Chapter 161: The Demon's Objective

“What the….Why is a demon inside this Holy City? What did you do with the real Duke Ifel!?”

Elmia was currently powerless and couldn’t use magic, but she could sense the Holy Barrier that filled the air.

The sensation of the Holy Barrier’s sacred mana had been a fixture in her life since she was born 18 years ago in the Holy City of Sanctum, so there was no mistake — they were imprisoned in a place that was still within the Holy City.

This barrier could instantly annihilate a warlock, but a demon, an existence that was way above a warlock, managed to infiltrate it.

She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Hoh, so you noticed that we are still within the Holy City, huh. Aren’t you amazing, so let me tell you the answer as your reward. First, the Duke Ifel…I am the true Duke Ifel.”

“What?”

That was impossible, absolutely impossible.

This was the Creator God’s territory, the Holy City of Sanctum.

This place should be totally unconnected to the likes of a demon.

She couldn’t believe that Duke Ifel, the one who governed Sanctum, was a demon through and through.

“1000 years.”

“.....What?”

“It took me 1000 years to infiltrate this place and climb to this position. Well, I’m a demon, so a thousand years is just a blink of an eye, but still, it was a pain in the neck.”

The Evil God had commanded him to take the Holy City down, but Guzion had been stressed about something. And it was that no matter how many warlocks he sent, they could never go past the Holy Barrier.

Thus, he decided to capture the Saintess that maintained the barrier, and brainwash her so that she could no longer do that, and if that happened, finishing the Holy City would just be a piece of cake.

However, even though he orchestrated numerous attacks whenever the Saint would leave the Holy City, she still managed to escape by some stroke of luck because of the protection bestowed by the Creator God on her.

Once , a hero suddenly appeared, and he slayed the warlock.

The other time, a spear of light came out of nowhere, annihilating the warlock that attacked the Saint.

And yet another time, the Saint promptly teleported into the Holy City, so the warlock who had grabbed her was also dragged inside the city, resulting in his instant destruction.

He was out of luck.

The Creator God constantly watched over the Saint, and it had seemed as if he had been eliminating Guzion’s minions so his plans kept on failing.

Because of that, Guzion decided to give up on targeting the Saint.

He hatched a plan that was more meticulous, more time-consuming, and it would enable him to destroy the Holy City from the unexpected point.

That plan was —

Guzion would infiltrate the Holy City himself.

He violated a human girl and forced her to bear his child. He then transmigrated himself into that child’s body. Once he grew into adulthood, he took hold of another human girl and ravished her, forcing her to conceive then transmigrating into her child’s body, repeating the process once again.

He repeated that cycle for 500 years.

The evil element gradually faded from his body everytime he transmigrated.

However, no matter how much that element faded, he still remained as the subordinate of the Evil God. He continuously thought of ways on how he could take down the Holy City.

Finally, there came a day when he obtained a body that the Holy Barrier no longer repelled. However, Guzion was still unsatisfied. His plan didn’t end with just being able to enter the Holy City.

This demon continued his transmigration cycle even when he entered the Holy City. This time around, he transmigrated into a female’s body, so when she grew up, she buttered up to a man who came from a noble family.

Guzion was a long-lived demon, so mana manipulation was just a piece of cake for him, and he could even change his appearance at will.

She gradually climbed the social ladder, until finally, around 50 years ago, she became the wife of the head of the House of Duke Ifel, the person who governed Sanctum.

He then gave birth to a child as the wife of the head of the family, and he transmigrated again into that child’s body like he did previously.

And now, that child was the current Duke of Ifel.

Ifel, born as Guzion, the demon.

“Stop spouting nonsense, that’s —”

“Impossible — is what you want to say? But I’m here, that’s a fact.”

Indeed, Guzion managed to exist within the Holy City.

He retained the amount of his mana and the ability to control his magic as a demon, all while living inside the Holy City as a person whose body and soul were left untouched by the Holy Barrier; furthermore, he even grasped power and the rights to govern the entire city.

The Holy Barrier never repelled him, so the Creator God was never alerted of his presence.

“Tomorrow will mark the completion of my plan.”

“T-tomorrow? ...Ha, no way!!”

The situation dawned on Elmia. She finally knew what Guzion meant with those words.

Seira deemed Ysha to be the saint’s successor, but there was another maiden who would turn 16 among the saint candidates.

She was Duke Ifel’s daughter.

And that daughter would be celebrating her sixteenth birthday tomorrow.

That maiden possessed all the necessary qualifications to become the saint — no, her magical aptitude exceeded even that of Ysha.

However, she lost because of one thing — she was not as pious as the other candidates so she fell behind them on this aspect, and it was also because of this that Seira did not choose her.

It was to be expected that she did not have enough religious piety towards the Creator God.

Half of her soul belonged to Demon Guzion, after all.

Guzion planned to make his daughter, who was technically half of him, become the new saintess.

In that case, then —

“The Holy City will be destroyed tomorrow.”

“What!?”

“Ten warlocks and 1000 monsters will attack this city the moment the barrier crumbles. There’s no way to stop them.”

Sanctum had been protected by the Holy Barrier even from warlocks, so its military force was weak.

There were around 50 holy knights, but it was uncertain whether ten holy knights could defeat a single warlock.

Despair and horror filled Elmia, and her face stiffened.

Guzion laughed when he saw that.

“How wondrous. That’s a great miserable expression you have there. My efforts these past 1000 years have not been in vain. All the people in Sanctum will have that exact expression mirrored on their faces tomorrow, and I’m sure the Evil God will be pleased.”

Guzion turned his back on Elmia as he spat those words, and he went out of the door. Two priests with hollow eyes came to switch with him.

Guzion still couldn’t touch the saint, no matter how weak his evil element had become. The barrier that protected the saint was far more superior than the barrier that protected the entire city.

As long as a person held evil intentions, he could never touch the saint.

Thus, he brainwashed all the five priests who managed the religious affairs of the Holy City, and used them to kidnap Seira.

Each of the priests carried Seira and Ysha respectively, and they strode towards the door.

“Stop!! What are you planning to do with Seira-sama!?”

“No need to fret, I won’t kill her. Even if I try to murder her, it will only backfire on me, and it will also alert the Creator God about my presence.”

There was no guarantee that the Holy Barrier would be lifted once he killed the Saintess. Guzion actually succeeded once in assassinating the saintess, but the barrier never disappeared in the few days until a successor was chosen.

When the saintess died, the mana that had been saved inside the Crystal maintained the integrity of the Holy Barrier temporarily until the next saintess was chosen. That Crystal was protected with an even more powerful magic, to the point that even if Guzion transformed into his original body and used all his power, he wouldn’t be able to destroy it.

That was why he had to go through great pains and use a roundabout method to place his daughter into the seat of the saintess, and make her lift the barrier.

The reason why Guzion chose to become Duke Ifel and rule the Holy City was because it was convenient for him to plant his daughter, who was also his other half, as one of the candidates for the Saintess.

“I will brainwash the Saintess and make her baptize my daughter. This saintess candidate will become the sacrifice that will supplement the Holy Power. I can’t enter the Sanctuary, after all.”

“S-stop!!!”

Elmia tried to free herself from her shackles in order to stop the priests who were carrying Seira and Ysha away, but it was to no avail.

“Be quiet, and I will not kill you. Right now, that is.”

Guzion’s face twisted into an evil sneer.

“Slaying my subordinates over and over again...I will let you taste the greatest fear and despair before killing you with my own hands.”

The bloodlust that Guzion released pierced Elmia, and she couldn’t even block it — her holy armor had been stripped off her, and she was unable to release her mana.

Her entire body shook and her legs gave way, so her entire body weight was supported once again by her dislocated shoulders, causing a stabbing pain to run through her. Guzion laughed menacingly as Elmia’s face contorted in horror and pain.

“I’ll take my time in torturing and killing you after the Holy City is destroyed. I’ll take my time playing with you and that useless saintess after she has served her purpose.”

The demon spat those words out, before leaving the room.

Everything was going according to plan.

At any rate, he already spent a thousand years just to get to this point.

He would be able to annihilate the Holy City that had been an obstacle to the Evil God, and he could also slay the saint that had the ability to defeat the monsters.

Moreover, once the monsters attacked the Holy City, the entire place would be brimming in negative energy from the people’s fear and despair, and that would be offered to the Evil God.

The people would be complacent because they would think that they are safe because of the Holy Barrier. Guzion snickered as he imagined how the people’s faces would look like once they would realize that the barrier had vanished.

However, there was one thing that bothered Guzion as he carried out his plan.

Somebody had defeated the two warlocks he sent to attack the saint yesterday, and they were staying right now in the Holy City.

His soul was connected to the souls of his subordinates, so he instantly knew that they were defeated the moment they were slain. He heard who that person was from the defeated person himself.

“That sage…Halt, is it…I guess I must personally take action against that guy.”

He already sacrificed a lot just to reach this stage. He could no longer delay his plan. This was the only time he could make a person that had half of his soul become the saintess.

Even if he only had ten warlock subordinates remaining, that number was more than enough just to take on a single city.

That sage was powerful enough to kill his warlocks, but he was still a human, after all. He wouldn’t have any problems, given that he was a demon — that was what Guzion thought.

The demon’s plan was perfect.

Actually, even the Creator God himself didn’t notice Guzion’s existence.

In that case, then the Holy City would fall into the demon’s hands.

If the sage who received the curse of the Evil God and his family didn’t come to visit the city then —