Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Model Instructor Nemesis
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Eventually, Eris turned beet red and vanished with a strange scream, never to return.
I wondered what had gotten into her all of a sudden, but how could I possibly know the inner thoughts of that Greek tomboy—the unruly little sister (formerly) that even the Goddess of Judgment had proclaimed?
I just let it be, figuring she'd come back eventually.
However.
"Heh heh heh heh..."
"Sis?"
"Eris, that little rascal... she actually ran away?"
The Goddess of Strife and Discord was probably half-dead to her sister by now.
Not that her "lessons" amounted to much anyway—just making apples or snakes and showing off to me, or assigning self-study.
But outright fleeing? No wonder the strict goddess was furious.
The kindly mentor was nowhere to be seen; instead, Nemesis, Goddess of Judgment, toyed with her blade of retribution, a chilling smile on her lips.
Half the blood staining that beautiful white sword was probably Eris's.
'Should I tell her Eris seemed off?'
I pondered it for a moment, but there's an old saying: stick by a jagged rock, and you'll get hit.
All I could do was pray our little sis wouldn't cross the River Styx.
"ἐμβάπτω, θάπτω, πυρόω..."
Her eyes rolled back white as she chanted those eerie ancient words—spell or curse, I couldn't tell. Nemesis embodied the Goddess of Judgment, or perhaps an avenging angel.
Especially with those wings twitching irritably behind her and her sword glowing pure white—it explained exactly why she inspired such dread.
In a word, she was intensely, furiously, someone I did not want to mess with.
Really.
"I'll get that brat right now!"
"Whoa, sis, calm down! Eris probably had her reasons!"
"Do I look calm right now?! Do you know how much trouble that rascal causes me?"
"Even in the divine realm Hera barely approved, she couldn't control her temper and bolted?!"
"I'll break those wings of hers...!"
Finally, I barely managed to calm Nemesis as she sprouted her wings, flames spewing from her mouth like a demon about to take flight.
Strife and Discord indeed.
To rile up this Goddess Nemesis to the point she'd shut up and charge in a rage.
Looking back, it always followed the same pattern.
Eris had a personality where if she didn't want to do something, she'd die before budging. Nemesis, on the other hand, was the model student council president type—perfect goddess material.
Eris would always skip out like she did earlier, get caught by Nemesis, and catch hell. That was daily life.
But today, the Goddess of Judgment unleashed rare fury at Eris's escape.
This from the model goddess who'd calmly waited while I struck out for 23 hours straight.
"Now, deep breaths, deep breaths! Here, have some nectar too."
"Hoo, hoo, hooooo..."
I handed her an extra bottle of nectar—Ares had said I'd probably need it—and the goddess with her beautiful black wings and white eyes snatched it up, gulping it down.
"Hoo... Sorry, little brother. I showed you an unseemly side."
"Hahaha, no worries."
Honestly, the white blaze in her eyes or the way her judgment sword trembled—even one that could block a ox-tail sword—was pretty terrifying.
But I wasn't dumb enough to say that out loud.
Aware of her lapse, Nemesis flushed her pure white cheeks red, quickly changed the subject, and sat demurely, gazing at me.
"Ahem, so, did you complete today's assignment?"
"Who am I gonna disobey? Shall we begin?"
Nemesis, Goddess of Judgment and Retribution.
Some call her the Goddess of Vengeance. She reminded me less of a Greek goddess and more of a biblical angel.
Her glossy black hair without a speck of dust, her calm and refined features.
Paired with her innate stern aura, the term "apostle of judgment" came to mind naturally.
The polar opposite of Eris, really.
Unlike Ares's half-fighting, half-drinking classes with barely any progress, or Eris's total lack thereof.
Nemesis always focused purely on teaching, strict and disciplined—a true schoolmarm or top student of a goddess.
No wonder I called her sis.
"Good. Begin."
Yet she had her charms, like that occasional smile or the unguarded moments that contrasted her public image.
This was Nemesis: mostly stern and intellectual, fitting her divine duties of judgment and retribution.
She was also a wise mentor. Unlike Eris's miracle lessons, she'd patiently taught me despite my slow progress—a teacher worthy of respect.
From her, I'd learned healing wounds with magic, reviving memories etched in objects, delving into human hearts via their dreams.
"Let's see... Here goes!"
Today combined all that with establishing how I'd manifest my powers.
I'd already sketched out the blueprint.
-Whoooong!
Vast divine magic surged through my body. Like an orchestra conductor, I swept my hand through the air, and the surrounding atmosphere and energy churned.
-Kuuuung!!
The air wailed as if in agony.
The ground quaked from the immense power.
From the reaction, I knew the spell I'd crafted was activating properly.
'Feels like real magic, somehow.'
A divine sorcerer's divinations or spells manifested outside the human body, similar to my magic in that sense.
But people imagine magic as fanning a breeze with a wave or transforming with a talisman—it's not that simple.
"If everything in the world were this easy, huh?"
"Hey, focus! Divine magic doesn't need sacrifices, but..."
"If the caster loses concentration, it's disaster. Haha, I learned that right."
A divine sorcerer's spells were basically math.
Graduate-level math, at that.
In classical Chinese numerals, no Arabic digits.
Only I knew how horrific that was across Korea, the martial world, and Greece.
Divine sorcerer? That madman loved it so much he climbed to that rank—a freak of nature.
Beyond the spell's complexity: pinpoint star alignments, ley line flows, even local trees' influences. Every variable piled in, demanding fortunes in gold and manpower to build a tower.
That's divine sorcery.
Its power was immense—used for near-miracles or asymmetric warfare when needed.
But usually, just emitting aura or punching was more efficient.
My innate divine magic—or divine power—skipped all those constraints. With simplified calculations and control, it unleashed miracles befitting its strength.
-Kugugung!
"...Looks like it worked?"
I cracked my eyes open and looked around.
A pitch-black space enveloped me, like primordial darkness summoned forth.
It blotted out the night sky crafted by Nemesis and Eris's powers, devouring the endless plain Ares had begged from his mother Hera.
The divine sorcerer's Nine Palaces Dream Illusion Array, recreated.
As I admired my spell, Nemesis approached through the darkness and asked,
"This is... combining the secret arts I taught you with knowledge from that other world you know?"
"A beginner's application, but what do you think?"
Her assignments were simple: take the secret arts and principles she'd taught, apply them creatively in new ways.
Ancient hands-on education, you could say.
Unlike Eris's miracles, Nemesis's structured magic was comprehensible.
Plus, perfectly recalling the divine sorcerer's spells and manifesting them with divine power wasn't hard.
The divine sorcerer would've spat blood, ranting about ruining the spells' elegance.
What could you do? Even if it shook heaven and earth, the cooldown was decades, preparation insane, inner energy cost massive.
If one burst of divine power fixed it all, perfect for me.
"Pass the test today, sis?"
The divine sorcerer's Nine Palaces Dream Illusion Array.
His formation, needing vast sacrifices and effort, had stalled two Aura Realm masters and twenty super-elite experts from the Murim Alliance's special forces for nearly ten days in the Four Thousand Snowy Mountains—an ultimate defensive array among ultimates.
But the investment was palace-building in gold; one more use would've made the finance minister cough blood and collapse. Seeing it again thrilled me inwardly.
"My master's spell that held off heroes rivaling old Cadmus and Perseus for ten days. Reinforced with your secret arts and powered by divine strength..."
Honestly, the divine power stabilized it beyond my calculations, and Nemesis's arts amplified its functions.
"Never knew secret arts and sorcery meshed so well."
The Nine Palaces Array: impenetrable darkness, no visibility, no sensation, no time flow.
But as its caster and core, everything lay bare in my palm.
Hera's power expanding the land and isolating it, the night sky from Nemesis and Eris.
Even sis Nemesis's pursed lips and sulky expression.
"Sis?"
"Huh? Oh?"
"What's wrong?"
Something dissatisfied?
But last time, she'd praised my movement techniques and detection spells blending magic and sorcery.
Today, though, Nemesis couldn't hide her unease—even faint cracks on that white face were invisible.
'Not annoyed, more like... disappointed?'
Maybe because I prioritized sorcery over her magic?
"Heh heh... Don't look so shocked. I'm just amazed your wisdom exceeds my expectations."
"Nothing left for me to teach you."
"Whoa, from the sis who always preached utmost fairness and skimped on praise?"
I joked lightly, but Nemesis shook her head firmly.
"No, I'm serious. There's nothing more I can teach you."
"Look at this dark sky."
"Darkness so absolute, earth and heaven blur."
"You've proven yourself a child of the excellent night mother."
Even in my darkness, the radiant Goddess of Judgment reached toward it and said,
"The Queen said it: if from my wisdom, you bloom your mother's darkness."
"Then you qualify to learn your sorcery."
"And so it came to pass."
Yet Nemesis seemed somehow wistful, a touch forlorn.