Chapter 93: Artificial (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 93: Artificial (4)
As far as Alon knew, Chief Cardinal Anderde was a figure who hadn't existed in the original work.
Even if he had existed, he was a character who had never once shown his face in Psychedelia.
Therefore, despite his outward expressionlessness, Alon’s mind was racing.
Was the story always supposed to go this way? Or has it changed?
Of course, even with such thoughts, there was no way to know for sure.
What he knew was limited to the timeline starting one year from now; he had no way of knowing what had transpired before then.
He shifted his gaze toward Yuman.
The man who bore the duty of saving the world alongside Elivan in the future—thereby guaranteeing Alon’s comfortable life—had used his Divine Power to block Anderde’s attack.
As expected of a Saint. To be able to use Divine Power without a Holy Sign or a prayer.
Recalling that in the game, all of Yuman’s skills were instant-cast types that never consumed a turn, Alon breathed a sigh of relief.
At least that’s a relief.
Naturally, Alon’s original purpose for rushing out here, even using his Thunder God Form, was to save Yuman, the guarantor of his future comfort.
If this was something that was supposed to happen, Yuman would surely survive, but if this was a deviation, he could have died.
...Well, since he had already used his magic and Yuman had blocked the attack well enough, Alon had opted to incapacitate Anderde instead of focusing solely on protection.
However, Alon could feel it instinctively.
It wasn't over yet.
“...Marquis Palatio, was it?”
Chief Cardinal Anderde, whose arm had been blown apart by Alon’s Thunder God Form and whose face was half-charred, spoke with great difficulty.
A benevolent smile still hung on his lips.
Despite sustaining injuries that should have been fatal, let alone incapacitating, that smile did not vanish.
It was as if he felt no pain—no.
“...”
It was as if the smile had been painted on.
“Yes.”
As soon as Alon answered, the priests, who had been watching the situation in a daze until a moment ago, began to pray.
Simultaneously, the Paladins drew their swords and traced the Holy Sign.
The Cardinals, who had barely survived, declared Anderde a clear heretic and began to manifest their Divine Power.
Yet, even in such a situation, he looked down at Alon from below the dais with that same painted, benevolent smile.
“It’s good. Truly good.”
Suddenly, he spat out those words.
“What...?”
By the time Alon could ask for clarification, the clergy had already finished their prayers and were launching attacks at Anderde.
Some fired arrows of light.
Some swung maces.
Some struck with swords.
Some called down lightning.
Some unleashed Divine Power in its purest form.
They all converged on Anderde.
A tremendous roar followed.
Lightning forged from Divine Power fell from the heavens.
White holy spells, imbued with the light of the Blue Moon, poured down in unison.
Like a sudden downpour.
Like a meteor shower.
A massive amount of holy magic slammed into the dais where Anderde stood.
A spectacle of divine violence manifested before Alon’s eyes, so overwhelming that even he felt a sense of awe.
And at the end of that explosive projection of Divine Power, as the dais collapsed, what was revealed was...
“...”
Anderde, standing with his entire body shattered.
His arms were gone.
Several massive holes were bored through his torso.
The upper half of his head had been blown away.
It was a state that was practically a pronouncement of certain death.
Yet, Anderde’s benevolent smile remained, and the eyes of the gathered priests, Cardinals, and Yuman were filled with horror.
“It would have been a waste. Your ‘Status’ is quite magnificent, after all.”
Anderde muttered those words with a face that was still eerily serene.
“I didn't... want to miss out.”
With that final remark.
Cr-crack!
A very strange sound began to emanate from Anderde.
An unpleasant sound, like something was forcibly pushing its way out of something else.
And with it, red branches began to sprout and grow from Anderde’s body, which until a moment ago had worn that benevolent smile.
Rumble, rumble!!
Starting from him, the Central Plaza where the priests stood split down the middle.
“Aaaah!”
“G-get away! Hurry!!”
The priests screamed and scrambled as the ground gave way.
What emerged, tearing through the plaza and splitting it in a straight line, was a massive tree trunk.
Dozens, hundreds of blood-colored branches burst through the ground.
From the massive fissure that extended beyond the plaza and into the white city within the Inner Castle.
Craaaash!
It began to reveal itself.
The first things visible were two bizarre hands, undulating with red vines.
Next was the head of a giant statue, emerging as if its birth was the price for devouring the white city.
Then, the massive body of the statue pulled itself out.
At that moment, everyone present realized the truth.
The Anderde who had stood before them with a benevolent smile was nothing more than a puppet.
Skreeeech!
Soon, Anderde’s body—now blooming with countless branches—was sucked into the statue in an instant.
Crunch!
Simultaneously, the face of the giant humanoid statue split into four parts, blooming like petals, and countless red branches surged from within.
And finally, having consumed the entire eastern portion of the white city, it appeared.
[According to your will, I have descended.]
It turned toward the priests and spoke—
[Everyone, worship.]
—announcing its birth to all.
[I, the God of Mankind, Machina.]
An Outer God had descended.
* * *
The priests.
The Paladins.
The Cardinals.
Yuman.
They all stared blankly at the Outer God that had descended under the Blue Moon.
The entity that had crawled out while devouring the white city, spreading its branches in all directions as if to consume the rest.
Alon was equally bewildered.
Machina... you say?
Alon felt a wave of confusion.
He had never even heard of an Outer God named Machina.
Of course, this wasn't the timeline he knew well, but even considering that, the entity before his eyes was clearly anomalous.
What on earth is...!
In his confusion, as Alon watched Machina, he soon realized one fact.
A far too familiar black smoke was flowing from Machina’s entire body, reaching down to its waist via the tree vines.
An Abyss Body...?
As that keyword surfaced in his mind, Alon recalled a piece of information he had heard before.
Information that an Abyss Body, which grants Divinity to those with a certain level of skill, had entered the Holy Kingdom.
With that, he realized that the being before him had been created using an Abyss Body.
“...An Artificial Outer God?”
As Alon muttered its identity to himself,
“L-look over there!”
“T-the people!”
Following the horrified shouts of the priests, he looked beneath the giant Outer God.
There, he saw people.
The citizens of the Holy Kingdom, hanging limp, caught in the red vines.
[Do not resist. I am doing this to care for you all equally.]
A voice that was holy, yet for that very reason, utterly grotesque, echoed out as the red vines began to crawl toward the priests.
“Block them!”
The Paladins rushed toward the encroaching red vines, hacking away at the undulating branches.
Soon, the priests’ holy magic cut through the blue night and was fired at the Outer God.
The awe-inspiring sight Alon had witnessed moments ago was repeated.
Grind! Boom!
One of Machina’s arms, which had looked so majestic just a moment ago, fell away.
At that sight, the priests’ fighting spirit flared with a glimmer of hope.
However, that spirit did not last long.
“I-it’s regenerating...!?”
The impossible was happening.
The arm that should have been shattered by the barrage of Divine Power falling like a meteor shower was regenerating.
As if it were nothing.
At an incredibly rapid pace.
The right arm was restored in an instant, hundreds of branches weaving together like blood vessels being formed.
The priests were horrified by the grotesque sight.
“Aaaah!”
The Paladins who had been cutting down the red vines approaching the plaza began to be overwhelmed one by one.
Those caught by the red vines had red branches sprout from their bodies, turning them into a handful of wood in an instant.
“!”
Fear spread among the Paladins.
It spread like a plague to everyone present.
The vines, having devoured the Paladins in an instant, finally reached the priests and prepared to snatch the remaining survivors.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
A massive barrier blocked the red vines.
“Urgh!”
It was Yuman who had blocked the vines.
Wrapped in an immense amount of Divine Power that no one else could replicate, he had created a massive wall of holy energy. Though he earned the awe of the priests, his expression was grim.
The wall of Divine Power, which he could make impossibly large because he was a Saint, was rapidly draining his stamina.
Furthermore.
[I descended to grant equality by crying out for it, yet you are so ignorant.]
The moment a giant hand was raised high into the blue sky.
The priests saw it.
The hand, which had been far too small to block the Blue Moon, grew large enough to devour the moon itself as hundreds of red tree trunks intertwined.
“O Sironia...”
At that sight, the priests instinctively called out to the Goddess Sironia.
The Cardinals let out sighs of despair.
Yuman, who was maintaining the massive wall, also...
What is that thing?
...stared at the giant hand with eyes full of futility and despair.
[Accept me, all of you. For I am the God of Mankind that you have created—]
[—and I shall treat you all fairly.]
As that giant hand fell toward the holy wall Yuman had built, accompanied by Machina’s echoing voice.
Clink—
“Phew.”
Along with a small sigh, the sound of something breaking was heard.
Yuman struggled to look back.
There, he saw...
“Hold on just a little longer.”
Marquis Palatio—no, the Hidden Saint—was crushing a broken potion bottle underfoot while draining another.
Even in this desperate situation, his face remained impassive.
“Can you do it?”
At his following words,
“I... I will try.”
The Hidden Saint—no, Alon—looked at Yuman, who had answered as if possessed.
“It would be good if you could open the ceiling of the barrier as well.”
He checked the glowing white necklace around his neck once.
“Array of Thunder.”
He chanted the Phrase.
Crackle!
Lightning, imbued with the light of the Blue Moon, began to crackle across his body.