The New Holy Relic (5)
The pain radiating through my entire body was beyond comprehension. I couldn’t understand how anyone endured this kind of agony. Then again, every team member who had taken this attack had passed out, so perhaps they simply couldn’t bear it. I had kept them unconscious just to be safe, and now I was grateful I had. This was pain no one could withstand even if they tried.
“Ughhhhh!!!”
If I had any divine power left in my body, I might have resisted. But I had used nearly all of it, leaving me hollow. As a result, I couldn’t fight back at all. The Evil God’s energy flooded into me unchecked.
“Priest!”
“How did he die?! Who was responsible for watching that thing?!”
Through the muffled ringing in my ears, a few voices stood out sharply. It seemed one of the hostages we had captured had regained consciousness and secretly taken his own life, triggering the human bomb right beside me. Everyone had been exhausted from the fighting, so security had inevitably grown lax. I just never imagined I would be the one to pay for it.
What do I do now?
I had wondered why the team treated me with such respect. But if I were in their place, I would have shown the same courtesy to anyone who freed me from this torment. I wished someone would help me, but I already knew the truth. Melody had no ability to heal me.
I have to overcome this alone.
But how? The Evil God’s energy was ravaging me from the inside. It spread from my arms through my chest and down to my legs, instantly paralyzing its victim. All I could do was thrash helplessly in the pain. Imagine a leg cramp, except the cramp is everywhere in your body. That might give you some idea why I couldn’t do anything at all.
“What should we do? Is there truly no method? We cannot lose the priest like this!”
Another desperate cry rang out. They seemed convinced I was dying.
Ah… I really might die here. Is this how it ends? So pointlessly?
Even when the suicide bomber had detonated, I hadn’t truly believed I might die. But now that I thought about it, without someone’s help, death was the only outcome. The Evil God’s energy that had seized my whole body was now moving to crush my lungs.
It wasn’t as if I had done nothing. I had desperately tried to draw out my divine power. But it was useless. The Evil God’s energy dominating me was too vast, and the divine power I possessed was too meager.
“Priest Arthur, can you hear me?”
…Melody?
“This should help. So please do not give up. Fight with everything you have!”
It would help? What would? While I was still confused, I realized what she had done to save me. An overwhelming flood of divine power began pouring into my body.
With this…!
There was only one possible source for such an enormous quantity of divine power.
The Holy Relic!
She must have broken its seal and awakened its full strength for my sake. The divine power stored within the Holy Relic entered me and created the resistance needed to suppress the Evil God’s energy.
I frantically absorbed the divine power that kept flowing into me. Was this the true power of a Holy Relic? The amount was so vast I wondered if it even had an end.
The Evil God’s energy occupying my body lashed out at the incoming divine power.
Cough—!
The internal battle sent heat surging through me and made every inch of my body scream. Since there wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t already hurt, the added pain didn’t change much.
“Ugh! He’s coughing up blood?! Are you sure he’s all right??”
“He is fighting.”
Melody calmly explained my condition to the worried team members. It was far better than lying there helplessly. My body was in worse shape than before, but at least now there was a chance for recovery. From this point on, it was a race against time. And as long as the Holy Relic remained by my side, I was certain I would be the victor.
Only now did I truly understand why people called the Holy Relic so extraordinary.
The divine power it contained completely overwhelmed the Evil God’s energy that had invaded my body. Unlike the limited power of the Evil God, the divine power flowing from the Holy Relic was like an ocean. There was no question who would win.
The concentration is on a completely different level. This is divine power that has been condensed for at least three hundred years.
Of course, my body—the battlefield for these two forces—ended up tattered as the price of victory. But what did that matter? The situation had shifted from certain death to a chance at survival. It was a priceless triumph.
Moreover, my previously empty body was now filled to the brim with the dense divine power drawn from the Holy Relic.
I can’t lose consciousness.
Even in my exhausted state, I fought with everything I had to stay awake. If I passed out, who would heal this body? I focused entirely on directing the thick divine power now packed inside me to mend my wounds.
Because it came directly from the Holy Relic, its healing effect was on an entirely different level from my usual divine power.
“Priest, are you all right?”
Noticing I had regained consciousness, Melody took my hand to help rouse my senses.
“Mmm…”
“Do you remember where you are?”
“Melody…”
“Yes. It is me, Melody. Are your thoughts clearing?”
“What… happened?”
My throat was so raw my voice came out hoarse. Still, I forced the words out because she seemed worried. Sensing my discomfort, she brought water to soothe my throat. After drinking it, my surroundings slowly came into focus.
“This place…”
“Outside the Labyrinth.”
“Was I unconscious that long?”
In my memory, it felt as if I had never lost consciousness at all. But waking up proved otherwise. The fact that enough time had passed for us to leave the Labyrinth was even more shocking.
“We only just exited and brought you to the treatment center. This is the inpatient ward. The priests examined your condition and confirmed there are no critical issues.”
“Ha… Everyone must have been startled.”
I never wanted to show them a sight like this, yet here we were. The young chick priests and my fellow healers must have been terrified seeing me carried in unconscious. At least they only saw me after I had already been treated.
If they had witnessed me corrupted by the Evil God’s energy…
Things I didn’t even want to imagine would have happened.
“What about the team members?”
“They are receiving treatment. It appears difficult, however.”
“I see.”
I immediately thought I should get up and help the other priests treat them.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to assist with their treatment.”
I tried to rise, but I couldn’t. Unfortunately, Melody was pressing down firmly on my chest with her hand. My face burned with embarrassment at being physically overpowered by a woman smaller than myself.
“Could you please let go?”
She was restraining me with only one hand.
“You must not move yet. You are a patient as well.”
“I’m fully recovered. Ah! You revealed the Holy Relic because of me, didn’t you? What happened with it?”
There were too many questions. I wanted to know what had become of the assassins and how the situation with the Holy Relic had unfolded.
“The Holy Relic… is beside you, Priest.”
“What? You left it here? You must be more careful! What if it gets stolen again like before?”
It was still here instead of being sent to the Holy Empire? It seemed Melody had been too flustered to think clearly and had made a mistake. I was about to urgently tell her to send it immediately when I looked around and saw nothing resembling the Holy Relic.
“I don’t see it.”
“It is here. Inside your body, Priest.”
“???”
Inside my body? I thought she might be referring to the divine power I had received from the relic.
“Did something go wrong with the Holy Relic because of me?”
In the current situation, that was the only explanation that made sense.
“Nothing went wrong. The Holy Relic simply made its choice.”
“What do you…”
She said nothing had gone wrong, but to anyone looking it clearly appeared otherwise.
“Listen calmly.”
Melody hesitated, then let out a small sigh and began to explain. It concerned what had happened while I was unconscious and overtaken by the Evil God’s energy.
“I knew I needed divine power to save you, Priest. But I also knew my own power would not be enough. So I thought of the Holy Relic. When I awakened the dormant relic, Priest Arthur, you used its power to fight the Evil God’s energy.”
“Yes. I remember. That is why I am still breathing right now.”
“In that process, the Holy Relic chose you.”
“The Holy Relic chooses its master…”
I wasn’t ignorant of what Melody was saying. I hadn’t asked because I failed to understand. How could I easily accept that I had been chosen by a Holy Relic? Such a selection was not granted to just anyone.
“The Holy Relic that chose you has merged into your body, Priest.”
Only then did I become aware that my body felt fundamentally different. The immense divine power I sensed in every cell. My body was so full of it that the word “immense” felt like an understatement.
“Ah!”
If the Holy Relic had truly taken residence within me, this overwhelming divine power finally made sense. I wasn’t sure whether I should rejoice or worry, but my greatest concern right now was that I would be unable to return the relic again.
“So I cannot send it away after all?”
“That is not what matters. Once you prove that the Holy Relic has chosen to dwell within you, you will be recognized as a Saint.”
A Saint? I was supposed to become a Saint???