#185

‘To think a lost part of my body would become an important scenario item.’

It was so absurd I almost laughed.

Is that why they were staring at me so intently?

Planning to farm the rest of me?

‘…They’ll probably need the other half to send down another apostle.’

Light does not reach this depth.

Even prayers do not arrive.

In other words, Order does not yet know what the Saintess has discovered.

‘But what if the Saintess makes the same choice as the Record?’

Wouldn’t Order be driven absolutely mad?

The Record didn’t spite Order out of hatred.

On the contrary, because of an overwhelming love, the Record remained down here, enduring the agony of having their Divinity damaged.

‘Because they realized the truth they discovered would permanently corrupt Order.’

If the Saintess also agrees with the Record’s judgment….

“Do you know which floor the Saintess is on?”

[…I do not know. This is all the information the dying Record sent up.]

I flipped through the Codex.

It was filled with tedious, endless descriptions of how beautiful the Saintess was.

‘Where is the part telling people not to come down?’

Much of the content must have vanished as it ascended, but words that weren’t there shouldn’t have suddenly appeared in the middle.

Did they simply say not to come down because the situation was precarious?

After flipping through several pages of lamentations about how miserable it is to be a record that no one reads, a thought followed: that the ‘good’ expressions they had chosen were actually wrong.

It resembled Order.

Only those who have seen Order could understand this expression.

To those who have never seen Order, that single sentence conveys nothing.

No sentence could possibly evoke this scene.

Thinking that, the crude record felt embarrassing.

It would be better to remain unread by anyone!

No one must descend here.

They must not come down.

However, there are those who might seek this place.

A worm that gnaws through books.

One who does not even know their own name.

Especially the one who calls himself ‘Fabio’—a truly bothersome and annoying fellow.

‘What?’

A rogue who carelessly overwrites letters in a precious book!

Even though they were never summoned, ‘Fabio’ entered this silent space of his own accord and constantly pestered ‘Alkaten’….

“When did I?”

Fuck, you’re the one who clung to me desperately.

You even threatened me.

And now what? You never called me?

[…Fabio. What the Record writes isn’t necessarily the truth.]

“No, but there’s a limit to fabrication….”

Wait.

Hold on.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘What if everything written here is fiction?’

Like the messages sent from the 24th floor.

What if they were spouting nonsense from the start to bypass censorship?

“Hyung!”

Just as something was about to click, the ‘Codex’ in my hand suddenly floated into the air.

[What on earth—mmp!]

The bookmark fluttered in protest, but the voice vanished as the book slammed shut.

The Saintess’s Sacred Relic wrapped around the book.

“…Pandemonium?”

“Fuck, Hyung! Are you actually insane?”

Before I could reply that he was the last person to talk, Pandemonium suddenly hugged me tight.

My feet left the ground.

‘What’s this?’

My body was slowly being pulled upward.

It felt as if a rope made of Telekinesis had been hooked above and was pulling me up.

‘…It’s kind of like riding a zipline.’

“I kept calling you, but you didn’t even look back!”

“You called me?”

“Did you really not hear me? Hyung, you looked like someone possessed.”

Of course, prayers wouldn’t reach.

Because this is someone else’s Domain.

“Why did you follow me?”

“What? Why? Because….”

I frowned.

It’s fine that he followed.

But why are we going back up?

We have to come back down eventually.

‘I need to get my arm back from the Saintess.’

Order has no interest in resolving ‘contamination.’

All Order wants is to use this opportunity to recover its memories.

‘And the System must prevent that at all costs.’

With every floor we ascend, bugs cling to me so thickly it’s suffocating.

If I didn’t have my arm, these bugs would cleanly gnaw away all the ink stains.

Then Order would be maintained.

And as long as Order remains….

‘The game continues.’

“Stop. I have work to do here.”

“Hyung, do you realize how weird you’re acting right now? I’m keeping you tied up until you return to normal, so just deal with it.”

“…Normal?”

Are you saying I’m abnormal right now?

By what standard are you judging that?

When your eyes are closed and your ears are blocked.

“Aaagh!”

The rope snaps.

Because a new rope was tied quickly, the fall wasn’t long.

Pandemonium broke into a cold sweat.

“Hyung…. Did you just snap that?”

“I don’t have that kind of Divine Power. But it could be a warning not to go up any further.”

“Who would give such a warning?”

“The System.”

Pandemonium stepped onto the stairs with a skeptical expression.

I looked up.

I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to return to the surface until this was resolved.

‘It’s like a point-and-click game.’

There are often cases where you cannot leave a room until you obtain an item essential for game progression.

It’s not that something is physically blocking the door.

I just opened it and walked in with my own hands.

However, when you click the door, the playable character mutters to themselves.

‘I feel like there’s still a clue left in this room.’

‘Let’s investigate the room a bit more.’

‘There’s no need to leave yet.’

‘I think I need to do more research.’

It’s a kind ‘hint’ telling the player not to wander off into areas irrelevant to the plot.

“What?”

“It would be better not to go up.”

“…Hyung, are you really possessed? The System? Are you being controlled by the System?”

Pandemonium peeled back my eyelids to look.

“Fuck, what do you expect to see? You crazy bastard.”

“Hyung, I’m actually scared…. You are you, right? You didn’t turn into an NPC halfway through, did you?”

“What if I did? Can you even tell the difference?”

A fake ‘pretending to be me’ would probably be more realistic than the real me.

People change throughout their lives.

‘If there’s a human who doesn’t change even when the situation does, that’s a lunatic.’

Without looking far, the moment I possessed a serf, my standard for ‘delicious food’ plummeted.

Even now, I feel a bit moved when I eat bread with a white interior.

To think I can eat such precious food to my heart’s content?

I naturally feel a sense of awe that the Church of Order is so damn rich!

On Earth, cheap bread sold at a discount was made with refined flour as white as snow, while whole wheat bread mixed with bran was actually more expensive.

“…I really want to cry, so stop saying things like that.”

I let out a sigh.

“Just let me down, you loser.”

“No….”

Pandemonium was truly damn stubborn.

He insisted on going up there?

Even after I said it would be better not to.

“Hey. My arm is down there. I have to pick it up. I can’t just go up.”

“…I’ll go get it. Hyung, stay up here.”

“Fuck, why are you being like this?”

“I felt like the further down you went, the further away you were getting. Like you were going somewhere you couldn’t return from.”

“Then come with me.”

“You’re talking with 25 durability? You could die just from a stray fragment during a fight. Just stay in a safe place.”

He had a point.

Fighting while protecting something is actually harder.

But there was one thing that bothered me….

“…Why do you think it’s safe up here?”

Starlight is pouring down like crazy up there.

Does he feel nothing even after seeing ‘Loclem,’ who can’t move a muscle?

Really?

“Fuck, Hyung, stop talking like an NPC from a horror game. I’m seriously about to piss myself from fear.”

“What did I do?”

“You keep dropping these ominous lines!”

‘He complains about everything.’

“Anyway, you’ll regret it if we keep going up like this.”

“…How will I regret it?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s going to happen, and why will I regret it? Tell me.”

“That is….”

Well.

How should I explain it?

‘I don’t know.’

I don’t know.

There are no words to explain it.

“I don’t know.”

So, I had no choice but to answer that way.

“…Hyung.”

“What?”

“I’m seriously getting goosebumps right now. I feel like if I peeled back your blindfold, black tears would be streaming out of a void-like hole. Do I still see you as Hyung? I really feel like that’s what’s happening. Please, can you just talk normally?”

“…If I end up like that, it’ll be all because of you.”

Pandemonium stopped.

I saw his face turning pale.

“Lord Fabio…. I was wrong. So please don’t say things like that. I beg you. I beg you. Please give me my Hyung back….”

No, the fact that the inside of the blindfold is empty is fucking your doing.

He’s the one who poked it, and now look at him.

I lightly slapped Pandemonium’s cheek.

“You piece of shit. I wasn’t trying to sound profound on purpose. Andrea told me, didn’t he? A god changes according to what the believer believes. Of course, my essence doesn’t change because of mental defense, but the way you perceive me can change. What do you mean ‘give him back’? Just open your eyes properly.”

“Hyung….”

“Do you know about Capgras syndrome? People whose brain regions for feeling familiarity are damaged feel as if their close ones have been replaced. Even if they know the appearance and memories are the same, they are convinced it’s not the person they knew. Do you know why? Because they feel none of the warmth they used to feel when looking at that person. So, they conclude the person must be a fake. Even though it’s their own head that’s wrong.”

Pandemonium sniffled.

“…Hearing you talk like a nerd makes you seem a bit more like Hyung.”

“What the hell do you think of me?”

“Anyway, let’s get out of here. Okay?”

I tried to persuade Pandemonium, but decided to stop because it was too tedious.

‘He’ll end up coming back down anyway.’

If the System wants it, that’s how it will be.

Now, I can understand what the ‘War of God Assistant’ meant.

The System never makes mistakes.

But a being that never makes mistakes cannot exist.

What that means is….

[SYSTEM: …Before continuing, there is a conflict in the work state that must be resolved.]

[SYSTEM: Proceeding as is may result in critical damage.]

[SYSTEM: Do you wish to continue?]

“Fuck.”

“Hyung?”

“Stop. Right now!”

[SYSTEM: ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme’ is conflicting with the ‘cleaning process’.]

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

But Pandemonium didn’t listen to me and continued to walk.

Only then did I realize.

This was the System’s choice.

Pandemonium was my….

[SYSTEM: ERROR! Resetting priority.]

[SYSTEM: Proceeding with ‘isolation’ of the subject.]

Snap. Like a monitor being powered off, the world turned black.

I hadn’t fainted, nor had I gone blind.

‘…All incoming information and connections have been severed.’

I understood why contaminated people didn’t react to anything.

They had all been ‘isolated’ like this.

So that the ‘truth’ they discovered could not be transferred elsewhere.

‘Of course, those without Divinity Status would also have their thoughts cease, unable to feel the flow of time.’

I experienced the loss of a physical body sooner than expected.

How should I put it—it’s a quite strange feeling.

Rather than fear, it’s quiet and peaceful.

It’s probably because there’s no influence from the amygdala screaming to produce adrenaline and norepinephrine.

Of course, if this situation persists, I will vanish like a candle that has run out of fuel….

‘Thinking about it that way makes me feel a bit cheated.’

I don’t even have a guess as to what the truth is.

But the System must have judged that I’ve already reached the critical point.

If I pondered a bit more, I might have realized it.

“That is correct.”

“…House Lizard?”

“Hello, Fabio. You have finally reached a place where the process of perception is not censored.”