🌐 Language / 言語
🇺🇸 [English Edition]
🇯🇵 [日本語版]
“Look, old man. I’m telling you I’ll give you a hand. Take the deal or don’t.”
Zehain knit her brows in irritation, her short crimson hair swaying. She let out a soft sigh and leaned her chin on her palm. Though her legs were crossed as if sitting, there was no chair beneath her; her body simply drifted in the void.
“You are a Holy Maiden of the Empire. Why? Why would you aid my vendetta?”
Under the biting winter sky, atop the roof of the half-ruined Sanctum of Fidea, Cardinal Zolone stood in a daze. Zehain—the red-haired Holy Maiden—had appeared without warning, dangling the chance to reclaim the kingdom Palzea had stripped from him three years ago.
“Does it really matter? Or are you just happy being a doormat? Doesn’t it sting, old man? Being trampled by a little brat like her?”
Zehain locked her hands behind her head, her feet swinging lazily in the air.
Zolone had not forgotten the day his castle fell—not for a single second. For three years, he had festered in the shadows of the former Fidea territories, now swallowed by the Regalia Empire, biding his time. But the power of a Holy Maiden was absolute. Even with a legion of Magitron Giants, the Empire’s girls would tear them to scrap in heartbeats.
“You know as well as I do—ordinary weapons don’t work on Holy Maidens.”
“Then stop fighting like a human. Use the Beast-Devils.”
Zolone’s eyes widened. He looked up at the girl hovering above him.
“Is such a thing… even possible?”
“If I’m the one teaching you, yeah.”
Zehain drifted down to the rooftop, landing silently. She began to count off on her fingers.
“There are three ways to harness a Beast-Devil. First, Thrall-Binding—forcing them to heel through raw power. Second, Soul-Merging—fusing with the thing to steal its strength. And then, there’s the Rite of Descent… the art of summoning. It’s the nastiest of the Three Forbidden Arts.”
A predatory grin spread across Zehain’s face.
“An old relic like you can’t handle Binding or Merging. So, I’ll teach you the Descent.”
Zehain had appeared in the Empire barely a year ago. Armed with a black spear and a display of power that made even Palzea wary, she was welcomed as a Holy Maiden. That was all anyone knew. No past, no lineage. On the battlefield, she was a ghost, often found simply watching her “sisters” with a cold, calculating gaze.
“If such a convenient power exists, why not use it yourself?” Zolone spat, his voice laced with bitterness. Zehain was tall but slender—yet she possessed the telekinetic rot to shred a human body in a blink. His own impotence galled him.
“I could. But honestly? I want to see them fight for real. Those girls… they never go all out against ‘allies.’ They need an enemy with a real grudge. Someone like you, old man.”
Zehain crossed her arms, turning her gaze toward the distant Imperial Capital.
What is this girl after? Zolone’s fists shook. I built Fidea into a military titan… why must I be a plaything for these children?
Rage boiled in his veins, thick and suffocating. But if her offer was true—if he could command the Beast-Devils—he could break the Holy Maidens. With the Magitron Giants as a vanguard, he wouldn’t just kill Palzea; he would seize the Empire by its throat. He could still feel the phantom sensation of her boot pressing his head into the dirt.
It might be a trap. But it was better than rotting in a gilded cage.
“Fine. Teach me. Teach me the Rite of Descent.”
A twisted smile broke across Zolone’s face, a glimmer of genuine madness dancing in the depths of his eyes.
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