The Regressed Sword Demon Is a Catastrophe-Class Inquisitor - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54. I Clearly Said It Too.

Crackle, crackle—

Silence permeates the mansion. Only the sound of flames consuming kindling reaches my ears.
I close my eyes once, then open them. Flames blaze across the courtyard of the mansion.
Suddenly, memories from my past life flicker through my mind. The memory of when I was kidnapped by certain people and returned to the mansion.

“….”

I push through the screams that permeate the estate and the corpses of residents scattered everywhere, advancing toward the mansion.
The mansion is consumed by the inferno. Charred materials fall from the roof, and patches of grass in the courtyard are stained with blood.
Walking across it, I come to a halt at one spot.
The corpses of my parents, pierced by swords, lay side by side. I gaze down at them quietly, then move my steps toward the interior of the mansion.
Cedric, the head butler, lies sprawled at the entrance, and the corpses of the servants who attended to me greet me upon my return after half a year.
Everyone was there. Everyone except one.

– Aren.

No matter how thoroughly I searched the mansion afterward, Aren was nowhere to be found. Even the letter he had written for me had disappeared when I was kidnapped.
After that day, nothing remained for me. Only a sword I had picked up from somewhere lay limply in my hand.

“….”

I emerge from the memories of my past life. Then I gaze upon the present.
Like in my past life, no one remains in the mansion. But that is not because they are dead—they are simply absent for now.
Corpses are scattered in various places. However, these corpses belong to the enemy.
This is different from my past life, when I could not protect them. This time, I have lost nothing.

‘The future Sena saw has also changed.’

The unidentifiable corpse Sena mentioned was likely Arturo.
Facing two Apostles, one of whom was a Mage, would not have been easy even for Arturo. Perhaps in the end, the bomb connected to his life detonated, and he died alongside his enemies.
In my past life, Arturo was called one of the Seven Deadly Sins—Greed. Yet such a man was willing to sacrifice his own life for someone else….
I realize anew how much I have changed.

‘But there is still much that needs to be changed.’

I’ve always been a greedy man. And at the same time, I’m one who never forgets what’s been done to me.

“….”

As the flames died down, the landscape came into proper view.
Charred and slashed corpses lay scattered across the floor. Only two had survived the wind blade.
The demonized Giant Warrior and the Black-Robed Woman. The Mage had protected them both with magic, so unlike the others, they’d sustained minimal damage.

“I never expected this much…. And this unsettling aura….”

The Giant Warrior examined his two arms, which bore light burns. Under normal circumstances, wounds this shallow would have regenerated in an instant.

“A Holy Knight, perhaps? It must be a Heresy Inquisitor….”

I didn’t respond to him and asked instead.

“Why did you target my family?”
“An obvious question. It’s the easiest way to dispose of you.”

The Giant Warrior bared his bloodstained teeth.

“Humans cling too desperately to their bonds. They fret over when they’ll be severed, grieve and rage at loss.”
“….”
“Because of that, no matter how strong a human is, they become infinitely weak before precious bonds. Rational judgment becomes impossible.”
“You speak as though you’re not human.”
“I abandoned my origins long ago. That’s how I became this strong.”

The light burns on the Giant Warrior’s forearms regenerated. Holy power doesn’t eliminate a demon’s regeneration—it merely suppresses it.
Of course, this creature possessed denser demonic energy than other Apostles, and the wounds had been shallow to begin with.

“Look at you. You could have grown stronger by joining forces with that one just now, yet you sent him to your family instead.”

It was true.
But the real reason I sent him was that I needed to handle these creatures myself—only then would this rage subside even slightly.

“Thus, bonds are shackles. Shackles that can bind even the strong. There’s no reason for us not to exploit them.”

Yes, the Evil Book Society had always been like that. They’d stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
It was almost laughable to be surprised now.

“I see.”

I nodded and regarded the Bald Giant with an impassive expression.

“But why did you have to be so attached to your hair?”

The Giant Warrior’s confusion arrived a beat too late at my sudden remark.

“…What?”
“You should have grieved and raged over its loss, fretting endlessly about when it would fall out. Yet look—even after becoming a demon, you couldn’t restore your hair.”

The Bald Giant’s expression hardened like stone.

“Hair loss is not something to be squandered on your wordplay.”

I replied with equal gravity.

“Does this sound like a jest to you?”
“….”

Two sharp gazes crossed through the air. Sparks seemed to dance between us as neither looked away.
Suddenly, the Mage standing idly in the background let out a short, stifled laugh.
A thunderous sound erupted, and a colossal form materialized before me.
The Giant Warrior was bringing down a double-bladed axe with an expression murderous enough to kill me a hundred times over.

Whoosh!

I retreated in alarm.
But his determination was relentless—he closed the distance immediately and swung the double-bladed axe again.

“Die!!”

Since I had no intention of dying, I met him with my Flame Sword, canceling out the force. Our weapons pushed against each other as if they might shatter.

“Give up.”

I offered him a final consolation in that locked position.

“Your hair won’t return no matter what you do.”

In an instant, the Giant Warrior’s veins bulged grotesquely across his skin. I found it curious that his expression could become even more hideous than it already was.

“Shut your mouth!!!”

The double-bladed axe came crashing down with tremendous force. The motion was so sweeping that I could evade it simply by stepping back slightly.
When I attempted to bring my sword down in response, he swiftly rotated the axe horizontally to intercept my attack trajectory.
So I didn’t strike. Instead, I pivoted my body and charged toward the Mage behind him.
My true objective from the start was to separate the Giant Warrior from the Mage.

Whoooosh!

But the Mage was not idle either. A formidable force born from demonic energy transformed into flames that engulfed my vision.
I cleaved through it with my blade of fire. My wrath burned hotter than his magic.

Crack!

Piercing through the splitting flames, I reached the Mage and swung my sword, while he unfurled a translucent barrier directly before him.
The moment my blade collided with the Mage’s barrier.

Dissipate—

My once-solid form became hazy like mist, then gradually scattered into nothingness.
It had been a doppelgänger I created with Gentle Breeze, concealed while the flame magic obscured the Mage’s vision.
Thanks to that deception, I had completely positioned myself behind the Mage.

“…!”

Only then did the Mage sense my presence. He spun around in panic and deployed his magic.
I thrust my sword toward the barrier he conjured.
Normally, a defense of that caliber would have held. But hastily erected, it lacked the strength to withstand my blade.

Shatter!

My sword advanced through the shattered barrier. The Mage widened his eyes and twisted his body to evade, but my blade was far faster.

Thud!

My blade pierced through the Mage’s heart. In an instant, blood cascaded from his swollen cheeks in a torrent.
Even if he were a Demon who wielded dark magic, this was a fatal wound from which there could be no resurrection.
The Mage who had glared at me soon went limp. As I withdrew the blade, a spray of crimson followed in its wake.

“….”

I shook the blood from my sword and turned my gaze toward the Giant Warrior. He stood with tension etched across his features.
The Giant Warrior spoke.

“What in the abyss are you? That’s not a technique a young Heresy Inquisitor should possess. It’s as though you’ve reached the pinnacle of mastery itself….”

I tilted my head with a slight smirk and replied.

“What good does knowing my identity do you? Your descent into Hell remains inevitable regardless.”
“Hah….”

The Giant Warrior let out a hollow laugh, sweeping his ashen, bald head with his hand.

“The Demon God’s words were precise. We should have understood without arrogance—that we rest within the palm of your hand.”

I narrowed my eyes as though ignorant and asked.

“What do you mean by that?”
“The Demon God has already become aware of your existence. And that you would become our calamity as well.”

He was referring to my name being inscribed in the Evil Book Society’s scripture—the Primordial Scripture.
I already knew this from the Bloom Apostle, but these fools would never suspect such a thing.
What Apostle would ever divulge such crucial information to an enemy in the first place?

“We misjudged. We should have destroyed you far more thoroughly.”

Yet allowing their ignorance to persist was rather satisfying, so I merely nodded.

“Your realization comes far too late—much like the hair that falls from your head beyond recovery.”
“….”
“When I face you demons, I will spare no means nor methods. For when dealing with demons, one must repay them in kind.”

The flames coiled around the blade’s edge flickered violently.

“I will not spare a single one of you. By the time you regain your senses, you’ll be bald like him.”
“….”

The Giant Warrior gnashed his teeth as he issued the warning.

“I told you. Hair loss is not something to be used as a punchline.”
“And I made it clear. Does this look like a joke to you?”

Two killing intents collided again, crushing against each other. His killing intent was on par with mine.
That’s right. For him, hair was no different from what family meant to me.

“You’ve abandoned your humanity, yet you couldn’t let go of your attachment to your hair.”

Suddenly, the massive form that had vanished reappeared before me. A double-bladed axe swung to cleave my upper and lower body in two.
Receiving such a forceful attack head-on would be foolish, so I simply leaped lightly upward.
The double-bladed axe passed beneath my feet as I hung suspended in the air.
Glancing down, I saw an ashen moon floating below. His crown.
I instinctively pressed my hand against it and vaulted over his body.

“….”

I landed softly on the ground and turned my body toward him.
He exhaled rough, ragged breaths, his face flushed with shame as he struggled to regain control of his emotions.
I gazed down at my hand. The smooth sensation still lingered there.
Looking at him, I let out a bitter laugh.

“I won’t mock you anymore. I didn’t expect you to be this strong.”

His pupils dilated upward, and for a moment he staggered. Barely grasping his senses, he planted his feet firmly on the ground.

‘He’s holding up quite well.’

Left with no choice, I leisurely circled around him. Using Mirage Wind, I left afterimages in my wake.
My afterimages circling him in a ring while I watched. Both I and my afterimages invigorated the dispirited warrior.

“Grow… grow….”

My voice echoed like a reverberation.

“Hair… hair….”

He drew a sharp breath, his chest heaving. He howled, seeing me and my afterimages.

“I’ll kill you aaaahhhhh!!!!!”

He kicked off the ground with force and charged at me. As the double-bladed axe traced a crescent arc, three afterimages vanished.
Consumed by surging rage, he swung wildly without discerning which was real.
And the price for that was steep.

Schwick!

The forearm gripping the double-bladed axe flew skyward. Simultaneously, all the afterimages that had existed slowly dispersed.
From within that space, I appeared, withdrawing my blade. The moment he spotted me, he immediately stretched out his massive hand and seized my sword.
A crushing grip infused with the resolve never to let go.
He seemed to want it like a child coveting a toy, so I simply released the hilt without bothering to contest his strength.
Then I drove my bare fist deep into his body, pulling it taut over my shoulder with explosive force.
A fist wreathed in flames cut through the air, rocketing toward his solar plexus.

Boom!

His massive frame was driven backward. Even then, he refused to release my sword.
It seemed he believed he could manage without a blade.

Whoosh—

I caught the falling double-bladed axe mid-air to correct his foolish notion.
Then, before he could regain his footing, I rushed forward and swung the double-bladed axe wreathed in flames.
Startled, he recoiled just enough to evade the strike.
But who was I? A man detached enough to release whatever he held.

Whoosh!

Mid-swing, I released the hilt, and the double-bladed axe spun like a sling, hurtling forward with tremendous speed.
Witnessing this, his eyes widened and his neck muscles tensed.

Crack!

The double-bladed axe embedded itself in his neck.
Under normal circumstances, his head would have been severed clean from his body, but as befitted an Apostle of the Evil Book Society, he had done everything in his power to resist.
Yet he could not avoid the worst. Since the attack carried holy power, he could not immediately regenerate his half-severed neck.
I rushed forward and spoke.

“Why guard your hair so desperately?”
“You damned beast!”

His words never reached completion. Seizing the moment his concentration wavered, I drove my fist into his face.

Thud!

His dangling head flew clean away. The headless corpse stood rigid for a moment before toppling backward like a brittle statue.
Now I alone remained breathing within this mansion. The scene resembled my past life in appearance, yet the outcome was unmistakably different.
I pressed my hands together in prayer.

‘Ella, Goddess of mine….’

Upon arriving here, I had heard through a communication artifact a verse newly inscribed in the Primordial Scripture.
Among them was a verse indistinguishable from my own prophecy, and it seemed as though the Goddess had arranged it specifically for me.
Even if Sena’s foresight had rendered it unnecessary, that fact itself remained unchanged.

‘My gratitude.’

From the corpses of the Giant Warrior and the Mage, black demonic energy began to seep upward. It transformed to white as it purified, then flowed into me.
With two Apostles fallen, the amount was considerable. A strange sense of fulfillment welled up, yet I remained unsatisfied.

‘But….’

I grasped the fallen sword firmly.

‘I cannot become the miracle you desire.’

For there are far too many in this world who wish for me to become a calamity instead.
I kicked off the ground and returned to where my companions waited.
There was still much to do, and much I owed those wretches to repay.

(To be continued in the next chapter)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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