"Then, we will now start the ceremony."
The magic circle shone.
A black fissure appeared, and demonic energy flowed out of it.
Demonic energy…
It changed the body of a human into a demon, and for demons, it gave them even greater power.
Of course, just because there was demonic energy in the atmosphere didn't mean that all demons could use that strength.
If that were the case, all the demons in Hell would've gotten a lot stronger.
"Jajas, jajas, nastnada jajas."
They began chanting.
To use the demonic energy in the atmosphere, you needed to use a high-difficulty technique.
As the casting took longer, the demonic energy flowing out of the magic circle became stronger.
'As expected of the knowledge given to us by the higher-ups.'
Akiyama's eyes shone.
The higher-ups of the Demon Cult were glorious beings who were leading them.
They said that they'd been alive for thousands of years. The word ‘knowledgeable’ wasn't enough to describe them.
'I wonder if the Demon King Ms. Lilith is talking about is more glorious than them.'
From the point of view of a loyal member of the Demon Cult, one couldn't help but have some doubts about it.
The knowledge they'd been given was too glorious to outright believe in what Ms. Lilith said.
How to summon a demon, how to fuse with a demon by summoning it inside your body, how to weaken the Gaia System that was created with the power of a god…
All of it was a plane of knowledge unreachable to humans.
'I'm sure Ms. Lilith is mistaken.'
He hadn't read the Book of Hell.
He'd been busy working on the ceremony to return Ms. Lilith to her original form, so he'd just spread it with the help of the Demon Cult branch that was in the middle-east.
'I'm going to read it later on.'
He was wondering what was written in that book and why she'd said he needed to read it to understand the Demon King.
'No, that isn't what's important right now.'
Akiyama turned his head.
There. he saw Kurosaki Yuriem. no. Ms. Lilith laying down on the altar.
"Hehehe."
It was obvious he'd laugh like an idiot after seeing such beauty.
'I wonder what reward she will give me.'
He stroked the red whip he used as a weapon.
His chest heated up, and an exciting sensation spread to the lower part of his body.
He imagined her looking down and stepping on him.
"This is a reward in this industry."
He began drooling.
Drenched in delusion, he began casting more intensely.
Demonic energy started to move toward Lilith's body.
The lower part of her body became surrounded by demonic energy.
"Woah."
Although it was little by little, skin was being created from the demonic energy covering the lower part of her body.
The human body of Kurosaki Yurie was slowly turning into a demon's body.
KURRRR-!
"Huh?!"
"C-cardinal Akiyama! The fissure is acting strangely!"
"W-we cannot restrict it very well!" His underlings shouted in desperation.
Akiyama screamed while making a hardened expression.
"Don't be flustered! Return to your senses, guys!"
"Cough! Coff!!"
One of the underlings that were casting vomited blood and collapsed.
CRACK-!
The size of the fissure became bigger, and even more demonic energy started to come out of it.
"Ugh!"
It was an unexpected situation.
Akiyama bit his lips.
"C-cardinal! The fissure has started to explode!"
"We must block it!"
They hurriedly shouted.
The dimensional wall worked as a sort of dam—a very solid one that blocked dimensions.
What fissures did was pierce that dam for a short while.
If that fissure increased explosively in size, a huge amount of energy from Hell could come out at once, and a dangerous situation could happen.
"Ugh!! D-damn!"
Usually, he would have ordered them to stop.
"No! We cannot give up!" Akiyama shouted.
They'd been waiting for that for a very long time. They'd also experienced numerous failures.
They couldn't give up yet.
"Guys! We're going to keep pushing forward!"
‘Toward our dream!’
* * *
"We've found it."
KangWoo, who had been staying in the castle and helping Ito Shinji, quickly stood up.
"Where?"
"Look at this footage."
Ito Shinji pressed the remote control.
CCTV footage appeared on the monitor.
They could see Akiyama riding on a boat on a sea coast.
"His name is Akiyama Ichiro. It seems he went missing a few years ago. We've put out a search warrant throughout the entire country. Thanks to that, we received information that someone sold him a boat."
"Sold him a boat?"
"Yes. He bought a giant cruiser that costs millions. According to the information, he has ridden it along with dozens of other people."
"Do you know where he went?"
"Taking into consideration his route, it’s probably Sapporo."
Sapporo…
It was a place that hadn't recovered after an SS-rank gate appeared.
'Are they going to the place where they did the previous ceremony?'
There was a high chance that was the case.
In the first place, the demon they'd tried to summon there was Lilith.
That place was probably the best place to conduct the ceremony and probably had all of the necessary, basic things in place.
'I should have killed him back then.'
He was starting to regret not having killed Akiyama when he had the opportunity.
KangWoo stood up.
"I'm going to go to Sapporo."
"I'm going to prepare a private—"
"No, I don't need it."
KangWoo stomped on the ground, and his body started to levitate.
'…Although it would be better to ask for help.'
He didn't have time to do that.
Not only that, but to stop Lilith from talking about the real Demon King, it would be better if he went alone.
"I'm going to save Ms. Kurosaki Yurie no matter what."
"We're going to believe in and wait for Mr. KangWoo…"
Before going, he said something that a 'warrior of light' would say to calm Ito Shinji down.
KangWoo opened the window and flew away.
'I need to stop Lilith from descending.'
With a strong, burning desire, KangWoo flew toward Sapporo.
BOOM-!
He broke the sound barrier and shot forward.
A strong wind surrounded him and blew around him.
'Faster…'
Tokyo and Sapporo weren't that far away.
KangWoo went to Sapporo as fast as possible.
'I can see it!'
He saw an island across the sea.
KangWoo frowned while looking at Hokkaido.
"Damn."
He could see a huge amount of demonic energy.
A stronger amount of demonic energy than when they'd summoned Balrog had shaken Sapporo up.
'Weird…'
The demonic energy was running amok.
He'd seen the ceremonies conducted by the Demon Cult numerous times, but it was the first time he'd seen it like that.
'Lilith isn't the problem.'
He couldn't guess what would happen if demonic energy kept running amok like that.
KangWoo quickly went toward where demonic energy was coming out.
BOOM-!!
A demonic energy vortex shook its surroundings.
"Jajas, Jajas, nastnada jajas!!!"
There, he saw Akiyama desperately chanting.
He saw other Demon Cult members as well, but they'd died after vomiting blood.
KangWoo summoned Gungnir.
'Wait…'
His hands stopped.
He realized that the one restraining the wild demonic energy was Akiyama.
'Damn.'
Closing the fissure was the priority.
If the fissure exploded in size, anything could happen.
He turned around to the fissure and saw a woman lying on top of the altar.
Squeak-
"Ugh."
There were tentacles moving around.
Lilith's body was getting closer to its original form.
"AAGGHH!"
Nightmare images returned to his head.
His mouth fell open, and his body started to tremble.
'I must stop him.'
He had to close the fissure no matter what.
KangWoo approached the fissure and summoned up his demonic energy.
CRACK-!!
He felt an immense pressure in both of his hands.
The fissure couldn't be compared to when Lilith was summoned.
The vortex of demonic energy running amok was as powerful as a waterfall falling from a collapsed dam.
"Cough!"
He felt that his body would be crushed by the pressure of the demonic energy.
Even though KangWoo had a strength comparable to an archduke, blocking such an amount of demonic energy with his body was too much.
"AAGGHH!"
He used the Authority of Predation, but it didn't have much effect. It was like trying to scoop water from a waterfall with a basket.
The only solution was to block the entrance.
"Y-you! It's you, from that time! Cough!" Akiyama shouted.
KangWoo turned his head to him while frowning.
"YOU CRAZY BASTARD! COME AND HELP ME!"
He should’ve also known what would happen if the fissure exploded in size.
"NO! I can't do that until the ceremony is over!"
"You dumb fuck!! If things keep going on like this, we're all going to die!!"
"I don't care! If it's for her, I don't mind giving up on my life!"
"AAGGHH!! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!"
The ceremony continued.
He saw Lilith returning to her original form as he tried to shut the fissure.
KangWoo shouted to Akiyama with a pale expression.
"Hey, you pervert!! Stop!! Stop it!! If you die, there won’t be a succubus queen or whatever!!"
"When do you think that a man dies?" Akiyama said with burning eyes and a firm voice.
"What?"
"When you lose everything and only have your two balls left?"
"WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU SAYING?!!"
"No! That's not when a man dies!!"
"DON'T SAY NONSENSE. STOP!!!"
"A man dies when…"
Akiyama kept going on with the ceremony while vomiting blood.
"He loses his balls!!!"
BOOM. He stomped on the ground.
He kept going on with the ceremony while blood dripped out of his eyes.
"I'm a crazy guy? A delusional crazy, pervert otaku? A sad person who's never even grabbed the hands of a woman even once?!"
"I didn't say that much, you bastard!!"
"I! Won't! Give! Up!! Even if this is a delusion! A useless dream!! I won't give up on my ideals!!!"
He raised both hands.
The demonic energy from the fissure concentrated on Lilith.
With an explosive amount of energy, dozens of tentacles started to come out from her body.
"S-STOP!! STOP IT!! L-LILITH IS…!"
KangWoo paled.
"Today…! My ideals…! Will cross dimensions!!"
"STOP, YOU MOTHERFUCKERRR!!!"
