Chapter 25: The Holy and the Damned

At least I ended up as a couple with Mai Sakurajima, so it wasn't a total loss...

Consoling himself, Badr stepped into the teleportation magic circle and was instantly transported to the summoner's location.

But as soon as the teleportation ended, Badr's hairs stood on end!

There was a murderous aura!!

His nerves tightened abruptly, and almost the instant the teleportation was completed, Badr felt a strong sense of danger!

The devil's instincts were frantically warning him!!

Swish!!

Black devil wings spread out behind him as Badr instinctively took a step forward to his side, his body shifting a meter in an instant.

Whoosh!!

There was a sound of something cutting through the air.

"Huh?"

A slightly surprised exclamation followed.

The pungent smell of blood filled the air, causing Badr, whose sense of smell was greatly enhanced, to wrinkle his nose.

The sky outside was already dim, and there were no lights in the house, but it didn't affect Badr's vision.

He scanned the direction from which the attack had come, taking in the scene.

Sofa, coffee table, TV... it looked like a living room.

But alongside these normal pieces of furniture, there was something absolutely abnormal.

Blood was everywhere, along with some shattered pieces of what looked like liver...

And on the living room wall, a corpse was nailed upside down, its head on the ground...

It was a human, a woman, and beside her were the remnants of a summoning circle, indicating she was the summoner who had called forth a Devil.

Large nails pinned her feet, torso, and hands to the wall;

Her body had been slashed and mutilated, with dismembered parts falling out of the wounds—internal organs!

The sight of the corpse was truly horrific.

One couldn't help but wonder what deep hatred someone must have had to torture her so cruelly.

On the wall, large letters were drawn in her blood.

"Evildoers will be punished..."

Just reading it once made Badr's head throb.

Badr snorted coldly, his expression unchanged, knowing these were the words of a saint, a chant specifically targeting Devils.

"This is the saint's words!!"

An arrogant and maniacal voice responded from a nearby shadow, and a young man slowly emerged from it.

He looked young, about seventeen or eighteen, not much older than Badr.

With white hair and surprisingly good looks.

But his attire was that of a church priest.

"Hm? Hm~~? Oh my, isn't this the little Devil?"

He laughed wildly, "Ahaha, makes sense! After all, you came out of that summoning circle!"

Badr remained silent, his face cold. He sensed a threat from this person.

This human was powerful.

And the priest laughed arrogantly, singing:

"I am the priest~? The handsome young priest~~?? Slaying Devils?? Is my duty, laughing cruelly~? Cutting off your heads! That's how I earn my keep??..."

The madness was evident.

Badr spoke coldly, "Did you kill this person?"

"Yes! Yes, I did! Who else but her, summoning Devils day and night?"

His expression was exaggerated and crazy.

"My name is Freed Sellzen, a low-ranking member of an exorcist organization. Ah~~ don't bother telling me your name, I won't waste brain space remembering it, since you're about to die anyway."

This guy was hopeless.

There was no way to communicate with him.

Badr, with cold eyes, activated the familiar seal in his palm, notifying Rias and the others of the situation here.

Noticing Badr's action, Freed sneered:

"It's useless! Useless, useless, useless! I've set up a barrier here, by the time your friends locate you, you'll be dead!"

"Such arrogance."

Badr's expression remained calm, "A priest who cruelly kills humans makes me sick. You'd be better off dead."

"Ha—huh? You're lecturing me? A mere Devil dares to lecture me?"

Freed laughed loudly:

"So funny, listen up, you filthy Devil! Aren't you garbage that feeds on human desires? Relying on Devils means a person is already doomed!

Hopeless!

I killed her for her own good!

That's my job, I live by hunting Devils and the scum associated with them!"

As he spoke, he drew a sword hilt and a gun from his coat.

Buzz~~

The air vibrated, and a blade of light appeared from the hilt, forming a sword of light.

"Your hypocrisy disgusts me. Can I cut you now? Can I? Okay, got it!! Devils are trash, so disgusting!"

Like a frenzied monologue, Freed swung the light sword in a horizontal slash at Badr.

In an instant, Badr summoned the Sword of Kings, accurately predicting the trajectory of the light blade and blocking it.

The next moment, a holy light bullet streaked toward him, but it stopped half a meter away, as if hitting an invisible wall, before dissipating weakly.

It was an exorcist's special holy light bullet.

But Badr hadn't heard a gunshot.

A silver shield appeared out of thin air, rotating slowly around Badr.

In just one exchange, Badr was forced to bring out the Sacred Shield.

Had it not been for the shield's automatic protection, Badr would have been hit by that bullet.

Freed was human, but very powerful;

If Badr hadn't recently signed a faith contract and greatly enhanced his strength, he would have been easily defeated by this guy.

"Huh? Blocking a holy bullet? Damn, I underestimated you!"

Freed shouted, swinging his light sword at Badr again, his speed impressive for a human.

But Badr, blessed by two [Knights], exploded in speed, moving even faster!

With a precise thrust, he aimed for the priest's forehead.

Freed, startled by Badr's speed, abandoned his attack and quickly dodged.

Splurt!!

The Sword of Kings ended up piercing the priest's shoulder.

"It hurts! It hurts, it hurts! You bastard, how dare you wound me! I'll kill you!!!"

Enraged by the pain, Freed launched a frenzied assault on Badr.

Badr parried and moved, the two of them flashing and clashing in the living room, their weapons sparking with each collision, their duel growing faster and more intense!

Bang bang bang...

The originally intact furniture was soon shattered by their swordplay.

Swish!

The corpse on the wall was cut into pieces, and Freed flung a severed, wounded leg at Badr.

Badr's sword-wielding motion shifted in an instant, catching the leg and flinging it back at the wall, simultaneously using the Sacred Shield to smash the wall where the woman's corpse was nailed.

With a crash, the wall collapsed, burying the body completely.

"Haha... Did I see right? You couldn't bear to damage the corpse? Are you a necrophiliac? Disgusting, truly disgusting, Devils are garbage!"

Freed mocked, his originally handsome face twisted into a sneer.

Badr was getting annoyed by this disgusting priest.

Although he had been reincarnated as a Devil, deep down he still sided with humanity, and seeing humans and Devils getting along peacefully, he thought it was pretty nice.

Devils had their laws too, and Stray Devils were hunted by both Devils and angels alike.

The priest in front of him was no different from those Stray Devils.

Suddenly, a scream interrupted their battle.

"Ah!!"

Both of them turned to the sound.

… An acquaintance?

"Asia?" Badr's eyes darkened.

The girl standing there was the blonde nun he had encountered before.

Was she with the priest...

And the priest grinned wickedly:

"Oh, isn't it my assistant Asia-chan? What's up? Finished setting up the barrier?"

But Asia didn't respond to them, instead looking at the direction of the buried woman's body, her face pale.

"Thank you for your cute scream! Oh right, Asia, it's your first time seeing such a corpse, isn't it? You should look closely, this is the fate of those deceived by Devils—"

Freed laughed wildly, speaking in a neurotic tone, causing the blonde nun's face to turn white.

"How could this..."

She seemed to have suffered a great mental shock, stepping back shakily, her expression deeply troubled.

Badr, seeing this, suddenly understood.

It seemed Asia didn't know what had happened.

She wasn't with this priest.

Indeed, such a pure and holy girl wouldn't be involved in such gruesome acts.

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