Ch.1144The Master of Gram

Because Demian, the owner of Gram, was more stubborn, hasty, and violent than Heirek had imagined, he finally abandoned his original plan of explaining things properly and had to resort to using his fists like in the old days.

Thus began the fierce battle between the demigod and the hero.

“Hah, hah…, phew… finally caught you.”

After enduring what felt like shoulder-wrenching hardship, Heirek managed to completely subdue Demian just three minutes into their fight.

“That’s as far as you go. You won’t be able to rampage anymore.”

It wasn’t that he had overwhelmed Demian with pure force, but rather that he had made good use of his advantageous compatibility.

“What did you do? The holy sword… won’t move!”

Demian growled, his arms hanging limply at his sides.

Heirek’s right hand, which contained pure white lightning, had darted between slashes, barely touching the holy sword.

After his hand lightly brushed against the sacred runes engraved on Gram’s blade, the sword suddenly became impossibly heavy and sank into the ground, becoming immovable.

Like a great tree rooted in the earth, it remained firmly planted, not budging even when pulled with all one’s might.

Moreover, since Demian couldn’t remove his hands from the hilt, he was completely bound to that spot.

“Curious?”

Heirek approached Demian while catching his breath, running his fingertip along the blade of the holy sword with a slight smile.

“Didn’t I tell you? This sword, Gram, is a sacred relic imbued with Lady Gemina’s soul and flesh. Once I make contact, exploiting its power isn’t particularly difficult.”

The divine power flowing through Heirek’s body was the power bestowed upon him by Gemina. It was qualitatively almost identical to the divine power residing in Gram.

Therefore, by touching the holy sword and making their divine powers resonate, Heirek could temporarily use the sword’s power as his own.

“Exploited its power?”

“Indeed. The binding miracle I cast using Gram’s power has anchored Gram itself to the earth, so you won’t be able to break free on your own for a while.”

In truth, it wasn’t as easy as he made it sound. For Heirek, it had been a gamble that risked his one remaining arm, but… the result was a great success.

The binding miracle Heirek cast using the holy sword’s power—”Mother’s Shackles”—had perfectly bound not only the holy sword itself but also its master, Demian, to the earth, preventing any movement.

“Ugh, something like this…!”

“Yes, yes. You won’t be able to hold out for long.”

Of course, such a method was ultimately just a workaround, a temporary measure that would be broken before long if Demian, Gram’s owner, resisted with all his might, but…

“However, that should be enough.”

Enough time for Heirek to achieve his purpose.

“Yes… more than enough.”

Removing his hand from the holy sword, Heirek summoned dozens of divine runes around his right arm and reached out to grasp Demian’s forehead.

“Ugh…! Let go!”

Demian tried to kick Heirek away, but his legs were already bound to the ground by chains of light.

Those chains, also a miracle manifested using the holy sword’s power, had their other ends connected to the divine runes engraved on the holy sword.

“Chains like these…!”

“Too late.”

When Demian stomped with all his might, the chains of light shattered in less than a second, but by then, Heirek had already completed a new miracle.

“Sleep.”

The next moment, a lightning-like shock struck Demian’s mind.

“Kuhak…!”

Demian let out a groan and staggered.

The impact felt like it was grabbing his very soul and throwing it away. His vision flipped, and his knees buckled weakly.

‘This is… dan… gerous….’

With his consciousness fading and his sense of danger scattering before it could form complete thoughts, Demian’s consciousness plunged into the darkness of unconsciousness.

—-

“…Huh!?”

When Demian opened his eyes again, a pure white horizon stretched out before him.

A pristine white sky without blue or darkness.

A white plain where even shadows had nowhere to go and disappeared.

With nothing but white light filling every direction, it was, as Haschal would put it, a scene perfectly suited to drive someone insane.

“What is this…?”

Demian muttered, looking around in a daze.

‘Where am I? Just a moment ago, I was clearly…’

Just moments ago, he had been confronting Heirek in the garden, but when he opened his eyes, the world seemed completely bleached.

The scene was so surreal that he couldn’t even tell if this was a dream or reality.

‘Could it be that I’m dead? Is this some kind of afterlife? …No, that can’t be, that can’t be…’

Sweat poured down his face as he wondered if this might be the afterlife he had only heard about.

“Awake, are you? That’s a relief.”

Is this really something to be relieved about? The voice that penetrated his ears the next moment quickly dispelled such illusions.

“I was worried your soul might be too young to maintain its ego and would shatter… but it seems my concerns were unfounded. You have a stronger will than I thought.”

“Heirek…!”

The voice of the culprit who had subdued him using divine resonance, an unexpected method, and who had apparently sent him to this white space.

The voice echoed from all directions, making it difficult to tell where it was coming from, but it was clear that he was watching Demian.

“Answer me. Where is this place? Where have you taken me!”

Demian asked with a distorted expression, spitting his words toward the empty air.

“A dream… no, an illusion? Or is it a void? Surely you’re not going to call it heaven?”

“Hmm, heaven… I could say it is, or I could say it isn’t.”

As if finding the idea amusing, Heirek answered with a faint laugh.

“The fundamental structure is similar, but there’s a vast difference in scale, completeness, and the intention behind it.”

“…What do you mean?”

“A mental world constructed with divinity as its framework. A garden created by a god in their domain, and a dwelling place for mortal souls. That’s what heaven is.”

Heirek explained the structure and essence of “heaven” as he knew it, in a concise manner, like an old professor giving a theology lecture to young believers.

—-

If the earthly realm is like a single vast canvas, the celestial realm is like a water surface where bubbles of all colors float about in disorder.

It was a world where ascenders of all races and eras formed domains of varying sizes and operated their interiors according to their own will.

Heirek called these domains “divine territories”—small worlds existing for the sole deity who ruled them.

Elpinel’s “heaven” was the same.

She had used the divinity inherited from Gemina and some of her own original divinity to create a semi-permanent resting place for souls in her domain.

A paradise completely liberated from sorrow, anger, grief, and violence, filled only with joy and peace.

That was the true nature of the realm called Elpinel’s “heaven.”

Other gods also decorated their domains with their own characteristics and tastes, using them as afterlife realms for their followers.

“This space is similar. Though this isn’t the celestial realm, its structure isn’t much different from the divine territories there.”

Having finished explaining about divine territories and heaven, Heirek moved on to more important and essential information for the confused-looking Demian.

“This space is a small, simple mental world created using Lady Gemina’s remnants contained in Gram as a framework, with my remaining divinity added to it. In summary, it could be called the ‘inside’ of Gram.”

“Inside of Gram…?”

“It’s a model garden, a quasi-divine territory created for a single purpose. Unfortunately, since I’m not an ascended deity, its quality is quite poor.”

A single purpose.

To properly implement that purpose, Heirek had to spend his remaining divinity generously to create such a grand quasi-divine territory.

“So what is your purpose? Did you say you would give me power I don’t even want?”

…So what exactly are you trying to do? What are you plotting that requires such elaborate preparations?

It’s simple.

“To be precise, it’s a bit different. I’m not the one giving you power. I’m merely preparing the stage; gaining power depends entirely on you yourself.”

“Depends on me…?”

“Yes. The power you need already resides within your body. It has simply been dormant all this time.”

Heirek’s role was to prepare a stage for Demian and to manifest the opponent Demian needed to fight and defeat on that stage.

“So if you awaken the dormant power and fight and defeat it, wouldn’t you be able to obtain that power?”

“…What, are you going to create some kind of doppelganger of me to fight?”

“Wrong. It’s the opposite.”

Heirek laughed heartily and then, as previously planned with Elpinel, awakened the essence of the power dwelling in Demian’s body in human form.

“This is…!”

Demian couldn’t hide his surprise at the identity of the “opponent” that appeared.

Though the man’s appearance was completely different from his own, there was something vaguely familiar about him as he stood before Demian like a statue.

“Why so surprised? Didn’t I tell you just now? You are the third owner of Gram and simultaneously… the ‘insurance’ created by Elpinel for emergencies.”

Heirek, who had stopped laughing and was now murmuring as if singing, suddenly lowered his voice and whispered in Demian’s ear.

“What do you think she used as material?”

The one who was both the owner of the material used to create the body of the third hero, Demian, and the material itself.

The former apostle and agent of Elpinel, whom she chose to use again without hesitation, believing that this time she would surely achieve her long-cherished wish.

【 Divine Sight 】

Carolus’s sword sliced through the pure white horizon.