one is more devout to god, or worked harder to protect the people!”
“Silence silence silence! A hero chosen by a sinful witch is no hero at all! The Witch of Destruction is guilty of the same crime. Know that your lives end here!”
“Wha!?”
And then there were the holy knights. Each was lauded as a great warrior, and they were the strongest judges of the church.
Arc and the others were stronger than them as individuals, but they were experts in fighting as a group, and professionals at fighting people.
“Hahahaha! You have nowhere to run!”
“Uuu… God… Mister Arata…”
“Dammit…”
Ceres the saint broke down crying, as Arc was bewildered by this sudden development and did not know what to do.
Both believed in what they did. That was why they kept traveling no matter how tough things got, and saved people with smiles on their faces.
They never once imagined it would end like this.
“Tch… We’re being framed.”
Among them, only Erie, the Witch of Destruction, had a clear vision of what was going on.
The existence of the saint was a great ‘virtue’ to the church. But if that light shined too brightly, darkness also deepened and became thicker.
Amid the power struggles between different factions in the church, a light as bright as her would only spell trouble.
“…We even managed to escape death… Bad luck.”
The rumor spread too quickly. Erie understood that this was definitely planned.
But she also understood that they had no more cards to play.
“But I’m not planning on giving up so easily.”
The Witch of Destruction lived in the forest of destruction, and many people disliked her for her power.
And yet, the two good people that were standing with her once stretched their hands towards her, and brought her into the outside world. That was why she always saw it as her duty to protect them.
“Arc, take Ceres and run.”
“…!? Erie, what about you!?”
“I’ll take as many of these villains down with me as I can.”
Erie stepped forward, in front of the crying Ceres.
“Go. Unlike me, you’re loved by god. I’m sure he’ll save you.”
“Erie!”
“Hurry!”
The knights hurried to stop this, and their pressure was a threat even to a witch with combat experience.
But strangely enough, she felt it would be all right.
“Let me show you the real power of ‘destruction’.”
That power, said to be able to destroy the world, was being used to protect someone. She thought that was incredible.
“Erie! If you use that power, you…!”
“It’s fine. I’m using it to protect my friends. I’m sure my mother will forgive me.”
And then, ominous magic energy covered the room. It was known as ‘magic of destruction’, and it could only be used once, in exchange for Erie’s life.
“….No.”
Ceres raised her face with tears in her eyes.
“Ceres?”
“You caaaaan’t!”
At the same time, white magic energy swelled, painting over the black magic gushing out of Erie.
“No way!? My magic energy of destruction!?”
“You can’t hurt anyoneeeee!”
White and black mixed together, and created an abnormal vortex of magic energy inside the church.
That overwhelming magic energy felt like the power of god. Both Erie and Arc knew it.
“I-is this the one from before!? Ceres!?”
“Please, god! I don’t care what happens to me, but please stop this fight! I beg of you!”
It was the same magic energy that made itself felt during the battle against Walpurgis. The same one that summoned the living god Arata.
Ceres screamed towards the sky, and an intense magic energy drove the holy knights away.
“Guh, what are you doing!? Kill that sinful witch!”
Yelled a cardinal, unable to hide his panic caused by this strange situation.
“Please! Please! Please!! I don’t care what happens to me! So… So…!”
“I will answer that wish.”
“…Eh?”
Time stopped.
There was a silence so sudden, it felt like a hallucination.
“Fufufu, I haven’t felt the power of that god thing in a long time, and here I find an interesting situation.”
And in the middle of said situation, was now a girl who exuded an overwhelming sense of presence just by standing there. A girl who seemed to be an incarnation of the night itself.
She had blonde hair and eyes as red as blood. She appeared to be around ten years old, but everyone instantly understood there was more to her than her looks would tell.
“Eh… Ah…”
“Well then. I didn’t expect to leave that island, but I see. Are you the ones who got involved with Arata?”
“Mister Arata… Did he send you here to us?”
“Hn? Well, I guess.”
She said as she looked around.
“W-who the hell are you!?”
The cardinal’s face twitched with fear, as he looked at the blonde girl. He knew it as well. This was a being well beyond what he could imagine.
“Me? I guess I will introduce myself. My name is Wilhelmina Vermilion Worheim!”
“W-Wilhelmina!? That is a name mentioned in myths that are over ten thousand years old… But this magic energy… Is it really you!?”
“I see. Then I will call myself what you call me.
The god killing demon king.
And then, the trampling began.
◇ ◇ ◇
When it ended, only Wilhelmina was still standing, along with Ceres, Arc, and Erie.
There were bodies piled up all around, from the holy knights to others related to the church. And Wilhelmina laughed as she stepped on the cardinal.
“…Hum…”
“Hn? Ah, I followed your wish. I didn’t hurt anyone.”
“T-thank you! But why are you…”
“Hahaha, just killing time. And I felt vestiges of god’s magic energy and Arata’s power.”
“…Mister Arata…”
‘So he did send you’, whispered the saint, and Wilhelmina looked at her with an amused smile on her face.
“Yes. Apparently Arata has taken a liking to you, so he dispatched me here.”
“Ah, what a compassionate soul…”
Ceres was moved, and next to him were an excited Arc, and Erie, who had a look of suspicion on her face.
Wilhelmina had a hunch that these three would be entertaining.
“The summoning magic energy should be running out soon, so I will be going.”
“Eh!? But we haven’t even thanked you…”
“Oh, but a bond has already been formed. If you really wish to see Arata, I’m sure you can come to us.”
“…Bond?”
Ceres tilted her head, and Wilhelmina nodded with a meek expression.
“Yes. And if you really wish to thank me, entertain me the next time we see each other.”
“V-very well! I will definitely visit you where you live!”
“Kukuku, I can’t wait. If you wish strongly enough, I’m sure you three can reach it… The island where god lives, Arcadia!”
And as a golden summoning circle appeared, Wilhelmina vanisheds.
“I promise I will. Mister Arata, Miss Wilhelmina…”
Ceres, who believed in them until the end, closed her eyes and prayed to god.
“Let’s go, Ceres. We can’t stay here.”
“Yes. They’ll look for us as long as we live. Well, not that this is my first time experiencing what it’s like for people to not like me.”
And so, they left the church and set out on a journey.
“God and the living god Arata are with us. I’m sure we will be fine.”
“Yes, I believe it too. We have seen not one, but two miracles.”
“Well, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go, so I’ll go along with you. Wherever you go.”
Their names had been sullied, as they were called the biggest traitors in the church, but the path they walked was most certainly not a dark one.
Their destination was the island where god lived, Arcadia.
The saint, the hero, and the Witch of Destruction would continue their travels.
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It’s always upper management…
Thanks.
It’s always the church with these novels. Always.
Honestly kind of a bummer that it basically just skimmed through this portion of the story.
The trio looks interesting and making them out to be traitors from their own country from the get go just leaves a bad taste on the mouth. Hope something happens to the dimwits that framed them later on in a side story or something.