Ch.147147. Original Sin of the Pantheon

The battle between Makius and Bjorn, which had seemed eternal.

The decisive factor that ended it was Bjorn’s bold gambit.

Trusting in the defensive power of his masterpiece armor crafted by Grumhil and his divine artifact-amulet, Bjorn chose to use himself as bait, sacrificing flesh to claim bone.

“…Phew.”

The result was Makius’s severed head, sprawled on the ground.

A formidable opponent—that was Bjorn’s assessment.

Bjorn momentarily set aside his hatred and rage toward the pantheon, able to genuinely admire the battle that Makius had waged.

That’s how powerful a man Makius had been.

Unlike other riffraff who relied on divinity or borrowed power, he wasn’t the same type as Bestia or Juno-Sala.

Not strong because he was a god of war, battle, close combat, and violence, but strong because he was a warrior with skills that had reached the divine realm.

Even while storing the decapitated corpse in his “pouch” with hateful eyes, Bjorn inwardly paid respect to this warrior who had reached heights far beyond his own.

Makius’s equipment wasn’t different from other Rom Empire soldiers.

The square Rom Empire shield commonly called a scutum, the fairly famous one-handed sword named gladius measuring about 70cm.

Then the approximately 2m javelin doubling as a close combat spear called pilum, and the iron plate armor known as Lorica Segmentata.

Except for being made with an appropriate combination of adamantium and orichalcum, they were equipment faithful to the basics with no special functions.

This reflected Makius’s warrior aspect—steadfast and conservative, devoted to fundamentals—traits that, frankly speaking, were worthy of praise.

‘…He was strong.’

Setting aside his personal character or personality, in combat, Makius was strong enough to earn Bjorn’s internal respect.

In truth, Bjorn had generally held the upper hand against Makius in this battle.

Bjorn, who had killed three chief gods and absorbed their souls, approaching rank 0, versus Makius, who had suffered backlash from the birth of “Pleasure”—the latter was at a disadvantage in many ways.

Due to spiritual injury, the power of “War” had been severely damaged, and with the core of his divinity broken, his overall abilities had been seriously diminished.

In the end, all Makius had left was upper-tier rank 1 specs and the ability to summon the Rom Empire’s legions—armies—as the god of war.

Even by objective standards, it was power closer to that of a legion general and superior warrior rather than a god’s ability, but…

In this situation, Makius had pushed Bjorn back with skill and leadership alone.

Makius’s tactical ability in handling an army of about 20,000 troops overwhelmed the soldiers Bjorn had summoned with his “Army of Chaos.”

The formidable breakthrough power of the “Cavalry of Chaos,” a cavalry unit consisting of 100 medium cavalrymen, all mid-level warriors…

He blocked it head-on with consecutive javelin (pilum) throws and spear formations, forcing Bjorn to mitigate the tactical defeat with his individual combat power.

And after finally annihilating the 20,000-strong Rom Empire army summoned by Makius, he had to face Makius’s overwhelming close combat skill.

A short one-handed sword barely 70cm long and a shield just large enough to cover the torso.

The combination might seem adequate for versatile responses, but it should have been disadvantaged against a greatsword exceeding 2 meters in length including the handle…

But the skill of the war god could overturn such differences.

Each time their weapons collided, the ground beneath them flipped and crumbled, with shock waves exploding dozens of times per second as weapons imbued with tremendous power clashed.

It was a contest between the aggressive yet experienced Makius who led with his shield, and Bjorn who countered by leveraging his superior physical abilities and utilities.

In the end, Bjorn, being slightly more daring and reckless, emerged victorious.

Anyway, after meeting the gaze of Makius’s severed head, Bjorn hung it on a hook next to Juno-Sala’s flayed head.

With this, he had directly killed a total of four gods.

After slaying four gods with his greatsword—His divine artifact—Bjorn decomposed and absorbed their wounded, degraded souls.

Because of this, Bjorn shuddered slightly at the unfamiliarity of his power, which had clearly changed in nature.

But that was only momentary.

“The, the end is coming!”

“The death of gods is upon us!!”

“Blood-red, slaughterer…!”

By chance, Bjorn encountered the Emperor’s Guard, who—upon seeing him—widened their eyes in shock and reacted with horror—

“…Your, Your Majesty?”

“What…??”

At first they seemed to be fleeing in terror, but then they noticed the Emperor’s face hanging from the hook on Bjorn’s belt.

“Your, Your Majesty—!! You, you!!”

“Die, die!!! He must be killed!!!”

Suddenly enraged to a degree that surprised even Bjorn, they charged at him with golden orichalcum armor and weapons, intent on killing him.

Their brave charge, rushing forward even while predicting their own deaths, resembled loyal subjects, but Bjorn sensed something strangely dissonant about their behavior.

Something akin to the pantheon’s characteristic sinister and gloomy machinations—recognizing this, Bjorn suddenly saw something bizarre in their souls.

At first it appeared to be merely a blessing from the pantheon gods attached to their souls, but…

‘…Insane.’

What Bjorn perceived was something entirely unrelated to blessings.

Yes, to state the conclusion:

‘How…could they turn people into…that?’

The true identity of these Imperial Guards, which shocked even Bjorn, was that they were manufactured warriors created by forcibly combining hundreds of infant souls.

Perhaps because each individual soul was too weak to provide much power when absorbed, they had taken infant souls guided to the gods, forcibly combined them to raise their spiritual rank…

And overlaid them with behavioral patterns (algorithms) to complete this “something.”

Even in this era, where Bjorn’s homeland placed relatively low value on human life, this was… beyond what Bjorn’s mind could comprehend.

The souls of infants who died for various reasons and were guided to the pantheon. They were transformed like this simply because they were “clean” and easy to modify?

Even Bjorn, who knew about the ugly truths of the pantheon and the gods, could not suppress his nausea at the sight of these pitiful and disgusting things.

Monstrosities created by melting souls in a furnace, hammering them together with the blacksmith god’s hammer, and animating them with behavioral patterns (algorithms) designed by divine wisdom.

Beyond hatred, Bjorn felt unavoidable compassion for them—they now appeared to him as souls trapped in golden prisons.

‘…My lord, please grant salvation to these souls.’

Thus, Bjorn, praying inwardly for the salvation of these pitiful souls, put away his sword that could destroy souls and used magic instead.

“《Weapon of Chaos》.”

Originally an ability to create and control weapons made of chaos-attribute magical power, Bjorn used it to create a greatsword for himself.

Naturally, in terms of performance, it was inferior to his existing greatsword in every way…

But the user was, of all people, Bjorn.

The battle between Bjorn, wielding a weapon created by the magic Weapon of Chaos, and the approximately 30 members of the Emperor’s Guard was overwhelming.

It wasn’t particularly spectacular enough to warrant detailed description, but rather resembled a flat and simple task.

As Bjorn swung his magically created greatsword and passed by quickly, the bodies of dozens of guards were severed and collapsed in heaps.

If one were to describe it in words, it was like twisting a child’s arm, or a farmer harvesting wheat with a sickle.

Yet there was a certain consideration in Bjorn’s movements. With his delicate slashes, the guards fell without even feeling pain.

It was executed with such precision that they met biological death before they could even wonder why they were falling.

Anyway, what remained were dozens of fallen guards and Bjorn standing in their midst, looking at them with an expression filled with emptiness and anger.

And after a moment.

Having cut down more than 30 men without a drop of blood staining his sword, Bjorn dissolved the weapon into nothingness and continued forward.

It was the moment when a sense of mission toward those who had committed sins was added to what had originally been only a desire for revenge driving him.