#201

I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but he can’t.

Don’t do it.

Stop!

I gripped both of Callister’s arms tightly to keep him from doing anything reckless.

Or rather, I tried to.

“Callister?”

As if sand were slipping through my fingers, Callister’s two arms collapsed.

Only empty sleeves remained in my hands.

I hurriedly knelt down, struggling to gather the fragments that were about to scatter.

No, don’t go.

You said you didn’t want to mix with those things.

I tied the sleeves of the robe Callister had been wearing, folded it in half to make something like a sack, and swept Callister inside.

“Callister, no! Stop! Listen to me!”

He kept trying to slip out, so I couldn’t even get half of him in, but I blocked the opening and hugged it tight.

I was going to tell him that he didn’t need to make some sudden sacrifice, and that we could find another way.

“Don’t do things I didn’t ask you to do! I hate this kind of stuff!”

If it’s a Callister who strives to please me, he’ll react to these words.

“I hate a Callister who doesn’t listen to me! Do you understand? If you keep this up, I’ll give the position of first believer and apostle to Pandemonium!”

The inside of the robe grew a bit quieter.

Feeling a sense of relief, I loosened my grip.

Since I’d lost about half of him, he must have become a slightly smaller Callister.

“If you say you were wrong this time, I’ll let it slide…”

As I said this, I peered inside the robe.

There were arms in there.

Two and a half.

“…Callister?”

“Hyung, look over there!”

Still clutching the robe Callister had worn, I stared blankly where Pandemonium was pointing.

The arms that had been squirming and changing shape had returned to their original form.

They were ‘arms’ exactly identical to the ones inside the robe.

‘…They mustn’t mix.’

If they mixed, even I wouldn’t be able to tell which one was Callister.

I quickly tied the robe shut.

My heart pounded.

The thing in my arms is the real Callister.

Because he was Callister until just a moment ago.

No matter what anyone says, this is ‘Callister.’

‘If I use this as the core and reconstruct the body…’

He will return as my Callister.

The connection with the Vassal had not been severed.

This meant the System also judged that Callister had not disappeared.

Although I could feel a connection of the same intensity from all those arms…

“…Hyung? Something is splitting over there.”

Black cracks began to appear all over the arms.

Exactly as Callister had drawn.

Those cracks opened all at once.

O.

O, o, o, o, o…

When a sound close to my own voice flowed out, I quickly opened Pandemonium’s Status Window.

“In One Ear, Out the Other! No, activate nope, can’t hear you!”

Soon, a notification sound rang out, loud enough to make my ears numb.

[SYSTEM: ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme’ effect prevents ‘intrusion’.]

‘Fuck…’

Couldn’t they just mute the Name of Oblivion?

It felt like a ship’s horn was blasting right next to my ear.

I heard the “O” sound again.

I grew desperate.

‘I can’t keep listening to this warning sound!’

I almost tried to borrow Pandemonium’s ‘trait,’ but then remembered there was no need.

‘nope, can’t hear you’ was a skill that could be touched by ‘Distortion.’

In that case, wouldn’t ‘Distortion’ be far more effective?

I clutched my head and pulled out the Relic of the Twisted One, the purple poppy.

‘If only I can influence myself…’

If it was a Distortion ‘I used,’ it would be able to affect me.

‘Ignore the vibrations coming from over there.’

As soon as I ‘distorted’ my perception, the warning sound and the notification window vanished simultaneously.

The world became silent once again.

Only a slight ringing remained, leaving me feeling dizzy.

‘…Callister.’

He doesn’t even like Pandemonium.

Why go this far?

There was no need.

[Fabio]

[Fabio]

[Fabio]

[Fabio]

⁝

[Fabio]

[Fabio]

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ ‘prayer’ is provided as text.]

The notification window flickered wildly as if there were an error.

[TIP: Prayers with the same content can be bundled! Setting a prayer format will clean up your timeline.]

[TIP: Creating a prayer routine allows you to receive more prayers. Why not include them in your sermon?]

‘…Haha.’

I laughed inwardly as I watched the number of prayers pile up.

Callister was offering prayers to me.

He’s already the Prime Apostle even without doing this.

‘Then again, being an executive is meaningless if the company goes bankrupt.’

Callister is seeking a way to survive even more diligently than I am.

Even though I had already resigned myself to it.

‘Because there’s no way I can win.’

In a game where only one person survives, surviving by sheer luck is impossible.

That’s why I only thought about pushing the end as far back as possible.

And in the process, it would be nice to screw over a few shitty bastards.

But…

[Nyapoleon: You snatched away what I was encroaching upon in a single moment!]

[Nyapoleon: Wonderful! As expected, you always exceed my expectations!]

[Nyapoleon: How did you do it? No, I shall find out. Please wait a moment!]

‘…Wait a moment?’

Nyapoleon loved watching clip videos and analyzing them.

Especially regarding my Main World clips, he would write incredibly detailed analysis posts about which build I played and ask me for a score.

Like a student waiting for their grade.

‘He really thinks this is just a game.’

More importantly.

What exactly does he intend to find out?

Is he planning to gnaw away at my Callister too?

‘That piece of shit.’

Suddenly, anger surged within me.

I couldn’t let that happen.

‘I’ll crush him before that.’

Let’s think.

How can I screw over Mother God?

‘…Mother God is obsessed with me.’

In the current situation, that was a good thing.

Because if I speak to her, she will definitely answer.

And if she happens to be influenced by me?

I can finish her.

‘Since it’s before the Stars open, if I just destroy the Sacred Relic, a Game Over will trigger.’

I don’t need to find and kill all of Mother God’s Units.

The Sacred Relic—I just need to destroy that Sacred Relic.

Then, how do I find the Sacred Relic?

‘…I don’t know.’

Let’s think of ideas while doing what I can for now.

I stood up while clutching ‘Callister.’

“Pandemonium. Ransack the lab and pull out everything that possesses even a shred of divine power. Anything at all.”

“Is there something specific you want?”

“No, I’m just going to do some Farming.”

I’m going to scrape it clean to the bottom.

Even Sacred Relics and talismans that I have no immediate use for can be converted into points if used as offerings.

‘Of course, it’s trash efficiency, like grinding diamonds into graphite, but I don’t care.’

I’m saying I need graphite right now.

Since it’s not my diamond anyway, I intend to grind it up as much as I want.

I opened any room I could and started grabbing things indiscriminately.

‘Fuck, this is so distracting.’

Arms strewn everywhere were blocking the path.

At first, I tried to move them and clear a way, but they usually collapsed even when stacked into towers, so eventually, I just stepped over them.

They seemed to reattach even if they broke.

In one room, there were eight piles of arms.

Piles of arms on the bed, on the chair, behind the door, in front of the desk, and under the desk.

It felt strange to think that all of those had been ‘Callister.’

‘Still, I guess it’s better than human corpses.’

The moment I thought that and opened a door, I screamed because a person was sitting in a chair.

“Gah, fuck!”

What the fuck, why is there a corpse?

Who is this?

The lab director’s body should have been eaten and disappeared.

I couldn’t tell who it was because the face wasn’t visible.

Then, I realized the object the body was holding looked familiar.

‘…It’s a spirit board.’

To be precise, it’s a ‘ouija board.’

It was the object ‘Callister’ had shown me when I first arrived at the Main Hall.

Something about a collective unconscious…

‘Come to think of it, the lab director said there was someone he wanted to introduce.’

I could naturally guess the identity of this ‘corpse.’

House Lizard. No, Francesco Horeum.

It was the shell he had cast off.

‘Then is that a Sacred Relic of the Civilization God?’

As I picked up the ouija board, a system window appeared.

[Would you like to use ‘I will answer anything!’?]

I slowly read the manual.

This ouija board—specifically, the coin placed on the ouija board—is the Sacred Relic.

By flipping the coin, one can get ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers.

By writing a question on the ouija board, one can get a text answer.

Points are consumed to obtain answers.

If the information obtained through the Sacred Relic is spread widely, points can be earned.

‘…There are quite a few ouija board points remaining?’

I thought the lab director would have spent them all as soon as they gathered.

Why are there some left?

I checked the point history.

[Spread the Name of Oblivion +5]

[Spread the Name of Oblivion +5]

[Spread the Name of Oblivion +5]

…[Spread the Name of Oblivion +5]

‘So he found out the Name of Oblivion using this.’

I packed the ouija board and told Pandemonium to move all objects with divine power onto a temporary Altar.

After checking a few more rooms and coming back out, a considerable number of items were piled on the Altar.

If there was one minor problem…

“…Why did you move that corpse?”

“You told me to move everything with divine power.”

No, I mean, of course that shell has divine power remaining, but.

I’m offering a sacrifice to myself; isn’t offering a corpse a bit much?

‘Though, technically, a Sacred Relic is just a processed corpse…’

“And that’s not a corpse. It had a pulse.”

“…Get it off the Altar immediately.”

No human sacrifices.

Absolutely not.

The process of sacrificing the offerings was simple.

Because I made it simple.

“I offer these things to ‘Fabio’.”

And then, I just press the button on the system window to accept the offering.

As soon as I pressed the accept button, the Sacred Relics on the Altar lost their light or their structures collapsed and shattered.

My Affinity didn’t increase, as there were no items related to my Divine Power, but I gained a significant amount of points.

With this much, I think I can create a Divine Power similar to last word victory.

I didn’t have a feel for what I should create to be advantageous when facing Mother God yet.

‘Should I try asking using the ouija board?’

This is exactly what the remaining ouija board points are for.

I entered a question into the ouija board.

[How can I become stronger?]

[Answer: Call my name.]

[En, la, se…]

I forcibly pulled the automatically moving coin off the ouija board.

The question was canceled.

“You, you’re the Pioneer of Civilization’s Helper.”

When I flipped the coin, it landed on the side meaning ‘Yes.’

Actually, there was no need to flip it.

Since it said ‘Call my name’ while writing the name of the Pioneer of Civilization.

It seemed that after House Lizard became an empty shell, the Helper had been clinging to the Sacred Relic to survive.

‘Do they stay alive even if they lose their player during the Tutorial period?’

Not even a demonic sword, but an ego-coin wandering in search of a new Contractor.

I wondered if an NPC—no, a native of the Dark Realm—could also become a Contractor, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

‘Then there must be more.’

‘Sacred Relics’ inhabited by degraded versions of Othergods.

I placed the coin back on the ouija board.

I think I know what to ask.

“The locations of the Sacred Relics of players who suffered a Game Over.”