Let's Take Stock of the Situation, Shall We? (1)
[No— a friend?! An actual friend?!]
Yep. That's me.
[Friend?! You call driving someone to their death being friends?!]
Yep. I do.
Whisper looked utterly flabbergasted, but that hardly mattered—the onlookers were busy gasping in awe. The light radiating from Isaac was divine on a level no ordinary god could hope to rival.
"He really summoned the Supreme God!"
"That halo—isn't that the Supreme God's sigil!"
Identifying a summoned deity was simple. The halo itself was one clue, but the true tell was the pattern of the aureole—the ring of light that wrapped around the divine body.
The aureole bore no overlapping patterns. In other words, it meant the rumor wasn't gossip or a lie: he had genuinely been chosen by the Supreme God. No wonder the priests who'd come to gawk were beside themselves.
The expressions on the faces of the seasoned bishops and senior priests sharpened into a study in contrast.
"Is that even possible? What is that child?"
…Damn it all, he really pulled it off!
"The summoning isn't complete yet, but this will go down in history!"
…Son of a— those old-timers are going to beat me half to death over this!
The priests of the Blue Faith breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. This should get us out of the enemy's interrogation."
"No. That won't be enough. The summoning isn't finished! The halo is incomplete! It's still translucent!"
"Naizer's faster!"
And sure enough, Naizer—his red halo now complete—laughed with triumphant pride.
High above the summoning hall, the God of Penal Law revealed himself in a form of pure light.
He was a young god with long hair and a stern bearing—the very picture of a judge who would tolerate not the slightest deviation or transgression of the law.
The God of Penal Law turned his gaze slowly upon Isaac.
—So that's the one. The wretch who devoured the Skeleton King's bones.
At the voice ringing in his ears, Naizer's eyes went wide.
"Yes! His faith has plunged to heretical depths. Please, examine him!"
—No examination is necessary. That one has no faith at all.
At those words, Naizer clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut, his face glowing as though he'd been handed a consolation prize.
I knew it—I was right all along!
But that wasn't all. The God of Penal Law was glaring at Isaac with barely contained fury—and for good reason. It was the aura Isaac gave off.
—Of all things, he reeks of the Skeleton King's vile, corrupt power. No—more than that, he's actively wielding it.
Naizer flinched.
He's using the Skeleton King's power?
Then the God of Penal Law's voice boomed out to every priest gathered in the summoning hall.
—I am disappointed in you all. To let such a creature loose in the very house of the gods.
"……!"
The faces of the Eshua family went rigid. They understood exactly what was about to happen next.
And sure enough—
—There's no need to call upon the God of Punishment. You will be executed on the spot.
The God of Penal Law's finger began to rise.
At the sight, the Eshua family leapt to their feet.
No! He's caught on to Isaac's lack of faith!
The enemy's god is the God of Penal Law—and at the same time the God of Immediate Execution, about to carry out the sentence right here and now!
There was no choice left. There was only one way.
We'll have to block him with the power of the God of Blue!
Not that anyone intended to defy a god head-on. But if they took down Naizer, the connection between the god and his summoner would be severed too!
Knocking him unconscious should be more than enough.
Rillai reached to draw his blade, holy power coursing along its edge—but the enemy's holy knights and bishop blocked his path.
"What do you think you're doing in the middle of a sacred summoning!"
"Or have you forgotten that by the Holy Father Pope's decree, those who are not summoners may not approach the ritual grounds?"
These bastards—?
The enemy bishop smiled.
"Well, everything has its reasons. If that child is to be executed, I'm sure there's a reason befitting it."
"!"
"And who knows—this may give us cause to investigate the entire Blue Faith."
Then, at last, at a flick of the God of Penal Law's hand, a crimson sphere took form. It was holy power dense enough to annihilate a demon outright—and Whisper, being a lump of pure mana, began to convulse.
[AAAAH! Master! Master! What are you doing?! Hurry up and summon the Supreme God!]
It's fine.
[Yes, it's fine— I'm sorry, WHAT?! Are you telling me it's fine if I DIE?!]
At last, a blazing light of execution came hurtling down from the crimson sphere.
[GYAAAAH!]
Whisper shrieked for his life—and Isaac's eyes gleamed.
BOOM!
The light of execution scattered in an instant. Isaac had swatted it aside with the force of his mana.
Feeling his holy power shattered, the God of Penal Law frowned.
He deflected that?
Granted, that hadn't been its full force.
Gods, by their nature, could not directly interfere with the mortal realm. Even when they exercised their power through a summoning like this, it drew upon the summoner's life force, so they were careful to moderate their output.
But however much they held back, it was still more than enough to reduce a human brat to cinders without fail.
However faint—and however much of a god's power it carried—
And he deflected it?
Whisper threw a fit.
[Master, please! Are you really sure you should be throwing your power around like that in a place like this?!]
Then drop dead. Once you're gone, I'll just summon a different demon.
[No, what I meant was, please feel free to use it even more freely!]
Good. Then shut up and lend me your strength.
Isaac's eyes gleamed once more.
Either way, now that a god had been summoned, this had to be seen through to the end.
And after all, once his apprenticeship ended, he would need to contract with a god regardless. Without a contract, no priest could rise above the lowest rank.
More than that—if he wanted to keep the Pope, who was bound to a god, in check, he had no choice but to resolve this matter first.
It just so happened that "now" was the perfect time!
At the same moment, Whisper—pure Skeleton King mana—erupted in a violent surge.
KUOOOOO!
BOOM!
As the overwhelming demonic energy spread in every direction, the priests gasped for breath, teetering between suffocation and sheer bewilderment.
"Could the Skeleton King's power have gone berserk?!"
"Without a doubt! It's the Skeleton King's power—inherently opposed to the divine—recoiling against the great god's might!"
The gods' power fundamentally repelled mana. And so, naturally, they concluded that the Skeleton King's bones Isaac had consumed were fighting for survival, venting their strength.
But who was going to give them the benefit of the doubt?
"The Blue Faith is wielding the Skeleton King's power!"
The enemy's priests shouted it at the top of their lungs, as if they'd been waiting for this very moment.
"Heresy!"
At that, the people of Eshua's eyes went wide.
They planned for this exact situation!
They had counted on the Skeleton King's bones inside Isaac going berserk the instant they brushed against a god's power.
Anyone watching that scene would see nothing but Isaac controlling demonic energy. Like it or not, Isaac would be dragged away for interrogation.
Gritting his teeth, Rillai moved to step forward—only for Goel to frantically seize him.
"Stay still! You'll be branded a heretic along with the rest of them!"
"I don't care!"
"Rillai!"
"I am that child's godfather! Are you telling me to stand by and watch my own nephew die?!"
But the Skeleton King's overwhelming mana barred his way, as if to say: approach at your peril.
"Kgh!"
The enemy priests were delighted by the sight. For this one moment at least, Isaac had never looked more precious to them.
Now he's cornered, with no way in or out.
Truly the child of a demon!
The Skeleton King's mana has manifested—surely even the god must now consider execution.
Yes! The moment the god attacks Isaac, we drag him away!
That's right! The instant he attacks, we—
Any second now. If he'd just attack—!
Now! Any moment—
Just attack—
Attack…
How much time had passed?
The enemy priests' expressions began to curdle.
…Why isn't he attacking?
They turned to the God of Penal Law in confusion. They had planned to seize Isaac and the Blue Faith the moment his attack landed—but the god himself looked, for once, uncharacteristically rattled.
No—rattled didn't cover it. His pupils were trembling visibly.
The enemy priests couldn't help but cry out in unison.
"God of Penal Law?!"
To hell with the summoning. Even the head of House Blue, who had intended to wield the God of Blue's power, narrowed his eyes.
…Why did he stop?
Did Naizer's summoning go wrong?
But the God of Penal Law's pupils were shaking, carefully hidden—on a face that looked like a man who had noticed something he shouldn't have.
At that expression, Isaac's eyes curved into crescents.
Yes! That face! I've been waiting for that face!
How should he put it—
'No! That's impossible!' 'What?! Why does he have that power?!' —that's the gist of what he's thinking, and it's carrying all the way here! I can even hear his eyeballs rolling! Puhet!
Isaac could barely contain his glee.
If only there weren't priests around, he would have doubled over, clutching his belly—pufhat-puhahat-puhehehe!
Ah, exquisite. So exquisite I can hardly stand it.
But this was merely the opening act.
Let's make the Red Faith regret ever trying to use their god to dispose of me.
And sure enough, the color was slowly draining from the God of Penal Law's face.
…Could this really be a power granted by nothing more than a single bone?
No. He knew better.
This power belongs to the Skeleton King…!
At that instant, the God of Penal Law's hand twitched. And then—a light fell upon the ritual grounds, but not one of execution. It was a light of barrier.
BOOM!
The barrier repelled every other soul and enclosed one person alone: Isaac.
The priests could only stare in disbelief. The original plan had been simple—the moment the god attacked, they would whisk Isaac away themselves.
"God of heaven! Why—?!"
If he was sealed in a barrier, how were they supposed to take him at all?!
Is he trapping him so he can't escape?
But no sooner had the God of Penal Law confined Isaac within the barrier than he stepped inside it himself. And the instant he did, he unleashed his power.
Light erupted from the ground beneath Isaac's feet.
KUGUNG!
It was the power of Soul Search.
KUGUNG!
Once.
KUGUNG!
Twice.
KUGUGUNG!
Three times…
…KUGUGUGUNG!
…Thirty times.
As the light rose and vanished, and rose and vanished again, dozens upon dozens of times, Isaac rubbed the back of his neck and tilted his head.
"You've scrambled your own brains. Checking that many times won't change anything, you know."
—……
The God of Penal Law's face had gone rigid. No—frozen solid would be more accurate, though he'd done his best to hide it.
In truth, the god could not think straight at all.
That soul… is the Skeleton King.
He didn't need to inspect the soul's imprint clinging to the mana core to be certain. The very shape of that soul—how could the gods possibly fail to recognize it?
The original—the one who had spent centuries turning the gods inside out, the one who had loomed over them as a threat in his own right.
The Skeleton King!
No—that was exactly what made no sense.
The one who should be sealed inside the maggot—why was he here?
Did the seal break at some point?
What was going on?
Or—was it that creature in his prison, sending an avatar out to scheme in his stead?
As though he'd plucked every unspoken thought straight out of that expressionless face, Isaac grinned.
"Yep. Your seal failed. Congrats."
Inside the barrier, all contact with the outside was severed. No one could tell what transpired within.
Knowing this perfectly well, Isaac wiggled the corners of his mouth.
"What, surprised to find me here or something?"
—Ah. Of course. An avatar. It's an avatar. You sent an avatar out through your minions. That's it.
Denying reality to the last, the God of Penal Law unleashed his slaying light as if it were none of his concern.
—Enough. Die as you are, in that human child's body. The body will be returned to its rightful owner.
Apparently, he had no idea that Isaac was this body's rightful owner.
"You can't kill me right now anyway."
Isaac drew a health potion from within his robes—the one sent by the Supreme God—and held it up. The moment he glimpsed the aura clinging to that potion, the God of Penal Law flinched and backed away a step.
At that expression—reverence, unmistakable reverence—Isaac smiled like a man who'd been waiting all day for this.
"Sure, you're an Upper God. But you're one of the lower ones. A bottom-tier Upper God like you, defying the Supreme God? You got a death wish or something?"
—……!
Of course, this was less a threat than a gamble.
Even if he is the Supreme God, I haven't actually contracted with him yet. I don't even know what the Supreme God wants. And I can't fully wield his power either.
In other words, honestly speaking, Isaac was in no position to intimidate other gods by invoking the Supreme God. All he could do for now was swagger around pretending to have a contract with one.
Well—the Supreme God would make him his eventually anyway.
But the God of Penal Law was evidently too embroiled in the chaos of this situation to see through any of it.
Why is the Skeleton King here? And why would the Supreme God—
What in the world is this situation?
But Isaac simply tucked the Supreme God's potion away again and snickered.
"What's with that face? When you run into an old friend after all this time, you're supposed to say hello!"
A friend, my ass.
At that expression, Isaac cackled.
The God of Penal Law.
Well, there had been a few gods he'd gotten relatively close with back in the day, and this one was among them. Stodgy and insufferably old-fashioned—but at least the kind of acquaintance you could trade information with.
Though I never dreamed the Red Faith's brat would summon him of all people.
But the God of Penal Law—his reason gradually reassembling itself—was thinking something entirely different. This was not a problem that could be resolved on his authority alone.
He would have to report to the higher ranks. Mobilize every hand in the God Realm immediately, assess the situation, and recapture the Skeleton King.
And that very Skeleton King is inside the Holy Empire…
This was a calamity.
—…I must report this to the higher ranks.
"Puhet. Can you, though? Can you?"
—What?
"Doesn't it strike you as odd? Why would I be here? Your seal failed, didn't it? And that failed seal—tell me, who do you think was in charge of it?"
Ominous.
That smirking, smug little face sent chills down his spine.
And sure enough—
The grin stretched from ear to ear, as though everything—the shattering of the God of Penal Law's statue, the jubilation the moment Naizer's summon revealed its identity—had all been part of the plan.
"Guess what? That failed seal? Your son is the one who botched it!"
…Damn it all.
The God of Penal Law had no idea what he was hearing—but a nagging suspicion did begin to surface.
Indeed, Isaac smirked.
Didn't a certain group of gods show up waving the sealing maggot around and throwing their weight about, once they'd learned of the contract fraud?
—Do you know how this world has endured until now? Because of this. The great calamities of ages past were all sealed within it.
—You ought to be grateful that the gods lent you their hands and feet at all—yet you, ignorant of your place, dare to expect compensation?
Yes. The one who'd said that had been the God of Penal Law—or rather, his son. In truth, the seal had failed because of a name, but well, he didn't owe them enough to mention that part.
"Sooo, I wouldn't mind if you reported all this to the God Realm. But aren't you people big on collective punishment? When this little story travels up the chain, I imagine the picture it paints will be very interesting."
—……
"Our dear Penal Law is due for a promotion to the ranks of the Chief Gods, isn't he? Screw up this badly and that's not a demotion—that's a one-way ticket out, no? And when the other higher-ups…the Chief Gods find out, you'll be annihilated, won't you?"
—…What is it you want?
The God of Penal Law resolved to leave this place at once and sort out the situation.
A nightmare. This was a nightmare.
Yes—first, he would verify the maggot that held the Skeleton King. And then reassess everything from the top.
But a former Demon King as vicious as this one would never have failed to calculate for even that.
No—if anything, Isaac uttered the very words that would spell ruin for him and all his brood.
"Kya, we're getting along great! Simple, then. Contract with me."
—Fine, I under—
……
…I'm sorry, what?