Damn Reincarnation

s of the Paladins, the Cardinals, and the members of the Inquisition.
He would then hone all the emotions generated by this into his murderous intent and would infuse this intent into his greatsword.

It seemed that Raphael was someone who thought that solving his problems with fighting and killing was unnecessarily messy.
From what he had shown through his words, gaze, and attitude so far, he wielded his sword in a highly business-like manner.

“Please draw the Holy Sword,” Raphael finally spoke up.
“And call on the light of the Holy Sword in front of me.”

Kristina exclaimed, “Lord Raphael! Sir Eugene really is—”

“Pardon me for saying this, Saint Candidate Kristina, but I’m afraid I cannot listen to your words.
Currently, what I need is to confirm the facts so that I can make my judgment,” Raphael said as he took a few steps back.

After staring into Raphael’s perpetually clouded eyes, Eugene nodded slowly.
This wasn’t the first time he’d received a request to pull out the Holy Sword and show off its light.

Whenever Eugene pulled out the Holy Sword and drew upon its light, all the believers of the Light who saw it celebrated the fact that Eugene was the Hero.
But even under such circumstances, upon learning that Eugene’s opinions contradicted their own points of view, they changed their evaluation of Eugene as quickly as a flip of the palm.

“Is this enough?” Eugene asked as the blade of the Holy Sword was drawn fully from within his cloak and began to radiate light.

Causing light to shine from the Holy Sword wasn’t of any difficulty to Eugene.
He just needed to hold the Holy Sword and focus on his desire for light.

Eugene himself had many questions about this ‘light.’

When Eugene was killing the faithful within the temple, the Holy Sword didn’t emit light as Eugene had desired, but it hadn’t burned his hands to try and escape Eugene’s grasp either.
Instead, it had actually guided Eugene into finding the right path through the temple’s fog, and at the very last moment, when he had slain Cardinal Rogeris, it had burst into a brilliant light even though Eugene hadn’t called for it to do so.

It was as if it was trying to prove that this really was Divine Retribution, as Eugene had claimed.

Even under such circumstances, the ‘Light’ had also lent its strength to all of the temple’s clergy.
In the end, Sergio had summoned angels using high-level divine magic and even made use of his stigma.

In Eugene’s hands, the Holy Sword seemed to show that the God of Light despised this attempt to imitate his Incarnation and the ceremony that was meant to complete Kristina’s transformation into this false Saint, thus delivering Divine Retribution.

But at the same time, God had lent his light to his other believers.

Anise had said that the God of Light loves all his followers and bestows his light on every one of them.

It would have been better if the God of Light had responded to Eugene’s will and had withdrawn his light from the priests that Eugene was facing.
Then, given his position as the Hero, Eugene would have been able to act without any restraint.

However, the God of Light hadn’t done that.
The God of Light seemed more indifferent than benevolent.
He had allowed the corpse of his Incarnation to be used to create an imitation of his Incarnation in the form of a Saint, and he had silently bestowed his light to be used in the inhumane experiments that Yuras had been conducting for hundreds of years to perfect their Imitation Incarnation.

This had gone on for hundreds of years.

While it was true that Eugene was the Hero acknowledged by the Holy Sword, the zealots of Yuras — especially the Pope and the Cardinals who had known what was going on behind the scenes and had lied that the Stigmata they had carved on themselves were bestowed by the light — might not show any regret or repentance, even if Eugene were to reveal the truth of this tragedy.
The fact that Raphael Martinez had come here on his own today also allowed Eugene to guess what they were thinking.

The Pope and the Cardinals intended to completely bury this matter.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Raphael silently stared at the shining Holy Sword for a few moments.

Then he raised his hand and grasped the hilt behind his head.

It was impossible to pull out a greatsword strapped onto his back over his head in one motion, so Raphael pulled the hilt of the greatsword towards his shoulder.
The belt wrapped around his chest was moved along with this motion, so the greatsword was now slung over his shoulder.

Schiiing.

The cross-shaped greatsword slowly slid out of its scabbard.
Raphael held the hilt of the drawn greatsword in both hands.

Without turning off the light emitted by the Holy Sword, Eugene just stared at Raphael.

Fwoosh.

A light flared out from Raphael’s greatsword.
This light that was summoned so casually was incomparably more brilliant and deeper than the light summoned by the Paladins that Eugene had seen a few days ago.

Raphael silently compared the two different lights.

The light was reflected in Raphael’s deeply shadowed eyes.
Without any trace of amusement, he looked at his own greatsword, then nodded slightly.

The greatsword spun in a circle.
Then, resting the greatsword down beside him and holding it up in support, he knelt down on the spot.

“Respect the Hero,” Raphael said as he bowed his head.

Eugene still couldn’t figure out what Raphael’s intentions were.

Raphael then raised the greatsword up into the air above his head using both hands and said, “And worship the Light.”

Raphael raised his head.
Through the brilliant light coming from their swords, Raphael looked up at Eugene, then lowered the greatsword he had raised above his head onto the ground in front of his knees.

“What are you doing?” Eugene finally asked.

“The Holy Sword has recognized you.
Even though you have killed many believers of the faith, its light hasn’t faded, and even now, it shines so brilliantly,” Raphael said by way of explanation as he lowered his head once more.
“Since the light remains so bright, even when held in your hands, Sir Eugene, what you did wasn’t a massacre of the faithful, but instead a Divine Retribution delivered from the Light.”

“Do you really think so?” Eugene asked skeptically.

“As a simple believer, I don’t feel any need to separate the facts from the truth.
I just need to follow the will of the Brilliant Light,” Raphael stated calmly.

Eugene raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t you suspicious that I’ve fallen?”

“If a fallen one’s hand was still able to emit such a light, then they were only right to fall,” Raphael said with a shrug and a laugh.
“I’ve followed the Light for a long time and have always loyally served the Faith.
During that time, I have seen so many things that have nearly shaken my faith.
What I’ve found here was a secret temple, traces of a ritual that was no different from abuse, the lost remains of our deceased former Saints, and evidence of a secret collaboration between the Pope and the Cardinals.”

Eugene remained silent.

“But the Light has still generously bestowed upon them a light that is more brilliant than most others, and even as I am in pain and doubt, having lost trust in my faith because of all that I’ve just seen, God has still granted his light to me.
As such, I eventually decided that ‘this side’ must be the right one… but Sir Eugene, having seen your light, it’s clear that this side isn’t in the right,” Raphael declared firmly as he rose to his feet.
“So let us go and behead the Pope.”

“…Huh?” Eugene gasped.

“Pope Aeuryus is awaiting my return in the Audience Chamber of the Vatican,” Raphael revealed.
“Cardinal Beshara and Cardinal Pietro should also be with Aeuryus.”

Eugene was struck dumb once more.

“Since the three are together, we can take all their heads at once.
There are quite a few Paladins assigned to the Vatican, but if I lead the way, it should be easy for us to reach the Audience Chamber,” Raphael plotted.

“Hold on,” Eugene demanded.

Caught up in his plans, Raphael continued uninterrupted, “There are Escort Knights directly accompanying Aeuryus, but they are only ten in total, and their skills are similar to Giovanni, whom you have killed.”

“Hold on a second,” Eugene attempted once more.

“I think the real problem will be with Aeuryus, Beshara, and Pietro.
Sir Eugene, you said you killed Sergio, but was he able to use the light?” Raphael inquired.

Eugene replied, “He was, but—”

“Indeed, the merciful light illuminates all those who possess faith.
Thanks to that, we’ll have a tough time killing the Pope and the Cardinals.” As if it was only natural, Raphael had counted himself alongside Eugene and Kristina, tying them together in his plans as ‘we.’ “So I, of course, recommend a surprise attack, but that will require your help, Sir Eugene.
First of all, you pretend to have been subdued by me so that we can enter the Audience Chamber together, then we should be able to kill the Cardinals by surprise.
But that still leaves us with Aeuryus….
Hm… the problem is, as long as we’re unable to kill Aeuryus in one blow, all the Paladins, Inquisitors, and Priests will be called, so even if we do succeed in killing him—”

“Hold on, just hold on a moment!” Eugene hurriedly shouted to cut off Raphael’s words.
“I have no intention of killing them.”

“But don’t they deserve to be killed?” Raphael questioned in confusion.
“And they’re also planning on killing you, Sir Eugene.”

“Really?” Eugene asked.

“In my opinion, that’s probably what they’re after.
From what I’ve heard, most of the sacred relics stored in the special reliquary have disappeared somewhere,” Raphael informed them.

“…Huh?” Eugene reacted in surprise at this news.

Raphael nodded, “While I don’t know the exact reason for their disappearance, it probably has something to do with you, right?”

Eugene recalled what he had seen of the Fount of Light and the relics that had acted as filters and water purifiers within the temple’s mechanisms.
All of those had turned into light and disappeared in front of Eugene’s eyes.

‘Did he just say that the holy relics in the Vatican have disappeared as well?’ Eugene considered the news with a frown.

In the end, most of those relics were the remains of former Saints.

“Most of the special-class relics that have been in storage since the founding of Yuras have been lost, and the Fount of Light, which was considered a sacred location, has also disappeared.
Cardinal Rogeris has died, and droves of Paladins and Inquisitors have also been killed, so isn’t it only natural for the Pope and the other Cardinals to try to kill you or find you accountable for this, Sir Eugene?” Raphael warned.

“But in the end, aren’t they also priests.
Won’t they convert like you did upon seeing the light of the Holy Sword?” Eugene asked hopefully.

“I wasn’t converted.
I was rescued from my disillusionment,” Raphael said with a calm smile.
“Since I was disillusioned in the first place, I just needed a trigger to set me on a different path.
But the Pope and the Cardinals are different from me.
To them, as the Hero who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Sir Eugene, you are just a whim of the Light.
They might worship you as a miracle, but if they had to, they wouldn’t hesitate to call you a fallen one or a devil.”

Just like Sergio had done.

“Sir Eugene, the best you can hope for is their acceptance, not their conversion.
Those three have been in too high a position, seen too many things, and have firmed their resolve for too many difficult decisions to be so easily swayed.
They will demand you to do something to balance out all the things they have lost because of you, and according to my judgment, it will be impossible to fulfill such a request, so it would be better to kill them,” Raphael advised.

“What do you think they will ask me to do?” Eugene checked.

“They might ask you to assassinate one of Hemluth’s three Princes to prove that you’re the Hero….
Hmm, on second thought, that might be too much of a provocation toward the Demon King of Incarceration.
Complete naturalization into a citizen of Yuras would be far too light… ah! I’ve thought of a request with just the right amount of impact.
Pope Aeuryus will probably ask you to assassinate the King of Ruhr,” Raphael declared loudly.

“…Huh?” Eugene gaped in disbelief.

“The King of Ruhr, the Bestial King, Aman Ruhr.
Their country has repeatedly refused to join the Anti-Demon Alliance led by the Holy Empire, and since a few years ago, it has started interacting with Helmuth.
King Aman’s personal strength is worthy of being counted as one of the best in the entire continent, so you could call his continued existence a thorn in the Pope’s eye,” Raphael explained.

“But why would they ask me to do that?” Eugene demanded.

Raphael continued to extrapolate, “No matter how irritating he is, the Pope can’t make a move himself, and Yuras won’t gain anything from waging war against Ruhr.
That’s why they would try to use you, Sir Eugene.
They would probably place a seal in your brain in case you fail.
That way, even if the attempt did fail, the connection to Yuras wouldn’t be revealed, and Kiehl or the Lionheart clan would be forced to take the blame.”

“Hah,” Eugene huffed in belief.

Raphael thought of another idea, “Or perhaps they might chop off your limbs and make them into relics.”

“If that’s the case, then let’s discuss how to convince them without me having to accept one of their requests,” Eugene forcefully changed the subject.

“That seems like it would be impossible…,” Raphael muttered with a grave expression.

Eugene ignored these words and turned his head.
Kristina was still standing at a distance.

Eugene called out to her, “Kristina, come here.”

Kristina reacted in confusion, “Huh?”

“Don’t just walk over here, do that,” Eugene instructed her.

What did he mean by ‘that’?” Kristina was taken aback for a moment, but she soon understood what Eugene was asking her to do.
With a low cough, she placed her hands together in front of her chest.

When Kristina next took a step….

Fwooosh!

Eight wings snapped open from behind her back.

“Won’t they be convinced once they see that?” Eugene turned to ask Raphael as he pointed to Kristina, who was still approaching with her wings spread wide.

Raphael’s stoic mask had shattered.

His mouth was wide open in an expression of pure admiration and excitement that finally suited his boyish face.