Ten years ago, in the original timeline, a very powerful dragonkin destroyed several of humanity’s large cities. These locations all had one thing in common: the church had major presences in them.

The dragonkin was suppressed by us summoned heroes, but we couldn’t chase after her because of the existence of the dragon race’s ultimate attack: Draconic Star. If she’d used it and blown her own dragon core up, a quarter of the continent would have vanished from all maps.

Five years later, once the holy war broke out between humanity and the demonkin, the dragonkin came back, this time as a Death Dragon. Burning with the desire for vengence, she almost killed half of us, but did not succeed because of the cheat items and skills that we gained through the Skill Tree, or granted by the gods.

But to think that I ran into that very dragonkin earlier in her life, right here at Zorn, the boring ass city that didn’t even participate in the kingdom’s yearly festival...

The scene inside that center chamber was horrific.

She was malnourished, her ribs showing. Her whole skinny body was covered in cut wounds. Most of the scales on her arms and legs had been forcefully peeled, leaving nasty bleeding holes on her skin.

The priest who had been hitting her with a spike whip was someone I knew well. He was someone most of the summoned heroes admired and respected.

Some of us never trusted him, including me.

I had been the loser on the sideline. I’d observed how people interact with one another more closely than they themselves could know. The moment I laid eyes on his serious, uptight, handsome face, I got the nastiest creeps in the pit of my stomach. I thought I was just being jealous of his looks, but something about him had always disgusted me.

And there he is, getting all excited over torturing a defenseless girl while turning increasingly frustrated when she wasn’t screaming in pain and agony like he expected.

The dragonkin girl sure was resilient, though.

Her eyes had lost focus, and she was biting her lips to fight back the pain. Even when she was at her wits’ end, she wouldn’t let her captor get what he wanted and stayed completely silent.

Hmm, how should I go about handling this?

This priest was chosen as one of Maria’s aides in the original timeline, so it must mean he was more competent that he appeared. Back then, he only handled our training schedules, but I’m sure he could be more useful than that. And, if a member of the First Light is useful, I won’t pass up the opportunity to replace him with my own minion.

<A skill level has dropped [Summon Creature Lv.6 → Lv.4]>

<A [Great Demon] is appealing to you>

Decline.

<A [Great Spirit] is appealing to you>

Decline.

<[Great Demon, Gondr] is making an offer>

Heh, Gondr is powerful, but he’s a pain in the ass.

Decline.

<[Great Demon, Theos] is making an offer>

Ah, there we go, a decent name showed up.

I’m offering 5% of my mana upfront.

<[Great Demon, Theos] offers 20 years of servitude and demands 2% of your mana every two days>

Accept.

<Consume mana to form a vessel for [Great Demon, Theos]?>

No. Possess that dumbass over there and devour his soul.

<Calculating success rate...>

<Possession has a 90% chance to succeed>

Do it.

“GUAHH! A DEMON!? FR- FROM WHERE——AHHH!”

The priest collapsed to the ground.

Bang——I kicked down the door and entered the chamber.

The priest slowly picked himself back up.

“Thank you for your generosity, my liege.”

He kneeled and bowed to me.

“Good job taking his soul. You made it look easy.”

Members of the church were always protected with several types of barrier magic. To smash through all of them and successfully devour the priest’s soul with 90% certainty means that Theos was a powerful demon.

“I do not deserve the praise, for this human was but a small fry.”

“Did you get his memories?”

“Yes, I have them.”

“Well done. Now, I want you to become this man for a short while. Continue doing what he would do everyday and report any important news you have access to.”

“Understood.”

“Since we might not meet again soon, you may now take two week’s worth of mana right now.”

I placed a hand on Theos’ shoulder.

He quickly absorbed exactly how much he was allowed to have.

“Thank you, my liege.”

I finally turned my attention to the dragonkin girl.

<You have unlocked [Pledge of Water Lv.9]>

Out of the Elements, water had the best healing properties.

The water that I conjured wrapped itself around the girl like a blanket. Her face was submerged in it, yet she did not drown. Her wounds began to heal, though slowly.

Once her body was rid of all the nasty, gaping wounds, I crushed the chains and released her.

However, she took more than just flesh damage.

She was strong-willed, but her vitality and spirit had started to fade.

This does make me wonder how she survived in the original timeline. Not only that, she somehow ended up in a far away city and destroying several of the major cathedrals.

Well, I’ll never know now.

With this type of intangible damage, Light magic excelled.

Though, I had to keep the level low. Exposing dragonkin to a divine light of Lv.9 would mutate them into very powerful beings. That might be good for her, but I don’t want to deal with it right now.

Life slowly returned to her eyes as her breathing grew better.

“Hey, can you stand? We can’t linger here.”

I tried talking to her, but she wasn’t responding well.

Well, shit...

Light magic can’t cure severe mental wounds, and Soul magic is such a pain in my fucking ass to use, so I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.

I picked her up and carried her like a princess.

“Theos, use a clone to act as her double. Continue pretending to be that man for now.”

“Understood.”

As I left the center chamber, Theos created a perfect clone and put it back in chains. The mimicry even had all the gaping wounds and bleeding. It was a job thoroughly well done.

Now, I can’t exactly swim out because of her...

I guess we’ll just have to sneak through the cathedral.

Near the center chamber, there was a spiral staircase. I took it and got into the priest’s private chamber up above. The staircase was hidden inside a secret room, behind a bookshelf.

On the other side, a maid was cleaning his office.

<You have unlocked [Pledge of Wind Lv.9]>

I put her to sleep with Wind magic and quickly escaped.

From there, with my skills, it was easy to jump from floor to floor quietly and leave through the backdoor. Ordinary priests and nuns aren’t usually threats, since they’re really just civilians.

However...

“Oh?”

“Huh. So that’s why.”

...I ran into a full fledged great demon.

It was sitting on the ground, casually playing with insects right in the cathedral’s backyard. It was humanoid, yet had monstrous features. Judging from the blazing red glow in its chest, it was aligned with Fire.

Incidentally, Thelynna aligns with Void, one of the elements that make up the Rift.

“I spent a lotta’ time chasing that little shit around, y’know? Can’t exactly let ya just walk outta’ here with her. Ah, right, what happened to the human?”

“Heh, why do you care? Your contract with him got voided.”

“Oh, now that ya mention it, his soul just randomly went poof.”

[Theos, come up here.]

[Yes, my liege.]

“Well then, good bye.”

I started walking toward the rear gate while carrying the dragonkin girl.

“Whoa-ho, hold it, good sir, I said——”

“And I say: you back off.”

He was cut off by Theos, who put a hand on his shoulder as he was trying to get in my way. When the great demon noticed what Theos was, it was frozen in time, unable to make a move.

“What’s a big shot like you doin’ here, man?”

It asked Theos.

“To serve the master.”

He replied.

“Eh? Is that why you ate that human’s soul? But, er, that was my contract, y’know?”

“Give up on it.”

“......Fine, but don’t think you’ll get away with this.”

I turned around and answered his threat.

“Your patriarch wouldn’t wanna deal with Thelynna either.”

“Eh!? Fuck.”

The great demon jumped into a portal and ran away.

“Which clan was that one from?”

I asked Theos.

“One of the Northen clans, I believe.”

“I see. You did well.”

“Thank you, my liege.”

I left the cathedral with the dragonkin girl.

I’ve noticed this for a while, but this whole time, she had held on to my neck with both arms without ever letting go. She hugged even more tightly when we ran into that great demon.

Well... aren’t I at such a loss...

Having witnessed her dragon powers in another timeline, I had ulterior motives, and yet somehow, I ended up looking like a good guy saving a princess.

What to do now...

unbenchthekench77

With this, we're finally sync'd up with my personal website (https://aureumsanctum.wordpress.com/). All chapters will be published simultaneously everywhere now. Thank you.