Demen stepped forward without anyone at his side, this had been the first time Kira had seen him on his own. In a situation like that Kira should have felt completely in control but something was off and put him on guard. Even with the odds in Kiramaru's favour he didn’t seem the least bit worried.

‘That same annoying grin, not to mention that blood as well…something’s off.’ Kira widened his eyes in surprise as he noticed a faint glare of mana originating from the palms of Demen’s hands.

“Oh that horrid expression of yours means that you probably noticed it already. Behold the mark of power- this is the true coming of righteousness.”

Demen held out both hands to reveal the crest that the order essentially worshiped, which he carved into his own hands. Fresh blood ran down his arms and dripped onto the floor as he flaunted them around.

He acted as if there was nothing abnormal about mutilating your own arm for the sake of some power-cult. It was quite the opposite in fact, Demen paraded it with a proud demeanour.

‘This crazy bastard, he was willing to take things this far? For what- what could he possibly gain from this?’ Kira pondered.

Demen began to talk casually as he removed the robes he was wearing over the ritual Falda (a traditional garb worn by religious leaders) he had underneath. “Tell me something, before I have you destroyed don’t you wish to know the origins? The true story behind humanity’s saving grace, the true order!”

Kira stared back at him with a rugged scorn and rested his hand over the hilt of the blade, ready to draw it from the sheath.

“I don’t give shits about your crazy beliefs or what you think you were chosen for- now let Arisa go or I’ll hack you up right now!” Kira demanded as he lowered himself into a sword stance.

“There’s no doubt I was chosen, Ko gave me the mark in my darkest hour and-”

Before he could finish his sentence Kiramaru cut him off with a hasty call. “Ko showed himself to you?!”

In that moment Demen let off a desperate smirk with the belief that he had struck gold, he noticed Kiramaru lowering his sword and guard altogether. Kira had loosened the grip on his sword all together.

“That is correct; it was roughly 35 years ago when I was 32 years old and not a coin to my name. He found me when I was on the verge of death and then it happened...as if it were an act of the gods; a holy voice appeared before me.”

‘I got my hopes up for nothing; it looks like Ko really hasn’t shown himself to anyone else besides me then.’ Kira mused.

“I had lost everything important to me thanks to demon, my two children who were no older than 5 years old…I can still remember the way that they would play together in the fields; all day without a care in the world. And my wife…Kana. A farmer in the fields suddenly turned into a massive monster and tore them all apart, and from my world.” Demen spoke with a soft tone similar to how retired old men would speak when telling stories to their children.

Kira tried to keep a straight face but couldn't help feel slightly bad for Demen and frowned at the thought that the monster in front of him was once a regular man. He thought over how his life had changed much like Demen, all thanks to Ko.

Demen’s depressed expression quickly shifted into his old wicked smile again as he raised his head to speak. “I was the only one to survive and after running until my legs couldn't carry me any further I met him. His voice overpowered my own thoughts in volume and then he showed me power.”

Demen raised his shirt and revealed a massive scar in the shape of the crest which rested largely over the centre of his entire torso. Kira nearly stumbled back from surprise seeing how Demen’s chest had been mutilated to such a degree.

The skin was torn and woven back in place with detailed lines that seemed traced. The scar was massive and appeared to throb as a heartbeat would.

“He chose me as an apostle of justice to rid this world of demon and fake deities alike! To share this power with children that were as broken as I was and to have them serve a purpose greater than they could ever imagine.”

The faint traces of mana in his palms had already grown quite large and by the time that Kira realised, it was too late.

‘Damn it he got me, he made me listen to that sob story just to buy time!’ Kira thought as he reached for his sword. Even though he had his hand already on the hilt, Demen closed quite a close gap on them and was just out of reach but close enough for something else.

Demen swiftly raised his hands up towards Kira and began to laugh maniacally as purple aura emitted from the carvings in his palms. The aura seemed intangible like a gas at first but eventually morphed into a larger hand that rested over his. The large arms stretched out from his hands and began moving forward in the air.

Kira braced himself and dodged out of the way; he leapt to the left and completely avoided the attack. Two massive arms erupted out of his hands towards the spot where Kira avoided.

“Too slow you geezer!” Kira shouted in a taunting manner.

Demen didn’t seem to bat an eyelash to that remark and instead let out a large grin. Kira followed the arms with his eyes and noticed it move past the spot he avoided.

‘No- that wasn’t it at all!’ Kira panicked as he watched them shoot over to the group of followers Kira moved away from.

The arms collided with the warrior that had used an axe and became enveloped by the aura. In the chaos many arms started forming from the aura and wrapped themselves around him. In a few moments the warrior had become completely subdued by purple arms.

The former axe wielder noticed the arms and began to celebrate with enthusiastic energy as he spoke out to Demen. “Thank you father, I will serve you well and kill this demo- Blaargh!!!”

The purple mist like hands wrapped their cold grip over his throat and every inch of his body as they reached inside of his chest. A faint white aura was dragged out from the body as the hands retreated towards Demen and retracted back into the palms of his hands.

The carvings in Demen’s palms glowed with an intense red light. The purple aura reacted by spreading throughout his body, dying his skin with dark purple colour and removed the wrinkles and blemishes.

Kira had a horrified expression from Demen's transformation, which lead him to stumble forward. “Dammit I didn’t do anything but let him get his way, he got me again! I need to step him before…”

Kira snapped his attention to the other followers with panic.

The other followers that were all struggling to stand screamed in horror towards the warrior’s body that lied dead on the ground in a mangled position.

They all tried to make a run for it but were struggling to move due to their injuries and bruised bodies.

“…It’s a whole feast for him!” Kira muttered in horror.

“I must thank you Kira for making things easier on me. They wouldn’t have understood if I had explained it to them…this approach worked much better.”