<em ss="chakra-text css-0">(The Power of Compassion... "Heavenly Power," right?)</em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0">Suddenly, it urred to him. Zhaviest extended his hand once more toward the cat, who was yawning and looking exhausted.</em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0"><strong>"…This time, siphon it all off."</strong></em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0">An angel smiled eerily. The cat let out a piercing, shrilling mewl.</em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0"><strong>"OOOHH–!"</strong></em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0">Zhaviest was delighted by the tremendous power that surged through his entire body. It was nothingparable to what he had just felt.</em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0"><strong>"Hey, hey. If this is the life of one single cat, then what about the life force of one HUMAN!"</strong></em>


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0">Looking down at the dead cat, Zhaviest raised the corners of his mouth andughed, "Kakaka."</em>


    *****


    With a smile on his face, Zhaviest firmly held the hand of the weeping Leaven''s vige leader.


    "You want the world to be saved, right? If so, please sacrifice yourself for the sake of the world."


    "…eh?"


    The vige leader had a dumbfounded look on his face. An angel abruptly appeared behind Zhaviest''s back and enveloped the vige leaderpletely. The vige leader smiled in relief at the angel''s embrace, but the next moment, the angel''s mouth was split open, "<em ss="chakra-text css-0">gapah–</em>," ripping open until the ear.


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0"><strong>"Hoho hoho hoho"</strong></em>


    In response, ectosmic gassy fumes emerged from the vige leader''s mouth and were absorbed by the angel''s mouth cavity. Immediately, the vige leader copsed as if a puppet''s thread had been severed. He remained motionless.


    Zhaviest took a sk of sake from his breast pocket. When the angel returned to Zhaviest''s side, a drop of a glowing liquid that looked like saliva dripped from his mouth. Zhaviest''s face darkened.


    "I knew it. It''s not good. This old fart’s life force, right?"


    "L-Lord Zhaviest!? What on earth, is going on!?"


    "What was what? To eat, you need money. To defeat demons, you need life force. The world revolves around such exchanges."


    In front of the frightened vigers, both corners of Zhaviest''s mouth raise with a grin.


    "This vige life force, hand all of it over."


    "Eh-EEEEEKK–!?"


    The vigers ran for their lives. Zhaviest muttered with a smile on his face.


    "From the ''<em ss="chakra-text css-0">Peony Bloom Revtion</em>'' Gospel — ''<em ss="chakra-text css-0">Hiten Life Kiss (Hiten Life Siphon)</em>''!"


    Behind Zhaviest''s back, tree peonies were in full bloom. Tens of angels were born from them and soared into the sky. They then fluttered to find vigers and suck the life force out of them.


    <em ss="chakra-text css-0"><strong>"Hoho hoho hoho hoho..."</strong></em>


    The angels smiled while absorbing the life force of the vigers who were running away frantically with agonizing cries in pandemonium, trying to escape. Zhaviest was drinking sake as he watched the spectacle.


    (Angels that hunt down humans——— <em ss="chakra-text css-0">Kakaka</em>. It''s pretty ridiculous, isn''t it?)


    The screams of the people, theughing voice of the angels, and a hint of liquor smell mingled together in the air, and Zhaviest drunkenly staggered through the vige in a good mood.


    Yet, Zhaviest''s footsteps stopped in front of a filthy stone statue in the center of the vige. He looked at the stone statue of a Champion, holding a sword and a shield…


    (Damn it…!)


    Zhaviest mood took a plunge and became very ill-humored.


    The legend of Hartline, the champion who saved the world by defeating the Dragon King. It was said that with his sacred sword, Excaliburrus, he sliced the sea in two. Everyone knows him as the champion from the children''s picture book. And thus, in some towns and viges, the champion Hartline was deified and worshipped as a guardian deity.


    (You''ve got to be fucking kidding me. If there''s such a chap, why was my dear mother raped and killed by a demon? Why were the humans defeated by the Demon Lord''s Army in the Great Human-Demon War? Why did I fall to this point where I currently am?)


    Zhaviest was so angry that he kicked the statue, toppling it to the ground. The statue easily copsed, in part because it had been damaged during the invasion of the Demon Lord''s Army. Hartline''s head rolled on the ground. Zhaviest stomped on the head of the statue with his foot.


    (It is violence that rules this world. A little stronger, no, the strongest chap is the one who rules!)


    And now, he had obtained his own power. Heavenly Power. A true power that is neither an old folk tale nor a questionable passed-down legend.


    (I''ll, do it! I''ll be a World Saviour——— No, a pure, unadulterated, true Champion!)


    Suddenly, he heard a heartbroken woman''s voice from behind him. When he turned around, he saw a mother holding a child in her arms while an angel was clinging to her.


    "I beg you! Not this child! Just this child alone!"


    "Okay, Okay."


    Zhaviest assessed the child. She was about five or six years old. She could walk on her own.


    (They are bing fewer and fewer. I''ll use her for protection on my travels.)


    Zhaviest had been able to defeat the demons that attacked him on the way to the vige of Leaven, thanks to his Heavenly Power, obtained at the cost of the life force and life of the children.


    Among all living things, humans have the strongest life force. He was able to draw the greatest power from virgins and children, especially those who were young in age. Of course, he gave his power a try with demons, but as you would expect, there was no way to kill a demon bypensation for the power to kill demons ——— there is no way such a convenient power existed. The only way to kill a demon was to transform the life force of a human or animal into a sacred power.


    (A cost. There is always a price to pay in this world.)


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