Let's Assess the Situation, Shall We? (4)
"What the hell is this?!"
Isaac screamed as he stared at the back of his hand, wearing the expression of a man who had just watched a gigantic cockroach pop out of his palm and wave hello.
"Why is this on meeee!"
Isaac's face was a portrait of pure despair, but Shuri's eyes had gone round as saucers.
"Wait. Isn't that the Supreme God's sigil? You contracted with it?"
"No!"
Isaac denied it and tried to hide his arm, but Shuri seized it, confirmed the contract, and his face lit up brighter than ever.
No—'lit up' wasn't the word. He looked downright moved to tears.
"You sly bastard, so this was all part of your plan!"
What—what the hell, you punk?!
A plan? What plan?!
"You were secretly scheming to contract with the Supreme God all along, weren't you!"
No! This was not my idea!
"That's my cunning, despicable Isaac for you! I always believed in you, you rascal!"
Wait, why does that sound like a compliment but feel like an insult?
The priests of the Gold Faith, meanwhile, had no choice but to stand there dumbfounded. No—dumbfounded didn't cover it. Their pupils had gone completely dilated.
Of course it was shocking enough that the Supreme God had slipped into Blue hands. But more than that, they had just handed Isaac their precious guardian deity.
And now… he'd pulled a fast one on them like this?
He'd snatched up the Supreme God the very second they handed over their guardian deity?
Do these Blue bastards have no sense of ethics at all?
Isaac shook his head at the looks they were giving him.
"No, seriously, this wasn't my will."
"Isaac! You magnificent bastard, you really are something!"
"I said it wasn't, you shit-eating Shuri!"
"That's right! I always knew you were this ruthlessly vicious! You even gutted them for their guardian deity!"
Son of a—!
But no matter what Isaac said, the Gold priests just stood there, souls leaving their bodies as they stared at the back of his hand.
It's not… an illusion.
He would have preferred it if they'd merely been pretending to contract. But that was a genuine contract mark. That was exactly why they were so flustered.
…He just contracted a second time?
Insane. Is that even possible?
By an apprentice, no less?
With the Supreme God, of all things?
Their heads were spinning.
No, that's not the point.
The point was that this little bastard had pocketed their guardian deity and then pulled the bottom card right out from under them.
These Blue bastards. They weren't just after enemies—they'd planned to toy with Gold from the very beginning!
Yes, and right now they were snickering happily while screwing Gold over…
"AAAAAGH! I demand contract annulmeeent!"
"…Huh?"
Isaac himself was rolling around on the floor, clutching his wrist as if it were about to fall off.
"Damn it, this is cheating! Contract annulment! HELLLP MEEE!"
What the hell is even happening right now?
And then the bastard rolling around next to Shuri rolled right toward them—
"Ugh! Just tell me how to annul a contract already, you revolting bastards!"
—and grabbed at the Cardinal's collar like he was threatening him. The Gold priests could only blink their eyes furiously in shock.
"You wreck our entire deal, and now what?"
"I didn't dooo it!"
He was about to argue what 'didn't do it' even meant, but the Gold Cardinal clicked his tongue and held out his hand.
"Give me your hand."
"Your Eminence!"
"I know this wasn't your intent, so I shall annul the contract for you."
"Your Eminence! You believe the word of this—this creature?"
"What's a priest supposed to do, refuse to believe someone?"
"!"
"Besides, Blue is not the kind to deceive people. Only vile heretics deceive."
"Your Eminence!"
Yes—it was far better this way. The alternative, that they'd all been played by a brat's little scheme, was infinitely more infuriating.
And if he could just get the Supreme God back, there was nothing he wouldn't do.
The Gold Cardinal gripped Isaac's wrist with one hand and, flicking his sleeve with the other, invoked a divine art.
"A contract with the gods cannot be severed by force. But if you truly wish it broken, it will dissolve more easily than drinking water."
For it was humans, after all, who were the keepers of faith in the gods.
"If you had no intention of deceiving us, then I will help you."
Isaac nodded along eagerly.
"The moment you resolve to break your contract with the god, it will be broken."
"Gotchya."
The Gold Cardinal and Isaac, in perfect accord, moved to annul the contract with the Supreme God.
"Now then—"
"Yep! I've made up my mi-i-ind!"
At Isaac's word, the Gold Cardinal activated the annulment divine art.
—Bond Incineration.
A golden divine art wrapped around Isaac's body.
And in time with his solemn resolve to sever the contract with the god, the divine art moved to erase the contract mark—
"…"
"…"
The Gold Cardinal tilted his head.
He had clearly cast the annulment art, yet the contract mark on the boy's hand was perfectly intact.
"…?"
Had something gone wrong?
The Gold Cardinal narrowed his eyes and spoke stiffly.
"Don't let your thoughts wander. Focus. Focus and will the contract with the god to be broken. That is all it takes."
"I waaas focusing. I gotchya."
"Then again."
"Okayyy."
Once more, golden light enveloped Isaac. And once more, in accordance with the art of Bond Incineration, the contract mark began to—
"…"
"…"
Why won't it erase?
By that point, the Gold priests' faces had grown distinctly anxious.
"Again."
At the cardinal's increasingly menacing voice, the Gold priests swallowed hard.
"Again."
"Again."
"Again."
By roughly the thirtieth time golden light had burst out in a frenzy, the Gold priests were stealing wary glances at their cardinal's face.
Isaac, for his part, just kept blinking.
"It's not annul-lii-ing."
By then, the expression on the Gold Cardinal's face as he looked at Isaac was something to behold.
…You little bastard. Are you mocking me right now?
You never intended to annul it at all, did you?
As a Cardinal, he had every reason to be furious.
Shuri, meanwhile, went khehe, that's my delinquent brat for you and beamed with pride, while the Gold priests bristled with rage.
"Are you mocking His Eminence right now?!"
"That divine art won't activate unless the caster genuinely intends to break the contract!"
"So you never meant to annul it at all!"
But Isaac couldn't help feeling wronged.
No! I resolved to do it like a madman!
I screamed 'get lost, Supreme God, I'm annulling this contract' thousands of times! If anything, I'm the victim here, since the damn thing won't break!
There was no need to ask why it wouldn't break.
"This wasn't my will! The god is blocking it!"
"The gods do not cherish mortals that dearly. They may intervene in contracts, but they don't micromanage their annulment one by one."
Aooogh! This is an injustice!
'Supreme God, you bastard! Who gave you the right to contract with me without asking, and then block me from breaking it too?!'
But Shuri was celebrating as if he'd won the lottery, and even Whisper sounded like he was telling Isaac to give up.
'It is NOT a good thiiiiing!'
Finally, the Gold Cardinal had had enough. He stalked toward Isaac, veins standing out on his face.
"Give back what we gave you."
"!"
Having realized he'd been played, the Gold Cardinal moved to reclaim the guardian deity.
"To insult a sacred exchange like this."
"No! I told you, I didn't contract of my own will!"
"Whether intentional or not, it is still a breach of contract. Am I wrong?"
At those words, Isaac's eyes rolled in a slow, guilty orbit.
Uh… no, technically it is a breach. Yeah. Yeah, it is.
"If it truly was a mistake, then return the guardian deity we granted you. That is the duty of honor here."
The fact that they were forced to reclaim their guardian deity at all meant it really was a priceless treasure. No doubt, upon hearing the words 'Supreme God,' they had brought something at least of matching weight class.
Not because they were suckers—but because they refused to be called lacking. It was the pride of the highest house.
Shuri nodded along as if the Gold Cardinal were entirely right.
Honestly, given the situation, returning it was the proper thing to do.
'It's a shame to lose the guardian deity, but compared to the Supreme God… eh.'
"That's right, Isaac. Just think of it as having gained something even better—"
But Isaac, whose eyes had been spinning and spinning, bowed his head deeply.
"I shall never forget this graceth!"
And bolted.
The moment he snatched the guardian deity and ran, the expressions on the priests left standing were something to behold.
Uh… so this is a dine-and-dash… a DEITY-AND-DASH?!
"…That lunatic?!"
"A double contract!"
The unexpected news threw the apprentices into an uproar.
"This is insane…"
"It's possible to contract with two gods?"
The apprentices had gathered in the banquet hall ahead of the Pentagon results. Confusion, astonishment, and envy were written across every single face.
No—"I can't believe it" would have been more accurate.
"Kina's the only one who contracted with the Twin Gods, and that's still technically two. But Isaac's two gods come from completely different faiths!"
"And one of them is the Supreme God…!"
Everyone was stunned by the absurdity of it all, but there was another reason the hall was buzzing.
"Hey, so what happens to the Black Pentagon rankings now?"
There had been strong calls to award first place to Kina, who held the contract with the highest-ranked Twin Gods. But the Black Cardinal had ruthlessly demoted them to a joint first—no, in truth, a joint second, outright erasing first place entirely.
The reason was simple.
"Among anything less than the Supreme God, there is no ranking to be made between Upper Gods."
"B-but, Your Excellency. Wasn't the criterion for winning the Black Pentagon choosing the best god?"
"The best god? Are those little brats so exceptional, then?"
"Er, what?"
"Ranking mere Upper Gods against one another is meaningless."
"But if we leave it as is, there will be objections—"
"Do not mistake yourselves. There is no hierarchy in faith. Perhaps because they're still wet behind the ears, these children understand neither propriety nor duty."
"…Then what of the prize for first place?"
"What would we award to a joint second, anyway?"
"…"
This man. It all sounds very principled, but didn't he just shove everyone down to second place because he didn't want to hand out the prize?
At any rate, that was how things stood: first place did not exist.
And then the Supreme God had to show up.
Right on cue, as if summoned by the thought.
"Silence. Take your seats."
"!"
The doors of the banquet hall burst open and masked priests of the Black Faith poured in.
Every single clergyman of the Black Faith wore a mask at all times, so almost no one knew their faces. Their priestly robes covered them from head to toe as if avoiding even a sliver of exposed skin, complete with black gloves.
Are they… master torturers?
Chilling, if you found them chilling; sinister, if you found them sinister.
Amid that uncanny tension, the Black priests spoke.
"There has been a change in the rankings."
"!"
Every apprentice in the hall swallowed hard.
"As a result of our deliberations, the first place of the Black Pentagon is hereby awarded to Isaac Eschua."
The moment the words left the priest's mouth, cheers and gasps of disbelief erupted across the hall—while those who despised Isaac wore expressions like they'd just chewed on dung.
A Black priest continued.
"Isaac Eschua will report to the Cardinal's office afterward to receive his prize."
"YEAH!"
Team Blue leapt to their feet, faces brighter than they had been all day.
"Is this a dream or real life!"
Their eyes were rimmed red.
"This could be Blue's very first Pentagon victory in history!"
For the faith that had always been scorned, their chests could hardly contain it. And with the greatest record of all, no less! Isaac had etched the Supreme God into history!
Yes, but—
"And where is this Isaac?"
The seat where Isaac should have been sitting was empty. Team Blue could only stare blankly at Shuri.
"Shuri. Where's Isaac?"
"…How the hell would I know."
Shuri just sighed, one hand pressed to his forehead.
That bastard Isaac had dined-and-dashed with the guardian deity and vanished without a trace.
'I saw the Gold priests hunting for him, though.'
"Well, whatever—Blue might actually win the Pentagon."
"Isaac will be thrilled when he hears. I can't wait for the final results."
But the Black priests spoke as if to say, don't celebrate just yet.
"With this, the Pentagon evaluations spanning the past year are complete. From here on, you will all step out into the world in earnest, building upon the fundamentals you acquired during your apprenticeship. You will come to work in concert with your senior priests."
At those words, the apprentices' faces visibly twisted.
'Ugh… so this is the beginning of that famous senior-hazing purgatory.'
'I heard the initiation rites are no joke either.'
Granted, as apprentices they'd already seen bishops at the Pentagon, but it's an eternal truth that someone one or two years your senior is far scarier than someone your father's age.
Sure enough, young priests were standing in the corridor near the doors, glaring with predatory eyes.
Unlike the apprentices, who were barely in their late teens, these men ranged from their twenties to their thirties, and some of them looked imposing at a glance. Second-Class Priests.
"The apprentice graduation ceremony will be held at the New Year's banquet in February. In January, everyone returns home for the New Year's Thanksgiving holiday, so if you can make nice with your seniors and build connections before then, so much the better."
…Make nice? MAKE NICE?
They're looking at us with faces that say they're about to grind us into the dirt starting now?
'And of all people, the Chief of the Second-Class Priests is here too.'
'Isn't the Chief supposed to be their ace? Why is he here?'
'Well, proof that he's got his eye on Isaac, I suppose.'
Whatever. It didn't matter.
The Chief's faction, which led those Second-Class Priests, was powerful, and if you got on their bad side, life stayed miserable even after graduation. If anything, these were the very people you needed to impress.
'At this point, I just have to make sure Isaac doesn't pull any stupid stunts.'
There was nothing to gain from getting blacklisted before you'd even graduated.
Well. Isaac surely had enough sense not to—
"The hell are you dingy bastards supposed to be?!"
"!"
Isaac burst onto the scene, apparently fleeing a mob of Gold priests.
"Catch that brat!"
"Give back the guardian deity!"
At the sight, Shuri shot to his feet in a panic.
"Isaac! Get over here, now! Look, the seniors are here! Get your ass over before you pull something in front of the Chief!"
The Chief of the Second-Class Priests clicked his tongue at the shadow he could see approaching from a distance.
"So that's the famous Isaac Eschua."
"Just as the rumors say—an ill-mannered colt with not a shred of dignity."
That was what they said, but inwardly they were clearly anticipating this. Their faces said they believed they could bring Isaac to heel.
"Eschua! We are in the middle of explaining your graduation. Return to your seat at once!"
They gestured Isaac toward his place, but he only flashed them a gleaming grin.
"Ugh, I'm dying for time here! Why are you blocking the way?!"
Isaac cast the Leap divine art on his legs. Then, with a mighty bound, he used a senior priest's head as a stepping-stone—
…What?
A stepping-stone for what?
CRUNCH!
Of all the seniors he could have chosen, he landed squarely on the Chief's face.
…Right. Absolutely satisfying.
…Satisfying?
"Sorry! Move it, ugly! You're my stepping-stone!"
"?!"
Shuri's and Team Blue's pupils went fully dilated at the spectacle.
…Oh, shit. We are so, so dead.