Balephor
"So, is that bastard dead?"
Inside a luxurious private room, the horned demon that had escaped from the church bowed deeply before a sharp-eyed man who looked to be in his twenties.
Warm lighting filled the room, and the table was covered with expensive liquor and side dishes.
Yet despite the comfortable atmosphere, the demon felt as though he were standing at death's door.
The man sitting before him could replace a subordinate like him without a second thought.
"I'm sorry. We managed to infiltrate the church, but there was an intruder..."
The demon desperately tried to explain himself without angering the man.
But...
Squelch.
"Ghh...!"
A hand pierced straight through his chest.
"Excuses don't matter."
The man stared at him coldly.
"What matters is that you failed."
"Cough... P-Please... give me another chance..."
Sssssss...
Purple poison spread from the hole in the demon's chest.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Starting with his internal organs, the poison melted his body from the inside out.
Thud.
Holes opened across his flesh before he finally collapsed onto the floor.
"There are no second chances."
The man pulled his hand free from the corpse.
Then he licked the blood and poison from his fingers.
"Now I need another sacrifice."
He frowned.
"What should I do?"
"AAAAARGH!"
A sudden commotion erupted outside the private room.
"Don't let him through!"
"Stop me? You think you can stop me?"
"Who the hell are you, you bastard?!"
The noise grew louder.
Closer.
Then...
BOOM!
The door to the private room exploded inward.
Michael stepped through the wreckage.
"Hey, what the hell is this place?"
He frowned at the air around him.
"Why does it feel so damn filthy?"
Behind him, the guards who should have been protecting the entrance were lying unconscious across the floor.
Michael glanced down.
"Huh?"
The horned demon he had tracked here through Guidance of the Holy Spirit was already dead.
"That bastard's already gone?"
Michael shrugged.
"Well, whatever."
Then his eyes shifted toward the young-looking man inside the room.
A grin slowly appeared on his face.
"I came here to see you anyway."
He tilted his head.
"Right, Balephor?"
Michael called his name almost affectionately.
Balephor, however, clenched his teeth.
How the hell did that bastard get here?!
I heard he disappeared more than two hundred and fifty years ago!
Balephor clearly remembered the day he learned that Michael had vanished from the world.
He had even opened a bottle to celebrate.
Unfortunately...
The very man whose disappearance he had celebrated was now standing directly in front of him.
"What the hell did you come here for this time, Michael?!"
Michael grinned.
"Why else would I come looking for you?"
He casually stepped over one of the unconscious guards.
"I thought we could have a little talk."
"Bullshit! I refuse!"
Balephor immediately shouted.
"Nothing good ever happens when I get involved with you!"
Since long ago, Michael had forced Balephor into doing all sorts of things.
Most of them could barely be described as anything other than exploitation.
Assuming Michael had come for exactly the same reason again, Balephor firmly refused.
Michael tilted his head.
"Then do you want to die?"
Balephor froze.
Michael smiled pleasantly.
"I could always restart my exorcism work with you as the first target."
That priest was more vicious than most demons.
Michael seemed to believe every problem in the world could be solved through violence.
"Wait."
Something suddenly occurred to Balephor.
Michael had already known about the subordinate Balephor had just killed.
That subordinate had also mentioned an intruder at the church.
Those two facts connected inside Balephor's head.
Michael raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
He smirked.
"Changed your mind already?"
Balephor's expression hardened.
"...Don't tell me."
He stared at Michael.
"Was that you?"
Michael blinked.
"What was?"
Balephor's face twisted.
"Don't play dumb, you bastard!"
He pointed angrily at Michael.
"You're the one who stopped us from taking the remains!"
"Remains?"
Michael thought about it for a moment.
Then he nodded casually.
"Oh."
"Something like that, I guess."
Balephor stared at him in disbelief.
Michael continued.
"Before coming here, I beat up some of your guys at a church."
That was practically a confession.
Balephor glared at him while grinding his teeth.
"Do you even know what you've done?!"
Michael's expression immediately turned cold.
"I don't give a damn."
He slowly opened and closed his hands while walking toward Balephor.
"Since when did you start baring your teeth at me?"
Every time Michael stepped forward, Balephor stepped back.
Crack. Crack.
Michael cracked his knuckles.
"Guess it's been so long since we last met that you've started missing a beating."
His grin widened.
"Come on."
"Let's fix that today."
Just as Michael began threatening him...
Step! Step!
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
A large group of guards in suits rushed into the room behind Michael.
There were more than ten of them.
Every single one glared at him with murderous eyes.
"You bastard!"
One of them shouted.
"Do you have any idea where you are, attacking this place?!"
A vein bulged on Michael's forehead.
Every single guard behind him was possessed by a demon.
Worse still...
Their demonization was already complete.
"...Looks like you've been having quite a lot of fun while I was gone."
Just as Michael had seen at the church, demons entered humans by exploiting their desires.
They offered sweet temptations.
They granted wishes.
Then they slowly stole control of their hosts' bodies.
Once a demon gained enough control, it began altering the host into a body better suited to itself.
And when the human finally surrendered everything to desire...
Ownership of the body completely passed to the demon.
That was demonization.
Michael examined the guards.
They're already beyond saving.
Balephor, one of the 72 Demons, possessed the ability to forcibly implant demons into humans.
Once a human underwent complete demonization, there was no longer any way to return them to normal.
Michael clicked his tongue.
Not that I know whether they're even worth saving in the first place...
Even if he saved people like them, they might simply betray him again later.
Still...
Something bothered him.
Don't hate people too much.
Helena's final words occasionally surfaced in his mind at the worst possible moments.
Michael's expression soured.
This time, it can't be helped.
He silently offered Helena that excuse.
For some reason, it made the weight on his heart feel slightly lighter.
One of the demons mistook Michael's silence for hesitation.
"Looks like you're thinking about running."
Its lips curled into a vicious grin.
"Don't even dream about it."
Michael completely ignored him.
Instead, he looked straight at Balephor.
"Balephor."
He called the demon's name quietly.
Balephor instinctively raised his head.
Michael's expression turned cold.
"Today, everyone here dies except you."
As if those words had been a signal...
The demons' eyes turned yellow.
Their fangs lengthened.
Their skin became dark and coarse.
"Grrrrrrrr..."
Bestial growls filled the room as their bodies shifted fully into demonic forms.
They surrounded Michael.
Yet Michael never took his eyes off Balephor.
"Got it?"
Gulp.
Balephor swallowed.
Before he could answer, Michael raised one hand.
"Igniculus."
Balephor knew that technique very well.
It was one of Michael's signature techniques.
White flames erupted from Michael's fingertips.
They spread rapidly throughout the room.
"What are you waiting for?! Get him!"
"Keeeeeh! Die!"
The demons sensed the danger of the scattered purifying flames and rushed toward Michael.
Michael's eyes sharpened.
Ahura surged through his arm.
White flames wrapped around it.
"You'd better prepare to close this place for the day."
RUMBLE!
The first demon tore through the upper half of its suit and swung a fist down at Michael with enough force to crush an ordinary human instantly.
CRACK!
Michael caught the fist with one hand.
The white flames around his arm immediately crawled onto the demon.
"AAAAARGH!"
The flames covered its entire body.
