I descended into the ravine.
Since I had a tingling suspicion that someone might be watching me... I didn’t use my Telekinesis.
Instead, I just ran alongside the ravine wall until finally, I reached the Demon Earl.
"Hah..."
I split its whole body down the middle.
One part of its body was on a sharp rock beside me, while the other was right in front of me, on a miniature ledge.
Coincidentally, this was the same part with its core.
"Why aren’t you regenerating?"
The demon was still dazed.
Even so, it eventually glanced at me and, through gritted teeth, spoke:
"Kuh... You sure are full of surprises..."
"..."
"An attack that can decimate a whole city. Why side with the humans? We demons could offer you riches beyond belief. You could live like a king."
Seriously...
"I didn’t come here to listen to you spouting bullshit. Answer my earlier question."
The demon paused for a moment, then chuckled.
"Although you might have defeated me... I suppose I should hold up my word, shouldn’t I?"
"But..."
It met my gaze again.
"Could I know who you are? What is your name? I’ve never heard of someone like you existing here."
Well, of course, I’m...
"Mikael. Part-time healer, full-time library assistant."
"..."
"Hahahaha!"
"A joke. Very expected of someone like you. Though... I guess I’m not in a position to demand answers."
It looked like the demon finally understood its position.
I was glad.
"You’re curious about what deal Amon Everness made with the demons, yes?"
"That’s the gist of it."
The Demon Earl’s earlier smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression.
"When that little imp was still a baby, his parents made a contract with us demons."
...What?
"You see, that little imp was very sick at the time. No healers could help him, and the priests were too busy to check up on him."
The demon scoffed.
"So his parents abandoned their belief in God and turned to the demons. They performed a ritual and summoned a demon, who went on to cure Amon Everness in exchange for his parents’ souls after they perished in the human world."
"..."
So far, I could barely believe it.
But the demon did have Amon’s parents’ souls.
I knew that much.
So although it seemed unbelievable, I continued listening.
"For a while, we didn’t hear anything from the Everness family. That was until they summoned a demon again."
A single dramatic tear ran down the demon’s cheek.
"Oh my... My child! He doesn’t have a Gift! Please! How could you do this to us! I thought you only wanted our souls!"
It imitated Amon’s parents’ pleas...
"The truth was, the demons weren’t involved. No one knew why he didn’t have a Gift, but regardless of that... calling upon a demon with demands and not having anything to give us is unacceptable."
Then, to my surprise, the Demon Earl proceeded to recount the initial story of what I knew about Amon.
The demon possessed Amon and, out of anger, killed his parents.
The destruction got the attention of the soldiers, and then the church.
But in between that time frame... was just what I was looking for.
"The demon was about to kill Amon Everness as well, but as it so happened, the child’s body was very compatible with demonic energy."
The demon’s previously serious expression twisted.
"So compatible that he can be used as a catalyst. A remote gateway, if you will."
Its expression twisted further as its single eye suddenly rolled out of its socket.
"If we establish one connection in the Demon Realm, and then another inside Amon Everness’s body, we could create a gateway and transport millions of demons to the human world at will."
Its speech became slurred.
"And so... in exchange for the demon not destroying Amon Everness’s parents’ souls, the child agreed to become one of the catalysts that would bring forth the descent of the demons into the human world."
"...Pfft... hahahaha!"
The Demon Earl flashed me a smile and suddenly smacked its head down onto the sharp ledge, shattering its core.
As its body dissipated into nothingness, I could only stare blankly.
"..."
Amon Everness was the reason why the demon descent happened?
But how is that possible...?
I nearly stumbled, just barely holding onto the ledge where the demon had just killed itself.
The descent of demons that killed so many people was because of Amon?
A catalyst...
Then am I already a catalyst?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I immediately began examining my body from head to toe.
There was nothing.
Yet that one demon could still contact me from wherever it was.
I felt like the more answers I got... the more questions I now had.
It was as if I couldn’t think straight.
I denied one thing, only for my experience playing the game to back it up.
That continued until I was convinced that Amon Everness really was involved in all of this.
And much more than I had ever imagined.
I remained there silently for a few minutes as I continued to process everything.
And in the end, as my mind slowly started to clear up, I recalled something that the Demon Earl mentioned right before it died.
"One of the catalysts that would bring forth the descent of the demons into the human world."
One of them.
There were more people like me.
People who would be used to help demons descend.
Shit...
Just what kind of mess did I step into?
Also... that Demon Earl never really told me how Amon got his Gift.
After all, people are born with Gifts.
There are no precedents of late bloomers.
I double-checked my heart and my energy in case the Gift was somehow the gateway, but I was sure it wasn’t.
It seemed normal.
So since all I could come up with at the moment were theories... I decided to just add that to one of the many things I had to worry about now.
And then, I finally decided to stop lingering around this collapsing ravine and went back up.
When I arrived at the top, I carefully navigated around the ravine and slowly walked back to the village.
I didn’t expect such a reveal, but I now had one major goal I wanted to accomplish going forward.
The goal was simple.
Infiltrate the ranks of the demons and find the other catalysts.
I also wanted to figure out more about myself... or I guess, Amon Everness.
There was a lot I didn’t know about him.
With my mind set, I finally arrived at the village.
Clementine was dealing with the villagers, pouring my blood on their wounds and healing them.
It worked like a charm.
Although... judging by how many corpses there were among them, it seemed like she couldn’t save them all.
Still, I approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
She turned her head slightly, and I flashed a smile at her.
"I’m going to run back to Lenice and get us a couple dozen carriages."
She raised her hand, interrupting me.
"I already did that. The carriages should get here by tonight."
...She did?
"Oh."
Clementine suddenly stood up and walked past me.
As I turned around in confusion, it was her turn to flash a smile at me.
"Since you dumped the nursing onto me while you fought the demon, it’s your turn to nurse everyone."
...Huh?
"I’m going to fly by the other villages and make sure everyone’s okay. See you when the carriages arrive~"
Before I could even open my mouth, she blasted off the ground, and after jumping onto one of her Soul Weapons, she flew away.
As I stared at her parting figure, I let out a sigh.
Then, I turned back to the people.
Their earlier expressions of awe and reverence were still there.
A bit of fear too.
But...
Since there was nothing more to do until the carriages arrived to pick everyone up, I should play my part as well.