* * *

Zahid gave a rough explanation of what had happened in the otherworld.

From the looks of it, the only one who truly understood the regression process was Yuta.

“Ohh, so we’ve already regressed once? We must give thanks to the gods...”

Ray muttered, “Well, I don’t remember any of it anyway, so what’s the point in understanding? It’s not like it benefits me now...”

Linna brushed it off as well, saying, “So I don’t have to know, right? I hate using my brain.”

Only Julian slowly nodded. It was probably because of the notebook I’d given him before.

“So, did you enjoy being called a genius all this time, Julian?”

I grinned at him as I asked.

“Well, to be honest... it wasn’t that amazing... but yeah, I had to let you take the credit.”

“My sweet little RosieRosie...”

Julian’s eyes welled up with tears as he tried to pull me into a hug.

“You gave me all the credit to preserve my pride...”

I had meant it as a convenient excuse while he was still suffering from amnesia, but Julian seemed to interpret it however he wanted.

I dodged him and staggered to my feet.

“What about the High Priest?”

“He’s unconscious.”

Yuta, who had been examining Aietar, replied.

“He still has divine power, but not enough to trigger rapid regeneration. In fact, Aietar was the only one who could regenerate instantly.”

I let out a long sigh, my face weary.

Even after having drained him to the point of nearly destroying myself, he still had divine power left.

“Well, it looks like he still has what he was born with.”

Yuta continued as he checked Aietar’s forehead for divine power.

“He was born with an overwhelming amount of it...”

I guess someone born that exceptional couldn’t accept dying an ordinary death.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

<How anticlimactic!>

Fire barked in dissatisfaction.

It was true that the four Divine Beasts and I had lost almost all of our original divine power.

We had poured even Aietar’s bloated divine power into the Sacred Relic of Time.

But one thing was certain:

A truly tremendous amount of divine power had gone into that.

From now on, it was unlikely anyone could use the Sacred Relic of Time so easily.

“Yeah... Ah, wait a sec.”

I approached the unconscious Aietar.

“I had something I wanted to say to him earlier, but I was in too much pain to get it out.”

“Huh? What was it?”

Julian asked, and I widened my eyes as I answered.

“There’s a line Linna told me, and it was so cool. I was going to say it to him.”

“Ohh!”

Linna jumped excitedly as she remembered.

“‘Father, how does it feel to see the heir you so desperately longed for act exactly like you?’ That one?”

“Yep, that’s the one!”

I clapped with enthusiasm and nodded eagerly.

It had made my skin crawl earlier when Aietar kept calling me “my daughter” this, “my daughter” that. So I wanted to throw the word “Father” back at him with that same disgusting superiority—make him squirm.

Something like, “How does it feel to see the successor you searched so long for act just like you?”

When I checked, I still had a very faint amount of divine power left. Barely enough to be considered apprentice level—but injecting it into Aietar might be enough to wake him up slightly.

“I’ll call him ‘Father’ and be as revolting as possible. Super smug and taunting.”

So I walked up to Aietar, who was still wrapped in vines by Liri, just to be safe.

And the moment I infused him with a little divine power—

“Huh?”

Aietar, who had taken the form of a middle-aged man, suddenly began to age rapidly.

“What the—?!”

I blinked in shock.

I tried to pull my hand away quickly, but wrinkles began etching deep into Aietar’s skin at an alarming rate.

It was as if the decades of halted aging were suddenly catching up all at once.

“Ah.”

Yuta blinked, then murmured gravely.

“Looks like the balance of divine power broke.”

“What?”

“I tried to do the same thing nine years ago. With the divine power of a Divine Beast, mine, and Rosie’s... You can’t mix powers with different attributes like that and expect it to hold.” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

We all stared blankly as Yuta explained.

“The patchwork divine power must’ve been barely held together. Rosie’s injection just now was like nudging a balloon right before it bursts.”

Normally, divine ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) powers added voluntarily wouldn’t conflict so badly. Yuta clucked his tongue—it must’ve been a very unstable situation.

“How do you even know all this? You’re incredible.”

Linna asked, clearly amazed, and Yuta let out a heavy sigh.

“I used to be a theology TA at the Academy, you know. I even had full access to the massive theology library. I’d like you to remember I was basically a competent scholar.”

He wore the most serious expression imaginable.

“Even though I have many other advantages—like my angelic face, high status, and strong divine power.”

“Of course...”

Theo muttered with folded arms.

“Senior, you should go back to the Academy.”

Meanwhile, Aietar continued shrinking—until he was reduced to the shriveled form of a pitiful old man.

“Oh no...”

I brought a hand to my mouth and murmured, stunned.

“I killed my father... I didn’t mean to commit patricide this thoroughly...”

“RosieRosie, don’t look at the body. It’ll haunt your dreams. Also, let’s be clear here.”

Julian covered my eyes and shook his head firmly.

“No matter how long he lived, that man should’ve died thirty years ago.”

Thinking about it like that made me feel... not too bad.

Eventually, with a crumbling sound, Aietar’s body turned to dust.

Just as I let out a faint sigh—

“...Huh?”

Suddenly, divine power began to fill my body with a gentle surge.

“Ruff! Ruff ruff ruff!”

<Hey! That’s divine power!>

“Wooooohhh!”

<My divine power came back too!>

The Divine Beasts, who had been utterly drained, began leaping around in excitement.

“Ahhh.”

Yuta clapped once and summed it up.

“Looks like Aietar’s remaining divine power returned to its rightful owners upon his death. It won’t be as much as before, but...”

“Wait, but why did I get divine power? Aietar didn’t take any from me.”

“Rosie, you’re the heir. You were probably connected to him one way or another.”

Yuta smiled softly.

“In any case, it’s yours now.”

The divine power spread through my body like it was returning to its rightful master—filling me up to the exact amount I was born with.

“Wow...”

I murmured, dazed.

“So if you kill someone, you can take back divine power... it works both ways. The Sacred Relic of Power was... pretty fair.”

It had never been my intention. I’d never planned to kill Aietar to take his power.

“In the end... it all came back to him just the same.”

“What’s this, Rosie! Are you feeling guilty?”

Linna asked with concern, and I sighed, shaking my head.

“No... I just regret not paying him back double.”

“Ruff! Ruff ruff!”

<Me too!>

“Well, Fire, that’s life. You can’t always get everything your way. Knowing when to accept things gracefully is what makes you an adult.”

“Ruff ruff! Ruff ruff!”

<I’ve lived longer than you!>

The rest of Aietar’s divine power seemed to have returned to the Divine Beasts.

It wasn’t the absurd amount he’d hoarded before stealing from us, but it was enough to reclaim dominance over a region like Arhad.

“Ah... right...”

Apparently, instant regeneration wasn’t included—I didn’t immediately heal, even with divine power returned.

Still, something felt different, and as I looked down at my hands—

In the silence, a steady, noble voice spoke.

“Sinesse is honored to be the first to greet the new High Priestess.”

Abraham had somehow approached and now stood right beside us.