#209

[After Fabio dressed Callister, he changed out of his own blood-stained clothes.]

‘And then?’

There was no description of how he disposed of the clothes.

Searching through the repair room, Athanas found a set of neatly folded clothes on a shelf.

Dark, dried bloodstains were vivid on the fabric.

‘If he didn’t have the capacity to take them, he should have at least burned them.’

Athanas’s brow furrowed deeply. Why leave this behind, where it could fall into the hands of someone with malicious intent?

And yet, Fabio had made such a fuss when Athanas merely cut his finger slightly on a trap…

[Ah, these are the clothes Fabio was wearing the moment he made ‘Marcello Teres’ his vassal! They are a magnificent and precious Sacred Relic. In the future, when Fabio’s temple is built, countless believers will go on pilgrimages just to lay eyes on that Holy Shroud!]

Athanas wanted to throw the clothes into the brazier immediately, but he didn’t have the time to watch them turn to ash.

Instead, he opened Horeum’s vault and shoved everything Fabio had been wearing inside.

‘Once everything is resolved, I’ll burn them with Holy Fire.’

[Fabio told Callister that he was his first believer and that their relationship was closer than that of parent and child… I see. A vassal is a relationship closer than parent and child! I have obtained a very important and wonderful passage! I am Codex! Fabio’s vassal! Ah, I wish to gild this passage in gold! Could you find some gold for me later?]

“Where did Fabio go?”

[Fabio… made his way to the chapel. Then, he suddenly asked if I heard a certain sound.]

The chapel.

Andrea would be there.

Athanas gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

As he opened the chapel doors, he saw Andrea standing still with his hand outstretched.

‘What happened here?’

When he closed the door again, the world fell silent. He could feel several layers of Blessings surrounding the chapel.

The blood vessels in Andrea’s eyes had all burst, staining visit our siteour site" style="display:none;" aria-label="visit our site">visit our sitethem crimson, [stolen content]and dried tears of blood clung to his cheeks. Yet, his expression was infinitely tender and gentle.

It was an incredibly eerie sight.

[Fabio decided to pose as the ‘Prophet.’ Andrea rushed forward urgently to greet the ‘Prophet.’ He intended to ask the Prophet to take the children away. Had that Prophet not been Fabio, it would have been the same as offering the children to the Evil God…]

Codex rattled off how Fabio had saved Andrea. Every time the part about Fabio using a ‘Relic of Distortion’ came up, Athanas’s heart sank.

Once he met Fabio again, the first thing he would do, above all else, was take that poppy flower away.

[Fabio said to Bishop Andrea, who tried to deny his own memories, ‘You created a substitute because you do not wish to face your sins. Athanas is not one who destroys Order. He is the Savior of Order.’]

Fabio believed he was a savior. And he had desperately persuaded Andrea not to harm Athanas.

It was a part that should have been joyful and touching, but Athanas’s heart felt only heavy.

‘Fabio…’

The last time he saw Fabio, the man had a hollow expression upon hearing that Order would protect him as long as he committed no sin. And in a sarcastic tone, he had called Athanas the ‘Savior of Order.’

‘He stopped believing in Order, and in me, the Savior of Order.’

Fabio rang the bell for the Lord. Fabio strove to return [[visit our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]souls belonging to the Evil God back to the Lord.

But what did the Lord bestow upon him?

[Andrea realized that the person before him was not the ‘Prophet.’ Fabio removed the Ring of Distortion and revealed his true form. ‘I have come here to save you.’]

Andrea escaped the Distortion and returned as a servant of the Bell of Order. Genuinely worried for Fabio, Andrea spoke of the things a possessor of Divinity must be cautious of. Among those was the advice that a proper scripture was necessary.

‘Is that why he created Codex?’

To prevent others from contaminating his Divinity? This talkative book was far too unreliable to be entrusted with such an important task.

‘…Above all, Fabio has no need for something like a scripture.’

Once he discovered his tracks, he would burn this as well.

[‘Lord Andrea. I felt the Lord’s gaze from the bell tower. The Lord is looking down upon the Dark Realm. Since the apostles are also moving, the Lord must have an Arrangement. Please take good care of the children while Order is momentarily paused. I believe all problems will soon be resolved.’ Fabio spoke thus to reassure Andrea.]

…The bell tower.

Athanas thought of the fur hat he had been wearing. Fabio had climbed all the way up there to find Athanas, who hadn’t come down. What had the Lord’s servant, borrowing his body, said to Fabio? What was Fabio thinking when he handed the hat to Athanas?

Suddenly, Athanas wanted to return to the bell tower with Codex. He wanted to gather the words Fabio had spoken to him, which he hadn’t heard, even if it was late. Even though he knew unauthorized Read on Read BL NovelscopyFabio likely hadn’t said anything significant to the ‘Lord’s servant,’ he felt a sense of sorrow over missing those few unimportant words.

[Andrea bid Fabio farewell. And the moment he tried to take out his gloves for the last time, he froze in place.]

Athanas lightly tapped Andrea’s fingertips with the spine of the book.

The fingertips didn’t budge an inch.

Rather than a stopped person, it was a form closer to delicately carved marble.

[Order looked at Fabio through Andrea’s eyes. But it could not reach him. The starlight was too bright for that.]

‘The Lord’s gaze…’

Athanas looked up at the stained glass of the chapel.

The Lord was not looking at Athanas. He had given no revelation to the awakened Athanas. He didn’t seem to care what Athanas did.

As he thought that, an irreverent thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘The one who descended upon my body… was it not to use me as a means to protect Order at the bell tower…’

But rather, to bind me so that I couldn’t do anything unnecessary?

‘If “Regression” is a power that does not belong to Order.’

Perhaps the Lord, before descending to this land himself, had manipulated Athanas with the sensation of clearing away an annoying obstacle.

Then whose Divine Power was Regression?

‘…It’s as if only Andrea’s time has completely stopped.’

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t even move a strand of hair. Every ‘person’ belonging to the Capital Church was in this state. What could have caused such a terrifying and immense Miracle?

‘He said it was starlight.’

If this world was a game repeated several times, there must be a hand that first reset the placement of the pieces. This land had suffered several destructions. Even if those had all become ‘things that never happened,’ the causality had not been completely cleared. The fact that this Bishop’s soul had been held in the grip of the Evil God was proof of that. If the thing called starlight was binding Order and turning back time…

“…I have something to give you. Fabio?”

At that moment, Andrea suddenly began to move without any warning. Athanas quickly stepped back and gripped his sword.

“You are…”

Andrea recognized Athanas and looked surprised. There was no hostility or [unauthorized copy]on Read BL Novels" style="display:none;" aria-label="Read on Read [Read on Read BL Novels]BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelsanger mixed into that expression.

“…It is Athanas, Bishop Andrea. I have heard much about you from Fabio.”

Athanas greeted him politely for now. If he had escaped the Evil God’s shackles, Andrea was a Bishop of Order.

“What is the meaning of this situation? Where has Fabio gone?”

[Fabio did not know what was happening. He only felt the Gaze of Order watching him. Fabio was enraged. Shedding tears of blood, he gripped the Saintess’s Sacred Relic and prayed to Order. ‘Loclem! What on earth do you want!’]

“That object is…”

[I am Codex! Fabio’s scripture.]

“…I am using this to find out what happened to Fabio.”

“Did Order descend upon my body? Was I… stopped along with Order?”

Athanas shook his head to indicate he didn’t know and continued to listen to Codex’s recitation.

Fabio stepped out of the chapel and confirmed that other priests had also become the eyes of ‘Order.’ The entire Capital Church was frozen, and Order looked only at him. In that situation, Fabio decided to go to the 24th basement floor of the Main Hall.

‘Why?’

[Ah, that’s when Fabio met me! There is no need to follow the tracks after this. It is already recorded. Upon arriving at the Main Hall, Fabio read a message from the dying ‘Record.’ ‘You must not come down.’ Every other part except that phrase was destroyed. At that moment, Fabio decided to give a new name to ‘Record,’ who was on the verge of disappearing completely, having forgotten even who they were…]

“To do such a reckless thing!”

Andrea lamented.

Athanas wondered for a moment if Andrea should know the contents of Codex, but decided to leave it be. He would forget everything he heard in this moment once he used Regression anyway.

[Codex! That is my name. It means ‘book.’ Therefore, all books belong to me.]

“And? Why did Record send a warning not to go down? Why was it dying?”

[You know how Record, like a pitiful turtle hiding in its shell, fled to the basement of the Main Hall, right? The moment ‘Record’ realized what Order was searching for so desperately, it also realized that it must not tell Order. So it hid in a place where Order could never find it. Below, where the Veil of Oblivion wraps in layers, one can descend, but can never ascend again. Even if one ascended, they would forget everything they learned down there upon brushing against the Veil of Oblivion, so it thought it was completely safe. That was truly the case until the Saintess obtained a Sacred Relic that could ignore the Blessing of Oblivion.]

“That Sacred Relic…”

[It was Fabio’s arm.]