CHAPTER 54

Saw It Clearly (1)

The Skeleton King.

Who wouldn't know of that being?

A demon so troublesome that, to the gods, the few hundred years of the Skeleton King's reign were a bigger headache than the tens of thousands of years when demon lords ruled.

[I have waited a long time.]

The demon who revived the race from the brink of extinction—a feat everyone said was impossible—and whose power ranked among the top five of all demon kings in history.

A figure of terror to all humanity, whom every hero and champion of the continent had tried—and failed—to defeat.

It wasn't for nothing that a special class of exorcists, the so-called "Saintess squad," had been created just to handle the Skeleton King.

A being so mythic it might as well have been a god… Yeah, right. Goddamn it!

Why the hell am I over there!!

Sparks practically flew from Isaac's eyes.

Far from a normal skeleton—there was a glowing flame in its chest like a soul stone. Magic flickered around it like black fire.

It didn't look like some scrawny skeleton—it was massive and oppressive… Yeah! That damn bone bastard I swore at every time I looked in the mirror—that thing was standing right there, damn it!

Whisper was fuming too.

[What is that?! That knockoff!!!]

Hell yeah, you're mad too, right?!

[Yes! Master looks way cheaper and like a total loser in comparison! And you don't even talk in such a badass way!]

Screw you, you little shit—go die too!

At that moment, the crowd erupted.

"Could it be after the Saint?!"

Because the Skeleton King would one day become the most powerful threat to him?

But the moment the Skeleton King grabbed Isaac, the cardinals launched their attack.

Crash!

Gold—to banish everything except allies with absolute force.

Red—to crush enemies in the hellish pain of turning their blood into tears.

Two searing lights collided, aiming to tear the Skeleton King apart.

Rumble!

Then black and white lights followed, surging in to choke the Skeleton King to death.

Each spell, different but equally lethal, designed to rip out souls or instantly snuff out life.

And with the sudden explosion of high-tier holy magic, the banquet hall turned into a screaming, chaotic mess.

The graduating academy priests, witnessing these holy spells for the first time in their lives, were on the verge of tears, completely petrified.

Boom! Crash!

It was like they were unleashing ultimate attacks, and the Blue House's patriarch, Eli, looked furious.

He had every reason to be. These were purely destructive spells, designed for one purpose only: the Skeleton King's annihilation. In other words, if they so much as grazed someone else, it was instant death.

And yet—they were landing right next to Isaac's face, who was caught by the Skeleton King. Near students who hadn't even managed to dodge.

"You noodle-brained idiots! Can't you see my grandson and the other kids?!"

Muttering curses, the Blue patriarch slammed his palm to the floor.

At once, streams of water shot up from the ground like living serpents. The streams whipped around the students who couldn't escape in time, tossing them back like sacks of luggage.

"Gah! Th-thank you… sir!"

He saved the kids first, and then stretched the water toward Isaac to grab him too—

Thunk!

"!"

The water froze solid right in front of the Skeleton King.

The Skeleton King sneered, as if unimpressed.

[I've already seen through Blue's techniques.]

"!"

[Wouldn't it be wise for those cursed and weakened to sit quietly?]

At those words, sparks flared in the Blue patriarch's eyes. His lips, usually void of any smile, twisted upward in a chilling grin.

Did this bastard just dare to speak of curses in front of Blue?

"I kept my head down after smashing your holy place, thinking you'd throw a fit later."

Suddenly, the entire hall shook.

Boom!

"Argh!"

The VIPs and priests couldn't even stand straight. The patriarch's immense divine power split the floor, and water began rapidly flooding the banquet hall.

"L-Lord Patriarch!"

The fierce tide surged toward the Blue patriarch.

This time, it wasn't some snake. It was a massive whale, as if he'd summoned the continent's largest waterfall and shaped it into a beast.

And even though only a part of its head had emerged, it was already big enough to engulf the entire hall. The buildings nearby sizzled into steam the moment they brushed against the whale's body.

In short, a mere touch meant total annihilation. The priests assisting the pope with the barrier were practically foaming at the mouth in panic.

"Lord Patriarch!! Please hold back! The capital will be obliterated!"

"His Holiness will be furious!"

"Shut up."

As if saying "they started it first," the whale began to move.

At that sight, the Skeleton King subtly pushed Isaac to the front.

[Stop. If you don't, this little Saint might be in danger.]

Captured, Isaac's veins bulged in anger.

Ah, I let myself be captured to figure out who this bastard is, but just listen to the way he talks? Getting cockier by the second.

However, the crowd stirred for a different reason.

"He spoke again, didn't he?"

"Oh…! He said 'Saint'...!"

"Then... could it be that Young Lord Isaac is the Saint?!"

Isaac's eyebrow twitched.

...Damn it, am I supposed to be thankful for that?

Well, even so, if I get hit by that thing, I'm probably dead meat too, so I'll cheer for you for now.

Gramps, your grandson is being held hostage.

I'll handle this, so calm down for a second and put that thing down.

I get it—you're strong, and I know you've got a bad temper. So please, just stop! You're seriously starting to scare me!

[Are you saying you don't care if this child comes to harm?]

Yeah! Gramps, you care about me, right? You even snuck holy elixirs to me while I was sleeping! Even if the contents are garbage, you can't let your cute grandson get hurt!

But the Patriarch let out a hollow laugh.

"The Saint is tough. He won't die from something like this."

No!

He'll die! He will die!!! Damn it!

The whale, the size of a banquet hall, slammed violently into the Skeleton King and Isaac. With a massive collision, the blue holy power extinguished the Skeleton King's magic.

Whoosh!

The remaining body smashed into them with brute force.

Boom!

A blinding flash followed by an explosion.

"Aaargh!"

Wind pressure and shockwaves mingled, turning the interior into chaos. The priests inside almost flew like paper dolls.

Thanks to the barrier the priests had erected, the building didn't collapse, but the power was clearly beyond reason.

For a moment, everything fell silent. The Skeleton King's power could no longer be felt. People shook their heads as they recovered from the shock.

"…To think the Skeleton King showed up again!"

"Wasn't he last seen when he cursed Eshua 70 years ago…?"

He didn't curse it, damn it.

"They say after losing to the gods 150 years ago, he fled like a rat, leaving only his soul."

I didn't lose, damn it!

"And the reason he fought the gods was supposedly to devour the divine realm."

That stinking divine realm? I wouldn't take it even if you gave it to me!

"Is he finally back after storing up power?"

No! That guy's a fake, damn it!!!

Buried under the building, Isaac wiggled a finger.

[Master, are you all right? To think you survived that impact…]

"..."

[As expected of the Saintess bloodline—your body's basically made of monster bones. You only got scratches. I'll keep this in mind for future battles.]

…The Eshua bastards. I will kill every last one of them.

Just then, Rilai hurried over to Isaac.

"Isaac, are you okay?"

Do I look okay to you, bastard?

Even Shuri came over with some fellow students, clearly shocked.

"Oh my god, even for someone from Eshua, how are you still in one piece after that? What's your body made of?"

I'm not in one piece, okay? That holy power nearly shattered my mind!

"No wonder you're a Saint candidate! Even your body is solid!"

"At this rate, you don't even need to hire a Holy Knight for protection!"

"As expected of a Saint…! Should we get his autograph now?"

"No need to call a doctor, right…?"

"Right. He's a Saint, after all."

Damn it! I'm going to kill every priest in this damn place!

"Yes, Isaac! My training really paid off, huh? I'll help with advanced training too. Let's go crack the Skeleton King's skull together!"

Let's start by cracking your skull first!

But at Rilai's words, the other students seemed confused.

"Didn't the Skeleton King die from the Cardinal of Blue's attack?"

"He disappeared, didn't he…?"

"There's no way he died from that. It wasn't the real Skeleton King."

What?!

Everyone looked at Isaac in shock, but Isaac just laughed bitterly.

Yeah. That skeleton just now was a double—an illusion made of magic. Isaac had been trying to figure out where it came from.

'Of course, it wasn't just a fake illusion.'

The real Skeleton King's body was somewhere, and this thing was like a shadow—duplicated and sent here.

Even the magic used—

'It was my magic.'

No doubt about it.

'Could it be… my magic core is out there somewhere too?'

Well, even my body was being stored in the Saintess's treasure vault. So what, they wouldn't have my core too? Sure, I detonated it, so it's probably damaged, but still.

In any case, it was now certain that someone was impersonating the Skeleton King.

And more importantly—impersonating royalty?

Even in the demon world, impersonating royalty is a high crime. You think they'll just let that slide? Especially when it looks like that bastard cursed me.

'If they actually have my core too, then this is killing two birds with one stone.'

Isaac's eyes gleamed with menace.

Rilai's eyes gleamed too.

"In that sense, that was excessive. You knew it was an illusion from the start, and still used such an aggressive holy technique. What would you have done if Isaac had been hurt?"

Rilai called him out, but the Patriarch of Blue just cracked his neck.

"It was a warning. How dare someone try to disrupt the ordination ceremony."

As he said that, the Patriarch of Blue scowled and looked toward the head seat. He might have seemed like he was lashing out in anger, but that wasn't the truth.

He had seen it clearly—

The Pope, gesturing toward the Skeleton King holding Isaac.

'No doubt. He tried to kill Isaac too.'

That's why the Patriarch called Isaac a "Saint" despite not believing it himself—because he was warning the Pope.

It was all to draw attention and prevent the Pope from doing anything foolish.

That's why it felt all the more strange.

"There's no way the Skull King acted just because Isaac was called a Saint."

Just what had come out of the Holy Grail?

In any case, the man couldn't let his grandson die—he just made the first move, and a big one at that.

The other cardinals, even knowing the opponent was a mere clone, moved aggressively too—not only to show off, but also because the Skull King's presence was that threatening.

And they had anticipated that this year, when the saint candidates would become priests, something big might happen.

"But I didn't think it would happen during Isaac's turn."

It was already shocking that his grandson suddenly reappeared so grown-up—it nearly gave him a heart attack.

But anyway, that wasn't the important part.

"I've found my grandson. First, I'll take that guy."

Whatever the reason, the Pope seemed intent on dealing with Isaac.

"Could it be… he saw Isaac's faith?"

Surely he wasn't suspecting that Isaac had summoned the Skull King?

No way the Pope would try to kill a child over that alone. Still, the important thing was that Isaac had caught the Vatican's attention—in a bad way.

So, for Isaac's protection, the best course of action was to lock him away in Eshua's territory, far from the Vatican's reach.

First things first—lock him up and start with moral education based on Saint training!

"Isaac, come here. Grandpa has a reward for you."

As the head of the Cheong family beckoned, Isaac cautiously took a step back.

Damn it, he's got that look like he's going to trick me with pork cutlet and drag me to the dentist.

But the head of the Cheong family wasn't one to back down easily.

"My grandson has overcome the Skull King's curse and grown so splendidly. Grandpa will buy you some delicious sweets."

This bastard… is he really planning to pull my teeth out?!

Just then, a voice of salvation reached Isaac's ears.

"He probably shouldn't go back."

"!"

The savior was none other than Kina Berit.

The head of the Cheong family looked at Kina as if asking why she was interfering, but Kina pointed outside the banquet hall.

Beyond the banquet hall, where they thought the Skull King's magic had vanished, it still lingered. And from that magic, demonic beasts were starting to emerge.

"If those things came targeting the Saint, then it's only right for the Saint candidates to deal with them—to set an example."

The Cheong family head frowned.

This brat?

But Kina Berit was looking at Isaac. The reason she was acting like this wasn't anything complicated.

—She said it to the Cheong family's youngest, right?

—Yeah. Something like, 'We've been waiting for this Saint to arrive.'

—Kidnapping the Cheong family's youngest, and saying that? Would someone like the Skull King say such a thing without any basis?

—Even without a reason, he probably took the best one among them, right?

—Why are you so worked up over what some mysterious demon said? Just focus on reinforcing the barrier!

As the Pope's grandson, Isaac couldn't help but be bothered by what the priests were saying. So, the only option was to show who the real Saint was.

Sensing the scheme between the Cheong family head and Kina Berit, Whisper stepped in too.

[Master, what shall we do? Should we just kill them both?!]

"No."

There was a better way.

Isaac grinned and pulled something out.

[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]