Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: Lucifer Who Leads to Evil - 2
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Hearing those words, Floretta rose to her feet without realizing it. Her wave-like golden blonde hair and body clad in holy robes left a golden afterimage as it vanished, reappearing right in front of Stella.
“Say it again… Say that once more. What did you just say?”
“A woman claiming to have been a holy knight four hundred years ago appeared, and she says she knows how to reach the honored guest.”
Stella repeated word for word what she had just said. Floretta’s green eyes trembled faintly. It was the exact opposite of Stella’s green eyes, which showed not the slightest quiver.
She already knew the honored guest was alive. The Sun and the Moon had given their definitive confirmation on his survival, so she had no reason to doubt it.
But knowing where he was and how to get there were entirely different matters. The gods had remained silent no matter how desperately she sought answers.
“You’ll need to look into the details personally, Your Holiness. It’s beyond my judgment. We can’t interrogate someone who hasn’t been confirmed as a heretic just because their soul’s purity is uncertain, right?”
“Have you confirmed traces of holy power?”
“Yes. We’ve confirmed traces of holy power lingering in her body. They’re faint—literally just traces—but present. And we also found demonic traces… I think it’s better if Your Holiness hears about that directly from me rather than my explaining it. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone pass the heresy screening with demonic traces.”
“Understood. Where should I go?”
“To the underground chambers of the Inquisition.”
The moment Stella answered, Floretta’s body vanished. In the next instant, the Pope of the Sun had arrived in the underground chambers of the Inquisition. Her golden high heels clicked against the icy marble floor.
In the underground Inquisition chambers, decorated entirely in pure silver and marble to feel like a frozen wasteland, the vibrant gold of the sun bloomed brilliantly.
As the clicking of her high heels echoed along with a warm aura overflowing, the battle nuns surrounding a chair in grave expressions turned their heads one by one. Selene was the last.
“Pope of the Sun.”
Starting with Selene kneeling on one knee to greet Floretta, the other battle nuns followed suit. The only ones not bowing their heads were Pope Floretta and that holy knight.
Selene lifted her head and stepped aside. Directly ahead sat a single woman. She had long brown ponytail hair draped behind her, tanned skin, and wore a yellow bikini.
“I greet the Pope of the Sun.”
The woman with tanned skin and a yellow bikini, Margarita, rose from her seat and offered her respects. Having not seen a pope in four hundred years, she had forgotten all the protocols, so her posture was extremely stiff.
“Is that a holy knight’s attire?”
“Yes. It’s a bit old, though.”
Margarita tugged firmly at the bikini’s chest strap. It was utterly ragged. One wrong touch and it would snap. It was beyond the level that could simply be called “old.”
The undergarment female holy knights wore beneath their armor. That was the true nature of the yellow bikini. The color changed every ten years, and yellow was one of those cycles.
Floretta mentally calculated the cycle of that uniform for a moment. About four hundred years. At least she wasn’t wearing it carelessly.
Even so, Stella hadn’t mentioned the clothes because, if determined, anyone could easily imitate such scraps of fabric.
“Remain still, former holy knight. There is something I must verify.”
Golden holy power enveloped Margarita. But Margarita neither writhed in pain from the light nor struggled to escape it. She quietly entrusted her body to the light surrounding her.
Proof that her soul was still untainted. Floretta smiled faintly.
“Your soul is untainted. You have accomplished a magnificent feat, holy knight.”
“That’s a relief. Hearing that directly from Your Holiness puts my mind at ease.”
Margarita let out a sigh of relief. That meant, as long as the physical corruption was healed, she could function normally. And that also meant she wouldn’t have to die.
With steadfast faith and belief, physical corruption could always be cured.
The tense atmosphere around them softened considerably. They had been on guard in case of demonic energy, but now there was no need.
“Now, begin your explanation. You say you know how to reach the honored guest.”
“Honored guest…? Oh, you mean Delta. Calling him an honored guest explains why his holy power was so radiant. What empire citizen? He looks like a Holy Kingdom person through and through.”
Unaware that her casual grumbling had slightly raised Floretta’s favor toward her, Margarita began her explanation.
First, she confessed how she had entered hell for a holy war four hundred years ago, failed, survived alone, and been trapped there, sustaining herself by tearing into demons’ corpses.
The middle part barely qualified as an explanation. It was just her surviving alone by eating corpses, building a house, holing up inside, and trembling in fear. That was the whole story in three parts.
“…That’s how I endured for several hundred years, until one day a black-haired man and a black-haired woman with a holy sword came to my house. The man said his name was Delta, and the woman with the holy sword introduced herself as Kaikilia, the emperor of the empire.”
She glanced sideways. Up to here, Margarita checked the pope’s reaction. Even to her, it sounded utterly absurd.
“What happened next?”
But Floretta remained composed. Not a hint of doubt showed on her face.
Confirming the pope trusted her account, Margarita continued with the rest, ending with how the two had completed the teleportation device and sent her back first.
“Thank you, O Sun…”
The moment the explanation ended, tears streamed from Floretta’s eyes. Gratitude to the gods for such grace, and relief that the honored guest was still fulfilling his duties.
Seeing the pope in tears, Margarita flinched, wondering if she’d done something wrong, but Selene and the battle nuns remained unfazed. Margarita awkwardly sat back down, feeling embarrassed.
However, there was one fact Margarita hadn’t mentioned to the end. That the empire’s emperor and Delta were lovers.
What reason was there to air someone else’s romance? They had been hugging and stroking each other wildly, so they seemed to like each other. It wasn’t for an outsider to meddle in.
“…Sister Margarita, was it?”
Having cried her fill and wiped her tears with her sleeve, Floretta met Margarita’s gaze.
“Your faith in that god will surely please the Sun and Moon as well. I, Pope Floretta Evangelina of the Sun, guarantee it. Welcome back to the gods’ embrace, little lamb.”
Her head bowed deeply. It was the pope bowing to a mere holy knight, yet no one was surprised. It was only right.
A person who had been trapped in hell for four hundred years.
She could have lost her faith long ago and fallen or been offered to demons, yet maintaining her soul’s purity was an achievement in itself.
“Uh… Thank you for the praise?”
Margarita remained composed as well, though for a different reason.
Even if she seemed normal on the surface after going mad in every direction, she was fundamentally far from sane. She didn’t not react out of surprise—she simply couldn’t be surprised.
“Finally, you say you know how to get to hell.”
Finishing the pleasantries, Floretta raised her head, her eyes gleaming. This was the main point.
Thinking “finally,” Margarita explained with even more enthusiasm than before. She wanted to help her two benefactors, and she also craved revenge on hell.
Though she had failed miserably when she charged in, now that Delta and Kaikilia had practically turned half of hell upside down, it was surely possible.
Having listened intently to Margarita’s explanation, Floretta turned to Selene with calm eyes once it ended.
“Inquisitor.”
“Yes, Your Holiness. Speak.”
“Could you summon the Pope of the Moon?”
Not her sister Seraphica, but the Pope of the Moon. It meant they needed to speak not as sisters, but as the Pope of the Sun and the Pope of the Moon.
Selene replied without hesitation.
“As you command.”
“And assemble all battle nuns and holy knights. This is also an order as Pope of the Sun.”
A sacred relic appeared in Floretta’s hand. A small sun shining between four pairs of wings illuminated the entire chamber. Margarita let out a small “oh” of admiration.
“From this moment, I officially declare a holy war.”
“…I don’t get it at all.”
Lucifer stood with both arms spread wide like a prophet preaching the law. He still showed no sign of attacking me.
“If it’s the true god, you mean that dragon?”
—Do not invoke His name in vain.
‘Now we’re having a conversation.’
Until just now, he’d been monologuing one-sidedly, but now he was at least reacting to my words with anger. At least he wasn’t completely ignoring me and just spouting his own lines.
“What do you mean invoke? I don’t even know the guy’s name yet.”
In the game, he’d only ever been called “World Devourer” from start to finish, with no other info.
—Then I shall tell you. Consider it your first step toward true faith.
“What?”
Was he really going to tell me that easily? As I hesitated in surprise, the part of his head corresponding to a human mouth split wide open top to bottom.
A grotesque tree root shot out from within, wriggling like an earthworm.
—His name is…
As the root squirmed to form sounds, an enormous blast of wind pressure erupted.
“Ugh?!”
My body, struck full force by the wind, floated into the air and was blown far backward.
I slammed Wingless Nightmare into the ground. My heels barely stopped just short of being pushed over the cliff edge. Catching my breath, I looked up.
Around Lucifer, space warped and tore, staining black before mixing with intact space and vanishing again in chaos.
His mouth closed, the roots intertwined once more, and the hole that had formed like lips vanished completely. His voice echoed flatly.
—Do you understand?
“Not at all.”
What kind of demon uses Dragon Tongue? Grumbling, I walked further inland on the island.
Dragon Tongue was exactly that kind of concept. The words themselves carried the laws and truths of the world. That’s why you had to use it in the World Devourer boss fight later.
Logically, unless Dragon Tongue imposed movement restrictions, there was no reason for a dragon to land and wrestle a human.
Just one breath from the air would end it.
If one wasn’t enough, keep firing until it died.
‘The stronger the power in the Dragon Tongue, the higher the tier.’
If merely saying a name could tear and twist space, the World Devourer’s tier was obvious.
—You must have heard the myths of the outside world.
Even after his attempt at “kindness” in revealing the name, I showed no sign of moving, so Lucifer’s voice resounded again. He seemed quite eager for me.
Whether that was the World Devourer’s will or his own initiative, I wasn’t sure.
“Myths of the outside world?”
—Excuses of ignorance won’t work, you who receive protection from false gods. You surely know the tales of how false gods reject the salvation of the true god.
“…”
Realizing it referred to the Holy Kingdom’s history books. The story of how the Holy Kingdom’s god blocked the World Devourer’s invasion.
The religious wording had thrown me for a moment.
“Yeah. I’ve heard them.”
I had heard them, but not “in this world.” I’d seen them while checking documents in the game.
Was he mistaking me for a Holy Kingdom native, assuming I’d naturally read my country’s history?
—Those myths are all false, save one.
“One truth, huh. Which one?”
Slightly unexpected. I’d thought he’d call them all blatant lies.
—That false gods and true god clashed.
‘…Huh?’
His “true god” was obviously the World Devourer, and false gods were the Sun and Moon. Was that dragon powerful enough to clash directly with the creator god?
And Bren4’s protagonist captured that in the Want?
‘What kind of monster is that?’
It was my game, but seriously, what the hell.
As I seriously gauged Bren4 protagonist’s power, Lucifer started talking again.
—False gods lost everything save two worlds. One of those remaining worlds has already returned to primordial nothingness.
‘…Primordial nothingness?’
It sounded familiar. What was it? My memory was fuzzy. Bren3 lore?
—Salvation is inevitable. False gods have only fled repeatedly. Countless worlds have already attained salvation. Now, only one remains.
From here, it was all new. I focused intently. It could be a complete lie to deceive me, but I’d judge after hearing it all.
—A mere human cannot reject a god. You who receive false gods’ protection, open your eyes. Cast off your shackles and face the truth.
“…”
—Take the outstretched hand. Do not miss the chance to serve the true god. Salvation draws near for the world; darkness shall exist in only one place.
“Just one question. What exactly is this ‘salvation’?”
To my question, Lucifer answered as if it were obvious.
—All things perishing. Nothing remaining. All that exists, believers included, fusing into oneness within the true god’s embrace. That is salvation.
“Isn’t this guy insane?”
Cult vibes for sure.
I aimed Wingless Nightmare at him. Seeing the blade pointed at him, Lucifer’s eyes rotated counterclockwise.
—I shall take that as refusal of salvation.
“Salvation my ass. You’re just telling me to die. Do I look crazy enough to follow a guy like that?”
Even with normal values, I wouldn’t have accepted, but hearing that made me even less inclined. Following him meant death, nothing more.
As I rejected outright, roots intertwined on his right hand, forming a long spear.
—Pity. Why reject the true god’s salvation?
“It’s for me to judge who’s true and who’s false, not you. And if that’s salvation, I could grant it right now. How about it?”
—Then perish lamenting your own ignorance.
A spear as long as a pike aimed at me. Absurdly long, yet thick at the handle like a cone.
He kicked off the ground.