Making Saula Repent (3)
Suddenly a sound like the roaring of a violent windstorm came from heaven and filled the forest. What looked like tongues of fire appeared and came to rest on Saula. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and born again, perfected not as a slayer of Chaos, but as a true servant of God.
Foolish and loathsome servants of God. Those who, ignorant of the divine, follow the divinities more faithfully than anything else in this world. They do not know how utterly insignificant the divinities consider them.
To the divinities, believers are nothing more than convenient consumables—useful tools to be used up and discarded—yet they follow like slaves.
My life too was cast into the abyss by the divinities.
When I hatched from my egg as a hatchling...
"If the other dragons find out we produced a child like this, our kin will mock us."
"...Indeed. To think this monstrosity is our offspring. How horrifying. Take it far away and dispose of it."
Due to the pranks of Chaos, I was born in the hideous form of a hybrid between elf and dragon, and my parents abandoned me.
For years I wandered the continent, unable even to properly awaken speech.
Then I was discovered by an elf.
"Little one. Where did you come from?"
This foolish elf cared for a monster of unknown origin as if it were her own child. She was a veteran ranger revered by the elves, so though it took a long time, the other elves eventually accepted even my grotesque form as a member of the community.
But...
"How dare you bring such a filthy monster before the sacred World Tree! What are the Elven Guards doing? Drag them out at once!"
Once again, due to the pranks of Chaos, she and I were branded heretics by the elves and exiled.
She was already at an age when she should have retired as an elf, yet because of me, she could not spend her remaining years in peace and was forced to wander the world—a fate she did not deserve.
During that ill-fated wandering...
She fell victim yet again to the pranks of those Chaos bastards.
"An elf! And a fine specimen at that... Holy Knight Commander? Seize that elf."
"However, Your Holiness, that elf hasn't done anything yet..."
"Holy Knight Commander. Baal has spoken. All beings other than humans were created for the sake of humans. Therefore, that elf too..."
A band of holy knights we encountered on our journey ambushed us. We fought desperately... but we could not overcome their overwhelming numbers.
"Saula... I'm going to unleash one final strike on their leader over there. That should break their encirclement. Escape then."
"Y-yeah!"
With every last ounce of her strength, she fired that one shot, piercing their leader.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Y-Your Holiness! Are you alright?!"
"W-we did it! Lime!"
The encirclement broke, and we could flee, but she collapsed to the ground, utterly spent.
"L-Lime?"
"Haha... Saula. I'm sorry. I have no strength left."
"No. No, Lime!"
"Saula. The humans are regrouping and closing in. If you miss this chance, there won't be another. Saula. Are you going to let my sacrifice be in vain?"
"N-no... I..."
"Without you, I would have lived as an ordinary elven ranger, feeling my life had no value. But thanks to you, it gained meaning. Because I left you in this world."
"L... Lime."
"Gaaahhh! Damn elf bitch! Holy Knight Commander! Kill that wench right now!"
"Go, Saula! There's no more time!"
......
Saula. It was happiness being with you all this time...
......Live on, Saula.
"......Lime."
I didn't want to abandon that foolish elf... but I knew that if I didn't, it would negate her deeds, her life, her sacrifice. So I fled.
Damn Chaos. How far do you intend to drag me into misery?
"Catch that freak that was with the elf bitch too!"
I escaped the encirclement, but they pursued relentlessly. Fleeing and hiding, I was eventually caught.
"Kuhahaha. You ran well enough, but in the end, an inferior species can't beat humans. Especially not me, an apostle of Lord Baal."
I saw her attack pierce you, yet you're unscathed. Is that what it means to be blessed by a god?
"You dared to touch me. Seeing that elf sacrifice her life to protect you, you must have been precious to her."
He drew something from a small box.
"Then I'll show that elf. The sight of her precious one being torn apart."
Lime's severed head. After seeing her head, I lost my reason; my memories are hazy. But what I do remember...
"This... this can't be! How can an inferior species... N-no!"
"O-omnipotent Baal in heaven..."
"Spare me! I don't want to die!"
"Mommy!"
"It hurts too much!"
"Enough... just kill... me already."
The pathetic whimpers spat by god's insect-like servants.
When I came to my senses, only chunks of meat and thick pools of blood remained around me.
"You've finally come to your senses, my agent."
"'My' agent? Watch your words. Agent of ourChaos."
"A long wait it has been."
And so the evil gods of Chaos spoke to me. They informed me that I had awakened as their agent. That they had planted the seed of Chaos in me from birth. They didn't even bother hiding it—the fact that they had manipulated and twisted my life to their whims.
"Do you think I'll obey your commands just because of that?"
"You won't?"
"You have no choice but to obey."
No, I won't obey. Revolting divinities who arbitrarily twist the lives of ordinary folk. I'll wipe every divinity from this continent. Me! I'll purify it so no transcendent being can ever disturb mortals again!
If I purify everyone in this world who follows divinities, all divinities will inevitably perish. Bearing the malevolent power bestowed by Chaos, I purged the foolish creatures who believed in gods through dozens of seasonal cycles.
Then I was defeated by the Allied Forces of the Mid-Realm Races, hiding in the dimensional rift for a long time to recover.
The day I finally regained all my power and resumed the purge, I encountered human knights. Knights with a completely different atmosphere from any I'd seen before—warm, compassionate, bright.
Did they serve no divinity to follow, unlike the others? Perhaps they weren't targets for purification.
But the name from their lips: Deus.
They served a divinity I'd never heard of. It changed nothing. I didn't know what kind of divinity Deus was, but they were clearly targets for purification. Stronger than most humans I'd seen, but no match for me with the power of Chaos.
I had neutralized most of them. As I prepared to release my full power and cleanly purge them...
A human boy approached me, and lightning struck my head.
I erected a barrier of Chaos power around me, but the lightning passed right through.
Lightning that Chaos power couldn't block?
When the lightning struck the ground, the whole world froze.
My consciousness was awake, my head could move... but the rest of my body was rigid, as if petrified.
...Human. Was this your doing?
An unidentified aura activated from the human boy's body, causing this anomaly.
What have you done?
How did you do this? You stopped time. You... you're no human. A divinity?
A right forbidden to mortals. Not even the divinities could perform such a miracle. What is he...?
Even now, my bodily vision is frozen, but my mind's eye, nose, mouth—they move. Are you trying to torment me with despair? Answer me!
"Saula Dracania."
He knows my name?
......You know me?
"Yes, Saula. Poor soul who lost the happy fate you should have had due to the pranks of Chaos's evil gods."
H-how? You... you're a divinity. ......I'll kill you. I'll kill you, you filthy divinity!
Divinity scum! Planning to bring me despair again! Divinity!!! Kill you!
"Saula. Saula. Why did you try to harm me and my warriors?"
Because they serve a divinity! All divinities on this continent must be exterminated. Those who arbitrarily manipulate mortals' lives to suit their whims have no right to exist!
The filthy divinities must be eradicated!
"You say divinities who manipulate mortals' lives to their will must be eradicated, yet why do you follow the will of Chaos's gods? They stole your life and cast you into the pit of despair."
I know. Those tear-out-the-throats bastards who stole what I should have had... But right now, their support aids me in god-slaying. ...And once I no longer need their help, I'll tear them apart too.
"Saula, Saula. Do I seem like one who would arbitrarily manipulate mortals' lives like them?"
...What? What nonsense is this? You can tell just by looking at those who were about to sacrifice their lives for you. You've manipulated their lives. Made them offer themselves for your sake.
"If that were truly the case..."
Huh?
"I would offer you my neck."
What?
"But if not... then I wish for you to live not as a servant of evil gods, but as the ordinary dragon Saula."
As he finished speaking and pressed his forehead to mine, countless scenes flooded my mind.
The moment I was born.
The moment I met Lime.
And...