Installment and Lump Sum
Installment and Lump Sum
The Healing Saint was trying to improve the host's mental state.
Even knowing full well that he could be struck by the curse and injured, he showed not a sliver of fear—he spent time with the imperial princess, laughing and chatting without wearing protective gear.
Through the countless magic circles installed in the detached palace, the Chosen of the Evil God could observe every one of those scenes vividly.
Why was he going to such lengths?
Before long, the intent became clear.
Because the fragment of the Evil God had been struck by divine magic once a week for sixteen years, its soul-link with the host had grown extremely weak.
In its current state, the likelihood was higher that it would forge a stronger soul-link and move to a new host it could devour completely.
The Saint was trying to lure the fragment of the Evil God into his own soul.
Even though it was obvious that no saint could remain unharmed once the fragment of the Evil God nested inside his soul, he was behaving as if he were tempting the fragment.
Just what kind of man was he?
Wasn't he acting as if he had a way to deal with the fragment of the Evil God even if it transferred into his soul?
When that fact was reported, the Evil God Cult urgently ordered that the fragment—still not properly completed—be awakened immediately.
The Chosen agreed with their opinion.
It meant awakening the fragment incompletely after sacrificing so much just to obtain it, but that would be better than letting the Saint catch it and having it extinguished futilely without any effect.
The Chosen waited until the Saint left the detached palace.
And as soon as he left the detached palace, the Chosen moved at once.
Since it was the dawn hours, there were not many people to deal with.
After simply killing the one mage standing watch, the one priest, and both knights of the Imperial Guard, the Chosen approached the detached palace.
The detached palace was packed with every kind of defense mechanism, prepared in case the fragment of the Evil God bound to Princess Iomene's body ever rampaged.
He deactivated the holy relic installed to automatically trigger hundreds of Miracle of Evil Eradication spells the moment the curse exceeded a certain level, and also deactivated dozens of defensive magic circles and miracles designed to prevent the curse from ever leaking past the detached palace into the Imperial Palace.
Of course, all of this did not come without a price.
The Chosen of the Evil God had to expend an immense quantity of Resentment.
It was the Resentment that sustained the Miracle of Concealment wrapped around his body, which could be called his lifeline.
Originally, the Collector would have gathered and brought additional Resentment, but since she had died and vanished, there was no other choice.
After taking all those measures, the Chosen entered the detached palace.
His eyes fell upon Princess Iomene, lying in bed and sleeping soundly with a happy expression, as if seen for the first time.
When he stretched out his hand and placed it on top of Princess Iomene's head, the fragment of the Evil God slumbering within her soul began to react.
Due to periodic exposure to divine magic, the connection between the fragment and her soul—which should have been firmly rooted—had grown pitifully weak.
In this state, even if the fragment were awakened, it could never manifest its power in a whole form.
What venomously ruthless bastards they were.
How could they have made the choice to torture their own daughter for sixteen years?
The Evil God Cult and the Chosen had not anticipated that they would go this far.
The Evil God Cult had known that while the emperor showed a strong face outwardly, he was endlessly weak when it came to his family.
If the fragment of the Evil God were placed inside an ordinary child, the White Order would surely excise the fragment even at the cost of sacrificing that person's soul. Therefore, a target whose soul the White Order could not destroy on a whim was needed.
Princess Iomene was chosen as the host.
If that happened, the Evil God Cult had expected that the deeply affectionate emperor, who could never bring himself to order his daughter tortured, would confine Princess Iomene to a remote countryside estate.
The countryside would have been far easier for them to access, and there they could nurture the fragment of the Evil God step by step before awakening it at the decisive moment.
That way, by the nature of the Soul-linked Twins, they could devour not only Iomene but also Princess Almene—whose soul was linked to hers—and in an instant, unleash a curse in the very heart of the capital, Mars City.
Since Princess Almene, seemingly healthy, would suddenly become the source of curses one day, the empire would obviously be unable to react.
But the emperor had hardened his heart, chosen to torture his daughter for sixteen years, and in the end, it had come to this.
On top of that, with the appearance of the Healing Saint, the situation had forced them to trigger the awakening about two years earlier than planned.
It was a complete mess.
Even if the fragment of the Evil God awakened, it was plainly obvious that its structure would be excessively unstable.
But what could be done?
There was no other choice besides this.
"Awaken."
At the Chosen's words, the fragment of the Evil God parasitizing her soul began to radiate power.
An intense curse began to erupt through its wings.
Although its state was so excessively unstable that it seemed it might shatter at the slightest impact, its potency alone was transcendent, just as stories had described.
A bone-chilling scream.
A bizarre and dreadful sensation, as if scraping the soul.
Along with it, a curse of overwhelming power began to spew forth into the world.
It was the beginning of annihilation.
***
The closer I drew to the Imperial Palace, the worse the situation became.
"Grrghh!! Aaahh!!"
"Save me!! Save me!!"
Countless people had collapsed on the ground and were convulsing, struck by the curse.
"Hurry!! Hurry! Pull out those struck by the curse and treat them!!"
While the priests of the Order of Grace who had followed me treated the afflicted, I was racing toward the Imperial Palace in a daze.
The very moment the Imperial Palace came into view in the distance, I immediately activated Time Stop.
In my heart, I had wanted to activate it the instant I sensed the curse bursting from the Magic Tower Temple, but if I had done that, my mental energy would have completely drained and I would have passed out before I could even get close to Princess Iomene.
So activating Time Stop at this distance was the best I could do.
Please, let her soul not have been destroyed yet.
Please, let Iomene still be alive.
Even as I thought it myself, I knew it was a wish that didn't seem to have a shred of possibility. I wished it anyway while repeatedly releasing and reactivating Time Stop locally, moving toward the detached palace as fast as I could. As a result—
I could see Iomene in the distance, having shot high into the sky after bursting through the roof of the detached palace.
On the wings that had sprouted from her back, dozens of eyeballs had grown and were staring down at the ground.
Up to that point, I could still bear it.
What drove me to despair was something else.
A cruel smile I had never seen before was drawn across Iomene's face.
A rapturous yet horrifying smile that seemed as if it could only be worn by someone who mocked and blasphemed the world and bore a grudge against all living things.
Iomene was completely dead.
Her body was there, but her soul had been completely devoured by the fragment of the Evil God.
Why?
Why would they go that far?
I didn't know who the bastard who cast the curse was, but a woman who had never once been happy was finally starting to recover a little—what reason on earth was there to go this far?
Rage.
A maddening rage surged up inside me.
As I had done back at the factory, I began to ascend using Air Step, using the time-frozen void as stepping stones.
Around the time I nearly reached Iomene, floating in the void.
My mental energy was nearly depleted.
That efficiency was absolute dogshit, seriously.
What now?
To get completely close to Iomene, I still had about three meters left.
If I released Time Stop in my current state, I would fall.
After racking my brains desperately—
I thought of one solution.
I released the Time Stop I had placed on the world.
While keeping Time Stop active solely on the space under my feet.
This way I could minimize mental energy consumption and still stand in midair.
The instant Time Stop was released, a chill beyond imagination seized my entire body.
The sensation like my very soul was being scraped was now turning into a horror and revulsion so intense I wanted to retch.
I didn't quite know how to express it.
But it felt as if my soul itself was telling me.
That it could be destroyed.
That if even a little of that black-mist-like curse surrounding Iomene's body entered me, my soul would shatter and vanish.
I could feel my soul trembling madly in fear, wholly apart from my will.
But whether my soul was afraid or not, I wasn't the slightest bit scared of that black mist.
The mind and the soul disagreeing—that was another novel experience I'd never had before.
Soul destruction?
That was a one-way ticket to Korea.
A return to a safe and happy space, free of any trace of fear of hell.
I straightened my back confidently.
And I looked straight at the fragment of the Evil God, wearing Iomene's form.
Spewing a tremendous amount of curse from both wings, the fragment of the Evil God also looked at me.
[Die!]
[Destruction!]
[Annihilation!]
The fragment of the Evil God spat out simple words in a grotesque voice, giggling like a child.
I had hoped for a miracle, but there was no miracle.
Iomene was gone.
Before I knew it, tears were streaming from both my eyes.
I unfastened my belt and gripped it in my hand.
Using the time-stopped space as stepping stones, I walked through the void and approached the fragment of the Evil God.
The fragment sneered at me.
[You die too!!]
[You'll die too!]
[I'll eat you too!]
[Eat! Eat!]
The curse concentrated on my body.
But I didn't care.
You could destroy my soul.
Go ahead, destroy it as much as you want.
In exchange, I'd hit you just once. Just once.
I could die, so let me hit you just once.
The distance between me and the fragment of the Evil God began to close.
Only then did a flustered-sounding voice escape the mouth of the fragment of the Evil God, which had been sneering and mocking me.
[Why?]
[Aren't you scared?]
The pitch-black mist wrapped around my body even more meticulously.
My soul was now trembling to the point of convulsing, beyond mere fear.
It was trembling in a way that screamed, 'At this rate, I'm going to shatter, you idiot!!'
But I didn't care.
With a nosebleed streaming steadily from the strain of overusing Time Stop, I tightened my grip on the belt in my right hand.
From the fragment's perspective, this was an unblockable attack.
It didn't matter if I failed.
If I failed, it'd be a trip to Korea.
If I succeeded, I could deal one solid dose of pain to that fucked-up fragment of the Evil God.
I couldn't feel fear at all.
Yeah.
It didn't matter.
Destroy it.
I told you I wasn't scared.
Go ahead and shatter my soul, just let me hit you once in exchange.
I'd really only hit you once.
[Weird! Weird!]
[Stronger! Stronger!]
The fragment of the Evil God was now visibly starting to panic.
The black energy grew denser.
I could feel the curses that had been scattered into the bodies of countless people on the ground leaving them and concentrating around my body.
But still, nothing happened.
You dogfucking son of a bitch.
I was going to make you experience the most horrifying pain that exists in this world.
When there was less than a meter between us, terror finally clouded the fragment's face.
[Don't come closer!!]
The fragment flapped its wings as if trying to flee, but not a chance.
I cast Time Stop on the feet of the fleeing fragment.
Unable to escape, frozen as if nailed to the void, the thing was helpless—and I charged at it.
And I touched its body and activated a skill.
[Activating Skill: Sensitivity 3000x!]
Last time I couldn't use the skill on the fragment of the Evil God, but this time the skill was activating.
It was a skill that could only be applied to living beings, wasn't it?
You made a mistake.
Fragment of the Evil God.
If you had remained a parasite latched onto a soul, this skill would never have found purchase.
Now Iomene's body was your body.
So naturally, any pain felt in that body was your pain too.
"The pain Iomene felt in installments over sixteen years... I'll make you feel it in a lump sum this time."
[No, no!! No!!!]
"Yes!!"
The belt swung.
With a satisfying smack, Iomene's cheek swelled and several teeth burst out.
And then—
[Grrghh!!...... Uwaaaahh!! Aaaaagh!]
The fragment of the Evil God began to scream.