Chapter 111
[In the beginning, Grace created humanity.]
—Scripture of Grace. Chapter 1, Verse 1—
***
It was nothing more than human artillery fire.
These were attacks that a Demon King's Authority could easily block.
The problem was that the bombardments targeted Belphegor when she was at her weakest and most vulnerable.
As I said before, manifesting in the Human Realm by creating a vessel for her Deity was her biggest mistake.
Her physical body, melted by exposure to Asmodeus's Divine Power.
Her Deity, weakened as a significant number of her Followers died in real-time.
And even the Pantheon's Authorities, clinging to her Deity and constantly interfering.
"[Dulanere. You bastard!!]"
The 155mm high-explosive shells left considerable wounds on Belphegor's physical body.
She needed to recover.
She needed to draw upon her Deity's power to rally her Followers and heal her physical body.
But at this critical moment, Belphegor couldn't properly manifest her Authority.
Dulanere, from the Spirit Realm, was literally screaming curses and interfering with her.
As if unable to forgive her for corrupting his Chosen Ones and countless Ketratuss, he was desperately hindering the manifestation of her Authority.
And that wasn't all.
The other Gods of the Pantheon, as if retaliating for the times they had been hindered and unable to interfere, were throwing all sorts of obstacles at the Deities of Leviathan and Belphegor, who had manifested in the Human Realm.
Belphegor was now experiencing the inverse of Asmodeus's predicament, who had just been hindered by Lucifer pulling on her chains.
"[........No. This can't be.]"
The number of surviving Followers was now small.
The ordinary Believers had already been turned into something more akin to Chunks of Meat than Humans by the recent bombardment.
The High-ranking Believers who had barely survived.
The Priest-level Followers were also trembling, looking down at their hands.
"M-my Magic isn't working!!"
"O Sloth!! O Sloth!! Grant us Authority!!"
Despite the urgent cries, Belphegor could do nothing.
Authority?
Of course, she wanted to grant it.
Her own physical body and the Deity within it were on the verge of being destroyed.
Belphegor was in a position where she had to protect her Followers just to survive.
But Dulanere and the Pantheon's Interference were preventing her from doing so.
It was clear that they, too, were overexerting themselves.
Because Lucifer wouldn't just stand by and watch the Pantheon do this.
But it was worth enduring that momentary strain.
If things continued like this, Leviathan and Belphegor themselves would be in danger of having their Deities exposed and vulnerable in the Human Realm.
"[Heavenly Realm bastards. Disgusting... these disgusting sons of bitches!!]"
Belphegor cursed and forcibly stood up, but it didn't change the situation.
"Load it! Quickly!!"
"Charge!! Charge!!"
"Dual-purpose Artillery Fire ready!!"
The 40 Imperial Army Towed Artillery pieces, positioned far away, were ready to fire once more.
If another bombardment fell, Leviathan's physical body would surely not endure.
"[Lucifer!! Lucifer!! Lucifer!! Please!!!!!]"
At that last moment.
The name Belphegor desperately cried out, unable to do anything, was none other than Lucifer.
"[Do something!! Do something right now!!]"
If things continued like this, the 300-year-old balance would be shattered.
And it would be the worst possible outcome, ending in a Pantheon victory, which the Evil God and Hell had considered the least likely scenario.
At those words, instantly.
The entire Spirit Realm was filled with the aura emanating from the Pantheon Deities.
Lucifer stopped fighting the Pantheon.
And Lucifer invested all his Authority, extending his hand towards Belphegor.
The sky tore open, and Lucifer's incredibly potent Authority extended directly towards Belphegor's physical body.
It was a Passage to the Spirit Realm.
Belphegor raised her hand, moved.
"[Please! Please hurry.........Lucifer?! Lucifer!!]"
Belphegor, who had grasped the hand believing it to be salvation, screamed the next moment as she saw Lucifer's hand burrow into her physical body and seize the Deity within.
[The Goddess of the Moon. The Goddess of Wisdom. The Goddess of War. And even Satan. A total of four Deities have gone over to the Pantheon's side.]
"[N-no! Don't!! Stop it!!]"
[There's no time to leisurely prepare for ascension. This is the only way.]
With terrible pain, Belphegor's Deity was forcibly ripped from her physical body.
This shouldn't be happening.
Manifesting from the Spirit Realm to the Human Realm also required much preparation, but ascension, the opposite, needed more delicate preparation and rituals.
Belphegor's Deity was forcibly extracted from her physical body and began to be horribly damaged.
Belphegor shrieked.
It was agonizing pain.
But even more horrifying was Lucifer's intention, now clearly felt.
"[Y-you're going to devour me!! Lucifer!! Lucifer, you son of a bitch!!!]"
[This is for the best. If you had even a shred of Authority left as a safeguard to flee to the Spirit Realm like Mammon, it might be different. But without that, there's no time to return your Deity to the Spirit Realm in its normal form. Since your Deity is going to be destroyed anyway... it's much better if I devour it.]
"[No! This can't be!!.......]"
Those were Belphegor's last words.
The Deity, forcibly ripped from her physical body, was crudely crushed.
Belphegor's words could no longer continue.
As the horribly fragmented Deities convulsed and trembled, Lucifer's Authority meticulously devoured everything of Belphegor's, leaving not a single fragment behind.
And a similar event was happening far away.
On Leviathan's side, too.
The two Deities, forcibly extracted from their physical bodies, were absorbed by Lucifer.
And Lucifer, after hastily completing the absorption of the two Deities, quickly closed the Passage connecting the Spirit Realm and the Human Realm.
[Baalzebub!!]
Pride called Gluttony.
And he threw Leviathan's Deity, utterly ruined from being forcibly ascended, to Gluttony.
[Eat it. Eat quickly and let's stop the Pantheon. We cannot allow humanity's faith to grow any stronger than this.]
Now, Lucifer alone could not stop the Pantheon.
Only if Baalzebub and Lucifer combined their strength could they barely manage to stop the Pantheon.
The Pantheon would once again be unable to freely bestow divine words or Authority, just as before.
But the same would now be true for the two Demon Kings.
Lucifer gritted his teeth.
[*Abaddon*.]
The balance would be maintained.
But now, the only one to benefit from this balance would be the Creature of the Abyss.
He alone.
While the Pantheon and Hell continued their confrontation and mutual checks, the Evil God, now free of any interference, would leisurely expand his influence and move to swallow the Human Realm.
But even knowing that, Lucifer had no choice but to stop the Pantheon.
If he allowed the Pantheon to interfere in the Human Realm like this, there was no telling how powerful they would become due to the rapidly swelling faith.
If such an enormous Pantheon were to destroy all the Followers of Pride and the Followers of Gluttony...
If that happened, it would be the end of Hell.
[I will move as you wish, *Abaddon*.]
Lucifer chose to swallow his humiliation and endure.
Someday, *Abaddon* and the Saint would clash.
And when that moment came, Lucifer intended to fully repay *Abaddon* for what he had done today.
Taking one side in the middle of a tense tug-of-war.
And thus aiming for the destruction of the other.
Lucifer intended to fully repay *Abaddon* for what he had done today.
[I will never forget this grudge.]
Waiting for that time, Lucifer began to exert his power once again to sever the connection between the Pantheon and the Human Realm.
***
*I really hated fainting.*
*Whenever I fainted and woke up, all the important moments had already passed.*
*Then I'd be left in this World, still knowing nothing.*
*What exactly was Asmodeus's true identity?*
*Why was the Pantheon so incompetent and aggressive towards me?*
*I never had time to ask anything.*
*That's why I hated fainting.*
*But today.*
*For the first time, I realized why I had just been fainting all this time.*
*And that if I could faint, it would have been better to just stay unconscious.*
"[Amael!! Amael!! I'm scared! I'm scared!!]"
*I opened my eyes to the familiar scream of Con.*
*I quickly clutched my ears with both hands and rolled on the floor.*
"Ugh! Ahhh!"
*It was immense.*
*I couldn't articulate any other fitting impression.*
The myriad screams and shouts freely unleashed by Deities far surpassing Humans were unbearable for a Human.
*They say when whales fight, the shrimp's back breaks.*
*But this was even worse.*
*Being a krill caught between fighting Great Old Ones would be a more fitting description.*
"Please......please!!"
*I didn't want to hear these terrible shouts of the Deities.*
*As I lay writhing on the floor like an insect, the loud noises erupting from all directions suddenly quieted.*
"[Amael.]"
Someone spoke to me with a strange resonance, a peculiar blend of a Human voice and the language uttered by a Deity.
I looked up and saw an angel with the face of Goddess Lilia gently covering my ears.
Four pairs of wings spread out, brilliant and vast, three of the left wings stained pitch black.
"[Ugh!! N-no!! Please!! Ah, Amael!! Close the Rocket Lid!! I'm scared! It's too much!!]"
*The Necklace around my neck vibrated wildly.*
*I could understand Con.*
*Even I, who wasn't particularly strong in Psychic Power, was clutching my ears and collapsing.*
*For Con, who was strong in Psychic Power, it must have been a deafening roar, almost impossible to withstand the shock between the Deities.*
*I closed the Rocket Lid of my Necklace.*
The trembling Necklace finally quieted.
*The World became silent.*
The sound of Deities fighting.
The sounds they screamed.
There was nothing else, only the angel with Lilia's face and I.
Only the two of us seemed to exist alone on the summit of the Rocky Mountain.
"Who are you?"
*That was my first question, uttered after much deliberation.*
At those words, the winged Goddess Lilia smiled and changed her form.
"[It's me. *Seongppitppi*. This form is a bit more familiar, isn't it?]
*Gigachad* looked down at me and said in a playful tone.
But *I shook my head.*
*I could feel my body trembling.*
"What's your true identity?"
At my words, *Gigachad* returned to her angel form once more.
"[I am one who serves you.]"
*At the ambiguous explanation, I had to clench my fists.*
"Asmodeus. Isn't that your name? The Demon King of Lust. Isn't that your true identity?"
"[It once was. But not anymore. As I explained, I am merely one who serves you.]"
The Demon King of Lust was refined and quiet.
It was hard to believe such a being could destroy the Human World.
"I don't want the World to be in danger. Never."
"[I know, Amael.]"
"You said you serve me, right? If I were to command you to annihilate yourself, would you obey that command?"
"[I would obey. But if that were to happen, it would result in an outcome that contradicts your conviction to protect the Human World.]"
"Why?"
Asmodeus pointed to her left wing.
"[I am not yet entirely yours, Amael. A part of my command authority is still held by Hell. If you command my annihilation, you would be relinquishing all command authority over me. Then Hell would be my only Master left.]"
*My eyes widened.*
Asmodeus nodded.
"[I would once again become the Demon King of Lust. It would become the very situation you most wish to avoid.]"
*Those words made what I had to do even clearer.*
"I deserve to know the truth. Who exactly you are. Why all this, involving you, is happening. What hidden circumstances there are. I need to know everything."
*I carefully sat on the ground.*
*As I sat on the ground, all sorts of wild grasses and flowers tickled my nose and skin.*
*I didn't know when the grass had grown so thick, but it wasn't an unpleasant sensation.*
"Explain."
Asmodeus didn't explain.
Instead, she said this:
"[It's over, Amael.]"
*Why?*
*Even with just that explanation, I felt like I knew what had ended.*
*I craned my neck slightly to look forward and saw Paladins and Mages from the Magic Tower cheering.*
*And I also saw the women I loved, right in the middle of them.*
The Pantheon and Humans had defeated three Demon Kings.
"[So, get the explanation not from me, but from the beings behind you. That would be much better.]"
*Again, even though her explanation wasn't sufficient, I understood what she meant.*
*I turned my gaze behind me, and the beings I had expected were there.*
Dulanere.
Rophus.
Rufiel.
Re-Neri.
The Gods of the Pantheon were revealing themselves before me.
And standing at the very front, as if representing all of them.
A blood-soaked Goddess who looked incredibly pained.
[Amael.]
Goddess of Grace Lilia was looking at me.
*I stood up.*
A moment of silence followed.
*I tried to compose myself, but it wasn't easy.*
"Why?"
*It was the first word that burst out after a long silence.*
"Why are you doing this to me? Why?"
*My eyes reddened without me realizing it.*
*I looked at the Gods, tears streaming down my face.*
"What did I do wrong to be threatened with prophecies? To be threatened with being thrown into Hell by appearing directly in my dreams? And you call yourselves Benevolent Deities? Did you enjoy tormenting a single Human so much? I didn't choose to harbor Asmodeus in my soul! I just woke up one day and it was like that!!"
*I choked back tears and poured out everything I had kept bottled up in my heart.*
"I just want to be normally happy! This isn't the Otherworld Transmigration I wanted!! I don't care what it is. Please, just take this heavy burden away from me. Please. If you're such great Gods, then hurry up and..."
*Had I been sobbing like a child and pouring out my words for that long?*
*I felt something gently caress my cheek.*
*When I lifted my head, my eyes swollen from crying, I saw the Goddess of Grace touching my cheek.*
"[I'm sorry, but I cannot, Amael.]"
*My face contorted.*
"........Does it only end when my soul is finally cast into Hell? Does it end if I become a martyr? If I die? Then what kind of Gods are you? I hate you all. All of you!! I hate all of you!!"
I screamed words that were nothing short of Blasphemy, yet none of the Gods of the Pantheon showed anger towards me.
*My resentment and anger made me sob like a child, my cries breaking out in gasps.*
The Goddess of Grace gently embraced me.
*I didn't refuse the embrace.*
The Goddess's embrace was warm.
And that warmth helped me calm down.
"Explain it to me. What is all this? Why I'm in this state. What happened between Hell, the Pantheon, and the Evil God. I deserve an explanation. So please, explain it."
When I, now calmer, said that, the Goddess of Grace nodded.
"[I am not the Goddess of Grace, Amael.]"
And the explanation that followed was shocking from the very beginning.
"[Goddess of Life Lilia. In the distant past, a time you Humans might describe as 'in the beginning,' Humans called me that.]"