When the Seal Breaks (3)
A black shadow swayed before his eyes.
But it was nothing like the cunning demonic power that lesser demons spat out. It was dark — and yet, without question, it was the power of a god.
It felt like the deep sea. Utterly dark at its core, and yet not so different from the way people hesitate to call the abyss a world of fallen devils — that exact sensation.
And still, its essence was darkness.
Darkness so profound it would shatter the mind, letting the darkness within come seeping out until it stained everything black. Merely facing that existence felt like being dragged down into a fathomless abyss.
Yet Isaac, far from recoiling, spread his arms wide as if he'd been waiting for this very moment.
“Come on, then, you little bastard! I'm your sacrifice!”
Shuri nearly had a heart attack at the sight.
“Hey! Are you insane?!”
Shuri had already figured out what the dark entity gunning for Isaac was. At first he hadn't been sure, but the features, the behavior — it was unmistakable.
“That's the Awakening God of Darkness!”
He knew the stages of House Eshua's holy arts well enough himself. The power of the Blue Faith was divided into two stages: the Patience Stage and the Transcendence Stage.
What House Eshua currently wielded was the Patience Stage — the holy arts from the 1st through the 9th Tier, drawing on the Light God's power. A dim, borrowed light, closer to moonlight than sun.
To shine brighter than that, one had to cross into the Transcendence Stage: the state of completion where one swallowed the darkness through the Awakening God of Darkness and learned to radiate light from within.
In other words, the Blue Faith had, in a sense, only ever been using half its strength. Powerful as the 9th-Tier arts of the Patience Stage might be.
But what if one reached the Transcendence Stage?
Overwhelming power.
The power to destroy the Skeleton Demon King himself.
The Patience Stage was, in essence, nothing more than a preliminary step for swallowing this darkness. Which was why countless Eshuas across the generations had tried to devour the Awakening God of Darkness and ascend — and every last one had failed.
Even Grandfather tried it once, and ended up sealing the thing right back up.
Did no one realize the family had declared it forbidden?
Grandfather told him never to touch it for as long as he lived. That should've been the end of the conversation.
“That thing has driven everyone who ever touched it completely mad, and you're actually trying to die?!”
Shuri tried to hold Isaac back, but the Awakening God of Darkness surged with power.
“Ugh!”
The dark god circled around Isaac, clearly sizing him up before making a meal of him.
— Platinum blonde. A child beloved by the gods, I see.
The Awakening God of Darkness seemed utterly delighted with Isaac. Whatever else you could say about him, Isaac was a Saintess's child. His body at least had to be pristine.
— You will taste exquisite, untouched.
At that moment, Rillai and the knights came crashing into the prayer chamber.
“Isaac!”
“Young Lord—ugh!”
But the overwhelming force pouring off the dark god was enough to throw back Rillai and even his 8th-Tier knights.
Anyone could see the darkness had eyes only for Isaac. Rillai ground his teeth. He'd realized exactly how this had come to pass.
Noel…! So this is how far you were willing to go!
This was proof that Noel had activated the Rite of Saintess Awakening. He'd come hunting for a living sacrifice.
“Isaac, hold on — I'll get you out of there!”
“No thanks, I'm good!”
“!”
Isaac curled the corner of his mouth as the black aura wheeled round and round him.
Yes. This is exactly what I was after.
He'd thought the eel Awakening God had decent abilities, but the Awakening God of Darkness?
Far more powerful than I expected.
It was on a completely different plane from that eel the Gold Faction had summoned. Honestly, it was astonishing that something this potent had been sleeping under House Eshua all along.
So this is why even the gods tried to use it for their awakenings.
At the same time, another truth clicked into place from what the God of Penal Law had said.
The Supreme God holds the power of both light and darkness.
Which meant that embracing yin and yang at once was the true road to the summit. After all, the darker the night, the brighter the light shines.
Detestable bastards.
Maybe that was why they'd refused to make the Skeleton Demon King human. Because someone so steeped in darkness might, just might, lay a hand on the light and rise to the very top. A Demon King touching the light was impossible, of course — but they'd wanted to snuff out even the faintest sliver of possibility.
And now, looking at this thing, Isaac was certain.
This one's strong enough to upgrade me properly — without sacrificing a single scrap of my mana.
No — maybe it could even make his mana grow?
Puh-huh. Isaac's lips couldn't help curling with delight.
By now, the Conclave for choosing the next Pope must be underway at the Holy See.
They'd confess their sins quickly, pick a new Pope, and maneuver for advantage. And the Gold Faction brats were no fools.
Under normal rules I'd be excluded from the papal candidacy — but I've already laid out every move.
All he needed now was the qualification of the 9th Tier.
Because let's face it — a mere 2nd-Class Priest has no legitimate claim to the papacy, does he?
Well, normally you'd have to climb to the 9th Tier step by prayerful step.
Skip it all?
Stay holed up in seclusion, living a quiet life of devotion?
With an Awakening God sitting right here? Why would I?
Wasn't the Transcendence Stage above even the 9th Tier? Wasn't the Patience Stage itself just a stepping stone to keep from being devoured by this very god?
Then if he simply ate the Awakening God of Darkness, couldn't he skip all the training entirely?
That was why, once Isaac learned of the dark god's existence, he had deliberately waited for Noel to make his move. He'd even warned his uncles not to interfere.
Why?
Because Isaac could have unleashed it himself, sure — but then it would run rampant and needlessly slaughter every innocent Eshua in the building.
But leave Noel to it?
A cornered Noel would awaken Kaya through a living sacrifice and try to kill his own nephew. That was the only path left for the man to save his own skin!
And once the target narrows to me, it won't touch anyone else.
Did they really think he'd waste strength on bystanders?
Every last drop of this power was his.
So Isaac flashed a grin at Rillai. Puh-hah!
“I went to the trouble of making it hunt only me, so don't go messing with it, you old fart!”
“Wh-what did you say?!”
“If House Eshua is going to stand tall for five generations to come, we have to use a hundred percent of the Blue Faith's power… right?! This thing was always meant to be eaten!”
“!”
The blood drained from Rillai's face.
“Don't tell me — this is what you were after!”
So that was why the boy had kept pestering him with questions about the Awakening God of Darkness!
At the same moment, the knights seemed to grasp it too, and recoiled in horror.
“No — Isaac, my lord. You made it target only you, to keep it from harming anyone else—?!”
“What?!”
Rillai shouted in panicked protest.
“Isaac! If your grandfather finds out, this time it won't end with your backside!”
His uncles raged, but Isaac only smiled sweetly and threw his arms wide.
“Come and get me!”
“Isaac!”
The darkness swallowed Isaac whole.
And Isaac sank into a deep, deep sleep.
The Holy See.
Holy Knights stood in solemn guard along the corridor as throngs of priests streamed in from every direction.
And no wonder — this was nothing less than the matter of deposing the current Pope and electing his successor. 1st-Grade Priests scattered across the far corners of the continent had concluded their duties and returned home.
The knights could only swallow hard at the sight.
“Whoa. Even the God of Silence's Hierarch is here.”
“There's the God of Veneration's, too.”
“First time seeing any of them in what, ten years?”
“Gah… isn't that one from the opposite end of the continent? There's no way he should be here.”
“Well, it is quite the matter……”
Not a single one of those who arrived was an ordinary priest.
Hierarchs.
They were the supreme clergymen who operated beyond the Empire's borders — including vanguards whose faces even a 1st-Grade Priest could scarcely hope to glimpse in a lifetime. Every one of them had shown up in the flesh.
And inside the assembly hall, the head of House Eshua set down the Pope's emblem — the Stigma — and delivered the final verdict.
Decisive evidence of the false Pope has been secured. By the unanimous accord of the twelve Hierarchs of the Five Faiths that constitute the Holy Empire, the seat of the Pope shall be returned to God, and the Conclave shall proceed.
With those few brief words, the deposition of the sitting Pope was settled in an instant.
“The question now is the next Pope.”
The hall erupted the moment the words left his mouth. And the priests of the Gold Faith were quick to speak.
“Is there even anything to deliberate? Naturally, the seat belongs to His Grace Kina Berith, eldest son of the current House Berith.”
“Quite right. This is the covenant of the Five Faiths. Has it not always been the Gold Faction that has held the papacy!”
Hollow laughter burst out from every corner of the hall.
“The Gold Faction caused this entire crisis, and you're joking?”
The Gold priests ground their teeth at the fierce backlash from the other faiths. However the sitting Pope had come to be deposed — dragging them all the way to a Conclave — their objective was one and the same.
First and foremost, Isaac Eshua must not become Pope.
He's only a 2nd-Class Priest anyway. He doesn't even qualify.
A 2nd-Class Priest meeting the conditions? Hardly.
It's not as if a boy who can't even properly cast healing arts could suddenly become a 9th Tier.
“In any case, the next Pope shall be chosen from among the 1st-Grade Priests—!”
But at that moment.
The Cardinal of Red raised a hand. Whoa, whoa — easy now.
“On this matter, a powerful revelation has come down from God. The next Pope shall be a Saint.”
“A Saint?!”
“It is written that a true light shall sweep away the darkness that mocks this Empire. Presumably the very affair before us now. And God has gone so far as to designate a candidate.”
The Gold priests opened their mouths to object, but the Cardinal of Red spoke first.
“The God of Rules — He who governs the laws of the world with strictness and perfect equality — has deigned to deliver His will personally.”
And with that, the assembly grumbled, but conceded.
The God of Rules is famously just and famously strict.
If it's Him, He can be trusted. That would make it fair, at least.
So Isaac's out of the running after all.
The Gold priests relaxed in relief — until someone spoke up.
“Wasn't Isaac Eshua among the Saint candidates?”
“Is this a joke?! How could someone who isn't even 9th Tier—!”
At the glinting, predatory looks in the Gold priests' eyes, the head of House Eshua narrowed his brow. One glance was enough — these bastards were dead set on excluding Isaac by any means necessary.
But Eli was hardly caught off guard. As things stood, Isaac could not possibly qualify even as a Conclave candidate. Even in Eli's eyes, the boy was still a long way off.
And yet, hadn't Isaac said this, just before Eli sent him to the capital?
— Don't worry, Grandpa. I'll nail the qualification in one shot.
Just how in the world did this brat intend to nail it?
Isaac — who had summoned the Awakening God of Darkness precisely to nail that qualification — opened his eyes.
It was cold, and it was dark.
So I got eaten by the Awakening God of Darkness.
Nothing around him but rippling, undulating dark.
Normally, this was where a person froze solid from the inside out, and then — reason and hope devoured — went raving mad.
Right on cue, the darkness began creeping up Isaac's body, coiling around it as if to claim its meal.
— How long has it been since I last fed?
The Awakening God of Darkness moved to devour Isaac. Then it sensed the mana dwelling in his body and burst into peals of laughter.
— A little whelp. It seems you've embraced the darkness, hoping to best me in your own small way. Ah well — sprouts like you do turn up now and then.
Isaac was disgusted.
Excuse me? Embraced the darkness?
Awakening God of Darkness, my ass. All this thing does is stimulate and draw out the darkness that living creatures already carry.
— Even the gods knelt before me. However promising the sprout, it will never do, against me.
Isaac snorted. Puh-hah. This bastard had no idea why he'd let himself be swallowed so willingly, did he?
“You're out here playing pretend with the darkness — and you dare square up against the darkness itself?”
— What?
Isaac's eyes shifted into demonic eyes.