Chapter 117
With the ban on using the academy's water supply, the place buzzed with complaints for a while. For students parched after training, the cutoff was a massive inconvenience, and even meals became a hassle since they had to source water separately, throwing preparations into disarray.
The Empire called in experts to inspect the facilities for sewer issues, but there was nothing wrong with the infrastructure itself. Then, some inspectors lost contact while checking the underground waterways, sparking creepy rumors that the changed taste of the water was due to the missing workers' bodies.
As student backlash grew, the professors started supplying external water, but there were limits to the quantity and distribution system. A few reckless students ignored the restrictions and used the fountains anyway. My team and I put up with the hassle, but a bad feeling kept us avoiding them as much as possible.
For now, we've collected samples of the tainted water and requested analysis, but the results aren't coming back quickly.
Thanks to the young lady's connections, we'd asked the Euse family to analyze it, but they were already swamped with Drak drug research, so no quick reply.
I sighed and slipped my training shirt back on when I noticed a message on my Communication Stone.
"Ah, Lord! This is Rotten from the guard corps—it's an emergency! You need to come here right now!!"
"Yes, Mars Noctus speaking."
"What happened? Why the sudden—"
"The Heaven God Cult's Sub-Cult Leader has appeared here!!"
……What?
* * *
After hearing the guard's report, I rushed to the scene.
"Ah, Lord! Over here!!"
The central square was packed with crowds, and in the middle, armed guards had their swords drawn, facing off against one man.
The robed figure didn't flinch at the sharp blades pointed at him. He just stood there calmly, like he was waiting for someone.
"What happened?"
"W-well... This guy claiming to be the Heaven God Cult's Sub-Cult Leader suddenly appeared there, asking for you. Said he had private words to exchange..."
"With me?"
I glanced cautiously at the Sub-Cult Leader. The moment our eyes met—he'd spotted me too, turning his head my way.
"......First time seeing you. Nice to meet you."
His low, quiet tone made it hard to believe he was a captive. His leisurely voice and demeanor, like he'd just stepped out for a park stroll, sent an inexplicable chill of dread through us.
As I tried to guess what tricks he might have up his sleeve or what vile schemes he hid, he spoke as if reading my mind.
"No need to be so guarded. I just... wanted to exchange greetings, since this might be the end."
"The end?"
"Hm. I didn't expect this moment to come so soon, but someone thoroughly shattered every plan I'd meticulously laid. No point sticking to the script anymore."
I couldn't see his face through the robe's shadows, but I was sure he was glaring at me. The prickling gaze made it clear there was no goodwill in his eyes.
"Cut the bullshit. What do you want."
"Oh dear. I risked my life to come here in person, and you greet me so curtly? Even I'd feel slighted."
Feigning hurt with a sullen tone, the Sub-Cult Leader fixed his gaze on a boy among the onlookers staring at him. The child, frightened by the intense stare, clung to his father's ankle. The dad scooped him up, hugging him tight to shield his face.
"......Brings back memories. That child feared strangers too. On visits to others' homes, I'd sweat bullets soothing his endless tears."
I let him ramble, hoping for clues to his identity, but he just stared at the boy and shook his head slightly.
"Sigh. The end makes me sentimental. I thought I'd discarded such emotions when I opened my eyes, but these remnants are annoyingly persistent."
"Don't change the sub—"
He raised a hand, cutting me off mid-sentence. It was a simple gesture, but the overwhelming pressure made me shut my mouth involuntarily.
"What do you think of gods?"
"......Gods?"
"Yes. Gods."
"Not particularly fond, but not something I can dismiss."
With holy power existing and reincarnators like me, gods had to be real. No warm feelings, though.
"The god most humans in this era worship... the Creation Goddess. The first deity to open this world's gates."
The Creation Goddess, revered by the Goddess Church, was the creator of this world—called the Goddess of Light, Justice, and more. Her traces were everywhere in human life, passed down in myths, nearly a monotheistic figure now.
"She who opened the heavens, bringer of light, mother of humanity... She claims all the flattering titles, the supreme god none can deny."
"But do you truly believe she created this world alone?"
"Light begets shadow inevitably, so why is only the goddess of light passed down?"
"You saying... the goddess had a sibling?"
"Indeed."
"?!"
The bombshell from the Sub-Cult Leader. Church doctrine held the goddess as the first and only god born into this world—his words were utter heresy.
"The goddess had a younger sister. Unlike her sister who brought light, this one shrouded in darkness. Together, they crafted morning and night with their powers, sun and moon, humans... and demonkin."
There may be a race called demonkin, but we're not so different from humans. At most, black bodies and eyes? And unlike humans active by day, we move at night. Nothing else sets us apart.
Breathing, sleeping, speaking, meeting people, loving, bearing children—our demonkin lives mirror yours exactly.
I had a wife, a beloved son. Treasures irreplaceable by anything in the world...
But our creator didn't like that. Unlike her radiant sister, she saw her dark, gloomy self and creations as shabby, repulsive.
Her self-loathing deepened, eventually lashing out at her own creations.
Slaughtering endlessly, ripping out hearts as 'sacrifices.' I admit it—she who made me was a bitch. An undeniably mad woman.
We envied humans. Living happily under the goddess's protection, basking in warm sunlight.
Yet I couldn't abandon our mother. I clung to hope she'd one day repent and embrace us.
......Foolish delusion.
She never changed. She brainwashed her creations to attack humans indiscriminately.
Unlike her stronger, shining sister, she had one special power: Madness.
A force granting immense strength in exchange for dark emotions in the soul.
Most demonkin, hearts withered by her long tyranny, succumbed fully to her waves of madness, becoming monsters craving slaughter and cannibalism.
That's the 'revival of the cruel demon king' from myths.
Madness-warped warriors hunted humans relentlessly. Devoid of self or reason, the continent drowned in blood.
Enraged, the goddess descended herself, unleashing her fury openly.
Lightning from the skies, fireballs devouring demonkin alive, blade-winds shredding flesh—disasters claimed them all, reduced to ash or severed heads.
But she didn't stop. Deeming any surviving demonkin a threat to humans, she slaughtered the innocent too.
Even those untouched by madness' scraps—she exterminated us like pesky bugs.
Only then did I realize our creator and the goddess were no different.
Amid thunderous roars and demonkin screams of grudge, I fled clutching my son.
My pure, innocent child, never tainted by madness—I ran with all my might to save him.
But could one evade a god's eyes? Soon, heavenly punishment rained from above.
I begged the goddess. Spare my son. He's pure, innocent—take my life instead, let him live.
No answer came. My son died.
She let us burn slowly in agony. Watching my boy engulfed in unquenchable flames, the scent of searing flesh... not pleasant at all.
Grief worse than the flames devouring me closed my eyes. I awoke in a cave.
A pitch-black cave. There, a woman bound in chains, abandoned alone.
Instinct told me: our mother.
Defeated by her sister, sealed deep underground, she'd endured endless lonely years unable to die.
Why I awoke there, I don't know. But one emotion consumed me: vengeance.
Against the mother who toyed with us, the goddess who massacred our kin.
As rage against the gods swelled within, a voice echoed from my depths.
......Devour the god before you.