Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Edler, Apostle of the God's Poison
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Edler, the Apostle of the God's Poison.
Though he was a priest who had become an apostle of a Calamity's master,
he still wielded the power of the gods.
As proof, Edler had healed and revived people countless times.
But deep in his heart, he always harbored one doubt.
'Is the power I wield truly the power of the gods?'
Aura was a special force capable of manifesting anything.
Even the mana used by mages was derived from aura.
The next stage, manifestation, was similarly based on aura to bring mental images to life.
'So divine power, called the power of the gods, must be...'
In the end, wasn't it merely the healing power manifested by aura through faith in the existence of gods?
That thought struck him thirty years into his path of asceticism.
And soon after, by chance, he became the master of a Calamity.
It was an era when Calamities appeared, throwing the world into chaos.
Families had rushed into the Calamities one after another.
Edler had entered a newly appeared Calamity alongside one such family.
Fortune smiled on him alone at the Calamity's exit.
Everyone from the family he came with had been wiped out.
By the time he escaped the Calamity alone,
a strange phenomenon manifested in his body.
'An energy that could never be called divine power.'
It was none other than a Calamity.
The Calamity embedded in his body was a terrifying, malevolent force beyond imagination.
At that moment, the one called the God's Poison whispered to him.
If he wished to know the truth behind his doubts, he should take its hand.
Unable to overcome his fear of the Calamity, Edler grasped that hand.
And in that instant, he realized.
The gods were nothing more than imaginary beings conjured by human faith.
Divine power was merely a force created by humans through aura.
Faith in the gods was utterly worthless.
Thus, Edler became the apostle of the God's Poison.
God's Poison.
A name perfectly suited to mock the priests.
Such was Edler, now staring in bewilderment at the scene before him.
One question welled up in his heart.
'Are the gods truly nonexistent?'
Gazing at the man before him, Edler reconsidered the existence of gods.
And rightly so, for this man was beyond anything but divine creation.
This man was too strong—far too strong.
As if he had long transcended the realm of humanity.
Each time his Dawn blade gleamed, Edler's space shattered.
'He's just another master of a Calamity like me. How could the gap be this vast?'
Edler stared at Havel in stunned horror.
The Calamity he had mastered was the Mirror World.
A labyrinthine Calamity of layered, overlapping separate spaces.
Once trapped, escape was impossible—a true hell.
He had become its master purely by luck, emerging from it.
But in this world, luck was a form of skill.
As master of the Calamity, Edler wielded space freely.
Thus, he had trapped Havel in a separate space,
planning to compress it tiny, like a birdcage.
The God's Poison had shown greed for him, after all.
But such thoughts were far too shallow.
Whenever Edler sliced through space, Havel's sword thrust out.
Clang!
And Havel's extended sword shattered the space once more.
"How in the world are you breaking through space so easily?!"
Edler reacted with disbelief, extending his hand.
The severed spaces twisted and tangled chaotically in reverse.
Anyone touching the warped space would be torn apart as their body was sliced across different dimensions.
This was no mere containment—it was a lethal spatial cleave meant to kill.
Yet it was useless against Havel.
Clang!
His downward slash simply shattered the space again.
"I just put some force into it, and it worked."
"Does that even make sense?!"
"The world solves most things with power. If it doesn't, you're just not strong enough."
Edler's face twisted in dismay.
He had given up on trapping Havel.
Instead, he fled ceaselessly to the next space, ensuring Havel couldn't find him.
Space was like facing a mirror.
The room's appearance remained the same,
but Edler was confident he could evade capture indefinitely.
It was an endless game of hide-and-seek.
As he fled, Edler realized one crucial fact.
He had observed Havel closely from the sidelines.
Havel was strong, but Edler had thought him beatable.
He had been gravely mistaken.
"Lord Havel, you've never once used your full power."
He had never shown even a hint of his full strength.
No, not full power—he hadn't revealed his true might at all.
To him, the world might be utterly boring.
"But at this rate, you'll never catch me."
Havel wasn't even using his Calamity.
His innate power alone was more than enough—overflowing, even—for battle.
Yet because of that strength, he seemed ignorant of how to wield a Calamity.
Edler changed his approach.
The God's Poison was curious about Havel.
It could observe him through Edler.
So he just needed to sate that curiosity's greed.
Make Havel reveal his full power.
"You'll be chasing my shadow forever."
Havel stared at him blankly before letting out an incredulous laugh.
"One piece of advice."
Havel stopped pursuing Edler as he fled to the next space.
Instead, he aimed his sword at him.
"Thinking the world you see is everything will get you killed."
In that moment, a fierce Dawn light began to gather on Havel's sword.
Stronger than the Dawn that had sliced space before.
A blinding light so intense it pierced through hands shielding eyes.
Seeing it, Edler panicked.
The light was so powerful that space warped around Havel as its epicenter.
"What... are you planning?"
"I'm tired of hide-and-seek. You're cleverly using multiple reflections to slip into unreflected spots, right?"
Havel had seen through Edler's ability completely.
By the time Edler's face hardened, it was too late.
"Let's see if you can escape when I've filled every unreflected spot."
"What?!"
As Edler blurted in shock,
Dawn ignited from Havel's sword.
Soon, light spread, filling—no, bursting—the space.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
All the spaces Edler had cleaved shattered at once.
The space couldn't withstand the overwhelming light.
Edler frantically leaped through spaces to flee.
But light already blanketed every path ahead.
Edler felt his vision turn pure white.
All spaces brimmed with Havel's Dawn.
Edler slashed spaces desperately, thrashing like a cornered beast.
But he finally realized it was impossible.
The Dawn light devoured him relentlessly, pursuing without end.
In a last gambit, he isolated himself in a separate space entirely.
Blocking off all other spaces at the source.
But that was a foolish notion.
"I told you."
Before the isolated space, Havel raised his fist.
The destructive power gathered there was enough to warp Edler's space.
"Force makes it work."
Spotting Havel, Edler's eyes bulged.
At the same moment, his fist slammed into Edler's space.
Crack!
A cracking sound echoed as Edler's space split open.
"Haha, oh gods."
The backlash from the final space's shattering hit Edler full force.
Light pouring from every direction via multiple reflections pierced his body through.
"Aaaargh!"
Screaming, Edler rolled on the floor, his form turned ghostly white.
Space had reverted to the original room.
Within it, Edler trembled violently.
Gathering divine power through his ragged breaths,
his body barely recovered enough to breathe.
Havel stood towering before him.
Between the fading Dawn light, Havel's unscathed face shone through.
"A guy who can't even handle this dares to test me?"
Havel clicked his tongue.
He couldn't fathom why these modern fools, all flash and no substance, acted this way.
'Is it the changing times, or am I just old-fashioned?'
Baomet, from his era, suggested it wasn't entirely that.
Havel rummaged Edler's body with a hand.
A keyring emerged.
"Baria, the keys?"
"Ah, here they are."
Dazed Baria hurriedly pulled out the keyring.
He had kept them safe.
"Feed this to that spearman."
Havel tossed Baria the healing potion he always carried.
Then he hoisted Edler up effortlessly.
"You're watching through this one, aren't you?"
Havel warned the God's Poison observing via Edler.
"If you're curious, come yourself. Stop scheming from the shadows."
With that warning, Havel struck Edler down.
"Kuhk!"
Edler lost consciousness completely.
Havel had spared his life—for now, as he still had questions.
Leaving the fainted Edler, Havel turned.
Daslan August's adjutant had arrived late, after Havel's sudden charge.
"L-Lord Havel!"
Rushing in, he surveyed the room and gasped.
It looked like a storeroom,
but it held vital confidential documents—now in ruins.
He grimaced.
If he were direct lineage of August or powerful enough, he might protest.
But he was merely an adjutant to August's direct lineage.
He lacked the authority to argue fault.
Especially against someone who had subdued the Ashen 3rd Knights.
Beyond his control.
For now, he had to placate him to avoid more trouble.
"Lord Daslan August will arrive soon! Until then, could you please wait and talk?"
Havel turned to the adjutant.
A man caught between superiors, tossed about.
He had shown his power sufficiently.
Penbola would arrive soon, and with Five Great Families matters,
"Baria, from your view as a fellow family member, is this enough to make an example for the August fools?"
Havel asked Baria.
Baria glanced outside and gave a wry smile.
"More than enough—overflowing, even."
Baria had planned to flee originally.
Trouble with August later was inevitable,
but even as Five Great Families, they were merely allied fences.
Ultimately rivals.
Sticking with Havel over August was wiser.
But with Havel here,
perhaps they should see it through decisively.
"So where's this direct-line August guy?"
"Th-that is..."
The adjutant feigned panic,
his face troubled over whether to speak.
But as Havel frowned impatiently,
he finally revealed Daslan's destination.
"Isn't there one among Baria Graiza's group who arrived?"
Havel recalled Moebius upon hearing that.
Come to think of it, he had told the assassin to pursue Moebius's trail and capture him.
"That one stole the keys, so he chased after."
The follow-up made Havel grip his throat briefly.
As expected, August direct-line Daslan had pursued Moebius.
Realizing that, Havel's mind grew briefly complicated.
Moebius might look the part, but he was someone the Whisperer wanted as an apostle.
In Havel's eyes, Moebius had decent potential.
Whatever Daslan's level,
if he fell short, August would suffer immensely.
'These Five Great Families are more pathetic than I thought.'
Maybe the family heads were different.
With that thought, Havel turned.
"Baria, stay here."
He would have to go greet them.