Confession (4)
Confession (4)
For the first time, bewilderment flickered in Rebekah's eyes.
Considering she was someone who never lost her composure even before the highest authorities, it was a startlingly large shift.
"...What did you just say?"
Rebekah looked utterly unable to believe the situation. In a way, that was only natural.
['Saintess Rebekah' is using 'Lie Detection'.]
[Your statement is a 'Lie'.]
Because the confession was a falsehood.
[You have violated the rules of Confession!]
[A penalty will be imposed when Confession ends.]
Olivia's face remained unconcerned.
She had factored all of that in from the start.
The penalty was, at worst, coughing up blood. The benefits of a false confession clearly outweighed the cost, so there was no reason to hesitate.
'Compared to the Clue penalty, coughing up blood is a walk in the park.'
In any case, the Goddess of Light Aether was fundamentally a good-aligned deity. She would not inflict unnecessary suffering.
Of course, the story might change a little if the rules of Confession were broken multiple times... Still, it wouldn't be enough to kill her.
"I asked... what you just said."
Rebekah asked again.
Her tone was composed, but the struggle to contain her fury was written all over her face.
"If you did not hear me, I shall repeat myself."
By its very nature, Confession permitted not a single lie.
The principle was to confess every kind of sin committed, and to what extent, in full detail so the priest would not misunderstand.
But once again, Olivia intended to break that principle.
"I have committed murder."
[You have violated the rules of Confession!]
[A penalty will be imposed when Confession ends.]
She dismissed the notification window.
"I killed countless people."
When she had entered Melina's memories, the scene of slaughtering countless nobles flickered through her mind.
"I froze hundreds of thousands to death with my own hands. Then I burned hundreds of thousands more to death with lightning."
With each word, Rebekah's expression contorted bit by bit. It was proof that the world she had believed in without a doubt was collapsing in real time.
['Saintess Rebekah' is using 'Lie Detection'.]
[Your statement is a 'Lie'.]
"I..."
Rebekah shot up from her seat.
"...Stop! Stop it. I... do not wish to hear any more. I do not know what trick you are using, but you, you..."
Rebekah's hands trembled violently.
'This is insane.'
Every single word was a lie.
'All of it is a lie?'
Rebekah bit down on her lip.
It was all a cunning deception. Olivia was cherry-picking only the statements that benefited her.
"...One deception is enough. If you speak even one more lie from this moment on, I will refuse Absolution."
Refusal of Absolution.
What that meant was simple.
It meant she would halt the Confession and immediately pass judgment.
And that judgment would undoubtedly be fatal.
"..."
Olivia paused for a moment.
Confession had one loophole.
A loophole whose very existence was unknowable unless one had been 'possessed' like Olivia.
In the Church of Light, a sin referred only to a sin one committed oneself.
That went without saying. Taking on the sins of others was the sort of deed only a saint could accomplish.
And astonishingly, that was precisely the loophole in Confession.
First, let's examine the sins committed by the Olivia of the Genocide Run.
She deceived and betrayed her comrades. She slaughtered an uncountable number of humans and ultimately destroyed the world.
Of course, Rebekah died before that point, but the fact that the world was destroyed did not vanish.
Just because one did not see it, the truth did not become a lie.
If the Olivia of the Genocide Run had been standing there right then, such a technicality would never have worked.
She would have been condemned on the spot.
'But Rebekah did not draw the Holy Spear of judgment.'
The reason was simple.
Hadn't it just been said? In the Church of Light, a sin referred only to a sin one committed oneself.
'I have never committed a sin.'
The fact of involvement in the Genocide could not be denied. After all, the will to see the Genocide Ending had certainly originated from her.
'But that does not mean I killed them. I am not the Olivia of the Genocide Run.'
Olivia raised her head.
Now, it was time for the real Confession.
*****
"Saintess."
Rebekah's expression hardened as she stepped back.
Because Olivia had addressed her by her title, Saintess, not by the name Rebekah.
"You...!"
At present, Rebekah's official position was merely that of a common priestess who had resigned her candidacy for sainthood. Thus, Olivia's words could only mean one thing.
'...Regression!'
Rebekah urgently grasped the Holy Spear of judgment.
Until just moments ago, she had not been able to be certain that Olivia had regressed. Coming to the Repentance Cave alone was not enough to confirm regression.
But now she had definitive proof.
Regardless, Olivia opened her mouth in an impassive voice.
But she changed her manner of speech.
"Are you going to kill me?"
Rebekah hesitated briefly.
It was because old memories surfaced.
"...No. I am going to pass judgment on you."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"It is different. Because I mean to... bear your sins."
To bear them in her stead.
No one would understand the meaning of that better than Rebekah.
It was the reason Rebekah possessed such an immense amount of Divine Power.
Because the total burden of sins she had taken on for others was that great.
That was the reason Rebekah was called a Saintess.
- Wooooong.
Rebekah's Holy Spear howled fiercely.
"Rebekah."
"..."
"I will not resist, so may I ask one question?"
Rebekah stared at Olivia as if to pierce her through. That look meant she could not take her at her word alone.
"I will swear on my mana. Is that enough?"
Only then did the howling of the Holy Spear subside a little.
"Ask your question."
Her voice carried the resolve to execute judgment the moment the question ended.
"Just now, you said you would bear my sins in my stead, did you not?"
Rebekah nodded.
"Yes."
"Then do you know?"
"...What do you mean?"
"What my sins are."
Kugugugugu!
"...Are you mocking me, even at the very end?"
The aura was terrifying.
Unlike before, when her senses had been sealed, she could feel it far more clearly now.
And at the same time, she realized it.
Subduing Rebekah in that state without being noticed by the people nearby was impossible.
Olivia spoke.
"I'm serious."
Rebekah swept a sharp gaze over Olivia.
['Saintess Rebekah' is using 'Lie Detection'.]
[Your statement is the 'Truth'.]
Rebekah glared furiously at Olivia with wide eyes. It was as if she was asking how Olivia could spout such nonsense.
It was understandable.
In Rebekah's eyes, what Olivia had done was a terrible sin that could not and should not be forgotten.
And given that situation, for Olivia to brazenly ask if she knew what sins she had committed—it must have made her seem like a child of demons, wearing her evil deeds like medals of honor.
"..."
Rebekah felt something snap cleanly inside her head.
'To think this was all she amounted to.'
It wasn't even worth issuing a Penance.
Rebekah fought desperately to calm herself.
It was the last courtesy she could show to someone she had once sincerely respected.
"First, you massacred innocent people."
"I did not kill them."
['Saintess Rebekah' is using 'Lie Detection'.]
[Your statement is the 'Truth'.]
Rebekah was at a loss for words.
['Saintess Rebekah' is using 'Mental Purification'!]
- All types of mental attacks are nullified!
Rebekah's entire body was enveloped in pure-white Divine Power.
"...Do not disgrace yourself any further."
It was practically a scream.
The desperate struggle of a girl who could no longer bear to watch the person she respected plummet into the abyss.
"Second, you betrayed everyone who believed in you."
"I did not betray them."
Rebekah bit her lip. She had heightened the level of her purification, but that did not turn the truth into a lie.
She could not believe it.
There was no way that was the truth.
Rebekah had seen it.
She had seen Olivia sweep away tens of thousands of paladins without a shred of hesitation, and burn thousands of priests to death with lightning.
The lightning was equal to all, sparing neither the old nor the young.
- Ah, aaaaah...
And even Rebekah herself.
- Wh-Why in the world...
Even until the moment her body was reduced to tatters, Rebekah had not let go of her faith in Olivia.
She was not that kind of person. There must be some misunderstanding.
Rebekah had coughed blood and cried out.
To come back.
If she stopped here, she could still come back.
But in the end, Olivia never looked back.
"Thi...rd."
Nausea rose inside her. The strength was draining from the hand holding the Holy Spear. Her vision blurred.
The same words kept circling in her head.
Too late. It was far too late.
"Rebekah."
"Stay... away. Do not come closer."
Rebekah's head drooped lower and lower. Her gaze fell to the floor.
"Un..."
Crackle-.
Olivia gently gathered Rebekah into her arms. Wiping the blood from her lips, Olivia put on a bitter expression.
[You have subdued the regressor, 'Rebekah', without killing her!]
[Clue #3 acquired!]