Ch.169Black Magic War – 6

“……Holy Maiden?”

The boy was dumbfounded by the sudden change in how she addressed him.

It was truly amusing. Only at the very end, after all attempts had failed and just as Christine’s soul was about to be torn apart and dissolve into memory, did she finally achieve enlightenment.

“My God.”

The world began to transform. The darkness and gloom that had covered heaven and earth receded, revealing a blue sky. White paint in the form of clouds was brushed onto the blue canvas of the sky.

“Now, this unfaithful lamb has realized everything.”

Her mouth, which wouldn’t open no matter how hard she tried, opened naturally. Christine calmly accepted the divine power flowing into her body and rose toward the sky, just as Christina had done.

The reason Christine had worshipped the boy as her god, the reason the boy had appeared in her long dream, and the enlightenment she had just now attained.

It was because the Mother, the sole deity of the Compassion Faith that the former holy maiden Christina had believed in, had bestowed part of her divine essence upon the boy.

There were exactly three people who remembered the Compassion Faith.

One was the old priest who had been holding the goddess statue at the end, and another was Holy Maiden Christina Hildegard, who possessed the body in which the deity was meant to dwell.

Then, who was the remaining one?

Who could possibly be the one person who would never die, never age, enjoy immortality in this world forever, and still remember the Compassion Faith?

“It is none other than you, my God.”

Therefore, the sole deity of the Compassion Faith, who had been on the verge of disappearing after exhausting all her power, had spent a long time with part of her divine essence dwelling within the boy’s soul.

Christine came to understand this fragment through the soul binding the boy had used, and after accepting Christina’s memories flowing from her soul, she naturally came to worship the boy as her god.

The reason the soul binding hadn’t been properly cast was because Christine’s soul was already being healed by another soul, and the reason Christine immediately worshipped the boy as her god upon opening her eyes was because Christina’s soul, mixed within her, had sensed her deity dwelling within the boy.

This was the moment when Christine truly achieved the act of recognizing her god.

Her soul pulsed faintly.

“I shall soon save you, my God, so please, wait just a little longer.”

With those words, Christine stepped back. From now on, it was Christina’s task to perform, not Christine’s.

Her body rose high into the sky. The sky, cleared of darkness, was blindingly blue.

It wasn’t light flowing from the sun. No sun had risen in the sky cleared of darkness. Instead, divine power flowing from Christina filled that place.

The sun hid itself somewhere, ashamed of its own light, and the moon shyly followed.

A second sun shone upon all creation. It was a warm sun that had compassion for humans, smiled benevolently, and embraced all with love.

Christina offered a prayer to her deity.

—Dwell within me, my God.

Brilliant light burst forth from her body. Every human in the city immediately knelt upon seeing that light. It was a gesture that came from the depths of their hearts.

No one questioned why they were kneeling. It didn’t matter whether they believed in a religion or not.

Just as flowers yearn for the sun, it was only natural for humans to revere the divine. That’s why they knelt before this miracle and praised the divine.

With only one exception—the boy.

“What on earth is this…?”

Despite the boy’s empty murmur, Christina continued to rise into the air. Christina’s body had now transformed from a human form into a mass of light in the shape of a holy maiden.

It was a light that other humans weren’t even permitted to look at. All humans except the boy buried their heads in the ground, sending only infinite reverence.

If it had been merely ordinary light, the boy’s retinas would have burned away from looking at it, or he would have been unable to bear it and turned away.

But somehow, he didn’t want to do that now. It didn’t feel like he should.

The black rain that had been pouring from the darkness was purified and disappeared, as if that was how it should have been all along. The collapsed city recovered, and nature that had been stained black regained its green color.

The most sacred light, descending at the most terrible moment, covered the world, burning away all impure beings.

“Holy Maiden!”

The boy shouted. Unlike the others who had their heads buried in the ground with uncontrollable reverence, the boy could see clearly. He could see with his own eyes.

Christina’s body burning away even at this very moment.

Her holy maiden’s robe had turned to ashes that clung to her skin, and even that skin couldn’t withstand the divine power, cracking and burning, falling to the ground.

Even her eyeballs had melted, leaving the bandages covering her eyes soaked with blood. Her hair was no exception.

As the holy maiden’s body crumbled, the radiance of her body grew even brighter.

Christina spread her arms wide. With that gesture, that simple act of extending her arms, all the evil beings that had been trying to trample humanity turned to mere dust and vanished.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

A scream echoed from the sky. It was the voice of a woman mad with love. The terrible deathly miasma that had filled the air returned to being ordinary sky.

The holy maiden, Christina, Christina Hildegard, the goddess of the Compassion Faith dwelling within her body, did not utter a single word.

She simply restored the world to what it should have been, an ordinary world.

“……”

The miracle was brief. Though it felt as eternal as forever, the actual time was quite short.

The mass of light faded. From far away came the desperate struggles of a woman writhing in pain, and simultaneously, as the golden light dimmed, the barely intact form of a woman fell to the ground.

Though the deity had disappeared, no one dared to move from their position with heads bowed to the ground. They couldn’t even think of doing so.

Only the boy remained to carefully catch the falling holy maiden.

Christina’s appearance, bereft of light and her deity, was devastation itself. If anyone were to call this a human, anyone would scoff and call it a lie.

Her once flowing hair was now stiff and reduced to just a handful, and her skin had burned away completely, exposing blood vessels and muscles.

Her clothes were either stuck to her skin or completely burned away, with not even a scrap to be found. Her left arm and both legs had shattered from the impact of landing, and only her right arm remained barely attached.

Christina seemed to struggle even to breathe.

“Holy Maiden.”

“……”

“Was this… was this the final ritual you spoke of?”

“……”

Though there was no answer, the boy continued to murmur regardless.

“Was sacrificing your own life and being forgotten from people’s memories truly what you wanted?”

“……”

“Was this why you asked me to remember you?”

Christina gave no answer. Instead, she pointed to the bandage covering her eyes with what remained of her right finger.

“You want me to remove the bandage?”

A nod.

“Why? You said you would never remove it.”

This time, she didn’t substitute words with actions. Her feelings were too great for that. So, she moved her lips, expressing her inner thoughts.

Believing he would understand.

“…Haha.”

The boy, desperately trying to read her lips, let out a hollow laugh.

“So at the end, you wish to see me with your own eyes.”

The boy carefully unwrapped the bandage as requested, murmuring in a bitter voice.

“I would have granted such a wish anytime, not just when you’re dying.”

When the bandage covering her eyes was completely removed, her crushed and stuck eyes were revealed. They must have been very beautiful before they burned, but not anymore.

“There. Can you see me now?”

A nod.

Christina painfully nodded her head and finally raised her right hand, now a blunt stump with no fingers left, to the boy’s cheek.

Tap, the black charcoal-like hand touched the boy’s cheek. It was an embarrassingly brief and light contact.

But for Christina, that was enough.

Her arm, completely drained of strength, fell to the ground. Her crushed eyes stopped moving. There was a faint smile on her lips.

The boy didn’t cry. He didn’t grimace. He simply closed her crushed eyes that had frozen open and placed her remaining right arm across her chest.

Then, he wrapped the blood and soot-stained bandage he had just removed from her eyes around his right hand, and picked up the greatsword he had carelessly thrown aside while catching her falling body.

Leaving behind the people who were getting up in confusion, the boy walked out through the city wall.

“Wait, Olivia.”

Words that no one could hear were muttered.

“I’m coming for you now.”

Christine opened her eyes. She was no longer in the blackened forest, but inside the small shrine where she had been kneeling in prayer.

“So… so that’s why…”

She somewhat understood why Christina had said this enlightenment was impossible. It was an enlightenment premised on failure from the beginning.

An enlightenment only possible after repeated failures, when Christine and Christina’s memories had almost completely merged. Something absolutely impossible without risking one’s life from the start.

Moreover, she could somewhat understand why that woman had called herself Christine’s ancestor.

Christina had been abandoned at a very young age and had no family name. But when the deity of the Compassion Faith designated her as a holy maiden, she was granted the name Hildegard.

The goddess had read the future and knew she would eventually dwell within a woman named Christine Hildegard, and thus bestowed the future name in the past. It was truly a strange causal relationship.

Christine unwrapped the bandage covering her eyes and wrapped it around her right hand. It was exactly the same as how her deity, their shared deity, had wrapped it around his right hand.

No miracle occurred where the bandage wrapped itself, nor did she feel any divine power from it.

But that didn’t matter. Having realized all the complex processes entangled with her memories and fate, she wouldn’t leave this heart behind.

“…My God.”

Christine, with the old bandage wrapped around her right hand, slowly rose from her seat.

“Now, this unfaithful lamb shall go to save you.”