Chapter 180
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ True Faith (3) ༻
Pope Sicarii sensed a change in the atmosphere around the sacred chapel. It all began from the time Saintess Estelle returned with the Holy Grail.
Holy Grail.
The true identity of that divine artifact was the King of God’s; Dagda Mor’s Magic Cauldron, Undry, which appeared in the indigenous religions and myths.
Nuada Airgetlam, the God of the Sun, and his Claiomh Solais.
God of Light, Lugh Lamhfada, and his Areadbhair.
And Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny which proved the legitimacy of the King of Gods.
Last but not least was Dagda’s Undry, but Undry wasn’t widely known because of its overwhelming ability or anything. Despite that, it had with itself a tremendous symbolic presence. Because they called it the Holy Grail, the Order treated Undry as the greatest divine artifact of them all.
What they did not expect was that the Saintess would bring that divine artifact and claim to have been chosen by God.
But how? Although she was the oldest child of the royal family, who inherited the blood of both the gods and the Titans the most, who could have expected her to get acknowledged by Undry?
How could a Saintess, who did not even know of the true faith, be chosen by one of the Danann treasures?
-The Saintess will guide us all!
-I knew it. She is chosen by God!
-There are dirty traitors who sold the Saintess to the filthy heretics of the Tower!
Immediately after her return, the Saintess grouped up the priests and believers of the New Faith underneath her without even attempting to hide it. Claiming that she had been selected by God, she incited the crowd, saying that there were traitors within the Order.
‘Traitors’? It sounded like nonsense to the ‘Pursuers of Paradise’, who wished for the Advent of Paradise and were aware of the true gods… However, what was troubling was that it wasn’t time for them to reveal themselves just yet.
‘This won’t do. We must seek aid from Xeruem…”
Unlike the Zeon Order, where only half the cardinals and the pope were on the side of Tates Valtazar, all the executives in the Xeruem Order had already become one with the Pursuers of Paradise.
It was all because of the Saintess. Because the Saintess had a significant amount of authority and symbolic presence in the New Faith, the Zeon Order had trouble forcing things through unlike Xeruem, the Old Faith.
Plus, the presence of the Saintess also meant that they could not avoid the eyes of the royal court.
However, there was less than 1 year left until the plan. The Frost Giant would bring a severe winter in its wake. Wolves would rise up, blocking the light and bringing darkness into the world.
At last, the future foretold by the Titans, who lived alongside the Danann was about to be realized, and a great catastrophe was about to strike them.
When the time came, worldly status, honor, and fame - everything would become useless. The only discerning factor would be the amount of contribution they made to the new world.
‘I’ll become a god and stand on the right-hand side of the King of Gods.’
He could not give up on this. Despite being 80 years of age, Pope Sicarii Iscariot had a fiery blaze in his eyes.
-Kwang!
It was then.
Someone suddenly intruded into the pope’s office. Raising his old and feeble body up from his seat, the pope tried to rebuke the insolent intruder.
“Who in the…!?”
“Hello, Your Holiness.”
She, who had a familiar appearance, well-ornamented sacred outfit, and pink hair, was none other than the troublemaker of the decade.
“Saintess…! What do you think you are doing!?”
Estelle barged into the room with countless Holy Knights, priests, and sisters behind her. All of them looked slightly uncertain with their actions except for the Saintess herself but…
“I have received a revelation, and the Lord told me to verify it.”
Many people referred to the 2nd Princess Miruam as a venomous serpent. Anyone who witnessed the torrent of blood she brought around, ruthlessly killing beastmen ever since the incident 10 years ago would agree with that statement.
However, the pope now realized that Saintess Estelle was no different from her. It was only that her true personality had been under a veil because she had only been protecting the well-being and rights of demi-humans until now.
Upon returning to the Order, the Saintess looked more like a veteran politician than a saintess, as she instigated believers and ordered priests around like her limbs.
“Everything will be done in his will.”
The Saintess, who had been concealing the face of a snake all along, seized control over the New Faith in a breeze.
***
One of the eighteen cardinals and pillars of the New Faith, Akeldama, was dragged out of his sleep.
Stone walls were all around him, with cold iron bars in front. This interrogation room even had sacred sealing circles which made escapes absolutely impossible.
This room, which had belonged to the Inquisition before the Zeon Order came into existence, was evidently insistent that they would not let out a single noise let alone the prisoner.
It was a historical site where heretics, witches, and the like had been imprisoned and tortured for centuries until their execution. Akeldama was trying to fathom why he had been brought into this place… when people started to walk in from the only way in and out of this room.
Their outfits were unsuitably bright in this gloomy and dark interrogation room. A Holy Knight in blessed sacred armor was led by the Saintess of the Order, who was decorating herself with white silk and brilliant golden ornaments.
“Greetings, Cardinal Akeldama.”
“S, Saintess…!”
Cardinal Akeldama was delighted yet horrified by her appearance.
It was because her white clothes and her golden ornaments were drenched in blood. Everyone knew how the Saintess was invincible. She could not be wounded and was so blessed by God that any prayer she made would be fulfilled.
So how can she be so drenched in blood…?
“Ah~, is it this? Apologies. I was going through the traitors and… there were too many of them that I didn’t have the time to get changed.”
“T, traitors…?”
“Before we begin. Sir? Please step outside for a bit. I would like to have a personal chat with the cardinal.”
“...Understood.”
The Holy Knight, who was tasked with bodyguarding the Saintess despite her invincibility, hesitated with a complicated look on his face before following her command. Although Estelle was a rather free and unbound soul, she was well-known for her benevolence and kindness.
Even so, the knight couldn’t help but wonder if the things she had been doing ‘all night long’ were indeed for the sake of the Lord…
However, he immediately dismissed that outrageous line of thought. The Saintess was a being chosen by God, and the very proof of that was the Holy Grail.
As the person closest to God, she was claiming that she had received a heavenly revelation so that had to be the truth. If not, it did not make sense that she would be holding such radiant sacred energy.
Like that, Estelle and Akeldama were left alone inside the interrogation room. Placing her blood-soaked mace on the desk, she calmly took her seat.
“S, Saintess…”
For some reason, Akeldama sensed sharpness from her tranquil expression rather than her usual gentle demeanor. But his line of thought did not last long, because Estelle gave a loud clap before opening her mouth.
“Now now. Don’t be too nervous. Nothing will happen if you are innocent, Cardinal Akeldama.”
“I, innocent? What do you-”
“By the way, I’m not good with interrogations. Harassing and torturing people intentionally to obtain a testimony is something the Old Faith would do. I do admit it is necessary at times, though.”
She still spoke benevolently like the saintess she was, but the drops of blood on her cheeks, clothes, and her mace were in complete contrast.
“S, Saintess… I have no idea what it is about, but I am innocent! Why was I brought into this heretic interrogation room? My sacred energy is the same! If you give me one chance to prove myself then-!”
“Do you serve the Danann?”
“...Sorry? Umm… Do you mean those beings that come up in the mythologies of the heretics?”
He desperately tried to conceal his astonishment and somehow managed to stop himself from looking stupefied.
Akeldama then told himself that he had to make her believe that he only knew of the Danann as a piece of knowledge. He could not reveal how he knew they were the true gods, and how the God King of Light was attempting to bring about a new world.
As well as how his sacred energy was based on his belief of the Danann.
“Don’t be like that. I know it too, that the ‘Lord’ we know about is a fabrication made by humans.”
“W, what? Saintess! How could you possibly say such a thing…!”
It was then. A tremendous amount of sacred energy flooded out of Estelle’s body and filled the gloomy room with radiant light. It was a pure and white light - a brilliant radiance that was only allowed to the one who had the most amount of sacred energy and divinity.
Akeldama, despite being the one who sold her to the Tower of Mages to extract her blood for the resurrection of the Titans, was baffled by the complete brilliance of light before his eyes.
She truly was a representative of God. It did not matter whether one was a believer of the Lord or the Danann to acknowledge Estelle. In fact, due to being a believer of the Danann, Akeldama knew very well how her power was coming from a divine bloodline of the gods.
“Do you serve the Lord? Or the Danann?”
He could not tell anything from her indifferent set of eyes, but Akeldama was not fooled by it. The Saintess was one whom the Pursuers of Paradise including the pope, along with ten of the eighteen cardinals had decided to purge.
She was evidently someone who would be an interference to the God King of Light, and one who would not side with them ever.
“I have no idea! I really have no idea what you are saying, Saintess!”
Estelle’s senses as the saintess and the proof of his connection with the Old Faith and the Tower of Mages that her Holy Knights found during their search of his residence, gave her the certainty that he was not telling the truth.
“Don’t lie.”
Absorbing the brilliant light of sacred energy back into herself, Estelle reached out for the bloodstained mace.
***
Pope Sicarii was the son of the first pope of the New Faith, Sorter Iscariot who fought against the unreasonable doctrine and the Witch Hunt of the Old Faith.
His father was a historical figure who contested against the Xeruem Chapel of the Old Faith and against the Tower of Mages of the Steel Archipelago. As his son, Sicarii fought for his faith and prayed to be a follower of the lord forever.
One day, after succeeding his father’s post as the next pope, he came across a being who infiltrated into his bedroom.
『My name’s Tates Valtazar. One whom you refer to as a god.』
It was such a ridiculous blasphemy, but Sicarii had no choice but to believe it before long.
He realized the fact that the ‘Lord’ was a fake existence and that the true god was right in front of him.
As such, he betrayed his ‘Lord’, turned away from the false faith, and served the real god, waiting for the new genesis to arrive.
Unlike the ‘Lord’ who gave vague descriptions of paradise and hell, the Danann of Light promised tangible and visible rewards. Plus, he even promised that he would bestow them with divinity within the new world, after punishing those of the fake world.
“Why… did you turn out like this?”
And now,
After having everything revealed by the Saintess and being brought down from his previous status, Pope Sicarii met a lady whom he had met 80 years ago.
『You must be Sorter’s son.』
She was brighter than anything else in existence and was a living creature of divinity. The lady had hair that was fine like silver, and her eyes were as beautiful as the blue oceans… She appeared like a goddess straight out of a fairy tale.
“Erin… Danua.”
“Do you still remember me? Son of Sorter.”
“Huhuhu… Who wouldn’t after seeing you?”
Although he met her back when he was only 5 years old, Pope Sicarii still vividly remembered that day. Compared to the past…
“You’re still young. You haven’t aged in the slightest. I had no idea back then, that you were a goddess.”
“Your father didn’t know either.”
“Yes! You yourself concealed the fact that you were a god! And you watched us, and my father, believe in a false god. How pitiful and stupid must have we appeared?!”
He remembered the first time he had doubts about his lifelong devotion and faith. At first, he refused to believe in and sought the Lord. However, he got no responses and his sacred energy remained the same.
In the end, when his doubts grew bigger, he thought that his sacred energy would disappear for good. It was an obvious consequence in his mind.
However, despite his doubts and disbelief, his sacred energy remained the same.
When he realized that the sacred energy that he and his fellow believers used… was simply because somehow the blood of the gods and the Titans became thicker in their generation…
The deep sense of despair he felt…
…Upon realizing that it was but a coincidence.
“If the god was fake… then isn’t it natural to seek a new god? And out there, he’s promising me that I could become a god myself; and that your youth - that eternal life could be mine!”
“Did you forsake justice just because of that?”
Erin Danua - the goddess of the Divinity of Justice, gave a rare frown as she listened to the pope speak.
Despite the betrayal of the Goidels, and despite the departure of her family of Danann, Erin had remained behind in this land.
As the teacher and master of countless heroes, the Danann of Justice always tried to teach martial arts and guide students down the right path in the process. She found the weak and greedy human in front of her to be very pitiful.
“You should have followed the conscience and justice of your heart, instead of a god.”
“Kuhak!?”
Unfortunately, the punishment of justice had to be firm.
After being stabbed in the heart in the blink of an eye, Former Pope Sicarii fell down with a look of disbelief. Blood oozed out of the hole, creating a puddle beneath his corpse.
It was a cold scene of execution, but someone walked through the rusty scent of blood without even a frown. It was none other than Saintess Estelle.
“Are you done, Goddess?”
“...Yes. I have personally blessed this child, so I must retrieve it with my own hands.”
“I think we ought to have revealed the proof of his betrayal and publicly executed him though.”
Looking at Estelle, Erin could not suppress the myriad of complex emotions budding up inside her.
Just a few days ago, she had been such an active and bright girl, but now, Estelle looked rather ominous and fanatic.
This internal purge was an example. Using the Holy Grail as her justification, she spoke of a revelation from a god she didn’t believe in and instigated the believers of the New Faith.
After quickly forming a public consensus, she decisively led the combatants of the Order who had absolute trust in her, to land the first strike quickly on the cardinals and the pope.
Without bothering about all the procedures and trials, she jumped straight on and removed every Pursuer of Paradise from cardinals to bishops.
Although there would still be some remaining within the Order, it was hard to believe that the underlings would be able to do anything, now that all the cardinals and the pope had been purged.
The reason such an aggressive internal purge was able to go through, was thanks to the synergy of the Saintess and the Holy Grail… as well as Estelle’s relentless and unhesitant set of actions.
As a result of having her lifelong belief denied, she was going on a rampage in a direction that differed from Pope Sicarii.
“Don’t overdose yourself with blood. No matter how correct it may be, too much blood will end up changing people.”
Like how ink on a white canvas couldn’t be removed, the same was the case for people.
“I am aware, Goddess. Even though I may look like this, I’m still a princess and I’m used to seeing blood all the time.”
After purging the pope, Erin left the rest to her and withdrew from the Order. While seeing her leave, Estelle had an ever-so-refreshing smile on her face as she pondered about the future.
The rats had lost their heads and their bodies. The few leftover tails should be easily removable upon viewing the documents of the dead cardinals and bishops for reference.
It would lead to the true renewal of the Order very soon.
Plus… she had another goal in mind.
‘I would have to review the doctrines one by one. While maintaining the current scripture, we have to slowly merge it with the Danann religion.’
Estelle knew that a sudden religious revolution would do more harm than good. Therefore, she planned to change over a long period of time, the faith of the ‘Lord’ into the faith of the Danann.
For example, the ‘Lord’ into the ‘King of Gods’ and ‘Angels’ into ‘Danann’. It shouldn’t be too difficult, as long as she could make slight modifications by adding renewed interpretations of the scripture and discoveries of new scriptures.
After all, she was a child of the gods, one who received a divine revelation, and the master of the Holy Grail.
“Korin~. Oh, Korin. Korin, Korin, Korin… My new Sun that will guide our future. The new faith of humanity.”
The Keeper of the Sun, who would protect humanity against the Evil God of Light and save the world. The Saintess, inheriting the legacy of the Divinity of the Earth, was heavily attracted to him.
And besides, a king can’t go without a queen, right?
The harmony of the God of the Sun and the Goddess of the Earth.
What a perfect delight to the ears that was.