#180

Pandemonium continued speaking while hanging a paper crane upside down in mid-air.

“Don’t believe a word this guy says. He’s badmouthing me right now just to save his own skin, isn’t he? That’s how he is. He probably thinks whoever wins is on his side. He’s a petty bastard with no pride.”

[Y-you idiot! If I had known he was such a spineless wretch, I would never have chosen him as my Contractor!]

“Wow, normally he would’ve spammed the Quest window, but look at him now, trapped in a paper crane and only able to flutter around. This is hilarious.”

[I shall sever your limbs and bind you to a forge! I will plunge a glowing sword into your entrails and quench it with your blood! I will make it so you can utter nothing but screams!]

“Is this bastard casting some kind of curse again? Yeah, that’s just your delusion. Your reality is a paper crane. Go ahead and fume in there all day. You’ll just end up crumpled.”

[Kuaaaaagh!]

“…It’s going to rip. Take it easy.”

The War God had a point.

Pandemonium was the kind of moron who would post a thread about how he fucked up because he woke up late on the day of midterms, and then immediately post a certification of his enlistment application, claiming he used the one-time ‘Semester Reset’ button.

With that kind of mentality, even if he regained his sense of reality, he would either immediately fall into a state of madness or attempt suicide.

‘Actually, I’m only struggling to hold on because I was told I’d fall into the Mother God’s camp the moment I die….’

If there were a button that could make my existence completely vanish from this world?

I might not press it immediately, but I would keep it close and precious.

Because a moment would surely come when I needed it.

‘…Come to think of it, if I lose my physical body and become a complete god, wouldn’t I be annihilated just by questioning my own existence?’

Then, would it be possible to avoid being reborn in the Mother God’s camp?

Suddenly, my heart began to thud and race.

‘I could actually die?’

“Hyung?”

What about the souls in my hand when I am annihilated?

‘If they believe in me until the end, they will fade away with me.’

Then they could obtain a perfect rest that no one could ever disturb.

That is exactly….

“Why is your Halo flashing like that? What are you doing right now?”

“…Halo?”

What is that?

I turned my head, but I couldn’t see any light.

“Ah, it’s gone.”

“…….”

I suddenly snapped back to my senses.

‘What on earth was I thinking….’

I felt my blood run cold.

Suggesting a mass suicide to find true peace?

‘…I’m acting like some kind of cult leader.’

I need to get a grip.

I wiped my face. My hands were damp with cold sweat.

“Fabio? Are you alright?”

‘…I don’t know about Pandemonium, but telling Callister to be annihilated with me would be truly cruel.’

He believes in me because he wants to live—because he doesn’t want to exist as a piece of equipment that was never born and can never die, only to vanish.

I realized how terrifying a failed SAN Check truly was.

If my mentality breaks like this after becoming a god, is annihilation the only result?

‘I must not lose my physical body, no matter what.’

This was no time to be mocking Pandemonium.

Though it wasn’t visible on the Status Window, I felt that my mental state was quite poor.

‘I think I’ve felt like this before.’

Was it when my arm was severed?

No, before that.

‘When Athanas was hit by Oblivion….’

Even though I had seen him wake up safely afterward, my mentality had crumbled.

It was only for a brief moment.

But I clearly remember the instant I realized I was having strange thoughts, as if someone had slapped me across the face.

‘…After I snapped out of it then, didn’t I think I should completely stop cooperating with Athanas?’

Why didn’t I?

I slowly traced back my memories.

‘It was because of Andrea.’

Bishop Andrea, a Servant of the Twisted One, hates Athanas dreadfully.

He believes that Adelaide’s death and the collapse of Order were all Athanas’s fault.

Seeing my poor condition, he had comforted me, saying that no matter what, he would be the one to kill Athanas, so I should be at ease….

‘…Because of those words, I actually became unable to escape.’

I couldn’t leave Athanas’s danger unchecked.

Yet, if I reported Andrea to the Inquisition, the clues regarding Adelaide would vanish.

Torn between those two reasons, I believe I chose to search for records in the basement of the Main Hall to learn about ‘Order.’

Stupidly.

I picked up a poppy flower that had fallen on the ground.

‘If it’s now, I can… Andrea….’

And I can save Adelaide.

Because I have the ‘Relic of the Twisted One’ in my hand.

“Fabio!”

“…I have no intention of eating it, so calm down.”

The possessor of this Sacred Relic gains all authority over the ‘Servants of the Twisted One.’

That description was not a lie.

Closing my eyes and concentrating, I could tell where Andrea was located.

‘Adelaide’s location isn’t showing up.’

She must be staying in a place further than my detection range.

“Hyung, what did you just do?”

“I found a Kin of the Twisted One.”

“Found one? Why? To kill him? Just tell me the location. I’ll finish him off in ten minutes.”

“…Stop saying things like that. Do people look like monsters to you? This isn’t a game. Please, just erase the option of ‘killing’ from your head.”

“Sorry, sorry. Is it someone you know? What’s his name?”

“Bishop Andrea….”

“Holy shit, that’s the ‘Die Heretic!’ boss monster!”

Pandemonium recoiled, his face twisting in horror.

“You’re not going to kill that? A lunatic who annihilated patients, telling them to just drop dead since they were going to die anyway, instead of wasting divine power?”

“…That hasn’t happened yet.”

“Wrong. He became a Servant of the Twisted One because those things already happened. Just because the timeline went back to the past doesn’t mean the sin disappears. That bastard is already guilty!”

The urge to ask if he hadn’t killed even more people rose to the tip of my throat.

“…I’m a god, so I’ll do as I please.”

“Hyung, please stop doing things the Twisted One would love. It’s obviously a trap. Let’s just leave him and go. Please?”

“Fuck, aren’t you in no position to say that?”

“That’s exactly why I’m saying it. Aren’t I already a handful? Why are you trying to pick up even more baggage?”

[A man with neither shame nor honor.]

‘I didn’t want to agree with the War of God Assistant.’

I let out a long sigh.

“…I’m just going to fix a few Distortions that are clinging to him. I have no intention of making him a Vassal. Got it?”

“Was I in the plan? No, I wasn’t. Hyung, you’re a P, not a J.”

“Who gives a fuck. Stop talking back and just grab the Saintess’s Sacred Relic over there.”

The paper crane became miraculously quiet as it approached the Saintess’s Sacred Relic.

‘It’s noisy when it talks, so I should keep it like that.’

“Fabio.”

“What is it, Callister.”

“I don’t have shoes….”

I was about to tell him to borrow some, but then I locked eyes with Callister as he looked up at me.

“…Wait here. I’m heading to an orphanage anyway, so I’ll pick up some clothes that fit you there.”

“I don’t want that! I’ll just walk barefoot. Don’t leave me behind. Fabio. I hate it when you get far away.”

“…Didn’t you say newly made feet can’t handle the cold? Children have a larger surface area relative to their volume, so regulating body temperature is much harder.”

“It’s okay. I can bear it. As long as Fabio holds my hand….”

“Hyung, I’ll just move him with telekinesis.”

“Aaaagh! Aagh! Don’t! Put me down! Let go! I hate it! Fabio! Fabio! Fabio! Fabio!”

“Fuck, my eardrums are gonna burst.”

“Pandemonium!”

Thump.

Callister, dropped on the floor, immediately crawled over and clung to my legs.

Judging by the way he was trembling, his trauma seemed severe.

“Fabio, Fabio, Fabio….”

“Come here, Callister.”

‘I didn’t intend to indulge him this much.’

I picked up Callister and draped my coat over him.

Even knowing that what was inside was a clone of the research director, it was difficult to be cold toward him since he looked like a child.

“Hyung, that bastard just now….”

“The more you say, the longer I’ll have to keep holding this. Got it?”

“…….”

I proceeded to unravel the Distortion clinging to the stairs and walked out of the Main Hall.

Then, I suddenly felt a very unpleasant sensation.

‘It feels like tiny flying insects are trying to cling to my body….’

What is this?

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ the status condition ‘Oblivion’ is nullified.]

Simultaneously with the notification window, the insects that had been trying to burrow into my eyeballs, nose, and the membranes inside my mouth vanished cleanly.

‘…Oblivion?’

Is this what Oblivion feels like when one can sense divine power?

‘There are many things in this world that are better left unknown.’

“Pandemonium. Do you know where we’re going right now?”

“We’re going to kill the Chapter 1 boss.”

‘His memories didn’t disappear.’

It was uncertain whether Pandemonium could effectively defend against Oblivion.

As we headed toward the orphanage, just before arriving, I pulled my arm out of one sleeve and retrieved ‘Marcello’s’ ring, which I had hidden in the waistband of my undershorts.

“…Where did you pull that out from?”

“From inside my clothes.”

“I mean, where exactly? I didn’t feel any pockets on the outside of your clothes.”

‘…When the hell did he search me?’

More importantly, he knew I had the ring.

I had expected it to some extent, but it seemed this ring of ‘Marcello’ allowed Pandemonium to track its location.

That must be how he found his way to the bell tower.

‘I should have just thrown it in the snow when I joined Athanas.’

Anyway, as befitting a medieval era where things like rubber bands hadn’t been invented yet, the clothing consisted of loosely tailored garments tied with strings.

There was a wide enough gap where the strings were inserted, so I had simply tucked it in there, but it was too tedious to explain.

And right now, Marcello’s ring wasn’t the important thing.

‘Inventory.’

I put the ring on my thumb and touched my middle finger to my thumb to make an ‘OK’ sign.

I inserted two fingers and pulled out a ring from within.

It was the Sacred Relic of ‘Distortion’ that Reyes had given me.

“…What ring is that now?”

“A Ring of Distortion that makes the wearer appear as Reyes Floren the moment it’s put on.”

“What? Fuck, why are you carrying something that unpleasant in your inventory? Hyung, are you crazy? Throw it away right now!”

Ignoring Pandemonium, I wore Reyes’s ring on my pinky finger.

I thought there was a high probability that Andrea, being ‘contaminated,’ wouldn’t react….

‘But if he is awake, it will be easier to resolve things if he mistakes me for the Prophet.’