* * *
Tis gritted his teeth, gripped his sword, and stood in place.
The blessed Hieronymus had all his wounds disappear. If that was all, it would have been fine. Then they could fight once more.
But the old man who had wielded various magics and stood on this battlefield with skilled techniques became young again. He regained the vitality he had lost to time.
Many works use various expressions like 2nd form, Phase 2, and such, but they all mean one thing.
He became stronger.
The monstrous man who had been single-handedly facing the elite soldiers of the Kingdom of Anselus and the former Future Hope Church warriors until just now stood up again.
However, no one here is looking at Hieronymus.
The small girl right in front of him has captured everyone’s attention.
A girl in her early teens with long purple hair.
Of course, Rebecca Rolfe’s actual age is late teens, but because she’s short, no one sees her that way.
According to Andrew, who says he’s betraying the leader of the Future Hope Church because the religion he believed in has become corrupt, she’s just a girl with the ability to give blessings.
He explained that she was just being exploited after being captured by the Future Hope Church.
When an Anselus person asked him for proof, Andrew pointed to Tis and asked:
Was there any change in the blessing after converting to the Holy Spirit Religion?
At that time, Tis shook his head. Because there was no change.
No, rather, his regenerative power became stronger with each passing day in line with his growth.
Next, pointing to the people following him, he also explained that they are still in a blessed state even though they decided to betray the leader.
So he said that girl originally had nothing to do with this pseudo-religion, and that she was someone he needed to rescue.
The Anselus people didn’t fully believe Andrew’s words, but they were interested.
Because the blessing was that amazing. Since they had been facing them as enemies all this time, in some ways they knew more about blessed people than the Future Hope Church did.
So they thought they should bring her if they got the chance.
Each of them was dreaming such dreams.
Until the moment when something wearing the girl’s skin smiled with a mouth torn to its ears right in front of them.
They had been imagining such good futures for themselves.
“What is that smile?”
Unconsciously, truly unconsciously, Yasle asked.
Unfortunately, he ended up asking.
“When you’re happy, you should smile. Right?”
She only doesn’t lie because she’s not confident in her ability to lie well. While there are cases where she deliberately doesn’t tell everything or explains in a way that can be misunderstood, what she said is true.
“Would you please explain what makes you so happy?”
Therefore, the answers to Yasle’s questions are all true.
“I can go anywhere now. I don’t have to endlessly look up at the sky from the bottom where nothing can be seen, watching lights shine and disappear. I don’t have to wait in endless despair and frustration for falling lights. I don’t have to blankly stare at a sky full of stars for the tiny warmth in those lights.”
As if singing, as if unable to contain her joy and happiness, the something that Hyunkeshuni defined as an outer god speaks.
“I no longer have to give myself to burst lights that have sunk to the bottom to gain warmth.”
And now.
The identity of the god with various names – Cruxshibal, or the god whose name should not be spoken, or the nameless god – has been revealed.
What was simply a rule that deeply despairing people explode has now been revealed to be someone’s action.
Some worlds know about this outer god.
Even in this world, a very small number of people vaguely sensed the existence of the outer god. So there was a foundation for Hyunkeshuni to name it an outer god that came from outside.
But it was hidden knowledge.
It was forbidden knowledge that not just anyone should know.
To begin with, it was something that wouldn’t help even if revealed. Rather, it was safer for everyone if it remained as a rule.
Because it was a rule, evil acts like exploiting people until they withered and died, or cutting off wrists if they didn’t complete a set amount of work, were slightly restrained, if only a little.
Also, because of this, primitive religions arose.
The fact that there was a god who gave strength to deeply despairing people was in itself salvation for people in such states.
But in this world, there is no salvation that can be obtained without doing anything.
For the outer god, it was a desperate action to gain warmth, and for people, it was the same as being hunted.
The outer god’s actions are evil because taking warmth is no different from killing people.
In other words, an evil god that eats people is right in front of them.
And an evil god that passionately desires, at that.
At first, they couldn’t understand what this god was saying. But their originally brilliant minds, made even smarter by the blessing, instantly found the answer, and very hesitantly provided it.
At that answer, Yasle felt as if his heart was freezing, and he failed to grab the collar of the girl in front of him.
His hand wouldn’t move because he was so frightened by the sight of the girl smiling so happily. So he shouted loudly as if to deny it.
“You! Don’t tell me you took my knowledge! In exchange for giving a blessing! You said you obtained the knowledge to summon you!”
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Three dry claps that are used to mock in some worlds.
“Yes. That’s right. I obtained it. Hieronymus.”
Then she looked around.
“I made a contract with Hieronymus. He said he would take revenge using my power. So I let him do that. I received because he gave sacrifices. I gave blessings because he wanted them. Wasn’t it all what Hieronymus wanted?”
That was true.
But even though the outer god said so, everyone including Hieronymus looked at her with expressions full of fear.
It’s not that they can’t understand the words.
If what the girl in front is saying is true, then the bad person is indeed the leader of the Future Hope Church.
But this fear is not in the realm of reason.
It was in the realm of pure emotion.
As the sun sets and the shadows of tall rock pillars cover this place, the girl’s eyes are glowing ominously purple. They are physically emitting light.
Like looking at a creature in the middle of the uncanny valley, everyone here was feeling fear and horror towards the human-like thing in front of them.
Seeing those expressions, the outer god said this:
“Don’t be afraid.”
That made them even more afraid. That thing can read human expressions and knows what they mean.
Even Yasle, who was originally an expert at reading expressions, didn’t know what Hyunkeshuni’s smile meant. There is an evil god that knows so much about people that it can read the expressions of such people.
Almost no one knew the full story, but the sight of a girl telling frightened people not to be afraid was truly terrifying.
And one person who grasped the meaning.
Yasle gripped a ritual tool in his hand. This device that the outer god called a strange object was something like a magic wand. It had the function of strengthening him.
And it was also a sacred relic that originally only the leader of the Luminous Theocratic State could possess. Then one can easily guess its abilities.
“Return to where you came from.”
Hieronymus began to recite a long incantation.
Joanna, understanding this as an attack on Rebecca, jumped in to stop Hieronymus.
No one here knew.
Joanna Smith. How she thought of Rebecca Rolfe.
Hyunkeshuni saw that Joanna thought of Rebecca as a daughter. And others, including Hieronymus, thought she was devoutly serving a god.
But they were all wrong.
Surprisingly, among the people here, she was looking at the outer god most directly. Joanna’s unfortunate past allowed her to see the wild nature that the outer god held in its embrace. And because she had endured unreasonable things for over decades in her life, she could see the outer god’s enduring appearance.
And-
She saw how when she cleaned, it would silently move simple tools or organize things for her. After seeing it clean up wet sand for a long time on days when it stepped on wet sand while exercising, she saw it always shake off its shoes well before coming in.
It didn’t do anything. It just treated her as a person living together. Neither above nor below. Not talking much, but a person who considers others while doing their own tasks.
A person who had never existed in her life.
She didn’t believe in it as a god. It wasn’t a friend either, and it wasn’t purely a superior to be served. Nor did she see it as her child that she lost long ago before it was even born, or as a substitute.
In an ambiguous state, she just moved for it because she liked it.
And there was someone who blocked Joanna’s path and stabbed her.
It was Tis.
“I don’t know what’s what! But the most dangerous thing here right now is that thing! Do it, Hieronymus! Do it! Quickly send that thing back!”
He protected Hieronymus.
Surprisingly, no one here blamed Tis for protecting Hieronymus, who until just now had been fighting as a mortal enemy.
Because they too realized from the conversation just now that something was seriously wrong.
Before reason could speak, instinct first cried out that the girl should be eliminated.
The outer god saw the woman who had her arm and abdomen pierced by Tis as she was running towards Hieronymus with wide eyes.
“Jo, anna?”
The current situation was incomprehensible to the outer god. It hadn’t said anything particularly strange, and it just said it did what Hieronymus ordered, so why?
Why is Joanna being stabbed and dying?
And by none other than Tis?
And at that moment.
Hieronymus’s incantation ended.
Wooooong!
A pillar of pure white light descended from the sky and poured onto the outer god.
Literally, as if a pillar had fallen, light fell onto the outer god’s head.
A technique from the Luminous Theocratic State era to send back a god that came down from the sky.
After a long while, the light disappeared, and only a girl with blonde hair remained in that place.
Twitch.
But the girl moved.
Everyone tensed and raised their weapons towards her.
Soon she slowly sat on the ground, placed her hand on her chest, and breathed a few times. Then she opened her eyes.
Her eyes were no longer glowing, but blue.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Rebecca Rolfe.”
Everyone realized. The person in front of them now was not the outer god from earlier. It wasn’t simply that the color changed, but her entire manner of speaking was completely different.
She stretched her arm forward and pointed at Yasle with her index finger.
“Leader of the Future Hope Church. My family and I were killed because of you.”
And she accused him.
Those present vaguely understood. What was there was a person.
Now whatever had been filling the inside of that skin was gone.
Tis and the people of the Kingdom of Anselus grasped this and turned their bodies again to point their weapons at Hieronymus.
The brief alliance was over.
Now they were about to exert force to fight again, but no one could move.
“There’s something I really want to tell you. Listen. Listen, Hieronymus. No, former leader of the Luminous Theocratic State, Yasle.”
Yasle’s head, which had been glaring at the people around with sharp eyes and murderous intent, quickly turned to Rebecca.
Seeing his expression, Rebecca smiled faintly and now cursed in informal speech.
“You called that outer god to this world. You brought the outer god that could only quietly look up from a place deeper than below this ground. And now you’ve given the key to go anywhere into that outer god’s hands.”
Yasle knew what that meant. But as he was about to say that it requires a lot of preparation on this side, he suddenly recalled what Hyunkeshuni had worried about recently.
That the outer god was spreading words that only we knew.
But when he learned that word was “outer god,” he just left it alone. Because it was just changing the word referring to itself.
But when he realized what would happen if that technique was connected to the summoning technique he possessed, Yasle unknowingly fell to one knee.
Rebecca recalled the scene she had seen inside. There were different worlds for each shining star. Clothes were different, attire was different, even races were different.
It could be predicted that there would be as many as there were lights. Since it was a memory Rebecca saw inside the outer god, there might be far more.
Rebecca looked at him with a stern expression and continued speaking.
“From now on, it’s not just this world that the outer god will come to. The outer god will reach out to worlds as numerous as the stars in the night sky. You shouldn’t have called such a thing to this world. It was all your mistake. Future? Hope? You’ve thrown all of that into that cold sea. No, this will hurt you more.”
And Rebecca borrowed the manner of speaking of whatever had once occupied her body and said:
“It was your mistake.”
Yasle knew what that meant. That he should never have summoned it in the first place, that everything was the Future Hope Church’s mistake.
Both knees touched the ground. As if in the posture of a boy receiving punishment, he clutched his chest as if his heart hurt.
It was a defenseless posture where he could be killed immediately if someone swung a weapon.
But no one moved.
No one could open their mouth.
Let’s use an expression that doesn’t exist in this world yet.
They felt cosmic horror.
Unreasonable, difficult to describe, hard to understand even if explained, and clearly, distinctly, unmistakably seeing that only a doomed result lay ahead – that kind of fear.
And only a terrible despair that nothing would improve even if they killed the enemy in front of them remained in this place.
Not knowing yet the meaning of the blessing still working normally.