Fated to Be Loved by Villains

In the deepest part of the Church’s Headquarters.

To be exact, inside the room where the Pope lived.

In that room where only a few of the closest people to him could enter, the Pope opened his mouth, a subtle smile decorated his lips.

“Everything is going as planned.”

Across him, a masked woman was sitting with her legs crossed.

“Everything is happening according to the schedule; the Red Devil going berserk, the terraforming of the nearby area, and even the movement of the ‘key’.

The Pope, who had been watching the video that was being played in the crystal ball at the center of the table, calmly continued.

Said video was showing them the situation near the column of fire, the situation that was created by the Red Devil, in real time.

“That half Drakhan of the Empire and the ‘Lionheart’ must be after him as well…”

There was a high chance that the people he mentioned were watching the exact same video as he was.

Since there were more than a few people who were interested in that man.

“But we are definitely the ones who’d make the most ‘use’ of it.”

Especially…

The man, who had the means to control all the Devils, was essential for his ongoing plan, the ‘Paradise Plan’.

There was a reason why he was called the ‘key of the world’.

“Well, I agree that whoever gets him first will gain the most benefit.”

As the Pope was thinking as such while glaring at the crystal ball that was showing Dowd’s face, the Cursed Speech User made a remark in a disinterested tone.

“That man is fated to be so loved by blackhearted people like that, don’t you think so?”

“...”

It was clear that he was trying to insult the Pope by implying that the Pope was a blackhearted person, but he only snorted without saying anything.

“...By the way.”

Because the Pope was more concerned about something else entirely.

“Is there something wrong with your leader?”

He asked Talker in a seemingly dumbfounded voice.

Even after he asked that question, the Prophet was still blankly looking up at the ceiling without showing much reaction.

From the very beginning, she had shown no interest in the Pope’s lengthy speech.

It was as if she was sulking and she didn’t care about anything else that wouldn’t help her mood to get better.

“Ah, don’t mind her. She’s sulking because that guy stood her up.”

“...What?”

“So, she asked that guy for a date and he rejected her. That’s why she’s in a bad mood.”

“...”

The Pope was left dumbstruck for a moment after hearing that before looking in her direction.

Because that sounded like an excuse that a teenage girl would make.

The Prophet, having been listening silently, soon opened her mouth and spoke, as if she found Talker’s words absurd.

“...Stop saying stupid things like that, Talker.”

“See? She’s not denying it.”

“...”

The Prophet clamped her mouth shut again. Seeing that, the Pope alternated his gaze between Talker and the Prophet, clearly in disbelief.

What?

Seriously?

Is she not the leader of the Devil Worshippers?

“...It’s none of your business.”

She blurted those words out bluntly.

But, as Talker said, she did not deny his words at all.

“As you said, everything is going as planned. What’s left now is for that man to overpower the Red Devil.”

Then, she continued.

“Because the real thing only begins once the Fallen’s Seal eats the Demonic Aura of all the Devils except for Brown’s.”

Except for the Tribal Alliance, which had decided to fully support that man, the game to ‘take over’ that man would begin in earnest from that point onwards.

Dowd Campbell, who’d swallow all of the Devils’ Demonic Aura at least once each…

Would become the one and only being in the entire continent…

“...Thought it’ll only be as such one round.”

The Prophet's gaze was fixed on the shining seal on Dowd Campbell’s chest.

“He will become the closest being to the Almighty.”

Needless to say, his value would skyrocket to irreplaceable.

His value, ‘danger’, everything.

Though, he probably wouldn’t realize it.

“...But still…”

The Pope narrowed his eyes.

“Will he really be able to solve the current situation?”

A Vessel with three Fragments going berserk amidst the highest acclaim, while the whole world was changing in real-time because of the Demonic Aura.

If they were to let it be, she’d turn the entire Material Realm into essentially the second Pandemonium.

Just like what the Hero Candidate had demonstrated, the Demonic Aura was so dense to the point that even the sufficiently powerful people were having trouble getting close to her.

There was also the fact that the Red Devil’s Vessel, who was at the center of it, was also letting out a Demonic Aura so strong that it could blind those who gazed upon it.

“...This isn’t even the Gray Devil and it’s still this bad?”

The Pope said, his voice trembled slightly.

Though the Devil hadn’t even come into contact with her ‘main body’ yet and she was just one of the seven, not even the most powerful one out of them…

She still possessed such a power.

In other words.

At this moment…

The fact that she hadn’t shown any hostility towards the people around her meant that she was sure that none of them was going to be a threat for her.

You’re telling me he’s going to defeat that?

“He will.”

But…

The Prophet firmly replied.

As if there was no need to even consider otherwise.

“He will do it no matter what it takes. This time, he will definitely survive again.”

Her eyes shone, showing a glint of both slyness and calmness.

“There are not many who can kill him for good. And Red isn’t one of them.”

“...”

The confidence in her voice made the Pope frowned, but at that moment, the sight of Dowd taking out something caught his eye.

“...A breastplate?”

He muttered as he saw the thing that Dowd was holding.

The Pope remembered that some people in the Empire had once used the item.

They called themselves Guardians or something.

“Someone who had once ‘killed’ a vessel, would gain a special ability.”

After hearing the Pope’s mutter, the Prophet made a remark.

“A Guardian who had entered the Crimson Night Incident before would be able to create a special situation.”

“...A special situation?”

“Don’t you recognize it?”

She continued with a smirk.

“With him putting a soul in it, that item is pretty much a Holy Relic already. So, it’s bound to have some special effect.”

“...But still…”

The Pope said, there was a slight frown on his face.

“To use a Holy Relic properly, he’d still need a qualified priest.”

Needless to say that someone who was qualified to do so in the Holy Land wouldn’t even dare to get close to that area due to the Pope’s instruction.

Because the battle for possession over him between the Superpowers would definitely intensify from now on. Even a single human was important as resources, the Pope didn’t want to waste them.

In other words, that Holy Relic was merely a window dressing, unusable piece of—

“Well…”

The Prophet replied with a smirk.

“He’s not the type to bring out something like that without any preparation.”

At the same time.

Two voices came out one after another inside the crystal ball.

[Wahahaha! Mr. Dowd, the crisis’ gotten quite big, hasn’t it?]

[H-Hey! It's dangerous here, back off!]

After confirming the identity of the owner of those voices, the Pope’s expression crumbled.

“...Archbishop Luminol?”

●

“...There he goes again.”

“Indeed.”

Iliya and Eleanor muttered, or rather, groaned as such, leaving Lana to tilt her head and said,

“What do you guys mean?”

“Ah, you don’t know much, huh?”

Iliya replied while sweeping her hair.

“...I meant, you haven’t seen much of that person doing that kind of shit.”

“...”

“You see, whenever something happens, that guy would always try to do something crazy.”

“...You know I can hear you, right?”

Why is she talking as if I’m some kind of a freak or lunatic, huh?

I grumbled with such thoughts.

“What? Tell me that I’m wrong then.”

Her reply sounded like a growl.

“...”

“Look, Teach, I like you, but this is just the truth. Just think about it, how do you live your life, for God’s sake?”

“...We only have one chance here. Stay focused, we can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

“See? He can’t deny my words, so he’s changing the subject.”

Ignoring Iliya’s scolding, I called out to Riru, who was ready to ‘throw’ me while wearing a serious expression.

“You're confident, right?”

“...All I gotta do is just throw you there. There’s nothing to be confident or not confident about.”

She answered, wearing an expression that seemed as if she was having a headache.

Prior to this, I asked her to throw me into that column of fire so that I could come into contact with Faenol properly.

Man, if only I had the catapult that I left in Elfante, I won’t need to do this—

“You’re wearing the same expression that you wear when you’re thinking of something crazy again…”

“...Archbishop Luminol, please make sure to fulfill your promise, ‘activate the Holy Relic’ at the exact time that we agreed on.”

Seeing me changing the subject after he criticized me, the Archbishop’s face twitched before replying.

“...I understand.”

“If you succeed, as promised, I won’t tell your daughter about how much of a scumbag you—”

“I get it already.”

He urgently cut my words before turning to look to the side, there was a frown on his face.

“...What’s your plan to stop that thing anyway?”

In the direction he was looking at…

There was ‘something’ inside that column of fire, burning so brightly in red to the point that it hurt the eyes.

Its presence was so overwhelming that it could silence its surroundings by just existing.

As if such a presence wasn’t enough, the Demonic Aura coming from it continued to grow bigger by the second.

“...Honestly, I don’t think I can fight her at all.”

Iliya muttered as her hands, which were holding the Holy Sword, slightly trembled.

“Those beings called Devils… Have they always been this powerful…?”

“Nevertheless, we have to stop that.”

As I replied with a smirk, the Archbishop’s frown grew deeper.

“...And how exactly would you do that?”

“Haven’t I already told you?”

I gestured for Riru to get ready before casually dropping my reply.

“I’m going to eat that.”

Then…

I flicked my finger.

This was the ‘signal’ we had agreed on in advance. Following it, Riru immediately threw me.

As my body shot through the air like an arrow, I carefully checked Faenol’s reaction.

Her red irises which had been fixed towards the sky, completely ignoring what the people around her were doing…

Were turned to look at ‘me’ for the first time.

“...”

Then, a sense of malice that could make my whole body shudder rushed at me.

The reason for this was because the punk, who hadn’t been showing any reaction, moved her arm for the first time as she pointed at me.

It was as if she vaguely noticed that whatever I was going to do could harm her.

At that moment, a huge flame was spread around me, coming out like an explosion.

Even with this, it was clear that she was trying to push me away rather than burn me to ashes.

As expected.

No, actually, this punk was even more gentle than I expected.

“...”

Well, relatively speaking.

Because there was no other way to express it.

For someone who had caused the Crimson Night Incident, the incident that was dubbed as the Empire’s worst disaster, her action up until now had been extremely gentle.

And that was what I was trying to probe and dissect.

“Valkasus.”

[Got it.]

If her intention was really to push me away and not to ‘burn’ me…

I could deal with it by just using Valkasus’ Forbidden Sorcery.

The strokes of the Forbidden Sorcery that was engraved on my body shone. The Cursed Technique that was said to be able to nullify even Demonic Aura as long as it was inside the range of the effect, even for a moment, was activated.

Thanks to it, the flame that was crawling towards me stopped all at once. Meaning, I could get close to her body without receiving too much damage from the momentum of Riru’s throw.

“...”

I arrived in front of Faenol, whose expression was slightly twisted.

Then, I held her arm, as if I was ‘clinging’ to her.

She slightly narrowed her eyes while wrenching her hand away.

I already broke through her movement with the Forbidden Sorcery, but honestly, in this situation, it was simply meaningless.

To her, I must’ve been like a fly that had landed on her hand. Just a simple wave of her hand could shoo me away. That was how big the gap of power between us was.

Even though I had gotten this close to her, I still couldn’t harm her in any way.

Also…

If someone were to feel uncomfortable enough about a fly sitting on their arm, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill it.

“...Fuck.”

Seeing the flame that began to permeate the surroundings viciously, I muttered as such in a panicked voice.

There was no time, I had to do what I had to do quickly.

I fiddled with the lion breastplate in my inner chest pocket.

So, my goal here was to stick this into her heart.

And to do that, what I had to do was…

“...”

I opened my mouth wide.

And…

“Nom.”

I bit…

Her arm that was stretched out to me.

Like it was some kind of meat, as if I was trying to eat it.

“...What?”

Iliya let out a dumbfounded voice.

“Is this what he meant by he’s gonna eat her?”

“...”

Silence enveloped the area, as if everyone had thought the same thing as her.

***

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