Chapter 147

Divine Descent (2)

The situation was racing toward its end.

The royals were moving in their own way, Noel and Magnus were locked in a clash that looked as though they intended to tear each other apart, and Aiden and Katya were facing the Pontiff.

In that sense,

perhaps the only two who could afford to leisurely hold a conversation while everyone else moved frantically were this pair.

“-If you could get out that easily, why were you tied up in the first place?”

When Elisha asked indifferently, Bailey, who was floating beside her in midair, gave a faint smile and replied.

“Since I was already discovered, being tied up for a moment like that was not such a problem, was it?”

“What?”

“When the Omnipotent One himself seemed to want it that way, slipping out on my own would have been rather heartless, wouldn’t it?”

“…….”

She meant that although she could have escaped at any time if she wished, she had not done so because it seemed Aiden himself wanted it that way.

“Your tail-wagging is an art, truly.”

“…….”

“You’re not actually demonkind—aren’t you just a fire fox?”

“……Let’s stop with the pointless remarks.”

Bailey let out a sigh and brushed her hair back.

“There is something more important, is there not?”

As she said that, she looked down at the ground.

More precisely, her gaze fixed upon the massive cavern that yawned open beneath it.

“We are beings who live bound by contracts. As for those who lost their bodies and are bound only as existences, you should understand as well, since you belong to a race that lost the god it once served.”

“…….”

Elisha quietly nodded.

Whatever the case, although Bailey and she were bitter rivals who constantly snarled at each other, they understood each other’s circumstances very clearly.

“……We should grant what was requested.”

Beings bound by contracts.

A race whose very reason for existence was entirely bound to covenants.

Therefore, whatever the other party demanded of them, they could not break the contract first.

Even so,

from the very beginning, when they first made contact with the Pontiff, there had not been many conditions exchanged.

Bring Aiden Kellermain before them. Allow them to ‘test’ that man’s detailed qualities. Let them examine him thoroughly from one to ten.

The Pontiff had certainly fulfilled those demands faithfully.

And in return for granting that, the other side had requested only one thing.

“……Shall we call it forth? Holy Flame.”

The Pontiff’s current physical state, to be honest,

was nothing short of miraculous that he was even alive.

Wielding supernatural power, of course, inevitably placed a certain burden upon the user’s body. To further pour divine power into the body of a man who struggled even to breathe would, in itself, be an act of burning away what little lifespan he had left.

Then, any ordinary person would naturally raise a question.

Why—what for—would she cling so desperately to divine power?

“…….”

Bailey closed her eyes and focused her mind.

As befitted one ranked among the high echelon of demonkind, she could clearly perceive what was unfolding below.

Aiden and Katya confronting the Pontiff were one thing.

What she was truly watching, however, was the ‘circle’ the Pontiff had kindled beneath the first altar.

Seeing that, seeing the Pontiff’s lifespan that had reached its brink, and yet her request to be granted divine power despite surpassing such limits—

……one could roughly infer her intent.

“……She is a human worthy of respect.”

When Bailey let those words fall calmly, Elisha beside her turned to look at her with wide eyes.

Her gaze clearly said that tomorrow the sun would rise in the west.

“……? I thought demonkind hated all humans.”

“We merely consider them insignificant. We do not hate them.”

Bailey drawled lazily,

“……Especially a human who presents such a magnificent ‘ending.’”

That was, without a doubt,

not the evaluation of Bailey the demon, but of the Storyteller who loved stories themselves.

▣

Katya was unmistakably flustered.

“-Wait, wait, wait! Why do we have to fight?!”

It was obvious she had not even managed to process the sudden development of confronting the Pontiff and having to fight her.

But Aiden continued in an even, calm voice.

“It’s alright.”

“……What?”

“We are not fighting. We are sending her off so she may depart in peace.”

“…………??”

At this point, the expression on Katya’s face clearly asked what nonsense he was spouting, but Aiden showed no intention of changing his expression.

Because he meant it.

What he was doing now was not fighting the Pontiff out of hostility toward one another.

It was closer to a funeral dirge, honoring the final path she would walk.

“……Hrk.”

And as he spoke those words to her,

the Pontiff’s body twisted at a grotesque angle. Her face was pale. She clenched her lips tightly, sweat pouring down like rain—an unmistakable sign that she had already reached her limit.

And yet she endured it, and quietly looked at Aiden.

Her lips parted with difficulty.

“Y, you rascal.”

Aiden stood still and returned her gaze.

Considering her purpose, and what would unfold next, he instinctively understood as well.

Most likely,

this would be the last conversation he could have with the Pontiff while she was still in her ‘right mind.’

“Can I leave it to you?”

“……Yes.”

At that answer, the Pontiff broke into a bright smile.

It was, without question, the first and last innocent smile he had ever seen from her.

And then.

Black energy surged in from all directions.

‘……Dark energy.’

-It’s here.

It was dark energy from Bailey. As befitted someone who carried several Fragments of the Demon God, the supernatural pressure stormed in from every direction with such intensity that merely standing still made it feel as though one’s skin would rot and one’s eyes would bloodshot.

At the same time, beneath the Pontiff’s black robes, the previous ‘device’ now flickered with unmistakable presence.

It was something originally meant to convert vitality into divine power, but now, through it, mana itself was being entirely converted into divine power.

Of course, as a side effect—

“……?!”

Katya’s eyes widened as she watched the Pontiff raise her body upright.

The moment their gazes met, she must have realized instinctively.

There was not even the slightest remnant of reason or personality left in those eyes.

What glinted savagely beneath that stare was unconditional hostility toward everything before her.

“……What is that? Why all of a sudden……!”

“……Even if it has been converted, its foundation is still dark energy. If one accepts all of that into the body, such effects are inevitable. His Holiness must have anticipated this from the beginning.”

Dark energy was, at its core, an aura deeply influenced by Wornil, God of Devouring, which considered it virtuous to consume everything nearby. If a human were to accept such a force beyond what was permissible, what remained would be nothing but savagery and aggression.

Ordinarily, she would have had the capacity to control even that.

But now, it was impossible.

Was she not someone whose days were already numbered?

“…….”

Aiden rose to his feet, turning that fact over in his mind.

He understood her feelings a hundred times over.

Though he had not had many chances to reflect for quite some time,

at the very least, as someone who had once leapt into saving the world simply for the sake of living an ordinary life with his family, he could understand.

He reviewed the means. He reviewed the objective. Grasping Katya, who was unable to keep up with the situation and was clearly confused, he spoke firmly.

“Katya.”

“W-what?”

“We have to do this.”

“…….”

“You must be confused, but please trust me and follow me for just a moment.”

That way,

neither she nor the Pontiff would have any regrets.

* Quest Info

◈ Act II, < Desecration >

-Final Act initiated.

-Grant the target’s final wish!

……Ah, right.

It had not appeared for so long that he had thought he might have been progressing incorrectly.

Aiden gave a faint smile and dismissed the window before his eyes.

“Let us send her off, then.”

▣

Needless to say,

the battle was by no means easy.

Abigail III was a wielder of divine abilities who would rank among the highest in history. Even if she was not in her right mind while using her power, merely facing her was no small ordeal.

“-This lowly one offers a prayer.”

Standing in place, she closed her eyes and sequentially activated several circles.

Even though she had lost her reason, the precisely articulated prayer and the absurdly rapid arrangement of divine spells swept across the surroundings.

And what revealed itself in an instant were several spheres that radiated such brilliant light it sent chills down the spine just to look at them.

Every single one of them

was a high-tier spell that would not be surprising if an ordinary caster’s brain were fried for attempting something similar.

Even against skilled individuals at the level of Katya or Aiden, it would not be an exaggeration to say this was not using a cleaver to slaughter a chicken, but rather hurling a meteor.

It was not a matter of whether one could respond or not. With this single strike alone, the opponent would surely collapse. Anyone would think so.

But.

Another surge of divine power intervened in the path of the incoming spheres and obstructed their trajectory. Flames conjured by a woman whom everyone in the Holy Crown Kingdom despised in every possible way—yet unanimously acknowledged that at least her supernatural ability was remarkable—collided with the spheres of light.

Of course, even so, she was not enough on her own. If not for the additional curtain created by Aiden through the Guardian’s Flame, it would not have been strange if they had been struck directly and reduced to ashes.

“……Stronger… than usual…!”

Katya gasped out those words.

As someone who could not truly feel physical sensation in the first place, it was not that her stamina had actually dropped. Rather, the fact that she reacted like this meant the opponent was emitting such a terrifying pressure that even she could not ignore it.

The meaning was obvious.

Even for her, who had clashed with the Pontiff repeatedly and had even dealt with her ‘spare bodies,’ this was the first time she had seen someone unleash divine power on this level.

Frankly, fighting Magnus earlier would have felt easier by comparison.

It was not merely that winning was difficult. It felt as though fighting itself was meaningless—like an ant trying to battle an elephant.

The ‘enhanced Pontiff’ was undoubtedly an opponent releasing that kind of pressure.

“It’s alright.”

Aiden’s expression remained calm.

……Almost absurdly so.

“……You’ve been saying that since earlier, haven’t you?”

A reproach flew at him—why did he keep saying that with such an opponent right before them? But Aiden himself had nothing more to add.

It was fine, so he said it was fine. What more was there to explain?

“Then what exactly is it that makes us fine?!”

……If she pressed that far, he could at least explain the reason convincingly.

Aiden scratched his chin for a moment, then spoke evenly.

It was surely something Katya could never have imagined.

“No parent ever defeats their child.”

As far as Aiden was concerned,

there was no better sentence to summarize this entire situation.