The Succubus and the Saintess [Western Fantasy] 42

Chapter 42: The Execution

Legend has it that after the creation, the Creator God split in two. The light aspect became the Goddess of Light, Moya, and the dark aspect became the Demon King of the Abyss. Light and dark were in opposition, and when the abyssal demons invaded the continent, only the Church of Light possessed the means to stop them.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 1st, during the season of the red moon, the Demon King appeared on the abyssal battlefield for the first time. At the same time, the Saintess of the Church of Light, Cenia, arrived at the front lines.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 7th, during the season of the red moon, the Demon Generals Valthuha, Bizan, and Limovi were killed in a joint attack by the Church of Light’s Expeditionary Army and the Elemental Magic Towers.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 9th, during the season of the red moon, the Demon King fled into the Abyss. Saintess Cenia personally led the Expeditionary Army in pursuit.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 9th, during the season of the red moon, the Holy City of Light in the Golden Royal Court reopened its gates, announcing that Grand Archbishop Berlande Trollope had followed the Pope, returning to the Goddess’s divine kingdom.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 15th, during the season of the red moon, Saintess Cenia announced that she had received a divine descent from the Goddess of Light. The Church of Light declared Cenia de Velista the sixteenth Pope, and the first female Pope in the Church’s history. The position of the new Saintess was filled by Belin Miya.

Goddess’s Calendar, Year 1764, November 16th, during the season of the red moon, the Pope announced the relocation of the capital. The City of the Flower of Rest became the new Holy City of Light, guarding the Abyss.

…

The hot, restless season of war had passed. The red moon in the sky was replaced by a calm blue. The large-scale conflict had ended. Since the Saintess had decided to station herself at the border and the Demon King had once again gone into seclusion in the Abyss, apart from occasional minor skirmishes, the border welcomed a rare period of peace. The construction of the City of the Flower of Rest spurred the development of the entire abyssal border. The three armies of the Church’s Knight Order brought unprecedented military might. In just over a month, the southwestern Abyss had become a new gold rush destination for merchants, with carriages and horses constantly coming and going.

The new Saintess, Belin, did not like to stay in the Saintess’s Cathedral and often ran over to the Pope’s Cathedral. On the way, she encountered Koro, the former Knight-Captain of the Guardian Army and now the head of the Knight Order, who was escorting Berlande Trollope. “Hey, Koro! Where are you taking him?”

Koro stopped helplessly. “Her Holiness specifically requested him.”

Belin grew excited. “Is she going to interrogate him? Can I come?”

The Berlande Trollope of today was so haggard that not a trace of his former authority as a Grand Archbishop remained. When he was first imprisoned, he could still maintain his composure. But when Fielding personally told him of Silvina Margaret’s death and the evidence of his collusion with the Eye of Darkness, the Grand Archbishop had finally revealed his true, ferocious face.

Belin looked at him with a hint of fear. Last year, for the sake of the Church’s reputation, they had announced Berlande’s death, but at that time, he was still in prison, having just confessed to the crime of apostasy. The mask he had worn for years was gone. The part that was said to be a demon’s curse was a gaping hole of flesh where light and dark elements were entwined. Without the mask, even the smell of corruption could not be concealed.

Berlande’s eyes were closed, his demeanor lifeless. But Belin’s glance seemed to enrage him. He opened his eyes and looked at her with contempt. “Moya is dead. Cenia cannot change the fact that the Church of Light is in decline. One look at you is enough to know. A mere commoner from Dilipinia actually has the qualifications to become the Saintess…”

Belin was not angry. She was actually quite surprised and leaned closer to Koro. “He’s never said so much to me before!” Belin whispered in Koro’s ear. “When I was with Her Eminence Cenia, the Archbishop never spoke to me.”

Koro shook his head. “He is no longer an Archbishop.”

Belin pestered him. “Take me to see Her Holiness. Take me to see Her Holiness.”

Her Eminence Cenia had become Her Holiness Cenia, a change that had not caused much of a stir either inside or outside the Church. Internally, Cenia had already been acting as regent of the papacy; no one had the authority to object to her actually becoming the Pope. Externally, Cenia’s prestige had reached a new peak. People whispered that she was Moya reincarnated—otherwise, why would her name, like the Goddess’s, also contain the character “Ya”?

But Koro did not go to the Pope’s Cathedral. Instead, he went directly to the city gates of the City of the Flower of Rest. There, Cenia, dressed in light attire, took custody of Berlande and then looked at Belin with surprise. “Belin.”

Arriving at the city gates, Belin’s face had fallen. “Are you going to see her again?”

“Yes,” Cenia nodded with a smile. “Do you have any message you’d like me to pass on?”

“…No,” Belin said sullenly. “I have nothing to say to her.”

“Don’t you miss her?”

“How could I possibly miss her!” Belin stamped her foot and turned to Koro. “Koro, do you miss her?”

Koro didn’t dare to speak his true thoughts. “No, of course not.”

Cenia was not offended on anyone’s behalf and just kept smiling. “But I miss her.”

People said that the Pope’s decision to move the capital was a selfless act, that the Saintess personally overseeing the border and frequently entering the Abyss to find a chance to kill the Demon King was a great sacrifice. And look, the Saintess was going to the Abyss again!

Berlande lifted his eyelids. Even he had never ventured so deep into the Abyss. He didn’t know when it had started, but Cenia had become more and more incomprehensible to him. From a little girl he could easily manipulate, it was as if, in an instant, she had become the lofty, first female Pope of the Church. As the aura of darkness grew thicker, Berlande finally couldn’t help but ask, “Cenia, where are you going?”

Cenia hadn’t intended to answer him, but after a few seconds, she did. “To take you to see someone.”

See who? The Demon King? Berlande thought. Strange. Cenia had not concealed her aura at all on the way, but for some reason, not a single monster had come to attack them, and no Demon General had come to stop them. Could it be true, as they said, that the Demon King was really dead? Impossible. The Demon King could not die. The Abyss and the darkness could never be truly eliminated… Light and dark were two eternal sides of the same coin.

Cenia’s steps became strangely cheerful, as light as a young girl’s. Berlande had only seen this Cenia when she was young—back then, she had a friend with whom she was called the “Twin Moons of the Holy See.” Berlande remembered that girl…

The Demon King’s palace was incongruously filled with Radiant Cross flowers. The soil of the Abyss, of course, could not sustain them, so there were vases of various shapes everywhere, relying on expensive light magic stones for nourishment.

A voice said, “I’ve been waiting for you for so long—so long. What took you?”

Cenia said, “I can’t just run off to the Abyss every day. But this time, I brought you a gift.”

The woman on the throne sat, propped up on her arm, as if she really had been waiting for a long time. She looked up. It was the face of the Demon King from the rumors: hair as red as blood, voice like rich wine, skin as white as bone. But Berlande had seen these same features on another person. The succubus Pamela.

The scandalous news of Cenia and Pamela was no secret in the Church of Light. But since the abyssal campaign, Pamela had disappeared from Cenia’s side. People assumed the succubus was dead, or had fled back to the Abyss, but was surely dead anyway. Berlande had once talked with her. He had thought she was just a pet Cenia had taken in on a whim, like all the other succubi. The succubus had even told him about her “passionate and heart-wrenching love story” with Cenia, which had sounded like complete nonsense. But Berlande hadn’t planned to kill her then. He wouldn’t take the initiative to kill an assassin sent by the Demon King, and Cenia needed to learn a lesson.

But…

Even someone as experienced as Grand Archbishop Berlande couldn’t help but show a look of confusion now.

Was Cenia being serious with this succubus? No, he couldn’t call Pamela “this succubus” anymore. She had, by some method, become the Demon King. But that was even more absurd. Cenia and the Demon King? Hadn’t she just claimed that Moya had descended upon her?

Pamela descended from the throne and affectionately wrapped an arm around Cenia’s waist. Cenia no longer rejected this gesture, so Pamela pressed her advantage and kissed Cenia’s lips. “What gift?”

Cenia struggled a little, a kiss that was both a rejection and not, awkward and conflicted.

Pamela understood. “Oh, you’re shy?” Only then did she spare a glance for the “gift” Cenia had brought. An old man who looked like he was at death’s door.

It took two seconds for Pamela to remember who he was. A blood-red smile spread across the succubus’s lips. “Thank you, Your Holiness. I like this gift very much.”

Berlande watched her in silence. Pamela remembered the last time she had seen him—in the Light Cell of the Holy Tribunal. He had worn a red robe embroidered with gold thread and a mask that tried to conceal the stench of rot but failed. At that time, Pamela had had to use all her strength to hide the killing intent in her heart. But now, if Cenia hadn’t brought him up, she would have almost forgotten who he was.

“Lord Archbishop,” Pamela said cordially, as if seeing a long-lost friend. “Your Eminence Berlande. Do you still remember who I am?”

“Pamela,” Berlande said cautiously. “But I am not sure if you have a second name.”

“Oh, right—of course I do,” Pamela’s smile was irrepressible. “You know it too, Lord Archbishop. Why don’t you take a closer look at me and see if you can remember?”

Berlande was silent. He had thought she was the Demon King, and the Demon King should naturally have another name, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Where else had he seen Pamela? It was impossible not to have an impression. A succubus like this—

He suddenly remembered. He had never thought of it before, but now, perhaps because he was in the Abyss, it suddenly came back to him. Monlan had once mentioned a modification project to him. Many years ago, he had even personally participated in it. That year’s Saintess selection, on the cliff at the border, he had once—

The target back then had originally been Cenia—

“Ah, it seems you remember.” The succubus’s lips drooped in disappointment, her tail swishing impatiently behind her. “I had thought that you and I, Lord Archbishop, would surely not recognize each other.”

The succubus’s appearance changed before Berlande’s eyes—a simple illusion, a required course for every succubus. Cenia watched from the side, saying nothing, her hands quietly clenching into fists.

The pointed, heart-shaped tail, one of a succubus’s weapons, filled with deadly dark element, swiftly pierced through the old man’s heart. A few seconds later, a delayed pain spread from the wound.

Berlande remembered that girl…

In the last blurry image before his death, the woman with short golden hair stood up, her tail swaying behind her, and said lazily, “How boring.” The tail, still stained with his blood, flicked, contemptuously shaking off the bloodstains, then fawningly wrapped around a pale white wrist, asking the other, “Are you happy now?” Cenia had replied, “You should change back”…

Lothian de Goceloa.

In the final moments of his life, he finally remembered the name.

(End of Book)