[Bishop's Pov]

As I was rumaging through mountains and mountains of paperwork, an acolyte suddently barged in my study and began shouting in panic "Lord bishop! The king has sent a request for your presence!!"

Startled, I try to calm the young acolyte down and get further information "Calm yourself, youngster. Why would the king want me in his presence? I don't belive I've done anything to aggravate him?"

The acolyte quickly shook his head and said "No sir! B-but the messanger said that a devil has appeared in the castle, and it might even be a Prince!"

My eyes widened in shock and I mumbled "May the lord save us all..." before rushing to grab my coat and weaponry and then heading towards the castle by magic, ignoring all the startled stares from the other church members.

Devils are creatures from Hell, and as such, they are very, very powerful. However, they are managable, as they are also very weak to our holy magic. But! Starting from Archdevil ranks, they obtain a resistance towards it, and without that weakness, even one devil can burn down an entire city. As for Prince ranks? Well, those can destroy entire kingdoms without leaving anything behind.

I don't have much hope in defeating the Prince devil, for as much as I know, only the pope can do that. Perhaps a couple of archbishops could hold it down, but I, as a mere bishop, can only hope that it won't kill us all, which is a pretty big assumption.

10 minutes later, I barge into the castle as the guards lead me towards the king. Luckily, I didn't see any destruction, so I prayed to the Lord that just went away.

As I entered the courtyard, I found the queen crying over her daughter, and his majesty incessantly giving order to the guards. I also found the famous court magician overseeing the whole thing, although he had a grim look on his face.

Arriving in front of the king, I bowed to him before speaking "Your majesty, I reckon the devil has been dealt with?"

He looked at me grimly as he shook his head. Then, he wordlessly brought me in front of his daughter, which the queen kept holding close in a hug and crying over.

Moving her hand, she revealed a strange, demonic symbol on her forehead. Frowning, I examined it closely, trying to recognize which devil it might belong to. There aren't many princes in this area of the world, or better said, the area of hell connected to this part of the world.

"Hmm... I can't recognize it..." I murmured before saying "Your majesty, please back off for now, as this may be dangerous."

Although the king struggled to convince the queen, they eventually both backed off along with the guards. Before I could purify the princess, the court magician came up to me and said "Sir bishop, if I was you, I would be careful. That thing is strong, very strong."

I frowned and wanted to ask more, but he shook his head and then he too backed off. Sighing, I placed my hand on the princesses' forehead and activated the [Holy Purification] spell.

At first, everything went okay. A holy light shone on the princesses' body, and the marking seemed to shrink back. However, after a couple seconds, a roar that could even make dragons piss themselves in fear emerged from the marking.

I staggered back, coughing out great amounts of blood. The guards immediately came to support me, but I waved my hand saying I was fine.

I really was, at least physically. Mentally, I was terrified. I could feel that the monster held itself back, that roar was so perfectly executed that it did not even do so much as graze the princess. I had a feeling in my gut that this was not a Prince... And I doubt it's a Devil King. No, we were dealing with something far beyond that. We were dealing with a God.

This realization hit me like a meteorite, and I couldn't help but pray to the Lord, and hope he would come down and smite this evil from our planet. After all, only gods can deal with gods. But, as the Lord is all-loving, he did not come down to save us...

Just as I was about to lose hope, the princess suddently opened her eyes and looked around, confused. Upon seeing this, the queen cried out and hugged her daughter tightly, saying things like "It's okay sweetie..." or "It'll be alright..."

Interrupting the happy reunion, I immediately checked her forehead again. Indeed, the rune was still there, but she didn't look like she had been possessed.

"Princess, tell me. How do you feel? Did you fight off the devil?" I asked, concerned. She shook her head and said "He... He said he wanted to be my servant...?" She said, trying to push me away.

However, I didn't stop. "Princess, please do not be joking. That thing is at least a Devil Prince, and they're known for their tricks during deals. Tell me exactly what happend."

"I... H-he said that he wanted to be free, and to do that he needed to be my servant? Did I do something wrong?" She asked whilst hiding behind her mother, who was now glaring at me. For as much as the church holds a lot of power in this kingdom, angering royalty is... unsuggested, so I bowed and excused myself quickly.

The king cooed her a bit and asked her what happened, and she retold the tale word by word. I was shocked near the end, as she didn't seem to be lying, no, she wasn't lying at all. I somehow knew it.

Otherwise, why did that being hold back? I have no doubt that if it actually wanted to kill me with it's attack, I would be dead. No, it wanted to kill me, but it held back in order to not hurt the princess.

The king stayed silent for a bit before saying "Sweety, are you sure it made a soul connection? That's stuff of legends, you know?"

She nodded and added "Yes! It's only demands were that I do not compromise it's life and that it may do what's best for me."

Biting his lips, the king nodded grimly, thinking of possible loops. The second demand might have some of said loopholes, but those are manageable.

"Well, we don't have much choice but to wait. You will spend your time until the being comes back in the castle, and Duke Bradley and Bishop Leon will follow you at all times. Is that okay with you?" He asked, looking at me and the court magician, who had somehow appeared besides him.

We nodded silently, both of us surely thinking of ways to stop the devil, but no answers came up. How can you stop such a thing, after all? The most I could would be to roll over and die.

And thus, the church would send multiple acolytes to the castle, constantly following the princess in secret. The wizard guild too would send their apprendices to keep an eye on her, along with several other guilds. However, none of us were prepared for when the being actually came back... {cliffhanger!!}