Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Bodies Found Inside the Hall of Divinity
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< Bodies Found Inside the Hall of Divinity. >
Deep into the night. In my hotel room, I drew Yojjo and manifested an Aura Blade. Stretching out over a meter, it shone with a brilliance that put the magic lamps to shame.
I'd grown tremendously once again from the previous battle. Now, I was an upper-level Master swordsman.
It was a shame I couldn't freely wield Yojjo's magic at will, but overall, I was satisfied.
I'd honed the sensation, after all.
In my current state of calm emotion, it only manifested once or twice by chance at most, but if a battle like the last one broke out again, I was confident I could make full use of Yojjo's magic.
'I'm getting closer and closer to Mind Master. I can definitely feel it.'
The reason I thought so stemmed from the nature of Yojjo's magic that I could now perceive. Yojjo's magic was triggered by my mind. What had only activated once before now occasionally manifested even in everyday moments.
This was clear proof that my swordsmanship realm was approaching Mind Master.
'As expected, I must have experienced the soul realm while transitioning from my past life to this one.'
Frankly, my growth rate was unimaginably fast. When I had only just reincarnated, I was barely at the entry level of Master. Now, I had surpassed the upper levels of Master. It wouldn't have been this rapid if I hadn't been there before.
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. I sheathed Yojjo again and called out toward the entrance.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
It was Shura. I gladly opened the door.
"Yeah. Come in."
"Yes."
Her face was slightly flushed.
"What happened?"
"I was meditating while gazing at Dalahan until now, and something strange appeared at its tip."
"What kind of phenomenon?"
"It faded quickly, but I saw a faint light emanating from beyond the blade's edge."
I flinched in surprise. That was the precursor phenomenon right before an Aura Blade manifested.
"Really? What kind of meditation were you doing?"
"Something about balance, I think... I'm not entirely sure."
"You don't know?"
"Yes. The light seemed like darkness, and the darkness seemed like light. They're clearly different phenomena, yet they always harmonize."
It was a good omen. All principles of the world are like chaos. All meanings are unclear, all definitions ambiguous. Thinking you know for sure actually means you don't understand at all, while total confusion brings you closer to the truth.
"Exactly. You're on the right path, then. Keep going just like that."
"Pardon?"
"The world originally stems from one. Tracing back to the root makes everything one. Light and darkness can be seen as one too. Take desire and morality as an example. People think they're completely different, but delve deeper, and they're actually the same."
Shura's eyes widened slightly.
"No way, how so?"
"What is desire? Put nicely, it's the wish for one's own happiness, right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"And morality is the mindset one must adopt to avoid harming others' happiness, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"From the perspective of humanity as a whole, they're the same. Both are the desire for human happiness. I'm human, and so are you. That's why desire isn't inherently evil, and morality isn't inherently good. If it makes humans happy, whether desire or morality, it's good. If it makes them miserable, it's evil, no matter what. Got it?"
Shura's face lit up with realization.
"Ah... I see."
"So don't hastily distinguish good from evil. The heaven I know never does. If I were heaven, I'd never allow humans to make such distinctions."
Shura tilted her head.
"Why is that?"
"Homework. Go figure it out."
With that, I pushed Shura's back. The path to Master must be walked alone; I couldn't spoon-feed her everything. She had to awaken to it herself, even if it was tough.
After sending Shura off, I gazed at the night view outside the window.
'Yeah. The problem with us humans is our habit of hastily distinguishing good from evil.'
There was primal good at the beginning. That was me. And primal evil. That was you. Thus, humans must never hastily distinguish good from evil. If they do, to you, I become absolute evil, and to me, you do. In other words, one becomes the absolute evil that all humanity must eradicate.
To put it simply, it's like "rules for thee but not for me."
That's why I never hastily distinguish good from evil. I just kill when I feel like it and spare when I don't.
The first day of the Hall of Divinity's opening had arrived. Divinum Castle was still repairing the destruction wrought by Uroboros, while the Divinum Grand Temple threw all its efforts into preparing for today's grand festival.
I finished preparing to go out in the late morning and stepped outside the hotel with my group. It was to celebrate Padillo's ritual at the Hall of Divinity.
First, I stopped by a nearby flower shop to prepare large bouquets. It felt wrong to offer empty congratulations at the moment she might ascend as a sacred being.
"Abdul. This is to celebrate your queen. Tell your subordinates to make sure the bouquets are proper."
"Yes, sir."
"It has to be grand. Otherwise, we'll get overshadowed by the stalkers just here to gawk."
"Pardon?"
I shoved the curious General Abdul's back.
"It happens. The welcoming spot gets hectic. Anyway, don't get swept up in the atmosphere later—do your job properly. Got it?"
"Yes. Understood."
I flashed a satisfied smile and continued on.
As we left the flower shop and headed to the Divinum Grand Temple, crowds began gathering around us. Even with Abdul and the guards blocking them, pushing through was incredibly difficult.
"It's White Mask, who vanquished the steel monster, and the Yin-Yang Grand Saintess!"
The onlookers showered us with worship and prayers. It didn't feel bad, but it was awkward.
Just last year, I was the worst villain under heaven. Now, I was the unparalleled hero. I wondered what reaction I'd get if I removed my mask and revealed my identity right now.
"Please, follow me."
Upon arriving at the main gate of the Divinum Grand Temple, the guarding holy knights welcomed us warmly. No inspections, not even a request to disarm for Shura or me. It was expected for Shura as the Yin-Yang Grand Saintess, but surprising for me. I wasn't affiliated with the Grand Temple, nor registered as a Guardian anymore.
"The rest of you, go through entry procedures here."
In front of the entry office. The holy knight guiding us let Shura and the guards inside, then called me aside separately. With a gravely serious expression, he made a polite request.
"White Mask, sir, would you please continue following me?"
"What's this about?"
"Knight Izenberg wishes to meet with you urgently."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Lead the way."
I followed without further question.
Knight Izenberg was in charge of all security and protection for the Divinum holy site. There was good reason for him to summon me.
The Uroboros incident not long ago, and now another event yesterday and today.
"White Mask. Come in."
"What the hell's going on?"
"Sit first."
Knight Izenberg sat me in a chair by the reception table. His demeanor was courteous but laced with urgency.
"Spit it out."
"White Mask. We've got big trouble."
"Big trouble?"
"While cleaning the Hall of Divinity after lifting the barrier yesterday, we discovered a large number of corpses."
I awkwardly scratched my nose. They looked like the Alon mercenary corpses. During that commission, short on body disposal options, I'd asked big sis Armida to spatial transfer them to the Hall of Divinity. Sure enough, they'd been found.
"Oh, really?"
"Rumors are spreading like wildfire already. The atmosphere feels off. We need to uncover the cause quickly, but we're completely in the dark. No idea where those bodies came from."
No one could enter the Hall before the barrier was lifted. Finding masses of corpses in such a place would panic anyone. It was unprecedented in history.
I rested my chin on my hand thoughtfully.
"But why the rush? Solve it after the event."
"No time."
"Why?"
"Public sentiment is already boiling from the recent incident, and reformist priests are loudly condemning the church. We planned this grand festival to quell the unease, but now this happens right in the middle. If we let it fester, who knows how far it'll spread. We have to smother it before the rumors explode."
I tapped the reception table with my index finger, deep in thought. My thoughtless action from that commission—trying to add another—was combining with the Uroboros fallout to threaten the church as a major incident.
Perfect.
The rotten church needed a wake-up call this time, and if handled right, we could expose the Salvation Crusade to the world.
'I have to root out the Salvation Crusade bastards and kill them all.'
The Salvation Crusade was a radical priest group. Pure in faith, but their extremism and reckless activism brought immense suffering to humanity in this age of ruin.
All because of their misguided belief that those cooperating with humanity's extinction would receive divine salvation.
Thanks to them, I'd nearly died several times. Hell, with monster hordes at the castle gates, what if they flung them open? Suicide pact or what?
Just thinking of them still made my blood boil; I'd wake up in a sweat. Anyway, if I caught them, I'd tear them limb from limb.
And for humanity's sake, they needed extermination ASAP. Countless castles had fallen pointlessly because of them in the age of ruin.
"Well, I could brainstorm with you, but... asking me to fix it out of the blue? Even I don't have a magic bullet."
"No ideas at all?"
"Not none, but I'm saying don't rush to solve it. Just let the rumors spread."
"That'll be disastrous."
"Sure, it'll be chaos for the church leadership—some backlash, louder reformist voices. But hastily covering it up like nothing happened? Problems might keep cropping up."
Knight Izenberg narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I've done plenty of intel work. There's definitely someone pulling strings behind this. Does it make sense for masses of corpses to appear in the Hall of Divinity, where no one could enter before the barrier dropped? Someone's screwing with you on purpose."
Knight Izenberg thoughtfully rested his chin, nodding as if it made sense. It wasn't illogical. The culprit was me, but there had been scheming.
"Hm. Could be."
"So don't act rashly. Solve this incident properly—no sweeping it under the rug. If you cover it and more happens, you're better off not bothering."
"Then what should we do?"
"Watch and wait for now. Meanwhile, quietly spread counter-rumors on a massive scale."
"What rumors?"
"That humanity's extinction is imminent."
Knight Izenberg widened his eyes in disbelief.
"That'll shake public sentiment hard."
"Come on, that's chump change—happens all the time. I guarantee, it'll just be gossip; most won't buy it. Only a few crazies will stir."
"Ah, true. But why spread that rumor?"
I clicked my tongue at Knight Izenberg.
"Tsk tsk tsk. You naive guy. Pour oil on the fire first to drown out the church's worried gossip. People care more about world-ending doom than church corruption. It's juicy."
"Hm. Could work. How?"
"Lots of weird stuff lately, right? Uroboros shows up, corpses in the Hall, last year how many of the Seven Divine Artifacts appeared? Mix in other events right, and you get a solid doomsday theory."
Knight Izenberg nodded vigorously. Uroboros was the first in 350 years, Hall corpses and Seven Divine Artifacts first since the Grand Temple's founding. Bundle other incidents as extinction omens, and it'd make a convincing apocalypse tale.
"I see. Then?"
"While that's brewing, track the culprits and nab them perfectly. Pin it all on them. The villains defiled the sacred Hall with corpses to slander the church, so the wrathful gods sent Uroboros to punish humanity. Boom—story writes itself. Problem solved, ironclad."
"Ah, wrapping it up like that. Brilliant."
Knight Izenberg beamed with satisfaction. Public unrest would spike, but resolve like snow melting in spring sunshine.
"Plus, rapid doomsday spread will rile the real culprits. They'll think it's their chance, pivot to ride the apocalypse wave and blast the church."
"Makes sense. Slanderers wouldn't miss that golden opportunity."
I pointed my thumb at the ceiling.
"Chronos wants this too. They're in a bind after dropping Uroboros over nothing. Win-win for everyone."
"True."
"Key is nabbing the culprits clean. So endure till the end. Until they fully reveal themselves."
"But what if they never do?"
Of course they won't. It's me. So we make culprits: the Salvation Crusade.
"Don't worry. If they don't show, make them. Church help speeds it up, naturally."
"Got it. I'll talk to the popes."
I wore a faint smile. A chance to catch the Salvation Crusade had opened.
Unlike before, they weren't underground secret faithful now, but still hard to pin down. Most members scattered as hermits or rural monks.
But with the church's full cooperation, that changed. They'd have org charts and registries.
All of them were priests or their followers.
< Bodies Found Inside the Hall of Divinity. > End