"Chirp, chirp..."

A playful little bird landed on Muen’s shoulder, curiously sizing up this uninvited guest who had suddenly intruded into paradise. Muen tilted his head slightly, clearly feeling the soft brush of feathers against his skin.

The flowers smelled sweet, the sunlight was gentle, and everything was so beautiful it felt unreal. Yet to Muen’s senses, it all felt so vividly real that he could not tell whether this place was some illusion constructed from Dennis’s soul, or whether he had truly crossed endless space and arrived in a paradise whose existence in this world was itself uncertain.

And right in the middle of all those flowers, birds, and beasts, at the very heart of paradise, an old man in white robes personally brewed a cup of fragrant tea and beckoned to Muen from afar.

"Come, young man. Come sit."

The old man looked gentle and refined. Countless motes of light drifted around him with every movement.

A holy aura enveloped him. His face was already lined with wrinkles, yet there was not the slightest trace of decay about him. If not for the rather noticeable differences in his features, Muen might even have thought he was looking at the Pope of the Church of Sophemia.

But he was not the Pope. On the contrary, the instant this old man appeared, even though not the slightest hostility radiated from him, every nerve in Muen’s body tightened abruptly.

"Kaya Gaius?" Muen said tentatively.

"Oh?"

The old man sounded surprised.

"You know me?"

"I don’t know you. But an old man who could tamper with Dennis’s soul, silently drag me into a place like this, and carries himself a lot like the Pope of the Church of Sophemia... I figure there’s only one person in the world that could be."

Muen’s expression darkened, and he said each word slowly and clearly: "The former Archbishop of Judgment of the Church of Sophemia, the man who betrayed the Church and founded the Salvation Society, its First Seat—the Holy Lord of Salvation, Lord Kaya... that can only be you, right?"

"Heh, worthy of Muen Campbell. Clever."

Gaius showed no surprise at Muen’s analysis. Instead, he admitted it quite freely. "Yes, I am the First Seat of the Salvation Society. If you dislike my title, you may call me by my family name—Gaius. I cast aside the name Kaya long ago, completely and for good."

"You felt ashamed of betraying the Church, so you’re playing at discarding your name to show you’ve severed yourself from your past?" Muen sneered.

"You really are as sharp-tongued as the rumors say."

Gaius smiled gently, looking utterly unbothered by Muen’s mockery. "Perhaps abandoning my name does mean I wished to sever myself from the past. But I have never once felt ashamed of leaving the Church. Never."

"After all, what is there to be ashamed of in abandoning the wrong path and stepping back onto a correct and radiant road?"

Gaius spread his arms. The heavenly light fell across him, giving him an almost sacred air.

"I feel only honored."

"Correct? Radiant?" Muen said coldly. "You mean those terrorist attacks before, or the tricks you’ve been pulling in Belrand lately? I don’t see what any of that has to do with anything correct or radiant."

"Those were merely certain methods necessary to achieve our goal. The process was indeed a bit ugly, but could that not also be called the effort of taking an unconventional path?"

With a sweep of his sleeve, Gaius sent the birds and beasts clustered around him scattering like a receding tide. Then he pointed in front of him again and invited Muen once more.

"Come, sit and let us talk. This is only a friendly meeting. Why make the atmosphere so tense?"

"..."

Muen looked around again. After a brief moment of thought, he still walked forward and calmly sat down across from Gaius.

Gaius’s pale brows lifted slightly as he studied this young man, who looked absurdly immature in his eyes and yet had already become someone even he could not casually ignore.

The blond youth was wary—wary of this enemy whose strength far exceeded his own—but there was not the slightest fear in him. So he came calmly, and he sat calmly.

This was not inborn courage, but a powerful state of mind forged through countless life-and-death dangers.

"Worthy of Muen Campbell."

Gaius praised him again and set the hot tea before him. "Dennis and the others did not lose unjustly."

"To receive repeated praise like this from the great Holy Lord of Salvation is truly an honor."

Muen did not take the tea. He only said blankly, "Though I thought you might put the prefix 'the Lion King’s son' in front of that sentence."

"The Lion King? No, no. The Lion King is indeed an excellent young man, worthy of admiration once over, but he is not fit to be your prefix."

Gaius inclined his head. The smile at the corner of his mouth seemed to carry sincere affirmation of Muen.

"You are better than your father, Muen Campbell. You are far better than the Lion King... Lorne Campbell, and you are destined to go much farther. I believe that in the near future, your father will no longer be your prefix. Rather, you will become your father’s prefix."

Gaius spoke with complete sincerity. If Muen had not known who he was, he might have thought this man had been hired specifically to flatter him. The old man was laying it on so thick Muen was almost starting to feel embarrassed.

"Why? Why are you so confident in me?" Muen asked in confusion. "We shouldn’t have had much contact at all."

In fact, before this attack, all of Muen’s impressions of the Salvation Society still stopped back at that suicidal strike against Liya in the Holy City.

"Simple. Because that one has confidence in you. My hypocritical senior brother has confidence in you as well. And with everything you yourself have done, why would I not have confidence in you?" Gaius said as if it were only natural.

"..."

Muen’s pupils contracted slightly. The hand holding the teacup suddenly clenched tight.

"No need to be tense. Though that one has long since stepped away from the mortal world, and many people have even forgotten her existence, at my level, her every move is still enough to influence the course of this world."

Smiling, Gaius looked at Muen with a gaze that was kind and warm, yet seemed capable of seeing clear through his soul.

"And you are the one she chose, aren’t you?"

"...What exactly do you want?"

After a long silence, Muen finally calmed the turbulence in his heart. He slowly picked up the teacup and took a small sip.

A rich fragrance flooded into his body at once, refreshing the spirit.

The tea was excellent, but it was only ordinary tea. Since Gaius had pulled him here to talk, there was no way he would stoop to something like poisoning him.

And by now, Muen had already confirmed that where he was was indeed nothing more than an illusion built from fragments of Dennis’s soul.

"I admit that Teacher Mela has high hopes for me, but at my current level of strength, I shouldn’t be worthy of drawing the eye of the great Holy Lord of Salvation, let alone requiring you to come personally."

Muen took a deep breath and laughed at himself.

"You’re not about to invite me to join the Salvation Society, are you?"

"That is correct. I came to invite you to join the Salvation Society."

"You see, I told you—"

Muen leisurely took a sip of tea... and then spat the whole mouthful straight into Gaius’s face.

"What did you just say?"

Muen looked up in shock at the old face now wet with tea.

"You’re inviting me to join the Salvation Society?"

"Is that really something so shocking?"

Even with tea sprayed all over his face, Gaius remained perfectly composed. He calmly took out a handkerchief and wiped himself off.

"No, this is weird."

Muen shot a strange look at the tea in his hand, which had somehow actually managed to hit the legendary Holy Lord of Salvation.

"Just a few hours ago, I killed a whole bunch of your Salvation Society people, had someone slice off Third Seat’s hand while I was at it, and burned Dennis’s soul to ash...

And you can still invite me like nothing happened?"

Muen had seen too many villains who were petty and vindictive. It was genuinely difficult for him to imagine this Holy Lord of Salvation having such broad-minded magnanimity.

Just think of that little Love God. All he’d done at the start was burn It a tiny bit once in that little fishing village, and It had held a grudge ever since. No matter what he did, It always had to pop out and stick a hand into it. It was downright clingy.

But this one... what Muen had done was practically the equivalent of dancing on the Salvation Society’s grave, then throwing up a peace sign for a commemorative photo. If the Salvation Society cared about its dignity at all, there was no way it should tolerate that.

"Death is not such a great matter to us. So long as our great wish can be fulfilled, I believe that even Dennis would have felt sincere satisfaction in his death." Gaius smiled.

"..."

Muen’s cheek twitched.

Satisfaction? Muen felt that Dennis, whose soul had been burned away completely, no longer had much chance left to feel satisfied...

"So why are you inviting me?" Muen drew in his expression and turned serious.

"Because if you could be chosen by that one, then you must have something special. I need you. The Salvation Society needs you. Even this entire world needs you."

Gaius rose to his feet and looked over the whole paradise, yet none of its beautiful scenery was reflected in his eyes. Instead, what filled them was ruin and ash-gray desolation... the dead ashes left after the destruction of the world.

He let out a sigh.

"That one has already walked the wrong road for too long. She still clings to her pitiful delusions, but this world is already on the brink of collapse. The Church of Sophemia is merely preserving that illusion. How could it ever hold out long enough for her delusions to come true?

What this world needs, therefore, is not meaningless patchwork and repair, but... a complete overturning!"

Gaius spread his arms as though embracing paradise itself, embracing... the whole world.

"We must abandon some things in order to obtain others. That is the truth of the world! That is the path of salvation!"

"The things you say must be abandoned... you mean humanity itself?" Muen asked.

"Exactly. Sinful humanity itself is what ought to be discarded."

"You’re human too."

"I am human. Which is why, when that final moment comes, I too will willingly leap into the flames from which the new world is born!"

A fierce blaze burned in Gaius’s eyes. There was not a trace of falsehood in his expression. If there were fire before him—if that fire could burn away all the filth of the old world—then he would absolutely leap into it of his own accord and become fuel for the flames.

Lunatic.

Muen cursed inwardly.

"You’ve talked and talked, and you still haven’t given me a reason to join you. I’ve seen plenty of fanatics like you. If that were enough to persuade me, I’d be better off joining some Evil God cult. With what I’ve got on me, I could at least land myself a nice job as a holy son." Muen scoffed.

"It seems you’ve had quite a bit of contact with those cultists."

Gaius lowered his head, his bearing turning gentle again.

"But we are nothing like those cultists."

"You are."

Muen said, "In my eyes, you’re exactly the same. The only difference is that what they’re fanatical about is the Evil God they worship, while what you’re fanatical about... is your so-called ideal of salvation, your so-called new world."

"No, no, no."

Gaius shook his head and smiled faintly.

"Though there may seem to be some similarity, there is a fundamental difference between us."

"A fundamental... difference?"

"Yes. We are not like those cultists hated by the world. We..."

Gaius placed one hand over his chest, his expression solemn.

"...are destiny."

"...Huh?"

Muen froze for a second. "You said you people are what?"

"Des... tiny."

Gaius stressed the words deliberately.

"The world stands with us. We represent the will of the world. We are—destiny."

"..."

Muen’s cheek twitched.

"What kind of bullshit destiny is that? I’m telling you, destiny was on my bed last night shoving its ass at me. You believe that?"

"..."

Gaius was silent for a long while and stared at Muen for just as long. At last, he could not help sighing again.

"It seems the me of now has no way of persuading you."

"You can’t even sell the dream, and you want people to join you? You’re worse than those cultists." Muen sneered.

"A true great wish does not need material benefits to bind people together... enough. There is no meaning in saying such things now."

Gaius shook his head, then continued,

"In that case, Muen Campbell, come to the Kingdom’s royal capital."

"The Kingdom’s royal capital?"

"Since I cannot persuade you, then come and see it for yourself. Watch as that grand play begins. Perhaps then you will gain a new understanding."

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

Muen shot to his feet. "What kind of scheme is the Salvation Society plotting?"

"A scheme? It hardly qualifies as one. Too many people are drunk on dreams and unwilling to face the truth of this world... then let me awaken them."

Gaius lifted a finger and lightly tapped.

As if pressing the center of a sheet of paper.

A deep mark appeared in the outline of space. Everything Muen could see seemed to turn into a crumpled photograph and then... be thrown into a fire.

In the blink of an eye, paradise erupted into roaring flames. The earth split open, the sky shattered, the flowers withered, all living things died... it became hell itself.

That utterly horrifying scene was reflected in Gaius’s eyes, and yet he smiled.

"Before paradise comes purgatory, and the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° bones of sinners... shall serve as kindling."

"Kaya Gaius!!!"

Muen roared and lunged at the old bastard still putting on this holy act... but in the next instant, the scene around him shattered into fragments.

Muen grabbed only empty air. He jerked his head up. The black sun still hung above his mental space, gazing down at him with cold indifference.

Gaius’s figure had vanished completely, leaving behind only his final words:

"The world stands with us, Muen Campbell... you will understand... very soon..."