The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 62 - 60: Ritual Reenactment

Swoosh!

One hundred and eight palm-sized fish scales, arranged in a specific order, were tossed onto the ground by Rose.

He was currently not inside the Divine Magic Academy, but in an off-campus area near the Holy Beast Forbidden Forest. Hilia’s limit for controlling the magic puppet was around two kilometers.

Fortunately, there was a patch of woods here.

The time was three in the morning, deserted and quiet—the perfect hour for shady business.

Tracking Gods is the kind of thing best kept hidden from everyone.

To avoid alerting anyone and risk losing this hard-won window to observe the world, Rose didn’t dare mess around recklessly.

Being sneaky was much more interesting anyway.

Once all the fish scales were placed according to their positions, the magic power stored inside them was instantly released. The scales seemed to be charged with a Light Spell, emitting a faint, white glow.

Finally, Rose placed the scale infused with the Power of Faith at the very center.

Streams of light appeared on each scale and converged toward the spiritual object in the middle.

The entire process lasted nearly ten minutes, before the light faded away.

Rose casually stepped onto the scales, walked up to the spiritual object, and grabbed it in his hand.

Beneath his feet, all the scales seemed scorched by fire—at the slightest touch, they turned into ashes.

"There really are traces of Sea God Ethel here." Rose’s eyes lit up as his Spiritual Power surged into the spiritual object, like a thread fiercely wrapping around the hint left by Ethel.

That wisp of divine remnant slowly pointed in a certain direction.

Rose followed the thread, gazing into the distance.

After a long time, he put the spiritual object away.

"As long as it’s still there. I can’t go right now, so I’ll have to find a way to speed up Hilia’s training. Otherwise, if someone finds a chance to sever our link, that’d be awkward. Or..."

Rose thought of another method, unsure if it would work—

"Is there any way to transfer from Hilia’s mind to someone else?"

...

In the morning, Hilia got up and finished washing, grabbed her magic staff and a few books, then headed to class.

On the way, Rose asked, "Hilia, do you still remember how you summoned me back then?"

"Of course I remember."

No matter what she forgot, she couldn’t possibly forget that event.

"Try reproducing it someday, I want to see what happens," Rose said.

Hilia stopped walking. "R-Really? The Summoning Ceremony requires a God’s statue. If someone catches me hiding your statue, I’ll die."

"Let me ask, the statue you used to summon me—could you tell if it was me or some other God?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Hilia shook her head.

"Exactly. So maybe the statue’s appearance isn’t all that important. If you say it’s the Light God, no one will question it. The statue itself doesn’t cause any contamination."

"Alright then."

Hilia turned around and headed quickly toward the activity zone.

In no time, she reached the utility room next to the activity area.

This utility room wasn’t locked, stuffed with a mess of random items.

Hilia rummaged through the piles.

"Many upperclassmen took commissions to eradicate sects and confiscated all sorts of items. After purging them, they tossed the stuff here—some of them treat this room like a dumpster."

"I remember seeing one of those statues with a blurry face before... Got it!"

Hilia pulled out a statue about knee-high from the pile of junk.

The statue was covered in dust. She blew on it, waved her hand to clear it, then set it on a discarded table nearby.

"Do I really have to do this?" Hilia asked nervously.

What if she summoned something again?

According to the Holy Court’s records, the evil god acknowledged by the Gods was only one, but who knew if there were any "evil gods" not recognized by the Gods?

If she really summoned one... Wait, why am I worried?

Wouldn’t it be better if I summoned one?

Just let the current evil god and the newcomer duke it out—whoever wins gets the contract.

Hilia glanced furtively out the window, confirmed that no one was around the activity zone, and finally let out a breath.

At this hour, everyone was either at breakfast or in class. The activity area was definitely empty.

The upperclassmen who liked hanging around here hadn’t gotten up yet.

Hilia stretched out her hand, tapping the little statue’s forehead with her index finger. Her body began to emit white light.

Rose could tell—the light was the Holy Light, meant to dazzle eyes, not harmful, and only effective on ordinary people.

But still, it really was bright—so bright that even in broad daylight, people outside might notice the glow inside.

After a moment, the Holy Light dimmed. Hilia withdrew her finger and quickly put the statue back, then nervously watched Rose. "Was that enough?"

Rose pondered for a bit, then shook his head. "No, it didn’t feel right. Your expression, your movements—none of it was exactly replicated."

Hilia pouted. "What could I do? Back then, I was just thinking about breaking the heretic’s faith—I wasn’t thinking about anything else."

"Really nothing?"

"Nothing at all, absolutely nothing... At most, I wondered what if it worked? At that point, I didn’t even believe Gods existed, let alone some sealed evil god."

"...You really are bold. If that evil god hadn’t been me, you’d have been done for."

Lucky for you it was me—and not the cursed, manipulative character from the game, who would’ve used you as a sacrifice for ascension.

Count your blessings—you met an evil god who got a higher education, and while infamous in the game, still qualifies as a model youth.

Hilia hurried out of the junk room, running toward the classroom, and between steps managed to ask, "So, Mr. Rose, why do you want me to reproduce the scene of summoning you?"

"Nothing much. Go to class. Let me borrow your magic puppet."

With that, Rose ignored Hilia’s calls.

He’d already entered the magic puppet, using it to dodge the academy patrols and slip over the wall.

"Was Hilia’s successful summoning of me just a fluke, or did she trigger a specific coincidence?"

Rose wondered as he made his way to the destination.

Just now, he’d watched Hilia reproduce the ceremony—but felt nothing. She’d simply cast Holy Light.

If summoning the evil god was as easy as unleashing Holy Light... Rose figured he could’ve walked free centuries ago.

Clearly, it wasn’t so simple.

"That leaves two possibilities: one, she accidentally performed the Summoning Ceremony’s correct steps—statue, gestures, mindset, the works;"

"Two, I happened to be attacking the Sealing Array at that time, and Hilia summoned right then—taking advantage of the fluctuation to slip through and establish a link."

Whatever the answer, Rose planned to test both.

Option one would be tricky. Not even Hilia could mimic her own actions from back then—getting someone else was hopeless.

So Rose left the Divine Magic Academy to experiment, to see if establishing a link with himself had anything to do with him attacking the Sealing Array.

And he’d already found a candidate for summoning.