Chapter 268: Mysophobia and Jealousy (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 268: Mysophobia and Jealousy (1)
On the outskirts of Rosario, just a short distance away.
Perched atop a cliff that offered a panoramic view of the capital sat a small cave.
This was the seclusion room where the current Pope was currently staying.
The Pope had not shown his face even once for several years.
Gathered around the cave were Roman and the cardinals who, until moments ago, had been in the Room of the Holy Spirit.
They were not alone.
The Paladin Order led by the cardinals, the inquisitors, and countless other clergymen had flocked to the cliff.
Everyone had gathered here for one reason.
The door of the seclusion room.
Or, to be more precise, the sigil glowing upon that door.
““…….””
Everyone stared at the sigil in silence.
Normally, that sigil should have been radiating the brilliant white light of the Holy Emblem, and indeed, it had been when the cardinals first arrived.
That was, until the cardinals used their divine power.
“…….”
Everyone gazed at it with grim expressions.
The sigil was oozing dark mana that dripped thickly to the ground as if it had been dipped in the abyss, radiating an unnerving amount of malice.
The moment they had applied divine power, the sigil had suddenly turned violent and feral. Realizing the gravity of the situation from that change alone, they had immediately summoned most of their available forces to the cliff.
“Well, it seems everyone is here, so I shall open it.”
Yutia, who had been in Rosario until she was urgently summoned, raised her hand toward the sigil that was dripping with the viscous abyss.
“I shall assist as well.”
Yuman raised his hand beside her.
Divine power flowed from both their hands.
“Ooh—”
As the clergymen let out low gasps of awe, the divine power instantly enveloped the abyss-tainted sigil.
Then, the sigil began to absorb the divine power at a terrifying speed.
Grrrrrrrrk—!
It twisted with a grating, unpleasant sound. The sigil began to vanish, bubbling away like melting iron.
And then.
Crunch!
With the sound of something being crushed, the sigil shattered completely. It scattered into the air and vanished as if it had never existed in the first place.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves!”
A paladin gave a loud command, drawing his sword.
A suffocating silence descended.
However, that silence did not last long.
The reason was simple.
“……Ho ho, it has been quite a long time.”
From within that abyss-like cave, a man—no,
“Your Holiness the Pope?”
The Pope, Villaniat, walked out.
Perhaps due to his long years of seclusion, his face was gaunt and his beard had grown past his navel.
Yet, everyone present recognized him instantly. The man standing before them was undoubtedly their Pope, Villaniat, who had vanished from public view years ago.
“Y-Your Holiness! Are you alright?”
One of the cardinals approached him, checking on his well-being.
Villaniat let out a hearty chuckle, seemingly in high spirits for the first time in a while.
“Of course I am fine. For I have attained a new enlightenment.”
“That is… that is truly a relief.”
“Yes, it is a relief indeed.”
Despite his aged body, his boisterous laughter exuded health, and everyone felt a wave of relief.
Unlike the ominous feeling the abyss-soaked sigil had given off, the Pope appeared perfectly normal.
However.
“…….”
One person among them, Sergius, felt something was off about the Pope.
‘……Something is strange.’
Most of those gathered here had never seen the Pope up close. Thus, they felt no sense of dissonance, but Sergius knew the Pope’s personality well.
Villaniat was a man who valued rules and principles above all else.
No matter how urgent the matter, and even if the sigil outside had turned dark and murky—if someone had disturbed his seclusion, the current Pope, Villaniat, was the type of person who would have been furious first.
Yet this Pope had come out and hadn't even frowned or checked the situation. He didn't even question why such a large force had gathered here.
Of course, it was possible he was simply so happy to be out that he was deferring his questions. But there were other oddities.
‘……His Holiness should be seeing that cardinal for the first time.’
Given Villaniat’s personality, if he saw someone he didn't recognize wearing a cardinal’s robes, he would have certainly pointed it out. To have no reaction at all was bizarre.
Just as Sergius tilted his head in confusion.
“Could everyone look at me for a moment?”
The Pope, Villaniat, spoke.
Every eye turned toward him.
Then, with a smile that suggested he was satisfied with the attention, the Pope’s body—
“……?”
Slowly, he began to grow younger.
“W-What?”
While the clergymen were thrown into confusion by the sudden change, the Pope’s body continued to regain its youth.
His snow-white hair fell away in clumps, replaced instantly by growing black hair. Between the falling strands of his beard, his wrinkled skin smoothed out. His gaunt frame filled out with sturdy muscle.
It was a sight that could only be described as a miracle, something even divine power could not achieve. Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief.
And in the final moment.
Crack! Cra-crack!!
From the Pope’s back, brilliant, pure white wings unfurled.
“W-What is this?”
Following the bewildered gasps, a strange sense of awe began to bloom. The wings growing from the Pope’s back possessed a radiant, pristine whiteness.
As everyone stared at him blankly, the now-youthful Pope’s voice rang out softly.
“How do I look?”
He looked around as if showing off his body, then singled out one clergyman.
“You, what do you think?”
“Pardon……? What do you mean—”
“I am asking what thoughts came to your mind when you saw me.”
The clergyman stammered in his confusion, hurrying to answer.
“I… I thought you looked truly divine. Especially the wings on your back—”
“No, that is not it.”
The Pope shook his head firmly, as if that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.
“That is not what I am asking. I want to know what thoughts occurred to you the moment you saw me.”
“I said, divine—”
“No, I am not interested in such polished sentiments. Just as it is—I want to hear your private thoughts.”
Though confused, the clergyman spoke hesitantly.
“I thought… that I would like to be like that someday.”
The sentence tumbled out of his mouth.
And then.
“……?”
Even as he said it, the clergyman looked puzzled. Under normal circumstances, he would never have said such a thing.
Unlike the bewildered clergyman, the Pope gave a satisfied smile and continued his questioning.
“Yes, and what else did you think?”
“I felt… envious.”
“Were you jealous?”
“Jealous? How could I—”
“No, I would like you to express your heart honestly. I asked because I want to hear your sincere words.”
“…….”
“Come, speak.”
Under the Pope’s urging, the clergyman finally spoke.
“……I was jealous.”
Once again, he uttered an answer he would never have given normally.
As if in response.
“Yes, I see.”
The Pope smiled even more brightly than his pure white wings.
Crack!
Another pair of wings sprouted from his back.
“Oh… Ooh…….”
The clergymen began to murmur. But the Pope didn't care in the slightest.
“Yes, you spoke well. Those were the very words I wanted to hear.”
He patted the clergyman on the shoulder, then raised his hand as he looked over the crowd.
“Is there anyone else who, like this brave friend, wishes to confess their feelings?”
There was no immediate answer.
However—
“I… I also—”
The silence did not last long.
“I felt a moment of divinity when I saw you, Your Holiness, but at the same time… I felt jealous.”
A paladin confessed as if in a confessional. Starting with him.
“I… I did as well…….”
“Me too.”
“And me—”
As if possessed, those gathered there began to pour out the emotions they felt upon seeing the Pope, one by one.
The Pope had performed an impossible miracle before their eyes. He had transformed from an old man into a youth, and wings like an angel’s had sprouted from his back.
Yet, despite witnessing such an incomprehensible miracle, no one questioned it. Only a strange fever of faith began to rise.
“Good, very good! Everyone, open your mouths and pour out your inner thoughts. For that shall be the path to the next enlightenment—!”
Crack! Cra-crack!!
Wings began to sprout from the Pope’s back in rapid succession.
One pair.
Then another.
The wings, which had begun to grow steadily, quickly surpassed three pairs, then four. Then five.
“…….”
As everyone present looked on with awe at the wings that were filled with divinity, like those of an archangel—
Crack!
More wings sprouted.
Beyond five pairs to six. Six to seven. Seven to eight.
Ten pairs.
Fifteen pairs—
“……!?”
“W-What—!”
Twenty pairs.
Twenty-five pairs.
The wings multiplied aggressively, devouring the Pope’s body. Now, he was covered in so many wings that his human form was barely recognizable.
The awe in the clergymen’s eyes turned to horror. Confusion and tension began to swirl in the eyes of the paladins.
And then.
“This is—!”
Just as Yuman was about to unleash his divine power toward him, the Pope—
[Ah—my little lambs. You have honestly bared your hearts.]
He was already floating in the sky.
Yuman looked up. There existed a creature so bizarrely shaped that it could no longer be called the Pope.
An entity with a giant eye in its center, floating effortlessly in the air with hundreds of pairs of wings.
[Do not fear me, for I shall bestow enlightenment upon you.]
As if mocking those below, a holy voice pierced their ears.
[Now, arise, my children.]
And in that moment.
“Ugh…… Gack!?”
One clergyman began to writhe. It was the man who had first answered the Pope; his body moved unnaturally as if in pain, and he eventually hunched over.
Crunch! Cra-crunch!
Like a larva bursting from its egg, his human skin and blood exploded outward.
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!]
A pure white existence was born from within.
It was several times larger than a human but possessed a similar form. However, it was a grotesque shape, its entire body unnaturally gaunt like a starving wraith.
And starting with him—
“Aaaargh!”
“N-No! I said no! No!”
“Aaaaaaaagh—!!!”
One by one, those present began to transform into grotesque creatures.
[And now, cultivate the earth into a paradise—]
The mocking voice rang out across the ground once more.
Crunch!
The massacre began.
* * *
“H-How can this be—”
Sergius lifted his eyes, trembling with fear.
The scene had turned into a slaughterhouse in an instant.
The massive, pure white existences, several times the size of a person, pulled blood-red, needle-like spears from their empty hands.
Swish—
They began to slaughter everyone on the ground.
In the midst of this, the inquisitors and paladins who had quickly regained their senses began to fight back, but Sergius’s expression did not soften.
The reason was—
‘They keep… they keep multiplying……!’
Because those who were killed were reborn as new pure white existences, joining the massacre of the paladins and clergymen.
The situation had spiraled into the worst-case scenario in an instant. Sergius immediately turned his gaze toward Yutia.
“Yu-Yutia? S-Shouldn't we do something about this?”
His voice was urgent.
However, Yutia was simply standing still, staring up at the eye surrounded by wings with a look of disdain.
Frustrated by Yutia’s inaction, Sergius called out to her again, desperately.
“Yutia……??”
But Yutia’s red eyes remained fixed on the grotesque angel.
[■■■■■■■—!]
Only when a clergyman who had just turned into a pure white existence was about to drive a spear down toward her did she speak.
“Sigh……”
She let out a small sigh. A sigh that sounded as if she were displeased with something.
And then.
“The schedule—”
Just as Yutia, who had been muttering under her breath, was about to raise her hand.
Hand Thunder Seal.
Six Knots.
She saw it.
Flash Thunder God.
Crunch!
The head of the pure white existence that had been thrusting its spear toward her exploded in an instant.
And then.
“……Professor? How are you here—”
She saw the back of a familiar man who had stepped in front of her.
The startled Yutia couldn't finish her sentence.
“There seemed to be a commotion, so I was coming up just in case.”
“I see—”
Alon’s voice rang out calmly.
“—There is no need for you to go out of your way to act.”
“……Pardon?”
Yutia’s red eyes widened like full moons.
As if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't.