Chapter 83: Chapter 83

A sense of unease lingered.

Although I was cautious not to reveal myself, I was genuinely curious.

Though different ancient cults pursue different values, the fact that divine power and black mana are opposites remains unchanged.

Elin argues otherwise, but at least the common belief has always been that way.

If I had revealed my divine power right then, my guilt would have disappeared instantly.

Even if a religious trial was held at the temple.

So why did I choose a strategy with an escape route?

Seemingly enjoying my question, Elin smiled and curled her lips.

“Actually, I was hoping you would reveal yourself as a follower of Pebula.”

“Because I wanted to say this in front of you.”

She placed one hand on her chest, wearing a solemn expression.

Whether she infused mana into her voice or not, it rang out loudly.

“No, Pebula is an evil god that will devour the world. It’s not a god, it’s the name of a demon! That is not divine power! Do not be deceived!”

Elin burst into a loud laugh.

She looked completely out of her mind.

Had White Desert been possessed by a demon?

“And then, when chaos breaks out, people will believe that Pebula is the demon.”

Suddenly, her face went expressionless.

“The important thing is faith. It’s called a running perception. If enough people believe it, then Pebula becomes a demon.”

“Then what about Morion? It has nothing to do with this.”

“Whether a god or a demon, a being from a higher dimension. It exists in a form humans cannot comprehend and cannot manifest directly. However, if a great being is created that transcends humanity, it can inhabit it.”

“Just because you gather vast amounts of power, does that mean you can create a demon according to your whims?”

“The direction of existence is determined by belief. And Morion has accumulated the faith of its followers over time.”

“Why choose Pebula, then?”

“Our doctrine is to turn the power of destiny into that of a demon, conquering human life. The way to conquer death and achieve immortality.”

Elin chuckled, as if she found it amusing that I didn’t understand.

“It’s not that surprising. After all, most of our followers have forgotten that our roots lie in Pebula.”

“The foolish cannot understand, so I call this truth.”

“In the end, there’s no proof. You just move according to what you want to believe and throw a tantrum.”

“The day I first consumed Beatitudo, I received a revelation from him.”

“The combination of belief and power can bring about the desired result.”

As she spoke, a giant shadow loomed in front of me.

It was the huge snake that had been by Elin’s side.

Wasn’t Cruello handling it?

In a panic, I turned around, and two large fangs rushed toward me.

The incantation was not complete yet.

I couldn’t just die .

I tried to unleash my incomplete incantation to tear the snake apart.

The giant fangs embedded themselves in someone else’s body.

The shoulder of a white shirt quickly darkened with blood.

The sharp, pungent scent violently invaded my nostrils, reaching deep into my brain.

Blocking my way was, once again...

For a moment, my mind went blank, like a blank sheet of paper.

But thankfully, the worst did not happen.

“I’m fine, just get ready.”

Though there was a hint of fatigue in his voice, it was no different from usual.

The moment Cruello spoke, white frost began to form.

The venomous fangs lodged in his shoulder began to freeze, and the snake’s massive body was engulfed by the cold.

Leaving behind the frozen snake like a statue, he removed the venomous fangs from his shoulder, now covered in icicles.

However, the snake was still alive.

Tch, Cruello clicked his tongue, and as he did, cracks began to form on the surface of the snake.

“Don’t bother. It’s not a living creature, so it won’t die.”

As if to make a decision before the snake revived, Cruello gathered his mana to the fullest.

Crystals of ice bloomed in the air, hardening and intertwining, forming a large, elongated spear.

The spear, at least five meters long, was imbued with compressed cold and flew straight toward Elin.

But it didn’t reach her.

Her shadow moved as if alive, easily swallowing the spear, and Cruello vomited blood due to the backlash of his mana.

Well, after living for centuries, I’m sure the amount of Beatitudo he consumed isn’t small.

I gritted my teeth, raising my divine power further, and asked,

“What are you hoping for, going that far?”

“Immortality? Undying? What do you want to do by living forever, never dying?”

For the first time, Elin hesitated.

I had expected her to start explaining again, but her reaction was unexpected.

She hesitated, her voice trailing off.

“No, my initial goal was resurrection. It’s not important anymore, but a long time ago... I had a child I wanted to save.”

“I think it was my child, but I can’t remember well. Whether it was a daughter or a son...”

Elin squinted, as though searching her memory.

Her voice grew slower as she seemed to struggle with the memory.

“How old they were, what they looked like... It’s strangely...”

And at that moment, the long-delayed incantation finally completed.

Maybe in hell, they’ll welcome us.

I grabbed Cruello’s arm and pulled him toward me.

Without being caught in the aftermath, I held him tightly and poured out the divine energy I had gathered over his shoulder.

─8th Incantation. Paradise heaven.

It was the incantation I used when clearing out the remnants of the cult, but much was different this time.

I didn’t use Beatitudo this time, so I had to handle everything with my own divine power, and the amount I poured out was more than three times the normal amount.

My head was in disarray, and I didn’t think I could cast the next incantation, so I poured everything out in one go.

A column of white light exploded forward.

The aftermath alone created a massive wind, shattering all the stained glass in the chapel.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The snake, which had just shed its ice-covered skin and was about to move, melted into the shadows, and the baby snakes, hiding in the darkness, died without even a scream.

The incantation that dyed everything white reached Elin’s face at last, just before it swallowed that annoying face.

“Such a great and beautiful power. Is this how it works?”

The shadows around her gathered into her own shadow.

The darkness, so black it could swallow all the light of the world, rose like a pillar of pitch-black darkness, facing Paradise head-on.

If it’s a battle between light and darkness, light should naturally prevail.

Yet, it was my side that was losing.

I muttered curses under my breath, urgently pulling more divine power to replenish myself.

My weak body screamed from the inside.

I could vividly feel the time I could spend as Siora Bonetti slipping away.

Still, I had to do it.

If I lost here, that time would immediately become zero, and everything would be in vain.

Blood, rising in my throat, trickled down to my chin.

Even with all my effort, the speed at which the darkness consumed me had only slightly slowed.

Had I been living only on Beatitudo for every meal?

In terms of output, I was no match for them.

Unless I used my true form, there was no way to win with sheer quantity.

I had to fight with quality, I needed a higher-level incantation.

Even though my body was nearing its limit, I couldn’t truly die.

I urgently recited the incantation.

“O great and wise Pebula, your servant dares to ask. Bring new salvation at the end. Open new possibilities at the conclusion. To those who are submerged in darkness....”

The words grew harder to pronounce, like my tongue had frozen.

Even in such a situation, I chuckled bitterly.

This wasn’t just a problem of the present moment.

When I recited the Paradise incantation earlier, I had hesitated endlessly as well.

The words Elin had spoken earlier, and the records I had seen.

No matter how much I tried to ignore them, I couldn’t.

My faith, my origin, my soul—everything was shaking.

These incantations, ones I had recited countless times during practice at the temple, felt so foreign now. I couldn’t infuse them with true sincerity.

Salvation? Possibility?

I stared absently at the pitch-black pillar approaching.

“Hey, are you watching? If I die here, it’s all over, don’t you have anything to say? Nothing at all?”

Gods are beings from higher dimensions than humans.

Just as humans cannot communicate with ants, direct communication is impossible.

But if the relationship were truly severed, I would never have been able to share divine power.

There was revelation.

Although it’s hard to interpret, gods leave behind only a few short words, and humans create dictionaries to laboriously guess their meaning, there was certainly something.

The voice of Pebula, telling me to remain silent in front of Cruello, to save the divine beasts.

So if I were to try, wouldn’t it be possible?

Words like “believe” or “destroy,” anything, a single sentence to steady my trembling. Why are you still silent?

As if everything I saw and heard was the truth.

As if not only I, but also the villain in front of me, were your child.

Despite the doubts filling my mind, no answer came.

I cleanly abandoned the higher incantation.

But it wasn’t yet time to give up my life.

─3rd Incantation, Signal.

Hundreds of butterflies flapped their wings.

“Magic or incantations, it’s all a battle of focus.”

If I couldn’t maintain the magic, maybe there’d be a brief opening if the pressure in my head continued.

That was all I could do now.

The butterflies I released couldn’t pass through the path of the enormous energy fighting against each other.

Is this not going to work either? Just as my heart began to crumble,

“Should I send the butterflies?”

“Let me do it. I’ve never felt this helpless before.”

“...There’s no guarantee the butterflies will solve everything, though.”

Cruello immediately cast mana over the butterflies.

Thin, light wings of the butterflies were coated with thick ice.

Hundreds of ice-armored butterflies flew, forming a path as they moved.

Not all of them passed through the path of competing incantations.

But some, certainly not a small number, clearly broke through the barrier.

I watched the scene blankly, as if it was all over.

In this situation, I wasn’t supposed to feel anything, yet I thought it looked quite beautiful.

It was laughable. A bitter chuckle escaped my lips.

“If it’s not something important, do you want to talk about it later?”

If Cruello, if Siora’s body dies here, then without a doubt, it would be Pebula’s responsibility.

If that were to happen...

“I won’t let you die alone.”