Chapter 55
In a dark underground, a ritual was in full swing.
Under the dimly lit, unpleasant light of torches and candles, various sacrifices were writhing.
"Come forth!!"
As the high priest chanting the spell shouted, the sacrifices suddenly screamed loudly.
The trembling sacrifices exploded in an instant, turning into blood. The bright red blood mixed with human entrails and flesh pieces gathered at the center of the altar where the ritual was being performed, as if it were a living creature.
The blood soon began to coagulate and started to form a human shape.
Bones were generated, muscles and blood vessels formed over them, and organs slowly began to take their place.
Before long, the blood had returned to the complete form of a human.
A woman with dozens of eyeballs attached to her body.
She was the Chosen One of the Evil God.
She trembled, then opened her eyes and immediately sat down on the floor.
"Chosen One!"
"The ritual was successful!!"
The Chosen One had multiple lives, but her body had to be resurrected anew each time she died.
For this resurrection ritual, the priests of the Evil God cult had consumed a large amount of resentment and sacrifices they had been steadily stockpiling.
It was a loss that brought tears of blood, but they had no choice.
Everyone was rejoicing, but the resurrected Chosen One didn't look happy at all.
No.
Rather, she was terribly afraid.
The dozens of eyeballs on her body and face slowly look towards one corner.
One side of the altar.
An incredibly black form was slowly rising from the ground.
At that sight, the Chosen One trembled and immediately prostrated herself on the ground.
"Ah, the Evil God...!"
"Prostrate yourselves!!"
The high priests, belatedly noticing this scene, also prostrated themselves on the ground and began to tremble.
The strange black form slowly approached its followers and then opened its mouth.
[You have disappointed me.]
It was a quiet roar.
Although the physical sound itself wasn't loud, everyone at the scene collapsed, clutching their ears at the sensation that shook their souls.
The only one who didn't collapse was one person.
Only the Chosen One.
"Forgive us…!! Please forgive us!!"
The Chosen One grits her teeth and endures while desperately begging.
At those words, the Evil God stopped shouting.
[I even gave you a part of myself for your sake. Yet not only did you fail to succeed with that. You return after consuming one of the Chosen One's lives? I've never seen such incompetent beings.]
"The Saint of Healing. If it weren't for him, we would have succeeded."
The Chosen One trembled.
It was a name that made her shudder just to imagine.
The Saint of Healing.
After infiltrating a spy into the Sun Order at great sacrifice, he was immediately caught.
He instantly destroyed the Evil God's fragment that had been prepared and worked on for a long time.
Everything that had been prepared and worked on for at least 20 years vanished in an instant.
The amount of resentment consumed, the sacrifices, the time invested...
The losses were too enormous.
Probably for the time being, the Evil God cult would have to quietly hide in the darkness and focus only on recovery, let alone move.
[I don't want excuses.]
As the Evil God coldly spat out one sentence, the Chosen One immediately bowed her head.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive us..."
[Refrain from movement for the time being. We must prevent any further losses. Quietly build up strength in the darkness.]
"We will do so."
[And I will personally eliminate him. The Saint of Healing. Remember. He is extremely dangerous.]
The Chosen One flinched at the Evil God's words.
The word “dangerous” came from the Evil God's mouth.
Even during the celestial war 300 years ago, when he fought against the prominent warriors, saints, and holy women of the Pantheon, there were extremely few records of the Evil God using the word “dangerous”.
"Evil God. I dare to ask a question. What exactly is the identity of this Saint of Healing? We couldn't grasp at all what kind of power he possesses."
The characteristics of the Chosen Ones of each god were clear.
The power of the Chosen One of the God of Evil Destruction was clear, and so was that of the Chosen One of the God of Prophecy.
But the Goddess of Grace had never allowed a saint or holy woman to humanity since the beginning of history.
So it was inevitable that they couldn't figure out what abilities he had.
"Even to eliminate him later... We need your wisdom in this matter. Please bestow knowledge upon us incompetent ones. What power did the Goddess of Grace grant to her Chosen One?"
As the Chosen One carefully asked, suddenly the Evil God burst into laughter.
[My Chosen One. You're misunderstanding something.]
"What..."
[The Grace whore didn't send that man down to the world.]
The Chosen One's eyes widened.
Didn't everyone call him the Saint of Healing, the Chosen One of the Goddess of Grace?
What does he mean, the goddess didn't send him down?
"...I don't understand."
[Bestowing saints or holy women to humanity accompanies an extremely severe consumption of power. I've seen many divine ranks that mistakenly bestowed a saint and ended up lowering their rank and finally disappearing.]
"So, isn't that why Lilia sent down a saint? She's never bestowed a saint before, so she must have a lot of power stored up. Didn't she bestow a saint with very powerful abilities to interfere with us..."
[No. The Grace whore. She doesn't have that power. That's because...]
The Evil God snickered and sneered.
[300 years ago. In the celestial war, excluding those who lost their divine rank entirely and fell, she was the one who was injured the most severely among any god in the Pantheon.]
The celestial gods, the demons of hell, and the Evil God of the abyss below them all fought together in a great war.
That was the celestial war.
This massive war, where demons and Evil god, who could be called archenemies, very rarely joined forces to attack the Pantheon, was absolutely dominated by the alliance of Evil god and demons in the early stages.
Many of the gods in the Pantheon were severely injured, and there were even some beings who lost their divine rank entirely and fell to the earth.
Because of that, some seats among the 24 gods worshipped in the Pantheon were still vacant.
And among those who hadn't lost their divine rank and fell.
Among the gods who still maintained their divine rank in heaven, the one who was injured more severely than anyone else was the Goddess of Grace, Lilia.
[That whore Lilia is at her limit just barely sending down holy power to her believers. A saint? There's no way she has the power left for that. Not to mention a saint with the power to instantly shatter my fragment. If she had sent down such a saint to humanity, she would have immediately lost her rank and fallen to earth.]
The Chosen One's eyes shook greatly.
He's not a being sent down by the goddess?
Then who exactly is this being who is being revered by everyone as the Saint of Grace?
Who exactly is it that's approaching them as such a huge obstacle?
"Could it be that one of the Chosen Ones of other gods in the Pantheon is being mistakenly understood as the Saint of Grace?"
[That's not possible either. The other gods aren't in a normal state, either. Think carefully about why saints, holy women, and heroes haven't been allowed to humanity for 300 years.]
Except for gods like Dullaneer of Evil Destruction or Rupiel of the Future who had enough power to bestow saints, holy women, or heroes and sent down Chosen Ones after considering their qualifications, most gods used to choose the being with the most devout faith as their Chosen One.
The fact that there were no saints, holy women, or heroes for 300 years meant that the state of other gods was better than Lilia's, but by no means normal.
"Then who... who on earth…?"
A saint with the power to instantly annihilate the Evil God's fragment.
But the conclusion was that he wasn’t a being sent down by the gods of the Pantheon.
The Chosen One who was thinking stopped her body.
There was only one.
A possible hypothesis.
"...Do you mean that the saint's power came from hell?"
Hell.
The beings that the Evil God hated even more than the gods of the Pantheon in this world were the demons of hell.
Why, you ask?
Because during the celestial war 300 years ago, as soon as victory seemed certain, the demons stabbed the Evil God in the back as if it were natural.
Internal strife broke out, and in the meantime, the gods of the Pantheon united and swept away the Evil God and the demons of hell, resulting in victory for the Pantheon.
Of course, it was a Pyrrhic victory.
Unlike the demons of hell and the Evil God who immediately pulled out when the situation seemed to be turning unfavorable, the gods of the Pantheon had to consume a lot of power to take care of the aftermath so that the effects of the war wouldn't flow to the humans on earth.
Because of that, although the victory was the Pantheon's, they were also the ones who suffered the most damage.
[Correct.]
At the Evil God's words spoken while grinding his teeth, the Chosen One's face distorted with bewilderment.
"How... no, how can a being with the power of hell be revered as a saint? Perhaps you've seen wrong…"
[When a part of me was annihilated inside that guy. I clearly saw the source of his power deeply seated in his soul. It's not that I saw wrong or made a mistake. He definitely has the power of hell.]
The Evil God ground his teeth.
His anger filled the room, as if just imagining it made him want to vomit.
"What kind of power is it exactly?"
[The most excellent master of disguise and deception in all of hell and the abyss. A being who could freely come and go through the abyss and the Pantheon like his own backyard due to his perfect deception and disguise.]
The Evil God spat out the words as if in hatred.
[And currently the only vacant position among the 7 Demon Kings of hell.]
"No way... no way."
There was only one being from hell that met all those conditions.
The Chosen One uttered that name with a trembling voice, "Lust."
One of the 7 Demon Kings.
"The creator of deception and corruption."
The only Demon King who was annihilated during the celestial war.
"Asmodeus."
But soon a question arose.
"Evil God. But if Saint Amael truly has the power of Lust... why is the Pantheon still leaving him alone?"
Isn't it like letting the Demon King of Lust shout in their own home?
Especially, it didn't make sense at all that even Dullaneer, the God of Evil Destruction who went crazy at the mention of demons and the Evil god, was staying still.
At those words, the Evil God chuckled.
[The power of Lust is very special. His power perfectly reflects the will of the user. If you want to imitate a demon, you become a demon, and if you want to imitate the gods, it becomes the power of a god. During the celestial war. Even I and the gods of the Pantheon were deceived by that power.]
"Then…?"
[When I entered the saint's soul. I saw his inner self. He was a foolishly gentle and kind guy. The power of Lust is directly reflecting that inner will. So the gods of the Pantheon probably don't think his power is evil.]
"My goodness."
[Even I couldn't notice at all until a part of me entered his soul and saw his essence. Probably only. Among the Pantheon, hell, and the abyss, only I know his true identity.]
But questions still remained.
"Won't the gods suspect the source of his power when they see him wielding power that didn't come from the Pantheon?"
[There are divine ranks of the Pantheon that fell to earth during the celestial war, right? They're likely mistaking him for one of those divine ranks born in a human body. Moreover, the gods are in a state where they desperately need faith, even for recovery. There's no reason to doubt when a being with good abilities is amplifying faith, is there?]
"If they're really mistaken like that, why don't the gods try to communicate with him? Wouldn't they try to clarify his identity through conversation?"
[That's the beautiful part, my Chosen One.]
The Evil God's laughter reached its peak.
[Due to the aftermath of the war severely damaging the celestial realm, it's become almost impossible for the gods of the Pantheon to appear directly to humans and give divine words. At most, that Rupiel guy occasionally gives prophecies, but that's all. But I'm different. I can interfere with the human world just fine. So I'm thinking of doing this.]
The Evil God's voice was as if just imagining it made him happy.
[Hell is in a position where they need to recover Lust's power, and the Pantheon is in a position where they need to protect Lust. I'm thinking of using that to pit the Pantheon and hell against each other. If both sides destroy each other, could there be a more… perfect victory than that?]