Chapter 203: Abraxas
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 203: Abraxas
The time it took for Elize to seize control of the Holy Kingdom was a mere second. The moment she declared she would restore order to the Church, the outcome was decided.
The secret lay in the relationship between a god and their followers.
Gods and their followers share a relationship of mutual dependence.
A god is not merely a transcendent being.
When believers pray, perform rituals, and praise their god, their faith becomes energy that sustains the god’s divine authority.
Prayer is not a simple act.
It is a spiritual offering from a believer to their god.
It is the power that makes a god real.
If faith vanishes, a god loses their power and, ultimately, their very existence may fade—just as there were once many more gods in the beginning, whose names are now long forgotten.
Conversely, a god grants power to their followers.
This is divine power.
It is the manifestation of a god’s strength through their believers.
A god protects their followers, grants them miracles, and shines a light to help the powerless lambs navigate this harsh world.
But the situation in the Church was now different.
An intermediary existed between the god and the believers.
The Saint, Elize.
Every prayer, ritual, and hymn was now performed not in the name of a god, but in the name of Saint Elize. This meant that Elize was directly connected to the faithful.
Elize’s blood.
Not even a single drop was needed.
The moment they offered their prayers, pledged their faith, and called the Saint’s name, they were already offering their devotion to Elize.
The majority of the faith that should have been directed to their god was now flowing to her.
Elize was empowered by the believers, and through them, she could exercise her power. As a cleric, her authority had grown incomparably stronger.
If that was the case…
If the Saint could bestow blessings using a god’s power, couldn’t she also bestow something else upon the believers?
That hypothesis was realized by Elize.
Elize was a Saint, but she was also a vampire. Just as a god grants divine power to their followers, a vampire gives their blood to their thralls.
Countless believers, connected like a spider’s web.
What Elize sent flowing through them was not a holy blessing.
It was absolute obedience.
Those who prayed for blessings did not realize it. The moment they knelt, their minds and bodies already belonged to the Saint.
The believers thought they were following their god’s will, but what stood before them was a vampire wearing the mask of a Saint.
By the time they realized the truth, it was far too late.
*
The faithful of the Holy Kingdom of Kassilon poured into the streets and knelt toward the Cathedral.
The Holy Knights.
Nuns and priests.
Clergy and common laypeople alike.
Some did so of their own will, while others were forced to their knees. The latter were those who had been displeased with Elize becoming the Saint.
Even after she had been anointed, they had continued to pray not to Elize, but to their god. Among them were the cardinals who had opposed Marcenus and the White Knights.
They offered their faith to their patron god, Ordo.
Thanks to this, Elize’s power did not affect them, but they were a small minority. With ninety percent of the Holy Kingdom under her control, there was nothing they could do. They were swiftly suppressed with little resistance.
The Holy Kingdom had fallen to a single vampire.
“Hmph.”
Cardinal Marcenus of the Congregation of Doctrinal Faith nodded, a look of satisfaction on his face as he surveyed the scene. It had been somewhat sudden, but in the end, it was the result he had desired.
He could now establish the order he had always wanted.
However, there was one thing that still bothered him.
“Why did you not consult me before making such a major move?”
It was none other than Elize’s impulsive action.
The sight of the believers kneeling in unison was quite magnificent. It made him feel as if he were a god himself, enough to make the corners of the ever-composed Marcenus’s lips twitch.
But Marcenus had been absent during the most crucial moment. He had only realized what was happening after receiving a report from a subordinate, by which time it was already over.
“I couldn’t control my emotions. What can I say? I’m not a god. Even I make mistakes sometimes.”
“…”
He hadn’t even managed to put a leash on Elize yet. And in that state, she had seized control of everything. Marcenus should have felt a sense of dread.
He shrewdly decided that now was not the time to get on Elize’s bad side.
“Congratulations. How does it feel, to have the world at your feet?”
“I don’t feel much of anything.”
“I suppose that’s understandable. This is merely the first step. And your condition is not yet stable.”
“And there’s still unfinished business.”
“Unfinished business… What might that be?”
“I haven’t yet repaid the ones who gave me this gift.”
As she spoke, Elize moved her hand with a light gesture.
A pool of blood spread out from her.
Blood bubbled and frothed, and from within, people began to surface.
There were well over a hundred of them.
Marcenus’s eye twitched.
Most were strangers, but he recognized a few familiar faces—the theologian Roman, for instance, and Headmistress Matilda.
They were all motionless.
Piled up in layers like rotten logs.
“You understand, don’t you?”
He’d be a fool not to.
They were all people who had been involved in the project to make her a Saint. She had tracked down every last person connected to it by tracing their memories and had torn them out by the roots.
“They all desperately wished for a world where order was restored. But this world is already so rotten that restoring order was impossible. So I sent them on their way. To the side of the patron god they so longed for.”
Elize smiled sweetly.
“There’s only one left now.”
*
It was chilling.
That was my first thought upon seeing the people filling the streets, all in a posture of prayer. The feeling of unease was stronger than any sense of grandeur from the collective action.
They were praying, yes, but groans of pain echoed from all around.
I lowered my head slightly to check someone’s face.
“Are you all right?”
“You… you’re the Slave Reaper?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay to you?!”
“Or not.”
Apparently not.
He was bowing, but his face was a twisted mess.
It was clearly Elize’s doing. They were forced to prostrate themselves by her power.
Though the method was different due to her new, non-canon position as a Saint, the fact that she had ruined the Holy Kingdom remained unchanged. She had succeeded in destroying the witch’s house.
This was much easier than I thought.
The game becoming reality meant that some unskippable scripts had been omitted.
That, and the unique nature of Elize’s story. While I had to accompany the other slaves from start to finish, Elize’s case was different.
My role was like that of a god who doesn’t interfere deeply, but simply watches over a believer to ensure they overcome their trials.
I was just a signpost, meant to gain hints from Elize’s actions and thoughts and guide her onto the right path.
That’s why I’d been holed up in the inn, ordering her to visit me every day. Otherwise, I’d have no idea what she was up to.
While I was lazing around at the inn, Elize had been moving nonstop. That’s why it felt like everything had happened in a flash.
It’s really done.
It had been a long, long road.
Now, all that’s left is to deal with Mirabelle, and it’ll be over.
I arrived at the Cathedral where Elize was.
It was no different from the outside. Clerics dressed in what looked like high-ranking vestments were kneeling on the floor.
“Coming through~”
I moved carefully, trying not to step on anyone.
I finally reached the Cathedral’s main chapel.
Elize was praying before the cross.
I walked right up next to her and watched.
Elize’s eyes were closed, her hands clasped together. Her snow-white hair and skin so pale it was almost translucent. Her long, dark eyelashes were all the more striking against it.
It was a strange thought, but seeing her profile, she really did look like a Saint. Enough to make even me, a man with not an ounce of faith, want to pray alongside her.
If I felt this way, I could only imagine what it was like for the clergy.
I could understand how they had fallen for her so completely.
Bats were masters at luring in humans, after all.
Sensing my presence, Elize asked in the melodious voice of a benevolent saint.
“Have you arrived?”
“You’ll see if you open your eyes.”
Ah. Her eyebrow just twitched.
She quickly composed her expression and lifted her eyelids. The corners of her mouth rose into a gentle smile.
“Welcome, Master. I have been waiting for you.”
“Have you resolved what you wished for?”
“Yes, everything.”
I saw the pile of corpses on my way here.
I also saw who was in it.
“What will you do now?”
“I must correct the misguided ideology of the Church and establish order. This place is twisted, you see.”
“Will you continue to be a Saint?”
“Of course not. I must return to where I belong. I wish to build a small chapel in a small village and spend my days caring for children with nowhere else to go.”
An excellent answer.
It matched the response given by the Hansel and Gretel version of Elize that I knew.
One final check.
“Are you being sincere?”
Elize fell silent for a moment, then closed her eyes and murmured.
“It is the truth, without a single grain of falsehood.”
That wasn’t just a simple question.
The most dangerous part of Elize’s story was the very end. If you let your guard down, thinking it’s all over, you’ll be deceived by her lies.
Elize, the girl who cried wolf.
Thus, I had just issued a master’s command based on the Shackles of Subjugation. With this power, a slave could not lie to me.
Of course, it had the drawback of lowering her affection, but at this point, it didn’t really matter.
Fortunately, she wasn’t lying.
“You asked me once. If I fell into the abyss, would you fall with me? There is no need for that. Because you, Elize, can overcome it on your own.”
“…”
“I believe in you, Elize. I will help if you ask, but otherwise, I will not interfere. To watch over a slave from the side so she can triumph on her own—that is the role of a master.”
As if moved by my speech, Elize’s pupils trembled slightly.
“You’ve worked hard, Elize. Don’t forget the heart you have now. Uphold it. And don’t you dare follow me.”
“Of course, Master.”
I released the contract with Elize.
[Vampire Elize ver. ■■■■■■ Liberation Complete]
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Vampire Elize.
Elize was an ordinary girl. She was enveloped not by a mother’s embrace but by God’s grace, and the first words she learned were prayers.
Watching the nuns pray morning and night, she wanted to walk the same path. She dreamed of one day holding a Rosaria herself and delivering salvation to the people.
To live a life in praise of God.
Never doubting that this was her destiny, Elize set out on a journey to become a true nun.
But what awaited her was not a gateway of holy trials, but a cliff leading to Abaddon. On that day, Elize’s soul was drenched in blood.
A pool of blood from which not even God would offer salvation.
The one who pulled her out was not God, but you.
You freed her from the curse of blood that had bound her.
But.
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But?
Something was wrong.
Why wasn’t the information fully revealed even though I had liberated Elize?
Just then, Elize moved.
“I am truly grateful to you, Master. If it weren’t for you, I would still be swindling, running, and hiding. Probably for the rest of my life. It’s hard to believe, but you are the one who changed my life.”
Elize slowly removed the ring from her index finger.
“You were completely different from your reputation, and from what I thought. I started to think that maybe you weren’t a hypocrite, but someone who genuinely cared for his slaves. That maybe this person could save me. That’s what I thought.”
Elize casually tossed the ring aside.
Ting- clatter-clatter.
The ring rolled away somewhere.
In that instant, the atmosphere changed completely.
The temple, once a world of black-and-white order, began to be stained crimson.
Crack.
Crrrack.
A tremor ran through Elize. Her clothes ripped as another pair of wings sprouted from her back.
A total of two pairs of enormous bat wings.
“But I was mistaken. You may be a good person, but you are not the Abraxas I was searching for.”
…Abraxas?
“Although you were insufferable in many ways, I was able to laugh freely when I was with you. For that, I won’t harm you.”
“Wait a minute, Elize.”
“I’m sorry, but your neck looks far too tempting. If I linger any longer, I might just bite you without thinking. Thank you for everything.”
Snap!
Elize snapped her fingers.
A whirlwind of blood enveloped me.
Then, a sensation of floating.
As my vision was obscured, the remaining system messages appeared before my eyes.
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Elize still does not know who she is. A lost bat, she wanders aimlessly.
Elize wants to hear a voice that will guide her.
Elize is searching for a place that will accept her.
Elize desperately desires salvation.
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Elize’s liberation is at 50%.
Reward: 10,000pt have been awarded.
[Fully Liberate the Main Slaves. Progress: 3/5]