Chapter 22. Prayer and Salvation (12)

Did all the hormones that were secreted to the point of making my head spin run out?

Slowly, various parts of my body started to ache.

My shoulder, torn by some attack while I was running frantically with Ria. My thigh, as if pierced by something. My calf.

The most unbearable part was my two hands.

“……Haa.”

Looking at them, it was no wonder they hurt. The holes were almost beyond repair. Several of my fingers were dangling. I pondered for a moment whether these were wounds that could be healed by holy power even without it.

Blood dripped through the gaps, and only a faint white light was visible. The holy atmosphere, like that of a saint, was no longer present.

This place too, must be a place so far away that even that being’s power cannot reach it.

……Is Ria okay?

She’s probably desperately looking for me. Shouting my name until her throat is hoarse.

It’s a bit of a sorry thing to say to Ria, but I hoped Ria hadn’t fallen into this world with me.

I smiled bitterly. Even though we said we trust each other, we trust each other- until the very end, we couldn’t trust each other that far.

I know well that that distrust stemmed from our feelings for each other, so I have no regrets.

Kneeling among the corpses, I looked up at the sky.

That sky too- looks just like the middle of the night. But I knew. It wasn’t dark because it was night, but because clouds were blocking the sun.

Drip.

A drop fell onto my face.

As if looking at the rainy sky, I unconsciously raised my hand. However, the black falling rain simply fell through the holes in my hands.

I gathered strength in my body.

The throbbing wound on my hand paradoxically made me forget the pain. Was I nearing my limit?

Not just my hands, but various parts of my body hurt.

While barely blocking the rain, I heard someone walking with heavy steps.

I looked up, and there was a man.

He was a handsome man, as if sculpted.

……Yes, just like my face.

But I knew that it wasn’t ‘God’ who created it.

Perhaps the only will left in this world.

The collective intelligence of those who have invaded countless worlds and taken their lives. Hmm, I just came up with that, but I don’t know if it’s actually like that.

“A regrettable sight.”

A voice, unnecessarily melodious, spoke.

“Is that the fate of a being who believes in God?”

“Hoo.”

I let out a laugh.

God.

Right now, do I believe in God?

I don’t know. Even when I ran in front of the truck, I didn’t particularly seek God. Not even when we were fighting earlier.

“In the end… this is the path that was prepared, isn’t it?”

I said, looking at that being.

“Who knows. Perhaps, if you wish, a path to go further is prepared.”

“After fighting so much, you still want my power?”

“Yes. That power.”

That being looked at my hands.

Without touching me.

“The power of God, which can be felt even from such a distant place.”

“…….”

“You know that ‘passage’ in your hand is, in a sense, the ‘gate’ you call it.”

I closed my eyes.

Yes. I knew that much.

I thought they wanted that power… Yes, I see.

The reason demons want me is solely for that one thing.

‘Gate’.

The power to cross over to God’s world.

Yes, wasn’t it called ascension?

“It seems you intend to become God yourself.”

“How ironic, for someone who almost became God themselves to say that.”

I opened my eyes and looked up at that being.

“No, are you yourself already God? Because you have ‘believers’.”

“…….”

Perhaps because it saw my eyes sharpen. It laughed.

“No, we have no intention of becoming gods.”

The man looked around. It was a place filled with corpses, corpses, corpses. There were beings that looked like humans, and beings that looked like elves… even plants and small and large animals.

Perhaps, they were all beings brought from beyond the gate.

I recalled that in that destroyed world, not only were there no living people, but not even corpses.

“God is, after all, a being that clings to those who believe in it. We simply want to possess power ourselves.”

“If you want to go to God’s world, it would have been better if you had just died.”

“Is it because of your petty faith? Clinging to life like that?”

No, that’s not it.

I simply don’t want to die yet.

There are many things I want to do. I made many promises with Ria. That day, while hugging each other naked in the shower, we made various promises, some of which we might not be able to keep.

“Haha.”

“…….”

As I let out a laugh, that being stared intently at me.

“It’s just a little amusing.”

Yes. In the end, I wasn’t a vessel for a saint.

I don’t have the passion to give up everything and pour my entire life into saving people.

Perhaps because of this situation, Ria’s face kept coming to mind.

I lowered my head.

I saw my hand lying carelessly on my thigh. A hand broken in various places, looking like it would crumble into dust at any moment.

On the ring finger of that left hand, there is a ring.

A white shining ring.

“…….”

Is the reason it shines because I stored up power before coming to this world-

“……Ugh.”

Something grabbed my neck.

My body, which was barely breathing, screamed. Right after pouring out holy power to the point of collapsing, I came into contact with something made of magic power.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. If you give up your free will, it doesn’t matter. After all, this is enough for us to use.”

My eyes wouldn’t open properly. This… the concentration of magic power was too close, and it was erasing my holy power.

Rain made of magic power poured down. The rain pouring onto my face made it difficult to breathe.

Struggling my body.

Thump.

I grabbed that arm with my weak hand-

Beyond my blurring vision, the ring was still shining.

-I’ll kill you.

A voice, small, whispered in my ear.

A familiar voice.

It was the voice I had heard so many times nearby.

-I’ll kill you.

That voice was speaking to my ear as if threatening me.

-If you’re not safe, I’ll kill you with my own hands.

“……Ha.”

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

The prayer content of my only believer was a prayer that could hardly be called a prayer to ‘God’.

But, yes.

I know, Ria.

Because, even at this moment, I had no intention of dying.

My left hand exploded.

No, ‘broke’ would be a more accurate word.

Shattering into pieces like breaking glass, it blew away a part of that greatly enlarged black arm.

The ring fell. The ring lost its light.

“……Kch!”

Because I was unceremoniously thrown away, I bounced and rolled a few more times on the ground.

But, well.

Still, this much is…

“Ria.”

I said.

-Anna!

“Don’t worry.”

Is this also a revelation?

……Well, what kind of believer would attack the God they believe in? So, even if my revelation is a bit strange, Ria will understand.

As I closed my eyes, I saw Ria’s appearance.

Ria was safe.

She was driving the holy sword, which had absorbed a lot of my blood and holy power, into the ground, and was creating something like a barrier around.

……Yes, I see.

‘God’s power’, ‘holy power’- there isn’t just one type.

Like Anna’s silver holy power, one could say that each God’s power is different.

The ring on Ria’s finger was also shining white.

However.

Well, I don’t know if it’s just a feeling- but aren’t there types of white? Even if I didn’t notice it when holy power was mixed in normally, it was a very small difference that I suddenly noticed.

That ‘holy power’- was not a power I ‘received’ and used.

…….

No, in a sense, is it a power received and used?

The being above said that holy power is a gift from believers.

Therefore, each one is precious, and a power that must be answered in some way.

I was very fortunate to have only one such believer.

“It can be death and life. It is not swayed by anyone’s faith.”

That thing said as it walked towards me.

“Look around. We are already dead, so we are just preparing for the life that will be born here. … You don’t seem to believe at all.”

“Yes. I can’t believe it.”

For the first time in a long time, I heard something so absurd.

Even in this situation, I retorted like that.

Death.

In the first place, death is just a phenomenon. The phenomenon I knew was the cessation of heartbeat and brain activity.

Even if you add one story that was added when crossing worlds- it’s just that the soul leaves.

People sometimes give too much meaning to death and compare it to animals.

That thought is wrong.

“This world is dead? Rather, the world Anna saw last time was more dead.”

I hear the sound of flies. I smell the rot.

All of it was a trace of life.

How many bacteria and insects are needed for a human corpse to decay? How many bacteria are in the fertilizer spread on the ground? How many flies eat rotten corpses?

Just by piling up corpses and receiving the magic power flowing from them.

Saying that I became death?

It’s ridiculous.

I placed my hand on a corpse near me.

……I can feel it.

Yes. Thanks to the only believer who believes in me.

“……Well, in terms of image, it’s not the kind of power a saint in white clothes would use.”

“What!?”

Magic was about to cover me again.

But I was faster than that.

……So, what did it say? The being above, before sending me down here, again.

Ah, yes.

The source of holy power is life itself, wasn’t that it?

That’s why holy power can heal wounds.

And-

That power can also be borrowed.

Yes, I think I heard that.