Chapter 105: The Rampage of the Sheep

When Cardinal Heinrich gave a weary smile, Amon felt a pang in his chest.

Amon tried to suppress the tremor in his voice as he asked about what had happened inside.

“What exactly happened?”

“As I mentioned, the Secularist Cardinals collectively experienced a cyber-schizo phenomenon.”

“When was this?”

Heinrich and the Moderate Cardinals both shook their heads.

“There are no clocks inside.”

“But the guards should know.”

Amon questioned the events like a detective investigating a case.

Eventually, he figured out the time when the Corrupt Cardinals had lost control.

“It was after we dealt with the demon’s avatar.”

“Oh! I heard about that! You fought against the demon’s avatar during the conclave.”

Soaring through the city’s night sky, destroying everything in its path—it was impossible for word not to spread.

The Cardinal formed a hypothesis based on the timing of Amon’s actions and the Corrupt faction’s rampage.

“They must have tried to infiltrate but failed, so they made the Cardinals go berserk.”

The Moderate Cardinal spoke with certainty.

Amon simply nodded.

Then, shifting his gaze from the Moderate Cardinal, he turned to Heinrich, whose bleeding had finally stopped.

“Heinrich.”

“Yes, brother?”

“…Get your limbs treated first. We’ll talk later.”

“Understood.”

With his usual warm smile, Heinrich bowed to Amon.

Amon turned his back and spoke over his shoulder.

“Brothers, if anyone is found guilty of a crime…”

Heinrich replied in a voice tinged with bitterness.

“…You who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.”

Amon nodded.

“I’ll see you in fifteen days, Cardinal.”

***

After parting with the Cardinal, Amon immediately regrouped with his companions.

“Cassie, can you track down its main body?”

Amon pointed at the avatar, now reduced to just a severed head.

Cassie activated her ability in response to his expectation, but…

“No. I can’t see it.”

She drooped in disappointment.

“I feel useless these days…”

Just before she could sink into another depressive spiral, Sonia embraced her.

“It’s okay. Cassie, you don’t have to do anything but breathe.”

“Sonia… that’s not very comforting.”

“Really?”

Sonia tilted her head at Amon’s remark.

Cassie, her face buried in Sonia’s chest, squinted up at her in silent protest.

In any case, Cassie’s method couldn’t track the main body.

“By the way, why are you suddenly looking for that old man?”

Cassie finally voiced her curiosity.

Without taking his eyes off the demon’s severed head, Amon answered.

“Something is happening in the Holy City. But the demon said something interesting—this isn’t their doing.”

“Wait… are you thinking of making a deal with them?”

“No. I’d rather set myself on fire than make a deal with those bastards.”

“Then?”

“I’m going to find him and make him talk.”

Amon said, pulling out a saw.

Cassie shrank back at the madness resurfacing in him.

Sonia, on the other hand, nodded as if she found even this side of Amon endearing.

“As expected of our Amon.”

“…Was all that talk about forgiveness and compassion just a delusion?”

Cassie sighed, feeling like the only sane one in the group.

At that moment, the silent priest finally joined the conversation.

“I do have a way to track him. Would you like to hear it?”

“Oh? Is it possible?”

“Believe it or not, I was the one who sealed Astaroth.”

Though he was lacking in combat, tracking was another story.

Amon decided to accept the priest’s help.

“What’s the method?”

“As long as we have the remains of the avatar, it’s not difficult. I can track the residual mystic energy. And with the gold ring, it’ll be even easier.”

“Why is that?”

“For demons, accessories are even better tracking tools than their avatars.”

The priest wrapped the ring that the old man had worn in a cloth.

“But something seems strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“The demons should know the Vatican has this kind of tracking ability. So why bother sending an avatar?”

“Could it be a trap?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Amon fell silent.

After a brief moment of thought, he spoke again.

“A trap always reveals a weakness.”

“Then…”

“Let’s go. Head-on.”

***

The Water City—Venice.

Once a city of water and art, it had turned into a flood zone as rising sea levels took their toll.

To make matters worse, nuclear waste leaked from reactors, and genetically mutated fish escaped, transforming the entire city into a dungeon.

Tourists stopped visiting, mercenaries and adventurers avoided the place… yet, people still lived there.

“Hmm… What are you scheming, Agares?”

A man with unkempt black hair, like a lion’s mane, lounged on a sofa, tossing grapes into his mouth.

“Tsk. That damn old man. I can never figure him out.”

His skin shimmered like gold.

He was so radiant that he was visible even at night.

A man with the bizarre contrast of black hair and golden-tanned skin, he lazily passed the time, eating grapes.

Just then, his door was flung open as someone burst in.

“Marbas! We have intruders!”

“Ah… now I understand.”

“Sir?”

“Never mind. I was wondering why that old man Agares took my gold ring.”

It was obvious—he had gone out for a stroll and left his traces behind for Marbas to deal with.

Over the centuries, Agares had tricked many demons of Goetia in this way.

But there was no point in complaining.

‘Well, at least he never dumps something I can’t handle.’

Even if Agares was a troublemaker, he only left problems that Marbas could take care of.

And he always compensated for the trouble, so it was impossible to truly hate him.

‘Not that I’m afraid of him or anything.’

Marbas, as he was called, got up and draped a golden cloak over his shoulders.

His black hair, like a lion’s mane, swayed as he activated his power.

‘Now then, fight among yourselves, humans.’

Marbas had many abilities—craftsmanship, machinery, disease, and healing.

At first glance, they seemed unrelated, but they all had one common theme.

‘The descent from reason into beast.’

Reason, knowledge, and science.

Marbas could grant or take them away.

That was precisely why Agares had left the intruders to him.

Simply being near him made humans lose their sanity.

And when their reason was completely eroded, they turned into beasts.

Many of the so-called “mutant fish” in this flooded city were actually transformed humans.

‘A human without reason is worse than a beast.’

Humanity ruled as the dominant species solely because of intellect and knowledge.

Without them, they were inferior to even the weakest of animals.

That was why, no matter how advanced their weapons or how enhanced their bodies were, no human could ever defeat Marbas.

At least, that’s what he believed.

Knock, knock!

That was, until a lunatic knocked on the mansion’s front gate.

“Ke ke.”

While Marbas was still wondering who it could be, the door was suddenly sliced apart.

Vrrrrrr!

Amon stormed in, having sawed through the thick iron gate with a chainsaw.

However, something about him was off.

He had always lost his composure at the sight of demons, but now, there wasn’t even a shred of reason left in his eyes.

“Knock, knock! Who’s there? It’s me, me!!”

His words, barely coherent, resembled the speech of a wild beast that had just learned human language.

“Who’s the real believer?! It’s me! I’m the fucking holiest believer! How holy? Fucking holy as hell! I don’t even need a gun!!”

Bwaaaang!

The chainsaw in Amon’s hand roared as if in agreement.

“I crave a delightful chat about your precious information!!!”

Seeing Amon’s state, Marbas cursed Agares in his heart.

‘That damn old man… Send me someone I can actually handle!’

The moment Amon locked eyes with Marbas, he swung his chainsaw.

With the blade slashing dangerously close to his face, Marbas had no choice but to deactivate his power.

‘What the hell is this lunatic?!’

His ability didn’t work on people who had already lost their reason.

It was like multiplying zero by zero—still zero.

Amon was what they called a “well and truly madman.”

‘Why did he send someone like this?!’

Cursing Agares in his mind, Marbas attempted to negotiate.

“I’m Marbas! I don’t know why you’re looking for Agares, but if you pretend you didn’t see me, I’ll tell you where he is!”

Unfortunately, he had chosen the worst possible person to negotiate with.

“Marbas? So you’re a demon too?”

“…?”

“I don’t make deals with demons!!!”

Bwaaaang!

His reason should have returned by now, yet Amon still swung his chainsaw like a raging barbarian.

The lethal teeth of the saw grazed Marbas’s mane, making his body tremble.

“You’ve got the wrong address, you bastard!”

“Deus Vult!”

“Fucking Crusaders!!!”

***

By the time Sonia and Cassie entered the mansion, Amon was already swinging his chainsaw wildly.

Cassie’s eye twitched at the sight.

“…Wasn’t that thing only supposed to be for cutting the gate?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why is he still using it like that?”

“It’s probably the demon’s power. You were acting weird too when we came in earlier.”

Cassie blushed, remembering how she had buried her face in Sonia’s chest and whimpered.

“…It was all because of the demon’s power.”

She blamed the demon with absolute conviction.

Sonia, understanding the wounds from Cassie’s childhood, decided not to tease her further.

‘She probably just missed her mom.’

Sonia, who had also harbored resentment toward her own mother, understood Cassie’s feelings all too well.

Marbas, who overheard this, felt completely wronged.

Of course, Cassie’s loss of reason was indeed due to his power.

But Amon?

Amon was just crazy.

“Uuugh! What do you want from me?!”

“Give me information!”

“My power doesn’t work like that!”

Hearing this over the radio, the priest chimed in.

[Amon, all demons ranked 1 through 10 have abilities that allow them to uncover secrets. Even if he’s not as good as Agares, Marbas should know something about what’s happening in the Holy City.]

“That’s what the priest says!”

“But you said you don’t make deals!”

“That’s why you have to confess willingly!”

“Goddammit!!!”

Dodging Amon’s chainsaw, Marbas quickly recalculated his approach.

Controlling reason wasn’t working.

So instead, he resorted to one of his other abilities—curses of disease.

As the curse seeped into Amon’s body, his movements slowed.

Normally, it wouldn’t have affected him.

But he had rushed straight here, drenching himself in radioactive seawater along the way.

His already-weakened body couldn’t withstand the curse.

“Haah… Now I can finally breathe.”

From a distance, Sonia provided cover.

“Amon! Fall back!”

She spread her wings and fired her gun in rapid succession.

Cassie also tried to assist by drawing her spear, but—

“Hm? This thing is way too easy to hack.”

Just like the old man had done, her weapon was instantly disabled.

And since Marbas specialized in both craftsmanship and machinery, his hacking abilities far surpassed Agares’s.

With a mere flick of his fingers, Cassie’s spear floated into the air.

“Mind if I borrow this?”

“Like hell you will.”

Cassie had anticipated this and activated an EMP.

The moment her spear sparked and fell to the ground, she swiftly snatched it up.

“Tch. That was expensive.”

She clicked her tongue at the now-useless hunk of metal.

But there was no time to dwell on it—she had to rejoin her allies.

Marbas, seeing Sonia and Cassie, spread his curse to them as well.

Sonia resisted with her healing abilities as much as possible, but Marbas’s power was slightly stronger.

Cassie, too, held out for a while using her genetic modifications, but she wouldn’t last long either.

As Marbas watched his three enemies weaken, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Finally, I can rest a bit.”

“Who the hell dumped radioactive waste here?!”

However, a voice he had hoped never to hear rang out behind him.

When he turned around, Amon was perfectly fine, glaring at him.

“How…?”

Marbas was utterly confused, but Amon wasn’t about to explain.

Adaptation and recovery.

It was a power Marbas could never comprehend—the essence Amon had absorbed.

Unlike the old man’s overwhelming strength, Amon’s ability made him grow stronger the longer the fight dragged on.

And since Marbas’s disease worked slowly over time, it was the absolute worst matchup for him.

On top of that, Amon had even adapted to the radiation.

Schling.

Instead of his chainsaw, Amon drew his sword.

“Righteousness! And superior firepower shall prevail! Amen!!”

“…I definitely deactivated my ability…”

The last thing Marbas saw before he blacked out was the hilt of Amon’s sword flying straight for his face.