◈ Episode 545. If They Are Gods, I Am (2)
It was an unwelcome reunion.
“You’ve got some nerve.”
Slither.
Between the windowpanes, where the light of the moon and the Demon Eye intermingled and shone down.
A shadow crawled in.
Kichi looked around.
It must be the aftereffects of their injuries.
Everyone was in a deep sleep indistinguishable from unconsciousness.
For now, he tried throwing out a bluff.
“You, do you even know where you are, stepping foot in here? This is the Magic Tower. Even if it’s a private room, it’s not a place a measly half-penny god like you can casually set his sights on, is it?”
But damn it, it hadn’t worked at all.
More than that, how had he found this place in the first place?
Ah, so that’s what it was. ‘Life is truly twisted.’ Everything stemmed from the Land of Adventurers.
It must be because the hues of the Arcana Continent had been superimposed onto Seoul.
Kichi reached for the dagger hidden beneath his pillow. ‘If this were the Magic Tower’s usual strength…’ It wouldn’t have been shaken even by the Shadow God’s intrusion.
But the situation was different from usual.
A whopping four senior mages were in the same hospital room as them.
Including the Tower Master, Marcello.
Because the majority of the seniors had left the tower. ‘Above all, his goal isn’t the Magic Tower, but us.’ In that case….
Kichi stopped his hand that had reached for the dagger.
He immediately changed his expression and continued speaking.
“Still, out of consideration for old ties, I’ll at least have a conversation with you. I’ve got as many entanglements with you as anyone. You must have been quite flustered when the contract was unilaterally severed, too.”
He didn’t want to cause any more trouble to others.
If it could end with them.
No, with him alone. ‘It’s not exactly to my liking.’ Kichi resolved that he would accept the Brand of Shadow once more.
But it was an unexpected development.
He had clearly expected him to come out with an overbearing attitude, and yet—
—I have a request.
A request? This was unexpected.
Well, he must have realized the stick doesn’t work.
Was he starting by offering the carrot this time?
The former captain of the Shadow Mercenaries, Kichi.
He was Kichi, who had ruled the underworld of the Arcana Continent in the past. It was only natural that he was familiar with negotiations. Click. Moving from the bed to a chair, Kichi dragged out his words.
“A request from a measly half-penny god. It’s novel enough to pique my interest. Let’s hear it.”
Thanks to that wealth of experience, he could roughly predict it.
When the other party was the desperate one, the choices largely divided into two.
Either they start with their goal, or they shove the reward in your face first.
Usually, shitty requests are the ones that offer the reward first.
There’s no one in the world who wants to readily give away what’s theirs.
And yet, if they offer the reward first, it means the request is that shady.
Just as expected.
—I shall share my power with you all.
You really haven’t changed one bit, you measly half-penny.
“Why is it exactly the same as back then? You know better than anyone what humiliations I suffered after falling for those sweet words. Shall I tell you one by one, starting now, if you don’t remember?”
Honestly.
The emotions related to the past contract had long since dulled. When he thought of the faults he had committed as the Shadow Mercenaries, feeling wronged by something like that contract would be shameless.
But Kichi spat out shamelessly.
“Even with my neck severed, I had to watch my comrades die around me. Because of that damned contract, I couldn’t die even though I wanted to. You know? Since I made that contract with you, I haven’t fallen asleep for a single day without alcohol.”…
He flinched. ‘Did you hear that outside too?’ The presence he had felt outside the private room since earlier.
That’s right.
It had been an act for the owner of that presence.
If they were a mage of the Magic Tower, they would sense something from this conversation and relay the situation to those above. Kichi thought of Veliere, a senior mage of the Healing School. ‘…If it’s with her.’ They should be able to drive out a fragment of the Shadow God—if not the main body—from the Magic Tower.
Because he had made that judgment, he had purposely pretended to be angry.
Of course, there was one more angle he was playing for.
Kichi’s gaze flicked toward the bed.
“Zzz! Mnya, mnya….”…
Rakid, that damned muscle pig, was snoring loud enough to send the private room adrift, so there was no hope of the members waking up.
He turned his gaze again. ‘He’s someone who could turn hostile at any moment.’
Moreover, he was already in a thoroughly foul mood.
As expected, should he grab a weapon?
It was the moment Kichi reached under the pillow.
—Then I shall ask for forgiveness.
“…?”
Once again, words he had never expected popped out. ‘An apology, from you?’
Whatever the situation, he seemed to be in such a hurry that he would even swallow his pride.
To the point of trying to deceive him with plausible words.
But—
—And I shall swear.
The following words went beyond the level of being plausible.
—That I shall share my divinity with you all.
“…!”
Divinity.
Kichi had long known the Shadow God’s goal.
His goal was solely to attain complete divinity.
His scheme was to receive worship in the shadows, not the light—the underworld of Arcana—to complete his divinity and set foot in the Pantheon.
Kichi asked back in disbelief.
“…You’ll share your divinity with us? You?”
Kichi had handled the Shadow God’s authority by forming a contract.
But he knew better than anyone that it was only an extremely small portion, because he had wielded it.
Kichi spoke without hiding his inner thoughts.
“If you handed that kind of power over to me, you should know better than anyone what I’d do. No, even if it wasn’t me, there are quite a few guys here who would do anything if they could kill you.”…
Even if they’re snoring thunderously right now.
—I do not care.
“Bullshit….”
—If you wish to kill me, you may kill me.
“W-what?”
Creak.
He was so surprised the chair tipped backward. By now, he was starting to grow curious. Just what situation had he run into for that arrogant Shadow God to turn over a new leaf like that? ‘Could it be related to the Pantheon opening?’
It was the moment Kichi was pondering.
The Shadow God.
He spoke in a cold voice.
—However, only after killing everyone in the Pantheon.
“…What?”…
Thud.
“Claire.”
“Yes, Lady Veliere…!”
“Please wait here from this point.”
“I shall obey your words.”
Veliere stopped in front of the Healing School private room door.
As expected, Claire’s words were correct.
A realm that could not be measured even by her own mana.
Traces of a being of a different caliber entering the private room remained.
‘The situation is not good.’
Thus, Veliere calmly judged.
‘With Marcello, Matisse, and the Chief absent right now…’
Currently, the greatest fighting force in the Magic Tower was Senior Bency William.
Veliere recalled the structure of a spell in her mind.
‘…Exchange.’
The highest-tier healing magic reached by following the Chief’s teachings.
A spell that had not yet even been named.
But she understood its effects precisely.
『The more the manifester sacrifices, the more the target recovers.』
The manifester does not sacrifice merely mana.
However, the healing effect was proportionally outstanding.
If she could restore Senior Bency with this incomplete spell.
‘I could buy a considerable amount of time.’
But Veliere’s desperate resolve could not be executed.
Clack.
Because the private room door suddenly opened from the inside.
Veliere’s pupils trembled.
“Ah, I was just about to tell you that!”
From beyond the open door.
The one calmly opening his mouth was the captain of the Shadow Mercenaries.
No, he was now Kichi, a member of Akshan.
“I’ve been in your debt for several days, Senior Veliere.”
“…Excuse me?”
What was he suddenly talking about?
To think that such injuries would heal in just a few days….
Veliere took a step toward Kichi and raised her hand.
Kichi flinched.
“Urk. Um, Senior. That’s a bit ticklish…?”
An automatic reflex born of an occupational habit.
Veliere’s hand brushed against the nape of Kichi’s neck, where scars had remained.
Soon, her jade-colored pupils trembled.
“…What happened?”
What could be felt at the nape was nothing but newly grown fuzz.
The scars had vanished without a trace.
It wasn’t just Kichi.
The wounds of all the former Shadow Mercenaries, who had suffered injuries large and small, had cleanly disappeared.
Kichi gave an ambiguous smile.
“Well, there were some circumstances.”
“Could it be related to the presence I felt?”
“If you mean the presence, then I believe so.”
Traces of a being of a different caliber.
Veliere wanted to ask more specifically, but—
Kichi asked for her understanding.
“I’ll tell you the details when I return.”
“Where are you going?”
“Well, that’s….”
As if it was similarly difficult to say.
Kichi hesitated.
Veliere nodded her head one beat faster, as if to say it was all right.
“You must have your reasons. I understand.”
“As expected, you are merciful…! Thank you, Lady Veliere.”
Soon, Kichi’s group exited the private room.
Is the matter finished…?
Claire, who had been fidgeting in the corner, approached Veliere and asked.
“Will it be all right, Senior Veliere?”
“I wonder.”
Veliere could not be certain.
They were ones who had discarded their pasts to be reborn as demon hunters of Akshan.
“And we happen to be facing a trial, so it is not easy to judge.”
It was a situation where they had been backstabbed by the Goddess’s Order, which had similarly been reborn, as well as by a small number of adventurers.
Nevertheless, the reason Veliere let Kichi’s group go so easily was simple.
The high-tier healing magic, 『Lifeline』, was in simple terms magic that served the role of an “IV drip” in modern medicine.
The difference being that, unlike an IV drip which severely restricted movement because it was connected via a needle….
Ssk.
Veliere’s hand grasped the dangling Lifeline.
“This Lifeline was manifested by delving into and interfering with the mysteries of the Magic Tower, not mere mana. Therefore, if we follow the connected Lifeline, we can track their movements without difficulty.”
As expected, a senior mage is not just anyone.
“I see…!”
Claire couldn’t help but admire her for a moment.
Veliere immediately checked the Lifeline.
Senior mage of the Healing School.
The authority over the private room lay with her, so no great effort was needed.
Soon, the Lifeline rose into the air.
‘Unless cut from this side, it will never sever.’
Firmly.
Veliere closed her eyes and traced Kichi’s footsteps by following the mana traces.
She didn’t like prying into others’ affairs like this.
But it couldn’t be helped.
‘I don’t want to cause the Chief any more pain.’
But it was unbelievable.
“…What?”
She couldn’t trace the mana traces.
To be precise, she couldn’t dare to search them.
Because they had become beings of a different “caliber.”
Could one grow so much that their caliber changed overnight?
And while lying in a hospital room, at that…?
“Impossible.”
Veliere continued in a low voice.
“Don’t tell me all of you have formed another contract…?”
*They had formed a contract again.
But the conditions had definitely changed.
Rakid sneered.
“Fine, I’ll kill as many as you want according to the contract!”
Meaning the power dynamic had completely changed from before.
Rakid rampaged about as if unable to control his body’s vitality.
Alkari clicked his tongue at that sight.
“No matter how many near-death experiences you’ve been through, you still can’t fix your bad habits?”
“Well, it’s not bad, right? Thanks to that, there’s no need to be bothered.”
“You shouldn’t think so simply, Dushev.”
Alkari thought with the worry of an old man.
“Why in the world did the Shadow God hand over his divinity to us?”
The Shadow God kept his word.
He had distributed it equally among the nine former Shadow Mercenary members, dedicating his divinity to forge the contract.
Alkari looked at the liquid swirling inside the potion bottle as if roaring like a dragon.
This too must be the influence of divinity.
Recipes for new elixirs surged through his mind without rest.
Their effects were as you could see.
Boom, boom, crash.
Pantheon.
Monsters pouring out from its very entrance.
Enough to effortlessly smash a prototype.
“Isn’t it good that the old man got rejuvenated too? Why are you acting so serious?”
“It’s not such a simple matter, I tell you….”
“Alkari.”
At Kichi’s call, Alkari stopped talking.
To think that after everything, he’d now bring an old man to a battle between gods.
Have you no shame?
He looked at Kichi with such eyes, and yet.
Kichi merely smiled bitterly.
“I know what you want to say.”
“Is that how someone who knows should act?”
“I suppose so.”
Why did I…
try to hide everything and settle down in the Yusra Kingdom?
Why did I think those boring days were happy?
When I could have grasped everything I wanted, why did I return to this battlefield of my own accord, as Alkari says?
“…Because I couldn’t just stand still.”
“What do you mean, you couldn’t stand still?”
Kichi’s eyes sank heavily.
“What is this endlessly deep darkness? What’s so important about the Arcana Continent falling into deep sorrow that even the gods are leaping onto the battlefield? …I couldn’t understand it. That’s why I couldn’t refuse.”
This was a battle to prove that doubt.
The Pantheon of the Arcana Continent.
Rather than those damned bastards.
Proof that the one the Arcana Continent needs is someone else.
Kichi opened his mouth.
“He who is the endlessly deep darkness and the leader of Akshan. At the same time, the new Demon Lord of the Ten Thrones who has devoured three of the Ten Thrones. Furthermore, even if he has fallen into hell….”
Kichi gritted his teeth.
“A battle for you, who will surely return alive.”
“….”
Everyone fell silent at those words.
What that silence meant was simple.
Strong affirmation.
The Shadow God declared.
“Did I not tell you?”
Before him.
“Even a complete divinity is nothing but a meaningless ‘caliber.’”
*What, another message?
[The Legend, ‘One Who Profanes Even the Goddess,’ resounds.]
…Wait, did someone peek at my skill window?!
…[Unrivaled in Heaven and Earth (70%): An unprecedented genius who profanes even the goddess. Unleashes the talent of Grandfel Claudi Arpeus Romeo.]