The inside and outside of the Holy City were tinged with a soft pink hue. The season of full spring had returned. And spring in the Holy City also signified the Holy Festival.

Everything was perfect beyond compare. Mild weather, preparations proceeding smoothly, an atmosphere that was calm yet subtly excited in places.

Behind the golden curtain, Renie’s expression was as incompatible with the scene as oil and water. The alien daylight was now permeated with a familiar gloom.

She rose and stepped forward, drawing back the curtain.

Those gathered in one place for the Holy Festival cheered at the sight of her. The atmosphere was feverish, as if they were welcoming a god.

Renie ascended the white pulpit. Everyone’s attention was focused on her lips, which seemed about to open. After swallowing her dry saliva, she recited the prayer familiarly.

Was it because she lacked divine power, or because her mind and body had been defiled by the demon, or perhaps because the seed of a demon had been planted within her? The prayer didn’t feel as sacred as it had before.

Nevertheless, the people of the Holy City seemed to notice nothing amiss, their eyes only shining brightly.

“...The Lord is always with you.”

Was that truly so?

“I only hope that this Holy Festival will also be completed well within His grace.”

A great commotion would surely occur.

“May you all enjoy the Holy Festival.”

Because this land was already doomed.

Renie descended from the platform with an indifferent expression. Before doing so, she scanned the countless crowd like pebbles on a beach. She earnestly hoped that Gail’s group, the demon hunters, had safely arrived in this land.

As soon as she came down, the sound of trumpets rang out loudly.

The Holy Festival had begun.

________________________________________

The Holy Festival lasted a total of one week. This was the night of the third day.

The moon shone brightly in the ink-colored sky. As she gazed blankly at the pale halo surrounding the round full moon, she soon felt a hand caressing her abdomen. Renie slowly lowered her head.

Knobby fingers stroked her slender belly, which didn’t yet show any signs of pregnancy. The unusually cautious manner made her wonder if the man’s past actions had been just a dream.

The fingers that had been tickling around her navel slowly moved upwards. They lifted the hem of her garment, revealing her breasts completely. The fingertips, moving leisurely as if drawing a rhythm, reached her nipple.

“Uhn...”

At her soft moan, the demon who had been gulping down alcohol chuckled softly. He held the glass in one hand and gently rubbed her nipple with the other. Renie, straddling his lap, now twisted her body habitually and curled her toes.

“Do you like it?”

He asked, pinching her nipple hard enough to cause pain with his thumb and index finger.

Renie didn’t say anything, but her face, already flushed red, was the answer. Kahn rubbed the tip with his blunt fingernails as if grinding it.

“Ahaht.”

The crimson bud slowly hardened, empowered by the stimulation. Kahn’s eyes, fixed on her, burned as if he couldn’t wait to suckle it.

He fondled her white, soft breasts and kissed Renie. Her eyelids, fluttering reluctantly as she grasped his shoulders and responded to the kiss, trembled.

His rough tongue dug into the gap and ransacked the inside of Renie’s mouth. His intensity was so fierce that when she came to her senses, her lips were already covered in saliva. Even that was because he kept sucking at them, leaving her with only plump, swollen lips in the end.

He urged her to stick out her tongue. As her lips timidly parted and the tip of her red tongue peeked out, he sucked it fiercely as if it were sweet nectar. The tongues intertwined anew were like snakes engrossed in mating.

Kahn sucked her tongue deeply and teasingly fondled her fruit-like nipples. Ahng, uhn, haahng. Renie’s sensual moans mingled and flowed into the kiss.

“Haa, why are you being so obedient lately?”

Having mixed their tongues to his satisfaction, he parted their lips with a soft smack and murmured.

“You’re pretty when you’re docile...”

Kahn grasped her slender chin and intently gazed at her pale face. His gaze was even more tenacious than the mingled saliva.

Renie met his eyes, pretending to be nonchalant to show that she was unaffected. His fiery crimson eyes easily overwhelmed her deep green pupils as always. She hunched her shoulders at the ominous pressure he exuded.

Currently, Renie was trying her best to please him during their intimate moments. Of course, that was a very slight degree, not enough to feel like a 180-degree change from before. For example, readily responding to his approaching kisses or not trying to suppress her moans.

The demon, while harboring suspicion about it, couldn’t stop smiling as if he was overjoyed.

Renie’s gaze flickered past his shoulder. Red eyes floated in the darkness. It was Biron, Kahn’s subordinate. Renie brought her lips close to his ear.

“Kahn, over there...”

“Why?”

He asked, squeezing her breast hard enough to cause pain. Renie whispered hesitantly, as if she were timid by nature.

“I want to be... alone with you.”

Kahn, who had been licking the mound of her breast, paused. Soon, he hugged her tightly around the waist and raised his head. A soft look rippled through his bright red eyes. A gentle smile accompanied it.

Renie didn’t trust that gentleness. He was like a wild beast that could become ferocious in the blink of an eye.

Renie nestled against him obediently like a submissive wife and fiddled with his chin. Kahn’s smile deepened. Yesterday and the day before, when she had acted this way, he had readily sent Biron away. Assuming there were no unexpected changes, it would probably be the same today.

As expected, Kahn raised one hand. At that, Biron, who had been standing stiffly in one corner of the bedroom, disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. Renie, her eyes busily scanning the traces of the black shadow, moaned as her nipple was pinched.

“Heeuh...!”

“See how hard your nipples are? Cute. You want me to suck them, don’t you?”

Kahn, muttering in a somewhat rougher voice, bit down on the tip of her breast and deeply inhaled before she could even answer. A thrill that spread from her nipple made Renie arch her head with a flushed breath.

He greedily sucked like a child seeking milk and rubbed the other nipple. As he had said, the stiffly erect tip was in an overly sensitive state. Every touch sent a sharp thrill straight from the crown of her head to her toes.

“As time passes, milk will probably drip from here too. How sweet that will be.”

The man, who was deliberately sucking and gulping while squeezing the flesh to make her breast mound protrude, murmured as he swirled his tongue around the bud.

Renie could barely hold onto him amidst the dizzying pleasure spreading through her abdomen.

“Don’t even think about giving it to the brat. All your milk is mine. Understand?”

“Uh, uhn...”

Her moans flowed out like an answer. But she was in no state to take back those words.

Kahn continued to torment her nipples for a long time afterwards. Rolling them with his fingers, biting them with his teeth, rubbing them with his tongue... Soon, her nipples were swollen and sore to the touch, indecently inflamed.

Not satisfied with just that, he nibbled and licked her pale breast mounds, covering them with messy marks. Afterwards, his smiling face as he checked the deep marks looked quite pleased.

Kahn’s hand, which had been fondling her breasts, slid upwards and caressed her lips.

“Can you suck my cock?”

At the blatant question, Renie unknowingly lifted her hips. It was because the presence of the large member that had been persistently bothering her between her legs since earlier had suddenly grown stronger.

“I-if I do it with my hand...”

“Alright, go ahead and try.”

He readily gave permission.

As Renie’s attitude towards their intimate acts became more submissive, his way of making love also changed slightly from before. He had now begun to accommodate her to some extent. That was definitely a stark contrast to his previous brutal behavior of thrusting into her mouth until he was satisfied.

Renie’s trembling hands unfastened his trousers. Kahn, who had emptied his glass of alcohol, fondled her buttocks like a child playing with a toy. Occasionally, he would slip into her secret place and tap the constantly twitching hole.

Soon, as his stiffly swollen cock was revealed, Renie let out a sigh that felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Still, she thought, it was a relief he wasn’t making her use her mouth today. His member was so large that even a short time of sucking would leave her jaw aching and in pain.

Renie timidly grasped the shaft. It was so thick that her hand couldn’t even fully encircle it. Now quite skilled, she began to stroke him, and the head, now fully exposed, glistened and secreted pre-ejaculate.

“Huuah...”

Kahn’s satisfied groan resonated, stimulating her ears. Renie, as he had taught her before, used her fingers to collect the pre-ejaculate and spread it all over his shaft. It was a touch that was exceedingly sensual and uninhibited for someone who served God. She bit her lip at the strange pang of conscience.

His hand, which had been kneading her shapely buttocks beneath her clothes as if about to burst them, suddenly lifted her garment. Then, he pressed firmly between her vulva and anus, her perineum.

“Ah...!”

“Why?”

Kahn’s eyes fixed on Renie, who flinched and shook her head, refusing to let go. A sly smile played on his lips as he circled her perineum with his fingers.

“Uhn, not there.”

“I noticed last time that you’re weak here.”

Despite it being an insignificant spot, every time his fingers swirled around it, her lower region became helplessly wet. Even without looking, she could feel the sticky pool of arousal gathering between her parted legs.

“N-no, I don’t like it...”

Her body, trembling with a strange and unsettling sensation, recoiled, and Renie felt a physiological aversion. Whether his fingers moved forward or backward, either way was dangerous.

“Kiss me,” he murmured, urging her. Renie quickened the pace of her stroking and kissed Kahn’s lips. He smiled back, his eyes gleaming as if welcoming it, and intently observed her face. Her tightly closed eyes, her fluttering eyelashes, and the way she cautiously slipped her tongue into his mouth were truly endearing.

“Uhh, um, hnn.”

Above, they were obscenely intertwining their tongues, and below, they were touching each other’s genitals. It was a sight that would anger God, truly a 모습 of being lost in lust and unable to come to their senses.

“Mmph!”

Renie, who had been busily sucking his tongue and stroking his thick flesh, suddenly flinched as if dislocated when his finger slipped deep into her hole.

“Ahaahn...!”

“And here you are saying you don’t like it.”

What he was referring to was clear. As soon as his finger had penetrated about two knuckles deep, there was a squelching sound as it stirred through a puddle. It was entirely the sound of his finger churning through her honeyed depths, filled with arousal fluid.

“Hnn, hng, ah, ahng...!”

As the speed of his probing her cunt increased, Renie’s sanity also began to crumble meaninglessly. She didn’t want to feel it, but his fingers scraped against her inner walls, stimulating her everywhere, and a tingling sensation spread throughout her body.

“I can tell you’re going crazy with pleasure, but you still need to finish what you were doing, right?”

He murmured coldly as he thrust deeply into her lower region. Renie hastily regained her senses and readjusted her grip on his cock. But just as she was about to move, the man’s finger unexpectedly poked and then withdrew from a spot she hadn’t anticipated, causing her whole body to tremble.

Kahn quickly removed his hand and lifted her waist halfway. As he did so, a stream of arousal fluid flowed down from between her parted legs, as if she were urinating. Wet marks appeared on the man’s half-worn gown, where it had become damp.

“Hnn, haa...”

At the short but intensely dizzying orgasm, Renie leaned against his shoulder and gasped for breath. Kahn kissed her cheek, then lightly lifted her delicate body and headed for the bed.

“See how good it is when you’re obedient? Hmm? Just stay still. I’ll even lick your cunt.”

“Ah, uhn! Hnn, st-stop...!”

Laying Renie down, he kissed both her breasts and then slowly moved down, beginning to lick her vulva like a dog. His tongue moved so lasciviously that she could even hear the lapping sounds. Her vision clouded with moisture, and Renie gasped, barely managing to hold onto his head.

“Haah, ah, ahng, aah!”

His tongue, which had been meticulously licking her glistening vulva, soon slipped into her hole as if sliding in. Feeling her inner walls widen, Renie unknowingly squeezed her lower region. Kahn began to thrust his head in and out as he sucked at her groin.

Sensual moans began to echo in the bedroom. Among them, Renie’s, which seemed about to break off, was incredibly seductive. Kahn listened intently and focused on pleasuring himself. The large shaft, heated by the woman’s hand, soon spurted out a stream of whitish semen, wetting the area beneath the bed.

He removed his lasciviously playing tongue and inserted two fingers in its place. Her hole, fully ripened and wet, swallowed them little by little without resistance.

“Ah, Ka, Kahn. No, n-no...!”

“Yes.”

He firmly held down the struggling Renie and frantically stirred her lower region. He added another finger, making it three, and thrust deeply, then, feeling her vaginal walls unnaturally tighten, he immediately withdrew his fingers.

Her vulva, swollen red from the friction, twitched all over, and soon a clear liquid spurted out like a fountain from her urethra.

Renie stiffened her whole body, her chin trembling as if she were about to faint. After she had gushed for a while, as if urinating, and finally slumped down exhausted from the loss of strength, Kahn lowered his tongue to her vulva and thoroughly licked away the traces.

The explicit smacking sounds brushed against her ears.

“Hng, hngh...”

At the monstrous act she was experiencing for the first time in her life, she couldn’t help but sob. He, who had come up after sucking between her thighs to his satisfaction, chuckled.

“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s not like you did anything wrong. That’s all your cunt juice.”

“Haa, haah.”

“I thought my tongue was melting. It was so sweet. You don’t know how sweet your fluids are, do you?”

“Hngh, Kahn...”

“I know, so don’t whine.”

She had called his name with the intention of asking him to stop, but anyone watching would think she was urging him on like a courtesan. Kahn positioned himself behind her and gently rubbed her clit. Her mind, already a mush from the afterglow of her climax, began to crumble again.

“Ah, hng. Uhh.”

“What did you do here to make it so hard?”

He nibbled at her swollen clit, even though he hadn’t touched it yet. An unbearable ticklish sensation washed over her, and Renie trembled, exhaling hot breaths.

Something hard slipped between her pressed thighs.

The presence was so large that Renie momentarily thought he had inserted himself. Kahn, with his cock between her thighs, began to rhythmically move his hips. They had been intimate in this way for the past few days, so it was only natural that she had become accustomed to it.

Slap, slap. The sound of their skin sticking together and then separating echoed. He thrust so hard from behind that it felt like they were actually having sex. Because his shaft rubbed against her vulva, even the sensation felt quite realistic.

Kahn held Renie’s thighs firmly so they wouldn’t spread apart and smoothly moved his hips. His glans repeatedly appeared and disappeared in the gap of her white thighs. The pre-ejaculate on it had long since soaked Renie’s thighs messily.

“Damn it, I want to fuck you.”

“Hng, hngh.”

“Not here, I want to shove it inside your hole. Renie.”

He shoved his fingers into Renie’s mouth, who was barely clutching the pillow.

“You too, right? You’re dying to eat my cock, aren’t you? Hmm?”

“Haa, ah, uhn, slowly...”

“Once you’re past the unstable period, haa, I’ll fuck you until your insides are raw, over and over again.”

“Hngh, haahng.”

He suddenly raised his body. Making Renie lie completely on her stomach, he began to pound between her thighs as if using them as a hole. The man’s firm pubic bone and her white buttocks met and separated several times, heightening the atmosphere.

“Ugh, Kahn, Kahn...! My stomach, it hurts...”

Suddenly lying on her stomach, Renie felt a pressure on her abdomen and a sudden pain, making her feel a pang of fear. At her small moan, Kahn stopped all movement. He seemed to tense up for a moment, then clicked his tongue and laid Renie on her back in a proper position.

In that state, he quickly rubbed his shaft against her wet hole. Every time his veiny, bulging cock stimulated the tightly constricted entrance, Renie let out a shallow cry.

“I can’t take it anymore, can’t I just put the head in? Hmm?”

He pleaded with a yearning voice, scattering small kisses all over her body with half-crazed eyes. But before long, as if regaining his wavering resolve, he hugged her tightly and rubbed his cock against her.

Renie wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, hoping he would finish quickly. He inserted his tongue into her ear and wetly ravaged it, then abruptly stopped the fervent hip movements he had been making.

Soon, warm fluid splattered onto her vulva. It was sticky and viscous, an unpleasant sensation. Even though all Renie had done was lie still, she strangely felt out of breath.

Her heart’s frantic rhythm seemed to return to a normal beat for a moment, only to surge again. Renie’s gaze, fixed on the ceiling, trembled slightly. Thump-thump. She was terrified that he might hear this pounding, that her inner thoughts would be exposed.

‘Why me?’

‘......’

‘Why did Kahn... choose me of all people?’

The question she had asked Gail came to mind.

It was a question she herself hadn’t been able to answer, about why she had become the chosen one of that wicked demon. She had inadvertently asked Gail, a demon hunter who had been tracking Kahn for a long time, thinking he might know.

Gail had replied without even seeming to consider it, as if the answer was already firmly established.

‘Those who can hear the voice of a demon are generally predetermined.’

His gaze deepened.

‘The unfortunate.’

‘......’

‘The deeply rooted misfortune in their hearts instinctively draws demons. Because that becomes an exceptionally excellent prey for them.’

In the end, it was because she was unhappy.

So pitiful that she attracted the attention of demons before the mercy of God. That’s why...

Only then did Kahn’s words make sense. His words that her misfortune was lovely. The bizarre and utterly wicked confession she had heard in the past and again this time. The contradictory and paradoxical emotion that he could harbor because he was a demon.

“Renie.”

Her mind suddenly snapped back to attention.

As her vision cleared, Kahn’s face came into sharp focus. He bit his cheek and then slowly lowered his head to kiss Renie’s abdomen.

Kahn would once again be caressing her belly with an exceedingly gentle smile, just like a husband who had conceived a child out of love. It was hard for her to look at him. Since this man was the cause of her being pushed into the abyss in an instant, it was only natural.

Above all, she was anxious and uneasy because she still hadn’t found a way to feed him the holy water. Renie gently pushed his shoulder and艰难ly raised her upper body.

“I’m... thirsty...”

She pointed as naturally as possible to the water bottle on the bedside table. Kahn nibbled at the bridge of her nose and then got up. He quite willingly poured water from the bottle and handed it to her.

Renie held the glass, still. How could she feed this to him?

As expected, Kahn hadn’t touched any of the food in the Holy City. Moreover, since the amount of holy water Gail had given her was ridiculously small, she couldn’t just put it in anything.

The only opening she could aim for was after their intimate moments, when Kahn was in a particularly good mood. She had mixed half of the holy water into the water bottle for him.

She had decided on the timing, but hadn’t come up with a specific method. So she felt helpless and afraid.

Kahn, sitting on the edge of the bed, stared at her as if asking why she wasn’t drinking. To avoid suspicion, Renie slowly brought the glass to her lips. Could she force his lips open and make him drink it like this? No, before that, she would be caught in his grasp and interrogated about her intentions. If that happened, her last chance would vanish futilely.

She couldn’t let that happen. So, she had to keep her wits about her.

Renie gulped down the water. As her Adam’s apple bobbed once, her heart raced as if it were going berserk. Then, she suddenly met Kahn’s eyes. Startled as if she had a guilty conscience, Renie accidentally swallowed wrong and let out a violent “Cough! Cough!”

Flustered, she spilled the glass, and water soaked her from her lips down to her chest.

“What are you doing?”

Kahn chuckled, sounding exasperated, and took the empty glass from her hand, placing it on the bedside table. Renie, worried that he might have noticed something strange about her, didn’t even think about wiping the spilled water and just stared at Kahn.

His head, which had moved away, suddenly came closer. He licked the water that was flowing down her pale skin with a long lick of his tongue. It happened in the blink of an eye.

He sucked up the water that had pooled in her collarbone and then moved straight down to her navel. Renie’s hands trembled in mid-air, unable to hug him or grip the sheets. His deep green pupils aimlessly wandered through the air.

It was then that Kahn, who had been smoothly rolling his tongue, paused.

“...Keuh.”

Suddenly, he clutched his throat and made a choking sound. For the first time, a crack appeared on his face, which had always maintained its composure.

He slowly raised his gaze. The moment Renie saw his crimson eyes imprisoning her in an invisible cage, she pushed him hard.

Kahn was pushed back powerlessly for the first time. Renie swiftly took out the glass bottle from the bottom drawer of the bedside table. After emptying the remaining half of its contents in one gulp, she climbed on top of Kahn and kissed him.

Their eyes met.

Kahn’s pupils were shaking as if he had been betrayed by the person he trusted most. For a moment, he even looked hurt. It was an absurd thought.

On the other hand, Renie’s pupils, which had always been weakly clouded, were firm like land where not a single breeze blew.

The holy water trickled through the gap between their parted lips. She pushed her small tongue in and swirled it once, and Kahn swallowed it without being able to resist. As soon as she realized that, Renie straightened her upper body and quickly got off the bed.

“Cough!”

Kahn, who had fallen face down on the bed, clutched his mouth. Through his fingers, clots of blood gushed out. Renie, haphazardly throwing his gown that was hanging on the chair over herself, staggered back towards the window.

The white sheets on the bed were being soaked with red liquid. Blood always flowed around demons. But this time was different. It wasn’t something the demon was creating from others, but something that came from the demon himself.

She had always thought that the blood he shed wouldn’t be red. She had suspected that because he was so wicked, black blood would come out if he was stabbed. But he was spilling blood as red as any human’s. Even that seemed like hypocrisy and pretense to deceive people, and Renie felt a chill run down her spine.

Something tapped on the window. Renie opened the window without hesitation.

A strong gust of wind rushed in, scattering her blonde hair messily. Directly ahead, she could see the beautiful scenery of the Holy City lit up everywhere. Unlike the usual quietness of the night, it was a dazzling spectacle that could only be seen during the Holy Festival.

Soon, this scenery would...

“Renie!”

A heavy roar like thunder shook the bedroom.

Renie gasped in surprise. Turning around, she saw Kahn barely supporting his upper body, glaring fiercely at her.

In the midst of all the splattered blood, only his red eyes shone brightly. Those eyes seemed to be telling her, You can’t escape me. You are mine forever...

Her throat tightened, and her heart twisted. Even though it was just a brief eye contact, it felt as if eons had enveloped them.

Renie stared intently at Kahn as if it were the last moment she would ever face him. His face was now so covered in blood that it was difficult to recognize him at once. Blood flowed from every opening in his body.

Renie took a deep breath. The stench of blood was thick. As she filled her lungs with it, Renie threw herself out the window. In reality, she tightly gripped the cloth tied to the window frame and slid down to the floor below.

Her grip loosened, and she slid straight down, but fortunately, she didn’t fall. Gail’s colleague, who had been waiting, caught her.

“How did it go with the holy water?”

“I fed it to him.”

“The amount?”

“A little over half.”

Gail nodded resolutely. His eyes were full of determination that it was worth trying. Soon, under his direction, his colleagues scattered, and Renie followed Gail out of the temple. During the Holy Festival, there were no separate guards, so the temple was deserted.

“I will escort Your Holiness out of Evreux.”

Gail helped her onto a horse tied outside the temple. Then, with a loud “Hee-ing!” the horse leaped forward powerfully.

“Where, where are we going?”

“We will go to the country where the hunters’ families live. To avoid being targeted by demons, we move our residence and change our identities once every month or three weeks. So, once we hide, it will be difficult to find us.”

The sound of the wind rushing past could be heard between Gail’s explanations.

The horse was running that fast.

“What about transportation?”

“If we go to the port, a ship will be waiting. We plan to go to Izenka for now.”

Izenka was a desert nation, a good week’s journey by horse from Evreux. By sea, it would take less time. For some reason, the reality of leaving Evreux didn’t sink in, and Renie fell into a daze.

In truth, only Kahn’s terrifying gaze from their last encounter in the bedroom dominated her mind.

She couldn’t believe that she had escaped him. As if representing him, her heart pounded wildly, like it was being roughly squeezed. His semen, which she hadn’t completely wiped away, still felt sticky between her abdomen and vulva. Renie raised her hand over her gown and roughly wiped it away.

They rode without stopping for about five minutes through a dense forest path.

Then, a deafening roar, ‘Kuwang!’, echoed from behind them, an unimaginable sound. It was so thunderous that for a moment, she felt as if the world was collapsing.

Renie, turning back hastily, saw her emerald eyes instantly turn blood red. It was because the scene she was looking at was covered in raging flames.

“......Fire.”

The spire roof of the temple was cracking and collapsing, and explosive flames raged around it. It was truly a scene of a sea of fire. As she took it in, Renie’s resolve, which she had tried so hard to hold onto, began to waver.

“W-wait, just a moment, please.”

“We can’t stop.”

“But if that happens, everyone there will...!”

Gail firmly held onto her, preventing her from stopping the horse.

“Please, steel your heart! If Your Holiness is caught by that demon, a world tens of times more horrifying than what you are seeing now will come to pass!”

How could she tell Gail to stop the horse when he was shouting so desperately?

Miserable tears streamed down Renie’s cheeks. Biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to hurt, Renie had no choice but to turn her head forward again. The faces of the Archbishop, Cecil, and others she knew well flashed through her mind like a dying lantern.

At this point, she couldn’t help but think that evil originated from her. Ruben, who had shown interest in her, her father, with whom she was connected by blood, and even the people of the Holy City who had been kind to her. All of them were being plunged into an abysmal sewer for the sole reason that they were connected to Renie.

By attracting the demon’s attention, Renie had become the origin of evil.

A feeling of loathing, not knowing who it was directed at, surged within her, and she clenched her fist tightly. Her fingernails dug into her flesh, but she felt no pain. More than that, her heart ached terribly at the thought of those she knew dying.

But as before, there was no time to be lost in sorrow.

“Kyaaah!”

Suddenly, something like a black spark flew from the forest.

“Damn it. He’s already caught up.”

Gail skillfully evaded it with his expert horsemanship. When it struck the ground, the earth shook as if there had been an earthquake, leaving a deep crater. It was a destructive power.

As he spread his palm, a pure white barrier enveloped them and the horse. It was divine power. Thanks to it, the black attacks flying from all directions couldn’t harm them.

However, as the attacks continued, the barrier gradually cracked.

“Hold on tight, Your Holiness,” Gail muttered through gritted teeth.

Renie gripped the saddle firmly as he had advised. He kicked the horse’s flanks repeatedly, increasing its speed. At the same time, he withdrew the barrier and instead shot divine power at the enemies surrounding them.

A different way of wielding divine power than the priests. This was the demon hunters’ unique fighting style. The attacks that had been pouring down like rain stopped, confirming that he had struck accurately. Taking advantage of the gap, Gail hurriedly spurred the horse towards the port.

Dismounting the horse, Renie headed towards the ship Gail was leading her to. It was larger than she had expected. After helping her aboard, Renie grabbed Gail, who was heading back towards the horse.

“What about you?”

“I have to go back to my comrades. We have to seal that demon.”

Gail clearly read the guilt in Renie’s eyes.

“Your Holiness, please only think about escaping safely.”

“......”

“As I said before, the most important thing for us is that Your Holiness is not caught by that demon. Once you arrive in Izenka, you must take the abortifacient immediately.”

After earnestly urging her, Gail pulled on the horse’s reins. Renie, her face pale, quickly grabbed his arm.

“Be careful.”

“......”

“Please, please... don’t die.”

Gail stared at her for a moment. Perhaps reading the deep earnestness etched on her face, he nodded resolutely and kicked the horse’s flanks. Beyond the forest path where Gail rode off, the fire that had grown as large as a house was already swallowing the Holy City whole.

A bad omen, a truly bad omen.

The ship, already prepared, set sail hastily without delay. Flames flickered wildly over the calm surface of the dawn sea. It was as if all the seawater had been dyed with blood.

Renie went into the cabin and covered her ears. It was as if she could hear someone’s scream from somewhere. She couldn’t tell if it was an auditory hallucination or reality.

Suddenly, her heart pounded violently. She unknowingly clutched her abdomen.

It wasn’t her own heartbeat.

It was the heartbeat of that parasitic thing nestled within her womb.