Awakening (Complete) - Cardinal Benedict
In Cardinal Benedict’s office, barely furnished with even the minimum necessities, an old man of imposing bulk that seemed to fill the cramped space opened his mouth. Had he not been wearing clerical robes, anyone who saw him would have taken him for a battle-hardened veteran who had stood his ground for decades in the dangerous borderlands where fighting never ceased. His demeanor in the Entat Parish was no different, so the impression wasn’t entirely wrong. The old man was an archbishop.
Archbishop Carlo stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out a window adorned with crude stained glass. He spoke to Cardinal Benedict in a tone meant to soothe him.
“Don’t worry too much. There is nothing wrong with our Saintess candidate’s body. She is a child who has not even turned five yet. I can only imagine how severe the shock must have been for her to lose her memories… but since it is not mental corruption caused by magi, she should recover soon.”
Benedict merely offered a bitter smile in response. He said nothing.
“Look on the bright side. It isn’t all bad, is it? Our Saintess candidate has begun to speak—and quite fluently, at that!”
“That is indeed a joyous thing.”
At Benedict’s positive reply, Carlo seized the moment and pressed further, eager to highlight how favorable the situation truly was.
“Is that all? She used to be like an emotionless doll, yet now she shows surprise, cries, laughs—her range of emotional expression has grown so rich, hasn’t it?”
“Goodness. So she can even smile now.”
“I caught it briefly as I passed by earlier. She was laughing.”
Even if it had been manic laughter, laughter was still laughter, so the statement wasn’t wrong.
“The small wish you once spoke of may not be far off.”
“You mean being called Father by Levia?”
“Exactly!”
A broad smile finally bloomed across Benedict’s face. It was the smile of someone looking forward to it with all his heart.
“Therefore, Cardinal, set your worries aside for now—”
Carlo lowered his voice to a solemn register, as though he had finally reached the words he truly wished to say.
“Tell me. Who are the ones who destroyed the parish barrier and attacked both you and the Saintess candidate?”
What returned was a single, resolute refusal.
“Cardinal! Must you truly drive this old man to the brink of frustration until he sets off on a journey to the Goddess’s side!”
In simpler terms, he was so frustrated he felt he might die.
“The Saintess candidate is precious to this old man as well! She is like a granddaughter I obtained at the very twilight of my life!”
Carlo’s eyes glowed with golden light. His surging emotions must have caused the divine power within him to leak outward.
“Those wretches who tried to kill that pitiful child who could neither wield divine power nor speak! The beastly ones who launched the direct assault may have been judged by the Cardinal himself, but there must be a mastermind behind them! Unless I personally tear them apart, there will be no way to ease this old man’s fury!”
The title of archbishop was merely an outward position. At his core, Carlo was a man like a wild beast. And beasts are tenacious in their vengeance. They would sink their fangs into the enemy’s throat until the very end, regardless of what became of their own bodies.
“So tell me. Who is the mastermind?”
“I cannot.”
“Cardinal!!”
“However… there are two things I believe I can tell you now.”
Benedict withdrew his gaze from the window, turned to face Carlo, and spoke.
“Two things?”
“It was not I who delivered judgment upon them last night.”
“What do you mean?”
“And Levia does not lack divine power.”
Carlo found Benedict’s words incomprehensible.
“You know full well this old man dislikes riddles, yet you speak this way?”
It hadn’t exactly been a riddle, but Benedict, sensing that was how it sounded, provided the answer.
“The one who judged them was not me, but Levia.”
Benedict’s gaze returned to the window. He let out a quiet sigh.
“Ah… so it has already begun to sprout. I had hoped it would not.”
Within Benedict’s sight, Cesca walking away with Levia held in her arms came into view.
“How could that small Saintess candidate without divine power possibly have judged them?”
Carlo felt only frustration at Benedict’s cryptic words. It was as if the man were deliberately withholding a single key phrase.
“…Are you saying this because of her record as a Saintess candidate? No matter the circumstances, fabricating achievements with lies is…!”
“Archbishop.”
Benedict cut him off and declared flatly.
“Prepare yourself. If we leave now, it will ease Your Grace’s resentment… and we may yet stop it before it is too late.”
Though poor at riddles, Carlo possessed keen intuition. His golden-glowing eyes still fixed ahead, he nodded. Benedict had sensed it—the movements of the mastermind. Yet the final remark lingered in his mind. The implication of stopping something before it was too late did not sound like preventing another direct assault like the one the previous night.
“What exactly must we stop before it is too late? It carries a slightly different nuance.”
Only then did he finally reveal the keyword he had been concealing.
“Levia does not lack divine power.”
“It was simply sealed away.”
“We must… delay the breaking of that seal for as long as possible.”
When the sword plunged into me and I closed my eyes, appealing my unjust resentment to someone from within the shadow of death where I could no longer even hear—
Crack!
The sound of something fracturing rang out. It wasn’t a sound that reached me through my ears. The noise resonated from a place deeper than the unconscious. The instant I ‘recognized’ it, the sound began radiating an overwhelming presence. And the moment ‘it’ realized I had perceived it, ‘it’ dragged me down into a depth far beyond the unconscious. As though it possessed its own will and personality.
“Come here and meet me.”
It was a colossal sphere radiating golden light. It was not in a complete state. Cracks ran across its surface, and light leaked from within. Yes—‘seen.’ Even though this was deep inside my consciousness, I registered that I could see it. It felt exactly like a lucid dream.
“Is this some kind of flashback…?”
The shadow of death had fallen over me. Experiencing something like this in the process, I wondered if it was a classic near-death vision or something similar. Hmm… I didn’t remember anything like this happening last time. Or had it happened and I’d simply forgotten?
“No.”
It spoke to me. Surprisingly.
“It is neither a flashback nor something you have forgotten.”
And it was even reading my thoughts.
“Who are you?”
The cracks on the sphere deepened rapidly. The light pouring out grew fiercer.
“I am one of your origins.”
“I am one of your true powers.”
“And I am another you.”
The sphere, now freed from its restraints, drifted toward me. I asked,
“Just confirming the obvious, but is this one of those developments where you awaken incredible power at the absolute brink of death?”
The answer came like a whisper.
“You know it well.”
Consciousness returned. My eyes opened. My body rose. My clothes were still soaked in blood, yet the wounds were gone. They had healed. The ‘it’ I had seen and felt from deeper than the unconscious spread throughout my entire being and began transforming my body. Even as my flesh changed, there was no pain. Golden light coalesced around my hands—a greeting to signal that ‘it’ was beginning to merge with me.
I had glimpsed something similar once before. That was how I knew. ‘It’—this power—was divine power.
A sense of omnipotence surged through me. A wave of exaltation followed. I lifted my gaze from my hands and looked forward. The Clown was manipulating Cesca, forcing her to take her own life. I dashed forward. The speed was unbelievable. The instant my foot left the ground, I had already reached my destination. My perception seemed to have accelerated as well; everything in my field of vision moved in slow motion.
I saw Cesca’s blade reach her throat and blood begin to well. Any deeper and it would threaten her life. I didn’t hesitate. Confident that not only my speed but my strength had increased dramatically, I drove my fist squarely into Cesca’s abdomen. The acceleration and force must have been greater than I realized, because she slammed into the wall with a tremendous crash, then slid down unconscious.
I did feel a twinge of guilt, but the sensation of my chest finally clearing was far stronger. And why wouldn’t it be? She had hated me without giving any reason, stabbed me with a sword, and nearly killed me. Where could you find a more frustrating sweet-potato plot than that?
That was why the words burst out of me unconsciously.
“Finally my insides feel completely refreshed! For sweet-potato moments, nothing beats a good cider-style beating as the cure.”
I wonder if they have cider in this world too. I’d really like to try some.
With that thought, I turned my attention to the next target. Behind that repulsive mask, the Clown’s pupils were trembling violently. The playful attitude he had displayed until moments ago was nowhere to be found, as if he had sold it off somewhere. I had been so terrified of him earlier, yet now… I wasn’t afraid at all.
My body was still that of a child who had not even reached five years of age. I had only just awakened this power, but for some reason, I didn’t feel like I would lose.