How a Reincarnated Warlock Lives – Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Angel and Demon (7)

A situation no one, no, no one except me could have predicted.

Thud. In an instant, the Archbishop, drained of all his strength, collapsed onto the floor, his body withered and shriveled.

“Oh my god!”

The Knight Captain, witnessing the scene with a face full of shock and horror, screamed and stumbled backward, sensing something amiss.

But the very next moment, an overwhelming surge of mental energy, impossible to resist, drained all the power residing within him.

Thump.

In the blink of an eye, the two most powerful figures of the Holy See had perished.

“……!”

The Saintess, on the other hand, unharmed, backed away with a terrified expression.

It all happened in a fleeting moment. Witnessing the entire scene, the High Priest let out a desperate cry for the first time.

“Archangel……! How─”

His cry wasn’t much different from the Knight Captain’s last desperate shout.

-Silence.

Crack.

The next moment, a faintly draped shadow of light moved towards the High Priest.

Kugggg. Brohaken, resisting the powerful force constricting him, gathered all his demonic energy.

Unlike the two who had succumbed helplessly to the being they served, the High Priest, possessing power of the opposite attribute to light, fiercely resisted the force exerted by the Archangel’s fragment.

However, having already exhausted most of his strength in the fierce battle, he couldn’t hold out for long.

Creeeak. The armor that formed his body crumpled in an instant.

-Insufficient.

Along with the voice that echoed once more, an overwhelming amount of power began to surge in from outside.

Even without looking at Sophia’s face contorted with fear and dread, it wasn’t difficult to guess where that power originated.

The entire army of the Holy See.

The power emanating from those who served God converged into a massive light.

And then.

A being with dazzling wings finally revealed itself within the grand hall.

-Hmm.

The Archangel’s gaze directed towards me. Unlike the Saintess, who had fainted and collapsed, I remained fully conscious despite the immense surge of energy that enveloped the place.

Woooong.

I took a step forward, gripping the Holy Sword, which vibrated with a faint light.

The Archangel’s fragment was draining the power of all believers except the Saintess, but the Holy Sword, possessing the power of blessing to protect its owner, was blocking that powerful will.

Perhaps due to that.

The Archangel seemed not to have recognized my true identity yet.

Damn warmonger. Nishidius, the Archangel of Sloth.

I hadn’t expected that impatient maniac to take such drastic action.

However, this was the Great Demon’s domain.

The Archangel’s inability to contain his desire for battle would soon become the very claws that would sever his lifeline.

-The owner of the Holy Sword.

A holy voice devoid of any particular emotion.

His fleeting moment of carelessness was brief, but it was enough for me.

My hand had already reached the Great Demon’s symbol on the pedestal located in the center of the hall.

Srrrng.

As I sheathed the Holy Sword, a rift opened above my head.

The being from the abyss, enraged by the Archangel’s audacity to descend upon his domain, responded to my will.

“Five hundred years. Haven’t you endured enough?”

At my question, the voice of Pachiencia, the Great Demon of Patience, resonated.

「You dare question a being who has lived for eons with the trivial notions of humans?」

Yes. I continued, smiling. The Great Demon’s voice, recognizing me holding the Holy Sword, was not quite pleased, but the flow of the conversation was in my hands anyway.

“You wanted to kick that arrogant fool’s high backside too, didn’t you? You urged me so much five hundred years ago.”

「Ha, ha!」

The Great Demon’s derisive laughter. He knew I was trying to lure him in. However.

「The tables have turned.」

A deal where he would lend his power without any significant compensation. But this was an offer the Great Demon couldn’t refuse.

「A truly unfair deal for me, with nothing left to gain. However.」

The Bone Fortress trembled as if responding to its owner.

「Yes, I will gladly accept!」

With the Great Demon’s acceptance, an immense power began to swirl within the hall.

-Pachiencia! Are you breaking the pact?!

As the enraged voice of the Archangel reverberated, Pachiencia chuckled.

「No different from you. I am also acting through a mediator.」

Due to some sort of agreement, Archangels and Great Demons cannot directly reveal their true forms on the mortal plane. This was a fact I had confirmed previously in the Catacombs I had destroyed by summoning magical beasts.

However, it was possible to indirectly exert their power through a mediator. This was evidenced by my conversations with several Great Demons thus far.

If the Archangel had gathered the holy power of all believers in the vicinity to manifest a part of his will on the mortal plane, the Great Demon had opened a path to channel his power through a single black mage – me.

The result was the same, although the method was slightly different.

Fssst. The shimmering light gradually subsided, revealing the form of the Archangel with six pairs of wings in mid-air.

The immense power I felt. It was hard to fathom how many of the Holy See’s soldiers outside had been sacrificed.

“……”

Fortunately, however, the Saintess, who had fainted, remained untouched. The Archangel, now fully manifested, fixed his gaze directly upon me.

-Astrid, that wicked fiend has finally!

A voice filled with rage, a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time. I smiled, feeling the overwhelming amount of demonic energy coiling around my hands.

“It’s been a while, you damned parasite.”

🔹🔹🔹

The demonic energy flowing directly from the depths of hell, supplied by the Great Demon who had opened the altar himself at a great cost, was truly overwhelming.

A feeling of omnipotence I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Despite the immense pain coursing through my body, having nearly depleted my holy power using grand spells, even that felt exhilarating now.

It was as if I had returned to five hundred years ago, when I tore apart the wings of the swarming angels and cast them down to the earth.

「Let us show that arrogant servant what we are capable of.」

The Great Demon’s voice, excited by the Archangel’s bewilderment, chuckled with a high-pitched tone.

“Can you handle it?”

My question was met with an immediate response.

「As much as you need, mage!」

Seeing the demonic energy swirling and gathering, the Archangel raised his hand with a furious expression.

-Insolent fool! How dare you!

A dazzling light condensed in his hand, forming a massive spear. The spear of judgment wielded by the Archangel possessed a destructive power far surpassing the holy spell I had used to destroy the Catacomb gate earlier.

However.

“You are the insolent one, Nishidius.”

The vast amount of demonic energy formed an ominous shape. Spell formation, activation, manifestation.

The three elements of spell construction seamlessly intertwined, bringing forth the long-forgotten grand magic once more.

The Archangel, who dared to reveal his will in the Demon’s domain, believing he had no equal. I muttered softly, looking at him.

“Here, today, you will pay the price for your arrogance.”

Elliger’s Negating Breath.

Fwoosh. The breath blown towards the Archangel’s spear.

The spear, thrown with a force powerful enough to momentarily distort the atmosphere, began to wither away from its tip.

Like a rotten branch breaking and disappearing, his spear crumbled before reaching me.

-Cursed black mage!

The enraged Archangel stomped his foot forcefully.

Kwaang. A powerful wave of light emanating from the void instantly extinguished the ominously spreading Negating Breath.

“……”

Seeing this, I raised an eyebrow.

This was not a power a mere fragment of a shadow could wield. It seemed he was drawing upon the power of his true form, prepared to suffer considerable consequences.

「Hehehe. How will he handle the repercussions of returning?」

While I was also overexerting myself, the Great Demon, possessing a definite mediator in me, chuckled mockingly.

-Shut up!

The enraged Archangel roared. An immense power gathered in his hand as his wings spread wide.

I smiled faintly, observing his actions.

As the Demon had said, the Archangel projected into the mortal plane was merely a part of his true being. Moreover, simply maintaining his presence here was consuming a massive amount of power in real-time.

On the other hand, I was directly wielding the power the Great Demon was channeling to me. In simpler terms, it was the difference between having a general and not having one.

This fight had been predetermined from the start.

Of course, that arrogant parasite would never admit it.

Well, those born with blind faith were incapable of acknowledging their own mistakes.

For a servant of God to flee with its tail between its legs was simply unthinkable.

Crack. The Great Demon’s pedestal began to crack due to the demonic energy converging around me, and the ceiling of the hall shattered and crumbled.

As my hand traced the intricate hand seals.

-Die!

The Archangel’s roar echoed throughout the hall.

And then. Blood-red chains, rising from hell, flew towards the Archangel charging at me, radiating light.

Forbidden magic that no black mage, save for one, could dare to imitate.

Arkzash’s Unfeeling Hook.

The hook, empowered by the vast amount of demonic energy the Great Demon was providing at the cost of his own essence, was a tool to drag down celestial beings.

Crack.

A horrifying sound of destruction reverberated through both the physical and mental realms.

Countless sharp hooks attached to the ends of the chains originating from the negative dimension pierced and coiled around the Archangel’s body.

「……!」

The Great Demon’s silent elation. And the Archangel’s silent scream.

If anyone with an ordinary mind had been present, they would have gone mad from the Archangel’s soul-wrenching shriek.

-Astrid─!

Along with the waves that shook our minds entirely, the light began to fade.

I twisted my lips into a smile, watching the scene unfold.

For a body manifested by recklessly drawing upon the power of its true form to be pierced and perish by the unholy darkness.

It meant that the true Archangel residing in the heavens would suffer irreparable damage to his very essence.

While not complete annihilation, the scattered spirit would remain unaware of itself for an eternity.

This was the consequence of the arrogance of beings who could not associate themselves with defeat or death.

─!

The Archangel’s form, bound by chains and dragged down to the earth, lost its power, and the light waves eventually dissipated.

As I watched the Archangel’s form disappear like the setting sun, I slowly descended from the air.

My head throbbed.

Enduring the aftereffects of the presence of two colossal beings and consecutively casting grand magic of this magnitude was no easy feat, even for me.

However, the reward was more than worth it.

「A truly delightful and valuable experience……」

The faint voice of Pachiencia, who had also overexerted himself, though not as much as the Archangel, reached my ears.

「Should your soul arrive in hell, I shall welcome you with a grand celebration and a precious gift.」

……I’d rather not receive it.

Hahahahaha. I let out a sigh of relief, feeling the Great Demon’s presence fade away with a faint laugh, unable to hold on any longer.

Crack. Along with it, the Great Demon’s altar, symbolizing the Pachiencia Catacomb, crumbled and collapsed, losing its power.

“……”

I sat down on the shattered pedestal and looked around the devastated surroundings.

The Bone Chapel, which had been filled with the ceaseless sounds of life-and-death struggles, was now enveloped in an eerie silence.

The only survivor besides me was Saintess Sophia.

A faint aura of light, on the verge of extinguishing, surrounded her body, which the Archangel had left untouched. It seemed to be holy power unconsciously manifested to protect herself.

However, even that seemed to have reached its limit, as I could no longer sense the same powerful energy emanating from the Saintess.

I shook my dizzy head and rose from my seat.

Regardless of the tremendous success and return, I desperately wanted to lie down and rest, but tending to the Saintess, who seemed on the verge of death, was my priority.

Even aside from the fact that she was incredibly favorable towards me, the fact that the Archangel, who had mercilessly drained the power of all believers, had left her untouched was reason enough to save her.

Just as I was about to take a staggering step forward.

“……?”

I sensed something.

It wasn’t another being. But it wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation either.

It was similar to the feeling I had experienced when I was recognized as the owner of the Shadow Church and Rosalyn’s Nightmare.

It felt as if the ancient structures, built in a bygone era, were speaking to me.

‘Ah.’

I smiled faintly.

It seemed the true gift left by the Great Demon, satisfied with the rare spectacle, was something else entirely.

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Why You Can Read Light Novels But Can’t Speak English: A Guide to Unlocking Your Inner Voice
• Eren Yeager vs. Gundam: Who Would Win in a Titan-Sized Showdown?
• Will My Cat Eat Me When I Die? (The Truth Might Hurt… Your Feelings)
• Do Your Gym Bros Think You’re a Weirdo? (Secret Signs You’re the Gym Oddball)
• Is Ramen Overrated Because of Naruto? A Ramen-Loving Anime Fan’s Take