The Regressed Saintess and the Spark of Divinity
The regressor and her regressor bot saintess... It was all still too confusing.
I was already reeling from the events with the First Emperor inside Luddera the night before, with a mountain of things to check on top of that. And now this—a saintess from the future too...
A headache was starting to creep in.
She claimed we were lovers, but to me, she was a total stranger. No matter how stunningly beautiful she was, her otherworldly grace and status made her feel like someone I could never stand beside. She was still so distant, so unreachable.
"So why are you here?"
"Hehe..."
The saintess was clinging to my arm on top of my bed in my room.
"This is my room, you know."
Lichten Academy's strict code of conduct forbade opposite-sex students from entering each other's dorms.
Considering the students' ages, it was prime time for raging hormones, and romances were bound to spark. But with their noble backgrounds, any unchecked flings could lead to scandals. To prevent that, the academy enforced rules to curb inter-gender mingling as much as possible. The dorms even had magical barriers specifically against intrusions from the opposite sex.
Not even my sister Adelina could get in here. This was the boys' dorm...
"How the hell did you even get in?"
"Hehe. You think some basic spell could stop me? I fought alongside you to the very end, my beloved husband!"
The saintess beamed up at me, her smile pure and radiant enough to steal any man's soul at a glance.
Squish.
But I was struggling to keep my wits about me for an entirely different reason—the warm, soft sensation pressing against my arm.
"I crossed death itself and turned back time just to find you again, my husband. How could I ever leave your side?"
She gazed up at me with wide, round eyes.
......I'd always thought I wasn't all that interested in women.
Maybe I was wrong.
A beauty like this throwing herself at me? No red-blooded man could push her away without a concussion.
But the man she loved was the future me I didn't know. Could she really love this me?
Sudden surge of unfamiliar holy power from the hand.
"Eek!"
The strange energy from last night sparked from the hand she was holding—like static electricity.
"M-my husband...!"
"Ah, Saintess! This is, uh..."
Her softness must've clouded my mind; I'd unconsciously tapped into that power without realizing.
This force had appeared out of nowhere when I woke up this morning. I had no idea how to control it yet, and with her right there...
"To wield divinity already!"
"Huh? Divinity...?"
Divinity—the power that defined gods, wieldable only by them. Priests and holy knights drew lesser holy power from it.
Typically, only transcendent beings or deities could handle true divinity. Mastering it meant transcending mortality itself.
And this was divinity...?
"Isn't divinity something only gods use?"
"Indeed. Mortals are forbidden from it unless they've claimed a divine throne. Otherwise, it's impossible."
"Then how..."
"Truth be told... in the previous timeline, you wielded divinity in a mortal body."
"......Me?"
"Yes. That made you GM's sole rival and the continent's last hope. You were a god among men."
Me... a god?
In Luddera, I held absolute authority. But in reality? I was powerless beyond illusion magic.
The idea that I could wield a god's power? Unbelievable.
"You shouldn't have accessed divinity this soon... What could have changed...?"
The timeline shifted? Why?
The saintess frowned, murmuring to herself.
"My husband."
"Yes?"
"It seems we need to investigate something. Wait here just a moment; I'll check and return shortly."
She rose from the bed.
"Bless. Miracle Bless. Sacred Minerva."
⟨ Holy Blessings Invoked ⟩
She showered me with countless blessings.
"Phew! Even a master couldn't touch you now! Until we meet again, my husband—stay safe?"
She wiped sweat from her brow and vanished.
I was left alone in my room, utterly dumbfounded.
"......What a storm."
A saintess as my future lover? Who'd believe that?
More importantly...
"Divinity..."
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
Holy power manifests as crackling sparks.
The sparks flared again, but when I tried to control it, nothing happened beyond the flashes. Divinity refused to budge.
"......This is harder than mana control when I first learned magic."
I could barely cast spells even after lessons from the Magic Tower mages. Kartesia tried teaching me too, but no matter what, I couldn't manage anything beyond illusion magic.
"And divinity? Can't exactly learn it from anyone."
I couldn't just ask a god how it worked. Hell, I didn't even know how to contact one. Prayer, maybe?
"......Should I ask Kartesia?"
I tried reaching her, but...
Tu tu tu tu...
No connection. Right—she'd mentioned some dragon conference keeping her from fully enjoying the Labyrinth Tower. She must be deep in Luddera now.
Maybe contact her inside?
I donned the Luddera connector.
Brief darkness, then vast skies unfold.
Vast Luddera skies stretched before me. Hovering in the center, I activated the admin interface.
Dozens of screens materialized around me.
The GM account was Luddera's absolute ruler. I could view any player, any location.
Intending to check on Kartesia, but...
"Hold on."
There was a divinity user here: the First Emperor, who awakened divine power yesterday. Maybe he could teach me how to wield it.
Of course, after our clash, he might not share willingly. Or he'd question why a "god" needed lessons, blowing my disguise.
'Use Solaris?'
Solaris was my NPC; I could possess her. The First Emperor adored her as his master, so borrowing her body to learn from him was an option.
For now, check his status. I opened the view of Labyrinth Tower floor 3.
Screens displayed Solaris and the First Emperor.
"Goo goo ga ga! Mama!"
"Hehe. Is it that tasty, my foolish disciple?"
......What the hell was I seeing?
The First Emperor, curled up like a baby, babbling incoherently. Who'd believe this was the man who defied a god for his love?
A reunion after centuries with the woman who raised him—his "master." It made sense he'd act childish...
But only a day had passed. This couldn't be right.
It was too absurd for words.
......Huh?
I'd been too shocked by him to notice: Solaris stroking his head with affectionate, loving eyes.
Impossible.
I'd never programmed that into her. Even if coincidences layered her with Kartesia's memories from her time with the Flame Emperor, this didn't fit. Kartesia never loved the First Emperor.
Current Solaris was... exactly the ideal wandering swordswoman he'd dreamed of.
'How is this possible?'
Most Luddera NPCs acted autonomously based on my settings. But this? Completely off-script.
Did the First Emperor implant an ideal image via divinity? No—he fought GM to protect her; he'd never tamper with her mind.
Then Solaris evolved independently? Plausible. I opened her internal code.
"This..."
There it was: code beyond my settings. Artificial memories, like someone had hacked in to rewrite her past...
"Tch, caught already."
In Luddera's deepest abyss—the bottommost layer of an unknown special zone—a woman floated amid dozens of screens.
Even Albus was unaware of this place.
"So sharp as always. What can I say? He's the master."
Tap tap tap.
Her fingers danced in the air like a developer's on a keyboard.
"Pushed too hard with the First Emperor this time. Should've paced it slower—got greedy."
She pulled a screen showing Albus's face into her embrace, hugging it tenderly.
"And the saintess? Didn't expect her to regress."
Aftermath of her own return? Or her god sent her back?
"With the saintess variable, time to tweak the plan."
LV ????
Luddera's Master: GM
Luddera Season 1's final boss: the female entity "GM."
"Just wait a little longer, Master."
The future specter—created by past-cycle Albus for an event, yet surviving deletion and regressing against his will—curled her lips in a smirk.
"I'll fulfill your command, no matter what. Once it's all done, I'll come back to you. So please, just wait."
My beloved... Creator.