There is only one room at the end of the first floor with some lights on, and it’s a faint light. ……Yeah, there’s something definitely wrong. I feel no presence of any human. Are they sleeping? Impossible. Then I won’t be feeling this uneasiness. I take my shoes off at the entrance and carried them in my hand. I walk into the room without making a sound. I’m a Devil, not a thief. I’m thinking of an excuse like that. I look into the room from the door that is slightly opened, and the brightness is due to the candles. “……Hello. I’m a Devil from the Gremory’s household…… Umm, is the client here?”
I ask quietly, but there is no reply. It can’t be helped, so I enter the room. It’s a living room and there is a television, a sofa, a table, and such. It looks like an ordinary living room—. Then I stop my breath. My eyes are glued to the wall. A wall. There is a corpse nailed to the wall. It’s upside down. ……A human. It’s a male. Is he the person who lives here? But why……? The corpse has been cut viciously. Something that looks like a giblet is coming out from the wounds……
“Gough.”
I vomit out the thing inside my stomach on the spot. I didn’t vomit when I saw that monster, but my body reacted to seeing this corpse. I can’t endure looking at this corpse any more. The corpse is attached to the wall with screws, making the shape of a cross upside down. There are big and thick screws screwed into the palm of each hand, into the feet, and at the middle of its torso. This isn’t normal. Not normal at all! You can’t kill a person like this with a normal mind! There is a puddle of blood on the floor from the drips of blood falling from the corpse. There is writing on the wall. “W-What is this……?”
“It’s written as “Punishment for those who did bad deeds!”. I just borrowed the sentence from someone important.”
Suddenly the voice of a young male comes from behind me. When I turn around, there is a man with white hair. He seems to be a foreigner and he looks like he’s still a teenager. He’s dressing up like a priest. He’s also abishounen. Seeing me, the priest makes an evil smile. “Hmm hmm. Well, well, if it isn’t a Devil-kun!”
He seems to be really happy. Then, the thing that Buchou told me comes back to my mind. —Don’t get involved with people from the Church. Especially the Exorcists. They are our biggest enemy. They can easily eliminate us because their powers are supported by the prayer of God. He’s a priest, so he’s related to the Church. This is bad……
He even knows that I’m a Devil, so am I in the worst situation there is, again? “I’m a priest~♪A boy priest~♪I cut down devil-like people~, and I laugh at them~♪I cut the head of you Devils, and receive my meal~♪”
The priest starts to sing. I-I don’t get it. What is wrong with this guy!? “My name is Freed Zelzan. I belong to a certain Exorcism organisation. Ah, just because I introduced myself doesn’t mean you have to. I don’t want to remember your name in my memory, so please don’t. It’s okay, since you are going to die soon. I will make sure of it. It might hurt at first, but later you will feel so good that you will cry. Now let’s open the new door-ZE!”
I’ve never met someone like him before. His words don’t make any sense. So this guy is an Exorcist. I’m in trouble now. But there’s something I want to say to him. I swallowed down my spit and ask him. “Hey, was it you? The one who killed this person?”
“Yes, yes. I killed him. Because~, he was a regular criminal who has been summoning Devils, so I had to kill him.”
W-What kind of an excuse is that!? “Huh? Are you shocked? Aren’t you running away? That’s weird? Really Weird. I mean humans who make a pact with Devils are scum. Scum indeed. Can’t you understand that? No? Is that so? Well you are a scum Devil after all.”
This guy is crazy! You can’t even have a normal conversation with him! But I will say what I have to! “How can a human kill another human, then!? Aren’t you only supposed to kill Devils?”
“Haaaaa? What the fuck is that? A mere Devil like you is lecturing me? Hahaha. I will laugh at this. You probably could get a reward for being funny. Okay then, listen carefully you shitty Devil. Devils also use humans' greed to survive. Relying on a Devil proves that you are no longer a human. It’s the end. That’s why I killed him~. I make a living by killing Devils and those that are contracted to a Devil. That’s my job.”
“Even Devil’s won’t go this far!”
“Haa~~? What are you talking about? Devils are trash. Do you know they are a shitty existence? Do you know this is common sense? Didn’t you know? Seriously, you should start your life back from a toddler. Wait, it’s useless to tell this to a reincarnated Devil like you. More like, I have to kill you! Hahahaha. It’s awesome, isn’t it? It’s the best, isn’t it?”
The priest pulls out a sword that had no blade, and a gun. BOOOM. A sound vibrates in the air. The sword that only has a handle turns into a thing like a beam saber. What is that? It looks like a beam saber fromGundam. “You kind of irritate me, so can I cut you? Can I shoot you? Is it OK? Okay then. Now I’m going to stab your heart with thisblade of light, and I’m going to blow your head with this cool looking gun! Man, I’m seriously going to fall in love!”
SWIFT! The priest came sprinting towards me! He slashes his blade of light at me. Oh crap! I just dodged it, but intense pain runs through my leg. There are smokes coming out of the priest's gun. Was I shot? But I don’t hear any gunshots. Then suddenly I felt another shot of pain on my leg again. “Guaaaah!”
I fell on my knees while moaning. This time, I was shot on my left calf! It hurts! But I know this pain! “How is it!? The special bullet made for the Exorcists, thebullet of light! And it doesn’t make any sound. Since its bullet of light. This situation turns both of us on, doesn’t it?”
The pain of light. Yeah, this is the pain of light. To a Devil, light is poisonous. Once hit, the pain goes through your entire body. “Die, die, Devil! Die Devil! Turn to dust and disappear! This is all for my entertainment!”
The priest is laughing madly and is about to finish me off. “Please stop!”
Then there is a voice of a woman I am familiar with. The priest froze his posture to where he was about to attack me, and looks towards the direction where the voice came from. I also look to the same direction. —! A girl is there, and I know her. “Asia.”
Yes, the blond Sister is standing there. “Well if it isn’t my assistant, Asia-chan. What happened? Did you finish putting the barrier?" “! N-Noooooooo!”
Asia screams after seeing the corpse that is nailed to the wall. “Thank you for the adorable scream! Oh yeah, this is your first time seeing a corpse like this, isn’t it, Asia-chan? Then look carefully. We have the humans that are entranced by a Devil die like this.”
“……N-No……”
She then looks at us and gets shocked to see me. “……Father Freed……that person……”
Asia looks at me directly. “Person? No, no. This shit here is a Devil.