Paradigm Parasite

"...Did it sting to let him go?"

I muttered lightly.

I had finished treating the demon and was walking out of the church.

I was still surprised.

I had no idea that the demon was really Rick....

I saw his memories during the treatment...or rather renovation...and what a sorry state of affairs it was.

I can't say I'm sorry to hear that he lost all his friends and acquaintances and ended up being the catalyst for a demon summoning.

I went down to the basement to see if I could find some kind of hidden passageway, but I couldn't figure out how to move the device, and I had Rick ready, so I came back up.

The preparations for this will be quick, as Iqbal, who returned just a few minutes ago, is helping him.

Iqbal had returned after finding what he was looking for, but he had also found something else.

It was Sherifa. She had died in a very bad way in Void's private room.

I don't know why she was dead in there, but I guess she found out something unnecessary and was eliminated.

It was out of luck, if you ask me.

I lost interest in Sherifa once more.

After that, when I had some free time, I contacted Savage, who told me that he had succeeded in meeting up with Heidi but had been forced to accompany the Holy Knights in order to evacuate the residents.

What the hell is she doing?

Just leave those irrelevant people alone.

It's just as well, isn't it? I still don't understand it, but she must have her own way of doing things.

Well, do your best so that it doesn't become a hassle.

I'm not that depressed because I got something out of it for now, but it's a lot of work to look for Iger and Void in this messed up town.

It's hard to believe that they ran away after all this time.

Thanks to Rick's memory, I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

It seems that they prepared such a large magic circle to summon a higher demon.

That magic circle is one step away from completion. There is no way they can abandon it.

Why not just wait until the magic circle is completed and take them out when they come out of the shadows?

Iger is the only one I'll be dealing with anyway.

I've seen what he can do, and I'm sure I can kill him with no problem. And I promised Rick that I'd give him Void.

...The magic circle is complete?

I suddenly realized.

The magic circle covering the sky is missing a spot. That's because I smashed it.

Maybe he went to fill in that hole?

As if to confirm my thought, a pillar of light rises from the missing spot.

It seems I was too late in many ways.

The magic circle in the sky is complete, shining powerfully.

Well, I know where they are, so that's good.

I called out to the people preparing behind me, "I know where the enemy is, so hurry up," and then I started running.

I was running so fast that the scenery was drifting away from me.

It has been a long time since this situation happened, and the town is becoming less and less crowded.

Instead, there were dead bodies strewn about, and I thought vaguely that the place would be no more.

The town can't function without people. It would take a long time to rebuild.

And to top it off, the underground ruins were not only being used as a hideout for Darzain, but the Gnosis was even in cahoots with them. If this were to come to light, Gnosis would be in a bad spot.

I wonder how they are going to settle the matter?

No, it was doubtful that they would be able to contain it in the first place.

As I approached my destination, I heard the faint sounds of battle in the distance, but I ignored them.

"Oh, Lord Apostle. What a coincidence!"

I stopped in my tracks when I suddenly heard a voice.

I turned toward the voice and saw Iger standing on top of a nearby building, looking up at the sky.

"You have come to the right place. I was hoping to share what is about to happen with someone."

As he said this, Iger held up a black mass - probably Rick's heart.

The heart glowed and was sucked into a magic circle in the sky.

"By the way, I would like to ask you what you did with the heart you took from our base? It is a valuable item, and we would appreciate it if you could return it to us..."

"I ate it."

I cut him off in mid-sentence.

Iger was silent for a moment at my immediate response.

"Apostle ...... seems to have a good sense of humor."

He took it as a joke.

"It's true, though."

Well, I have some time and I have some questions, so let's continue the conversation.

"Speaking of which, what's up with that Void guy?"

"Comrade Void? He was the cornerstone of our efforts to complete the magic circle."

"Am I to understand that he's dead?"

"No, he lives on in our hearts."

...That's what you call dead.

Just as I was about to throw a punch, a heavy bass sound echoed from the sky.

What is this sound? A trumpet? It's too low to be a trumpet.

It's probably a wind instrument, but I don't know anything about wind instruments, so I can't say.

"What is that sound?"

"Can you hear it? This is the apocalyptic sound of the apocalypse. It is the sound of the world creaking when a being with a clear intention responds to a summons!"

...What's that something sound...? Did you come up with that name?

Putting aside the ostentatious name, I knew there was going to be some bad guys out there.

If I kill Iger right now, will this stop?

But according to the story, Void is dead, so if I kill the remaining guy here, I'll be breaking my promise to Rick.

...Let's give Rick the satisfaction of ripping Iger to pieces.

While I was thinking about that, there was a change in the magic circle in the sky.

The bass sounded even louder, and something crawled out of the magic circle.

A huge black arm, matching the size of the magic circle, is thrust out toward the ground, followed by a head-like object.

"His name is Aquiel. He is the one who prevents repose and unleashes everything. Ah... ah... ah... wonderful! Wonderful! I see it! I feel it! His knowledge flows in! It's filled me with power!"

Iger looked euphoric as he spoke, and his body began to bob and surge unnaturally from the inside out.

It seems that he is under some kind of influence from the monster above.

I looked at the monster and saw that it had just crawled out of the magic circle and landed on its feet.

Because of its size, the moment it landed, a tremendous shock and earth tremor spread through the city.

If I didn't know any better, I might have mistaken it for an earthquake.

The magic circle, having completed its role, slowly faded away.

...Is this a good thing?

I sent a thought to Savage, Iqbal, and Mixon, instructing them to leave the city as soon as the magic circle disappeared. I don't mind Savage, but the other two can't go along with the battle.

There was no need to gather any more information, so I decided to send them away as soon as possible.

Savage, by the way, has Heidi's amulet, so I'm going to let him be.

Then I'd have to fight that monster-sized demon all by myself.

I don't want to do it....

I thought about running away, but then I had to deal with Iger and Darzain in this town, and then there's Rick.

Running away is out of the question.

"Apostle! What do you think? What about this power of mine? It's not too late. Why don't you take my hand?"

"Speak in your sleep."

I dismissed him because he started to joke around without learning his lesson.

"Then, we have no choice, do we? Let's go out with a bang!"

...See here. This is how it ended up.

Well, the timing couldn't be worse.

"I have another opponent for you. You'll have to beat that guy first."

Just as Iger tilted his head in wonder, something approaching at high speed sliced off his arm.

"What...is...this...?"

The something somehow got behind Iger and kicked him off the top of the building he was standing on.

Iger quickly adjusts his stance in the air and lands on his feet. He looks at the attacker.

The one who slashed at him was a knight in white-based armor. His visor is down and his expression is not visible, but he moves with dignity.

It looks similar to the "White Armor," but unlike the heavy "White Armor," the overall image is slimmer and sharper.

In his hand, he held a two-handed sword whose blade was so black that it seemed to absorb light, and it was richly decorated in many places.

The knight swings it in a weightless motion and points the tip at Iger.

"It's not the Void himself, but it's your prey. You can do it, can't you?"

I say, and the knight - Rick - gives a small nod.

From the looks of it, the armor and sword that had been Void's exclusive equipment seemed to be to his liking.

I'll let you borrow them for a while, and you can use them to your advantage.

"I'm going to hit that demon over there. You take care of this."

With that, I hurried toward the demon.

But first, I had something to do.

I pick up Iger's chopped off arm while running.

As I recall, he used it to stop Rick. I'll take it.

Iger, sensing my intention, was about to shout out, but I quickly jumped backwards, sensing the danger.

At the same time, Rick was swinging his sword at the same place where Iger was.

This created an opening for me, so I retrieved his arm and left the area without encountering any interference.

I felt a battle starting behind me, but I ignored it. It was Rick's fight. It was not my place.

As I ran, I observed the arm I had recovered.

There was some kind of eyeball buried in the palm. I'm pretty sure it was this arm that was pointing out at Rick.

What was it? Was it a magic eye of restraint? As the name implies, it has the ability to stop movement.

...By using this, I can stop the target's movement?

For now, I'll just absorb the whole thing.

The one I'm going to face now is going to be tough, and the more cards I have in my hand, the better.

As I was running, I was approaching the demon - Aquiel, did he say? --It was approaching.

...but it's that size. It could be seen from anywhere in the city.

It's about 20 meters long. There is no flesh on the head, and the skull is exposed.

The shape of the head suggests a dog or a wolf, not a man.

The body looks like that of a bipedal animal, but there are bones and organs peeking out here and there, as if the flesh is rotting away.

As I approach and observe, Aquiel slowly looks up to the sky.

What is he going to do?

While I was wondering, there was movement. He began to exhale a black smoke-like substance from all over his body, from his missing body parts here and there.

The smoke rose into the sky at a tremendous rate and dispersed around the area where the magic circle was located.

In the blink of an eye, it covered the sky and enveloped the city. As a result, the city, which was already dim, was chained in darkness.

Oddly enough, it was not completely dark, but somehow bright enough that one could see one's surroundings.

And the change did not end there.

I involuntarily stopped to take a look around.

Most of the glowing particles move in an unnatural way as if being pulled by something and are sucked into the ground, but some are sucked into Aquiel's body.

The change does not end there, and a large number of signs of something moving appear in the surroundings.

What is it?

I look around me and see that the bodies lying nearby are starting to get up with jittery movements.

They got up and came toward me, grunting and groaning.

At first, I used [Explosion II] to blow them away. The corpses that received a direct hit were obliterated by the flames and impact, but the ones that had retained their original form got up slowly.

I kick down the one nearest to me and lightly observe him.

He's a corpse by all appearances. It hasn't been that long since he died, so the decomposition hasn't progressed that far.

Well, he's been burned up just enough because I fed him magic.

...It's a zombie no matter how you look at it.

Let's try the old trick for the time being, shall we?

I stomp on its head. Various things scattered around me, but I ignored them and continued to observe.

After the corpse's head was crushed, it moved for a while...and then stopped.

Hmmm. I guess the weak point is the head.

After a while, the mass of light from earlier suddenly emerged from the area where the head had been.

I looked at it and suddenly realized what it was. Roots" were growing out and preying on the mass.

"...I knew it."

The owner's memory comes in.

As expected, this light is the soul.

In other words, the monster is calling back the dead soul and forcing it to come back to life.

...And those who stay where they are or are absorbed by the creature have no body to return to, so they can't go back.

From the looks of it, it's not a good situation to let him feed on the souls.

Then I thought to myself.

"Why don't I just eat it?"

I could do that before I had to deal with him.

I extended my "root" toward the soul that was being sucked in.