Ch.128Amidst Destruction (4)

*

As I entered the tent, I saw the back of Knight Commander Ovid kneeling on the floor to one side.

It was a posture all too familiar to Alice.

“Are you praying? At this point?”

Alice spoke with a sneer, her voice dripping with mockery.

She made no attempt to hide the contempt saturating her scoffing breath.

Ovid gave no response to Alice’s taunt.

Alice continued speaking, pointing her sword at the back of Ovid’s head as he remained silent.

“Cut the crap and get up, why… Has your long-lost faith suddenly resurfaced now that you’re about to die?”

“…”

“Why don’t you save your confession for when you meet the late Pope? Though I doubt scum like you will ever meet him, considering you’re headed for hell.”

Ovid slowly raised his bowed head.

Still not turning to face Alice, he spoke in a slow, low voice.

“To think you’d lecture me about faith and the Goddess Church’s confession procedures… life certainly brings unexpected experiences.”

“…Well, I never imagined you would fall this far either.”

“Fall, you say.”

Ovid cleared his throat with a low cough and slowly rose to his feet.

Alice pressed the tip of her blade against the nape of his neck in warning.

“Don’t make me waste my energy. Stay seated quietly. Since you were once my superior, I’ll end it with a single stroke.”

“Hmm, then you might as well cut me down without wasting words. What are you waiting for?”

“I was curious what nonsense you’d spout at the end.”

“Hmm.”

Ovid slowly turned around to face Alice.

Alice flexed her wrist holding the sword in warning.

The blade’s tip brushed past Ovid’s eyes before coming back down to prick his Adam’s apple.

“Why…”

“…”

“Why would you do this… no, how could you do something so despicable?”

Alice asked with a snarl, baring her teeth like a predator.

Though rage constantly boiled in the back of her mind, she genuinely wanted to know why he had committed such acts.

But Ovid looked down at Alice with cold eyes, his lips firmly sealed.

Alice asked once more.

“As you said, I was never as devout or as observant of the Goddess Church’s rules as you. No, nobody lived as bound to those principles as you did. So why has someone like you become the leader of these corrupt bandits?”

Head of the Inquisition.

True to his position, Ovid was a man who seemed formed from the most rigid and strict aspects of a religious person’s mindset.

For him, conservative and principled, faith and rules weren’t mere guidelines but a way of life, an unbreakable covenant.

So how had such a man become the leader of bandits comprised of corrupt clergy?

No matter how much he feared the Demon Lord, how could he have turned against his faith and principles?

Alice remembered well how thorough and unyielding he had been.

And she found his transformation all the more abhorrent because of it.

“Have you been hiding this true nature all along? Or did fear drive you mad? Why?!”

“Well, perhaps it started when I beheaded His Holiness the Pope with my own hands.”

Alice thrust her sword forward, intending to tear open his throat.

But in that brief moment, Ovid deflected her blade with his armored glove, breaking it.

Alice immediately raised the broken blade and bent her waist, preparing to lunge at him.

But Ovid held up his palm toward Alice.

Like a master stopping a dog in its tracks.

“You bastard…”

“It was His Holiness’s request, Alice.”

“…What?”

Ovid continued in a composed manner.

“His Holiness asked me to do it, so I beheaded him myself.”

“The Pope asked you to kill him? Do you expect me to believe such nonsense?”

“There was no other way to calm the mob.”

“Go to hell.”

“As you said, the priests forgot their devotion and fell into corruption. In less than a week, they became the largest criminal organization in this city. They marched into His Holiness’s sanctuary with swords like the one you’re holding, and those who tried to stop them—the Grand Chancellor and the Chairman of the Financial Council…”

“…”

Ovid paused briefly and closed his eyes.

As if recalling their final moments.

“They were murdered?”

“Not in any ordinary way.”

“…Were they tortured?”

“Yes, it was a horrific sight. But one I’d definitely seen somewhere before.”

Ovid opened his eyes again.

The burning gaze within them pierced straight into Alice.

“In that disgusting livestock shed of yours. The mob was imitating you, Alice. Looting, raping, and all while proclaiming justice as they came to kill His Holiness.”

“…”

Alice fell silent, at a loss for words.

Ovid spoke to her, enunciating each word slowly and deliberately.

“I’m not saying it was your fault, but I am somewhat irritated that you showed up so late.”

“I was busy being crushed.”

“What do you mean?”

“None of your business… Just stop with these pathetic excuses. It’s unseemly.”

“Does it sound like an excuse? Do you think I’m lying?”

“Damn it, if that’s true, then why are you living with these mobs?”

Ovid nodded and answered.

“After I beheaded His Holiness to spare him from the terrible hands of priests driven mad by fear and rage, I used that fact to naturally pretend to join their cause, deceiving them.”

Alice snorted derisively.

“What a pitiful excuse. A desperate excuse and a pathetically weak lie.”

“I can understand why it might seem that way. Right now, in some of the tents in this camp, there are women lying silently, having been raped by them.”

“…”

Alice thought there was no point in listening further.

It was all obviously excuses and lies.

His Holiness asked him to do it?

He deliberately hid among these corrupt priests?

For what purpose would he do such a thing?

She hoped he wouldn’t make the implausible claim that it was to protect the citizens.

This corrupt group committing looting, murder, and all manner of vile sexual crimes.

Ovid wasn’t controlling them at all.

He was simply allowing their atrocities to continue unchecked.

“Just more meaningless drivel, as expected.”

Alice lunged at Ovid and drove the broken sword into his neck.

Ovid sank to his knees without resistance.

Alice spat on the ground and slowly turned away.

That’s when it happened.

“Stop, Alice.”

“…”

Alice slowly turned her head.

Ovid had raised one knee and was pulling the broken sword from his neck.

From the large wound where the blade had been embedded, a golden mist flashed, and the torn skin slowly healed and closed.

“The Goddess is still watching over us.”

*

Alice stared at Ovid with an expression of shock.

“You still… have holy power?”

“Isn’t that only natural?”

“How can you, after falling so far…”

“You may have forgotten, perhaps dazzled by your grand title of Holy Maiden, but I too have served the Inquisition for 30 years, and as its commander for the past 17. My holy power, while perhaps not as great as yours, is still quite formidable.”

Alice shook her head.

She was well aware of how thick and dense his holy power had been, reflecting his once upright character and faith.

What was surprising was that he had retained that holy power despite living among this terribly twisted group of corrupt individuals.

It was certainly a strange phenomenon.

It meant that while being with these corrupt priests, he hadn’t participated in their actions at all.

But…

“Are you suggesting that even standing by is a sin? I understand the sentiment, but as you can see, I still retain my holy power. The strength the Goddess entrusted to me.”

“…That’s impossible.”

“Impossible? Then what about you?”

“What?”

Alice frowned at Ovid’s sudden accusation.

“You’re neither devout nor particularly holy in character. In the Goddess Church, which values love for humanity and the reformation of evil above all else, is there another avenger as filled with rage as you?”

“…”

“Yet why is your holy power so strong and brilliant? Is it only because of that monstrous mechanical heart you bear?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“…”

Ovid dropped the broken sword he had pulled from his neck and slowly drew a large sword from his waist.

Alice instinctively crouched, ready to evade at any moment.

The sword Ovid drew looked completely different from any Goddess Church ceremonial sword she had seen before.

The thick blade tapered sharply at both ends, resembling a thin diamond shape, and the entire blade shimmered with beautiful, iridescent colors when it caught the light.

The decorations engraved on the handle and guard looked extremely solid yet ornate, and upon closer inspection, they were all famous verses symbolizing the Goddess Church.

Ovid showed her the sword and slowly began to speak.

“Neither you nor I can be considered pure servants of the Goddess Church anymore. Yet somehow, the Goddess has not withdrawn our power.”

“…”

“This means the Goddess still has tasks for us to complete.”

With those words, Ovid began channeling his holy power into the sword.

The entire blade, which had been shimmering, began to emit a soft glow.

Alice immediately understood what he was trying to do.

She had done it herself before, for priests she had dispatched to the Forest of Fallen Trees.

“…Consecration.”

“Now there are no old men to noisily insist that consecration requires the Pope’s order.”

“…What are you trying to do?”

Ovid’s strong jawline clenched even tighter, as if he were gritting his teeth.

Veins and blood vessels were visibly rising on his forehead and neck.

It was clear he was pushing all of his holy power into the sword.

The light enveloping the blade grew increasingly radiant.

As Alice briefly gazed at the light, Ovid pulled out the scabbard from his waist.

Then, in an instant, he sheathed the sword before Alice’s eyes, and slowly handed it to her, scabbard and all, while catching his breath.

Alice accepted the sword with a bewildered expression.

Ovid sighed and said:

“And… it seems my role was to deliver this sword to you… whew.”

“…What?”

“That was the final task His Holiness the Pope entrusted to me, and just before you entered moments ago, the Goddess herself answered my prayer and revealed… my role in this destiny.”

Alice couldn’t understand what Ovid was talking about.

“What nonsense are you—”

“And.”

Ovid roughly cut off Alice’s words.

Then, looking at her with sympathetic eyes, he said:

“Your role is to behead the Demon Lord alongside the Hero.”

Alice’s eyes widened at those words.

There was no way Ovid could know that Hero Alice was still alive…

“How… did you know?”

“I just learned it now. The Goddess told me.”

Ovid slowly wiped the sweat from his forehead with his palm and sat back down.

Then he slowly began to speak.

“I had to protect the relic that His Holiness entrusted to me at the end. I didn’t know why… but to fulfill his final request, I turned a blind eye to countless evil deeds and suffering… And with the delivery of that sword to you, my role is complete.”

Ovid’s voice carried deep regret and remorse, and beyond that, a faint sense of liberation.

Alice slightly unsheathed the sword to examine the blade.

Her golden eyes were brightly reflected in the sparkling blade that seemed embedded with glass dust.

As she looked at it, she felt her heated mind gradually cooling down.

“…What is this?”

“A relic of the Goddess Church.”

“…A relic?”

Ovid slowly nodded his head.

“His Holiness told me its name, but it was in such difficult ancient language that I couldn’t memorize it. However, I did learn what the name meant.”

“…What did it mean?”

Ovid spoke briefly in a low voice.

“Holy Sword.”

.