There was no time to think. Every second counted. I ran out of the house and headed blindly toward the temple. Fortunately, it was late at night. I convinced myself that all I had to do was destroy the statue while no one was around and then return.
But the moment I arrived in front of the temple, I had no choice but to abandon my original plan. Of all nights, a religious event had to be taking place tonight. The courtyard where the statue stood was packed with worshippers. Since the Third Prince was attending the event, not only ordinary citizens but even an order of knights had been stationed there. Sweet hymns brushed against the night air.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
If I blended into the crowd while pretending to be an ordinary human, I could wait for an opportunity and quickly destroy the statue. Since demons possessed far greater grip strength than humans, smashing the statue apart with my bare hands was entirely possible. Besides, so many people were already gathered around the statue that no one would find it strange if one more person joined them.
But if I did that, the fragments would rain down on the citizens. At this distance, many people would certainly be injured. If things went badly, there might even be deaths. That was the line I had decided never to cross.
“Bring up a window so I can check my stats and skills.”
Before I had even finished speaking, the familiar system window appeared.
Shane (Human-Demon Hybrid, 125 Years Old)
-Stats(□/10)
Strength 5
Magic Power 3
Resistance 7
Agility 8
Accuracy 5
-Skills
Innate Skills:
Flame LV. 1
Stealth LV. 1
Disguise LV. 1
The word ‘Disguise’ caught my eye. Perhaps because I was only at the beginning of the game, its level was merely 1. A perfect disguise was impossible at this level. Rather than changing my appearance, it merely concealed my original face.
Still, even a level 1 skill was useful. When Disguise was used, people could look directly at my face and still be unable to perceive what I looked like. They could clearly read my expression and see my eyes and lips moving, yet they would be unable to recognize that I was a somehow suspicious-looking man with ash-gray hair and red eyes. Even after seeing my bare face, they would not be able to identify me. Its function was excellent even at level 1, so it was a skill I had frequently used while playing the game.
Something clicked into place inside my head.
Ah, right. I had it.
A way to get the people away from the statue. A way to destroy the statue safely without causing any casualties.
I just had to make them run away.
Not from the statue, but from me.
I toyed with the blood-red pendant that symbolized a Legion Commander.
***
Third Prince Damian gave the choir members heartfelt applause. The sight of small children, not even tall enough to reach his chest, continuing to sing in their lovely voices was truly beautiful. It made him feel that the time and effort poured into the event had not gone to waste.
The people were laughing and talking as they sincerely praised the goddess. It was not the solemn and quiet atmosphere commonly associated with a temple, but Damian believed that the Goddess of Dawn would also enjoy such a lively festival. After all, this was what living faith must look like.
After the hymn ended, a ritual for presenting an offering followed. A white cow was placed upon the altar. It was not a real cow. It was an elaborately crafted model. For the reason that an innocent life could not be sacrificed in a ritual offered to a benevolent goddess, the Empire had long used models instead of real animals.
Human sacrifices were different from those of demons. Their standards of morality were different from the very foundation compared to demons, who carried out offerings of souls without hesitation in order to resurrect the Demon King. Damian was proud of that fact.
The High Priest approached the altar holding a scarlet torch. It was just as he was about to set fire to the offering.
A wind blew from somewhere. At the same time, every flame went out. The High Priest’s torch and the lamps illuminating the temple all went dark without exception. As though someone had severed the breath of the world in a single stroke, the temple was submerged in complete darkness.
A brief silence passed. Then the offering suddenly burst into flames. Black, murky flames of an ominously deep color swallowed the white cow. It was unlike the color of fire people commonly knew. Flames mixed with wicked demonic energy were that black. The fire writhed as though screaming and reduced the offering to ashes in an instant.
The venue descended into chaos in the blink of an eye. People screamed, colliding with one another and falling as they searched for the exit in the invisible darkness. The cries of children and the shouts of adults mingled together, amplifying the terror.
“Everyone, remain calm! Mage, light!”
Damian shouted as calmly as he could. Soon, a mage recited a spell and created a sphere of light. A faint but unmistakable glow illuminated the surroundings.
The first thing revealed was the altar. The pitch-black fire had scorched not only the offering but even the marble altar. The sight of the white altar hideously burned was devastating. The people let out cries of dismay almost simultaneously.
The mage created another sphere of light and sent it into the air. When the light shone upward, the statue of the Goddess of Dawn, which always gazed benevolently down upon the worshippers, came into view. Someone was sitting on the shoulder of that enormous statue.
The figure was playfully swinging his legs.
As though all this commotion were nothing more than part of a boring festival.
His face could not be seen. No, to be precise, although his bare face was exposed, it was impossible to tell exactly what he looked like. The fact that his appearance could not be understood even though he was not wearing a mask stirred an instinctive fear of the unknown. It felt as though the eyes and brain were working separately. In any case, they could barely make out that he was a tall man with a humanlike appearance.
Damian quickly examined the figure’s clothing. A black uniform wrapped tightly all the way up to his neck, and leather gloves of the same color. Aside from the wrists and ankles that were barely exposed, and the face that could not be perceived at all, everything about the man was pitch-black. His jet-black cloak fluttered in the wind like the wings of a devil.
Damian’s gaze stopped at one point. A pendant was attached near the left shoulder of the cloak. A blood-red gemstone, vividly crimson, with a chilling eye-shaped pattern engraved within it. It was the symbol of a demon Legion Commander.
“A-A demon!”
Someone cried out as though screaming.
The priests quickly took control of the citizens. They lined up the ordinary people and evacuated them outside the temple. They supported and led out those who were crying and shouting, and calmed them by reciting prayers. In only a few minutes, the courtyard had become almost completely empty. The only ones remaining were several priests and the knights surrounding the statue of the goddess.
The knights drew their swords all at once. The air hardened with tension. No one dared to move recklessly, and they glared at the figure sitting on the statue’s shoulder.
Even in that hair-trigger situation, the Legion Commander remained at ease. He planted his foot on the statue’s shoulder, stood up, and looked down below. The white statue and the black demon. It was a strange composition in which a god and a devil seemed to overlap.
Damian’s hand trembled. Fear raised its head inside his chest. No matter that he was a prince, he was still only a sixteen-year-old boy. Standing before the youngest prince was a demon Legion Commander who must have swept away countless lives on the battlefield. Gritting his teeth, Damian forced down the instinct that urged him to run away.
Damian stepped forward and shouted, putting all his strength into keeping his voice from trembling.
“Do you know where you have intruded? This is not a place where an evil being like you may set foot as you please. And to climb atop the sacred statue as well. You will repay that insolence with your death!”
The Legion Commander gave a short laugh. There was neither fear nor tension in it. He spoke leisurely, like an adult soothing a child.
“If climbing on top of a sacred statue is a crime worthy of death, then how great a crime would destroying it be? Would I have to die about a hundred times? But what should I do? Unfortunately, I only have one life.”
“What? Destroy the statue…?”
Damian’s face stiffened.
The Legion Commander warned him gently.
“Be careful not to get hurt, little boy.”
With all his strength, he kicked the statue in the shoulder.
That was the beginning.
The statue of the Goddess Repinal, the pride of the temple, which had stood in that place overlooking the Empire for hundreds of years, lurched precariously. Cracks ran across its face and torso. He kicked the statue once more, smiling like a child playing with a ball.
Boom! With a deafening crash, the statue collapsed.
The crown upon its head, the gracefully raised hand, the delicately sculpted folds of its skirt. The elements that made up the goddess crumbled in an instant and poured down onto the floor. Marble fragments fell like a torrential downpour and struck the altar, while sharp shards scraped across the floor and bounced upward. Through the sacred space rang not prayer or hymn, but the sound of destruction.
The goddess’s head fell to the floor and shattered. Her eyes and mouth split apart. Her gentle face rolled across the ground. A knight holding a spear swallowed a startled scream, and one elderly priest staggered before collapsing helplessly to the ground. The years he had spent believing in the goddess were trampled underfoot in a single instant.
Fortunately, the ordinary citizens had already evacuated far away. The remaining knights were also seasoned warriors. They were able to avoid the falling fragments somehow.
The problem was Damian.
A fragment of the goddess’s marble hand plunged straight toward Damian. Was it said that the body froze in the face of overwhelming fear? Without even thinking of dodging, Damian stared blankly up at the approaching death. A knight belatedly rushed forward to protect Damian, but the stone was falling faster.
At that moment,
“Hey, Your Highness. I told you to be careful.”
A strangely gentle voice brushed past his ear. When Damian had first heard it, he had been too overwhelmed by fear to notice, but the demon’s voice was remarkably pleasant. It was a steady, beautiful voice, neither excessively low nor rough.
Damian was unharmed. The stone had stopped directly above his head. The demon Legion Commander was supporting the goddess’s enormous hand with one hand.
“Heave-ho.”
The Legion Commander set the heavy stone down beside him with astonishing ease.
Damian gasped for breath and asked in a trembling voice,
“W-Why did you save me?”
The Legion Commander quietly stared at Damian, then burst into loud laughter. Instead of giving him an answer, he asked in return,
“Why do you think?”
That arrogant attitude, as though he had no intention of answering a foolish question. Damian soon found the reason. In a way, it was only natural. The reason the demon had saved him was….
“You intend to keep me alive until I am fully grown, then offer my soul to the Demon King when the time comes, don’t you? Because the soul of a mature member of the Imperial Family is highly valuable…!”
The Legion Commander did not answer immediately this time either. Like a skilled storyteller, he deliberately drew out the silence, and when Damian’s tension reached its peak, he grinned and snapped his fingers.
“…Correct.”
Damian’s face turned deathly pale. The knights hurriedly protected the prince and pointed their swords toward the enemy. Every blade was aimed at him.
The Legion Commander lightly flicked his fingertips. Pitch-black flames opened their jaws and swallowed the sphere of light the mage had left floating in the air. The world was once again submerged in complete darkness. Only the sounds of scattered breaths and footsteps, falling out of rhythm, overlapped chaotically.
“God, grant us light-!”
The mage hurriedly recited a spell. When the surroundings were illuminated once more, the Legion Commander was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was the shattered statue of the goddess and a suffocating, heavy fear.
“Ah, ah….”
The strength left Damian’s legs, and he collapsed heavily onto the spot.